World Games
Platform: Commodore 64
Gametype: Undefined
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Description 

After Summer Games I and II and the Winter Games, follow now the World Games. World Games is another part of the Games series by Epyx. Up to 8 players can take part in the World Games. There are eight different disciplines, which take place in different countries, in two disciplines (Log Rolling, Sumo) there are two players playing at the same time. The judges evaluate every discipline and award medals (gold, silver and bronze). The points of all the single disciplines are added and at the end the overall winner is nominated. The game has a record list which is also saved. 

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 Weightlifting (Russia) 

You enter the competition twice, once in Clean and Jerk and once in Snatch. As soon as you have made it to lift the weight over your head and at least two lamps alight in white, the try is successful. At the end the results of both disciplines are added. 

Controls 
 with right and left the weight is set 
 with up/down the discipline in the training mode. 

Snatch 
 Joystick down: snatch bar 
 Joystick up: lift up the weight 
 Joystick down: bring body under the weight 
 Joystick up: bring up the weight over the head and hold it 

Clean and Jerk 
 Joystick down: snatch bar 
 Joystick up: lift up the weight 
 Joystick down: lay down the weight on the breast 
 Joystick up: clean and jerk the weight 
 Joystick down: bring body under the weight 
 Joystick up: bring up the weight over the head and hold it 

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 Barrel Jumping (Germany) 

An ice skater jumps over as many barrels as possible on a frozen lake. The number of barrels can be chosen by yourself. A small green flag on the ice signals the jumping point for the player. If you forget to prepare your skater for the landing, you let him break into the ice ungently. 

Controls 
 Move joystick left and right in the rhythm of the legs. 
 The fire button is for jumping. 
 When landing press joystick down. 

Tip 
 at highest speed jump as late as possible 

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 Cliff Diving (Mexico) 

In this discipline you have to jump into the water from a cliff, whereby you have four different heights to choose from. From the top, the jump is much more difficult, but there are also more points to get. For once you need to find the right moment for a jump, as the water constantly rises and falls. In the moment of immersion you need to be fully straight, in the flight itself you can still correct the posture. 

Controls 
 Jump with fire button 
 Change posture with joystick up/down 
 After immersion pull joystick to the left 

Tips 
 Jump from the uppermost cliff 
 Immerse very close to the rock. 

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 Slalom Skiing (France) 

You have to drive through the marked gates into the finish as fast as possible. Good knowledge of the track is helpful. If you hook a gate you are disqualified. If you miss a gate you get 5 seconds penalty (per gate). 

Controls 
 Joystick right/left for the corresponding ski movement. 
 Fire button raises the speed. 

Tip 
 Rather miss a gate than hook it. 

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 Log Rolling (Canada) 

Two players balance on a log that is swimming in the water. By moving the legs the log is set in a rolling motion. The aim of the discipline is, to overbalance the opponent. The one who falls into the water first has lost. 

Controls 
 Move the joystick left/right in the rhythm of the timberman's legs. 
 Press the fire button to slow down the rolling of the log and change the direction. 

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 Bull Riding (United States) 

You have to try to keep yourself on the bull as long as possible. You can choose between 5 different bulls. The wilder the bull, the more points you can get. 

Controls' 
 Hold the joystick into the walking direction of the bull. 
 When he breaks abruptly hold into the opposite directon. 
 When the bull turns, joystick down to stay in the saddle. 

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 Caber Toss (Scottland) 

The aim of this event is to throw a caber which is four times as heavy as you, as far as possible. You get a valid try, if the caber lands on the far end and overturns forward. 

Controls 
 Move the joystick left/right in the rhythm of the athlete's legs. 
 To raise the speed, raise slowly the rhythm of the joystick movements. 
 Start the throw with the fire button. 

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 Sumo Wrestling (Japan) 

You have to try to either push the opponent out of the circle or get him on the ground. 

Controls 
 Movements are done by joystick. 
 Additional pressing of the fire button leads to other movements. 

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 Design 

2D screen. Graphics, sounds, music pieces and animations are great, the figures are funnily animated. The type of scrolling depends on the discipline. Before each discipline a screen is shown with a description of the sport and the history. The many funny interludes and gags, that the programmers came up with, are remarkable. The weightlifter first turns red in the face and then breaks through the platform when he holds the weight too long, the caber toss athlete can ram himself into the ground and the sea gull shakes its head when you are too clumsy. As in the previous games, every player can enter his/her name and choose the country of origin with a flag at the start of the game. After each discipline the results of every participant are displayed and the national hymn of the gold medal winner is played. The highest number of points in each sport and the name of the player who had reached it are saved on disk and shown on the world record list. 

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 Description of the sports 

Weight-Lifting - The scene for this event is Russia, home of the best Olympic weight lifters in the world. The Soviets have ruled the "Iron Game" since 1960, when 360-pound giant Leonid Zhabotinsky squashed his competition by hoisting 1262 pounds in three lifts. Weight lifting is more than a test of strength - it is also a sport of strategy and style. The "snatch" and "clean and jerk" require timing, skill and determination. 

Barrel Jumping - Barrel Jumping takes you to Germany where skaters compete to jump over the most barrels in a single attempt. The sport started about 300 years ago in Europe where ice skating was a common form of transportation. In their dash before take-off, jumpers hit speeds above 40 mph, risking painful bruises if they fail to clear the last barrel. However, barrel jumpers keep protective gear to a minimum for lighter weight and longer leaps. 

Cliff Diving - The cliffs of sunny Acapulco, Mexico, provide the setting for this dangerous sport. High on a cliff named La Quebrada ("the break in the rocks"), courageous divers launch themselves from a craggy ledge towards the crashing surf far below. To avoid the rocks at the cliff base, divers have to jump outward 27 feet during their 118-foor descent. Diver Raul Garcia has taken the leap from La Quebrada over 35,000 times. 

Slalom Skiing - The setting for this event is Chamonix, France, where the first Winter Olympics took place in 1924. Skiing originated in Norway thousands of years ago. Ski racing dates from the earliest days of skiing in Norway, and modern slalom racing probably evolved from traditional Nordic obstacle races. Slalom courses are designed as a test of reflexes, agility, precision and control. Of course, speed is vital - but skiers rarely exceed 25 mph in the slalom. 

Log Rolling - Log rolling brings a visit to Canada, where two lumberjacks try to dislodge each other from a large floating log, spinning it back and forth until one contestant plunges into the icy river. (Splash.) Needless to say log rolling requires great balance and agility. Log rolling began in Canadian lumber camps around 1840. The novice lumberjacks always gets the same piece of advice: "Never take your eyes off your opponent's feet." 

Bull Riding - Bull riding is the most dangerous event in rodeo, a sport born over 100 years ago in the American West when cowboys challenged each other to contests of riding and roping for entertainment. The riders sits bareback on a wild bull weighing two thousand pounds or more, and holds onto a rope to avoid being thrown. When a rider falls in real competition, rodeo clowns draw the bull's attention so the cowboy can escape. 

Caber Toss - The heather-splashed hills of Scotland are the birthplace of the ancient caber toss. In this famous event from the Scottish Highland Games, athletes lift and throw a tree trunk the size of a small telehpone pole. Cabers vary in size, but once tossed successfully they can never be shortened. The Braemar caber, one of Scotland's greates challenges is 19 feet long and weighs more than 120 pounds. 

Sumo Wrestling - Sumo is an ancient Japanese sport with many traditions. Two huge wrestlers grapple in a clay-surfaced ring, trying to topple each other to the ground or push each other out of the ring. In one part of the elaborate pre-match ceremonies, the contestants throw salt to purify the ring. Japanese boys must weigh 160 pounds at the age of 13 to enter sumo appprenticeship, and today's professional sumo wrestlers often weigh 400 pounds. The heaviest sumo wrestler fighting in the uppermost Japanese division, the Makuuchi division, was the Hawaiian Konishiki, who weighed over 600 pounds at a height of 1,84 m at the end of his career. 

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 Cheats 

Weight-Lifting 
 HOW do you reach 995kg here ?? Originally, the maximum weight would be 2 x 225kg (= 450kg)!! NOT REALLY... because when you have lifted a weight successfully, you get automatically 5 kg more in the next try (if it was not your 3rd already). And this way you get over the barrier of 225kg. After that you can go to up to a maximum of 860kg, if you choose more the game will crash. So be careful and do not go up to 860kg in the 2nd try already and then make it, as then it will be automatically raised to 865 (= crash). Everything above 225kg is lifted as easiliy as about 75kg. After that you need only lift 135kg in the next discipline to reach 995kg. But do not lift more or else there will be a fault (except for when you lift again over 1280kg, then it will restart at 0). - Roland 

Cliff Diving 
 At Cliff Diving there are 5 important things: 
 Jump from the top 
 Immerse into the water when the water level is highest. You best jump when the water level is highest in the preview window and shortly before it will go down again. 
 A "clean" jump...which is jump and then "at the right moment" - depending on the wind draw the joystick downwards... no up-down-up-down movements. 
 The distance to the wall when immersing. The ideal distance is approx. 8-9 pixel from the wall. Of course you need to time this with the wind and the drawing down while jumping. 
 After the immersion draw to the left at the right point of time....not instantly...but also not to late....this is hard to describe... 
 Then 101 points are possible! - Roland 

Log Rolling 
 Is no coincidence because.... You can change the direction with the fire button as described in the manual, but you should NEVER do this, as after that you get practically no points any more. The more often / longer you have the red bar in the status display, the more points are subtracted from a certain initial amount. The only coincidence is how long he computer opponent stays on the log...and this is important for the initial amount of points. Starting from approx. 30 seconds you have presumably reached the full initial points (probably something like 768 ( 3 x 256))...and from this are the points for bad behaviour subtracted. And how do you steer? It is simple... if the bar goes to the left, you have to shake faster left-right (look for the speed of the feet). If the bar goes to the right keep the joystick pressed to the left or right (do not shake). But if the speed is correct, no points are subtracted. - Roland 

Bull Riding 
 If you save a snapshot wiht Vice directly after the start, the ride will go the same course after loading it, no matter how fast or slow, wrong or right you react, you will ALWAYS get the same score, the main thing is that you do not get thrown off. This means: Right at the start it is set how many points you get if you stay on the bull. This probably works, that a series of random numbers is in succession generated until the fire button is pressed at the start. This row of numbers now poses the sequence of the bulls movements ... - Roland 

Sumo 
 Concerning the technique... right at the start pull the joystick heavily to the right several times until you meet the opponent and then press the fire button ONCE AND KEEP IT PRESSED. DO NOT LET GO! And then press the joystick to the right again and again ("shake"). This way you push the opponent rather easily to the right out of the circle if you have the right speed. If the computer opponent pushes you back to the left and you counterattack, you should get more points. If you notice that you start to lift the computer opponent from the ground, just stop shortly to push to the right until the opponent is on the floor again. - Roland 

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 Trivia 

 According to Epyx the German sport should have originally been "soccer". But this turned out to be too laborious. Also a mere penalty shoot-out was given up in favour of "Barrel Jumping". 

 In "Barrel Jumping" you can also jump over 18 barrels (World Games Barrel Jumping in the Forum64 post32) 

 The weightlifter at "Weight Lifting" consists of approx. 100 sprites. 

 There is said to be a bug at "Caber Toss" which makes the log go up without return. For this you have to walk very slowly and press the fire button at a certain point for a longer time... 
 In reality "Caber Toss" is not about the thrown distance but about the falling direction of the caber! 
 In Germany World Games was released two years too late, as the disciplines "Cliff Diving" and "Slalom" had to be adapted to the European PAL chip. 

 Since 25.04.2008 the game is available as download for the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console.


http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/World_Games
