Track & Field (video game)
| 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 |
| Release | Arcade |
| Genre(s) | Sports (olympics) |
| Mode(s) | 1–4 players competing 1–2 at a time |
Track & Field, also known as Hyper Olympic 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, before being re-released under the US title Track & Field in early 1984.
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.
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).