Track & Field, pioneers in the sports game genre

This was, if I'm not mistaken, the first athletics game to be released in video games and also the one responsible for damaging my first Atari 2600 controller I had, because of the frenetic button-pressing.

Running the 100-metre dash was crazy because you had to keep pressing the buttons repeatedly, while the long jump required you to be precise in order to jump at the right time, as did the high jump.

Something similar was the javelin and hammer throw, running and throwing, while in the 110m hurdles it was repeatedly pressing the buttons and suddenly jumping.

These were the six events available in the game, which later had its sequels and was initially released on arcade machines and then in 1983, thanks to the Konami company, on game consoles and computers of the time, such as Nintendo, the Atari 2600, the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum.

As I mentioned before, this game is characterised by its fast and frantic style of play, where players must press the buttons quickly and accurately to perform the moves and outmanoeuvre their opponents.

One of the highlights of Track & Field is its multiplayer mode, which allowed players to compete against each other to see who could achieve the best results and set new records.

The game also featured colourful graphics and eye-catching sounds that helped create an immersive and exciting experience.

Track & Field is considered one of the pioneers of the sports game genre and has left a lasting mark on the history of video games.

Its success encouraged the company to release other versions such as Hyper Sports for Arcade in 1984, Track & Field 2 / Hyper Olympic 2 (1984) (MSX), Konami '88 (1988) (Arcade, Track & Field (1987) (Famicom, Track & Field II (1988) (NES) and many others.