''Match Day'' is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

computer game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

, published by Ocean Software in 1984 for the ZX Spectrum. It is the first game in the ''Match Day'' series, and was the creation of programmer Jon Ritman and Chris Clarke. Versions were later released for the Amstrad CPC and PCW, BBC Micro,

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 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 the Guinness ...

and

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by Microsoft and 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, then vice-p ...

systems.

Background

Jon Ritman met Chris Clarke, formerly of

Crystal Computing Crystal Computing, later renamed Design Design, was a British video game developer founded in 1982 by Chris Clarke and Ian Stamp while students at the University of Manchester. Graham Stafford, Neil Mottershead, Simon Brattel and Martin Horsley, j ...

, at Artic Computing in 1983 where Clarke was marketing ''

Bear Bovver ''Bear Bovver'' is a platform game written by Jon Ritman for the ZX Spectrum and published in 1983 by Artic Computing. A Commodore 64 port was released in 1984. ''Bear Bovver'' is a ''BurgerTime'' clone, where batteries take the place of the burg ...

'', 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 Ocean Software, 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'' from the BBC but not the title, naming it ''Match Day'' instead.

Gameplay

left, ZX Spectrum version This was the first soccer game for the ZX Spectrum where large moving footballers characters could dribble, throw-in, take corners, etc. The game uses modified sprites from a Ritman's previous title ''

'' to create an almost isometric, but still ultimately side-on football title. The game had 8 teams that the player could choose, such as ''Ritman Rovers'', ''Clarke PR'' and ''Ocean United''. Players could 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''. 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'' 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 Jon Ritman, ''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 it is the last game in the Match Day series. Gameplay ''Sup ...

'' 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 ZX Spectrum games BBC Micro and Acorn Electron games Amstrad CPC games Commodore 64 games Association football video games Video games scored by Martin Galway Ocean Software games Video games developed in the United Kingdom Multiplayer and single-player video games