If you're able to make it far enough in Olympic Mode you can try out hang-gliding (missing in practice mode) and “pistol shooting” where “whoever hits the most artificial gangster targets wins.” It’s bananas
I would die if I met Gail Tilden. I know she likely wouldn’t do it, but if she did an event I’d absolutely pay to meet her. Her work with Nintendo Power in those days along with everyone else involved has left a deep and profound impact on my life.
I think there's potential for an oral history of weird ways people invented cheap control hacks for games like this, and I hope someone else writes it so that I can enjoy reading it someday
@@JeremyParish This isn't relevant to these games but in the UK there was a racing game on the spectrum "Formula One 3D" by Spirit Software and to simulate a steering wheel the game came with a best described plastic ashtray that you'd roll over the number keys at the top of the keyboard. Yes really.
A yes, a game made under the assumption that players would be using what effectively amounts to a cheating device, just to play it casually. In a roundabout way, Track & Field II kinda predicted the current dilemma that World of Warcraft players face, just with mods and plug-ins instead of a turbo controller.
i rented T&F II a bunch of times in 1989. Yeah i remember it as frustrating but I think like you said it was the presentation and graphics that kept me coming back. I think that button mashing was easier for ch;dren fingers too maybe because while i definitely remember it as a button masher, i didnt have a turbo controller and yet dont remember it as being impossible either? IDK. And man seeing the arm wrestling mode reawakened old memories. I'd seen footage of the game on youtube befoire but always single player so i had completely forgot about this mode.
It's definitely good that you mention the release date uncertainty. Wikipedia sources Computer Entertainer for the March 1989 date, and that seems to fit with World Games. One pedantic note: USSR boycotted the 1984 games in LA, not the 1988 games in Seoul so the opening joke would have better with the first game which was based on the 1984 Olympics.
This is definitely your age. I remember killing every event on track and field 2 back in the day. Haven't picked it up in years. But the button mashing was never a problem.
The taekwondo event in Track and Field 2 was memorable to me for two reasons… 1) if you manage to kick your opponent in the throat, you’ll sap a huge portion of his life bar , and 2) there was a certain kick attack that was completely useless as no matter what you do, it was impossible to hit the other guy
World games was ported to NES by Software creations, of Solstice and Plok fame(?), as a contract job for Rare (who, like with Zippo Games' Wizards & Warriors sequels and Sesame Street games, took credit in-game and provided the game's sound)
From what little I recall of Track and Field 2, the expectation you had a turbo controller sounds very correct. Never could win anything back then unless I played against a human opponent. Maybe if I had least had funny log-toss aminations I could've gotten mofe joy from it all.
@@DrCorndog1 Back in the late 90's, yeah, you could literally be taking a bag of trash to the dumpster, and someone had thrown away perfectly functioning NES cartridges. Who would't rescue them from a trip to the landfill?
Another great video! Way back when my best friend had T&F II and we played it quite a bit. He had a NES Max and I had an NES Advantage which is probably part of the reason why we liked it as much as we did. I remember renting World Games once or twice and liking it, but not as much as T&F II.
Unrelated to this video, but I picked up the NES Works books for 85 through 87 and they are absolutely wonderful. I'm really looking forward to the volumes to come.
You go after those Nintendo Power sneaks!!! Rattle a few cages, get your hands dirty, leave some phone messages. This has all the tell tale signs of a big scam! Thanks for another great video! :)
as an aside yeah pour one out for Richard Moll... anyway I have fonder memories of Track and Field II, some of those events were pretty fun. but yeah you're definitely not getting anywhere without the steroid-injection the NES Advantage provided!
I don’t know, man. I was definitely able to play track and field two as a kid. Was hard, sure. But it was definitely possible. I don’t think that Konami was necessarily designing assuming that you had an auto fire controller. Unless you have seen that stated somewhere. I think they actually just expected Olympic levels of effort.
I had Track And Field 2 and liked it but certainly preferred the original, which I never owned until well past the system’s lifespan. The main event I didn’t really get at the time was the canoeing, which I understand much better in hindsight due to knowing more about the reverse gates and gates you have to enter from upstream. Decent enough for what it is, which was a major change of pace from a lot of the RPG-inflected games flooding the system in that era. I played World Games on the PC Jr and found that the events were a decidedly mixed bag. I find that certain events such as cliff diving and weightlifting have some actual skill involved while many others are basically “waggle the joystick” simulators or aren’t playable unless there are two users as the CPU blatantly cheats. As far as the weight lifting goes, there are two separate lift types, the snatch and the clean and jerk. Each has their own motions that need to be followed in order to make a successful lift. It has been about 30+ years but I seem to remember the snatch being a straight lift while the clean and jerk means you get it to your chest, kneel, and then hoist it over your head. A nice little feature is if you keep your lift up after the judges score it. If it is a low weight, you just drop the bar. If it is a higher weight, the floor beneath you collapses and you disappear under the stage.
The Over The Top cutout and "July 1983, Unbeknownst to Sega" are great. It's a shame how even if you had documentation for release dates, it's still impossible to say when anything "came out" in the US. I know Japan is smaller, but even today if some company says a food item comes to stores on a certain day you bet it will be there in every conbini in the nation, something utterly impossible even across, say, the Tri-State Area. I saw this first-hand, even: those caffeinated "gamer noodles" are pretty good!
Hey, so FYI Howard totally talks to people on Reddit about the early days and editing Nintendo Power, and has a book coming out soon. Reaching out to him might actually work.
The best thing about World Games was the snippet of Monty Python’s Lumberjack Song that played before the log rolling event. Of course, when I played it I was very young and didn’t know about Monty Python until I got to college about 7 years later.
Agreed. '87 (Castlevania, Contra, etc.) in general really marked Konami leveling up their graphics and sound design from already great to damn-near legend tier. Even a game like T&F II that wasn't of that mechanic tier of genius shared that elevated audiovisual artistry. The intro sequence alone is just pure chef's kiss. Konami made the NES, at this point a somewhat greying great, even better, to the point I'm torn when forced to choose between the SNES. Maybe a little biased here, but damn if second-wave NES Konami didn't have soul.
I’m kind of shocked to see so many people suggesting it’s not good. I probably played it under the best possible scenario, with two brothers to play it with, rented alongside another game. But we had a blast and I have enjoyed going back to it several times over the years via emulation.
A friend of mine had Track and Field II, and we traded games for a week. I remember thinking that the graphics looked so cool. But by the end of the week, I pretty much just played the exhibition event of hang gliding. I was good at the hang gliding, though. I only played most of the other events a couple of times not understanding what to do, realizing they were button mashers or they had exploits that could be the computer most of the time.
I had forgotten this game missed the '88 cut off Olympic date. I know I was on the hunt for Castlevania II which I believe I purchased in Dec 'of 88 at Walmart. I definitely know T&F II came after that purchase. The sequel To T&F wasn't bad but some of the events felt lackluster. I missed weightlifting and horse competitions from Hypersports. Think there was some quasi Hogan's Alley game included too...
I never got into these sorts of button-mashy minigames back in the day. I remember renting both of these, and not being terribly impressed by either. The only games in this style I ever enjoyed were the Kunio-Kun sports titles (in their various westernized forms) since the addition of Technos' trademark wacky physics made them more interesting.
I always forgot about the existence of Track 2, which while top of the line graphically for 1988 at least has probably aged the worst. (I shudder imagining what such a button masher would do to a switch joypad) Great work once again
Even if I sucked at Track and Field (at the time I thought it was because I was not good enough, not because the controls sucked), I loved this game just for its gorgeous graphics.
Track and Field II was the first NES game I ever played, at a friend's house in late 1990 or early 1991. He was happy to have a friend over for two-player mode. I liked it, but those single-player games he showed me held my interest more. The first two Zeldas, Metroid and what I foolishly thought was a Great Giana Sisters rip off. Super Mario something something. It was a great day.
I personally don’t think that modern games can have the same impact that the NES had. The restricted color palette and the chop tune sound library forced Nintendo games to have a certain abstract style that was ethereal in a way modern games aren’t. T&F2 has a certain surrealistic look and feel that is appealing in a way that the later, more realistic versions of it are not.
Wait, Jeremy do you not have an NES Advantage lying around to play T&FII properly? What made the Advantage so uniquely additive to TF2 was the meta game of adjusting the variable speed of the turbo feature, allowing the player to dial in the right amount of force in events like Archery. For certain challenges you didn't need a full meter, but a solid 3/4 bar, and this was the most practical way to achieve it. One of the fun quirks about having variable turbo dials was reaching over with the left hand while holding down the button pressed by the right hand. No joke, I bought my Advantage while trying to get better at this game. And eventually I got good enough to clear the Championship mode! Hang gliding in exhibition mode has one of smooth moves Konami BGM, and a unique HUD overlay with sidescrolling. It was a solid flight mini game on the NES, it wasn't Pilotwings and later Monkey Target mini game in the Monkey Ball series I would have that same feeling. Hangliding video: th-cam.com/video/zYnVliJN-eo/w-d-xo.html#t5m0s
Most of my equipment has been in storage for the past few months while we move to a new home, and I didn't expect to need an Advantage so didn't keep one unboxed.
Good luck with the big move and perhaps whenever you unbox the Advantage again, give ol' T&FII another shot. It's one of the finer examples of the utility of the variable turbo. @@JeremyParish
I actually beat this game with a standard NES controller (one got ruined) back in the day. My brother did as well. The Horizontal Bar was the hardest to beat. It's actually the only game I could beat back then and can't now. Normally it's the other way around .
UK gamer, I grew up playing the PAL version and its a tough game but I don't think I found the button mashing quite as difficult. As with many other Konami games in PAL, it runs slower so I think it probably makes it easier to play, I found it was the same with Bayou Billy
I couldn’t even tell you why because I don’t give the first care about sports, but I rented World Games over the Thanksgiving holiday in… 1989? ’90? and it was how I learned what caber toss was. Then again, I don’t know how widely known caber toss is in the first place. Anyway, my experience with it is Not Great because, thanks to how the sense of smell is inextricably linked to memory, I will forever associate the game with the smell of broccoli that’s gone off. Because that’s what happened. Ugh. See also: the 1997 cinematic release of Spawn and the smell of garbage, with rotting chicken juices as the headache-inducing aromatic centerpiece.
It did indeed have Tae-Kwon-Do, or SOME form of martial art... but did the video truly not cover it, even in just a little snippet? Or was it just fencing?
I wonder if the Mexican cliff diving event was left off from this version of World Games because smashing your skull at the bottom of the sea while a pelican made fun of you was not deemed kids friendly.
wait doesn't track and field 2 also have a random as hell shooting mode? Like i don't even think it used the Zapper... you just randomly get put in an alley to gun down random blue buisnessmen for no reason other than "ITS GUN TIME!"
Yeah, I was thinking that too, Konami really did just randomly include a zapper compatible mini game where you shoot gangsters, nothing to do with sports, it’s just there
@JeremyParish IIRC if you clear the first day you get to choose a bonus game to play, one of them being a game that works with the NES Zapper if you have it. I used to play it all the time so I remember it well
@@kylestewart8927 Correct. There are at least two mini games with shooting being one, which either uses a reticle or a zapper based on user choice. I know hang gliding is another mini game and it has a bit more depth, as you not only have to take off and stay aloft, but you are also aiming to land in a certain area and are scored based off where you stop.
@@LagBlowz Konami published four games that allowed the option to use the NES Zapper: Track & Field II, The Adventures of Bayou Billy, Laser Invasion, and The Lone Ranger. Only Nintendo published more NES games that were compatible with the Zapper.
I think that the industry got so big that a lot of the stuff that used to get your attention on NES is now relegated to the mobile space where you don’t even notice it. So things like breakfast cereal character games, movie tie-ins, and Olympics games aren’t noticed because they aren’t what we consider to be “proper games” anymore. I just checked and it does look like there are a few “track and field” style games on the Apple App Store.
Love the Florence Griffiths-Joiner clip at the end. Maybe Rare & Konami could have added the option of steroid use into the game? I'm sure that would have got a big thumbs up from Nintendo. I much prefer Epyx's style of timing to boost your speed over the destroy a gamepad/joystick of Track n Field etc. As for the "70s porn look" I'll have you know the Great Britain's twice Men's Decathlon Olympic Champion Daley Thompson sported that exact look! So it's accurate for the time 🙂
No wonder I never could get anything working on Track & Field 2. No rapid fire or advantage controllers. Just aging stock controllers and single finger button mashing.
There are a lot of people including myself who are saying in the comments that they played the game well with a regular controller so I think Jeremy is just a bit off on this one.
Part of the problem with reviewing games as a middle-aged adult vs the kids they were designed for is a fundamental problem. You're not looking at it from the perspective of their playing sensibilities. Perhaps you assumed the turbo controller from an adult perspective but many children were good at mashing buttons without one. Many of us were quite good at T&F2 too. Somehow you missed the exhibition events of Hang-gliding and Gun Firing. Fun diversions without penalty. Also, it bothers me that you didn't mention anything about the soundtracks. T&F2 had some good music too; it's a shame you neglected part of the game experience. Your review misses the mark, pun intended.
For a second there, I thought you were going to end with "so anyway I tracked them down and interviewed them"
I should. But I am so old now… so tired….
i think the same you get me there @@JeremyParish
@@JeremyParish You clearly need a montage.
He's gotta leave something for the Patreon bonus content!
I really thought that was teasing a future interview! Good thing the first comment didn't let me get my hopes up too far :p
Konami's Moustache Man is a retro gaming mascot who does not get the respect he deserves. His erasure in T&F II is unforgivable.
The era of “every Olympic athlete is Mark Spitz” should clearly never have ended.
I changed my avatar after like 13 years in memory of our beloved mustachioed men!
If you're able to make it far enough in Olympic Mode you can try out hang-gliding (missing in practice mode) and “pistol shooting” where “whoever hits the most artificial gangster targets wins.” It’s bananas
I love it when NES games have humorous animations. It looks like World Games has them in spades!
I would die if I met Gail Tilden. I know she likely wouldn’t do it, but if she did an event I’d absolutely pay to meet her. Her work with Nintendo Power in those days along with everyone else involved has left a deep and profound impact on my life.
The graphics and speech in TAF II were mind-blowing to my 10 year old self in 1988.
Our trick as kids was a AA battery slid back and forth across the buttons for stock nes controllers
I think there's potential for an oral history of weird ways people invented cheap control hacks for games like this, and I hope someone else writes it so that I can enjoy reading it someday
@@JeremyParish This isn't relevant to these games but in the UK there was a racing game on the spectrum "Formula One 3D" by Spirit Software and to simulate a steering wheel the game came with a best described plastic ashtray that you'd roll over the number keys at the top of the keyboard. Yes really.
This channel is criminally underappreciated. Great work as always.
A yes, a game made under the assumption that players would be using what effectively amounts to a cheating device, just to play it casually.
In a roundabout way, Track & Field II kinda predicted the current dilemma that World of Warcraft players face, just with mods and plug-ins instead of a turbo controller.
i rented T&F II a bunch of times in 1989. Yeah i remember it as frustrating but I think like you said it was the presentation and graphics that kept me coming back. I think that button mashing was easier for ch;dren fingers too maybe because while i definitely remember it as a button masher, i didnt have a turbo controller and yet dont remember it as being impossible either? IDK. And man seeing the arm wrestling mode reawakened old memories. I'd seen footage of the game on youtube befoire but always single player so i had completely forgot about this mode.
It's definitely good that you mention the release date uncertainty. Wikipedia sources Computer Entertainer for the March 1989 date, and that seems to fit with World Games. One pedantic note: USSR boycotted the 1984 games in LA, not the 1988 games in Seoul so the opening joke would have better with the first game which was based on the 1984 Olympics.
Yeah, I’m old enough to remember the ‘84 boycott. But sometimes you gotta just make a joke.
This is definitely your age.
I remember killing every event on track and field 2 back in the day.
Haven't picked it up in years.
But the button mashing was never a problem.
I think this guy underestimates how much button-pushing speed the average kid had back then.
Your series sure ain't obscure or little to ME, Jeremy!
World Games was actually developed by Software Creations (their first NES work!) and produced by Rare, ala Zippo Games's later arrangement with them!
The taekwondo event in Track and Field 2 was memorable to me for two reasons… 1) if you manage to kick your opponent in the throat, you’ll sap a huge portion of his life bar , and 2) there was a certain kick attack that was completely useless as no matter what you do, it was impossible to hit the other guy
World games was ported to NES by Software creations, of Solstice and Plok fame(?), as a contract job for Rare (who, like with Zippo Games' Wizards & Warriors sequels and Sesame Street games, took credit in-game and provided the game's sound)
RIP Richard Moll, I see you slipping that in there.
Loved that guy.
Nice Jethro Tull reference at the very end
4:33 nice of Konami to slip a reference to Ryuichi Sakamoto into the player names
From what little I recall of Track and Field 2, the expectation you had a turbo controller sounds very correct. Never could win anything back then unless I played against a human opponent. Maybe if I had least had funny log-toss aminations I could've gotten mofe joy from it all.
Winter and World Games are forever tied to memories of my cousins' Tandy computer.
Ah, Track & Field II. The first NES game I ever played after literally digging it out of the trash.
The way you worded this makes it sound like you made a habit of digging NES games or of the trash.
@@DrCorndog1 Back in the late 90's, yeah, you could literally be taking a bag of trash to the dumpster, and someone had thrown away perfectly functioning NES cartridges. Who would't rescue them from a trip to the landfill?
Another great video! Way back when my best friend had T&F II and we played it quite a bit. He had a NES Max and I had an NES Advantage which is probably part of the reason why we liked it as much as we did. I remember renting World Games once or twice and liking it, but not as much as T&F II.
Unrelated to this video, but I picked up the NES Works books for 85 through 87 and they are absolutely wonderful. I'm really looking forward to the volumes to come.
You go after those Nintendo Power sneaks!!! Rattle a few cages, get your hands dirty, leave some phone messages. This has all the tell tale signs of a big scam!
Thanks for another great video! :)
“Rattle a few cages” is such a Hilarious expression…
I had forgotten all about World Games! I played it on my friend's Amiga quite a bit and had a blast, the caber toss reminded me about it!
9:30 "World Games belongs to the same 'Epochs'-developed..." Jeremy still has Epoch on the brain, I see. Cassette Vision 4Life?
Epyx, cupcake
as an aside yeah pour one out for Richard Moll... anyway I have fonder memories of Track and Field II, some of those events were pretty fun. but yeah you're definitely not getting anywhere without the steroid-injection the NES Advantage provided!
I love the literally iconic graphics on T&F2's and think they should release a pin set based on them.
I was just watching the video where Strong Bad plays World Games the other day. Weird.
I made a reference to a TGS episode at the caber toss event, and then realized that this was the same game SB played in a different cartoon.
I don’t know, man. I was definitely able to play track and field two as a kid. Was hard, sure. But it was definitely possible. I don’t think that Konami was necessarily designing assuming that you had an auto fire controller. Unless you have seen that stated somewhere. I think they actually just expected Olympic levels of effort.
Track and Field 2 was an event in my neighborhood. We spent and entire summer competing
"Caber tossed!"
"Bah! Only 23 meters!"
I had Track And Field 2 and liked it but certainly preferred the original, which I never owned until well past the system’s lifespan.
The main event I didn’t really get at the time was the canoeing, which I understand much better in hindsight due to knowing more about the reverse gates and gates you have to enter from upstream.
Decent enough for what it is, which was a major change of pace from a lot of the RPG-inflected games flooding the system in that era.
I played World Games on the PC Jr and found that the events were a decidedly mixed bag.
I find that certain events such as cliff diving and weightlifting have some actual skill involved while many others are basically “waggle the joystick” simulators or aren’t playable unless there are two users as the CPU blatantly cheats.
As far as the weight lifting goes, there are two separate lift types, the snatch and the clean and jerk. Each has their own motions that need to be followed in order to make a successful lift.
It has been about 30+ years but I seem to remember the snatch being a straight lift while the clean and jerk means you get it to your chest, kneel, and then hoist it over your head.
A nice little feature is if you keep your lift up after the judges score it. If it is a low weight, you just drop the bar. If it is a higher weight, the floor beneath you collapses and you disappear under the stage.
The Over The Top cutout and "July 1983, Unbeknownst to Sega" are great. It's a shame how even if you had documentation for release dates, it's still impossible to say when anything "came out" in the US. I know Japan is smaller, but even today if some company says a food item comes to stores on a certain day you bet it will be there in every conbini in the nation, something utterly impossible even across, say, the Tri-State Area. I saw this first-hand, even: those caffeinated "gamer noodles" are pretty good!
Hey, so FYI Howard totally talks to people on Reddit about the early days and editing Nintendo Power, and has a book coming out soon. Reaching out to him might actually work.
Another book? I enjoyed Gamemaster Classified but still wish it had delved into what he did after leaving Nintendo.
The best thing about World Games was the snippet of Monty Python’s Lumberjack Song that played before the log rolling event. Of course, when I played it I was very young and didn’t know about Monty Python until I got to college about 7 years later.
Agreed. '87 (Castlevania, Contra, etc.) in general really marked Konami leveling up their graphics and sound design from already great to damn-near legend tier. Even a game like T&F II that wasn't of that mechanic tier of genius shared that elevated audiovisual artistry. The intro sequence alone is just pure chef's kiss. Konami made the NES, at this point a somewhat greying great, even better, to the point I'm torn when forced to choose between the SNES. Maybe a little biased here, but damn if second-wave NES Konami didn't have soul.
Track and Field 2 may not be a good game, but it’s one of the best looking NES games.
I’m kind of shocked to see so many people suggesting it’s not good. I probably played it under the best possible scenario, with two brothers to play it with, rented alongside another game. But we had a blast and I have enjoyed going back to it several times over the years via emulation.
A friend of mine had Track and Field II, and we traded games for a week. I remember thinking that the graphics looked so cool. But by the end of the week, I pretty much just played the exhibition event of hang gliding. I was good at the hang gliding, though.
I only played most of the other events a couple of times not understanding what to do, realizing they were button mashers or they had exploits that could be the computer most of the time.
I had forgotten this game missed the '88 cut off Olympic date. I know I was on the hunt for Castlevania II which I believe I purchased in Dec 'of 88 at Walmart. I definitely know T&F II came after that purchase. The sequel To T&F wasn't bad but some of the events felt lackluster. I missed weightlifting and horse competitions from Hypersports. Think there was some quasi Hogan's Alley game included too...
I never got into these sorts of button-mashy minigames back in the day. I remember renting both of these, and not being terribly impressed by either. The only games in this style I ever enjoyed were the Kunio-Kun sports titles (in their various westernized forms) since the addition of Technos' trademark wacky physics made them more interesting.
I always forgot about the existence of Track 2, which while top of the line graphically for 1988 at least has probably aged the worst. (I shudder imagining what such a button masher would do to a switch joypad)
Great work once again
Even if I sucked at Track and Field (at the time I thought it was because I was not good enough, not because the controls sucked), I loved this game just for its gorgeous graphics.
R. Sakamoto is always very careful not to get hit Behind The Mask when fencing
I LOVED T&F2. I also had an Advantage and a Max 😂
Track and Field II was the first NES game I ever played, at a friend's house in late 1990 or early 1991. He was happy to have a friend over for two-player mode. I liked it, but those single-player games he showed me held my interest more. The first two Zeldas, Metroid and what I foolishly thought was a Great Giana Sisters rip off. Super Mario something something. It was a great day.
I personally don’t think that modern games can have the same impact that the NES had. The restricted color palette and the chop tune sound library forced Nintendo games to have a certain abstract style that was ethereal in a way modern games aren’t. T&F2 has a certain surrealistic look and feel that is appealing in a way that the later, more realistic versions of it are not.
Wait, Jeremy do you not have an NES Advantage lying around to play T&FII properly?
What made the Advantage so uniquely additive to TF2 was the meta game of adjusting the variable speed of the turbo feature, allowing the player to dial in the right amount of force in events like Archery. For certain challenges you didn't need a full meter, but a solid 3/4 bar, and this was the most practical way to achieve it. One of the fun quirks about having variable turbo dials was reaching over with the left hand while holding down the button pressed by the right hand.
No joke, I bought my Advantage while trying to get better at this game. And eventually I got good enough to clear the Championship mode!
Hang gliding in exhibition mode has one of smooth moves Konami BGM, and a unique HUD overlay with sidescrolling.
It was a solid flight mini game on the NES, it wasn't Pilotwings and later Monkey Target mini game in the Monkey Ball series I would have that same feeling.
Hangliding video: th-cam.com/video/zYnVliJN-eo/w-d-xo.html#t5m0s
Most of my equipment has been in storage for the past few months while we move to a new home, and I didn't expect to need an Advantage so didn't keep one unboxed.
Good luck with the big move and perhaps whenever you unbox the Advantage again, give ol' T&FII another shot. It's one of the finer examples of the utility of the variable turbo. @@JeremyParish
4:40 “How appropriate, you fight like a cow”
I actually beat this game with a standard NES controller (one got ruined) back in the day. My brother did as well. The Horizontal Bar was the hardest to beat.
It's actually the only game I could beat back then and can't now. Normally it's the other way around .
t&f2 was designed around being played with an advantage?🤯 Now that explains a lot.
T and F 2 i used the nes max controller. Literally the best NES
Controller ever created
UK gamer, I grew up playing the PAL version and its a tough game but I don't think I found the button mashing quite as difficult. As with many other Konami games in PAL, it runs slower so I think it probably makes it easier to play, I found it was the same with Bayou Billy
I couldn’t even tell you why because I don’t give the first care about sports, but I rented World Games over the Thanksgiving holiday in… 1989? ’90? and it was how I learned what caber toss was. Then again, I don’t know how widely known caber toss is in the first place.
Anyway, my experience with it is Not Great because, thanks to how the sense of smell is inextricably linked to memory, I will forever associate the game with the smell of broccoli that’s gone off. Because that’s what happened. Ugh. See also: the 1997 cinematic release of Spawn and the smell of garbage, with rotting chicken juices as the headache-inducing aromatic centerpiece.
& I just noticed the slight rebrand.
Tiny
Hey, it says you recorded and played using an analogue mini nt, can I ask why you also need the RGB mini framemeister?
Ever tried running HDMI into a CRT? I don’t recommend it.
@@JeremyParish Snappy answers to stupid questions. 😂😂😂
Say, didn't Track and Field 2 also have a Tae-Kwon-Do minigame in there? I don't think it was covered
And hey! World Games is a fun one. All goofy, kitsch and provides a bit of education in the world of eclectic international sporting events.
It did indeed have Tae-Kwon-Do, or SOME form of martial art... but did the video truly not cover it, even in just a little snippet? Or was it just fencing?
@@goranisacson2502 there was Fencing and TKD. I gave the game a look-see in an emulator
Great video
And the Mouse Police never sleeps…
The MAX controller was where it was at.
I wonder if the Mexican cliff diving event was left off from this version of World Games because smashing your skull at the bottom of the sea while a pelican made fun of you was not deemed kids friendly.
It's in this version. I thought I mentioned it?
wait doesn't track and field 2 also have a random as hell shooting mode? Like i don't even think it used the Zapper... you just randomly get put in an alley to gun down random blue buisnessmen for no reason other than "ITS GUN TIME!"
I’ve never seen or heard of that?!
Yeah, I was thinking that too, Konami really did just randomly include a zapper compatible mini game where you shoot gangsters, nothing to do with sports, it’s just there
@JeremyParish IIRC if you clear the first day you get to choose a bonus game to play, one of them being a game that works with the NES Zapper if you have it. I used to play it all the time so I remember it well
@@kylestewart8927
Correct. There are at least two mini games with shooting being one, which either uses a reticle or a zapper based on user choice.
I know hang gliding is another mini game and it has a bit more depth, as you not only have to take off and stay aloft, but you are also aiming to land in a certain area and are scored based off where you stop.
@@LagBlowz Konami published four games that allowed the option to use the NES Zapper: Track & Field II, The Adventures of Bayou Billy, Laser Invasion, and The Lone Ranger. Only Nintendo published more NES games that were compatible with the Zapper.
Did a single human being ever figured out how to do the diving or gymnastics events in these type of games before the internet?
World Games looks great. 😀👍🎮
It’s funny how these games were so big back in the day. Don’t really see Olympics games much anymore
Sonic and Mario are not exactly nothings
I think that the industry got so big that a lot of the stuff that used to get your attention on NES is now relegated to the mobile space where you don’t even notice it.
So things like breakfast cereal character games, movie tie-ins, and Olympics games aren’t noticed because they aren’t what we consider to be “proper games” anymore.
I just checked and it does look like there are a few “track and field” style games on the Apple App Store.
The graphics in Track & Field 2 are some of THE best on the NES. Unfortunately, the clunky controls and awkward gaming mechanics sap much of the fun.
Were the names of the athletes in the game… real? 😂
Love the Florence Griffiths-Joiner clip at the end. Maybe Rare & Konami could have added the option of steroid use into the game? I'm sure that would have got a big thumbs up from Nintendo.
I much prefer Epyx's style of timing to boost your speed over the destroy a gamepad/joystick of Track n Field etc. As for the "70s porn look" I'll have you know the Great Britain's twice Men's Decathlon Olympic Champion Daley Thompson sported that exact look! So it's accurate for the time 🙂
Oh, I remember the ’80s very well, and I remember men's grooming of the era. That doesn't make it not a porn ’stache!
@@JeremyParish I agree. I wonder what came first? The porn 'tache or the out in public 'tache? Hmm
That Kenyan fencer: "ain't nothing but a Thang."
Oh goody.
Now I want someone from Nintendo Power to respond
Can you do a video about Spider-Man: Return of The Sinister Six for the NES & Sega Master System
No wonder I never could get anything working on Track & Field 2.
No rapid fire or advantage controllers.
Just aging stock controllers and single finger button mashing.
Can't do it now(not even close) but I beat it as a kid with a standard controller.
There are a lot of people including myself who are saying in the comments that they played the game well with a regular controller so I think Jeremy is just a bit off on this one.
i forgot it was wednesday
New cool logo for NES Works = nonuniform bookshelf once again, sigh
But also means I won’t be shut down for trademark violations. You’re gonna be ok
Confusion say me Confucius,....track n field was horrid.... except Archery i think i 0.0 on all the games
I DESPISED T&F II I loved T&F and II was just not fun
Part of the problem with reviewing games as a middle-aged adult vs the kids they were designed for is a fundamental problem. You're not looking at it from the perspective of their playing sensibilities. Perhaps you assumed the turbo controller from an adult perspective but many children were good at mashing buttons without one. Many of us were quite good at T&F2 too. Somehow you missed the exhibition events of Hang-gliding and Gun Firing. Fun diversions without penalty. Also, it bothers me that you didn't mention anything about the soundtracks. T&F2 had some good music too; it's a shame you neglected part of the game experience. Your review misses the mark, pun intended.
So I double-checked and it turns out the problem is actually that this is a poopy game that I didn't even enjoy back then.
Our opinions are totally opposite on these two games.
World Games was awful.