EUROPICO 88
The unofficial tie-in video game for the 1988 European Championship in West Germany!
EUROPICO 88 is a top-down football game heavily inspired by 90s semi-arcade-style football games like Sensible Soccer and International Superstar Soccer (recognise that menu music...?). Simulation aspects like substitutions, through-balls, slide tackles, teams with different stats and referees were eschewed in favour of speed, simplicity and an AI that won't let you have it easy but is satisfying to outfox. Players can choose any of the 8 teams participating in the EURO 88 finals in West Germany, and can pit themselves against their friends, the computer, or just sack it off and watch the computer play itself!
Controls
(also provided in-game)
- D-Pad - move controlled player
- run to the goal! run to the ball! run wherever you desire!
- O (while in possession) - pass in direction of D-Pad
- pass will automatically lock onto a player in the selected general direction
- O (not in possession) - change selected player
- new player will be the player estimated to reach the ball quickest; selected player will also occasionally switch automatically if a better option is available
- X - SHOOT!
- players always shoot towards goal; no need to aim.
Gotchas
- Tackling is simply a matter of running into the player on the ball. Dispossessed players will not be able to run or reclaim the ball for a short period. Don't get caught in possession!
- Players have no control of goalkeepers. Keepers will come to claim a ball that's not in possession of a teammate, and will otherwise just try to stay in front of the ball. In any case, when given the chance, they will leather it back upfield.
- Throw-ins have been replaced by kick-ins for simplicity.
Tips
Computer giving you a hard time? Wish you were more like Marco van Basten and less like Peter Beardsley*? Try these tips to up your game:
- Use your team's width. If the midfield gets congested, send the ball out to your wingers before bringing it back into your centre forwards.
- It's harder for the keeper to block a fast shot. Try and shoot up close to give them minimal chance!
- If you can't get close, it's also harder for the keeper to make a save if they can't even reach the ball! Try shooting across the keeper from outside the posts.
- Sometimes moving forward isn't the best option. Try passing backwards and drawing the opposition forward, opening the space up behind them.
- If you're under pressure in defence, don't feel bad about putting your foot through it. When in doubt, get it out.
My greatest regret is that I ran out of tokens for a full tournament mode, where players could have played through a virtual tournament and been crowned Champions of Europe. All that said, if you have a pen and paper, you can do it yourself! Look!
*absolutely no offence is intended to either Mr. Beardsley or Newcastle fans as a whole; this is not intended as a disparagement, it is only intended to illustrate that Marco van Basten was very good at football.
Amazing work!
I love games like this!
Reminds me of Super Soccer on SNES and Soccer League on Nokia 1600.
This one is just as fun to play!
Good game (and that’s a total non-football fan saying that!)
Cpu is totally on steroid - utterly fun!
This is awesome! Reminds me a lot of a different type of football game, NES Football (but better) :)
Really glad you're all vibing with it so far, thank you for the kind words! If the CPU is giving you a hard time, don't forget to check the Tips section in the OP; it's a tough competitor but it has its weaknesses...
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