I’ve spent some time recently with an old favourite - California Games by Epyx. It was a very popular game back in the day and there were of course versions released for a stack of different platforms; the Sega Master System version being the one I played as a kid. More recently I’ve taken an interest in some of the other flavours of this game, specifically those for the C64, Atari 2600, and DOS. What follows is a superficial comparison of these 4 versions. Please note that I ‘borrowed’ all of these pics from the interwebs because I’m incapable to taking a decent photo of my CRT TV.
Commodore 64
This, along with the Apple II version, was the original release, hitting shelves in 1987. It’s a 2 disk game, but both are loaded during the initial load, so there’s no disk swapping required after that point; there are however still load screens between each event. The SID tunes are nice but not outstanding, and they often only play at the start of an event – not during – which is a shame. The C64’s 16-colour VIC-II is a wonderful thing and the game looks great, but it can’t compete with the SMS’s 32 colour output. The controls are pretty good – I use a joystick with my C64 – but can border on overly difficult in some events. For example, pulling off all the moves on half-pipe is no easy thing, and the BMX event is also somewhat wonky and not as fun as it could be.
Atari 2600
While the 2600 version is substantially different to the original due to the technical limitations of the system, it’s still surprisingly good. It was developed in 1988 by Epyx, who apparently knew how to make the 2600 sing by that late stage. The visuals are the best I’ve seen on the 2600 and there’s provision for 1 to 8 players (including the sponsorships). Epyx even managed to get a plausible rendition of “Louie Louie” out of the 2600’s limited sound capabilities. You’re forced to play through the events in order, and there’s no flying disk or skating, but the included events are very playable. Footbag is notable, and the 2600’s version of BMX is a slapstick downhill thrill-ride!
DOS
I’m playing this version on a 16Mhz 286 with 1MB RAM, but even so I need to de-turbo the machine down to 8Mhz and use ‘loadfix’ to get the game to run as intended. Points off for that. The EGA graphics are serviceable but not as pretty as the C64 or SMS versions, and the sound is limited to PC speaker. The controls are generally acceptable – I use a dogbone gravis game pad – but the BMX event is frustratingly hard to control. Halfpipe is fun, as is surfing. The timing of footbag is off and skating is way too easy. You can however stop and buy your roller skating chick an icecream so points gained for that! At the end of the day it’s a passible effort but no more.
Sega Master System
As I mentioned this is the version that I grew up with, but being as objective as possible I still think this is the pick of the bunch. It looks great, it sounds great, there are no load times, and it has the tightest controls of the lot. This is the version to have, in my humble opinion.
All told
I’d recommend either the SMS or C64 versions, but whatever version you choose, California Games is still a lot of fun - particularly with 2 or more players. The setting, language used, and the events themselves all talk directly to my inner child. BMXs, skateboards, eye wateringly bright leisure wear; it’s a game that managed to both capture the ‘je ne sais quoi’ of the 80’s, and stand the test of time with its solid gameplay.
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