Commodore 64

Commodore 64, the 8-bit giant with a very long shelf life

The Commodore 64, or C64, arrived in January 1982 and never quite left the room. It was an 8-bit home computer with 64 kibibytes of RAM, custom graphics and sound hardware, and a knack for making games look and sound better than machines without those extras. Our catalog carries 245 games for it, spanning 1982 to 2016, which is a respectable run for a system that has been retired more than once and still refuses to sit quietly.

What the Commodore 64 was built to do

The C64 was introduced by Commodore International and quickly became one of the defining home computers of the 1980s. It sold through regular retail stores, not just specialist shops, which helped it reach a much wider audience. In the United States it held a strong share of the market during 1983 to 1986, and in the UK it stayed a major name in a crowded field. It was also the kind of machine that made developers pay attention, because good hardware tends to attract good trouble.

Its custom chips gave it multicolor sprites and audio that stood out, and that mattered. Games on the C64 often had to work within tight limits, but those limits produced a style all their own, clever, busy, and occasionally a little feral. That is part of the charm. The machine has since lived on through emulation, so the back catalogue is still there, waiting for anyone willing to poke around in the digital attic.

Where to start in our C64 catalog

If you want the broad shape of C64 gaming, start with names that keep coming up for good reason. Arkanoid and Arkanoid: Revenge of Doh show how the system handled arcade ideas with style. 1942, After Burner, Alien Syndrome, and Altered Beast bring a more obviously arcade-minded pace. ACE 2, Ace of Aces, Airborne Ranger, Aliens, and Army Moves point to the range the machine covered, from action to military tension to licensed tie-ins. There is also A Nightmare on Elm Street, which does not exactly promise a quiet evening.

For a harder edge, look at Armalyte, Annihilator, and the other high-energy action entries in the catalog. Sega, Epyx, Activision, Ocean Software Ltd., and Taito Corporation are the most prolific developers here, so they are good names to keep in mind while browsing. The C64 library is large enough to wander in by accident, which is often how the best old systems get you.

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