California Games review - Nintendo Entertainment System

Are you gnarly? Well, if you are, I suggest you see a doctor. If you're just a cool dude, man, California Games could be the cart for you. The game involves competing in six bodacious events, namely foot-bagging, frisbee, surfing, BMX, roller-skating and half-pipe.

The object of this is to rack up mega-dabba-docious scores to impress all your pals. If your chums decide that they can do better, they can join in for up to four-player thrills and excitement. Whoever scores the best here gets the coveted "Very Trendy Person Cup". Are you the raddest, baddest person in... your house, or are you just a sad and lonely pinhead who's about as cool as the planet Mercury?

What the Mean Machines staff thought

California Games is easily the best of the Epyx Games series, and ti certainly made a successful transition to the console world when it hit the Master System. So how does the Nintendo version fare? Well, the graphics aren't bad, although the colours are very drab, and the sound is okay. But the real heart of California Games is the gameplay and I'm glad to say that that's one thing the NES version has in abundance. Each of the events provides enough challenge to keep you practicing for ages, and the multi-player option improves the lasting appeal greatly.

California Games is one of my all-time favourite Master System games, and I was interested to see whether this version would be as good. Well, at first things didn't look promising. The graphics aren't as good as the ones on the Master System version and the sound is roughly the same. However, play it and your fears soon evaporate - the gameplay offers even more fun and challenge! Each event is almost like a game in itself, especially the foot-bag, and there's plenty of potential to knock up huge scores. With its multitude of options, including the multi-player mode, California Games offers plenty of challenge and lasting appeal and shouldn't be missed by crazy dude sports fans.