ScuzzBlog: Diaries March 2026
Entry 5th March 2026: Post 1: Emlyn and Gazza's Football - A very British passion.
Emlyn and Gazza's Football - A very British passion.
Both these games were totally ignored by me in the day given that
they were ports from The Spectrum, C64 , Amstrad etc. The games
had been kicked around nearly every platform available in the UK
before finding their way onto the Amiga. And my problem with that?
Simple really. I have an Amiga and do I really want a game that
was playable on the Amstrad? Not really.
Football is international and appealing to a great number of folk
across the planet, but two games called Emlyn Hughes International
Soccer and Gazza's Super Soccer were definitely aimed at the UK
market. The platforms they fed were dominant in the UK at the time
and I'm sure the development of both were focusing more on the
Brits passion for the game and their love of two football icons.
You could say I'm a bit of an Amiga snob but a game that was sold
on a cassette tape for the CPC464 is hardly going to test my Amiga.
I didn't even give them the chance. Was the same with any number of
games ported to the Amiga from cassette. Even today I'm hard pushed
to think of a reason to get these for the Amiga.
The Emlyn Hughes game is the better of the two. The game is crisp
clear and easy to use. The games pitch is compressed to its width
and stretched to its length. All the players are the same and all
have the same basic handful of screen action poses. Mostly the
game focuses on them running back and forth with little sense
of any more complex game play. It wasn't bad but definitely very
limiting in the action department. Also grindingly slow in truth.
The Gazza game was just dreadful. The colours very vivid and all
bleeding out. The players looked like girls with their long hair.
The screen dodges from side to top view which is annoying and
there is a marker over active player heads which drove me mad.
The ball was out more than in and bleeped all the time. Very stop
start I have to say. Not a fan at all.
Sad really cus I only use these games boxes to hold a protective
dust cover over my Amstrad 6128 CPC disc boxes. I often have to
move them out the way and I often look at the boxes and reflect
how such games could be anything other than a disappointment in
respect of the game quality. So I lay the things down and never
give them a second thought.
Well that was till today when I grabbed the boxes and stuck them
on the bench.
Classic games I am sure, but you will have to be the judge of that.
Sadly I got spoiled rotten by FIFA and when you have played the best
you really can't go back. The Emlyn game reminded me of the Matchup
on Harry Enfield show presented by Mr Cholmondley-Warner the way the
character all turned and ran the other way then back again. Just my
sense of humour.
PS: What I failed to mention was the Amiga didn't fair too well in
the football department. I found all of the games pretty poor. I did
love Sensible World of Soccer, but only for the managment side of
the game. I waited for ages for FIFA to come out on the Amiga. Sadly
it turned out to be the worst football game I ever played.
Emlyn and Gazza's Football - A very British passion.
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