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[Totalriot]

As promised, here are some of my all time favorites (of those not already posted):

Pool of Radiance:

Pool of Radiance was the first of the classical SSI Gold Box AD&D games. It still features one of the best combat systems ever, IMO. Me and my buddy spent hundreds of hours fighting Kobolds in the Slums and Skeletons in the Graveyard. It also features one of the best weapons ever: The Two Handed Sword +1 +3vs Undead. We loved this weapon to death so we used the good old replication cheat to give it to every one of our fighters

The thing we liked best however, was the (quasi) coop mode: We both created 3 characters each and only controlled them in combat. Of course, we had no DKP, so sometimes we had some arguments about the loot:lol

They Stole a Million:

A really unique game! I have the feeling that some of you are not familiar with this game, so here is a description taken from The House of Games:

The game consist of two parts, the first is where you prepare a robbery and the second part consist of planning the actual heist. The first part is played entirely from a menu system that will provide you with all the information. You start by selecting a building to rob and they range from a coin dealer to a big museum. There is plenty of information you can buy on the building themselves such as alarms, guards and most importantly where the exepensive stuff is hidden. Then you need to select your accomplices from a host of candidates each of which has a primary and secondary speciality. There are plenty of different skills like handling dynamite, cracking safes and electronic skills and it's up to you on how to handle the caper so choose wisely. Whatever you choose you must always have at least a driver in your team because you are always part of the heist and you can't drive. Finally choose a fence which after the job is done can sell the things for you but even here you must make a correct choice because they all have different abilities in selling certain items. Once you are done with all the info gathering and hiring you'll go to part two.

The second part consist of exactly planning the heist and you can tell your accomplices what to do. You see the building from a topdown view and you start outside the building near your car. The obvious thing here is to get into the building with the least amount of noise and then to take out any guards and security systems before getting the valueables. If you bought info on the security systems then not only will you be able to crack them easier but the objects which are protected by them will be highlighted as well making it easy to pick off the unprotected ones first. Among the commands you can give are lockpicking, openening and closing doors and ofcourse to grab any valuables. You have to be precise to the second when planning because your accomplices will only do what you have told them and if they encounter a closed door or if a security systems is still operational they will still try and do what you planned for them and often this will result in a failed heist.

Here is a great gameplay animation of the German version:

Both Pool of Radiance and They Stole a Million featured awesome title music. I hope I can find links to both of them.

 

[Dr_Cogent]

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

HOLY SHIT! This is the game I remember playing years and years ago. Bought it on tape, but I could never remember what it was called. The box art jarred my memory though. LOL! AWESOME.

I played the shit out of that game.

Had to play it C64 mode on my Commodore 128. I never owned the C64.

 

[Prospero]

Holy crap, I had this game. IIRC you could choose to play against a blonde, a brunette, or a redhead.

 

[Project Midway]

Few more...then I will stop...I promise..!

Beach-Head II. The sound effects were so real...

Barry McGuigan Boxing. Awesome boxing game...character development etc.

Mercenary. A Paul Woakes classic

Silent Service

Train

 

[Ogni-XR21]

Probably already posted and I just didn't see it:

To be on Top

You could make some really cool tunes with this one, developed by Chris Hülsenbeck...

 

[Amon37]

This thread fails without much love for The Bards Tale

The Bard's Tale-Tales of the Unknown 1985:

The Bard's Tale II-The Destiny Knight 1986:

The Bards Tale III-The Thief of Fate 1988:

 

[Enk]

As promised, here are some of my all time favorites (of those not already posted):

Pool of Radiance:


Pool of Radiance was the first of the classical SSI Gold Box AD&D games. It still features one of the best combat systems ever, IMO. Me and my buddy spent hundreds of hours fighting Kobolds in the Slums and Skeletons in the Graveyard. It also features one of the best weapons ever: The Two Handed Sword +1 +3vs Undead. We loved this weapon to death so we used the good old replication cheat to give it to every one of our fighters

The thing we liked best however, was the (quasi) coop mode: We both created 3 characters each and only controlled them in combat. Of course, we had no DKP, so sometimes we had some arguments about the loot:lol

Didn't play Pool of Radience but I did play a lot of Hillsfar. I wasn't able to get too far into the game as there was a place which required a passcode which you got from a pinwheel (I think). I loved exploring the town and battling in the arena.

 

[Pezking]

Rockstar ate my Hamster

Emlyn Hughes International Soccer

Ghostbusters

Midnight Resistance

Defender of the Crown

 

[KTallguy]

I played C64 for a good part of my childhood, until I got my first 386 PC.

The problem is, I was so young that I barely remember any of the games I played.

I remember a Karate action game... it would take 15+ minutes to load, so what I would do is start the loading, go to eat dinner, and come back to gaming goodness. So now I usually finish my meals extremely fast as a result. :lol It's totally ingrained in my psyche.

I had that Donald Duck game!! And I think I had Impossible Mission 1!

Wow, now I'm seeing more games that I had:

Little Computer People
Boulderdash
Seven Cities of Gold!!

 

[bjork]

I remembered another couple of games I used to play a lot:

One was a cowboy game called Kane. It came on a Mastertronic 2-pack thing with another game called Human Race. I didn't like HR so much, but Kane was cool. You shot down birds with a bow and arrow, had shootouts in town, and chased trains on horseback. For $5, it was damned sweet.

The other combo disk I had was Saboteur and Jet Set Willy 2. Jet Set Willy 2 was probably the hardest goddamn thing I ever played, but I loved it anyway, and Saboteur was a pretty neat ninja game.

Too lazy to hunt screens, but I'm sure some of you guys know these games.

 

[Cosmonaut X]

As promised earlier here are some samples from RUN 10, the album of game themes performed by the C64 Orchestra, together with the original chiptunes:

Monty on the Run (Orchestrated)
Monty on the Run (Original)

Cybernoid II (Orchestrated)
Cybernoid II (Original)

Commando (Orchestrated)
Commando (Original)

The complete album also features orchestrated and original versions of the following:

One Man and His Droid
Supremacy
Delta
Hawkeye
Myth
International Karate
Master of Magic

...together with two bonus tracks and a bundle of extra material. For fans of the C64 or videogame music it's a must - so nip over to their MySpace page and order yourself a copy.

 

[bishoptl]

Law of the West - know it, live it, love it. I spent far too much time trying to beat this game by wooing the ladies and being an asshole to everybody else. Didn't work.

Hardball was a pretty good 3D baseball game, especially for its time. There was another baseball game for the C64 that my family played much more, however, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

4th and Inches. Better than Madden. Yes, I said it!

Anyone who claims to love C64 RPGs has played at least one game from the Temple of Apshai series. Fact. FACT. I preferred the Bard's Tale, but that came along much later. It also got me in serious trouble with my evangelical parents, who found the manual with the spells in it and made me return it to my buddy Mike who I'd originally borrowed it from. I blame Jerry Falwell.

 

[bjork]

Law of the West - know it, live it, love it. I spent far too much time trying to beat this game by wooing the ladies and being an asshole to everybody else. Didn't work.

Hardball was a pretty good 3D baseball game, especially for its time. There was another baseball game for the C64 that my family played much more, however, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

I always shot the little kid right when he came out, because his music sucked and he would always say, 'up yours, sheriff!'

Is the other baseball game Activision Championship Baseball? It was pretty good too.

 

[bishoptl]

I thought it was Gamestar, or something.

 

[bjork]

I thought it was Gamestar, or something.

We are on the same page. This page:

http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http://www.lemon64.com/games/details.php?ID=3593

 

[Totalriot]

Didn't play Pool of Radience but I did play a lot of Hillsfar. I wasn't able to get too far into the game as there was a place which required a passcode which you got from a pinwheel (I think). I loved exploring the town and battling in the arena.

Hillsfar was like the bastard child of the SSI gold box games. The graphics were great, though. You didn't have the pinwheel? Tztzt ;-)

This thread fails without much love for The Bards Tale

The Bard's Tale Series would have been my next games to post. What a great RPG Series! Me and my buddy almost cried when

Spoiler

the old man at the review board got killed by Tarjan

. Plus some of the spell names like MAFL and WOHL have been burned into my brain.

Anyone who claims to love C64 RPGs has played at least one game from the Temple of Apshai series. Fact. FACT. I preferred the Bard's Tale, but that came along much later.

Seriously, I've never heard of this series and I thought I've played all major C64 RPGs.. even Wizardry 1 or some forgotten gems like Legacy of the Ancients:

 

[Amon37]

The Bard's Tale Series would have been my next games to post. What a great RPG Series! Me and my buddy almost cried when

Spoiler

the old man at the review board got killed by Tarjan

. Plus some of the spell names like MAFL and WOHL have been burned into my brain.

I remember losing the dimensional teleportation pinwheel thingy from part 3 for like a month. I was pissed I was stuck in one dimension. :lol

 

[bjork]

I had Temple of Apshai Trilogy, but I guess I was too young to understand it. I would just make my stats the highest I could, and walk around for awhile running away from evil cats or whatever.

It DOES still have the coolest death animation I've ever seen, though.

 

[djtiesto]

I don't think I've ever played a C64 before... I remember one of my friends had one but we tried to get it to work and were unsuccessful. This thread makes me feel like I've been missing something, some of those RPGs look pretty cool (I think I owned a copy of Pool Of Radiance for DOS, if it's the same game). I still don't understand how, even back then, people took the 10 minute load times.

 

[Fusebox]

. I still don't understand how, even back then, people took the 10 minute load times.

Assuming it loaded first go.

 

[ToxicAdam]

If you picked default characters in Pool of Radiance, one of the names for the fighter was 'Arax the Bold'.

I still use that name in every RPG I have played since. It's by far, my favorite game of all time.

There was just something so awesome about the perfectly placed fireball or sleep spell .. and then sneaking your thief around their flanks so he can backstab the enemy mage/cleric.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I don't think I've ever played a C64 before... I remember one of my friends had one but we tried to get it to work and were unsuccessful. This thread makes me feel like I've been missing something, some of those RPGs look pretty cool (I think I owned a copy of Pool Of Radiance for DOS, if it's the same game). I still don't understand how, even back then, people took the 10 minute load times.

They made cartridges that could cut the load times down 50-80% (depending on what was being loaded). Pretty much a must have as the console grew older.

 

[bjork]

David's Midnight Magic was a cool pinball game I remember.

Also, Fast Hack 'Em, though that was not really a game, arrrr

 

[SpoonyBard]

I still don't understand how, even back then, people took the 10 minute load times.

The turbo loaders were really pretty quick. But of course you had to load the turbo loader first and then the game... but it was 3-5 minutes instead of 10 to 30 IIRC.

 

[Squeak]

I still don't understand how, even back then, people took the 10 minute load times.

It's better than multible 10 - 30+ second loads with optical disc games now. You could go do something else while the game loaded.
If you were serious about games (or anything) on the C64 you'd get a disc drive plus fastload cartridge anyway. Then games loaded anywhere from almost instantaneously to 30 seconds.

 

[Ping_the_Merciless]

Hardball was a pretty good 3D baseball game, especially for its time. There was another baseball game for the C64 that my family played much more, however, the name of which escapes me at the moment.

Star League Baseball? That is the one my friend and I used to play all the time. Then there was Earl Weaver Baseball.

http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http://www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php?id=419

 

[Dead Man]

First, thanks to the OP for a great thread.
Second, thanks to all the poster for dusting off some ancient memories.

Zaxxon
Spyhunter
Spy vs Spy
California Games
Paperboy
Stuntcar
Aztec Challenge
Gauntlet
Impossible Mission
Commando
Last Ninja


And damn you all to hell, for now I must purchase a C64 and a pile of games and waste months of my life.

 

[Squeak]

As promised earlier here are some samples from RUN 10, the album of game themes performed by the C64 Orchestra, together with the original chiptunes:

Monty on the Run (Orchestrated)
Monty on the Run (Original)

Cybernoid II (Orchestrated)
Cybernoid II (Original)

Commando (Orchestrated)
Commando (Original)

The complete album also features orchestrated and original versions of the following:

One Man and His Droid
Supremacy
Delta
Hawkeye
Myth
International Karate
Master of Magic

...together with two bonus tracks and a bundle of extra material. For fans of the C64 or videogame music it's a must - so nip over to their MySpace page and order yourself a copy.

It's not a must in any way. It's absolutely awful! Bloated, hollow, "romantic" orchestral compositions is the absolute opposite of what SID music stands for. If you truly understand and like SID music for what it is, then this isn't something for you.
If you absolutely must have remakes (not that they in any way are better than the originals) then go here: http://remix.kwed.org/

 

[Enk]

Anyone who claims to love C64 RPGs has played at least one game from the Temple of Apshai series. Fact. FACT. I preferred the Bard's Tale, but that came along much later. It also got me in serious trouble with my evangelical parents, who found the manual with the spells in it and made me return it to my buddy Mike who I'd originally borrowed it from. I blame Jerry Falwell.

Words cannot even describe how much I loved this series. In fact, after I finish all of Orange Box I will sit down and play the Apshai Trilogy again. The music (not the theme which was pretty badass) and the death animation freaked the hell out of me when I was young. This series will alway go down as the earliest (most likely first RPG) I ever played.

And god that title music was so good for the time (and still catchy now). Go to the link below to listen to it and get the game if you haven't played. For those concerned, a good majority of C64 games are considered freeware now so it's ok for you to download the rom.

Lemon 64's Temple of Apshai Page

EDIT: Thought I'd point this out. HERE is a link leading to the Zzap!64's review of the Temple of Apshai Trilogy. Note the length of the review, how it gets into the mechanics of the game and even reviews the manual. Such strange times those were.

 

[Cosmonaut X]

It's not a must in any way. It's absolutely awful! Bloated, hollow, "romantic" orchestral compositions is the absolute opposite of what SID music stands for. If you truly understand and like SID music for what it is, then this isn't something for you.
If you absolutely must have remakes (not that they in any way are better than the originals) then go here: http://remix.kwed.org/

Well, that was half an hour uploading those tracks wasted ;-)

Also worth pointing out that these "bloated, hollow, 'romantic'" versions were arranged and orchestrated by Rob Hubbard.

 

[Squeak]

Well, that was half an hour uploading those tracks wasted ;-)

Also worth pointing out that these "bloated, hollow, 'romantic'" versions were arranged and orchestrated by Rob Hubbard.

What's he done lately? I still don't like it, and Hubbard only made about 8 really good tunes. His canonization to god status is pretty undeserved IMO, sure he was one of the first to take homecomputer music seriously, but let's not make a bigger deal out of that, it's not like he invented electronic music or anything.
Sometimes people change and becomes someone else entirely, and maybe in the process lose their talent. Look at a lot of 80s pop musicians in the 90s and 00s.
His few good original compositions are still really close to my heart, but they are from another person and another zeitgeist. Let's remember them as they were, great.

 

[Mar]

What's he done lately? I still don't like it, and Hubbard only made about 8 really good tunes. His canonization to god status is pretty undeserved IMO, sure he was one of the first to take homecomputer music seriously, but let's not make a bigger deal out of that, it's not like he invented electronic music or anything.
Sometimes people change and becomes someone else entirely, and maybe in the process lose their talent. Look at a lot of 80s pop musicians in the 90s and 00s.
His few good original compositions are still really close to my heart, but they are from another person and another zeitgeist. Let's remember them as they were, great.

He's a god to me. He forever changed the way I thought about music. You know when everyone was listening to 80s and 90s pop music? I skipped it all. I listened to SIDs and VGM in general, and Rob Hubbard started that for me. He may not have created a great deal of tracks, but what he did do was amazing and life changing. I still listen to Master of Magic, Spellbound, Road Rash etc today.

 

[Talamius]

Holy crap, I had this game. IIRC you could choose to play against a blonde, a brunette, or a redhead.

Artworx Strip Poker or something like that....there were supposedly data disks to add more people but I didn't know anyone with them :/

 

[Mar]

So is anyone else looking forward to the remake of the entire Last Ninja series? It's supposed to be released next month... I wouldn't be surprised if it got canned, we haven't heard anything in quite a while.

Their Impossible Mission remake got released in Europe though, so I live in hope.

 

[Blackace]

Almost all of the classics have been said...


I do need to just say Rag to Riches...

 

[Spectral Glider]

Hail Hail 64!!

A lot of my favorites have been listed several times over. So I'll add this one that I don't think was mentioned yet, I could be wrong though.

http://www.lemon64.com/?mainurl=http%3A//www.lemon64.com/reviews/view.php%3Fid%3D93

I was never really any good at it, but it was such a cool premise and had terrific music.

 

[Gazunta]

Well, that was half an hour uploading those tracks wasted ;-)

I appreciated the effort

And I'm all for classical approaches to classic music

 

[BigDubs]

Castle of Terror by Melbourne House

Unfortunately no one has ever completed the game as the creator left out an ending! Great game otherwise though, as atmospheric as they came.

 

[Enk]

Castle of Terror by Melbourne House

Unfortunately no one has ever completed the game as the creator left out an ending! Great game otherwise though, as atmospheric as they came.

I think the same thing happened to Barbarian. I remember finishing the game but it didn't end. So I was left wandering around the world without anything to do.

I updated the 2nd post with two more playable games based on the recommendations here: Commando and PSI-5 Trading Company. I also found Rags to Riches but couldn't figure out how to play it. My bum ran out of alchohol and died :-(

Since I got some time off from work tomorrow I will try to dig through the web and attempt to beef up the second post a bit.

 

[Chairhome]

Lots of great games mentioned here. I used to play a bunch of games, I think all of them were of the cracked variety (which I didn't understand what that meant at the time). M.U.L.E. is an instant classic, Zak McKraken was a game I never finished, and there are so many more. Let me contribute with a few games that I don't think anyone posted about (or at least put up any pics for):

Karateka!!!

And no one ever seems to remember this game:

Cliff Hanger is probably one of my all time favorite games.

 

[Chichikov]

Page 6 and still no mention of Wasteland?
For shame (on me as well).

Yeah, I know, it was not a C64 exclusive, but it's still the greatest post-apocalyptic game ever (yeah, I went there).
Got to give a nod to the greatest RPG of that generation (and one of the greatest ever).

Plus it had the best copy protection in history.

 

[hitmon]

oh man, this brings back so many good memories from my childhood. Thanks for this thread!

 

[Spectral Glider]

Page 6 and still no mention of Wasteland?
For shame (on me as well).

Yeah, I know, it was not a C64 exclusive, but it's still the greatest post-apocalyptic game ever (yeah, I went there).
Got to give a nod to the greatest RPG of that generation (and one of the greatest ever).

Plus it had the best copy protection in history.

I was never that big into RPGs, but Wasteland was incredible. That, Questron and Pirates were my favorites. The c-64 had so many great, great game ideas that I wish more developers of today would try to rediscover them. Sid did such a great job of revisiting Pirates, I wish some other people would take the chance.

 

[Gazunta]

The c-64 had so many great, great game ideas that I wish more developers of today would try to rediscover them.

People think I'm just kidding around when I say that every single idea I put into the games I work on is ripped off from old Commodore 64 games. It's pretty damn close to the truth, though.

Spoiler

I'm a fraud

 

[adamma666]

don't know if it has been posted yet, but some dude reencoded lots of the C=64 cracktros in flash:

http://www.docsnyderspage.de/_page/flash1.htm

some very interresting stuff there, although i bet none of us has seen any of them at that time

 

[Lord Error]

People think I'm just kidding around when I say that every single idea I put into the games I work on is ripped off from old Commodore 64 games. It's pretty damn close to the truth, though.

Spoiler

I'm a fraud

It is time now for you to rip the idea behind Creatures 2!

Level after level of cutesy brutal puzzle glory. You can do it Gazunta, GAF knows you can!

 

[Talamius]

Oh wow, the time I wasted on Karateka.....


Speaking of C64, are these games avaiable free + legal now? I know a lot of the developers have long since disappeared (I'm looking at you, Epyx).

 

[GZ!]

Want a challenge?

Try Aztek challenge ! Unfortunately, no pics found for this game

 

[KTallguy]

Want a challenge?

Try Aztek challenge ! Unfortunately, no pics found for this game

Oh shit, is that the game where you have to run and avoid stuff, and then go through that crazy pyramid full of traps? Man that game was hard!

 

[Lord Error]

Want a challenge?

Try Aztek challenge ! Unfortunately, no pics found for this game

Tough game, but I finished it, and I will always remember it as one game that was impossible to finish on a black/white TV I had my C64 hooked up early on. The color of pirhana fish was the exacts same shade of gray she the river you had to swim through :lol

While we're at Aztec games, Gold of Aztecs on Amiga was probably infinitely more difficult to complete than Aztec Challenge. God I hated that game SO much, but I wanted to complete it so badly for some reason. I did eventually, and I never played it since. Even today I'm scared to boot that game in the emulator and try to play it again.

 

[bishoptl]

Aztec Challenge made me break my Epyx 500XJ. You ever get so mad at a game that you take the controller outside and whip it to the ground repeatedly by the cord?

Yeah. ISSUES.