The Retro FIFA Discussion Thread (All FIFA games by EA are welcome!)

[*aLe]

(whoops, I'm not supposed to say where I download games from, am I? 🫢)

Well... They're abandonware... They aren't sold anymore...
If there were the chance that you told us where you got your working copy of FIFA 99 from, I'm sure Chris would appreciate*. 😉

*and I would, too. Maybe it's already been said before but I might aswell have missed it.

 

[Sany023]

Well... They're abandonware... They aren't sold anymore...
If there were the chance that you told us where you got your working copy of FIFA 99 from, I'm sure Chris would appreciate*. 😉

*and I would, too. Maybe it's already been said before but I might aswell have missed it.

https://archive.org/details/ea-sports-fifa-99

 

[Sami 1999]

I think, where I pick them up from, they already come patched and ready to play in newer OS, so I just need to set Compatibility Mode (though in XP games and later, I don't even need to).
How do you record videos from FIFA 98? I might want to stream some gameplay in the future.

Nvidia shadowplay pretty much works with any game. This was when my GPU was still alive. I'm currently on intel hd 530 and that thing cant record anything.

 

[TheKusanagiBlade]

Well... They're abandonware... They aren't sold anymore...
If there were the chance that you told us where you got your working copy of FIFA 99 from, I'm sure Chris would appreciate*. 😉

*and I would, too. Maybe it's already been said before but I might aswell have missed it.

Oh, OK then. I usually visit My Abandonware (https://www.myabandonware.com/) to pick up these games.
They have the entire FIFA series up through 07 there - World Cup and Manager games included.
I'm glad their FIFA 98 works with my computer (apparently they have the workarounds built-in for the benefit of users, but it has to be the rip - the CD ISO doesn't work on 64-bit systems), and I'm glad I can still use the mod I made for it 15 years ago. ^^

One thing I wish I knew is how to change the colors of the kit numbers so they won't be all just black and white.

 

[millossobek]

I think I might've mentioned this before, but I'd like to pose the question just in case anyone has been able to solve this:

Has anyone, by any chance been able to solve the following FIFA 11( PC) transfer issue? I've been playing with several patches (and also with vanilla game), and there's a consistent problem I'm having in the Career Mode transfer window.. With Medium to Low-rated teams, I just cannot sign players in the transfer window no matter what I do, and my players keep refusing to renew their contracts. (I've even tried giving high salaries to very low rated free agents and they keep refusing). I was wondering if perhaps this was an in-game problem, or if there is any way to solve it, or maybe any of you have had this issue as well.
Thanks in advance!

 

[Jeffafc]

Had a lot of fun on FIFA 12, I miss this engine so much

 

[MadbaLL]

fifa 12 is the best "old gen" fifa, without any doubts.

 

[Balo]

Fifa 20 on pc bypassed. this is the latest version without denuvo.

 

[*aLe]

Had a lot of fun on FIFA 12, I miss this engine so much

Yes, FIFA games were great in those years (when PC games were the same as their PS3 counterparts).
For some reason I couldn't get myself to really like FIFA 13 though, I don't know why.

 

[millossobek]

What are your favorite FIFA intros?

I'd probably narrow mine down to 3!

 

[Allekss]

Fifa 2003

 

[ronaldobatigol]

 

[Flipper the Priest]

What are your favorite FIFA intros?

I'd probably narrow mine down to 3!

16. A masterpiece.

06 is my most hated as people love it not realising the Scottish accent is abysmal!

 

[FC Bayern]

16. A masterpiece.

06 is my most hated as people love it not realising the Scottish accent is abysmal!

I can kinda get past that, but I always think of Shrek when he says "the immaculate strike"

 

[Flipper the Priest]

I can kinda get past that, but I always think of Shrek when he says "the immaculate strike"

"Eh realise now..."

Not in a Dundonian way, just drivel!

Major Shrek vibes. Mike Myers and EA are both Canadian...

 

[Chris Davies]

What are your favorite FIFA intros?

Good question. I think World Cup 98, FIFA 2000 and FIFA 2001 are my top three, with the latter just shading it.



Usually, my favourite intros are the ones that show you just how much the developers love the sport (I've spoken at length about Winning Eleven's "We Will Rock You" intro and how much that means to me to this day)...

...but my second-favourite intros are the ones that show you everything that's been added to the game versus the previous year. Gameplay improvements that are clear from the gameplay footage they feature, that make you go "wow, I can't wait to see that in a match" (like the shoulder charges, stepovers and the player speech, which I absolutely loved). The soundtrack set the mood too!

06 is my most hated as people love it not realising the Scottish accent is abysmal!

06 is my most hated too, for an entirely different reason. It's the most pompous and hollow "tribute to the beautiful game" I've ever seen, read by a voice they've clearly thought would add "gravitas". Horrendous.

I get the idea - FIFA knew PES was the "thinking man's game" and they were coming for it. Just really poorly executed.

(If only FC had the same goal.)

 

[Flipper the Priest]

06 is my most hated too, for an entirely different reason. It's the most pompous and hollow "tribute to the beautiful game" I've ever seen, read by a voice they've clearly thought would add "gravitas". Horrendous.

I get the idea - FIFA knew PES was the "thinking man's game" and they were coming for it. Just really poorly executed.

(If only FC had the same goal.)

You know what, I've barely taken the time to listen to what the North American gentleman is saying - such is the accent rage - but you're right. Unctuous, Drury-esque pish.

 

[FC Bayern]

You know what, I've barely taken the time to listen to what the North American gentleman is saying - such is the accent rage - but you're right. Unctuous, Drury-esque pish.

Please don't mention Peter "Hoists it forward" Drury.

The irony is that his commentary in TiF & PES 2016 was alright. It's from maybe 2018 & onwards that it goes downhill. I'd say it was more annoying that Mark "What a stoomer" Lawrenson, only because Lawrenson was a co-commentator, so piped up occasionally.

As much as I dislike the current FC commentary, it has never been as annoying as PES. Fifa has always had solid audio

 

[millossobek]

As much as I dislike the current FC commentary, it has never been as annoying as PES. Fifa has always had solid audio

In English, I agree. There's only so many times you can hear "It might be flowing one way but there's still time for some ebb" before you wanna rage quit.


South American Spanish though, different story IMO. I think the PES Argentinean commentators in PES are FAR superior to FIFA's/FC's.

 

[Flipper the Priest]

Please don't mention Peter "Hoists it forward" Drury.

The irony is that his commentary in TiF & PES 2016 was alright. It's from maybe 2018 & onwards that it goes downhill. I'd say it was more annoying that Mark "What a stoomer" Lawrenson, only because Lawrenson was a co-commentator, so piped up occasionally.

As much as I dislike the current FC commentary, it has never been as annoying as PES. Fifa has always had solid audio

Yeah I think Drury has just become a parody of himself over the years and that's been reflected in games!

I'm not a fan of the current EASFC lot. I really want to like Derek Rae as he's one of my own, but I don't rate his comms.

 

[FC Bayern]

Yeah I think Drury has just become a parody of himself over the years and that's been reflected in games!

I'm not a fan of the current EASFC lot. I really want to like Derek Rae as he's one of my own, but I don't rate his comms.

I don't mind it. But I miss the days of Ally McCoist and, dare I say, Andy Gray (even if they were only co-coms)

 

[TheKusanagiBlade]

What are your favorite FIFA intros?

I'd probably narrow mine down to 3!

For the nostalgia factor, 98 will always have a place in my heart.


But I'm personally fond of 2002, 2004 (which I feel was the last time we had a REAL intro, as in before the "Press any key" screen) and the 6th gen/PC version of 08 too (which was a brief return to that in my eyes).




2000 is cool too and 16 is epic, but they've already been mentioned and the latter isn't quite an "intro" so much as a movie you can access within the game.

Yes, FIFA games were great in those years (when PC games were the same as their PS3 counterparts).
For some reason I couldn't get myself to really like FIFA 13 though, I don't know why.

You know what I REALLY miss from that era? The Creation Centre. I admit on 13 I didn't make as much use of it as I would've liked (all I made were the teams from the first FIFA with fictional players and stuff), but on 14 I really went to town with it. I took the chance to, let's say, "complete" the game with plenty of teams I felt were missing from it. I even went as far as starting a career with the J. League I downloaded off it.
Was EA too afraid of lawsuits to keep the idea going (that also being the reason why Konami's not bringing Edit Mode back on eFootball)?

 

[*aLe]

(all I made were the teams from the first FIFA with fictional players and stuff)

Do you mean teams from FIFA International Soccer?
And maybe also from the GameBoy version of FIFA 96 and 97 (which shared the same "fantasy world" with FIFA International Soccer, but also had club teams with unlicensed/fantasy players)?
If so... You, sir, definitely know how to enjoy a game.

A dream of mine (which I will be making true sooner or later) would be a modern FIFA (say 14 or 16) with no real life players, only fantasy players taken from those old games (for example, talking about Italy because that's where I'm from, Ciancone and Rossini from FIFA International Soccer, Pagani and Premoli from ISS Deluxe, D'Angelo and Milani from Sega Worldwide Soccer) along with players which names are generated via services like BehindTheName and Forebears to make them credible (I wouldn't want a player from Italy being called Joshua van der Heyden if you get what I mean).

 

[NeoRetro]

Yes, FIFA games were great in those years (when PC games were the same as their PS3 counterparts).
For some reason I couldn't get myself to really like FIFA 13 though, I don't know why.

I really like that version too, it's a more direct play version as Fifa 14 but more dynamic too, i talk on PS3/PC version.
Now the only one i don't like it's the 2012 and the 2010 version, especially the 2010 with the "gk > lob > goal" bug. 11 = rectified 10 version, 13 = rectified 12 version... Nothing major added on Fifa 14 except a tighter balance.
Not talking too long about the the NG version as it's not the thread, so just a small OT but to me it's their pinnacle aswell visually even if it was under Ignite :, their PES5 even if Fifa 16 gaves more freedom and a bigger pitch, more outcomes, the 14 PS4-ONE is to me the best and most balanced version they never did that time.
Another thing, there's forgotten or never really tried Fifa's on Ps3, still on Impact Engine which are even funnier than the 14 PC/PS3 > If ever you got one opportunity to try "FIFA 16 ... PS3" you may fall in love like i did : Fifa 16 mechanics but with the good old engine, nothing too Ignity floaty.
It's a bit like no one tried really Pes 2008 to JL2008 on Ps2 but they're really fantastic, and i place FIFA16/PS3 on the same case.

Fifa 12 didn't got that bug but it was always like that on that Fifa era : -every new feature included was unfinished and never really corrected through the year. For the 2012, it was the tactical defending and collisions with basic standing tackle who messed up the game, corrected on the 2013 (nothing really major added on 2011, 2013 and 2014 so they're more solid, now it's a question of preferences.
09 too, with the ball or without the ball in straight line : litterally the same speed, resulted in too much counters and impossible to catch any averagely rapid guy with the ball in the middle especially.

I said that but in comparison to what they do now it's still day and night we're all alright on that point haha.

Back to really "oldies" Fifa, i played not so recently the Fifa WC 2002 version on Ps2 : it's a different game than the before and after casual yearly FIFA, pretty SIM if i could say, pretty slow and realistic. I don't have that "move which works everytime" so don't kill my entrain about that version please.
Was pretty surprised as i hated every single FIFA on Ps1 (except the 1st which was also the first 3d football game i brought so 200% nostalgia, but forgive me i was young : don't retry it it's unplayable )

On my side on Ps2 casual yearly version i really appreaciate '07, '09, and '11 versions. Tempo differs, but they're both pretty good version.
I don't really want to retry all of them just after this post but i don't remember which was my favorite, but you can pick one of the 3 versions they're both really enjoyable.

 

[TheKusanagiBlade]

Do you mean teams from FIFA International Soccer?
And maybe also from the GameBoy version of FIFA 96 and 97 (which shared the same "fantasy world" with FIFA International Soccer, but also had club teams with unlicensed/fantasy players)?
If so... You, sir, definitely know how to enjoy a game.

A dream of mine (which I will be making true sooner or later) would be a modern FIFA (say 14 or 16) with no real life players, only fantasy players taken from those old games (for example, talking about Italy because that's where I'm from, Ciancone and Rossini from FIFA International Soccer, Pagani and Premoli from ISS Deluxe, D'Angelo and Milani from Sega Worldwide Soccer) along with players which names are generated via services like BehindTheName and Forebears to make them credible (I wouldn't want a player from Italy being called Joshua van der Heyden if you get what I mean).

Yeah, but since you could only make a tournament with a maximum of 32, I just made the 24 from the '94 World Cup plus eight more according to the extra qualifying slots that opened up for 1998.
I like having the FIFPro athletes but I was always nuts over these fictional players they used to have in the games (not just fake, like "Radolno" or "Naldorinho", you know), so I compiled many of them on this spreadsheet:

Red are FIFA players, blue are ISS (shade variations are those that appear in different versions), and later I added the players from the Saturn's Worldwide Soccer 97 and 98 in gray (another game whose variety and fictional names I liked). I invented many of the given names there too as a kind of imagination exercise.
There are times when I start up Football Manager with the Real Players option turned off to see what they come up with, and it's excellent for the most part. Even for the Brazilian players they come up with realistic "player names" and full names, unlike what EA has been doing.

 

[*aLe]

Yeah, but since you could only make a tournament with a maximum of 32, I just made the 24 from the '94 World Cup plus eight more according to the extra qualifying slots that opened up for 1998.
I like having the FIFPro athletes but I was always nuts over these fictional players they used to have in the games (not just fake, like "Radolno" or "Naldorinho", you know), so I compiled many of them on this spreadsheet:

Red are FIFA players, blue are ISS (shade variations are those that appear in different versions), and later I added the players from the Saturn's Worldwide Soccer 97 and 98 in gray (another game whose variety and fictional names I liked). I invented many of the given names there too as a kind of imagination exercise.
There are times when I start up Football Manager with the Real Players option turned off to see what they come up with, and it's excellent for the most part. Even for the Brazilian players they come up with realistic "player names" and full names, unlike what EA has been doing.

Thanks man, this is a very valuable list.
I did something similar myself but with screenshoots taken from emulators (ironically, European teams were also taken from FM 2011 with the exact option you said, even if I found FM 2012 better in that aspect especially for Brazilian players which started to become a little "strange" in FM 2011 especially after some years into the save).

They're collected here if you wish to have a look:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/8av6jbs20jj54/Player_Names

The collection includes screens from a couple of ISS games on N64 (but with "fake" names that I didn't really like), from GameCube's "Virtua Striker 3 2002", from "90 Minutes" for SNES, from the PC and Saturn versions of SWWS.
Italian, British and Notrh American clubs from FIFA 96 are also featured (so you could maybe "match" some of the FIFA International Soccer players to their intended club in the "FIFA universe").

Extend the collection with some BehindTheName and Forebears queries, and you'll have a pretty interesting namebase for a 100% fictional player set.

 

[TheKusanagiBlade]

Thanks man, this is a very valuable list.
I did something similar myself but with screenshoots taken from emulators (ironically, European teams were also taken from FM 2011 with the exact option you said, even if I found FM 2012 better in that aspect especially for Brazilian players which started to become a little "strange" in FM 2011 especially after some years into the save).

They're collected here if you wish to have a look:
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/8av6jbs20jj54/Player_Names

The collection includes screens from a couple of ISS games on N64 (but with "fake" names that I didn't really like), from GameCube's "Virtua Striker 3 2002", from "90 Minutes" for SNES, from the PC and Saturn versions of SWWS.
Italian, British and Notrh American clubs from FIFA 96 are also featured (so you could maybe "match" some of the FIFA International Soccer players to their intended club in the "FIFA universe").

Extend the collection with some BehindTheName and Forebears queries, and you'll have a pretty interesting namebase for a 100% fictional player set.

The ones from Virtua Striker 3 I didn't count because they actually fell into the "fake name" definition to me - nearly all of them have the same initial as the real players they were based on (plus, since JFA licensed the game, all of Japan's players are real), so I edited them to the real ones, like so:

I had to do a bit of digging because these teams were from the qualifiers rather than the World Cup proper (as evidenced by the kits being in the 2000-01 style, except again for Japan), but pretty much 99% of them are made (only a few Oceania players I couldn't find).
I uploaded these save files to GameFAQs for both the American and European versions.
BTW, I didn't even know about the Game Boy ones; I thought it was only on FIFA 95, as the first to have clubs, that the clubs had fictional players as well.

 

[*aLe]

The ones from Virtua Striker 3 I didn't count because they actually fell into the "fake name" definition to me

You have a point, as they meant to rename the players in a way that they could still be linked to the original ones (for example Figo > Ferreira or Totti > Tantalo). But most of them are credible even if "decoupled" from the player they are representing (I don't know if I managed to be clear). That's what I like of many of them.

For example, when it comes to Italy... Marchetti, Falchi, Tedeschi, Tarquini, Piacentini are all surnames that make perfect sense in Italian and that can live without the players they've been assigned to.
For each of those surnames I know at least a person bearing it, and there are also famous people with those surnames like Federico Marchetti, Anna Falchi, Corrado Tedeschi, Gabriele Tarquini, Marcello Piacentini. Even if SEGA intended them to be fake, I think they make perfect surnames for "fantasy" players which have no connection with real world players.
The same applies to many surnames in FIFA International Soccer and in ISS Deluxe (I mean, I know more than one 'Pagani', more than one 'Mancini', a couple of pepole named 'Zappa' and more than one 'Premoli' myself).

You cannot do this kind of thing with names like 'Belbiero' (Del Piero's ISS 98 version) for example. That is a fake name that can't be used for anything else than representing the player it's intended to represent.
I mean, I get their point. They tried to make up something "sounding similar" to the real name, and even if for us Italians it doesn't make sense, it probably makes for them because it sounds "Italian-ish".
For example, for Del Piero I'd have used 'De Paoli' which gives the idea enough, and is a real Italian surname.

Them using "phonetically similar" names is like me using, say, 'Krankenwagen' as a fake name for Beckenbauer.
It sounds similar enough for me not speaking German to be credible and attributable, but then someone from Germany would certainly say "did you really mean to call him an ambulance? Seriously?"

Ironically enough, my first username here was 'Kleimann' which is a name that for me, despite being listed on Forebears as existing, is from the second category (can't be used for anything else than representing a player).

BTW, I didn't even know about the Game Boy ones; I thought it was only on FIFA 95, as the first to have clubs, that the clubs had fictional players as well.

Yes, and as a 11-year-old kid I was happy to see those players return in clubs when I got FIFA 96 for GameBoy, because to some of them I had already grown attached while playing FIFA International Soccer.
It was kind of a shock for me to see the Mega Drive version of FIFA 96 which featured real life players.
Nowadays most 11-year-old kids wouldn't even pick up a game if it didn't feature Lamine Yamal's latest haircut.

 

[TheKusanagiBlade]

You have a point, as they meant to rename the players in a way that they could still be linked to the original ones (for example Figo > Ferreira or Totti > Tantalo). But most of them are credible even if "decoupled" from the player they are representing (I don't know if I managed to be clear). That's what I like of many of them.

For example, when it comes to Italy... Marchetti, Falchi, Tedeschi, Tarquini, Piacentini are all surnames that make perfect sense in Italian and that can live without the players they've been assigned to.
For each of those surnames I know at least a person bearing it, and there are also famous people with those surnames like Federico Marchetti, Anna Falchi, Corrado Tedeschi, Gabriele Tarquini, Marcello Piacentini. Even if SEGA intended them to be fake, I think they make perfect surnames for "fantasy" players which have no connection with real world players.
The same applies to many surnames in FIFA International Soccer and in ISS Deluxe (I mean, I know more than one 'Pagani', more than one 'Mancini', a couple of pepole named 'Zappa' and more than one 'Premoli' myself).

You cannot do this kind of thing with names like 'Belbiero' (Del Piero's ISS 98 version) for example. That is a fake name that can't be used for anything else than representing the player it's intended to represent.
I mean, I get their point. They tried to make up something "sounding similar" to the real name, and even if for us Italians it doesn't make sense, it probably makes for them because it sounds "Italian-ish".
For example, for Del Piero I'd have used 'De Paoli' which gives the idea enough, and is a real Italian surname.

Them using "phonetically similar" names is like me using, say, 'Krankenwagen' as a fake name for Beckenbauer.
It sounds similar enough for me not speaking German to be credible and attributable, but then someone from Germany would certainly say "did you really mean to call him an ambulance? Seriously?"

Ironically enough, my first username here was 'Kleimann' which is a name that for me, despite being listed on Forebears as existing, is from the second category (can't be used for anything else than representing a player).

Yeah, true. I mean, when it's that close that I can associate, I put it in the "faked" box in my head. I mean, in ISS on the SNES it's pretty obvious that Galfano is supposed to be Roberto Baggio and Carboni is Fabrizio Ravanelli, but those names are far removed enough that I can just regard them as entirely fictional, unlike "R.Peggio" and "Revameli" which, like you said, are totally bogus but we know right away who they're meant to be even without looking at them (and still better looking and sounding than "Lon Barron" anyway).

Also, the names make sense most of the time; there are a few cases in some games, such as Brazil (where they sometimes come up with Latin-sounding gibberish regardless of how correct the other teams are, although it can come off as endearing; I blame our tendency of using nicknames xP) or Russia or Bulgaria, where sometimes they just cook up anything, slap an "ov" at the end and call it a day, like say "Koshevovrov" (in fact, there are a few SWWS Bulgarian names that I "corrected" on the spreadsheet because they wrote them with "ova" as if they were women xP). The South American teams in FIS (and Portugal as well) are pretty bad offenders in that regard.

 

[*aLe]

Yeah, true. I mean, when it's that close that I can associate, I put it in the "faked" box in my head. I mean, in ISS on the SNES it's pretty obvious that Galfano is supposed to be Roberto Baggio and Carboni is Fabrizio Ravanelli, but those names are far removed enough that I can just regard them as entirely fictional

I think that some of them are fictional indeed.
Look at Allejo for example: it's definitely Bebeto in ISS for the SNES, but then it's Ronaldo's name in ISS 64.
So, I believe that it's a name that was just meant to be fictional.
There were some that were recognizable though, like Pagani being Pagliuca and Mancini being Marchegiani.

Also, the names make sense most of the time

I think we've seen things worsen over time if possible. At the beginning both EA and Konami tried to use "credible" names (well, not always all of them, but surely many). Then Konami completely lost it from ISS 98 onwards (again, 'Belbiero' comes to mind but it's not like 'Roverman' from ISS 2000 or 'Bunnatek' from PES 3 were much better).
I really like how other games tried to keep it not real (because they couldn't) but credible.

I'd 10000% prefer to see Italy fielding a lineup made looking like this:

Pesce
Calderoli, Damiani, Scognamiglio, Adami
Maggi, Bresciani, Franceschini
Casale, Pacioli, Chiariello​

(totally made up names but credible!)

...than them having

Doppazulla
Decammo, Gionbollo, Casarlofi, Maspozi
Torumi, Budessa, Crasponze
Sbaraffa, Ronfumori, Ramelvi​

(fake names somehow resembling the real ones).