Sensible Soccer
Sensible Soccer, often affectionately known as
Sensi, is a
football video game series which was highly popular in the early
1990s and which still retains a cult following. Developed by
Sensible Software and first released for
Amiga and
Atari ST computers in
1992 as well as for the PC, it featured a bird's-eye view (most games until then such as
Kick Off and
Matchday used top down or side view), editable teams and (some claim) gameplay ahead of its time.
Sensible World of Soccer, commonly referred to as
SWOS, was released a year later in
1994. It became a first in videogames when it attempted to encompass the entire professional footballing world into one game. Featuring many divisions in many countries around the globe, fans loved it for its twenty season career mode which allowed them to play as thousands of different clubs, many of which players had never heard of.
On
1 November 2005, it was announced by an interview at gaming website
Eurogamer that the series will make a return in
Summer 2006, with a full 3D title to be released on PC,
PlayStation 2 and
Xbox 1.
Codemasters, the holders of the licence, will release the game across all
PAL territories, with the design capabilities overseen by
Jon Hare, the original designer of the game. On
9 June 2006, it was released in Europe. No North American release is planned at this time.
The official
Sensible Soccer site shows a recent addition to the Sensible Soccer series that offers the potential to play SS through your own television. There is also a
forum to discuss your experiences of the game as well as your hopes for the future of the game. The
United Sensible Soccer Community still updates the team information in the game and organises tournaments, like the
Swos Dutch Open 2006.
| Title | Year of Release | Platforms | Notes |
| Sensible Soccer | 1992 | Amiga, DOS, Atari ST, SNES, Game Boy, Sega Mega Drive, Atari Jaguar, Sega Mega CD, Sega Game Gear | The "standard name" for games in the series. Console versions are based on the Sensible Soccer 92/93 version, but are simply named "Sensible Soccer" |
| Sensible Soccer 92/93 | 1992 | Amiga, Atari ST | Slightly improved version of Sensible Soccer, including red and yellow cards |
| Sensible World of Soccer | 1994 | Amiga, DOS | Features a title song "Goal Scoring Superstar Hero" composed by Richard Joseph and Jon Hare. The original Swos contained a few bugs, which led to complaints. A free update disk to rectify these bugs was released in April 1995. |
| Sensible World of Soccer 95-96 | 1995 | Amiga, DOS | Improved version of SWOS. Chris Chapman, the lead programmer said that this was the version they originally wanted to create. |
| Sensible World Of Soccer European Championship Edition | 1995 | Amiga, DOS | Slightly Improved version of SWOS. |
| Sensible World Of Soccer 96-97 | 1996 | Amiga, DOS | Team update |
| Sensible World Of Soccer 97-98 | 1997 | Amiga, DOS | Team update |
| Sensible Soccer 98 | 1998 | DOS, Windows | 3D version, much maligned because it bore little relation to the original game. Originally supposed to be called Sensible Soccer 2000, and reviewed by one magazine under that name. |
| Sensible Soccer 98 European Club Edition | 1999 | PlayStation, Windows | Tweaked update version. |
| Sensible Soccer Mobile | 2005 | Java | Developed by Kuju Wireless (now acquired by Finesse Mobile) 1 |
| Sensible Soccer 2006 | 2006 | Windows, PS2, Xbox | First original game released in seven years 1 |
| Sensible Soccer Skillz[1] | 2006 | Java | Developed by Cobra Mobile 1 |
*Sensible Soccer spawned several clones, amongst them
Croteam's
Football Glory, for which they were sued by Sensible Software. The game's Croatian programmer claimed to have never seen, let alone played, Sensible Soccer.
*There are still many
shareware/
freeware projects which are inspired by Sensible, such as
Yoda Soccer or
Andreas Osswald's Championship Soccer. The third version of the
New Star Soccer series debuts a 2D
game engine that has been compared to Sensible Soccer.
*The graphic style of the game was used in other Sensible Software games, such as
Mega Lo Mania,
Cannon Fodder and
Sensible Golf.
*One Christmas, a free Sensible Software minigame was included on an
Amiga Format cover disk. Called
Cannon Soccer, it was essentially two bonus levels of
Cannon Fodder in which the soldiers fought hordes of
Sensible Soccer players in a snowy landscape.
* On the
Amiga Power Coverdisk 21 one of the demos was "Sensible Soccer Meets Bulldog Blighty". This featured a mode of play that involved replacing players with soldiers from Cannon Fodder, and the ball with a hand grenade. The grenade would randomly begin to flash eventually exploding, killing any nearby players.
*The developers released a humourus spin-off called unSensible Soccer which consisted of apples Vs oranges instead of men. It was released as a free
covermount disk with some magazines at the time.
*SWOS 1996 received a score of 96% from
Amiga Power, the highest mark given for any game in their 65-issue run.
* There was only one true Official Sensible Soccer World Cup. Organised by, at the time current publisher Renegade, it took place in the City Pride
pub,
Farringdon, next to
EMAP Images. 32
journalists and
celebrities took part.
Simon Byron, then
editor of The One won it. As there has been no official Sensible Soccer World Cup since, he is officially recognised as the current world champion and you can ask
Jon Hare if you don't believe him. There is much speculation as to whether he is is open to challengers.
*There were earlier tournaments in
Ebbw Vale in
Wales made up from players in the local area and also against players from
Bristol. Set up by Ken Coughlin around 1994 the games were played on the site of the Garden Festival. Many players participated over a few years, with competitions won by Gareth Norman, Damian King, Byron King and Mike Spellman amongst others.
*A group of fans in Serbia named
"SWOS Witnesses" ("SWOSovi Svedoci" in Serbian) organized four World SWOS Tournaments from
2001 to
2004. WST's were held in
Bačka Palanka (2001 and 2004),
Belgrade (
2002) and
Nova Pazova (
2003). Most players were from Serbia, but there also were contestants from
Poland,
Czech Republic,
Austria,
Bulgaria and
Lebanon.
*Regular tournaments are also still held in
Czech Republic,
Denmark,
Germany,
Austria and
Brazil.
* You can play Sensible World of Soccer online playing 'one on one' on
Sensible Soccer .de using
SEGA and
Amiga emulators, or play an interesting career offline game on
Sensible Manager .pl.
*
Interview with Sensible Soccer Producer, Jon Hare*
MobyGames' entry for the Sensible Soccer Games Series*
Addictive Football from
Addictive 247 Games
