underrated c64 jems that arent in the top 100 list worthy to invest time in

[thetick1]

All the ones below I spent many hours playing and don't think I ever saw them on c64 favorite lists other than mine. I'm too lazy to check if any of them are in the top 100.

 

Impossible Mission II

Satan's Hollow

Gamestar GFL Championship Football

Super Bowl Sunday

Amazon (Windham Classics text/graphic adventure)

Treasure Island (Windham Classics text/graphic adventure)

Aztec Challenge

Realm of Impossibility

5 On Side Soccer

Great American Cross-Country Road Race

Super Cycle

Three Stooges

GI Joe

Park Patrol

Frogger II

Jouste

 

 

Wow the top 100 list is quite UK biased as it does not have some of the most popular games in the USA. So below are some of my favorite games that are often favorites in the USA .. but generally not known or popular in the UK.

 

Ghostbusters

Beach Head

Beach Head II

Raid Over Moscow

World Games

4th and Inches

Hardball

Test Drive

On Court Tennis

Spy vs. Spy

Blue Max

Karateka

Exploding Fist

Rampage

Zaxxon

Super Zaxxon

Fort Apocalypse

Tapper

BC Quest for Tires

Marble Madness

Moon Patrol

Mario Brothers

Crystal Castles

Commando

Frogger

Defender

Dig Dug

Jungle Hunt

Edited March 21, 2018 by thetick1

[carlsson]

Were you actively playing the C64 in the 1982-85 time frame, in the 1985-88 time frame or even in the 1988-91 time frame? I think many of the games voted into the top list are from the mid-late C64 era, while most of the games you mention are from the early era.

[BassGuitari]

A good one that might actually be pretty unknown, at least in North America, is Who Dares Wins (and also Who Dares Wins 2). Great Commando clone.

 

Cursory research indicates it was developed by Alligata Software in the UK, and was sold very briefly before being yanked almost immediately due to an injunction from Elite (who I guess had the home computer rights to Commando?). It was retooled to be a little more different than Commando and re-released as Who Dares Wins 2.

 

Great run 'n' gun regardless!

[Bill Loguidice]

A good one that might actually be pretty unknown, at least in North America, is Who Dares Wins (and also Who Dares Wins 2). Great Commando clone.

 

Cursory research indicates it was developed by Alligata Software in the UK, and was sold very briefly before being yanked almost immediately due to an injunction from Elite (who I guess had the home computer rights to Commando?). It was retooled to be a little more different than Commando and re-released as Who Dares Wins 2.

 

Great run 'n' gun regardless!

 

I played that a lot as a kid. Even if it was not commercially available, I had it on one of my pirated disks that was passed around at my school in NJ.

[Bill Loguidice]

Were you actively playing the C64 in the 1982-85 time frame, in the 1985-88 time frame or even in the 1988-91 time frame? I think many of the games voted into the top list are from the mid-late C64 era, while most of the games you mention are from the early era.

 

As you might expect because of the different markets (us in the US standardizing on disks, for instance), the commercial life of the C-64 here in the US was a bit shorter than it was in the UK and Europe. A lot of us moved on to more powerful computers like the PC or Amiga by the latter part of the 80s (the US was a more affluent market at the time). So I'd say 1982 - 1988 would be about when most of us were most active on the C-64. We missed out on a lot of the better late life releases.

[carlsson]

BassGuitari: Supposedly WDW1 at most was sold for a few days before Elite took to action. GTW64 has an article about it.

Edited March 21, 2018 by carlsson

[thetick1]

 

As you might expect because of the different markets (us in the US standardizing on disks, for instance), the commercial life of the C-64 here in the US was a bit shorter than it was in the UK and Europe. A lot of us moved on to more powerful computers like the PC or Amiga by the latter part of the 80s (the US was a more affluent market at the time). So I'd say 1982 - 1988 would be about when most of us were most active on the C-64. We missed out on a lot of the better late life releases.

 

Very well said. I moved on to the PC by late 80's and I had a close friend with an Amiga. I still had just a few late C64 games that were great .. Three Stooges (I think only Americans can appreciate) , IM II, Airborne Ranger, California Games being the late rare gems in my collection. I was not buying any new C64 after those and well was not pirating C64 anymore... moved on to PC and Amiga.

Edited March 21, 2018 by thetick1

[+OLD CS1]

I was able to buy new commercial releases up until around 1992 in the US. Mind you, it was not from full aisle sections, but there were plenty of titles available at retail outlets like Target, K-Mart, Montgomery Ward, and others like the Base Exchange (BX/PX.) Places like Circuit City, OfficeDepot, Software Etc., and others had moved on to the Amiga, PC, and Mac, though more Mac and PC.

[Laner]

The last game I bought for the 64 was Test Drive 2 in the spring of 1990. The local Sears still had a small selection of C64 games at the time.

[BassGuitari]

Maybe it's sort of ironic that my first exposure to the Commodore 64 (or any computer or video game) was very, very late in its life, ~1989-90. I was 4 or 5. I guess my dad got it off a guy at work; AFAIK the only computer my parents had before the Commodore was a Timex Sinclair, so even the aged C64 was a huge step up.

 

I remember we had Blue Max, Beach Head II, a game I believe to have been Stealth, and the Thunder Mountain disk version of Ms. Pac-Man. And a TAC-2 joystick I remember getting at Radio Shack with my dad. So, none of the new stuff that was coming out, but hey, it was all new to me.

[+wongojack]

I definitely ordered Commodore games from catalogs in 89, 90, and 91. I liked sports games and there were quite a few that came out in those years for the c64. I also remember buying Omni-Play Horse Racing at a toystore in probably 1990. We moved to a different part of the country in 91 (Dallas, TX) and my interest really died down, but I kept the c64 set up in my room.

 

I do remember buying Arkanoid at a computer store clearance sale in what must have been 1992. I remember having to go ask the clerk what it cost because there were various prices on the clearance bin. His reaction was memorable "Oh all the commodore stuff is the lowest price."

[slab0meat]

So many good ones have been mentioned here, I'd only be redundant listing anything.

 

I was happy to see Racing Destruction Set early on, then the mention of Mail Order Monsters.. but again, many many good ones already listed.

[+DZ-Jay]

I recall two games that fell into my (huuuuuuuuuge) collection back in the '80s, which for some reason stood out to me:

• Gyroscope - a very good clone of Marble Madness
• Cyclons - a pretty decent clone of Defender

One thing I recall about Cyclons (and perhaps the reason that caught my eye) was that it played the Star Wars theme during the intro.

 

Anyway, does anybody remember these titles?

[carlsson]

Gyroscope definitely, though it was a bit too difficult for me. Given that the arcade version of Marble Madness was released in December 1984, the programmers at Catalyst Coders who developed Gyroscope for Melbourne House must've been quite alert and fast to release their game during 1985. Later on, both home versions of Marble Madness and clones like Red LED (a.k.a. BattleDroidz in the USA) and lesser known Trouble Bubble were released, to name a few.

[gar0u]

My list of memorable games: Raid Over Moscow, Impossible Mission, Infiltrator, Hacker, Maniac Mansion, Super Huey, Demon Stalkers, and Champions of Krynn.

 

(Although you can't do it anymore; dial-up BBS, Quantum Link, phone phreaking, and software cracking were probably a bigger use of the C= 64 than playing games. But I did plenty of that, too!)

[+OLD CS1]

Long live the Qmmunity. We were "Q" way before this guy was.

 

[digdugnate]

i didn't see these, but i only skimmed the lists-

 

Radar Rat Race (i bought this from TrU as a kid)

Omega Race

BC's Quest for Tires

Hellcat Ace

Clowns

[Mayhem]

Gyroscope definitely, though it was a bit too difficult for me. Given that the arcade version of Marble Madness was released in December 1984, the programmers at Catalyst Coders who developed Gyroscope for Melbourne House must've been quite alert and fast to release their game during 1985. Later on, both home versions of Marble Madness and clones like Red LED (a.k.a. BattleDroidz in the USA) and lesser known Trouble Bubble were released, to name a few.

 

You missed the best clone of them all there, Spindizzy

[Laner]

 

You missed the best clone of them all there, Spindizzy

 

Yes! I remember debating between getting Marble Madness and Spindizzy. I went with the latter, and it was the right choice.

[Bill Loguidice]

If you're a fan of Bruce Lee (NOT an underrated gem, obviously), then I highly recommend the homebrew Bruce Lee II. It really does wonderful things with the concept.

[thetick1]

If you're a fan of Bruce Lee (NOT an underrated gem, obviously), then I highly recommend the homebrew Bruce Lee II. It really does wonderful things with the concept.

 

That is one great homebrew. It's so close to the original it's amazing. I only very small nitpick. I miss having the explosions on the ground so you can kick you opponent into!

[+OLD CS1]

 

That is one great homebrew. It's so close to the original it's amazing. I only very small nitpick. I miss having the explosions on the ground so you can kick you opponent into!

 

An AMAZING home-brew. I include a copy (on floppy) whenever I sell or give a system away.

[+wongojack]

More underrated games . . .

 

I really enjoyed playing Agent USA both BITD and after discovering emulation. It is on a lot of platforms, but I know the C64 version the best.

 

A late series that doesn't get a lot of attention is the Superstar/Omni Play sports series. I spent tons of time playing and managing my teams in Soccer, Hockey, and Basketball. They had a franchise mode that I had never seen before and wouldn't come to other games for years. I think these games were more popular in the US because the Soccer version didn't have quite as strong gameplay as some other options, but they were incredible at the time. I still boot up Superstar Ice Hockey every few years and try to build my team to a cup winner. It is the oldest and most primitive, but I have the best memories of it.

[+wongojack]

Digging this up again . . .

 

I keep a list of all the games that I owned from bitd. Here are some others that may fit the intent of the thread:

 

Accolade's Comics

Fort Apocalypse

GI Joe

Hardball

Jeopardy

Law of the West

Lords of Conquest

Motocross

Star Trek - The Computer Game

Train

Possibly overlooked ports:

Beamrider

Kung Fu Master

Mario Bros

Moon Patrol

Pitstop

Quix (I think there are multiple versions, but mine was spelled with a 'u')

River Raid

Spyhunter

Zaxxon

[carlsson]

The C64 sure has a wide library. I've been playing on mine for more than 30 years, yet I can only confirm that I've played 1 of the first 10 you list.

 

Mario Bros exists in at least two ports, Atarisoft and Ocean. When it comes to Pitstop, I must strongly say I prefer its sequel which for at least 4-5 years was unparalleled when it comes to C64 first person perspective racing games.