FIFA Soccer '97
Game Boy
Developer: Tiertex Design Studios Publisher: Black Pearl
By: GammaBetaAlpha
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Table of Contents
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
How To Play [HELP]
Passwords [PASS]
Donations/Amazon [DONT]
Contact Info [CONT]
Credits [CRED]
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
How to Play
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
[HELP]
FIFA '97 is a traditional football/soccer game with the FIFA license.
Unlike most other soccer games on the Game Boy, such as Nintendo World Cup or
International Superstar Soccer, the FIFA series plays with a diagonal
(isometric) view screen and playing field.
Another big difference from the other games present on the Game Boy is
that the playing fields on FIFA '97 are immense: it can take a great deal of
time to move the ball downfield, simply because it stretches for the length of
several screens from goal to goal.
Further unlike those games, play is considerably less automated, and you
will have to take active control of a player on the field at all times if you
wish to make any decent headway. Goals are also considerably more difficult to
score in the FIFA series present on the Game Boy than for the other, more
arcadey-style games. This usually borders on being hideously impossible to
score.
Other than that, basically all the regular football rules are present in
FIFA '97, including having 10 players, penalties, yellow and red cards, and so
forth, with the possible exception of offsides (it might be there, but I did not
ever get any offsides). Fouls can be toggled on and off in the options menu.
The game has the real names and logos of the country and club teams at
the time, but does not have the names of the players themselves, instead
resulting in generic names.
FIFA '97 also makes use of the Super Game Boy, having enhanced graphics
including colour when utilised.
Controls
--------
A - Kick the ball softly (tap)
Kick the ball with some strength with a little bit of aim (press and hold
before releasing)
Change your active player (when on defense)
Throw in ball (Throw in, Goal Kick, Corner Kick)
B - Kick the ball with a hard shot
Aim the general location of where the ball will land on a corner kick or a
goal kick
Dash (Defense only)
Throw in ball (Throw in)
A + B - Strike an opposing player who is in possession of the ball
Give-and-goal the ball (offense)
Do a flat kick (press and hold B first before pressing A)
D-Pad - Move your active player character around
Aim kicks and passes (useless as this may be)
Start - Pause, Unpause the Game
Passing and Kicking
-------------------
The game is, rather unfortunately, nigh-upon unplayable due to the
controls. It can be ridiculously hard to make a kick when you want to make a
pass, and vice versa. Even if you turn your back towards the net to face a
teammate and hit either the A or B button, the game will still interpret this as
a kick, and then on some occasions when you want to make a kick, it will instead
make a pass. And even when you do make a pass, often the possessing player will
just kick the ball in a nonsensical direction instead of anywhere near the
teammate you are facing.
When you actually make a kick on net, do not try using the B button.
While your kick is automatically a fast strike, it will, without fail, always
send the ball straight into the goalkeeper's hands. You will have better luck
using the A button to kick, where you can at least actually change up the
directions you kick. However, you need to press and hold the A button before
releasing to get a strong kick - if you merely tap the A button, all you shall
get is a limp kick which covers little distance.
To actually pass to another player, there are a couple of techniques you
can do. Neither of these are especcially effective techniques unless the other
teammate is close by. You can press A + B both at once to leave the ball right
where you are in a give-and-go action, press the A button to switch to the other
player, and grab the ball. You can also press and hold the B button for a second
or longer, then press the A button (while the B button is still held down) for a
flat kick to your other teammate, and it actually travels in the direction you
are facing.
Stealing the Ball
-----------------
When a member of the opposite possesses the ball and is dribbling it
around, you can steal the ball (and possibly also knock over the opposite
player) by moving up to him and pressing both the A + B button at the same time.
This will always cause the ball carrier to lose the ball, but instead of
successfully stealing it, sometimes it will just dribble out from your grasp and
you must go grab it instead.
Dashing
-------
While on defense, you can press the B button to give the active player
character a quick, temporary dash of speed. After a few seconds, you can repeat
this feat.
Goalie Kick/Corner Kick Ball Targeting
--------------------------------------
When making a kick from the corner or as a goalie, you can press the B
button to move a cursor around on the field to direct where you want your kick
to land. Note that if you move it too far, your kick will not land here, but it
will go in the general direction of where you highlight the cursor.
Teams
-----
These are the teams present in the game. While each team has a make-up
of (generically named) players with unique stats, the teams also have their own
stats list represented by bars on the team select team.
Algeria Denmark Morocco South Korea
Argentina England Netherlands Spain
Australia France New Zealand Sweden
Austria Germany Nigeria Switzerland
Belgium Greece N. Ireland Turkey
Bolivia Hong Kong Norway U.S.A.
Brazil Hungary Poland Ukraine
Bulgaria Iraq Portugal Uruguay
Cameroon Israel Qatar Wales
Canada Italy Rep. Ireland Tornados
Chile Ivory Coast Romania
China Japan Russia
Columbia Luxembourg Saudi Arabia
Czech Rep. Mexico Scotland
Italy, Brazil, Argentina, and the 'Tornados' team (presumably a
developers special team?) have the best stats, with the Tornados having top
stats in everything.
---------
MAIN MENU
---------
Here are the numerous options of gameplay and other odds and ends to go
over when entering the menu upon starting up your game.
Exhibition
----------
Play a single match between two teams of your choice, with the team you
play as on the left side of the selection screen.
Tournament
----------
The Tournament setting follows the FIFA format. Select your team to play
as and you will be put into a randomly selected group of 4 teams, and play each
team once. The best two teams from group plus a few of the better third-place
teams will advance to a round of 16, where it then moves into a single-loss
elimination tournament.
Playoffs
--------
Playoffs skips the initial qualifying round of the Tournament setting,
moving straight to the round-of-16 single-loss elimination bracket.
League
------
This option allows you to select one team and play every other team in
the game twice to determine who is the best team in the game's league.
Restore
-------
This allows you to go resume where you may have left off in a
tournament, playoffs or league setting, using passwords the game gives you to go
back to where you last finished up.
Options
-------
Options gives you five things you can change in your games.
You can change the lengths of game halfs to be 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 20,
30 or 45 minutes each.
You can toggle Fouls, and with them, Penalty Kicks, Yellow Cards and Red
Cards on and off. They are by default off.
Change the Game Type between action and simulation, with Action being
the default. In Simulation, as the game drags on, players purportedly get tired
and move faster to simulate fatigue in real-life, but this does not occur in
Action.
Toggle the Field Type between Dry, Muddy, Damp or Random. Drier
conditions are conducive to the ball moving more quickly and having higher
bounce.
Sound allows you to toggle between having Music and Sound Effects, Music
only, Sound Effects only, and no sound or music whatsoever during a game.
--------
PRE-GAME
--------
Prior to the start of a game, you can go through a few more options.
Team Coverage
-------------
This allows you to toggle the length of the field that will be covered
by your defence, your midfielders, and your attackers when the ball is within
the zone.
Team Strategy
-------------
Team Strategy lets you change the behaviour of the A.I. of your
teammates. Automatic is the regular all-around A.I., Longball I _believe_ is
concerned about getting the ball upfield constantly, Defend is self-explanatory,
All-out Defend focuses your players tightly around your own net, Attack is self
-explanatory, and All-out Attack focuses your players tightly around the
opponent's net.
Team Formation
--------------
Here, you can move between a 3-5-2, 4-4-2, 4-2-4, 4-3-3, and a Sweeper
formation (5-3-2).
Player Selection
----------------
Here, you can select new players to replace those already assigned to
play. Roster players who are going to play have an X flashing on the field map.
To select a new player, press B to pick him, then scroll up and select the
player you want to replace with the B button again.
Control Set-Up
--------------
In this menu, you can toggle how your D-Pad moves your characters and
aim. When the arrow on the D-Pad of the Game Boy is pointing up, you have to
press left and down or right and up to move along the field. If you toggle the
arrow to point to the upper right, it changes your control perspective so just
pressing the up button makes you move up AND right along the isometric
perspective of the field (and down goes down and left).
----------
MATCH MENU
----------
During a match, you can open up a menu where you can do sevveral things.
Team Coverage, Team Strategy and Team Formation are covered above.
Score
-----
Check the score and time.
Substitutions
-------------
Slot in a replacement player to any of the on-field players.
Game Stats
----------
Give some in-depth stats on shots, saves, etc., and time of possession
of the ball.
Score Summary
-------------
A more detailed version of Score where the scoring player and time score
are also listed.
Bookings
--------
Lists all the yellow and red cards assigned to players on both team, if
any, during the game.
*Crazy Ball mode makes the ball do odd things when you kick or pass it.
It can curve around at random, and sometimes your shots will be ridiculously
powerful, sending it halfway across the field into the crowds.
**Supposedly this unlocks an EA Dream Team, but I have been unable to
get this to work. It is a good password, but does not seem to do anything.
I don't really care too much about donations, but if you are feeling
generous, feel free to send one via PayPal to gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT
com
Alternatively, if you ever order any items from Amazon.com, go to the
link below. You do not have to buy anything right away, but (if you do not clear
browser cookies often) any items you buy within the next 90 days will count as a
'referral order' to me, meaning I get anywhere from 4-6% as a referral/affiliate
payment of what you ordered (ie. order $100 worth of stuff, I get $4-6 from
Amazon.com)
Other than that, considering this FAQ is for an obscure old game, if you
have any other obscure old games that you do not play anymore, consider sending
them to me (I will even pay the shipping cost!). I write FAQs for plenty of
obscure old games with no FAQs, and having a physical copy of the game (and even
better, a manual) is superior to not. You can email me if interested at
gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Contact Info
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
[CONT]
Although I believe I have found everything there is to find in this
game, there is occasionally the possibility of some super secret level in an
obscure game that was never found because it was too obscure, or the like. If
you have anything that you feel needs to be includes, feel free to email me at
gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
If you have any other information to contribute or notice any errors,
again, shoot me a notice at gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
If you wish to host this guide, or use information from it, consider the
FAQ semi-public domain: you can host it without asking and derive information
from it word-for-word if you wish, but keep the document unchanged if hosting it
and give credit where due if using information
