California Games (NES)

California Games

Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System Year: 1988 Developer: Rare Ltd./Rare Coin-It Inc.

For other games in the series, see California Games.

California Games is a sports game developed by Rare Ltd. and published by Milton Bradley. It is a port of the computer game by Epyx, originally released on home computers in 1987 before being ported to the NES by Rare a year later.

In the game, up to eight players can compete in six different challenges. Each player enters their name and then picks a sponsor. The events are as follows:

1. Half Pipe: You control a skateboarder on a half pipe. You must score points by skating to each apex and do tricks to score points.
2. Foot Bag: You bounce the footbag around using either your feet or your head to keep it bouncing.
3. Surfing: You control a surfer riding a wave. Jump off the wave at an angle and get back on the wave at the opposite angle to avoid wiping out.
4. Skating: You control a skater on a course, where you must jump and dodge obstacles while also performing tricks.
5. BMX: Ride a BMX down a course doing tricks to earn points.
6. Flying Disk: With one character, you throw the disk and after throwing the disk, you control a second character who must catch it. Sliding into it to catch it earns the most points.

Some events are on a timer, in which you must obtain the most amount of points possible to maintain a high score. Events also end if you fail too many times. At the end of all six events, the final results are announced.

The NES version of the game received mixed reviews. Some praised the conversion, but others criticized the game for the controls, particularly those in the Half Pipe event, where it can be very tricky to control your player. In addition, the game does not save your high scores.

Screenshots

The title screen. The main menu. The Half Pipe. The BMX event. The final results.

This page needs more screenshots.

Music

The NES version of California Games uses the original Commodore 64 score written by Chris Grigg. Also like the computer versions, the title music is an arrangement of Louie Louie by the Kingsmen. The NES version of the music was arranged by David Wise.

Wise said the following about working on the game:

“

I programmed the music / audio conversion - not my compositions - I just arranged them for NES

„

There are a couple interesting things to note between the USA and European versions regarding the game's soundtrack; In the European version, Louie Louie was omitted and the Main Menu music plays at the title screen instead, presumably due to copyright problems. However, the song still exists in the game's code and can be found in the PAL recording below. Another interesting change is that the Surfing event now has an original track written by David Wise. It is unknown why this one song was written for the European version and the original wasn't used. However, it may be presumably because the original theme from the computer version uses an arranged version of Wipe Out, and so Wise wrote a new song to avoid any possible copyright problems.

Wise did the arrangements for the NES version by entering the musical notation in assembly macros into Rare's sound driver coded by Chris Stamper, and later modified by Mark Betteridge.

The NTSC version recording starts with a 1, and the PAL version recording starts with a 2. Like most PAL versions of soundtracks, the song plays a half-step flat. However, it also plays a little faster than the NTSC version which is unusual, as the NTSC version of NES soundtracks are usually a little faster.

Recording

1 - NTSC

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
101	Title Screen	Richard Berry	David Wise	1:28		Download
102	Main Menu	Chris Grigg	David Wise	1:12		Download
103	Half Pipe	Chris Grigg	David Wise	1:52		Download
104	Foot Bag	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:44		Download
105	Surfing	The Surfaris	David Wise	1:27		Download
106	Shark Attack	John Williams	David Wise	0:13		Download
107	Skating	Chris Grigg	David Wise	1:14		Download
108	BMX	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:42		Download
109	Flying Disk	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:27		Download
110	New High Score	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:02		Download
111	Results	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:02		Download
112	Final Results	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:02		Download

2 - PAL

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
201	Unused	Richard Berry	David Wise	1:25		Download
202	Title Screen and Main Menu	Chris Grigg	David Wise	1:10		Download
203	Half Pipe	Chris Grigg	David Wise	1:48		Download
204	Foot Bag	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:42		Download
205	Surfing	David Wise	David Wise	0:51		Download
206	Shark Attack	John Williams	David Wise	0:13		Download
207	Skating	Chris Grigg	David Wise	1:12		Download
208	BMX	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:41		Download
209	Flying Disk	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:27		Download
210	New High Score	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:02		Download
211	Results	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:02		Download
212	Final Results	Chris Grigg	David Wise	0:02		Download

Credits

• Ripper: MrNorbert1994
• Recorder: Doommaster1994
• Game Credits:
  • "LOUIE, LOUIE" - Copyright © by: LIMAX MUSIC INC./AMERICAN BERRY MUSIC
  • Uncredited Composer: Chris Grigg
  • Uncredited Composer: David Wise
  • Uncredited Composer: John Williams
  • Uncredited Composer: Richard Berry
  • Uncredited Composer: The Surfaris
  • Uncredited Arranger: David Wise
  • Uncredited Sound Effects: Stephen Patrick
  • Uncredited Sound Driver: Chris Stamper
  • Uncredited Sound Driver: Mark Betteridge

(Sources: C64 version, NES Manual, verification from David Wise; Game lacks credits)

Like most NES games by Rare, the game lacks credits. However, we have received verification from David Wise that he was responsible for the NES version's arrangements. Some of the game's sound effects strongly resemble those used in Double Dare (NES), which credits sound effects to Stephen Patrick. The European version appears to use the new version of Rare's sound driver by Mark Betteridge. In addition, the name MARK can be found in the high scores of the European version for the BMX event.

The NES version's manual gives credit to the copyright holders of Louie Louie.

Game Rip

Format	Download
	N/A

Ripping NES music is an arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site. The music was recorded in NSFPlay Synthesia mod.

Audio Devices

The game uses the NES's RP2A03. The game uses Rare's sound driver, written by Chris Stamper, and later modified by Mark Betteridge.

Releases

Germany Title: California Games Platform: NES Released: 1988-??-?? Publisher: Milton Bradley     USA Title: California Games Platform: NES Released: 1989-06-?? Publisher: Milton Bradley

Links

• gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587168-california-games - GameFAQs.
• mobygames.com/game/1823/california-games/ - Mobygames.