Not confusing it with Emlyn Hughes International Soccer for the C64 are you?

That game was ace - with a hard enough shot you could just score straight from the kick-off

While we are on the subject of retro football games I'm trying to find the name of an old arcade game I used to virtually camp on as a kid when on holiday in Spain. At the time it was WAY ahead of what I had at home and I want to see if there any left anywhere.

It was a low cabinet, one you pulled two chairs up next to with a roller ball each and two buttons. The game itself was very much like Kick Off, top down view. The passing and shooting on it were fantastic and it was graphically brilliant for it's time. Things I remember about it are when you cleared a ball or lobbed it, the ball got bigger to make it look like it was moving closer to you.

How long ago? It could be Atari Soccer.

Not sure. Probably between 1988 and 1994, sometime around then.

It's probably a bit late for Atari soccer then. Fighting Soccer was around that time, but it's probably not that.

Wolrd Cup Italia 90? Did it have a cut away picture of a player running in celebration when you scored?

too early to be Actua soccer?

Could be. I've text my brother and he reckons it was Tekken World Cup and that it was around 1986 ish rather than 88-92 as he remembers being younger, but that brings nothing up on google but pictures of Tekken the fighting game.

Next question to narrow it down, did you have to scroll around the world to pick who you wanted to be?

[url=http://www.retrogamer.net/users/281/thm1024/italia90.jpgIt's a goal[/url

[url=http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_UBE6DvrMRf8/SAyu3snT5VI/AAAAAAAAAPU/KxwPG4XFgUY/s320/World%2BCup%2BItalia%2B%C2%B490.bmpGame view[/url

Tehkan.

[urlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehkan_World_Cup[/url

Super Kick Off?

You know, that could well be it. I'm going to youtube it when I get home to see if it's the same one I remember.

Only thing holding me back from thinking its that game is that the cabinet was a different size and colouring to that. It was shorter, as kids we pulled up wicker chairs in the bar and played it sat down, it was coffee table sized.

Ahhh, wicker chairs, it's how games were meant to be played. Kids these days don't know they're born.

I used to play on my speccy on a wicker chair, which my dad had painted in white emulsion for some reason.

This is my major issue with HD gaming. As a kid, I had to play on a tiny screen. It was only after much begging and pleading when my dad bought a new TV for downstairs could I get a "downstairs telly" to play my games on.

I had to use the downstairs telly all the time when I got my first comp (speccy 48k), as we didn't have any other TV's in the house and only got a portible B&W to put upstairs as part of the rental package for a newer colour TV in the late 80's. Our main TV was a B&W in the front room during the early 80's until we got one of my grandads cast off colour TV's, which didn't last long before slowly getting that strange red hue of a dying tube, before going pop, which prompted us to 'upgrade' to the rented colour TV (god, I'm making us sound poor!

).

I remember getting my own portible colour for my 13th or 14th birthday. This was in the days of the Amiga and previous to that me and my brother had to make sure our teams in sensi soccer where in light or dark coloured kits otherwise we'd end up not having a clue who was who on the old B&W portible.

Now if I could just find my pipe and slippers......................



*Edit - Do they even do TV rentals these days? The lost art of the Big Telly, Little Telly, and VCR rental package.

My dad used to rent TVs, but to the point where we'd then be owners of it, so we'd get cast offs and he'd get a new one in the front room. Used to love fighting my brother in armed combat (whatever we could find) to get the new old tele.

Same here, my mum would rent them until the point they were worthless to the rental company, who were always surprised she was still paying for it when she'd enquire about an upgrade. Either that or the company would have gone bust and been taken over by the time she realised the TV might not be worth the rental money any more.

Games you're looking forward to in this mega autumn/winter of games?

Arkham City
Uncharted 3
Fifa 12
Jonah Lomu's Rugby Challenge
Sonic Generations

And also looking forward to picking up Infamous 2 after completing the epic first one.

Hitman Absoloution
Battlefield

Quick list of Trackball games that COULD be football games:

Fighting Soccer - SNK - 1988
Five a Side Soccer - Konami - 1995
Free Kick - Nihon (Under license from Sega) - 1987
Hat Trick Hero '93 (Also known as Taito Cup Finals) - Taito - 1993
Hat Trick Hero '94 (Also known as International Cup '94) - Taito - 1994
Hat Trick Hero '95 (Also known as Taito Power Goal) - Taito - 1995
Pro Soccer - Data East - 1983
Street Football - Bally - 1986
Tehkan World Cup - Tehkan - 1985

Any bells?

Yes. But it's usually cheaper to finance and buy outright.

[urlhttp://www.martindawes.com/Rental/[/url

Just finished both Mass Effect games, given the leap made from the first to the second game, what are your expectations/hopes for the third installment?

Have recently purchased Brink and Red Faction: Armageddon, any reviews/views? Also got Fable III and LA Noire to play through but can't decide which to start first?

Your spot on mate, you really are "Retro"

My mate has recently become the the games editor for a new media website. If anyone is interested below is a link to his first article on the 10 most anticipated games of the next few months. Some interesting choices:

[urlhttp://www.medianation.co.uk/content/indiesdetail/Games/Features/261[/url