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I don’t think I’m the only one who felt that the 2020 Summer Olympics were pretty disappointing. I know it wasn’t completely Japan’s fault for the situation due to a pandemic, and restrictions to said pandemic. But they also could have handled it better too. Maybe World CHAMPIONS: Decathlon by NowakGames can satisfy in a way that real life was unable to.

Deca means ten, derived from the Greek word δέκα. That means there are ten events: the 100m, 400m, and 1500m run, the long jump, shot put, high jump, javelin throw, pole vault, discus throw, and 110m hurdles. You can play each event separately or compete in the decathlon where you do all the events in a row. The long jump, shot put, high jump, javelin throw, pole vault, and discus throw are all done three times each in decathlon mode. World Champions takes some inspiration from the NES sports games like Track & Field/Hyper Olympic series by Konami, mostly from the meter run competitions.

Every event has fairly simple controls of left and right. This can translate into many different ways: the J and L keys, the left and right arrows, or the left and right triggers on a controller just to name a few. Some events will have you toss the object with the space bar or the A button on a controller. The methods of control are very versatile but I also feel it leads to its biggest flaw. Despite each event being somewhat different, they all play the same. With the running events, you’re mashing the buttons until you reach the finish line. For the 400m and 1500m running events, this can get tiring. With the other events, you’ll get into a running speed and then press the action button before you get a foul.

With minigames in other video games, they may share the same controls but can play vastly differently from each other. World Champions doesn’t do this for some reason, which can lead to the single-player experience feeling very dull. Even for the achievement hunters getting all the achievements can prove to be difficult as there is an achievement for each event that requires you to reach number 1 in the leaderboards. Fortunately, the events in game tell you how many points you need to achieve a world record.

The visuals are very retro—8-bit to be exact. The athletes are fairly minimalistic and there are a ton of flags and different colored uniforms to represent your avatar. The background has many interesting things to look at, such as a UFO in some events, as well as a banner acting like an advertisement for NowakGames other game Jet Set Corps. The plentiful colors are admiringly nice to look at.

I like the sound effects too, hearing the footsteps of the athletes running, and the jingles at the end of the events. The music isn’t bad either. Definitely an improvement over their last game, opting for a more modern tempo, but still reminiscent of retro titles. Although the only musical piece is the title screen, it fits the setting sounding triumphant and worthy of such a prestigious event.

Well, this is the second time I was let down by a sporting event. World CHAMPIONS: Decathlon is competent in what it does—there just isn’t enough to do as I had my fill only a half hour in playing. The similar and repetitive nature of the events don’t make it a worthwhile single-player experience, nor does it make chasing after personal records and world records enticing. You can’t resort to online play either as I was unable to find other players. Considering that this is an athletic event with simple graphics, there are no moral warnings to speak of so it does have that going for it. If the events had something to differentiate themselves from each other, I could recommend it to many but alas, I cannot.