Nintendo World Cup

Gameplay of Nintendo World Cup. The player-controlled U.S.A. team competes against Japan, led by Kunio.

At its core, the game follows the rules of football, but with noticeable differences. Each team has only six players (a goalkeeper, two defenders, a midfielder and two forwards). You control only one of them, but you can give commands (Pass/Shoot) to the others. Offsides are non-existent and fouls are not punished. Players can be knocked out by repeatedly sliding, tackling or shooting them, afterwards they will stay down for the rest of the half. Players can also use up to five "super shots" per half; these powerful, odd-looking shots are used whenever a player does a bicycle kick or a diving header,[1] or when he shoots after walking a certain number of steps.[2] The "super shots" differ from team to team. The playing fields also differ in respect to material, e.g. ice, which heavily impacts movement of players and the ball.

There are two game modes:[3]

• Tournament mode, in which one or two players take control of one of the 13 available teams, in order to defeat their CPU-controlled opponents.
• VS Match mode, which enables players to confront each other on sand, ice or dirt playing fields.[4] On the NES version, up to four players can compete using the NES Four Score[5] or the NES Satellite. For the Game Boy a link cable or Four Player Adapter would be used.

Graphically, the NES version game looks similar to the Famicom version and other games in the Kunio-kun series, particularly Downtown Nekketsu Story/River City Ransom, with its short-legged, big-headed characters with varied faces; in fact, some sprites, such as Kunio and the other members of the Japanese team, were reused from that game.

The NES version of Nekketsu High School Dodge Ball Club: Soccer Edition, Nintendo World Cup, differs from its counterpart, in which instead of a soccer tournament set in Japan between thirteen high schools, the game centers around a World Cup. In the main Tournament Mode, the player takes control of the main team of Nekketsu High School team and competes against the twelve other teams. The Tournament Mode's opening intro and story sequences are removed in the NES version. In the Famicom version's "Vs. Match Mode", the player can only choose between the Nekketsu team and four other teams. Since the main Tournament Mode in the Famicom version only featured a single team, the NES localization allows the player to choose between the thirteen nationalities represented in the game by changing the palette of the player's team and their super shots. However, unlike the Famicom version, the NES version supports up to four players instead of two.

• Nintendo World Cup at MobyGames
• Nekketsu High School Dodge Ball Club: Soccer Edition Virtual Console site (in Japanese)