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Track & Field | |
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Developer(s) | Konami |
Publisher(s) | ArcadePorts
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Platform(s) | Arcade, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, MSX, NES, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Amstrad CPC, Sharp X1, ZX Spectrum, Nintendo DS |
Release | Arcade |
Genre(s) | Sports (olympics) |
Mode(s) | 1-4 players competing 1-2 at a time |
Track & Field, also known as Hyper Olympic [lower-alpha 1] in Japan and Europe, is an Olympic-themed sports video game developed by Konami and released as an arcade video game in 1983. The Japanese release sported an official license for the 1984 Summer Olympics. In Europe, the game was initially released under the Japanese title Hyper Olympic in 1983, [5] before re-releasing under the US title Track & Field in early 1984. [6]
Players compete in a series of events, most involving alternately pressing two buttons as quickly as possible to make the onscreen character run faster. It has a horizontal side-scrolling format, depicting one or two tracks at a time, a large scoreboard that displays world records and current runs, and a packed audience in the background. [7]
The game was a worldwide commercial success in arcades, becoming one of the most successful arcade games of 1984. Konami and Centuri also held a 1984 Track & Field video game competition that drew more than a million players internationally, holding the record for the largest organized video game competition of all time as of 2016 [update] . It was followed by sequels, including Hyper Sports , and similar Olympic video games from other companies. It led to a resurgence of arcade sports games and inspired Namco's side-scrolling platform game Pac-Land (1984).
In the original arcade game, the player uses two "run" buttons (or a trackball in later units that replaced buttons damaged from overuse) and one "action" button to control an athlete competing in the following six events: [8]
In each event, there is a qualifying time or level that the player must achieve to advance to the next event; failing to qualify (in one heat for running events or three tries in the other events) will reduce the player's number of lives by one, but if none are present in his/her disposal, the game will end. [8] Players earn extra lives per 100,000 points scored.
The game can accommodate up to four players, who compete in pairs for the running events and individually for the others. If there are fewer than four players, the remaining slots are played by the computer (or player "CPU"). In all multiplayer heats, though, the relative performances of the players have no effect on the game, and advancing is based solely on qualifying times. While most multiplayer arcade games had each set of controls relative to the players going from left to right, this game (which has two sets of controls) had a somewhat different setup. The left set of controls were for players 2 and 4, while the right set was for players 1 and 3. This is one of the few classic arcade games where single player mode was played on the right set of controls rather than the left. If a player completes all six events after a brief medal ceremony, he or she is sent back to the field for another round, with higher qualifying levels, however the game can be configured to conclude after the final event.
Because the game responded to repeatedly pressing the "run" buttons at high frequency, players of the arcade version resorted to various tricks such as rapidly swiping a coin or ping-pong ball over the buttons, or using a metal ruler which was repeated struck such that it would vibrate and press the buttons. As a result, arcade operators reported high rates of damage to the buttons and later versions had modifications to prevent such actions.[ citation needed ]
Hyper Olympic was introduced at Tokyo's Amusement Machine Show (AM Show) in September 1983. Despite the hype for laserdisc games prior to the show, Hyper Olympic ended up being the most well-received game at the show. According to Cash Box magazine, several people claimed there were "cursory similarities" to Activision Decathlon , which was introduced a month earlier. Hyper Olympic was licensed to Centuri for North American distribution. However, Atari had been chosen as the official Olympics video game sponsor, so Centuri were unable to keep the title Hyper Olympic. [3] It was subsequently introduced in North America as Track & Field at the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show in October 1983. Despite the hype for laserdisc games prior to the show, many operators and distributors ended up considering Track & Field to be the biggest hit at the event. [9]
Konami licensed the North American home video game rights to Atari, Inc. [2] They initially ported Track & Field to the Atari 2600 console and the Atari 8-bit computers, followed by versions for the Apple II and the Commodore 64 on the Atarisoft label. A port for the Atari 5200, identical to the Atari 8-bit computer version, was cancelled. [10] The 2600 version was among the new games to use Atari's "super chip" technology, enabling enhanced graphics and gameplay variety compared to what was previously possible on the 2600. [11]
When Konami ported Track & Field to the Famicom (as Hyper Olympic), they only included four out of six events. Afterwards, they converted Hyper Sports to the Famicom as well, this time including three of the Hyper Sports events and one more event from Track & Field. By the time the NES gained popularity in the United States, Konami retooled the game for release in America by including all eight events from both games in one cartridge. Of the original six events from Track & Field, only the hammer throw is missing; in its place, however, are skeet shooting, archery, and triple jump.
The ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions were only released as part of the Game, Set and Match II compilation in 1988, and are poorly regarded. [12] [13]
The NES version of Track & Field was re-released in Europe in 1992 as Track & Field in Barcelona by Kemco in the light of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The opening song for the NES version is the Chariots of Fire theme by Vangelis (which was also used in the arcade version's high score screen).
In Japan, Game Machine listed Hyper Olympic as the top-grossing new table arcade cabinet in December 1983, [14] [15] and then the top-grossing table cabinet in January 1984. [16] [17] The game sold 38,000 arcade hardware units in Japan by the end of 1983. Track & Field was also a hit in North America. [18] [19] [11] Despite requiring physical interaction from players, the game enjoyed continued success in North America throughout the first half of 1984. [20] It topped the US RePlay upright arcade cabinet charts in February 1984 [21] and May 1984, [22] and was the top-grossing arcade game of June 1984. [23] It went on to become the third highest-grossing arcade game of 1984 in the United States. [24] [25] In Europe, it was the highest-grossing arcade game of 1984 in the United Kingdom. [26]
The arcade game received positive reviews upon release. Gene Lewin of Play Meter magazine scored it 8 out of 10, but said it would be "a definite 10" if released as a more affordable conversion kit. The review called it the best dedicated arcade game at the AMOA 1983 show and praised the gameplay, "excellent" graphics, "fantastic" sound, and originality, stating that having "different track and field events is an original idea" and "certainly different" than the other sports games based on baseball, football or basketball. [27] Computer and Video Games called it a "great game for all you armchair sports enthusiasts" [6] but said it could cause a cramped finger. [28]
Reviews for the home conversions varied depending on the platforms. Computer Entertainer reviewed the Atari 2600 version in 1984, scoring it 7 out of 8 stars. [11] David M. Wilson and Johnny L. Wilson reviewed the home computer conversions for Computer Gaming World , and stated that "the game is primarily a joystick buster". [29] Stuart Campbell, writing in Your Sinclair in 1992, considered the Spectrum version to be one of the worst games ever released for the machine. [30]
In 1996, Next Generation listed the Track & Field series collectively as number 78 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", remarking: "OK, so the games' play style has little to do with skill at (or even knowledge of) the actual sports. But so what? In a test of pure button pushing endurance, nothing can beat Track and Field, especially when you play with four players". [31] In 1995, Flux magazine ranked the arcade version 65th in its "Top 100 Video Games". [32]
In 1984, Konami and Centuri jointly held an international Track & Field video game competition that drew more than a million players from across Japan and North America. Play Meter in 1984 called it "the coin-op event of the year" and an event on a scale never before achieved in the industry. [20] As of 2016, it holds the record for the largest organized video game competition of all time, according to Guinness World Records . [33] The Twin Galaxies' Official Video Game & Pinball Book of World Records - Arcade Volume, lists history's largest video game contest as the "1984 March of Dimes International Konami/Centuri Track & Field Challenge". The editors said: "More than 1 million contestants played Track & Field between April 30 and May 26, hoping to be among three finalists going to Japan to represent the USA. As a fundraiser for the March of Dimes, the event was held in Aladdin's Castle arcades and National Convenience Stores. Gary West of Oklahoma City won the U.S. Finals, but Phil Britt, of Riverside, California, won the World Championship in Tokyo on June 10, 1984".
On December 18, 2008, Héctor Rodriguez, of California, USA, scored a world record 95,350 points. [34] Rodriguez beat the 23-year-old record of 95,040 points [35] [36] set on June 30, 1985 by Kelly Kobashigawa, of Los Angeles, during Twin Galaxies' 1985 Video Game Masters Tournament in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.
While not the first Olympic track-and-field game (it was preceded by Olympic Decathlon in 1980 [37] and Activision Decathlon in August 1983), [38] Track & Field spawned other similar Olympic video games following its release. [26] For example, Ocean Software developed a licensed adaptation for home computers, Daley Thompson's Decathlon (1984). [39] Epyx released its own multi-event collection as Summer Games , then Summer Games II . Dinamic published Video Olimpic for the ZX Spectrum in 1984. [40] Bandai's entry was Stadium Events for the NES in 1986.
Track & Field had an impact on the wider sports video game genre, leading a resurgence for the genre in arcades during the 1980s. Following the release of Track & Field, the arcade industry began producing sports games at levels not seen since the days of Pong and its clones nearly a decade earlier. [7] Sports video games became popular after Track & Field, with a number of successful arcade sports games in 1984, including Nintendo's boxing game Punch-Out , the Nintendo VS. System titles Vs. Tennis and Vs. Baseball , Taito's American football game 10-Yard Fight and golf game Birdie King II , and Data East's Tag Team Wrestling . [20]
Namco's Yoshihiro Kishimoto cited Track & Field as the biggest influence on side-scrolling platform game Pac-Land (1984). The game's controls were heavily influenced by Track & Field, which allowed the player to become faster by constantly tapping the button in succession; Kishimoto thought the idea was interesting and that it would make Pac-Land stand out among other games. [41]
Konami continued releasing games in the series:
The game appears in Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits for the Nintendo DS, but with an altered version of the Chariots of Fire theme. The Game Boy version was rereleased as part of the Konami GB Collection series.
The Xbox Live Arcade version of the game was released on the Xbox 360 on 8 August 2007, with updated graphics and audio, leaderboards, and online play. It sold 297,307 copies as of 2011. [43]
The game also appeared on the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch under the Arcade Archives brand in September 2019.
Pole Position is a racing arcade video game released by Namco in 1982. It was licensed to Atari, Inc. for US manufacture and distribution. Pole Position is considered one of the most important titles from the golden age of arcade video games. It was an evolution of Namco's earlier arcade racing electro-mechanical games, notably F-1 (1976), whose designer Sho Osugi worked on Pole Position.
A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with video games, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize playing the sport, whilst others emphasize strategy and sport management. Some, such as Need for Speed, Arch Rivals and Punch-Out!!, satirize the sport for comic effect. This genre has been popular throughout the history of video games and is competitive, just like real-world sports. A number of game series feature the names and characteristics of real teams and players, and are updated annually to reflect real-world changes. The sports genre is one of the oldest genres in gaming history.
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1983 has seen many sequels and prequels in video games, such as Mario Bros. and Pole Position II, along with new titles such as Astron Belt, Champion Baseball, Dragon's Lair, Elevator Action, Spy Hunter and Track & Field. Major events include the video game crash of 1983 in North America, and the third generation of video game consoles beginning with the launch of Nintendo's Family Computer (Famicom) and Sega's SG-1000 in Japan. The year's highest-grossing video game was Namco's arcade game Pole Position, while the year's best-selling home system was Nintendo's Game & Watch for the third time since 1980.
Gyruss is shoot 'em up arcade video game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1983. Gyruss was initially licensed to Centuri in the United States for dedicated machines, before Konami released their own self-distributed conversion kits for the game. Parker Brothers released contemporary ports for home systems. An enhanced version for the Family Computer Disk System was released in 1988, which was released to the North American Nintendo Entertainment System in early 1989.
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Pac-Land is a 1984 side-scrolling arcade platform game developed and released by Namco. It was distributed in North America by Bally Midway, and in Europe by Atari Games. Controlling Pac-Man, the player must make it to the end of each stage to return a lost fairy back to its home in Fairyland. Pac-Man will need to avoid obstacles, such as falling logs and water-spewing fire hydrants, alongside his enemies, the Ghost Gang. Eating large flashing Power Pellets will cause the ghosts to turn blue, allowing Pac-Man to eat them for points.
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Vanguard is a scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by TOSE. It was released by SNK in Japan and Europe 1981, and licensed to Centuri for manufacture in North America in October and to Zaccaria in Italy the same year. Cinematronics converted the game to cocktail arcade cabinets in North America.
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Hyper Sports, known in Japan as Hyper Olympic '84, is an Olympic-themed sports video game released by Konami for arcades in 1984. It is the sequel to 1983's Track & Field and features seven new Olympic events. Like its predecessor, Hyper Sports has two run buttons and one action button per player. The Japanese release of the game sported an official license for the 1984 Summer Olympics.
International Track & Field, known in Japan as Hyper Olympic in Atlanta, is a 3D update of Konami's Track & Field series, in which up to four players compete in eleven different Olympic events. The game was released for the PlayStation and arcades in 1996. The arcade version was released only in Japan as Hyper Athlete. A Game Boy Color game was released in 1999. It was known in Japan as Hyper Olympic Track & Field GB and International Track & Field in Europe and North America. In 2008 the game was released on PlayStation Network as a PS one Classic. All six events from the first game, 1983's Track & Field, are included, but only three events are taken from the sequel, Hyper Sports. International Track & Field uses the three-button control system of its predecessors and the eleven disciplines can be attempted in any order.
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The Activision Decathlon is a sports video game written by David Crane for the Atari 2600 and published by Activision in 1983. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit computers, Atari 5200, Commodore 64, ColecoVision, and MSX. Up to four players compete in the ten different events of a real-life decathlon, either in sequence or individually.
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Daley Thompson's Decathlon is an Olympic-themed sports video game developed and released by Ocean Software in 1984. It was released in the wake of Daley Thompson's popularity following his gold medals in the decathlon at the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games. The game shares significant design similarities to Konami's 1983 arcade game Track & Field.
DecAthlete, released in Europe as Athlete Kings due to a licensing issue, is a track-and-field themed arcade sports video game. On its unveiling, the gaming media generally described it as a modern clone of Daley Thompson's Decathlon. Released in 1996, it was developed by Sega AM3 and produced by Sega. A home port was released on the Sega Saturn in 1996, largely identical to the arcade version, due to the similar hardware of the ST-V hardware and the Saturn. It was released on the PlayStation 2 in Japan only as part of the Sega Ages 2500 series. Compared to other decathlon based games, Decathlete has a more comic and cartoon-like style. A sequel followed in 1997, which was the winter sports-based Winter Heat.