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Commodore 64 Gaming
One of the most popular pieces of hardware during the early 1980s was
the Commodore 64.
It was considered as one of the top rivals of the
league leading Atari along with the Colecovision and the Intellivision.
The Commodore 64 is actually not categorized as a gaming console
but as
a personal computer. It was first released in August 1982. The Guiness
Book of World Records actually considers it as the best selling single
computer model of all time. The Commodore 64 or C64, among
other names,
has been described as the “breadbox” or the
“bullnose” because of its bulky shape.
One thing that made the Commodore 64 such a big retail success is the
way they distributed the product. Unlike other computers that were
distributed only to its authorized dealers, the Commodore64 was
actually also sold in such establishments as department stores and toy
stores. Since the machine can be plugged directly on to a television
set in order to play games, it also acquired the appeal of dedicated
video game consoles, of which the Atari 2600 was the acknowledged
leader at that time. The affordable pricing (if you can call $595
affordable) actually contributed to the historic crash of the video
game industry in 1983.
The Games
Even though the Commodore
64 was marketed as a personal computer, there
is no denying the fact that it is spiritually also a game console.
From
the way the whole machine is designed, the way it is supposed to be
connected directly to television sets and the steady development of
games for the machine, it is quite evident that it also has gaming in
its soul.
In fact, in 1990, the Commodore 64 was re released in the form of an
actual game console. This “new” machine was called
the C64
Games System or C64GS. The machine is actually a simple
modification of
the existing C64C’s architecture. The C64Cs motherboard was
modified so that the cartridge connector was oriented into vertical
position. This allowed the game cartridge to be inserted from the top.
A modified ROM was then used instead of the BASIC interpreter. This
modified ROM would have a boot screen that would ask the user to insert
a cartridge. This was actually a commercial failure and was never
released in markets outside of Europe.
Over
10,000 software titles were developed for the Commodore 64.
This
includes development tools, office applications but most importantly,
games. In fact, the Commodore 64 is largely credited for developing and
actually making popular the computer demo scene.
This
influence on the demo scene is largely due to the fact that the
Commodore 64 possessed graphics and sounds that could not be rivaled
by any other 8bit computer. Remember that during this time, almost all
of the IBM compatible PCs only possessed text only graphics cards and
had monitors that emitted a sickly green phosphorescent image. The
sound is no great shakes either, consisting mainly of blips and
squeaks. Even today, the Commodore 64 is still being used for demos
most especially when it comes to music. In fact, the sound chip of the
Commodore 64 is actually being employed in special edition sound cards
that can be bought for modern PCs.
There are many games that have been developed for the Commodore 64.
This does not only include the official releases that game development
companies came out with but also home brew applications and games that
have been developed by enthusiasts themselves. In fact, there is even a
website that boasts of having in its database over 30,000 entries for
Commodore 64 games.
Some of the more popular Commodore 64 games that are actually still
available if you look for it on the internet are Maniac Mansion (a real
game classic!), Zak McKracken, Pirates!, Ultima IV, Boulder Dash,
Bard’s Tale, and Stunt Car Racer. There are so many game
genres
that are available for the intrepid gamer to play. Even though arcade
type games are the most popular genre, the Commodore 64 had some
revolutionary games for such genres like RPGs (Bard’s Tale),
adventure, racing and platforming.
The
Emulation Scene
It may surprise a lot of people to know that the Commodore 64 is still
being used today by many hobbyists and PC enthusiasts. Call it a whiff
of nostalgia.
But for people who are also enticed into looking at what the Commodore
64 has to offer as a way of researching about the games of yore, or
maybe as a way of getting into the retro gaming movement,
there is no
more need to look for an actual working Commodore 64 in garage sales or
on online auction sites.
The
answer is in emulation.
Emulation
software now allows the Commodore 64
hardware environment to
exist in modern PCs through creative coding. With Commodore 64
emulation software it is now possible to actually play authentic C64
games in a Windows enabled PC. This is a far more economic way of
experiencing the kind of games that exist during the 80s. There are
many websites online that are actually dedicated to the emulation
movement and more precisely, towards the Commodore 64 emulation. These
sites not only offer the emulator but thousands of C64 game
ROMS as
well. You can easily build a library of Commodore 64 games that you can
play on your computer with ease. These old school games are actually
still fun to play and would certainly trigger waves of nostalgia not
only with you but also among your friends.
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