Watching the 2026 World Cup last summer has me reminiscing about a bygone era. A time when I competed in the World Cup myself! Not in person, of course, but from the comfort of my own home. With my trusty monochrome grey Nintendo Game Boy in hand.

Reliving France 98 on the Game Boy

I experienced what I consider the greatest World Cup ever on TV, but later got to relive it with my Game Boy. Ask any football fan and they’ll tell you that the 1998 World Cup was the tournament where everything beautiful about football came together. As luck would have it, my local game shop was selling the game at a heavily discounted price in the wake of that legendary tournament. For a boy with a limited pocket money budget and no gaming console of his own apart from a Game Boy, it was the perfect opportunity to play a football game. After all, I’d been crazy about them for years.

A Decent Little 8-Bit Football Game

Back then, I hadn’t played all that many football games. The magic of Pro Evolution Soccer and FIFA hadn’t quite worked its spell on me yet. That would take a few more years. Still, there was something about recreating the beautiful game in virtual form that had always fascinated me. Around that time, I was playing World Class Soccer on the Atari Lynx. While the graphics were undeniably impressive, the gameplay left something to be desired. Would the 1998 World Cup game on the Game Boy change that?

Let me give you the answer right away: yes and no. World Cup 98 on the Game Boy is a decent little 8-bit footy game that kept me hooked for countless hours. In that respect, mission accomplished. But the game lacked depth, and its graphics were anything but impressive. You needed quite a bit of imagination to recognize the beautiful game in it.

Escaping Into My Own Football World

Luckily, imagination was something I had plenty of as a kid. I went on to play countless tournaments against the computer in my bedroom. I escaped into my own little world, stepped onto the global stage, and eventually hoisted the World Cup trophy above my head. It was a world I would find myself getting lost in more and more over the following years, taking me on adventures unlike any other.

This was my world.

Want to read more about Football video games? Check out the Top 5 worst football video games of all time!