When a new exhibition opened at the National Football Museum in Manchester detailing the history of football in video games, there was really only one person to send. Everyone loves their Football Manager regens, but Jonny Sharples took it a little bit further, inventing an entire persona for Ivica Strok, photoshopping him into near-reality and then using him as a figurehead for the charity CALM, which works to prevent young male suicide in the UK. Here’s what he made of the exhibition.
Nobody forgets their first love; the first band they really adored or, in some cases, the first computer game that really pulled them into the world of gaming. For me there were two; Championship Manager ‘93 and FIFA ‘98: Road To World Cup. Now the companies behind those two games have joined with the National Football Museum in Manchester to trace the evolution of football video games in a new exhibition entitled Pitch To Pixel.
There’s strong representation from the two companies behind Championship Manager ‘93 and FIFA ‘98; Sports Interactive and EA Sports. SI showcase their latest release, Football Manager 2016, and allow you a glimpse into the company’s history with BAFTA awards and a host of merchandise released to tie in with the game. There’s even…ahem… a small display in honour of Ivica Strok, with his shirt and testimonial programme, which is all absolutely normal. There’s also the chance to play Championship Manager 2, and relive the glory days of Alan Shearer, Eric Cantona and Ibrahima Bakayoko.
EA Sports invite you to look over their latest title too; FIFA 16. You can play it and compare it to the graphics of their previous releases with the chance to try your hand at 1993’s FIFA International Soccer on the Sega Megadrive. You can also take a brief history lesson in how the game engine has developed with the motion capture suits worn by Lionel Messi and Sergio Agüero in the in-game animation on display.
Sports Interactive and EA Sports even have a joint item on display, the now infamous rejection letter Electronic Arts sent to the Collyer brothers, the masterminds behind the management sim series, telling them they believed the game would not sell. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
All the other classics are here for you play and to reminisce about too. Sensible Soccer on the Amiga is a delight to return to almost 25 years after its initial release and is a reminder of a simpler time for football simulations with a top-down pitch and only two buttons to do everything in game. Then again, there’s some titles then you may never have come across before such as Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island on the Gameboy Advance which features a character who looks very little like David Beckham, running around with a football that’s as tall as he is and collecting coins, perhaps to pay for the licensing costs.
While FIFA 16 rightly prides itself on the incorporation of women’s international teams on the game for the first time, Pitch To Pixel features a game that was doing just that 15 years ago; Mia Hamm Soccer Shootout (Gameboy Color). Alongside the game is one of the Mia Hamm Barbie dolls released in the build up to the 1999 Women’s World Cup, showing perhaps Hamm’s image rights weren’t quite as expensive as David Beckham’s.
Another quirk of the exhibition comes in the form of your ability to Get Inside The Game. Of course, we’ve probably all gone onto the editor on Football Manager and made ourselves with 200 current ability and 200 potential ability, or uploaded a photo of ourselves (or your cat) onto FIFA to Be A Pro but at Pitch To Pixel you get a new opportunity to enter into gaming folklore. Earlier this season Liverpool fans did what so many others have tried and failed to do; they beat Arsenal fans in an online poll and as a result Jordan Henderson features on the cover of FIFA 16 but if you’re not happy with that then why not pose for the cover yourself. Alternatively, or additionally, you can also add yourself as the man Sports Interactive refer to as ‘Manager Man’ on the cover of Football Manager 2016.
Whichever computer game made you fall in love; Pitch To Pixel is a wonderful opportunity to look through the progression of football in gaming from the most basic and early titles all the way through to Sports Interactive and EA’s newest releases. Never mind setting aside an afternoon or even a whole day to visit this exhibition, it may take several visits to play your way through all 11 games – it’s a good job that it’s open until June 2016.
Find out more about the Pitch to Pixel exhibition and the National Football Museum here.
You can follow Jonny Sharples on Twitter (@JonnyGabriel)
You can follow Ivica Strok on Twitter too. He’s as outspoken in his retirement as he was prolific in his career. (@IvicaStrok10)
Jonny Sharples has donated his fee for this article to CALM, the campaign against living miserably that seeks to prevent young male suicide in the UK. You can donate too, by following this link.
