Game Info
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Developer: Krisalis Software
Publisher: Krisalis Software
Year of Release: 1994
Coding: Nigel Little, Peter Harrap, Shaun Hollingworth
Graphics: Neil Adamson, Paul Dobson
Music: Matt Furniss

Game Review & Impressions
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Released in run-up to the 1994 World Cup, Soccer Kid represents one of the final wave of top-tier Amiga games. I'd always considered Soccer Kid to be an Amiga title, considering I owned the A500 version when it came out, but I was surprised to discover just how many platforms the game was ported to. Versions for the PC, SNES, PlayStation, Atari Jaguar and 3DO were released, plus a version for the Game Boy Advance further down the line. The all-formats release, not to mention the high level of presentation and polish, indicate Krisalis were really pushing for a game with significant sales numbers. I'm not sure whether the game lived up to expectations, given that the SNES had plenty of highly successful platform games of its own, Doom on PC made stuff like Soccer Kid look antiquated, and 3DO and Jaguar never shifted enough units to consider those machines meaningful in the grander scale of things.

As for the Amiga, the OCS/ECS version was an excellent platformer in its own right, but the AGA edition (on which the CD32 version is based) is a step up, thanks to the expanded colour palette. The CD32 version includes a full CD audio soundtrack composed by Matt Furniss, and there's even a series of animated cutscenes, combining traditional cell animation with CGI assets. The low resolution and comparatively primitive compression tech means it's very blurry by today's standards, but for 1994 this would have seemed practically space age stuff.

In terms of plot, a space pirate has stolen the world cup trophy to add to his collection, but a freak collision with a passing satellite shattered the trophy, causing various pieces to be scatted across the Earth. Seeing this unfold on TV, Soccer Kid springs into action, dons his favourite football strip, grabs his boots and ball, and heads out to recover the pieces. What ensues is a traditional platform romp through over 25 themed levels, knocking out baddies using your mean ball skills and hunting high and low for football trading cards (think Panini Stickers) that earn you a shot at retrieving a piece of the trophy in one of several bonus rounds.

Of course, the main feature of Soccer Kid is the ball control mechanics, using it as a means to attack enemies and collect items out of reach. The developers worked around the limitations of the Amiga 1-button control limit as best they could, delivering something which works as well as can be expected. The ball physics are also impressive for the time, to the point that you never stop to question how the ball behaves. Inertia and gravity are all modelled convincingly, and the way ball bounces and rebounds off surfaces is just as you would expect it to be. There are moments where the physics does go a tad awry, such as passing through an enemy instead of rebounding, but this is an infrequent occurrence.

If I'm honest, I never gave Soccer Kid much a chance back in the day, something I now regret. Given patience, it's an innovative addition to the genre with tons of content and plenty of polish, with the CD32 release being the definitive Amiga version.

Video Notes
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- Extended cut contains all bad endings (unique to each country)

Chapters
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0:00:00 Intro
0:02:47 Kit Designer
0:03:07 Tutorial
0:04:15 Hometown: Zone 1
0:07:35 Hometown: Zone 2
0:11:37 Bonus Stage 1
0:12:19 The English Countryside: Zone 1
0:16:24 The English Countryside: Zone 1
0:21:19 London: Zone 1
0:26:03 London: Zone 2
0:30:51 The Italian Ruins: Zone 1
0:35:47 The Italian Ruins: Zone 2
0:39:51 Bonus Stage 2
0:40:31 Venice: Zone 1
0:44:35 Venice: Zone 2
0:48:04 The Italian Riviera: Zone 1
0:51:42 The Italian Riviera: Zone 2
0:56:57 The Russian Forest: Zone 1
1:01:28 The Russian Forest: Zone 2
1:04:04 Bonus Stage 3
1:04:49 The Battleship
1:08:40 Red Square: Zone 1
1:12:27 Red Square: Zone 2
1:17:55 The Japanese Countryside: Zone 1
1:22:49 The Japanese Countryside: Zone 2
1:27:01 Bonus Stage 4
1:27:52 The Bullet Express
1:31:48 Tanaka Custom Hardware: Zone 1
1:40:40 Tanaka Custom Hardware: Zone 2
1:50:04 The Wild West: Zone 1
1:54:15 The Wild West: Zone 2
1:57:32 Bonus Stage 5
1:58:20 California: Zone 1
2:01:33 California: Zone 2
2:07:22 New York City: Zone 1
2:11:55 New York City: Zone 2
2:18:37 The Stadium
2:19:21 Good Ending
2:21:07 Bad Ending 1 (UK)
2:21:21 Bad Ending 2 (Italy)
2:21:37 Bad Ending 3 (Russia)
2:21:54 Bad Ending 4 (Japan)
2:22:11 Bad Ending 5 (USA)
2:22:24 Bad Ending 6 (Missing Cup Pieces)

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