California Games II

Overview

California Games II is the sequel to 1988's hit, California Games, and a part of Epyx's overarching "Games" series, including Summer Games and Winter Games. California Games II was released in 1990 for the Amiga, and later for several other systems, including MS-DOS, Sega Master System, SNES, and Atari ST. The goal of the game is to score as many points as possible in five different events.

Gameplay

Just like in California Games, there are several events that the player can play through. In California Games II, these five events are hang gliding, jet skiing, body boarding, snowboarding, and skateboarding. The player completes each of the five events sequentially, and then is awarded a point total at the end, depending on the player's performance throughout the events.

Events

Hang Gliding

Hang gliding puts the player in control of a hang glider flying over the ocean. The goal in this game is to drop water balloons in three different tubes, each of which yields points, all while avoiding prematurely falling in the water.

Jet Skiing

In the jet skiing minigame, the goal is to complete a course as fast as possible. The player is giving buoy guidelines to follow, as well as time-reducing checkpoints and ramps. If the player fails to complete it in time, they are still awarded points, but less so than a fully completed course would yield.

Body Boarding

In the bodysurfing event, the player is put in control of a character swimming in the ocean. The goal is to do tricks off of a large wave in order to gain points. Failure to complete tricks, or falling off of the wave results in penalization for the player.

Snowboarding

Snowboarding starts the player off in the middle of a slope. The goal here is to avoid obstacles for as long as possible, and to hit the ramp at the end of the cliff face. Unlike other games, the player is given several falls before the event is failed completely.

Skateboarding

Hearkening to games such as Skate or Die, the skateboarding minigame puts the player in control of a skater on a half-pipe course, going through tunnels and doing tricks along the way.