Kick Off

In the late 80s, this was the best football game. I used to spend days competing with my school pals in epic matches that I still remember to this day. It stood out from the other games that had come out before in that it was so much quicker, the scores tended to be authentic (low scoring), and unlike so many other early football games there was no guaranteed way to score a goal. We had a three way league running, at one point, and whoever was top at the time had substantial bragging rights.

There is so much to say about this game. The players names were made up, and did not even try to imitate authentic players of the day. So rather than having Ian Wrote or Alan Sheerer as more modern games without rights have tried to do, this game invented players of its own who became names in my youth. I particularly recall star striker W. Quinn (we christened him Will Quinn, but I guess it could have been Wicky Quinn).
One of the first top-view football games, it immediately won over those who preferred the side on view. Control was simple, pace as I say was amazing (I still suggest it is quicker than many of the console games we have today and without all the complexity of the multi-buttons, here fire = pass/ shoot/ tackle) and it was so smooth and fluid. The temptation was always to hump the ball long and get W Quinn to chase it, but give hours of practice and you could develop beautiful passing movements and be rightly proud of your cultured game.
This was also the first series of games that allowed you replays and allowed you to save your best goals. And there was enough diversity in the goals that you could claim an entirely unique strike.