Teasers
What options did users have from 1978 to today to recreate the atmosphere of the World Cup in their own four walls? I would like to explore this question in several articles.
The topic of my new series of articles is World Cup games from 1978 to the present day. The motto “Right in the middle instead of just there?” contains the question mark for a reason. To what extent will the computer and console football games released from 1978 be able to bring the atmosphere of football world championships into your own living room and create true immersion?
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Do we have to use Grandma's justification for back then (“we had nothing else”), or will we come to the fair conclusion that the successive developments were already considerable from the perspective of the time?
Argentina 78 and Pong
The 1978 World Cup took place in South America. For sports journalists Harry Valerien It was clear that no one would put the 78 World Cup aside so quickly: “The enthusiasm of the Argentines was without precedent. They savored the rush of triumph in a massive orgy, laughed, cried and celebrated for more than one night all over the country: the first World Cup title in their football history.”
If you wanted to play football in your living room at home around 1978 and recreate the World Cup feeling of “a huge orgy”, you resorted to so-called Pong-Consoles back. The Universum TV Multi-Game 4014 was certainly a good choice. Users could choose from ten different Pong variants, as well as football. However, this technology was not yet able to fully capture the “rush of triumph” in blue and white, the striking colors of the Argentine jersey, as the following illustration shows.
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| On the left is the quoted book by Harry Valeérien, on the right is a collage on the state of football “simulations” at the time. |
Nowadays, when I visit ominous websites like “Art and Junk”, I meet the most experienced users there. Looking for previous original consoles, they share their experiences with us:
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“After a long time, I got hold of a telegame from Universum-Neckermann at the flea market. With instructions and batteries, for a fiver. You connect it to the television with the coaxial cable, activate the search, find the channel and a playing field appears on the screen. I can already hear the pong-pong sound. I tried out a few games with my son. That’s how we started, with a white bar.”
Spain 82 and kicking to Intellivison, Atari 2600, Colecovision
The German national player Paul Breitner Conveniently, he also produced his own specialist literature on his work as a high-class footballer. He shared his thoughts with us in his book about the 1982 World Cup: “So that was it. Italy is world champion in 1982. A worthy world champion. But honestly – Vice World Champion Germany, that’s something!” A reporter was further interested in Breitner's opinion whether Maradona or Zico was the bigger star? Breitner said very simply: “Rummenigge.” Speaking of stars: According to Paul Breitner, the time of the great individualists seemed to be over anyway. For him, what the Brazilians had achieved as a team was “total football, something like absolute football. They have ten players who can really do everything.” Her early departure saddened the midfield strategist. But the best example of a team was Italy: “The entire team is strong, that’s why they became world champions.”
Having gained some insight into what this tournament was all about, the question now arises as to whether the football games at that time were the model example Great Action Soccer were able to follow along? Could the software around 1982 offer a real and immersive feeling in the middle of magical Brazilians or an Italian world champion team?
So much in advance: We come playfully from a white bar. And actually: something like a team can now be recognized.
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| According to Teleaction (May 1983), not everyone has the talent of Franz Beckenbauer. “Everyone can now pretend on the television.” |
Pong was so retro in 1982. Interestingly, this is a statement that was already made by the press at the time: “Pong, the ancestor of video games.” The gaming press around Teleaction and Telematch confirmed that the games currently being played at the time felt “like you were in a stadium” or “the screen becomes a playing field.” If you were to catapult yourself back into a living room in 1982, you would certainly, or at least fairly, notice a huge leap (graphics, technology, gameplay) since Pong. The game was played on consoles such as Atari, Intellivison and Coloceovision. But also on consoles that are virtually unknown these days: Activision, Hanimex, Interton, Neckermann, Norcom-Noris, Philips, Unimex. And now, please, to the next World Cup.
Mexico 86 with World Cup Carnival
Harry Valérien also provided us with usable information here: Fifa President Joao Havelange already praised the 82 World Cup in superlatives and was no less happy at the 86 World Cup in Mexico. Secretary General Sepp Blatter tried to ensure a contemporary development of FIFA. He attributed this to shortening the duration of the tournament, better selection of referees, the right solution for better distribution of tickets and sensible use of spectator capacity. Included in these considerations were long-term contracts with television that were intended to guarantee significant additional income.
No blah blah: So it will be about more money in the future. When it comes to the topic of “contracts”, it is certainly not surprising that with the game World Cup Carnival the first football game with an official FIFA license took to the stage:
“Enjoy the excitement of this premier sporting event when the entire world's attention is focused on the pinnacle of football achievements – winning the World Cup. Follow the events with your own computer table, take part in real games, country against country, with your own computer football game and thus in these exciting elimination games in Latin America, famous for its carnival, the enthusiasm of its people and the zeal and the passion they have for this sport. World Cup Carnival. The only official computer game for football fans. The only way for computer enthusiasts to participate in the World Cup.”
In addition, US Gold included a color poster and self-adhesive World Cup flags in the game package, as well as the prospect of winning a “CD device”. Who else would have thought about the first licensed game of a World Cup in the? Happy computers 7/1986 can report except Heinrich Lenhardt?
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| World Cup Carnival in the Happy Computer test, written by Heinrich Lenhardt. |
Microprose Soccer
You have the license for an official football game in your pocket. You put stickers in the pack. Write a great marketing text. Others then program a really good football game instead. That's how life works. The boys around Jon Hare and Chris Yate In any case, Sensible Software programmed the table football game at the time of the Mexican World Cup Microprose Soccer.
The menu option to minimize or maximize the effect of the banana flanks seems somewhat noticeable in the game. Countless bloodsheds can also be carried out on the virtual lawn without any punishment. And yet the game seriously depicts the entire 1986 World Cup tournament. You can play the game with tons of friends and also start your own league. Goals scored can be seen in replays, just like in real TV sports broadcasts.
Your ears will be spoiled. Absolutely pretty and worth listening to are two melodies from Martin Galway. I imagine I hear Mexican sounds in the game menu. A happy folk song. In the sub-menu of the World Cup tournament there is exciting music that is reminiscent of a news ticker or a news broadcast.
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| Microprose Soccer |
What catches the eye? In the United States, Microprose Soccer was marketed under a different name (Keith Van Eron's Pro Soccer) and the World Cup mode adjusted there. The national teams were all kicked out and were replaced by soccer teams from American cities. If we remember that US Gold, an American company, won the first license for a soccer World Cup, it's a bit strange. This is roughly analogous to the fact that the company headquarters is not the same as the sales market.
So the feeling for the hard dollar didn't necessarily correspond to private sporting interests: “Hey Joe, I programmed a computer soccer game for the rest of the world. It's called the World Cup.” “Alright Jim, let's go to baseball now. Have you got your tickets in your pocket?” The Amiga Joker becomes a licensed game for the World Cup after next in July 1994 Sierra Soccer World Challenge Edition state: “The patriotic Americans discovered their heart for football just in time for the World Cup in the USA!” Should anyone say that football stadiums will be built in the desert at some point?
Now that we have already jumped freely in this section from 1986 to 1994, we can now go straight to the conclusion and the outlook for the coming years.
Conclusion
The technological leap from 1978 to 1986 was certainly not a bad one overall. Philosophers and practitioners were able to start discussing from 82 onwards, and with more quality from 86 onwards, which technique should be preferred when kicking: up and down (Microprose Scoccer) or sideways (World Cup Carnival). A few games also show a separate image section for particularly exciting scenes. By the way, this technical gaming effect already existed around the year 82.
In the next episode we will see what changed in the (sub)genre from the second half of the 80s.
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| A small preview of the next article on the topic. |