5 More Classic Commodore 64 Games I Want Remade
Written by John Yan on 3/30/2009 for
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A while ago I listed five classic Commodore 64 games I'd love to see remade today. It was fun to go back and watch some of the old games I used to play and I do play some of them today every once in a while. Well I'm back to list another five that I really want redone using today's technology. Without further adieu, here they are.
1) Racing Destruction Set
One of the earliest games I played that let you construct your own racing tracks, Racing Destruction Set offered endless hours of creativity and fun competitive racing against the computer or a friend. Racing wise, the game was setup in a top and bottom split screen mode. You can take various vehicles, each handled a little differently, onto some pre-made tracks or tracks of your own creation. The vehicles can also be adjusted by applying different tires, engines, and other items as well. Not only can you change the track itself but you can also adjust other parameters like gravity. There was a remake for the SuperNES but I'll always remember the original C64 version. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a video of the game in action so here's a screenshot of the game in action.
2) Spy vs. Spy
Here's another game that features two players and was split via top and bottom. The Spy vs Spy characters are famous in MAD Magazine and I was surprised at how much fun the game was. The object was to collect the items necessary to escape the embassy. Along the way you can set traps on doors and areas that players can search. Each player has a timer and when a player triggers a trap, the person's time is decreased. When the timer reachers 0, the player has to wait a bit before he can return to the game and they drop all the items they currently own. There were items that defused the traps so one could get by some of them unharmed. Once a trap is set, even the player who set it can trigger them so you always have to remember where and what type of trap you placed. It was pretty fun to play one another and trying to outdo your opponent.
3) Forbidden Forest
Who doesn't remember the music from this game? If you played it it's pretty unforgettable. You wander the forest with your bow and arrow as you try to take down various monsters and the boss, the Demogorgon. Each wave of creatures got progressively harder and you had a limited amount of ammo per wave. It was also one of the earliest games I can remember where it was rather violent with blood and things such as frogs crushing you to death. One of the things I always seem to remember though is the moon moving across the top of the screen as the game progressed. I don't know why I couldn't get that image out of my head when I was young but it's something that's pretty vivid in my mind when I watch the video again. Oh, and the other thing I couldn't forget was the dance the archer did between rounds and at the end when he won.
4) Save New York
Save New York was a pretty simple game. You flew a fighter jet and shot down aliens bent on destroying New York. They would eat parts of buildings or lay eggs where the hatchlings would eat the foundations of the buildings to try and bring them down. To hunt these little guys, you landed the plane whereby you would be on foot as you traverse the subway hunting these menaces down. It was great fun playing with another person as well. Give me a cool 3D first person type of game which would be a combination of an FPS shooter and flight simulator that I can join with a few others to save the Big Apple.
5) Project Firestart
Project Firestart incorported a more cinematic feel with cut scenes into the game. I remember how scared I was as a kid playing the game. If Project Firestart were remade today, I guess it would be close to what Dead Space is. The game was pretty unique at the time and I remember running to Waldensoftware at the Westgate Mall in Fairview Park, Ohio and picking this up on release day. Along with Forbidden Forest, Project Firestart was one of the few games on the Commodore 64 that really scared me when I was kid. The Alien like feel along with violent scenes made it a pretty interesting experience at the time.
1) Racing Destruction Set
One of the earliest games I played that let you construct your own racing tracks, Racing Destruction Set offered endless hours of creativity and fun competitive racing against the computer or a friend. Racing wise, the game was setup in a top and bottom split screen mode. You can take various vehicles, each handled a little differently, onto some pre-made tracks or tracks of your own creation. The vehicles can also be adjusted by applying different tires, engines, and other items as well. Not only can you change the track itself but you can also adjust other parameters like gravity. There was a remake for the SuperNES but I'll always remember the original C64 version. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a video of the game in action so here's a screenshot of the game in action.
2) Spy vs. Spy
Here's another game that features two players and was split via top and bottom. The Spy vs Spy characters are famous in MAD Magazine and I was surprised at how much fun the game was. The object was to collect the items necessary to escape the embassy. Along the way you can set traps on doors and areas that players can search. Each player has a timer and when a player triggers a trap, the person's time is decreased. When the timer reachers 0, the player has to wait a bit before he can return to the game and they drop all the items they currently own. There were items that defused the traps so one could get by some of them unharmed. Once a trap is set, even the player who set it can trigger them so you always have to remember where and what type of trap you placed. It was pretty fun to play one another and trying to outdo your opponent.
3) Forbidden Forest
Who doesn't remember the music from this game? If you played it it's pretty unforgettable. You wander the forest with your bow and arrow as you try to take down various monsters and the boss, the Demogorgon. Each wave of creatures got progressively harder and you had a limited amount of ammo per wave. It was also one of the earliest games I can remember where it was rather violent with blood and things such as frogs crushing you to death. One of the things I always seem to remember though is the moon moving across the top of the screen as the game progressed. I don't know why I couldn't get that image out of my head when I was young but it's something that's pretty vivid in my mind when I watch the video again. Oh, and the other thing I couldn't forget was the dance the archer did between rounds and at the end when he won.
4) Save New York
Save New York was a pretty simple game. You flew a fighter jet and shot down aliens bent on destroying New York. They would eat parts of buildings or lay eggs where the hatchlings would eat the foundations of the buildings to try and bring them down. To hunt these little guys, you landed the plane whereby you would be on foot as you traverse the subway hunting these menaces down. It was great fun playing with another person as well. Give me a cool 3D first person type of game which would be a combination of an FPS shooter and flight simulator that I can join with a few others to save the Big Apple.
5) Project Firestart
Project Firestart incorported a more cinematic feel with cut scenes into the game. I remember how scared I was as a kid playing the game. If Project Firestart were remade today, I guess it would be close to what Dead Space is. The game was pretty unique at the time and I remember running to Waldensoftware at the Westgate Mall in Fairview Park, Ohio and picking this up on release day. Along with Forbidden Forest, Project Firestart was one of the few games on the Commodore 64 that really scared me when I was kid. The Alien like feel along with violent scenes made it a pretty interesting experience at the time.
* The product in this article was sent to us by the developer/company.
About Author
I've been reviewing products since 1997 and started out at Gaming Nexus. As one of the original writers, I was tapped to do action games and hardware. Nowadays, I work with a great group of folks on here to bring to you news and reviews on all things PC and consoles.
As for what I enjoy, I love action and survival games. I'm more of a PC gamer now than I used to be, but still enjoy the occasional console fair. Lately, I've been really playing a ton of retro games after building an arcade cabinet for myself and the kids. There's some old games I love to revisit and the cabinet really does a great job at bringing back that nostalgic feeling of going to the arcade.
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