California Games
Description official descriptions
California Games was the original "Extreme Games" – what today's generation might call "X-Games in the sun". Players can select sponsors (absent in some versions) and compete in events such as skateboarding, footbag, surfing, roller skating, flying disc (frisbee) and BMX. The surfing event is ranked by judges, which give a score to help the players improve their routine.
The Atari versions (2600 and Lynx) of the game omit the flying disc and roller skating events, while the Genesis version omits only the flying disc event.
Groups +
Screenshots
Promos
Credits (Commodore 64 version)
12 People
Game Design by | |
Graphics by | |
Music by | |
Copyright for song "Louie, Louie" by |
|
Reviews
Trivia
1001 Video Games
California Games appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.
Atari 2600 version
The Atari 2600 version of California Games, released in the later years of Atari's dominance in the Home Video Game market, was one of a handful of games that used 16K of memory. The Atari 2600 had been designed to only run cartridges of 2K and 4K in size. Games that were written to exceed that 4K memory limitation required the "bank swapping" technique in order to access 8K, 12K, and even 16K game cartridges.
Memory was still expensive in the 1980's, yet the public wanted more and more advanced games, especially since it had been several years now since the release of the many popular 8-bit home computer systems that had been flooding the market and reducing in cost. And with the Nintendo Entertainment System having just been released, the Atari 2600 was beginning to look very dated. In order to satisfy the public’s craving for games requiring increasing amounts of memory, creating a bigger game for the Atari 2600 was the only way to do it.
In order to handle the expansiveness of their games, Epyx released all three of their Olympic-based games with multiple ROM chips equaling the necessary 16K. Using bank-swapping, the various ROM chips could be accessed and swapped as needed. And all of it was embedded within a standard-sized Atari 2600 Cartridge!
Gags
During the flying disc event, if you leave the controls alone for long enough, you will see an alien abducting your partner on the radar, along the top of the screen (see screenshots).
Graphics
California Games was one of the handful of games released that pushed CGA to its limits by using a timing/hardware trick to get more colors on the screen. It called this trick "MORE-color" mode (as opposed to the normal "4-color" mode), and it achieved 7 different colors on the same screen by switching from one color palette to another at a particular scanline. The switch was masked fairly well by:
- making sure that the graphics had a horizontal boundary somewhere on the screen that wouldn't look funny by a color switch, and
- switching from the red-green-yellow palette to a tweaked red-cyan-white palette and using the common red color to mask the switch.
You can see how much better these screens looked by going to the Screenshots section of the California Games entry and looking at the shots marked "CGA MORE-color". While not as good as EGA, they were definitely much, much better than what CGA could normally produce.
While this technique has been used in other games (like Jungle Hunt), none did it so well as in California Games.
This technique will only work on 4.77MHz machines, as the timing required to change the palette is very exacting. Also, there is no way to capture, with a program, these screenshots; they had to be captured normally, then changing the used colors where the split occurred. They are identical to what's displayed on the screen, however, down to the additional color split in the names at the bottom of the title screen. )
Lynx version
- While the rollerskating event was taken out of the Lynx version of the game, you can still see the rollerskating girl skate by during the high-score screen.
- While the Lynx version of the game only officially supports 2 players, you can ComLynx up to four if everyone turns on their Lynxes simultaneously. It may take a couple of tries, but it is possible. Gameplay is slightly slower in this mode whenever more than two players are onscreen at the same time.
- In the Lynx version, the wave in the surfing section moves from right to left. In all other versions of the game, the wave moves from left to right.
Manual
In the Lynx version's manual, it reads: "Score an extra 50 points for hitting the seagull in the beak with the foot bag (but only in this game -- be kind to the birdies in the other events)."
Music
The main theme song is a cover of Richard Berry's Louie Louie, later made famous by Kingsmen.
RAM
When you play California Games on a PC with enough RAM, you'll get a message like this:
You've got 167K RAM more than you need, Dude.
That's gnarly!
Awards
- Commodore Format
- February 1991 (Issue 5) - listed in the A to Z of Classic Games article (Great)
- March 1994 (Issue 42) Heaven – The Path to Righteousness: 20 Essential Games
- ZZAP! 64
- Newsfield Reader's Awards 1987 - Best Game (readers choice)
Information also contributed by Apogee IV, Thomas Perl, Trixter and SirOrlando
Related Sites +
-
AtariMania (Epyx release, USA)
For Atari 2600: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
AtariMania (Epyx, Europe)
For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
AtariMania (Epyx, USA)
For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
AtariMania (Epyx, Worlwide)
For Atari 2600: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
AtariMania (HES release, Australia)
For Atari 2600: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
AtariMania (Kixx, UK)
For Atari ST: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
AtariMania (Salu, Worldwide)
For Atari 2600: game entry database; downloadable release; game packaging; advertisement; manuals; magazine reviews; additional material. -
CPC-Power (in French)
For Amstrad CPC: game database entry; game packaging; manual digitalizations; goodies; advertisement; magazine reviews; downloadable releases; additional material. -
CPCRrulez (in French)
For Amstrad CPC: game database entry; advertisement; game packaging; downloadable releases; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Atari Lynx)
For Atari Lynx: exhibit reference CH40324; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Commodore 64)
For Commodore 64: exhibit reference CH18325; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Commodore 64)
For Commodore 64: exhibit reference CH35616; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Sega Master System)
For Sega Master System: exhibit reference ID CH13239; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (Sega Mega Drive)
For Sega Mega Drive: exhibit reference CH39973; additional material. -
Cambridge Centre for Computing History (ZX Spectrum)
For ZX Spectrum: exhibit reference CH18601; additional material. -
Commodore 64 Boxed Sets
For C64: high quality game packaging digitalisations. Include box, manual, brochure, additional material. -
DOSBox, an x86 emulator with DOS
Statistics page of compatibility with original DOS version. -
Hall of Light
For Amiga: game database entry; digitalised manuals; game packaging; screenshots; additional material. -
IMDb, the Internet Movie Database
For combined platforms: game database entry. -
Kio's home
For ZX Spectrum: additional material including – photographed cassete inlay; snapshots; downloadable releases. -
Lemon 64
For C64: game entry database; advertisement; magazine reviews; music; documentation; cover art; additional material. -
Lemon Amiga
For Amiga: game database entry; magazine reviews; music; manual; additional material. -
MSX Generation
For MSX: game database entry; game packaging; manuals; additional material. -
Metacritic (C64: wii)
For C64, wii: reviews; ratings; critics; trailers; additional material. -
Metacritic (PSP)
For PSP: reviews; ratings; critics; trailers; additional material. -
NES Player - California Games
Tribute site with information about the game. -
Replacementdocs (Manual)
Documentation for Sega Master System. -
SMS Power!
For Sega Master System: releases info; credits; box text; additional material. -
Sega8bit, a Master System fan site
For SEGA Master System: artwork; releases; additional material. -
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Encyclopaedic entry for combined platforms. -
World of Spectrum
For ZX Spectrum: downloadable releases; additional material including – cassete inlay, advertisement, instructions; remakes links; player reviews; magazine references; magazine adverts. -
ZX Spectrum Reviews
For ZX Spectrum: magazine game reviews in HTML.
Identifiers +
- MobyGames ID: 1823
Contribute
Know about this game? Add your expertise to help preserve this entry in video game history!
Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Macintrash.
NES, Lynx added by POMAH. SEGA Master System, Genesis, Commodore 64, Atari 2600 added by PCGamer77. Windows, Antstream added by firefang9212. MSX added by Kohler 86. ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, J2ME added by Kabushi. Wii added by gamewarrior. Apple II added by Terok Nor. Atari ST added by Servo. Apple IIgs added by Garcia. Amiga added by Rantanplan.
Additional contributors: Apogee IV, chirinea, Pseudo_Intellectual, Patrick Bregger, Jo ST, FatherJack, ZeTomes.
Game added June 28th, 2000. Last modified May 4th, 2023.