International Superstar Soccer 3

Victory pass line shining on the pitch!

EU release: 30th May 2003
NA release: N/A
JP release: N/A
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
NGC Magazine Score: 78%
Mods Used: Widescreen Hack

With Konami recently developing multiple different football games for Japan, Europe and North America, it’s somewhat surprising that we’re already on Konami’s last football game for the GameCube. On top of that, ISS3 (alongside Perfect Striker 5, which was not on GameCube) also marks the end of the Internal Superstar Soccer series, with Konami choosing to focus on Pro Evolution on PS2 and Xbox.

ISS3 has an interesting campaign mode where you use an original team (that you can modify as you see fit) and complete challenges against fictional trams. Annoyingly, a lot of customisation is locked behind having to earn them, especially in regards to the stadium where there are zero choices. The flag editor is extremely in-depth, though.

For the core football gameplay, I did not get on with it. The direction you push when passing seems to have no impact on the pass itself, with the game deciding for you. The same is true for defending, with the game changing the player you control automatically. It’s possible that there are some assist settings at play, but why would they make it more difficult to play and why would it be set to the default?

It’s a shame that the series stopped here, as I feel like the original teams are the way to go for creating a football game when the licensing is dominated by EA. Instead of just being an off-brand football game, focus on gameplay and have it in a fictional world, where you can build your team from kicking around in a field to a global level.

Fine

Despite the simple delights, however, overall ISS 3 isn’t a patch on its more sophisticated cousin. And while this release makes some minor improvements on last year’s version, it’s still the only ISS you’ve got, as Pro Evolution won’t get a PAL release. Sob.
Rich Owen, NGC Magazine #82

Remake or remaster?

I enjoyed the N64 ones more.

Official Ways to get the game

There is no official way to get ISS 3.