Neo Geo Cup '98: The Road to the Victory

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Neo Geo Cup '98: The Road to the Victory
Neo Geo Cup '98 - The Road to the Victory arcade flyer.jpg
Developer(s) SNK
Publisher(s) SNK
Series Super Sidekicks
Platform(s) Arcade, Neo Geo AES, Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Color
ReleaseArcade
  • WW: 28 May 1998
Neo Geo AES
  • WW: 30 July 1998
Neo Geo Pocket
  • JP: 28 October 1998
  • EU: 1998
Neo Geo Pocket Color
  • JP: 15 April 1999
  • NA/EU: 1999
Genre(s) Sports
Mode(s) Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade system Neo Geo MVS

Neo Geo Cup '98: The Road to the Victory is an association football video game based on the FIFA World Cup 1998, despite being released after the World Cup. [1] [2] It features 64 teams' countries. Each team enters a "Regional Qualifying Round Final" where it plays a team it actually played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification. For example: Spain would face Yugoslavia, an opponent it actually faced in its qualifying group. Or Italy would face Russia, an opponent Italy faced in the UEFA play-offs. If the player beats the opponent, it goes to a group much like the real life World Cup. In fact, the team faces opponents that were actually in its group. For example: Mexico would face the Netherlands, Belgium and South Korea. It is a re-make of Super Sidekicks 3 , but the animations and designs were exactly the same. The only difference is teams to reflect the World Cup, kits again to reflect the World Cup, and players to resemble squads from the World Cup (teams that did not qualify use line-ups from friendly games and qualifiers). Its slogan is "We got the kick".

Contents

Unlike its arcade counterpart, the Neo Geo version tries to be more of a soccer simulation game. Differences include the Neo Geo version being more slowed down, and more realism added in shooting, passing, etc. A color version of the game was released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color as Neo Geo Cup '98 Plus Color; this version was later re-released as part of Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 2 in 2022.

Playable teams

The game has 64 countries, grouped in 8 zones:

Europe (group A)
* Flag of Italy.svg  Italy
* Flag of the Netherlands.svg  Netherlands
* Flag of Switzerland (Pantone).svg   Switzerland
* Flag of Norway.svg  Norway
* Flag of England.svg  England
* Flag of Turkey.svg  Turkey
* Flag of Portugal (official).svg  Portugal
* Flag of Croatia.svg  Croatia
Europe (group B)
* Flag of Germany.svg  Germany
* Flag of Spain.svg  Spain
* Flag of Belgium (civil).svg  Belgium
* Flag of Romania.svg  Romania
* Flag of Denmark.svg  Denmark
* Flag of Ireland.svg  Republic of Ireland
* Flag of Scotland.svg  Scotland
* Flag of the Czech Republic.svg  Czech Republic
Europe (group C)
* Flag of France.svg  France
* Flag of Bulgaria.svg  Bulgaria
* Flag of Sweden.svg  Sweden
* Flag of Russia.svg  Russia
* Flag of Greece.svg  Greece
* Flag of Hungary.svg  Hungary
* Flag of Austria.svg  Austria
* Flag of Serbia and Montenegro (1992-2006).svg  FR Yugoslavia
Africa
* Flag of Nigeria.svg  Nigeria
* Flag of Cameroon.svg  Cameroon
* Flag of Morocco.svg  Morocco
* Flag of Egypt.svg  Egypt
* Flag of South Africa.svg  South Africa
* Flag of Zambia.svg  Zambia
* Flag of Cote d'Ivoire.svg  Ivory Coast
* Flag of Tunisia.svg  Tunisia
North America
* Flag of the United States.svg  United States
* Flag of Mexico.svg  Mexico
* Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg  Canada
* Flag of Costa Rica.svg  Costa Rica
* Flag of Puerto Rico.svg  Puerto Rico
* Flag of Guatemala.svg  Guatemala
* Flag of El Salvador.svg  El Salvador
* Flag of Jamaica.svg  Jamaica
South America
* Flag of Brazil.svg  Brazil
* Flag of Argentina.svg  Argentina
* Flag of Colombia.svg  Colombia
* Flag of Paraguay.svg  Paraguay
* Flag of Chile.svg  Chile
* Flag of Ecuador.svg  Ecuador
* Flag of Uruguay.svg  Uruguay
* Flag of Peru (state).svg  Peru
Asia (group A)
* Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia
* Flag of the People's Republic of China.svg  China
* Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
* Flag of the Republic of China.svg  Republic of China
* Flag of Iran.svg  Iran
* Flag of Iraq.svg  Iraq
* Flag of Vietnam.svg  Vietnam
* Flag of Singapore.svg  Singapore
Asia (Group B)
* Flag of Saudi Arabia.svg  Saudi Arabia
* Flag of South Korea.svg  South Korea
* Flag of Japan.svg  Japan
* Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg  United Arab Emirates
* Flag of Hong Kong.svg  Hong Kong
* Flag of India.svg  India
* Flag of Thailand.svg  Thailand
* Flag of Malaysia.svg  Malaysia

Tournaments

Arcade version screenshot showcasing a match between Colombia and Puerto Rico. NEOGEO Neo Geo Cup '98 - The Road to the Victory.png
Arcade version screenshot showcasing a match between Colombia and Puerto Rico.

The tournaments in the game are the following ones (between parenthesis, the real tournaments in which were based):

Release

Neo Geo Cup '98 (ネオジオカップ’98) is a football videogame released in Japan by SNK Playmore in 1998 for the Neo Geo Pocket handheld system. The game was released in Europe as Neo Geo Cup '98 Plus. It is a scaled down port of the arcade game featuring black and white graphics.

In 1999, an updated version was released in Japan as Neo Geo Cup '98 Plus (ネオジオカップ’98プラス). This release should not be confused with the previous European release, since the Japanese version of Plus is compatible with the Neo Geo Pocket Color handheld system. The version was released in North America and Europe as Neo Geo Cup '98 Plus Color. It is an update of Neo Geo Cup '98 with, as its title suggests, colour graphics.

In both releases, there are three game modes; single- a single "exhibition" match, 2p play- an option for two players with two Neo Geo Pocket Colour systems, Neo Geo Cup '98 cartridges and a link cable to play against each other, and story mode- a career mode in which players compete in the Neo Geo Cup competition, play friendly matches, play against friends via the link cable and purchase "power-ups" at the Soccer Shop using credits gained in the Neo Geo Cup competition.

Inconsistencies

Due to failure of getting any official FIFA license (EA Sports held the license) the tournaments are all unlicensed. Also, due to lack of FIFPro license player names are fake. For example: Ronaldo is known as Rosa, Raúl is known as Roul, Luis Hernández is known as Hernardo, Eric Wynalda is known as Wyoming, Carlos Valderrama is known as Valledupar and Martin Dahlin is known as Dahlgren. Despite it, most player's appearance in this game resemble their real-life appearance. Easily identical players are: Colin Hendry (blonde hair), Luis Hernández (blonde hair and caucasian skin), and Jorge Campos (goalkeeper kit) and others appear in the game. Other appearances are inaccurate; for example, Ronaldo is dark-skinned.

Though a majority of team qualifying matches are accurate, there are inconsistencies with some of the team's qualifier opponents. For example, England would face Scotland (although the player can also be paired against Italy, a team England faced in the 1998 qualifiers). Brazil would also play a qualifier against Uruguay. Brazil qualified automatically due to the rule that the winner of the last FIFA World Cup would qualify automatically.

Also, some players have incorrect numbers. For example: Hernán Crespo (Cresko in the game) has the number 11, but in reality he wore number 19, while number 11 was worn by Juan Sebastián Verón.

See also

Notes

    References

    1. "Title Catalogue - NEOGEO MUSEUM". SNK Playmore. Archived from the original on 2018-08-28. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
    2. "Ficha Neo Geo Cup 98: The Road to the Victory". Cultura NeoGeo (in Spanish). Retrieved September 5, 2019.