Tehkan World Cup

Tehkan World Cup, originally released as World Cup in Japan, is an association football video game released to arcades in 1985 by Tehkan, the former name of Tecmo. It features multiplayer gameplay and trackball controllers. It was released in both upright and table arcade cabinets, but was most commonly released in a cocktail cabinet form factor. Its arrival coincided with the buildup to the 1986 FIFA World Cup. It featured the then colors of several of the world's top teams such as West Germany, Argentina and Brazil, although it did not mention any team by name.

The game uses a bird's-eye view, with the trackball controls allowing game physics such as controlling both the direction and speed of the shot. The gameplay format was adapted from the American football game Gridiron Fight, developed by the same team and released earlier in the year, for an association football game, but with the controls simplified down to a trackball and single action button. It became a major success in arcades, and was a landmark title for association football games upon release. While Tehkan World Cup was not officially ported to home systems at the time, its gameplay format was later adapted by Sensible Software to develop the home computer game MicroProse Soccer (1988) and provided the basis for later association football games such as the Sensible Soccer series in the early 1990s.

In 1990, Tehkan World Cup was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System as Tecmo World Cup Soccer. The original arcade version was also released for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox consoles as Tecmo Cup in the 2000s.

Graphically, it offers a two-dimensional bird's-eye view of the field that was unique for its time. It has multi-directional scrolling, with only a portion of the field visible on screen at any time.

Its trackball control system contributes significantly to its gameplay, which is relatively speedy and exhibited a fluidity something akin to ice hockey, with as little as three seconds required to score from kick-off. Two-player action can be highly competitive, with players facing each other across the game space while using sweeping arm movements reminiscent of table tennis.

There is a single fire button along with the trackball. The game physics allow the trackball to control both the direction and the velocity of the shot. There is also a mini-map, displaying the positions of all the players.

Tehkan World Cup was developed by Tehkan, the former name of Tecmo. It was developed shortly after the American football game Gridiron Fight, released earlier the same year, with several of the same team members working on Tehkan World Cup. The game was planned and designed by Shin-ichiro Tomie with Kazutoshi Ueda (who previously worked on titles such as Space Panic, Lady Bug, Mr. Do! and Bomb Jack). It was programmed by Michishito Ishizuka, while character design and background graphics were handled by his wife Rie Ishizuka (also known as Rie Yatomi), cabinet design by Kohji Okada, and illustrations by Hideyuki Yokoyama.

Tomie, who had previously designed Gridiron Fight, was a big soccer fan, so he wanted to adapt the gameplay format of Gridiron Fight for a soccer game. Gridiron Fight used similar trackball controls, but was more complex. The team decided to simplify the controls, so that the player can run with the trackball and press one button to kick.