FIFA : Road to World Cup 98

FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 for Super Nintendo is EA Sports' late-1997 association-football game, released for the 16-bit console as the fifth main entry in the FIFA series. Developed for the SNES by XYZ Productions and published by Electronic Arts, it turns the approaching 1998 FIFA World Cup in France into the centre of a full season of club and international football. It is a distinct 16-bit edition rather than the polygonal PlayStation and Nintendo 64 game: the action is presented from a scrolling, angled field view and built around the immediate, cartridge-era FIFA style.

A match puts the player in charge of one side at a time, moving the selected footballer around the pitch while the rest of the team is computer controlled. Passing, shooting, crossing, tackling and changing the controlled player form the core of play. The emphasis is on carrying the ball through midfield, creating space in the attacking third and converting chances, while defending calls for switching to the right player and challenging without leaving too much room behind the line. Its responsive player-and-ball control and motion-captured movement were promoted as upgrades over earlier FIFA games.

The defining attraction is the Road to World Cup campaign. Instead of beginning at the finals, players select a national side and work through qualifying before reaching the 1998 tournament. The game represents 172 international teams across six qualification zones, giving the campaign a much broader selection of countries than a finals-only competition. Brazil and hosts France were part of the worldwide roster despite their automatic qualification, so a player could choose familiar powers or take a less celebrated national team through its route to France.

FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 on SNES also supports quicker standalone play through friendlies, league competition, penalty-kick shootouts and training. Its league material includes 189 clubs from 11 leagues, while team and player editing lets users adjust lineups and build personalised squads. The combination gives the cartridge a choice between a long qualification project, a club-focused schedule, a short tournament-style challenge or a practice session before competitive matches. Local multiplayer allows another player to join the contest on the same Super Nintendo.

The game arrived at the end of the SNES lifespan, alongside versions for newer consoles, computers, Sega hardware and Game Boy. Those editions were not all identical: the 16-bit releases were separately made to suit their hardware, so features associated with the 3D console versions should not be treated as a description of the Super NES game. The SNES edition is also notable as the final FIFA release for Nintendo's Super NES, closing the series' run on the system with a football package shaped by the build-up to France 1998.

Regional releases used different titles, including FIFA: Rumbo al Mundial 98, FIFA: Die WM-Qualifikation 98, FIFA: En Route Pour La Coupe Du Monde 98 and FIFA: Road to World Cup 98 - World Cup e no Michi in Japan. Whatever the box title, the central idea remains the same: use the Super Nintendo's final FIFA season to guide a chosen nation from qualifying matches toward the World Cup while also having club leagues and individual matches ready for a quick game.