Sensible Soccer

File:Sensible soccer MD.png

Mega Drive screenshot

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.

Games in the series

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	2006	Java	Developed by Cobra Mobile 1

Trivia

• 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 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.

External links

• Interview with Sensible Soccer Producer, Jon Hare
• MobyGames' entry for the Sensible Soccer Games Series