When you think of the biggest football franchises of the 32/64-bit era, you immediately think of FIFA and International Superstar Soccer. It's no surprise really, given both EA and Konami still dominate the soccer game landscape today (though less so in Konami's case), and will amusingly both feature complete name changes as of next season, with ISS/Pro Evolution already becoming eFootball, while bickering over the license means FIFA will soon become EA Sports FC.
Both companies released numerous games on Saturn, PlayStation and N64 hardware (yes, a Saturn ISS/Winning Eleven does exist!), but they’re merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to football games of the era. During the 96/97 season alone, dozens of football sims were released across all platforms, from Actua Soccer and Adidas Power Soccer to through the FIFA and ISS entries to Worldwide Soccer and Victory Goal.
There truly was an abundance of choice in that era, which embarrasses the one sided two-horse race we have today.
But it’s the last two series in the previous paragraph I want to talk about: Victory Goal and Sega Worldwide Soccer.
As time has worn on, these games have been largely forgotten by everyone, seemingly including Sega themselves. And that’s a crying shame because these series, in addition to essentially being one and the same, present possibly the best and most prolific football releases of their era.
“Best” is always going to be subjective, but you can make a strong argument for each of these being better than their peers, and in some cases inspiring the biggest franchises that came after.
And as for them being prolific? No single publisher launched more football games on a single platform during the Saturn’s lifetime than Sega. Don’t believe me? Let’s take a look?
Victory Goal
The very first fifth gen football game, and it’s a good one! Launched in January 1995, not only was it an early release, but it was one of the very first fully licensed soccer sims, beating EA’s FIFA to the punch, with real players and teams, albeit entirely based on the J-League. It's a simple 3 button arcade style romp, with multiple viewing angles demonstrating it’s 32-bit prowess and it's a load of fun.
International Victory Goal
Take Victory Goal, remove the J-League license and you have its Western younger brother. A launch game in Western regions, it has the same arcade appeal as its Japanese counterpart, but with only 16 teams. Still, despite the small team selection, it has an abundance of modes and options and is still great to play.
Sega International Victory Goal
Same name, same game right? Wrong. A new title screen and UI are just the start, the game engine has been given another update and everything feels snappier and more responsive, even compared to the Western version. It may still have just 16 teams, but a few have been swapped out, cementing this as an update rather than a regional variant.
Victory Goal 96
Sega’s developers, Team Aquila, upped the ante for the next release. Gone are the sprite based players, replaced by a fully polygonal engine. The J-League license remained with hugely improved gameplay. Perhaps the most influential game in the era as the rumours were that Konami took inspiration from it for its ISS64 and ISS Pro entries.
Sega Worldwide Soccer 97
In with a shout for being my favourite football game of all time, and certainly the one I spent the most time with. Victory Goal 96 was updated further, International teams were back and the number increased to around 50. There’s an abundance of modes including a full World Cup style tournament with qualifiers and the like, predating any others that would attempt it. A true great!
Victory Goal Worldwide Edition
SWWS97 was again adapted back to the Japanese market, with new features and branding, but making it just the second international game in the series in the land of the rising sun.
Victory Goal 97
The first game to switch developers, with SIMS taking the helm over Team Aquila. Further engine updates and refinements make this final game with the Victory Goal name a worthy entry for the brand to bow out with.
Sega Worldwide Soccer 98
SIMS first entry to tackle the Western Markets added three domestic leagues to the 48 international teams, with licensed player names to boot, so this was a huge update, content wise. Gameplay changes also closed some of the AI holes in previous entries.
World Cup 98 Road to Win
If you want the final form, the ultimate evolution of the Saturn Worldwide Soccer/Victory Goal franchise, look no further. It may lack real player names, but the France 98 license does give the game an air of authenticity. It even has a World Cup Qualifying mode, something its Western FIFA rival would also boast.
So there we have it, from 1995 to 1998 Sega developed and released NINE games in the series on the Saturn alone. That’s an astounding number.
And they all performed well in their respective regions, well, assuming you focus on Europe and Japan (Americans are famously less warm to our form of soccer-ball). Sega Worldwide Soccer 97 received perfect scores from a few UK outlets, and as I mentioned it’s a personal favourite of mine too.
And let’s not forget that Sega also published Euro 96 England (developed by Gremlin) and World League Soccer 98 (developed by Silicon Dreams) as well, bringing the tally to 11 football games published for the system.
Once again, astounding first party support, it underlines that Sega really do love the beautiful game, and to me demonstrates that, during those years, they were the champions of fifth gen football.