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Track & Field II for Nintendo NES
Track & Field II for Nintendo NES brings twelve sporting events together in a competition with qualifying rounds and medals. You choose a country and try to meet the required standard in swimming, hurdles, the triple jump and archery, among other events. Fencing, taekwondo, canoeing and gymnastics are also on the programme. Each event has its own controls: sometimes you press a button rapidly, while elsewhere you choose precisely when to take off, release or attack.
In high diving, you rotate during the descent and try to enter the water cleanly. The hammer throw is about power and the right throwing angle. The horizontal bar requires speed, a move during the rotation and a controlled dismount. Training lets you practise the twelve main events. The Olympic competition first divides them across qualifying days, followed by the medal rounds. In between, you can try optional hang-gliding and pistol-shooting exhibitions; the shooting can be played with the standard controller.
You play alone or with two players, using two standard controllers for two-player play. In Training you usually take turns; swimming and hurdles let you compete directly against each other. The separate VS option lets you play fencing, taekwondo and arm wrestling against a second player. Arm wrestling is not one of the twelve main events. After successfully completing an entire Olympic day, you receive a password to resume at the next day later; there is no battery-backed saving.
Region and language
Our Nintendo NES games are PAL editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
With Track & Field II for Nintendo NES, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of Track & Field II
Konami began Track & Field in 1983 as an arcade sports game. The early events focused on running, jumping and throwing, with rapid button presses for speed and a separate moment for the action. Track & Field II appeared in Japan in 1988 as Konamic Sports in Seoul and subsequently reached the West on an NES cartridge. The Japanese name referred to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, while the western release continued the established Track & Field name.
Konami expanded the collection with sports that called for a different approach. Fencing and taekwondo give you an opponent who attacks and defends, while archery is about aiming and accounting for the wind. Canoeing has you steer through a course of gates. The sequel therefore offers more than longer versions of the athletics events from the earlier game: each sport requires you to learn a new combination of direction, speed and timing.
The home version also let you practise separately and continue a longer competition across several sporting days using passwords. Konami kept the exhibition events separate from the twelve main disciplines and placed arm wrestling in the direct two-player competition. The complete offering therefore comprised twelve main events, two exhibitions and one additional VS event. They were not all part of the same tournament sequence: you selected exhibitions after the day's results, while arm wrestling required a separate duel.
Similar games for Nintendo NES
Track & Field on Nintendo NES shares the need to build up speed and time a jump or throw precisely with its sequel. The earlier game stays closer to athletics and a few other short sporting challenges. Track & Field II adds canoeing, high diving and taekwondo, among other events, so the controls change more often. You therefore learn not only to press faster, but also how to steer, aim or defend anew in each sport.
California Games for Nintendo NES is another collection of individual sports in which you must learn a movement before earning a good score. You practise surfing, skateboarding and BMX, among other activities, in a beach and leisure setting. Track & Field II centres on qualifying standards and medal rounds. Timing a skateboard trick resembles planning a dismount, but riding a wave calls for different adjustments from an Olympic jumping or throwing event.
Gold Medal Challenge '92 on Nintendo NES also lets you represent a country in several athletics, swimming and gymnastics events. Rapid button presses alternate with carefully timed actions there too. Capcom adds a marathon in which you plan the pace for separate sections, and stores competition data in battery-backed memory. Track & Field II uses daily passwords and instead includes direct combat sports such as fencing and taekwondo alongside events measured by time, distance or points.
Slalom for Nintendo NES, like canoeing in Track & Field II, asks you to follow a route through gates and avoid time-wasting mistakes. You keep skiing down a mountain while accounting for other skiers, trees and bumps. Track & Field II switches sport and controls again after a short event. Slalom lets you spend longer refining the same steering technique, while the sports collection constantly has you switch between different movements.
Punch-Out!! on Nintendo NES, like the fencing and taekwondo matches in Track & Field II, is about recognising attacks and exploiting an opening. Little Mac dodges punches and responds with his own blows against a succession of boxers. However, you only control the challenger in a single-player career; a second player cannot take over an opponent. Track & Field II does give two players a direct duel and breaks up the combat sports with completely different sporting challenges.
