''Aussie Rules Footy'' is the first AFL simulation video game for the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...

. It was developed by

Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...

-based

Beam Software Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Beam Software, was an Australian video game development studio founded in 1980 by Alfred Milgrom and Naomi Besen and based in Melbourne, Australia. Initially formed to produce books and software to be publis ...

and published under their "Laser Beam" publishing title in 1991.
Beam Software Timeline.
' Documentation for the 2006 exhibition ''Hits of the 80s - Aussie Games that Rocked the World'' at the

Australian Centre for the Moving Image ACMI, formerly the Australian Centre for the Moving Image, is Australia's national museum of screen culture including film, television, videogames, digital culture and art. ACMI was established in 2002 and is based at Federation Square in Melbo ...

The release was Australian-only, with distribution handled through Mattel's Australian operations.

Gameplay

The game involves playing a game of

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

from a third-person perspective, with the ability to perform the basic actions of a typical Australian rules football player. The game can be played by one person playing against the computer team, or by two players against each other. There is also a kick-to-kick mode, and a season mode where 1, 4 or 6 players can play multiple games in a season, finishing with a

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

. The objective of the game is for the players team to have the highest score at the end of the game. A team can score by kicking either a goal (6 points) or a behind (1 point). To move the football, a player with the ball can either

kick A kick is a physical strike using the leg, in unison usually with an area of the knee or lower using the foot, heel, tibia (shin), ball of the foot, blade of the foot, toes or knee (the latter is also known as a knee strike). This type of ...

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

the ball, and a player without the ball can either

mark Mark may refer to: In the Bible * Mark the Evangelist (5–68), traditionally ascribed author of the Gospel of Mark * Gospel of Mark, one of the four canonical gospels and one of the three synoptic gospels Currencies * Mark (currency), a currenc ...

the ball or tackle an opposition player with the ball.

Scoring

When a player is close to the goal (approx. 55–60 meters), an accuracy bar appears at the bottom of the screen. When the ball is kicked, the closer the marker is to the centre of the bar, the more accurate the kick to goal. The accuracy bar makes it considerably difficult to kick a goal on the run, especially from a distance. When a player is very close to the goal (approx. 15 metres), the accuracy marker will always be in the centre of the bar, and any kick by the player will be a goal.

Start of play

As in the real rules of Australian rules football, there are times in play where a player from each team tries to take possession of the ball that has been bounced (for the start of play after a goal, or a ball-up), or thrown (for an out of bounds) by the umpire. During a bounce, using the arrow keys will start the player moving, only after the ball has touched the ground. Pressing A at the moment of contact will tap the ball to another team member, while pressing B will knock the ball a larger distance but not to a particular player. During a ball-up or a boundary throw-in, pressing A will make the player leap into the air, and then the same actions apply as a bounce when the player reaches the ball with his hand.

Teams

The teams in the game are based on 14 of 15 teams in the

1991 AFL season The 1991 AFL season was the 95th season of the Australian Football League (AFL), which was known previously as the Victorian Football League until 1989. The season ran from 22 March until 28 September, and comprised a 22-game home-and-away sea ...

. However, despite

West Coast Eagles The West Coast Eagles are a professional Australian rules football club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club was founded in 1986 and first competed in 1987 as one of two expansion teams in the Australian Football League (AFL), then known ...

players being depicted on the games cover, within the game itself the

Western Australian Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

team was simply known as

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

. In addition, fictional teams based in Darwin,

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

and

Hobart Hobart ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the island state of Tasmania, Australia. Located in Tasmania's south-east on the estuary of the River Derwent, it is the southernmost capital city in Australia. Despite containing nearly hal ...

were playable in the game.

References

Notes

External links

* {{AFL (video game series) 1991 video games AFL (video game series) Australia-exclusive video games Australian rules football video games Beam Software games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Video games developed in Australia Video games set in Australia