Track & Field II

Track & Field II
Cover art
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Programmer(s)	Masahiro Ueno Yoshiaki Yamada
Artist(s)	Kazuhito Ogikubo
Platform(s)	NES
Release date(s)	JP: September 16, 1988[1] NA: June 1989[1] EU: November 22, 1989[1]
Genre(s)	Sports game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Track & Field II (known in Japan as Konamik Sports in Seoul) is a sequel to Track & Field created by Konami for the NES in 1988.^{[note 1]} It still continues the Olympic-themed sports events, but adds more realism by choosing a country for the player to represent. The series boasted 15 sporting events, with two of them available as bonus stages between rounds of the "Olympic" mode. As the Japanese title indicates, the game is based on the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, hence the introduction of Taekwondo (a Korean martial art) as one of the events.

A common problem players had with the game was that many of the events required a power meter to be built up by radiply pressing the A button, then releasing it with the B button. Many players could not press the A button fast enough to build up enough power, though it could be done with a turbo controller, or using a method similar to stringing a guitar, by holding the controller against the players chest or a flat surface and using the thumb and index finger together running them rapidly across the A button.

Game modes

• Training is a basic training of the events to test out the abilities of the player in each event.
• Olympic is the story mode of the game where the player represents his or her country and compete with the world's best.
• Versus is where two players compete head-to-head in the sporting events.

Sporting events

• Fencing
• Triple jump
• Freestyle Swimming
• High Dive
• Clay Pigeon Shooting
• Hammer throw
• Taekwondo
• Pole vault
• Canoeing
• Archery
• Hurdles
• Horizontal Bar
• Hang Gliding (bonus event)
• Arm wrestling in Versus Mode only
• Gun Firing (bonus event)

(The triple jump, freestyle swimming, clay pigeon shooting, pole vault, and archery events were previously featured in Hyper Sports. The hammer throw and hurdles events were originally featured in the original Track and Field. Although gymnastics was featured in Hyper Sports, that game had the vaulting horse rather than the horizontal bar.)

Countries

•  United States
•  South Korea
•  USSR
•  China
•  West Germany
•  Canada
•  Great Britain
•  Kenya
•  France
•  Japan

Extras

The game has a password feature allowing the player to continue playing from their last position at another time. In addition, the Gun Firing exhibition event could be played with either the NES Controller or the NES Zapper

Notes

1. Although it is the fourth game in the series, it is the second for the NES (and a followup to the previous NES game), hence the title.

References

1. "Track & Field II". GameFAQs. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 8 November 2014.