Track and Field (NES) Review

There aren't too many Olympic games that follow the basic standards of the games. Track and Field got a lot of enjoyment from many back in 1983 with excellent graphics and presentation along with the button mashing gameplay. It was ultimately brought to the NES in early 87 with events from both the arcade and the arcade sequel, Hyper Sports. Quite a bit of fun but in short bursts and not one you'll go back to frequently.

It's eight events, each with a required time or point request to qualify. You have three types. There's running with the 100 meter dash and 110 meter hurdle. Beat your opponent and qualify to advance. Mashing the buttons is all you have to do. Then you have the jump and throw events. Add in the jump by pressing up on the directional pad. High jump, triple jump, and long jump have degrees and finding the sweet spot when you jump will give you the best numbers. Going over the line means a foul on one of your three tries. The same can be said for the javelin throw, which has the same rules and mechanics.

Last are shooting events. Be ready on the button. Skeet shooting has you shooting skeets once they reach your cross hairs. Starts slow, but gets faster. Archery has you hitting a moving target with arrows. Try to get the sweet spot to nail those bullseyes. The wind could hurt your chances, making it the weakest event. There is the ability to play with another person and difficulty modes if you want fun or a challenge. The events are quick and easy to get into.

It's a colorful game graphically. Nice areas and character modeling are a big plus for an early game. Not to mention lots of smooth animation, something that was very uncommon for NES games. The audio is not anything to write home about. Decent tracks in the music. Sound effects boiling down to running and stuff being thrown most of the time. No voice samples, but that's a given. The difficulty is adequate and the qualification requirements go up every time you go through all eight events.

Give Track and Field a shot on NES. The only question would be your tolerance on arcade gameplay. It's a pick up and play one that you can get through very quickly. Solid effort, though something you'll want to pull from your shelf every few months.

Score: 7 out of 10