''Match Day'' is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

computer game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual feedback from a display device, mo ...

, published by

Ocean Software Ocean Software Limited was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and was based in Manchest ...

in 1984 for the

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

. It is the first game in the '' Match Day'' series, and was the creation of programmer

Jon Ritman Jon Ritman is a game designer and programmer notable for his work on 1980s computer games, primarily for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC home computers. Career His first experience with a computer was when he was 13, his first computer was a ...

and Chris Clarke. Versions were later released for the

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...

and PCW,

BBC Micro The BBC Microcomputer System, or BBC Micro, is a family of microcomputers developed and manufactured by Acorn Computers in the early 1980s as part of the BBC's Computer Literacy Project. Launched in December 1981, it was showcased across severa ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

and

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

systems.

Background

met Chris Clarke, formerly of Crystal Computing, at Artic Computing in 1983 where Clarke was marketing '' Bear Bovver'', Ritman's latest game for the company. They decided on going freelance to produce a football game after discovering that distributors wanted to see a ZX Spectrum game comparable to '' International Soccer'' on the Commodore 64. By chance Ritman met David Ward, co-founder of

, at a computer show and told him what he was working on. Several months later Ward called Ritman and offered him a £20,000 advance for the game which he accepted immediately. Ocean licensed the theme tune from ''

Match of the Day ''Match of the Day'' (abbreviated to ''MOTD'') is a Association football, football highlights programme, typically broadcast on BBC One on Saturday nights during the Premier League season. ''Match of the Day'' is one of the BBC's longest-runn ...

'' from the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

but not the title, naming it ''Match Day'' instead.

Gameplay

left, ZX Spectrum version This was the first soccer game for the

where large moving footballers characters could dribble, throw-in, take corners, etc. The game uses modified sprites from a Ritman's previous title '' Bear Bovver'' to create an almost isometric, but still ultimately side-on football title. The game has 8 teams that the player can choose, such as ''Ritman Rovers'', ''Clarke PR'' and ''Ocean United''. Players can rename the teams and redefine the team colours.

Reception

''Match Day'' was released in late 1984 and became a best-seller over the Christmas period reaching number 2 in the charts behind ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed by Ivan Reitman and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, three eccentric ...

''. The BBC micro version ported by Chris Roberts reached the top of the BBC charts in September 1985. ''Match Day'' sold over 50,000 copies

Legacy

The sequel, ''

Match Day II ''Match Day II'' is a football sports game part of the ''Match Day'' series released for the Amstrad CPC, Amstrad PCW, ZX Spectrum, MSX and Commodore 64 platforms. It was created in 1987 by Jon Ritman with graphics by Bernie Drummond and music a ...

'' was much the same but incorporated two features still used today in most football titles - a deflection system, the ball could bounce off players, which meant headers were possible, and a shot power system, although it was as easy to accidentally backheel the ball with this system, as it was to hit a powerful shot. The game is also similar to a previously, not published game by

, ''Soccerama''. Later, in 1995, Jon Ritman tried to release ''Match Day III'', but the name of the game was changed to ''

Super Match Soccer ''Super Match Soccer'' is an association football video game published by Acclaim Entertainment and developed in 1998 by Jon Ritman. The game was released for PC and PlayStation and is the last game in the '' Match Day'' series. Gameplay ''Supe ...

'' to avoid any potential legal issues.

References

External links

* {{WoS game, id=0003067
It Really Is All Over
at Eurogamer

at members.lycos.co.uk/Crispin_S 1984 video games Amstrad CPC games Association football video games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Commodore 64 games Multiplayer and single-player video games Ocean Software games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by Martin Galway ZX Spectrum games