Let's diffusionx: Neo-Geo World Cup '98

Neo-Geo World Cup '98 is the best handheld game ever made.

It's incredibly playable, deep, and interesting.

Sure, all the characters look the same. And yes, they are all white people, even if you pick a country in Africa or something. And yes, the translation is probably the worst ever to grace videogames. I mean that. And yes, the teams have absolutely no basis in reality - for example, the USA is one of the best teams in the game.

So you gotta kinda suspend your disbelief for those.

HOWEVER, its easy to do, and bottom line, Neo-Geo World Cup '98 is amazing. In terms of just pure fun, this is one of the most fun games I've ever played. Plus it has an awesome season mode which lets you go through a tournament to win the World Cup. To the best of my recollection, the game keeps tracks of how you do year-to-year. The first time I won the championship (I think it was my third or fourth year), I was incredibly happy. But I couldn't repeat, I lost in the championship the next year. The dissapointment I felt was ridiculous.

Handheld gaming simply does not get better than this game. The other two games that would immediately come to mind when I think of great handheld games are Tetris and Wario Ware. Both are amazing, five-star games, but this one is better.

In all seriousness, this damn game by itself makes the NGPC worth owning. I love Samurai Showdown and SNK vs. Capcom (i own 'em both), but this game is just so fucking great!

I hope hope hope that SNK will someday make a Neo-Geo World Cup '04 for the Game Boy Advance or something. The game won't control as perfectly as the NGPC version (thanks to the lack of the stick), but still...

I never really heard much about this game until the last month or so ago, so I had never really put much thought into it.

I think SGGG really likes it too.

And I thought my NGPC collection was complete...

Dude, Im telling you right now, if you dont got this game your collection isn't even close to complete.

Oh balls. Add one more to the grocery list.

This game is as good as diff says, if not better - I like it that much. It's my favourite NGPC game and one of my fave sports games. It should be noted, however, that the official name of the game is "NeoGeo Cup '98 Plus Color", there is a b/w version (- the Color bit) for NGP too. ;)

What's great about this game is that you can get all kinds of wacky power ups to change and enhance your players, so it adds a lot of replay to the game. Another great thing is how finely balanced the game is. Once you get good you will usually win, but you are not unbeatable as is the case with so many other sports games. There are goal scoring hot spots and tricks but they're not that easy to do. There are also RPG aspects to the game and unpredictable evens such as people breaking into the boot room, which sadly don't take place often enough!

Pretty much the only downside to this great game is the choice of teams. I don't know why they had to pick Yugoslavia and Croatia when they could have included a Scandinavian country instead. :p I like the game so much that I actually got some rom hacking tools and tried adding a few extra teams to the game and update the players, but I eventually got frustrated before finishing the project. I did manage to replace the US with mighty footballing giant Canada, however. ;)

At least with international teams the roster's don't get too convoluted over time. The players are based on real players, so while a few have retired since 98, they're forever the same nationality - oh yeh, and the game masks real names, barring a real license so someone like Hamann for Germany is called Gabann in the game... but if you know anything you can recognise them.

I don't play the game as often these days, but when I do boot it up I tend to get addicted all over again and win a few Cups. It's a great time killer since the games are short. When I first got the game - it was my first NGPC game I was really addicted. I bought it the week before a European vacation and I played the game non-stop on plans and in trains. I won my first Cup (in my 5th or 6th season) on the plane ride to Iceland. ;)

If SNK announced a sequel for GBA or especially PSP I'd be over the moon!! I'd want to see them up the number of teams - or create fictional teams - and add even more RPG-type elements and you'd have the best sports game ever made. :)

How does the gameplay compare to the kunio World Cup games?

I've never played the game, but I had heard it was good stuff. I went to the game store next to me and saw it next to the Game Gear stuff, and asked how much it cost... he told me that since I'm likely the only person who would ever buy it (he knows my love for obscure shit) that I could have it. Score!

I have yet to play it but it is on my must-own list. I loved the non-portable Neo Geo soccer games.

I loved it.. this was the first game I bought with my NGPC back in '99. The title screen voice was fun, too, in its own way.

"Neo Geo Cup!.........98!"

I love to see threads like this.

When I woke up this morning I didn't know anything about this game and wouldn't have given it a second look. Now it pushes me that much closer to buying an NGPC.

Thanks, diffusionx!

2nd game i ever bought for the lil bugger. it was everything that anyone ever needed and beat the shit out of baseball stars color in the beginning. i never figured out what the special items did though even though they told you. i'd buy items but they never actually did anything.

anyway... just pick the usa, brazil, or germany and you'll be stomping through with ease.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ashen Victor

i never figured out what the special items did though even though they told you. i'd buy items but they never actually did anything..

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They did exactly what they said they did and had a major impact on the game. :wtf:

A very important one to collect was the long range shot (can't remember what it's officially called) but with that one you could get a tonne of goals from a midfielder.

Anything that boosted your stats was gold too.

i bought sprint shoes and never once noticed my players sprinting. must have bought a pair of sweatshop jobs...

it has old veteran Teddy Sheringham playing for England so the game can't be half bad.

He is 37 years old and near the top of the table for goals scored in the EPL this season.(for Portsmouth)....go Pompeys

I love SNK sports games. Baseball Stars, windjammers, etc. Yet i've never played this one, and it sounds great. i'll have to check it out.

Which version are we talking about from the two shown below?

It really doesnt matter... but if you look at the pictures I posted, theyre in color... so that should kinda give it away.

Okay, I've broken out the game a few times, and it's fun. One thing though... what the hell do I need to do to score a goal. I've only managed to do it once, the goalie ALWAYS catches the damn ball. Bastid.

There are several ways to score. The easiest way is to get the power up that makes it easy to score from long distance, which you can equip on a midfielder. Then you just need to find the hot spot. Other than that it's the standard strategy of passing the ball and moving it well to get posession in close to the keeper and then shooting it where he is not. ;)

Also, be well aware of rebounds because the goalies tend to bobble it a lot - so it you can get to it before the defender it's easy to tap it in. :)

i usually break the defenders on the left or right side of the field and go for the top corners. not the best way, but i ain't complaining when i'm avg. maybe 5 goals a game doing that.