Categoria: Generale
Versione Italiana
Italy’s response to the grand American productions of the mid‑’80s didn’t come from a major software house, nor from a polished commercial release. It came from Pizzo Calabro, in the form of a type‑in listing to be entered by hand. A bold, almost defiant gesture: no reverence toward the giants overseas, just pure enthusiasm and a lot of BASIC.
The Important Thing Is to Program
It’s July 1985. In the pages of Home Computer, an audacious project appears: Summer Sports, an Olympic‑themed game for the Commodore 64, entirely written in BASIC by Pasquale Cardona.
T
he inspiration is openly acknowledged. The model is Epyx’s Summer Games, a title celebrated for its polish and for elevating the genre beyond the usual joystick‑waggling frenzy.
Cardona’s homage echoes the original in its title, in several of the events, and even in the opening ceremony. A daring comparison? Perhaps.
But paraphrasing a certain well‑known motto: the important thing is to program.
Summer Games: The Type‑In Marathon
The type‑in format was itself a marathon. Readers faced dense lines of semi‑graphic characters and endless DATA statements, each one a potential trap for the weary typist.
Commodore 64 owners, like early computer enthusiasts in general, were a tough breed. They weren’t spoiled by convenience; they were shaped by obstacles. Typing in a full game wasn’t a burden—it was a challenge, a badge of honor.
Today, the listing has been preserved mainly for historical and philological reasons. More than judging the game’s intrinsic qualities, the goal is to document a piece of computing culture: a handmade creation distributed through a method that now feels almost prehistoric.
A Glimpse Into the Game
Summer Sports can be seen both as a game and as a kind of interactive demo. Cardona likely built it using only the knowledge found in the Commodore 64 manual, supplemented occasionally by routines published in magazines. The loading system is rudimentary, and the record‑keeping mechanism is manual, but the spirit of experimentation is unmistakable.
The game includes four of the eight events from Summer Games, plus one original addition: weightlifting.
Summer Sports II: “Build Your Own Olympic Events”
A few months later, in November 1985, Videogiochi magazine published the first part of the sequel: Summer Sports II.
This second chapter introduced several technical improvements. Sprites became multicolor in the opening ceremony and in the swimming event, giving the game a less somber look. Two events—Equestrian and the 100‑meter Freestyle—used vertical scrolling, based on routines from Super Vic 20 & C64 issue 5. A small inside job, one might say.
The articles presenting both games were written by the same author, with a tone that was professional yet slightly caustic—perhaps to pre‑empt complaints or temper expectations. A passage from Videogiochi issue 32 captures the spirit perfectly:
“The listing will be laborious to type, but we believe the result will satisfy even the most demanding readers—even if, of course, it’s not on the level of Summer Sport II (the commercial one, that is). But we’re not Epyx, so you have no reason to complain (in case the thought crossed your mind).”
The Author: Pasquale Cardona
Little is known about Cardona himself. Attempts to contact him have been unsuccessful, and details about the mysterious “Team Mirage” or the Commodore group of Pizzo Calabro remain elusive.
The game, as published, is incomplete. Two events—Shot Put and Cycling—were announced but never printed, as was the closing ceremony, described only briefly in the magazine:
“The stands appear, the torch goes out, evening falls, and the computer resets.”
Despite these missing pieces, both Summer Sports and Summer Sports II remain fully playable. Eight out of ten events survive, along with the introductory screens and menus. Nearly forty years later, these works have been digitized and preserved, ready to take their place in history.
Notes and Acknowledgments
Summer Sports Home Computer 15, July 1985 Digitized by Antonio Barba, wolfrunner71, Roberto, and AmigOS
Summer Sports II Videogiochi 31–32, November 1985 Digitized by Roberto Nicoletti, AmigOS (revision), and TSM (scrolling fix)
Archival materials courtesy of RetroEdicola.com (via Archive.org) and Retro‑Gaming.it. Both magazines © Gruppo Editoriale Jackson.
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