Winter Games
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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After Summer Games and Summer Games II Winter Games was released in 1985, the 3rd game of the "Games"-Series by Epyx.
The game can be played with up to 8 players, which altogether compete in 7 events. The players get points in each discipline. For each gold medal, you get 5 points, for each silver medal 3 points and one point for the bronze medal. The player with the most points wins the game.

Menu items
Compete in all the events
Compete in some events
Compete in one event
Practice one event
Number of joysticks
See world records
Opening Ceremonies
Hot Dog

Controls:
Joystick left: somersault backwards
Joystick right: somersault forwards
Joystick left up: Daffy
Joystick left down: mule kick
Joystick right up: dive
Joystick right down: swan
Fire button: start
Neutral position: land

Points:
6,3: one trick
7,2: one somersault
8,7: two equal tricks
9,2: two equal somersaults
9,6: two different tricks
10,0: two different somersaults
10,0: one trick + one somersault
-1,4: for each wrong movement

Tips:
To be able to perform another trick, the joystick needs to be brought into the neutral position.
To manage to make a trick and a somersault the corresponding direction needs to be pressed almost exactly as long as it takes the pawn to perform it.

Biathlon
WinterGames D2 Biathlon.gif
For Biathlon not only condition in the ski run is required, but also exact timing on the shooting grounds. There are 20 shots to be triggered. The aim of this discipline is to absolve the track as fast as possible without any mistakes.

Controls for running:
Fire button: start
steady left/right movements in the rhythm of the runner: speed up on the plains
fast left/right movements: raise speed going uphill
Joystick down when going downhill: thrust with both sticks
Controls for shooting:
Joystick down: open magazine
Joystick up: reload
Fire button: shoot
Penalty:
5 seconds per missed shot

Tip:
Rapid fire is possible, but also more risky

Figure Skating

At Figure Skating the artistic execution of jumps and pirouettes is crucial. The mandatory or short program lasts exactly one minute and the figure skater needs to conduct seven mandatory elements (s. table of points). The aim in Figure Skating is to reach the dream mark of "6.0" from the jury.

Controls:
Fire button: start to run, start and end of a figure
Joystick left: viewing direction backward
Joystick right: viewing direction forward
Joystick direction	Points:	Tips:
up	0.7: pirouette	always do exactly 6 turns
down	0.7: sitting pirouette	orient yourself at legs at the outer left
up, down	1.2: passing from pirouette to sitting pirouette
right up	0.6: Double-Axel	jump forwards, open legs
right down	1.1:Triple-Axel	short press on fire for smooth landing
left up	0.6: Double-Lutz	jump backwards, closed legs
left down	1.1: Triple-Lutz	short press on fire for smooth landing

Tips:
Only the first execution of a figure counts.
Each fall is punished with a reduction of points.
For sloppy execution (e.g. notchy jump / landing with both legs) each 0.2 points are subtracted.

Ski Jump

In Ski Jump, the jumper sits on the "quiver beam" and looks deep down. Then the signal is given and he drives down the inrun of the ski jump. At the edge of the jump-off platform he jumps to show a jump as far as possible with nice posture and landing. The score that a jumper gets for his jump, consists of distance and posture. (distance*3 + posture marks)

Controls:
Fire button: start and jump
Joystick left: if the jumper is leaning too much to the front.
Joystick right: if the jumper is leaning too much to the back.
Joystick up: If the jumper has his knees too close to the body.
Joystick down: if the skis are crossed.

Tips:
In the upper right corner of the screen the jumper is shown augmented to correct the posture.
With a nice posture also the distance is better. The correct posture is reached, when the jumper puts his arms close to the body.
If you aim for getting the skis into the typical V-position, you will not be successful: at the time of the winter games in Calgary the skis were still aligned parallel to each other; the "V" came many years later.
Jump as late as possible.
After the jump just turn the joystick steadily clockwise with the right speed. This works only seldom, but is rewarded with a great distance and 20 points for posture.

Speed Skating

At speed skating two skaters run directly next to each other in seperate runways. After the "GO" signal the athlete has to cover the 250 meter track as fast as possible.
Controls:
Fire button: initiate start procedure
rhythmic left/right movements of the joystick: pick up speed

Tips:
rhythmic left/right movements
always keep the speed display at the maximum.
the basic for the best time is a perfect start.

Free Skating

Free skating lasts exactly two minutes and the choreography can be chosen arbitrarily. You can do the seven figures each three times. The elements are only evaluated, if they have been conducted successfully. The aim here is also to reach the mark of "6.0" from the jury.
For sloppy execution (e.g. notchy jump / landing with both legs) each 0.2 points are subtracted and every fall is punished with subtraction of 0.5 points. In theory, you can reach 6.9 points, in this case 0.2 points for every fall and 0.1 for each clumsy execution are subtracted from 6.0.

Controls:
Fire button: start to run, start and end of a figure
Joystick left: viewing direction backward
Joystick right: viewing direction forward
Joystick direction	Points:	Tips:
up	0.3: pirouette	always do exactly 6 turns
down	0.3: sitting pirouette	orient yourself at legs at the outer left
up, down	0.5: passing from pirouette to sitting pirouette
right up	0.2: Double-Axel	jump forwards, open legs
right down	0.4: Triple-Axel	short press on fire for smooth landing
left up	0.2: Double-Lutz	jump backwards, closed legs
left down	0.4: Triple-Lutz	short press on fire for smooth landing

Bob Sled

At Bob Sled the player drives down audaciously the ice canal. Each wrong steering manoeuvre can lead to a bad crash. The player with the lowest time wins the race.
Controls:
Fire button: Start
Joystick left: steers the sled to the left
Joystick right: steers the sled to the right

Tip:
keep in mind all the curves
countersteer hard to avoid an overthrow
in the curves you should find a good middle way (neither let yourself carry out too much nor take the curve too narrow)
at the end of the curve steer the bob exactly to the middle (do not let it run out)

Design

Each of the eight players can choose one of 18 nations. 
After that the national hymn is played.
U.S.A, France, Great Britain
U.S.S.R, Canada, Mexico
Japan, Netherlands , (Epyx)
West-Germany, Austria, Italy
Spain, Denmark, Australia
Norway, Ireland, Brazil

Cheats

The get a mark of 6.0 at Figure Skating, you need to fall at every flag (joystick down + fire). The use of this cheat is of course not allowed for the highscore list (a question of honour!).
To avoid having to make corrections during the jumping phase at "Ski Jump", just turn the joystick at "the right speed" in circles. Of course, this does not always work (because the speed is always a bit different), but it is possible that way.

Trivia

Winter Games "takes place" in Calgary Anno 1988 according to the manual, but Epyx had no official licence of the IOC for Summer Games, Summer Games II and Winter Games. So they are no real "olympic" games, but only based on them.
The magazine Zzap probably tested a pre-version of this game. Just take a closer look at the screenshots in the test...

 The Atari 2600 version of Winter Games, released in the later years of Atari's dominance in the Home Video Game market, was one of a handful of games that used 16K of memory! The Atari 2600 had been designed to only run cartridges of 2K and 4K in size. Games that were written to exceed that 4K memory limitation required the "bank swapping" technique in order to access 8K, 12K, and even 16K game cartridges.

Memory was still expensive in the 1980's, yet the public wanted more and more advanced games, especially since it had been several years now since the release of the many popular 8-bit home computer systems that had been flooding the market and reducing in cost. And with the Nintendo Entertainment System having just been released, the Atari 2600 was beginning to look very dated. In order to satisfy the public’s craving for games requiring increasing amounts of memory, creating a bigger game for the Atari 2600 was the only way to do it.

In order to handle the expansiveness of their games, Epyx released all three of their Olympic-based games with multiple ROM chips equaling the necessary 16K. Using bank-swapping, the various ROM chips could be accessed and swapped as needed. And all of it was embedded within a standard-sized Atari 2600 Cartridge! 
Speed
 As of 2000, the game (as all of the Epyx olympic game series) is completely speed throttled even for the fastest computers. 

Awards
Happy Computer 
Issue 02/1986 - #5 Best Game in 1985 (Readers' Vote) 
Issue 04/1987 - #8 Best Game in 1986 (Readers' Vote)

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Description from the packaging:

You've captured the gold in Summer Games and Summer Games II - now it's on to the Winter Games! And what an incredible setting - a completely realistic winter wonderland featuring six action packed events. You can compete against your friends or the computer.
First choose the country you want to represent. Then it's practice, training and learning a winning strategy for each event. Now the Opening Ceremony and the competition begins. Will you be the one who takes the gold at the awards ceremony?
The quest for the gold continues... and it's all here - the strategy, the challenge, the competition, the art and pageantry of the Winter Games!

Features:
Six winter events: Bobsled, ski jump, figure skating, hot dog aerials and the biathlon.
Opening, closing and awards ceremonies with national anthems.
Compete against the computer of your friends and family.
Unique joystick control: Requires timing and skill.
One to Eight players.


https://www.c64-wiki.com/wiki/Winter_Games
