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|__ __| \ \ / / | | | |
| | ___ ___ _ __ ___ ___ \ \ /\ / /__ _ __| | __| |
| |/ _ \/ __| '_ ` _ \ / _ \ \ \/ \/ / _ \| '__| |/ _` |
| | __/ (__| | | | | | (_) | \ /\ / (_) | | | | (_| |
|_|\___|\___|_| |_| |_|\___/ \/ \/ \___/|_| |_|\__,_|
_____ _____
/ ____| / ____|
| | _ _ _ __ | (___ ___ ___ ___ ___ _ __
| | | | | | '_ \ \___ \ / _ \ / __/ __/ _ \ '__|
| |___| |_| | |_) | ____) | (_) | (_| (_| __/ |
\_____\__,_| .__/ |_____/ \___/ \___\___\___|_|
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FAQ and Strategy Guide
Version 1.0
By Luke J. Martinez, a.k.a. 1stTobalMan
May not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal and private
use. May not be placed on any Web site, other than GameFAQs.com and its
partner sites, or otherwise be distributed publicly. Use of this document on
any other Web site or as part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and
violation of copyright law. All trademarks and copyrights contained in this
document are owned by their respective trademark and copyright holders.
Copyright Luke J. Martinez 2010.
This FAQ/strategy guide is intended to show all the known features of Tecmo
World Cup Soccer for Nintendo, and provide a straightforward strategy to
complete this game.
Table of contents
1. Controls
2. Basic gameplay
I. Object
II. Ties, losing and the password system
III. Two player mode
3. Strategy guide
4. Author's notes
1. Controls
Start: pause
Select: choose length of match in two player mode
A: short kick (when in possession of the ball), slide tackle (when not in
possession of ball)
B: strong kick (when in possession of ball)
D-pad: move highlighted player in corresponding direction of d-pad arrow.
Players can move and kick in diagonal directions, e.g., up + right.
2. Basic gameplay
I. Object
The official Tecmo World Cup has begun! Become champion by winning matches
against 15 other countries. At the beginning of the one player game, we are
prompted to select a country to play for: Spain, Italy, Western Germany,
France, U.S.S.R., Poland, Holland, England, Scotland, U.S.A., Korea, Japan,
Uruguay, Colombia, Brazil or Argentina. All the countries play the same; there
is no noticeable advantage in choosing a particular one. Note that once we
select a country, we cannot change to another unless we start from the
beginning again. The CPU randomly selects the country we'll play against, and
the first match will be underway (press start)! Most of the gameplay is
observed from a bird's eye view. A match lasts ten minutes. We will kick off
each match (press A or B). We will then proceed to run the ball up the field,
and kick it past the opponent's goalie, into the net for a goal. We can only
control one player at a time; the player we are currently in control of is
highlighted with flashing arrows. When our team is in possession of the ball,
we will automatically be in control of the player with the ball. If the
opponent has it, everyone on our team will try to regain possession of the
ball. During the regaining process, the CPU will switch our control, as
needed, to whoever it thinks has the best chance of regaining the ball. We
will immediately become in control of the player that regains the ball.
Much of the match involves struggling for possession of the ball. When the
opponent gets the ball close enough to our box, we will automatically take
control of the goalie. Depending on our ability to anticipate the ball's
incoming direction, the goalie will either catch the ball, block it or miss it.
If the ball gets blocked, it can still be shot in by a player on the other
team, so move quickly. A momentary halftime follows the first half; we will be
able to view the scoreboard then. We can also view the score when a goal is
scored or if the game is paused. When the second half begins, the opponent
kicks off. We must maintain our lead or catch up from behind here. If we have
scored more goals than the opponent when the match ends, we win. The
scoreboard will be shown again at the end of the match. Our team will then go
onto the next match and face another randomly selected team. This will go on
until all teams have been beaten. With the progression of each match, the CPU
becomes increasingly more difficult. After the seventh match, the CPU really
becomes a challenge. In the early matches, it is easy to score a goal and
defend our net, but, in the later matches, defending is very challenging, and
scoring, like in the actual game of soccer, becomes an anomaly. Unlike the
actual game though, there are no penalties, the teams don't switch sides after
halftime and the clock is very inaccurate.
II. Ties, Losing and the password system
If a match ends in a tie, a shootout will ensue; players from each team will
take turns shooting the ball into the other's net from close range. Gameplay
will take place from a third person perspective. Controls are similar in this
situation: A and B both kick the ball straight. If we press left or right
when kicking the ball, it will go towards the net in the corresponding
direction. The CPU goalie will react and either block or miss. What happens
is based on luck. When we are defending the net, we have a split second to
anticipate the direction of the incoming ball and move our goalie in that
direction. The team that makes the best of five attempted shots wins the
match. When we lose a match, we must replay that match until we win it.
Fortunately, should we wish to resume play at a later day, we can retrieve our
progress using passwords. After the first match, a password will appear at
the bottom of the screen that shows us who we'll play next. A password may be
entered by selecting "CONTINUE" on the menu screen. Use the d-pad to enter the
appropriate characters, then press start. The game should take us to the same
scenario, including team selected, team to face and match number, from before.
III. Two player mode
If we select "2 PLAYERS" on the menu screen, we will play an exhibition match
that allows two people to go head to head against each other. Before the match
begins, each player will be able to select a country to play as. The player
using the first controller will also be able to select the length of a half:
15, 30 or 45 "minutes." These translate to 5, 10 or 15 minute matches,
respectively. A two player match plays like a normal one player match, except
when it ends, the game will return to the menu screen.
3. Strategy guide
Like virtually all video game interpretations of soccer, calculated passing
plays and complex defensive formations go out of the window. However, we must
still be able to kick the ball with quick precision and be able to pass the
ball to an open teammate. The best strategy is to be as aggressive as
possible. The CPU knows this too well, and in World Cup Soccer, the most
effective way to counter its aggression is by using our own aggression.
Follow these proven tactics to gain possession, advance past opponents and
score goals:
The most effective way to gain possession of the ball is by slide tackling.
Slide tackling the player with the ball will almost always yield us the ball.
This tactic is widely used by the CPU. We can also steal the ball by coming
into contact with the player possessing it. In the early matches we can move
through the player to steal the ball. We can also intercept the opponent's
passes.
Whenever the ball is kicked or thrown into play, there will usually ensue a
skirmish between two opposing players for possession. What team gets the ball
is mostly a matter of luck. However, we can increase our chances of leaving
the skirmish with the ball if we hold up just before the ball comes down
between two players. Even if we aren't immediately controlling the player in
the skirmish, we will soon be. Holding up will allow us to bypass any sort of
fancy footwork, and allow us to leave upward with the ball in our possession!
Be careful of sliding tackles from behind through. In the later matches, we
must leave the skirmish in a diagonal direction because the CPU's tackle
reaction time is very quick.
Although constantly passing the ball to teammates upfield seems like a
naturally good tactic, it isn't. Unlike actual soccer, passing a ball will
cause it to get intercepted more often than not. There is a chance the player
the ball was intended for may steal the ball back, but by that time, everyone
on the other side of the field has caught up with the action. So, passing is
not worth risking in the end. Therefore, the best tactic is to rely on just
one man to run the ball. Only pass as a last resort, and make sure the
receiver is totally open before doing so. The most effective passes are done
with short kicks.
The most effective way to move the ball up field is to make a zig zag path past
the opponents. Zig zagging will cause the other team's players to mistime
their sliding tackles, missing our guy in the process. Later in the game,
running the ball upfield becomes more of a challenge because the CPU's players
clutter to where the ball is. There are so many in one place, it becomes hard
to elude them all. In these cases, the best tactic is to pass the ball a
little upfield and hope our teammate get it. We can therefore take advantage
of the opponent's uneven defense coverage.
Due to the low difficulty of the CPU in the early matches, we can build an
early lead in the first half, then defend it in the second. In other words, we
don't have to try so hard to make goals in the second half if we are ahead. We
can just keep the opponent at bay until the clock runs out. Strong kicks are
good for getting the ball across the field, when keeping the opponent at bay.
This tactic isn't effective in the later matches because the difficulty of the
CPU increases to a point that it will stop at nothing to score goals until the
clock runs out. It is excellent at scoring too. So, even if we are ahead at
the start of the second half in a later match, we must still continue to score
as many goals as possible. Only playing defense in the later matches is a bad
tactic.
We are most likely to score by shooting from within the opponent's goal box;
there is a slim to none chance of anything outside the box going in. Once
inside the box, we want to fake out the opponent's goalie. We want to position
the player with the ball in front of one side of the net, so the goalie aligns
himself with the player. Then shoot the ball into the opposite, uncovered side
of the net. This usually does the trick, but such a fake out requires quick
and precise diagonal aiming.
In the later matches, there are lots of the opponent's players in the box
helping their goalie. There is a good chance the ball will be deflected, but
it will land near another one of our players. We will want to take this
opportunity to control a nearby guy to kick the ball toward the net again. If
we don't do it in the second attempt, the third time, as they say, should be a
charm. Many goals later in the game have to be earned though repeated, close
range scoring attempts. Short kicks are always most effective when goal
scoring.
That's it folks, the gameplay doesn't get any deeper than running the ball as
aggressively as possible. If we can make it to the end, we'll be treated to an
ending screen with a celebration image and a message saying "VICTORY!!" above
our country's name, then a staff roll.
4. Author's notes
Special thanks to my family for their moral support. Thanks to the programmer
cah4e3 for his research on this game. Submit questions, comments or
corrections to me at:
[email protected].
