Commodore 64 Games System
Encyclopedia
The Commodore 64 Games System (often abbreviated C64GS) was the cartridge-based game console
version of the popular Commodore 64
home computer. It was released by Commodore
in December 1990 as a competitor in the booming console market. It was only ever released in Europe and was a considerable commercial failure.
During its short life, the C64GS came bundled with a cartridge with four games: Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun
, International Soccer
, Flimbo's Quest
and Klax.
The C64GS was not Commodore's first gaming system based on the C64 hardware. However, unlike the 1982 MAX Machine
(a game-oriented computer based on a very cut-down version of the same hardware family), the C64GS was internally very similar to the "proper" C64 with which it was compatible.
Support from games companies was limited, as many were unconvinced that the C64GS would be a success in the console market. Ocean Software
were the most supportive, offering a wide range of titles, some C64GS cartridge-based only, offering features in games that would have been impossible on cassette-based games, others were straight ports of C64 games. Domark
and System 3
also released a number of titles for the system, and conversions of some Codemasters and Microprose games also appeared.
The software bundled with the C64GS, a four-game cartridge containing Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun
, International Soccer
, Flimbo's Quest
and Klax, were likely the most well-known on the system. These games, with the exception of International Soccer, were previously ordinary tape-based games, but their structure and control systems (no keyboard needed) made them well-suited to the new console. International Soccer was previously released in 1983 on cartridge for the original C64 computer.
Ocean produced a number of games for the C64GS, among them a remake of Double Dragon
(which seemed to be more linked to the NES version than the original C64 cassette version), Navy SEALS
, Robocop 2, Robocop 3, Chase HQ 2: Special Criminal Investigation, Pang, Battle Command, Toki
, Shadow of the Beast
and Lemmings. They also produced Batman The Movie for the console, but this was a direct conversion of the cassette game, evidenced by the screens inciting the player to "press PLAY" that briefly appeared between levels. Some of the earliest Ocean cartridges had a manufacturing flaw, where the connector was placed too far back in the cartridge case. The end result was that the cartridge could not be used with the standard C64 computer. Members of Ocean staff had to manually drill holes in the side of the cartridges to make them fit.
System 3 released Last Ninja Remix and Myth: History in the Making
, although both were also available on cassette. Domark also offered two titles, Badlands
and Cyberball
, which were available on cartridge only.
Through publisher The Disc Company a number of Codemasters
and Microprose
titles were also reworked and released as compilations for the C64GS. Fun Play featured three Codemasters titles: Fast Food Dizzy
, Professional Skateboard Simulator and Professional Tennis Simulator. Power Play featured three Microprose titles: Rick Dangerous
, Stunt Car Racer
and Microprose Soccer
, although Rick Dangerous was produced by Core Design
, not Microprose themselves. Stunt Car Racer and Microprose Soccer needed to be heavily modified to enable them to run on the C64GS.
Uncharacteristically, Commodore never produced or published a single title for the C64GS beyond the bundled four-game cartridge. International Soccer was the only widely-available game for the C64GS but had actually been written for the C64.
To partially counter the lack of a keyboard, the basic control system for the C64GS was a joystick supplied by Cheetah called the Annihilator. This joystick, while using the standard Atari 9-pin plug, offered two independent buttons, with the second button located on the base of the joystick. This 9-pin plug was standard of many systems of the era, and the joysticks were fundamentally compatible with the ZX Spectrum
's Kempston Interface
and the Sega Master System
. The Cheetah Annihilator joystick was poorly built, had a short life, and was not widely available, making replacements difficult to come by.
While most of the titles that Ocean announced did appear for the GS (with the notable exception of Operation Thunderbolt), a number of promises from other publishers failed to materialise. Although Thalamus
, The Sales Curve, Mirrorsoft
and Hewson
had expressed an interest, nothing ever materialised from these firms. Similar problems plagued rival company Amstrad
when they released their GX4000
console the same year.
There were other reasons attributed to the failure of the C64GS, the major ones being the following:
Several years later Commodore's next attempt at a games console, the Amiga CD32
, encountered many of the same problems although overall it was a lot more successful than the C64GS.
The ROM contains two important differences to a standard C64 ROM. The first is that switching on the machine without a cartridge present results in a character-based animation asking the user to insert a cartridge. The second is an additional set of windowing commands, designed to compensate for the lack of a keyboard. However, there is no known software that uses it.
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
version of the popular Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
home computer. It was released by Commodore
Commodore International
Commodore is the commonly used name for Commodore Business Machines , the U.S.-based home computer manufacturer and electronics manufacturer headquartered in West Chester, Pennsylvania, which also housed Commodore's corporate parent company, Commodore International Limited...
in December 1990 as a competitor in the booming console market. It was only ever released in Europe and was a considerable commercial failure.
During its short life, the C64GS came bundled with a cartridge with four games: Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun
Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun
Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun is a video game developed by Gray Matter under developer Chris Gray and published in 1990 by Mindscape. It originally appeared on the 16-bit Atari ST, IBM PC and Commodore Amiga, before later being converted to the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC...
, International Soccer
International Soccer
-Overview:International Soccer is a soccer videogame for Commodore 64. It can be played by two players or one player against an AI opponent. Each team can select one of a number of colored shirts, and the AI opponent is graded into 9 different difficulty levels...
, Flimbo's Quest
Flimbo's Quest
Flimbo's Quest is a 2D platform game published by British publishing house System 3 for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST and Amstrad CPC. A ZX Spectrum version was produced but never released...
and Klax.
The C64GS was not Commodore's first gaming system based on the C64 hardware. However, unlike the 1982 MAX Machine
Commodore MAX Machine
The Commodore MAX Machine, also known as Ultimax in the United States and VC-10 in Germany, was a home computer designed and sold by Commodore International in Japan, beginning in early 1982, a predecessor to the popular Commodore 64...
(a game-oriented computer based on a very cut-down version of the same hardware family), the C64GS was internally very similar to the "proper" C64 with which it was compatible.
Available software
Support from games companies was limited, as many were unconvinced that the C64GS would be a success in the console market. Ocean SoftwareOcean Software
The British company Ocean Software was one of the biggest European video game developers/publishers of the 1980s and 90s...
were the most supportive, offering a wide range of titles, some C64GS cartridge-based only, offering features in games that would have been impossible on cassette-based games, others were straight ports of C64 games. Domark
Domark
Domark Software was a video games software house based in the United Kingdom. The name was derived from the given names of its founders, Dominic Wheatley and Mark Strachan...
and System 3
System 3 (software company)
System 3 Software Ltd is a British video game developer and publisher.Founded in 1983 by Mark Cale, the company has been responsible for many critically acclaimed videogame experiences, most notably The Last Ninja series, Myth: History in the Making, Impossible Mission, Constructor, Street Wars,...
also released a number of titles for the system, and conversions of some Codemasters and Microprose games also appeared.
The software bundled with the C64GS, a four-game cartridge containing Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun
Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun
Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun is a video game developed by Gray Matter under developer Chris Gray and published in 1990 by Mindscape. It originally appeared on the 16-bit Atari ST, IBM PC and Commodore Amiga, before later being converted to the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC...
, International Soccer
International Soccer
-Overview:International Soccer is a soccer videogame for Commodore 64. It can be played by two players or one player against an AI opponent. Each team can select one of a number of colored shirts, and the AI opponent is graded into 9 different difficulty levels...
, Flimbo's Quest
Flimbo's Quest
Flimbo's Quest is a 2D platform game published by British publishing house System 3 for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST and Amstrad CPC. A ZX Spectrum version was produced but never released...
and Klax, were likely the most well-known on the system. These games, with the exception of International Soccer, were previously ordinary tape-based games, but their structure and control systems (no keyboard needed) made them well-suited to the new console. International Soccer was previously released in 1983 on cartridge for the original C64 computer.
Ocean produced a number of games for the C64GS, among them a remake of Double Dragon
Double Dragon
is a classic beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technos Japan Corporation, who also developed the Kunio-kun series ....
(which seemed to be more linked to the NES version than the original C64 cassette version), Navy SEALS
Navy SEALS (video game)
Navy SEALS is a 1990 video game developed and published by Ocean. It is based on the movie of the same name....
, Robocop 2, Robocop 3, Chase HQ 2: Special Criminal Investigation, Pang, Battle Command, Toki
Toki (video game)
Toki, known in Japan as is a shoot 'em up platformer arcade game, or a "run and gun" developed and published in Japan by TAD Corporation and published in North America by Fabtek. It features elements of tongue-in-cheek humor combined with the action...
, Shadow of the Beast
Shadow of the Beast
Shadow of the Beast is a side-scrolling platform computer game produced by Reflections Interactive and published by Psygnosis in 1989. The original version was released for the Commodore Amiga, but the game has been ported to many other systems...
and Lemmings. They also produced Batman The Movie for the console, but this was a direct conversion of the cassette game, evidenced by the screens inciting the player to "press PLAY" that briefly appeared between levels. Some of the earliest Ocean cartridges had a manufacturing flaw, where the connector was placed too far back in the cartridge case. The end result was that the cartridge could not be used with the standard C64 computer. Members of Ocean staff had to manually drill holes in the side of the cartridges to make them fit.
System 3 released Last Ninja Remix and Myth: History in the Making
Myth: History in the Making
Myth: History in the Making is a 2D platform game published by British publishing house System 3 for the Commodore 64, Amiga, Amiga CD32, Amstrad CPC and ZX Spectrum. It was also released on the NES as "Conan: The Mysteries of Time"...
, although both were also available on cassette. Domark also offered two titles, Badlands
Badlands (video game)
Badlands is a 1989 arcade game published by Atari Games. It was later ported by Domark under the Tengen label to a number of home computers. It is set in the aftermath of a nuclear war and races around abandoned wastelands with many hazards...
and Cyberball
Cyberball
Cyberball is an Atari Games arcade game of 7-man American football, using robotic avatars of different speeds, sizes, and skill sets. The game replaced the standard downs system with an explosive ball that progresses from "cool" to "warm", "hot", and "critical" status as it is used...
, which were available on cartridge only.
Through publisher The Disc Company a number of Codemasters
Codemasters
The Codemasters Software Company Limited, or Codemasters is a British video game developer founded by Richard and David Darling in 1986...
and Microprose
MicroProse
MicroProse was a video game publisher and developer, founded by Wild Bill Stealey and Sid Meier in 1982 as Microprose Software. In 1993, the company became a subsidiary of Spectrum HoloByte and has remained a subsidiary or brand name under several other corporations since...
titles were also reworked and released as compilations for the C64GS. Fun Play featured three Codemasters titles: Fast Food Dizzy
Dizzy series
The Dizzy series of computer games, published by Codemasters, was one of the most successful European computer game brands of the late 1980s. The games were based around a central figure: an intelligent egg-like creature called Dizzy...
, Professional Skateboard Simulator and Professional Tennis Simulator. Power Play featured three Microprose titles: Rick Dangerous
Rick Dangerous
Rick Dangerous is a series of two platform games released by Core Design in the 1980s.- Rick Dangerous :...
, Stunt Car Racer
Stunt Car Racer
Stunt Car Racer is a racing video game developed by Geoff Crammond and was published by MicroStyle in 1989...
and Microprose Soccer
Microprose Soccer
Microprose Soccer is a soccer videogame published by Microprose in 1988. The original Commodore 64 version was developed by Sensible Software, with conversions carried out to other formats. It is the fore-runner of the 16-bit classic Sensible Soccer...
, although Rick Dangerous was produced by Core Design
Core Design
Core Design was a British video game studio best known today for creating the popular Tomb Raider series.-History:Based in the city of Derby, England, Core Design was set up in 1988 by Chris Shrigley, Andy Green, Rob Toone, Terry Lloyd, Simon Phipps, Dave Pridmore, Jeremy Heath-Smith and Greg Holmes...
, not Microprose themselves. Stunt Car Racer and Microprose Soccer needed to be heavily modified to enable them to run on the C64GS.
Uncharacteristically, Commodore never produced or published a single title for the C64GS beyond the bundled four-game cartridge. International Soccer was the only widely-available game for the C64GS but had actually been written for the C64.
Hardware-based problems
The C64GS was plagued with problems from the outset. Firstly, despite the wealth of software already available on cartridge for C64, the lack of a keyboard meant that most could not be used with the console. This meant that people often bought secondhand C64 software on cartridge only to find that the games were not compatible. The C64 version of Terminator 2: Judgment Day was designed for the console, but was included on a cartridge that required the user to press a key to access the game, rendering it unplayable.To partially counter the lack of a keyboard, the basic control system for the C64GS was a joystick supplied by Cheetah called the Annihilator. This joystick, while using the standard Atari 9-pin plug, offered two independent buttons, with the second button located on the base of the joystick. This 9-pin plug was standard of many systems of the era, and the joysticks were fundamentally compatible with the ZX Spectrum
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum is an 8-bit personal home computer released in the United Kingdom in 1982 by Sinclair Research Ltd...
's Kempston Interface
Kempston Interface
The Kempston Interface, produced by Kempston Micro Electronics, was the generic name for any interface on Sinclair's ZX Spectrum series of computers that allowed joysticks complying with the de facto Atari 2600 standard to be used with the machine. It was one of the most widely supported standards...
and the Sega Master System
Sega Master System
The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
. The Cheetah Annihilator joystick was poorly built, had a short life, and was not widely available, making replacements difficult to come by.
Primary reasons for failure
Prior to the console's release, Commodore had generated a great deal of marketing hype to generate interest in an already crowded market. Zzap! 64, a Commodore 64 magazine of the era, reported that Commodore had promised "up to 100 titles before December", even though December was two months from the time of writing. In reality 28 games were produced for the console during its shelf life - most of which were compilations of older titles, and a majority of which were from Ocean. Of those 28 titles, only 9 were cartridge exclusive titles, the remainder being ports of older cassette-based games.While most of the titles that Ocean announced did appear for the GS (with the notable exception of Operation Thunderbolt), a number of promises from other publishers failed to materialise. Although Thalamus
Thalamus Ltd
Thalamus Ltd was a British computer game developer that published titles for a number of 8-bit and 16-bit platforms during the late 1980s and early 1990s.-Genesis:...
, The Sales Curve, Mirrorsoft
Mirrorsoft
Mirrorsoft was a computer game software publisher in the United Kingdom, owned by Mirror Group Newspapers. It was founded as a publisher of educational software before moving into games. One offshoot of its printing roots was Fleet Street Publisher on several platforms...
and Hewson
Hewson Consultants
Hewson Consultants were one of the smaller software companies which produced games for home computers in the mid 1980s. They had a reputation for high quality games which continually pushed the boundaries of what the computers were capable of and can be compared favourably with other...
had expressed an interest, nothing ever materialised from these firms. Similar problems plagued rival company Amstrad
Amstrad
Amstrad is a British electronics company, now wholly owned by BSkyB. As of 2006, Amstrad's main business is manufacturing Sky Digital interactive boxes....
when they released their GX4000
Amstrad GX4000
The GX4000 was Amstrad's short-lived attempt to enter the games console market. The console was released in Europe in 1990 and was based on the still-popular CPC technology. The GX4000 was actually a modified CPC 6128 Plus computer...
console the same year.
There were other reasons attributed to the failure of the C64GS, the major ones being the following:
- Poor software support: Most existing software on cartridge did not function well with the C64GS, and enthusiasm from publishers was low. Ocean Software, Codemasters, System 3, Microprose and Domark developed titles for the system, but probably only because the games were compatible with the original C64, providing the titles with a commercial safety net in case the C64GS failed. And failure to reprogram the games for use with the cut-back system was another blame for the fault.
- The C64 computer: The C64GS was essentially a cut-back version of the original Commodore 64, and the games developed for it could also be run on the original computer. The C64 was already at an affordable price, and the C64GS was sold for the same. People preferred to keep with the original C64, particularly since the cassette versions of games could often be picked up for a fraction of the cost of the cartridge versions, and did not seem to mind the much longer loading times as much as Commodore had perhaps banked on.
- Obsolete technology: The C64 was introduced in 1982; by 1990 the technology was way past its prime.
- An already saturated console market: The 8-bit C64GS entered the market in 1990 parallel to newer 16-bit consoles such as the Mega Drive and the Super NintendoSuper Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
. The Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System were already dominating the market with more popular titles, and did so until around 1992. - TV hookup, joystick support and cartridge slots were already found on regular C64 machines. Hence normal C64s were already recognized as "game consoles" despite looking more like a home computer with an integrated keyboard.
Several years later Commodore's next attempt at a games console, the Amiga CD32
Amiga CD32
The Amiga CD32, styled "CD32" , was the first 32-bit CD-ROM based video game console released in western Europe, Australia, Canada and Brazil. It was first announced at the Science Museum in London, United Kingdom on 16 July 1993, and was released in September of the same year...
, encountered many of the same problems although overall it was a lot more successful than the C64GS.
Technical specifications
The specifications of the C64GS is a subset of those of the C64, the main differences being the leaving out of the unnecessary user port, serial bus port, and tape drive port. These ports are in fact present, the system board being the C64C's board, but simply not exposed at the rear.Internal hardware
- Microprocessor CPU:
- MOS Technology 8500 (the 6510/8500 being a modified 6502MOS Technology 6502The MOS Technology 6502 is an 8-bit microprocessor that was designed by Chuck Peddle and Bill Mensch for MOS Technology in 1975. When it was introduced, it was the least expensive full-featured microprocessor on the market by a considerable margin, costing less than one-sixth the price of...
with an integrated 8-bit I/O port) - Clock speed: 0.985 MHz (PALPALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
)
- MOS Technology 8500 (the 6510/8500 being a modified 6502
- RAM:
- 64 KBKilobyteThe kilobyte is a multiple of the unit byte for digital information. Although the prefix kilo- means 1000, the term kilobyte and symbol KB have historically been used to refer to either 1024 bytes or 1000 bytes, dependent upon context, in the fields of computer science and information...
(65,535 bytes). - 0.5 KB Color RAM
- 64 KB
- ROM:
- 20 KB (7 KB KERNALKERNALThe KERNAL is Commodore's name for the ROM-resident operating system core in its 8-bit home computers; from the original PET of 1977, followed by the extended but strongly related versions used in its successors; the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Plus/4, C16, and C128...
, 4 KB character generator providing two 2 KB character sets)
- 20 KB (7 KB KERNAL
The ROM contains two important differences to a standard C64 ROM. The first is that switching on the machine without a cartridge present results in a character-based animation asking the user to insert a cartridge. The second is an additional set of windowing commands, designed to compensate for the lack of a keyboard. However, there is no known software that uses it.
- Video hardware: MOS Technology VIC-IIMOS Technology VIC-IIThe VIC-II , specifically known as the MOS Technology 6567/8562/8564 , 6569/8565/8566 , is the microchip tasked with generating Y/C/composite video graphics and DRAM refresh signals in the Commodore 64 and C128 home computers.Succeeding MOS's original VIC , the VIC-II was one of the two chips...
MOS 8569 (PALPALPAL, short for Phase Alternating Line, is an analogue television colour encoding system used in broadcast television systems in many countries. Other common analogue television systems are NTSC and SECAM. This page primarily discusses the PAL colour encoding system...
)- 16 colors
- Text mode: 40×25; user-defined characters; smooth scrolling
- Bitmap modes: 320×200, 160×200 (multicolor)
- 8 hardware sprites, 24×21 pixels
- Sound hardware: MOS Technology 8580 "SID"MOS Technology SIDThe MOS Technology 6581/8580 SID is the built-in Programmable Sound Generator chip of Commodore's CBM-II, Commodore 64, Commodore 128 and Commodore MAX Machine home computers...
- 3 voices, ADSR programmable.
- 4 Waveforms: Triangle, Sawtooth, Variable Pulse, Noise
- Oscillator Synchronization, Ring modulationRing modulationRing modulation is a signal-processing effect in electronics, an implementation of amplitude modulation or frequency mixing, performed by multiplying two signals, where one is typically a sine-wave or another simple waveform. It is referred to as "ring" modulation because the analog circuit of...
- Programmable Filter: High PassHigh-pass filterA high-pass filter is a device that passes high frequencies and attenuates frequencies lower than its cutoff frequency. A high-pass filter is usually modeled as a linear time-invariant system...
, Low PassLow-pass filterA low-pass filter is an electronic filter that passes low-frequency signals but attenuates signals with frequencies higher than the cutoff frequency. The actual amount of attenuation for each frequency varies from filter to filter. It is sometimes called a high-cut filter, or treble cut filter...
, Band PassBand-pass filterA band-pass filter is a device that passes frequencies within a certain range and rejects frequencies outside that range.Optical band-pass filters are of common usage....
, Notch Filter
I/O and power supply
- I/O ports:
- High-quality Y/C (S-VideoS-VideoSeparate Video, more commonly known as S-Video and Y/C, is often referred to by JVC as both an S-VHS connector and as Super Video. It is an analog video transmission scheme, in which video information is encoded on two channels: luma and chroma...
) (8-pin DIN plug) with chroma/luma out and sound in + out, used with some Commodore video monitors (DIN-to-phono plug converter delivered with monitor). - Composite videoComposite videoComposite video is the format of an analog television signal before it is combined with a sound signal and modulated onto an RF carrier. In contrast to component video it contains all required video information, including colors in a single line-level signal...
(one-signal video output to monitor included in afore mentioned 8-pin DIN plug, and separate integrated RF modulatorRF modulatorAn RF modulator is a device that takes a baseband input signal and outputs a radio frequency-modulated signal....
antenna output, which also carries sound, to TV on an RCARCARCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
socket) - 2 × screwless DE9MD-subminiatureThe D-subminiature or D-sub is a common type of electrical connector. They are named for their characteristic D-shaped metal shield. When they were introduced, D-subs were among the smaller connectors used on computer systems....
game controllerGame controllerA game controller is a device used with games or entertainment systems used to control a playable character or object, or otherwise provide input in a computer game. A controller is typically connected to a game console or computer by means of a wire, cord or nowadays, by means of wireless connection...
ports (Atari 2600Atari 2600The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
de facto standard, supporting one digital joystickJoystickA joystick is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. Joysticks, also known as 'control columns', are the principal control in the cockpit of many civilian and military aircraft, either as a center stick or...
each - Cartridge slot (slot for edge connectorEdge connectorAn edge connector is the portion of a printed circuit board consisting of traces leading to the edge of the board that are intended to plug into a matching socket. The edge connector is a money-saving device because it only requires a single discrete female connector , and they also tend to be...
with 6510 CPU address/data bus lines and control signals, as well as GND and voltage pins; used for program modules)
- High-quality Y/C (S-Video
- Power supply: 5V DC and 9V AC from external "monolithic power brick", attached to computer's 7-pin female DIN-connector
External links
- "The C64 Console!" / "Inside the future: The C64GS" – By Ed Stu, Zzap 64 magazine, issue 66, October 1990
- The Commodore C64 Games System – Photos and information from Bo Zimmermann's collection