International Superstar Soccer 98

Infobox VG| title = ISS Pro 98
developer = KCET
publisher = Konami
designer =
engine =


released = May, 1998
genre = Sports
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = ELSPA: 3+
platforms = Playstation, Nintendo 64
media = CD
requirements =
input =

"International Superstar Soccer Pro '98" or ISS Pro '98 is a football video game which is a continuation of International Superstar Soccer Pro. Originally released in May, 1998 by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, Inc. Although it still lacked FIFPro licence it featured on its cover Italian player Fabrizio Ravanelli along with Andreas Koepke from Germany on German relase and Paul Ince on British. The Japanese release, "Winning Eleven 3" has been re-released in 1999 as "Winning Eleven 3 Final ver." with some slight improvements. The commentary for the game is provided by Tony Gubba.

Most significant improvements

*The list of teams has been extendend to 54.
*The number of players in each team has been extendend to 18.
*Slide bar allowing to adjust game speed has been introduced
*Formation mode can be entered in any time during the match
*New games mode - All Star Match and Training
*Player Name Editor has been implemented in Game Options
*The choice of difficulty and game length allowed in other game modes than Exhibition Mode
*Five new stadiums and five difficulty levels

Teams available

Due to the date of release the game focuses on 1998 FIFA World Cup and includes each qualifed team plus 17 more. Every team which participated in tournament has home, away and goalkeeper World Cup official kits featuring manufacturer logos and national emblems and the rest has those used in qualifications. The squads are in accordance with official 1998 FIFA World Cup squads as well. However the players' names are misspelled they have their actual numbers, appearance, age, weight, height and abilities. Bold indicates that they're new to the game."Italic" indicates they're from ISS 64. However Liberia and Australia and others did not qualify, but Liberia nearly reached the 1998 African Cup of Nations and Australia nearly qualified for the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
*fb|Germany
*fb|Spain
*fb|Romania
*fb|England
*fb|France
*fb|Denmark
*fb|Italy
*fb|Netherlands
*fb|Norway
*fb|Sweden
*fb|Croatia
*fb|Yugoslavia
*fb|Bulgaria
*fb|Austria
*fb|Switzerland
*fb|United Arab Emirates
*fb|Kazakhstan
*fb|Uzbekistan
*fb|Portugal
*fb|Scotland
*fb|Greece
*fb|Belgium
*fb|Turkey
*fb|Republic of Ireland
*fb|Northern Ireland
*fb|Wales
*fb|Morocco
*fb|Tunisia
*"fb|South Africa"
*fb|Ghana
*fb|Cameroon
*fb|Nigeria
*fb|Mexico
*fb|Canada
*fb|Poland
*fb|Russia
*fb|USA
*fb|Jamaica
*fb|Brazil
*fb|Colombia
*fb|Chile
*fb|Argentina
*fb|Paraguay
*fb|Japan
*fb|South Korea
*fb|Saudi Arabia
*fb|Iran
*fb|Australia
*fb|Liberia
*"'fb|Egypt
*fb|Uruguay
*fb|Peru
*fb|Bolivia
*fb|Czech Republic

Game modes

"International Superstar Soccer Pro '98" featured 6 different game modes. Modes existing in previous version have been developed and the two new have been added.
*Exhibition Mode: a friendly match game against computer or another player with a choice of difficulty, stadium, weather and match length and time of a match. It was also possible to play with another player or with computer against computer. Computer versus computer option was available as well.
*League Mode: 16 international teams participate in league playing either half or full season with a free choice of teams.
*Cup Mode: mainly focused on emulation of FIFA World Cup with the real group draw as in FIFA World Cup 1998. This mode also included local cups like European Cup, Asian Cup, African Cup, North American Cup and South American Cup, each based on knockout-stage conditions. Konami Cup was the one with the more adjustable settings like the number of teams and tournament basis.
*All Star Match: a friendly match game between the World Stars Players and European Stars Players.
*Penalty Kick Mode: two teams take a five penalty kicks to select the winner. In case of a draw, they undergo sudden death round.
*Training: practice of shooting free kicks and corner kicks with a selected team.

Differences between Final ver.

Japanese release of International Superstar Soccer Pro '98, "Winning Eleven 3" has been re-released in 1999 as "Winning Eleven 3 Final ver." The major changes and improvements have been focused on graphics updates rather than on engine itself. Here are some of the most significant differences:
*Whole look of the game is less vivid in order to increase the level of realism.
*Some home, away and goalkeepers kits have been updated (including the All Star teams).
*The appearance of goals and nets has been changed.
*Squads have been updated to exactly reflect 1998 FIFA World Cup squads, the number of players in line-ups has been extendend to 22 as well.
*Three difficulty levels instead of five: easy, medium and hard.
*The choice of match length has been widen to 30 minutes in spaces of 5.
*Match settings in Exhibition Mode now include the choice of uniforms, extendend period, penalty shootout and golden goal.
*During the Cup Mode the statistics of scores and assists have been added.
*The imitation of Stade de France, the venue of 1998 FIFA World Cup final has been added as a new stadium.
*The immediate replays after most interesting moments like missed shots, fouls or offsides have been implemented during the match.
*The most noticeable changes during play covered improved shoot system and added power slide bar during corner kicks.
*A new one-two pass method is added, allowing the first player to pass and run without the second player having to return the ball immediately. This new move added much more variety to the game.

Trivia

*Although line-ups were to reflect 1998 FIFA World Cup squads there are some inconsistencies. For example, players named 'Rabanilli' (representing Fabrizio Ravanelli for Italy), 'Romedio' (representing Romario for Brazil), 'Seigue' (representing Luis Roberto Alves "Zague" for Mexico) or 'Ber' (representing Ibrahim Ba for France) did not participate in the final tournament.
*The fifth stadium included in the game, marked as 'E', is an almost exact copy of the old Wembley stadium.
*The game also features Shah Alam Stadium and Kashima Stadium (before it was renovated for the 2002 FIFA World Cup)
*During the International Cup mode ball turns colour to blue which resembles the ball used in the 1998 FIFA World Cup - Tricolore
*It is impossible to lose the match by accumulating too many red cards. After the third red card only yellows are shown.
*Some players in the game of both qualified and non-qualified teams had initially retired for their team one year before the 1998 World Cup. For example, Colin Miller (Biller), Randy Samuel (Zamual) of Canada and Carlos Hermosillo (Hermosio) of Mexico had retired from international football in 1997.

Ingame screenshots

ee also

*International Superstar Soccer Pro
*ISS Series
*Winning Eleven

External links

* [http://www.mobygames.com/game/international-superstar-soccer-98 ISS Pro '98 at MobyGames.com]