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INTRODUCTION
 Tehkan World Cup is an 8-way direction game with only one fire button. This makes the game easier and allows it to reach high levels of playability. In other words: if you can't win you should only blame yourself!   :)

Originally, the Tehkan World Cup used a trackball to control the players, but at the same time some versions were built with a joystick. Apart from the pictures, I personally have never come across to the trackball Tehkan World Cups. It is easy though, to "feel" the difference when using a PC mouse (which behaves as a trackball).
Basically, the trackball gives more "power control" than the joystick which "locks" the power. But don't get me wrong, since the joystick always "locks" the highest degree of power, it makes the joystick players MORE efficient!!!    :)
The downside to this, is the difficulty with passing the ball from one player to another as you are virtually shooting your team mates! But if you prefer to dribble (like me), there won't be any major problems with getting high scores.

I have been trying to get/find/create a more improved driver which can pass the trackball controls more accurately to the joystick, so that there will be no more "locks". By giving the "shot power control" to the joystick, it will add a new dimension to the playability of the Tehkan World Cup, because it will expand some existing features which are currently unused (from a joystick point of view).

A definition for the new driver for UP-DOWN-LEFT-RIGHT should like this:
"Shot power should depend on how long you have the joystick pointed to the desired direction after pressing the fire button".
The fire-button will not detrmine the power of the shot, but it will determine whether you kick a high shot (by pressing very fast) or a low shot (by pressing continuously). In other words, the fire button driver is correct as it is now.

Summarising, Tehkan World Cup is based on trackball controls, but it is more fun when using a joystick! Therefore it definitely needs a different joystick emulator/driver than the rest of the MAME games.
Any help on this matter will be greatly appreciated!!!
GENERAL
You may find the guidelines below very useful, but the three most important rules are:
1) Practice!
2) Practice!!
3) Practice!!!
Don't forget to view the input files to view these guidelines in action! GOOD LUCK!

DEFENDING

Most of the time, the team that scores the first goal wins the game (a chance of about 70%). This means that you MUST be able to avoid having a set-back. By defending well, you will have as less set-backs as possible. Some tips:

(1) NEVER have your goalkeeper too near the goal line. Try to keep him as near to the small area line as possible. This way, you will be able to make some good saves in most one-to-one situations.
Animation 1: Keeper away from the goal-line makes double save! (423 Kb)
Animation 2: A keeper standing on the goal-line is useless! (91 Kb)
(2) In two player mode, if your opponent is trying to score by crossing the ball horizontally, place your keeper on the same horizontal line with the player who crosses the ball. If this is not possible, place your keeper as far as possible from the goal and then block the ball by being in front of the opponent striker. The same method is applied for corner kicks.
Animation 3: A well positioned keeper blocks a "cross" ball (90 Kb)
(3) If the opponent has the possesion of the ball, and your player chasing him is left behind, move him to the opposite direction (away from the opponent) to enable another player of yours to appear and block him. You can use only one player at a time, so always watch for the flashing arrows which indicate the player under your control.
(4) If the opponent is approaching your goal, use your defender(s), but always BE SURE that your goalkeeper is not away from the goal. This is because in such cases you control both the defender and the goalkeeper. There are "moments" where you should let the defender(s) do all the work and "moments" where you should only care about the goalkeeper. For example, your defender may try to steal the ball from an opponent (who is about to shoot) and to do to this the defender moves left, making the goalkeeper go left too, leaving the goal completely unprotected! Ensure that one of the defender OR goalkeeper is always guarding the goal. During an attack there might be plenty of such "moments"! After gaining some experience you will be able to judge efficiently these "moments". All these are much more important in two player mode!
(5) When the goalkeeper has blocked the ball, make sure that there is no player near you. If there is, the opponents may score directly (or indirectly!). If the opponent "locks" in front of your keeper, just kick the ball left or right (you may lose possesion but at least you won't have to pick the ball from your net!). Moreover, you could use the same way to score for your team. After the opponent keeper blocks the ball place your player behind (or near) their him, so that when he kicks the ball you might be able to kick it back to the net!
Animation 4: You can score from a keeper's mistake! (70 Kb)
Animation 5: But your opponent can do the same too!!! (121 Kb)

PASSING

You may have noticed that it is quite hard to pass the ball in Tehkan World Cup. It is a very frustrating experience, especially when you watch the computer doing some passing with unbelievable ease. The current driver for the directions of the joystick limit the way human players can pass the ball but this is not a real problem, because Tehkan World Cup is a fast paced game and it doesn't require any drastic passing abilities. Of course with the correct training (and sometimes luck) you will still be able to contribute to a nice passing game! Just remember, when trying to pass, don't be too near your team-mate as you might heart him instead! (after some practicing you will learn the correct "passing distance"). In the later stages, crossing can be an efficient way to pass and score. As for me, I pass the ball very rarely!!!

There are two types of passing:
(1) "slow high shot" (press the fire button fast and then release)
(2) "fast low shot" (keep the fire button pressed)

It is advisable to use the second type, as it is the most logic and efficient. Future coding/compiling in the MAMEhkan project may allow a better passing game, as we plan to use "sensitivity" as extra buttons (or even as a joystick!). This will almost certainly "unlock" the hidden capabilities of the first passing type.
Animation 6: A goal in the nick of time helped by a pass! (363 Kb)
Animation 7: Same as above! (just watch the timer..!) (255 Kb)
DRIBBLING
I personally prefer to use only one player when bringing the ball to the opponent's area and then shoot or cross the ball. You will need to avoid some suicidal tackles from your opponents and keep possesion of the ball, because more possesion equals more chances and more chances equal more goals!
By "jiggling" your player at the right moment, you can force your opponents to commit early tackles and leave them all behind!
SHOOTING
AND
SCORING

Defending is important, but you will need to score some goals if you wish to go to the next stages and win the cup. Just like PASSING (and since we are using the same fire-button), there are two types of shots, the "slow high shot" (by pressing fast the fire button) and the "fast low shot" (by continuously pressing the fire button). You will experience many times a potential shot becoming a pass to another team-mate or opponent!
Animation 8: An unusual "slow high shot" goal! (284 Kb)

99.9% of your shots should use the "fast low shot" as it is far more effective. Here are some of the ways you should use to score:

(1) A diagonal shot when facing one of the goal posts has proved to be the best way to score in the one-to-one situations (in a two player mode, the straight shot is also highly recommended).
(Two examples are Animations 6 and 7).
(2) Dribbling around the goalkeeper is very efficient too. In the past, whenever we were competing in tournaments, we had actually banned this method of scoring, as it was virtually guaranteeing a goal in every single attack! (this "unwritten" rule still applies today for two player games!)
Animation 9: Dribbling goal ala Maradona! (376 Kb)
(3) Crossing and scoring is my personal favourite way of scoring in the higher levels and the final. If it is done right, it will not fail you. Try to cross from a position outside from the big area making sure that the ball will end up a little bit above the small area line. Then strike with a diagonal or straight bicycle kick!
Animation 10: Scoring from a cross always works!!! (115 Kb)
(4) In a corner kick, move your joystick left or right (depending on the side it is) and then direct your joystick diagonally towards the goal. If you are lucky, one of your players will tackle the ball into the net (even if their keeper has blocked the ball). In some cases the ball might even curl towards the goal!
Animation 11: Scoring from a corner kick..! (189 Kb)
Read more about corners below!
CORNER KICKS

In the MAME version of Tehkan World Cup, taking a corner from the right, is symmetrical to taking one from the left, so we will focus on the right corner.

(1a) DOWN direction: Keep it up without pressing the fire button, to have the ball going downwards. If you press the fire button too early (while the joystick is directed up), the ball will again slide along the free throw line, but this time it will go out of bounds!
(1b) UP direction: Here, you are allowed to press the fire button, as this will not result to an early kick and the ball will go downwards. Moreover, by pressing the fire-button a certain amount of time (before the player kicks the ball by himself), you may get a wicked spin, having the ball going downwards and then spinning... upwards!!! (this happens very rarely due to the joystick's shot power lock).
Animation 12: Example of a corner kick spinning upwards! (0 Kb)
(2a) LEFT direction: By pressing the button early you will get a kick towards the goal (and probably a chance to score). By waiting for the player to kick the ball by himself you will get a slightly different kick. In both cases, you may get a curly kick and score directly!
Animation 13: Example of a curly corner (175 Kb)
(2b) RIGHT direction: Same as above, without the "early kick" option.
(3) DIAGONAL direction: Any diagonal direction will result to a left-down directed kick. Depending on which diagonal direction used, you may end up with slightly different shots. The only direction enabling you to have an early kick is down-left.

As in other cases (shots, passing), corner kicks could be more flexible with a newer and better joystick-driver which emulates the trackball more accurately (something which will allow us to perform MORE curly corner kicks!)
A LAST "SOUND" TIP

After finishing a game, and provided you reach the top scores, you are given the chance to enter your name. Instead of writing your name, try one of the following:

(1) Type "TOMI" (in this case "TOM" will be displayed and the last letter "I" acts like the END button) and you will be able to listen to the ending theme which only comes up after winning the final. This means, that if you win the final, you can listen to the winning theme TWICE! :)
(2) Similarly, if you type "MICH" (here "MIC" will be displayed and the last letter "H" acts like the END button) you will be able to listen to some other music which does not exist anywhere else in the game!

Have fun!!!

 

 

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