Sports video games have existed since the beginning of the history of video games. In fact, if we consider that Pong is the first video game and that it is a simulation of ping pong, then the essence of the video game is the simulation of sports. Although there are many sports in video games, such as tennis, volleyball, American football, wrestling, bowling, billiards, basketball, volleyball, and just about every activity imaginable, few sports have as many versions as association football or soccer.
Atari 1978
In 1978 Atari was starting to get out of the arcade business and released the first TV docking system called the VCS, later renamed the Atari 2600. The console is mainly known for survival games such as Asteroids, a game where you have to save your ship. Arguably, it is from this console that the best survival games known to man began to be developed.
However, it went further and started launching sport games. With simple graphics, a maximum of four players per screen and somewhat ambiguous controls, the game would be a moderate success for the video game system.
Arcade 1984-1988
It took about 4 years for the video game market to recover before the new generation of 8-bit consoles became major competitors in the market, like the classic Nintendo NES or the Sega Master System. In the inter there were several games in the arcades, amongst which the first FIFA and World Cup licensed game stood out, based on the 1986 World Cup in Mexico.
Nintendo World Cup 1990
By 1990 there were already several million NES consoles in homes around the world. There were also several football games, such as the simple Soccer developed by Nintendo itself or Goal and Goal 2 developed by Jaleco. From then on, World Cup games did not go unnoticed. The number of games grew to the point of involving the World Cup in more general games.
This year the World Cup is being played in Qatar and it is not yet known if they will release a demo or a game related to it. For the moment, the World Cup is just starting to heat up and assumptions about winners, prizes, etc. are being made. Most punters will be able to visit World Cup 2024 betting sites such as ArabianBetting. The website has the best discreet, safe and secure sites to bet on sports in the Middle East. Once the World Cup is over, bettors can try their luck on more indigenous sports such as camel racing or, if they wish, on other classic sports such as Basketball or Cricket. However, if there is no more interest in sport, they can always turn to online casinos. They will be able to access a wide variety of games and can benefit from some bonuses. When choosing a betting site, it is advisable to see if it meets all the legal requirements, as well as what the user needs to enjoy.
Sega European Club Soccer 1992
There were many more soccer games for Sega consoles such as the Genesis or Master System. Amongst the most remembered was European Club Soccer, published by Virgin Games, which included 170 European teams within its leagues with real team names. The players did not have their real names yet, nor did their physiognomies differ much, but advances were already in the pipeline for a realistic football game.
FIFA 97
Under the FIFA franchise, Electronic Arts’ games were the most dominant in the market between 1995 and 2001. This was quite an achievement in a fast-moving market whose best-selling games can vary in many ways from year to year. For example, the 1996 and 1997 versions of FIFA were released for almost every system available: Sega Genesis, Sega Saturn, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Game Boy, PC and arcade. Quite a monopoly.
International Football 2000
In 1999 and trying to capitalise on the growing popularity of football games around the world, Microsoft designed International Football 2000 for PCs, using its DirectX graphics management system. The game was well received, mainly because of the quality of its graphics and its price, well below FIFA or PES for consoles. However, it failed to attract a large group of players because of the difficulty of getting the game or the PC to a friend’s house.
FIFA Street 2005
Because graphics innovation in the Xbox GameCube, according to Goliath, and PlayStation 2 was hard to beat. Companies saw that outside of adding new players or updating names, buyers had little incentive to buy FIFA 2004 or PES 3. Therefore, they began to look for other ways to sell similar games with the licenses already paid for. An example of these was FIFA Street 2005, with the big names of the day playing with special moves in a street scene.
PES 2015
Over the years and with the new generations of consoles, the two big football game franchises have evolved in graphics and content. Both PES and FIFA have evolved in their features of simultaneous online play, updated names, rosters, strategies and positions of teams and players. All these are designed according to the real world, in real time and in tournament simulation. With these, you can simulate from World Cup matches to second division league campaigns in Mexico or Spain.
