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Well past the deadline I'm once again ready with another game spotlight and while I actually had decided to go for an N64 game this time around, I took a u-turn in the name of the olympics and yeah, I'll be reviewing
a game I consider a NES classic, nope it's not Track & Field 2, but wait a second.... I've already exploited what it's all about, it's Capcom olympics game for Barcelona 92 that lost its original title and was renamed
to Gold Metal Challenge '92.
From a phamplet Capcom once packed in with their games, Gold Medal Challenge was presented as Barcelona '92. For some reason that wasn't the final title though.
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While it was released in North America and Japan in 1992, Europeans weren't treated with the game until june of 93, a year after the American release and to make the matter worse, only Scandinavia received the game
which was released in very limited quantities, so it's to be considered just as rare as Mr. Gimmick amongst European collectors.
A few years back I managed to snag a cartridge only copy, I never owned it back in the day, but was fortunate enough to be able to borrow a copy a few times, and this was one of those games me and my younger brother
spent hours playing.
The game features:
100 M Dash, 200 M Dash, 400 M Dash, 4 x 100 M Relay, 110 M Hurdles
100 m Backstroke, 100 m Breaststroke, 100 m Butterfly, 100 m Freestyle, 200 m Individual medley
Weightlifting
Long jump
Triple jump
High jump
Shot put
Javelin throw
Vault
All of that was mixed with a Marathon which was used as some sort of breaker after every 3 other events. Sure there are other sports games out there also offering Dash, Long Jump and such. But gold Medal Challenge had
more to offer and while it may sound lame, the Weightliftig and Vault events are hilarious.
That mixed with some great tunes, awesome graphics and something no other olympics game had, Battery backupped saves was truly what made this game stand out from the rest.
Sure you're going to do a lot of button smashing, but if you do well you may get one of those sought after medals and become part of the medal ceremony held after each event completed.
Finishing first is basicly what it's all about, and if you're able to hit them buttons fast enough, or have a turbo joypad, it might even be enough to break one of the world records!
If the medal ceremonies may seem like a smack in the face, if you weren't good enough, just hit A and B together and it'll skip past it without rubbing the medals in your sorry looser face.
Unfortunately it seems like there's no option to skip the Maraton sequence which can become a bit tedious. My advice is to keep the Maraton runner at around 19 km/h by the way.
One thing I am truly sorry about in Gold Medal Challenge though is the lack of (variation of) countries, like little old Denmark is missing from the list.
But Gold Medal Challenge is truly one to play, especially in multiplayer mode... so get gaming!
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