Second Generation Appreciation Thread

[ExedExes]

Again, I thought it was so cool to get a home version of Kung Fu Master on the 2600. This was when everyone else was playing Kung Fu on the NES. After a few years, I knew which was better.

As for the 2600 port, it bugs me that the knife throwers can grab you too, so you never get the 500/800 pts. But they did get the Floor 4 boss battle correct.

[BoneSnapDeez]

On a whim I dug out the Commodore 64 floppy drive last night and played some games. They all still work after all these years - I think the fears of "demagnetizing" and whatnot are a bit overblown. Just store floppies in a cool dry place and treat them with tenderness.

So anyhow, this is quite the system. Graphics are delightfully unique (kinda blocky - better than ColecoVision but worse than NES) and the SID chiptunes are amazing.

What blows my mind is how many arcade ports are available on this machine. It probably has more than any other system ever. There's a wide spectrum represented here: Golden Age classics (Ie: Pac-Man, Congo Bongo), 8-bit era games (ie: Ghosts 'n' Goblins, Alien Syndrome) and even 16-bit era games (ie: Final Fight, Street Fighter II). Also available are a decent selection of games that were never ported to the NES/SMS, like Psycho Soldier and the original Street Fighter.

I played some Altered Beast, Kung-Fu Master, Commando, and Double Dragon last night and had a lot of fun doing so. But my God - the controls. The problem here is that the C64 was released in 1982 when the Atari still reigned supreme and thus the C64 stick is much like that of the 2600. Eight directions, one button. Issues arise when playing any "newer" games. For instance, in Altered Beast you have to move the joystick up to jump. In Kung-Fu Master the space bar is pressed to switch between punches and kicks. In Commando the space bar throws grenades. It's incredibly awkward to juggle both the joystick and keyboard. The most egregious example I've ever seen is Contra where the space bar is used to jump. It's barely playable. If there's one system begging for a revamped aftermarket controller it's the Commodore 64. Well, that and the Atari 5200.

[prfsnl_gmr]

Commodore 64

Download VVVVVV sometime. It is modeled off old Commodore 64 games - it even has the blue "loading" screen at the beginning - and I think you will appreciate the aesthetic tremendously. (It is also a really addictive and really fun platform game.)

EDIT: Also, I think that we, as Americans, undersestimate the Commodore 64's popularity. I have several friends who were raised abroad, and to them, the Commodore 64 is like the Atari 2600 and NES rolled into one.

[noiseredux]

I got my C64 when I was 6 years old. Along with it I got a handful of learning games (Sesame Street, Disney stuff...) and it was hooked up to a 13" black and white TV. So I always consider it to be my first console, and as such have a great fondness for it.

It actually remained hooked up throughout the years, and I remember messing around w/ C-BASIC on it in high school as I was taking a BASIC class at the time. A friend mine also had one, and through him I was exposed to a lot of classics. To this day I still think of Dig Dug as a C64 game rather than an arcade game.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Commodore 64

Download VVVVVV sometime. It is modeled off old Commodore 64 games - it even has the blue "loading" screen at the beginning - and I think you will appreciate the aesthetic tremendously. (It is also a really addictive and really fun platform game.)

EDIT: Also, I think that we, as Americans, undersestimate the Commodore 64's popularity. I have several friends who were raised abroad, and to them, the Commodore 64 is like the Atari 2600 and NES rolled into one.

Oh I've played VVVVVV (is that the right number of V's?). Very cool game.

And yeah the Commodore 64 was huge overseas. Still has an active fan and homebrew community as well.

To this day I still think of Dig Dug as a C64 game rather than an arcade game.

I don't have Dig Dug on C64, but I do have some other Golden Age ports. They play well on the system. I love the Atarisoft line of games, mainly because the cover art is kinda humorous - just shoving the artwork into the top right corner:

[noiseredux]

it is 6 V's, yes.

That cover art is badass. Tangentially, I've been trying to fight an urge to collect the "Sega PC" branded games...

Anyway, RE: C64 - Did you ever play Ducks Ahoy? That was a favorite of my younger self.

I also remember a "game" called Dance Factory (I believe) where you actually just map out a dance routine for two dancers step-by-step, and then you can play it back and watch them dance. Sort of a very early version of a Make-My-Video I guess.

Speaking of, the SID chip was/is of course amazing. There's certainly a huge scene there as well outside of just homebrew games. I'd recommend the album C64 Massive curated by Lesser if you want to hear a bunch of badass SIDchip cover songs.

[prfsnl_gmr]

I had a friend with a C64 when I was younger. (He moved to the US from Australia and brought his C64 with him.) I thought it was pretty cool, and we played a lot of lode runner on it. (Great game, btw.)

Now, I just have one of these:



It is all I really need.

[noiseredux]

Now, I just have one of these:



It is all I really need.

[ExedExes]

Funny how computers really took off overseas in the 80s right? Despite being an American computer, the Commodore 64 really did well in countries like the UK. Watching those videos from GamingHistorySource on YouTube, seeing all the arcade ports that many consoles never even saw, and were on every computer in Europe it seems (C64/ZX Spectrum/BBC Micro/Amstrad CPC). Also seeing how utterly BAD many of them were too, but even so, that's all they had and even with a crappy color palette and little to no sound, they still enjoyed them.

The C64 did have some glorious sounding stuff; still use this as a ringtone! (specifically, the part from 0:15 to 0:30)

[noiseredux]

speaking of which, I have a total soft-spot for DOS versions of NES/etc games.