Mario Smash Football Review

By Kristan Reed Published 23 November, 2005

A frenzied foray of footy frolics.

Version tested: GameCube

A small synopsis of our early encounters with Mario Smash Football, accurately, phonetically transcribed from the source tape.

"GOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL! GOOoooooaAAAALLLL! Goooooaaaaaal! GUHGUHGUHGUHGUHGOOAAAAWOooooAAAaaaaLLL-AH!" [snip]

Several hours later:

"GOAL. Goal. Goal. GOAL. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Goal. Gol. Gl. G-" Final score after five minutes: 11-4.

Mario Smash Football is about as far away from the defensive war of attrition you get in some modern footy games as you could imagine, and it's utterly berserk. We kinda love it for it.

This idea is hardly new, of course. Over the years we've seen the likes of Red Card Soccer, SEGA Soccer Slam and even FIFA Street carve themselves a slice of the crazy five-a-side market with varying degrees of success. All dispense with the notion of anything as old fashioned as 'rules', and every one focuses firmly on the fun factor. The joys of one-touch passing, bicycle kicks, power-ups, trailblazing power shots, crunching tackles, improbable scorelines, even more unlikely 'shots on goal' stats and the kind of joyous shirt-over-the-head silliness that goes down well between drab goalless draws in FIFA.

Such is the way of things with Mario Smash Football, but you can't help but fall hopelessly in love with it from the first time you chip the ball up to your man and see it promptly dispatched by like an Exocet missile blazing into the top corner. But when you realise it's developed by the same team that brought us the bizarrely unloved SEGA Soccer Slam, none of this disarming brilliance comes as any surprise at all. From the word go, you'll recognise the control similarities and many of the same gameplay principles that made it such an instantly playable game, and is every bit as crazily addictive as that particular lost gem.

The usual suspects

'Mario Smash Football' Screenshot fair

Not strictly fair, but hey.

As is standard issue for any Mario-related sports title, the full multi-talented ensemble make their appearance, complete with their own specific set of strengths and weaknesses. In this case, the usual suspects (Mario, Luigi, Peach, Daisy, Yoshi, Wario, Waluigi and Donkey Kong) make an appearance, and each game gets underway by choosing one of them to be your team's captain, as well as one of four 'sidekicks' (comprised of lesser lights Toad, Hammer Bros, Birdo and Koopa) to make up the numbers. Rather vaguely, it's not explicitly clear what their respective strengths and weaknesses are. There are no MK-style stat bars to find out who's best in defence or attack, or who's fast or best in the air. Instead you're told merely, for example, that Mario's a 'balanced' captain. Peach is fast, Luigi is best at passing, and so on. We still don't really know who's best. To make things even more uncertain, your sidekicks have various attack and defensive plusses or minuses. Mainly you'll choose them for entirely irrational reasons. No matter: it's just fun watching this lot strut their stuff on a footy pitch.

To begin with, you'll probably haplessly ping the ball around and wonder why the keeper's capable of saving almost all of your shots, no matter whether you've charged them up first or not. If you're playing against the CPU, you'll probably ship plenty of goals into the bargain, even on Novice, but then it starts to come together. Soon enough, you're learning how to effectively dispossess your opponent and engaging in unstoppable scoring orgies yourself.

Initially you might be content with politely sliding in to gain possession with a few hopeful stabs of the B button. Later you'll decide to resort to crunching violence by hitting the Y button to perform a gigantic 'Big Hit' last ditch shove, but sometimes only a Power Up will do. Performed with the X button, the game gradually rewards positive play with a Mario Kart-esque array of disrupting weapons. You know the type; banana skins, green, red and blue shells, explosive attacks, you name it. Anything to stop the opposition charging in on goal and unleashing one of those dreaded Super Strikes.

Double trouble

'Mario Smash Football' Screenshot bowser

Bowser's intermittent arrival causes even more chaos.

The Mario Smash Football equivalent of a finishing move comes in the form of a deadly, charged-up shot on goal that gains the successful shooter two goals if performed correctly. The catch is that only your team's 'captain' can pull off these deadly manoeuvres (your sidekicks merely shoot slightly harder than usual) and after a second or so of charging, a gauge flashes up, tasking you to stop the needle in the green zone of its two extremities. Fluff your timing and you'll blast the shot straight at the keeper, but hit either green zone and you'll clock up two goals for the price of one.

Needless to say, getting the timing right is even harder than activating the Super Strike in the first place, with the needle rapidly swinging left and back over to the right before you've really had a chance to react. But with practice, it can often make the difference between a win and a defeat as you turn over one goal defeats right at the death.

Finding clear space to pull of these all-powerful shots is no mean feat, either, with so many ways of being stopped. Soon, you'll be pinging pin-point passes, lofting Beckham-esque long balls on a sixpence and trying to sprint clear away from the defenders, trying to thread perfect passes through the eye of a needle (and succeeding) and hitting shots from all angles. With shots generally hitting the target almost every time, each and every game turns into a blizzard of pass-and-move as attack turns into defence in a blink of an eye. It's frantic stuff.

Happiness is a warm gun

'Mario Smash Football' Screenshot luigi

Luigi shelling out his path to glory.

Something you learn very quickly is to shoot on sight and stop trying to craft quite so much, usually lofting the ball in (holding down the left trigger and A), anticipating the run and hitting the shot on the volley. Certainly, the overly-forgiving early difficulty levels make it possible to rack up extraordinary scorelines in no-time, and clearing the game's four main cup competitions holds no fear within hours. But then it's game on.

The previously locked Super Cup competitions provide an altogether sterner challenge that would have even Beckham himself crying home to Posh for solace. Even at the lowest of the three Super Cup skill levels (Professional), the CPU takes no prisoners, laying waste to your defence with a hugely aggressive approach that robs you of not only possession in a flash, but probably your dignity into the bargain. Power-ups come at you thick and fast, previously wayward opposition shots become increasingly unerring in their accuracy, and even getting scoring opportunities to call your own feel like a victory. But despite the tears, Mario Smash Football sucks you in, regardless of whether you've got anyone to play against. With another, even tougher round of cup matches to unlock, with an ever-increasing number of matches to play, there's a ton of single-player encounters to wade through in true Nintendo fashion.

It goes without saying that as a multiplayer game it provides almost limitless entertainment, either in two player head-to-head, or two on two multiplayer. It's truly one of those games that you could (and we did) hand to a five-year-old and expect to enjoy a few decent battles, such is the fluid intuitiveness that lay at the heart of the design. By virtue of this inherent simplicity, there's a slight downside, in as much that you'll have sussed out much of the game's depth within a matter of hours.

Goalgasmatron

'Mario Smash Football' Screenshot defending

Shocking defending from Birdo.

As quickly as you'll get into it, you'll also run the risk of tiring of the endless succession of goals. By feeding the player with endless scoring opportunities, it has more in common with Basketball, such is frenzied end-to-end gameplay. Still, it's definitely a deeper experience than you might initially credit it with. Mastery over the ability to 'fake' when on the ball, for example is still a skill that eludes us, as is knowing the best times to unleash power-ups. Like any good footy game, the real test of its true worth won't become apparent to players in hours and days, but weeks and months. The important thing, though, is that there's certainly enough top-notch entertainment on offer to make it well worth owning - and given the dearth of GameCube titles at this stage it's nigh-on essential for anyone with a passing interest in fun.

Mario Smash Football neatly distils the entire 'fun for everyone' ethos that permeates so many of Nintendo's titles. It's charmingly designed from the ground up to be as fun and accessible as possible, yet despite its astonishing simplicity, it still managed to hold our interest well beyond our expectations. With polished visuals, amusing audio and impressive technical touches adding the final gloss to this excellent, addictive package, it's yet another fine example of why the GameCube shouldn't be written off just yet.

8 / 10

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Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (79) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Talha #1 6 years ago

    I am convinced that by publishing an 8/10 review of a non-Microsoft game for a non-Microsoft console on XBox 360's launch day, EG are once again demonstrating their obvious bias against the XBox 360

  • #2 6 years ago

    Oooh look, a big lonesome "1" in the ars*!

    *average reader score

  • #3 6 years ago

    The gameplay videos I saw looked rather nice.

  • sephy #4 6 years ago

    Talha - please dont start people off....

    as it is there is already a dodgy reader score...

  • neuroniky #5 6 years ago

    This is one of those games that reminds you of why you started playing videogames in the beginning: because they are FUN. Just like Sega Soccer Slam, this is outrageously fun in multiplayer, and a great if alittle bit short and shallow single player game. And not only the game has an over the top attitude, but it is also very easy to pick up and play (unlike i.e. NBA Street, which is a great game but that needs much more practice to get into). There will be complainers. People that will complain aout the Ninty chars, about the cute looks and about the lack of realism... just force a GC pad in their hands and see what happens.

    And, yes, it is obviously a review made to diss the XBoX360, Talha. But, you know, this XMas one could buy an XBox360 and a game of choice, with next gen graphics and previous-gen gameplay (PGR? Do you remember the first game of this series came out with the Dreamcast? And it was... exactly the same as its fourth installment...) and or a GC and ten or more games... many of which are recognized by critics and the lucky gamers that played them as some of the best games ever made... as a famous VG announcer says: "choose your destiny".

    P.S. Before anybody says I'm a Ninty fanboy... same reasoning could apply to a Ps2 or an XBox (even if admittedly the XBox has less exclusive killer games), only that everybody and his mother seem to have a PS2 right now, so...
    Edited by 2 at 23/11/05 @ 07:57

  • TILT #6 6 years ago

    Wow... I had wanted to make a witty ironic comment about this surely showing EG to be anti-xboxish, but it seems the fanboys got their rear in gear... with the second comment already! You people are a sharp bunch!

  • smelly #7 6 years ago

    ???

    I heard/read this game sucked!

    I'll wait for the budget release..

  • Rankin #8 6 years ago

    Talha, why not stop visiting/reading the site if you dislike it so much? You sound like a whiny arse.

  • smelly #9 6 years ago

    neuroniky I have to agree to an extent. People are quick to dismiss the cube as "dead" and rush out and pre-order a 360.

    For at LEAST the next year (easily) there are more great games to be played on the cube (or indeed the ps2 - i dont count the xb as most of the best games are on ps2 or pc anyhow), than will be released on the 360 in the next year.

    And the bonus is, us non-early adopters will get this games cheaper. Then when we DO upgrade, the 360 (if we still want one) will be cheaper, with (hopefully) decent games on it. If it's not, i'll do what i did this gen, and go for the other two.

    But unfortunately, gamers see any game which was released more than 3 months ago as "old news" and not worth buying?!? I keep reading gamers moaning there's NO WAY they can afford all the decent chrimble games, and how there is always a drought around summer?!? ERm.. Well why not, during the summer months, buy the games you wanted (but couldnt afford) during the winter months (at a knocked down price)?!? Seems crazy to me.

  • smelly #10 6 years ago

    People have had plenty of chance to catch up on essential Gamecube releases this year, lols.

    Note: I also specified ps2.

    But then again. Its not as if you need much time to "catch up" on essential 360 releases is it? HA HA

  • Rankin #11 6 years ago

    Just realised Talha's comment may have been a joke, if so I apologise. I hardly read the comments section these days as it seems to have turned into an EG bitchfest. Bias this, poor review that :/

  • gallow #12 6 years ago

    Why is it that this fun footy game has a nice looking pitch yet PES5 has a pitches that look like table cloths and dartboards?

  • Genji #13 6 years ago

    Three Mario reviews on the front page, oh my!

  • Gouki #14 6 years ago

    oh its football. (eurogamer staff) Me and the lads can play it down at the pub.

    You guys couldnt review a game if your lives depended on it.

    awaits the rage of the eurogamer fanboy posse.

    I'd take what ever eurogamer had to say with a pinch of salt.

    Read other reviewers and sites 1st.Pleeeeeeeeeease!!!!

    the only thing that these guys are looking forward to is extended drinking hours in the UK!!!!!!!!!


    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 09:01

  • Genji #15 6 years ago

    Are you being serious, or just trolling? It would help if you explained your problems with EG. I might take you a little more seriously, then.

  • NAC #16 6 years ago

    Anybody remember Nintendo World Cup on the NES and original Gameboy?
    I used to love doing the super overhead kicks from the halfway line and watching the ball fly like a ballistic missile into the net. So has the game play evolved from then as it seems the same?

  • Gouki #17 6 years ago

    Oooo eurogamers fanboys out in force early.

    Why do i come to this site because i love a laugh!!!!

    And for all you guys....
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 09:25

  • PearOfAnguish #18 6 years ago

    Better than Kameo, then?

  • djchump #19 6 years ago

    Saw some vids of Mario Smash Football on IGN - it did look very amusing, especially with the character voices and sound effects. Just hearing Wario's exclamations while he's playing brought a smile to my face :-)

  • Genji #20 6 years ago

    Hahaha Gouki, I get the joke now. You're just pretending to be an idiot, right?

    EDIT: OH NOES, HE DOESN'T EXIST ANYMORE

    Right?

    Also, I'm loving frod's comments, as always. Keep it up!
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 09:24

  • Moonprince #21 6 years ago

    " Let the on onslaught begin."

    Say what?

  • Gouki #22 6 years ago

    Ahhh i see now its a family affair.

    keep it in the family ;-)

    eurogamer and its band of merry interbreds

    ohh and genji yes i'm pretending to be an idiot, were as you are!
    Edited by 2 at 23/11/05 @ 09:28

  • Talha #23 6 years ago

    @Rankin and Co: I don't believe it guys. Will I have to print 'Sarcasm' in font-20 letters if I plan to make more comments like this? I would have if I knew the programming required....

    Get a life - it was meant to be a JOKE. You guys are proving to be surprisingly easy cannon fodder.

    @Slurpy: Take the comment in its spirit - I have no plans to be responsible for World War III. As it is, certainly I am not a half-wit here.
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 09:31

  • Decoded #24 6 years ago

    I'd buy this if only I had friends :'(

    OH THE PAIN

  • melw #25 6 years ago

    Don't know what this game has to do with Xbox, but sow far I've enjoyed it quite a bit. Too bad one of the wavebirds around here got broken so currently it's only a 3 player games at max. but it's still hell lot of fun. Easy to approach but difficult to master, this game actually has lots of tricks you don't notice at first. Need to play still more and unlock more fields / players / cups to see what it's really about but 8/10 sounds like a fair review to me.

  • Teeth #26 6 years ago

    bengalibengali is right - just try reading the comments from top to bottom. Brain rot, guaranteed.

  • smelly #27 6 years ago

    LOL Winding up game nerds is like shooting fish in a barrell.

    Its soo easy, it's getting to be just not fun.

    Right.. I'm off to laugh at people who've bought a 360 to play the same-old games with prettier graphics.

  • Genji #28 6 years ago

    It's funny, frod. Most of your oh-so-satirical posts are on the Nintendo-related threads. Why don't you spread them around a bit? They're quite valuable.

  • Ecanem #29 6 years ago

    In same boat as Decoded..

    /sulks..

  • Genji #30 6 years ago

    Oh! And I thought you had me on ignore. How does it feel to be a troll? Good?

  • krudster #31 6 years ago

    Jebus, what's happening to comment threads these days?

  • Talha #32 6 years ago

    the worst part is, many people think my initial comment was serious and failed to get the joke completely. And now, apparently nobody has read my clarification and the thread is dominated by two giants quarrelling.

    Duh!

  • Dizzy #33 6 years ago

    Meh

  • morriss #34 6 years ago

    will buy this game

  • Sabre #35 6 years ago

    As good as Halo then?

  • Genji #36 6 years ago

    Talha, I never take you seriously ;-)

  • Talha #37 6 years ago

    @Genji: Thanks for making me feel even BETTER.

    Duh! and Duh! :((
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 10:54

  • technos #38 6 years ago

    This game is great. That is all.

  • Genji #39 6 years ago

    I like your comments, though, Talha. You seem like a very level-headed person, not like some people here. There's intelligence behind your humour. I like that.

  • Talha #40 6 years ago

    If anything, Ninty make unapologetically fun games. It somehow comes very naturally to them, unlike other devs.

    @Genji: Why thanks man. That made my day. As for the intelligence part, usually it is not bad, but at least today I seem to be one of the smarter people around - shame (don't giggle). And I thought only I couldn't get jokes sometimes, due to English not being my first language.
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 11:03

  • Genji #41 6 years ago

    @talha
    What is your first language, again? I think I read it somewhere before. My first language is Australian.

    Oh, and hi frod!

    *waves*
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 11:14

  • Talha #42 6 years ago

    @Genji: It is Urdu, actually. Needless to say, I am in fits after reading about your 'first language'.

  • caligari #43 6 years ago

    Talha and Genji, can you guys just get a room ALREADY?!

  • Talha #44 6 years ago

    @caligari: Hey, you are welcome to join us.

  • caligari #45 6 years ago

    Ewww Talha, are you calling me a voyeur?

    /grabs his DV camera

  • Talha #46 6 years ago

    Gosh no. I am just calling you.

  • Genji #47 6 years ago

    I'm only interested in his mind, I swear!

    /displays heterosexual badge

  • smelly #48 6 years ago

    In fact that's an incredible comment from an obvious Nintendo fan, to be honest.


    That's because they make great games. If they started making games for other machines, it wouldnt bother me in the slightest. I'm a fan of nintendo (and sega) games, dont give a flying fig about the hardware (well apart from the revo, but that's because it's doing something different).

    Now if any of you sony/microsoft fanboys want to admit to being a fan of their GAMES (and not the hardware).. feel free.. so i can laugh at you.

    So ner ner ner ner ner... Have fun with yer endless racing and fps games (which are the exact same with prettier graphics), i'm gonna get this after reading this review (i was put off up until now as it was supposed to be crap).. and then animal crossing ds/sonic rush/etc etc.. Fun fun fun!

  • weaselrat #49 6 years ago

    smelly you are a sad sad boy

  • Talha #50 6 years ago

    @Smelly: You are looking rather sad, bro. No one is actually a fan of any console - we all are fans of the STYLES of games our consoles offer. XBox offers games close in style to PC games (largely), PS2 offers a whole range thanks to its huge installed base, ranging from downright stupid to unparalleled brilliance. We all get quality shooters and racers and simulators and sports games between these two.

    Now don't complain, you asked for it: What does GC offer? Mario Kart for our racing pleasure? Mario Smash Football as a footy sim? Not that these games are bad in themselves - the worst part is your sick insistence that only the types of games offered by Ninty are any fun.

    And if it is so, why GC sales are so pathetic? Why the newbie XBox beat the mighty Ninty? Chances are, people wanted serious, engaging, deep gaming experiences to go with their consoles without Mario staring them in the face. Just look at the likes of Halo, PGR, GT, SotC, MGS - nothing on GC matches these games.

    So laugh at us all you want - it is even funnier with your Nintendogged insistence that only games with tiny characters, primary color palletes, plink-plonk sound effects are funny. This attitude is in fact so funny, it is not even funny anymore, just sad.

    Having praised Ninty's originality and bravery elsewhere, I categorically state that I am all for Ninty's style of games. It is just that they are not the only game in town, as you seem to believe.

    Laugh all you want, but you will laugh alone. If you don't believe me, keep reading these comments. Here it comes. EDIT: It is a pity the thread has gone so long that many people will miss your real juvenile mindset. I just hope they see your post at least.
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 13:20

  • weaselrat #51 6 years ago

    I have all the current gens and have to agree with Talha!
    Smelly you are obviously a ninty fan boy! I love my game cube but more hardcore gamers use PC's / Xboxs and on the whole(not entirely) most gamecube games of late have been more about short term fun than suck you in and spit you out longterm gameplay!
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 13:13

  • Hog-lumps #52 6 years ago

    \glances at latest comments

    Oh guys, does this really have to decend into a 'my consoles better than yours' debate?

  • Talha #53 6 years ago

    @Hog lumps: Look again. It is not really that, and even if it sounds like it look how it got started.

  • caligari #54 6 years ago

    It was always the Beta-Max of the console world...but I did love my Gamecube.

  • weaselrat #55 6 years ago

    whats he on about?? smelly boy is the one playing the game of mines better than yours! I have all of them!
    tsk!

  • superdelphinus #56 6 years ago

    i cant believe the world has come to this.

  • Kami #57 6 years ago

    I have all the consoles and a PC. So no fanboyism here, I get to play games across all platforms and THAT is the way I like it (and have always liked it).

    On the subject of Microsoft beating Nintendo - that entirely depends on what you consider "success". Sure, the X-Box has a slightly larger userbase - but X-Box made large, unavoidable financial losses, compared to the Nintendo Gamecube which, surprisingly, made a reasonably large profit. I count that as a draw in my eyes.

    Either way, who cares, really? Nintendo make some wonderful games - technically sound and fun games which you can have a real blast on, with the odd mixing in of games like Eternal Darkness etc. to nourish the odd need for something a little deeper, a little meatier. X-Box is a console which has some lovely games and is technically brilliant, I just feel like it got the short end of the stick games-wise for me. But I am demanding, and maybe the X-Box - while I like it - wasn't orientated to satisfying the demanding audience. Not the systems fault, it was just aimed at a different market.

    It depends on what you like, of course. I like all kinds of games, and I like the variety, so I'll keep getting all the major systems and enjoying the best of what each system has to offer. If you aren't that lucky though and you have to pick one... just be happy with what you got. Fanboyism isn't right and it isn't clever - it makes you look about as bright as Jack Thompson. Be happy with what you have... each system has it's fair share of great games and it's fair share of whatsit.

    Just enjoy the games and stop feeling the need to justify your stupidity by attacking the owners and manufacturers of a system. Believe me, if any of these big guns went and withdrew from the market - Sony, Microsoft or Nintendo - I think the industry would really suffer for it... we need their different approaches, now more so than we ever have before...

  • brombeer #58 6 years ago

    I cannot believe I play games anymore...Just look at Ebay?! More than 5000 360's for sale for incredible prices. Look like all the pre-orders came from people just to make a quick buck, not gamers, who are now sulking for not being the first adopters (but normally, that's a good situation in the console world as we all do know very well, learning from past experiences). The games industry has got nothing to do with games anymore. The fun has left it totally. The world has finally gone daft...

  • BillGaitas #59 6 years ago

    I guess this is OK for Nintendo fans and thats how it should be rated, but i hate nintendo games so ..........
    Edited by 1 at 23/11/05 @ 14:16

  • Feanor #60 6 years ago

    LOL. Who would have thought that every game Eurogamer review deserves a 1/10 from at least a few readers.

    "What is your first language, again? I think I read it somewhere before. My first language is Australian."

    Struth, mate, you're a fair dinkum Aussie? etc.

  • smelly #61 6 years ago

    LOL.. This is great fun!

    Note I said sega too.. And note in my first post on this thread i said the ps2 has great games too.

    Personally when judging all 3 in terms of games, i dont count the xbox, as most of its best games are either ps2 ports or end up on pc.

    Besides..

    And if it is so, why GC sales are so pathetic?

    Because gamers are stupid? Dunno, as I said, dont care about hardware. Best ask one of the XBOX fanboys who care about hardware sales. As if the GC sales were pathetic, the XBOX ones were almost as bad (only a couple of million more sold than the cube world wide). But it's worse than that as they were all sold at a loss.



    But that aside, I do find it interesting in that my first post was about sticking with current gen as there are still ace games coming out on the cube and ps2. Then my second post was about being a fan of a games company not a hardware company (like people were accusing me of)..

    .. And then all of a sudden, all the xbox fanboys throw their dummies out of their prams and start calling me sad (for daring to like games, or daring to wait to see what happens), and start crying.

    for example I say:

    Now if any of you sony/microsoft fanboys want to admit to being a fan of their GAMES (and not the hardware).. feel free.. so i can laugh at you.

    My point here being that Nintendo and sega are first and foremost games makers. Sony and microsoft dont make games (Well they buy companies to make games for them), they're more interested in getting their hardware into your house. Subsequently my point was that I can understand a nintendo/sega/capcom fan, I cant understand a sony/microsoft fan.

    I'll put it simply. I like eating nice food. I'm a fan of the food which comes out of my oven. I'm not a fan of the oven itself? See? How this upsets insecure microsoft fanboys is beyond me.



    Now .. Talha (who i'm not accusing of being a fanboy here, I respect him as a poster, but as he picked on me personally) says:

    So laugh at us all you want - it is even funnier with your Nintendogged insistence that only games with tiny characters, primary color palletes, plink-plonk sound effects are funny. This attitude is in fact so funny, it is not even funny anymore, just sad.

    Did I say that? I said i owned a ps2 (and a pc but i havent said that in this forum), I like a variety of games. I *am* a nintendo (game) fan, and I *am* a sega (game) fan. I'm not a sony/microsoft fan, as they dont make games, just hardware... And anyone who does say they are, is a bit strange to me.

    See? Now if someone said "rare" fan (for example), i'd understand that - as they make the games?!


    If someone can explain hardware loyalty (to the point where people will mis-read a poist start shouting at someone just for saying he's enjoying games on his current machine, as they think they're somehow dissing their current machine), then i'm all ears.

    If you read my first post. I actually said i'm considering getting a 360. But i'm waiting for some decent games on it first. Until then, i'll carry on enjoying games like mario soccer, and whatever else is out on current gen..

    How that upsets xbox "fans" is beyond me.


  • joey #62 6 years ago

    So it's quite a good game then, I read that it's actually a hockey game engine with the Nintendo characters added, which explains the action element.

    Think I may get this as when it comes to games parties it ways the N64 and Cube that get used the most in my house.

  • Nikanoru #63 6 years ago

    I liked it much better when it was "gamers against Thompson" instead of "gamer against gamer". You all suck. :(






    *coughandnintentorulesyouallcough*

  • smelly #64 6 years ago

    Lol.. Well I'll stop trying to wind people up now.. TBH, im still not convinced by this.. as some reviewers have REALLY slated it (Worst being ign if i remember correctly, but then, they are americun).

    Hang on. It just dawned on me. If you want proof that nintendo hate europe (despite making ace games), look at this game. It's a FOOTBALL game which got released in AMERICA before EUROPE!?!?

    Wtf is up with that?

  • smelly #65 6 years ago

    Probably one of the first I'd chuck out if the balloon was dropping.

    For me, the cube still has lots of games i want to play but havent got around to (baeten kaos being one of them).

    So, if i had all 3 consoles and a pc to choose between chucking out, it'd be the xbox. Nowt on there i'd want which ISNT on the ps2 or pc.

  • jmctavish #66 6 years ago

    I saw a video of this and it looked fantastic. It's a shame that practically nobody will buy this though.

  • Kami #67 6 years ago

    Personally, I think people need to quit getting out the tape measures.

    When it comes to consoles, the majority of us just don't care - we've either got 'em all and skim the cream of the crop, or people are happy with what they own. We don't feel any need to get all abusive and flamey to justify to ourselves we got the better system - there's no point. Why piss people off if we're happy with what we have?

    There's no real need to vote a game down just because it's on a certain system, or that it contains a certain character. That really demonstrates the lack of maturity and intelligence within the individual fanboys... I'll wager those who rated this game "1" are the people who haven't played this game...

  • weaselrat #68 6 years ago

    @smelly.. why would you throw the xbox? I own all of them and yeah you are right, the PS2 does have alot of the same titles but when I buy a title(unless it's MGS which is one of the very few exclusives left) I normally go for the x box version or cube version because both are more powerful with less load times etc! everyone else i've spoken to that has all the consoles does the same!
    It all comes down to if you have the money and consoles you get whichever one will perform the best for your £40!
    Or are you just confused????????

  • Fozzie_bear #69 6 years ago

    If the balloon was dropping then obviously you'd chuck the Xbox on the basis of it's weight.

  • kentmonkey #70 6 years ago

    No offence intended Kristan but after your "score" (not review as the points you made were valid as I stated before, I could tell it wasn't something that would interest me from what you've written) of FIFA Street, I promised to never take another review of a footy game you've written as a buying decision ever again! ;o)

    That was almost on topic, unlike about 70 of the 80 odd posts thus far! :o)

    /waves willy

  • ImGameCube #71 6 years ago

    /shocked at image painted by kentmonkey.

    Bet you've got a bright red arse as well...

  • Kami #72 6 years ago

    No, because that would make him a baboon, not a monkey.

  • Carrybagma #73 6 years ago

    It's a FOOTBALL game which got released in AMERICA before EUROPE!?!?

    [big grin]

  • Talha #74 6 years ago

    @Smelly: I sought to comment on your COMMENTS and not you in person- I assure you that I had no intention to 'pick on you' just for the sake of it. It seems to be that some hair-splittng is going on here - in casual dialogue one would assume a Sony fan and an MS fan to be PS and XBox fans respectively. You did not make very clear what you meant, instead it came accross aas if you were saying that Sony and MS have no games worth being fans of.

    But surely, MS are a game dev as well, since they came up with excellent Forza? And Sony has such close relations with some devs (Polyphony, the ICO guys) that they can be considered in-house.

    @Kami: I appreciate your viewpoint, but I think given Ninty's formerly dominant posiiton in home console market, GC was a failure. MS should be given SOME credit for approaching GC sales - it was their first ever console. Even a Ninty exec recently said that if Revo does not sell more than GC, it will be an 'absolute failure'. Please note that I do not say GC is a CRITICAL failure.
    Edited by 1 at 24/11/05 @ 05:53

  • Kami #75 6 years ago

    No problem Talha, I think I know which angle you're coming from on this.

    Like I said, in comparison Microsoft won a (slightly) larger userbase - but walks away with millions of dollars in losses. Nintendo may be third in the installed userbase, but they walk away with a profit at the end of it, which is kinda the point of a business.

    Of course Microsoft should be given credit for what they've managed to accomplish. But the price of achieving that userbase has been great - not just in monetary terms. Microsoft may have money to burn, but 360 will HAVE to make a profit - Microsoft is a business after all, and you can't keep bailing out a system by throwing more money at it than it's going to give back.

    That's just my stance on it. I think Rev and 360 are going to both be killer systems - and hopefully both will sell more than they have this generation. But Nintendo is going to need to up it's userbase considerably, and Microsoft is going to need to play a far more shrewd game with it's coffers this time around... only then can we consider either system a success...

    Should be an interesting few years...

  • Bezzy #76 6 years ago

    It is a fun game and I like it.

    It could be a *little* deeper, but it does what it does well.
    Edited by 1 at 24/11/05 @ 11:27

  • aine #77 6 years ago

    Nintendo World Cup was brilliant. If you can get hold of it, try Kunio Kun no Nekketsu Soccer League for the NES - it's a sequel of sorts (same developer), there's a translation patch out, and it's quite possibly the best football game ever.

  • Talha #78 6 years ago

    @Kami: Actually I agree with you on the commercial aspect of XBox. Every business has to make a profit and usually, achieving market share at a loss is the stupidest thing any business could do. Well MS got away with it because they are Microsoft, with exceptionally deep pockets and (presumably) unquestioning shareholders.

    And yes, it would be nice if Revo, 360 and PS3 sell even more because it will expand the market.

  • Ymir #79 6 years ago

    Quick question: I'm trying to decide between this and Mario Power Tennis, which would you choose and why?

  • Tonka #80 6 years ago

    @Ymir: Get Smash Football. It's ace.

  • dave3x #81 6 years ago

    If I should buy a singleplayer footie game. This or PES5?

  • pikemon #82 6 years ago

    I've been playing this 4 player versus CPU quite a bit during the xmas holidays with my relatives, and it's really been great fun.

    It's totally the Mario Kart of football games. Simplistic representation that retains the essence of it's subject matter while adding fun items that make the tactics of high level play totally different from what they are in those games that aim for realism.

    We're now at the professional difficulty level and I'm looking forward to the harder levels with more seasoned gaming buddies... I don't want to play it alone though, because a 4 man team is much more fun (plus your character doesn't switch much as there are only 4 playable characters on the field too).