For many years Sensible Soccer was the long-dormant football game I dreamt about in a haze of nostalgia. That was until ten years ago in 2006 – along with two other blokes at work – I was eagerly awaiting the revival of the series via a new entry from developer Kuju. I still remember the days leading up the release; emails shared in the office about our ye olde experiences with one of the pinnacles of video game soccer. At least the one not named Pro Evolution Soccer 5, which was a slight obsession of ours at the time. Excitement does not do justice to the emotions we were feeling on Sensible Soccer eve.

And disappointment doesn’t do justice for our reactions the day after. I remember the despondent look on one of the lads’ faces as he aired his grievances with the not-so-great rebirth of the series. Shaking his head he couldn’t find the words to say anything more than “So. What the bloody hell happened there, then?”. I vowed never to be lulled into a false sense of nostalgia-fuelled security from that day forward.

But here I am almost a decade to the day later waiting in anticipation for another classic football game revival.

Kick Off was the other  ye olde football game in constant rotation in my house. My brother and I would challenge each other until our fingers were demented and callus-covered or frustration boiled-over into a bit of good-old-fashioned rough and tumble on the bedroom floor. Problem was – for me at least – for years I wasn’t much good at the game.  And try as I might I just could never master the game well enough to beat my brother.

Days and nights were spent honing my skills against the computer. With every goal my skills would grow and along with it my confidence. Kick-Off was a fast paced game that required skill, precision – and practice. Sure it wasn’t as friendly as Sensible Soccer, but there was a certain accomplishment that came from mastering it that was unrivalled.

Finally after a decent-length training montage, I beat my brother once. And then twice. And then probably a third time. I had ‘mastered’ Kick Off.

And so here I am, a solid two decades, later waiting for the aptly named Kick Off Revival to relive former glories. After stumbling upon the watching the developer’s diary I’m confident I won’t be disappointed.  Now, and I’m not usually one who wants to know how the sausage is made, but Dino Dini’s development journey for Kick Off Revival is story worth hearing. And simply as reassuring as it gets that Revival will rekindle old love.

Two words:”One Button”.

As I’ve written before on here before, Dino Dini is nothing short of a legend to those of us who grew up with home computers – namely those beginning with “Commodore” – in the 1980’s an 1990’s. So it’s good to know he hasn’t forgotten his roots.

See Dino Dini’s Developer Diaries below.