Nagano Winter Olympics '98

Nagano Winter Olympics '98, known in Japan as , is a multi-event sports game from Konami. It is based on the 1998 Winter Olympics and features 10 Olympic events including skating, skiing, luge, bobsleigh, slalom, curling, halfpipe and snowboarding. The game is part of the Track & Field/Hyper Sports series and would be the last licensed Olympic video game released on a Nintendo home console until Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games about nine years later.
Gameplay
There are two modes of play, Olympic and Championship. In the Olympic Mode, the player selects an event and competes in order to win the gold medal. In championship, the player competes in seven events, with points being awarded for performance in each event. The athlete with the most points at the end wins gold.
Events
Alpine Skiing - Downhill, Super G (PS1 only), and Giant Slalom
Snowboard - Giant Slalom and Halfpipe (N64 only)
Speed Skating - 500m and 1500m
Short Track (PS1 only) - 500 m and 1000 m
Bobsleigh
Luge
Ski Jumping - Large Jumping (PS1 only), K90 (N64 Only) and K120 (N64 only)
Freestyle Skiing - Aerials
Curling
Playable nations
There is a total of 16 playable countries per version of the game. They are:
(PS1 only)
(N64 only)
(N64 Only)
(PS1 only)
Development
Both the PlayStation and Nintendo 64 versions of the game were developed by Konami's Japanese branch, but by different divisions of it. A playable demo of the Nintendo 64 version was exhibited at the September 1997 Tokyo Game Show.
Reception
Nagano Winter Olympics '98 received unfavorable reviews. The Nintendo 64 version and PlayStation version respectively held a 48% and 49% on the review aggregation website GameRankings, but those critics which compared the two versions unanimously declared the Nintendo 64 version the superior one, citing faster play, shorter load times, and better graphics with less polygon breakup and draw in than the PlayStation version. GamePro went so far as to give the Nintendo 64 version a positive recommendation, giving it 4 out of 5 scores in graphics, control, and fun factor, and a 3.5 in sound. The reviewer argued that while the game has substantial flaws, such as lack of a practice mode and difficulty select and the passive controls of some of the events, the fun of the multiplayer competition makes it a good value. Next Generation called the PlayStation version "a mixed bag"; the magazine praised the graphics and sound, but commented that some events are "mediocre", while others are "fun".
Other publications were more negative. The most commonly cited problem, regardless of the reviewer's overall opinion of the game, is that the controls for many of the events are so simplistic that the player feels no connection to the action occurring onscreen. GameSpot described the resultant gameplay as "about as tough as answering a phone when it rings" and summed up the game as "an unmixed bag of terrible, underdeveloped games whose feeble, undernourished gameplay comes down to timing one or two button taps, not just per race, but per event". Crispin Boyer wrote in Electronic Gaming Monthly that most events are not just difficult but also neither fun nor exciting, and was critical to control setups.
IGN and GamePro both praised the sound effects in the Nintendo 64 version.
Some reviewers found the selection of events uneven. GamePro, reviewing the PlayStation version (which, unlike the Nintendo 64 version, they suggested as a rental only), said that some events are "boring". Critics overwhelmingly said that the curling is the best event, with most commenting that this is rather unexpected given what an obscure sport curling is.
Notes
References
External links
1997 video games
1998 Winter Olympics
Konami games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Nintendo 64 games
PlayStation (console) games
Sports video games set in Japan
Video games scored by Akira Yamaoka
Video games set in 1998
Video games set in Nagano (city)
Winter Olympic video games
Video games developed in Japan