Last time we told the story of the creation of the most famous gaming computer, the Commodore 64. The article was too long to add to it what is inextricably linked with the C64. What games were actually on it? How was it played? And how do the games of that time affect us today?
Launched in 1982, the Commodore C64 was an instant success and virtually overnight dominated the gaming market, ruling the 8-bit computer until its final days. It shared dominance with the Sinclair ZX Spectrum in the early years, but unlike this British computer, it was supported by game studios for much longer. It must be said that even some much more expensive 16-bit or multi-bit computers did not surpass it in some parameters (for example, in great sound). The C64 represents an eight-bit platform where we will meet some of the first game hits of the coming Amiga and Atari ST era. And these conversions are even playable.
Even though the C64 produced some solid applications, text editors, interesting graphical operating system GEOS, etc., still the basic software for this computer was games. Although some bought it with the idea of professional use, most of them ended up with it. However, unlike the eight-bit Atari, the C64 did not represent the final solution, the computer continued to develop. For example, it was possible to expand it (without soldering) by up to 512 kB of RAM, which for a cheap eight-bit machine represented an incredible size, of course there were floppy drives, on the one hand, a double-sided 1571 and then a 3.5″ 1581, which with a capacity of approx. 800 kB represents for such a computer basically a hard drive. There was even an HD floppy drive with twice the capacity, but that wasn’t sold by Commodore. There was also a mouse, a plotter, several types of printers and much more for the C64.
In the second half of the 1980s, the successor to the C128 appeared, a computer that was supposed to finally offer professional capabilities at an affordable price, but it did not gain much traction. After all, the main thing that those millions of users wanted to do with their pet was play games.
Games for this computer were created from 1982 until the beginning of the nineties, and many were created even later, and enthusiasts are still creating on it today. From the beginning, there was also a huge rivalry between the supporters and users of the C64 and the gaming king of the time, the ZX Spectrum. It probably doesn’t make sense to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of these platforms here, each had some positives and negatives. Taking one side or the other means establishing a solid flame even today. This, considering the fact that both platforms are safely dead, is remarkably indicative of their popularity among ex-players. There were great games on both platforms that made the most of the available hardware at the time.
I mentioned the flame hazard if we were to compare games for these platforms. Yet I am bold enough to venture into such heretical danger. I know that the Spectrists will not leave me with the following statement, I will be cursed and maybe even persecuted, but that’s just the way I see it – if we look at many cross-platform games, that is, those that existed on both the ZX Spectrum and the C64, then usually the version for C64 is more successful, not only because of the implemented music, but also because of the more acceptable colors for gaming. It’s a matter of opinion, of course, but at least that’s how it works for me. This is not to say that the ZX Spectrum was a bad gaming computer – on the contrary, its star titles either did not exist elsewhere, or were poorly ported, or the versions of multiplatform hits are comparable (this applies, for example, to Mercenary, Silent Service, Archon and certainly others). It’s probably best to show some comparison screenshots so everyone can see and judge for themselves that… the C64 ones look better:
Rescue on Fractalus
Bruce Lee
International Karate
Montezumas Revenge
Zorro
Goonies
Boulder Dash
HERO
Blue Max
Karateka
2023-07-13 16:04:54
#Retrogaming #played #Commodore
