Super Soccer


Super Soccer, known in Japanese as Super Formation Soccer, is a football video game developed by Human Entertainment for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and published by Human Entertainment in Japan and Nintendo internationally. It was released in Japan in 1991 and in North America and Europe in 1992, being a launch title in Europe. It was included on the Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Famicom released in Japan in October 2017 and was initially re-released worldwide on the Nintendo Classics service in September 2019, but was delisted on March 28, 2025.

Gameplay

The game consists of exhibition games and tournament games. In exhibition, one can choose to play either a match or a shootout. In tournament mode, one plays until one beats all other teams. After beating all the national teams, the player must play one final team, Nintendo. When the tournament has been won, the player receives a code to play the game in a more advanced mode.

Shooting

The Gameplay provides a wide range of shooting options. It is possible to do a low shot by pressing the passing button. The shoot can be straight or bent in either way to make the shoot wider or closer. The same thing is possible by shooting higher. A shot that would normally be too wide, central or narrow can be bent.

Passing

These are the options:
  • Passing the ball to a selected team member. The ball will move automatically to him.
  • Straight, sharp, low passes. They can be bent to make them more precise if needed.
  • Passing via pressing the shooting bottom. This is useful for wide vertical or horizontal passes or closer passes to a team member with good ball control. By means of bending, high accuracy can be achieved which can accelerate the attack and create space.

    Crossing

Crosses can be made while the player stands horizontally or diagonally towards the goal line.
  • Standing horizontally, the ball can be bent inwardly to make a dangerous cross.
  • Standing diagonally, the cross can be bent both ways: inwardly or outwardly. Outward Crosses are an effective way to score goals by a header.

    Series

Originally, Formation Soccer was a PC Engine-native game that was released before the 1990 FIFA World Cup. The series was then carried over to Super Nintendo, with the addition of the prefix "Super". Meanwhile, two sequels of Formation Soccer for the PC Engine were spawned. In 1995, Hyper Formation Soccer was released for the PlayStation; two more Formation Soccer games were later released for that console. In 2002, Formation Soccer 2002 was released by Spike, for the Game Boy Advance.
Super Formation Soccer spawned four sequels, all of them developed and published by Human in Japan only.
  • Super Formation Soccer II
  • *Kept largely the same structure of the original game, only with some teams changed: Ireland, Yugoslavia and Uruguay are replaced with, and.
  • Super Formation Soccer 94
  • *Was made specially for the then-upcoming 1994 FIFA World Cup, including the 24 teams that partook it, plus Japan.
  • Super Formation Soccer 95: della Serie A
  • *Instead of national teams, this game featured all clubs from the Italian Serie A.
  • Super Formation Soccer 96: World Club Edition
  • *It was the last game to date in the series. It featured 18 fictitious club teams from around the world, based on well-known teams by the time.

    Reception

Super Gamer gave an overall review score of 63%, writing: "Once one of the best footie sims, competition from more recent releases has made this seem painfully slow and unsophisticated."