"Konami Olympics"

’88 Games could be considered one of the first games that I’ve played in the arcade that have had anything to do with the Olympic Games. Featuring an easy to use interface as well as some pretty impressive visuals and challenge, you might find that this game has plenty to offer you if you like the ‘different’ types of sport games. Action intense, you just have to have some fast hands to tap on the buttons and a little bit of timing in order to get through the different events. If you like the sporting event games and you’ve got a friend handy, then you’ll find that this title has just enough going for it in order for you to play with little or no grudge on the quarter it costs.

Run…Run Fast, Run Hard…Just Run…

Most of what you have here is running and jumping as opposed to anything else in the Olympic Games. The track meet part of the game revolves around the 100m dash and the long jump, while you have hurdles and other various running activities to compete in as well. Through the game, all you have to do is keep moving with the run buttons, which will determine your overall speed and ability. The computer on the other hand is extremely difficult unless you’re able to keep up with the button presses. Once you get through the events, you’ll be able to check your score against other competitors and see if you’ve earned a medal. The fact that you can play with a friend makes the game both challenging and fun, because the whole point to playing the game is to simply defeat your opponent’s best time or best jump.

Though this game really doesn’t have much going for it in the adventure portion, it does have plenty of action to help the game along. No matter whom you pick to represent in the Olympics, the game revolves on your ability to beat the computer throughout. That is where the control comes into play and you have to know just how to use it in order to get the events accomplished. Once you’ve played against a friend in this title, then you’ll find that your hands will be serious cramped up from having to pound on the buttons. Just like the old Test Your Might, you have to use a little bit of skill and timing in order to get the runner to go fast, and then all of a sudden jump. Once you’ve gotten that down, then you’ve pretty much got the game in hand as long as your don’t foul out of any of the events.

The control is set up to where you have three buttons that helps you to select an event and then compete in it. The run buttons are located on the panel as the first and third button while the middle button controls the action for events such as the long jump. Most of what you have to do is tap on the run buttons in a constant, switching manner, moving faster and faster until you have to perform an action. This can get extremely intense when you’re taking on an opponent on the second player side of the machine. One of the problems that you might run into is if the machine is in poor quality, then the game seems to take on a little more challenge, simply because you can’t hit the buttons in time with one another because they start to stick.

See Him Run…

The visual display that you have here is pretty neat to look at, with plenty of animation and motion for your competitor. Though there isn’t too much going on in the background, there is enough detail here to make you feel as though you are actually in the Olympics and competing in front of a ton of other people. The detailing of the characters that you use are pretty impressive as well, having clean and crisp detailing on the characters and even in the actions that they perform. All in all, this is a pretty clean game to look at with the only complaint being in the lack of extreme detail in the overall presentation. Even so, the cheers and the satisfaction of watching your runner make it across the finish line almost make up for the lack of extreme detail.

Cheers Of The Olympics

The audio has very little music for it, with most of the theme being in the event selection stage. Though you really won’t find too much that changes throughout the game, the theme alone will keep the pace of the game to a maximum. The sounds effects on the other hand are minimal at best and extremely light in the way that they are presents. With the running of your characters, the only real sound effect that you’ll hear is when you jump or throw an object, which has the traditional rise and fall sound effect that you might find in most action games. This shows that even a small sports game such as this has some sort of audio track going for it, which allow you to immerse yourself into the theme and action that the game has going for it.

Keep Running…Keep Running…

For a track and field type of game, the only thing that I can compare this to is the old Nintendo Entertainment System game of Track and Field. With the Olympic name behind it and plenty of events that you and up to four people can compete in, you’ll find that the game takes on a pretty good theme. The visuals and the audio, while minimal for the most part, do well and serve the game up with action-oriented themes. The control is easy enough to learn, though can be rather difficult to pull off, so be sure to practice up before you really start playing hard. All in all, this is a fair sports game that is worth a look if you want to try something a little different!

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/06/02, Updated 02/05/03