Retro|Spective 171: Athlete Kings/DecAthlete

[Neon Ignition]

History in Games:
1996 - Athlete Kings / DecAthlete
1997 - Winter Heat

Overview:
At the time this was a modern arcade nod to the classic Track and Field games with players taking on a series of events largely using button mashing skills to maintain stamina in an effort to get the best result possible. After selecting one of eight competitors the player would tackle events such as 100m, High Jump, Long Jump, Discus, Hurdles, Pole Vault and Javelin. The winter themed sequel had a lot less impact but was very much in line with the original game just winter sports themed.







What are your Athlete Kings and Winter Hear memories?

[phillv85]

My first memory of playing Decathlete was when I first got my Sega STV arcade board with the Decathlete cart. There’s some fun events to play in it, but some I could never get the hang of and would just foul out on them. Athlete Kings is the Saturn game I probably have most copies of as well. I don’t think I’ve ever played Winter Heat, but I have for both Saturn and STV.

[charlesr]

I have strong memories of crowding round Winter Heat on the Saturn, including at gaming meetups. Such simple but fun mechanics. Definitely more fun in a group. Bloody Covid.

[BearBoy]

I absolutely loved both of these back in the Saturn days. Also remember playing Athlete Kings/Decathlete in a local pub that had the arcade machine.

Would love an HD remake of the pair.

[Nu-Eclipse]

Not as good as International Track & Field on the PS1.

[Asura]

Not as good as International Track & Field on the PS1.

Really? I thought it was vastly superior in most ways; I always felt that T&F on PS1, despite everyone loving it, felt imprecise and fiddly, and I hated how the PS1's controller allowed people to "rub" the buttons.

But I will admit that Athlete Kings was a flawed game, in that it was only 2-player, had a couple of poor events (I seem to recall the long-distance running was a bit crap) and it wasn't structured so well, in that if I remember correctly, you could play single events or the whole decathlon, but couldn't set up an event playlist or anything like that.

Weirdly, Sonic Olympics Mario EX 2020-whatever had a similar problem as that latter bit; you could only play individual events - there's no "do the whole Olympics for an evening" mode.

[Hirst]

Great games and amongst the best-looking on the system thanks to the combination of hi-res mode and what I remember being a consistent 60fps throughout.

[chipsgravy]

I spent so much time playing Athlete Kings, I was convinced that on the pole vault I could get the highest possible jump every time. I think it was around 6.02m but it has been over 20 years and I tried again the other day but my timing was way off, and I was playing the PS2 version so muscle memory was off. That's my excuse and I am sticking to it.

[paulus]

It seemed super high res on my PAL Saturn (just googled, it was 704×240 Double interlaced @ 60fps), I used to show it to PSX Owners for a reaction.