Commodore 64 Turns 31 Years Old

It's now August, and that means that it's been 31 years since the Commodore 64 was released. In 1982, this was the home computer to have -- it used BASIC; could have alternate operating systems; could run games from either a cartridge port, a floppy disk, or a digital cassette tape; had one of the first (if not THE first) online games ever made that utilized the then-new bulletin board systems; and was even competing with newer game hardware like the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System well into the late 1980s.

[ZBlacktt]

Awh 1982....

http://i29.photobucket.com/...

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[GiggMan]

Respect :-)

[blackmanone]

Whoa, whoa, whoa, Tron Deadly Discs? The only Tron game I remembered was the light cycle game. I couldn't be more jealous.

Must... resist... urge... to... ROM...

[ZBlacktt]

Yes, I could play that game for a long time!

[guitarded77]

I was going through some boxes in my attic the other day and found a bunch of 2600 games I forgot I had... which was cool, because I thought I had my 2600 and all games accounted for.

[ZBlacktt]

It's a awesome flashback to go back and play those games again. They are all so simple, yet very satisfying the same. So many great memories.

[Subzero200]

yeah 31 years ago and still has better games & a wide variety compared to the easy kiddy crap they make today.

[Cam977]

Well you can argue that games have become easier with development. For example, could you knife in shooters on the C64? Nope. Could you aim down sights? Nope. Could you go prone? Nope. Could you use different guns to alter your approach? Nope, you were stuck with whatever the hell they gave you. Not to mention AI improvements.

This ease you speak of has naturally come with advanced technology and more options during gameplay; however, rechargeable health, checkpoints and all that BS in most games is something I agree ruins them by making them too easy. That crap needs to go.

Also, gaming now appeals to more than 1,000,000 people so they need to adapt by making games easier so they appeal to more people.

[blackmanone]

Well said. I believe that was SubZero's point, though. Games have been dumbed down so much over the years to broaden their appeal. Doesn't make them better games. In fact my honest opinion that it's made games less fun.

Anyone who played the old Wizardry and Ultima games will know what I mean. Today's gamers would spend more time on Wiki than in the game just to understand it.

[YNWA96]

Back in the day, fanboys fought in the playground, not here.... Ahhh the good old days.... C64 v ZX48....

My friend had the +3, with 3" disk drive.... Was so jealous.... But I loved that rubber keyboard, and Your Sinclair magazine... A month felt so long waiting for it.....

[caseh]

@Gman0174

Hah, I had a ZX128, over twice the memory of the C64 and a built in tapedeck...i was king of the playground rawwr!

[mixelon]

Name one of these better games? Rose tinted glasses....

I loved things back in the 8 bit days but id never want that back.

[SniperControl]

Pioneering games such as:-
River raid (2600)
Battlezone (2600)
School Daze (Spec)
Dizzy (Spec)
Target Renegade (Spec)
Robocop (Spec)
Batman The Movie (Spec)
Desert Storm (Amiga)
Strider (Amiga)

To name a few, I still play these today using original hardware and emulators.

[mixelon]

@snipercontrol

Objectively most of those games are terrible. Just because you have an attachment and they're highly re playable *to you* doesn't actually make them good games by modern standards.

The fact that they tried new things is important - they're historically relevant, but thats all.

Dizzy? Seriously? I still play Amiga games occasionally as well. Games were not better back then. I wish they'd make new Turricans though. :D

[Psychotica]

I grew up the C64 and Vic-20 and games were much easier then than they are now. Back then I didn't even need to read the manual to know to play they were easy to figure out. With some games today I have to spend time in the forums to understand what I am supposed to do.

[LoveSpuds]

I loved my Commodore 64, not quite as much as my Amiga but I did adore it.

To say that games were better then is bonkers. While I have deep nostalgic memories of some of my favourite games back then they certainly were not better than the likes of Bioshock or The Last of Us etc.

Games from that era were generally all about a game mechanic with little in the way of story.

Its fair to say they were harder games back then but that was down to limitations of the systems and poor game design more than anything else.

Take my fave game back then, The Last Ninja. I died so much on that purely down to it being so difficult to control Ninja, especially when trying to jump over obstacles.

[GiggMan]

My first computer. I was a kid and no one in my family knew what to do with it including me lol.

[bumnut]

My first computer was a Spectrum, I remember getting jealous because my friend had a C64!

[ZBlacktt]

Ours was a Tandy 1000 from RadioShack. At school we were on Apple II, IIc and IIe. I was both a console gamer and a PC gamer back then. Nowadays it seems you have to pick a side, even a console brand. Man times have changed... Back then it was just all about gaming no matter on what.

[gaelic_laoch]

C64 vs Amstrad

Ye pre-teen console fanboys don't even know what a proper Computing War was like!

[bumnut]

Green screen Amstrad? :)

[caseh]

Haha, fisticuffs in the playground!

[CRAIG667]

Anyone remember Flimbo's quest? It was proper next gen!

[easternbalboa]

Wow flimbos quest the graphics were insane

[CRAIG667]

man, they were sick, it was like having a ps4/xb1 in 1991

[easternbalboa]

Back then I heard a rumour that flimbos quest was the third installment of the bubble bobble franchise.rainbow islands was second and flimbos quest was the third. Oh man was it true

[mixelon]

But Parasol Stars was bubble bobble 3? Filmbos quest wasn't even Taito, was it?

[easternbalboa]

Hay. That's what I heard on the playground

[Psychotica]

I loved my C64 and it's what I learned to do programming on and one the main reasons I do it for a living today. A great system for it's time, the Amiga that followed it was even better.

[YNWA96]

Amiga was the greatest..... Kick off, sensi soccer, championship manager, meglo mania, populous....powerhungry? Anco strip poker.... Awesome days.... :)

Powermonger! Also, back then these things came bundled with 20-30 games! Incredible!

[Picnic]

The Commodore 64 had a few games that the Spectrum didn't have but the Amiga was really an unparellelled leap as a percentage - from 64k to 512k in one generation!
It's the Amiga that needs unambiguous praise - although it did have the less popular Atari ST as an equivalent.

[TM333]

We had the Vic-20, cuz it was cheaper. I wished I had the 64 instead:( I always liked how you could buy a magazine with programs and key them into your own computer, thus having games and such from your own hard work. It was actually a learning experience.

[Bathyj]

let's hear it for The Last Ninja

[easternbalboa]

Turrican 1 and 2 anybody?

[LoveSpuds]

Never played them on C64, played them on Amiga and they were utterly incredible games.....that music, oh that beautiful music!

[easternbalboa]

Hawkeye and creatures 1 and 2. Turrican flimbos quest when the devs really pushed the hardware. What about The Giana sisters

[mixelon]

T2 is in my top 5 games of all time. I love it. :) We need more like that.

[Subzero200]

Yeah just ask ea for a Project Firestart modern release or ports of call for crying out loud, but it will never happen because you people keep buying $60 roster updates of the same crap. Also to the 4 retards who disagreed with me, and i hope your just stupid trolls. Name one game today that beats ultima, the bards tale,wizadry, zork, impossible mission, the D&D games, commando, spy vs spy, spy hunter, zaxxon, ghostbusters, and many more that i cant think of right now that you will remember or care about a year from now that you will ACTUALLY WANT to play.

[urwifeminder]

I only ever had the tape version my friend had the uber disc drive great memories of my first gaming action, had some good handheld too tron and game watch and the binocular 3d tank game was wicked being born in 73 it was all arcade at the bowling alley till I got my c64.

[TheSaint]

Spectrum was better!

I'm joking of course....

[memots]

Thanks for making me feel old. I remember playingb transformers on this lol

[LoveSpuds]

C64 was my first experience of using a mouse too, Operation Wulf!

Raid Over Moscow, Beach Head 2, Ace of Aces and Airborne Ranger were my faves I think :)

[jagstatboy]

ugh, wish I wouldn't have sold mine.

[Subzero200]

well there is emulation you now, and it does load the games faster :)