Daley Thompson’s Decathlon is our first encounter with Manchester-based publisher (and in this case developer) Ocean, and gives some pointers to the approach that will see them dominate the UK chart in the late 80s. Why bother building up interest in a video game from scratch when you can sign up a big name people are already familiar with? In this case it was UK Olympic gold medallist Daley Thompson lending his name to a recreation of the sport he succeeded in. I’ll go through its wide-ranging ten-event athletic odyssey in full, one-by-one:
100 metres: You hit alternate keys or waggle a joystick in alternate directions, left right left right left right left right, and run at a speed dependent on how fast you can do that.
Long jump: You hit alternate keys or waggle a joystick in alternate directions, left right left right left right left right, and run at a speed dependent on how fast you can do that. Then you hold down the fire button while a number increases and try to let go with it as close to 45 degrees as possible.
Shot put: You hit alternate keys or waggle a joystick in alternate directions, left right left right left right left right, and run at a speed dependent on how fast you can do that. Then you hold down the fire button while a number increases and try to let go with it as close to 45 degrees as possible.
High jump: You hit alternate keys or waggle a joystick in alternate directions, left right left right left right left right, and run at a speed dependent on how fast you can do that. Then you hold down the fire button while a number decreases and try to let go with it as close to 90 degrees as possible.
400 metres: You hit alternate keys or waggle a joystick in alternate directions, left right left right left right left right, and run at a speed dependent on how fast you can do that. Day one ends.
110 metre hurdles: You hit alternate keys or waggle a joystick in alternate directions, left right left right left right left right, and run at a speed dependent on how fast you can do that. Try to press fire at the right time to jump the hurdles.
Pole vault: You hit alternate keys or waggle a joystick in alternate directions, left right left right left right left right, and run at a speed dependent on how fast you can do that. Try to hold fire at the right time to jump the bar.
Discus: You hit alternate keys or waggle a joystick in alternate directions, left right left right left right left right, and turn at a speed dependent on how fast you can do that. Then you hold down the fire button while a number increases and try to let go with it as close to 45 degrees as possible.
Javelin: You hit alternate keys or waggle a joystick in alternate directions, left right left right left right left right, and run at a speed dependent on how fast you can do that. Then you hold down the fire button while a number increases and try to let go with it as close to 45 degrees as possible.
1,500 metres: You press buttons to increase or decrease speed, and try to maintain enough energy to keep going. No waggling involved, which was a pleasant surprise. Day two ends. As with the end of day one, you get a nice vworpy rendition of “Chariots of Fire”.
It’s safe to say there is a lot of repetition in there. The repeated mechanics work well enough and have just enough variation for that not to be the biggest issue with Daley Thompson’s Decathlon, though. For that, we’ll think about the 1,500 metres. As well as opting against waggling, the game also fast-forwards its clock so it doesn’t stretch out to minutes long. But in a real decathlon, decided by a total of scores from all the events, the 1,500 metres is the decisive culmination where you watch all of the athletes try to do enough to get their overall score above someone else’s, every second potentially counting. In the game, you just have a time you have to beat, just like every other event.
I misunderstood when I first played an event and it started with a box which said ‘3 athletes’. I thought it meant there were three competitors to me. But it meant I had three chances to fail an event – three lives, the old old computer game standby, sitting awkwardly at the beginnings of a different idea. There are no other athletes, on screen or otherwise. There’s no overall score. It doesn’t get the experience of competing in a decathlon, or even quite qualifying for one. The bouncing crowd may give their feedback roar, but this is training at best.
