What are some awesome C64 games?

[Drum]

Getting into C64 emulation recently and been playing Ancipital http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLGsodeeW3c and The Eidolon http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-IrtXGcRGA, which are both awesome.
Growing up I never owned one personally (I cried when my dad brought home a greenscreen IBM-compatible and only stopped crying when he brought home King's Quest) but it seemed like everybody I knew had one growing up, so I'm not totally unfamiliar with the library. I played stuff like Jet Set Willy, Staff of Karnath, The Goonies, The Last Ninja, Salamander and Bruce Lee, but in general my knowledge is pretty thin. If anybody knows some interesting games that are still worth a play lay a list on me. Thanx!

[Obiwanshinobi]

I have most fond memories of Boulder Dash on C64, but that's just one of many versions.

[maxlords]

Space Taxi
Impossible Mission
H.E.R.O.
Racing Destruction Set
Boulder Dash
Beamrider
Beachhead
Wasteland
Archon (1-3)
Summer Games
Winter Games
Wizard of Wor
Blue Max
River Raid
Raid on Bungeling Bay
Captain Blood (sooo complex and hard!)
Highland Games
Ninja
Squish-Em
Moebius (very complex as well)
Accolade Comics
Jungle Hunt

There's more I liked but those are some of the best...

[neorichieb1971]

Hawkeye
Quedex
Commando
Ghosts and Goblins
Hypersports


The old time favourite is Head over heels. Its puzzles were unbelievable for the time. If I could vote for a HD remake of anything I think that would be it.

Rick Dangerous
There was a game based on a TV show with racing buggies and stuff, can't remember it now.
Katakis
Wizball


Just to name a few.

[louisg]

Here are my favorites which I think have held up well:
- Buggy Boy
- Uridium
- Realm of Impossibility
- M.U.L.E.
- Paradroid
- Stunt Car Racer
- Impossible Mission
- Turrican
- Skate or Die
- Maniac Mansion
- Psi 5 Trading Company

A bunch of good oldschool ports like:
- Wizard of Wor
- Defender

Some interesting games to try:
- Racing Destruction Set
- Rescue on Fractalus
- The Sentinel
- Pinball Spectacular and the other HAL games like LeMans (paddle)
- Rally Speedway (cute, fun if you like simple racing games)
- Commando (3 level version with awesome funkified music)
- Robot Rascals (note that the original came with playing cards that you need to play it)

[greg]

I never had a C64, but I had a few friends who had those. Ah, Raid on Bungeling Bay! We'd load the game, go downstairs to make a sandwich, eat lunch, and maybe by the time we were done, the game would've finished loading by then.

Beachhead was real great, too. Digitized voices. "Medic!" "I'm hit!" "Aaauuuuugh!"

Impossible Mission was fun. Just not the Atari 7800, which really was impossible because they forgot to program the part of the gameplay where you use computer terminals!

[Aguraki]

myth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ede0NkkMXH0

used to play this on amstrad cpc 464,c64 version by far superior obv but 464 has unrivalled dark atmosphear.
check out the intro music.

[louisg]

I KNEW I was forgetting a good Ozark Softscape game! Seven Cities of Gold is amazing. Cabal is a good arcade port, too.

And we haven't even gotten into all the strategy games like Six Gun Shootout.. that's a good one.

[dcharlie]

Paradroid - is incredible. Still play it to this day
The Sentinel - is a work of art, somewhat haunting and it's a shame Sentinel Returns has such awful load times.
Mercenary - this probably doesn't stack up well these days, but in it's day it was incredible. plus points for being able to fly a block of cheese
Wasteland - got me hooked big time on RPGs, fantastic story line and a real sense of suicidal freedom

There's a whole bunch of games that are worth playing for the music alone !

Almost anything which involved Hubbard - Mega Apocolypse, Commando, Master Of Magic, Spellbound, Monty On the Run, etc etc

[BryanM]

It's unsavory for a painted jezebel to be out on the street.

[TransatlanticFoe]

Raid Over Moscow.

It's a bit of a mish-mash of shooting action (if you can fathom how to get your planes out of the hangar) and features a nice little Zaxxon-esque (similar controls but on a hori plane rather than isometric) section for each of the main levels (I think there's 4) before you eventually storm the Kremlin.

[kernow]

No mention of Turrican series yet! Master of Magic also.

[JJXB]

The last ninja series
The Dizzy series

Quedex

*SQUEE!*
sorry, you are one of the few people who actually remembers it. I still have my tape for it. and dat loader music.

myth

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ede0NkkMXH0

used to play this on amstrad cpc 464,c64 version by far superior obv but 464 has unrivalled dark atmosphear.
check out the intro music.

HOLY SHIT. someone else remembers this too?

[louisg]

No mention of Turrican series yet! Master of Magic also.

Dude, I totally mentioned Turrican.. that game rocks, and the first one feels more at home on the C64 than Amiga imo. The second one is good, too.

[neorichieb1971]

International Karate + was cool.

I think anything from System 3 and Thalamus deserves a mention. Delta I liked a lot.

I played Turrican on the Amiga I think. Damn good game. I think it worked better on the Amiga than the Genesis. I don't remember the C64 version of Turrican that much.

[eckart]

Some others:
Montezumas Revenge
Aztec Challenge
archon
Racing Destruction Set
rambo
Cauldron

[Mortificator]

The original commie version of Platoon was kinda fun. At least, more than the NES port, which removed the "platoon" aspect.

[Skykid]

I used to love Labyrinth - one of the best film -> game adaptations ever.

I played it so much my tape snapped and I glued it back together with nail polish.

[louisg]

Some more to check out:

- Citadel.. I can't believe I forgot this.. excellent puzzle-action game, and not well known enough
- Excellent Arkanoid port that supports Atari paddles
- Destroyer by Epyx (good battleship arcade-sim)
- Park Patrol (classic-ish Activision game)
- Arcade Game Construction Kit -- amazingly flexible game kit for the time, lots of fun
- Mega Apocalypse (addictive Mad Planets clone)
- Speedball (respectable version)

There's also the usual assortment of RPGs (like the D&D gold box games, Ultimas, and Bard's Tale) if you're into those.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

If you can source a copy of the C64 game of "Encounter," it's another cool 1st-person viewpoint type of shooter with a super sliky-smooth framerate overall presentation.

I enjoyed playing the verizontal-based shmup title of Ad Infitium on the C64 as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[antron]

if you have two players I highly recommend:

Achon
M.U.L.E.

but just like masterbation, the're not too shabby alone either.

[daf911]

Last Ninja Remix
Hawkeye (Ost is great)

[geotrig]

ik+ is a great game ,bombjack was great on it as well ! impossible mission i could never figure out though

[brentsg]

I never owned a Commodore anything specifically, but I could be satisfied with Wizard of Wor and all the Infocom games for a long time.

[Sumez]

The old time favourite is Head over heels. Its puzzles were unbelievable for the time. If I could vote for a HD remake of anything I think that would be it.

There's a freeware remake of it, it's the only version I played.

But I think the game is seriously awful, bordering unplayable, especially when it comes to "combat".
I don't know if it's just the remake, but it seems like something that was carried over from the C64 version. I guess I just expected something closer to Solstice, which is another excellent isometric game from the 8-bit period.

[louisg]

But I think the game is seriously awful, bordering unplayable, especially when it comes to "combat".
I don't know if it's just the remake, but it seems like something that was carried over from the C64 version. I guess I just expected something closer to Solstice, which is another excellent isometric game from the 8-bit period.

I felt that way about Last Ninja 1 and 2. I still think Last Ninja 2 has enough going for it despite its flaws, and I'd recommend it because I think it's reasonably fun and compelling, but it definitely falls down pretty hard in the combat and jumping accuracy departments (especially considering how steep the penalty for missing a jump is!).

[Sumez]

I could never get into most popular C64 or Amiga games especially because they all seem to have flaws that cause them to not age well.
Personally I grew up with Nintendo's 8 bit, and it seems to me that even someone who's never played a NES game before should be able to go back to a game like the Mega Man or Mario games and realize that they are excellent games. I have a real hard time finding a single C64 game that is as flawless as my favorite Nintendo games.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I have a real hard time finding a single C64 game that is as flawless as my favorite Nintendo games.

While I haven't played Boulder Dash since the olden days, I suppose it's aged well. It was the first home computer game ported to coin-op machines after all.
P.S. Just checked out Boulder Dash v1.0 you can download from here. Yep, as good as I remembered. Forgot how excellent the sound effects are - it doesn't need prescripted tracks since you practically improvise the background music as you play. Now that's what I call "immersive".

[dcharlie]

I have a real hard time finding a single C64 game that is as flawless as my favorite Nintendo games.

i get what you are saying, but i'd put Paradroid up there in a heart beat.

[neorichieb1971]

The old time favourite is Head over heels. Its puzzles were unbelievable for the time. If I could vote for a HD remake of anything I think that would be it.

There's a freeware remake of it, it's the only version I played.

But I think the game is seriously awful, bordering unplayable, especially when it comes to "combat".
I don't know if it's just the remake, but it seems like something that was carried over from the C64 version. I guess I just expected something closer to Solstice, which is another excellent isometric game from the 8-bit period.

Playing with keys doesn't help. I just downloaded it, presentation is good. I just don't like the controls. I am sure there are PC ways of rectifying that situation though.