FIFA game history (1993)

A few days have left till the FIFA 2008 will be released. Therefore I will try to fill these days of impatience with history of this unique video game.

The first version of the game appeared on the late 1993. It was named FIFA International Soccer, but also known as FIFA'94. FIFA series somehow is the most successful job of the EA sports video games, cause it had the strongest competitors. While there was no major competition when EA released both the first titles in their Madden NFL and NHL series, football video games such as Sensible Soccer, Kick Off or Matchday Soccer were being developed since the late eighties and were already competitive games in the Football video games market when EA announced FIFA. To my mind, FIFA has the strongest opponents nowadays too. For example, nobody compares NBA Live with some other basketball game, but everybody discusses which is better: FIFA or PES?

However, let's return to FIFA' 94. It has changed traditional 16-bit era games attitude to football by presenting an isometric view rather than the usual top-down view (Kick Off), side view (European Club Soccer), or bird's-eye view (Sensible Soccer). The Sega Mega CD version includes some features from the next title, and is a highly polished version of the original. A notorious bug allows the player to score directly from an apposing goal kick by standing in front of the goal keeper so that the ball rebounds off him into the net.


Released for: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, Mega-CD, Game Gear, SNES, DOS, Amiga, 3DO, Game Boy