International Superstar Soccer Pro ‘98

Release Date - May 28, 1998 (JP)

Developer - Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo

Publisher - Konami

Platform - PlayStation

1998 was a World Cup year, and as you’d expect with the world’s largest sporting event, there were a plethora of games to tie in to the occasion. World Cup ‘98, FIFA ‘99 and Actua Soccer 3 were just some of the titles that were contending with International Superstar Soccer ‘98 for the proverbial Football Game of the Year cup.

1998 was a World Cup year, and as you’d expect with the world’s largest sporting event there were a plethora of games to tie in to the occasion. World Cup ‘98, FIFA ‘99 and Actua Soccer 3 were just some of the titles that were contending with International Superstar Soccer ‘98 (ISS for short) for the proverbial Football Game of the Year cup.

At the end of the day, it’s a game of two halves…

The ‘ISS’ series of football games were a precursor to the popular Pro Evolution Soccer series, although in Japan both series were given the Winning Eleven title (some titles also went under the name Goal Storm. Yes, it’s all very confusing.). Pro Evolution Soccer remains a much loved series that often competed with EA’s FIFA titles throughout the nineties. While ISS didn’t have the valuable FIFA licence that EA’s series had, it made up for it with outstanding gameplay.

As you might expect from a sports title, ISS would see yearly updates to reflect the changes in the sport’s landscape, and also to make incremental updates to the gameplay formula and improve the graphics. Compared to the predecessor game, ISS Pro/Goal Storm ‘97, updates were made to the rosters and an expected focus was put on the World Cup international teams.

Fitting for a World Cup year, the game had a big selection of international teams.

Important for any sports game, the controls are very responsive. The control scheme is simple at first glance, but has lots of room for skill and nuance. Beginners will be able to understand the basics of pass, through pass, and a shot at the goal, while experts will put these moves together along with some more advanced strategies available to control the non-player team-mates.

Refinements were made to free kicks that made them less likely to score a goal without making some nuanced decisions with the power and angle of the kick. Controls were updated to allow for accurate crosses, one-twos, chips and more advanced techniques. Players could now make use of ‘meter bars’ and double taps to add additional functionality to the control scheme and alter the existing techniques available.

At the end of the day, it’s eleven men against eleven men…

Team statistics and management was an important factor, with the game providing a ton of detail for avid armchair managers. You can see different formations, replace players with reserves, and even see the player’s attitudes during the game. Player statistics down to their weights are available, and it all adds to that great feeling of being able to fine tune your team for success.

A feature that added a lot more depth was the ability to instruct your team to focus on offence, defence or neutral play. This was in addition to the usual formation selection for your players, and would cause the players on your team to be more aggressive or defensive as the flow of the game dictated. Players will be looking for crosses and opportunities for goals when on the offence, or hanging back being ready to stop the opposing team’s aggressive plays on goals when playing defence. 

Awesome amounts of detail for players to fine-tune their team to perfection!

Further to this was the ability to switch between strategies. Two strategies could be assigned before and during the game, one each attached to the R2 and L2 buttons. This allowed you to switch between set strategies on the fly while playing. It really adds to the fluid feel of the game, and makes you feel like a team captain, calling it on the field to adjust to the game in motion.

The presentation was great too, with TV like overlays to update the game at half time and full time, replays and even Tony Gubba, a sports commentator from the BBC providing a constant commentary stream for the match. He accurately will respond to passes, shots on goals, fouls and the even the weather. He also provides some colour commentary for things like a blow out game. After a particularly dreadful performance for example, he’ll make remarks like ‘There will be some stern words from the manager in the locker room after that performance’. In a nice touch, he even mentions that the highlights will be replayed at 11PM on ‘Konami TV’. Brilliant.

The game has some lovely presentation, makes you feel like you’re watching it on TV!

The game looked great too, with nice animations for all the players, and a variety of stadiums and weather conditions to play in. 

ISS Pro ‘98 featured the usual assortment of gameplay modes to choose from, Exhibition, League and various ‘cups’ to play, including the 1998 World Cup, European, Asian and African cups. In a nice touch, you can even choose the World Cup to be automatically populated with the actual qualifying teams from the real life 1998 Cup! You can of course, also choose to make a custom grouping, and even have the option to play all the world cups in either single player or multiplayer! 

The gaming press had some lovely things to say about the game on release. One of the finest sports games of the year? And that’s no mean feat…
(From CVG #203)

There is also an ‘All Star Match’ mode, where the teams were the European All-Star teams and the World All-Star team, for a true fantasy creme de la creme faceoff! In fact, ISS Pro ‘98 had the highest number of teams to choose from in the series history at the time. The game received some very positive reviews at release, standing out among the crowd in a year that saw a deluge of football games being released to coincide with the World Cup. To this day the game is fondly remembered as one of the finest football games of the year.

Years on, and this game is still a joy to play. Much like the beautiful game itself, you can always have some fun diving into this gem.