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22-456: A snow-and-ice themed follow-up to the highly successful Summer Games , Winter Games was released in 1985 for the Commodore 64 and later ported to several popular home computers and video game consoles of the 1980s. The game was presented as a virtual multi-sport carnival called the "Epyx Winter Games" (there was no official IOC licensing in place) with up to 8 players each choosing

44-516: A 2.0 out of 5, criticizing the boring events. California Games California Games is a sports video game released by Epyx for the Apple II and Commodore 64 in 1987. Branching from their Summer Games and Winter Games series, this game is a collection of outdoor sports purportedly popular in California . It ported to other home computers and video game consoles and

66-550: A capsule review for STart , Clayton Walnum 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

88-565: A country to represent, and then taking turns competing in various events to try for a medal. The events available vary slightly depending on the platform, but include some or all of the following: The game allows players to compete in all of the events sequentially, choose a few events, choose just one event, or practice an event. Winter Games was ported to the Amiga , Apple II , Atari ST , Apple Macintosh , Apple II GS , Amstrad CPC , ZX Spectrum , and IBM PC computer platforms, and to

110-406: A country to represent, and then taking turns competing in various events to try for a medal. A score of 5:3:1 is used — gold medals 5 points, silver medals 3 points, and bronze medals 1 point. On most versions, world records can be saved to the floppy disk . The Commodore 64 version allows players to link Summer Games and Summer Games II to engage in one large Olympics, accumulating medals in

132-399: A tournament from both games. The events available vary slightly depending on the platform, and include pole vault , platform diving , sprinting , gymnastics , freestyle swimming , and skeet shooting . The game allows the player to compete in all of the events sequentially, choose a few events, choose just one event, or practice an event. The inspiration for Summer Games came from

154-785: The Atari 2600 , Atari 7800 , Nintendo Entertainment System , and the Family Computer Disk System video game consoles. In 2004, it was featured as one of the games on the C64 Direct-to-TV . A Virtual Console version was released in Europe in February 2009. Winter Games was Epyx's best-selling Commodore game as of late 1987. Its sales had surpassed 250,000 copies by November 1989. Info rated Winter Games four-plus stars out of five, stating that each event

176-490: The C64 Direct-to-TV . Summer Games was the first in Epyx's Games series which continued with: Summer Games II , Winter Games , World Games , California Games , California Games II , The Games: Summer Edition , and The Games: Winter Edition. The game is presented as a virtual multi-sport competition called the "Epyx Games" (there was no official IOC licensing in place) with up to eight players each choosing

198-567: The Starpath Supercharger game Sweat! The Decathlon Game . It was inspired by earlier titles like Microsoft 's Olympic Decathlon . While Sweat! was still in development Epyx purchased the ailing Starpath company. Work on the game was halted, because of the video game crash of 1983 . All in-development Supercharger games were canceled and existing Supercharger inventory was liquidated but several developers at Starpath moved to Epyx including Sweat! programmer Scott Nelson. Work

220-535: The Summer Olympic Games . Released in 1984 for the Commodore 64 , it was ported to the Apple II , Atari 2600 , Atari 7800 , Atari 8-bit computers , and Master System . In the UK, the game was first released by Quicksilva and subsequently by U.S. Gold who later created versions for the Amiga , ZX Spectrum , Amstrad CPC and Atari ST for inclusion in compilations. In 2004 it was re-released on

242-413: The "Games" series collectively as number 89 on its "Top 100 Games of All Time". The magazine wrote 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". Summer Games (video game) Summer Games is a sports video game developed and published by Epyx based on sports from

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264-432: The company's "Games" series. CEO Dave Morse said that it was the first Epyx game to appeal equally to boys and girls during playtesting . 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! called California Games "both inventive and charming". In

286-519: The game 3½ out of 5 stars. The Spectrum version topped the charts for the month of April. However, the NES and Famicom Disk System versions were critically panned for unresponsive controls, abysmal music and poor graphics. The Angry Video Game Nerd reviewed the NES version of the game in December 2009. In it, he calls the game's controls some of the worst in a game ever. In 1996, Next Generation listed

308-508: 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 's list of the greatest games of all time. 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

330-690: The half-pipe game in California Games , later developed the game Chip's Challenge , while Ken Nicholson , the designer of the footbag 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

352-423: The most popular home computer of the mid-1980s. In 1996, Next Generation listed the "Games" series collectively as number 89 on its "Top 100 Games of All Time". The magazine wrote 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 a retrospective review, Atari 7800 Forever gave only

374-408: The original version of California Games was done by Chris Grigg, member of the band Negativland . Originally written for the Apple II and Commodore 64 , it was eventually ported to Amiga , Apple II GS , Atari 2600 , Atari ST , MS-DOS , Genesis , Amstrad CPC , ZX Spectrum , Nintendo Entertainment System , MSX and Master System . The Atari Lynx version was the pack-in game for

396-451: The system when it was launched in June 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. 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

418-521: 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

440-494: Was good enough to be sold separately, and concluding that it was "sports simulation at its best!". In 1985, Zzap!64 gave 94% for the game calling it "another classic sport simulation from Epyx". Lemon64 website users have given average vote of 8.6 which places the game on top 20 list on the site. The game was reviewed in 1988 in Dragon #132 by Hartley, Patricia, and Kirk Lesser in "The Role of Computers" column. The reviewers gave

462-470: Was started on a new decathlon game for the Commodore 64 named Summer Games . Scott Nelson worked on it and Summer Games II . Epyx sold more than 250,000 copies of Summer Games by November 1989; Ahoy! described it as "tremendously successful". As the first of Epyx's "Games" series, it founded what a historian later described as "the most sustainedly popular in the long life of the Commodore 64",

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484-467: Was the pack-in game for the Atari Lynx when that system launched in 1989. The game was successful and spawned a sequel, California Games II . The events vary slightly per platform, but include Half-pipe , Footbag , Surfing (starring Rippin' Rick), Roller skating , BMX , and Flying disc . Several members of the development team moved on to other projects. Chuck Sommerville, the designer of

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