| Soccer Brawl | |
| Developer: | SNK |
| Publisher: | SNK |
| Producer: | Eikichi Kawasaki |
| Designer: | S.Chinatsu T. Yokoyama |
| Composer: | Yasumasa Yamada |
| Genre: | Sports |
| Arcade System: | Neo Geo MVS |
is a futuristic soccer game first released in arcades on February 14, 1992. It was available on the Neo Geo on March 13 the same year and later for the Neo Geo CD on March 31, 1995.[1]
It is a futuristic soccer game that uses either bionic people or cyborgs for the players. It is a two-player game where you pick a home land from one of eight countries. After selecting one of two stadiums, either a dome or an open field, the 5-on-5 soccer match begins with a goalie for each team. You can hold either A for a power shot while on offense, or A for a super shot to disable opponents while on defense. You can perform tackle and slide. Captain wears a kerchief, can't shoot and can make super shot. Power shots rebound from walls except walls behind the goalie.
There are no fouls. Throw-in is made in case of the ball landing outside of field line. Match time is 2 min 30 sec.
There are 8 teams, which differ by color, super shots and, possibly, some parameters.
USA and England: super shot flies on a "figure eight" trajectory.
Italy and Germany: super shot flies on zig-zag.
Spain and Brazil: super shot is energy sphere surrounded by eight small balls.
Korea and Japan: super shot flies in a circle behind captain and flies straight.
It is possible to choose the difficulty level: Beginner, Normal, Hard, MVS. A match consists of 2 periods. It is possible to set period time (15, 30, 45 or 90 min), but it is not actual minutes. The half time shows are humorous monochrome skits showing unlucky attempts of engineers to build robots. Also, there are no women on the score screen.[2]
In Japan, Game Machine listed Soccer Brawl on their April 1, 1992 issue as being the eighth most-successful table arcade unit of the month, outperforming titles such as Hat Trick Hero.[3] In North America, Play Meter listed the game in their April 1994 issue to be the sixty most-popular arcade game at the time.[4] The title received mostly positive reception from both critics and reviewers alike since its initial release in arcades and Neo Geo AES.[5] [6]
In 2014, HobbyConsolas identified Soccer Brawl as one of the twenty best games for the Neo Geo CD.[7]