#C64 game tunes

[c64screengrabs]

The Arkanoid title track by Martin Galway is still one of the best SID tunes ever written.

[adafruit]

🎄💾🗓️ Day 18: Retrocomputing Advent Calendar - Commodore 64🎄💾🗓️

The Commodore 64, released in 1982, is one of the ones we keep hearing got many people their start in their own computing history. Powered by a MOS Technology 6510 processor at 1.02 MHz and featuring 64 KB of RAM, it became the best-selling single computer model of all time, with an estimated 12.5–17 million units sold. Its graphics were driven by the VIC-II chip, capable of 16 colors, hardware sprites, and smooth scrolling, while the SID (Sound Interface Device) chip delivered advanced audio, supporting three voices with waveforms and filters, making it a lot of fun for gaming and music.

Featured a built-in BASIC interpreter, allowing users to write their own programs out-of-the-box. The C64’s affordability, large software library, lots of games, productivity, and educational applications made it a household name. It connected to TVs as monitors and supported peripherals like the 1541 floppy disk drive, datasette, and various joysticks. With over 10,000 commercial software titles and a thriving homebrew scene, the C64 helped define a generation of computer enthusiasts.

Its impact on gaming was gigantic, iconic titles like The Last Ninja, Maniac Mansion, and Impossible Mission. The C64 also inspired a demoscene, where programmers pushed its hardware for visual and audio effects. The Commodore 64 remains a symbol of computing for the masses and creative innovation, still loved by retrocomputing fans today.

Check out the National Museum of American History, and Wikipedia. https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_334636 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_64

And…! An excellent story from Jepler -

== While I started on the VIC 20, the Commodore 64 was my computer for a lot longer. Its SID sound chip was a headline feature, and many of my memories of it center around music. Starting with Ultima III, each game in the series had a different soundtrack for each environment (though each one was on a pretty short loop, it probably drove my folks nuts when I would play for hours). There were music editors floating around, so I tried my hand at arranging music for its 3 independent voices, though I can't say I was any good or that I have any of the music now. You could also download "SID tunes" on the local BBSes, where people with hopefully a bit more skill had arranged everything from classical to Beatles to 80s music.

Folks are still creating cool new music on the Commodore 64. One current creator that I like a great deal is Linus Åkesson. Two videos from 2024 using the Commodore 64 that really impressed me were were a "Making 8-bit Music From Scratch at the Commodore 64 BASIC Prompt", a live coding session (http://www.linusakesson.net/programming/music-from-scratch/index.php) and Bach Forever (http://www.linusakesson.net/scene/bach-forever/index.php) a piece played by Åkesson on two Commodore 64s.

Like so many things, you can also recreate the experience online. Here's the overworld music for Ultima III: https://deepsid.chordian.net/?file=/MUSICIANS/A/Arnold_Kenneth/Ultima_III-Exodus.sid&subtune=1 -- the site has hundreds or thousands of other SIDs available to play right in the browser.

Have first computer memories? Post’em up in the comments, or post yours on socialz’ and tag them #firstcomputer #retrocomputing – See you back here tomorrow!

[arconinternet]

Cloud Kingdoms (Electralyte, DOS/Amiga/C64, 1990)

You can play it in your browser here.

Tip: The action button is for both jumping and using keys on doors. If given a choice of levels at the start, try the top one first. You'll have to click the crossed-out speak icon to enable sound, at least in the Amiga version.

DOS controls: press K to select keyboard, then define the controls one by one when prompted (e.g. arrows and space).

Amiga controls: click at cracktro, then press F1 when prompter, then use arrows and Shift. P will pause the game (a nice tune will play so you know it's paused).

C64 controls: Space at cracktro, arrows and enter at trainer (cheat) screen, then: press F12, use arrows (including right and left) and enter to navigate to 'Machine settings', then 'Joystick settings', then set 'Joystick device 1' to Numpad and 'Joystick device 2' to None, then exit the menu with F12; controls will then be numpad 84620 (and Tab to skip level if that's selected).

[byamillioniactuallymeanttwo]

80's Dev: So we're making a RoboCop game for Commodore 64--

Johnathan Dunn: Hold my beer.

Another C64 honorable mention: the Myth: History in the Making Loader tune. Apparently even the people who made the rest of the music for that game don't know who made it?? Someone just swooped into their studio like one of god's own angels and dropped this BANGER

japanese game dev in the 90s: hey dude can you make some music for our game about anime girls getting fucked sloppy style

guy who's about to push the PC-98 sound card to its absolute limit and create the most heartachingly beautiful music you've ever heard: Yeah okay

[rejectedbad]

Rejected Bad: Boulder Dash

The following is a rejected script from an early season of Breaking Bad.

INT. METH LAB - NIGHT

The room is dimly lit, filled with the pungent smell of chemicals. Walter White, the once-respected chemistry teacher turned cannibal methamphetamine cook, stands near a table, eagerly biting into a perfectly cooked steak made from a grisly human clavicle.

Walter (savouring the taste):  Mmm, Walter, you've really outdone yourself tonight. This clavicle steak is delicious.

Jesse Pinkman, Walter's young and impulsive meth-making partner, sits nearby, monitoring a batch of blue meth cooking in a large glass container. He looks up, amused by Walter's carnivorous indulgence.

Jesse:  Dude, you're seriously eating a human bone steak again? That's some hardcore stuff, Mr. White. Jesse tries to change the topic to ignore Walter's needs to feast. Jesse: But hey, speaking of old school, did you ever play those old video games?

Walter (chuckling):  Who has time for video games, Jesse? Pac-Man is still fantastic, but I'm far too busy cooking the finest meth this town has ever seen. So go on, indulge me. Which one are you talking about?

Jesse grins mischievously, sensing an opportunity to engage Walter in an unlikely conversation.

Jesse:  Well, do you remember the C64 version of "Boulder Dash"? Just thinking about those retro games brings back memories, you know?

Walter, now wiping his mouth with a napkin, pauses for a moment. The tune from the C64 version of "Boulder Dash" starts playing in his head, and he subtly starts whistling it.

Walter (whistling):  Da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da, da-da-da...

Jesse can't help but chuckle at the sight of Walter, a hardened drug lord, whistling an old video game tune.

Jesse:  Damn, Mr. White, who would've thought you'd be into vintage gaming? But hey, if I had to pick the best-ever 64, it'd definitely be the Nintendo 64. Nothing beats that, man.

Walter's face suddenly becomes serious, his eyes narrowing. He wipes his mouth of cooked blood then puts down his napkin and picks up a nearby crowbar, gripping it menacingly.

Walter (low and intimidating):  Jesse, you know I don't tolerate disrespect in my presence. The Commodore 64 was a true pioneer, and comparing it to the Nintendo 64? That's crossing the line, my friend.

Jesse's amusement quickly fades as he realises the 8-bit-ness of the situation. He nervously looks around, thinking of a way to defuse the tension.

Jesse (backtracking):  Hey, man, I didn't mean anything by it! Just personal preference, you know?

Walter takes a few slow and deliberate steps towards Jesse, crowbar still gripped tight in white knuckled hand, his eyes locked onto him with an intense and menacing gaze.

Walter (menacingly):  Prefer the wrong thing, and you might find yourself experiencing some 'personal preference' too, Jesse.

Jesse swallows hard, beads of sweat forming on his forehead, realising he may have pushed his luck too far this time, but is thankful he didn’t bring up the magenta on Cave B.

FADE OUT.

[retrocgads]

USA 1987

[vigeogames]

Time for a sneak peek of something I've been secretly working on for the last umpteenth months. A tiny, super-short mystery adventure – a love letter to Commodore 64 game “The Detective”. The player takes the role of a Scotland Yard inspector invited to a British countryside mansion to solve the case of a mysterious fatal accident.

Or maybe it was not an accident at all? And did the butler have anything to do with it…?

The game is being created in Unity and the visual style is a consequence of two factors: my deep affection for mixing low-poly 3D with pixel-art and the fact that I'm mostly a programmer, not a graphic artist. Gameplay-wise the game will be rather similar to “The Detective” – the player walks around the mansion and gathers clues by talking to characters, interacting with objects and collecting items. The time will flow in real-time (😅) and there will also be a hard time limit (just like in C64 original). Control scheme is rather simple (movement, action, cancel) and will support both keyboard and gamepad (along with touch-screen controls, hint, hint 😏).

Stay tuned for updates! 🕵️‍♂️

[maverickuk]

CRTs are big, heavy, power hungry, contain hazardously high voltages and flicker in a way that can be quite abrasive to modern LCD tuned eyes. However they also extrude a literal nostalgic glow that to nerds of a certain vintage attracts them like moths to a flame.

I had a cheap Alba 14" CRT for several years which I didn't really use much. When I finally dug it out to take to a SWAG event recently, it threw in the towel and retired permanently. It was only then that I realised I much preferred playing C64 or Amiga games on an CRT over an LED. I had to find a replacement... However the nature of these devices means that although you can find them on eBay, transporting them safely is an expensive and risky business. But as luck would have it, I found that an established TV and audio shop in a local town had decided to part exchange old TVs when they made a sale on a new TV. They'd then put the second hand TVs up on eBay for pickup only. With further luck I found that a 14" Philips CRT in what seemed like solid condition was for sale. I promptly arranged a visit to see it in person and was instantly won over by the clear, crisp image.

After a sensible sum of cash had changed hands, I was the proud owner a solid and portable (in relative terms!) CRT which I've welcomed into my retro gaming attic space. Now the fun can really begin!

[antiques-for-geeks]

Game Review: Beyond the Forbidden Forest

Cosmi / 1985 / C64

‘An archer took a stroll through the deep dark wood…’

With one eye firmly on Halloween, we’re going to review some games that used to make us breathe heavily, grasping our joysticks tightly in our sweaty palms…

Beyond the Forbidden Forest starts dramatically with flashes of lightning against a starlit sky. With every flash comes a crack of thunder from the C64’s SID sound chip, before the title of the game is revealed against the darkness. It’s obvious even at this point that the game's author, Paul Norman, was aiming for something much more cinematic than the average computer game of the era.

You start, alone, in an overgrown forest. You are an archer, sent to slay the dreaded Demogorgon, who legend says can only be killed by a golden arrow to the heart.

Your character occupies the middle of the screen. You can walk through the forest to the left and to the right. You can also walk into and out of the scene. Sometimes trees or bushes can obscure your view. There’s a primitive parallax scrolling effect so that the trees in the foreground move more quickly than those in the background, which could charitably be described as decent for the time.

There’s nowhere to actually ‘go’ in this game, and the forest isn’t there to be explored. You’re not really alone, you see. This forest is actually the scene of a desperate fight for survival.

The first creature you encounter is the scorpion. The scorpion will enter from the side of the screen and will rush straight at you. Like all this game's enemies, he gets his own special musical theme that plays during the encounter. This is where you run away! If he reaches your archer he’ll messily jab your organs out with his stinger, to the accompaniment of a kind of musical shrieking noise generated by the SID. Imagine something like a primitive version of the score that plays in Alfred Hitchcock's ‘Psycho’ when Janet Leigh gets stabbed in the shower. This game doesn’t pull any punches for its death scenes, that’s for sure.

It’s behind you!

Luckily your archer can defend himself with his bow. Hold down the fire button and you’ll stand in place, aiming around the scene. A grey indicator bar moves up and down showing the elevation of your shot. Simply let the fire button go again to let loose an arrow. As you might imagine, it’s hard to keep away from a scorpion who is intent on perforating your innards while also stopping to pepper it with arrows, but this retreat, aim and fire mechanic is all a part of the game’s charm.

Plug the scorpion a few times and you get presented with a golden arrow, which appears from a spinning orb after an overly long fanfare plays. These golden arrows are important; you need to collect at least 4 to progress to the next stage of the adventure, and they also act as your ‘lives’. Every time the archer is killed you lose half of the stash of golden arrows, until the game is over. You will get very tired of hearing the victory fanfare, I assure you.

The next foe you meet is a massive worm, who rises out of the ground at various places in the foreground and background. Let him rise too many times without hitting him and he’ll swallow you whole, reappearing to regurgitate the bow, along with a healthy fountain of archer blood.

After that is a giant mosquito, who darts around the sky. He only takes one hit, but is tricky to get a bead on. He’ll drink your juices like a milkshake if he gets a chance, leaving only a crumpled heap on the forest floor.

Last up is… some kind of demonic frog / crocodile thing… who’ll jump about unpredictably and will mash your body like a pub piano at closing time.

He’s hungry for your offal.

One nice touch is the way that the game shows the passage of time in the forest. The sun sets, and eventually night comes, with the colours of the trees and sky changing appropriately. The day to night cycle welded to the ability to move in and out of the scenery prompted Cosmi to market this game as having ‘OmniDimension 4D`. This was sadly typical of the shameless bullshit marketing departments would churn out in the 80’s.

Once these 4 different foes are defeated, it’s back to the scorpion again, in an effort to gather enough golden arrows for an assault on the caverns, which lie... beyond the forbidden forest. See? Although 4 arrows are technically enough to progress, you’ll want more than that to have a realistic shot at what comes next. To progress to the caverns, you have to to pause the game with F1 and then press F3. If you don’t do this the forest encounters repeat until you die or your patience runs out.

Once within the caverns you face off against 3 final foes.

The Bats: A group of bats flutter around the cave. One of them is a golden colour, and that’s the one you need to shoot. You only need one hit, but it’s flight is fast and unpredictable.

The Hydra: This four headed monstrosity fills the entire screen! Each head can shoot fire, and you’ve got to dodge about to land a hit on each one. Succeed and he’ll stop moving and turn to stone.

The Demogorgon: Squatting over a pit, this massive beast follows your movements with his head, shooting deadly bolts from his eyes that will disintegrate you instantly. Shoot him in his glowing heart to win the game and free the land from his evil!

I appear to have misplaced my skin.

Beyond the Forbidden Forest surely must be the most ‘‘Commodore 64ish’ game of all time.

Chunky blocky graphics? Very. Lots of muddy browns and muted greens? None muddier. Bone rattling soundtrack courtesy of the SID chip. All present here.

It was also creepy, atmospheric, and with all the sudden and violent deaths, really quite nasty… for a computer game of the 80’s at least.

Trivia

This is the sequel to ‘Forbidden Forest’, which is probably a bit better known and generally held in slightly higher regard (even by the game’s author). There was a third game in the series released in 2003 for Windows PC. It’s a third person 3D effort, which sadly looks pretty generic and uninteresting. There aren’t even any gory death scenes!

Playing it today

Only released on the C64, and copies are getting rarer. Easily emulated, but bear in mind that the function keys are important on this one.

Commentariat

Meat: This game could be the poster child for anyone who considers C64 graphics to be dull and unappealing, but behind the ugly front there’s a lot to admire here. The ‘gore’ is also hilarious! With the notable exception of the head chopping in Palace Software’s ‘Barbarian’, games of the era were very timid in their depictions of graphic violence. I guess this is about as close as we were going to get to a survival horror game in the 80’s...

Pop: I got this one on a magazine cover tape, and was immediately hooked on its strange atmosphere, shocks and gory death scenes. I was a latecomer to the C64, and by that point these graphics really looked like a dog’s dinner. Despite that I still found myself playing this game quite a bit. Aiming the bow at enemies in the foreground and background feels a little tricky initially, but it can be mastered. My main issue now is how long the player resurrection and golden arrow presentation scenes take. Skipping repetitive cutscenes was a luxury you were so rarely afforded in those days.

Sadly I never went ‘beyond’ the forest, because I didn’t have a clue that the keyboard was required to progress to the next stage of the game.

Score card

Presentation 8/10

Starting with the fantastic cinematic introduction screen, this is a game that goes the extra mile to involve the player in its world. There’s even a proper ending sequence with its own musical theme. The various versions of box artwork are all, however, distinctly amateurish.

Originality 8/10

Made before all games started to look and feel the same, this is obviously the work of a single individual. It doesn’t look, sound or play like any other game of the time… except perhaps for its own prequel.

Graphics 6/10

Undeniably ugly, blocky, untidy and muddy. Also somehow atmospheric and appealing. The screen filling hydra is a pretty impressive piece of work for the time. Gets an extra point for splashing the pixelated claret about.

Hookability 7/10

From the first moment the scorpion scuttles over and messes you up with its stabber you’ll either want to see what other horrible fates await you in the forest… or switch the computer off in disgust.

Sound 9/10

A series of memorable tunes, played by the C64’s SID chip in the style of a demented horror film organ. Though it’s somewhat crude, few soundtracks at the time were better suited to the on-screen action.

Lastability 7/10

It takes some time to get used to hitting the different foes with your arrows, but there are ultimately only 7 different types of enemy to face in this game. Despite that, it puts up a decent challenge, and you'll want to make it to the caverns to see what horrors are lurking in the darkness.

Overall 7/10

A game with plenty of quirks and flaws, which it overcomes by sheer force of personality.

[c64screengrabs]

Jeopardy! Was a well made 1987 release by Sharedata that faithfully turned the long-running TV game show into a home computer game that C64, Apple II and DOS users were able to play. Up to 3 human players can compete, or you can play alone against the CPU. You get to enter your own name and even choose the look of your character. The rules are the same as its TV counterpart, wherein there are 3 rounds in which each answer must be posed as a question, and each has a time limit. You can also wager whatever you like for the Daily Doubles and Final Jeopardy. One thing sorely lacking is the recognizable theme song; instead, a “loosely based on the original” tune plays throughout the game, probably due to licensing for the original being too expensive.

The gameplay moves along pretty smoothly, with the only drawbacks being no pause function (if it’s your turn to choose a question you can leave it on the category screen as long as you like, however), and occasionally computer players will buzz in to answer before you even get a chance to read the prompt. Other than that, there is an impressive range of categories and questions, made possible with all the questions being on a second disk. Your final score is saved as well (one of these days I will beat Kevin for first place). It’s sometimes a little unnerving to read prompts in the present tense regarding people who have now long since passed. Speaking of which, this feature is also a nod to the late Alex Trebek who, unfortunately, is not portrayed in the game.

[mendelpalace]

Depends, is there a Max Headroom videogame?

Doing a quick bit of poking around, yeah. Speicifically there’s a ZX Spectrum/C64 action-adventure game based on the 20 Minutes into the Future pilot episode. Not sure how good it is, but the C64 version has some sweet tunes!

Also, I feel compelled to post this little gem from the Monster Party: Let’s Go Again rom hack:

[pigmhall]

Magical Grass(Android Game)

I’ve released this game. It may be fun. Have fun!

Download at Google Play

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=net.pigmhall.magicalgrass

Enjoy the megadrive tunes and c64 color;)

[kimrom]

This is a 1-hour long compilation of Commodore 64 demos, edited, sorted and beat mixed-ish to Jeroen Tel’s DJ/live set from 2013. His DJ set mostly consists of remakes/remasters of his own SID tunes, the mix also contains tracks from Hubbard and Daglish.

Music: Jeroen Tel

Video: Rom

Captures: c64 Studio

  The video kinda-ish plays like an hour-long c64 demo, some-new-ish demo parts and routines served with incredible Jeroen Tel music. Back when demos had parts. And you just ripped some random game music. 

JT pulls off 60 minutes of the best SID remakes I’ve heard, ever (out of hundreds). The music feels more like a 4 AM DJ set at some underground EDM bunker in London, than a remake of a videogame track.

It’s an hour of old melodies and their distinctive sound reinvented and masterfully crafted with the heavy soundscape and vibrancy of the SID chip. In what “sounds effortless” across an impressively wide range of EDM styles and genres. Jeroen doesn’t really try to replicate “the sound of SID” in these remakes, he playfully reinvents the feeling of a SID tune instead. What a composer. 

And what craftsmanship. You can literally hear the hundreds of hours that went into this hour-long production. It doesn’t sound like a remake, it doesn’t sound like a game, except in that part of the brain that feeds on nostalgia like it was Grade-A Coca plant based Vegan.

Jeroen Tel has claimed the “stadium house” sound for SID tunes, crisp and digital where available. For this mix I added more bass for the Beats by Dre-generation, because more bass is more awesomerer. There are 6-7 versions of JT’s DJ sets out there, unfortunately, neither of them are great recordings.

Demos by: Horizon, MegaStyle Inc, Focus, Fairlight, Bonzai, Camelot, Crest, Oxyron, Triad, Booze Design (so much Booze, holy cow), Censor Design, Shape, Reflex, Extend, Beyond Force, Chorus, Elysium, Hitmen, Shape, Scandinavian Allstars, Byterapers, Albion, Arsenic, Smash Designs, Offense, Onslaught, Contex, Dinmor. 

I felt dirty and savage for gutting demos like this, reducing one piece of digital art to fragments, segments, sometimes just seconds. As an expression of art, creativity, talent, and teamwork every demo in this video deserved better.  This one hour of 8bit visuals represent decades of work. Nerd-chills.

But I still butchered all of it. It’s done. Forever mutilated. Will never be the same.

There are maybe 500 nerds in the world that will understand this post, the rest are lamers. 

[grabule]

Arkanoid readme.txt

Let there be Arkanoid!

This game was made only in 12 hours, that´s not much for game development. My

main project is "1942" by Capcom for webbrowser, I took the graphics from the

C64-Version. But I have coded now over 7000 lines and its not finished, so I

wanted to make another game, a little game, that I can release. So I made this

Arkanoid with Blitzbasic. (I love Blitzbasic!)

You might think it´s a bug when there are raining extras but I let it so, the

player must have everytime an extra, I think.

When Your ball is not changing the direction you must move shortly quick the paddle

left and right when it hits the ball. I let it so, because it can be, that You dont

want to change the direction and quiet want hit the blocks in front of You.

It can be, that the ball is running through the blocks, I let it so, with this "bug"

the level is faster solved.

Many thanks Monolith Resistor for this great tune!

The graphics are from Amiga-Arkanoid and the ball is from C64-Arkanoid. The title-screen

is from "Arkanoid II" of C64.

Long live Commodore, Jack Tamriel is my Angel!

When You are music making or painting or coding and You wanna make a game with me, then

write me on facebook:

Bardon Boura

This game was made end februar/ begin march 2019.

Write me about my newest productions, about the progress of my games!

Many Greetz to Mika Tähti, Francis Loch, Oliver Otterson, Andrea M, Boris Köster, Dorn, Craig,

Graziele Coli, Michele Morrow, Tommy, Markus, Mario, Enrico Urban, Otto Grothe, Michael Flash, Urban Sandra, Jean F, Gorgul Gaming, Denis Evans, Klaus Dittmann, Paul, Phil, Christos and all others

which I know...

[retrocgads]

USA 1986