A sunny beach, the scent of neoprene and music that seems straight out of a soda commercial - California Games instantly teleports you to the carefree California of the eighties, where you compete not for medals but for pure good vibes. Unlike austere Olympic simulations, this sporting mix does not try to be serious. Instead of the hundred-meter dash, here you jump on a BMX bike, balance on a surfboard, kick a hacky sack and throw a flying disc. And its charm lies precisely in that light-heartedness.
The game is a collection of several mini-games, each with its own controls and rhythm. Surfing asks you for a feel for the wave and the timing of tricks, ramp skateboarding rewards daring jumps, footbag (hacky sack) is about reflexes and coordination, and the BMX track tests how far you are willing to risk on jumps over obstacles. The Frisbee discipline, in turn, builds on the interplay of two players, or a player and the computer. It is all held together by a relaxed, sunny atmosphere that makes the game an ideal title for passing a single controller around.
California Games was created at the Epyx studio, which had made its name precisely with multi-sport game series like Summer Games and Winter Games. This time, however, the team deliberately abandoned Olympic seriousness and bet on the lifestyle that was all the rage in the mid-eighties - skating, surfing and the whole „totally rad“ culture of coastal California. The title originally came out on home computers and, thanks to its enormous success, gradually spread to a whole range of platforms.
The SEGA Master System version is among the later console ports and shows how well the concept transferred to eight-bit hardware too. The Master System's color palette helped underline the bright, sun-drenched environments that are inseparable from this game. For many players who did not know the original computer release, it was precisely the console form that became the „real“ version of California Games.
Culturally it is one of the titles that defined the whole genre of casual „lifestyle“ sports games. They foreshadowed the later wave of skateboarding and extreme-sports titles that peaked only a decade later. California Games became synonymous with digital summer - a game you remember more by its mood than by the score you achieved.
Why play: For sun-soaked good vibes and switching between several brisk disciplines that are best enjoyed in the company of friends.
Game 34 of 67 for SEGA Master System
The same title elsewhere (4)
The original was built on the Commodore 64, where it drew on the legendary SID sound chip to deliver the richest, fullest-sounding music of any version. The Atari Lynx portable version, one of its launch titles, ran on a backlit colour screen but had to trim both the number and scope of events compared with the computer original due to limited cartridge memory. The Sega Master System version, meanwhile, had to give up some of the colour depth and animation smoothness offered by the 8-bit home computer, and its sound is noticeably simpler. Anyone wanting the best-sounding version should pick the C64; anyone who prefers gaming on the move will appreciate the Lynx.
