Top 50 Commodore 64 (C64) games of 1985 - in under 10 minutes

Hello and welcome to the third episode of TOP 50 Commodore 64 (C64) games in under 10 minutes.
1985 could be considered a great year for C64 gaming. With games like Elite, Kikstart, Robin of the wood, Boulder Dash 2, the legendary Commando and numerous other great titles, there was a lot of choice there for Commodore fans.
Games are, as always, presented in no particular order.
Have fun and let us know in the comments if you agree with our choices (and if we missed a title that should be on the list).

[@user-tb5ns7hc5i]

It always surprises me how little crossover in games there were between the C64 and the Atari 8-bits. I owned an 800xl and my neighbour a C64 and we’d go to each other’s houses to play the games we couldn’t get for our system. Lol. Best of both worlds! Atari definitely had better classic arcade titles, but the Commodore had a way larger library of really weird creative artsy indy stuff. Then we’d goto school and it was all Apple machines. I had 3 different boxes of 5.25” disks - 1 for each system, that I used to pack around daily depending on what was the computer of the day. It was fun copying crack’d ripped versions of the games and then sharing them with all our friends for all the systems. Gave away all my C64 and Apple disks long ago but still have the Atari ones - and they amazingly still work with few errors and data loss 35+ years later!

[@jimmyj4m]

Wow! Commando, Way of the exploding fist, beachhead II and kickstart! 4 of my favourite games of all time 💖

[@sunglassesron9464]

The music from Commando stirred some memories for me :)

[@leefr76]

I got my C64 on Christmas 1985, had a few of these games. Upgraded to an Amiga on Christmas 1989.

[@bbartky]

Robin of the Wood-wow! I don’t think I’ve seen that one in over 35 years.

[@retrononame]

One of my favourite 8-bit games ever.

[@perholmstrom7050]

A lot of ZX Spectrum conversions in 85 too, many of these were the ones I played at the time.

[@satan3959]

No Microprose games? No Gunship? No Microprose Soccer? No F-15 Strike Eagle?

[@lucius1976]

3:57 Heart of Africa. Completely slipped my mind. Loved that game back then!

[@t-max7261]

Same here! Finishing it was one of my greatest accomplishments on the C64 back in the day!

[@robertopaolo4625]

Thank U so. much. A trip over all those fabolous years! God bless U

[@retrononame]

I'm glad you liked the videos. Stick around - there's more to come soon ;) And, thank you for watching!

[@dryfloater]

So many great games for the 64 and nice list!. Ultima 3 Exodus and the Strategic Simulations Dungeon and Dragons Games were great too

[@lovemussb1940]

I was the nuts at hungry Horace ,chuckle egg and hyper sports!! 👍🏼

[@lonardgetchell-bm9lc]

I only had 6 of these games. Top 6: 1. Winter Games 2. Yi Ar Kung Fu 3. Summer Games 2 (1 was better) 4. Commando 5. Beach Head 2. 6. Kickstart.

[@phrtao]

It is good to see these games again but they did not look like this back when they came out. The graphics were designed to be converted to analog TV and shown on a CRT screen. This had the effect of smoothing out some of the harsh edges and clever design of the colour contrast could be used to give the appearance of a higher resolution and even more colours. We need an emulator that can simulate this to get the full experience.

[@kwinter2541]

Winter Games(!) . that one was my favorite .

[@robertdecker146]

"Hardball" and "Karateka" are Good C64 games from 1985. I think "Toy Bizzare" is also from 1985. One of The "Ultima" games is from 1985 as well. "The little computer people research project" and "The Music Studio" are two Very noteworthy C64 programs from 1985. Oh, i Almost forgot another Good game from the C64 that came out in 1985,..."G.i Joe"..!!!!

[@Nikioko]

Bard's Tale and Elite are the big names on this list.

[@dominikschutz6300]

Great list :)

[@markallison8108]

I had a Commodore 64 and I recognized only like 5 of those games.

[@waswolltihr1526]

Same.

[@gipgap4]

Many of these games were conversions from the ZX Spectrum so if you’re from the USA you may not recognise several of the titles listed.

[@eterenostalgia5088]

I'm Antonio from Italy, Fantastic old games !!!

[@retrononame]

I'm glad you liked the video. Thanks for watching!

[@KristerNielsen]

God I miss the old days. The excitement of trying out new games was different that now. Maybe because consumer technology like computers still was fairly new.

[@oo0Spyder0oo]

Summer and winter games were a favourite in my house but hoping the next event would load without locking up on the old cassette tape was a pisser! Getting a disk drive sure was a godsend in those days.

[@hoagieimpact9189]

1985 - What about Gribbly's Day Out, Rescue on Fractalus!, Hacker, Karateka, Law of the West, Little Computer People, Magic Madness, The Eidolon, Mr. Do!, and Ballblazer?

[@patsfan4life]

No worries dude

[@jason11279]

I never knew somebody ripped off Marble Madness, but I'm not surprised

[@dennyhaynes3]

What a brilliant year 1985 was for the C64, many of those gems I had back then

[@retrononame]

It really was a good year for C64, wasn't it? :) Was really enjoying making this one.

[@virtuafighter3]

1985 was the start of the C64 pulling away from the competition in terms of quality games on a consistent basis. The music was starting to be quote advanced now for example. In this clip you see old games like Jet Set Willy come across and then you have more complicated games /programmes too emerge like Commando.

[@carlchapman4053]

As a counter point... Yes the C64 had better graphics, sound and less colour clash, which meant that the Spectrum games had to be BETER in gameplay to keep the audience. Yes I was a Spectrum kid growing but one of my best friends owned a C64 and it was a massive conflict of interest because the C64 'DRUID' was not just an amazing game but it allowed a second player to control the Golem when it was available. However follow this trail.. Chaos - Lords of Chaos - Laser Squad - XCOM (Enemy Unknown). A literal bloodline of games that shaped an entire generation of games which inspired the creators of the games that todays creators look back upon. Yes we can all talk about Wolfenstein or Outrun but without 'Colony', 'Codename Mat 2' or 'Renegade' there wouldn't have been programmers making 'Syndicate', 'Elite' or 'Street Fighter' Just as BetaMax was better than VHS, the C64 was better that the Sinclair Spectrum but that only made it more expensive, not the more popular so it died a death whilst I still have a Spectrum Emulator today to play my favourite games from 30+ years ago

[@nifftbatuff676]

Jet set Willy was funnier than Commando.

[@carhasenfratz]

Ok who else tried to make their divers do belly flops in summer games to see who could get the worst score?

[@dr.ignacioglez.9677]

I LOVE MY C64 ❤❤❤❤ FOREVER ❤❤❤❤❤❤❤

[@scottythegreat1]

I'd have put Rock n Bolt in there and Beyond the Forbidden Forest.

[@Maxozavrmp3]

Thx 4 video! It was a very rare computer on territory of former USSR. Unlike Speccy.

[@retrononame]

You're welcome. Thanks for watching!

[@b213videoz]

Speccy was rare too - unlike its clones 🤪

[@Maxozavrmp3]

@@b213videoz Yep, clones)

[@neilthomas6042]

An interesting list, it's a shame that I didn't own or played the system and the games at the time.

[@retrononame]

I didn't have C64 back then as well (my cousin did - I was a Spectrum kid in the 80s). This is also one the reasons these series are interesting for me to make today - some of the games I also never played before. Thanks for watching!

[@davedogge2280]

Elite was 1984 as I remember the Zzap! 64 issue #1 reviewing it.

[@flowerpot5207]

The first issue of Zzap was published in April 1985, although the original BBC version of Elite was indeed released in 1984.

[@davedogge2280]

@@flowerpot5207 shocked to find that it was that late, May 1985 is when I first picked it up off the shelf, never heard of it before just knew of Elite and wanted it. I do I think remember that they got an early copy of C64 Elite as it was certainly around 5 weeks after minimum until you could buy the game. A great start to a great era.

[@flowerpot5207]

@@davedogge2280 Yeah, I remember there was a lot of hype about Elite. I bought it because of that and played it for about 6 months non-stop. It's my favourite 8-bit era game.

[@satan3959]

Funny enough, the C64 version of Thrust, even though it first released C64, was actually first developed on the Beeb.

[@VIC-20]

great!

[@retrononame]

Thank you!

[@Nikioko]

2:53: This looks like a Marble Madness clone to me.

[@klaushoschi2143]

The transition from Elite to Hyper Sports... 😂brilliant!

[@retrononame]

😁

[@patsfan4life]

Exploding Fist is the Grand daddy of all pc karate head 2 heads

[@neilthomas8070]

The only one I played was Frak!. Not sure if it was on the 64 or the BBC Micro.

[@christianjoost7239]

Alter die Grafik damals🙈🙈 und das fanden wir cool 😅

[@carlchapman4053]

As a counter point... Yes the C64 had better graphics, sound and less colour clash, which meant that the Spectrum games had to be BETER in gameplay to keep the audience. Yes I was a Spectrum kid growing but one of my best friends owned a C64 and it was a massive conflict of interest because the C64 'DRUID' was not just an amazing game but it allowed a second player to control the Golem when it was available. However follow this trail.. Chaos - Lords of Chaos - Laser Squad - XCOM (Enemy Unknown). A literal bloodline of games that shaped an entire generation of games which inspired the creators of the games that todays creators look back upon. Yes we can all talk about Wolfenstein or Outrun but without 'Colony', 'Codename Mat 2' or 'Renegade' there wouldn't have been programmers making 'Syndicate', 'Elite' or 'Street Fighter' Just as BetaMax was better than VHS, the C64 was better that the Sinclair Spectrum but that only made it more expensive, not the more popular so it died a death whilst I still have a Spectrum Emulator today to play my favourite games from 30+ years ago

[@staggabob]

What a load of nonsense! The C64 sold 3x as much as the Spectrum. It didn't "die a death" because of its price, it was still being sold almost a decade after it first released. You play Spectrum games on emulator because they're the games you remember, did you think nobody plays C64 emulators you numpty?!

[@satan3959]

Question: Where's Bionic Granny? Answer: In the sewer where it belongs

[@orlandodilasso]

How I love Paradroid!!!!!

[@rupertschwarz5477]

Was the grafic the same of is the emulator different. It is interessting that I remebered a far better grafic, but I think we made it up with Imagination.

[@retrononame]

There could be differences in color palette (even original C64 colors depended on monitor/TV you were using and the settings) but "pixel wise" I would say the graphics are the same between the emulator and the real C64 (or at least extremely close).

[@drg5352]

IIRC, VICE has different pallets for color that you can select. But still, it was 320 x 200 resolution in Bitmap mode, with 16 colors, though you could "get" more with various techniques I don't know how to do. There's only so much you can do. Still, look up the Eye of the Beholder or Doom ports for the C64 as an example of what is possible with that 320x200 and 16 colors.

[@patrickw.2887]

Who dare Wins 🤩😍🥰

[@lurkerrekrul]

Fighting Warrior? Really? I did't know anyone who liked that game. You just walk along fighting an endless procession of enemies and you never seem to be making any progress. It just keeps going and going.

[@hullergthgt]

Да

[@C64sidVSsid]

There are more good games :) slice,katakis, io, r type... pffff a lot...😊

[@MephProduction]

some of those games were truly awful lol

[@retrononame]

Some looked a bit strange, but I did liked them all (those that are in the video). Some take a bit to figure out what you are supposed to do though (but we got Google these days :) )

[@sunglassesron9464]

Disappointed there was no "The Last V8"... :(

[@retrononame]

Sadly, I limited myself to 50 games per episode (year) and there were a lot of great games released in 1985. Sorry that Last V8 didn't make the cut.