Recordbreaker is a 1988 arcade multi-event sports game from Taito, released in Japan under the title Go for the Gold. Playable solo or head-to-head, it drops one or two athletes into ten Olympic-style disciplines and challenges them to set a new world record in each. It follows the Track & Field mould Konami popularised earlier in the decade, but Taito’s version leans entirely on buttons, with no joystick at all.
How to play
Choose from ten events in any order: 100m Sprint, 4x100m Relay, Triple Jump, Pole Vault, Long Horse (vault), 100m Swimming, Weightlifting, Horizontal Bar, 100m Hurdles and Shot Put. Every event is controlled with buttons only:
- Sprint-based events (100m Sprint, part of the Hurdles and Relay) — alternate the run buttons as fast as possible to build speed.
- Hurdles — keep up the sprint rhythm and time a jump button to clear each hurdle.
- Relay — sprint your leg, then hit the pass button at the right moment to hand off the baton.
- Swimming — sprint to build stroke speed and press the surface button in time to catch a breath.
- Shot Put — pick a release angle, then power up the throw.
- Horizontal Bar — build momentum, then choose your dismount angle for the landing.
In the browser, the button mashing translates to alternating keys such as Z and X, with a separate action key (usually Enter or the on-screen jump/angle button) for the timed input in each event. Clear the qualifying mark to advance; fall short in any single event and the run ends there.
Tips
- Alternate two keys rather than hammering one — real button-mashers and emulator key-repeat both read faster on a clean left-right rhythm than on single-key spam.
- In the Hurdles and Horizontal Bar, timing your one action button matters more than raw mashing speed — a late jump or dismount costs more than a slightly slower sprint.
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