California Games (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
512A playthrough of Milton Bradley's 1989 sports game for the NES, California Games.
The Tokyo Olympics are nearly over, and I thought that it would be a shame to let them pass without doing something.
And while California Games isn't an Olympics game, it carries the torch in the most American way possible circa 1987. It features six "events" loosely tied together by its California theme, and it features several popular at-the-time brands that gave off a California... vibe, I guess?
It started life as an Apple II and Commodore 64 game, and over the next several years it was ported across most 8 and 16-bit platforms. The 1989 NES conversion was developed by Rare at the height of their 8-bit console crunch when they were producing a new title every six weeks or so.
It was a huge success on virtually every platform it shipped for, and somehow, most of those ports - NES version included - were great. There's a good reason why an entire generation of kids the world over still harbor so many nostalgic feelings for it.
The events:
Half pipe 0:31
Footbag (Hackey Sack) 2:05
Surfing 3:53
Skating 5:46
BMX 7:49
Flying Disc 10:04
It's funny, as a kid, I seem to remember having several friends that owned this one, but I don't remember anyone ever being good at it. The controls were always a bit too overwrought for their own good. (Surfing, anyone?) Since no one ever seemed to consider consulting the manual, we'd always stumble through, each of us praying that we'd mash the buttons slightly more effectively than everyone else who was playing.
But it was always a blast. I remember getting such a kick out of discovering the Axel Foley footbag move and how to not immediately wipe out during surfing.
The graphics and sound are fine, though nothing special (unless you count the Louie, Louie cover at the title screen), but the aesthetic does an amazing job at capturing the spirit of the 1980s in 8-bit video game form.
So who else out there has memories of playing this for hours with your siblings/buddies?
I've also done a couple of other related games if you're interested:
California Games (Sega Genesis): https://youtu.be/HE4464ikHuk
California Games 2 (SNES):
https://youtu.be/ZGbWyBQ5_UM
Winter Games (NES):
https://youtu.be/kMPd1yhNF
World Games (NES):
https://youtu.be/MKc0yxtNg0s
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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