Happy weekend to everyone out there! Xanfan here with a new Retro Game Retrospective. Last night, the 2012 Summer Olympics held it?s famous opening ceremonies. (Even though the games actually started a few days ago, and already with controversy!) The Olympic Games are a big celebration to people all over the world. While I personally was always a bigger fan of the Winter Olympics, I always have to give great credit to those fantastic athletes that are the best of the best. Video games often tried to replicate that experience at home. Over the years, there have been several different games that involve the Olympics, or at least do their best to emulate them. In celebration, over the next three weeks (and thus, over the course of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games), I will be offering a different game of this style, based on these sports each Saturday afternoon, right here on Retro Game Network. This week, to start, let?s take a look at a title that is infamous for being a classic joystick buster: The Activision Decathlon!
The Activision Decathlon was released for the various Atari systems of the era (2600, 5200 & 8-bit computer series), as well as the ColecoVision, Commodore 64 and MSX computer series. Later, the game would be released for the Playstation 2 as part of the Activision Anthology. The version that most retro players remember is the Atari 2600 version, which will be the basis for this review. Typically, the decathlon is done as a part of the United States Olympic Trials, and is a competition of ten different events played over the course of 2 days. These events are Dashes (of 100, 400 and 1500 meters in length), Long Jump, Shot Put, High Jump, 110 Meter Hurdles, Discus, Pole Vault and Javelin Throw. The Activision Decathlon has all ten of them available for play on the cartridge. Some of them are a nice amount of fun, and I know at least one that everyone cringes at when the topic comes up. (But I have a way around that to share with you all later.)
Let?s take a quick look at the events on the cartridge. But first, kudos to programmer David Crane for incorporating all of the events in a real decathlon to the game. It really gives it a true authenticity! The 110 Meter Hurdles is the event where you run for 110 meters while jumping over a hurdle on the track every 10 meters. One trip on a single hurdle will certainly be enough to make you finish dead last! The Discus Throw is where you throw a rather heavy disc in the attempt to throw it the furthest distance when compared to your competitors. The Long Jump is just what it says. Run down a track and try to jump the furthest in a single leap. The Pole Vault is where the athlete uses a long, somewhat flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar of an assigned height. The Shot Put involves the player throwing a heavy metal ball in a forward motion as far as possible. The Javelin Throw has the contestant throw a javelin (a spear) as far as possible, by running down the track to gain momentum. The High Jump is very similar to the Pole Vault, except the athlete is on their own, and has to leap over the bar without the use of any aid. Finally, the Dashes are simply runs of a certain distance, either 100, 400 or 1500 meters long. Traditionally, the 1500 meter dash is always the very last event to take place.
When you first turn on the cartridge, you see our classic character in action! He looks an awful lot like Pitfall Harry with a small color and outfit adjustment, which makes sense since they were both programmed by David Crane. He?s holding an Olympic torch while running down the track, with some famous fanfare playing in the background. Sadly, that is for the most part, all there is with music, except for those times when you score over 1000 points in a single event. But most of the time, all you will hear are sound effects as you run, jump, or throw. And it gets VERY repetitive as the events go on. Of course, this was in an era of video gaming where background music was not nearly as dominant as it is today. Very few games at the time offered background music. So that?s not really a surprise here. But the opening theme is very well done, especially on the Atari 2600 system.
Unlike other later games that took advantage of these kinds of sports, when playing with others, you have to compete only one contestant at a time. There is no simultaneous playing on this game at all. While this is perfectly fine on games such as the Shot Put or Javelin Throw, for the games of race (the Hurdles and the Dashes), it would have been nice to have at least 2 players compete at the same time instead of having to wait for one player to finish before the next player starts. For the 1500 Meter Race, this is totally not a way to go about it. (Again, more on that one later.) When playing with a group of people, it would get rather boring, rather quickly, to wait your turn while the other players finish up their rounds, when it could have very easily been done in a way where at least 2 players could play at once. At least that way you could have your typical ?Come on!? shouting matches while the games were in progress.
Like most video games of this genre, it?s basically nothing more than a bunch of ?button mashing? as it has been ever so lovingly called over the years. With the Atari 2600 version, since there was only a single button that could be mashed, the player on screen was made to move by very quickly rocking the joystick left and right as fast and as hard as you could, and then pressing the action button when a game of multiple actions had to take place. (For instance, in the high jump, you would press the button when you were ready to jump.) This was physically awkward for the player, since most of the time, the joystick was typically cupped in one hand to hold the controller and press the button, and the other hand controlled the stick movements. At the time (and even after the time) of the games release, the Atari joystick was typically not made for this kind of ?abuse? as it were, and over the years, this game alone had been accused of breaking more joysticks than any other cartridge ever released. When you think about it, it sort of makes sense. The Atari 2600 joystick was quite stiff by default, nothing like an arcade joystick that you may have been used to. So all of that frequent rocking back and forth was bound to cause malfunction. At one point, it was noted by players that it would be easier to hold the joystick between your legs while playing the game, but if you could imagine what that would look like for a moment, it wasn?t exactly a flattering angle!
One of my earliest memories of this game comes to me from when I was about 6 years old. During that time, my brother was working at a local pool supply shop. (Not billiards, swimming pools.) Every now and then, my brother would take me to work with him on Saturday mornings. Some call it bonding, some call it ?getting out of your parents hair for a few hours.? Not really sure which it was. But anyway, in the back room of the place, my brother had hooked up his ColecoVision and Expansion Module #1 for us to play during the downtime, which there was a lot of. I don?t know what I did to my brother that particular day, but he played the game up to the point of the infamous 1500 Meter Dash, and then told me to take over. Now, the 1500 Meter Dash on this game is BRUTAL! It takes an average player several minutes to complete, so imagine a 6 year old trying to finish it! I think it took me almost 2 hours to finish, and when I got to the end, I was so mad that all that happened was, the game ended. Talk about a mean trick! (And if you thought playing that event with the traditional Atari joystick was hard, try doing it with a ColecoVision controller! MUCH worse!)
Of course, this is now 2012, and we all know that other controllers are compatible with other games that were not intended, and even across various systems. (Everyone knows by now that a Genesis controller works wonders on the Atari 2600.) But for those that don?t know, for this game, there are other options. For the running events, you can use the paddle controllers instead of the traditional joystick. Just alternate pressing the two paddle buttons! But, even that one could be sort of uncomfortable to do, and like I said, it?s only able to be done with the running events since there was no actual ?action? button on them. So the best way to play? Use the Track & Field controllers! They were a set of controllers that were included with the game Track & Field, as well as sold separately at one point. (Controllers were included for other systems that the game was released on, such as the Apple II, which is the one that I own personally.) These controllers are the best because they are large, simulate an arcade style motion, and have an action button, meaning it can be used for all events. For real. Give the Atari joystick a break! (No pun intended.)
In somewhat recent pop culture, on the famous internet cartoon series ?Homestar Runner?, there was fictitious game company called Videlectrix, which made playable games that resembled actual classics. One of those games was called ?50k Racewalker?, which was a spoof of the 1500 Meter Dash of The Activision Decathlon. Most people that attempted the 1500 Meter Dash usually turned it off before the event was completed. In the spoof, once you hit 1k out of 50k, you start to walk into a pixelated darkness, and a message comes up that says that the programmers didn?t think you?d actually play the game that long, and that you have to wait until the rest gets programmed! Nice homage to the classics!
All in all, The Activision Decathlon was a very good attempt at recreating a complete decathlon experience in your home. (If you are playing with the original joysticks, you will even feel like you just ran a marathon with all of that motion on the arm!) All of the events are there, the beginning fanfare is very well sounding, it?s just that the controls are limited and awkward, which hinders the actual game play. I think that a special controller should have been included, just like on Track & Field. While this game isn?t the best of the genre, it most certainly is not the worst by far. If nothing else, it is a flat out Atari classic for it?s good points as well as the bad ones. It?s also relatively very easy to pick up a copy at a local trade store, or online. But, just don?t expect a lot of replay value, and when you get to the 1500 meter dash, trust me. If you don?t have one of the optional controllers I mentioned, just pass it. Seriously. Your joystick and your arm will thank you! (And don?t forget to collect your metals! Activision was famous for offering patches for high scores, and this was no exception. Based on the points you earned, you could win a bronze, silver, or gold patch! Very nice touch, Activision.)
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