The soccer simulation game series for PlayStation 2 consoles designed by Konami.
Widely accepted as the most realistic and the most addictive soccer game ever created according to forums and reviews worldwide. The reputation comes from the surprising AI and the match engine created for the game.
The game's PSX predecessor ISS International Superstar Soccer was a big hit in 1998, showing early signs of the successful Winning Eleven series. The quality and the competency of the game were also good proofs for showing Japan's overgrowing interest on soccer.
By the year 2000, it was obvious that the game broke the iron hand of EA Sports' FIFA series thanks to the gameplay and fun it offered. The new guy in town was now running for Mayor!..
The developments and the upgrades on the game supplied growing strength in the market until now.
Alex Navarro from GameSpot reviews the latest version, Winning Eleven 7:
"Winning Eleven 7 Impressions
While popularity for the sport of soccer still remains somewhat elusive in the United States, Konami's Winning Eleven 6 came out of left field earlier this year and gained far more success than Konami expected. Winning Eleven 7 is the follow-up to that title, and it will improve the series in a number of key ways. We recently had the opportunity to take a look at an in-progress version of Winning Eleven 7 and scope out the list of upgrades.
Winning Eleven 7 will contain quite a bit more in terms of teams and stadiums. The game will feature 64 club teams and 56 national teams, as well as 20 unique stadiums. Though there still won't be any licensed club teams in the game, Winning Eleven 7 will host thousands of international players and the option to rename all of the fake club teams, allowing hardcore fans to make the rosters accurate. The game will also feature a far more in-depth master league mode, with the added bonus of a search engine feature. This feature will come in handy when trying to locate players to fill a specific need for your team, as you'll be able to search by position, specific skills, and desired salary. Considering how many players will be available in the game, this is a welcome function.
Winning Eleven 7 also features a shop feature, in which you'll be able to use points earned in exhibition games and the game's training mode to purchase new players, teams, and even ball effects.
A lot of work has gone into improving the series' overall presentation, and this is readily apparent by the newly revamped menu system in the game, which visually looks significantly better and overall seems more intuitive. On the field, the development team has put together a brand-new graphical engine. All of the player faces have been improved upon, with far more detail in features and animations. The game features hundreds of new in-game animations, and practically has been upgraded to look more and more realistic."
It is now the end of 2003, and it seems that the then new guy in town has become the president...