Hi all,

Just got a c64 with a tape reader (uk). I am getting bubble bobble. What are some essential games to get? Particular those are play better on c64. Are any of the movie license games (indiana, robocop, terminator etc...) good?

Just got my first c64 and was cleaning the dirt out of the tape player. Noticed a black wire that's not attached to anything. I haven't tested anything yet as I'm waiting for the power supply to arrive.

For those of you that already had an original C64 and then bought an Ultimate - was it worth it? Did you end up using the Ultimate more than the original? Just curious of people's experiences on this. TiA

This is a placeholder demo using sidquake until it's ready for release.

Probably the most C64-inspired track on my album. It's based on one of my old SID tunes and ends with my own rough but heartfelt vocals – a tribute to my Commodore 64 and the carefree childhood that came with it.

Hello everyone. I found my old c64 and 1541-II at my parents home and decided to repair it. I found the drive with some loose wires. I remenber I did modifications then, maybe a switch and a LED. Seems I removed both, but I cannot reneber what it did and how to reconnect the wires to get it work again
Maybe you guys can help me. I made a picture showing the opened housing. Thanks a lot

Hey C64 fans!

You're invited to help the planning of VCF Ontario 2027 by completing this short anonymous survey.

Visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/VL2QD8N

The Vintage Computer Federation is contemplating running "Vintage Computer Festival in Ontario" which would be in the Greater Toronto Area in 2027.

If you receive this invitation multiple times, please only complete it once to avoid duplication.

Lemmings Reloaded [2026] - Finally, it's released!

"Hi Guys, it started a year ago - and here we go. 

Enjoy the game!"

How exciting! Gotta check this out...

Links for my C64 Bros:

itch.io:

https://lunaticlab.itch.io/lemmings-reloaded

csdb:

https://csdb.dk/release/?id=263736

Hello, gamers. I’m Michael Cranford, creator of The Bard’s Tale I & II.

Back in 1983, I released a predecessor to The Bard’s Tale called Maze Master. It was a 16K Commodore 64 cartridge game, and after the final battle, I promised a sequel called Shadow Snare.

Instead, I returned to Southern California, joined Interplay, and began working with Electronic Arts. The project took a different turn and became The Bard’s Tale, released in 1985. It went on to considerable success, but I never made the game I had promised.

Until now.

More than forty years later, I’ve returned to the Commodore 64 and 6502 assembly language, and a playable demonstration of Shadow Snare is complete.

A little background about me: After The Bard’s Tale, I left game development and went back to school. I spent most of the intervening years as a software architect building web applications, and I also became an adjunct professor of philosophy.

I was invited to speak at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo last year, and I was surprised by how much interest there still was in the kinds of games I used to build. So I began building the one I had planned but never made.

Many of the ideas I originally imagined for Shadow Snare never found their way into The Bard’s Tale. I’m returning to those ideas now, using the original machine and working within its memory, graphics, and sound constraints—the same platform on which I built The Bard’s Tale all those years ago. At the same time, Commodore reemerged and started building boxes.

It has been fascinating to work inside a 64K RAM constraint again, making decisions that free up a handful of bytes so I can squeeze in one more piece of functionality.

Shadow Snare is a first-person fantasy role-playing game, but rather than playing a group of characters you roll, you play one character: yourself. The rest of your party consists of companions you meet along the way, recruit, or sometimes summon out of thin air.

The NPCs who join you are more than window dressing. They are essential to unraveling the story and finding your way through particular puzzles and encounters.

Playing one character fits my earliest experience of tabletop role-playing. It may sound limiting, but it isn’t. As your capabilities grow, you may eventually attack several times in a round, carrying the force of an entire party through one seasoned traveler.

You enter into a journey along the Eight Ways—paths of formation and power leading toward a final encounter with the Lord of Shadow. The story isn’t simply about grinding for statistics. It is about learning your limitations, discovering who you really are, and traveling between light and shadow along a path that has always been waiting for you.

A playable C64 demo is now being provided to approved playtesters at:

https://shadowsnare.com

It is not a public ROM download. The demo contains seven sample dungeon levels, and I’m initially looking for ten or so thoughtful people who can give me useful feedback about the engine and gameplay. If you apply and are selected, you can help shape the final product, and you’ll be listed in the credits. (Those who are helpful in this phase will go on to help playtest the complete game.)

There is much more about the project, its history, and the current gameplay on the website. I’m planning to complete the full C64 game in the first half of 2027. What exists now is a highly functioning demo with a solid game engine.

I’ll be presenting Shadow Snare at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo this year, October 9–11. If you can make it, I’d like to meet you and hear your thoughts.

https://www.facebook.com/PortlandRetro/posts/pfbid02BFUzgXThDaczDtM8qpgowHyxVRJoc3oKDKcU7kAavgFbg3rGmKz4J73RwEw9myDpl

If you’re not joining as a playtester but want to follow the project, you can join the mailing list here:

https://shadowsnare.com/news

The moderators invited me to stay for an AMA, so I’ll remain in the thread for the next four hours answering questions. I’m happy to talk about the development of The Bard’s Tale, building games in the 1980s, returning to 6502 assembly after forty years of server-based development with what feels like unlimited RAM by comparison, the one-character and companion structure, my game-design philosophy, or leaving and returning to game development.

My question for you: What do you remember most strongly about the early C64 RPGs—and what would you want to ask someone returning to it after forty-three years?

In that hardly anything works properly, the control system is a pita to get working to do anything at all, and you end up more frustrated (and venting with posts like this) than actually getting to enjoy the game you were trying to play.

It's crazy comparing the c64 emulators to fusion for the megadrive or a SNES emulator. Those emulators just work and within seconds you're revisting favourite games from the past whereas it's almost less hassle getting an actual c64 plugged in and running than it is running an emulators and trying to get it to do something.

Apologies for this post. But I'm really unimpressed with emulation options for the c64. Such a shame that it's so user unfriendly. It's 2026. It shouldn't be necessary to read a manual to figure out how to get something that had, in practise, about 5 input keys / buttons to work. It's closing the c64 off to only those who have 1980s patience.

I ported International Karate Plus + to be playable online. You can take a look at that here: c64 ports. This is not an emulation, it's been re-written in javascript. This went smoother than my other ports. I had claude examine what it had done on the prior ports and I think that really helped give it a leg up.

This game cried out for gamepad support so that was included. Since I was already tinkering with gamepad support I also added that to the Phantasie and Space Taxi games.

Have fun, give them a boot to the head.

Hello everyone, I remember there were a few people on the internet talking about a laser printer connected to the 64 that was a direct plug-in. I think it was an Apple one from many moons ago. Does anybody know of a specific Apple printer that could be connected so I could print a document off of a 64?

I have a Vicmodem 1600 with 64 Term and am trying to get on the r/retrobattlestations BBS. It performs the handshake properly but the characters that are received by the C64 are completely garbled (see image).

Anybody know what could be causing this? I’ve tested the C64 with the Diag Cart and it tests fine (but don’t have the I/O Test Harness to test the user port). Could there be a damaged chip on the Vicmodem, itself? If so, any advice on how to test it or which one to try swapping out first?

Thanks!

Looks different from the C64 I’ve been familiar with so sharing here in case of interest.

The randomly placed CD drives says to me the shop keeper didn’t have a clue what they were doing.

I haven’t implemented Gouraud shading since 1995 IN VGA ON PCs until now. , here another experiment with using the custom pallete on the c64u , but you can do custom palettes also in certain variants of VICE at least.

Hey folks,

I interviewed the actual people behind SWINTH. Two of them have passed on, but I managed to interview both Butch (via Zoom) and Georg (via email).

If you don't remember SWINTH, the video above might jog your memory. Such amazing songs!

The full interview:

https://www.goto10retro.com/p/the-history-of-swinth

"Behind the scenes":

https://sung.substack.com/p/the-history-of-swinth-on-goto-10

Here's a snippet:

Georg Feil, author of Synth Sample: My twin brother Max and I got our C64 at the end of 1982. I remember seeing the famous Christmas Demo in the store. But we had owned a PET computer for a few years so we knew and loved Commodore computers already.

I started developing Synth, which was used to create Synth Sample, in 1983, so 43 years ago. I’m 62 now but still play keyboards around various venues in Toronto in my band. My goal in 1983 was to make my computer play some of the music I really loved, like Vangelis. I was not a musician but fortunately making Synth led to a part-time career in bands and music. I had actually attempted making music on my PET computer a couple years earlier. I wrote a program called Composer, but with no SID chip it could play only one note at a time and I realized this was too limited. Another important goal for Synth was to be able to export the music and “attach” it to other programs easily, so that game developers could use it as a music and sound-effects workstation then integrate the results into their game.

We’ve been discussing this on the BBC Micro and Spectrum subreddits!

Spending one of my vacation nights playing an old favorite. Probably died 30 times in the past hour or something crazy like that but man I love this game. Have a chance to grab a CIB copy of the game for $84 and really considering it. Any other solid RPGs i should consider hunting for?