They say if you can remember the 1960s, you weren’t really there.
Well likewise we’d argue if you can remember the 1980s, then you probably didn’t spend it playing on your Commodore 64. Inside that humble beige and black keyboard lurked a monster of an entertainment system.
No doubt fan-boys of the ZX Spectrum will argue till they’re blue(er) in the face that their beloved machine was superior – but, quite frankly, we can’t hear them over all their jealousy.
Just as with Blur v Oasis, Coke v Pepsi, Magpie v Blue Peter and being a fan of Big Brother v being a fan of watching paint dry, no one was allowed to like both systems. You simply had to buy one or the other and if you chose the C64, you were lucky.
But having set up your incredibly advanced new personal computer what games were you going to buy for it. At £2.99 a pop (it was a lot on my pocket money) you had to choose wisely and listed below are 20 of the classics no collection should have been without. And, before you say it, yes some of the below were also available for the Speccy – but hey, would you rather watch films on wide-screen plasma or a black and white portable?
Enough said.
30. Raid Over Moscow
Oh those Russians!
29. Seaside Special
Aliens have invaded the Houses of Parliament. Seems as good an explanation as any!
28. Archon
It’s like chess, only harder.
27. IK+
A fighting game with three characters – just brilliant.
26. Attack of the Mutant Camels
Say what you like about Jeff Minter (and you will) it takes a particularly mixed up mind to come up with THIS.
25. Rambo
Actually, if we squint that little splodge of pixles does look quite like Sly.
24. Ballblazer
Played against a human opponent it was frenetic. Played against the computer it was suicide.
23. Nebulous
One of the better platform games available at that time.
22. Bounder
Nothing to do with Terry Thomas. You played a tennis ball (we think) that burst… a lot. Oh you absolute shower!
21. Chuckie Egg
A character called Hen House Harry. A platform set up like Donkey Kong. Eggs-ellent.
20. Cauldron
What? I only have to collect six objects to win the game? Piece of cake! Wrong, wrong and wrong again.
19. Dizzy
If the concept of one egg growing hands and feet wasn’t enough to creep you out in the sequels they went and gave us The Yolk Folk!
18. Gogo The Ghost
What other game could give you a character that said Fjup when it died? God bless you Norway, or wherever the hell this was from.
17. Impossible Mission
Oh we see what you did there. Clever!
16. Kickstart 2
Remember the TV show of the same name? This gave you the safe way to repeatedly fall off a motorcycle.
15. Lords of Midnight
Take the plot of JRR Tolkein’s epic, replace the One Ring with an Ice Crown and you’ve got retro gold.
14. Mr Do
You can keep Pac Man. We’ve got a clown that runs round a maze throwing balls at monsters.
13. Nightshift
‘Marvin, Marvin. You were a friend of mine.’ Did anyone else spot this was named after the song by The Commodores? Coincidence?
12. Pitstop 2
All the fun of F1 and best of all no sign of that slimy little troll Bernie Ecclestone.
11. Pyjamarama
Eighties music had a lot to answer for, but we can overlook the band which inspired this name just this once.
10. Bombjack
C’mon, the theme tune was by Jean Michelle Jarre!
9. Leaderboard
Broke new ground by doing something remarkable – made golf cool.
8. Rainbow Islands
It was this or Bubble Bobble. We went with this. In your hearts you know we’re right.
7. M.U.L.E
Buying and selling goods has never been more fun.
6. Raid on Bungeling Bay
After several months, I finally completed this game – but it was really hard. Those missiles were a real pain.
5. Thrust
Possibly the most annoying, yet most rewarding games ever invented.
4. Paradroid
One of my personal favourites. I spent hours on it.
3. Uridium
Really cool shoot-em-up, with a nice turning action on the spaceship when you changed direction.
2. Gauntlet
Monsters everywhere. WHY…WON’T…THEY…STOP…COMING?
1. Elite
Awesome. If this game were a woman we’d do things to her most computer geeks can only dream about.
[List by Chris Longhurst]
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
IK+, Dizzy and Gauntlet make me so nostalgic it hurts.
Amstrad every time.
Great stuff. My faves are all in this list. I would like to add Choplifter ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Choplifter ) and that game with the Pyramids and the flying pancake.
Impossible Mission… I’ll never forget the “voice” audio… Stay a while… Stayyyy foreverrrrr!
Renegade? Target Renegade? Exolon? Cybernoid? Head Over Heels? Ghosts ‘n’ Goblins?
Okay, that was decent, but how could you ignore/forget “Seven Cities of Gold?” Your chance to exterminate entire native American cultures in the name of the Spanish Crown. Just touch them with a stick and PLINK they vanish. And the rest of the natives go Bonkers!
Don’t forget Stellar Seven. I still have my 64, and I’m STILL trying to finish it. Otherwise, a good trip down memory lane.
What? no “mad party fucker” ? now that was a game!
Some real nostalgic fun here but my honourable mentions:
Falcon Patrol (1 and 2), Entombed, Radar Rat Race (one of the rare cartridge format games), Spy Hunter, F15 Strike Eagle; there was also a cool WW2 flight sim where you had to shoot down V1 rockets and bomb trains but can’t remember the name for the life of me.
WHAT!!!
Where in the world is ZORK? ZORK is the end all be all! Post or you are likely to be eaten by a GRUE!!!
A good list, but you forgot Dino Eggs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dino_Eggs) and more importantly Jumpman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpman). There was also Frantic Freddie (http://www.c64-wiki.com/index.php/Frantic_Freddie).
Okay. Here’s a few more you can add:
)
BoulderDash
Spy vs Spy
Summer Games I & II
World Games
Renegade
where in world is carmen sandiego
International Soccer
Wizball
Flash Gordon (captain Zzap)
1942
skate or die
dam busters
the goonies
hacker
Defender of the crown
Championship Wrestling
Druid
Paper boy
S.W.A.T
Ultima (I liked them all
Barbarian
Rampage
Sub Battle Sim
Test Drive I & II
slam dunk
Double Dragon
Street Rod
Tony LaRussa’s Ultimate Baseball
Arnie
I agree with 64-plusser you can’t leave out Choplifter also Falcon Patrol was class and I spent many an hour in the summer holidays playing Krystals of Zong! Also some of the music created with the sid chip was truly catchy especially the stuff composed by Rob Hubbard!
What about FORT APOCALYPSE !!!!!
Hey, where’s Creatures, Creatures II( Torture Trouble), Mayhem in Monsterland, Nobby the Aardvark, Krakout, Turrican, etc…? Those were realy great hits!