c64 Game Night

[eds1275]

So my brother and I decided we are going to do a c64 game night. Playing all the old favourites, minus the load times!

Here is the list so far of ones we want to play, but if there's a game you think should be on this list please mention it!

PARADROID
Maniac Mansion (I read about an ending I have not seen and want to do it)
Jumpman
Technocop
Airborne Ranger
Steel Thunder
Asylum
Pitstop II
Destroyer
Journey to the Center of the Earth
Ace of Aces
Impossible Mission 1&2
Spy VS Spy 1&2
F-15 Strike Eagle
Montezuma's Revenge
Games... California, winter, summer, etc etc
Karateka
Forbidden Forest
Wasteland
Raid Over Moscow
Rain on Bungeling Bay
Technocop
Fist
Way of the Exploding Fist
Racing Destruction Set
Test Drive
Zak McKrackin
Gunship
Indoor Sports
Knight Games
Test Drive
Alien
Aliens
Below the Root
Tai Pan
The Great Escape
Beach Head
Beach Head II
Entombed
Staff of Karnath
BlackWyche
Dragon Skull
Fort Apocolypse

I'm sure there are more I will add. The date is set for May 10. We don't plan on beating them all, but trying to play a little bit of everything.

[Kier]

Got some of my favorites on there, Karateka, Airborne Ranger, and Montezuma's Revenge.

For me I was a Jumpman Jr. Fan more than Jumpman.

Summer Games, we played the crap out of that game. (lol, I see you have that one down there)

Damn, I know there are more, I just can't think of them.

Castle Wolfenstein

[Malenko]

I remember a pretty great bowling game but I cant remember the name, also I have fond memories of the Bill and Ted game

[dfwdennis]

M.U.L.E.!

[eds1275]

I remember a pretty great bowling game but I cant remember the name, also I have fond memories of the Bill and Ted game

Indoor sports comes to mind!

[Malenko]

I remember a pretty great bowling game but I cant remember the name, also I have fond memories of the Bill and Ted game

Indoor sports comes to mind!

YUP! I had to look it up, but thats the one. I remember there being table tennis/ping pong on the B slide of the floppy. I had the worst timing, lol my bowler would always be catching his foot at the foul line.

[wp34]

I'm from the Atari 800 camp so I don't have a lot to contribute.  Sounds like a lot of fun though.

[eds1275]

I'm from the Atari 800 camp

SO IT WAS YOU THAT STARTED THE "CONSOLE WARS!"

[DeLuSioNal29]

Pitstop II !

[eds1275]

One of the greatest childhood victories I had as a child was shaking off the fear that plugging a sega genesis controller into my c64 would somehow fry it. I tried it, and the d-pad worked as well as the b-button. We (my brothers and I) had two lousy no-name joysticks we found somewhere in K-mart on clearance and one broke shortly after getting it. Now whoever had the genesis gamepad had a clear advantage... especially competitive games like Pit Stop II.

[DaveMMR]

Bruce Lee - my friends and I always played where the second player was the green person acting as a defense against the ninja. Fun game!
Ultimate Wizard - it's like Jumpman but a bit more challenging.
Street Surfer - simple but enjoyable racing game where you're a motorized skateboarder collecting pop bottles.
Legend of the Knucker-Hole featuring Jet-Boot Jack - starts off as a simple platformer, then a "collect all the MacGuffin" game, then a unique jet boot platformer on Level 5.
Knight Games - I think this was fun, been awhile since I played it.
World Karate Championship (International Karate outside the US) - well-done clone of Karate Champ (download the manual though)

[eds1275]

KNIGHT GAMES! I remember that one. We always had quarter-staff fights. Not because the event was the best, but because the guy looked like robin hood.

[mgb]

How about Maze Master.
And the Young Ones

[RandyT]

Uridium.

[lostboy4480]

Monty on the run....  Even if its just for the awesome music !

[ark_ader]

My c64 favourites:

The Eidolon
Way of the exploding fist
Great Giana Sisters
Kronus Rift
Zoids
Robin of the wood
Skyfox
Wizball
Thing on a spring
Parallax
Transformers
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Roland's Rat Race
F19 Stealth Fighter

I'll have to dig out my c64 cassette tapes.

Pirates
Elite
Table tennis konami
Thrust
Revs ? (or was that bbc)
The Last ninja 2
Prince of Persia
Gunship
Russin Attack


I'm sure I have some zzap64! Magazines somewhere...

[Kier]

I forgot about Bruce Lee, and Pitstop II . God those were fun.

We were so addicted to Summer Games, everything centered around the dash, I think it was where you ran as fast as the joystick could be pushed back and forth. We all had holes burned into our palms, huge scabs, from placing our hand on top the joystick and shaking it back forth. We burnt through so many of those atari knockoff joysticks that year.

[Vigo]

Kikstart I & II
Trailblazer
Castle Wolfenstein & Beyond Castle Wolfenstein
Cosmic Relief (aka Terramex)
Zak Mckracken
Samurai Warrior:: Usagi Yojimbo
Wizball
Realm of Impossibility
Ghettoblaster (Aka Street Beat)
High Noon

[DaveMMR]

If you also want to play a terrible game, check out Attack of the Phantom Karate Devils.


Oh and also check out Hover Bovver - it's a YARD WORK SIMULATOR! (Actually it's a game where you have to mow your lawn while avoiding your neighbor (whose mower you "borrowed") and other crap.

[RandyT]

If you also want to play a terrible game, check out Attack of the Phantom Karate Devils.

When I try to think of great C-64 titles, I always look for Commodore ANSI graphics   

Use of character set graphics was one of the most innovative programming techniques, but they could have at least attempted to re-define them.

[Vigo]

Worst game I remember *That was by a legit software company* was Intergalactic Cage Match. Worst mechanics imaginable. You literally cannot defeat you opponent in the game. You just have to be the first to climb out of the cage.

[Xiaou2]

I used to have and play these on my C-64

The Last V8 - Pure awesome.   Difficult, but fast speeds, with very precise scrolling and control.
Scarabaeus / Invaders of the lost Tomb - A Psychologically trip.
Skate or Die - Fun.
Kickman - used to play this a lot.  Of course, you can play the real deal in mame, with proper controls.
Karate Champ - I recall having a lot of fun with this too.
Out Run - Though nothing like the real deal, is quite surprising on what it can do, as far as the C-64s abilities.
Sigma 7 - Interesting shooter with 3 different kinds of stages
Bruce Lee - Fun little jump and kick
Raid over Moscow - was awesome.

[RandyT]

Worst game I remember *That was by a legit software company* was Intergalactic Cage Match. Worst mechanics imaginable.

wow....I can't believe someone actually took credit for that soundtrack.  A random note generator would probably sound better 

[CraftyMech]

I was happy to see Raid on Bungeling Bay on your list!

I played the crap out of that one on my c64. The parade at the end was awesome to my 12 year old mind.

[DaveMMR]

The Last V8 - Pure awesome.   Difficult, but fast speeds, with very precise scrolling and control.

I remember this game being the few titles you can actually play on the 128 without having to go into 64 mode. Since you're using an emulator, not an issue. (From what I've read: 128 mode has three levels as opposed to two in 64 mode.)

[ark_ader]

The Last V8 - Pure awesome.   Difficult, but fast speeds, with very precise scrolling and control.

I remember this game being the few titles you can actually play on the 128 without having to go into 64 mode. Since you're using an emulator, not an issue. (From what I've read: 128 mode has three levels as opposed to two in 64 mode.)

I had a C128.  Two 128 Modes 40 column and 80 column and your third CPM.  C64 mode only had the 40 column.  Unless the 2 modes was power on C64 mode than the go64 mode.  I also had the 1902a monitor which would be awesome for Mame.  Sadly not enough of the C128 games existed.  It had the best keyboard. 

[eds1275]

I used to drool over the commodore 128. I did a lot of programming at the time, and the idea of a number pad blew my mind.

[ark_ader]

I just powered up my game server (its been poorly for a few months) and I found I had a 2 gb C64 complete archive, with every  game ever made and all the magazines too. Its surprising how many games and demos they made for it, which continued right through to the CBM Amiga.  I'll be going through your list this weekend also.   

[Xiaou2]

A great little game I used to play on grampa's  128, was this driving game, where the surface was all ice.  One screen, with lot of walls... you had to made it into the garage in a set time limit, without hitting the walls.  Great fun.

 Never remembered the name...  but just found it was called  "Miami Ice".

 It exists now in several ported versions, including the 64.

http://www.atarimagazines.com/compute/issue73/miami_ice.php

[eds1275]

Ahhhh this morning I just wanted to test everything to make sure it all worked and BAM 3 hours later I had to stop myself.

[wp34]

I'm from the Atari 800 camp

SO IT WAS YOU THAT STARTED THE "CONSOLE WARS!"

 

Some of my best friends had C64's.

[RoyalScam]

My top 4 arcade type games on the C-64 were Archon, Beach Head, Blue Max and Hard Hat Mack.  Archon causing the most grief between my friends and myself.  In reality, though, most of my time spent with the 64 was either getting into trouble via telnet, running a BBS or playing Infocom adventures. 

Regards,
Scam

BTW, I should mention that the 64 a 128D, two monitors and several disk drives are still set up in the garage and still being used.  Sometimes for a quick game, sometimes just to write a quick program to do some calculation or other, and quite often to hook things up via the User Port and a solderless breadboard.  They're always fun.

[vorghagen]

The Last Ninja - Awesome soundtrack, check out this link for amazing classical guitar cover
Aztec Challenge - The first level is the hardest
Airwolf - If you can find a map online - all the better
Barbarian - If only for the novelty of beheading your opponent
Hover Bovver - As DaveMMR said steal your neighbours mower and mow your lawn while avoiding them and stop your dog pissing on the mower.

[DaveMMR]

I just fired up my C64 and played "(Ultimate) Wizard" and I forgot how really fun this game is. I also found a disk of my level creations (it's a "construction set" game) and outside of the stupid naming convention ("David's whatever"), I was kind of impressed with my my 11-year old counterpart came up with. They all had "triggers" where grabbing a treasure would change the level in minor ways.

[eds1275]

I'm using the Vice (I think? I dunno, I'm at work) emulator and I can tell you I am freaking happy not waiting for load times. I enjoyed a round of Tai Pan and it was a lot of fun. I did have to use an eq to tame the high frequencies, they were sharp and annoying after a while.

[Benzinbruder]

OMG, I'll definitely have to do this with my brother once my project is finished. 

I remember having fun with Donald Duck's Playground.
On the contrary, there's also been this game where a guy had to escape (?) a house full of traps, like rays that made your head explode...

A game I'd really love to play again was this space game:
First, you had to safely exit the hangar with your ship. Then you flew to some planet, shooting asteroids and enemies (?).
The second level was played from the top down perspective. You flew over the surface of the planet, dodging obstacles and stuff.
The third level started with you side-scrollingly exploring a station (on the planet) you reached at the end of level 2. Never made it to level 4...

Does anybody know the name of this game? 

[Vigo]

Is it Paradroid?   


Hrm.... First game sounds like impossible mission 1 or 2. Probably not that easy though. Could be a lot of games.

Second game, I'm sure I am wrong, but it sounds a bit like cosmic tunnels. You actually land on the planet though.
It also reminds me of Star Ranger, but the perspective never changes in that game.

[Benzinbruder]

It's not Paradroid. 
Impossible mission could be right. I've looked up some screenshots and remember a different artstyle though (more black backgrounds)...

The space game I am looking for had much better graphics than cosmic tunnels. 
I think I didn't express myself very well concerning the end of level 2: You actually land on the planet and then play as the pilot, exploring the station on the planet.
There've been those doors openening with this "swosh" sound... 

I've been looking for this game for a while now. I'd be really interesting if I would do any better now that I had years to train my videogame-skills. 

And there's another one I remember:
You're a knight and have to collect pieces of a door on the screen. As soon as you have all the pieces, you can enter the door and andvance to the next level.



eds1275, how can it be Bubble Booble is not on that list!?

[DeLuSioNal29]

How many of your remember making a 5 1/4 inch floppy double-sided by using a hole punch? 

Even though I knew it would screw up your drive's heads in the long run (or rumor had it that it would) I still did it to save money.  (P.S. - My 1541 drive never died).

DeLuSioNaL29

[yotsuya]

Swiss Family Robinson, bitches!

[Vigo]

The space game I am looking for had much better graphics than cosmic tunnels. 
I think I didn't express myself very well concerning the end of level 2: You actually land on the planet and then play as the pilot, exploring the station on the planet.
There've been those doors openening with this "swosh" sound... 

Parallax? Only other game I can think of where you get out of your ship. That was an awesome game with an amazing soundtrack.

[eds1275]

eds1275, how can it be Bubble Booble is not on that list!?

Because Bubble Bobble plays way better in Mame. Believe me, I gave it a whirl the other day.

[DaveMMR]

How many of your remember making a 5 1/4 inch floppy double-sided by using a hole punch? 

Even though I knew it would screw up your drive's heads in the long run (or rumor had it that it would) I still did it to save money.  (P.S. - My 1541 drive never died).

DeLuSioNaL29

I have disks right now with notches made by large scissors and with extra towards the bottom made by one of those two-hole punches (they sound funny when spinning.) And even to this day, they all still work (along with the 1541.)

[Benzinbruder]

Parallax? Only other game I can think of where you get out of your ship. That was an awesome game with an amazing soundtrack.

Nope, not it. 

The second level has definitely been a vertical shooter, the third level on the base / station was seen from the side. You could move to the left as well as to the right, as far as I remember.
And did I tell you about the swoosh sounds when opening doors alread? 

Because Bubble Bobble plays way better in Mame. Believe me, I gave it a whirl the other day.

Oh, ok. Gotta remember that...

[JeffB13]

Archon and Beach Head.  Oh and there was a 1 on 1 basketball game with Dr J and Larry Bird.  I remember you could break the backboard on that one.

[RandyT]

How many of your remember making a 5 1/4 inch floppy double-sided by using a hole punch? 

Even though I knew it would screw up your drive's heads in the long run (or rumor had it that it would) I still did it to save money.  (P.S. - My 1541 drive never died).

Meh.  That was just a rumor started by the disk manufacturers to keep you from doing it.  The 1541 would go out of alignment mainly from the copy protection used by commercial games, which would bash the head into the stop for some reason.  Any self respecting c-64 nut could do an alignment on their 1541 themselves, thanks to the good utilities which were available to assist.  They claimed a special disk was necessary, but it really wasn't.  Any good quality, commercially produced disk without copy protection worked fine.

I used to go to the computer shows of that era, and the bulk disk sellers always sold the good punches.  Slipped over the corner of the disk and made perfect square notches in exactly the right spot for less than $10.  I probably still have it around here somewhere   

[ark_ader]

How many of your remember making a 5 1/4 inch floppy double-sided by using a hole punch? 

Even though I knew it would screw up your drive's heads in the long run (or rumor had it that it would) I still did it to save money.  (P.S. - My 1541 drive never died).

Meh.  That was just a rumor started by the disk manufacturers to keep you from doing it.  The 1541 would go out of alignment mainly from the copy protection used by commercial games, which would bash the head into the stop for some reason.  Any self respecting c-64 nut could do an alignment on their 1541 themselves, thanks to the good utilities which were available to assist.  They claimed a special disk was necessary, but it really wasn't.  Any good quality, commercially produced disk without copy protection worked fine.

I used to go to the computer shows of that era, and the bulk disk sellers always sold the good punches.  Slipped over the corner of the disk and made perfect square notches in exactly the right spot for less than $10.  I probably still have it around here somewhere   

Nope nice try.  The reason for advising against notching the discs was to do with manufacturers that incorporated a dust protector sleeve in the disc jacket, where if reversed could damage the disc and the read head of the disc drive.  Obviously not many disc manufacturers incorporated the sleeve design, to keep costs down.   

[RandyT]

Nope nice try.  The reason for advising against notching the discs was to do with manufacturers that incorporated a dust protector sleeve in the disc jacket, where if reversed could damage the disc and the read head of the disc drive.  Obviously not many disc manufacturers incorporated the sleeve design, to keep costs down.

Never had an issue with a head being damaged.  Thousands of disks (am I giving myself away here?) and many hundreds of hours on the drives, many different brands of floppies, all notched.  Those drives were built like tanks.  Then again, they were always in sleeves, and not left to collect stuff which might contaminate the insides.  But as the saying goes, YMMV.

Since we are deep in C-64 territory....Against my better judgement, if anyone wants to have a laugh at some really early stuff by me, check out the attachment.  Remember, I never said I was a musician    But I wasn't too bad with C-64 assembler.  Interesting note about the graphic I made for "digidrumdelivery":  This crappy little demo was released into the wild a few months before an OMNI magazine cover appeared with a strikingly similar concept.  Coincidence?

[ark_ader]

Nope nice try.  The reason for advising against notching the discs was to do with manufacturers that incorporated a dust protector sleeve in the disc jacket, where if reversed could damage the disc and the read head of the disc drive.  Obviously not many disc manufacturers incorporated the sleeve design, to keep costs down.

Never had an issue with a head being damaged.  Thousands of disks (am I giving myself away here?) and many hundreds of hours on the drives, many different brands of floppies, all notched.  Those drives were built like tanks.  Then again, they were always in sleeves, and not left to collect stuff which might contaminate the insides.  But as the saying goes, YMMV.

Since we are deep in C-64 territory....Against my better judgement, if anyone wants to have a laugh at some really early stuff by me, check out the attachment.  Remember, I never said I was a musician    But I wasn't too bad with C-64 assembler.  Interesting note about the graphic I made for "digidrumdelivery":  This crappy little demo was released into the wild a few months before an OMNI magazine cover appeared with a strikingly similar concept.  Coincidence?

Sorry I made a mistake there.  The dust protector sleeve was inside the plastic jacket of the floppy to clean off dust that could touch the head.  Not the sleeve that you stored the floppies in. My bad. 


I dug out this little fella and now I can play Paradroid without messing around with Vice.  Its like a Jakks, and has loads of games on it.  I would love to know how to get more games in it. 

[Fastrucken]

One of my all time favorites is Racing Destruction Set. It suck all of my free time. You could build your own track or modify your car and even change the gravity

[RandyT]

I dug out this little fella and now I can play Paradroid without messing around with Vice.  Its like a Jakks, and has loads of games on it.  I would love to know how to get more games in it. 

There's a full c-64 implemented in ASIC in that joystick.  You might find this site interesting.

[DaveMMR]

I used to go to the computer shows of that era, and the bulk disk sellers always sold the good punches.  Slipped over the corner of the disk and made perfect square notches in exactly the right spot for less than $10.  I probably still have it around here somewhere   

Still have mine. I forgot where I bought it. 
I think by the time I bought this I had little use for it, having moved onto the NES and Genesis. But I keep it around as it may come in handy. I've been screwing around with a PDF of one of those old type-in program books with some interesting stuff on it.

[eds1275]

The space game I am looking for had much better graphics than cosmic tunnels. 
I think I didn't express myself very well concerning the end of level 2: You actually land on the planet and then play as the pilot, exploring the station on the planet.
There've been those doors openening with this "swosh" sound... 

This really sounds like a loose description of Raid over Moscow.

[eds1275]

Here's another "What is this game called?" question. I believe the game took place on one screen, or the map was fairly small. Top down game, and you were an ambulance or firetruck or some other support vehicle. You'd drive around and save people from buildings.

[Benzinbruder]

The space game I am looking for had much better graphics than cosmic tunnels. 
I think I didn't express myself very well concerning the end of level 2: You actually land on the planet and then play as the pilot, exploring the station on the planet.
There've been those doors openening with this "swosh" sound... 

This really sounds like a loose description of Raid over Moscow.

Yep, that's what the internet came up with for me as well. But it's not it. My game is IN SPACE! :-)

Don't think I have played the rescue mission game you mentioned. I'll think about it a little longer though. 

[vidmouse]

Wow, great to see this much love for the C64!

I can't recall the space game or rescue game offhand.
I did make an adventure like the space game once
with the "Adventure Construction Set" but of course
it was never a released thing.

My top picks for a C64 game night (some already mentioned):
Adventure Construction Set (I spent hours/days on this, making my own stuff... probably
      seven or eight full-blown 9+ region adventures w/ this)
Mail Order Monsters
Epyx Movie Monster game
Skyfox
Racing Destruction Set
Intrigue!
Bruce Lee
Beachhead II
Epyx World Karate Championship
M.U.L.E.
Archon
Seven Cities of Gold
Bards Tale I, II, III (more for the nostalgia than for the fun)
Batty
Street Surfer
Defender of the Crown
Sidpic (not exactly a game, but fun to play around with)
Pirates!
Gunship
Druid
Gateway to Apshai
H.E.R.O.
Hardball
Farmer's Daughter
Leaderboard
Impossible Mission
California Games
World Games
Law of the West
Karateka
Knight Games
Little Computer People
Mission Elevator
Uridium
Parallax
Pitstop II
Frank Bruno's Boxing
Rad Warrior
Raid on Bungeling Bay
Ghostbusters
Times of Lore
Stellar 7
Skate or Die
Spy Hunter

[chopps]

Wow does this bring back some memories.  Just played some Miner 2049er and Jumpman jr. Best part is, my 6 year old son loved them! 

[kiwasabi]

Unfortunately I never had a Commodore 64, nor have I even played one, but I've tried out quite a few games on VICE (plus I have that Joystick with games built-in).

I found Aztec Challenge really addicting, the music was perfect. Forbidden Forest is another classic. Ultimate Wizard was a really cool early platformer. Realm of Impossibility absolutely needs to be remade, it still plays well today except for the awkwardness of moving within the isometric graphics. The only game I can add to the list would be Gandalf the Sorceror, which is an interesting game where you're a wizard protecting a castle. I found it in a review from an old magazine, Electronic Games maybe.

Going through all the C64 games made me wonder how many DOS games I surely missed out on. My attempts at emulating DOS games via DOS Box hasn't ever turned out well since it seems they all want to run based on the clockspeed of your actual CPU instead of the emulated CPU, so way too fast. I know you can alter the speed at which they run but that's a really imprecise way to go about it. Is there something I missed here? Maybe just PM me so as to not hijack the thread! 

[eds1275]

Hijack away, because tonight is the night of the c64 gaming marathon!

[DeLuSioNal29]

Archon, definitely one of my favorites.

Question:  What emulator are you guys using for this that's arcade friendly?  (Which one is the best all around that you prefer?)

A quick story to share:  Back in the day I remember having the money to buy an Atari 2600 system and a buddy in school told me that I'd be better off buying a C-64 since it had better graphics and tons of games.  I headed to his house and he showed me the graphics on that thing and I was sold!  (Plus the appeal of buying floppies and getting "free" games by trading    ).  I also liked the fact that it was a computer and that I could mess around with programming as well.

DeLuSioNaL29

[eds1275]

I don't plan on setting it up on my arcade, but I read somewhere that people are getting by after setting it to load a quick-save of each game (loaded to the title screen.) VICE lets you have up to 4 "discs" in the drive, and I am not sure but it's possible that those get saved in the quick saved files.

[Kier]

A couple years back had all my sibs up and over, and we played Summer Games, the go-to game back in the day. I will say that for us was 1 game we missed the loading times. Without the load times, it went too fast. Not enough time to trash talk, lol.

[ark_ader]

I fired up coinops 5 last night and was pleasently surprised BP included some of my favourite c64 games.  You might want to check it out as it saves time fiddling with Vice.

[eds1275]

Guess what I'm doing? Airborne ranger!

[wp34]

A couple years back had all my sibs up and over, and we played Summer Games, the go-to game back in the day. I will say that for us was 1 game we missed the loading times. Without the load times, it went too fast. Not enough time to trash talk, lol.

Summer Games was awesome.  Especially the diving. 

[DeLuSioNal29]

I recall having a fast load (Kwikload?) disk too.  Which you needed to load first so that games would load quick.  It only worked on 80% of the games.

[RandyT]

Question:  What emulator are you guys using for this that's arcade friendly?  (Which one is the best all around that you prefer?)

I'm curious about this one as well.  I really hope there is something out there which uses a well emulated core, but dispenses with the extra steps required to load the software.

All this talk about the 64 has me feeling nostalgic for the real thing, and I found that there are a few solutions for using disk images from flash media with original hardware.  Looks like this one is the cream of the crop.  Not cheap, and there's a waiting list, but oddly I'm really itching to get one...

[DaveMMR]

All this talk about the 64 has me feeling nostalgic for the real thing, and I found that there are a few solutions for using disk images from flash media with original hardware.  Looks like this one is the cream of the crop.  Not cheap, and there's a waiting list, but oddly I'm really itching to get one...

It's annoying that the solutions I found for loading disk images onto the C64 have left me unsatisfied (either too expensive, the aforementioned lack-of-availability and/or too many drawbacks.) I think I may be turning my attention to hooking the actual 1541 up to the PC and copying images to actual floppy disks instead.  Something like this:
http://www.go4retro.com/products/zoomfloppy/

Not the best solution by a mile if you're interested in having easy access to all the games (plus you have to hop on the internet to buy floppies) but I don't need to play every single game on the actual hardware, just the faves.

[RandyT]

I've heard good things about the ZoomFloppy for accomplishing that, but I think the real speed increases require the parallel cable. Probably not a factor if you are just transferring a couple dozen floppies.

The 1541 Ultimate II is supposedly a "true" 1541, fully implemented in hardware on a plug-in board, using images on flash media instead of floppies.  Apparently one of the more recent updates includes a nice transfer utility to very quickly turn an image back into real floppy when an external drive is attached.   The ability to emulate the popular "freezer" and fast load carts is also a great feature.  It's too bad the unit is so difficult to come by and costly, but I suppose that's to be expected with such a niche item.

[Felsir]

On the contrary, there's also been this game where a guy had to escape (?) a house full of traps, like rays that made your head explode...

I'm guessing it is Castles of Dr. Creep:
Which is a very nice two player cooperative game (speaking of cooperative: The C64 version of The Goonies!)

[Felsir]

I don't plan on setting it up on my arcade, but I read somewhere that people are getting by after setting it to load a quick-save of each game (loaded to the title screen.) VICE lets you have up to 4 "discs" in the drive, and I am not sure but it's possible that those get saved in the quick saved files.

I do this on my setup. I've made ini files for each game (since one game uses the port1 and the other game the port2 joystick etc. also mapping of "special" keys- for example some games use 'spacebar' or F1/F3 for single/twoplayer games). This combined with a snapshot saved right after the decrunch/intro garbage makes an good arcade setup.
I made a selection of games I wanted and configured each. For some games you can simply copy the ini files and reuse them.

[nipsmg]

I have to add a couple that I didn't see that would be on my list:

Hunchback
Lazy Jones
Henry's House
Pogo Joe
Space Taxi
Paperboy
Hot Wheels
Crystal Castles
The Goonies
Ghostbusters

[stigzler]

Scarabaeus.
Bonkers.



One of those fantastically abstract "wtf is going on" games.

[Benzinbruder]

I'm guessing it is Castles of Dr. Creep:
Which is a very nice two player cooperative game (speaking of cooperative: The C64 version of The Goonies!)

Hmm, could be. But I didn't find a screenshot with the deadly waves making your head explode... 
Also, I don't remember the game I was thinking of being a 2 player game. It may just be my diluted memories though...

[Benzinbruder]

You're a knight and have to collect pieces of a door on the screen. As soon as you have all the pieces, you can enter the door and andvance to the next level.

Found it: Cavelon

[eds1275]

OK, here's the long-awaited review of the c64 game night. If you'd like the short, short version, I can sum it up in one word: Success.

The long.

We fired up some Airborne Ranger to begin, and played half a dozen missions being victorious each time including the dreaded Destroy an Enemy Aircraft - the one where you must be quiet or else the aircraft will leave before you can get it. I plan on going back and running through each mission. SO MUCH FUN. Even though the controller only runs one button, having the keyboard there to select different weapons was a nice feature. There's like 15 buttons for that game. AR was my favourite game back in the day - when I got to play it. See, there was no internet... and the label on my copy was written in felt. That left choosing the medals a guessing game.

Test Drive was next, and it drove my brother insane that he couldn't reach the first gas station after several attempts, yet I made it to the third. He's a car nut and his passion is driving. But I'm the older one so that makes me a champ by default, right?

Maniac Mansion. I read online about an ending I hadn't seen before, where you launch the edsel into space and then grab the meteor, run upstairs, and feed it to the man-eating-plant. After about an hour it asked to switch discs, and I accidentally used the key-combo to reset the computer instead of opening the disc drive! FAILURE!!! We decided to come back another time.

California Games - not as good as the memories. I should have left it well alone.

Winter Games. Getting a little tipsy by this point, and my wife came home from her ladies night. We got her in on the action. It got so competitive. And then there was the free-style ice skating/dancing competition. I won by far with an insane 1.4/10. None of us could figure out the controls.

Western Games - another one we couldn't figure out 3/4 of the time

Paradroid. I cleared all the decks and lost on the final one. Another great game that would be amazing if it were re-made to todays standards... perhaps a top-down with a first person option for searching?

Impossible Mission II - we were both really tired by this point, at about 2am. I had worked a night shift the night before, and slept for 3 hours. Him, a 330-1130 am shift with no sleep. We packed it in. My wife went to bed calling us inbred hillbillies halfway through Western Games. I told her she was my long-lost sister.

We're gonna have another one! I will post some pics tomorrow. Here is the part that blows my mind - my brother and I were well-prepared in the liquor department, but neither of us touched more than 1/4 of what we had. Too busy playing and enjoying the games!

[Kier]

Dude, sounds great. Absolute blast. Yeah I remember that mission on Airborne. It was a ---smurfette---. Still laughing at you trying to figure the figure skating controls out, thats the best part of those games years later, how do you stick the landing, etc.

Awesome. So many memories.

OK, here's the long-awaited review of the c64 game night. If you'd like the short, short version, I can sum it up in one word: Success.

The long.

We fired up some Airborne Ranger to begin, and played half a dozen missions being victorious each time including the dreaded Destroy an Enemy Aircraft - the one where you must be quiet or else the aircraft will leave before you can get it. I plan on going back and running through each mission. SO MUCH FUN. Even though the controller only runs one button, having the keyboard there to select different weapons was a nice feature. There's like 15 buttons for that game. AR was my favourite game back in the day - when I got to play it. See, there was no internet... and the label on my copy was written in felt. That left choosing the medals a guessing game.

Test Drive was next, and it drove my brother insane that he couldn't reach the first gas station after several attempts, yet I made it to the third. He's a car nut and his passion is driving. But I'm the older one so that makes me a champ by default, right?

Maniac Mansion. I read online about an ending I hadn't seen before, where you launch the edsel into space and then grab the meteor, run upstairs, and feed it to the man-eating-plant. After about an hour it asked to switch discs, and I accidentally used the key-combo to reset the computer instead of opening the disc drive! FAILURE!!! We decided to come back another time.

California Games - not as good as the memories. I should have left it well alone.

Winter Games. Getting a little tipsy by this point, and my wife came home from her ladies night. We got her in on the action. It got so competitive. And then there was the free-style ice skating/dancing competition. I won by far with an insane 1.4/10. None of us could figure out the controls.

Western Games - another one we couldn't figure out 3/4 of the time

Paradroid. I cleared all the decks and lost on the final one. Another great game that would be amazing if it were re-made to todays standards... perhaps a top-down with a first person option for searching?

Impossible Mission II - we were both really tired by this point, at about 2am. I had worked a night shift the night before, and slept for 3 hours. Him, a 330-1130 am shift with no sleep. We packed it in. My wife went to bed calling us inbred hillbillies halfway through Western Games. I told her she was my long-lost sister.

We're gonna have another one! I will post some pics tomorrow. Here is the part that blows my mind - my brother and I were well-prepared in the liquor department, but neither of us touched more than 1/4 of what we had. Too busy playing and enjoying the games!

[Benzinbruder]

Absolutely awesome! 

Where are the pictures!?

[RoyalScam]

Sorry for the hijack, this pertains to RandyT and DaveMMR's sidebar.

I still use real hardware as well as emulators for my Commodore fix.  I've got too many 64's an SX-64 a 128D a couple of Vic20's and Plus4's.  I'm currently transferring files between PC and 1541/71 via XU1541, which is a USB transfer cable I believe to be running the same firmware as Zoomfloppy. Yes it's slow by PC Standards, but it's not that bad, anyway, those that have the ZoomFloppy are thrilled with it.  Also the http://store.go4retro.com/uiec-sd/ uIEC get raves.  It's not true 1541 emulation, but can handle most cracks and one filers.  I'm very impressed with the 1541Ultimate, you get true drive emulation,  32Meg SD, ram expansion  to 16 meg and usb file trasfer.  It's a deal at 150.00, just not for me as I use the expansion port for other things and I don't want to tie it up.  My ideal item would be a true emulation SD card solution using the IEC bus. I know it's slow, but it'd work better for me.  I should also note that I also have 1581 drives.  Omniflop running on an XP box writes directly to a 3.5 floppy that can be read by the 1581.

Regards,
Scam

[Vigo]

Good choices for a game night. 

Maniac Mansion. I read online about an ending I hadn't seen before, where you launch the edsel into space and then grab the meteor, run upstairs, and feed it to the man-eating-plant. After about an hour it asked to switch discs, and I accidentally used the key-combo to reset the computer instead of opening the disc drive! FAILURE!!! We decided to come back another time.

Too bad it didn't work out. I never heard of that ending. The ending that I know of that I didn't do was give the contract to the meteor then call the meteor police. I might have to start up another game to test both of those endings. Although, I play the deluxe PC version these days, Looks good and has no loading time.