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Track & Field (video game)

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For the sport, see Athletics (track and field).
Track & Field
File:Track & Field title.png
Developer(s)Konami
Publisher(s)Konami
Platform(s)Arcade, Atari 2600, MSX, NES, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, Xbox 360 (XBLA)
Release1983
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single player, two players simultaneously
Four players total

Track & Field is the name of a series of Olympic themed video games developed by Konami for several platforms since 1983.

The first title, simply called Track & Field (Hyper Olympic outside the United States) was released in 1983 as an arcade game. The simple gameplay, based on quick, repeating, button presses set the basics for sequels and similar games in the genre for the next decades. There were several home versions of the original; note that 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 by fans [1] and [2]. The NES version was especially well-received and big-selling.

Gameplay screenshot of the long jump event

Gameplay

In the original arcade game, the player uses two "run" buttons (or a trackball in some early units) and one "action" button to control an athlete competing in following six events:

  • 100 Meter Dash – Running by button mashing
  • Long jump - Running and correct timing for jump. Hold jump button to set angle.
  • Javelin throw - Running and then using action button correct timing for angle (~42 degrees is optimal).
  • 110m Hurdles - Running and using action button to time hurdles
  • Hammer throw - Spinning initiated by pressing a run button once and then correctly timed press of action button to choose angle (45 is optimal).
  • High jump - Running and then action button must be held down to determine angle of jump. Once in the air, the run button can be rapidly pressed for additional height.

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) ends the game.

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 performance of the players has no effect on the game, and advancing is based solely on qualifying times.

Gameplay screenshot of tstart of the 100m dash

If a player completes all six events, after a brief medal ceremony he is sent back to the field for another round, with higher qualifying levels.

In the follow-up Hyper Sports, there were seven events: 100-meter crawl, skeet shooting, vault, archery, triple jump, weight lifting and pole vault.

Following the release of Track & Field a device was released by Nintendo called the *Power Pad. This became a popular device by which to control Track & Field but failed overall as an accessory.

Legacy

Konami continued releasing games on the series:

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 Xbox Live Arcade version of the game was released on the Xbox 360 for 400 Microsoft Points ($5 USD) on August 8, 2007. It features updated graphics and sounds, leaderboards, and online play over the XBox Live service.

Track & Field helped to popularize the button-mashing style of gameplay, in which a player must hit a button on their controller as fast and as many times as possible in order to make their in-game athlete move quicker. This design rapidly incorporated into clones like Epyx's Summer Games. Many contemporary athletics games still use this form of control as a part of their gameplay.

Trivia

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.

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