Track & Field II
Track & Field II is the sequel to Track & Field. (Thank you Captain Obvious)
While similar to the original, only a few events are common to both games. With those events that are in both games, the mechanics vary. Multiple new events are present.
Available modes in this game include:
- Training Mode: Practice any event on its own.
- Olympic Mode: Compete in the 8-Day Olympics. Days 1-4 are primary qualifying and days 5-8 are the finals competitions.
- Two optional exhibition events can be attempted at the end of each day of Olympic competition: Hang Gliding and Gun Shooting. These are not available in Training Mode.
- Vs Mode: Compete against a friend in Fencing, Taewkondo, or Arm Wrestling.
- Arm Wrestling is not an event in the Training or Olympic Modes
This video attempts to reach the end-game cut scene as quickly as possible. Minimum scores at or just beyond qualifying are achieved to move on to the next event as quickly as possible. Any medal attained above Bronze during the finals does not require extra time to obtain. Exhibition events are skipped to save time.
Event Breakdown
Fencing
Charge in and lunge to score as quickly as possible. A little manipulation to get a good opponent since some opponents run away.
Triple Jump (About the only event that mimics the mechanics of the original...the spaceman, however, does not make a cameo)
Qualify on first try and foul subsequent attempts to save time. It is actually faster to slow down and make a tiny jump than it is to run straight over the line.
Freestyle Swimming (Kinda)
Down is held for the duration of the race to make the swimmer perform the breaststroke (Michael Phelps mode?) instead of swimming freestyle. I suppose since the opponent insists on using the freestyle stroke, the event name is at least somewhat accurate.
High Dive
Though individuals judges score lower, each dive attempted results in a perfect 10.0 score. Higher scores do not take extra time.
Clay Pigeon Shooting (Different mechanics from the original, as you call for each clay and have to aim your shots.)
Launch points of the clays are manipulated to save time. All clays are hit as missing any clays after meeting the qualifying mark results in a longer video. The launch position/direction of the clay pigeons is heavily RNG dependant, so some manipulation is done in an attempt to get the most favorable spawns.
Hammer Throw
The glitched throw to get the 92+ meter distance is used to qualify on the first attempt as it is faster than a normal qualifying throw. Fouls are performed on the subsequent attempts, as fouling is faster than the glitched throw. It is possible to throw as far as 83m 04 with a regular throw, but it is much slower.
Taekwondo
The roundhouse kick was the strongest attack I could find. The lowest number of hits I could get to win the match was two. Thanks to some beneficial RNG, in the preliminary fight the opponent stands immediately after the first knockdown. A second knockdown follows shortly.
Pole Vault
Set height to minimum qualifying and meet on the first attempt. Foul all three attempts at the next height to speed onward. It is actually possible to clear as high as 6m 62, but since there is an upper limit on your starting height it takes many attempts to get it that high.
Canoeing (Looks more like Kayaking to me)
First run reaches the goal as quickly as possible while hitting enough gates for a qualifying score. Second run speeds to finish disregarding gates. It is possible to score as high as 5290 if you run through the gates correctly and shoot for a high score.
Archery (Different game mechanic than in the original. Targets are stationary and varying distance.)
Once qualifying score is attained, allowing the arrows to fall short takes less time than hitting the target. The wind direction is highly RNG dependant, so some manipulation is done to get favorable wind directions. You'll notice we even drop one of the arrows before we've met the qualification requirements because a later one gives us a more favorable wind.
- I wonder how the archer's farm is doing.
Hurdles (This is not classic hurdles...it's Steeplechase. The original had classic hurdles.)
Jumps are performed as close to the hurdle as possible to clear the water. Interestingly, during the finals race, the human/TAS runner moves so fast that the CPU runners randomly glitch by running straight through every few hurdles to keep up. It is also possible to jump off the tops of the hurdles (steeples?) but the resulting time is the same.
Horizontal Bar
The best score I could attain was 9.90. I dismount as soon as possible. This event seems to be mostly timed as you are not allowed to dismount until a certain point.
Gun Firing
This event is optional, so it is skipped for this run. It also runs on rather long since being successful adds time to your countdown. It is possible to get 202 points, but at the 200 mark the score display rolls back to 100.
Hang Gliding
This event is optional, so it is skipped for this run. It is possible to score as high as 255 by getting to the target quickly and landing precisely in the middle.
I was able to improve what was originally submitted by DrD2k9 by around 7 seconds. Most of the improvement came from a quicker method of fouling out during the triple jump. I had done a wip of this several years back, but it aimed for max scores (which is where some of that info recorded here comes from). With the lack of entertainment and unclear goal I never submitted it. Thanks to DrD2k9 for jumping right in and putting together a serious submission. Also for the discussions and collaboration on this submission.
Conclusion
The TAS input concludes by skipping the final offer of exhibition events. The end-game cut scene is rather long.
One more note: How many golds that are won during the finals competitions has a slight impact on the end-game cinematic. If a few are won, the athletes will hold one hand out with some medals and smile during the press conference. If more golds are won, they will hold out both hands full of medals and have huge cheesy grins during the press conference.
Acknowledgement goes out to link_7777 and Kung Knut for their advice, and tips on this game.
Samsara: File replaced with a 402-frame improvement, added a temp encode as well. Also judging.
Samsara: Looks good and follows the rules. Accepting to Vault.
