Sega Worldwide Soccer

The referee's whistle, the crowd roaring in the stands and the ball rolling exactly where you aimed it — Sega Worldwide Soccer was among the titles that carried the banner of football on the Saturn and tried to offer players a match full of atmosphere. For fans of the beautiful game it was one of the ways to enjoy their favorite sport on SEGA's 32-bit console.

In gameplay terms it's a football game where you control the entire team, pass, dribble and look for a gap in the opponent's defense to send the ball into the net. The emphasis is on fluid movement across the pitch, reading the game and timing your shot or pass. As with other football titles of the time, what matters is the interplay between defense, midfield and attack, with the real magic being born the moment you manage to set up a play exactly according to plan.

Sega Worldwide Soccer was created under SEGA's auspices for its Saturn console in the mid-nineties, that is, at a time when three-dimensional graphics were only just settling in and every sports title was a bit of an experiment with the new possibilities of the hardware. SEGA sought to compete with the established football series and build its own position in a genre that was extraordinarily popular in Europe.

As a platform, the Saturn had a reputation as a technically demanding machine on which development was no easy feat, and every game that managed to get a brisk and playable football going on it was a welcome addition for the console's owners. Sega Worldwide Soccer was thus among the titles that helped fill the football gap in the Saturn's library, especially for European audiences.

Culturally, it's evidence of how seriously SEGA took the need to offer football as one of the pillars of sports entertainment. In an era when fierce battles were fought between publishers for the favor of football fans, this title represented a dignified choice for anyone who gave preference to the Saturn ecosystem.

Why play: For a football classic from the era of early 3D graphics and the chance to experience how SEGA approached the beautiful game on its Saturn console.