Konami Hyper Soccer

Konami Hyper Soccer garnered mixed reception from critics at release. Video Games Martin Gaksch found Hyper Soccer to be an above-average sports game, criticizing its audiovisual department and aspects such as player-controlled teammates not being highlighted, as well as the inability to adjust play time, stating that "halfway demanding footballers will not be happy with it". In a similar tone as Gaksch, Play Time (magazine) Oliver Manne found the game's penalty shootout sequences to be its only exciting part and felt mixed regarding the audio, but criticized its slow-pacing and certain aspects of the visual presentation like the "unclean" screen scrolling, sprite flickering and limited animations, writing that "after just a few minutes of play, Hyper Soccer developed into a true tragedy". In contrast to the German publications, Consoles Plus Robert Barbe was more positive towards the title, commending its graphics, realistic animations, rhythmic music, simple but responsive controls, and longevity. Joysticks Jean-François Morisse and Joypads Alain Huyghues-Lacour regarded it as one of the better football games on the Nintendo Entertainment System when compared to previous releases on the platform like Soccer, Goal! and Kick Off. Both Morisse and Huyghues-Lacour gave positive remarks to the visuals, sprite animations, sound and controls. Player Ones Christophe Delpierre concurred with Morisse and Lacour, regarding it as one of the best football games on NES, and noting that its playability was "exemplary". Superjuegos Carlos Yuste criticized Hyper Soccer for its "monotonous" graphics, due to lack of audience on the field and score marker, as well as not respecting the original colors of each team, in addition to the repetitive music. However, Yuste found its difficulty fair, and noted that the character movements were "very acceptable" for an 8-bit console. Banzzaïs Lionel Vilner commended its audiovisual presentation but criticized the players' animations for being "bizarre". Nevertheless, Vilner ultimately found Hyper Soccer to be fun, but noted the lack of on-screen display of score and time during gameplay. Super Powers Frederic Bailly regarded it as the best football simulator for the NES, giving positive remarks to the game's clean visuals, realistic sprite animations, and responsive controls. Regardless, Bailly criticized the audio department for its unoriginal music and "practically inexistent" sound effects, as well as the constant slowdown. Mean Machines Rob Bright and Julian Rignall found the title to be disappointing, criticizing its mediocre animations and visuals, grating music, "useless" sound effects, poor playability and frustrating AI. However, both Bright and Rignall praised its presentation due to the range of available options. Similarly, Robert Whitfield of the Australian Nintendo Magazine System called it a "poor soccer sim that lacks everything that makes the actual game great". Whitfield commended its presentation and addition of a two-player mode, but found the basic gameplay unimpressive and criticized the graphics due to the sprite flickering and "jerky" movement, slow sound and playability. Retrospective commentary for Hyper Soccer has been more positive due to its fast and frantic arcade-style gameplay, and is considered to be the predecessor to Konami's International Superstar Soccer and Pro Evolution Soccer series. Writing for UOL Start, Rodrigo Lara of GameHall found the game's visuals to be very detailed for the NES and noted refinements such as the ball's size increasing when kicked into the air.