I had the original game on CD (which was lost a few years ago) and it only came back to memory recently. Now I'm trying to track it down on the web to see if I can still find it for sale...
Like the title says, it's a rugby/american footbal kind of game, with an art design (graphics) not very realistic and slightly reminiscent of Contructor (call it "goofy" if you like).
It had an isometric view (like FIFA 94) and it had some cool movie scenes, IIRC.
Still looking on every abandonware site and on Mobygames to see if there's any reference about it, but the process is very slow and had no luck so far 🙁
About the release date, and judging from the graphic quality it had (quite good for the time) it was probably released from 1994 to 1997 at the most.
Can anyone help me?
Last edited by njaydg on 2007-09-11, 22:11. Edited 6 times in total.
It could be close, but the one you mencioned was released in 1988(according to the wiki?), and the timeframe I gave was between 1994 and 1997. However, the attempt is much appreciated, trust me! 😀
After a few days of frenetic searching on the web, calling a few close long-term friends from the "old days", I actually found out the name of the game!!! 😁
Sadly, this is one of the FEW games that are REALLY rare, and I challenge anyone finding a copy of it for sale...! Not even abandonware sites mention it... It's that rare! 😮
I couldn't even find a damn screenshot of the game, go figure.
It's not listed in the DOSBox database compatibility list either, therefore I hereby promise to post results and screenshots, if the game actually works 😉
Guess I'm on a lucky streak... One of my friends has also a copy of the game, and since he doesn't use it anymore, I'll gladly put it to some good DOSBox use 🤣 .
Just can't believe how this game failed to sell bigtime! It had great graphics for the time, smooth gameplay and animations (you could actually distinguish players - fat, skinny, and so on 😁 ) and most of all : it WASN'T a mere rugby simulator, instead it was a rugby game (a sport I don't even like very much, so you can see how it captured my attention) with a HUGE FUN FACTOR!!!
Stay tuned, as I should be getting the CD next Monday...
On a sidenote, other users reading this would probably think something like " Oh! He's just saying the game is great 'cause he liked it a few years ago...". It's much more than simple nostalgia... It's about a rugby game (a sport I usually hate, as mentioned above) that was made in such a simple and efficient way, enough to be addicting and fun at the same time!
The game has indeed an isometric view, and felt great to play that way. One of the funniest moments I recall is when I was running with a skinny(thin) player towards the touchdown (to score points) and suddenly a big fat guy crashes on top of my player... 🤣 Priceless!
The animation style is goofy/cartoon like, similar to Contructor (one of my favorites), which is a kind of game (management / simcity like) I normally hate, and therefore also deserves to to be considered one of the most addicting/fun games in it's own category.
I saw this on eBay AU a couple of weeks ago as part of a bundled lot of games, and a separate seller tried selling it 2 months ago. I didn't take much notice of it at the time - but yeah it was being sold on two occasions, so its not THAT rare.
Thanks for the link to the publisher's homepage, it's very handy, and so are the pics 😎
There's no longer any reference on EBAY AU this game (at least a few minutes ago), google still doesn't help me find this specific game for sale (using "Super League Pro Rugby" as search parameters) 🙁
This is the only reason I'm still considering this game as rare, though... No oldies/abandonware site has any reference to it 😒
Rare doesn't mean impossible to find 😉 , and I think you'll agree with me that this isn't necessarily the easiest game to get a hold of (wether being on a bundle or in a brand new box).
Still, seing those pics of the game made me smile! Good thing I should be getting the game tomorrow.
Expect some report on how the game (hopefully) runs...! 😀
From the intro video, to the joystick calibration routine (special thanks to wd on that department, you know why 😉 ), menus and actual gameplay, audio commentary and ingame video scenes, the game runs perfectly on DOSBox 0.72 on pretty much all standard settings.
Here's a screenshot:
Now all I have to do is to learn (again) how to play the game. It's not easy after a few years of not playing this sport (on a pc 😁 )...
Trust me, Qbix, it's even more fun to actually play it! 😎
By the way, I've sent an e-mail to Alternative Software's customer support inquiring why isn't the game mentioned (not even a reference saying "out of stock") or doesn't even exist in their online store, even though they're saying HERE that the game is still for sale.
I figured that at leat a few people could be interested in the game, and since it's so damn hard to get, a little pressing with the publisher won't hurt. As soon as they reply (if they do) I'll report back here.
Sorry if it's a bit incomplete, I was thinking that myself today (was kinda spleepy at that time) ... 😦
*** EDIT *** (inaccurate information, check the post bellow)
I didn't tried it with the actual CD, but an image, as it's already a habit of mine. After created an ISO, and mounted using " imgmount d c:\prorugby.iso -t iso ", changed to d:\, executed install.exe, defined the destination path " c:\prorugby " and run.bat or rugby.exe (both work the same, IIRC).
With the ISO, the game always returned "CD not found". With a BIN/CUE pair and the same mounting parameters (adjusting to the different image extension) the game runs perfectly! 😀 *** EDIT *** (inaccurate information, check the post bellow)
After work, I'll verify this information and properly update here and in the compatibility list.
Last edited by njaydg on 2007-09-13, 07:01. Edited 2 times in total.
In this case, the CD has no audio tracks at all, and the whole thing is about 90 MB large. Since the install on the HD is circa 30MB (more or less), it's necessary to have the original CD or an image of it. I tested both.
With all my original CD versions, I always check if there's audio tracks, cd or file checks, so only if an ISO fails to behave as the original, the BIN/CUE pair come to rescue!
More details in a few hours.
(...)
Ok, some final conclusions!
My original CD has a tiny few scratches 😠 so my main concern was to make a backup ASAP! Despite this, I tried running the game with it, like this:
1mount d g:\ -t cdrom
The game would run fine at first, but somewhere in the middle of the game (in the half-time) the screen went black and I could only hear a sound loop, like if the game was having a hard time reading the data from the CD.
Now, if I tried running with an ISO or BIN/CUE pair like this:
1imgmount d c:\s_l.iso -t iso
or
1imgmount d c:\s_l.cue -t iso
Everything went smooth... 😅 What a relief!
However, there's an important detail to notice. When executing PRORUGBY.exe the game always returns the message " CD not found " in the CLI, regardless of the mounting method or using the CD. Since there's also a RUN.bat file, I tried that one and played the game just like in my old DOS machine 😎 .
Upon checking the contents of the RUN.bat file, there are some instructions that tell the EXE file where to find the CD drive. If anyone is interested, I may post the contents of it later.
okay that makes more sense 😀
iso and cue/bin both work as there no audio tracks.
The audio hanging with the regular cdrom might be bug, but might be caused by the scratches and the dos way of accessing a cdrom which isn't very compatible with high speed cdrom drives.
90 mb is quite small. Is the sound track midi based ? (as I think a lot of the speech will take up most of the space allready)
Yes, it only has MIDI music in the game menus. Only during a match there's no music being played, as you already have the comments/speech... The YouTube video is a valid reference, as it captured all sound/video outputs perfectly (despite YouTube screwing the quality of the original video while converting it online, but that's another story).
Subject : FW: Super League Pro Rugby (1996) DOS PC CD-ROM
Hi,
Many thanks for your email, and your interest in our products.
We are currently out of stock of Super League Pro Rugby ( DOS) , but should have more stock available in around 2 months time. The cost will be £4.99 ( sterling) per game, plus £1.75 for postage and packaging in the UK, £3.50 outside of the UK .
Please note we do also have available Rugby League 2 ( released 2006) available on PC the cost for this title is £29.99 ( sterling) plus £1.75 postage and packaging in the UK, £3.50 outside of the UK please see our website.
