⚽️ Was ISS Deluxe The Most Influential Soccer Game? ⚽️ #Retrogaming #SNES #PES

When I think back through all the football (soccer) video games that I have played over the years, and there’s a lot, I’m trying to think back to the game that really changed the landscape of football games and paved the way for the likes of FIFA and PES.

Naturally, people tend to think back to the first FIFA game on the SEGA Mega Drive or maybe they look at Kick-Off or maybe Sensible Soccer. 

Those games were awesome and I loved playing those games as they were fun and intuitive.

For me though the game that truly paved the way for the future of football games had to be International Superstar Soccer Pro Deluxe. This game swept me away when I saw it.

I had always yearned for a football game that felt like I was playing football rather than just launching a ball towards a goal and hoping for the best. ISS Pro Deluxe looked beautiful and it played like a dream.

It introduced players that actually looked like players from real life. I loved Valderamma from Columbia and Gullit from the Netherlands. 

It just felt like the awesome Taito Soccer Champ games had come to home consoles but this was even better.

One of the other awesome features was the ability to play Co-Op vs the CPU opponents which led to a rarely experienced before then co-op footy experience.

At the time the commentary was also revolutionary with phrases like “Down the wing!” “Incredible Control!” and “Blocked Shot!” still ingrained into my mind. This was well before commentary became a standard feature and it just added that extra level of realism that I so yearned for at the time.

Also, there was an extra level of tactical detail added that meant you could action set strategies in-game and again this was ahead of its time in the arcade football world.

The secret teams were also great as they were unlockable by winning certain competitions and add those to the 137 teams to choose from and you had an amazing roster of teams to get stuck into.

Then there were the cool looking stadiums that you could play, 14 stadiums of varying sizes that were just unheard of at the time.

This game set the path for the ISS Pro Evolution Soccer series to blossom into the best footballing franchise of a generation as they built from the solid foundations laid by ISS Deluxe and its awesome fun gameplay.

It’s a shame that football games have strayed away from the fun aspect and instead prefer to become football simulators rather than a fun kickabout with lots of laughs. 

One thing that does raise my hopes though is the imminent release of Sociable Soccer from Jon Hare of Sensible Soccer fame.

Hopefully Sociable will tap into the spirit of ISS Pro and those games like it in order to bring football video games back to the people.

(EDIT 08.08.21 - Sociable Soccer turned out to be awful! )

VIVA ISS DELUXE!

"STAY FROSTY!"