Track & Field



Track & Field was the originator of the button mashing sports genre. While button mashing has gotten a negative connotation during the later years of fighting games as a method of attempting to play without any skill, button mashing was the way to victory in this six event competition. Released as Hyper Olympic in Japan by Konami, it paved the way for future sports titles based on decathlon events. The game's release was intended to tie in with the 1984 Summer Olympic games held in Los Angeles. A sequel to the game was released as Hyper Sports (Hyper Olympic '84 in Japan).

Up to four players must compete in six events: 100 meter dash, long jump, javelin throw, 110 meter hurdles, hammer throw, and long jump. Each player must attempt to qualify in one event before moving on to the next. If a player fails to qualify in two events, the game is over, although extra chances can be earned. In addition to beating the qualifying score, "world records" can also be broken. In every event but the hammer throw, the player controls the athlete's speed by tapping the left and right run buttons as fast they are physically capable. The faster they tap the buttons, the faster the athlete will run. A third action button is available to make the athlete jump or throw. In many of the events, the duration that the action button is held down for determines the angle of the athlete's jump/throw.

Atari snapped up the rights to bring this massively popular arcade game home. One control scheme involved rocking a joystick to the left and right as fast as possible to make the athlete's run. However, this practice had a tendency to lead to a lot of broken joysticks. Atari eventually provided an alternate controller that closely mimicked the arcade control scheme. In Japan, Konami released the game for the MSX and Famicom. On the MSX, the game was released over several volumes, 4 events per volume, and added the 400 meter and 1500 meter dash. On the Famicom, only the first four events are included. For more information about the American release on the NES, see Track & Field (NES).