Pele was the first football player to appear on the cover of a video game

after death Pele At the age of 82, I am reminded of the many stories that show the importance of his career and the legacy he left on the world, as his talent led him to become a figurehead off the court before reaching the video game industry.

Pele’s football It was the first video game to feature a football player on the cover, used as a face to carry an interactive product. The relevance of O Ray in this sport wears A bet on his figure so that children of the time would be interested in playing it.

What was Pele’s football like?

Edson Arantes do Nascimento reached the league USA In 1975, already at the end of his career after three wins world championships. He was just playing there New York Cosmos until 1980. The fundamental context of his entry into the video game.

Around that time wears It was the leading brand in the video game market thanks to what it did Pong and launch Atari 2600The first home console to become a bestseller.

By the early 1980s, the company made a marketing pitch to increase buyer interest; For its line of sports games, it has targeted several figures in the North American market: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar basketball player Mario AndrettiRace driver and Pele.

It was originally a football game call Championship footballAfter adopting the image of the Brazilian star, they changed their name Pele in footballincluding the player on the cover and in TV commercials.

The title did well in the market and outperformed before footballfrom the console Intelligence, in discounts. Due to the technical limitations of the time, the game did not have 11 players on the field, but only three, all moving together and having to pass the ball to the opposite goal to beat the goalkeeper who was moved by the game system.

This was not the only case Pele Appeared as the cover of the video game as his fame led to his name being placed on the scales SEGA Genesis and in Pele II: The World Tournament in Soccer Same for console.

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Other footballers who have been on the cover

Pele’s case was the beginning of a marketing practice that was later standardized. Most of the following football games chose to hire a player to be a visible face and motivate minors to buy the title.

Saga in the 90s FIFA had figures such as David Platt, Ruud Gullit, Eric Torstvedt, Ronald de Boer, Raoul and Dennis Bergkamp. but International superstar soccer A bet on PValderrama goes.

Already during this century, two players started on the covers, which significantly increased the list. Pro Evolution Soccer had similar stars Totti, Henry, John Terry, Adriano, Ronaldo, Buffon, Messi, Fernando Torres, Falcao, Neymar, Luis Suarez.

next to FIFA It was agreed that each region of the world would have a figure from that part accompanied by a global reference such as Lionel Messi or Ronaldinho. In the case of Latin America, the players like it Guillermo Ochoa, Juan Guillermo Cuadrado, James Rodriguez, Omar Bravo, Osvaldo Sanchez, Rafael Marquez and Cuahtemoc Blanco.

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