New Commodore 64 Owner needs tips

[CRTGAMER]

If you are nuts like me then you can go real crazy on all the C64 stuff out there. A trick is finding what was common 20 years ago. Any cart game you come across, grab it! Worry about if the game is good or bad later since they are hard to find in the wild now. Be sure to watch for an EPYX Fast Load utility cart for the 1541 floppy drive.

I was so much into the C64, I still have the Flexidraw Lightpen, an 80 column C64 board and my prized 4 times speedup cart.

Here is a pic of the Chroma-Luma cable. Note that this will not work on regular composite, a 1701-1702 Commodore monitor is needed. You can also do the mod mentioned earlier.

[ProfessorK]

Honestly, CRT, I think I could go REALLY crazy with it. I mean, I've already been doing everything I can to learn about the company, the computers, the games. It's all so fascinating and the computers are just so cool! What originally hooked me was the music. I had found "Kohina" which is online, 8-bit radio. I thought it would be a lot of NES, which I am more than fluent in , and they ended up playing mostly C64 with some Atari ST and Amiga thrown in. Whenever a C64 song would come on I always ended up saying "What is this!? It's amazing!"

One thing led to another and now I'm eagerly awaiting my C64 to arrive!

[Hobie-wan]

Attack of the Mutant Camels is way more expensive than I thought it would be. It looks great though. I think I'm going to wait a while and try to get the best deal possible on a floppy drive. I don't need to pour money all over my C64 right away haha.

Wow, that one on ebay is pretty pricy. Though not only is it sealed, it is a Vic-20 version which has got to be rare. I didn't even know it came out for Vic-20.

[CRTGAMER]

Wait till you see the 1541 floppy drive play a song without speakers.

1541 Floppy Drive singing Daisy

[ProfessorK]

Wait till you see the 1541 floppy drive play a song without speakers.

Haha, that's awesome! Man, I can't wait for mine to get here... I need to find a 1541! It's starting to look like buying an additional system lot is the better way to go. That way, for a little bit more than a stand-alone drive, I can get a drive, software (possibly a monitor and datasette), and a back up system. A lot of the 1541 auctions I've seen are either 50+ dollars, untested or just don't work.

[Hobie-wan]

I wouldn't bother with a datasette unless you are interested in the exciting machinations of paint peeling, import European games, or both.

[ProfessorK]

I wouldn't bother with a datasette unless you are interested in the exciting machinations of paint peeling, import European games, or both.

The only real reason I want to check them out is because the idea of a game being on cassette is amazing to me.

I think I am most excited to build a library of text adventures. One that looks interesting is "Alien", which seems to simulate a real-world encounter with a ship and stuff.

[CRTGAMER]

I wouldn't bother with a datasette unless you are interested in the exciting machinations of paint peeling, import European games, or both.

Maybe watching the lawn grass grow.

The only real reason I want to check them out is because the idea of a game being on cassette is amazing to me.

I think I am most excited to build a library of text adventures. One that looks interesting is "Alien", which seems to simulate a real-world encounter with a ship and stuff.

Believe it or not there is even a speedup cart for the datasette. A "Rabbitized" cart that only works with rabbid saves. Not many games were released on tape though. But definitely try to find that EPYX Fast Load cart for the floppy drive.



You can mod the 1541 floppy drive with a Reset Switch and an 8 to 9 address toggle switch, handy if you end up getting two floppy drives. There is even a track scale that can be tacked onto the drive head. The ruler would stick its tongue out of the front of the drive as the head jumps around. A visual indication of what track is being read.

[gtmtnbiker]

I wouldn't bother with a datasette unless you are interested in the exciting machinations of paint peeling, import European games, or both.

The only real reason I want to check them out is because the idea of a game being on cassette is amazing to me.

Uggh, I hated the cassettes. They were slow as CRTGamer pointed out. The only time I ever used them was for some BASIC programs that I developed for the TRS-80 (Trash-80) in middle school. For the most part, we just used floppy disks.

I think I am most excited to build a library of text adventures. One that looks interesting is "Alien", which seems to simulate a real-world encounter with a ship and stuff.

You'll have to find the Infocom series of games (e.g, Zork I, II, III, Planetfall, etc) and try them. They were very good for their time.

[Lord_Santa]

welcome to the wonderful, ever-expanding world of the Commodore 64

Cartridge-wise I strongly reccommend Pitstop II; a racing game that kicks serious ass (especially 2-player)

EPYX fast-load is almost a must-have with disk-drive (as CRT pointed out)

games can be hard to find in "good" condition; but lo' and behold, there is a solution

http://sta.c64.org/xm1541.html

with this you can make a cable which connects your 1541 (or other disk-drive) straight to your PC

then all you need to do is download the games and copy them onto 5.25" disks

it's a good way to ensure that you have backup's of your games, so that you don't *have to* use the original disks, since these can (and will) get older

I used only tapes (datasette?) from 1984-1992 and although it was a horrible experience, it got me through the most part of my C-64 days

mind you that there is a tiny screw in the datasette player; I'm not sure what it's called in English, but in Swedish it would translate to "tune-head"

this "tune-head" sometimes need to be changed in order to play different games, because some games (backups mainly) will run on a different tune-setting

getting that tune-head in proper place for all of your games is a true bitch

*but*

if you are running backups on tape and the game fails to load, then it is *most likely* the tune-head which needs adjustment

if you use a tape-loader (neccessary for most backups where there is more than one game/tape), I strongly recommend the ABC-Turbo Loader



the thing with this particular loader is that when you adjust the tune-head you can see the lines having more/less distance from each-other
when they are perfectly formed (as in the start of this video) then the tune-head is in perfect position

it's overly complicated and idiotic, hence I recommend using Floppies only; but if you for some reason want to use tapes as well, then just send me a PM, or similar if you get issues

AFAIK "most" people only used floppies for the C-64, hence it can be a bitch getting help with the datasette, but I am fairly experienced with it =)

there is also an OS for the C-64 called "GEOS"
this contains basically the same stuff as early, early Windows
it is not required to run any games, albeit it does have a paint-program, word-processor, etc.

the one game that every C-64 owner should get is (of course) The Great Giana Sisters, which is a European (German, IIRC) "clone" of Super Mario Bros. which (if you ask the "computer-nerds") far surpasses SMB

it is my opinion that it may not be "better" than SMB, but it is definitively in the same league

and however much I love (LOVE) Wico joysticks (Wico Commander comes to mind), I strongly recommend getting a couple of TAC-2's as it was voted the best joystick for several years in a row

they are very reminiscent of arcade-sticks and can handle a good beating

also as for more games to recommend...:

Monty Mole games
Dizzy games
Summer-games/Winter-games/World-games/The games/California-games
Delta
Pharao's Curse
Barbarian 1+2
Skate or Die!
Knights of Legend
Level 9 games (text-adventure games, in the same league as Infocom, albeit some have graphics, as well)
Boulder Dash (seriously. all of them. get them. there are *still* levels being made for it)
Maniac Mansion/Zak McKracken (LucasFilms early adventure games)
International Karate 1/2/+
Exploding Fist/Fist II/Fist+
Wizball
Rags to riches!!!!!!
Spindizzy
Chimera
Uridium

I can write a whole book on "must-have-games" for the C-64; but if you're interested just name a genre and I can see what I can shake out of mah sleeve

also

http://www.protovision-online.de/games/newcomer.htm

Newcomer, latest game to be released for the C-64

also, you will no doubt discover the wonderful "Demo-scene" of the C-64
this is (to most "today's C-64 users" the back-bone of the C-64)

Demo's are... well... pictures, music'n'stuff

here's an example:



and then of course you can learn BASIC and program... simple programs
or go on and learn Assembly-language, etc.

there is just so much to the C-64 that once you get hooked... it's hard to ever stop

congratulations on your purchase
I have no doubt that you will be very pleased with it