Soccer Kid

Overview

Soccer Kid is a 2D side-scrolling platformer developed and published by Krisalis Software for Amiga computers in Europe in 1993.

As the titular Soccer Kid, players must travel the world to recover the five pieces of the World Cup trophy that was broken apart after a botched alien abduction.

Developed by the studio behind the Manchester United series of soccer games, Soccer Kid is the first platformer to feature gameplay mechanics based on the sport, with the protagonist skillfully kicking around the soccer ball for attacking enemies around him, collecting items from afar, and boosting himself upward. It features a dedicated physics engine for the ball's movement and collisions.

The game received several ports throughout 1994, including the Amiga CD32, DOS PCs, the 3DO, and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, the latter three of which were also released outside of Europe (with the North American SNES version released as The Adventures of Kid Kleets and the Japanese 3DO version released as Great Soccer Kid). The SNES version was notable for cutting down on its level count (by over half) and for the Japanese release redrawing the protagonist to a more anime appearance (with his in-game sprites intact). The SNES version was later ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2002 (in both North America and Europe) and to the PlayStation in late 2003 (exclusive to Europe). The SNES version was also ported to the Atari Jaguar for a planned 1995 release, but remained unreleased until it was picked up by indie publisher Songbird Productions on February 2000. Releases for the Atari ST, Atari Lynx, and Sega Genesis were planned, but were cancelled.

Some European versions of the game had in-game advertising for the Golden Grahams cereal.

Stages

The original game includes 29 total "zones", split into 16 total areas (with two zones each, with the exception of the single-zone areas The Battle Ship, The Bullet Train, and The Stadium).

Some versions, namely the SNES, Jaguar, PS1, and GBA versions, cut down the amount of levels to 12 by only including London, Italian Riviera, Red Square, Tanaka Custom Hardware, New York City (which includes the first California Beach zone as third zone in-between the other two), and The Stadium.

While the game includes either a saving or password system, depending on the version, this can only be done between countries, rather than between zones or areas. This adds to the original game's difficulty, as players will have to complete 5-6 zones before being able to save. The Japanese SFC version has neither system.

England

1. Sunnyside
2. The English Countryside
3. London

Italy

1. The Italian Ruins
2. Venice
3. Italian Riviera

Russia

1. The Russian Forest
2. The Battle Ship
3. Red Square

Japan

1. The Japanese Countryside
2. The Bullet Train
3. Tanaka Custom Hardware

USA

1. The Wild West
2. California Beach
3. New York City
4. The Stadium

Development

The original concept for the game was by Dean Lester when the company wanted to do a Mad Professor Mariarti sequel. Lester later took the same concept to Domark, who released the less successful Marko's Magic Football.