Looking for a fun retro gaming experience from a game dating back to the early days of the Commodore 64?  Shamus is a good example of such a game and stands the test of time well with simple and responsive gameplay and intuitive (even keyboard friendly) controls.

Published in 1983 by Synapse Software, Shamus bears some similarity to the old Atari game Berzerk.  If you're not familiar with that game, it had you running around a maze, chased by robots and an invulnerable baddie called "Evil Otto" who would chase you down if you were to linger in a room for too long.  The frantic pace of Shamus is similarly enhanced by "The Shadow" who will come for you if you aren't quick about your mission.


Shamus is a more sophisticated game than Berzerk, however, with a wider variety of enemies to engage, objects to pick up, and hidden areas to unlock and explore.  Touching anything aside from items like keys and bags will result in a lost life that resets your position in the room.  Even the walls are electrically charged.

The goal is to get to "The Shadow's Lair" at the end of a 128-room maze.  But you'll need to pick up colored keys to open corresponding doors along the way.  This was a quite difficult task back in the days before C64 Emulation, since there was no way to pause or save your game progress.  Thanks to the "Snapshot" feature in the VICE emulator, that is no longer a problem, and finishing the game is much easier than it once was, no longer requiring the cheats such as "unlimited lives" offered by the trainer crack.

There are 5 different maze layouts to choose from in this Commodore 64 version of the game, with names that stick to your "Inspector"-themed robot.  Give the others a try for fun if you tire of the original.

One thing worth mentioning in the game I've been running in VICE is that the game speeds up a bit after you eliminate the enemy robots.  So if you're running close to a wall, be careful of a sudden boost in speed!

When you're ready to play, go and DOWNLOAD the game file HERE.  (Look for the "Latif" link at the bottom right)

Autoattach and Load the file in VICE, and hit the Space Bar to bypass the crack/trainer.

Hit F7 to begin.  Shamus uses Joystick Port#1, so "Swap Joystick" under the Options menu in your VICE Emulator if your directional pad and fire button (or key) is unresponsive.  Unlike some other hectic action games, this game is quite playable using keyboard controls such as your NumPad + R Ctrl if you don't have a USB Game Pad or Joystick handy (yet).

There was also a sequel, Shamus Case II, that you might want to check out as well, but it is quite a different sort of game, and more of a typical platformer with an unfortunate level of difficulty that makes it less of the sort of game I'd usually recommend here.

Perhaps most interesting of all is that you can (at least as of this blog posting) order a remake/sequel of Shamus for the GameBoyColor - assuming you still have one of those - new here at Amazon.com.

If you're new to C64 Emulation, check out my tutorial -  Step by Step - How to Play Commodore 64 Games on a PC