1989 Ocean Software France
Platforms: Commodore Amiga and Atari ST
Adidas Golden Shoe is not to be confused with Adidas Championship Football, but then perhaps it should be? (see below). The team and the graphics are completely different for both games – and as contributor Hoagie flags up, Michèle Bacqué’s graphic style can be recognised too.
This particular strange development was being designed and developed by Ocean France at the same time that Beach Volley was being created.
The game was previewed in magazines such as Génération 4 13 (7/1989), Génération 4 14 (9/1989) and Micro News 24 (9/1989) and seemed to be quite advanced with a design not too dissimilar to Fighting Soccer that was released around the same time. Perhaps it was a bit too close to that game and caught the eye of Activision?
At this point in time, we have no idea why the game never saw release – but we hope that something could surface in the future to showcase on the site and also learn more from those who were involved.
Ross Sillifant however found a segment in Amiga Joker magazine that suggests that Adidas Championship Football was originally to be called Adidas Golden Shoe. So, this may well confirm that the Ocean France game was canned and a new development started. Why that is, we still don’t know at this stage.
If you know anything more about the game – please do get in touch.
With a huge thank you to Hoagie / Abandonware France for the submission and scans, Archive.org for the additional scan and Ross Sillifant for the additional information.
Gallery
For some reason this post has given me real vibes as to what it felt like reading about new 16-bit games! The graphical quality coming out of France was so exciting.