Atarifever Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 How come California games for the 2600 is so unbelieveably great? How come the BMX game is as good as many other complete atari games? Why does foot bag look like something for the 5200? How did Atari fit all 4 of these awesome little, polished games into a 2600 cart? Is there some kind of chip built in like SNES and Genesis did with Starfox and Virtua Racer? Or did the programers just use a little elbow grease and all that was known about the 2600 by that point in time to squeeze the maximum potential out of the game? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Laird Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 I think you will find this is just an amazing piece of programming by Epyx who went on to invent the Lynx, nuff said . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 Of course that excellent game was written by Peter Engelbrite in about 6 weeks. Take that HSW! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maibock Posted February 24, 2005 Share Posted February 24, 2005 Of course that excellent game was written by Peter Engelbrite in about 6 weeks. Take that HSW! Interesting interview - now if only game makers today would: A good exercise is to mentally remove all the graphics, sounds, plots, and animations and ask: “Is the underlying game play fun?” Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocko Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 A fav of mine on the 2600. THe BMX is the greatest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+SpiceWare Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Of course that excellent game was written by Peter Engelbrite in about 6 weeks. Take that HSW! But didn't HSW do it by himself? Further down in the article I see California Games – 2600 was created by two programmers and a musician in 1-½ months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keilbaca Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 California games is awesome. During the Atarilympics, I was able to max out Foot Bag (99999) and Half Pipe (29k, i forget the exact score). Every trick on Half Pipe was a handstand, I never missed one oppertunity to do one and I never fail on any handstand, thus making that the max score. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Propane13 Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 This brings up a good question. - You can max out the footbag event. - You can get the max points for skateboardin' - I even think you can max out Surfin (there's only like 5-6 tricks, and if you do them enough, you run out of things that give you points So--- what's the max score possible on BMX? -John Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keilbaca Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 In regards to surfing, I got 11k on it, and a fellow AA member beat me by like 500 points. I think the max is just over 12k, at least thats what I can remember from TG... As for BMX, its 74k as 1st place, but I dunno if you can get higher. The most I got was 45k... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StanJr Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Yeah, C-Games is the best. I love just about every aspect, surfing is a little weak, but still good for the VCS. The BMX could be a game all its own. Wow. Much better than the uber-crappy Winter Games. ugh. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cootster Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Footbag definitely maxes out at 50K, and that's extremely easy to do. Just keep it on your head. Never maxed the others, though. I'm so not good at surfing. And the BMX portion >>>> BMX Airmaster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keilbaca Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Footbag definitely maxes out at 50K, and that's extremely easy to do. Just keep it on your head. Never maxed the others, though. I'm so not good at surfing. And the BMX portion >>>> BMX Airmaster. ????? I got 99999 on it... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kyle Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 I love cali games! First time i played it back in 1989 i was in aw of it. My sister went on a trip somewhere and i asked her to bring me something back. Well we lived in a small town and it was hard to find atari 2600 games there in 1989 so she brought me back california games for the 2600. I was one happy little kid playing that game! At the time i wondered how they could make a 2600 game look like a NES game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint Thompson Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Sadly out of the 500 some odd 2600 games I once had, Cali Games was never one of them. Your right about it sort of looking like some 5200 / 8bit graphics mixed up in there (as well as the intro color scrolly going on) Thanks for the link Greg.... interesting interview. Sounds like good times at Epyx... Any other screenshots of this game other then the 1 in game shot here on AA? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Random Terrain Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Of course that excellent game was written by Peter Engelbrite in about 6 weeks. Take that HSW! But didn't HSW do it by himself? Further down in the article I see California Games – 2600 was created by two programmers and a musician in 1-½ months. Plus, about 5 years separated those two games. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mental Vortex Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 I dug this out last night after reading this thread and you're right. It IS a pretty good game! I think I played this on the NES as well when it came out. Anyway, it is a lot of fun, and well written. Always liked the skateboarding part, just to see how high you can get the guy to go up in the air and do a few tricks along the way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Any other screenshots of this game other then the 1 in game shot here on AA? Here you go: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clint Thompson Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 SuWeet... I wanna play the surfing one and the hacky sack game Thanks again Greg... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kisrael Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Interesting interview - now if only game makers today would: A good exercise is to mentally remove all the graphics, sounds, plots, and animations and ask: “Is the underlying game play fun?” Yeah, but that's kind of an interesting question, because sometimes you can't break a game down like that. "is the joystick waggling fun?" what makes anything "fun"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Yeah, but that's kind of an interesting question, because sometimes you can't break a game down like that. "is the joystick waggling fun?" what makes anything "fun"? How about replace the word "fun" with "rewarding?" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maibock Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 Interesting interview - now if only game makers today would: A good exercise is to mentally remove all the graphics, sounds, plots, and animations and ask: “Is the underlying game play fun?” Yeah, but that's kind of an interesting question, because sometimes you can't break a game down like that. "is the joystick waggling fun?" what makes anything "fun"? I assume he's taking a swipe at some of the modern games which rely heavily on pretty graphics and snazzy sound, when when that's stripped away, there's very little game play evident.. joy stick waggling IS fun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damon Plus Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 And the BMX portion >>>> BMX Airmaster. Nope. Just different, but they are very fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moycon Posted February 25, 2005 Share Posted February 25, 2005 joy stick waggling IS fun A truer statement has never been posted here at AA. *runs off to wag joystick* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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