California Games - Which Port was Better?

[ColecoFan1981]

For those of you who had played California Games in the 1987-92 time period, which ports of the game were the best in your opinion?

COMPUTER
Commodore 64 (1987)
Apple IIe (1987)
DOS (1987)
Apple IIGS (1989)
Atari ST (1989)

CONSOLE
Atari 2600 VCS (1988)
Nintendo Entertainment System (1989)
Sega Master System (1989)
Sega Genesis (1991)

HANDHELD
Atari Lynx (1990)

The Sega Genesis port of CG has some unique occurrences. Other than the omission of custom team sponsorship and the Flying Disc stage, that is.

First one: it rearranges the level songs:
1. The Half Pipe stage uses the Surfing song instead.
2. The Foot Bag stage uses the Skating song instead.
3. The Surfing stage uses some mystery song (maybe the BMX stage song).
4. The Skating stage uses the Half Pipe song instead.
5. The BMX stage uses the combination of the game's main title theme followed by a portion of the Foot Bag theme (the part that resembles the old hit song "I'm a Man")

Second one: the Skating stage adds one extra obstacle: CPU-controlled skaters in the image of the skater you're controlling. That is, the roller skating girl you're controlling must watch out for the skater girls going the opposite direction. This would've been cool for the older-released (and better-received) ports (Commodore 64, Apple II, Nintendo NES) but the catch is that it will of course increase the difficulty of this generally hard-to-do event.

The Nintendo NES version of CG is better received, besides containing all six events and the custom team sponsorship, in that it was programmed by Rare Ltd., the same people who brought us Wizards & Warriors, R.C. Pro-Am, Battletoads and (for the Super NES) Donkey Kong Country. Sega's other port of CG was for its Master System, and it also had all six events intact.

~Ben

[treismac]

I only played the NES and Lynx ports of California Games of which the Lynx's was easily my favorite.

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

The LYNX version is very good but VERY different than any of the others.

If I had to go with a standard version I'll go with the C64 version.

EPYX + C64 typically = best version IMO.

[Greg2600]

I have the SMS version, not bad. The NES version was terrible.

[cityside75]

Lynx, and really surfing alone makes it the best. I never got that good at the other events.

[Derxst]

EPYX + C64 typically = best version IMO.

+1 ^5

Oddly enough I also really like the Atari 2600 version as well.

[RCM]

Lynx, baby. I love the surfing segments.

[Compute]

I've played mostly the Genesis and 2600 versions, and I really enjoy both. I like how they managed to pack so much into the 2600 versions of all of the Epyx _____ Games titles. But the 2600 version does have nice graphics.

[ColecoFan1981]

I have the SMS version, not bad. The NES version was terrible.

Surely you must not appreciate the work of Rare, Ltd. in that port.

Yeah, most everyone knows the Skating event is difficult, but the music still shines.

~Ben

[ColecoFan1981]

THREAD BUMP

If there is one trick I haven't seen online yet, that one is the "OLLYWOOD" trick in the Half Pipe stage.

Tip: If you succeed in getting your player to stay in the half pipe long enough, without fail, an earthquake will erupt, causing the "H" in "HOLLYWOOD" to crack.

But getting back to which version was the best, I must dock down the Genesis version not only for the omission of the Flying Disc level, but also because the songs in the other five event stages were reshuffled. The Half Pipe level takes the song from the Foot Bag level; the Foot Bag level uses the song from the Skating level; the Surfing level's theme song could've possibly been the real BMX theme tune; the Skating level takes the Half Pipe theme; and the BMX level takes the game's select screen song and a portion of the Foot Bag theme (the "I'm a Man" riff). When I say that, I mean the other ports had their songs match with the respective events, but not so in the Genesis port.

~Ben

[Compute]

THREAD BUMP
I must dock down the Genesis version ... because the songs in the other five event stages were reshuffled.

Aha..didn't notice that. No wonder the music in all of the other versions doesn't seem right

[Greg2600]

Lynx, baby. I love the surfing segments.

Yes but that's like recommending a Game Gear port. Neither system is what I would call perfectly playable these days due to the aging/failure of the screens.