Tag Archives: C64

Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar, Commodore 64

The fourth game in the Ultima series first came out on the Commodore 64 in 1985 and the game was converted by Chuck Bueche, who also did a great job of porting the third Ultima to the C64. So it plays similarly to its predecessor. Ultima IV was also re-made by The Genesis Project in 2015, with superb new graphics, a trainer, bugfixes, a savegame editor, fast-loading d81 and CRT (cartridge) versions, and various other enhancements. If you’re playing the C64 version for the first time then that’s the version I’d recommend – unless you deliberately want to play the original version. I’m showing the 2015 remake here first, then at the end of the set I’ve shown screenshots of the original 1985 version, for comparison. It’s easy to tell them apart.

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Ultima III: Exodus, Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 version of Ultima III: Exodus was first published by Origin Systems in 1983 and came on three floppy disks. There is a fan-made ‘Gold’ version of the game available, that has compressed these down to a single floppy disk file, which saves a lot of disk-swapping, and that’s the version that’s probably worth finding, if you want to play this game on the C64.

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Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress, PC

Originally released by Sierra On-line in 1983, the PC MS-DOS version of Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress is pretty much the same as the Apple II original – except for the graphics which are four-colour CGA and look pretty awful. Thankfully there’s a fan-made patch, by The Exodus Project, that upgrades the graphics and fixes a few bugs and that’s the version I’m showing here. Note that at the end of this sequence of screenshots I’ve also shown the CGA version of the game for comparison.

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Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress, Commodore 64

The 1983 Commodore 64 version of Ultima II: The Revenge of the Enchantress is a bit of a mixed bag in my opinion. On the one hand it is a gigantic, innovative, involving, and highly challenging Role-Playing Game, and a worthy sequel to the first Ultima (which was a great game). And on the other hand it is a fiddly, visually insipid and annoyingly vague quest into who knows what kind of fantasy, time-travelling nonsense…

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Ultima I: The First Age of Darkness, Commodore 64

Although the first Ultima game was an Apple II original, the Commodore 64 version of this early RPG is arguably the best-known. Re-made and released in 1986, the C64 version of Ultima [one] features colourful graphics and absorbing gameplay that is pretty much identical to the Apple II remake.

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Confuzion, Commodore 64

Confuzion was written by Paul Shirley – of Spindizzy fame – and published by Incentive Software in 1985. It’s a sliding puzzle game where you have to re-arrange tiles so that a spark can reach a bomb before the timer runs out.

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Law of the West, Commodore 64

Law of the West was developed and published by Accolade in 1985 (it was distributed by US Gold in the UK and Europe), and is a ‘Wild West’ style action game where you play as a sheriff in the frontier town of Gold Gulch.

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Strike Fleet, Commodore 64

Strike Fleet is a naval combat simulation developed by Lucasfilm Games and first published by Electronic Arts in 1988. It is the unofficial sequel to the game P.H.M. Pegasus* and it received rave reviews at the time of its original release. * = You can even take control of a Pegasus class craft if you want, which is a classy nod to the game’s predecessor.

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P.H.M. Pegasus, Commodore 64

P.H.M. Pegasus was developed by Lucasfilm Games and first published by Electronic Arts in 1987. It is a naval combat simulation where the player uses helicopters, convoy ships and hydrofoils to patrol and survey the sea, to clear areas of enemy forces, and escort friendly ships through risky waters.

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Thing Bounces Back, Commodore 64

Thing Bounces Back is the 1987 sequel to Thing On A Spring and it is more of the same platforming action, starring ‘Thing‘, the spring-with-a-head-and-feet, and similar mechanics to the first game.

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