''Daley Thompson's Decathlon'' is an Olympic-themed

sports video game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

developed and released by

Ocean Software Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and video game publisher, publishers of the 1980s and 1990s. The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and wa ...

in 1984. It was released in the wake of

Daley Thompson Francis Morgan Ayodélé Thompson, (born 30 July 1958), better known as Daley Thompson, is a British former decathlete. He won the decathlon gold medal at the Olympic Games in 1980 and 1984, and broke the world record for the event four tim ...

's popularity following his gold medals in the

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

at the 1980 and 1984 Olympic Games. The game is based on the gameplay format established by 1983

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

Track & Field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

''. A second game, ''Daley Thompson's Super-Test'', was released the following year. The third title, ''Daley Thompson's Olympic Challenge'', was released in 1988 to coincide with the

1988 Olympic Games 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul ...

Gameplay

The player takes part in the ten events of the modern decathlon: *Day 1:

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

, and

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

*Day 2: 110 hurdles,

pole vault Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the Myc ...

, discus,

javelin A javelin is a light spear designed primarily to be thrown, historically as a ranged weapon, but today predominantly for sport. The javelin is almost always thrown by hand, unlike the sling, bow, and crossbow, which launch projectiles with th ...

, and

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletic ...

The player starts the game with three lives; failure to reach the minimum standard in an event results in the loss of one life. Success in the 1500 metres event results in the game returning to Day 1 to repeat the events with more difficult qualification criteria. Depending on the computer, running is simulated by hitting two keys (representing the left and right leg) alternately and as quickly as possible or by moving the joystick from side to side as quickly as possible. The game rapidly gained a reputation among players as a "joystick killer" because of the constant vigorous waggling of the joystick required during many of the events. The Spectrum version was the first game to use

Speedlock A fast loader is a software program for a home computer, such as the Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum, that accelerates the speed of file loading from floppy disk or compact cassette. Floppy disks Fast loaders came about because of a discrepanc ...

, a fast loader on the computer.

Music

The soundtrack of the C64 version of the game was composed by David Dunn. The introduction music, by

Martin Galway Martin Galway (born 3 January 1966, Belfast, Northern Ireland) is one of the best known composers of chiptune video game music for the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spectrum. His works include ''Rambo (1985 video game), Rambo: First Blood Part II' ...

, is based on the 1978

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

piece " Rydeen" by

Yellow Magic Orchestra Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO for short) is a Japanese electronic music band formed in Tokyo in 1978 by Haruomi Hosono (bass, keyboards, vocals), Yukihiro Takahashi (drums, lead vocals) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (keyboards, vocals). The group is conside ...

(YMO).

Reception

''Daley Thompson's Decathlon'' was the ninth best-selling computer game of 1985 in the United Kingdom. ''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was publi ...

'' gave the game a score of 8/10. The game won the award for Best (Overall) Arcade Game in the ''

Crash Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch su ...

'' magazine Readers Awards 1984 and was the Best Arcade-Style Game of the Year at the

Golden Joystick Awards The Golden Joystick Awards, also known as the People's Gaming Awards, is a video game award ceremony; it awards the best video games of the year, as voted for originally by the British general public, but is now a global event that can be voted ...

. ''

The One The ONE is a shopping centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong. It is built on the site of the former Tung Ying Building at 100 Nathan Road. It was developed by Chinese Estates Holdings and opened in 2010. Owner Joseph Lau Luen-hung g ...

'' magazine in 1991 rated the game two out of five stars for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and significantly improved graphi ...

and

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

. In 1985, Ocean acquired the rights to produce official conversions of Konami's games starting with the arcade follow-up to ''Track and Field'', ''

Hyper Sports ''Hyper Sports'', known in Japan as is an Olympic video games, Olympic-themed sports video game released by Konami for Arcade game, arcades in 1984 in video games, 1984. It is the sequel to 1983's ''Track & Field (video game), Track & Field'' and ...

''. Their officially licensed versions of ''Track and Field'' were finally released for the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

in 1987, and

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Sin ...

and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as t ...

in 1988. In 2017, the game was placed on ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

s "10 games that defined the ZX Spectrum" list.

References

External links

* *{{WoS game, id=0001217, name=Daley Thompson's Decathlon 1984 video games Amstrad CPC games Athletics video games Commodore 64 games

Thompson Thompson may refer to: People * Thompson (surname) * Thompson M. Scoon (1888–1953), New York politician Places Australia *Thompson Beach, South Australia, a locality Bulgaria * Thompson, Bulgaria, a village in Sofia Province Canada * ...

Golden Joystick Award winners Multiple-stage competition video games Ocean Software games Sports video games Video games based on real people Video games featuring black protagonists Video games scored by Martin Galway ZX Spectrum games Video games developed in the United Kingdom