Fifa : How It All Began (Part-I)

FIFA, also known as FIFA Football or FIFA Soccer, is a series of association football video games released annually by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label.

Well the series began in late 1993, it was notable for being the first to have an official licence from FIFA, the world governing body of football.

At that time the market was already being dominated by football video games like Sensible Soccer, Kick Off and Match Day which had been developed since the late 1980s. And this was the next addition to their EA Sports label.

The GUARDIAN said

the slickest, most polished and by far the most popular football game around.

Games in this series (1990s) :-

1. FIFA International Soccer

2. FIFA 95

3. FIFA 96

4. FIFA 97

5. FIFA: Road to World Cup 98

6. FIFA 99

FIFA International Soccer(subsequently also known as FIFA '94)

Cover athlete: David Platt and Piotr Świerczewski (Packie Bonner and Ruud Gullit in some versions)

Released for: PC, DOS, Amiga, Sega CD (as FIFA International Soccer Championship Edition), 3DO, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Master System, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy.

Release date: December 15, 1993

The first game in the series was released in the weeks leading up to Christmas 1993. This greatly hyped football title broke with traditional 16-bit era games by presenting an isometric view rather than the more usual top-down view (Kick Off), side view (European Club Soccer), or bird's-eye view (Sensible Soccer). It only includes national teams, and real player names are not used. The game was number one in the UK charts, replacing Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition, and staying there for a full six months. It was placed at #11 in their Top 50 Mega Drive Games of All Time. The Sega Mega CD version was released under the title "FIFA International Soccer Championship Edition" it includes some features used in the next title, and is a highly polished version of the original. The game was called International Soccer so EA could sell the game successfully in Europe, after assuming Americans would have no interest in the game.

FIFA 95

Cover athlete: Erik Thorstvedt (Alexi Lalas in some versions)

Released for: Mega Drive/Genesis
Release date: November 10, 1994

FIFA 95 introduced club teams to the series within eight national leagues: Brazil, Germany's Bundesliga, Italy's Serie A, Spain's La Liga, England's Premier League, France's Ligue 1, Netherlands' Eredivisie and the United States. the leagues have team lineups based on the 1993–94 season, and the teams, although recognisably real, all still have generic players, many of them even returning from the previous game. The USA League consists of teams and players from the A-League, the country's second division – subsequent editions would feature "artificial" division one leagues, a feature not corrected until the 2000 edition when MSL was included for the first time.

FIFA 96

Main article: FIFA Soccer 96

Cover athlete: Frank de Boer and Jason McAteer (European version)
Released for: DOS/Windows, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Sega 32X, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy

Release date: September 30, 1995

The first FIFA game to feature real-time 3D graphics on the Sega Saturn, PlayStation and PC versions, and used a technology "Virtual Stadium". It is also the first in the series to present players with real player names and positions, with ranking, transfer and team customisation tools. The SNES and Mega Drive versions use an updated version of FIFA 95's engine with new teams and graphics. It is also the first FIFA game to contain a player/team editor (in the Mega Drive and fifth-generation versions only). The SNES and Mega Drive versions use an updated version of FIFA 95's engine with new teams and graphics. It is also the first FIFA game to contain a player/team editor (in the Mega Drive and fifth-generation versions only)

FIFA 97

Cover athlete: David Ginola (European version); Bebeto (rest of the world)

Released for: DOS/Windows, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Mega Drive/Genesis, SNES, Game Boy
Release date: November 30, 1996

The biggest change in FIFA '97 was the inclusion of 6-a-side indoor soccer mode and polygonal players, with motion capture provided by David Ginola. The game features a much higher number of playable leagues from England, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany and Malaysia. This version was also the first to feature in-game commentary by John Motson, alongside Andy Gray and Des Lynam introducing the matches.

FIFA: Road to World Cup 98

Cover athlete: Roy Lassiter (USA); David Beckham (UK); Paolo Maldini (Italy); David Ginola (France); Andreas Möller (Germany); Raúl (Spain)

Title song: "Song 2" by Blur
Released for: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy

Release date: November 8, 1997

This game marks the start of an upward trend in the series. It boasts a refined graphics engine, team and player customisation options, 16 stadia, improved artificial intelligence, a "Road to World Cup" mode with all FIFA-registered national teams, a licensed soundtrack featuring popular musical artists of the time were the notable features in the series. For the first time in a FIFA game, the offside rule is properly implemented. In previous games, when a player was in an offside position doing anything except running, that player was penalised for offside even when the ball was passed backwards. The 32-bit version of FIFA 98 corrects this so that the game would only award a free kick for offside if the ball was passed roughly to where the player in the offside position was.

The '98 edition of the game was the start of a growing trend of quality in the series, featuring improved graphics and more team and player customisation options as well as more stadia, FIFA-registered national teams. It was also the first to feature popular musicians for the soundtrack.

Blur's 'Song 2' was used as the opening track, with the offisde rule also introduced within the game.

FIFA 99

Cover athlete: Dennis Bergkamp (World), Kasey Keller (USA), Fabien Barthez (France), Hidetoshi Nakata (Japan); Olaf Thon (Germany); Rui Costa (Portugal); Christian Vieri (Italy); Ahn Jung-hwan (South Korea); Fernando Morientes (Spain); Jason Kreis (USA beta)

Title song: "The Rockafeller Skank (Remix)" by Fatboy Slim
Released for: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, Nintendo 64
Release date: November 30, 1998

Indoor playing mode and the Malaysian league were abolished, but FIFA '99 saw the introduction of the Belgian league and the Portuguese league.

It also implemented a league where the top European teams not in the top leagues were able to play against each other – known as the 'Rest of Europe'.

This will be a series till the most recent version that we have now. So stay tuned !

Thank you