The Games: Summer Challenge

The Games: Summer Challenge

Dec 31, 1992SportSega Mega Drive/GenesisDOS

The Games: Summer Challenge — frequently asked questions

What platforms is The Games: Summer Challenge on?
The Games: Summer Challenge was released on Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, DOS.
When did The Games: Summer Challenge release?
The Games: Summer Challenge was first released on December 31, 1992.

About The Games: Summer Challenge

The sequel to Winter Challenge, this Summer edition includes 8 events from athletics to cycling. The events are: Kayak: The player goes on a downhill stream, and must navigate through gates without missing or touching them (unlike the real event, there are no reverse gates), as well as avoiding to hit the margins of the stream. Pushing forward paddles, pressing a direction along a button allows a sharper turn. The winner is the one with the fastest time after penalty time is added Archery: Each competitor has four targets, each with three arrows. By moving the directional buttons the player moves the erratic crosshair, while pressing a button fires the arrow. 400m Hurdles: The player does a full lap on the track by pressing the first button to set the pace and the second to jump. Mistiming the jump either makes the athlete knock the hurdle and lose a few tenths of second, or goes completely off-balance and falls, ending the event. High Jump and Pole Vault: Two similar events where the player starts by setting the bar height, and then mashing the power button to build enough speed. Then, just before the jump point the action button must be pressed and held until the athlete is in position to pass over the bar. The contest ends once there are three misses at an height, or the maximum height is cleared. Equestrian: The most technical event, the player must steer the horse to the best trajectory while jumping over hurdles and walls. While a knockdown means a time penalty in the end, if the horse refuses to do a jump (if the button is pressed too soon or too late) the competition ends immediately. Javelin: A simple event where each player has three attempts to launch the javelin as far as possible. To do so, first some speed must be built, and a few steps before the mark start pressing the action button to start the launch sequence, which initiates the angle measure. Once the player releases the button (ideally at an angle between 40 and 45 degrees next to the mark), the javelin is released as well Cycling: In this sprint event the player must complete a number of laps in the velodrome, while keeping as fast and as close as possible to the inner edge without falling. Like with Winter Challenge, graphically, the game features the same polygonal environments with bitmap athletes and game modes include the ability to train or compete in a tournament (up to ten human players, with three computer levels and 16 nations to choose from). It's also possible to replay and even store your best (or worst) moments.

Summary via IGDB.

Game details

Developer
MindSpan
Publisher
Accolade
Game modes
Single player, Multiplayer

Details via IGDB.

Every version compared

Prices, contemporary reception and the studio credited for each release

PlatformYearLooseCompleteSealedFake risk
Sega Genesis1993$8$18$81Low

Also released on: Sega Mega Drive/Genesis · DOS. We haven’t priced or authenticated those versions yet.

Collector value & authenticity

Sega Genesis · PriceCharting sold data · Verified 2026-10-29

Loose
$8
Complete
$18
Sealed
$81
few sales

Other releases and variants

ReleaseLooseCompleteSealed
European (PAL) release$5$21—

How often it sells

  • Loose: about 6 times a year
  • Complete: about once a month
  • Sealed: about once a year

Prices marked “few sales” rest on about one recorded sale a year, so treat them as a rough guide: the next copy could sell well above or below. Expect to wait for one to come up.

Sales frequency from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, as of 2026-10-29.

Price over time

  • Loose
  • Complete

A loose copy sold for about $1.49 in Oct 2007, $5.06 five years ago, and $7.95 as of Oct 2026.

$0$5.00$10.00$15.00$2020082012201620202024$7.95$18.17
Show as table
MonthLooseComplete
Jan 2008$1.49—
Jan 2009$1.25—
Jan 2010$1.25—
Jan 2011$1.25—
Jan 2012$1.00—
Jan 2013$1.00—
Jan 2014$2.00$8.97
Jan 2015$0.99$12.50
Jan 2016$3.28$7.96
Jan 2017$4.99$10.49
Jan 2018$3.39$8.73
Jan 2019$2.99$10.89
Jan 2020$3.31$11.99
Jan 2021$3.50$14.99
Jan 2022$5.90$16.81
Jan 2023$5.13$14.46
Jan 2024$5.05$17.63
Jan 2025$5.99$13.43
Jan 2026$7.37$16.74
Oct 2026$7.95$18.17

Monthly price estimates from PriceCharting's completed-sale records, sampled quarterly, through Oct 2026.

Region
NA+EU
Released
1993
Authenticity
Low
Modern re-releases, such as Sega Ages, the Genesis Mini and Nintendo Switch Online, are not tracked hereLow counterfeit risk
Sega Genesis prices, all games & how to spot a fake

A colorful Olympic-style sports cart that critics found shallow, and a cheap pickup today.

This is the Genesis cart of Accolade's Summer Challenge, made by MindSpan. It came out in North America in 1993 and in Europe in May 1993. It offers eight Summer Olympic-style events, with a Training mode for practicing each one and a tournament against a field of athletes.

GamePro was unimpressed: it said the colorful digitized graphics sat on top of play that tripped over its own feet, with enough variety to please armchair athletes but too little sustained challenge. Electronic Games listed it for one to ten players.

What the press said at the time

“This added screen is useless, since normal people can only keep their concentration on one screen at a time (that of the main action). The principal graphics actually get in the way of game play.”

— Video Games & Computer Entertainment, July 1993

“Even though Summer Challenge is not the best game to come to the Genesis, it's enjoyable to play against a second player.”

— Game Informer, July/August 1993

In the sales charts

In 3 sales charts, September 1993 to October 1993; highest position #7.

Show all 3 placings
  • #7 in the Our Price Mega Drive chart — Sega Pro, Issue 23, September 1993
  • #9 in the HMV Mega Drive chart — Sega Pro, Issue 23, September 1993
  • #10 in the Our Price Mega Drive chart — Sega Pro, Issue 24, October 1993

Sales charts as printed in the magazines of the time.

Before you buy

Among US carts it sits below the middle. Loose, the European cart usually costs less than the US one, while a complete European copy usually costs somewhat more. A complete US copy means the case, cartridge and manual.

The Games: Summer Challenge screenshots

The Games: Summer Challenge screenshot 1The Games: Summer Challenge screenshot 2The Games: Summer Challenge screenshot 3The Games: Summer Challenge screenshot 4The Games: Summer Challenge screenshot 5The Games: Summer Challenge screenshot 6The Games: Summer Challenge screenshot 7The Games: Summer Challenge screenshot 8

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