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Nekketsu Koukou Soccer-Bu
  GBSportsJ  
  opened by paleface at 04:25:31 09/27/05  
  last modified by paleface at 12:25:50 03/05/24  
  paleface [sys=GB; cat=Sports; reg=JPN]
           
The name means something like "Hot-Blooded High School Soccer," I think, and it came out on various systems back in the day, including PCE (see entry 479). In the West, on NES, it was World Cup Soccer or something to that effect, I believe, and if you look close on the title screen here you can see that down below as a miniscule subtitle.
 
In certain respects, this game ported pretty darn well to the GB. The sprites are large for the system and sport that sharp, handsome Kunio style that Technos Japan's old team was so good at. The simple soccer field backgrounds carry over with no problems, And the two button control fits right in on the GB. If you played the game on NES or PCE or something, you'll find that the GB version looks and feels pretty darn familiar. Well, I'm guessing; I've only played the PCE one.
 
Anyway, although great parts of it translated intact (you can even pick your offensive teammate strategies here: do they pass, or run straight down the field? Should they shoot, or wait for you?), the AI is way easier to beat here than in the PCE version, and the "press both buttons" move (a diving header?) seems like it can't connect with anything aside from the ground.
 
You can pretty much run circles around the AI, even on the slow, snowed-over pitch in Russia. Scores of 7-0 in my favor have been pretty common, at least through the first three matches or so. Could it go up steeply from there? Seems unlikely. Would be nice, though. As it is, I didn't feel like the game was particularly challenging once I'd figured out the basics of the control scheme.
 
Oh, and those seven goals will all be scored by you, since your team-mates are even dumber than the AI for the opposing team. Heck, you have to tell them when to punch the ball-carrier they're chasing (you control the same character throughout the match--no switching to the team member closest to the ball).
 
But hey, you're the player; you're supposed to be the hero, right? I don't have a problem with that. But it really should get harder. Hopefully...
 
Oh, the other not-so-great thing about this port is the sprite flicker. Technos Japan had a lot of that in their NES games, and you get a full dose of it here. It was hard to take a screenshot, since one side was usually flickered momentarily out of view!
    
 
references:
· Hot-Blooded High-School Soccer (PCE)
· Kunio-kun: The World Classics Collection (PS4)

 
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