Previous Next

This is a conversion from Konarni's arcade game of the same name which has been available for MSX computers for quite some time.

Personally I prefer the MSX version to this one but despite this I still rate the game very highly which says a lot for the quality of the program.

There arc six sporting events within the program and qualifying score must be achieved befor.e the next event can be entered. This is unfortunate, I would prefer to be able to practice an individual game or to be able to change the order of events.

The sports are: swimming, skeet shooting, long horse, archery, triple jump and weight lifting. A fair spread, I think.

Swimming is a waggle your joystick game (though there is a pummel the keyboard option). Occasionally your athlete must breathe and pressing the fire button achieves this only if his head is above water at the time.

Skeet or clay pigeon shooting is more a test of reaction than stamina. The two gun sights are automatically trained onto the nying discs and the gun fires when you move the little man's gun left or right depending on which sight you choose. The targets come thick and fast giving little time for a reasoned decision so you must rely on instinct to see you through.

The run up to the long horse is computer controlled but the player must press fire to make him jump onto the springboard, and press again when the athlete reaches the vertical headstand position on the horse. Then more waggling is called for to make him perform as many aerial somersaults as possible before landing. Even landing is not straight forward. He must land on his feet to score highly.

Archery is very enjoyable and requires a high degree of timing. Firstly, you must release the arrow at the moving target allowing for a preset crosswind. Then you must hold the fire button for long enough to reach an elevation of about five degrees.

Triple jumping is similar to the long horse competition. Run up is automatic and fire is pressed to initiate the jump. Then as each part of the hop, step and jump action is entered, the button must be held to give an elevation of 45 degrees.

Finally, your tireless athlete must lift weights. Frantic waggling controls the power of the lift and, when the time is right, pressing the fire button gives the final push to raise the weights over the athlete's head. You must continue waggling until all three judges give you the green light.

As you can see the games are varied in their approach and each one tests a different range of skills. The graphics maintain the cute qualities of the original games with the athlete responding to the results of his labours in suitable fashion. I think Konami will be very pleased with this conversion, I know that I am.

E.D.