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Post by munchymagic on Dec 5, 2023 20:45:17 GMT
Before Championship Manager 93-94 came along, and got me addicted, there were 4 other games I played a LOT on the ZX Spectrum The original Football Manager of course, and have fond memories of that game. Kevin Toms is still alive and well, and not long ago, he updated, and re-released the original of the game. If you search "Football Manager Kevin Toms" on youtube, you should find his channel, and the man himself, playing his updated game. He has a website, where you can buy it, as well. Soccer Boss "Scobie breaks a leg" oh no ! Spent a few years on this one as well, a lot more to it, than the original FM. The Double - Loved this game SO much, I had a notepad, and pen, and would write down all the scores, and scorers, and attendances etc, played this one into the 90`s, and it had real player names as well. But then on a night out with some friends, we were all drunk, and talking about the old Spectrum/C64 games, and this one chap came out and said... "Did you know The Double was entirely random ?" NO ! No, I didn`t ! And thanks for ruining that game, and all the memories I have of it ! Don`t know if he was making it up or not, but for all the time I spent on that game, I felt cheated ! And Tracksuit Manager.. LOVED this one ! a proper International sim, with real names, and the first game I recall really getting into and editing, so I could play as West Germany in a World Cup. Think there was a sequel to this, but not sure if I even played it, let alone have it ! And Johnny Allan was a LEGEND on the CM games ! you could pick him up for £20K as another team, and he would bang them in. Think it was down to a single attribute that was overpowered for the game. Off The Ball I think it was. His was close to 20 I recall, and in Div 4 he`d score for fun. Soccer Boss and The Double - superb I think Tracksuit Manager got the game mechanics spot on for the machines it ran on.
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Post by munchymagic on Dec 5, 2023 20:48:06 GMT
I liked it so much I went and bought a load of others like 'On The Bench' as they were all about £1.99 a pop. Some were a bit hit and miss but it was good because they were limited and they only had to get the basics right to make it a good game - as I insisted on being Carlisle United I generally got sacked after one season as the players were all low skill ratings, echoing our time on the pitch in 1986/7. Brought back weird memories thinking of this really as I remember it was school times on a freezing cold Saturday sitting by the radiator to keep warm waiting an age as the Spectrum flashed up 'PLEASE WAIT - CLACULATING LEAGUE TABLE' playing on these manager games, in the background Radio Cumbria was on and you had to listen to whatever show they had on playing really unfashionable sixties stuff and every fifteen minutes they would cut to updates of Carlisle United playing away, generally getting humped big time. I reckon Tracksuit Manager was the best 8 bit managerial game by far, it was international football only but made in 1988 so it had a classic player pool, David Bardsley was always a good pick for some strange reason. The most recent I own and still play is Football Manager 97 on The old Sega Megadrive - you have to be Cambridge United to get anywhere on that one for some reason, players like Chris Leadbitter and Mike Cheetham in the team even though they had left in real life by then. Bit like ORFC said about the recent ones, I reckon far too many options and gimmicky stuff ruined later games for me. My favourite was Football Director on the Amstrad CPC464, wasted a lot of time on that game, I had tracksuit manager but I'm sure the game didn't save properly, so you had the cycle of qualifying for the euro's then the euros then the WCQ and the WCF's to do in a sitting, I used to leave the computer on and cover the red light with a book and hope it never got knocked off but invariably she would have hoovered the bedroom and pulled the plug out Still the uttimate game was the football manager on the Amiga 500, just the right age to be still young enough to lose days playing a machine, 92/93 I have FM23 atm but like already been mentioned all the crap of dealing with the tantrums becomes annoying, as well as the PR's and the inane questions that they ask a 1000 times. Getting the plug pulled on a game by your Mam or the dreaded 'screen freeze' were not the most pleasant of things to rush home from school to find.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 5, 2023 20:56:18 GMT
Also if a player has a low determination he will not fulfil his promise, also needs ambition or they will forever remain unfulfilled.
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Post by blumineauxnoir on Dec 5, 2023 20:56:29 GMT
Or FINALLY winning the FA Cup on Football Manager in 1985, and jumping up in excitement, and screaming with joy !
And dragging the Spectrum up with you, which pulled out the power socket, and I lost everything !
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Post by crucialconundrum on Dec 6, 2023 9:22:16 GMT
I had a spectrum and I loved football director . although coming up against Rochdale or someone like that who had statistics of goalkeeper 8, defence 8, midfield 8 and attacking 8 was a challenge ! This sort of team came up after you had a good winning run and was an entirely random team. Great game though ! I do have FM24 and am currently the Blackpool manager (yes i know). I agree about the whinging players and i don't think it is any great improvement on FM23. For some odd reason 43 million found its way into the coffers in Oct( I didn't take charge till Nov). By the way we draw 1 1 on Saturday !
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Post by sned88cufc on Dec 6, 2023 11:31:23 GMT
Currently playing FM24 with South Shields, started in the Vanarama North, now currently 2nd in league one. It's amazing how you can snap up free transfers and go far in the game. Champ Man 01/02 is still going strong after all these years as well, there is a facebook group: www.facebook.com/groups/championshipmanager0102, where you can download the game on a modern PC and they have even up to date databases.
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Post by bstandbob on Dec 6, 2023 12:34:36 GMT
Wonder how many hours worldwide have been spent in total playing CM/FM.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2023 13:16:22 GMT
I had a spectrum and I loved football director . although coming up against Rochdale or someone like that who had statistics of goalkeeper 8, defence 8, midfield 8 and attacking 8 was a challenge ! This sort of team came up after you had a good winning run and was an entirely random team. Great game though ! I do have FM24 and am currently the Blackpool manager (yes i know). I agree about the whinging players and i don't think it is any great improvement on FM23. For some odd reason 43 million found its way into the coffers in Oct( I didn't take charge till Nov). By the way we draw 1 1 on Saturday ! The thing with football director was you couldn't over power your team. No point having GK 6 ded 4 mid 8 for 6 You had to go in stages or it wouldn't work In the lower leagues 4 2 2 2 and then 6 4 4 4 etc only when at the top could you go all even 9s I also liked it as you could edit the names. Brilliant game, didn't really like football manager as the match graphics were tat id rather watch words rbh
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Post by crucialconundrum on Dec 6, 2023 13:55:51 GMT
Also , i may be imagining this but weren't you able to put a bet on your team pre-season? If so it was way ahead of its time !!!!!
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rocket
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Post by rocket on Dec 6, 2023 14:10:09 GMT
Picked this up recently, haven't played it for well over twenty years. Does MerseysideBlue still do the Carlisle United player attributes? Johnny Allen: (Finishing - 20) Anyway, I was shocked at how dumbed down it has become. Who cares about the "match engine" graphically representing the game? Back in the day it was all about attributes, statistics and monitoring the data in real time to inform your in game decisions. This aspect of the simulation appears to be lost. Now all you have "in game" is a single ethereal player rating for each player and a heart symbol. Where have the "live" in game stats gone, the actual fitness %, all the numbers required to inform tactical decisions in play? the standard Football Manager game skin is shocking, if you are looking for one with more detail you'll need to download a creator version, I use SAS24 its one of the better ones I've come across for in the matches, you can customise the information displayed and get deeper into the game stats
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2023 14:38:05 GMT
Also , i may be imagining this but weren't you able to put a bet on your team pre-season? If so it was way ahead of its time !!!!! That might have been football director 2 but that is nearly 35 years ago lol
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Post by munchymagic on Dec 6, 2023 15:57:33 GMT
As the games steadily advanced more was less as it bogged the games down with turgid stuff.
Like mentioned above the 2000 version is heralded as the best all-rounder.
Playing the old ZX Spectrum and then C64 games I always found to be therapeutic, relaxing affairs fit to while away a few hours.
Most of them didn't even have any graphics and only had a counter that ticked away at the ninety minutes and yet the thrill of seeing 'G O A L ! ! ! !' flash up hoping it was one of your players that scored it was a total thrill.
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Post by blumineauxnoir on Dec 6, 2023 16:24:58 GMT
Also , i may be imagining this but weren't you able to put a bet on your team pre-season? If so it was way ahead of its time !!!!! Think this might have been Ultimate Soccer Manager, still have it somewhere, a green box, with the words on a football on the cover. In that game, you could place bets, and offer agents bungs, but there was the risk, if you were caught, you were out of a job ! That was also the game, where you could design the stadium, and surroundings, and you could drag and drop little shops, and burger kiosks etc, all around the stadium, and choose where the car park went, amongst other things. Great fun that one !
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Post by blumineauxnoir on Dec 6, 2023 16:28:52 GMT
As the games steadily advanced more was less as it bogged the games down with turgid stuff. Like mentioned above the 2000 version is heralded as the best all-rounder. Playing the old ZX Spectrum and then C64 games I always found to be therapeutic, relaxing affairs fit to while away a few hours. Most of them didn't even have any graphics and only had a counter that ticked away at the ninety minutes and yet the thrill of seeing 'G O A L ! ! ! !' flash up hoping it was one of your players that scored it was a total thrill. This is what makes the modern ones so hard for me to stick with. CM01/02, I would spend actual days playing, forget sleep ! I`ve qualified for the European Cup semi final ! I`ll sleep when the season is over.....just.....one...more....game..... They could have designed the Touch version, with the simplicity of the older games, but instead ruined it by removing key parts of the game, and then ramming it full of microtransactions. No matter what screen you were on, if there was a problem, a little £ sign would suggest paying money to fix it !
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Post by munchymagic on Dec 6, 2023 16:43:43 GMT
The original by Kevin Toms is ace on the ZX Spectrum. The players are rated 1 to 5 so the trick was to have your reserves all at 1's and 2's as the computer randomly gave them all new skills at the end of the season so a 5 could dramatically drop to a 1 to scupper your chances of staying up after promotion. There are no players with their arm totally covered in tattoos as it was made in 1982 in Basic and they are all tiny little stick men. Saying that the reality is still there as you would have Moxon as a 5 in tier 4 and a 2 to 3 at best in the league above. I well remember it. Peter Withe, Peter Barnes, Gary Shaw, Dave Watson, Mick Mills. Very limited player pool Meant to say that Kevin Toms is living in your neck of the woods now, one of my pals had a beer with him a few years back - he is a Torquay United supporter. My pal asked why Carlisle United does not feature in the original Football Manager and he said that it wasn't intentional but the leagues are smaller in it and he just had to omit a few teams and wasn't even aware that Carlisle United was one of them.
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