The Video Games Of The Olympic Games: Alien Olympics 2044

Chris Morley goes intergalactic.

Where we've previously stuck fairly rigidly to Olympian principles, come with us now as we inject a little more fun with the lighter gravity & indeed attitude to reality of 1994's Alien Olympics 2044 AD from Ocean Software - it's sport, but not as we know it...



...And unless the IOC massively opens up the bidding process to host the actual Games, it's unlikely we'll ever see them this far off Earth. But if you had a PC pr a Game Boy you could indulge in such glorious fantasy competing in events like the 100 Qbits Sprint, 200 Qbits Splurge, Big Bounce, Laser Leaping, Laser Skeet, Sabre Sling, Survival, Flob Flop, Toxophilly, Lizard Leap, Jetpack Tag, Alien Hurl & Wall Jumping.

While very little other information about this rarest of treasures survives, Console Passion can at least provide a little background-

“The story so far… After the 2012 AD Olympic Games when the Aliens walked away with every major sporting award, the Earth Council refused Aliens the right to take part in their games ever again.

Consequently, Garvan the supreme ruler of Traxsis decided to organise his own games – the Alien Olympics – which began in 2016 AD.

Since then, Traxsis has been represented by its reigning champion, the great Ooie Gooie and is set to be so once again, now that the games for the year 2044 AD are upon us.“

Eight different species of extra-terrestrial athlete also awaited, each with their own special abilities. For example, there is a caterpillar-like alien that is very good at shooting events but terrible at racing events. And regardless of who you choose, the lighter gravity allows the athletes to perform better than they would on the planet Earth. Very handy for the long jump one would think!

While no actual host has been chosen for as far ahead as 2044, it might have escaped your notice that although 2012 & 2016 brought with them editions of the actual Olympics, hosted by London & Rio respectively, only London, though, got its own official game, minus influence not of this Earth! And notably it proved to be the last such outing until Tokyo 2020's own effort (there's been no announcement yet on whether Beijing will get its own Winter Olympics game - though it did get one for its hosting of the Summer Games in 2008).

So, for the best part of recent Olympic tournaments, it's been left to character-led releases to fly the flag for the virtual experience. It could be argued that Alien Olympics 2044 paved the way for the later Mario & Sonic trips to the Games and their 'fantasy' options

Sega Sports started work on the series in 2007, subsequently sending their most athletic of hedgehogs & his new friend to the Winter Olympics two years later. The pair got around a bit, also pitching up in London, Sochi, Rio and Tokyo.

And it's in Tokyo, or thereabouts, that will will come down to Earth for our next excursion-on-the-version as we revisit an online Olympic release that was very popular with those "working from home" during the Summer of 2021...