Could California Games be any more Eighties? With its sunny vibes, wild fashions and goofy excesses, it’s hard to imagine how it could be – until you discover that it was almost titled Rad Sports!
According to project lead Matt Householder, this was the working title during initial development. Elaborating on the story (see RG 149), the idea for the game occurred when he and his wife were out walking near their home in San Francisco and some kid tore past them on a skateboard. As they continued walking, he added other alternative sports to the mix – including surfing, roller-skating and BMX racing – and the basic concept for the game was born there and then. We guess that shows the benefits of a stroll in the sunshine.
Although the name would soon change to California Games, giving it a sense of place and tying it to the earlier games in Epyx’s long-running series, the working title actually served a dual purpose. Yes, Rad Sports shoved the Eighties West Coast vernacular front and centre, but it also highlighted what the game offered – a radical departure from what came before.
Epyx’s , and pretty much exhausted the Olympic sports format, which is why the fourth game in the series – – broadened its scope to include more eclectic events. However, some of the events were still Olympic sports and the formalities of international competition were retained. dispensed with all that, presenting the player with youth-orientated pastimes instead. Whereas in the previous games you chose a country, here you selected a sponsor (most of which Cruz Skateboards and Ocean Pacific Apparel). The predecessors played national anthems – in the only anthem you heard was the rock ‘n’ roll standard by Californian Richard Berry (in
