Released in 1995

Available in

Genre: Soccer

FIFA Soccer 96

The only soccer game released for the 32X, FIFA 96 is an early entry in EA Sport's long running series. Whilst it was also released for the Genesis, some actual effort was put into the 32X version, as it features completely new graphics for the pitch and players. Sadly the new player sprites are small and not very well animated, and the pitches are now surrounded by an ugly brown border. The game camera can often cause issues, such as the ball going off screen, yet still being in play and it becomes difficult to figure out where it is quickly. The sound effects haven't been improved on, with the crowd chants being very garbled and there is barely any speech in the game -there only seems to be one for whenever anyone scores a goal.

The game has all of the teams, game modes and other options from the Genesis version, including a four player option. If you've already got the Genesis version there isn't much point in also getting the 32X version, as it has arguably worse graphics and is more difficult to play.

Contents
1) Info
2) Trivia

Info

FIFA 96 lets you pick a team, and then compete against other teams in different game modes. Friendlies are single matches against another team, whilst leagues have you playing against lots of other teams with the aim to become the league champion. Your team consists of eleven players, and whilst one player will always be the goalkeeper, you can set the rest in different formations on the pitch, such as having more players as defenders. The aim is to score as many goals as possible whilst not conceding any. Beating another team will either let you progress further or give you points, depending on the game mode.

When in possession of the ball, you can pass it to another player or kick it as far forward as you can. By holding down the A, B or C buttons you can apply more power to your kick. When you don't have the ball you can tackle players with the B button. You will only control one player at any given time, but you'll automatically take control of the player closest to the ball if you don't have it already.

Is is possible to save your progress in certain game modes via long passwords, the game doesn't have battery back-up. The multiplayer option allows up to four players to compete or co-operate -you can have two players for each team, or have all four players playing on the same team.

Trivia

Usually FIFA games can be found in the bargain bin around a year after they are released, but the 32X FIFA has a bit of a price tag on it -mainly because it was a European exclusive, and collectors want a copy to complete their collections. Whilst it certainly isn't anywhere close to being one of the most expensive 32X games, the price for it tends to start at around the $50 mark on eBay. The Genesis version of the game can be had for less than $5.