20 Commodore 64 Games That Were Way Better Than We Expected

[@iser82]

Great to see Slicks getting some love. Absolutely banging menu theme too. Cracking list!

[@Lucasrainford]

Aww m8, no need to apologise! It was a simple mistake. Thanks for the Boycie loading screen, he was a great comedy actor. He was the only celeb at that event that didn't ask for cash for a selfie, top guy. Great vid! I was a skint teenage C64 owner back in the day so I bought a good few of these games. Action Biker was great, Zybex, Finders Keepers, I remember buying Panther as though it was yesterday! 1986, great nostalgia :) So many great C64 games here, another I liked was Warhawk. Great vid, thanks again for the loading screen....Gary?

[@oldstylegaming]

Lol Gary

[@Lucasrainford]

@@oldstylegaming oh and Onions.... ;)

[@michaelhall6178]

@@Lucasrainford Does he look like he works for a furniture store?

[@chloedevereaux1801]

@@oldstylegaming oh my god, he's an immigrant paaahaaaahaaaaa :D

[@JamesJameson]

Worth it for the laugh-out-loud loading screen for "Arnie"!

[@MRSTU1210]

Some great c64 games on here i had never seen before good work sir

[@oldstylegaming]

Glad you enjoyed

[@RyanDanielG]

Just what I was wanting after work! Thanks, friend! Cheers!

[@reagandow850]

Another great video my friend. I get so pumped every time I see a new video from you man. Thanks for so many sweet videos.

[@oldstylegaming]

aw thanks mate, really appreciate those kind words :-)

[@djrtg]

I was a fan of Codemasters Grand Prix Simulator for the 64. It was a budget Sprint clone. Cars were just rectangles with a white square to represent the front end. Controls were slippery but you could throw the cars around the corners when you mastered them. Good fun!

[@PHSPictures]

Of the titles in the video, I can say that Zamzara and Thrust truly deserve their high status. Brilliant video. Thanks for making it. I really enjoyed it. 👍👍👍

[@LemonTree9280]

New OSG content! Made my monday! I love your content. I didnt grow up in the UK so i love seeing all these games

[@Ethnar86]

Wow! Thank you so much for making this video! I had memory of playing Draconus but for the life of me I couldn't remember the name nor could find any screenshot of it with random search terms. Now I know, cheers! :D

[@MacMelmac]

Tilt is pretty impressive! Kick-start 2 was a favourite for me and my mate. We competed in making the fastest and most dangerous tracks we could.

[@8_Bit]

Lots of these games weren't available originally in Canada, but most Mastertronic games were available at the Zellers store for $10 Canadian on disk. Compared to most games costing $30-$50 on disk at the time, that was a good deal. So I bought Action Biker, Kikstart 2, Master of Magic, and Ninja and none of them disappointed. Great choices. Thrust, Arnie, and CJ's Elephant Antics are all games I came to appreciate later. Several of the games on your list I knew but didn't realize were budget, like Draconus and Zamzara. I gotta give Slicks, Tilt, and Panther another try. Thanks for the list!

[@oldstylegaming]

Slicks is unreal how good it is once you get used to it...but it is totally unforgiving lol

[@oldstylegaming]

Im sure I actually got Zamzara on a cover tape

[@charliep8776]

@@oldstylegaming same way I got it, on the cover of Commodore Format I believe

[@mrbronstein]

Some of these (including Slicks!) I for some reason had never heard of. As always a nice run down!

[@NaturalGallantBodybuilding]

Kickstart was my absolute favourite! Or at least close to it.

[@Bellpipe41]

Good stuff! Another cracking budget title was Slayer. I felt it was as good or better than many side-scrolling shooters at the time.

[@nerdygeezer78]

I remember so many of these games from back in the day. As Retro B8 has already mentioned I recently got a great C64 bundle & am so happy to have one in my collection again, only took nearly 30 years lol. Retro B8 told me what your gifting to me & I just wanted to say a big thank you, I really appreciate it 👍. Ace video

[@oldstylegaming]

I have a prgiuono you can have for your c64 mate with loads of games on. If you inbox me your address to [e-mail] ill get it sent off to ya ;-)

[@nerdygeezer78]

@@oldstylegaming Oh cheers mate your a true gent, that's fantastic. Cant wait to get this bad boy powered up, just waiting on a power saver cable. Thanks buddy I really do appreciate it 👍

[@oldstylegaming]

@@nerdygeezer78 no problem mate :-)

[@ncf1]

Another great video! Love the ideas you come up with

[@oldstylegaming]

well really i just listen to what people say in the comments and think of ways to make videos about them, so you lot play as big a part in these videos as I do

[@jonharris1654]

Kik start 2 is an absolute banger me and my brothers played 2 player for hours. The menu screen theme is my phone ring tone!

[@Retro_B8]

OMG panther!! I’ve been trying to find is for ages but never knew what it was called. Spent so long playing it as a kid I loved it! Awesome video as ever mate

[@Retro_B8]

Updated!!

[@mrttype]

Great video. F1 Tornado was a budget surprise on the Amstrad also. Zeppelin made some great stuff in the early ‘90s.

[@pnvgordinho]

Arnie looks pretty cool. So does Panther. And Tilt, the way it mimics tilt, its genius. Great video. Thanks.

[@RetroHenni]

Thanks again OSG! Ninja was one of the first games I saw on C64 at a friends place and I love to play it now and then. Kikstart 2 was one of my favorites. We had hours of fun back in the days building our own impossible tracks. Lovely memories...sigh

[@oldstylegaming]

Good times mate

[@minks36]

Really enjoyable video dude 👍 Flash Gordon is a budget game I got as a kid and was really impressed with it

[@charliep8776]

Great video, thanks for finding me some games to try out 👍

[@TheWarmotor]

Glad I discovered this channel :) It's really interesting to me to see the what you guys were playing in the UK, the C64 market looked a lot different over here in the colonies.

[@20thcenturygamingc64]

Great list and bang on about a lot of them being better than full price games

[@gamingquarterly6353]

Awesome video sir! Just got yourself a subscriber. Keep up the great work.

[@andyhodgson7692]

That CJ's elephant antics game is absolutely brilliant with music and graphics that are nearly as good as the Amiga version. I'm not sure but I think that the Amiga version also misses out the little intro from the C64 where CJ jumps out of the plane.

[@CarlosElDiablo1774]

So good that Codemasters re-used the game engine multiple times for DJ Puff, Stuntman Seymour and CJ in the USA of course.

[@MorganJustGames]

Nice list of games. I own some of them. I bought Pod and Finders keepers from Toys R Us. I have 2 cassettes of Slimeys Mine, and yes, i was blown away by its comical soubd effects. Cannot remember what we paid for em, but it was cheap as chips, and that cool. Zamzara is superb, but super tough. Nice to see Tilt in the list too.

[@CarlosElDiablo1774]

Zamzara was one of the best games to come on a Commodore Format PowerPack, one I was hooked on more than most.

[@Andrew-el8xi]

What a game Kane was ! I got most of my games from whsmith but found a record shop with a top floor that had budget games in Southampton! I loved finding those secret shops ! Dizzy the egg was brilliant !

[@ritchwaghorn6541]

What about Chiller from Mastertronic .? I loved that..

[@colleennoble1756]

Thank you, I have been trying to remember the great game that is POD, I bought it one Saturday morning from the local vacuum shop

[@tqft]

Tilt looks so advanced for the time! Great list!

[@Tempus1010]

6:36 Chris Butler is the programmer of the game "Commando" that is why both games, "Commando" and "Arnie" are so similar.

[@eskey691]

Ahhhhh back in the day getting my paper money and getting 3 or 4 games from Woolies going home and playing them for hours on end. Had a fair few game on this list and yeah the number 1 spot is right in my eyes. Also on a side note if you had a action reply MkIII (the one i had) you could take Clyde out of creatures and replce Cj in CJ elephant antics with him and it would work a treat, even the dance you got on the high score table looked sweet with Clyde doing it. Man i miss these days. Great video as always buddy so bring on the next one.

[@TheRetroManRandySavage]

OMG! Dizzy? I actually used to love that game. I had it on the amstrad. Hadn't thought about that game in years lol. Thanks for the reminder. I'm gonna have to get it again. 👍

[@ArttuTheCat]

DIZZY is absolutely a legendary game character. I actually had two of its games, FAST FOOD on the Commodore 64 and TREASURE ISLAND DIZZY on the Amiga 500. I'm 38 years old and still play the Commodore 64 and Amiga 500. 😺👍

[@gateroozeink5061]

Some great picks there, includes some of my faves. I'd add 3 more: 1. Park Patrol 2. Spore 3. LA Swat

[@djcasl]

Slimey's mine, played that a lot back in the day, that moment when you heard that speech for the first time "You are here, Get Ready"

[@vladt7150]

Glad to see Kane, Arnie, and Kickstart II on this list - and especially Zamzara! I got that via one of Commodore Format's Cover Tapes and it blew me away when I first played it - good times! 👍

[@JoshuaGanoTyraxLightning]

I had loads of fun on Ninja during my kiddo days... :) Especially with abusing the buggers outta the OP Jump Kick. :P

[@truecrimescotsman]

So glad to see the love for Action Biker!

[@KiR_3d]

Thank you! I'll play in some of these for sure now.

[@StuartVallantine]

A fantastic round-up there. I remember 'I-Ball' because of its later inclusion on a 'Commodore Force' cover tape though couldn't get into the game. In the said game, Rob Hubbard's music is actually an arrangement of 'Whip Blow' by Cabaret Voltaire from their 1985 LP 'The Covenant, the Sword and the Arm of the Lord'. In the last week, The Cabs' Richard H. Kirk has also passed away. For my budget bargains, I would also add '3D Snooker' (Zeppelin Games, 1992) which is also coded by Stephen 'Tilt' Walters. 'DJ Puff's Volcanic Capers' (Codemasters, 1992) was pretty polished for a £3.99 release as was 'Turbo The Tortoise' (another Codies game, previously released on the Hi-Tech label).

[@mattjames6349]

nice video, I love your best of lists! Tilt, Nod to screwball scramble if you remember that too?

[@oldstylegaming]

Screwball scramble the board game?

[@mattjames6349]

@@oldstylegaming yes. 😌

[@oldstylegaming]

@@mattjames6349 i still have that :-)

[@philhemmings5035]

Had forgotten about Draknos, that was an enjoyable game. Loved finders keepers too.

[@geoffreyjohnstone5465]

Awesome video and some real value for money to be had there for sure. From the classics like Thrust, Action Biker and Kickstart II to lesser known games like Slimey's Mine it pretty much covers most of the genres at pocket money prices. I got a hell of a lot of value from Warhawk, Anarchy and Park Patrol, I didnt pay more than £3 for any of them but had hours of fun on them. I got The Sentinel at a low price too but dont think it was a budget game. Honourable mention to One Man and his Droid as whilst I didnt have a clue as to how to play the game, the music was amazing

[@outdooradventures8773]

Some fantastic games here mate, forgot all about Tilt , i spend hours playing it

[@caeserromero3013]

I only had Kickstart 2 as a kid, but boy did I love it. And who hasn't used the track editor to make a track consisting only of ski jumps?? :)

[@xxxxSylphxxxx]

Good list! There's quite a few I'd have put there, like armalyte, but there's a lot on your list I agree with! (thanks for reminding me about I ball! I'm gonna play that today!)

[@oldstylegaming]

Armalyte is a class game but it was also full priced at 9.99

[@bubbapate5740]

Only one I remembered was Tilt. I had a Commodore 64 and a Commodore 128D so I could compile Unix code. The 128D had 64 mode or 128 mode.

[@ksauerrr]

The first Dizzy was AWESOME!!! All the Dizzy games for C64 and Amiga are my favorite ones for both systems. I even liked the Seymour clones... (yeah, I know, I am weird...). I would love to watch you make a video on Dizzy games for both systems. I think Crystal Kingdom Dizzy for C64 is the most amazing one. It almost looks as if it was an Amiga game - it stands out so much graphicly from the rest.

[@nomadjock]

Nostalgia overload there. Lots of great games, Action Biker, Kik Start II and i completely forgot about Panther, no better way to start the day than with a daily dose of old style gaming.

[@oldstylegaming]

Aw thanks mate :-)

[@hazy33]

Panther: the only game that tasks you with taking control of a flying bath tub.

[@willrobinson7599]

Lots I remember playing as a kid.as u say for 2.99 u didn't expect alot but sometimes u got an a absolute bargain.kane. cj .kikstart are a few I had off the list Keep the videos coming osg

[@robvegas9354]

Here in Australia the budget titles were usually $5 for a tape and $8 for a disc back in the day. Good times and always surprised to to see what you would get!!!

[@Vindicator18]

And you could get those compilations by ECP, and games like Tazz in single plastic packages that K-Mart could hang up.

[@ameldancalippo6912]

Does no one remember RocketBall. It was brilliant.

[@oldstylegaming]

yeah Rocket Ball is great...but was it Budget?

[@8_Bit]

It was £7.95 on debut, not budget :)

[@andrewdolby178]

Thrust and Kickstart were AWESOME but I reckon BMX was my budget fave

[@666Astrosmurf]

I agree on Kikstart II. Many hours spent. I didn't even know it was a budget game =P

[@leighpark3917]

Panther reminds me of viewpoint on the neogeo

[@oldstylegaming]

yeah its a bit similar like Zaxxon

[@adamhorton9759]

Owning a neo geo was a dream, I remember drooling over the graphics in computer and video games magazine.

[@ToysintheStatic]

I played a lot of Kane, great value! Also loved Aztec Challenge, Forbidden Forest and Zeppelin (though I never knew what I was doing!). I used to love Kikstart 1&2, my brother would make courses, but I was baffled by it recently.

[@TheVosack]

Kickstart 2 was WAY before its time. Such a great game that we played for hundreds of hours.

[@Ulysses-31-o]

Mastertronics Flash Gordon would be top of my list. The Hubbard music alone was worth the asking price.

[@Philosophoholic163]

Some of these bring back memories....

[@robertmitchell5069]

The music on panther was one of my favourites

[@klausstock8020]

IIRC, Psi-5 Trading Company was also a budget title - and that one *really* surprised me.

[@amerigocosta7452]

Yet an other killer list of gems! Most of them I knew but had probably forgotten about, some will be played soon. Many of them show some technical prowess, Tilt seems to have a polygonal engine, Panther's sprites look prerendered, and Slimey's mine's samples sounds are among the best.

[@philipthomas7536]

Some great games here, that brought back many happy memories. However, for value for money it's got to be invade a load, complete with the one man and his droid soundtrack, by the master himself.

[@philipthomas7536]

@@zigzagtoes same here. I used to do the same with mix e load on Delta as well.

[@RocketboyX]

Dragonus was is one of my most fondly remembered games.

[@pjcnet]

I spent hours mastering Action Biker until I finally completed it and it felt such an achievement, amazing value for £1.99, better than a lot of full priced games.

[@ArttuTheCat]

Awesome Commodore 64 games. Mostly i recommend these games: - DIZZY - MASTER OF MAGIC - NINJA - KIKSTART II - THRUST - ZAMZARA - CJ'S ELEPHANT ANTICS I never played Slicks before, but it looks awesome and reminds me of MICRO MACHINES, which i played many years ago on the Amiga 500 and Super Nintendo. That reminds me: when you showed NINJA, i still have that game on my Amiga 500, as NINJA MISSION. Thanx for an awesome Commodore 64 game video. 😺👍

[@dmac4048]

Thrust was incredible. Would still play it today giving the chance.

[@dennisneo1608]

Even back in the day, when I had a C64, I thought the games were shite. This video just reaffirms that.

[@oldstylegaming]

Ok

[@peterdalmationcro4217]

I’ve still got my 64 disk drive somewhere in my room, Gianna sisters, micro soccer, & golden axe were my favs.

[@oldstylegaming]

I always wanted a disk drive

[@peterdalmationcro4217]

@@oldstylegaming How are you mate, I bought it in 89 when I was a kid. I’ve still got it in my room somewhere, it’s in great condition but I haven’t got the box it came in. Fun times they were.

[@oldstylegaming]

@@peterdalmationcro4217 are you in the uk?

[@peterdalmationcro4217]

@@oldstylegaming I’m in Melbourne Australia 🇦🇺 buddy.

[@oldstylegaming]

@@peterdalmationcro4217 lol that explains it, disk drives werent really used thst much in the uk for c64

[@syncrow76]

I don't know if these were budget, but I think the gameplay is still fantastic to this day. I am talking about "Rally Speedway", "Burgenkampf", "BMX Simulator" (I wish I had known that there was a 4-player simultaneous version out back then!!!), I heard that "Psycho Pigs" was supposed to be a great 2-player game.

[@oldstylegaming]

Bmx simulator was defo budget not sure about rally speedway as it was a really early commodore game so mags werent about to get the price from

[@syncrow76]

@@oldstylegaming Do you know all these games, I think they are really great! I know lots of games, but I keep coming back to them, especially Rally Speedway, great gameplay!

[@TheSudsy]

Kickstart, Thrust, summer games, and paradroid occupied most of my time from 16-17 yr old at my mates house (I was Spectrum). It says a lot that two of these are Mastertronic / Budget price games. Special Times. And then we got shareware and Freeware with the Amiga - with some stonkers.

[@raggeragnar]

Oh man ! I used to play so much Tilt , Action biker and most of them , Master of magic.

[@Heaven-dy9lj]

Clumsy Colin - Action Biker, Zybex, Panther Ninja, Draconus, and Thrust were on the Atari XL : )

[@awatson3367]

Loved Kane and I had the first Kikstart, which I also enjoyed. Zamzara was included on the Commodore Format cover tape one month, and I gave it plenty of play. Really nice looking game I always thought. I'd add Mastertronic title Scumball to the list. A really great game, with just the right difficulty to give 10 year old me a chance.

[@steelpatriot3683]

Finders Keepers was brilliant and a trailblazer…..When you reflect on how early a game it was for what it was doing (with its in game menu systems to manage objects) it was a corker. You could also probably get away with Spellbound on the list because as a £2.99 MAD game there was no way anyone predicted such an evolution in the game play with the sequel. The menu system was enhanced into basically Windows before it’s time (and with a ripping soundtrack).

[@milthyswinbuckle5158]

Excellent vid as ever. I only discovered Tilt and Slicks recently through emulation. Two of my fave C64 games now. Also, I believe that 3D Pinball uses the same engine as Tilt, and is a great Pinball game. Not sure if it was budget though?

[@oldstylegaming]

Friggin hell i put that iball in cos i was one short after discovering that catalypse was a full price game... i defo should have had 3d pinball in as it was a £2.99 Mastertronic game

[@garethbraint]

Who didn't have 3d pinball on the c64?

[@purplehaze2342]

Not sure if it's a budget game but I loved Armour of Antiriad,

[@adamhorton9759]

What a game, I had it on a compilation tape.

[@oldstylegaming]

Great game but was £8.95

[@Gimpylung]

Codemasters Rallycross deserves an Honourable mention, I guess this is the mention lol.

[@rcchronicles25]

Great video OSG. I loved playing thrust but I don't remember having it for my C64, it triggered a memory of playing it in Junior school on a computer there? Did they make it for other platforms?

[@oldstylegaming]

Atari had thrust too i think

[@fatherjack636]

I remember seeing Commodore Format giving Tilt a great score and not believing it was that good. After playing it I could see why. A great little game. Adored CJ and Annie was fun.

[@oldstylegaming]

Did you know that CJ was the prototype for Newzealand story?

[@gingerhippygaming7962]

Some great games mate some I have never played. Retrob8 told me about your channel and glad I did even though I'm more a zx spectrum fan lol Look forward to seeing more Did you say your going to the play expo in Blackpool so am I really looking forward to it

[@oldstylegaming]

Ill do some spectrum videos if you like ? I have 3 real spectrums

[@gingerhippygaming7962]

I'm actually just about to record a spectrum vid super flesh boy. I review lots of different micros the BBC was a fun one and I have a dragon 32 and ti99 to do soon

[@oldstylegaming]

@@gingerhippygaming7962 ti99 is where martin webb the coder of outrun on the c64 started.

[@gingerhippygaming7962]

Didn't know that

[@videogamebookreviews]

After playing I,Ball I bought I,Ball II. I was surprised to find it was a platform puzzle game! Then I was even more surprised to find how good it was!

[@velouris76]

I loved Master of Magic!! And I-Ball!!! Was surprised that Park Patrol wasn’t on list.

[@oldstylegaming]

For sure Park Patrol should have been on here... i never even knew it was budget but it was at only £1.99

[@velouris76]

@@oldstylegaming To be fair, it was a full price game to start with, it was originally released on Activision (I think) around 83/84…and think it was full price, but the original release may have been US only. Then around 87, it was re-released on Firebird at £1.99.

[@CarlosElDiablo1774]

Slicks' real benchmark is it's 2 player mode was the prototype for what would become Micro Machines on the 16-bits.

[@merman1974]

A great list there. CJ's Elephant Antics is one of the few titles I took a chance and bought without seeing a ZZAP! review - and it was brilliant. Zybex remains one of my favourite C64 shoot 'em ups, and Tilt is brilliant. Arnie and P.O.D are great for a few minutes' blast. Not too keen on Ninja myself, it's bugged and very simplistic.

[@oldstylegaming]

Maybe its simplistic but for the price i think its ok

[@gamingtonight1526]

Exactly the same feeling sometimes with cheap indie games on PC today!

[@retrotronics1845]

Accolade's Grand Prix Circuits on C64 is an absolute miracle, if you watch a video you will think this is unplayable due to low frame rate.....when you play it you discover the handling/response time is nothing like the screen update of 3-4fps and is really really playable.

[@retro_reflections]

So many quality budget titles back in the dim and distant putting full-price publishers to complete and utter shame.

[@KurtWoloch]

I like Street Surfer very much since I'm into 3D racing games... Street Surfer has very fast and smooth 3D graphics (faster than many other comparable racing games on the C-64), a good topic (protect the environment from litter) and very atmospheric music that really conveys the feeling of riding around on a summers day.

[@MinutzAkira]

Can anyone help me find a C64 game from my childhood please? The main thing I remember is that there was a sort of time travel mechanic. You would hop into some kind of machine, select a year and it would transport you there then you'd go out and explore. It was side scrolling but may have had some vertical screens too. I think you had to shoot things and survive and maybe there was a time limit. It's one of the few games from my childhood I'm still struggling to identify. Many of which I've found thanks to this channel. Cheers!

[@interghost]

That was an amaizng video mate. As a Speccy fan boy I always love seeing how the C64 and Amstrad did the same games and Im ashamed to say, a lot of times they did it beter lol. Cool list thanks!

[@stunthumb]

For me, it would have to be Codemasters Rally Cross. It was a lot like Hot Rod in the arcades, damn fine top down racer. Other than that... buying the Hit Squad budget release of Wonder Boy on C64 was a great day, it's really fantastic - maybe even the best arcade conversion for C64 IMO.

[@stevec.8411]

ZEPPELIN was also a great buget game! a shoot em up where you controll a zeppelin in a cave maze.

[@DjClarky78]

Thrust was a brilliant game - but so hard. I never completed it. I had the Slicks demo from a Commodore Format Magazine - played it loads. Me and my brother had a commodore 16+4 before the C64. There were a few surprisingly good games on that - I remember playing: Treasure Island Fireant The Exploits of Fingers Malone. G-Man All good games.

[@gaborszabo6406]

I played some hours with Slicks 2 weeks ago :) best racing game on c64! When it came out, i played a lot with it

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah its awesome mate the best ive ever finished is 3rd in the first season

[@highlandpaddy2756]

this guy should start a company organizing stag nights