Nim's Top 10 Commodore 64 Games

The Commodore has a very special place in my heart, not only did it span an entire generation of geeky 'code-at-home' gamers but I have very fond memories of getting into gaming with my Dad. He first bought the C64 in 1984 and that's where my C64 adventure and gaming began.

Once you master the command "LOAD" and located where "RUN-STOP" was, you were practically unstoppable. Later it got even more exciting with the introduction of the 1541 Drive and the classic 5" 1/4 disks, when the "LOAD" was upgraded to "LOAD "*" ,8,1 Ooooohhh I hear you say!
It made you feel incredibly intelligent and powerful "Wow, I made it do something.." Over time I did a bit of BASIC programming but nothing concrete ever came from it, but I will always remember the innocent simple gaming that the C64 offered.

Here is my Top 10 C64 Games of All Time:

10. Raid Over Moscow

This game was actually banned in Germany due to sensitive nature of gameplay and story. Thankfully this wasn't the case for the UK. This little gem was as unique as they come. It didn't following the standard rules of continuous gameplay throughout, it infact had a deeper side to it with 5 different styles of gameplay to offer.

9. Beach Head II

I probably will remember this as my first ever multiplayer experience. There would always be a little debate between my dad, me or my brother who actually played as Allies or the Dictator, then you also had the fallout when only two can play at a given time. The sound was great considering it was in 8bit. Favourite quote was from the Dictator "You cant hurt me!"

8. Hunchback 

This is actually one of my first ever memories of the C64. A simplistic game that goes to prove you can keep dying and actually want more if you develop something that keeps you interested. The Teddy Bears Picnic overture adds a touch of nostalgia and sticks with you, although I do remember being told to notch the volume down, it drove my mum mental.

7. Defender of the Crown

When I first played DotC it was a little bit over my head, but as time grew and I played more, the more I still didn’t know what I was doing! Looking back on it, it was a great little game, jousting, sword fighting, catapult raids it was all exciting stuff, and I believe this lead to my addiction the Sid Meiers Civilization series, and yes I do know how to play that one *cough*

6. Gunship

Daa-da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAAA-da, da-da-da-daaaaaaa!

Ride of the Valkyries as the intro screen loads up, now this is a game that had me hooked from the get go. Simplistic controls and amazing sound not to mention lock on and fire! Job done. Great game, crappy pilot.

5. Leaderboard Golf

This was the godfather of golfing sims, and in many way I prefer this to the Tiger Woods series but you cant fault EA’s beautiful courses and what it brings to the table, but back to the Leaderboard Golf. A simplistic golf simulator that delivers hours of easy play for up to four players, not to mention you can turn the trees off!

4. Ultima IV

Richard Garriet aka Lord British has for a long time been one of my gaming idles and IV was the first one I played. I have played them all up to the disappointing Ascension but apart from Ultima 7 this ranks up with one of my all time favourite games. I've always waited for a new game, but it seems it all stops with the online version.

3. Zork I
In days where playing a game required paper and a pencil, this was just nothing short of amazing. I sadly miss the text adventure days, and although there are plenty of people still writing text adventures they seem to miss an element that resided in many Infocom games. Zork is my favourite one and deserves legendary standing when people speak of the games of yesteryear.

2. Elite

Space the final smuggling frontier. What a game, starts of slow but once you get into the swing of it, it can completely take over, watching dots and vectors has never been so interesting, and I am stoked that this is finally getting a makeover and due out sometime in the future.

1. Ghostbusters 

Who ya gonna call? Ghsotbusters was all the rage in the 80’s, and I was over the moon when my dad pick up the C64 copy and now I finally get to be a real Ghostbuster! I actually still play this from time to time, its just a joy to play and it was the first C64 game I completed or should I say ‘clocked’ keeping with the old skool vibe.