It was 1997. Blur’s "Song 2" kicked in the moment the intro video started, and honestly, the world of sports gaming changed forever. If you were there, you remember the "Woo-hoo!" blasting through your chunky CRT television speakers. We aren't just talking about a roster update. FIFA 98: Road to World Cup wasn't just another yearly iteration; it was a fundamental shift in how EA Sports approached the beautiful game. Even now, decades later, modern titles like EA Sports FC feel like they're missing that specific, chaotic magic that made the 98 edition a masterpiece.
Most people remember the soundtrack, but the real soul of the game was the ambition. EA decided to include every single national team registered with FIFA at the time. That’s 172 teams. You could literally take the tiny island of the Cook Islands and try to qualify for the France '98 World Cup. It was absurd. It was glorious.
The indoor mode we still haven't truly recovered from
Let's be real for a second. The indoor soccer mode in FIFA 98: Road to World Cup is probably the most requested "legacy" feature in gaming history. It wasn't just a gimmick. It changed the physics. The ball bounced off the walls, meaning you didn't have to worry about throw-ins or goal kicks. The game became a high-speed, 5-on-5 frantic mess of ricochets and sliding tackles.
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I remember spending hours just trying to master the wall-pass. It felt like a completely different game hidden inside the main simulation. Modern games have tried to replicate this with "Volta" or street modes, but they feel too scripted, too "cool" for their own good. The 98 indoor mode was just pure, unadulterated speed. You could play it on a squeaky wooden floor with a ball that felt like it was made of lead, and it was perfect.
Why the graphics actually mattered back then
People laugh at the "blocky" polygons now. But in 1997, seeing 3D players that actually looked somewhat like their real-life counterparts—or at least had the right hair color—was mind-blowing. This was the first time EA Sports used the "S3D" engine properly. We got real-time lighting. We got weather effects that actually changed the way the pitch looked.
It was also the first time the offside rule was properly implemented with a degree of nuance. If you timed a through-ball just right, the commentator (usually the legendary John Motson) would actually get excited. Speaking of Motson, the commentary team featured Andy Gray and Des Lynam. It felt like a Sunday afternoon broadcast on the BBC.
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The sheer scale of the Road to World Cup
The "Road to World Cup" title wasn't just branding. It was the mission statement. You didn't just pick a team and play the tournament. You played the qualifiers. All of them. If you chose an Asian team, you had to navigate the AFC qualification rounds. If you were in Europe, you dealt with the grueling group stages.
The depth was staggering. EA Sports included 16 different stadiums from across the globe. We’re talking about the San Siro, the Camp Nou, and the Parc des Princes. For a game running on a PlayStation 1 or a Sega Saturn, that variety was unheard of. It wasn't just the stadiums, though; it was the atmosphere. Each region felt slightly different.
The player customization was also a huge leap. You could actually edit players. You could change their names, their stats, and even their appearance. This spawned a massive community of people who would manually update the rosters long after the game was "obsolete." Before the days of downloadable patches and live rosters, we had to do the work ourselves. And we loved it.
The technical "glitches" that became features
Was the game perfect? No. You could score from the halfway line if you held the "shoot" button for exactly the right amount of time. The AI goalkeepers sometimes had the spatial awareness of a goldfish. And let’s not forget the "professional foul" button.
In FIFA 98: Road to World Cup, you had a dedicated button for intentional fouls. It was basically the "get red carded" button. If your friend was through on goal, you could just lunging-tackle them from behind with a cynical, two-footed lunge. It was terrible sportsmanship. It was also the highlight of many sleepovers. You'd get sent off, the crowd would boo, and you'd sit there with a smirk because you stopped the goal. That kind of grit is often smoothed over in modern, hyper-balanced eSports titles.
How to play FIFA 98 today without losing your mind
If you’re feeling nostalgic and want to fire up FIFA 98 EA Sports today, you’ve got a few options, but they aren't all easy. The PC version is notorious for not playing nice with modern versions of Windows. You’ll likely need a "wrapper" like DxWind or a dedicated fan-made patch to get it running at a resolution that won't make your eyes bleed.
- Emulation: This is the most stable way. Using an emulator for the PlayStation 1 (like DuckStation) or the Nintendo 64 will give you the most "authentic" feel without the headache of 90s PC compatibility issues.
- Original Hardware: If you still have a working PS1 and a copy of the disc, do yourself a favor and get a CRT television. These games were designed for the "glow" of a tube TV. On a 4K OLED, those polygons look like sharp glass; on a CRT, they blend together into something that looks surprisingly decent.
- The Soundtrack: If you can't be bothered to play the game, at least go find the soundtrack. It wasn't just Blur. You had The Crystal Method, Electric Skychurch, and Fluke. It was the peak of the "Big Beat" era and it still goes hard.
Why we still care about 32-bit football
Nostalgia is a powerful drug, sure. But FIFA 98 EA Sports represents a time when sports games were allowed to be experimental. They weren't just vehicles for Ultimate Team packs or microtransactions. You bought the disc, and you got everything. You got the indoor mode, the 172 teams, the World Cup mode, and the mouse-controlled gameplay on PC (which was weird but worked).
It was a transition point. It bridged the gap between the 16-bit arcade style of the early 90s and the hyper-realistic simulations we see today. It had the heart of an arcade game but the brains of a simulation.
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To get the most out of your nostalgia trip, start a campaign with a bottom-tier team. Don't pick Brazil or France. Pick a nation you can barely find on a map and try to navigate the qualifiers. You'll quickly realize that the game is much harder than you remember. The AI is aggressive, the sliding tackles are lethal, and the "Song 2" intro still gets your heart rate up.
Actionable Next Steps:
- Check your local retro game stores: Original copies of FIFA 98 are surprisingly cheap because EA produced millions of them. It's an easy entry point for collectors.
- Look into the "FIFA 98" community patches: There are still dedicated fans on forums like SoccerGaming who have created tools to keep the PC version alive on Windows 10 and 11.
- Setup a retro night: Grab a friend, find a way to play the indoor mode, and see if you can still score a goal off the wall. It's more satisfying than any modern "Skill Move" chain you'll ever pull off in a modern game.