PixlBit

Robots playing soccer? ....okaaaaaaaaay....

Apparently Dr. Wily's robots and Mega Man had nothing better to do, because they come together in this game to play soccer. That's right, soccer, y'know, the sport where you kick a ball around. . . and these are robots that can blow off each other's heads. Strange, I know, but the amazing thing is, Mega Man beat Mario to the punch with his own sports game (unless you count Super Mario Kart). 

This game was released in 1994 for the Super NES; it was developed and published by Capcom. There are four game modes: Exhibition, Capcom Championship, Tournament, and League (the last two are pretty much the same thing). You can choose one of five different formations; I'm assuming they're official soccer formations, but I wouldn't know since I'm not a soccer guy. 

Now here's the astounding part: there are 20 robots to choose from in the game! Several robot masters from the first four Mega Man games are available as players. You get to choose your goalie, the offenders, the defenders, and a final troupe. You can place the robot you've chosen to his corresponding position on the field. So there is quite a bit of customization in this game, but unless you're a die-hard soccer fanatic, you won't care much for all of it. You select the field just like selecting a stage in a Mega Man game, which I thought was neat. 

The gameplay itself takes some getting used to. First, you have to figure out what the buttons do. You can configure the buttons in the options. One button shoots, another passes, and one simply pushes the ball out in front of you. The players move pretty slowly, and there's no way to make them run faster. On defense, you can slide and try to steal the ball, but that's about all you can do on defense. 

                                             Yeah, do the robot dance! 

The camera is zoomed in so close that it's hard to see where your players are on the field. A map of the field is displayed at the top of the screen, showing you where your team's players are (they are either blue or red dots); however, your focus is on the field, and diverting attention onto the map can cost you, so it really is pretty ineffective. If the camera was zoomed out a little this problem would be fixed. 

The matches are also too long. You start with 5 minutes, and those seconds tick down sloooowly. Once the time is up, it's half-time, then another 5 minutes before the match is finished. Ugh! Luckily, you can adjust the time in the options. Seriously, five mintues is way too long. 

Apparently, the robots have powers that they can use during matches. I saw Ice Man freeze the ball and smack it into my goalie, turning him into a block of ice. That's great, but I could never figure out how to use powers; there's certainly not a button for it. Perhaps you have to do a button combination, a'la Street Fighter? 

The Capcom Championship has the story mode, and it's pretty crazy. A news announcer is introducing a soccer tournament when all of a sudden, the stadium begins exploding. "It can't be! Are those. . . robots?" Of course, Dr. Light, Mega Man, and Roll are watching this on TV becuase they're avid soccer fans. Dr. Light exclaims, "They're Dr. Wily's robots! You have to stop them!" So Mega Man sets off to stop them. . . by challenging them to a game of soccer! Pretty crazy and humorous, right? 

I hate to admit it, but this game is pretty boring. The players move so slow, the ball is constantly jumping back and forth, and it's really hard to score. Yet the game deserves credit for being one of the first sports games that starred a big-name mascot. Mario sports games did not become plentiful until Mario Golf and Mario Tennis for N64. 

Now as far as soccer games go, I can't compare since I don't really play sports games much (especially soccer games). There is one soccer game I've played, however, that I love, and that is Super Mario Strikers! Yep, it's that Mario fella; he has really great sports games, btw. Strikers may be the best soccer game ever (that's totally my opinion, but FIFA couldn't compete with Strikers!). 

           Mario has never looked more awesome!

Final Verdict--3 Stars: It's Okay

The premise of the game may be strange, but it's neat to see Mega Man starring in a sports game so early on. The gameplay leaves much to be desired, but the customization and replay value give you quite a bit of content. I suppose it's not so strange to have robots playing soccer when you think about it, considering a plumber and some seriously strange creatures have played golf, tennis, soccer, and baseball together. We live in a strange world. 

Join me every Saturday as we take a look back at all kinds of retro games, good and bad.