Programmer(s) George Christophorou | Initial release date 1992 | |
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Genre(s) Traditional soccer simulation Similar Rage Software games, Football games, Other games | ||
Striker is a soccer video game series first released by Rage Software in 1992.
Contents
Later also for the Commodore Amiga, Amiga CD32, Atari ST, PC, Mega Drive/Genesis, and Super NES. It was bundled in one of the Amiga 1200 launch packs. It was one of the first soccer games to feature a 3D viewpoint, after Simulmondo's I Play 3D Soccer.
In 1993 it was released in Japan by Coconuts Japan for the Super Famicom as World Soccer (ワールドサッカー, Wārudo Sakkā), while the French Super NES version of Striker is known as Eric Cantona Football Challenge, playing on the popularity of French forward Eric Cantona, while the North American Super NES release of Striker was known as World Soccer '94: Road to Glory. The Mega Drive and Game Gear versions were branded as Sega Sports Striker. They were published by SEGA and developed by Rage Software in 1994 and released in 1995.
Critical reaction
The game received a mixed reaction from the gaming press, with some condemning and others praising its extreme speed. For example, CU Amiga Magazine awarded the game 94% in its June 1992 issue along with the CU Amiga Screenstar award while German magazine Amiga Joker awards the game 64% in the September 1992 edition.
Ports/Sequels
A sequel, World Cup Striker (known in North America as Elite Soccer), was released for the Super NES in 1994. It was basically a repackaged version of Striker, but slightly better. It was published in Japan by Coconuts Japan and in Europe by Elite.
A Game Boy game developed by Denton Designs was also released at the same time, in Europe it was released as Soccer, in North America as Elite Soccer (both published by GameTek), and in Japan as World Cup Striker (published by Coconuts Japan and endorsed by Yasutaro Matsuki).
Also, Striker Pro was released in Europe and North America for the CD-i. In 1995, Striker: World Cup Special was released for the 3DO.[source?]
A year later Striker '96 (known in Japan as Striker: World Cup Premiere Stage) was released for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and MS-DOS. Striker '96 is known for being the first soccer game on the original PlayStation.
In 2000 Striker Pro 2000 (known in Europe as UEFA Striker) was released for the Dreamcast and PlayStation.