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Commodore 64 Classics

50 games to Restore your faith in retro.

Kristan Reed avatar
Feature by Kristan Reed Contributor
Updated on
53 comments

It's not a hard task to conjure up a list of great Commodore 64 games when you're faced with a software library that's reportedly around the 10,000 mark. Between late 1982 and 1993, an almost constant stream of software highlights kept interest in the machine alive long after its logical sell-by date, so it's hardly surprising that the nostalgia value surrounding its finest games still runs high.

No, the really hard hard part about compiling a list of 50 of the most important, popular and timeless C64 game is deciding which ones to leave out, and, believe me, there are at least a hundred other wonderful games that deserve a mention. One day we'll find the time and energy to add all the deserving candidates - but for now, what follows are some of the games that mattered most to us here at Eurogamer, so apologies in advance if your own personal all-time favourites have missed the cut. Chances are, we'll stick them in next time. Start your campaign now, and tell us why you thought they were important. You never know, maybe we simply didn't get around to playing then - like we said, there were a lot of games released on the system, and some just fell by the wayside...

As regards what criteria we used as a selection process for 50 Commodore 64 classics: primarily, no arcade ports - and no ports of games which originated on competing systems (with a few exceptions). Where games were developed in tandem and launched simultaneously on both Spectrum and C64, for example (like Shadowfire, Lords of Midnight or Cybernoid) we chose what we felt to be the best version. So what we've ended up with here is a bunch of great games that have the 64's characteristics stamped all over them - the great SID soundtracks, the unique visual style, and - in many cases - games which relied heavily or exclusively on the disk drive.

Like you, we love the best old C64 games, so we hope you appreciate what we hope will turn into a popular and fast-growing part of Eurogamer. A gaming old folks home if you will...

Watch the video of the top 50 C64 games in action over on Eurogamer TV now.

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