Track & Field — stories left

Unique Games Edition pointed out that this game became a huge hit in the same year, following Namco's Xevious (1983), and said that "with gameplay that set it apart from earlier sports games, it captivated many players". It also said that the hit of this game led other game makers to release sports games containing several events.

The 2600 version was among the new games to utilize Atari's "super chip" technology, enabling enhanced graphics and gameplay variety compared to what was previously possible on the 2600.

Gene Lewin of Play Meter magazine scored it 8 out of 10, stating that it would be "a definite 10" if released as a more affordable conversion kit.

The review praised it as the best dedicated arcade game at the AMOA 1983 show, highlighting the gameplay, "excellent" graphics, "fantastic" sound, and originality, noting that having "different track and field events is an original idea" and "certainly different" than the other sports games based on baseball, football, or basketball.

Computer and Video Games referred to it as a "great game for all you armchair sports enthusiasts," although they cautioned it could lead to cramped fingers.

Additionally, in 1995, Flux magazine placed the arcade version at 65th in its own "Top 100 Video Games" list, further solidifying its status as a classic in the gaming community.

The competition, officially known as the "1984 March of Dimes International Konami/Centuri Track & Field Challenge," was highlighted in the Twin Galaxies publication, which noted that more than a million contestants participated between April 30 and May 26, aiming to be among three finalists who would travel to Japan to represent the USA.

Partly because it was ported to home systems earlier than any other, it recorded a huge hit of 300,000 copies, a figure that can be called astonishing for a personal computer game.

On December 18, 2008, Héctor Rodriguez from California set a new world record score of 95,350 points.

This score surpassed the previous record of 95,040 points set by Kelly Kobashigawa from Los Angeles on June 30, 1985, during the 1985 Video Game Masters Tournament in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

It sold 297,307 copies as of 2011.

When Konami ported Track & Field to the Famicom (as Hyper Olympic), they included only four out of six events.

The ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC versions were released only as part of the Game, Set and Match II compilation in 1988 and are poorly regarded.

Despite requiring physical interaction from players, the game continued to enjoy success in North America throughout the first half of 1984.

While not the first Olympic track-and-field game (it was preceded by Olympic Decathlon in 1980 and Activision Decathlon in August 1983), Track & Field spawned other similar Olympic video games following its release.

In Japan it ended up unreleased, perhaps because of the impact of the fighting game boom.

In 2018-6 the development of Hyper Sports R for the Nintendo Switch was announced as the first new title in a long time, and it was in a playable state at the Tokyo Game Show in month 9 of the same year, but on 2020-6-10 the cancellation of development was announced.

A port for the Atari 5200, which would have been identical to the Atari 8-bit computer version, was canceled.

The announcement voices in the game were developed in Japanese at first, but they were changed to English because they did not create the right atmosphere.

Sequels titled Hyper Sports and Konamic Sports were also released, and from 2000 onward every port of Hyper Olympic was replaced with the overseas version.

In the Gamest Mook The Best Game 2 (1998) it was chosen as one of "The Best Games", recognised as a classic, outstanding, brilliant title. In the same book the writer Gatchin pointed out that the gameplay of hitting buttons rapidly was "a simple concept", but rated positively the gameplay of beating the standard record for each event, calling it "a work that stirs the competitive spirit".

The review praised it as the best dedicated arcade game at the AMOA 1983 show, highlighting the gameplay, "excellent" graphics, "fantastic" sound, and originality, noting that having "different track and field events is an original idea" and "certainly different" than the other sports games based on baseball, football, or basketball.

Sequels titled Hyper Sports and Konamic Sports were also released, and from 2000 onward every port of Hyper Olympic was replaced with the overseas version.

Konami licensed the North American home video game rights to Atari, Inc..