Ten Reasons to Play Commodore 64 Games on a Modern Computer
I've heard people say, "Why would you want to run an old Commodore 64 game on Windows?" or "Why mess around with old games when you could be playing *insert popular recent game title here*?". Or things like, "Those games are so outdated and the graphics are terrible, who'd want to play Commodore 64 stuff? That is so yesterday, man!"
Of course, some of the irony is that these comments might come from people who like card games, old boardgames, or only mildly physical games like horseshoes that pre-date any C64 game by decades and burn less calories than a wild joystick session of Summer Games.
Well, there are many reasons why I'm a C64 Retro Gamer, so I thought I'd list out my Top 10. And only one of them has anything to do with nostalgia. Feel free to add your own reasons in the comments!
1. Cost - Playing Commodore 64 games in an Emulator is free. Even if you remove the handful of C64 games from the 1980's that have obvious questions of legality and copyright (well-known, often repackaged games from still active publishers like Activision, for example), much of the massive library of commerical games for the C64 are considered "Abandonware". And even then, if you still feel squeamish about downloading a game from 20 years ago published by a now long-since defunct company, there is still a virtual treasure trove of amateur-produced C64 games. Over 1700 are listed as "never published" at GB64.com alone, and new ones are popping up all the time at sites like Games thatWeren't.
For the truly ethically challenged, there are even (at least) 718 games under "Public Domain" - so there's no question of legality there. You can download those games HERE.
So while you could spend $50 a pop to buy the latest Playstation 3 hit (and I'll admit there's a place for eye-popping games every once and a while), you'd still have only one game to eventually become bored with, while a Retro Gamer with thousands of C64 files available out there would have trouble ever playing them all - or even just playing the hundreds of truly good ones to completion (and bypassing the also-rans).
2. Screen and Disk Real Estate - Unless you choose to run them full screen, C64 games run on PC and Mac emulators generally don't take up the whole screen, are windowed, and as such can be easily paused and pushed to the background while you surf the web, chat, or otherwise multitask. Many PC games, on the other hand, require your full attention running full-screen, and for people who are frequently pinged by IM's that is not very practical. Of course the original C64 computer ran full screen and had no simple way to toggle back to a "desktop" (unless you count GEOS).
As for Hard Drive space and file management, C64 games do not require installation. All you need is one Emulator like VICE (and VICE itself does not require installation - you just click and execute the x64.exe file to kick it off), and keep the very small game files somewhere (like in a sub-folder of VICE titled "games"). If you were to download 100 C64 games, and for comparison's sake then try to find 100 similar shareware, or even "retro remake" games for Windows or another OS, and install them on your computer, not only would you use far more disk space than the C64 game files, but you would need to keep track of the games in different menus and sub-menus as well as your add/remove programs or other software management tool. Uninstalling them after the novelty wears off would also take quite a bit of time, while deleting your C64 game files - one or more - is a simple drag and drop action into your garbage bin.
3. Casual Gameplay - C64 games are better on an Emulator today than they used to be for casual gameplay, thanks to "Save States" and "Snapshot" ability to easily save and continue games, and the speed of loading, thanks to tricks like "Warp Mode". While an original C64 user might have needed to keep his or her computer up and running all day to avoid losing a spot in a game, Emulators have easy to use save/load capabilities that throw you right back into the action. And while an original C64 user might have to wait 5 minutes for a game to load, there is no such hassle on an emulator. One thing to remember with save snapshots, though -- make sure you "attach" the proper game disk image/file when resuming from a saved state, or your Emulator my not be able to load the proper data once you've resumed.
The fact that C64 Emulators are self contained virtual computers also makes it simple to push your game into the background if you're the type who wants to game whenever, wherever and need to pause gameplay at a moment's notice. And here's a tip -- if you're bored at school or work, very few people these days will recognize a pure Text Adventure in a VICE window taking up a quarter of your screen (or on your PDA) as a game, even if they're right next to you...!
4. Platform Independent - Emulators for the C64 exist on Windows, Linux, the Apple Macintosh, and even PDAs, phones, and some handheld gaming devices. When you buy a game for Windows or the Wii, you are generally limited to playing the game on that one, limited platform. The Commodore 64 may no longer be manufactured, and the number of fresh, undamaged C64's on auction sites will dwindle over the years, but this is irrelevant. The C64 is now virtual, and Emulators make playing on an emulated C64 more convenient that ever. In a way, the C64 as an emulated game platform is not so unlike Java - it has the same potential to be portable, and universal, as long as new versions of Emulators continue to keep up with the Operating Systems available on new hardware.
5. A Return to Simplicity, and for Some, Nostalgia - While not unique to the C64 (Super Nintendo Emulators can claim this, for example), some gamers enjoy Commodore 64 games because they often emphasized creativity within technical limitations over a blur of dazzling graphics seen in many games today. While a Text Adventure could not be more different than a "flash bang" modern game like God of War, there are plenty of appealing 2-d scrollers like Mayhem in Monsterland, and action RPG's like Gateway to Apshai that offer simple gameplay that's easy to get into and addictive. A recent chart topper for the graphics-heavy Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, Bionic Commando Rearmed, gives hope to retro gamers like me that people still crave gameplay made popular on the C64 and 80's game systems, and it doesn't always have to be about "3-d immersion". Similarly, the recent boom in Flash Games has found a return to game genres familiar to any C64 fan. From this perspective, support for C64 Retro Gaming may well be in its infancy yet.
6. Different and Fresh for Modern Gamers - C64 Retro Gaming offers up a wide range of unexpected genres for modern gamers. Tired of a lack of depth in First Person Shooters or faction grind in MMORPGs? The C64 has unique and different games than those you might be used to. Amateur-created games and small publishing houses were also not limited to what was considered commerically viable, and that fact produced some strange and different sorts of games that are of a breed that is hard if not impossible to find today, unless you scour shareware sites for them. Also, a friend who's seen it all, and bought it all may find your newfound knowledge of retro games refreshing and new. Challenge the FPS king to a duel in Archon I or II (the fast-paced battles will please his itchy trigger finger)!
7. Thousands of Games, and Hundreds of Thousands of Hours of Creativity - Consider the sheer number of programming and game design hours dedicated to the many thousands of games and programs made for the C64. If anyone thinks that because of the sometimes crude graphics and memory limitations of the C64 that there aren't any games worthy of play out of the over 20,000 programs created over two decades (and in some cases still today), they're missing out.
8. A Whole Different World to Explore - If you're new to the C64, even if you've come from another retro computer background, such as the Sincliar ZX Spectrum, or loved old IBM PC games, you can look forward to a very different sort of experience from Commodore 64 games. And if you did once own a real C64, it is highly unlikely that you owned a significant fraction of the 20,000 games up at the GB64.com database. Games that you once daydreamed about buying but never did buy are out there, waiting for you to download and play, along with those you've never heard of.
9. Something for Everyone - Just because I might not appreciate a text-based American Football virtual management game doesn't mean there isn't someone out there who does. From shoot-'em-ups to puzzle games, to the truly bizarre, the C64 has a game to appeal to all but those who insist on the latest greatest (and priciest) modern eye-candy games.
10. It's Fun - If you know the right games to choose, with a little help and guidance from the C64 Walkabout, of course, you're bound have a lot of fun. And assuming that you do, perhaps you'll spread the word and even become an advocate for C64 Retro Gaming yourself.
Are you convinced yet? If so, and if you're new here, then head on over to one of these prior posts for some tips:
Of course, some of the irony is that these comments might come from people who like card games, old boardgames, or only mildly physical games like horseshoes that pre-date any C64 game by decades and burn less calories than a wild joystick session of Summer Games.
Well, there are many reasons why I'm a C64 Retro Gamer, so I thought I'd list out my Top 10. And only one of them has anything to do with nostalgia. Feel free to add your own reasons in the comments!
1. Cost - Playing Commodore 64 games in an Emulator is free. Even if you remove the handful of C64 games from the 1980's that have obvious questions of legality and copyright (well-known, often repackaged games from still active publishers like Activision, for example), much of the massive library of commerical games for the C64 are considered "Abandonware". And even then, if you still feel squeamish about downloading a game from 20 years ago published by a now long-since defunct company, there is still a virtual treasure trove of amateur-produced C64 games. Over 1700 are listed as "never published" at GB64.com alone, and new ones are popping up all the time at sites like Games thatWeren't.
For the truly ethically challenged, there are even (at least) 718 games under "Public Domain" - so there's no question of legality there. You can download those games HERE.
So while you could spend $50 a pop to buy the latest Playstation 3 hit (and I'll admit there's a place for eye-popping games every once and a while), you'd still have only one game to eventually become bored with, while a Retro Gamer with thousands of C64 files available out there would have trouble ever playing them all - or even just playing the hundreds of truly good ones to completion (and bypassing the also-rans).
2. Screen and Disk Real Estate - Unless you choose to run them full screen, C64 games run on PC and Mac emulators generally don't take up the whole screen, are windowed, and as such can be easily paused and pushed to the background while you surf the web, chat, or otherwise multitask. Many PC games, on the other hand, require your full attention running full-screen, and for people who are frequently pinged by IM's that is not very practical. Of course the original C64 computer ran full screen and had no simple way to toggle back to a "desktop" (unless you count GEOS).
As for Hard Drive space and file management, C64 games do not require installation. All you need is one Emulator like VICE (and VICE itself does not require installation - you just click and execute the x64.exe file to kick it off), and keep the very small game files somewhere (like in a sub-folder of VICE titled "games"). If you were to download 100 C64 games, and for comparison's sake then try to find 100 similar shareware, or even "retro remake" games for Windows or another OS, and install them on your computer, not only would you use far more disk space than the C64 game files, but you would need to keep track of the games in different menus and sub-menus as well as your add/remove programs or other software management tool. Uninstalling them after the novelty wears off would also take quite a bit of time, while deleting your C64 game files - one or more - is a simple drag and drop action into your garbage bin.
3. Casual Gameplay - C64 games are better on an Emulator today than they used to be for casual gameplay, thanks to "Save States" and "Snapshot" ability to easily save and continue games, and the speed of loading, thanks to tricks like "Warp Mode". While an original C64 user might have needed to keep his or her computer up and running all day to avoid losing a spot in a game, Emulators have easy to use save/load capabilities that throw you right back into the action. And while an original C64 user might have to wait 5 minutes for a game to load, there is no such hassle on an emulator. One thing to remember with save snapshots, though -- make sure you "attach" the proper game disk image/file when resuming from a saved state, or your Emulator my not be able to load the proper data once you've resumed.
The fact that C64 Emulators are self contained virtual computers also makes it simple to push your game into the background if you're the type who wants to game whenever, wherever and need to pause gameplay at a moment's notice. And here's a tip -- if you're bored at school or work, very few people these days will recognize a pure Text Adventure in a VICE window taking up a quarter of your screen (or on your PDA) as a game, even if they're right next to you...!
4. Platform Independent - Emulators for the C64 exist on Windows, Linux, the Apple Macintosh, and even PDAs, phones, and some handheld gaming devices. When you buy a game for Windows or the Wii, you are generally limited to playing the game on that one, limited platform. The Commodore 64 may no longer be manufactured, and the number of fresh, undamaged C64's on auction sites will dwindle over the years, but this is irrelevant. The C64 is now virtual, and Emulators make playing on an emulated C64 more convenient that ever. In a way, the C64 as an emulated game platform is not so unlike Java - it has the same potential to be portable, and universal, as long as new versions of Emulators continue to keep up with the Operating Systems available on new hardware.
5. A Return to Simplicity, and for Some, Nostalgia - While not unique to the C64 (Super Nintendo Emulators can claim this, for example), some gamers enjoy Commodore 64 games because they often emphasized creativity within technical limitations over a blur of dazzling graphics seen in many games today. While a Text Adventure could not be more different than a "flash bang" modern game like God of War, there are plenty of appealing 2-d scrollers like Mayhem in Monsterland, and action RPG's like Gateway to Apshai that offer simple gameplay that's easy to get into and addictive. A recent chart topper for the graphics-heavy Playstation 3 and Xbox 360, Bionic Commando Rearmed, gives hope to retro gamers like me that people still crave gameplay made popular on the C64 and 80's game systems, and it doesn't always have to be about "3-d immersion". Similarly, the recent boom in Flash Games has found a return to game genres familiar to any C64 fan. From this perspective, support for C64 Retro Gaming may well be in its infancy yet.
6. Different and Fresh for Modern Gamers - C64 Retro Gaming offers up a wide range of unexpected genres for modern gamers. Tired of a lack of depth in First Person Shooters or faction grind in MMORPGs? The C64 has unique and different games than those you might be used to. Amateur-created games and small publishing houses were also not limited to what was considered commerically viable, and that fact produced some strange and different sorts of games that are of a breed that is hard if not impossible to find today, unless you scour shareware sites for them. Also, a friend who's seen it all, and bought it all may find your newfound knowledge of retro games refreshing and new. Challenge the FPS king to a duel in Archon I or II (the fast-paced battles will please his itchy trigger finger)!
7. Thousands of Games, and Hundreds of Thousands of Hours of Creativity - Consider the sheer number of programming and game design hours dedicated to the many thousands of games and programs made for the C64. If anyone thinks that because of the sometimes crude graphics and memory limitations of the C64 that there aren't any games worthy of play out of the over 20,000 programs created over two decades (and in some cases still today), they're missing out.
8. A Whole Different World to Explore - If you're new to the C64, even if you've come from another retro computer background, such as the Sincliar ZX Spectrum, or loved old IBM PC games, you can look forward to a very different sort of experience from Commodore 64 games. And if you did once own a real C64, it is highly unlikely that you owned a significant fraction of the 20,000 games up at the GB64.com database. Games that you once daydreamed about buying but never did buy are out there, waiting for you to download and play, along with those you've never heard of.
9. Something for Everyone - Just because I might not appreciate a text-based American Football virtual management game doesn't mean there isn't someone out there who does. From shoot-'em-ups to puzzle games, to the truly bizarre, the C64 has a game to appeal to all but those who insist on the latest greatest (and priciest) modern eye-candy games.
10. It's Fun - If you know the right games to choose, with a little help and guidance from the C64 Walkabout, of course, you're bound have a lot of fun. And assuming that you do, perhaps you'll spread the word and even become an advocate for C64 Retro Gaming yourself.
Are you convinced yet? If so, and if you're new here, then head on over to one of these prior posts for some tips:
- Step by Step - How to Play Commodore 64 Games on a PC
- First Games for C64 Beginners
- VICE: An Intro to Using Commodore 64 Emulators
You are so right about the reasons to try C64 games! I still have my C64 and around 70 of those 20,000 C64 games!, and while I play many others through emulation, I have to say that going back to my real C64 and 1541, slipping a floppy into the drive and typing 'LOAD "*",8,1 occasionally, and then playing on my TV screen on a real C64 is a total hoot! With the RGB output the picture and sound is much better than the RF output back in the day!
You could have also said, that when it comes to text adventures, graphic adventures and wargames, some genres never changed even when moved onto DOS PC and Amiga's, etc. I was still playing hex based wargames on my PC way into the 1990's!
One area both retro DOS and C64 gaming come into their own are the simulations and such that don;t get produced any more. Titles like Pirates and Red Storm Rising and F-19 Stealth Fighter. To play these genres, you HAVE to go back!
Keep up the great work on promoting C64 games, until a young gamer has played Sentinel or Manic Mansion, he doesn't really know what gamingis!
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Great to hear your enthusiasm matches mine, UK John! Personally I find some older RPGs and dungeon crawl type games hard to find on a PC, and sometimes the modern artwork can actually be distracting -- I often find a richer gaming experience imagining the surroundings due to crude or basic (or no) graphics. It's the same reason people still read books and haven't moved to video for everything. Imagination can be king.
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