Commodore 64 Thalamus Games In Order Of Greatness

Hey Whats up guys its OSG back with a new series of best software houses starting with Thalamus
Thalamus was one of the great Software houses and they made some great games for the C64. In this video we will go through all 14 of them in order of greatness.
Thalamus nearly always did well in Zzap64 and crash reviews and why wouldn’t they as they actually published both magazines. They worked with some great developers and also musicians such as Rob Hubbard and Mat Gray and were one of the first to use the Mix-E-Load loading system in Delta where the user could mix and change the loading music
Please like and subscribe if you like my stuff

[@Lucasrainford]

Thalamus always had a air of coolness to me in the C64 days. Bit like the Bitmap Bros in the Amiga days. I see the connection with Zzap64, the Oliver Frey artwork was absolutely sublime, love his stuff. I'd put Sanxion and Delta way up the list though, just for the fact that the music is just some of the best ever produced on this machine, but that's just my opinion. Great list m8, it was a top software house, used to read dev diaries on games in Zzap, Hunter's moon, followed it for months. Top game. Nostalgia overdose :)

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah mate although they only had 14 games they are all decent and the top 7 are great. Sanxion is a weird one for me and one I can vividly remember annoying the hell out of me as a kid.... We will all have our own order but for me this is it.

[@kevinpicone6485]

Delta was one of those that's was loved around my circle of friends back in the day, so much we started a fan remake for the Amiga 500 back in about 1991/92... There you go, some useless bit of irrelevant trivia for ya :)

[@Lucasrainford]

Is that remake available?

[@oldstylegaming]

What he said lol

[@kevinpicone6485]

@@Lucasrainford if I can find a version of it, i'll post it, but I wouldn't your hopes up.

[@Lucasrainford]

@@kevinpicone6485 lol ok :)

[@acidphaze]

The Armalyte title screen music never gets old.

[@towerbridge04]

In Quedex, you can decide which sub-game to play by pressing 0-9 on the keyboard. and there are 10 levels of difficulty for each sub-game, depending how early / late you decide to play it. Plenty of variety imho!

[@MarshCreature]

Dam quedex looks like an early amiga game. I recently got a c64mini and im loving it. Your videos are awesome and help me add great games to my mini.

[@oldstylegaming]

Thanks man

[@paultucker3143]

Thanks for showing off this software house. Didn’t explore Euro developed games until the Amiga, as the C64 had a lot of local development in the States. I’d suggest Epyx, though I also have a lot of fond memories using those keyboard overlays on those Microprose sims. I wish you continued success.

[@oldstylegaming]

Epyx is deep going on the list....good shout

[@drkamilz]

Hawkeye deserves every penny for just that parallax scrolling. I don't even count Jeroen Tel's tune.

[@ilmediosu]

it's just a static background. take a look to a very similar Hawkeye game, Flimbo's quest: it has a real parallax.

[@andchaos1]

creature is my favorite, its wort mentioning that Creatures had skill buy system, you could buy new projectiles to shoot when between stages, definetly one of the best games ever realesed on C64

[@perperikis5501]

Thanks for this. Great run down of this developer company. I didn't even remember this name. Excellent work.

[@dingo4010]

Hawkeye was one of my favourite games as a kid. I had a cracked version with unlimited ammo and lives which made it a lot better.

[@Nickbaldeagle02]

I remember if you typed "valsspeler" during the intro you could activate unlimited ammo and lives. Or maybe I was drinking 🍻

[@radicalbyte]

@@Nickbaldeagle02 that's dutch for "cheater", and boys-without-brains were a dutch group. so chances are you are right.

[@eskey691]

Top 3 all week long maybe with a bit of hawkeye chucked in to the mix, ace vid man thanks :-)

[@oldstylegaming]

Thanks for watching my stuff it means a lot to me

[@steelpatriot3683]

Was having a trip down memory lane with some of your old video's tonight ...👍 And on this one how fast were you running Delta !!!! 🤣 God, if it had been that speed on the old breadbin I would have passed out 😁 Great video.

[@buddah1978egypt]

Nice hawkeye mention, it rarely ever gets any notice, one of my fav games

[@oldstylegaming]

I actually had the poster up in my room it was one of the first games I bought with my own money from paper round

[@buddah1978egypt]

@@oldstylegaming nice haha

[@lordevyl8317]

Even if that particular genre of game isn't your cup of tea, it's worth loading up for the Jeroen Tel music alone...especially the title music.

[@waltherstolzing9719]

The loading screen for Hawkeye used to absolutely freak me out as a kid. Not being an English speaker, I then looked up the meaning of 'Boys without Brains' -- to my absolute horror. I suppose I was too young to figure out that that was the developer's name.

[@phillusted7364]

Hi OSG, greetings from Australia. Love the channel and the regular content is great. Like yourself I am an avid C64 fan and it was my first computer back in the early 1980's. Maybe you could cover some of the great UK software houses of the early to mid 80's? US Gold, Ocean, Mastertronic, Epyx for a start. If you are looking for a different angle you could always review the games magazines of the era such as ZZAP64. I found these mags very influential and used to study them cover to cover and follow their recommendations.

[@oldstylegaming]

I'm actually working on ocean at this moment ...but there are 107 games so it's gonna be epic ...I'll defo cover the other ones you mention too and its like you read my mind about zzap cos I actually had that idea a couple of month back and my mate sent me a load of magazines ;-)

[@dah72007]

Have to agree with you on Sanxion it was bloody hard!, love this series by the way

[@asgerms]

Amazing title screens! Thought you needed an Amiga to do that ;)

[@retro_reflections]

Great vid - not entirely sure I'd agree with the order 100%, but top stuff regardless!

[@oldstylegaming]

the order was always going to be subjective as there are different genres ....i think that although they wont be everyones order the top 7 are the best ones... Thalamus made some quality games though i think we can all agree on

[@vaderbase]

Armalyte is the best game ever. I love the sophisticated gameplay and all the details so much.

[@calvinhall4878]

Awesome game , tough but rewarding

[@skijumpnose]

Wow, Nobby The Aardvark, A platform game i never knew about, Looks nice and jolly

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah jolly but hard lol. It's obvs not as good as creatures but it's still defo worth a play

[@lordevyl8317]

old style gaming INSANELY difficult though

[@CaptainDangeax]

I share your number one : Armalyte. I played hours and hours, until I got my Amiga500...

[@earthad666]

Great video as always!

[@Simon0]

Nice to see creatures high in the list. I love that game

[@calvinhall4878]

Totally agree with the number 1...fantastic game.

[@scottbreon9448]

Retrograde reminded me of Dropzone on crack. Awesome game

[@MudSluggerBP]

Pretty much agree with this list, but I think I’d have put Creatures 1+2 in 1st and 2nd place 👍🏻

[@geoffreyjohnstone5465]

Absolutely Spot On

[@brannenthompson9662]

As always an amazing trip down memory lane to when a game would last weeks or months and not just because of loading times, aaah then we got invaderload with budget titles.

[@brannenthompson9662]

Armalyte I bought from Boots in Northampton for £3.99 I had no idea just the one box the rest were full price, I remember the bus trip home took ages.

[@oldstylegaming]

Haha I have a similar experience with Robocop ...I was reading the intructions all the way home....best times ever mate

[@marcelchrist4069]

I love the c64 the greatest 8bit computer of all time.

[@Nickbaldeagle02]

Gremlin games. My favourite was the original Wanted: Monty Mole.

[@acidphaze]

Yeah loved the Monty Mole series of games, but the Wanted Monty Mole game on the C64 wasn't like the original Spectrum version. Luckily the C64 sequels were just like the Spectrum versions, but with an awesome Ben Daglish & Rob Hubbard soundtrack.

[@philosoaper]

I probably would have put Snare in 3rd place instead of Creatures 2.. but can't argue with the top two.

[@Simon0]

Hmm I missed retrograde back in the day. Hunters moon though! That brings back memories

[@supermariofan772003]

Thalamus and System 3 were probably the two best publishers on the C64. Even if a Thalamus game was bad, there was at least some good to be found in it. Armalyte is a very difficult, but great shooter that could have been a console game. Quedex is an interesting puzzle game that really is like no other. Hawkeye, while not the greatest game to play, has some fantastic visuals and music. And Creatures 1 and 2 are both full of personality and charm. And while I haven't played the actual game yet, Sanxion is still one of my very favorite SID tunes. I'm hoping to maybe do reviews of all of the Thalamus games at some point. Once I'm done with my 7800 reviews, of course. ;)

[@Lucasrainford]

Sanxion is one of the best tunes ever created!

[@Turrican60]

Agreed - they were indeed great publishers for the C64. In fact, System 3 published the classic Flimo's Quest and, as you'll probably recall, that game pushed the C64 to its limits in terms of parallax scrolling, smooth sprite animation and fantastic music. Even today it's still a great platform game to play and a masterful example of C64 programming.

[@Lucasrainford]

@@Turrican60 Coded by Andrew Braybrook, he made some great games :)

[@Sinisteve]

That Hunters Moon looks great, never heard of it!

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah mate it's right up your street as I know you also love time pilot type games ... *hunters moon added to Sinisteves shopping list lol

[@Sinisteve]

old style gaming 😂😂know me too well

[@planetxsurveillance.dinkwi5766]

People charging over 200 quid at the moment lol

[@mysticwandererful]

I love that type of videos. Thanks for the efford. Can you upload a video about Double Density games with "order of greatness" title like this? I cannot find that publisher anywhere.. even on Wikipedia! They have some good games.. simple but good. Again! thanks for video.

[@oldstylegaming]

I'll look into it mate

[@POBileski72]

I went to a computer games convention in the late 80s. There was a Zzap 64 stand there, with some bloke signing posters for a game that was coming out. The poster looked pretty cool, so I got one from him. Turns out it was for Hawkeye, and the bloke's signature read, "Oli Frey". I've still got it in the attic.

[@oldstylegaming]

Nice I'm jealous ;-)

[@scottbreon9448]

Always loved Hunter's Moon. Heat Seeker reminded me too much of Booga Boo the Flea

[@deanshepherd967]

Always thought sanxion was overrated,would have put Delta a bit higher but glad you placed Hunters Moon highly as it was a great game,great video btw,try doing one for Epyx that would be interesting

[@oldstylegaming]

Will do mate :-)

[@deanshepherd967]

Keep up the good work buddy

[@Gab3ssz83]

Summert camp is my favorite C64 game.

[@MephProduction]

never got on with snare and delta, quite enjoyed all the others. have you done a vid on firebird?

[@oldstylegaming]

Not yet but I can if you want :-)

[@planetxsurveillance.dinkwi5766]

Aww was armylyte too hard for you bless. That's choked me to tears

[@chrissre7935]

I love how this was the era where everything went... Let's make a game about a leg shooting a basketball.. I don't know. Lets ad a frog to it... Approved!

[@maverickmac1188]

I would have Quedex and Delta a bit higher up the list, might even bump Sanxion up a spot or 2, but I agree with the top 3. I loved Quedex played it forever. There is actually an Amiga version called Mindroll but it never felt as good to play as C64 version and ohh the C64 music, just wow

[@goonergooner3572]

Hawkeye was a classic!

[@AnneJan]

Did you know there is a remastered version of Hunters Moon for sale at the Thalamus website? I have the Cartridge version but a download can be had for as little as two dollars / euro / pounds . .

[@GlenLehane]

Out of all these games that I wanted to play, the only one I did play (and own) was the excellent Creatures- it even came free with a mini toy! I did also play a demo of Creatures 2. Being an avid reader of ZZap/ Commodore Force, I thought the Rowlands brothers (Apex Computer Productions) were the coolest. What happened to them after they went Independent with Mayhem In Monsterland?

[@FabioErrante]

Where's that immense masterpiece that is Creatures??? 🤩

[@lordevyl8317]

Quedex was called Mindroll over here in North America. It was published over here by Epyx, I believe. Delta was also renamed to Delta Patrol, (published by EA---back when they still gave a fuck about their customers and producing good quality games) but I actually had an NTSC fixed version of the Thalamus release, which I got from a BBS back in the day

[@outdooradventures8773]

Armalyte is a truly perfect game

[@earthad666]

Do a best c64 shooters list? I think that’s where the c64 shines

[@oldstylegaming]

I'll re to do that :-)

[@securitysystem]

old style gaming Would be amazing. The winner has already been determined. It just HAS TO be Nemesis (aka Gradius)

[@Vindicator18]

Hey OSG, I was wondering if you could do a "Games In Order Of Greatness" on Zeppelin Games and Accolade?

[@oldstylegaming]

Ill defo look into it mate

[@patsfan4life]

Haven't seen a good Zeppelin game

[@SnakeWorksStudio]

AAGGHHH Sanxion is pronounced Sanction?? all these years since a kid I called it Zan-x-e-yon

[@amerigocosta7452]

Thalamus was always a safe bet when it came to spending your money on a C64 game. I'd personally give an higher place to Delta and lower to Nobby. An equally great publisher for the C64 was System 3, in my opinion.

[@oldstylegaming]

I'll be doing system 3 in the bear future ;-)

[@fatherjack636]

I liked Hawkeye but no way was that a Gold Medal game given by Zzap!.

[@oldstylegaming]

Thalamus actually published Zzap.....do the maths lol

[@lindacartwright8789]

..true, but that being said, they under-rated Delta (74%).

[@robchissy]

codemasters had a lot of great games and i believe they started out in sunderland. (i maybe wrong)

[@oldstylegaming]

I'm sure that codemasters has a distribution warehouse just over the back of where I live....I'll deep look into doing a video on that mate

[@robchissy]

@@oldstylegaming i looked inlin and it says they were down south, but, i remember that they started here, but no online info

[@dusanpiscevic6213]

Wow, I played all this games as a kid but never connected the dots that those were all Thalamus games. All these games have outstanding graphics and original graphic design. I liked some, some I didn't, but there is no denying that they all look amazing. Nobby wasn't to hard for me and despite popular oppinion at the time, I also loved original Creatures better than sequel. On the other hand, Thalamus Amiga output is bad in both graphics and gameplay, even if it is improved version of C64 games, like Creatures.

[@wettingfeld]

Re-edit the video, put Delta at #1, done! MicroProse have done some great games: Gunship, Airbone Ranger, F-19 Stealth Fighter. They always put effort into their manuals.

[@wlorenz65]

Hunter's Moon is closer to Survivor on the C64 than it is to Time Pilot the Arcade.

[@oldstylegaming]

Yeah i say that in my gems s video

[@laertesl4324]

Can you do Konami's games for the MSX?

[@oldstylegaming]

I'll add it to my list mate :-) what kind of games did konami do on the msx?

[@laertesl4324]

@@oldstylegaming Mostly arcade ports on cartridge. Much better than the usual spectrum ports we had in Europe: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Konami_games#MSX

[@paultucker3143]

Any favorite type in games?

[@oldstylegaming]

I was never really into text adventures. I can remember playing martello towers on the BBC though

[@lordevyl8317]

old style gaming I think he means type-in games as in the games you code in yourself that were featured in the back of magazines and not text adventures

[@oldstylegaming]

@@lordevyl8317 oh.... Well I only ever did one of them and it was a skiing game that was in the basic handbook that came with my c64.... Or maybe it was my vic20....hmmmm ...Anyway I spent ages doing it and then got syntax error at the end lol

[@Highretrogamelord]

Wait, you played Armalyte as a kid? I remember that you told me that you have never played Armalyte before or that you have ever heard of it when I mentioned Armalyte to you two years ago. I'm confused...

[@oldstylegaming]

No way mate I had armalyte I just didn't like it....I'm sure you must have that mistaken as I still have the original tape in my collection

[@Highretrogamelord]

@@oldstylegaming Actually, I still have your comment in my mail and yes, you said: "OMG I have just watched a video on armalyte can't believe I never played or even knew about that game.." ;)

[@oldstylegaming]

well i never knew the game but after playing it i did have it. It was one of those games like Zamzara that to me was far too hard and thus i never played them. Picking them back up later in life i realise that they were good and it was me that was. I forget about a lot of games i.e. i defo had Crazy Kong on Vic20 but totally forgot and bought it again not realising how bad it was lol ...my sister had all my games for C64 and Vic20 still and Armalyte was in there as well as katakis which i had also forgotten about...as a kid i was never really a shoot em up fan and only maybe in the last 10 years have i grown to love the genre...so yeah i may have said that but it was my memory that failed me which i think i have explained in this video when i said i never got on with it

[@oldstylegaming]

But yes i believe that i would have said that because that sentence is exactly how i write things

[@Highretrogamelord]

@@oldstylegaming Ah, okay. That explains it then. Now my confusion is lifted, thanks. :D

[@SocietyIsCollapsing]

Was Uridium in there? Am I on drugs? Well, technically, I guess I am.

[@Turrican60]

Nice video. Armalyte was renowned for being a tough bitch back in the day, but I still bought it. The music was atmospheric, and the gfx were superb for the C64, as were the animations. For me though, the Creatures games grab the top two spots (the original taking first place), with Armalyte third. Yes, Thalamus made quality games for sure....but how about reviewing the renowned *HEWSON* catalogue? Another classic name to think about is *RAINBIRD* .... 😉

[@oldstylegaming]

Oh hewson yeah I'll deffo do that

[@Turrican60]

@@oldstylegaming Looking forward to seeing it already. Thanks, bud 👍

[@averiguadimetu]

Hawkeye should be higher. One of the best C64 games.

[@christophercoey7804]

Armalyte is certainly the best. It's one of the best shoot'em ups of all time regardless of system. A big drop off after that imo. I'd have Hunters Moon after that, then maybe Creatures followed by Hawkeye.

[@oldstylegaming]

Hunters moon is one that i only recently was put onto and im liking it more and more everytime i play it

[@lordevyl8317]

As horrible as the controls were on the C64 version of Summer Camp, it's even worse on the Amiga. I love Thalamus, but their Amiga games were pretty lackluster.

[@maxsmarts8210]

Thats right man.

[@kayhansen6289]

Armalyte was awesome 👍

[@danielv9574]

Of course Hawkeye is Number 2. First place Armalyte is ok

[@Pinman1973]

Most of the game they PUBLISHED are not programmed by them so they don't deserve the credits.

[@spiderwatson9583]

Your english is extremely hard to understand :-(. Is it really english?

[@oldstylegaming]

Maybe you should go watch another channel then mate...yeah it is real English ...it's called a North East accent....and I wouldn't change it for the world ...

[@thomasthorstensson9998]

Hawkeye, Delta Quedex