Neo Geo Cup '98 review by substance J

Neo Geo Cup ’98 is a port of SNK’s arcade footballer, and one of the Neo Geo Pocket’s 1st sports titles. Being only a sub-casual soccer fan, I was very pleasantly surprised by the game. Let’s take a look at how it stacks up

Graphics: A

The graphics in Neo Geo Cup are quite good for any system, let alone a portable. The players, ball, and nets look super crisp. All of the animations are smooth and clear, and the screen scrolls very well. There are some nice little details, like how the goalies wear gloves and different jerseys. Awesome! Having much more personality than most sports games, Neo Geo Cup is loaded with high quality hand-drawn art. Characters in menus like, the coach, TV reporter, sports shop owner, burglar, Etc. are all very well drawn and have cool little animations. The overall graphic presentation is great. All the option cool menus have art. The games start with a little "TV report" showing your team practice while the reporter makes his predictions, each goal has a different art screen, a referee pops up with a card after fouls, etc. The game also features a very cool animated intro in classic SNK style. Wonderful stuff.

SFX: B

There aren’t many sound effects in the game, but what’s in there is cool. When the ball is kicked or passed, it has a very satisfying anime-like sound. The ref sounds his whistle for penalties and timeouts, and the crowd sounds relatively good, seeing as how such SFX can often turn out rather annoying. Menu sounds have a nice tone to them as well

Music: B

The music really takes you back to the 8-16 bit days when catchy tunes made up for musical complexity. The intro, menu, 1st quarter, and end-of-game music is very, very catchy and I’ve found myself humming the songs when not playing. While simple, they work well and really fit the overall feel of the game. Also, in-game music seems to change after each goal.

Gameplay: A-

When I first heard about Neo Geo Cup, I imagined it would be very simple and Pong-like. Boy was I wrong. The game is quite in-depth, the AI is good, and the gameplay is very solid. The engine uses 2 buttons (of course). A is mostly used for swift, (ideally) close-range ground passes, and B is used to make long down field passes and goal shots. By holding A, the pass will be faster, and when going for a pass with B, pressing the button once will do a fast low-level pass or shot, where as holding the button will result in a high, floaty kick. Tapping A twice while the ball is in the air will cause the closest member of your team to head the ball to another man, or into the goal. While on defense you can kick away the ball, or go for a nice hard tackle. Be careful though! If your player is armed with strong Leggers, it could result in an injury to the other player, and thus, a foul. Other moves such as Bicycle Kicks can be done, but I have not yet figured those out (unfortunately, the manual doesn’t have picture-based instructions). Quite a bit strategy is involved in the game. For example, doing a high kick into the goal, forcing the goalie to jump. The goalie will often only be able to block the ball back in such situations, so while he regains his momentum after landing, have one of your other teammates go in for a nice swift kick. On defense, when the other team tries to score on you, you have limited control over your goalie while the ball is in the air. After playing a few games in the road to the cup, you’ll have some money to go to the sports shop and buy some gear for your players. Like leggers, headbands, shoes, socks, almost anything. Then you can equip each of your players in their own custom gear. While going for the cup, all kinds of insane things can happen to you. Like a burglar breaking into the locker room and steeling all the socks! You then have to track him down and try to get the goods back.

Replay Value: A

The game plays great, every game is always different, it’s loaded with options, and it’s always a blast. Go for the Neo Geo Cup, play an exhibition game, buy, sell, and trade equipment, link up with a friend to play a Vs. match or trade items - There’s plenty to keep you interested, and the fact you can play it just about anywhere helps.

Overall: A

You still reading? Good! Great gameplay, options, and graphics make this a classic title that even a non-sports fan like me can enjoy. It makes great use of the hardware, and it’s a blast to play. Select your team and send them into battle!! Classic SNK goodness.