I could talk here all day long on this subject, ehh Tomi lol. Remember Kick off 2 ehh, and Sensible soccer as well, in the early-mid 90s. I've never really been a fan of footy games though, and as you might have noticed, I like the more violent action based games. I thought at the time, that the original Medal of honour was brilliant, before Call of duty had even started then!.
Sensible World of Soccer 96/97 is still the best football game of all time. The FIFA games (or whatever they're called now, EA FC?) look all nice and shiny, and they give you quite a realistic match experience, but the game takes so much control away from the player that it's not always so satisfying to play. Sensible Soccer, on the other hand, does exactly what you want it to do, and it's all about fun (and not at all about realism). Of course it's showing its age now - the first Sensible Soccer game was released 32 years ago (!) - but it's still surprisingly good. Considering how huge football is all over the planet, I find it strange how no one has succeeded in making a less serious alternative to the FIFA games.
The guy who invented Sensible Soccer is launching a modern version, Sociable Soccer, apparently. I watched a video about it on YouTube. You’re right though. SWOS 96-97 is the greatest. I got Barnsley promoted that season well before Danny did. Theme tune was superb too.
I'm considering getting an Evercade handheld. There's a new version out at the end of this month which comes with a cartridge with the original 3 Tomb Raider games. I like the idea of an old retro handheld, as I don't get the time to play console games anymore, and I'm more of a pick up and put down gamer anyway. Anyway, I'm going a long way about saying, you can get Sensible Soccer on the Evercade. Part of a cartridge of games from Codemasters: https://evercade.co.uk/cartridges/codemasters-collection-1-cartridge/ Though I'm more likely to get this one for Actua Soccer, which was the first football game I ever played. It also has Premier Manager 97: https://evercade.co.uk/cartridges/gremlin-collection-1/
Been playing FIFA Manager 2009 for 15 years now. I play the Costa Rica league and have recently adapted the South African league to be a Caribbean league. I play most days and am on season 23 of the Costa Rican version. Great fun, hopefully it will run as long as I do, and I've rigged it so that the influence of money is much diminished. I constantly change the four teams I can control so it's as random as I can make it. Life is simply about passing time as enjoyably as you can for as long as you can.
Will just came across this fans on one of the YouTube channels he watches. Think I pissed on his chips a bit as I already knew all about it and he was excited to tell me
I don’t play games with Will unless we go to the Arcade Club every so often. I do like that it keeps him entertained while I do my solo hobby of reading though. It works out well and we can be saddos together.
Its Football Manager for me, well, Championship Manager 01/02. Still play it because it runs so well on my laptop, and with the newer ones it can take a month to do a season. Nothing better than chilling on the settee after work with the dog and guiding the Reds to their 20th Champions League in the year 2073. Yes I've wasted my life.
A month ... I'm only in October of 2nd season of FM 24 and been trying to play it since it came out..... Saying that though, I don't get much me time with it, but any time I can I might sneak an hour here or there. Champ 01/02 was probably the best I enjoyed too. Some times games can be too complex in the race to achieve as near real life as possible....
I made the mistake of getting our young un playing it. Now I have to listen to all the drama of his games when I'm sat unable to play my own game haha. Setting up an online game on here may take a year to play a match or 2 I'd guess lol
I remember an Actua Soccer that had Oakwell on it. The only time I’ve seen the stadium replicated on a console. Which reminds me of the three day period in 2021 when at the club we had some fellas in from EA Sports taking thousands of photos of the stadium from every angle possible, in case we were promoted. Annoyed me did that. You’ve taken the imagery, so just recreate Oakwell regardless. Sure they added Wrexham’s home ground when they were in the National League. Barry Davies on comms on Actua Soccer. It was like a 3D version of Sensible Soccer really. Great game, great memories. I feel old as ****.
Loved that version. It was a game, it was fun. Haven't got in to any of the subsequent versions. They're so complex it feels like a job. That you don't get paid for doing.
I think you might be thinking of a different game. Actua soccer was national teams. There was 'club edition' which came out the year after, but it was the season before we were in the Premier League so we weren't on it. Oakwell might have been on one of the early This is Football games from memory. It was the first 3d football game on console though, even ahead of fifa. I remember it not playing very well, but I'm getting it for the nostalgia more than anything. On the club version, I was always Derby because they had Ashley Ward up front
You can download Championship Manager 01/02 for free and there's a a whole community that provides player updates and tweaks for the game. You can even add VAR if you wish.