The Games – Summer Edition

The Games - Summer Edition
Game No.	384
Voting	7.48 points, 27 votes
Developer	Chuck Sommerville, Carl Mey, Kevin Norman, Kevin "Fuzzy" Furry, Edward Chu, Scott Nelson, Peter Engelbrite Graphics: Suzie Green, Sheryl Knowles, Art Koch, Muffy McCosh, Matthew Sarconi, Steve Snyder, Paul Vernon
Company	Epyx
Publisher	Rushware (Germany), Epyx (USA), U.S. Gold (Europe)
Musician	Chris Grigg, Chris Ebert, Bob Vieira
HVSC-File	MUSICIANS/G/Grigg_Chris/Games_Summer_Edition.sid
Release	1988
Platform	Amstrad CPC, Atari 800/2600/7800/XE/XL, C64
Genre	Sports
Gamemode	Single player up to 8 players (in turns) 2 players (simultaneous)
Operation
Media
Language
Information	Forerunner: Summer Games and Summer Games II

Description

The Games - Summer Edition is the follower of Summer Games II and the last game of the Epyx Games series. Epyx has newly created four events from the forerunners Summer Games I + II and integrated four new events. Together with the two Summer Games titles are The Games a nice collection of olympic events. In contrast to other sports games of this time there was no shaking discipline in this game. For the first time there is also a team mode.

The game is designed for up to 8 players. The players get points for the successful finishing of events. For each gold medal you get 5 points, for each silver medal 3 points and one point for each bronze medal. The player with the most points wins the game.

Epyx has secured a license from the Olympic Commitee of the United States for The Games - Summer Edition and The Games - Winter Edition.

Archery

In Archery you need to place an arrow as closely to the centre as possible. The athlete has altogether 90 seconds to fire 3 shots. This is aggravated by the fast change of the wind. You draw the bow and you focus on the target. You should of course not forget about the wind.

Controls

• Fire button: start
• Joystick left/right: draw/relax the bow
• Fire button: confirm bow strain
• Joystick movements: aim
• Fire button: shoot

Evaluation

• The white outer ring gets you one point. The points rise into the yellow area which gets you 9 points. If you hit the centre, you get 10 points. All 3 tries are added and make the total. The player with the highest score (maximum 30) wins.

Tips

• always draw the bow to the maximum (Joystick left)
• watch the windsock!

Pole Vault

Pole Vault is one of the events that were taken over from Summer Games. The course of the event was reworked. The pole jumper needs a high speed, then pushes himself off with the pole to jump over the bar.

Controls

• Fire button: start
• Joystick forwards/backwards : choose height (16'05/08/11", 17'02/05/08/11", 18'02/05/08/11", 19'02/05/08/11", 20'02/05/08")
• Fire button : confirm height
• Joystick left/right: speed up the jumper during approach
• Joystick up : plant into box
• Joystick left : swing up
• Joystick right : cross the bar

Evaluation

• The jumper with the highest jumped height wins.

Tips

• When the left/right foot touches the ground, push the joystick left/right.
• Start slowly and then speed up strongly to reach the maximum speed for the plant.
• It is important to swing up the jumper after the planting (Joystick left). This is not mentioned in the manual!!!

Uneven Parallel Bars

Uneven Parallel Bars is one of the most exciting events. Epyx has taken lots of trouble to make this an exciting discipline. The animations are great. With the joystick you steer the woman over both bars and at the end you jump down. This looks very simple, but can easily lead to a fall.

Controls

• ...

Evaluation

• The highest score wins

Tipps

• At the upper left you see the score

Velodrome Cycling

This event from Summer Games II was reworked. The sprint on the rink is simulated, which means that only the last round is stopped. In the single player mode, the player has the red shirt and the red energy bar in the upper half of the screen. The computer has correspondingly the purple shirt.

Controls:

• Fire starts the race
• Joystick up repeatedly: speed up
• Joystick right/left: steer

Evaluation

• the fastest runner wins

Tip:

• in the first rounds invest as little strength as possible
• Shortly before the last round (ring signal) get the sprinter to full speed.
• You save power in the slipstream of the opponent. (This is signalled by a hissing.)

Rings

Rings falls optically and concerning the gamplay in line with Uneven Parallel Bars. Very smooth animations.

Controls start

• (fast) : start the exercise (front lever position)
• (fast) : start the exercise (straight arm hang position)

Controls figures

• see solution

Evaluation

• the highest vote wins

Tips

• Quickly start the exercise or it will instantly be over.

Diving

This event was taken over from Summer Games. You need to do three high-quality jumps from the 1m board.

Controls - move wheel

•  : move wheel to the left/right

Controls - Forward dive start procedure

•  : start
•  : jump from the board (the longer, the higher)

Controls - reverse dive start procedure

•  : Start
•  : take up starting position

Controls - figures forwards/backwards

•  : swan dive / back layout
• (short) : normal forward dive / outside dive
• (long) : forward somersault / back somersault
•  : front pike / oustside back pike
•  : forward twist / back twist
• (short) : normal reverse / inside dive
• (long) : reverse somersault / inward somersault
•  : reverse pike / inward back pike

Controls - diving in

•  : take up the diving position

Evaluation
Five judges evaluate the jumps and give 0,0 to 10,0 points. The added value (max. 50 points) is the highest score for a jump. As you do three jumps and the total is doubled at the end, the highest reachable score is 300 points. The judges evaluate:

1. the quality of the jump
2. the number of combinations
3. the height of the jump
4. the diving-in phase

Each of the single scoring judges pay their attention to one of the categories, jump from the board, height before the combination is started, execution of the combination, smooth dive. This way you can easily reconstruct in which area you have steered imprecisely and can improve this. Judge no. 5 gives the average score of the first four.

Tips

• jump high from the board
• a smooth dive-in phase (vertical) is half the battle
• combination (back twist & back somersault) is possible

Hurdles

In Hurdles you need to cover a distance of 200 meters and jump over hurdles. It is important to jump at the right moment. If you run into a hurdle, the runner will tumble and the race is prematurely over.

Controls:

• Keep fire button pressed until the signal.
• Joystick left/right: pick up speed during running
• Fire button: jump

Evaluation

• the fastes runner wins.

Tips:

• Do not sleep through the start!
• For the jump, precise timing is necessary.
• If you jump to early, keep the fire button pressed for a longer time.

Hammer Throw

In Hammer Throw the athlete needs to throw the hammer as far as possible without crossing the line.

Controls

• Fire button: start
• Joystick circle movements: swing hammer
• Fire button: changeover
• Joystick circle movements: turning
• Fire button: throw

Controls

• the farthest throw wins

Tips

• the faster the turning movement, the further will the hammer fly
• the time window for making a valid throw is very small.

Design

Epyx has made a great effort concerning the graphics to offer a pleasing game. The disciplines that were alreay available in Summer Games or Summer Games II, were completely created anew. The animations of the characters are realised appealingly and very detailled. This game shows the graphical top form of Epyx. At the beginning you are introduced into the game with a nice image show, that also serves as Opening Ceremony. After that you see, as a special delicacy, a rendered sequence. At that time this surely looked very great and especially effective, but from today's point of view of course this is not spectacular any more.

Hints

• If you press Restore  during an event, you get back to the main menu.

Easter Egg

The Epyx programs have immortalized themselves in this game. You need to do the following steps to get the menu item:

1. Choose eight players with the same name and same nation.
2. Choose "return to village" in the main menu.
3. Then do not choose an event, but klick on the torch.
4. Now the option "Easter Egg" is available in the main menu. (see Links/Videos)

Versions

Version: Stadium 64 (original)

This version (see Links - Stadium 64) is the first choice when playing with the emulator.
Setting for VICE: (True Drive Emulation = on; Virtual device traps = off; Video standard = NTSC-M)

stable

saving the highscore list works

empty highscore list

copy protection

Version: OUG

This PAL version is the first choice when playing at the C64

no copy protection

highscore list entries already exist

saving the highscore lists works, but the program crashes at the end.

almost stable (crash at menu item "Easter Egg")

Solution

Rings - moving sequences

1. hang
2. front lever
3. straight arm hang
4. iron cross
5. pike
6. left hold
7. shoulder stand
8. hand stand
9. planche
10. inverted hang
11. rear hang

Rings - Difficulty grades
The maximum score of 3.4 for the difficulty is possible if you have at least 2*A, 3*B and 3*C in the exercise.

• A (easy) - handstand to planche
• A (easy) - planche to straight arm hang
• B (middle) - hang to front lever
• B (middle) - straight arm hang to iron cross
• C (hard) - lever to rear hang
• C (hard) - hang to iron cross

Cheats

Cheats or pokes are currently not known.

Voting

Voting of the C64-Wiki users (10=the best vote):
7.48 points at 27 votes (rank 279). You need to be logged in to cast a vote.
64er	8	Issue 7/89
C64Games	8	07th January 2007 - "super" - 6734 downs
Lemon64	7,5	8th January 2007 - 20 votes
Kultboy.com	7,6	26th June 2011 - 18 votes
ZZap64	49%	Issue 12/88
Powerplay	79%	Issue 12/88

Reviews

FXXS: "I have to admit that this is graphically more elaborate that the old Sumer Games and also the controls are partially more thought-through, but this has its price: 3 disk sides that need to be changed and the end sequence cannot be switched off. Concerning the sound, not much has happenend and the Korean atmosphere does absolutely not suit my taste... 7 points from a single player's view."

Werner: "Here my impressions about the single events:

• Archery: very well realised
• Pole Vault: I also like that very much
• Uneven parallel bars: almost too complicated, but also playable with random joystick movements.
• Velodrome Cycling: is really great fun in twos.
• Rings: great sprite animations, but here it is similar as with the Unevel Parallel Bars
• Diving: many variations are possible. The score from the judges is not really fully developed.
• Hurdles: firm realisation
• Hammer Throw: greatly animated. The constant failure attempts, however, get a bit on my nerves.

Altogether I like the game a but better than The Games - Winter Edition. 8,5 points!

Miscellaneous

Cover

Highscore

1. Equinoxe - 5/3/0
2. Werner - 4/4/0
3. Dehryen - 0/0/2
4. Sledgie - 0/0/0

Discipline	Gold	Silver	Bronze	further places
Archery	27 - Werner / 27 - Equinoxe	-	-	4) further places
Pole Vault	19'02" - Werner	17'02 - Equinoxe	-	4) further places
Uneven Parallel Bars	8.3 - Werner	7.7 - Equinoxe	-	4) further places
Velodrome Cycling	8.54 - Werner	9.02 - Equinoxe	-	4) further places
Rings	6.8 - Equinoxe	6.4 - Werner	-	4) further places
Diving	296 - Equinoxe	294 - Werner	284 - Dehryen	4) further places
Hurdles	19.95 - Equinoxe	21.77 - Werner	-	4) further places
Hammer Throw	81.86 - Equinoxe	81.72 - Werner	80.37 - Dehryen	4) 64.33 - Sledgie

Links

• C64Games.de - Game No. 268
• Lemon64 - Game No. 2630
• Gamebase64.com - Game No. 3053
• ZZap64 test report
• Test Report No. 1111 on Kultboy.com
• Stadium64.com

Videos

• Video at YouTube Easter Egg

The "Epyx-Games" Series

Summer Games · Summer Games II · Winter Games · World Games · California Games
The Games - Winter Edition · The Games - Summer Edition