California Games

91K plays 1987 #Action#Sport

California Games is a 1987 sports video game developed and published by Epyx for the Apple II and Commodore 64. Branching from their Summer Games and Winter Games series, it is a collection of outdoor sports purportedly popular in California. The game was successful and was soon ported to other home computers and video game consoles, and was the pack-in game for the Atari Lynx when that system launched in September 1989. It was followed by the sequel California Games II in 1990.

The events vary slightly per platform, but include half-pipe, footbag, surfing (starring Rippin' Rick), roller skating, BMX, and flying disc.

From Wikipedia's article California Games, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Keyboard controls

GenesisPlayer 1Player 2
D-pad↑↓←→IKJL
AZN
BXM
CC,
XAY
YSU
ZDO
ModeShiftB
StartEnterSpace

Hotkeys

  • 1 Quick save state
  • 2 Quick load state
  • 3 Change save slot

X, Y and Z are for six-button games such as Street Fighter II.

Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).

Emulator help & troubleshooting

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Keyboard controls

GenesisPlayer 1Player 2
D-pad↑↓←→IKJL
AZN
BXM
CC,
XAY
YSU
ZDO
ModeShiftB
StartEnterSpace

Hotkeys

  • 1 Quick save state
  • 2 Quick load state
  • 3 Change save slot

X, Y and Z are for six-button games such as Street Fighter II.

Gamepads are detected when you press a button. Remap any key from the emulator’s Controls menu (gear icon).

Emulator help & troubleshooting

Winter Games Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) 25K plays • 1985
Summer Games Sega Master System 25K plays • 1984
The Games: Winter Challenge Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 207K plays • 1991
Tecmo Super Bowl Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 495K plays • 1991
Double Dribble Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 141K plays • 1987
The Games: Summer Challenge Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 98K plays • 1992
John Madden Football Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 67K plays • 1990
Winter Olympics: Lillehammer ’94 Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 43K plays • 1993
Championship Bowling Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 57K plays • 1989
World Class Leader Board Sega Game Gear 18K plays • 1987
PGA Tour Golf Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 101K plays • 1990
Tommy Lasorda Baseball Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 33K plays • 1989
Arch Rivals Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 29K plays • 1989
Tecmo World Cup ’90 Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 45K plays • 1989
FIFA International Soccer Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 218K plays • 1993
World Championship Soccer Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 38K plays • 1989
FIFA Soccer 95 Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 132K plays • 1994
R.B.I. Baseball 3 Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 15K plays • 1991
NBA Hangtime Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 56K plays • 1996
NBA Live 95 Sega Genesis / Mega Drive 79K plays • 1994

Pixel Verdict

California GamesGenesis

1.5 Wake me up when it's over

EGM 5/10, 4/10, 4/10, 5/10 · 1 review

What the reviews talk about

Key wordsinventivecharmingoutstandingfrustratingrealisticfun

What the critics said

  • Compute! called California Games "both inventive and charming".

    — Compute!, 1987

  • "Epyx Software gives us a refreshing treat", PC Magazine said of the PC version, citing the surfing game's "outstanding animation and realistic graphics".

    — PC Magazine, 1988· about another version

From the Reception section of Wikipedia's California Games article, under CC BY-SA 4.0. The words are the critics'; their full reviews are on the publishers' pages.

Scores

  • ACE 1989 930/1000 (other versions)
  • Crash 2017 36% (other versions)
  • Computer and Video Games 1989 37/40; 82%; 95% ; 94% (other versions)
  • Dragon 4.5/5 (other versions)
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly 1992 5/10, 4/10, 4/10, 5/10
  • Sinclair User 2017 8/10 (other versions)
  • The Games Machine (UK) 2019 92% (other versions)
  • Your Sinclair 7/10 (other versions)
  • Zzap!64 97% (other versions)

From the review table of Wikipedia's article. The face takes, first that applies: the Metascore for this platform, GameRankings' archived average, our average of the critics (one number per publication, a panel averaged), one review alone, the players' rating. Critics and players are never mixed.

Players' rating: 73/100 · 210 votes

Full reviews

Face key

  1. 1.00+
  2. 1.540+
  3. 2.050+
  4. 2.560+
  5. 3.068+
  6. 3.575+
  7. 4.080+
  8. 4.585+
  9. 5.090+

5.0 Outstanding! · 4.0 Great job! · 3.0 Good job · 2.0 Could be better · 1.0 Wake me up when it's over · A thumbs-up adds half a point. Our own drawings, in the spirit of the faces GamePro magazine used in the '90s.

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