A History of Gaming Platforms: The Commodore 64

Gamasutra kicks of its monthly feature series discussing the history of gaming platforms with a look at the Commodore 64.

Some of the most popular games for the C64 include Electronic Arts’ hybrid action strategy game Archon and multiplayer strategy game M.U.L.E. (both 1983), First Star Software’s Boulder Dash puzzler and Epyx’s Impossible Mission platformer (both 1984), Rainbow Arts’ Great Giana Sisters platformer, Elite’s Commando arcade conversion, Microprose’s Pirates! action adventure, System 3’s IK+ fighting game and Last Ninja action platformer, and Lucasfilm Games’ adventure, Maniac Mansion (all 1987). These 10 games demonstrate the diversity of the C64’s game library, which truly had something for everyone.

Indeed, anyone who grew up with the system could easily add another 20, 30, or even 50 more games to this list. For sports fans, there was Epyx’s impressive Games series, like Summer Games (1984) and Winter Games (1985); shoot-gm-up fans had Synsoft’s Blue Max (1983), Elite’s 1942, and Electric Dream’s R-Type; and even the (adult) genre was well represented by games like Artworx’s Strip Poker (1984). Role-playing fans could choose between several prominent franchises: SSI’s Gold Box Dungeons & Dragons games, Interplay’s Bard’s Tale series, Sir-Tech’s Wizardry series, and Origin’s Ultima series.