Posted by VortexSpin on June 22, 2026 at 14:09:39 EST in reply to The World Cup starts soon, and I figured it was a good time to finally play Neo Geo Cup 98 Plus. I'd tried it years ago and shut it off in disgust because it seemed boring and rigged - the enemy goalkeepers block everything! But sticking with it this time (and reading Substance J's old FAQ on GameFAQs) I see now that the game is really less "skill" based than in looks. Yeah there's gameplay mechanics and real-time action, but at the end of the day when you take a shot it's really your attacker's KICK value against the enemy goalkeeper's stats. All the animations and ball placement might look the same, but if you have +14 KICK from some sweet Russian scientist upgraded gear...the ball hits the back of the net all the time. It's still a fun little game with a ton of character! The knockoff names are hilarious. Hope to win the cup soon. Anyone else have a good time with this one? (n/t) from VortexSpin.
The game relies heavily on a mechanic where you move slower if you're dribbling / have the ball - so you have to pass or do speed burst moves to avoid getting tackled. But then the shop sells expensive gear that boosts a player's speed, which kind of breaks the game in a funny way. You can put a stamina boost and a speed boost on the same guy and just have him run all around the field and none of the CPU players can catch you. It's that special kind of entertaining game breakage.
n/t
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