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Track & Field (video game)

Track & Field, also known as Hyper Olympic[a] 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 featured an official license for the 1984 Summer Olympics. In Europe, the game was initially released under the Japanese title Hyper Olympic in 1983,[3] before being re-released under the US title Track & Field in early 1984.[6]

Track & Field
European arcade flyer
Developer(s)Konami
Publisher(s)Arcade
Ports
Platform(s)Arcade, Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit, MSX, NES, Commodore 64, Game Boy, Amstrad CPC, Sharp X1, ZX Spectrum, Nintendo DS
ReleaseArcade
Genre(s)Sports (olympics)
Mode(s)1-4 players competing 1-2 at a time

Players compete in a series of events, most involving alternately pressing two buttons as quickly as possible to make the onscreen character run faster. The game uses a horizontal side-scrolling format, displaying one or two tracks at a time, a large scoreboard that shows world records and current attempts, 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 organized a 1984 Track & Field video game competition that attracted more than a million players internationally, holding the record for the largest organized video game competition of all time as of 2016. It was followed by sequels, including Hyper Sports, as well as similar Olympic video games from other companies. The game's popularity led to a resurgence in arcade sports games and inspired Namco's side-scrolling platform game Pac-Land (1984).

Gameplay

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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]

  • 100 meter dash – running by quickly alternating button presses.
  • Long jump – running by alternating button press and correct timing for jump — hold jump button to set angle (42 degrees is optimal).
  • Javelin throw – running by alternating button presses and then using action button correct timing for angle (43 degrees is optimal).
  • 110 meter hurdles – running by alternating button presses and using action button to time jumps.
  • Hammer throw – spinning initiated by pressing a run button once and then correctly timed press of action button to choose angle (45 degrees is optimal).
  • High jump – running (speed set by computer) 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.
 
Long jump event

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 attempts in the other events) will reduce the player's number of lives by one. If the player has no lives remaining, the game will end.[8] Players can earn extra lives for every 100,000 points scored.

 
Start of the 100m dash

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 filled by the computer (or player "CPU"). In all multiplayer heats, however, the relative performances of the players do not affect the game; advancing is based solely on qualifying times. While most multiplayer arcade games have their controls arranged from left to right for the players, this game, which features two sets of controls, has a somewhat different setup. The left set of controls is designated for players 2 and 4, while the right set is for players 1 and 3. This is one of the few classic arcade games where single-player mode is played using the right set of controls rather than the left. If a player completes all six events, they are sent back to the field for another round, with higher qualifying levels; however, the game can be configured to conclude after the final event.

Due to the game’s response to rapidly pressing the "run" buttons, players of the arcade version resorted to various tricks, such as quickly swiping a coin or ping-pong ball over the buttons or using a metal ruler that was repeatedly struck to create vibrations that would press the buttons. As a result, arcade operators reported high rates of damage to the buttons, leading to modifications in later versions to prevent such actions.[citation needed]

Release

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Hyper Olympic was introduced at Tokyo's Amusement Machine Show (AM Show) in September 1983. Despite the anticipation surrounding laserdisc games prior to the event, Hyper Olympic emerged as the most well-received game at the show. According to Cash Box magazine, several attendees noted "cursory similarities" to Activision Decathlon, which had been introduced a month earlier. Hyper Olympic was licensed to Centuri for North American distribution. However, Atari was selected as the official sponsor for the Olympic video game, preventing Centuri from retaining the title Hyper Olympic.[2] The game was subsequently introduced in North America as Track & Field at the Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) show in October 1983. Despite the initial hype surrounding laserdisc games, many operators and distributors ultimately regarded Track & Field as the biggest hit at the event.[9]

Ports

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Konami licensed the North American home video game rights to Atari, Inc..[5] 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 under the Atarisoft label. A port for the Atari 5200, which would have been identical to the Atari 8-bit computer version, was canceled.[10] The 2600 version was among the new games to utilize 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 included only four out of six events. They later converted Hyper Sports to the Famicom as well, this time incorporating three of the Hyper Sports events along with one additional event from Track & Field. By the time the NES gained popularity in the United States, Konami retooled the game for American release 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 released only 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 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).

Reception

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In Japan, Game Machine listed Hyper Olympic as the top-grossing new table arcade cabinet in December 1983,[14][15] and it remained 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 continued to enjoy 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 its release. Gene Lewin of Play Meter magazine scored it 8 out of 10, stating that it would be "a definite 10" if released as a more affordable conversion kit. The review praised it as the best dedicated arcade game at the AMOA 1983 show, highlighting the gameplay, "excellent" graphics, "fantastic" sound, and originality, noting 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 referred to it as a "great game for all you armchair sports enthusiasts," although they cautioned it could lead to cramped fingers.[6]

Reviews for the home conversions varied by platform. 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, stating that "the game is primarily a joystick buster."[28] However, Stuart Campbell, writing in Your Sinclair in 1992, considered the Spectrum version to be one of the worst games ever released for that machine.[29]

In 1996, Next Generation magazine ranked the Track & Field series collectively as number 78 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time." They noted that while the gameplay may not accurately reflect skill or knowledge of the actual sports, the game's appeal lies in its pure button-pushing endurance, particularly when played with four players.[30] Additionally, in 1995, Flux magazine placed the arcade version at 65th in its own "Top 100 Video Games" list, further solidifying its status as a classic in the gaming community.[31]

Competition

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In 1984, Konami and Centuri jointly organized an international Track & Field video game competition that attracted over a million players from Japan and North America. This event was hailed by Play Meter as "the coin-op event of the year," marking an unprecedented scale in the video game industry at that time.[20] As of 2016, it is recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest organized video game competition in history.[32] The competition, officially known as the "1984 March of Dimes International Konami/Centuri Track & Field Challenge," was highlighted in the Twin Galaxies publication, which noted that more than a million contestants participated between April 30 and May 26, aiming to be among three finalists who would travel to Japan to represent the USA. This event served as a fundraiser for the March of Dimes and was held in Aladdin's Castle arcades and National Convenience Stores. Gary West from Oklahoma City emerged as the U.S. Finals winner, while Phil Britt from Riverside, California, claimed victory in the World Championship held in Tokyo on June 10, 1984.

On December 18, 2008, Héctor Rodriguez from California set a new world record score of 95,350 points.[33] This score surpassed the previous record of 95,040 points set by Kelly Kobashigawa from Los Angeles on June 30, 1985, during the 1985 Video Game Masters Tournament in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.[34][35]

Legacy

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Impact

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While not the first Olympic track-and-field game (it was preceded by Olympic Decathlon in 1980[36] and Activision Decathlon in August 1983),[37] Track & Field spawned other similar Olympic video games following its release.[26] For example, Ocean Software developed a licensed adaptation for home computers titled Daley Thompson's Decathlon (1984).[38] Epyx released its own multi-event collection with Summer Games and subsequently Summer Games II. Dinamic published Video Olimpic for the ZX Spectrum in 1984.[39] Bandai's entry was Stadium Events for the NES in 1986.

Track & Field had a significant impact on the broader sports video game genre, leading to a resurgence of sports games 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 increasingly popular after Track & Field, with several successful arcade titles released 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 the side-scrolling platform game Pac-Land (1984). The game's controls were heavily inspired by Track & Field, which allowed players to become faster by rapidly tapping the button in succession; Kishimoto found the concept intriguing and believed it would help Pac-Land stand out among other games.[40]

Sequels

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Konami continued releasing games in the series:

Re-releases

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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.[42]

The game also appeared on the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch under the Arcade Archives brand in September 2019.

Notes

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  1. ^ Japanese: ハイパーオリンピック, Hepburn: Haipā Orinpikku

References

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  1. ^ "Track & Field (Registration Number PA0000196323)". United States Copyright Office. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021.
  2. ^ a b ""Somber" JAMMA Show Hosts Five Laser Disc Games". Cash Box. October 15, 1983. pp. 32, 34.
  3. ^ a b "Video Game Flyers: Hyper Olympic, Konami (EU)". The Arcade Flyer Archive. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  4. ^ a b Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) [Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005)] (in Japanese). Japan: Amusement News Agency. pp. 28, 121. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Overseas Readers Column" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 224. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 November 1983. p. 30. Archived (PDF) from the original on 24 May 2021. Retrieved 24 May 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Arcade Action: We Discover What's New in Blackpool". Computer and Video Games. No. 30 (April 1984). 16 March 1984. p. 26. Archived from the original on 11 April 2021. Retrieved 29 March 2021.
  7. ^ a b Lendino, Jamie (27 September 2020). Attract Mode: The Rise and Fall of Coin-Op Arcade Games. Steel Gear Press. pp. 272, 334. Archived from the original on 6 October 2024. Retrieved 3 May 2021.
  8. ^ a b "Track & Field - Videogame by Konami". www.arcade-museum.com. Archived from the original on 2016-02-08. Retrieved 2016-06-10.
  9. ^ "Cash Machine" (PDF). Cash Box. November 12, 1983. pp. 30–4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2020-08-13. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  10. ^ Reichert, Matt. "Track & Field". AtariProtos.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2014.
  11. ^ a b c "Track & Field" (PDF). Computer Entertainer. Vol. 3, no. 5. August 1984. p. 75. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2024-10-06. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
  12. ^ "The Amstrad CPC Resource: Track and Field by Ocean Software for the Amstrad CPC/GX 4000". CPC Zone. Archived from the original on 2012-03-05. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
  13. ^ "ZXDB Powered Software Search: Game, Set and Match 2". SpectrumComputing. Archived from the original on 24 October 2020. Retrieved 14 June 2018.
  14. ^ "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型新製品 (New Videos-Table Type)" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 225. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 December 1983. p. 32. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 January 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  15. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 226. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 December 1983. p. 33. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 January 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  16. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 227. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 January 1984. p. 37. Archived (PDF) from the original on 15 November 2022. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  17. ^ "Best Hit Games 25" (PDF). Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 228. Amusement Press, Inc. 15 January 1984. p. 31. Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 February 2021. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
  18. ^ RePlay, January 1984
  19. ^ "Olympic Summer Games". Next Generation. No. 20. Imagine Media. August 1996. p. 101.
  20. ^ a b c Sharpe, Roger C. (December 1984). "1984—Every Which Way But Up". Play Meter. Vol. 10, no. 23. pp. 39, 49–51.
  21. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. February 1984.
  22. ^ "RePlay: The Players' Choice". RePlay. May 1984.
  23. ^ "Hit Games & High Scores: Arcade Games". Computer Games. Vol. 3, no. 2. United States: Carnegie Publications. June 1984. p. 12.
  24. ^ "Top 20 Performing Video Games of 1984". Play Meter. Vol. 10, no. 20. 1 November 1984. p. 47.
  25. ^ "Nominees Announced For 1984 AMOA Awards" (PDF). Cash Box. September 8, 1984. p. 28. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-07-04. Retrieved 2021-05-23.
  26. ^ a b "Commando: Soldier of Fortune". Your Sinclair. No. 1. January 1986. p. 54.
  27. ^ Lewin, Gene (January 15, 1984). "Gene's Judgements: Critiquing AMOA Show Conversions, Dedicated Games". Play Meter. Vol. 10, no. 2. pp. 60–3.
  28. ^ Wilson, David M.; Wilson, Johnny L. (April 1988). "The Boys of Spring: A Computer Sports Survey". Computer Gaming World. Vol. 1, no. 46. pp. 13–14.
  29. ^ "An Equal Sequel". Your Sinclair. No. 75. March 1992. p. 27. Archived from the original on 6 October 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2021.
  30. ^ "Top 100 Games of All Time". Next Generation. No. 21. Imagine Media. September 1996. p. 44.
  31. ^ "Top 100 Video Games". Flux (4). Harris Publications: 31. April 1995.
  32. ^ Baker, Chris (16 August 2016). "How 'Track & Field' Launched World's Biggest Video Game Tournament". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 28 July 2022. Retrieved 6 October 2021.
  33. ^ "Twin Galaxies' Track & Field High Score Rankings". 2009-12-27. Archived from the original on 2013-09-13.
  34. ^ "Guinness World Records 2008 - Gamer's Edition", page 251
  35. ^ [1] Archived copy at WebCite (July 14, 2007).
  36. ^ Reed, Matthew. "Olympic Decathlon". TRS-80.org. Archived from the original on 2022-02-05. Retrieved 2021-05-04.
  37. ^ "Activision Decathlon (Registration Number PA0000189213)". United States Copyright Office. Archived from the original on 26 November 2021. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
  38. ^ "Daley takes the gold". Sinclair User. No. 32. EMAP. November 1984. p. 26. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  39. ^ "Video Olimpic". Spectrum Computing. Archived from the original on 2020-09-21. Retrieved 2021-05-03.
  40. ^ Szczepaniak, John (4 November 2015). The Untold History of Japanese Game Developers Vol. 2 (1 ed.). pp. 207–208. ISBN 978-1518655319.
  41. ^ "Track & Field II for MSX". MobyGames. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  42. ^ Langley, Ryan (January 20, 2012). "Xbox Live Arcade by the numbers - the 2011 year in review". Gamasutra. UBM Technology Group. Archived from the original on July 31, 2021. Retrieved 29 April 2020.
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