After the mess that was Fight Fever, this time, we go back to sports, and its none other than Soccer (Football for those outside of the US), and its been a while, its time for Super Sidekicks 3. (Note: NG Cup 98 is just a cheap reskin of SS3, and its pretty much the same game with some minor updates.)
Super Sidekicks 3 / Neo-Geo Cup 98
Genre: Sports Players: 2 Size: 158/162 MEGS Released on: MVS/AES, and as part of SNK Classics V.1 (PS2/PSP/Wii)
Still lazy to put up anything again, here's yet another Wiki quote.
Breif Description: Published in 1995 (Japanese title: Tokuten Ou 3 - Eikoue no Michi, "Goal-Scoring King 3: Path to the Glory" ), the third game features 64 national teams divided into 8 regions:
Europe A: Italy, Holland, Switzerland, Norway, England, Turkey, Portugal, Poland
Europe B: Germany, Spain, Ireland, Belgium, Romania, Denmark, Wales, Czech Republic
Europe C: France, Sweden, Bulgaria, Russia, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Finland
Africa: Nigeria, Morocco, Cameroon, Egypt, South Africa, Zambia, Côte d'Ivoire, Guinea
Americas: United States, Canada, Guatemala, Mexico, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Puerto Rico (replaced Honduras), Panama
South America: Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Ecuador, Peru, Chile (replaces Paraguay)
Asia A: Australia, New Zealand, China, Taiwan, Iran, Vietnam, Iraq, Singapore
Asia B: Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Japan, U. A. E., Hong Kong, India, Thailand, Malaysia
The World Tournament mode is the same as Super Sidekicks 2, above.
The new features in this game include naming the player scoring goals for his team and keeping score of how many goals he scores during his team's use by the player. Alongside the "Top Teams" ranking which serves as a high score table for teams, there is a "Top Scorer" table for individual players. The name and use of scoring players is random.
The second new feature include regional tournaments, in which a team (from any region) can enter a tournament within its own region or other regions. This is good for those players who like a particular team but don't want to be facing the same opponents every time, as they would if they played the World tournament. Championships include World Tournament (FIFA World Cup), Europe Tournament (UEFA European Football Championship), South America Tournament (Copa América), Americas Tournament (CONCACAF Gold Cup), Africa Tournament (African Cup of Nations), and Asia Tournament (AFC Asian Cup).
The game was re-released three years later under the name Neo Geo Cup '98: The Road to the Victory. In order to mirror the 1998 FIFA World Cup, some player names, kits and teams were changed:
Croatia replaced Poland
Scotland replaced Wales
Yugoslavia replaced Finland
Tunisia replaced Guinea
Jamaica replaced Panama
Paraguay returned and replaced Bolivia
However, the game played and looked exactly like the original Super Sidekicks 3. Even the goal animations remained unchanged.
Once again, SNK failed to get official FIFA license and featured fake names. However, some reflect actual players. Roul represents Raúl of Spain, Dahlgren represents Martin Dahlin of Sweden, and Klinger represents Jurgen Klinsmann of Germany.
One note is that in Neo Geo Cup 98, teams instead face teams in their group in the 1998 qualification instead of regions in the game. For example, if you choose Spain, you will face Yugoslavia. However, some are inaccurate. Like if you play England, you face Scotland. And if you play as Brazil, you have to face Uruguay before the World Tournament. But Brazil qualified automatically.
Never played this one. When it comes to soccer titles, I generally stick with Worldwide Soccer 1 & 2 on the Saturn. If enough members here recommend the Super Sidekicks series, perhaps I'll check it out.
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