The Origin Behind the Name of My Future First Child

Deedooloodooloodooloo! Duhn! Duhn-duhn-duhn-duhn! Digga-dun digga-dun digga-dun digga-dun! Duhn!

“What in the crap am I trying to pronounce?” you ask. It’s the first catchy song of the best game you’ve probably never played. It’s called Tecmo Cup – Soccer Game (in America). As the introduction begins the narrative of Robin Field, a soccer player only surpassed by his father before him, the first song gets you pumped up. Personally, I think it starts off with a striking resemblance to “Eye of the Tiger” and continues by sounding similar to pure awesome. It could just be me. Maybe you should listen to the music yourself.

Of course, great music doesn’t make a game great. It can only improve upon an incredibly fun game. Fortunately, that’s what Tecmo Cup – Soccer Game is! It is an amazing game. For a Nintendo game, it provides one of the most accurate soccer simulations available. While other soccer games for the Nintendo are stuck with pass, shoot, and switch player, Tecmo Cup – Soccer Game provides you with a plethora of Soccer moves. You’ll be performing diving headers, bicycle kicks, volley shots, and more all with beautiful animations. It doesn’t even stop at offense. On defense you can mark the player to prevent him from dribbling past, slide tackle to knock the ball away, cut a pass off, or wait to make their move. Even the goalie has the option of attempting to catch the ball so he can throw it to one of his own players or just punching the ball away for an easier save. The possibilities are just so amazing.

I have to say, this game was ahead of it’s time. You may be thinking, “Wow. You can do so much.” Yet, I haven’t even told you about any of the super moves. Each player has endurance in this game measured by guts. Star players in this game can be easily discerned from others because they usually have some sort of powerful move to help them win. Robin Field has a few stellar shots such as the Hyper Shot which are accompanied by a neat visual display. Two brothers from one team have a superior passing ability that make them quite a challenge. All this and it had an announcer on the bottom part of the screen giving you the play by play. “No. 7 passes the ball.” “Brook’s tack got the ball!”

Although, that hardly helps to ease your mind. “How can you do so much with just two measily buttons?” you might ask. “Menus,” I answer. This game does have its share of menus and options. Before a game there is a menu where you can get advice from your team and get your password from a lovely lady. When you have the ball you press the B button to bring up a menu of options. This menu lists all of the actions. The developers managed to make it so this menu doesn’t STOP the action, it IS the action. Whenever a player from the other team gets in range, this menu appears along with a different screen. Whenever your players surround an opponent the menu pops up along with silhouettes of your players. Whenever the ball gets close to your goalie his concerned face adorns the screen with the option to punch or catch. I love it. Then again, it’s easy to see where this might lose some people. Especially nowadays, as it could feel rather dated or slow. I guess this is the point that a gamers enjoyment would hinge on. Call it nostalgia, but I’m so pumped up by the music that I don’t feel like I’m taking a break from the action. Except during half-time.

Oh, and when the other team has the ball. Now this is THE flaw about this game. Honestly, it is the only flaw for me. The only thing to do while the other team has the ball is to tap all the buttons in some superstitious ritual in hopes that your team will stop them. I feel like I have no control over the game at this point, and that is a big no-no. When a game takes the control away from the player, they take away the selling point of games. There are a lot of soccer movies on DVD, I would like to play a game. These quick moments of helplessness, however brief they may be, are one of the biggest turn-offs for this game. I’m glad that in the iterations of this game to follow they fixed this.

Now, one thing that I did not know when I played this as a child was that this game is actually based on an anime. That’s right, the generically titled Tecmo Cup – Soccer Game is actually an American front for the Japanese anime / game Captain Tsubasa. It stars the title character in his quest to prove he’s an awesome soccer player. In this game, they threw Zack Morris in his shoes and changes his name to Robin Field. They also changed other characters to modernize the game such as Brook, the punk with the mohawk and Kevin, the hot-headed player with orange hair. Instead of generic slightly spiky, black haired Asians, the forgettable players are replaced with Aryans. Americanized is an understatement. It explains why some players can shoot Hyper shots and that could cause the ball to rip through the net.

Robin doesn’t start with a laundry list of crazy shots. This game has an experience aspect to it borrowed from the likes of role-playing games. As team members dribble, pass, tackle, and shoot they get more and more experienced. There is no meter or bar to show for this. It is just internally kept track of somehow. At the end of the game, some players will have gotten better while others have not. During the start of the next game the coach will tell you who has gotten better. As some players get better they gain additional shot types. In fact, Robin starts with nothing. You have to earn the Hyper shot! This adds a whole new level of rewarding game play.

All in all, the game is pretty stellar. Most of the graphics are pretty, aside from the jagged pixels that are forgiven in any 8-bit title. Surely the announcer could have taken up less space. He had an important job, but not half-the-screen important. His announcing did let me know when I was about to be completely destroyed by something like a Running-Ferocious-Tiger-That-Hasn’t-Eaten-in-Five-Days Shot. I’m always astounded by the complexities of this game. It was a soccer simulation with RPG elements that caught me in just the right way. Speaking of being caught, the music is all catchy. It’s just amazing how much this music can put you in the mood for soccer. In fact, check out the bottom of this post and hear it for yourself. I give this game 7.3 out of 8.1 decibels.

Tecmo Cup – Soccer Game in wave form, as captured during game play.

Introduction [Mirror]

Player Theme [Mirror]

Enemy Theme [Mirror]

Also, be sure to play the game and form your own opinions!

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