Football Champ

This is the 2nd arcade Soccer sim I really got into in my youth (after Kick and Run) and recently I re-visited it and I have to say it's still great fun. For Soccer Fans what makes this game so fun is the nature of the soccer played in the game. For anyone who has played soccer as a kid you could think of playing a match in these games as a giant game of Headers and Volleys as it's the easiest way to progress in a game.

You're action buttons are a low hard shot button (which is sliding tackle when not in possession) and a long high arcing kick (which is assault when not in possession, literally, as in a punch, jersey pull or flying knee), which is another reason the game is fun as you can take out your aggression when being humbled but too much assaulting leads to red cards, so basically the easiest way to score is to keep long kicking the ball upto and around your opponents penalty area then holding a kick button so you volley/bicycle kick/header/back heel the ball into the goal. I should further explain that this is also because all your players have instant first touch and control when recieving the ball, therefore you could literally volley the ball continuously around the pitch between your players before shooting.

The one other thing that makes this game so fun for soccer heads like me is the simple but exciting goal celebration animations, which feature the player running to the crowd and sliding on his knees in front of them in one or (my fave) dropping to his knees and blessing himself if scoring real close to time up in the match among a few others, and then add to that the fact that a Brazilian style commentator shouts 'Gooooooooooooooaaaaaaaaalllllllll' or even 'Haaaatttt-Triiick' if it's the players 3rd of the game, it's a little buzz everytime for real soccer-holics like me :-)

As basic as it is modern soccer sims could learn to excite by copying a bit of this games style.

By the way there are 3 versions of this: Football Champ, Hat Trick hero, and Euro Champ 92. The only differences are different selectable countries in each one. I prefer Euro Champ as Ireland are in it, YAY :-)


(El Pablo) - # 2008-05-28 20:32:13

Hat Trick Hero is apparently only available in Japanese. It's possible that this title is actually written Hat-Trick Hero, but I'm unable to verify this.

It may be the game was also released as Euro Football Champ. If not, it is a common unofficial shortening of the full title.

Sanguine # 2008-05-28 21:01:26

Horizontal 11-a-side soccer game
with a choice of international
teams.

Features include the ability to
physically assault opposing team members in various ways.

# 2002-09-23 12:43:54

software: Emulated on MAME,

display: raster

ported to
European Football Champ (Amiga)
Euro Football Champ (Atari ST)
European Football Champ (C64)
Super Soccer Champ (SNES)