''California Games'' is a 1987

sports video game A sports video game is a video game that simulates the practice of sports. Most sports have been recreated with a game, including team sports, track and field, extreme sports, and combat sports. Some games emphasize actually playing the sport (s ...

originally released by

Epyx Epyx, Inc. was a video game developer and publisher active in the late 1970s and 1980s. The company was founded as Automated Simulations by Jim Connelley and Jon Freeman, originally using Epyx as a brand name for action-oriented games before ren ...

for the Apple II and Commodore 64, and ported to other home computers and

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...

s. Branching from their '' Summer Games'' and '' Winter Games'' series, this game consists of a collection of outdoor sports purportedly popular in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The game was successful and spawned a sequel.

Gameplay

The events available vary slightly depending on the platform, but include all of the following: * Half-pipe *

Footbag A footbag is a small, round bag usually filled with plastic pellets or sand, which is kicked into the air as part of a competitive game or as a display of dexterity. "Hacky Sack" is the name of a brand of footbag popular in the 1970s (currently o ...

* Surfing (Starring Rippin' Rick) *

Roller skating Roller skating is the act of traveling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on streets, sid ...

* BMX *

Flying disc A frisbee (pronounced ), also called a flying disc or simply a disc, is a gliding toy or sporting item that is generally made of injection-molded plastic and roughly in diameter with a pronounced lip. It is used recreationally and competitiv ...

Development

Several members of the development team moved on to other projects. Chuck Sommerville, the designer of the half-pipe game in ''California Games'', later developed the game '' Chip's Challenge'', while Ken Nicholson, the designer of the

footbag A footbag is a small, round bag usually filled with plastic pellets or sand, which is kicked into the air as part of a competitive game or as a display of dexterity. "Hacky Sack" is the name of a brand of footbag popular in the 1970s (currently o ...

game, was the inventor of the technology used in Microsoft's DirectX. Kevin Norman, the designer of the BMX game, went on to found the educational science software company Norman & Globus, makers of the ''ElectroWiz'' series of products. The sound design for the original version of ''California Games'' was done by Chris Grigg, member of the band

Negativland Negativland is an American experimental music band which originated in the San Francisco Bay Area in the late 1970s. They took their name from a Neu! track, while their record label (Seeland Records) is named after another Neu! track. The co ...

Ports

Originally written for the Apple II and Commodore 64, it was eventually

ported In software engineering, porting is the process of adapting software for the purpose of achieving some form of execution in a computing environment that is different from the one that a given program (meant for such execution) was originally desi ...

to Amiga, Apple IIGS,

Atari 2600 The Atari 2600, initially branded as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS) from its release until November 1982, is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977, it popularized microprocesso ...

, Atari ST,

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

, Genesis,

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the Si ...

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

, Nintendo Entertainment System, MSX and Master System. The

Atari Lynx The Atari Lynx is a hybrid 8/16-bit fourth generation handheld game console released by Atari Corporation in September 1989 in North America and 1990 in Europe and Japan. It was the first handheld game console with a color liquid-crystal disp ...

version was the

pack-in game This list includes terms used in video games and the video game industry, as well as slang used by players. 0–9 A ...

for the system when it was launched in 1989. An Atari XE version was planned and contracted out by Atari Corp. to Epyx in 1988 but no code was delivered by the publication deadline.

Reception

''California Games'' was a commercial blockbuster. With more than 300,000 copies sold in the first nine months, it was the most-successful Epyx game, outselling each of the four previous and two subsequent titles in the company's "Games" series. CEO David Shannon Morse stated that it was the first Epyx game to appeal equally to boys and girls during

playtesting A playtest is the process by which a game designer tests a new game for bugs and design flaws before releasing it to market. Playtests can be run "open", "closed", "beta", or otherwise, and are very common with board games, collectible card games, ...

. The game topped 500,000 units sold by 1989, at which time '' Video Games & Computer Entertainment'' reported that sales were "still mounting". '' Computer Gaming World'' recommended the game, calling it fun. ''

Compute! ''Compute!'' (), often stylized as ''COMPUTE!'', was an American home computer magazine that was published from 1979 to 1994. Its origins can be traced to 1978 in Len Lindsay's ''PET Gazette'', one of the first magazines for the Commodore PET ...

'' called ''California Games'' "both inventive and charming". In a capsule review for '' STart'',

Clayton Walnum Clayton Walnum is a programmer who has written multiple books about programming in C#, DirectX and C++. Clayton Walnum started programming computers in 1982, when he traded an IBM Selectric typewriter to buy an Atari 400 computer with 16K of RA ...

said ''California Games'' "isn't a bad package, especially since it comes free with the Lynx." He found the BMX and surfing events great fun but deemed the skateboarding event frustrating and said the foot-bag event is pleasant but quickly wears thin. In 1996, '' Next Generation'' listed the "Games" series collectively as number 89 on its "Top 100 Games of All Time". The magazine stated that though the games had great graphics for their time, their most defining qualities were their competitive multiplayer modes and "level of control that has yet to be equaled". In 2004, the Atari Lynx version of ''California Games'' was inducted into

GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...

's list of the greatest games of all time.

Legacy

The game was followed in 1990 by '' California Games II'', but the sequel failed to match the original's success. A ''California Games'' television series was considered in the late 1980s as part of the ''Super Mario Bros. Power Hour'', a one-hour animation block of Nintendo focused video game adaptations. Concept art was produced for the project by DIC Animation City. Only the Mario and Zelda segments for the block were ultimately produced, airing in 1989 as part of '' The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!''. The game was released for mobile phones in the Java format, and current rights holders System 3 CEO Mark Cale has stated that the game will be available in future as both a retail product and an online product for the

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on November 11, 2006, in Japan, November ...

, Wii and Nintendo DS. The Commodore 64 version was released for the Wii's

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Uni ...

service in Europe on April 11, 2008, and in North America on July 6, 2009.

References

External links

''California Games'' package and manual scans
at c64sets.com *
''California Games''
for the Amiga at the Hall of Light (HOL)

for the Atari 2600 at Atari Mania

for the Atari ST at Atari Mania

for the Lynx at Atari Age {{Authority control 1987 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Appaloosa Interactive games Apple II games Apple IIGS games Atari 2600 games Atari Lynx games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games Cycling video games DOS games Epyx games Master System games Mobile games MSX games Multiplayer and single-player video games Multiple-sport video games Nintendo Entertainment System games Pack-in video games Sega Genesis games Skateboarding video games Surfing video games U.S. Gold games Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Alex Rudis Video games scored by David Wise Video games set in California Video games with oblique graphics Water sports video games Westwood Studios games ZX Spectrum games Virtual Console games for Wii