Sensible Soccer

Sensible Soccer, often called Sensi, is an association football video game series which was popular in the early 1990s and which still retains a following.^[1] It was developed by Sensible Software and first released for Amiga and Atari ST computers in 1992 as well as for the IBM PC compatibles.

The series was created by Jon Hare and Chris Yates, as a successor to their previous football game MicroProse Soccer (1988), which in turn was inspired by the arcade video game Tehkan World Cup (1985).

It uses a zoomed-out bird’s-eye view (the majority of games until then such as Kick Off and Match Day used a closer top-down or side view), editable national, club and custom teams and gameplay utilising a simple and user-friendly control scheme.

One of the defining gameplay elements was the “aftertouch” feature, which enabled effective but unrealistic swerves.^[2] The game topped charts such as Amiga Power‘s “All Time Top 100”. The graphic style of the game was used in other Sensible Software games, such as Mega-Lo-Mania, Cannon Fodder and Sensible Golf.

A “spiritual successor” to Sensible Soccer, Sociable Soccer, was announced by Jon Hare in November 2015, and early versions for Microsoft Windows, mobile, and virtual reality were shown at nine different public venues across Europe, including Gamescom in Cologne and the London Science Museum in 2016, with development continuing despite an initially unsuccessful crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter.^[3] Sociable Soccer was released on Steam Early Access on 12 October 2017,^[4] with PlayStation 4, Xbox One, iOS and Android versions to follow.^[5]

History – Sensible Soccer

The basis for Sensible Soccer was MicroProse Soccer, released for home computers in 1988. It was designed by Jon Hare and programmed by Chris Yates, who adapted the gameplay format of arcade video game Tehkan World Cup (1985) while adding their own elements to create MicroProse Soccer. Hare and Yates went on to use MicroProse Soccer as the basis for Sensible Soccer in 1992, making further improvements to the gameplay.^[6]^[7]

Sensible World of Soccer, commonly referred to as SWOS, was released in 1994. The game was almost published by Virgin Games, but they insisted on it being called Virgin Soccer.^[8]

It became a first in video games when it attempted to encompass the entire professional footballing world into one game. Featuring many divisions in many countries around the globe, it featured a twenty season career mode which allowed players to manage and play as thousands of different clubs from across the globe, many of which were very obscure.

Next generation – Sensible Soccer

The series would make a return in the summer of 2006, with a full 3D title released for Windows, PlayStation 2 and Xbox.^[9] Codemasters, the holders of the licence, released the game across all PAL territories, with the design capabilities overseen by Jon Hare, the original designer of the game. Sensible Soccer 2006 was released on 9 June 2006.

Xbox Live Arcade – Sensible Soccer

In 2006, Codemasters announced a new version of Sensible World of Soccer, developed by Kuju Sheffield, for the Xbox 360 to be released in summer 2007 on Xbox Live Arcade. It features both the classic “retro” visuals of the original SWOS, as well as new improved high definition graphics, and retains the exact gameplay of the 96/97 version of Sensible World of Soccer for the Amiga, along with the music from Sensible Soccer 2006.^[10]

Due to problems with the game’s network performance, the release was delayed in order for “significant proportions” of the network code to be rewritten.^[11] After missing several previous release dates, the game appeared on Xbox Live Arcade on 19 December 2007^[12] but was quickly pulled. A statement from Microsoft confirmed that an incorrect version of the game had been made available, in which online play was not possible.^[13] The fixed version of the game was released two days later on 21 December. The Windows version was never released.

Development – Sensible Soccer

Reflecting Sensible Software’s devil-may-care approach to game design, the developers decided to make Sensible Soccer after playing around with sprites from Mega-Lo-Mania and deciding to use them in a football game.^[14]

Reception – Sensible Soccer

Computer Gaming World in June 1994 wrote that “in the debate over the best football action/tactical game, there is no doubt that Sensible is in everyone’s top three, no matter what format … The game is fast and responsive … a class act”. The magazine added that the “Gameboy version is one of the best games” on the handheld.^[21]

The original Amiga version sold 175,000 copies by the end of 1993.^[22] Sensible Soccer‘s first release sold roughly 200,000 copies, according to company founder Jon Hare. He estimated that the series overall had sold 2 million copies by 2002.^[23]