Ah, the Commodore 64. How could a two-tone blue screen and just 64K of RAM have delivered so much fun? I know it's been superseded by the NES, the Super NES, the Sega, the Nintendo 64, the Playstation, the Dreamcast, the GameCube, the Playstation 2, the XBox, the Nintendo DS, the PSP, the Xbox 360 and soon the PS3, but there's something admirable about a computer that runs on 64K of RAM (since a brand new PC these days would have 1GB or 2GB RAM, and therefore up to 32,000 times the RAM of a Commodore 64).I still remember the Christmas that my Mum bought my younger sister Becky & I a brand new Commodore 64 computer system. It was 1985, and I was 11, and for a family of 6 kids who lived week to week on a very tight income, receiving a present of this magnitude was absolutely astonishing (I hope I was as mindful of that generosity then as I am now in hindsight). Dad, who wasn't living with us at the time, even delivered a 1541 Disc Drive as his Christmas present to us, to complete the package. Not sure what we had done that year, but I'm guessing we must have been extra, extra good.
I distinctly remember playing River Raid and Frogger - the two games that came with the pack - right through Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and the following weeks and months. The C64 quickly became a big part of my life, and right through Grade 6, Year 7, Year 8, and Year 9, I was spending most of my after school time - and much of the weekend - in front of that "Ready" prompt. I played Ace & Ace 2 with my elder brothers, and my now-brother-in-law introduced me to Gunship, which we all played religiously for well over a year. I even managed to do some extra-nerdy things like some programming, and using Geos (think Microsoft Office...without almost everything) to prepare my school projects. Sure, I was a very pale, geeky, shy and overweight young man with very few social skills and even fewer friends, but I could get through almost every level of The Last Ninja AND my homework was neatly printed!
Somewhere in the early stages, I apparently negotiated (perhaps 'swindled' is a more apt description?) to buy out my sister's half of the computer for a multi-coloured woollen jumper that she liked. Now you might suggest that this doesn't sound like a particularly fair trade - and I would definitely struggle to disagree with you on that point. I actually don't remember the trade at all, but I've been 'reminded' of it on several occasions so I'll have to take Mum's word on that and make an unreserved apology to my little sister. Sorry Bec!! You're welcome to play as often as you like, whenever you like, and I won't even push in to have a turn. And yes, we do still have it - and boxes of games and joysticks - in our cupboard. Of course we do!
BUT... the reason for this post is to offer a brilliant substitute: now everyone can have a C64, even those people who were swindled out of their 50% stake by their selfish, mean brother back in the mid 80's... (but maybe that's why you have all the social skills now Bec? - I did you a favour!)
I came across a C64 'emulator' program today, which allows you to play C64 games on your PC. There are hundreds and hundreds of games available for download, and they play on the PC exactly as I remember them on the C64. They are also such tiny files, that it takes a few seconds to download all of your favourite games. Tonight I found heaps of old faves like Boulderdash, Pacman, Ace, Gunship, Pirates, Spy Hunter, Winter Games, Summer Games, The Last Ninja, Pitfall, River Raid etc etc. I realise how tragic this must sound to the uninitiated (eg. those kids who spent the 80's outdoors playing sport or socialising with friends), but it was great fun to be reunited with some blasts from the past. Mel has been gracious enough to humour me as I jive along to the very 80's, very-synthesized MIDI soundtracks (esp. The Last Ninja) - but it's not hard to know what she's realllly thinking.
Anyway, here's a link to the free emulator software, and below that is a link to some of the games. I'll also try to add a few screenshots soon to whet your appetite (or to remind yourself why you never got caught up in the C64 in the first place).
http://www.computerbrains.com/ccs64/
http://www.c64.com/
Matt
0 comments:
Post a Comment