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Prospero · Jan 5, 2008

My all-time favorite C64 game is a strategy game called The Sentinel (which, for whatever reason, was called The Sentry when I bought it in the US). I've played it on and off for about twenty years (via emulator) and I still haven't beaten it. (Mostly because it has 10,000 stages.)

Laugh at those graphics if you want, but it's the only game I know of on the C64 that was in full 3D. A perfect example of how to let your low polygon count dictate your art style, instead of trying to push more polygons than the machine can deliver.

Describing the gameplay would take more time than I have right now: best to read the Wikipedia entry. Amazing that a person working alone (Geoff Crammond) could make such a quirky and yet commercially viable game in those days.

Spider_Jerusalem · Jan 5, 2008

10 print "AWESOME THREAD"
20 goto 10
run

Varth · Jan 5, 2008

No C64 3d is complete without Project Firestart being praised. The father of all modern Survival Horror, no less.

Also, you can't leave out Thalamus Games and the wonderful Sacred Armour of Antiriad. Oh, and the few good Ocean tie ins like Batman or Untouchables.

EDIT: oh, I forgot

POKE 38911,01

Now this 3d has infinite posts

Enk · Jan 5, 2008

Prospero said:
My all-time favorite C64 game is a strategy game called The Sentinel (which, for whatever reason, was called The Sentry when I bought it in the US). I've played it on and off for about twenty years (via emulator) and I still haven't beaten it. (Mostly because it has 10,000 stages.)

*pics*

Laugh at those graphics if you want, but it's the only game I know of on the C64 that was in full 3D. A perfect example of how to let your low polygon count dictate your art style, instead of trying to push more polygons than the machine can deliver.

Describing the gameplay would take more time than I have right now: best to read the Wikipedia entry. Amazing that a person working alone (Geoff Crammond) could make such a quirky and yet commercially viable game in those days.

That actually looks pretty cool. The screen reminds me of Out of This World for some reason. You can find the game online but apparently you need a password for it.

Click here:

nilay · Jan 5, 2008

Monkeylord said:
All these recommendations, and not one persons mentions any of the Dizzy games?

For shame!

agreed

ohh i also had street fighter 1 such a terrible game now

Dalauz · Jan 5, 2008

Henry House, H.E.R.O, Predatore (Montezuma Revenge@Coleco) and The Last Ninja = WIN

Squeak · Jan 5, 2008

Enk said:
Commodore 64 commercials!

Commercial #1

Commercial #2

Commercial #3

Commercial #4

Price comaprison commercial

Sexy commercial

These are actually awesome (love the music)! And it's true! The C64 was actually the first "good enough" home computer that was affordable. The PC was ridiculously priced for what you got.
The only reason it won was because of the IBM logo and scared sheep consumers.

Just shame about the shitty disc drive Commodore made, that really held the computer back as a whole. It was way too expensive to manufacture (and buy of course) and the crappy default firmware made it extremely slow. Later 3rd party firmware showed just how much better it could be done. But of course these never became standard or achieved 100% compatibility.

BrokenFiction · Jan 5, 2008

This thread is full of win! The C128, in C64 mode, provided the fledgling me all kinds of happiness and joy. Origin Systems was a big supporter of the C64 and I spent all kinds of my (parents) cash on their games.

One particular piece of crack from Firebird Software spent more time in my 1541 than any other: Druid. It was basically a Gauntlet-like, but man was it tough and a blast. I share so that its memory shall not pass from the Earth.

neopokekun · Jan 5, 2008

Random gamepics of awesome games.
CREATURES 1 & 2

Impossible Mission 1 & 2

The Last Ninja series

IK+

Turrican 1 & 2

IO

Retrograde

The Epyx Games series (World Games, Summer Games, California Games, etc)

SWIV

Mayhem in Monsterland, Project Firestart, Bruce Lee, Enforcer, Bard's Tale series, Giana Sisters, etc, etc, etc

Demos
Desert Dream: part 1, part 2 (it's a C64 remake of this Amiga demo)
Cycle
Deus Ex Machina:part 1, part 2
Soiled Legacy
Insomnia: part 1, part 2
Boogie Factor
Trans*Form

Massive music list comming up...

Diseased Yak · Jan 5, 2008

Oh man, so many memories. Thank you for this thread.

My Commodore journey started with the purchase of a used C-64 in 7th grade. It came with the audio tape drive and the cartridge-based Choplifter, which I played the holy hell out of. I used to buy "Compute" magazines and type in hundreds of lines of code in the back of the magazine in order to get simple games up and running, which of course lead to my career today (not in games, but in programming).

I ended up upgrading for the 128-D, never did get a 1541 disk drive like I had wanted. After that came the Amiga 500 then the Amiga 2000 (with 1mb RAM upgrade!). I had the most killer dual-disk boot up for that, complete with self-written custom mouse pointers and whatnot.

Those were the days, gentlemen. Ultima IV on the 128, which gave it upgraded music, was the most awesome thing ever.

jarosh · Jan 5, 2008

:O
it's only the 6th day of 2008 and we already have the thread of the year. awesome!

neopokekun · Jan 5, 2008

Massive MP3 SID music list
Because you simply can not have a C64 thread without some SID music.

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

Enk · Jan 5, 2008

Oooh, Project Firestart looks pretty sweet. I may have to play it when I get a chance. Oh Electronic Arts of the old, how I miss you. *sniff*

This reminds me of another C64 game I used to play...

BrokenFiction · Jan 5, 2008

Big Nate said:
Those were the days, gentlemen. Ultima IV on the 128, which gave it upgraded music, was the most awesome thing ever.

I would boot U4 up just to listen to the Britannian overworld theme while I did homework. But the game wasn't a distraction, I swear.

Enk · Jan 5, 2008

neopokekun said:
Random gamepics of awesome games.

*Lots of pics and demos*

Massive music list comming up...

neopokekun said:
Massive MP3 SID music list
Because you simply can not have a C64 thread without some SID music.

*lots of good stuff*

Great posts! Added the music to the second post (god that Last Ninja music is still amazing). Will add the demos once I restructure the playable games section.

reminder · Jan 5, 2008

Oh sweet memories

jett · Jan 5, 2008

neopokekun said:
Massive MP3 SID music list
Because you simply can not have a C64 thread without some SID music.

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)

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

Jens-Christian Huus
Chordian

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

Peter Clarke
Ocean Loader 3

Jaakko Kaitaniemi
Cyberdragon

Man I love the SID. I get so nostalgic when I listen to C64 music.

neopokekun · Jan 5, 2008

Enk said:
Great posts! Added the music to the second post (god that Last Ninja music is still amazing). Will add the demos once I restructure the playable games section.

Thanks, I've updated the list btw.

jman2050 · Jan 5, 2008

Sometimes I lament the fact that I'm a bit too young to have truly appreciated things like these. It's amazing how far entertainment technology has gone in only 2 decades, and it's only going to get better as time progresses. It's nice to look back on older times though, even if this particular time is a bit out of my range. Don't worry though, in 20 years we'll tell our kids about our Pentiums and Windows 95 and how after a year of owning a computer my family finally bought an honest-to-god video card and then had the capability to play games in glorious 256 color, and we LOVED it...

FlexMentallo · Jan 5, 2008

READY.
10 PRINT "FCUK YOU"
20 GOTO 10
RUN

WindyMan · Jan 5, 2008

Hey, taxi

Pad 3 please

Teasel · Jan 5, 2008

blahness · Jan 5, 2008

LOAD "$" ,8
LIST

Spy Vs. Spy
Aztec Challenge
Maniac Mansion
Zak McKracken & The Alien Mind Benders
Legacy of the Ancients
Legend of Blacksilver
Deceptor
GI Joe
Jumpman Jr
Spy Hunter
Phantasie

these among many others formed my taste for the games I play today. C64 was awesome

Enk · Jan 5, 2008

Enk said:
This reminds me of another C64 game I used to play...

This one:

Now this was an amazing piece of work.

Despite its limitations the game tried pretty hard in capturing the mood of the movie. You start off with one of the most sweat inducing opening moments in gaming: trying to land your ship on the planet. This segment (3rd pic above) took about 5-10 minutes and caused many broken keyboards. Not to mention the music was fuck awesome! But once you succeed in landing the ship the game that follows is oh so sweet.

There were many different gameplay types. Some of the most memorable involved hunting down lost soldiers, finding Newt and battling the Queen Alien. Such great memories.

Side note: There was another C64 Aliens game released which was quite different from this one. You can play it here:

Blackbird · Jan 6, 2008

What the... You blasphemous people by not mentioning this one:

Also (from the top of my head):
- M.U.L.E.
- Impossible Mission (mainly part I)
- Seven Cities of Gold
- Heart of Africa
- Java Jim
- Boulderdash
- Pirates!
- Defender o/t Crown
- Raid over Moscow (damn hard when I was 6)
- Ultima II ("Hex-E-Poo-Hex-On-You!")
- Microprose Soccer
- Raid on Bungeling Bay
- Arkanoid
- Barbarian (first game I encountered featuring choping off heads, I think)
- Spy vs Spy
- Maniac Mansion
- Blue Max
- Test Drive
- G.I. Joe
- M.A.S.K.
- Bomb Jack
- Little Computer People (screw you, Tamagotchi!)

The companies behind these are just not the same anymore: Atari (including Epyx), Activision, Electronic Arts...

[edit]Just learned that the original square-circle-triangle (EOA) logo from EA wasn't short for Electronic Arts... :-/

Prospero · Jan 6, 2008

Enk said:
Despite its limitations [Aliens] tried pretty hard in capturing the mood of the movie. You start off with one of the most sweat inducing opening moments in gaming: trying to land your ship on the planet. This segment (3rd pic above) took about 5-10 minutes and caused many broken keyboards. Not to mention the music was fuck awesome! But once you succeed in landing the ship the game that follows is oh so sweet.

Holy cats, I remember that! No screenshot can do it justice. The first couple of times I played it I actually screamed.

The other really intense part was when you had to take down the dozens of Aliens who were rushing your position while one of your Marines cut a hole in the door with a welding tool so you could escape.

sky · Jan 6, 2008

It was so easy to make basic programs on, too.
I spent countless hours forging epic ascii graphic adventures...
like a picture of a building "go inside? yes/no" ... "yes" OMG IT WORKED! :lol

Squeak · Jan 6, 2008

SpoonyBard · Jan 6, 2008

I spend several hunders hours playing different Boulder Dash games, and messing around with Boulder Dash Construction Kit. Great games with almost perfectly balanced gameplay.

The Great Giana Sisters was, of course, a copy of Super Mario Bros, but that didn't stop it from being an excellent game.

And other stuff I played and loved at the time:
Elite - The classic, spend weeks playing this fist with C-64 and then a couple of years later with Atari ST
Krakout - The best Break Out clone there is.
Bubble Bobble - Excellent co-op mode
The New Zealand Story
Commando - shooter, great music
Rambo - shooter, great music, more weapons
Who Dares Wins 2 - Commando clone
Ikari Warriors - shooter, with co-op mode
Cabal
Silent Service
Stunt Car Racer

And yeah, the thing in my avatar was my first joystick. Better than Tac-2, not to mention those QuickShot II Turbo things everyone else had.

Also, I never had a disk drive. Tape all the way! I even bought a Load-it tape drive later because adjusting the drive manually was getting a bit frustrating.

Mejilan · Jan 6, 2008

I, on the other hand, only owned a Commodore Vic-20. No wonder, then, that even as a child that delighted in such things, I was so unimpressed and didn't consider gaming to begin (or, as it were, restart) until the NES finally hit. :/

bishoptl · Jan 6, 2008

Stickied for SHEER AWESOMENESS.

Btw, this thread needs more Radar Rat Race, Retro Ball, and Sea Wolf love.

jarosh · Jan 6, 2008

sky said:
It was so easy to make basic programs on, too.
I spent countless hours forging epic ascii graphic adventures...
like a picture of a building "go inside? yes/no" ... "yes" OMG IT WORKED! :lol

that sounds just like me, haha. i remember one adventure game i made with ascii graphics in particular. it was called "MEGA MAN 2000" and after the first few screens you would fall over a cliff while going WEST and the screen would flash colorfully. god i was so proud of that effect. lol

edit: i also made a sort of strategy/simulation type game about ant colonies. damn. basic was fun

acm2000 · Jan 6, 2008

screw you guys, spectrum 48k 'load ""' all the way :< complete with printer, light pen and kempston adapter!

Enk · Jan 6, 2008

Thanks for the sticky! Here's the next bit of fun:

Never played this when I was younger but was aware of it. Click the eye catching coverart to check it out!

2DMention · Jan 6, 2008

Awwww.. Those were the days.

Castlevania
Renegade
Rastan
Usagi Yojimbo
Ultima 4
Simpsons Arcade (Still have it boxed)
G.I. Joe
Movie Monsters
Toy Bizarre (Activision cart game)
SOme Spiderman text/graphic adventure
Winter Games?
Paradroid - another game that captured atmosphere wonderfully
Target Renegade import from England - I remember I called Taito about it and they said it could ruin my computer. :lol

I even used to type my papers in Jr. High and HS on that thing.
It was a game machine disguised as a computer.
I never got into the whole modem thing, sysops, q-link, or any of that. But I do remember the piracy scene for it was huge and through the mail.

Woo-Fu · Jan 6, 2008

Blue Max
Beachhead 1&2
Paradroid
Leader Board Golf
Ultima 2,3 and 4
ELITE
Choplifter

TAC-2 joysticks (T.A.C = Totally Accurate Control).
ICEPICK

Varth · Jan 6, 2008

From one clone to another: remember the Katakis/Denaris incident?
Julian Eggebrecht, Manfred Trenz and Chris Huelsbeck for one of the greatet 64 shooters.

Also: Fort Apocalypse and Ultima III, my first RPG <3

Dizzan · Jan 6, 2008

Oh man, Impossible Mission was great. Is there any way to get my hands on a flash version or something? I would be stoked!

bjork · Jan 6, 2008

C64 love threads are always great. Pirates!, Hardball!, Leaderboard Golf and a ton of others all got played to death on mine.

Beatbox · Jan 6, 2008

Leaderboard Golf was the Arnold Palmer game right? Yeah....awesome game. Used to play it every week with my older sis and my pops. Good times.

Doc Evils · Jan 6, 2008

Mission impossible and bubble bobble where the only games I had.

actually No I remember I had some Ninja game, but I can't remember what it was and I think some kind of weird space game?

my memory is killing me since I was pretty young and my dad did the command prompt stuff.

Atari 2600 was my style.:lol

Gazunta · Jan 6, 2008

This is the best thread that's ever been on GAF. Thank you!

I have about 5 C64s now, including one I keep at work to teach the heathens. My favourite piece of C64'ness would be my copy of Great Giana Sisters that I bought in the week before Nintendo took it off the shelves.

It's a better game than Super Mario Bros, there I said it

Enk · Jan 6, 2008

Since bish showed me some love I best give some back. What's funny is that I remember playing something similar to Sea Wolf on the C64. It involved shooting boats and subs but it's proboably not the same game. Couldn't find any pics or covers for Retro Ball, sorry bish.

Doc Evils · Jan 6, 2008

What the name of that rainbow game where you used rainbows to get higher up on the level?

Gazunta · Jan 6, 2008

Enk said:
Games came in either tape or disk form (the latter was more commonly used)

In Europe / Australia the opposite was the case. Tape was the standard here until the machine's retail death. (It was a cheaper format and magazines had covertapes)

Enk · Jan 6, 2008

Squeak said:
A bunch of C64 demos, some technically amazing, some artistically great, most both. ;-)
Remember this is a 1Mhz, 64Kb machine...

*bunch of links*

And an added little bonus for Zelda fans:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-mu2rAgK_w

Added to the second post! Also you weren't kidding about how powerful the C64 was compared to the NES. That Zelda tech was really impressive. I'll update the original post in light of your information.

Squeak · Jan 6, 2008

The thing about the C64 as a platform, is that it really is two. In the sense that programs from the UK written for a PAL machine can't run on US machines without altered timing and viceversa. This led to two quite different cultures around the machine.

The UK/EU with it's wonderfull cracker/demoscene culture, tonnes of original games, 99% of which were crap, but with so much material released that a significant amount was bound to be good og genius.
Zzap!64 is still the best videogames related magazine ever:
http://www.zzap64.co.uk/
All the awesome english devs, like Paul Woakes, Andrew Braybrook or Geoff Crammond.
And of course the whole SID scene, which has produced the finest chiptunes ever.

The US scene with the bigger installed base of discdrives was better geared towards more involved stuff like Infocom adventures, all the brilliant early Lucas Film Games games, RPGs and very important online stuff, some of which thankfully filtered over the pond.
Habitat by Lucas Film Games was the first real virtual online world on a commercial computer, and was in many ways better thought out than most of todays:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitat_(video_game)
Quantum Link, a blueprint for the modern internet community, only in 1985:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_Link

Ogni-XR21 · Jan 6, 2008

Doc Evils said:
What the name of that rainbow game where you used rainbows to get higher up on the level?

I think you mean Rainbow Islands, but I only played that on Amiga, didn't know there was a C-64 version of it.

The first game I really loved was Bobby Bearing, you were a marble/ball and you had to find another ball and rescue it. My 2 older brothers always played Wizard of Wor, but I sucked at it, I guess I was too young back then.

Also Maniac Mansion was a game I loved, I still remember all the possible ways to beat the game (watch out spoiler ahead)

deadhorse32 · Jan 6, 2008

C64 was my first computer/console.

When I was a kid I had the "Barrel jumping" record at World Games on my cousin's 64.

Let's not forget Zak McKracken : My first point and click.

Gazunta · Jan 6, 2008

Doc Evils said:
What the name of that rainbow game where you used rainbows to get higher up on the level?

Rainbow Islands. (AKA Bubble Bobble 2)

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