World Cup USA '94 is a soccer video game developed by U.S. Gold

U.S. Gold

U.S. Gold was a British video game publisher and developer from the early 1980s through the mid-1990s, producing numerous titles on a variety of 8-bit, 16-bit and 32-bit platforms.-History:...

 for Sega Genesis, Sega CD, Super Nintendo

Super Nintendo Entertainment System

The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

, Master System, DOS

DOS

DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...

, Game Boy

Game Boy

The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...

 and Game Gear released in 1994

1994 in video gaming

-Events:*Nintendo calls this year "1994: The Year of the Cartridge".*Nintendo Australia Pty. Ltd, the Australian subsidiary of Nintendo Co., Ltd is established and opened by Hiroshi Yamauchi and effectively ends Mattel Australia's distribution of Nintendo's products throughout Australia.*"Project...

. The game gives official groups, teams and the fidelity schedule of the championship. The PC/Mega CD versions has digitalized stadium photos. The Genesis/Mega Drive version carried the PolyGram Video logo across the stadium advertisement boards in the game.

This is the last official FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup

The FIFA World Cup, often simply the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association , the sport's global governing body...

 franchise game before Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts

Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...

 acquire the rights in 1996 for the FIFA Soccer series.

Gameplay

The game is viewed from a bird's eye-view perspective. Game time may be customised from as short as a minute per half to the full regular 45 minutes. A coin toss is determined by the 'home' team and play will commence. Depending on the options set before the match, the gamer may opt to have less dribble control (resulting in the game ball sliding in the direction of the player movement); manual goalkeeper control which puts the player in control of all goalkeeper saves and kicks; ball-trapping, of which the player will not be able to shield the ball and allows opponents to snatch it away without necessitating a tackle; and no pass-back rule which was implemented during World Cup '94 where a keeper may not pick up the ball whenever an outfield player passes it back to him.

If the gamer opts for manual goalkeeper control, the player would have to make a save by guessing where the opponent will place the ball and jumping into the general direction with any of the console buttons and the directional keys if applicable. Similarly, outfield players have the option to either pass the ball, kick it (when attempting to score a goal) or attempt a lob. Freekicks may also be executed using any of the above. However, a penalty kick

Penalty kick

A penalty kick is a type of direct free kick in association football, taken from twelve yards out from goal and with only the goalkeeper of the defending team between the penalty taker and the goal.Penalty kicks are performed during normal play...

 is done in a different game screen similar to that of World Cup 98 (video game)

World Cup 98 (video game)

World Cup 98 was the first official FIFA World Cup game developed by EA Sports after obtaining the rights from FIFA in 1997. Unlike the previous World Cup games, which were in 2D and showed a bird's-eye view, World Cup 98 was the first in the franchise to use a 3D engine, utilising DirectX for the...

and where a hovering indicator swings from side to side to indicate the direction of the shot.

Basic tactics (or preset tactics) can also be customised prior to the game and may be changed in-game. Team rosters, while not based on real-life players, have variable attributes amongst its players and divided into 3 major skills which are speed, dribble control and shooting accuracy. Goalkeepers do not have a separate skill evaluation method and can be picked from normal players.