9d (edited) • General discussion
C64 eras
I know it’s a little simplistic but I think you can break the commercial life of the C64 down into 3 distinct timespans:
1982-1984 the early years.
Dominated by US software appearing on 16k carts and disk. Games had simplistic graphics and sound on the whole but could be innovative. Playability was king though. There were many conversions of arcade games of the time which the 64 could handle pretty well. Many UK software houses were in their infancy a lot were producing unofficial clones of the same arcade games. There were a few mainly multi format magazines containing type in listings with a section devoted to games rather than being games based.
1985-1987 Commercial Peak.
Commodore launched the 128 & 64C. US software was in full flow many multi disk games started to really push the level of depth from a game. In Europe where tapes were prevalent started to show what could be achieved with a single load game. Turbo loads sped up the loading time of games. Graphics improved massively with shading and bas relief starting to be used. Musicians like Rob Hubbard & Martin Galway started to make the SID sing. Arcade conversions were still popular and the 64 was still capable of delivering a decent version of most coin ops but newer 3d arcade games were starting to prove more of a challenge. Budget games started to make an appearance at first they weren’t great at first but some really good games started to appear around 1986 many rivalling full priced games. Games magazines were popping up everywhere with many devoted to Commodore machines or just the 64. The Commodore 64 and Spectrum were the best selling computers in the UK.
1988-1993 The twilight years.
The 64 was no longer the king of the castle as far as Commodore was concerned with the advent of the mainstream Amiga 500. In Europe particularly 16 bits was where it was at and the 64 became the lower budget option. In the US PC gaming was on the rise. In many cases the 64 version of games may have been a cut down version of the 16 bit version, often an afterthought and arcade conversions in many cases were often beyond what the 64 was capable of. Of course there were exceptional cases. Budget games and re-releases at budget price became the biggest selling games. But despite this developers could still produce some fantastic games many of which coming from Continental Europe. Some of the 64’s most technically impressive games came from this period. Music also continued to expand with the SID being pushed to its limits. Commodore and 64 mags had a lot of Amiga content with the 64 often playing second fiddle.
Into the 90’s software started to dry up until its commercial demise……… only to rise again years later!
Which was your era?
Which era had the best games?
I’m UK based. Was this the case in your country?
Is this too simplistic a view.
I’d love to hear your thoughts!
I had my 64 for Christmas 1984 and moved on to the Amiga in 1989 so most of my time with the 64 fell into the 85-87 era. But most of my favourite games came from the pre 85 years. These games had a simplicity and charm I just love.
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C64 eras
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