I did not expect to find at this point among the pile of diskettes for Amiga 500 that I still have a very special demo that came out exclusively for the magazine Amiga Format under a striking green color. The reason? A crossover one of the most unusual between Cannon Fodder and Sensible Soccer from Sensible Software.
As much as there are football matches that seem like a pitched battle, like the shameful Portugal-Holland of the 2006 World Cup in Germany, baptized in fact as the battle of Nuremberg for its 16 yellow cards and four red cards, they will never be as hard as living a war . But nevertheless, nothing forbids us to enjoy a parody, as the “sensible” English study did at Christmas 1994.
Cannon Soccer, the festive gift of Amiga Format
A year had passed since the original’s release Cannon Fodder late 1993, assuming a ligh thearted view of war games. And it is that his motto already gave a good account of it in the form of a catchy song: War has never been so much fun
It was Christmas time in 1994 and Sensible Software, which had made a giant leap precisely in the nineties with the aforementioned Sensible Soccer 1992 and this war game just the following year, it seemed like a good idea mix both universes as a typical Christmas gift. After all, they shared a graphic engine and it could also be a good way to promote their products by including diskettes with demos the magazines of that time.
The difference, of course, is that Cannon Soccer, which was the name of the experiment, was not a demo, but a “complete” game with two exclusive maps created for the occasion. Limited? Yes, of course. But it was a nice touch.
Technically it could even be considered a crossover in three bands, when the houses of the previous one appear Megalomania 1991, also from the same English study. Do not forget that he was one of the pioneers in strategy games and also in order to experiment with the control of a console controller, when it came out on Mega Drive and Super Nintendo. Cannon FodderWithout going any further, with that other vision of strategy, he did not miss his appointment on SEGA and Nintendo consoles, despite offering a tougher handling than with the mouse (a constant trend since then).
In any case, Cannon Soccer was exclusive to Amiga systems. And it came as a gift, as we said, in the Amiga Format magazine. For a server it was always the least attractive of all (Amiga Action, Amiga Power, etc), except for that day. His cover of issue 54
Another detail of interest was that it was compatible with any version of Amiga, something that was already reported from the cover of the diskette, where there was a small snapshot of the first phase (clearly the most striking).
Argentine footballers against war soldiers
Already fully involved in the game, it was surprising to see how the players we were facing seemed taken from the Argentine team. Nor was it surprising, being one of the best in history and with a 1994 that meant Diego Armando Maradona’s last World Cup
The first phase put us squarely inside a soccer field, although the first thing we saw (or heard) was a combat helicopter flying over the area releasing missiles at the piece rate. Yes, it was a crossover Highly demanding from the start, where the footballers on the pitch would later surprise us shooting (without firearms) as if they were balls …
It was inevitable to keep our distance so as not to get scalded with so many enemies at once and in such an open field, pun intended. Unfortunately this first mission lasted a sigh and the second reused one of the maps of the Cannon Fodder original, although under a Christmas picture and with those footballers returning to the field (of play). And to top it all, with more helicopters and turrets.
The initial pleasant surprise was losing steam, therefore, when blur the feeling of actually being inside a Sensible Soccer as much as footballers when dying sometimes made the classic animation of injuring their knee … with blood.
Nor could you demand too much for a gift from a magazine and the truth is that I was delighted to run into this one again diskette that I kept like gold on a cloth after so many years. The pity is that in its day I missed the call Sensible Soccer Meets Bulldog Blighty, a demo where a soccer ball was exchanged for a grenade. I do remember having tried a Sensible Soccer with fruits, but I never saw that one again diskette that Amiga Action gave away in 1993.
