Victory pass line shining on the pitch!
- JP release: 14th March 2002
- EU release: 3rd May 2002
- NA release: N/A
- Developer: Konami
- Publisher: Konami
- NGC Magazine Score: 83%
- Mods Used: Widescreen Hack
When International Superstar Soccer 2000 came out on N64, over on PS1 and PS2,Konami decided to start the naming from scratch, giving the games numbers instead of dates. I can only guess that this was done to try and get more long-term sales, as people don’t want a sports game from an older date, so someone may see this on a store shelf and not know it’s older.
The “next gen” versions also seem to have given up on clubs, reverting back to only having international teams, giving far fewer options to the teams you can play as and the kind of tournaments you can have – even if they didn’t use the name Manchester United, fans still want to be their off-brand version.
As for the core gameplay, I’m not a huge fan. Passing seems very temperamental and I found myself passing in the completely wrong direction to nobody. Players also hate trying to get into space, and seem afraid of going into the box unless you dance around in there for a bit to egg them on. This doesn’t come close to the enjoyment of the games on N64.
Fine
After playing the improved, but still wretchedly fault-ridden FIFA Road to the World Cup (EA have yet to make their next FIFA game available to us, but we all know what to expect), and then then the nut-numbing Virtua Striker v2002 in NGC/66, this is like upgrading fomr a place on the terraces at Hull to a director’s box at Old Trafford.
Tim Weaver, NGC Magazine #68
Remake or remaster?
I think ISS 2000 is still the best ISS game for Konami to look back on.
Official Ways to get the game
There is no official way to get International Superstar Soccer 2.
Europe
Japan
North America
GameCube Games by Date
2002: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2003: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2004: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2005: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
2006: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
Man, what a tragic fall from grace for the ISS series.
Though of course Konami would go on to far greater success with the Pro Evolution Soccer series (which was birthed from the ISS Pro series on the PS1), it’s such a shame that the mainline ISS series on the N64 died on the grapevine with ISS 2 and 3 (which we’ll see later on). I always much preferred the arcade style of somewhat unrealistic football, so it was tragic to see it fail to properly make the transition from the N64 to 6th Gen consoles, while the market consolidated almost exclusively into realistic Football Sim titles (which of course coalesced exclusively into just PES and FIFA, before eventually just FIFA/EA Sports FC).
ISS 2 was my Gamecube launch game (or, at least, the game that came with the console for my birthday shortly after release 🙂) and I loved it!
I knew it wasn’t as good as Pro Evolution Soccer but I still had a blast with it and thought the commentary was pretty decent at the time.
It doesn’t feel particularly great to go back to but I do have the urge to throw it on for a game later just for fun 😅