C64 retrogaming

LOL! Okay retro ... I started with my first C64 in 1986. That was an unbelievable experiance. Especially in the former GDR.

Good old games from LUCASARTS:
https://www.scummvm.org/

One of my favorite games was "Heart Of Africa". You are an explorer in Africa at the end of 19th century. In the desert you may get serious problems with your joystick (even if it's a Competition Pro) if you don't drink enough. You become blind and the steering won't work anymore because of fever. You pull it right and the little man runs somewhere else and becomes slow. (I can send you the map if you are interested in.)

Another highlight was "Impossible Mission". With a talking professor who trapped you in his labyrinth. "Welcome visitor. Stay a while. Stayyyyy for eeeever!" LOL!

Or a really crazy jump'n'run "Boulder Dash".

The best program I ever used at C64 was "GigaCAD+". Okay, not a game. But a full 3D-CAD. You could design 3D-objekts and animate them !!!. Shaded, not wireframe !!! Well, 16 frames with 160x100 pixels. But shaded!
https://www.c64-wiki.de/wiki/3D-Konstruktion_mit_GIGA-CAD_Plus_auf_dem_C64/C128

 

Awesome. Oh the memories!

Action games on the C64 I liked were most titles by Jeff Minter, i.e. Matrix, Attack of the Mutant Camels and sequel (Revenge of...), then Survivor, Fort Apocalypse, Loderunner, Zaxxon, Uridium. And of course Elite! What a long way that one has come. Some titles I don't remember, but there was a rather silly car racing game with J.S.Bach music which did more for my interest in classical music than my dad's attempts to elevate it over all the modern stuff. Also look out for the name Chris Huelsbeck who made a lot of good game soundtracks by the standard the hardware was permitting.

Adventure games I remember fondly were The Pawn and most of all Death Gate. The latter is based on a novel series I also liked a lot, one of the authors appeared again in these circles just recently somewhere with Neverdie's projects.

(Edit: Damn, a minute too late to rub it out, it's already out there. Death Gate was later, PC era already. My memory is failing where timelines are concerned. But I like to mention it anyway.)

 

Not exactly sure about the tech of a C64 as didn't know anyone who owned one. Some of the oldies that I really liked though of the era: Commando, KnightLore, Green Beret, Ye Ar Kung Fu, Dizzy, Jet set Willy, Bombjack, Paperboy, Mikey?.

I'm trying to remember the games my friends had on their Amstrads because those were probably on Commodore too.

 

oooh it's THAT joystick!

 

Oh well, don't miss "Last Ninja":

or "Saboteur":

or "Block Out" ... one of the first 3D-Tetris-Games:

or "Defender of The Crown" with an unbelievable number of colours. The C64 has two sreens. Each with eight colours. "Defender of The Crown" switched quickly between both of this screens and produced the impression of 16 colours. Crazy, what these coding guys did at that time!

 

I never ever liked games like "Summer Games" and "Winter Games" and such. They always killed joysticks before expected. Once I made my own joystick from wood, metal, gum and some old sensors from cracked joysticks. I had really fun this evening to rebuild this precious in my CAD:

It worked with a gum membrane between two screwed wooden parts and was pretty smooth and stable. Way better than each other joystick I ever owned. The base was 80 x 80 x 45 mm only. Okay, it had no firebutton. But I usually didn't need such firebutton.

 

That's awesome! Did the gum get mouldy?

 

Nope. Never. But that would have been the smallest problem. It was made from an old bicycle tube ;-)The switches got broken. Easy to replace by others from other already destroyed industrial joysticks.

 

Yeh some games did seem to eat joystick's for breakfast! We never had one, as to get one would have first meant upgrading our Electron with a plus one first (which I always wanted to do but we were poor). So I didn't own a joystick till we got a PC many years later.

My friend with the Amstrad though seemed to get through them like there was no tomorrow. Indeed it was probably those running games or something.

Life really did improve in terms of computers. <--- understatement of the decade!

 

PS, I'll just leave this here for those who are interested in such retro-ness. www.gunshipmusic.com/gate/



PPS if you decide to enter, be warned, it isn't easy.

 

Ahhhhrg! "Space Taxi" ... ofc! ... how could I forget this? "Pad two please." LOL

 

Same, oh it's all coming back piece by piece...

Ballblazer was another one I played for a bit, pioneering a split-screen view made with interrupts. Frantic Freddie, with cool rock'n'roll music.

The "longplay" series of classic gaming videos:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=C64+Longplay

 

Aaaaaand ... here it comes
https://thec64.com

I will definitely buy one of original size in summer!