DecAthlete,[a] released in Europe as Athlete Kings due to a licensing issue,[3] is a track-and-field themed arcade sports video game.

In the arcade version, the player is required to meet a minimum set time, height or distance to qualify for the next event.

The home console versions allow the player to compete in a full decathlon featuring all ten events without qualifying limit.

According to producer Mie Kumagai, AM3's general manager Hisao Oguchi came up with the idea to create a polygon-based sports game as the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta approached.

[15] A reviewer for Next Generation said that compared to its rival, Konami's International Track & Field, DecAthlete has far more polygons, producing characters which are "completely smooth, crisp, and full of life."

He also praised the variety of events, strong selection of modes and features, heavy distinction between the playable characters, and emphasis on timing and skill over button-mashing, which he felt set it apart from previous track-and-field games.

[8] Rob Allsetter of Sega Saturn Magazine highlighted the 60 frames per second animation, and agreed with Next Generation and EGM that, while DecAthlete does involve some button-mashing, it emphasizes skill conspicuously more than other games in the genre.