Topic: My Favorite Soccer Game Stars Buster Bunny

[NWR_Neal]

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blogArt.cfm?artid=17388

  I recently had a conversation with a friend of mine who recently purchased the latest FIFA game for Xbox 360. He regaled me with how great the game is and how much strategy is required. He and his friends would play the game all the time and almost go to blows over it.    

As is customary whenever someone talks up FIFA or any other realistic soccer game, I replied flatly with a question: Have you ever played Acme All-Stars for Sega Genesis?    

I don't know if anyone has ever said yes to that question and I don't understand why. It contains, in my not-so-humble opinion, one of the best soccer games of all time.    

For the uninformed, Tiny Toon Adventures: Acme All-Stars is a Konami-made sports game for the Sega Genesis that stars Warner Bros' lovable Tiny Toons. The game is a series of sports ranging from soccer and basketball to bowling and whack-a-mole. When I was younger, my friends and I would play lengthy tournaments and fight over who would get to play as the speed demon Little Beeper or the defensive powerhouse that is Furrball. Over this past summer, I pulled the game back out and a whole series of new and more competitive tournaments ensued, including one that ended in a last second tie and a shootout.    

I can't truly explain what makes this game so great. It is a very simple game but in that simplicity hides great strategy. Maybe it's not as technical as your FIFAs and Pro Evos, but the soccer section of Acme All-Stars stands as my first experience in a genre that I think should get more respect: arcade soccer.    

This genre later produced such great games as Sega Soccer Slam (for Gamecube, Xbox, PlayStation 2, and as of tomorrow, Xbox Originals on the Xbox 360) and the Mario Strikers series. Those games also produced a similar fervor amongst my friends and me.    

Has anyone else played a game that caused a similar zest? Has anyone ever played Acme All-Stars?    

Note: This same enthusiasm was also displayed by my friends and I towards Tecmo Super Bowl except for the fact that one of my friends is basically the player equivalent of Bo Jackson.

[Nick DiMola]

Haha, I can't say I've played this particular game, but generally speaking some of my favorite sports games are SNES era cartoony ones.

Ken Griffey Jr. Presents Major League Baseball is classic as is the infamous NBA Jam: Tournament Edition. Of course Tecmo for football (or Blitz down the line), and NHLPA Hockey 93 (all rules disabled) always filled the hockey void quite well.

Something about the simplicity and character of those games make them appealing. Though not the most realistic interpretation of their featured sport, they always conveyed the feeling of playing it the best.

[MegaByte]

I didn't have a Genesis, but I did own Tiny Toons: Wacky Sports Challenge for the SNES.  It was a lot of fun to play with my sisters, though some of the levels were pre-Mario Party hand sprainers.

[NWR_pap64]

LOL! Go Nintendo linked this article to their site! Should we insult them?

YOU SUCK!!!!! XD

Anyways...

My favorite Tiny Toons game was "Buster Bust Loose" on the SNES. I was such a Tiny Toons nerd that I actually recognized every song and character used in the game. That's how fantastic and true to the series the game was.

Anyone remember the football level? It was a pain to beat, but man was it fun and intense!

[MegaByte]

I think once we moved the blog list above the skyscraper ad, they realized we had a blog and started linking the articles.

[Armak88]

pap, I still have buster busts loose and the football level was awesome. All of the dash levels were pretty fun. I remember that you couldn't go to the last level unless you played the harder difficulty, these were kids games back then.

[NWR_Neal]

the smaller mini-games were MPartyesque hand sprainers, but seriously, that soccer game is amazing.
I pissed off my friend by reminding him of our most recent battle where I came from behind and won in a shootout.

I downloaded Sega Soccer Slam off of Xbox Originals today. I highly recommend it for any fans of arcade soccer games. It is spectacular. I had the Gamecube version (which PGC/NWR highly regarded) and apparently the Xbox version has a bunch of new features!

[Dasmos]

My favourite soccer game has to be International Superstar Soccer 64. This is honestly one of the only 64 games that I can go back and play reguarly without crying. I honestly haven't really been able to get into too many soccer games since.

[Arbok]

Has anyone ever played Acme All-Stars?

Played and owned. Loved that title, one of the few Genesis ones that still got me to fire it up after I purchased a SNES with DKC. I wasn't a fan of the other games contained inside, but it did Soccer and Basketball very well. Furthermore, I have always preferred the "arcadey" "super move enhanced" sport titles over the sims... save Wii Sports.

[Ian Sane]

Ah, the days when companies like Konami and Capcom were making licenced games.

Arcade sports games are usually a blast for one reason - they best demonstrate the core experience of the sport.  What is soccer about?  Kicking a ball in the net to score more points than the other team.  If you're playing soccer with your buddies that's what you're doing to do.  You're probably not going to fuss around with offsides and fouls and red cards and stuff.  That level of rules is appropriate for a competitive organized league where you're playing strangers you can't trust and there's more at stake.  But not just a bunch of friends (of which there likely isn't even the full 22 people available to play) having fun.

So a sports game like this is the same idea.  It's for when you just want the core elements of the sport but not the details.  Now I'd say there is a purpose is having sports sims which has every little detail of the sport.  If you follow a major sports league you appreciate that the game has all those details.  There's a place for both.

On that note I think the NFL is really dumb for not realizing that.  There is fun in playing an arcade sports game that still has the real teams and the star players.  No such option exists for the NFL and it's not just because of the EA exclusivity.  They were forcing NFL Blitz to be more like a sim and EA's NFL Street isn't being made anymore.  They think having an over-the-top NFL game will damage their reputation and thus they're kissing a portion of the videogame market goodbye.  I'd like to thinky the other leagues aren't so closeminded but I can't think of any arcadey NHL or NBA game series currently being produced.  I can think of MLB though.

NBA Jam, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey and MLB Power Pros are the most popular (or should I say ONLY popular) sports games at my house.

[Stogi]

Games like those that you've mentioned are fun because they aren't overly complicated, and not because they are simple. There is a difference.

[Kairon]

Ah, the days when companies like Konami and Capcom were making licenced games.

Arcade sports games are usually a blast for one reason - they best demonstrate the core experience of the sport.  What is soccer about?  Kicking a ball in the net to score more points than the other team.  If you're playing soccer with your buddies that's what you're doing to do.  You're probably not going to fuss around with offsides and fouls and red cards and stuff.  That level of rules is appropriate for a competitive organized league where you're playing strangers you can't trust and there's more at stake.  But not just a bunch of friends (of which there likely isn't even the full 22 people available to play) having fun.

So a sports game like this is the same idea.  It's for when you just want the core elements of the sport but not the details.  Now I'd say there is a purpose is having sports sims which has every little detail of the sport.  If you follow a major sports league you appreciate that the game has all those details.  There's a place for both.

On that note I think the NFL is really dumb for not realizing that.  There is fun in playing an arcade sports game that still has the real teams and the star players.  No such option exists for the NFL and it's not just because of the EA exclusivity.  They were forcing NFL Blitz to be more like a sim and EA's NFL Street isn't being made anymore.  They think having an over-the-top NFL game will damage their reputation and thus they're kissing a portion of the videogame market goodbye.  I'd like to thinky the other leagues aren't so closeminded but I can't think of any arcadey NHL or NBA game series currently being produced.  I can think of MLB though.

NBA Jam, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey and MLB Power Pros are the most popular (or should I say ONLY popular) sports games at my house.

@_@

Ian...are you espousing... casual sports games?!?!?!

[Stogi]

In his defense, those games were as hardcore as they come.

[KDR_11k]

They came back when casual was hardcore.

[RABicle]

My favourite soccer game has to be International Superstar Soccer 64. This is honestly one of the only 64 games that I can go back and play reguarly without crying. I honestly haven't really been able to get into too many soccer games since.

LOL
One day, you and I will ahve a tournament of this. I liked ISS 98, just refined it a bit and I heard ISS 2000 is worth a go for the inclusion of joke counries like New Zealand.


But my favorite soccer title is still NES WORLD CUP

[Ian Sane]

an...are you espousing... casual sports games?!?!?!

Let's call them "arcade-style sports games".

MLB Power Pros may not be a baseball sim but it has all the real MLB teams and players and allows you to do a whole MLB season.  It has tons of game modes and options.  It models every player after the real players and the stadiums are all accurate.

Oh yeah and I can play a baseball game that is LONGER THAN THREE INNNINGS.

These sports game may have less complex controls and more "plug and play" gameplay but they're full of all those extra options and doodads that non-gamers are allegedly spooked of.  It shows how you can have very accessable gameplay and then just pack the game full of content and options.

[KDR_11k]

an...are you espousing... casual sports games?!?!?!

Let's call them "arcade-style sports games".

Arcade is casual.

Oh yeah and I can play a baseball game that is LONGER THAN THREE INNNINGS.

Oh hell, we're already bored/tired/frustrated after the three innings of Wii Sports.

[ThePerm]

the definitions of casual and hardcore can be very broad, Casual is similar to arcade though. I am definately not a hardcore gamer in the Dungeons and Dragons-madden football, final fantasy sort of way. I like games like Metroid, Zelda and Resident Evil though.

Can there be an in between? I don't like games too casual, and i don't like games too hardcore.

[S-U-P-E-R]

YES. Acme All Stars is awesome and I didn't think anyone out there was as big of a fan I am.

Furball is top tier in soccer.

[NWR_Neal]

Furball is top tier in soccer.

Without a doubt, he is my favorite character in the game.

[NWR_Lindy]

One of my favorite overlooked sports games is Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 on the SNES.  The home runs in that game RULED.

[Nick DiMola]

One of my favorite overlooked sports games is Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 on the SNES.  The home runs in that game RULED.

Super Baseball 2020 fits that bill for me. SNES was chock-full of awesome Baseball games.

[Peachylala]

I absolutely loved Buster Busts Loose on the SNES. This was back in the day when Capcom and Konami made AWESOME licensed games. BBL (which I will call it from here on out) had great gameplay that was full of varity. I hated that football mini-game though. Who in the **** decided to sneak Madden into my Tiny Toons game?

Now if only Nintendo would work out the licensing issues with Warner and Disney for the NES/SNES games.

[NWR_Neal]

I absolutely loved Buster Busts Loose on the SNES.

I was always intrigued by that game but, much like how I avoided Aladdin on SNES after loving it on Genesis, I figured random licensing game lightning couldn't strike twice on the same franchise.

I really do miss those great licensed games from back in the day.
Did anybody ever play that Ronald McDonald game that Treasure made (I'm pretty sure it was Treasure)? It was like McDonalds Dynamite Headdy.

[Nick DiMola]

McDonald's Treasureland Adventure

Haven't played it, but I have played Dynamite Headdy, so I knew it wasn't that one. But licensed games back in the day were actually solid games, mostly because real game companies worked on them. Understandably, as those companies came into their own, they stopped focusing on licensed characters in favor of creating their own.

Also, Neal, you NEED to play Aladdin SNES. IMO, it's even better than the (phenomenal) Genesis version.