The Best Olympic Video Games?

[ShadowDancer]

Had all 3 Olympic games on The Dreamcast.

Sydney 2000, fun to be had, but I'm sure it was kind of confusing at 1st for pick up and play..you kinda train to compete in the event....not sure...its been a while...remember enjoying it. (There are other modes)

Hyper Sports and Track and Field Arcade...surely not beat..

Bought Athlete kings at retail after a rental purchase back in the day...solid gold.

Never played the winter olympics game on gamecube, although I keep meaning to give that a go.

[kingmonkey]

Another vote for international track & field, but on the DC. I don't know if there's much difference between it and the PS1 version, having never played it. I've got fond memories of annihilating my friends at it though. They tried every technique imaginable, including at one point, a metal spoon!! And their faces whilst bashing away at the buttons? Hil 'airy arse:-)

[ETC]

I forgot my missus preordered London 2012, had a fast try it plays like a rhythm action game not button mashing seems pretty decent

[Mr Ono]

My household has had some really great rivalries with T&F games but these stand out:

Summer Games 2 - C64
Winter Games - C64
International Track & Field 1 & 2 - PS1

The PS1 games got the socks treatment on the buttons and we got sore elbows.

[Asura]

Thought I'd post here, rather than creating a new thread with the same topic, as this appears to be an ongoing discussion.

Maybe my memory is being too kind, but every single game like this that I get to play, these days, gets compared to Athlete Kings/Decathlete, and always comes off unfavourably as a result.

A couple of days ago, I got "Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games" for the DS (the 2010 one), as I saw it extremely cheap in CEX and also saw that it supported single-cart play. Already tried a few of the events and at times it just seems unnecessarily complex.

Athlete Kings, if I recall correctly, had two buttons, and was pretty much flawless. The issue with many of the modern games is that the purpose of these titles, from my perspective, is to play them in a party situation when you have a group of friends over. Long explanations with a dozen controls defeats the point of the exercise. This applies doubly to when playing in multiplayer on the handheld versions.

Really wish I could get a job for those guys making those games and really break down those events into the most basic they can be. There's no need to make them simplistic - you can keep them skillful, just remove some of the complexity.

The other issue (specific to handhelds) is that some events require you to mash buttons; I always get concerned I'm going to break them. On a pad, that's not such a big deal, but if you wear out a shoulder button on a 3DSXL, that's going to be a problem.

[QualityChimp]

I imagine a joypad designer, who's worked for years refining the details of his pad to make the ultimate in ergonomics and analogue, pressure-sensitive technology, looking on in horror as he sees somebody scrunching up the bottom of his t-shirt and rubbing the buttons with all his might!

[Asura]

I imagine a joypad designer, who's worked for years refining the details of his pad to make the ultimate in ergonomics and analogue, pressure-sensitive technology, looking on in horror as he sees somebody scrunching up the bottom of his t-shirt and rubbing the buttons with all his might!

That was another thing I liked about Decathlete/Athlete Kings - 1 run button. None of that "rubbing with a sock" crap.

[charlesr]

I preferred the purity of "Decathlon" on the C64. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

[hudson]

HD International Track and Field! Do gamers work in publishing houses? It makes all the sense.

['Press Start']

I preferred the purity of "Decathlon" on the C64. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

Many a joystick battered due to this game.

My favorite was Summer Games I & II, especially the cliff diving.

[Cheeseman Battitude]

The best Olympic/athletics games in my opinion are Olympic Gold on the Master System and Virtua Athlete on the Saturn.

[Asura]

The best Olympic/athletics games in my opinion are Olympic Gold on the Master System and Virtua Athlete on the Saturn.

Virtua Athlete? Do you mean Athlete Kings?

Also, you're right about Olympic Gold. I played the Megadrive version, but they were pretty similar.

EDIT: Just had a look at some videos of Athlete Kings on the Saturn now; was worried it would've aged terribly but I've been pleasantly surprised. Really it's a bit of a marvel; high-res, high framerate and it looks incredibly "solid". Given, there's no lighting (they kinda cheated by making a game that is set perpetually at midday on a sunny day) but it still holds up very well.

Seriously, they need to ditch their current gameplay methods for Mario&Sonic and go back to that. Athlete Kings is pretty much perfect; it just needs a few more events and to be 4-player with a "pass-the-pad party mode" for up to 32 players.

[Anpanman]

My household has had some really great rivalries with T&F games but these stand out:

Summer Games 2 - C64
Winter Games - C64

These two for me as well.

[Cheeseman Battitude]

Virtua Athlete? Do you mean Athlete Kings?

Oops! Athlete Kings, of course!

[S3M]

Athlete Kings & Winter Heat on Saturn, along with the classic original Track & Field arcade game.