The Epyx Games – Sports Collection is a collection of eight sports games published by Epyx in the 80s. These include Summer Games I and II, Winter Games, World Games, California Games, The Games Summer and Winter Editions, and Championship Wrestling. All except Championship Wrestling play more of less identically. You compete against your friends in any number of sports with largely the same UI. Each game has a different lineup. Summer Games I and II have summer sports from the Olympics, like track and field and gymnastics. Winter Sports have winter sports like skiing and bobsled. World Games have a variety of sports from various cultures, like bull riding, log rolling and sumo wrestling. California Games has “extreme sports” like surfing, BMX riding, roller skating and skate boarding. Overall, The Epyx Games – Sports Collection has good depth of various sports. This is where the good ends.
The Epyx Games – Sports Collection Game Play
The key to The Epyx Games – Sports Collection is to read the instruction manuals. These are old school games. While there is a practice mode in each, nothing is told in game. Each sport in the game has a different way of controlling, even though you’ll only use the directional buttons and one action button(A). Button mashing will win you nothing. Take the snatch weight lift in World Games. You press up to start the lift, then midway press down, then up to finish the lift. You’ll only know that by reading the instruction manual. And even if you do read the instruction manual, good luck. All the games in The Epyx Games – Sports Collection require precise movements and presses to be successful. Sometimes too much. I still don’t know how to beat Bull Riding.
Championship Wrestling
Championship Wrestling is the odd one out of the bunch in The Epyx Games – Sports Collection. It plays more like a fighting game, and controls for it are complicated. I can’t decipher the instruction manual chart:
In practice, the game plays out with the CPU wiping the floor with you. You’ll barely get a hit in. It’s probably the worst game in The Epyx Games – Sports Collection.
Conclusion
I old enough to remember the games in The Epyx Games – Sports Collection in their prime. I played World Games and California Games on an IBM PC. I’ll be honest, I think these games should have stayed in the past. The were products of their time and I think modern audiences will find them frustrating and dull. For one thing, you don’t compete against the PC so much as other players. But with no CPU opponents, you will win first in every sport, even if you stink. Friends are a must here. And in Championship Wrestling, the CPU just owns you. I’m not going to not recommend this as certain sports can be fun for a bit, but I won’t recommend this either. I give The Epyx Games – Sports Collection a Your Mileage May Vary with a five back-end score. The games had their place in time, but now are just curiosities more than anything else.
Overall: The games in The Epyx Games – Sports Collection were nifty and fun in their time. But times have changed, and left these games behind.
Verdict: YMMV
| Release Date | 11/28/24 |
| Cost | $11.99 |
| Publisher | Pixel Games UK |
| ESRB Rating | E |
P.S. For an Epyx game that largely holds up, try Epyx Rogue.
