Game: 10 Yard Fight
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Irem
Release Date: 1985
There are plenty of early American Football games on the NES and other consoles of the time, but perhaps the most often included on multicarts and other collections is 10 Yard Fight. Players take control of the offensive part of a football team who've just received the ball, making their way down field in a formation to get the best possible start for their first down. It's possible to score a touchdown from the off, as the AI isn't the smartest but it's not always guaranteed.
Once players have scored a touchdown on a particular level (there are two halves to each game level, and the game levels are High School, College, Professional, Play-off and finally Super Bowl), they're given one more chance to score again either via a kick or another touchdown, before the game moves on. If players are unable to score in time, then the game is over. Controlwise 10 Yard Fight is very simple; the control pad moves the player with the ball and the two buttons are for passing.
Graphically the game is very basic; with colours and direction of travel being the only ways to tell players from opposing teams apart. The player with the ball has a green jersey and this changes when the ball is passed, but overall it's not too easy to see what's going on. Soundwise, the game features possibly the least enjoyable sound effects I've ever heard from an NES game; white noise is used to simulate just about everything and if you finish a level with more than 10 minutes left on the clock then you're in for what sounds like an alarm adding bonus points onto your score.
Overall 10 Yard Fight is a tough game to give a score to because while it does at a very basic level allow players to have some fun with American Football, the early AI can easily be beaten, even though your players move far slower than the opposing team, the sound is offputting and there's nothing to entice players graphically. With the frustrations and lack of replayability it's not something I can recommend.
Rating: 51/100
Grade: D
Game: Hyper Olympic
Console: Nintendo Famicom
Developer: Konami
Release Date: 1985
Hyper Olympic and 'Track & Field' have many similarities, and in some places they are even the same game, however Hyper Olympic was only released on the Famicom and features less events than Track & Field. This version features the 100m Sprint, Long Jump, 110m Hurdles and Javelin throw. After all 4 events have taken place, they repeat again, in order with slightly harsher targets to continue.
For any sort of running, players must alternate between the A and B buttons on the controller, but holding both down at once provides the fastest possible speed with the minimum effort. Any event which requires an action such as jumping or throwing uses the control pad, which sets the angle of throw or jump, unless it's the hurdles event.
Graphically the game is basic and reminiscent of Olympics games on home computers, but the use of a controller is much more convenient than bashing away at a keyboard. Soundwise there's a lot of white noise used as spectator cheering, but there's also quite a few musical interludes between events which are bearable.
Overall Hyper Olympic could obviously be better with more events, and if I'm able to play Track & Field at a later date, I'm sure it'll receive a separate and higher score, but the same fundamental issues will remain that the world records are a little too easy to beat, many events can be beaten by exploiting the issue with holding instead of alternating the buttons, and the difficulty curve is nowhere near high enough.
Rating: 62/100
Grade: C
Game: Baseball
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1985
While I've never had a particular interest in baseball as a sport, I understand the fundamentals and what should be expected of a game featuring the sport. Baseball for the NES is enjoyable in places but also frustrates on some control aspects. Players pick a team and then dive straight into a 9 inning per side game. There's no real indication from the start as to whether you're batting or fielding and I'll admit that I spent the first innings laughing at the incompetence of the fielding team only to realise that they were being controlled by me.
Sometimes the controls work great and you can time a hit or run a batter out with ease, but other times chasing a ball or trying to get your batters to run before the fate of a catch is decided is near impossible and this leads to giving away many runs and outs, usually costing players dearly. Add this to the fact that 18 innings in total is far too long for any game to go on, and you've got a recipe for frustration and boredom for the most part.
Graphically the game is fairly well laid out; it's easy to see which players are doing what, and which team they're on. While basic, the only real complaint I have of the visuals is that when batters are run out, often they seem to be home, and there's no way to tell whether it's a fair call or not. Soundwise there's some more of that good old white noise to simulate a crowd and not much else.
Overall Baseball disappoints as a sports game in many respects; the controls and gameplay don't allow players to be in charge of what their team does as much as they'd like, and the difficulty level rises because of this, often making games far harder to win. In all my time playing the game I never saw a home run, and a baseball video game without at least a few home runs is going to be pretty dull.
Rating: 36/100
Grade: E
Game: Golf
Console: Nintendo Entertainment System
Developer: Nintendo
Release Date: 1985
As part of the basic sports series on the NES, Golf is probably the least exciting sport to make an 8 bit video game out of. Anyone who likes golf can pretty easily go out and play it for real, and people who aren't fans won't be too bothered. My main issue with the game is the lack of help the games gives to players who don't know how to play. Players are left to choose their own club and decide what sort of shot is appropriate. At first I didn't realise this and spent a few holes trying to drive the ball everywhere; even when I rectified the error I had little idea which club would provide the best shot and distance for the situation.
Even with the correct club it can be difficult to estimate how much power to give a shot, and putting is a nightmare also. With so much guesswork involved in the game, it's hard to have a good time, unless you're competing against another human player in a battle to see who does least badly. It's a shame that Nintendo didn't realise at the time that the technology just wasn't around to make a decently enjoyable golf game yet.
Overall Golf is probably one of the least exciting games on the NES due to the ease of playing it in the real world. Even so the game manages to omit fundamental features which would have helped it to have more widespread appeal. With a fair amount of practice I'd imagine that things might improve, but there's really little appeal in getting better at such a game.
Rating: 32/100
Grade: E
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