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LOAD"*",8,1

Enk

makes good threads.
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Greetings to a thread made with pure nostalgia! A thread where we forget the present and time warp to the scary land of the 80’s! A time where the hair was big and everyone was showing off their missiles. Did you see the latest Friday the 13th? Wait, Saw IV what?!? Get the fuck out of this thread you rotten kids!

It was a dark time for gaming as somewhere in a desert thousands of Atari ET’s were buried. This symbolized the grave of gaming. Then some fat plumber and rapping nerds saved the day and all was good again. But believe it or not, during those dark times, some of us were playing something else. Before I got my grubby, unwrinkled paws on an NES and Genesis, I was wankin the joystick to the Commodore 64.

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The Commodore 64 was an 8 bit computer system that was released in 1982. While at first the graphics may seem inferior to the NES, the C64 has shown to provide visuals that can far surpass that of Nintendo's system (check out Squeak's posts below). Games came in either tape or disk form (the latter was more commonly used) and we usually played with the keyboard or joystick. What many people didn’t know was that you could hook up a C64 stick to a Genesis and play your games that way (minus two buttons).

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See us C64bians grew up with a unique set of skills.

-We gained a steel like patience for having to deal with excruciatingly long load times.

- Our hand and eye coordination has become razor sharp for beating (or attempting to beat) games with inferior controls to the console versions (you haven’t experienced Kid Niki until you played it with a joystick nub and shoddier gameplay).

-Our minds are balanced as we learned to love the worlds of both console games and computer games on the same platform.

Us C64bians were in a gaming paradise at the time (remember “at the time” don’t try to apply your simple minded today standards when looking at retrogames). The platform was so swamped with games that, like fingerprints, no one grew up with the same collection.

Anyhow, discuss your Commodore 64 memories to your heart’s content and try to keep this thread colorful. Here’s a few of the wonderful games I grew up with.



Cauldron I and II

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-Before Cotton there was this badasss witch.
-Harder than Paul Reubens at a McDonalds’ playground
-The sequel had you playing the pumpkin nemesis
-The sequel was very Metroidvania in style
-There was a remake made later on called Super Cauldron



The Last Ninja

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-AKA the ninja who outbested and outlasted Ryu Hayabusa
-Possibly the greatest C64 game of all time
-Had two sequels. Part 2 was ported to the NES
-Had an amazing soundtrack
-A fourth game was supposed to be released for the XBOX but was apparently scrapped


Temple of Apshai

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-First RPG I played before getting sucked into the world of JRPGs like Dragon Warrior
-Music used to freak me out.



Mail Order Monsters

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-Another personal favorite due to the sheer complexity of the game
-Create you own monster and used it to battle other monsters!
-Like Pokemans but for men



Dark Castle

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-Battle whipmen, rockmen, rats and eyeballs!
-Innovative “aim with your arm” gameplay
-Also on Genesis



Rastan

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-A real man’s game!
-Swing you sword to slaughter the monsters but don’t touch the water!
-Mmmm…the music was so delicious.



Kickstart 2

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-Noted simple because it was the first game that got me into wanting to make games. I always used to love messing around with the level editor despite how shitty the motorcycle controlled.



Evil Dead

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-Based off of one of the greatest films ever conceived.
-Goal is to survive as long as possible in the cabin



Movie Monsters

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-Play as Godzilla, Mothra and other monsters of Celluloid Land
-Destroy cities!



GI Joe

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-Best game based on the series (screw you arcade and NES counterparts)
-Choose to be an all American douchebag or one of the more likable Cobras
-One on one fighting with tank and helicopter battles!



Wizard and the Princess

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-One of the first text adventure games I played



Gemstone Warrior

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-Another C64 RPG with Gauntlet-esc gameplay



Deceptor

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-Another personal favorite
-Contol a robot that can transform into a slidey thing, a flyie thing, and a shooty thing!
 
This post is reserved for the "special" Commodore 64 updates like the ones below.



NOTE: Due to the sheer amount of “special” updates provided in this post, it actually caused it to implode. So I had to oil up my chainsaw and cut this post in half Wizard of Gore style.



Please choose from the table of contents on where you want to go:



Part I:

(Commercials, game videos, tech demos, SID music, and more!)
Updated: April 4, 2008

Part II:

(Retro filtered glasses required)
Updated: Jan. 24, 2008

Part III:

(Remakes, ports, homebrew, and other crap)
(Updated: April 4, 2008)










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(Commercials, game videos, tech demos, SID music, and more!)
Updated Jan. 27, 2008


If you want to reminisce about other home computers around that era, check out these threads:
The Official AMIGA "Rosetinted" Thread
The Official ZX Spectrum "Rosetinted" Thread
The NeoGAF Thread Of Beeps and Colourclash (Specturm 48k)



Video Tributes
Music Tribute
Collection 100 C64 games
Another tribute video
C64 fighting games video



Gameplay Videos
Beyond the Forbidden Forrest
Blondie Goes on a Date
Bop N Rumble
Dark Castle and the remake Color Dark Castle
The Eidolon
The Great Giana Sisters
International Karate +
IO
The Last Ninja
The Last Ninja 2 (C64 badass version) The Last Ninja 2 (NES shit version)
Monty on the Run
Myth
Rick Dangerous Vid 1
Rick Dangerous Vid 2
Ultimate Wizard
Infernal Runner
Let's Play The Trap Door
Longplay Videos- C64 Longplays





Commodore 64 Commercials
Commercial #1
Commercial #2
Commercial #3
Commercial #4
Commercial #5
Price comaprison commercial
Totally Radical C64 Commercial!
"Just look at the action!" commercial




Tech Demos
(thanks to Squeak and vdo!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gy0leSqyfJ0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zipu3Wfh_wU&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Oi0KRjZJh4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqbH6ckW_sg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_d0ojvDwLQ&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=va108nOAn6g&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQlZ80WYmD4&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObnM0JXCTN0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7fEKRiqWNg&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObnM0JXCTN0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEjXGIkQCcI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOA2LJiSU48
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PVhcKNc99Js&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXGHi3FMLuc&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zO5hx4uHSNY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUuds9bXFnY&feature=related
SID and Sprite tech demo

MUST SEE ZELDA TECH!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-mu2rAgK_w




Misc Videos
Jeri Elisworth lecture
Quantum Demo Reel (with footage of LucasFilm's Habitat)
Geos on DS
Commercial Breaks (a documentary about Imagine and Ocean that aired on BBC2)
Part 1/3
Part 2/3
Part 3/3


Reading Material
The Commodore 64 Book - 1982 to 199X





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(Updated Jan. 21, 2008)

C64 Music Remix Sites
Remix.kwed.org
The High Voltage SID Collection


Orchestrated Versions
The C64 Orchestra Webpage
Short C64 Documentary Video
Cybernoid II
Monty on the Run
Delta
International Karate
One Man and His Droid
Commando
The Last Ninja (criminally short) Vid 1 Vid 2


Rob Hubbard - Golden Days of Computer Game Music Video
Part 1
Part II
Part III
Part IV
Part V




Listen to the amazing sounds of SID Music!
(thanks to neopokekum for the links)

Tim Follin
Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (title)
Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (level 2)
Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (level 3)
Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (level 5)
Ghouls 'n' Ghosts (hi-score)
Agent X2 (level 1)
Gauntlet III

Jeroen Tel
Cybernoid
Cybernoid II
Supremacy
Invest (intro)
Rubicon (title)
Robocop 3 (title)
Myth
Alternative Fuel

Søren Lund (Jeff)
Commodore 64
Euro-Dance

Ben Daglish
Hades Nebula (title)
Hades Nebula (in game)
The Last Ninja (The Wastelands loader)
The Last Ninja (The Wastelands)
The Last Ninja (The Wilderness)
The Last Ninja (Palace Gardens)
The Last Ninja (The Dungeons loader)
Trap
Bulldog

Anthony Lees
The Last Ninja (The Wilderness loader)
The Last Ninja (The Dungeons)

Matt Gray
Last Ninja 2 (Central Park loader)
Last Ninja 2 (Central Park)
Last Ninja 2 (The Streets loader)
Last Ninja 2 (The Streets)
Last Ninja 2 (The Mansion loader)
Last Ninja 2 (The Mansion)
Driller

Martin Walker
Armalyte (hi-score)

Reyn Ouwehand
Last Ninja 3 (Intro)
Last Ninja 3 (Earth)
Last Ninja 3 (Wind)
Last Ninja 3 (Water)
Last Ninja 3 (Fire)
Last Ninja 3 (Void)

Ramiro Vaca
R-Type (level 1)

Chris Hülsbeck
R-Type (title)
Great Giana Sisters (loader)

Johannes Bjerregaard
Stormlord (title)
Stormlord (ingame)

Marcel Donné (Mad)
Scorpion

Martin Galway
Ocean Loader 2
Rambo First Blood Part II (loader)
Green Beret (title)
Yie Ar Kung Fu (title)
Times of Lore (title)
Arkanoid (title)
Wizball

Jens-Christian Huus
Chordian

Rob Hubbard
Commando
IK+
The Master of Magic
Monty on the Run
Delta (ingame)
Zoids

Charles Deenen
Mr. Heli (title)

Fred Gray
Batman the Caped Crusader
Shadowfire
Hysteria

Peter Clarke
Ocean Loader 3
Bubble Bobble (title)

Jaakko Kaitaniemi
Cyberdragon[/ur]
 
I wanted a C64 for the Last Ninja but that was about it. I am sort of in the same boat now for just wanting a Ps3 for Little Big Planet and whatever Team Ico comes with.
 
I remember my brother typed in a few hundred lines of code for like an hour just to have bullet holes (complete with sound effects) appear on screen. The commodore was so awesome - and that disk drive weighed more than most cars do today! Those load times were sooooo brutal.

Bruce Lee - it had 2 player co-op! The 2nd player was a green ogre who made this awesome sound. This game was so hard though, but one of my brothers actually finished it! Or at least I think he did.

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I'm too lazy to look for screens but these games also rocked:

Race Destruction Set - you can race on the moon!

Hot Wheels - you can paint your car and drive down a street!

Friday the 13th - I was so scared of this one. Scarier than the NES version!

There was also a kung fu game where you fought panthers, forgot the name. To this day I have yet to play another game where you fight panthers BARE HANDED! Oh and Epyx Summer games and Impossible Mission were amazing - we used to play Summer games like crazy.

Didn't SYS 64738 do something similiar to ,8,1?
 
I remember begging my dad for Dark Castle while in the store. He got it for me, we got home, and then found out it wasn't compatible with our computer. Good times!
 
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- Lines Changes
- Different types of shots
- Fatigue
- Fighting
- Customizable teams/players

- Full season mode (Completely adjustable)
- Stat tracking
- Players abilities increased/decreased from season to season
- Trading players


All of these options are expected in games of today .. but this was in 1987. One of the greatest sport games of all time.
 
I played Donkey Kong and.. um.. Raid on Moscow (Which was kind of like Zaxxon but with some gameplay differences).
 
Enk said:
-We gained a steel like patience for having to deal with excruciatingly long load times.

I used to start a game, go outside to play with friends, and when I came back, it had almost done loading. Great times.
 
Never had one of my own, but some favourites I remember playing at my friend's house...

Impossible Mission
Skate or Die
California Games
The Great Guiana Sisters
Some Robin Hood game that seemed pretty bad ass at the time
 
No Pitfall love?

I remember using audio cassette tapes for game media and it took forever to load. You think motorstorm or Lost Odyssey is bad for loading? haha Not even close

I also used to love Lemans and Soccer which were both cartridge based. IIRC Lemans was played using the "paddle". A controller with a wheel on it. Awesome.

Last ninja was definately the greatest game to be released on it though.

God have games come a long way.
 
Nikashi said:
I played Donkey Kong and.. um.. Raid over Moscow (Which was kind of like Zaxxon but with some gameplay differences).

Bolded fixed and that game was badass. Shooting a rocket launcher at the Kremlin ftw.
 
The C64 was one of my earliest gaming memories. My friend and I spent many of those early days encapsulated by Impossible Mission, Pitfall 1 and 2, Ghosts n Goblins, Winter Games, etc. *wipes away tear*
 
That Epyx joystick was the ultimate. Best joystick ever for track and field style left right left right left right movements. The sound of it clicking was pure joy :D
 
Enk said:
Its graphics were a step below the NES’s as it had less colors and was a bit more pixilated.
In some ways it was actually better than NES graphically.

- Most importantly, it had a real framebuffer instead of just a character map. This allowed much more flexibility and variation when drawing the backgrounds, and allows for completely random stuff like vector graphics and particles. '
- It was better at scrolling in many directions.
- The sprites were bigger (although it could draw less).
- The C64 was the first ever consumer product to have SVHS output, which allows for a crisper picture in high res mode 320x200 (again, better res than what was possible on NES)

If you are skilled and know what you are doing, you can do up to 128 colours. The way the VIC does colours allows for different hues when you put some colours next to each other (I'm not talking dithering, this is real colours).
http://www.studiostyle.sk/dmagic/gallery/gfxmodes.htm

Also the SID destroys the NES soundchip when it comes to real world performance.

The NES had strict quality assurance (although some real stinkers were let through anyhow).
The C64 was completely open and had far more games, their quality was very uneven. But there was a lot more freedom to experiment and try new stuff.
The few games that do hold up today (I'd think less then 0.5%) holds up really really well.
 
Stay awhile.. stay forever!!

had so much fun on the C64... long nights of James Bond, Epyx Summer Games and Spy vs Spy. Also got me into Bard's Tale... Arctic Fox/Starfox, Pitfall, soo good.
 
As far as games - shit man way too many to list but a few memories -

California Games
Summer Games
Winter Games
The Games Summer Edition
The Games Winter Edition
MISL Indoor Soccer
Superstar Soccer
Superstar Ice Hockey
Street Sports Series
Shogun
Bruce Lee
GI Joe
Ghostbusters
Beach Head
Boulderdash
Space Taxi
Pogo Joe
Jumpman
Aztec Challenge
Hunchback
Kickman

I could go on for days and days.
 
Nice post! I never had a C64. We had an Apple II+, which was fun and got me started programming, but it was no C64.

My friend growing up had one, though she really didn’t play much on it other than some crazy robot game that reminded me of pitfall. I wanted one SO bad.
 
Spy Vs Spy
H.E.R.O.
Clubhouse Sports
Indoor Sports
World Games
Bill Budges Pinball Construction Set
One on One Dr J vs Larry Bird
Skate Or Die!

Such sweet memories.


Edit - I just can't stop

Crystal Castles
Marble Madness
Hardball!
Mini Golf (or maybe Putt Putt Golf? or both?)
Arnold Palmer Golf
Test Drive
Space Station
Maniac Mansion
Alice in Wonderland
 
Radical thread!!! I loved my c64 ....

Gunship
Ghostbusters
Pac man , ms pac-man ( and all the other namco arcade perfect [or so it seemed] ports)
Donkey Kong
Aces
Test Drive
Skate or Die
Battletank

ah good times
 
I was bouncing around Youtube to find some old demos that used to get released by groups.

People are STILL making demos on this machine. Look what some sick freak made:

Demo Here

Imagine if you would have seen something like this in 1989. :lol



edit: Thanks Jett. Had the wrong one copied. Changed with the right one now.
 
ToxicAdam said:
I was bouncing around Youtube to find some old demos that used to get released by groups.

People are STILL making demos on this machine. Look what some sick freak made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l1ESPjAyPk&feature=related

Imagine if you would have seen something like this in 1989. :lol

Holy Shit, C64 is a BEAST.

jett said:
Dude...that's an AMIGA demo, and it's from 1993.

That video is tagged Amiga, but a ton of the other ones are labeled C64.
 
Beatbox said:
Holy Shit, C64 is a BEAST.



That video is tagged Amiga, but a ton of the other ones are labeled C64.

Yeah check my updated post, with video of a c64-port of the amiga demo Toxic Adam posted.
 
jett said:
Yeah check my updated post, with video of a c64-port of the amiga demo Toxic Adam posted.

Yeah I just got to the end and saw the Amiga models listed - gonna check out the C64 one now.
 
trinest said:
Ghost-busters! Pwns. I got lots of c64's at home. Lot's of games too.

Shit, forgot to add that. I loved that game so much but never was able to beat it. By the way, I updated the second post with a suprise.
 
The Commodore 64 was my first computer, and a great source of entertainment for me in the late 1980s.

I have a fondness for a lot of the Epyx, Electronic Arts, and Activision games that were released on C64 during that period. Unfortunately, Epyx hasn't existed for about 15 years now, and EA and Activision have swept most of their early history under the rug. I wish GameTap would pick up some of these games--they do have a C64 section, but hardly any games there that I recognize.

Although Commodore was established as a "business equipment" company and not as a game maker, they did produce some games for their more popular home computers. Commodore ported a lot of early 80s Midway arcade games, and many of the conversions were quite good.

The computer software market was so diverse back then that even Atari (a competitor to Commodore) released some games for other companies' computers, including the C64 of course. Sega also produced games for the C64 and other computers back then. Later in the 1980s, more arcade game producers such as Taito, Data East, Konami, and Capcom jumped into the computer market and released conversions of their arcade hits for the C64.

I used to type in a lot of programs (including plenty of games) from COMPUTE!, COMPUTE!'s Gazette, Run, and Ahoy! magazines. Some of the programs would take me a considerable amount of time to enter, (often requiring me to devote 1-2 hours a day for about a week), but the results were usually worth it.
 
I came in this thread expecting to see Telengard screenshots.. I SEE NO TELENGARD SCREENSHOTS!!!!!
 
International Karate Plus (IK+)

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Incredible gameplay that far surpassed the original game. A rare C64 game that supported three simultaneous players! Two with joysticks and one with keyboard. Fluid rotoscoped animation (similar to Prince of Persia) and a theme song that pushes the SID chip to its limits. All this in only 64k of memory. Respect.

Check out the video and be amazed!
 
Enk said:
Kickstart 2

-Noted simple because it was the first game that got me into wanting to make games. I always used to love messing around with the level editor despite how shitty the motorcycle controlled.
wtf. the motorcycle controls perfectly. it is a perfect game. i will always remember it as one of the first games where true skills mattered. and having not played it in what.. 20 years.. i still remember the music.
 
DarienA said:
I came in this thread expecting to see Telengard screenshots.. I SEE NO TELENGARD SCREENSHOTS!!!!!

I think some of you forgot how many games were released for the system. Anyways here's some screenies of Telengard.

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