Sensible Soccer for Sega Genesis

General Game Guide and Tips
Written by Twirl
E-mail at [email protected]
Date 19.08.2001
Version 1.0

This Game Guide is available at its homepage Emunalysis
at http://emunalysis.topcities.com
And Gamefaqs
at http://www.gamefaqs.com

Contents:
=========
1. Introduction

2. General Game Information
-Controls
-The Options Menu
-Things you Should Know Before Playing the Game

3. Pre Game Setup
-Team Selection
-Squad Selection
-What the Difference are Between the Teams
-Formations
-Substitutions

4. Ingame Gameguide and Tips
4.1. Defence
-General Defence Guide
-Controlling the Goalkeeper

4.2. Offence
-Simple Goal Scoring
-Slightly More Advanced Goal Scoring (but still fairly simple)
-Avoiding Computer Players While You’re in Possession

5. Dead Ball Situations
-Free Kicks
-Goalie Free Kick Outs
-Throw-Ins
-Corner Kicks

6. Concluding General Tips
7. Outro
8. Credits
9. Legal Stuff

1. Introduction
================
Welcome to my Sensible Soccer Game Guide and Tips!
This Game Guide for Sensible Soccer is primarily aimed at the beginner of the game.
Preferably one who has never played it before. It is to get you up onto your fingers
and playing sensible soccer in Sensible Soccer in any amount of time you desire.
If you have already come to grips with playing the game and are reasonably good at
it (ie able to play at Normal level and Beginner is a breeze), then you have come to
the point where you are able to discover your own bag of tricks without the need for
much assistance, so this game guide isn’t quite for you.
Whatever the case, this Game Guide is a combination of a basic playing guide mixed
in with some tips. Now lets go play some sensible soccer!

2. General Game Information
============================

Gamepad Controls
-----------------
A: Shoot at goal
B: Lob ball or pass ball to nearest player depending on distance from other players
C: Pass ball to nearest player or straight kick ahead
Start: Pause the game

The Options Menu
-----------------
Reset Battery Ram: Select OK here to remove all saved games and return the
game to its default settings.

Game Length: Select from 3 mins, 5 mins, 7 mins or 10 mins.

Menu Music / Ingame Music: Select from "on" or "off"

Seasonal Weather: When this is on, instead of selecting your type of pitch before a
friendly match, you select a month.

Language: Choose from English, German, French or Italian


Things You Should Know Before Playing the Game
-----------------------------------------------
-When you stop a player from running when he is in possession of the ball, the ball
will roll away from his feet.

-When selecting a pitch type, there isn’t much of a significant difference during the
game. If I were you, I’d select "Random" for a variation. Basically in the pitch types
"Normal", "Hard" and "Dry", the ball bounces pretty high and rolls fast. And in the
pitch types "Wet", "Muddy" and "Soft", the ball gives a low bounce and rolls slowly.
"Icy" makes the ball roll on longer.

-Some people may find Sensible Soccer a hard game to get into because of its
speed. Just keep at it in the game and you’ll find the Beginner level a piece of cake.
Trust yourself.

-Bring some mates over! It is always more fun playing against human players than
the computer. Always.


3. Pre Game Setup
==================
Team Selection
---------------
The first thing that you would want to do is to pick your team.
Here's a list of the best teams to help you decide.

Best All-Round International Teams:
Holland and Germany

Other Good International Teams:
France, England, Sweden, Italy

Best All-Round Club Team is AC Milan

Other Good Club Teams:
Eindhoven, Milano, Lisboa, Barcelona

Best All-Round Custom Team is Sensible XI

Other Good Custom Teams:
Sad Things, Grasshopper XI, European Cities, Enchanted XI, Nasty Things, Renegade

There are many other good teams in the game. You just have to experiment a bit to
find them.

Squad Selection
----------------
When selecting your squad on normal or professional level, try to build up as many
star forwards and midfielders. Don't worry about star defenders or goalkeepers,
because they don't make that much difference. It's speed up front that counts so
your star forwards or midfielders can easily slice through the opposition’s defence.

What are the Differences Between the Teams?
--------------------------------------------
1. The players and their names. For the real teams, their names are real. Except
they’ve been slightly altered to sound funny so Sensible Software and Renegade
wouldn’t have to pay for an official licence. I’m not entirely sure if the players are
any different (with the exception of star players), because I haven’t payed any
close attention to them.

2. Their skill level. The better teams have more speed in their passing and more
power and accuracy behind their shots on goal. While the weaker teams will have
slower passing and less power and accuracy behind their shots on goal than the
stronger teams.

3. Their speed. Simply the better teams run faster and the weaker teams run
slower. This is actually the biggest difference that sets apart the good teams from
the bad teams.

4. Their Goalkeepers. A very weak goalkeeper will be less reactive and slower in
saving goals. His dives won’t be as effective as the better goalkeepers, meaning
that if he does save the ball he is less likely to have caught it than better goal
keepers and if he does hit the ball away, it won’t go as far. Also their ability to
pick up balls rolling along the ground are very sloppy, so even long range shots
have a good chance of going by him. Basically it is easier to get shots pass
weaker goalkeepers than stronger goalkeepers.

Formations
-----------
The most effective formations for scoring goals are Attacking and 3-5-2.
Once you have a quite a comfortable lead, like about 3 goals, don't get too cocky.
Your so called comfortable lead can be easily cut down against a very good team.
eg when I was using Bremen playing against Milano, after gaining a 3 goal lead, the
final score came out 7-4 to Milano.
Defence is very important, so switch to either Defence, 5-3-2 or sweeper to hold out
the opposition in those crucial moments.
The best all round formations in both Attack and Defence are 4-4-2 or 4-3-3.
In case you don't know how to switch formations, just triple tap left or right in a
dead ball situation, select the guy who is waving his arms around (who is you, the
coach) and a list will come up.

Substitutions
--------------
Don't forget that you can substitute your players!
When you think a hard working player has done his deed for the day, triple tap left
or right in an ingame dead ball situation, then you can substitute players from there.


4. Ingame Game Guide and Tips
==============================
4.1. Defence
=============
General Defence Guide
----------------------
Defending in this game is slightly more difficult than attacking if you’re trying to do
it yourself, because the speed of the players make it hard to follow what you’re trying
to do in a quick amount of time.
To do a standing tackle, simply run into the opposing player.
To perform a slide tackle, push any of the buttons.
Usually you won't be doing any of the tackling as the computer does
this for you. Do slide tackles a little close. Doing them far away will foul
the opposing player and may give you a yellow or red card. If you foul inside the
penalty box, then a penalty kick is awarded.
If you really want to get the ball out of the deep end of your half, the best thing to
do is to just boot it right up the field by taping the shoot button.

Controlling the Goal Keeper aka the Goalie
-------------------------------------------
The goalie during the game is automatically controlled by the computer to position
itself and save goals, but with the exception of these 2 situations:

1. You can pass the ball back to your goalie, then you can take control of him like
any other player. A good move to keep the ball clear from your penalty area is to
pass the ball back to your goal keeper then get him to do a straight boot up the
field, just like what they do in real life. It is advised that you don’t to run out too
far with your goal keeper, or suffer the consequences.

2. Penalties. Believe it or not, but you are actually in control of the goal keeper in
penalties. If you just leave the goal keeper alone after the opposing player has
taken the shot, the goalie will dive in attempt to save a shot being kicked to the
left or right, but his chances of saving it are lowered, since you haven’t told him
which way to go. You will have to decide whether the computer is going left, right
or straight up, then push into the direction you think it is going. If you are right,
the shot will be saved. If not, better luck next time!

3. After your goalie has saved a ball using his hands, it will remain in his hands
allowing you to decide between a pass out or a direct big boot out.

4.2. Offense
=============
Simple Goal Scoring
--------------------
When you’re shooting for goals, you don’t necessarily have to have be right up close
to the goal box. It isn’t always the case of the closer the better for this game.
It is all to do with the positioning of you and the opposing goal keeper.
In fact, alot of the time it is the long range shots which are more effective.
So here are the very basics of scoring goals. They are easiest to pull off at beginner
level, so practice before going onto the higher levels.
Slightly more advanced goal scoring will follow.

1. Just run straight at goal in anyway you can, get a little bit close and shoot!

2. Cross in method. Run into the corner of the field and like in real life,
kick or pass the ball into the penalty box. When it happens to land on one of your
players, shoot!

3. Free kick scoring. When you get a free kick just outside the penalty box,
shoot! If it passes the wall and with a bit of luck, it has a fair chance of going in if
you aim for the corners.

4. Corners. Kick or pass the ball into the penalty area like cross ins, hope it lands on
one of your players and shoot!

5. Penalty kicks. Just choose straight, left or right and shoot!


Slightly More Advanced Goal Scoring (but still fairly simple)
--------------------------------------------------------------
1. Shooting from acute angles. Approach the goal in a really acute angle.
This gives a larger more exposed goal space behind the goal keeper, but
normally the shots are inaccurate. Nevertheless it is possible to score.

2. Shooting in an angle run in. Approach the goal running diagonally, but in the
direction not facing the goal, then shoot after turning the striker to the direction
of the goal. This works best in long range, so around the penalty box line is good.
Ie the goal is to the right of you, so run in left diagonally vice versa.
This lures the keeper to go in your direction and possibly coming out to
expose a large goal space for you to shoot. You can adjust your run in by zig
zagging your way into the penalty box.

3. Shots in line with the goal post. A very nice and effective position to shoot from
that can be done in long or short range. The goal keeper has a hard time saving
these shots. One way is to run straight for the goal in line with one of the goal
posts, then shoot just around the penalty box area. Or you can run in horizontally
inside the penalty box and shoot as soon as you are in line with the goal post.

4. Lure the goal keeper out of his box, turn around and shoot! This is done by
running right up to the goal keeper and before he gets close to the ball,
immediately turn around and shoot. The only thing standing in your way of doing
this properly are the opposing defenders. Alot harder than it seems, but with
quick fingers and quick reaction it can be done.

5. Finish off unfinished business! At times when you attempt shots from anywhere
and the goal keeper saves it through a dive, the ball can either go to any other
player or left rolling around. If it does happen to land back to you, most of the
time there will be too many defenders for you to even run around, so don’t waste
time! Go for the shot!

6. Slide tackle goals! In any situation when the ball is very close to the goal and you
are within reach of it, go in for a slide tackle! This is a really cool way to score.
Works well from cross ins.

7. Own goals. When you have hold of the ball really close to the goal line, the
computer will very often go in for a slide tackle. If you’re lucky, an own goal will
be scored!


Avoiding The Computer Players While You’re in Possession
---------------------------------------------------------
Most of the time, you’ll be keeping the ball in play by passing the ball around.
But at times you’ll want to make up some solo efforts, so below are the basics to get
you started. These work best in beginner level, because the speed of the computer
players are reduced.

1. When being chased from behind, run a 360 degree circle and head back to where
you were going before and repeat if necessary. This may sound dumb, but it usually
works to get defenders off your back, particularly after they’ve attempted a slide
tackle and missed.
Even 180 and 270 degree circles work too!

2. When running into defenders, do a fake out by running in a diagonal direction,
then changing direction to fake out or confuse the opposing players. This works very
well to avoid slide in tackles as well as looking stylish.

4. Run left and right around the field until you eventually make it to the
goal box. If you run is a horizontal direction around the field, the computer is less
likely to tackle you head on.


5. Dead Ball Situations
========================
Free Kicks
-----------
In any free kick situation, you can either pass the ball to the nearest players or boot
it up the field by tapping the shoot button. If you are just outside the penalty box, go
for a direct shot at goal if there is reasonably large horizontal gap between the wall
and the goal. If not, you can still go for a shot, but it is best to just pass it and
create a new opportunity for goal.

Goalie Free Kick Outs
----------------------
After your goalie has saved a goal using his hands, it will remain in his hands for an
immediate kick out. Here you have to be careful, because after your goalie has saved
it you can immediately take the free kick meaning if you take it real quickly, the
computer players will be around to pick it up and have a clear chance of scoring if
they shot from close distance before. So if your goalie does save a shot, take your
time! Wait for all players to clear out, then take the kick.

Throw-Ins
----------
By tapping the kick and pass buttons, you can either throw the ball to the closest
players or throw it straight up or down into clear spaces for someone else to pick up.
By tapping the shoot button, your player will make a big throw straight into the
direction of the goal. This is good if you are desperate to clear the ball from the deep
end of you half if you don’t want to risk passing to another one of your players and
losing it.

Corner Kicks
-------------
If you are defending from one of these and the computer happens to boot it straight into
the penalty box, there isn't much you can do, except for hoping your goal keeper catches
it before going anywhere else. Try not to continuously tap the shoot button to clear the
ball out as quick as possible after a corner is taken, because by doing that you can easily
foul players by your unintended slide tackles, leading to a penalty for the other side.
Just be careful.
If you are taking a corner kick, it is usually quite difficult to turn these into goals by
booting it straight into the penalty box. If in doubt, just pass to a player who will
always be nearby. Again, try not to continuously tap the shoot button after you take the
corner, or else you will do pointless slide tackles.


6. Concluding General Tips
===========================
-Remember that you can do substitutions and change formations by triple tapping
left or right in any dead ball situation.

-Don't underestimate this game. I was playing a game and had a 2 goal lead in
1 minute. I was laughing about this game being so easy on beginner level! But the
other side for the rest of the game sank in 6 goals in a row!!! Seriously, I ended up
losing 6-3. I very pissed man, I was!

-Remember that the ball doesn't stick to your feet, just like in real life. If you stop a
player from running, the ball rolls away. You've got to keep moving around, which is
what makes the game so much fun.

-Pass the ball around with just one tap at a time. If you have passed the ball to a
player and have already tapped the pass button before the ball gets to the player,
then the player will do a slide tackle. So try to be careful, because this does happen
every now and then unexpectedly. I think that it is a bug when this does happen
when you did tap the button once.

-Don’t bash the buttons around! If you do, then slide tackles will go all over the place
to create a mess. Sensible Soccer is a game of careful thought and coordination, so if
you’re normally a button basher, try to adapt to the style of play.

-I highly recommend leaving the ingame music on, because the sound effects are
awfully repetitive.


7. Outro
=========
This concludes the Sensible Soccer Game Guide and Tips. By now, you would have
absorbed all the knowledge of this text file and are ready deliver the goods out onto
the fields of Sensible Soccer. If you have mastered everything in this Game Guide,
then you are ready to discover your very own set of techniques beyond what this
Game Guide has to offer. So off you go cadet! See you on the pitch...

Or for further Sensible Soccer enlightenment, try Sensible World of Soccer for PC for
a more management affair, or the latest version Sensible Soccer 98.
See you on the pitch... wherever it is...

8. Credits
===========
-Pulp Tiption from PC Gamer March 1995 issue for a few of their tips on goal scoring,
team and squad selections, and formations.
-Sensible Software and Renegade for developing this wonderful game.
-Codemasters who have big boots to fill (or whoever is taking over the latest Sensible
developments).

9. Legal Stuff
===============
This Sensible Soccer Game Guide and Tips is Copyright 2001 by Twirl
You may distribute it freely and make print outs but only in it's original form
Feel free to edit it in anyway you wish, but don't save it or print it out

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