The Activision Decathlon
Decathlon is a sports game that can also be regarded as a party game. It has been implemented on multiple home computers and game consoles, including the Atari 2600 and the Commodore 64 The game is based on the principle of the decathlon and thus an Olympic discipline. For the former arcade time rather atypical, since now 10 singles matches were summarized in a single, which was unique due to the weak memory modules. The game was developed by David Crane.
Description
The player traverses the original order of the decathlon, which states the following:
All disciplines followed the same principle. Speed was recorded by an energy bar displayed at the bottom, which was achieved by by rapidly moving the joystick left and right. The firing button was the " action ", such as the jump in the long jump, skipping any hurdle at the 110 m hurdles, or the timely release of the throwing device.
Points system
Each service provided has been translated as the real Decathlon, into a corresponding number of points. After the ten disciplines was achieved mostly actually a result that corresponded to the sporting achievements of that time.
Game species
There were up to 4 players compete in a multi- combat mode against each other, and thus Decathlon is also a pioneer in this game genre. At the end the results were compared and displayed the rankings. Running competitions could - depending on the number of joysticks - are individually discharged against the computer or against another player. It was also possible to practice their disciplines without attaining an entire decathlon.
History
Decathlon in 1984 named the Sports Game of the Year and was a family game beyond compare. It was also the pseudonym of the so-called joystick killer games, as you walk through the violent and rapid movements of the joysticks stressed this to the utmost. By alternating sports could gather new strength because the fingers were claimed by the running game badly. Particularly engrossing was the final 1500m. This was defused in contrast to the other running events, so that the joystick movements within the first 1300 m were run slightly slower, while the last 200 meters had to be overcome in a sprint. The player was so after the game with his forces at the end, while the animated character ran with the Olympic torch through the stadium. Also special services (all from 1000 points per event ) were rewarded by a short fanfare. Good players could collect ideally also a total of 10,000 points or more, but this was very rare.
Similar games
- Hyper Olympic or Track & Field ( Konami, 1983) Arcade and other platforms
- Daley Thompson's Decathlon (Ocean, 1984) for C64
- Decathlon ( Activision, 1984) for C64