should you ask anyone (randomly or specifically) what they believed to be the single biggest, best or most important "anniversary" to celebrate (or commemorate, look you see) in 2020, there is every chance of it being one of two answers. it is so that either they will say that this year marks the 40th anniversary of Daley Thompson's splendid performance at the Moscow Olympics or that it is indeed the 36th anniversary of Daley Thompson's excellent performance at the Los Angeles Olympics.
with this (probably) being the case, it is only fitting and apt to pay tribute to one of the many ways that tributes have been paid to his excellence. and indeed many are the number of tributes of respect which have been made over the last 40 (or 36) years.
yes, in terms of the most financially successful (and indeed critically acclaimed) tribute to Daley and his decathlon heroics, one must of course acknowledge the splendid work Sylvester Stallone did. when you think about it, after all, Rocky IV is a film which more or less tells the Daley Thompson story of Olympic gold quite well, if in something of a metaphorical or symbolic way, and if you in particular overlook that bit where Apollo Creed gets punched in the head to death. but, that is not what i am going to focus on here.
no, the focus here shall be one of the greatest tributes what can (or could) have been paid to anyone. that is of course the 1984 (or was it 1985) computer game made in homage to Daley Thompson, namely Daley Thompson's Decathlon. well, specifically the (proper) Commodore 64 one, but we will get to that as we go. if, of course, you read on.
as you would hardly need me to tell you, only the greatest and the bestest were considered worthy of being immortalised via the conduit or forum of a Commodore 64 game. the prestige, this honour, was only bestowed upon those deemed worthy, and indeed the ones who game producers believed would deliver a game which was both lucrative and profitable.
it was of little surprise, then, than Daley Thompson was selected. either they (and in this instance i think we can say that they they was ocean, them what made the computer game with him in it) (actually computer games, for others followed) believed his success at LA 84 was going to make the game a winner, or that they assumed the gold he got there to go with his Moscow 80 meant it was a formality, depending on whether or not they made the game before or after the olympic games. it is not something that i can be bothered to look up.
oddly, any success with Daley Thompson's Decathlon was not as much of an automatic guarantee as Daley winning medals. far from it. there was no overt or over saturation of decathlon based computer games at the time, simply because one particular game was considered so perfect as to be untouchable and dominant. i speak, of course, of The Activision Decathlon, which at least in Commodore 64 mode was, is, and always will be one of the greatest games of all time.
despite the excellence of the existing Decathlon game (which i might be inclined to always acknowledge as being the better one), Daley Thompson's Decathlon was a spectacular success. whereas i do not know the precise sales figures or what have you, it must have done rather well, for ocean went on to make somewhere around seventy more games endorsed by the man. actually i think it was only two, or perhaps three others, but seventy sounds better, does it not?
so, how was the actual game? not bad, in truth, not so bad at all. it had ludicrously excellent graphics, even by the superior standards of the Commodore 64, and the gameplay for about 90% of the game was outstanding. well, maybe 80%, or even 70% of it. but, we will get there.
i often wonder if the advertising panels you can see there were paid for by the brands who they belonged to. my most basic guess is of course yes, for why would you give away free advertising (at the time, mindful of how i do free advertising on this blog for things i like). also, i am sure the likes of Woolworths, Pepsi, Boots and the other one (is it Cooper?) were delighted to both have Daley Thompson as an indirect ambassador for their wares and reach that all important target market of socially inept teenagers in their bedrooms. some of that is, after all, the current, basic business model for that "internet" thing one hears so much about.
my praise for the game of Daley Thompson's Decathlon is, of course, limited exclusively to the Commodore 64 version. yes, it was available on other (inferior) computers. like, for instance, the ZX Spectrum.
ZX Spectrum variations of Commodore 64 games ranged from being mildly sh!t, to quite sh!t, to unbelievably sh!t, ludicrously sh!t and abjectly, pathetically, woefully sh!t. yes, i suppose, in many respects the ZX Spectrum was to the 80s what that Ed Sheridan (or whatever his name is) is to the world today. mostly pointless, not very good and yet for some reason popular, as if everyone is actually pretending it is any good and just throws money at it in the hope that it convinces others.
above, for your consideration, then, is an image, lifted off of "internet", of the ZX Spectrum version of Daley Thompson's Decathlon. you might have noticed something unusual there, in that Daley Thompson is for some reason depicted as a ghostly grey white chap rather than the black dude what matters of ethnicity say he is. this, with some derision and amusement, was noticed at the time, too. relax, for there was no overt or covert racism involved in it all, just the fact that the ZX Spectrum was so incredibly incompetent and lousy that it could not handle making graphics more than one colour at any time. but, by all means, go ahead and kick off on twitter or whatever, have some historical outrage and offence at it all should that sort of thing amuse you.
how about a bit more video? in truth i find it quite difficult to video the game and play the game, but for your pleasure i have given it a go. this, if i remember right, is off of the discus event of the decathlon, which is in the minimum 70% (or 60%) of the game which is enjoyable and fun to play.
earlier on i mentioned that at least 10% (possibly more) of the game was not as enjoyable to play as it could have been. those familiar with the game will know only too well what that 10% comprises of. for those not so blessed as to know, this would be the final event of the game - the 1500 meter race.
any and all "running" (or swimming) events on computer games involve "waggling" the joystick. in practical terms, what this means is that a young teenage lad in his bedroom had to grab the shaft with his (presumably) right hand and furiously waggle it left and right to gain a consistent level of speed, momentum and enjoyable pleasure. no, absolutely no idea how they devised this approach.
such was ok for the 100 meter race, and indeed the 110 meter hurdles. going further, it was also kind of ok for the 400 meter race too, with the most ardent and gifted of furious joystick wagglers able to maintain the stamina and pace required. but the 1500 meter race was a different proposition.
over on the other game, The Activision Decathlon, a rather reasonable and agreeable approach was taken. for, say, the first 1100 meters or so you only had to do a steady waggle, and then all of a sudden had to belt the hell out of the joystick for the last 400 meters (or however long). there was no such easy ride with Daley Thompson Decathlon, though. no, if you wanted the gold, you had to totally and utterly waggle away at the highest speed possible for the duration of the race.
there is a case to suggest that Daley Thompson's Decathlon should rather have been called Joystick F****r 10 instead, for few were the joysticks what could handle more than 2, maybe 3 full tilt goes at the 1500 meter race and still be serviceable. as point of fact, the only joystick i am aware of that was capable of repeat goes was the chunky, solid built to last type of bulky one what came with the Atari 2600. believe me, i went through enough of them to establish this. in retrospect some joystick manufacturer - Quickshot, say - should have bought the rights to the game, and given it away free, gratis, to every Commodore 64 owner in the world. that would have been highly effective marketing.
yes, Mike, i know (and appreciate) that if you are reading this you are going "well, yeah, ok, but what about Kikstart II", as you do for any time i write of a Commodore 64 game which is not that one. at some stage probably i will do that one, but apparently not this very day. and, anyway, we are all done here with this now.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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