Commodore 64 Direct-To-TV Review

By Kristan Reed Published 20 January, 2005

We take a look at the best thing to happen to retro gaming in ages.

Version tested: Retro

It's an argument you're never going to win on an emotional level, but technically speaking the Commodore 64 was probably the best games machine of its generation. Not necessarily because it was the most powerful (we're quite sure the PC Engine probably claims that particular accolade), but more because of what it represented and what game developers did with it. Sure, we loved our Speccies to death in the early days and for a few years held dearly onto the belief that our rubber-keyed wonder had the better games.

Certainly in the early days Sir Clive's box did, thanks to the Stampers and Matthew Smiths of this world, but once programmers started sussing out how to extract the best from the beige block that was the Commodore 64, it soared to incredible heights that are still being celebrated twenty years on.

So, when a bunch of enthusiasts decided to pack the not inconsiderable innards of this celebrated home computer into the system's unofficial joystick of choice - the Competition Pro 5000 - and include in a bunch of great games into the bargain it hardly took a great leap of faith to predict how utterly irresistible this Commodore 64 'Direct To TV' (DTV) plug-and-play package would be for gamers brought up on this stuff. And so it proved. 40,000 units flew off US shelves on the first day of its US release last year, and the device even attracted the attention of national newspapers over here. Some of us here on Eurogamer don't give a flying SID chip about such matters, but forgive them for they are young and know not what they do. Others on the team are sufficiently old and crusty to have that pang of nostalgic excitement when you're re-introduced to your now-ancient childhood memories that - up until now - haven't been given a proper commercial and critical re-evaluation.

All retroed out?

'Commodore 64 Direct-To-TV' Screenshot 1

But before we address whether this C64 DTV thing is actually any good (kind of a moot point in a review, dontcha think?), there's a crucial thing to address; most retro gaming is diabolical. There, we said it. We're not about to don rose-tinted spectacles and go on about how they don't-make-them-like-they-used-to and all that rubbish. We've played loads of retro stuff over the years via the emulation scene, especially when MAME was big news, not to mention the Classic NES Series and the various Namco, Midway and Atari compilations churned out over the years for commercial release. We're all retroed out to be honest, as with a few notable exceptions they're almost always massively disappointing illusion-shattering exercises. Some things are better off left in your mind's eye.

Yet even with all that prior retro training encouraging us to concentrate on the present, there was still that pang of inexplicable excitement about the C64 DTV device, partly because - in truth - it's one of the only old systems we still own and still dust off from time to time, and - yes - still get a lot of enjoyment from. There was a magic about it, simple as. Great games, fantastic controls, catchy tunes, and even some of the best visuals of the era. We were really keen to see how well the DTV performed.

Unwrapping it from its secure pyramid packaging, it was clear the attention to detail was exceptional, with a build quality and feel that is basically exactly how you'd want it to be, unlike virtually every other TV Games device we'd had the misfortune to come across (namely the awful Namco arcade ones which achieve the stunning accolade of having the worst joysticks ever). Curiously, the manufacturers of the device have gone for the leaf switch version of the Competition Pro, as opposed to the superior and more durable clicky Microswitched versions, which was a minor disappointment.

The blue screen of happiness

'Commodore 64 Direct-To-TV' Screenshot 2

Installation involved nothing more than removing a battery plate from the bottom of the unit and inserting four AAs into it. After that, it's a case of plugging it into a spare composite video input, one phono audio input (this is mono we're dealing with, after all), and clicking the power on switch on the back of the unit. From there the unit boots as if it were a real life C64 with a disk drive, complete with blue screen and LOAD "*",8,1 appearing automatically. Anyone familiar with the introduction to Vice City will know what to expect, and up pops the 30-game menu complete with typically pumping SID music.

Except, hang on, are there really 30 games? Well, that's taking liberties, as four of the supposed 'games' are actually individual events culled from Epyx's World Games and California Games, yet Summer Games and Winter Games appear in full, while Archer Maclean's World Championship Karate (aka International Karate over here) appears in two flavours. Odd. We're not sure exactly what the selection criteria was, but don't for one second fool yourself into thinking this is some sort of 'best of' compilation. It's all been (presumably) fully licensed from the copyright holders, which would explain the heavy presence of Epyx titles (a very wise decision as it happens) and Britsoft's very own Hewson. Between them this pair make up the bulk of the games on show here, but that's no bad thing at all given how well some of these games have aged.

Top of our list of Hewson-published gems are undoubtedly the likes of Paradroid, Uridium (both moments of Andrew Braybrook genius - someone drag that man out of hiding for the love of god), Tower Toppler/Nebulus, and Cybernoid. But Hewson, we have a problem. These games were all designed (we believe) to adhere to the 50Hz PAL standard of the era, so porting them to the 60Hz NTSC system (which this US import adheres to) means an unavoidable 17 per cent speed increase that renders all of these games somewhat less playable than they were.

Speed demons

'Commodore 64 Direct-To-TV' Screenshot 3

In fact, we dug out the C64 from under its subterranean hideout and set it up along with the gigantic disk drive (bigger than the new PS2, hilariously) to prove the point. A game like Cybernoid and Uridium takes a lot out of the player, with some quite brutal timing required, so suddenly playing them on fast-forward is something we weren't prepared for or expecting. If you missed out on them first time around you might not know what the fuss is about, but to be fair they were hard enough in the first place!

The same deal occurred with most of the games, actually. Winter Games, probably our all-time favourite 8-bit sports game, is radically quicker than we were used to, although in a good way. The deal seems to be that if they were US games in the first place, they actually work better in their native 60Hz mode, feeling slicker and more responsive, but if they were designed for the PAL audience you'll have to put up with adjusting to the timing issues that probably weren't considered when they were designed. Bummer.

As for the remainder of the games line-up, there are a few questionable inclusions which - to us at least - are filler material that have no place on a classic collection. The worst examples are some of embarrassingly dated early Epyx titles, notably Sword of Fargoal from 1983 which has graphics that would embarrass an Atari 2600 and pitifully antiquated gameplay. Pitstop and its sequel were great fun at the time but really show their age now; Cyberdyne Warrior is an uninspired-at-best 2D platform shooter; Championship Wrestling was largely derided at the time; Speedball is a brave port of an Amiga classic (and so realistically doesn't belong here as it wasn't designed for the platform); Super Cycle - like most racing games of the era - now looks pretty awful; all of which leaves us with a clutch of middling titles like Zynaps, Exolon, Firelord, World Championship Karate, Silicon Warrior, Jumpman Jr and Gateway to Asphai (the latter two of which even we'd never heard of - with a collection of over 400 of their friends). It pains us to say that even Impossible Mission 1 and 2 are out of their depth these days, but that's the reality. The C64 isn't short of classic games, but you wouldn't know it if this was your first taste of 8-bit delights.

Even better than the real thing?

'Commodore 64 Direct-To-TV' Screenshot 4

Aside from the games for a moment, there are some notable improvements from a 'real' C64 within this unit. For a start load times are instant, and disk-based games such as Winter Games and Summer Games load their respective multiple events instantaneously (as opposed to the thirty seconds you used to have to wait even if you were lucky enough to have a decent disk drive). On the down side, games such as these that saved your scores automatically to disk cannot do so on this unit, which kind of spoils a lot of the incentives for playing such games.

Visually the picture is a dramatic improvement on the real C64 RF output, which tended to make the C64's graphics look a lot less impressive than they really were. We are a little baffled why S-video wasn't considered as an option as well, though, or even SCART. As good as the picture is, the use of the bottom-of-the-range composite output means our old friend dot crawl makes a comeback, although it�s hardly what you'd call a deal breaker.

In terms of the audio, the SID chip emulation is possibly the only thing that�s evidently not been fully emulated as well as it could have been. For those of you familiar with your C64 games, you'll notice a few sound effects issues which can be a little jarring although again nothing bad. It's just the little details which you notice and wish could have been addressed, but we'll let them pass.

All by myself

'Commodore 64 Direct-To-TV' Screenshot 5

One thing that is slightly annoying, though, is the way the unit goes through the whole load-up sequence every single times you reset a game - and the issue of lack of simultaneous two-player support (with some sort of ability to plug in an extra C64 DTV unit into the other) is something that should be implemented for any future versions they might be planning; it would certainly open up a range of possibilities on the kind of games any future unit could support.

Also, after the initial buzz of playing some of these old classics (and the disappointment of the inclusion of some really terrible games too) you'll wish there was some means of being able to upload your own games. Whether it's economically feasible is unlikely, but the ability to maybe connect an original C64 disk drive would work for us - or some sort of USB drive solution. The real issue is that it's one of those things that's immense fun for a while, and for the price you really can't knock it, but inevitably once you re-awaken the interest in something like this you want to play the really good games and not some prescribed version of what was 'classic'.

Bear in mind the unit we've tested is the US version (available on import from www.gadgets.co.uk), so the games line-up is almost certainly going to be tweaked (hopefully for the better) when the PAL version comes out in April priced £24.99. Hopefully we'll get a few new features thrown into the bargain too, but for those of you that can't possibly wait for some 64-era nostalgia, it's a small price to pay for a happy trip down memory lane. Sure, we're not exactly bowled over by the games selection and feel that more work should have gone into this side of the project, but for a first try it's not bad at all. Certainly, for the money you're getting a brilliantly designed device with a handful of true classics. The opportunity to play Paradroid, Uridium, Nebulus, Winter Games and to a lesser extent Impossible Mission shouldn't be overlooked - just try not to let the rest of the filler material put you off what is a must for any C64 aficionado.

8 / 10

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Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (54) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • onyxbox #1 7 years ago

    I wonder if a speccy TV joystick will come out?

    :-D

  • DiscoMike #2 7 years ago

    International Karate was an absolute classic in my book. I'm glad it's there twice.

  • Frogger #3 7 years ago

    About the "Gateway to Apshaï" game, I remember playing "Temple of Apshaï" and the sequel "Hellfire Warrior" (with the "best RPG 1980" sticker on the box) from Epyx on my Apple II (which was much better than these crappy C64 computers).

  • Tyronne #4 7 years ago

    I want one.

  • DiscoMike #5 7 years ago

    In the PAL version they could include Delta with is's "Mix-e-Load" TM

    I remember I used to stop the tape while it was loading so I could mix the tunes for ages.

  • UncleLou #6 7 years ago

    So there's Paradroid - but almost as importantly - what about Dropzone?

  • Tiger_Walts #7 7 years ago

    Dropzone = Hardest game ever.

  • Blerk #8 7 years ago

    I think I'd rather buy a 'proper' 64 instead, tbh. Although I'll wait and see what the PAL games list is like.

  • pjmaybe #9 7 years ago

    Good review!

    As t'was said, the problem with this (and the reason I cancelled my order) is because I know full well I'd get really pissed off with the filler material and would end up rooting through the loft to dig out my big binbag of tapes and the old C64 & HDD...

    Nice for a bit of plug and play without all the fuss though - Oh and Namco, Capcom and whoever owns the ST / Amiga back catalogue...

    more of this sort of thing!!!

    Peej

  • Kiigan #10 7 years ago

    Pretty cool... I just wish there was a memory card slot or something so I could just stick on loads of ROMs of my favourite C64 titles (all the games I looked at enviously on my mate's C64 when I was a kid with my Atari 800XL)

  • RedboX #11 7 years ago

    I stumbled over an intellivision all in one in Woolies? Y'know what though? Buying and playing that thing was like meeting your first love again only to realise she's now a washed up old drunk. And it wasn't the games because I still have my intellivsion in the cupboard.

    Well that intellivision all in one is like the Atari 2600 all in one and the Namco Arcade stick, they run on a chip based on the NES-IN-ONE chip featured in many Hong Kong NES clones, the games are remakes designed to look like the orginals.

    The hardware in this C64 unit is actually emulating the C64 hardware and the games run on that, so it should be just like playing the orignals, depending on how good the emulation is.

  • reflux #12 7 years ago

    >(all the games I looked at enviously on my mate's C64 when I was a kid with my Atari 800XL)

    Well, atleast we had the better versions of Boulder Dash, the LucasArt games and Spelunker etc? 256 colours roxx0rs!%¤#

  • krudster #13 7 years ago

    Sorry for being enthusiastic about something Oldwormsfan. I forget sometimes that you're supposed to be bitter and cynical to be taken seriously in the UK.

  • Chewy #14 7 years ago

    I loved chuckie egg! :-)

  • malloc #15 7 years ago

    >"We're not about to don rose-tinted spectacles and go on about how they don't-make-them-like-they-used-to and all that rubbish."

    What!? Rubbish?? It's true. They aren't as good as they used to be. What's wrong with you?

    >"blue screen and LOAD "*",8,1 appearing automatically. Anyone familiar with the introduction to Vice City will know what to expect"

    Or how about anyone that's actually used a C-64? Ohhh-aarh the good ol' days.

    Whilst calling it the 'blue screen of happiness' is a fairly clever joke, one did have to wait for 5 mins enduring the nails against the blackboard loading noise and halleucination-inducing loading screen, if you were using tapes. Fortunately those of us with a disk drive (and it was almost big enough to drive) didn't have to worry as much, heh.

    Can remember buying games for dead cheap from me local cornershop, only to take them home, wait 10mins for them to load and find that it didn't work. Ahh, the golden years of gaming. I mean, these days you don't even have to create a boot disk anymore. Any idiot can play a game. What's the point? What?

  • Shinji #16 7 years ago

    krudster, you had a news item about this item and THEN had a news item about it being reduced in price and THEN a review.

    This is called "covering a product". It's a crazy journalist idea, you probably wouldn't understand.

  • Xensor #17 7 years ago

    No Delta? No Armalyte???

    bah!

  • #18 7 years ago

    there's a crucial thing to address; most retro gaming is diabolical. There, we said it. We're not about to don rose-tinted spectacles and go on about how they don't-make-them-like-they-used-to and all that rubbish.
    Pardon.....

    Regularly enjoy C64 games via vice, archimedes via Redsquirrel, BBC via B-em, SNES via SNes9x and ZSNES and arcade via MAME.
    These days all with no hassle at all ( and looking far nicer than the originals due to graphics filters ).... just waiting till they properly sort the N64 and Jaguar emulation out.

    The only gray area is MAME as that's obviously somethng I never owned, but the rest is all stuff that I've already purchased and at the least morally fine.

    why on earth would I want to plug something else in?

    of course for those who haven't bothered sussing out the emu scene this is a great product, but I would expect better from eg than randomly slagging off the emu scene just because you haven't been bothered.

  • groovychainsaw #19 7 years ago

    I wonder if the old loading screens were some sort of epilepsy prevention - 'if you cant get through this into the game, dont play the game' sort of thing....

  • KraftWerk #20 7 years ago

    What, never heard of Jumpman Jr.? Seriously? Along with Fast Eddie, it's just about the best game ever created. I swear, one day I'll invent a pair of shoes that make the scuttling sound of Jumpman Jr.'s running about as you walk.

    Seriously.. you've never heard of Jumpman Jr. before?

  • Abscido #21 7 years ago

    YAY! God, I've no idea what playing this thing is going to feel like. The C64 was my first machine and I've forgotten almost everything about it at this stage. I was only 10 or something. I'll never forget how excited I was getting a tape with 80 games on it though - I couldn't believe my luck, even though Rampage refused to load most of the time. Heh, in fact most of the games refused to load.

    Still, maybe you're right Kris - perhaps this is best left for my "mind's eye". I had a cartridge slot and those cart games still give me giggles just thinking about them, so maybe I should keep it that way eh? :)

    EDIT: Now that I think about it, could 80 C64 games *really* fit on a standard tape? Surely not. Oh well, there were plenty of em anyway!
    Edited by 1 at 20/01/05 @ 12:51

  • krudster #22 7 years ago

    AS for "randomly slagging off the Emu scene when I haven't even bothered" oh ho ho. I spent about five years following it religiously, and by the time I'd eked every last drop of nostalgia out of myself I could see the games much better for what they were. The good and the bad. And it's mainly bad. I'm not slagging off the scene, it's a great fun scene to dip into now and then. This is more or less the whole reason I'm covering this now - but let's try and not kid ourselves that old means classic. Some have aged well, but most haven't, from my (eleven year) association with retro gaming (I remember running a Speccy emulator on my Amiga 1200 in 94).

  • ST.. #23 7 years ago

    Cheers for the article - I have been dying to find out more about this unit.

    Can we expect further reviews of these sorts of things? What about a roundup of all the ones currently on the market?

  • bloodflowers #24 7 years ago

    Is it currently fashionable to slate retro gaming? Seems to be. In fact this month one of the UK shelf mags slated a game for being 2D. Not because it sucked (which it does), but simply because it was 2D.

    Don't forget retro includes many arcade games that are still fun and challenging now - and it's always refreshing not to have to worry about an 'intelligent' camera (they rarely are).

    I had a collection of almost 20 arcade machines, and over 200 arcade boards until recently. I've cut it down to one generic cabinet and 45 boards (money paid for more pinball machines....), just the stuff I actively play, regardless of value/quality. These games use sprites, mostly well drawn. They are nice, quick, simple fun - most of them I still haven't completed on a credit.

    I'd like to make a request that next time, when any kind of journalist or reviewer decides to point out how much retro gaming sucks, how the glasses are rose tinted etc - take some time to play a good older game first. Something like Golden Axe, Crime Fighters, Side Arms, Black Tiger, Bubble Bobble, Tempest or Mr Do. If you don't still get a blast from playing one or more of these and other games a few times, your gaming soul is dead.

    I'll continue to pour time into old and new (please Rockstar, hurry up with MC3..), because I like gaming.

  • skuzzbag #25 7 years ago

    80 games on C90 tape - 40 a side?

    I reckon you could because remember that the pirating software at the time used to heavily compress the files. Unfortunately this also meant that the stuff didn't load half the time. But didn't the C64 tape also respond to speed? So they'd have more on the tape and also the tape was running slower?

    I just remember that Ms Pacman would never load and I loved that in the arcade!

  • krudster #26 7 years ago

    Bloodflowers, don't be so defensive; being somwhat realistic about how much something has aged doesn't mean it's being slagged. I love retro gaming, but that doesn't mean some of this stuff is immune from a proper re-evaluation. I've been dipping into the past constantly; but you've got to call it how it is.

    Now if there was an article on what classic games really *are* classic, then that's a different story. What this is, is a review of a great unit with not enough classic games on it.

  • malloc #27 7 years ago

    >Way of the Exploding Fist, International Karate is basically the same game

    Best.
    Game.
    Ever.

    Remember playing this on an Amiga at a mate's house, when was about 7. 3 player (may have had to take it in turns). Basically it's a 3D fighting game, yep proper (well not proper) 3D. Noises were brilliant. My mum didn't like me playing the game, so I would have to reset as soon as she entered the room. Timing was crucial, took about 5 mins to load, and then got about 30 seconds to a minute playing time in before had to quickly switch off. Smacking ppl in the balls was a larf and genuinly looked painful. As for the rounds when you had to dodge knives and dtuff, classic.

    Ahh the memories. And ppl think gaming has got better? Gimmeabreak.

  • UncleLou #28 7 years ago

    Ahh the memories. And ppl think gaming has got better? Gimmeabreak.

    No. Nobody thinks that. It's a fact.

  • bloodflowers #29 7 years ago

    "most retro gaming is diabolical. There, we said it."

    "I love retro gaming, but that doesn't mean some of this stuff is immune from a proper re-evaluation."

    Most = some?

    The top of the two lines is the one I was highlighting to begin with. It's simply not true. It varies enormously by year, platform, genre - it's a blanket statement that can't be made. Where does retro even start and end? That in itself is a moving target. Is a Saturn retro? In Japan that had a software library like an arcade gamers wet dream, and in fact the SNES and Megadrive had awesome software lineups, and many of the games that were good on those systems then, are still worth a play now.

    I thought the article was really good, aside from that 1 line kick-me sign ;-) I would have liked to have seen some of the Thalamus games on the C64 TV unit, and some of the System 3.

  • onyxbox #30 7 years ago

    Don't make their work in vain, please!

    It's all about knowing where your roots are man.

  • krudster #31 7 years ago

    I think I'd stand by the assertion that "most" retro (and retro to me is 8 and 16bit) gaming is diabolical, yes. And by most, I probably mean "the vast majority" of any games released in any year. If there are 600 games released in a year, then, yes, I'd guess that about 575 of those could in this day and age be considered utter crap in most senses.

    Let's be clear: every year has its timeless gems that will last (and celebrating those is fun) , but even most of the games we loved eventually end up looking a bit sad.

  • bloodflowers #32 7 years ago

    Stickman: If you can appreciate a game for what it is and how fun it is, as opposed to how it looks, then you can appreciate the good games from the past as much as the games now. It doesn't have to be one or the other. People suggesting all new games suck, are just as ridiculous as the ones suggesting all old ones do.

    In shock news, it was found that old films and music can also be entertaining.

  • malloc #33 7 years ago

    >>Ahh the memories. And ppl think gaming has got better? Gimmeabreak.

    >No. Nobody thinks that. It's a fact.

    Hmmm, maybe, but for me I've not been as enchanted by games anywhere near as much recently as I was when I were a nipper. Maybe the fact that I was under 10 meant I was more easily impressed.

    But the sort of experimentation that went on, I mean half the games made in those days simply wouldn't make sense now. Seriously, Paperboy, Rainbow Islands, Dizzy... These days putting games into 3D is seen as being enough to look cool, forget imagination etc. Look at what the bloke from Team 17 says!

    Have you really been engrossed more by games these days then you have been by Super Mario 3, Link to the Past or Day of the Tentacle etc.? No? Thought not.

  • Dirtbox #34 7 years ago

    Wasn't Wizball one of Ocean's? I can't remember offhand who Ocean bacame, but they're still around in some capacity. Proabably why they'll never give the rights up for it.

  • DUFFMAN5 #35 7 years ago

    MORNING
    I would like to see The Last Ninja, It we brilliant I can even Sing the feme tune, Space Harrier was also great.Oh Yeah

  • Blerk #36 7 years ago

    Wasn't Wizball one of Ocean's? I can't remember offhand who Ocean bacame, but they're still around in some capacity.

    Wizball was published by Ocean, yes. They were absorbed by Infogrammes, so it's effectively owned by 'Atari' now. Which is a bit ironic, if you think about it. :-)

  • Kami #37 7 years ago

    It's a nice concept. Just I've seen these direct-to-tv thingies before, and they don't fare all that well... plus £25 for something like this - if you don't want the load times, I guess it's a small price to pay. But while some of us look back on that era fondly... I dunno. Perhaps I'm one of those who does not wish to go back to that era. For all those quality titles, perhaps the nostalgic glance back is the best thing for them.

    Thats just me though. Great idea, just price and lastability may be the two things which consign this to "nice little gadget but not worth the time"...

  • Retroid #38 7 years ago

    It's amazing how well a lot of these old games hold up, even today.

    Imagine a BBC Micro stick with countless arcade rip-offs, Revs & Granny's Garden! :D

  • malloc #39 7 years ago

    IK+ that might be it.

    It was kinda 3D, you could move in the z-axis. Jump (Y axis), move left and right (x-axiz) and backwards and forwards (Z axis). Therefore 3D.

    Not it didn't use polygons or any of your fancy-mamby-pamby Open GL or Direct3D or any of that ponced up cobblers. We had to use some imagination sure, but the appreciation and thought was there. Just don't get that nowadays.

    /gets dressing gown and slippers

    /watches snooker

  • hp_on_toast #40 7 years ago

    Best thing to happen to retro games? You've not heard about the Sensi compilation then - Sensi Soccer, CF and Mega-lo-Mania straight into your tv :)

  • krudster #41 7 years ago

    Yep, heard about that the other day, but sadly they're the mega drive ports, therefore not the definitive Amiga originals...I guess we'll have to wait longer for those...

  • Liggur #42 7 years ago

    I found this link
    <A href=>http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/games/archives/cat_retro.ht ml</A>

    The important info is in the 3rd paragraph.

    If the link doesnt work, just cut and paste the text.
    Edited by 2 at 21/01/05 @ 19:11

  • Frankypanky #43 7 years ago

    > You've got Casablanca in one hand, Lord of the Rings in the other. Which goes in the DVD player? Exactly! <

    Yes, exactly! Casablanca! 'Cause it's my favourite film of all time. And also, Lord of the Rings is a book, so I can't put it in my DVD player. Good book though. Written over half a century ago, but way better than a lot of stuff that get's published today. Like that awful Dan Brown, ever read his books? If you haven't: don't even bother. They're awful.

    So, anyway, what's your point again?

  • Frankypanky #44 7 years ago

    you make me laugh. in a good way. i think.

  • jaxon58 #45 7 years ago

    But won't all the games load properly when you choose them from the menu? Bah, getting games to work, THAT was the fun of the C64. Yeah, some of the games were shite, but you had such a challenge to get them to load, that when they did, you made the most of it and played it to death incase it didn't load next time!

  • bloodflowers #46 7 years ago

    The Atari 800 was the best for load errors.

    "EE BURRRGRRRGRRRRRGGGRRRRRR"
    "EE BURRRRGGGRGGRRRRGRRRRGGG"

    (fine)

    then:

    "EE BOOLLOOLLLLOOLOOLOOLLLLOO"

    NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! You would live in fear of that tone change while loading, for all was lost.

  • crashVoodoo #47 7 years ago

    i have loads of these on xbox ... oddly, i'm addicted to bombjack like i was back in the old days playing it before school and during my dinner hour when i went home

  • Retroid #48 7 years ago

    I never really had any loading problems with my C64. Only problems friends really encountered was when they 'Froze' a game on one C64's tapedeck, sometimes it wouldn't load correctly on someone else's.

    /Shrugs

    Anyway, I had an Oceanic floppy drive! \o/

  • Frankypanky #49 7 years ago

    Ooh, Humphrey Bogart killing Nazi vampires. Best imaginary movie EVAR!

  • OnlyMe #50 7 years ago

    Jumpman Jr, Pacman, Pong, Summer Games, Winter Games, Kick Off, Lotus, Monkey Island 1 and 2, Fate of Atlantis, Speedball 2, Sensible World of Soccer, Great Courts 2, Civilization, The Settlers, Legend of Kyrandia, Colonization, Pirates!, Space Invaders, Arkanoid, Lode Runner, Final Fantasy I-VI, Chrono Trigger, Golden Axe, Super Sprint, Cannon Fodder, Syndicate, Syndicate Wars, Goal!, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario Bros 1-3, Yoshi's Island, Blue Max, River Raid, Gunsmoke, Ruff'n'Tumble, Bob's Bad Day, Zak McKracken, Streetfighter 2 (and others), Final Fight, Double Dragon, Outrun, Overdrive, Shadow of the Beast, Giana Sisters, UFO Enemy Unknown, The Legend of Zelda...

    I could go on forever. All of these games are classic titles worth playing even today, and most of them are much better than 90% of the crap we get today. Most retro gaming diabolic? Sure, but only because most GAMING is diabolic.

  • Frankypanky #51 7 years ago

    "I stick my neck out for nobody. Especially when they're vampires."
    Edited by 1 at 27/01/05 @ 00:53

  • otto #52 7 years ago

    "prohibitively expensive" on the memory front? 64k times 1000 is, ooh, 64mb. Hardly going to break the bank. Licensing, OK, a headache.

  • otto #53 7 years ago

    Hovver Bovver would be nice though.

  • Kami #54 7 years ago

    I just fondly remember Dizzy...

    Extra points to those who can name all of Dizzy's townsfolk.