Numan Athletics

The Good
Presentation is fast-paced and the anime art-style does it great. You get four cosmetically different characters each with their own one-liners and poses. There's a fair share of cutscenes for certain events. It's kind of hilarious to see the comical effects of losing an event, especially Sharon's embarrassing moments from her clothes burned off. Oh and the music is loud and disco-like, it just catches your attention for the duration of the game.

The gameplay mimics the style of the older athletic sports titles such as Epyx's games series and the futuristic sci-fi theme really sets it apart. In between the athletic events, you are shown very helpful demonstrations of the upcoming event with super valuable hints on how to rack up your score. The controls always do something different, so you're not always mashing buttons and who needs a joystick to get the game going?

The Bad
There's nothing that breaks the game in any way, but if I had any personal complaints, it's lack of variety in the smallest parts that make up the game. For instance there's not enough voice lines to fully build the characters' personalities. The characters would've also been complete if they each had their own backstory. In regards to graphics, the foregrounds are pretty hazy and lacking in texture so the screens are not picture perfect, but simple enough so you can focus on your character's movement.

Gameplay isn't perfect when it comes to competing against CPU opponents, who have the unfair advantage of beating you in an event. Thankfully you do not need to outdo the CPU opponent to move on to the next event, just give it your best.

The Bottom Line
For its time, this arcade game really thrust itself from the arcade screen to the player's fingertips to get a whole lot of action pumping. The action is intensified with four players huddled together like a game of Twister. There's so much incentive to compete. You can't really get any sports games like this from Konami or Epyx, who had their own share of sports games, just short of the futuristic sci-fi theme. This title makes for a nice potentially cool slice-of-life anime film. Too bad it barely got released outside the arcade and never outside Japan, neither did it get ported to other consoles at the time. If you're ready for a nostalgic adventure, search far and wide to play this one. It's like one of Namco's little gems on a ring.