Uridium
Hewson (1986)

Uridium is one of the fastest games I’ve ever played. At top speed, things whiz by you so quickly that your reflexes simply aren’t fast enough. You’ll have to memorize the levels to fly at that speed – too bad you can’t memorize where the next wave fleet of enemies will be coming from.

It doesn’t matter that the box says you’re piloting a Manta class Space Fighter. In Uridium, you fly a snowspeeder from The Empire Strikes Back, making horizontal runs along the surface of big huge ships called Dreadnaughts (which might as well be Star Destroyers). Similar to a side-scrolling Zaxxon, players must destroy guns, ships, and parts of the Dreadnaughts themselves by shooting them. To complicate matters, you’ll be under constant attack by waves of enemy fighters who don’t take too kindly to your attempts to destroy their star cruiser. Fly too slowly and you’ll be hunted down by a smart mine. Fly too fast and you’ll discover the hard way all the walls, antenna, and other indestructible objects that have been mounted to the deck of the ship.

Destroy enough of the ship and you’ll be given clearance to land, after which the Dreadnaught will begin to self-destruct. Don’t spend too much time celebrating. Another ship is always waiting in the wings.

Uridium was one of the first games I ever saw on the Commodore 64 that made me say, “this looks good enough to be an arcade game.” It looked and played that good to me. From your ship’s spinning 180 degree U-turns to the shadows cast on the decks of the Dreadnaughts, Uridium was a graphical masterpiece. Programmed and designed by the legendary Andrew Braybrook (also responsible for Paradroid and the C64 port of Rainbow Islands), Uridium raised the space shoot-‘em-up bar to an all-new level. Along with a catchy theme song and some exciting sound effects, Uridium sounded as good as it looked.

Fans of the game should also check out Uridium+ and Uridium II, which combine the same frantic gameplay with all new layouts. Uridium was also one of the games included on the recent all-in-one Commodore 64 gaming joystick.

Despite its breakneck speed and overall lack of depth, Uridium is a classic entry in the shoot-‘em-up genre. Just when computer games appeared to have hit a plateau, Uridium blew the Commodore community away and sent programmers back to the drawing board collectively scratching their heads.

Ultra Bust-A-Move
Xbox (2004)

In the early days of electronic gaming, the biggest challenge game developers faced was coming up with new and exciting games to market to consumers. These days, their biggest challenge has become finding new ways to convince consumers to buy the same games over and over each time they are re-released for a new generation of consoles.

Take Bust-A-Move (originally Puzzle Bobble), for example. Since the game’s 1994 arcade debut, it has been ported to over a dozen different consoles, including the Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Gameboy Advance, Gamecube, Playstation 2, and many more. And just when you swore you’d never buy another port of this game again, along comes Ultra Bust-A-Move for the Xbox, which offers a feature many gamers have been hoping to get for years: online play.

Ultra Bust-A-Move makes no attempt to reinvent the bubble, er, wheel. Like every previous incarnation, the object of the game is to clear all the colored bubbles stuck to the top of the play area by launching other colored bubbles at them. Sticking three bubbles of the same color together causes them to pop, dropping any other bubbles hanging off of the cluster. In one player mode your goal is to clear each stage of all bubbles and continue on to the next. With two players, you’ll need to clear your side of bubbles faster than your opponent.

Various game modes from past versions (including four-player mode from the N64 version) have been stripped, making this particular port relatively lean. Also missing are Bub and Bob, the cute dinosaurs from the Bubble Bobble franchise who have appeared in all previous incarnations of the game. This time around they’ve been replaced by generic looking bubble-headed people.

Without any new in-game features, Taito is betting people will be interested in Ultra Bust-A-Move solely for the online experience. The Xbox Live portion offers a simple head-to-head experience that works as advertised. Again there are no surprises or special features to be found here, but if you’ve been dying to play Bust-A-Move online against other people via a console gaming system, here’s your chance.

And to be honest, that’s really the only reason to purchase Ultra Bust-A-Move. Not to burst your bubble, but if you aren’t interested in online play and already own another version of this game, you can skip this one.

Ultimate Puzzle Games
Gameboy Advance

Ultimate Puzzle Games is the perfect solution for word puzzle aficionados who can’t afford a pencil. And with over a thousand different puzzles included for gamers to solve, this game may be cheaper than buying all those pencils anyway.

Packaged in the compilation are a dozen types of word games including crossword puzzles, word searches, and several other close variants thereof. Most of the puzzle categories include over a hundred unique puzzles, bringing the actual number of included puzzles to 1,001. Three of the included categories are for “mini” puzzles that are smaller in design, perfect for younger gamers (or adults on a bathroom break). The larger puzzles typically expand beyond the screen’s boundaries. In each game, clues are given and answers are entered via a virtual keyboard. The game’s input system is simple and intuitive – the on-screen keyboard is quick and easy to navigate and input words with.

The puzzles include several handy features including the ability to save your place at any given time in one of the game’s two save slots, toggle the sound effects and music on and off, and, for the time impaired or the just plain stumped, display each puzzle’s solution. The menu system also includes a quick tutorial to explain the rules of each game. A nice inclusion is the ability to track which puzzles have already been completed.

The variety and sheer number of puzzles included should keep gamers coming back for a long time. Ultimate Puzzle Games is not only fun to play, but also a lot more entertaining than a box of pencils.

Transformers
Ocean Software (1985)

The raging battle between the Autobots and Decepticons continues in this exclusive title for the Commodore 64 computer. Take control of five different Transformers in the Autobots’ quest for Energon.

Back before fantastic graphics and CGI cut scenes, videogames often included additional paper documentation to explain who the characters where and what you were supposed to be doing. Atari, for example, packaged comic books with many of their games to add depth and back stories to their titles. Some early games relied so heavily on this documentation that without it, the games were difficult to play and didn’t make much sense. Ocean’s Transformers title was one of those games.

Like millions of other Commodore 64 owners in the 1980s, my primary source of software was the file areas of local bulletin board systems. Unfortunately for us, without documentation many of these free games were confusing, difficult, or even impossible to play. For example, the Commodore 64 version of Transformers contains absolutely no text explaining anything, leaving the point of the game largely a mystery and the game play mechanics an exercise in trial and error.

In the Transformers universe, the Autobots largely got the shaft by only being able to transform into cars and trucks, while the evil Decepticons convert into fighter jets. Let’s face it, who would choose a Volkswagen Beetle over a supersonic jet? Here, players get the opportunity to control Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Jazz, Mirage and Hound. Each Transformer can only die once, giving players a total of five lives with which to complete the game. Each character can transform between their robotic and vehicular modes, although players will discover within five seconds that the four-wheeled modes are essentially worthless. At least in their robot forms the Autobots can shoot and fly. Yes, fly. Like Superman, all of the Autobots can fly through the air with a flick of the stick.

One new detail I don’t seem to recall from the comics or television series is that the Autobots in this game are constructed of fragile porcelain. The slightest fall or collision into the background will instantly transform your Transformer into a giant flaming fireball. In fact, the only thing that doesn’t kill you is the one thing you might think would; attacks from the evil Decepticons, of which there are seemingly unlimited numbers. Each Autobot has a finite amount of shields which are depleted by the Decepticons’ attacks. Theoretically once your shields are gone your character is destroyed. I’ve never been able avoid being killed by stepping off a platform long enough to find out.

For close to twenty years I had no idea what the point or goal of this game was. Only now through the wonders of the Internet was I able to track down the documentation and discover the game’s back story – not that the information makes the game any easier to play, mind you. Apparently the goal of the game is to collect pieces of Energon while battling Decepticons, but as I previously mentioned your Transformers are so fragile that even without the Decepticons buzzing around and shooting you in the head, you’re probably going to kill yourself within seconds anyway by flying into something or stepping off a platform.

Ocean Software’s Transformers opens with an impressive splash screen and some terrific sounding music. The in game graphics are a mixed bag; the characters are detailed enough to distinguish from one another, but the backgrounds are extremely plain. While Transformers fans may enjoy recognizing familiar characters and running around the levels for a few minutes, only the most adept gamers will be able to get anywhere in this challenging platformer.

Tecmo Classic Arcade
PS2/Xbox (2005)

Someone has definitely not been saving the best for last. Tecmo Classic Arcade follows a long line of classic arcade compilations which have been released this summer, including Capcom Classics Collection, Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary, Taito Legends and MIdway’s Arcade Treasures 3. Unfortunately no matter how you slice it, Tecmo’s game collection simply doesn’t stand up against the competition.

Every successful retro compilation needs to have three things: a $20 price tag, interesting extras (such as interviews or trivia), and of course a broad selection of fun games. Tecmo Classic Arcade retails for $30, has lackluster extras, and a small selection of mostly awful games. You can probably see where this is heading.

Unlike most of the other recent home retro compilations which contain twenty to thirty games, Tecmo Classic Arcade contains eleven. Of those, three (at best) could be considered classics. Bomb Jack, Rygar and Solomon’s Key are the games 80’s arcade afficianados are most likely to remember. Others such as Senjyo, Swimmer and Pinball Action left arcades as quickly as they arrived.

Tecmo managed to nail the menu, with an easy to navigate system and nearly instantaneous load times into and out of games. The background music is simply a combination of all the games playing at once, and that’s okay; retrogamers don’t care about licensed music tracks (trust me, we’ve heard them all before and they simply end up increasing load times and royalty fees). When each title is highlighted on the main menu, scrolling text gives a brief summary of the game. Basic options such as the number of men and other variables can be changed for each game here as well.

Ah yes, the games. As mentioned, Rygar, Bomb Jack and Solomon’s Key are the three games most players will find themselves drawn to. All three allow unlimited continues, so you’ll be able to play as long as you wish. Bomb Jack’s platform action, Solomon’s puzzles and Rygar’s deadly yo-yo all provide plenty of entertainment and memories. Players will not be disappointed in these.

Unfortunately the rest of the titles demonstrate Tecmo’s skill of being a jack-of-all-trades but master of none. There’s a vertical SHMUP (Starforce), a horizonal one (Strato Fighter), two sports games (Tecmo Cup and Tecmo Bowl), and a few other games. There’s the Battlezone-esque Senjyo, the Space Invaders-esque Pleiads, and the arcade-based pinball game Pinball Action. Even as a self-proclaimed fan of retro games, I found it hard to play most of these games longer than five minutes. Tecmo Bowl is probably the closest to being fun, but anyone familiar with the NES or SNES versions of the game probably won’t care much for the arcade version. There are no “plays” to select (simply pick a receiver before the hike), and the game is simply too easy.

Extras on the disc are limited to pictures of marquees, side art and sales flers for each game, each of which can be zoomed in and out of and moved around the screen, guaranteeing owners a least a minute or two of entertainment.

Tecmo is pretty bold for referring to most of these games as “classics”. Few of them retain any replay value because they simply aren’t fun. Many of the games like Pleiads, Starforce and Strato Fighter offer nothing to separate themsevles from the thousands of other similar games out there, and games like Pinball Action are just weird. The good games make a good supporting cast, but there’s no headliner to be found.

Tecmo Classic Arcade has an uninspired selection of weak games, unexciting extras, and an inflated price tag. The few fun games included aren’t worth the asking price. Wait for this one to hit bargain bins.

Taito Legends
PS2/Xbox (2005)

While skimming the list of games included in Taito Legends, I realized that I have memories associated with almost half of them. I remember playing Rastan at the local bowling alley, Operation Wolf at the skating rink (while wearing roller skates, no less), Bubble Bobble at the corner convenient store and Space Invaders at Photon, our local laser tag arena back in the 80’s. There’s no denying that Taito has been a driving force in the arcade industry since its inception. Throughout the 1950’s and 60’s Taito produced pinball machines, arcade cranes, and jukeboxes, but it wasn’t until the release of Space Invaders in 1978 (released in the US by Bally MIdway) that the company became a blip on American’s radar.

Taito Legends spans the company’s glory years, bringing 29 of their most popular arcade games to home consoles. By now we’ve established that the current generation of consoles can emulate 80’s arcade games perfectly. (The original Space Invaders ran on an Intel 8080 platform operating slower than 1mhz.) Taito has done a perfect job in bringing these games to the home market. All the games on Taito Legends run and play indistinguishable from the original versions. For two years I had an Elevator Action arcade cabinet sitting in the corner of my kitchen, so I can tell you for a fact that the version on Taito Legends is 100% identical to the real deal. I could detect no slowdown, hiccups, skips or pops in any of the included games.

The 29 game roster can be divided into three basic categories: classics (Space Invaders, Jungle Hunt, Elevator Action), games you probably saw in arcades but have forgotten about (Battle Shark, Ninja Kids, Phoenix) and games you’ve probably never heard of before (Electric Yo-Yo, Exzisus, Plump Pop). Fortunately, most arcade games are designed to be easy to pick up and play, so even the less-known games on the disc are fun to play.

Where Taito Legends truly shines is in its presentation. The menu system is simple yet informative, showing each game’s original arcade cabinet, marquee, and other information including the game’s number of players, its year of release, the top five scores and a short description of the game. The menu system uses sound effects from many of Taito’s games and has retro-electronic music playing in the background. Unlike some other retro compilations, these menu options don’t impede the speed of things — changing games through the menu system is super quick, the games themselves take only a second or two to load, and returning to the menu system is just as fast.

Each game launches with a menu screen where users can see the high scores, read about the game, read related tips and tricks, view the original sales flyers, change the game’s options, customize each game’s controls (nice) and more. Some of the games like Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble also include interviews with the game’s developer. I’m not sure which I enjoy more: all the extra features, or the fact that Taito cared enough about us to include them.

In August of 2005 Taito was purchased by Square-Enix, so this disc nicely encapsulates the company’s great run in the arcade industry.

With 29 games, extra features, options, hints and tips, interviews and more, there’s no doubt Taito Legends is well worth the $20 MSRP. Games like Bubble Bobble, Elevator Action, Jungle Hunt, Operation Wold, Phoenix, Rainbow Islands, Rastan, Space Invaders (and two sequals), Super Qix and Zoo Keeper guarantee this disc will see lots of action.

Complete Game Listing:

Battle Shark, Bubble Bobble, Colony 7, Continental Circus, Electric Yo-Yo, Elevator Action, Exzisus, Gladiator, Great Swordsman, Jungle Hunt, The New Zealand Story, The Ninja Kids, Operation Thunderbolt, Operation Wolf, Phoenix, Plotting, Plump Pop, Rainbow Islands, Rastan, Return of the Invaders, Space Gun, Space Invaders, Space Invaders Par 2, Super Qix, Thunder Fox, Tokio, Tube-It, Volfied, Zoo Keeper.

Super Godzilla
GBA, Toho (1993)

It’s Godzilla against the world in Super Godzilla, a game that pits the giant green monster against everything from other giant monsters to tanks, aliens, and UFOs. The future of the world lies in Godzilla’s success.

The 16-bit Super Nintendo (SNES) was light years ahead of its predecessor, the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). The Super Nintendo boasted huge improvements in both graphics and sound, which games like Super Godzilla brilliantly demonstrated. Unfortunately all that newfound crunching power didn’t always guarantee better game play, to which Super Godzilla is a testament. It’s a great looking game that wasn’t much fun to play.

Super Godzilla is presented in a split-screen fashion, with animations of Godzilla’s actions shown on the top half and a map of the city shown below. The map is a square grid that shows players the locations of water, buildings, tanks, and enemies. As Godzilla makes his way across the map, the top half of the screen shows colorful animations of the big green guy walking through the city. The animated sequences look very nice, which is fortunate as you’re forced to watch them for long stretches of time as Godzilla lumbers his way from one side of the map to the other.

It appears that great efforts were taken to ensure that anything remotely fun about videogames was removed before Super Godzilla hit store shelves. Compared to other fighting games of the era, Super Godzilla’s fighting engine is incredibly primitive. Godzilla only has four attacks, all of them made less-than-fun by the game’s awkward battle system.

The goal of each level is ultimately to defeat a boss while avoiding army attacks. There are six levels full of enemies, power-ups and bosses to work your way through, but chances are you’ll fall asleep long before you make it to the end. Super Godzilla isn’t as bad as it is boring, which is amazing for any game based on a giant, fire-breathing monster. Worth checking out for Godzilla fans, but those looking for the same levels of action found in the movies will be crushed.

Star Wars Chess
IBM PC (1993)

Choose either the Dark or the Light Side of the Force and battle enemy forces in this galactic version of chess that takes place a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

In the late 80’s, Interplay’s Battle Chess reinvented the computer chess genre. In Battle Chess, each chess piece was portrayed by a character on a three dimensional chessboard. The game followed the same rules as the classic board game – the only difference being when one piece captured another, it was visually portrayed on screen through light-hearted animations. Characters clobbered one another in humorous ways throughout the game, and the game’s sense of humor along with its stunning graphics and animation launched an entire wave of similarly styled chess games.

One such game was Star Wars Chess, by Software Toolworks. Like all the other Battle Chess clones (Terminator 2 Chess, Cyber Chess, Chess Maniac Five Billion and One, etc), Star Wars Chess replaced standard issue chess pieces with recognizable characters, this time from Lucas’ franchise. Each side (light and dark) has unique characters: Luke and the Emperor serve as kings, Princess Leia and Darth Vader act as queens, an army of R2 units and stormtroopers represent pawns, and so on. Although the game’s graphical mode is quite dated, the characters themselves are quite detailed and gamers should have no problem recognizing their favorite trilogy characters.

Most graphical chess games suffered from a few common problems, and Star Wars Chess is no exception. The first problem is, while it is simple to tell what chess piece a character represents before the game starts, after pieces begin moving it becomes more difficult to remember. Is Chewbacca a rook or a knight? What about Boba Fett, or Tusken Raiders? Chess taxes your brain hard enough without having to constantly try and figure out which piece is what!

A second problem Star Wars Chess seems to have inherited from Battle Chess is painfully slow load times. When one piece takes another, first the animation of one piece walking is loaded and displayed, then the animated fight scene must be loaded and displayed, and finally the AI must make its next move. (Also worth noting is that each “capture” only has one animation, taking the cutesy animations from entertaining to boring in light speed.) Chess isn’t known for being a particularly fast-paced game, but Star Wars Chess moves like space- molasses, especially while waiting for the computer to move.

And speaking of the game’s AI, it’s not particularly good. Even moderately experienced players should have no problems making bantha poo-doo out of the computer’s defenses. Star Wars Chess does support two-player mode, but you’ll have to have to find another die-hard Star Wars fan with a LOT of free time on his or her hands to complete even one full game.

Star Wars Chess is only recommended for die-hard Star Wars fans who are also computer literate. It’ll take some work to get this game to run on modern computers. The game refused to launch under Windows XP, and I had to install DOSBox (a DOS emulator) and spend several minutes configuring it to get Star Wars Chess to work. The game ran so slowly that I often thought it had locked up, and the game’s interface is so sparse that I had trouble figuring out what piece I had selected, or occasionally which side of the board I was playing.

The Force is not strong with this one. Not even a little bit.

Spy Hunter / Super Sprint
GBA (2005)

Destination Software’s combintation Spy Hunter/Super Sprint cartridge for the Gameboy Advance is perfect for brief gaming opportunities, whether they occur during your morning commute or afternoon bathroom breaks. While neither game provides days or even hours worth of depth, they’re both good enough to fill the dull breaks throughout your day. Unfortunately for fans of the original versions, both games suffer from the same two problems, mainly watered down conversions and inherent control issues — two side-effects resulting from cramming two classic arcade games (which originally used steering wheels) into a tiny Gameboy Advance cartridge.

Atari’s Super Sprint is the simpler (and slightly less frustrating) of the two to play. In this classic formula racing game, your goal is to be the first of four cars to complete four laps around a variety of racetracks. Throughout your races you’ll encounter obstacles, ranging from oil slicks to tornadoes. Small yellow wrenches that appear randomly can be exchanged between races for car upgrades.

Obviously, the game’s original steering wheel been replaced with the GBA’s very digital-feeling d-pad, turning the game’s original “violently whipping a steering wheel back and forth” experience into tiny little tap-tap-taps needed to correct your car’s steering. The controls are not nearly as frustrating as the fact that the race cars in this version appear to have been sculpted from nitroglycern — even the slightest wall tap causes your car to explode into a huge fireball. On second thought, maybe it’s the walls that are explosive, since you’ll often find yourseld driving right over the top of your fellow racers without even a nudge. The cars and some of the obstacles are so small, it’s hard to tell if the game has wonky collision detection or not. The game’s graphics and sound effects are surprisingly loyal to the original version. While the graphics have been slightly shrunk and the victory music may be missing a voice or two, everything is very recognizable and helps pull the game together.

Less cohesive is Spy Hunter, the other half of the collection. Porting Spy Hunter to consoles has never been an easy task, as the arcade cabinet included a steering yolk, five buttons, a gear shift and a gas pedal. And while gamers are willing to make certain concessions, there are certain things that simply cannot be missing. In Spy Hunter it’s the Peter Gunn theme, which sadly never materializes here. Ask a hundred people what they remember about Spy Hunter and the majority of them will mention the theme music. Without that, the game starts off on the wrong foot and never truly recovers.

Once again, anyone who’s ever played the original will find controlling the game using the GBA’s d-pad challenging. Pressing the d-pad up and down shifts between low and high gears, while left and right steer. Unfortunately for you, your spymobile seems is built from the same explosives as the cars in Super Sprint, meaning even the slightest rear end collision leads to fireball city, baby. Bumping them from the side isn’t much easier, as even slight taps will send your car careening off the road into yet another firey death. All of this is made even more difficult by the fact that Spy Hunter originally appeared on a vertical screen. On the GBA’s horizontal screen, you’ll need lightning-fast reflexes to get far at all.

While it’s hard to pick apart a package that retails for around $10, both games lost something in the translation. While either title should hold your attention for five minutes or so, any longer than that will quickly reveal both games’ flaws.

Skate or Die!
C64, Electronic Arts (1987)

Throughout my teenage years, I had three distinct career paths in mind. The first one was professional breakdancer. When I realized that probably wasn’t going to pan out, I began planning on a more obtainable, more realistic goal: professional ninja. This was of course during the big ninja craze of the mid-80s. When that career path didn’t pan out, I set my sites on a third goal: professional skateboarder.

That decision was partly based on the skateboarding craze which appeared out of nowhere and exploded into mainstream culture during the mid-1980s. The fads, fashions, and lingo of southern California swept across the nation. Sanctioned skateboarding events began appearing on ESPN in 1985. The movie Thrashin’ (1986) brought the world of skateboarding to the masses. 1986 was also the year Atari’s 720 skateboarding game was released. 720 popularized the phrase, “skate or die” (which was spoken in Atari’s infamous synthesized speech). Both Thrashin’ and 720 opened the skateboarding floodgates, and by 1987 the sport was everywhere. One of the most popular skateboarding videogames to hit the home market during that era was Electronic Arts’ Skate or Die.

Borrowing the established formula from Epyx’s “games” series and featuring the musical talent of Rob Hubbard, Skate or Die consists of five separate skateboarding events in which players can both practice or compete in. The five events take place at three different locations: the ramp, the downhill, and the pool.

The ramp is home to Freestyle and High Jump. In Freestyle, skaters try to rack up the highest score possible by performing (and landing) tricks in the local half pipe. Your character’s list of maneuvers isn’t exhaustive, but it’s enough to keep it interesting. You’ll see a lot of rail slides, hand plants, and backside airs here. In the High Jump, players compete to see who can get their skateboard the highest. This is accomplished by building the maximum amount of speed (by pumping in the transition portion of the ramp). It takes practice to get the timing just right.

The downhill section hosts the Jam and the Race. In both events, two skaters make their way down the back alleys of California, skating hard. In the Race, the goal is to make your way through an obstacle course as quickly as possible while building your score up by pulling off some radical moves. In the Jam, which takes place in a back alley, players can now punch and kick as well as pull off moves! Both games pit you against an opponent, so if you don’t have a friend to play with you’ll be pitted against the evil green-haired Lester.

The last location, the pool, is home to the Joust. In the joust, two skaters skate an empty swimming pool while trying to bash each other with big padded jousting sticks that resemble the ones used on American Gladiators. While Jousting against a friend can be a blast, playing the computer can frustrate even the most veteran player as Aggro Eddie tends to make few mistakes.

All of these events are tied together through the Skate Shop, run by Rodney (Dangerfield, with a purple Mohawk). Once you decide in the skate shop whether you’re competing or just practicing, you’ll get to skate to the event or events you wish to play.

I always felt that the Freestyle, Jam and Race events were strong enough to be games on their own. The High Jump and Joust events, while fun, lack much depth. Skate or Die brought the world of skateboarding home to the Commodore 64 in grand fashion. While 720, Skaterock, Skate Crazy, and even the skateboarding event in California Games would all later appear on the Commodore, Skate or Die stands at the top of the ramp as the best and most complete skateboarding game for the Commodore 64.