Sports
April 1987 (Konami)
This is an arcade port. Thank God, because then it has an excuse. This thing is frustrating as Hell.
In the original arcade game there were two buttons to use for running. On the NES there’s just one. This makes sense with the controller layout, but it also just turns the game into a button masher’s delight. This is fine in fighting games, partly because I’m not all that good at them. But for some reason It’s just not sitting well with me for this one.
This is the best part of the game, at least in single player mode.
I don’t have anyone to play with at the moment, but I’m assuming it would be better if I could rub it in someone’s face when I beat her.
Let’s take a look at each of the events. Keep in mind that when you play you can start anywhere, but after that first choice you just go through the cycle.
- 100 Meter Dash – Hit the button as fast as you can. Nothing else to it.
- Long Jump – Hit the button as fast as you can and right before you cross the white line hit up. Hold it until you get the desired angle and then stop holding up.
- 110 Meter Hurdles – Hit the button as fast as you can. Every once in a while hit up so you jump over the hurdle. Get frustrated because you timed it wrong and you fall down because the hurdle hits you in the stomach even though in real life that would knock the hurdle over and you’d be fine assuming you stayed in your lane.
- Javelin Throw – Just like Long Jump, except if you throw it really high you can get that spaceship.
- Skeet Shooting – Slam the controller into your head for playing this one. Alternate controls include summoning your Jedi powers.
- Triple Jump – Just like Long Jump except when you land you hit up again. Then when you land you hit up again. Get it, you’re jumping 3 times.
- Archery – Hit the button when your target gets to a certain part of the screen. Wish you had a real bow and a place to use it.
- High Jump – Just like long jump except you want a much higher jump. Unlike the real thing, once you start running you’re stuck with making an attempt.
As you can probably tell, I’m not that excited about any of these. In fact, we haven’t had a truly good sports game yet. Volleyball got a thumbs up, but that was mostly because it has that Pong clone factor working for it.
Trust me, good sports games are coming. One of them will even happen this year. But Track & Field isn’t it.
I don’t think this game works very well with NES controllers, but it was a favorite in the arcades simply for the pure physicality involved in playing it. You had to wail hard on the buttons – it was a noisy, violent game. I guess Konami always had an interest in making games that made you move around a bit. It is a precursor to DDR and the Beatmania games, in a way.
I might have a bit of nostalgic affection for Track and Field since it was one of the games at the 7-11 where our school bus picked us up and dropped us off. But I’m also pretty sure this was Konami’s first really successful arcade game.
Dr. Sparkle recently published the post Gears of Culture War