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[ChryZ]

Commercial Breaks

Documentary about Imagine and Ocean aired by BBC2.

Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARsmIPDg3mU
Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6nGz__zSk4
Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGKZmO_Qccw

Fantastic bit of history showing a behind the scenes of software houses Ocean and Imagine circa 1983/84.

 

[Squeak]

Commercial Breaks

Documentary about Imagine and Ocean aired by BBC2.

Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARsmIPDg3mU
Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6nGz__zSk4
Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGKZmO_Qccw

Fantastic bit of history showing a behind the scenes of software houses Ocean and Imagine circa 1983/84.

Completely forgot about that one, absolutely amazing documentary! A must see for anyone interested in that era.

One thing I've been looking out for, for a long time is the famed BBC documentary about "microcomputers" from maybe 82, that resulted in the BBC micro.
BBC commissioned Acorn computers to do a Computer specifically for the program.
BBC had two of the greatest games ever to start with "E", Elite and Exile.

 

[Mar]

Commercial Breaks

Documentary about Imagine and Ocean aired by BBC2.

Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARsmIPDg3mU
Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6nGz__zSk4
Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGKZmO_Qccw

Fantastic bit of history showing a behind the scenes of software houses Ocean and Imagine circa 1983/84.

Thanks for that. I'd always heard about that epic Imagine bust on camera but never seen it myself. It's also amazing to look at the games of then and think how far we've come visually.

 

[ChryZ]

Completely forgot about that one, absolutely amazing documentary! A must see for anyone interested in that era.

Second, to me it's pure nostalgic magic ... my gaming roots so to speak

It's also amazing to look at the games of then and think how far we've come visually.

It was really the shit back then.

 

[FightyF]

My first console...I was 4 or so, so I didn't know how to use it much. Just played Asteroids. That's the only game I had until we got an NES with Zelda in '85.

I had this controller:

I'm surprised to see so many colorful C64 games here...I never realized it was that capable.

 

[neopokekun]

Commercial Breaks

Documentary about Imagine and Ocean aired by BBC2.

Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARsmIPDg3mU
Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6nGz__zSk4
Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGKZmO_Qccw

Fantastic bit of history showing a behind the scenes of software houses Ocean and Imagine circa 1983/84.

Interestingly the Ocean part part of the documentary wasn't part of the original plan, it was staged (in just five days) after Imagine fell apart in front of the cameras.

Oh and speaking of Ocean, you can find some of the old Ocean staff on the forums at http://www.theoceanexperience.co.uk

 

[Mar]

Just played Asteroids.

I'm surprised to see so many colorful C64 games here...I never realized it was that capable.

I'm not surprised if all you did was play Asteroids :lol

 

[Enk]

For my 1,000th post I will focus on music. I went in and updated the 2nd Post with some of the misc. information people have posted in the last two pages. I added the Commercial Breaks docs (thanks ChryZ!), a Reading Materials section which I’ll be updating regularly and also added a nice chunk to the C64 Music section.

It’s mostly a lot of orchestra stuff but I have also put up a couple of Rob Hubbard videos which you can look at below. Also I forgot to add that the music for Myth is one of the most astounding pieces of work SID has ever produced.


Myth Music Remix




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

 

[Enk]

Here's this week's game suggestions. The first is Labyrinth, the first adventure game made by the once creative LucasArts (then known as LucasFilm Games). Little did Zzap!64's reviewers know is that this 50/100 game was to spawn a myriad of amazing adventure games. What's also special about this game was that Douglas (42) Adams helped in its creation.

-Only seems to work on VICE
-LucasArt's first adventure game!
-Sadly you don't play as Jennifer Connelly
-Douglas Adams helped work on it
-Begins as a text based game and then turns into a lavish adventure game
-Read Zzap!64's review HERE




Next is missing piece to The Last Ninja trilogy. The Last Ninja 2 never quite gripped me the same way the first game did. It might have been because of the change in setting and the fact I couldn't get past the first level (f'n bees). The NES version was atrocious but the Amiga version came out ok as they kept the original music (at the cost of an uglier graphics approach).

-Game map HERE
-HERE'S an ad for the game
-Remix of Central Parks' theme HERE
-Longplay video HERE
-A tribute CD for the game's music can be found HERE
-Zzap!64 review HERE




Amiga version (why does Armakuni look so suprised to be there)

MSX Labyrinth

 

[Mar]

Here's this week's game suggestions. The first is Labyrinth, the first adventure game made by the once creative LucasArts (then known as LucasFilm Games). Little did Zzap!64's reviewers know is that this 50/100 game was to spawn a myriad of amazing adventure games.

Wow, I didn't realise Zzap only gave it 50%. Actually I must have realised it considering Zzap was my favourite mag at the time and I read every one, but surprised they gave it such a low score. Labyrinth is a really, really cool adventure game that was really quite hard. Great music and atmosphere, I loved the game more than the movie.

Next is missing piece to The Last Ninja trilogy. The Last Ninja 2 never quite gripped me the same way the first game did. It might have been because of the change in setting

Yeah, LN2 never did much for me either. I didn't enjoy the urbanised setting as it lacked all the atmosphere the first game had. It did play and control a hell of a lot better than the first though, which was its saving grace as far as I was concerned. The boss battle as well is easily the best in the entire series, so it's not without its good points.

 

[Enk]

Are they remakes full of fan fappin love or sinful atrocities which should be cast in the pits of shitty game hell? Here's is an update to the Remakes section that I'll eventually put up once this page nears its end.



BC's Quest for Tires

Delta Omega

Attack of the Muntant Camels

Bruce Lee II

 

[-SD-]

I was a big huge Commodore C-64 (and VIC-20 and Amiga 500) gamer from 1982 to the mid 1990's.

Thanks for this great thread, brought back priceless gaming memories

 

[jammer]

Here's a couple of long but still worthwhile vids to take a look at.

Jeri Ellsworth of the C64 Direct-to-TV fame gives a lecture at the Stanford University

Commodore 64 - 25th Anniversary Celebration with Jack Tramiel, Woz.. etc.

 

[Enk]

I'm going to post something slightly different for today. I decided to go through some of the Zzap!64 backlog to see what I could find. One thing I found particularly interesting was the developer diaries that they wrote while making the game. Lots of good reading material here.


Jeff Minter on software piracy and other musings(1985)
Article

Excerpt

"That’s the way it is at the moment. The distributors are hype and profit oriented, and not really interested in allowing original stuff the exposure it deserves. They’d rather take re-runs of the old formulas (laddersand-platforms, etc) backed by colossal hype, than promote truly innovative stuff like Deus and Psy.

If allowed to continue in this manner the industry will stagnate, new ideas stifled under a tide of multi-screen ladders-andplatforms games, endless hordes of arcadeadventures with 16 zillion rooms each, and huge quantities of pretty, pretty boring American imports.

Don’t let it happen! We can do our own small bit to try to avert this crippling blight on the industry".





A diary on the development of Paradroid
Part 1
Part II
Part II
Part IV

Excerpt

"Friday May 17

OH MY HEAD! Late start today,due to 'night on the town yesterday. Implement colour changes and design some more graphics. Get some very tasty pastel shades using clever pixel plotting. Looks good to me. there again, maybe it's the effect of the beer. Will it look okay on a poor quality TV Dunno.
Take a tape copy home for some screen shots.
"I try grumbling REALLY LOUD. No effect. This program is clearly deaf. "





Interview with LucasFilm
Part I
Part II

Excerpt

For someone who developed such an original game, Charlie Kellner has some interesting views on the future of the market specifically the next year or so


"Well, I think in general we'll be moving away from the concept of games, but we're trying to adapt games into more interactive technology. We're trying to produce an experience that's like being part of film, rather than just being part of a game. But we want to maintain the game aspect of -- the play aspect of a game. I think the thing that we're trying to do in the future can best be described as play rather than games. We want to produce a development, perhaps a toy box for people to play with and let them invent their own games."





The diary of Jeff Minter on the making of Iridis Alpha
Part I (sadly can't find part II)

Excerpt

"11 Mar

Got up, read The Beano went to ZZAP ! offices to hassle them for a cup of tea but they ran out of tea bags so had to go to restaurant down the road. Drove back from Ludlow. Lots of sheep near Ludlow, you know. Pretty Welsh ones. Set up 8 foot Colourspace screen in Llab. Had mega session on it".





Mental Procreation: Diary of Andrew (Paradroid) Braybrook
Article

Excerpt

"I've started thinking about sprite usage - and since I like the use of no on-screen distracting text I don't need a raster splitting system to split the screen. The 'in' thing seems to be to use more than eight sprites on screen, so I'm thinking of running about 32 sprites simultaneously, without glitches or 'airborne trousers'. Stand on top of the first tombstone in G'n'G and wait for a couple of minutes for the latter effect! I think I can avoid embarassments like that".

 

[BSS]

So did anyone else make primitive "ASCII" art with their C64?

Before I started to dabble in the programming bits, I spent many hours doing this. Basically I would just set the colour of the border and background. Then using the key combinations for the symbols which were printed on the edges of the keys, colours and "RVS", draw on the screen whatever came to mind. Sound boring? Well, I was eight years old and evidently easily amused.

Here's my extremely poor sample that I just made to demonstrate:

I couldn't figure out how to do rvs in VICE, so I used the checker pattern instead. Also after I finished it I accidentally move the cursor too far down the bottom of the screen, which scrolled the image up a couple of lines. In frustration I moved the cursor back up the top in a vein attempt to insert two extra blank lines, then redraw the top of the logo. But then that stopped working and the arrow keys started writing those random characters on the screen.

I considered starting again, but realised that these fuckups were an authentic part of my experience when I did this type of thing 20 years ago. So there it is for all to see.

Yeah... I'd draw stuff like that. Marvel at the screen and what I had done for a few minutes... then turn the computer off, losing it forever.

 

[nofi]

Hey, hey, 48k.

 

[ChryZ]

A diary on the development of Paradroid
Part 1
Part II
Part II
Part IV

Excellent read!

 

[neopokekun]

One project I'm looking forward to that there unfortunately hasn't been any updates on in a quite a while is the C64 version of Pinball Dreams (and yes the guys doing it got Digital Illusions permission). I hope it gets finished.

Old screenshots showing how close it is to the Amiga version.

 

[Enk]

Hey, hey, 48k.

Great job on the thread! It looks very snazzy. I'll add it to the 2nd post and contribute to your thread when I get more time tonight.

Excellent read!

Yeah Andrew Braybrook's journals are quite fun to read. It makes me wish that more magazine publishers and developers would do something like this these days. I know it was easier back then because development times were shorter but still it's really good insight on what goes on behind the scenes.

 

[dragonlife]

Sorry to intrude, but I'd just like to say that the name of the thread really grabbed my attention...

"STICKY: LOAD..." What else am I supposed to think? D:

 

[BSS]

Hey, hey, 48k.

What does that get you today?

 

[Mar]

Yeah Andrew Braybrook's journals are quite fun to read. It makes me wish that more magazine publishers and developers would do something like this these days. I know it was easier back then because development times were shorter but still it's really good insight on what goes on behind the scenes.

I was completely addicted to the Creatures 2 developer diary that Zzap ran. It was absolutely facinating to me to read what was going on with these 2 guys making this game themselves. If anyone wants a great read then you should definately start there.

 

[Gazunta]

It makes me wish that more magazine publishers and developers would do something like this these days. I know it was easier back then because development times were shorter but still it's really good insight on what goes on behind the scenes.

I tried to do this at Official Australian Xbox Magazine and it was an absolute fucking pain in the bleeding ass. Devs can't talk about their project until it's announced, and when it's announced everything has to be run through some PR person, and then checked by the publisher, and the publisher's legal, and by the time you get one column the game is on the shelves and the column is over. *sigh*

 

[nofi]

Great job on the thread! It looks very snazzy. I'll add it to the 2nd post and contribute to your thread when I get more time tonight.

Thanks. It's totally died on it's arse though, I guess there's not enough old UK guys on GAF... :lol

 

[Enk]

I tried to do this at Official Australian Xbox Magazine and it was an absolute fucking pain in the bleeding ass. Devs can't talk about their project until it's announced, and when it's announced everything has to be run through some PR person, and then checked by the publisher, and the publisher's legal, and by the time you get one column the game is on the shelves and the column is over. *sigh*

That's really depressing to hear. This just goes to show how cold the gaming buisiness can be now-a-days. What about writing journal entries and waiting to release them after the game is out? But even then only a few select people would probably read them. It's a shame as it really gives a good, first hand perspective on the game development proccess. I guess that's what the docs on the special editions are for.

:-/

Thanks. It's totally died on it's arse though, I guess there's not enough old UK guys on GAF... :lol

Just tried to give your thread a shot in the arm. I think I might try play the Spectrum Myth and R-Type when I get some time off. They're strangely gorgeous and hypnotic to look at from the screen shots. I will continue to add what I can to the thread.

 

[nofi]

Just tried to give your thread a shot in the arm. I think I might try play the Spectrum Myth and R-Type when I get some time off. They're strangely gorgeous and hypnotic to look at from the screen shots. I will continue to add what I can to the thread.

Thanks. R-Type truly is a gem, although to avoid the colourclash all movements are in 8 pixel jumps, even bullets and the background. It's hard to imagine, but it still looks great in motion despite the lack of smoothness.

 

[Lord Error]

Has anyone seen game maps for C64 games built out of actual screenshots? It's always somehow fascinating to look at the whole 2D game levels like this. See this wonderful example from the speccy thread:

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-maps/m/Myth-HistoryInTheMaking_2.png

 

[neopokekun]

Ever wondered what a whole ensemble of SID chips would sound like?
Here is an MP3 of a SID septet (seven SID files playing together at the same time) of a movement from Lars-Erik Larsson's Förklädd Gud. And here are the individual SID files in case you have seven C64s and can get them to play together at the same time.

Has anyone seen game maps for C64 games built out of actual screenshots? It's always somehow fascinating to look at the whole 2D game levels like this.

Commodore Format used to do a lot of them in their tips section. There are a few C64 screenshot maps online but unfortunately some of the sites are down now. Here are a coupple of maps:
Jack the Nipper 2
Son of Blagger
Scumball
Dan Dare
Montezuma's Revenge

 

[Mar]

Has anyone seen game maps for C64 games built out of actual screenshots? It's always somehow fascinating to look at the whole 2D game levels like this. See this wonderful example from the speccy thread:

ftp://ftp.worldofspectrum.org/pub/sinclair/games-maps/m/Myth-HistoryInTheMaking_2.png

Yeah I posted a while back about Vampire and the entire games map. You can instantly tell it was a Spectrum port.

 

[n-off]

btw, it's: L, shift-o, shift-2, shift-4, shift-2 ,8

 

[Schrade]

btw, it's: L, shift-o, shift-2, shift-4, shift-2 ,8

That's it I used to do that one hehe.

 

[Enk]

One thing which is hard to explain to today’s youth is trying to describe the arcade experience of the 80’s and 90’s. The arcade, to me, was the gaming equivalent of the movie theatre. The reason people go to the theatre is to see the latest flick on an enormous screen with a group of peers and strangers. It’s a unique experience you can only have in that place.

With the arcades, we went there to play the big, pretty, no bullshit games. You never knew what games you were going to find or who you were going to play against. All you knew was that there was bound to be at least one badass game there and you had only a few quarters to beat it with. Unlike movies where the films eventually got released on VHS, the games in the arcades stayed there. Well at least the high tech versions did. We ultimately received a port of some of those games, but due to the technical limitations of the systems they were gimped.

Of course we knew that, as it was accepted by gamers at the time that the arcades was where the big games were at. Many of us older gamers remember those days fondly and cherished the ports we got. Here is just a handful of the many arcade conversions that the C64 received:


Commando

Athena

Bionic Commando

Bad Dudes vs Dragonninja (aka Dragonninja on the C64)

Double Dragon

Rastan

Bubble Bobble

Altered Beast

Karnov

Rampage

Ghouls n’ Ghosts

Strider

R-Type

Kid Niki

Street Fighter II

Dragon’s Lair

 

[nofi]

Screens look great, Enk.

The only thing I never really understood about the C64 was why each pixel looked squashed, horizontally. It's especially noticeable when you get a Speccy port (like Auf Monty) because the 1x1 pixel port is in the middle, with the C64 squashy border around it.

Were there two resolutions, or something?

 

[Enk]

Screens look great, Enk.

The only thing I never really understood about the C64 was why each pixel looked squashed, horizontally. It's especially noticeable when you get a Speccy port (like Auf Monty) because the 1x1 pixel port is in the middle, with the C64 squashy border around it.

Were there two resolutions, or something?

Well I think that's mostly because the screen resolution for the C64 was 320 x 200 and the Spectrum was 256×192. I was wondering the same thing too when I saw the Commando screen. The shot seemed a little squashed but it's supposed to look like that.

 

[nofi]

Well I think that's mostly because the screen resolution for the C64 was 320 x 200 and the Spectrum was 256×192. I was wondering the same thing too when I saw the Commando screen. The shot seemed a little squashed but it's supposed to look like that.

But it looks like 160x200, or something. Do you see what I mean? Like each pixel is repeated horizontally.

Regardless, 8-bit games ruled, and it was never about the graphics. Just a query I've always had (and didn't own one for myself).

 

[Mar]

One thing which is hard to explain to today’s youth is trying to describe the arcade experience of the 80’s and 90’s. The arcade, to me, was the gaming equivalent of the movie theatre. The reason people go to the theatre is to see the latest flick on an enormous screen with a group of peers and strangers. It’s a unique experience you can only have in that place.

With the arcades, we went there to play the big, pretty, no bullshit games. You never knew what games you were going to find or who you were going to play against. All you knew was that there was bound to be at least one badass game there and you had only a few quarters to beat it with. Unlike movies where the films eventually got released on VHS, the games in the arcades stayed there. Well at least the high tech versions did. We ultimately received a port of some of those games, but due to the technical limitations of the systems they were gimped.

Of course we knew that, as it was accepted by gamers at the time that the arcades was where the big games were at.

Excellent post. I pretty much lived in arcades back in those days because that's where the real games were. By real I mean, the definitive version, the original. In my opinion one of the largest failings of the C64 was that the arcade ports were just garbage. I was disappointed time and time again by the horrible arcade ports coming to my home system. In fact you posted two of the games that were quite literally, the two biggest disappointments I ever had on the system:

Bad Dudes vs Dragonninja (aka Dragonninja on the C64)

Double Dragon

These games were an absolute joke. It's not the graphics that disappointed me, everyone expects terrible graphics. But the gameplay is nothing like the original arcades either and they may as well have been different games.

The C64 excelled in original software. The arcade conversions were nothing but a cash in. I can think of maybe 2 that were playable but still not worth too much time. R-Type and Bubble Bobble.

 

[neopokekun]

Those screenshots are horrible, why are they resized to 400*250?

Were there two resolutions, or something?

Soft of. Rectangular pixels is nothing unique to the C64, that's was the way multicolor was done on a lot of machines from 1982 and earlier, the Atari 8 bit, Apple ][, etc all have them as well. It was either square pixels but only two colors per charater (one bit: 1 or 0, one for each color) or rectangular looking pixes with four colors per character (two bits in four combinations: 00, 10, 01 and 11 but imagine each bit needing to sit on the screen next to each other thus creating a rectangular looking pixel). The C64, of course, have both multicolor and hires modes (and sprites) and you can mix character sets from both modes even on the same line. Also sprites can always move and the screen can always scroll in single pixel units (you can't on the Atari for example).

It is not as noticable a TV which gives an antialiasing effect which is why PAL emulation and, more importantly, a good color palette is important for a C64 emulator (the Frodo, erlier versions of ccs64 and C64s palettes are not very accurate).

 

[nofi]

Soft of. Rectangular pixels is nothing unique to the C64, that's was the way multicolor was done on a lot of machines from 1982 and earlier, the Atari 8 bit, Apple ][, etc all have them as well. It was either square pixels but only two colors per charater (one bit: 1 or 0, one for each color) or rectangular looking pixes with four colors per character (two bits in four combinations: 00, 10, 01 and 11 but imagine each bit needing to sit on the screen next to each other thus creating a rectangular looking pixel). The C64, of course, have both multicolor and hires modes (and sprites) and you can mix character sets from both modes even on the same line. Also sprites can always move and the screen can always scroll in single pixel units (you can't on the Atari for example).

It is not as noticable a TV which gives an antialiasing effect which is why PAL emulation and, more importantly, a good color palette is important for a C64 emulator (the Frodo, erlier versions of ccs64 and C64s palettes are not very accurate).

Thanks for the explanation.

 

[Gazunta]

I'm pretty sure I've told this story on GAF before but anyway one of my bosses at Krome was the producer of Double Dragon on C64. I forced an apology out of him when he told me this.

Spoiler

He so far has not given me the $30 back I spent on that shitty, horrible game I foolishly bought without waiting for the review of. I mean, it had a Melbourne House logo on it! How could it go wrong?!

 

[Mar]

I'm pretty sure I've told this story on GAF before but anyway one of my bosses at Krome was the producer of Double Dragon on C64. I forced an apology out of him when he told me this.

Spoiler

He so far has not given me the $30 back I spent on that shitty, horrible game I foolishly bought without waiting for the review of. I mean, it had a Melbourne House logo on it! How could it go wrong?!

Can you punch him in the arm for me? I'd feel a little better.

 

[Spectral Glider]

Excellent post. I pretty much lived in arcades back in those days because that's where the real games were. By real I mean, the definitive version, the original. In my opinion one of the largest failings of the C64 was that the arcade ports were just garbage. I was disappointed time and time again by the horrible arcade ports coming to my home system. In fact you posted two of the games that were quite literally, the two biggest disappointments I ever had on the system:



These games were an absolute joke. It's not the graphics that disappointed me, everyone expects terrible graphics. But the gameplay is nothing like the original arcades either and they may as well have been different games.

The C64 excelled in original software. The arcade conversions were nothing but a cash in. I can think of maybe 2 that were playable but still not worth too much time. R-Type and Bubble Bobble.

It's true, I always avoided arcade conversions like the plague. Data East ones were usually the worst of the bunch. Although, Commando was a fun romp. It did not play exactly like the arcade because it was so fast, but that added an extra dimension to it I thought.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Rampage one though, the Activision one that is. Now, Rampage was a game you either liked or didn't. But as conversions go, I wasn't insulted by it. It played pretty faithful to the original.

 

[Enk]

Those screenshots are horrible, why are they resized to 400*250?

Sorry, I had to slightly increase the size to make the comparisons look a bit viewable on screens such as mine.

It's true, I always avoided arcade conversions like the plague. Data East ones were usually the worst of the bunch. Although, Commando was a fun romp. It did not play exactly like the arcade because it was so fast, but that added an extra dimension to it I thought.

I was pleasantly surprised by the Rampage one though, the Activision one that is. Now, Rampage was a game you either liked or didn't. But as conversions go, I wasn't insulted by it. It played pretty faithful to the original.

I remember putting many hours into Rampage with sister back then. I enjoyed the hell out of it until I realized that the game just continued on and on without ending (at least I think there wasn't an end). As for other arcade conversions I also had Double Dragon which infuriated me as well. Thankfully I got the NES version and all was good again.

Rastan was another port I grew up with. Even though I never beat it I think that became one of my most played C64 games. The music was pretty damn good too. I didn't even know it was originally an arcade game for years until I stumbled upon it in an arcade. I believe my expression when I saw it was “Holy shit! This game is gorgeous”! I never looked at the C64 one the same way again. Same thing with Karnov. I enjoyed that one for years until I found the arcade version. I guess arcade ports aren't so bad as long as you haven't played the original source.

 

[SpoonyBard]

I though that the C64 version of Commando was better than the arcade version after playing it on MAME a couple of years ago. The music was obviously better on C64, but the gameplay seemed to also be improved.

 

[Lord Error]

I though that the C64 version of Commando was better than the arcade version after playing it on MAME a couple of years ago. The music was obviously better on C64, but the gameplay seemed to also be improved.

C64 version was much better IMO, except of course for technical graphics. Much better music, faster and more enjoyable moving & shooting, cute fat characters vs. the weird thin looking ones in the arcade version.

 

[nofi]

I never looked at the C64 one the same way again. Same thing with Karnov. I enjoyed that one for years until I found the arcade version. I guess arcade ports aren't so bad as long as you haven't played the original source.

Karnov's a Speccy port, right? (sorry, my thread died so I'm hijacking this one). =)

 

[neopokekun]

Interestingly the programmer of Rastan didn't like the original arcade game to begin with and the artist was inexperienced which is why the preview looked like this

but the final game like this.

Quote Johnny Meegan, the games programmer: "I hate to say it but Rastan was by far my least enjoyable project for Ocean Software. ... BTW - Jane was an excellent artist, but this was her first game and she didn't understand technical restrictions. And the game needed an artist who was very technically minded. She left shortly after Rastan finished which was a shame as she definitely had the talent. But I know she found the experience just as painful as I did. And while the c64 Rastan was a pretty poor interpretation the arcade game, it was superior to the Spectrum and Amstrad versions. I just found the core gameplay monotonous and with the restrictions knew I could not do the title any justice."

Karnov's a Speccy port, right?

Yes and a really, really bad one at that.

 

[Enk]

(Fanmade remakes! Warning, quality may vary)
(Updated on Jan. 30, 08)



IO

Aztec Challenge

Warhawk

Monty on the Run

Cybernoid 2

Wizball

Project Firestart

Ghostbusters

Paradroid

BC's Quest for Tires

Delta Omega

Attack of the Muntant Camels

Exolon

Head Over Heels

Barbarian

Chuckie Egg

The Nameless (unofficial Exile 2)

Hunter's Moon

Bruce Lee II

(Ports of C64 games to other systems)



The Last Ninja (Amiga version)

(Homebrew originals, tributes, interfaces, etc)



The Metal Warrior Series
(Creator’s Website)






Joe Gunn
(Creator’s Website )





Hurrican
(Website, Trailer, Game)

T2002
(Website, Game)
NOTE: Game link also contains a level editor

Garry Kitchen’s Gamemaker
(Website)

Adventure Construction Set

Racing Destruction Set

Pinball Construction Set (no link available)

Geos (C64 GUI)
Website

The Shoot'em Up Construction Kit (SEUCK)

Here's some link to some homemade SEUCK games. You can find even more at the The Seuck Vault.




Cloud King



Fabuland



Starforce III - Revenge of the Gators



Zombie Party

 

[Enk]

Now that this page is almost at an end the "Other Goods" section is up. You can access it easily through the 2nd post or just look above this one. Also the 2nd post has been rearranged to make navigating it a bit easier. Here is the table of contents for the three big posts:

Part I:

(Commercials, game videos, tech demos, SID music, and more!)

Part II:

(Retro filtered glasses required)

Part III:

(Remakes, ports, homebrew, and other crap)

 

[Enk]

I went through and fixed some of the links in the remakes section. They should now send you to working copies of the Wizball and Cybernoid 2 remakes. For today I will add a few more games to the remake list. From what I tested Exolon and (especially) Head Over Hells are pretty good updates. Barbarian is a very shiny remake to the gory 1 on 1 slasher (online only though). Then there’s Chuckie Egg which is a tribute to the classic platformer.



Exolon

Head Over Heels

Barbarian

Chuckie Egg

 

[nofi]

Exolon

Snap, I loved Exolon. LOVED it. I need to get this remake, now.