Over the years, the brand changed ownership numerous times—often to the frustration of its fans. Some attempted to revive it, while others released odd products like the Commodore shredder and music player. Many simply let the name languish in a trademark portfolio.

Yet through it all, the community held firm. Enthusiasts continued to breathe life into the brand by restoring vintage systems, creating replicas, developing new software, and sharing their expertise.

Now, after all this time, it finally feels like Commodore has found the right stewards.

Now operating as Commodore International Corporation, the brand has recently seen a shift in leadership and ownership. Key figures from Commodore’s past, including Albert Charpentier, Bil Herd, and others, have joined the effort, alongside cofounders Christian Simpson (of YouTube’s Retro Recipes) and Sean Donohue.

While the acquisition deal to take over Commodore from its previous owners is reportedly valued in the low seven figures, it has not yet been finalized. Due to legal constraints—specifically the SEC’s Rule 506(c)—public investment is currently limited. To navigate this, the team is using Y Combinator’s SAFE (Simple Agreement for Future Equity) model as they pursue funding from angel investors.

In parallel, they’re exploring ways to enable broader community investment, with the goal of offering fans and supporters an opportunity for ownership in the near future.

The phrase you see above is Commodore’s new motto—one that, in my opinion, perfectly reflects their dedication to honoring the brand’s legacy. They’ve already launched three Commodore 64 Ultimate models for sale, each inspired by the classic C64 design.

Article from Commodore is Back from the Dead!

The three available variants include the BASIC Beige, which stays true to the original C64 aesthetic, pairing classic beige styling with updated internal hardware. The Starlight Edition features a modern, transparent shell with integrated RGB lighting for a sleek, futuristic look. Lastly, the Founders Edition is a limited-run collector’s model created for early supporters, distinguished by gold-plated badging, a unique serial number (00000001), and additional premium details that highlight its exclusivity.

The post Commodore is Back from the Dead! appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

For those who are unaware, coulrophobia is described as the “morbid fear of clowns.” Psychologists have looked at a lot of causes for the condition, and one of the most common explanations is that it touches on the uncanny valley: an inner revulsion to something that almost seems human, but not quite. Add to that cultural factors like Stephen King’s Pennywise and real life serial killer and birthday clown John Wayne Gacy and it’s frankly amazing that clowns can work anywhere.  Still not convinced?

I present this clown from the old cereal Sugar Krinkles…

…and Lon Chaney from the 1928 film Laugh, Clown, Laugh.

So, with all that said, what could possibly be more terrifying than a video game completely devoted to clowns? Quite a bit as it turns out. Despite having a nightmare inducing cover, the video game Clowns (originally released as an arcade in 1978, and then appearing on the VIC-20 and Commodore 64) is an incredibly unassuming game. It’s not even original. Produced by Bally Midway, the game is a direct copy of the 1977 Exidy game Circus.

Gameplay is incredibly simple. You control a springboard with two clowns at either end. A group of balloons hovers high overhead. You launch the clowns from the springboard into the balloons, gaining points for each balloon you collect (every jump gained you 10 points, yellow balloons earned 20 points, green balloon earned 50 points and blue balloons earned 100 points. In addition, if you cleared all yellow balloons you received 200 bonus points, an additional 500 bonus points for clearing all green balloons, and 1000 points and an extra life for clearing all of the blue balloons.) To make things a bit more challenging, you have to catch the clowns on their way back down. If they hits the ground three times, the game is over. For all intents and purposes, Clowns (and Circus) are just a variation on Atari’s 1976 game Breakout.   

So maybe it’s not the most terrifying game ever created, but seriously who thought that cover was a good idea?

The post The Nightmare Fuel of “Clowns” by Bally Midway appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Here are some of the consoles we would have loved to see get the high def mini, form factor, plug & play treatment:

N64 Mini

When Nintendo quickly followed up the NES Classic Edition with the SNES, many of us hoped we were witnessing the birth of a new trend.  Perhaps they’d go back into the archives and create retro mini consolized Game Boy units, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, Virtual Boy.  The possibilities were endless.

The most exciting of these of course would be an N64 Mini.  When Sony went ahead and released a Playstation Classic in 2018, it seemed the 5th generation of home consoles were ready for a new war of living room supremacy.  Unfortunately neither Nintendo nor Sega took the bait, leaving Sony’s entry into the classic edition segment the most recent console to receive such treatment.

As for Nintendo, it makes sense why they didn’t go all in with an N64 Mini – and the reason is their own Nintendo Switch Online service, which hopes to attract gamers of all disciplines to their Switch platform through the availability of abundant retro titles (many from the N64).  It’s a shame too because an N64 Mini would have been spectacular.

CD-i

While CD-i refers to a media format more than a single piece of hardware, Phillips replied to Tweets from users begging for a CD-i Mini with a response that sounded like such an announcement might actually follow.  Sadly, at present, it never has.

The CD-i library is surprisingly robust – with 214 total games released from 170 different developers.  Perhaps most famous among these coming in the form of the officially licensed Nintendo titles:  Hotel Mario, Link: The Faces of Evil, Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon, and Zelda’s Adventure.

3DO

From afar 3DO is remarkably similar to CD-i; it refers to a media format that could be licensed so that actual console hardware could be manufactured and distributed by a wide variety of brands.

While CD-i encompassed a wide variety of multimedia applications (encyclopedias on CD, edutainment titles, etc.), 3DO was more game-centric.  Over 200 titles were officially released by the end of its run, including some very faithful ports of arcade titles like Super Street Fighter II Turbo.

Amiga CD-32

Did you know that back in 1993 Commodore tried its hand at a 32-bit console to do battle with the likes of Sony, Nintendo and Sega?  The CD-32 was based upon their Amiga computer line but failed to make much of a dent in the market.

Now here’s where things get interesting from a Mini perspective.  Retro Games Ltd. has already done all the heavy lifting in creating an HDMI mini version in their Amiga A500 Mini.  All they would need to do to drive we console gamer types crazy with desire is develop a second shell shaped like the CD-32 and give the A500 controller a black paint job.  Here’s hoping they’ll consider it.

PC Classic

Back in 2019 a company called Unit-e announced a PC Classic console, one that would come chock full of games from the DOS era of home computing.  Despite a very strong public reaction, the PC Classic has yet to manifest and even updates from the company have gone cold.

Of all the possible mini classic editions, the PC would certainly be the easiest to achieve as there would be no licensing to procure from a hardware or branding standpoint.  The only licensing involved would be that of the games themselves and with tens of thousands to choose from even from a single era, finding a few dozen titles interested in participating is all but a given.

Here’s hoping Unit-e sees this one through to fruition.

Sega Saturn

We’ll end this list with what is perhaps the system most likely to see the light of day.  When Sega threw its hat in the classic edition ring with the Genesis Mini back in 2019, the talk of where they could go from there was immediate.  After all, why not go on with a Sega CD Mini, a Saturn Mini, a Dreamcast Mini?  To the surprise and delight of many, Sega listened and, in 2022, followed up with the Genesis Mini 2, a unit packed with different Genesis and some Sega CD titles (and a 6-button controller rather than the 3-button of the original Genesis Mini).

All of this to say, Sega clearly gets the demand here and, of all the brands mentioned on this list, has everything needed (including the massive back catalog of titles) to continue producing these things.  And, unlike Nintendo, doesn’t have any current hardware on the market to be concerned with competing against.

The post A Look At Those Mini Classic Editions We (Probably) Won’t Be Getting appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

As hard as it is to imagine now, when the Amiga line of computers came on the scene in 1985, the Commodore 64 was only three years old. And, contrary to common misconception, the two Commodore personal computer platforms coexisted all the way until 1994, when the C64 was finally discontinued. The Amiga line would go on another two years, finally getting its plug pulled in 1996.

What makes its early debut so impressive is that when you go back to personal computers of the early to mid 1980s, they feel, for the most part, like computers from the early to mid 80s. Interfaces were clunky and complex, tasks were difficult to achieve, processing was painfully slow. And, by and large, the specs out of the box were what you’d be working with for the duration of the hardware’s life cycle.

Amiga turned a lot of these institutions on their head – they came packing 16 or 32-bit processors in 85, packed in 256kb of RAM (compared to the 64k for which the C64’s name was derived), and incorporated a mouse-based, visual click operating system interface; one that, not unlike Windows, is still being used and updated to this very day.

If you’re wondering why any of this matters, Retro Games LTD, the guys behind 2018’s THEC64 Mini (then later the full-size variant THEC64) are at it again. This time they’ve turned their attention toward the Amiga in an all-new piece of miniaturized, emulation-based plug and play hardware: THEA500 Mini.

The naming in this one is a bit complex, so let’s break that one down right away. The first Amiga from 1985 was called the 1000 – the 500 didn’t come on the scene until 1987. We’re guessing this was the model for which the new mini classic edition was named because it quickly became the best-selling Amiga model.

However, while THEA500 Mini looks just like the original Amiga 500 (only much, much smaller – 10x7x3 inches) and boasts perfect emulation of the Amiga 500, Retro Game LTD had the presence of mind to design the new architecture around the later Amiga systems as well including the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) of the A1200 (which didn’t come out until late 1992). Why does this matter? Simple – it gives the player access to Amiga’s entire game library. And like most long-standing personal computer lines, it is a massive library.

Unboxing and Setting Up

When you dig into THEA500’s box, you get the HDMI output, high definition console (25 games preinstalled), USB gamepad, USB optical mouse (each with 6-foot cords), HDMI and USB (A-C) cable and documentation. Everything you need to get underway except for the wall adapter, but in this, the era of the smartphone, having a cube or two laying around is all but a given. Note that the recommended wall adapter should output 5 volts/ 1 amp.

Setting the system up is as simple and plugging it into the wall, running the HDMI to the back of your TV and plugging the controller and mouse into two of the three available USB 2.0 ports. That’s all there is to it – game on.

Interface

The graphical user interface harkens back to some design cues of the original AmigaOS but much more simplified and user-friendly. Out of the box, the system comes with 25 games from which to select from a rotating carousel. Games launch with console-like efficiency. However, some (as is commonplace with computer gaming) request that the player input a name – for this an onscreen keyboard that can be operated with the controller is but a button-press away, or that third USB port can be used to support any USB keyboard. Keep in mind that the keyboard on the unit itself is far smaller than it appears in photos and is thus non-functional.  Also of note – THEA500 Mini is designed to support most USB game controllers out of the box as well so your favorite PlayStation or PC controller can likely follow you over).

As is all but standard fair these days with retro minis, the unit, which outputs in 720p with selectable 50/60Hz refresh rates (meaning the same unit was released for PAL and NTSC regions) comes standard with a variety of filter and aspect ratio options to play with.

The Games

If, like us, the original Amiga glory days managed to pass you by while you obsessed over NES then Genesis and SNES then finally PlayStation, let us assure you that gaming on the Amiga line had ironed out all of the rough spots of its computing contemporaries.

The polish that really became standard fair by the latter portion of the 16-bit era of consoles is present here in terms of graphics, scrolling, control and difficulty. The 25 games selected represent a pretty decent sampling of the spectrum – with everything from a flight sim, a pinball entry, Worms, a few race titles, pool, Battle Chess, California Games, even a couple of mascot platformers in Titus the Fox and Zool: Ninja Of The “Nth” Dimension.

More useful than trying to tell you which of the included games will be your favorite, let me instead comment that we’ve tried each and every one and they ran beautifully. We don’t have an original Amiga around here for comparison sake, but found no artifacting, glitches or tearing. Everything felt tight, precise.

The included controller is surprisingly adequate for gaming as well. We spent a lot of time with THEC64 Mini and, while the second incarnation of the Competition Pro joystick (with the microswitches) was a vast improvement over the first, often found that the precision required for many games was additionally frustrating due to the imprecise nature of the joystick concept.

Such concerns are null and void this time around. The 8-button gamepad is easily on par with what Sega and Nintendo were doing at the time. In fact, we’re impressed enough to where the long-term plan around here is to use this new pad on our C64 Mini when we tire of the Amiga. Going back with this type of input precision should make a lot of those games much more playable.

Save states are also present with THEA500 Mini, so starting over again at the start of each play session is completely left to the user’s discretion.

The 25 Included Titles:

Alien Breed 3D • Alien Breed: Special Edition 92 • Another World • Arcade Pool • ATR: All Terrain Racing • Battle Chess • Cadaver • California Games • Dragon’s Breath • F-16 Combat Pilot • Kick Off 2 • Paradroid 90 • Pinball Dreams • Project-X: Special Edition 93 • Qwak • Simon the Sorcerer • Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe • Stunt Car Racer • Super Cars II • The Chaos Engine • The Lost Patrol • The Sentinel • Titus the Fox • Worms: The Director’s Cut • Zool: Ninja Of The “Nth” Dimension

Game Library Access

What separates THEA500 Mini (and THEC64 family) from just about any other modern plug-and-play retro mini console on the market is the ability to add games from the system’s library. The process here is drag and drop files onto a USB drive simple using the WHDload package, which, when installed includes a free 26^th game in the first person shooter Citadel.

In the event that you tire of the included titles, do keep in mind the Amiga has amassed a library of some 2,200 official games and estimates placing the real-world number closer to 6,000.

Conclusion

THEA500 Mini takes everything we’ve come to expect from Retro Games LTD (excellent build quality, bulletproof performance, plug and play simplicity, spot-on emulation) and elevates it to the next level.

The only downside we could find after two straight days of playing nonstop is that the $140 MSRP places it at the top of the modern retro plug-and-play hardware chart. The cost of entry might be a bit steep for some in these trying times but the way we look at it is video gaming hardware remains on the lower end of the entertainment spectrum in even the worst case scenarios (after all, the PS5 is $499 and Sony can’t get one to reach a store shelf due to demand).

Another way to say it? If you can swing the $140, you will find countless hours of quality gaming entertainment here – and, for us, across a library of titles that we had no prior experience playing. Like traveling back in time. If you’re a fan of retro gaming in general, this is a must-buy.

And though this next one is a long shot – we’d love to see a further iteration of this hardware available in the CD32 shell as well. What’s a CD32 you ask? In September of 1993 Commodore entered the console video game market by releasing their own CD-based 32-bit home video game system based on their Advanced Graphics Architecture chipset from the Amiga 1200 personal computer – exactly like the setup of THEA500 Mini. A CD32 Mini, even if it was no different from the internals and game selection of THEA500 would be a console collector’s dream.

Specs

All Winner H6 ARM processor (Cortex A53)

512mb Ram DDR3

3 x USB 2.0 ports

HDMI Port

USB-C Port (Power )

256mb Flash Rom (OS/25 games)

$139.99 / Available Now

https://retrogames.biz/products/thea500-mini/

The post Console Review: THEA500 Mini appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

Video Link for Mobile Users

Christmas Day has come to the Garden. The children are starting to wake up and wander around, still half-asleep, looking for the presents Santa left for them. But none are to be found! Gather magical gifts as they appear and toss them to the dreaming children. Don’t miss, and watch out for the GRONCH dashing around stealing presents! Take too long and the children will wake up to no presents, and Christmas will be ruined. The game will feature multiple difficulty levels to suit all abilities, online leaderboards for the best Santas and all of this requiring a classic Amiga with 1Mb Chip RAM!

Links :1) Source 2) Twitter 3) Vote Game of the Year 4) Watch Live on Amiga Bills Stream

The post Turbo Santa – Did you enjoy playing Turbo Tomato by NIVRIG GAMES? Then you’ll love this new festive game for the Amiga! appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

It’s becoming a little bit of a game around here trying to guess which piece of classic gaming hardware will be the next to get the modern “retro mini” treatment – which is to say a miniature size version of the original hardware packed with titles from said system’s library, perfect replica controllers and plug ‘n play functionality.

While we’ve been hoping the next might have been the 3DO or CD-i, it looks like Retro Games LTD, the folks behind THEC64 Mini, THEC64 and THEVIC20 have beaten everyone to the punch by serving up another system based on classic Commodore technology.

This latest system, THEA500 Mini is an Amiga machine capable of emulating Amiga 500, 600 & 1200 (ECS/OCS/AGA) architectures right out of the box.  According to Retro Games: “It features perfect emulation of not only the original A500 (OCS) and Enhanced Chip Set (ECS) of future revisions, but also the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) of the A1200.”

Like all of the Commodore systems preceding it, the player has the option of settling in with one of the (25) games preinstalled on the unit or sideloading any Amiga title or demo via a USB stick.

We’re really stoked that they are including not only a newly engineered 8-button precision gamepad (which was infinitely more precise than the Competition joysticks of the C64 era) but an original style 2-button mouse to make on-screen navigation a breeze.

Of course, this is a Mini and not a full-size replica so like THEC64 before it, THEA500’s keyboard will not be functional, requiring users connect a USB keyboard or navigate the onscreen keys with the included mouse.  While it has not been announced, we’re going to guess a full-size THEA500 will follow down the road with functioning keyboard.

So what about those included 25 game titles?  Sadly Retro Games LTD has yet to finalize the retail list (we suspect this has everything to do with the painstakingly slow process of clearing rights).  They have, however secured the following 12 games for certain:

• Alien Breed 3D
• Another World
• ATR: All Terrain Racing
• Battle Chess
• Cadaver
• Kick Off 2
• Pinball Dreams
• Simon the Sorcerer
• Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
• The Chaos Engine
• Worms: The Director’s Cut
• Zool: Ninja Of The ”Nth” Dimension

As is standard practice these days, you get everything you need to begin gaming out of the box with the exception of the AC adapter (power brick).

At the time of this article’s writing, the unit has become available for preorder on Amazon UK for £119.99 and is slated for March 31, 2022 release.  And while the user has the option of rendering the image in 50 and 60Hz refresh rates (meaning the UK variant will work fine outside of PAL regions), a dedicated North American unit is also set to be released around the same time retailing for $139.99

It makes sense Retro Games LTD would stick with the home computer oriented Amiga series (given their past entries to the retro mini market) over the Commodore console nearly all of us missed its first time around – the CD32.  You may notice THEA500’s controller is very clearly inspired by the CD32’s unique design.

The post The Next Retro Mini Console Arrives – Amiga A500 Mini appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

The era of the mini classic plug ‘n play consoles is firmly upon us but, with a single exception, companies have been slow to bring gaming computers to this red-hot market here in North America.  However, that exception did very well globally and now it appears it is well on its way of spawning a pair of new siblings; a process that’s been frustratingly delayed on account of the global pandemic.

The UK’s Retro Games LTD struck while the iron was hot back in 2018 when they shrunk down the Commodore 64 into THEC64 Mini (a ridiculous official name we assume to avoid legal snags); a little high def emulation box that included 64-preinstalled games, the ability to boot BASIC and a Competition Pro joystick.

They captured the world’s attention but users of the product had some valid complaints.  Rather than simply turn a deaf ear to the user base, Retro Games took note and assured that they would get it right in their next project.  Now it appears that next project has taken shape and, while it’s yet to arrive here to North America, a full size Commodore 64 retro plug ‘n play has been making its rounds through Europe since December of 2019 with favorable impressions in the process.

Its full title being none other than THEC64, nicknames like the C64 or C64 Maxi (to differentiate it from Mini) have been appearing on the internet to remind us that the real world cares not for the nuanced restrictions born of lawyers.  Like the name suggests, THEC64 is no longer a half-scale replica of the original hardware upon which it’s based but rather a full 1:1 scale reproduction with nearly every single complaint about the Mini eradicated in the process.

The first of the big complaints addressed is that of the keyboard – while the Mini’s was non-functioning and existed strictly for show, the Maxi’s keyboard isn’t only an exact replica of the original, it’s fully functional as well.  Given the penchant for most games to rely upon the keyboard in some capacity, not to mention keyboard dependency for any and all use of the included BASIC language functionality, this is a very welcome change indeed.

I should note that the Mini did have a cumbersome onscreen keyboard to help avoid some of these snags as well as the ability to run a USB keyboard but with only two USB inputs, one needed for the joystick and another for ROM-files, a working keyboard on the full size solves a lot of dilemmas.  But if that weren’t enough, Retro Games doubled the number of USB ports for good measure.

The other major upgrade comes in the form of the included joystick, which now includes micro switches like the original.  The benefits of this transition are two-fold:  The first being more precise control/ haptic input and the second being durability.  As they are releasing the new joystick as a stand alone accessory as well, this means good news for C64 Mini users who found fault with the original pack-in unit.

This time, rather than create two separate versions of the hardware, every unit made will output in either 50 or 60 Hz (PAL or NTSC displays respectively).  Once again the final image will be 720P high definition, customizable with a bunch of filter options and, bucking a trend we despise, the set will include the necessary power supply.

Once again the system comes with 64 preinstalled games but there are some changes here as well.  The roster has been shuffled so as to include new additions like Attack of the Mutant Camels, Hover Bovver, Iridis Alpha, Gridrunner and A Planet of Death.  That’s right folks, what good is a working keyboard if not to celebrate with an honest-to-goodness text adventure snatched right from the original hardware’s prime.  Also of interest are the inclusion of recently released titles this time around like 2017’s Galencia (think Galaga).

The full list of included titles is as follows:

Alleykat

Anarchy

Attack of the Mutant Camels

Avenger

Battle Valley

Bear Bovver

Boulder Dash

Bounder

California Games

Chips Challenge

Confuzion

Cosmic Causeway

Cyberdyne Warrior

Cybernoid II

Deflektor

Destroyer

Everyone’s a Wally

Firelord

Galencia

Gateway to Apshai

Gribbly’s Day Out

Gridrunner (VIC-20)

Heartland

Herobotix

Highway Encounter

Hover Bovver

Impossible Mission

Impossible Mission II

IO

Iridis Alpha

Jumpman

Mega Apocalypse

Mission AD

Monty Mole

Monty on the Run

Nebulus

Netherworld

Nodes of Yesod

Paradroid

Pitstop II

Planet of Death

Psychedelia (VIC-20)

Ranarama

Robin of the Wood

Silicon Warrior

Skate Crazy

Speedball 2

Spindizzy

Steel

Street Sports Baseball

Street Sports Basketball

Summer Games II

Super Cycle

Sword of Fargoal

Temple of Apshai Trilogy

The Arc of Yesod

Thing Bounces Back

Thing on a Spring

Trailblazer

Uridium

Who Dares Wins II

Winter Games

World Games

Zynaps

BASIC functionality is back with a twist – this time the user has the option of running either Commodore 64 or VIC-20 BASIC.  In short it means inputting and running programs from either of Commodore’s successful machines is an option now and installing ROM files from either library is now fully doable.  If this doesn’t sound significant to you, consider this (and you may wish to be seated):  Estimates put the original Commodore 64’s library of commercially released games at close to 10,000 and the VIC-20 at at least half that.  In short if you can’t find anything to play on THEC64, you simply aren’t looking.

Keeping in mind that all of the timetables are pushed way behind thanks to Covid, by now the plan was to have THEC64 released globally on the heels of THEC64 Mini with another machine making rounds of Europe this month – this one a modern reproduction VIC-20.

THEVIC20 as it will be officially known looks to include all of the features of THEC64 like the full-size hardware, functioning keyboard, micro switch joystick, both bootable versions of BASIC but a game list made up of examples from each library:

 VIC-20

Abductor, Andes Attack, Arcadia, Bewitched, Blitzkrieg, Brainstorm, Catcha Snatcha, Connect 4, Encounter, Frantic, Frog Chase, Gridrunner, Harvester, Headbanger’s Heaven, Hell Gate, Laser Zone, Martians, Matrix, Mega Vault, Metagalactic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time, Psychedelia, Snake, Starquest, Subspace Striker, Tank Battle, Traxx, Wacky Waiters, Zor.

C64

Alleykat, Bear Bovver, Boulder Dash, California Games, Chips Challenge, Cyberdyne Warrior, Cybernoid II, Destroyer, Firelord, Galencia Mini, Gribbly’s Day Out, Heartland, Impossible Mission, IO, Iridis Alpha, Jumpman, Mega Apocalypse, Nebulus, Netherworld, Paradroid, Pitstop II, Planet of Death, Robin of the Wood, Speedball 2, Spindizzy, Street Sports Baseball, Street Sports Basketball, Summer Games II, Super Cycle, Sword of Fargoal, Temple of Apshai Trilogy, The Arc of Yesod, Uridium, Winter Games, World Games, Zynaps.

We have been hearing success stories of North American customers having little trouble ordering the yet European-exclusive VIC-20 from sites like Amazon so while it’s true that neither of these latest two retro classic edition systems have enjoyed a global release yet, entrepreneuring gamers are upping their collections for roughly $129.99 per system.

The post Exploring The New Full Size C64 appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

When you think of beloved holiday traditions, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Directing a herd of lemmings to safety through a winter landscape? Sacrificing a few with explosions for the good of the herd? Hearing their pitiful squeak when they die? If so, then boy do I have the games for you (although if you enjoy the death squeak…seriously, what the heck?) Released between 1991 and 1994, the Christmas Lemmings games (sometimes called Holiday Lemmings) were a variation on the original Lemmings video game published by Psygnosis for the Amiga system.

If you aren’t familiar with the original, it’s a puzzle game that required you to get a herd of lemmings to safety. You didn’t have direct control of the lemmings. Instead, there was a cross-hair that you could use to select one member of the herd and an array of actions you could ask it to perform. Lemmings could climb, float, explode (killing them but altering the landscape), block (which reversed the directions of all the lemmings who walked into the blocker), build, bash (dig horizontally), mine (dig down on a diagonal), or dig straight down. You had a percentage of lemmings that you had to guide to safety. The percentage varied by level, as did the number and type of skills you could use. Levels also had a time limit. If you didn’t complete the level in time, the level was over.

Gameplay was identical to the original Lemmings, but it featured you in winter settings, and instead of the blue robes the lemmings wore in the original, your lemmings were dressed in little Santa costumes.

The first two games were released in 1991 and 1992, and they weren’t full games. They were demos containing only a few levels. The 1991 release also included levels from the game Oh No! More Lemmings! released the same year.  The versions released in 1993 and 1994 both had thirty-two levels apiece.

The following year saw the little rodents make a holiday appearance once again, but this time it was a simple add on to the 3D Lemmings game. It was called 3D Lemmings Winterland, and contained six levels set in a winter landscape.

The games were popular, and you can still find emulations online if you get the urge to mix semi-suicidal rodents with Yuletide cheer.

The post Christmas Lemmings! appeared first on Old School Gamer Magazine.

In 1981, Sami Raimi unleashed The Evil Dead on an unsuspecting world. The 85 minute gore fest starred Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. The role would become Campell’s signature character and remains one horror’s most iconic heroes. The movie spawned two sequels (Evil Dead 2 and Army of Darkness) and a television series (Ash Vs. The Evil Dead), along with a massive cult following.  

Three years after the release of The Evil Dead, Palace Software released a video game version for the Commodore 64. A survival horror game, it featured you as Ash. The game was set in the cabin featured in the film. As in the movie, Ash had friends at the cabin. A green cloud floating about the cabin possessed them, transforming them into Evil Dead. You could close windows to keep the cloud from reaching your friends, but once it got them all bets were off. They had to be destroyed. A variety of weapons could be found around the house, including a shovel, a hatchet, and a sword. They could only be used for a limited amount of time. Amusingly, as you hacked at the zombies, they became disembodied body parts which kept on attacking.

You began the game with 10,000 health points. Lose all your health points and it was game over. To defeat the game you had to gain enough points to conjure the Book of the Dead and throw it in the fire.   

The game came about at a peculiar time. Mary Whitehouse and the National Viewers and Listeners Association began a campaign against what they termed “video nasties,” movies they deemed harmful an obscene. Curiously, some of this hysteria was self inflicted. Go Video, the company behind the film Cannibal Holocaust, wrote an anonymous letter to Whitehouse and the NVLA, hoping that by creating a controversy they could boost attention on their film. As the panic grew, films were blamed for an increase in violent crime, and think pieces were written like, ““How High Street Horror is Invading the Home.” A number of films were prosecuted for what was deemed “obscenity.” The Evil Dead avoided prosecution, but the hysteria affected the distribution of the game. A version developed for the ZX Spectrum never received an official release, appearing later as a free bonus with the game Cauldron, and many stores were reluctant to stock the Commodore 64 version.

Playing the game today, the worry seems patently absurd. Even Your Computer magazine noted how unnecessary the fears were in their 1984 review. They stated, “you might have wondered if home computer graphics were capable of the sort of gory special effects video nasties trade in. The Evil Dead would confirm your doubts…there is nothing here to keep even the most unworldly 12-year-old awake at night.” The graphics are rudimentary and nothing approaching gore ever really enters into the game. In addition to the graphics, the gameplay was incredibly simplistic, which is not to suggest that it wasn’t entertaining. For fans of the films, any opportunity to be a part of the Evil Dead world is, in the the immortal words of Ash Williams, “Groovy.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jiV6LtJWKQ

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It is a truth universally acknowledged that hostile aliens in possession of advanced technology and a desire to invade a planet, must be in want of camels. At least, so we are led to believe by the 1983 game Attack of the Mutant Camels.

The game was developed by Llamasoft, released on the Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit, and written by a designer/programmer named Yak (a pseudonym used by Jeff Minter). According the Llamasoft web page, Minter chose the name, “when hi-score tables on coin-op machines only held three letters, and I settled on Yak because the yak is a scruffy hairy beast – a lot like me ;-). I also have something of the ox nature – I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but I am patient and stubborn and I will plod along until I get where I want to go no matter how long it takes.”

Aside from video games, Yak had a passion for creating light synthesizers. A tour of the Llamasoft web page provides a detailed look at this work and contains such historical insight as this (regarding his light synth program Psychedelia), “many spliffs were smoked and much Pink Floyd listened to whilst using Psychedelia, and at computer shows we’d always play music whilst I would demonstrate the program to passers by.”

So, it should come as no surprise that the concept behind his games could be a bit…well, bizarre. In Attack of the Mutant Camels, you were defending the earth from giant, genetically engineered camels which shoot lasers out of their mouths (little more than blips on the screen). The camels gained their amazing powers of destruction from aliens.

You controlled a small craft and were tasked with killing the camels before they reached and overran the human base. A small graphic at the top of the screen showed the total number of camels you had to kill, and each camel took multiple shots to defeat. The game was a horizontal scroller and you could move your ship back and forth across the screen to shoot the camels from different angles. After completing a wave of camels, your ship activated its hyperdrive. In this mode, you had to avoid missiles flying at you before reaching the next wave of attack camels. The difficulty increased as the game progressed.

The inspiration for Attack of the Mutant Camels came from the Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back video game. According to Yak, he thought the AT-AT’s looked a bit like camels. The game spawned a sequel, though not a true sequel in the strictest sense of the word. In Revenge of the Mutant Camels, you controlled the mutant camel and a second player (or the computer) could control a goat. Together you battled things like telephone boxes, skiing kangaroos, men on flying toilets, and more.

In 2012, the Smithsonian put together an exhibit called “The Art of Video Games,” describing it as, “one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies.” The exhibit featured playable games (Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and Flower) and visuals from eighty other games from a variety of platforms. For the Commodore 64, the exhibit featured: Jumpman, Pirates!, The Bard’s Tale III: Thief of Fate, and Attack of the Mutant Camels.

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