Best Commodore 64 Game

For the purposes of my computer game commentary I refer to the Commodore 64 of 1982 as a Western computer game machine. The C64 can also be referred to as the C=64 or CBM64.

The Commodore 64 is powered by an 8-bit MOS Tech 6510/8500 clocked at 1 MHz. RAM on the C64/C128 ranges from 64 to 640 kbytes.

Everyone knows of the C64's unparalleled SID 3-voice audio, but the C64 also features hardware scrolling, hardware sprites and a color palette that can display spartan and gritty color schemes as well as rainbow color-cycling and stroboscopic effects that predicted Amiga plasmas.

On top of that, coders, graphicians and musicians delved deeply into the C64's coinop-lite capacities and became grandmasters at coding, drawing and composing for the C64.

See also: Super-scroller computer games.

C64 graphics come from the Video Interface Chip, aka VIC-II. The VIC-II displays graphics in 16-color 320x200. Complaints about the C64's "washed-out" color palette come from those devoid of aesthetic palate.

The C64 can display 8 sprites (MOBs) per scanline. I have counted over 30 non-flickering on-screen and collision-capable objects in some C64 games. cf. Commodore 64 Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order.

The best Commodore 64 game is Andrew Braybrook's Paradroid of 1985. Paradroid furnishes an early example of arcade-game technical mastery coupled with advanced menu systems and interpretable stats. By arcade-game technical mastery, I am referring to Paradroid's smooth 8-way scrolling, smooth sprite-shifting and tactical 8-way firing and ramming.

Dan Phillips' Armalyte of 1988 and Manfred Trenz's Katakis of 1988 and Turrican of 1990 are three of the most technically impressive 2D Commodore 64 games.

 

Refer to Shoot 'em up History for more info on these and over 100 others.

The most technically advanced 3D C64 game is MicroProse's Project Stealth Fighter of 1987.

Another advanced C64-first from MicroProse is Airborne Ranger of 1987.

System 3's The Last Ninja (1987-1991) is the most well-presented series of C64 games. However, TLN games are not as innovative as some C64-only gamers think. Why? Because System 3 were influenced by the flip-screen games of the ZX Spectrum; everyone was. That said, TLN games are exeedingly advanced for the time and deserve to be held in high regard.

The best Commodore 64 port is a toss-up between Simon Pick's Gradius of 1987 and Peter Baron's Salamander of 1988.

Again, refer to my 20,000-word, 200-infographic Shoot 'em up History for more info on these incredible ports.

cf.

• Best IBM PC Game
• Commodore 64 Shoot 'em ups Listed in Chronological Order
• Best Apple 2 Game
• Best ZX Spectrum Game
• Best Commodore Amiga Game
• Best Acorn Archimedes Game
• Best BBC Micro Game
• The First REAL Amiga Game
• Computer Games Listed in Chronological Order
• History of 1990s Computer Games
• History of Shoot 'em Ups
• cRPG Blog (Master Index)