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Titles like International Track & Field: Summer Games truly embodied this.Arriving on the N64 in characteristically late fashion, the sports sim was ported to cartridge in 2000 after its 1999 PlayStation release. The format essentially aped an Olympic tournament, featuring a series of sporting challenges spread over consecutive days. Each of these demanded a range of motor skills, and I still wonder if Konami hired sadomasochists to ensure the standard was as brutal as possible. First-time outrage after button bashing your way to 11th place in the 100-meter swimming was a bittersweet rite of passage.Read on VICE Sports: Why Pole Vaulters Risk Everything for an Extra Half-Inch
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Returning to the game now, at age 28, is like opening a time capsule containing a neat distillation of my teenage friendships. A slightly pungent yet familiar sense of humor greets me on the memory card, where longstanding world records are enshrined. Apparently, Stalin was a major contender in the breaststroke, while an athlete simply named Cockboy is a javelin legend. In the pole vault, Clitlick and Dicko are undisputed champs.Puerile: yes. Dumb: undoubtedly. But also just another part of the messy process of growing up.As with so many teenage boys, our sense of masculinity wasn't first seized on soccer fields or in sweaty clubs, but in suburban bedrooms, hunched over TVs, insulting and congratulating each other as we hammered at pieces of plastic. Looking back, all those blisters were a trade in: the price paid for a glimpse of something much bigger.Follow VICE Gaming on Twitter.Read on Motherboard: Achilles' Wrists: Meet the Doctor Who Is Saving eSports Careers