Neo Geo Cup '98: The Road to the Victory

Neo Geo Cup '98: The Road to the Victory
Developer(s)	SNK
Publisher(s)	SNK
Series	Super Sidekicks
Platform(s)	Arcade Neo Geo AES, Neo Geo Pocket, Neo Geo Pocket Color
Release	1998 Arcade WW: 28 May 1998 Neo Geo AES NA: 30 July 1998 JP: 30 July 1998 EU: 30 July 1998 Neo Geo Pocket JP: 28 October 1998 EU: 1998 Neo Geo Pocket Color JP: 15 April 1999 NA/EU: 1999
Genre(s)	Sports
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade system	Neo Geo MVS

Neo Geo Cup '98: The Road to the Victory is an association football video game based on the FIFA World Cup 1998, despite being released after the 1998 FIFA World Cup.^[1][2] It features 64 teams' countries. Each team enters a "Regional Qualifying Round Final" where it plays a team it actually played in the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualification. For example: Spain would face Yugoslavia, an opponent it actually faced in its qualifying group. Or Italy would face Russia, an opponent Italy faced in the UEFA play-offs. If the player beats the opponent, it goes to a group much like the real life World Cup. In fact, the team faces opponents that were actually in its group. For example: Mexico would face the Netherlands, Belgium and South Korea. It is a re-make of Super Sidekicks 3, but the animations and designs were exactly the same. The only difference is teams to reflect the World Cup, kits again to reflect the World Cup, and players to resemble squads from the World Cup (teams that did not qualify use line-ups from friendly games and qualifiers). Its slogan is "We got the kick".

Unlike its arcade counterpart, the Neo Geo version tries to be more of a soccer simulation game. Differences include the Neo Geo version being more slowed down, and more realism added in shooting, passing, etc. A color version of the game was released for the Neo Geo Pocket Color as Neo Geo Cup '98 Plus Color; this version was later re-released as part of Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection Vol. 2 in 2022.