Konami ’88 Cheats & Cheat Codes for Arcades

Konami ’88 (known as ’88 Games in North America) is a 1988 sports game developed and published by Konami, released alongside the 1988 Summer Olympics in South Korea. The game was released exclusively in arcades, and never made its way to home platforms.

Konami ’88 Premise

As a game celebrating the Olympic Games, Konami ’88 attempts to fit in as many sports as possible. This makes the game extremely varied, as there’s always a different mode to try out just around the corner. The overall goal in each is to obtain the gold medal, and you can’t progress to the next game until you do so. We’ve got the full list of games featured in Konami ’88, as well as a brief overview of what each one entails:

• 100m Dash: The 100m Dash is the first event in the game. This one is a button-masher, with you building up your power meter until you reach the finish line before your opponent.
• Long Jump: The Long Jump combines the button-mashing from the 100m Dash, allowing you to build speed on the run-up, with an additional jump at the end. As you jump, you control the angle, resulting in the total length of your jump.
• 400m Relay (qualifying heat): Success in the 400m Relay is all in the hand-off. While you need to keep up a good pace throughout the distance running, successfully passing the baton quickly will give you the best chance of a gold medal here.
• Skeet Shooting: Skeet Shooting is simple, as you aim left and right as clay pigeons fly into the air. Earn more points than your opponent to win the gold medal.
• 110m Hurdles: The 110m Hurdles are almost like a rhythm game, with you needing to time your jumps perfectly at the hurdles. Miss, and you’ll stumble, making a gold medal much harder to achieve.
• Archery: In the Archery mode, you’re looking to hit as close to the central target as possible, dealing with direction and wind as the two major obstacles to gold.
• Javelin: The Javelin game is a throwback to the earlier modes, working extremely similarly to the Long Jump. You gain momentum while running, then control the height of the throw. Toss the javelin further than your opponents to get gold.
• High Jump: The mechanics of the previous Javelin game return in the High Jump – build momentum, and control the angle of your jump to clear the bar.
• 400m Relay (final race): The final 400m Relay works exactly the same as the first, with passing the baton cleanly the key to success here.

Konami ’88 Main Characters

Because Konami ’88 isn’t officially licensed by the Olympic Games, the game doesn’t feature any of the athletes who competed in the 1988 South Korea Summer Olympics. While this is a shame, it’s not a total immersion breaker and allows you to write your own story as an Olympian.

As a result, there is no main character in Konami ’88 beyond the character that you choose to play as.

Konami ’88 Titles in the Series

Konami ’88 is actually part of the wider Track & Field series from Konami. This series celebrates the Olympic Games, although it is not officially licensed, and was much more popular when video games were much simpler in concept. The idea of the different sports fitting into a game as mini-games worked extremely well.

However, there hasn’t been a new Track & Field title since 2010 now. The main issue is the lack of demand for video games based on the Olympic Games. While the Olympics themselves remain as popular as ever, any demand that remains from the gaming community is satisfied by the officially licensed games instead, making anything unofficial a much harder sell overall.

• Track & Field (1983)
• Hyper Sports (1984)
• Track & Field 2 (1984)
• Konami ’88 (1988)
• Track & Field II (1988)
• Track & Field (1992)
• International Track & Field (1996)
• Hyper Olympics in Nagano (1998)
• International Track & Field 2000 (1999)
• Konami Sports Series (2001)
• Hyper Sports 2002 Winter (2002)
• New International Track & Field (2008)
• Hyper Sports Winter (2010)
• Hyper Sports Track & Field (2010)

Konami ’88 Cheat Codes

As a game exclusive to arcades, unfortunately, you aren’t going to find any cheat codes for Konami ’88. We’ve searched far and wide, and it seems that for this particular title, they just don’t exist.

Worse still, there aren’t any third-party cheats or mods for the game either. Presumably, this is the result of the game being exclusive to arcades. This makes it harder for a wide community to develop around the game, resulting in no third-party cheats being created. It’s a shame, but it’s understandable how it happens.

Konami ’88 Cheat Code FAQ

Are There Achievements for Konami ’88?

No, due to the fact that Konami ’88 was only ever released for arcades. This meant achievements, at least as we know them today, never had the chance to be added.

Crucially, the game was never included in any arcade compendium such as the Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits, or as part of the Arcade Archives system on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch. If the game was ever added to this, we may see achievements or trophies added to Konami ’88.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©Screenshot from Konami '88.