FIFA International Soccer
Game Boy
Developer: Malibu Publisher: EA Sports
By: GammaBetaAlpha
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
Table of Contents
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
How To Play [HELP]
Donations/Amazon [DONT]
Contact Info [CONT]
~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-
How to Play
-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~-~
[HELP]
FIFA International Soccer is a traditional football/soccer game with the
FIFA license, the first FIFA game for the Game Boy. 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 International Soccer 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 International Soccer, including having 10 players, penalties, yellow and
red cards, and so forth. Fouls and offsides 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 International Soccer also makes use of the Super Game Boy, having
enhanced graphics including colour when utilised.
Controls
--------
A - Kick the ball towards the opponent's net
Pass with a low kick (aim with the D-Pad)
Slide (while on defense)
Throw in ball (Throw in)
B - Pass with a high kick (aim with the D-Pad)
Lob the ball right up into the air (if you are not aiming in a teammate's
general direction)
Change your active player (when on defense)
D-Pad - Move your active player character around
Aim kicks and passes
Start - Pause, Unpause the Game
Basic Playability
-----------------
Unlike the later FIFA games on the Game Boy, FIFA International Soccer
seems to be very unplayable. You will find typically that if you are playing
manually, the character you have control over seems to have a difficult time
both grabbing the ball when it is passed towards him, actually dribbling the
ball around, and holding onto it. Furthermore, even if you choose a good team
like Germany or EA Sports and play a weak team in comparison, the other team
appears to be very capable of stealing all the time.
Passing and Kicking
-------------------
In this game, kicking on the opponent's net is controlled by the A
button. Even if you are at the opposite end of the field, pressing the A button
will see the player possessing the ball kick the ball towards the opposing
team's net if you are not specifically aiming towards a teammate, in which case
the possessing player may pass to that player. When you pass with the A button,
the kick is a low pass, never leaving the ground and always staying on the
field.
When you get in closer to the net, you can exert some control over the
general direction of your kick through use of the D-Pad button while holding the
A button and before releasing it. This aim is not entirely perfect, but it is
relatively passable.
Passing can also be done with the B button. You still need to aim
towards your teammate, and using the B button will result in a high kick, with
the ball often moving over your teammate's head. If you are not aiming towards a
teammate, then the ball will instead be lobbed up into the air over the
possessing player's head.
Stealing the Ball
-----------------
When a member of the opposite possesses the ball and is dribbling it
around, you can steal the ball by moving up to him and pressing the A button to
do a slide and attempt to steal the ball. This is not always perfect.
---------
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.
Languages
---------
You can toggle the language setting between English, German, French and
Spanish.
Play Mode
--------
Gives you multiple game options on what to play.
Exhibition lets you play a single match between two teams of your
choice, with the team you play as on the left side of the selection screen. When
you are doing Exhibition, you choose the teams you play as and against right off
the bat on the front screen, while the other mode options you pick just your own
team.
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 skips the initial qualifying round of the Tournament setting,
moving straight to the round-of-16 single-loss elimination bracket.
League allows you to select one team and play every other team in an
eight-team league twice to determine who is the best team in the league.
Restore 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.
Demo gives you an automatic simulation of a match.
Half Time
---------
You can change the lengths of game halfs to be 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 20,
or 45 minutes each.
Fouls
-----
You can toggle Fouls, and with them, Penalty Kicks, Yellow Cards and Red
Cards on and off. They are by default off.
Game Type
---------
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.
Off-sides
---------
You can toggle Offsides on and off. They are by default off.
Weather
-------
Toggle the Weather Type between Dry, Damp, Drenched or Hot. Drier
conditions are conducive to the ball moving more quickly and having higher
bounce. Hot presumably only affects you during Simulation Game Type mode.
Field
-----
You can change between a grass pitch and an artificial pitch. Game play
moves faster on an artificial pitch.
Clock
-----
The clock during game play can be changed between always running or
stopping during out of play events.
Sound
-----
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.
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 England Morocco Switzerland
Argentina France New Zealand Turkey
Australia Germany Nigeria U.S.A.
Austria Greece N. Ireland Ukraine
Belgium Holland Norway Uruguay
Brazil Hong Kong Poland Wales
Bulgaria Hungary Portugal EA Sports
Cameroon Iraq Qatar
Canada Israel Rep. Ireland
Chile Italy Romania
China Ivory Coast Russia
Columbia Japan Scotland
Czech Rep. Luxembourg Spain
Denmark Mexico Sweden
Each team lists a numerical score for their Shooting, Running, Passing,
Defence, Tackling, Goalies, and an Overall Score, with the higher number being
the better, up to a score of 9.
Argentina, Brazil, Denmark, Holland all have overall scores of 8.
Germany, Italy, and the EA Sports team all have an overall score of 9,
with the EA Sports team having perfect 9s all the way through.
------------------
PRE-GAME/GAME MENU
------------------
Prior to the start of a game, or during a game and entering the menu by
pressing the Start button, you can go through a few more options.
Control Setup
-------------
This option allows you to change which team you are controlling. You can
also place the Gameboy icon in between the two teams to have a completely
automatic game with no control over the players.
In this menu, by pressing the B button, you can also toggle how your D-
Pad moves your characters and aim. When the arrow on the screen 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).
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. None 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.
Starting Lineup
---------------
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.
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.
Foul Summary
------------
Lists all the yellow and red cards assigned to players on both team, if
any, during the game.
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
