Which is Better: C64 or NES? - Let's Compare Games starting with C

Join us on an epic journey as we dive deep into the world of retro gaming with a thrilling C64 vs. NES! In this exciting video, we compare and contrast the iconic Commodore 64 and the legendary Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Learn about the system specs for the Commodore 64 and NES.
Prepare for a gaming extravaganza as we delve into seven classic games starting with the letter C, including Castlevania, Contra, Commando, Choplifter, California Games, Circus Charlie, Cabal, Caveman Ugh-lympics! Witness the side-by-side comparisons of the C64 and NES versions, as well as the original arcade releases, to uncover the differences and enhancements made in each adaptation.
With entertaining commentary and factual insights, we provide an immersive experience that will leave you nostalgic for the golden age of gaming. Discover which system comes out on top in terms of graphics, sound, gameplay, and overall enjoyment.
Don't miss out on this exciting video! Subscribe to our channel, 'Floppy Deep Dive,' to stay updated on all things retro gaming. Hit the thumbs up button, share your thoughts in the comments, and join our Patreon community for exclusive content and to support future episodes. Get ready to relive the magic of the Commodore 64 and the NES - it's time for the ultimate showdown
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#C64vsNES #RetroGaming #ClassicGaming #Commodore64 #NintendoEntertainmentSystem #GamingComparison #VideoGameHistory #ArcadeClassics #RetroVersus #NostalgicGaming #VintageGaming #RetroGamers #GamingCommunity #GameReview #GameComparison #GamingShowdown #C64Gaming #NESGaming #FloppyDeepDive

[@timlocke3159]

I like that you talked about how responsive the controls are because that is something viewers can't see.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Hey, thanks, Tim! I'm making notes as I play, so when I write scripts, I can go back and comment about what I liked or didn't like, and controls are a big part of it for me when playing. Thanks for always being active in the community!

[@HAn-ie2zp]

Commando on C64 was a clear winner

[@Sinn0100]

Oh man was Commando bad on the Nes.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

The Commodore has some great games this round. Thanks for watching.

[@gaminglazarus4343]

commodore 64 wins

[@SchardtCinematic]

Rob Hubberd always gave us top notch music for games on the Commodore 64. Commando high score music is on my phone.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep, he really had a huge impact on all of us C64ers. His music alone changed a bad game to memorable.

[@SchardtCinematic]

@Floppy Deep Dive Yes so many awesome tracks I still listen to today.

[@Fastbikkel]

C64 and NES for me personally are from different generations. During the mid to late 80's, the C64 was found almost everywhere in my place. By the time the NES finally made it's appearance with some friends of mine, others already migrated to Amiga or pc. The first NES i ever saw up close was in 1991. To buy one felt like a waste of money because i wanted an amiga by then.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

That is very similar to my experience with the NES.

[@Fastbikkel]

​@@FloppyDeepDive I also cannot remember a lot of marketing surrounding the NES. It felt like a niche product that missed it's mark. The only game that made a real impression on me was duckhunt, because of the gun. ;-)

[@scottythegreat1]

Id argue that the Commodore 64 and the NES were in the same generation. The C64 came out in 1982. The NES, 1983 (but didnt get released outside of Japan until 1985). The reason the NES is often mistaken as the next generation was that consoles back then used cartridges. These cartridges expanded the life of the NES by a whole generation. Genyo Takeda and his R&D3 team spent quite some time in the US, and reverse engineered a Pitfall II (Atari 2600) cartridge and learned how to expand the use of a console by adding processors and memory to the cartridges. Nintendo would never admit that they stole other people's ideas (and then would often turn around and throw copyright law at everything they could). Part of the reason North America experienced a processor chip shortage back in the late 1980s was because the NES was so popular that it raised prices due to all the chips in the cartridges.

[@jayramsey690]

In my humble opinion, three things held the C=64 back: one button joystick, only 16 colors, weak developers. For example, when playing ALCON (Slapfight?) in order to upgrade your ship, you had to take a hand off the joystick and reach for the space bar. The lack of color variety severely limited graphic richness, and as a proof of concept, someone ported the NES Super Mario Bros. To the C=64 almost pixel for pixel. If developers wanted a killer app for the C=64, it was possible to go toe to toe with the NES .

[@FloppyDeepDive]

I agree with your humble opinions! Thanks for watching

[@RandomBitzzz]

I agree with your take on these. I think the lower res graphics on the C64 made the look of Caveman Ughlypics look way better. I remember clearing the t-rex in the high jump, but it's been over 20 years since I've played - so I don't remember the controls. And yeah, California games on the C64 smokes the NES. I think Choplifter "suffered" on the C64 as it was likely based on a port from another micro. If you look at the other micro versions released at the time they all look somewhat similar. The C64 version even used the standard character set (over graphics) in the score area (hearts, diamonds, etc) The extra power on the NES gave the devs more to room to port over the arcade version. It was also released several years later, so I'm sure there were more suffocated programming techniques that the industry had learned. Not really trying to make excuses for Choplifter for the C64. It was just a product of its time.

[@IsaacKuo]

Choplifter was originally an Apple ][ game, and the C64 port is very faithful. It was ported to many other systems, to varying degrees of success. The VIC-20 version is particularly interesting and stripped down. But the C64 port's most interesting "feature" is that they decided to replicate the original's NTSC chroma artifact colors. I guess they thought that the game looked too lacking in color otherwise. The Choplifter arcade game isn't even the same game. It's really a sequel, with different gameplay elements and features. There's not any particular technical reason why it couldn't have been ported to the C64, but I guess they figured C64 gamers weren't interested by then.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep, it's not really an Apples to AppleS comparison on Choplifter since C64 came out in the early 80s and was carried over from the original from Apple II. Where NES was based off Sega’s upgrade. I thought it was cool how it evolved over the years.

[@JustMe99999]

I'm loving this series... I never had a C64 (my parents bought an original IBM PC in 1981, so I was a DOS guy)... consoles for me were Atari 2600, NES, and Master System in the 80's, so I'm much more used to the NES versions of these games.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks, Justme! Glad you are loving it. The playlist has them all available that I made so far. kzbin.info/aero/PL70122o_bB72W_FBL9dcanR0_wjn9KRf0

[@gamingtonight1526]

I am a computer gamer. So VIC-20, C64, Amiga, IBM PC. Never touched console games, other than through emulation, starting in the 2010's!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Very cool! Welcome to the community! Thanks for watching!

[@ClassicGameSessions]

Love this series Tom. Both systems have always been close to my heart and it looks like the viewers agree too based on how these videos are taking off 😅 It's great to compare these legendary platforms and I thoroughly enjoy the games you're highlighting. I won't get techhnical here as it appears to have been covered in other comments. Games like Commando are so great on the C64 and I will always think of playing it on that system and Konami games like Castlevania I have generally played on the NES which I've always found great. Both are superb and have their place. It's tough seeing them pitted against each other as they are both cherished and unique but this clash of the retro titans definitely does make for a great comparison and discussion indeed! 👍

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks CGS! I have been enjoying these a lot! Love getting everyone’s insight and seeing how they were impacted by whatever system they grew up with and how they will defend it to the end. I’m just love playing all thes games again and some of the NES for the first time. I’ve been adding a lot more cartridges to my collection doing these videos. As always thanks for being part of the community and always commenting my friend!

[@kidsp7003]

I didn't know about C64 because NES and MSX were more famous in my country. However, I became a fan of C64 after watching your channel.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks! You made my day!

[@c64konami96]

Great video! Every choice you made you were right on the money on what conversion is better.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Appreciate you watching!

[@carlwells9504]

I loved playing C64 back in the day but something that always bugged me with it compared even with the likes of the Sinclair Spectrum was it’s muddy colours. I feel bar the music the Nintendo should take most of these especially with instant loading.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Instant loading is sweet! Thanks for watching!

[@oahupc4688]

I like that the index says shoplifter instead of chop lifter. Lol great idea for a game!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Lol, dang KZbin automatic subtitles! Thanks for Watching!

[@clauscombat418]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/qWmteJakqrGfqbssi=m0z4Kw_GZnULmuU0😊

[@GCSoundArtifacts]

Just a thing to mention: Choplifter's real original version is the one released in Apple II in 1982. And, so, C64's version is more faithful to the original Apple II, whereas NES is based upon the arcade by Sega.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep, exactly. Thanks for watching

[@puzzud]

I have no doubt in my mind that C64 homebrew devs today can make a Castlevania that looks more like the NES. The original devs did a pretty good job with the background tile graphics--almost don't even need an update in that regard. But with Simon Belmont, they can overlay multiple sprites to get something on par with the NES (less usage of C64 multi-color sprites). Search KZbin for a somewhat recent dev's attempt at Ninja Gaiden on the C64.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Agree! I'll have to check out Ninja Gaiden. Thanks for watching!

[@be236]

Nice to see the two screens side-by-side... Seems NES has slightly sharper graphics, so it seems better.. though I'm a Commodore 64 fan growing up on it.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks for watching!

[@merman1974]

The original version of Commando on the C64 had levels missing to fit in the great music. The group Nostalgia did an updated version called Commando Arcade that adds in the cutscenes, missing levels and more. That version is definitely superior to the NES. Choplifter on the C64 was much closer to the Apple II original, in fact you can see where they transferred the graphics. California Games is superb on the C64, as is the PAL version of Cabal. The Speed and Angle meters are helpful on the Mate Toss in the NES version of Caveman Ugh-lympics. I generally favour the C64 here, and I've never managed the Dino Vault either!

[@RandomBitzzz]

I still remember the first time I saw Commando on the 64. It blew me away. We had upgraded from an Atari 2600, and it was amazing to see shapes on the screen that looked like people instead of blocks.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

I originally was going to use that version by Nostalgia but I changed thinking people would think I was being unfair. I think the original was still better than the NES. Yes choplifter was definitely just two different games completely for each system released at different times. I just love the game so much for both systems I couldn’t leave it out. Yes that Dino 🦖 Vault was extremely difficult! lol

[@IsaacKuo]

Anyway, I felt the (NTSC) NES versions of Contra and Castlevania were great, while the (NTSC) C64 versions of Contra and Castlevania were ... well I was disappointed in them. At the time, I felt the C64 could do better, and it could. Oh well. One thing that was particularly frustrating to me was the refusal of the C64 industry to move on from single button joysticks. This made arcade action type games a lot more awkward than they needed to be.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

I wonder if that was even discussed back in the day for the C64 or the Amiga? I have to agree the single button made it tough when you had to slap the space bar.

[@IsaacKuo]

@@FloppyDeepDive I don't know about in, say, Europe, but here in the USA the Apple ][ and IBM PC platforms had two button joysticks (as well as being analog). The reason the Apple ][ got the first released port of Lode Runner was that it had two button joysticks and the programmer felt that was good for being able to dig to either side of you without first moving in that direction. So, it was definitely something noticed by developers, when choosing things. But it seems that no one really felt like fixing the problem. Who would have been in a good position to do so? Well, Epyx comes to mind. Epyx didn't really have a solid idea of what they were supposed to be, so they dabbled in all sorts of stuff. One really well known Epyx product is the 500XJ joystick - which actually had two button versions for NES and such. They could have just decided ... okay, let's make the C64 version two button also! (Well, Konix, maybe, but either way.) And since Epyx was also a massive games software developer, they could have supported their own two button joystick no problem. Heck, even required it for some titles. The 500XJ joystick, while wildly popular, is not necessarily ideal ... damn that fire button tires out your finger so quickly. But it would have gotten that ball rolling.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

That is an excellent point, I was playing Lode Runner on the Apple IIe the other day, and I had to get used to having two buttons instead of one. I forgot about that. That would have been incredible if Epyx did that, but since the masses all had one-button controlers, they didn't want to impact sales.

[@scottythegreat1]

@@FloppyDeepDive Epyx squeezed everything they could out of the C64. Since Epyx also had hardware engineers, Im sure they looked into it, and couldnt go any further.

[@dennyhaynes3]

1. Castlevania, NES wins this round with better graphics and sound. 2. Two great conversions but again I'd give this to the NES. 3. Commando, the C64 wins this round with ease, no contest really. The great Chris Butler on coding duties does an amazing job. Commando Arcade 64 was even better and added all the levels. 4. Choplifter, both conversions are lacking but the NES wins just. 5. California Games, definite win for the C64 again. Prefer the graphic pallet and sound better. 6. Circus Charlie, another winning round for the NES though I like the C64 version too. 7. Cabal, C64 takes this round. Looks and plays a whole lot better than the NES 8. Caveman ugh Olympics, again another win for the C64. Better graphics and sound, never seen pink cavemen before lol. Cheers Tom 👍

[@FloppyDeepDive]

It was a good round for the C64. The first two are NES classics!

[@Charleshawn66]

Can we all agree to pick the C64 each time even if it's not the better of the two on a game? Please? lol

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Lol! Yes I can put on my Rose Colored glasses for the C64. 😂

[@scottythegreat1]

I love both systems. Some have the NES as the edge, some have the C64 as the edge. Some are even and its a matter of preference, others miss elements that were forced out of the game by Nintendo over their strict content regulations.

[@wibbiddywoo]

I grew up with Sega but the NES is the greatest 8bit gaming system ever made. It might not have had the power but it's impact and game library are beyond comparison. It's not even close. Mario, castlevania, metroid, zelda, contra. Then 100s of other absolute genre defining classics........

[@FloppyDeepDive]

All very valid points.

[@gametimewithunclejer]

Did you break out your Thesaurus for this video, Tom? 😏Great stuff as always!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Lol, I signed up with Grammarly. Of course, the writer noticed

[@gametimewithunclejer]

Haha... it's a weird gift I have. Once I get to know someone, I can almost instantly recognize how they typically speak or write. And, of course, when they deviate from those normal patterns. I would much rather have adamantium claws... 😁

[@IsaacKuo]

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills, when it comes to C64 Commando music. I mean EVERYONE seems to love it. But to me there just feels like something "off" about it. The original arcade music, to me, has a certain feeling that reminds me of other Capcom music (like, Forgotten Worlds in particular). Never mind me, though. Everyone else seems to utterly love it.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

We are all taking crazy pills! 😆

[@honkyvanwildebeest8926]

Brilliant series! Please go all the way to Z!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thank you very much! Going to Z is the plan and make sure you watch all the others!

[@Moonfreeze]

You should stoke the fire of the Amiga 500 - Atari ST rivalry :)

[@FloppyDeepDive]

I thought about it, I will put it on my list. Thanks

[@erikrounds]

I liked the C64 version of Commando. The sid music was amazing. I hate to say it, but most of the games on this list look better with the more vibrant NES color palette than on the C64.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

It's hard to argue when it's side by side. Commando, California Games, and Caveman Ughlympics were all C64 wins. Oh, and Cabal. Cabals controls are terrible on the NES.

[@scottythegreat1]

The NES version of Commando was superior, except for the music, nothing more. Elite Systems paid Rob Hubbard a lot of money in desperation to get the music done on the C64, and all it took was Rob to be left alone in the office overnight to get everything done (and then for everyone to come in the office the next morning and have Rob load the music up full blast on every C64 Elite Systems had).

[@jkeelsnc]

It is obvious that the graphics potential on the NES was better than the 64 although with some clever programming these days it can get better and closer to the NES. It is too bad the C64 couldn't work all of its wonders for games in hires mode instead of multi colour. Of course memory, CPU time, and pallete limitations in hi res matter. However, I like both of these systems and grew up with my C64. I didn't get an NES mainly because the games were so expensive and the improvement was not so much that it was worth the extra expense. With the C64 I had the option to take blank floppies to the neighborhood copy party on the weekends and get pretty much anything I wanted. Also, even in the late 80's there were some C64 games that had very impressve graphics. Defender of the Crown and Nebulus are two games I can think of right away. Did you ever play Three Stooges? Cinemaware games pushed the C64 pretty hard. It should be noted that the C64 was outstanding for the array of RPG games that were available. For instance, the SSI games (Phantasie, II, Pool of Radiance), Bard's Tale series, and many of the Ultima games which I don't think could really be done properly on the NES like they could on the 64 at the time. In fairness, many of these RPG titles were also available on the Apple II series and IBM PC/Compatibles.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Great write-up. I did play 3 stooges. Those graphics by Cinemaware were amazing and yes RPG were best on the C64. Thanks for Watching!

[@tumppigo]

Love this series! Keep up the great work.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks, Thomas! Appreciate you watching!

[@johneygd]

Well i don’t,if he is not a coward,why would he let us decide what’s better the C64 or the nes,why don’t he do that,what a waste of time👎

[@Faceplant-hl5yn]

loved watching this!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thank you! Welcome to the community! Hope you subbed.

[@Faceplant-hl5yn]

@@FloppyDeepDive yes indeed, I am a subscriber

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Excellent!

[@timecapsule5604]

Look I was born in 69' when I got my c64 in 83 for my birthday in May and already had the Colecovision for Christmas of 82' but between the Nes and C64 I would say the C64 by a mile just because I had the most fun plus it was a computer also and did alot of homework on it and the soundnof that sid chip is just so memorable and just makes me forget about the Nes. I was A Sega Genesis fan later on over the Super Nintendo just because of the more adult suitable games and shooters

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Right there with you. I didn't need a NES as long as I had my C64.

[@BassGoesBoom1]

ZX spectrum castlevania homebrew from a few years ago is pretty amazing for the system

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Cool, I have to check that out

[@blarghblargh]

the answer is "YES!"

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Agree!

[@bit-ishbulldog2089]

It's all about who coded the game not the systems power or weaknesses when it comes to 8 bit systems. California Games was originally coded on C64. It's all about the talent of the coders.

[@timlocke3159]

I wouldn't say "all" but it is a big part. There are some great ports and some terrible ports on every platform.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep it really is, some definitely just copied over code to make their life easier, even if it was bad. We had a programmer come speak at on of our user group meeting and she confirmed that was the case. The goal was just to get on as many systems as possible.

[@scottythegreat1]

Epyx had all the talent in the world in 1987, but Epyx president David Morse stuck to his guns about getting their new console out to market and most of his programmers quit shortly after California Games was released (the programmers refused to have their name attached to an Atari product, eventually the console was released as the Atari Lynx).

[@sandmanxo]

I had both systems, c64 in 86 and nes in 88 i believe. I think a big problem with comparison of the same games is it feels like the c64 almost always got the shovelware team to code them up. I think overall the C64 is the better platform but the single button controller and 16 colors really limited its reach, at least in the U.S. market. It also had the disadvantage of no mapper chips like the nes, so it was stuck with 1982 hardware, whereas the nes could take advantage of coprocessors that really upgraded the capabilities of the hardware. The demo scene has really shown what the c64 is capable of in the right hands, and the 64 has 32 times the working ram of the nes.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

You said it perfectly. I can't agree more! Welcome to the channel and thanks for watching. I hope you subbed.

[@waynecuff3140]

Have both, love em both. But the Nes wins on better games. The likes of the Castlevania series, Gradius 2, Crisis force, Over Horizon. Nothing comes close on C64, except for Soulforce, Zeta wing, two amazing shmups!!

[@jkeelsnc]

Have you ever played Denaris. If you haven't try it or look it up on KZbin. Also, check out Armalite which was impressive.

[@clauscombat418]

Unfortunitally, comparing the C64 with NES is most of the time comparing a cartridge with a disc version (or worse: one-file tape). Many C64 games would be more polished if released on cartridge...

[@scottythegreat1]

They had cartridge based games on the C64. Most of them were released by Commodore or Atarisoft. As games got larger, the cartridge median wasnt a good option. In 1982 to 1984, most games were less than 32Kb of data, even on the NES. By 1985, games got larger, most Commodore 64 games started being released on both sides of the disk, and Nintendo was starting to look at making games on Data Disks (the Famicom Disk System). However Genyo Takeda and his team looked at the Pitfall II (Atari 2600) cartridge and used that as a template for designing their cartridges to expand on the NES' life cycle, those MMC chips on game cartridges were a wonder, and Nintendo started making their games on the NES again over the Famicom Disk System.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks for Watching!

[@patsfan4life]

c64 had Rob Hubbard….. nuff said😎

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep!

[@MiharuHiramu]

Nice comparisons. I had both as a child but I think overall the NES is the best. But some games are indeed better on C64

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks! Hope you subbed and welcome to the channel.

[@AussieAmigan]

Sometimes a bad port is a bad port and isn't really reflective of the hardware. I very much doubt the C64 had screen tearing like your PC emulator does, which doesn't help. I'm surprised how good the Contra graphics are on the NES. I had to check it wasn't the Super NES.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks for Watching!

[@michaelsegal3558]

A side note about Circus Charlie it never came to the NES officially it was only officially on the Japanese Famicom the only way I was able to play on the NES because of multi-game cartridges

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep, that's why it was my first time to ever play it.

[@michaelsegal3558]

@@FloppyDeepDive same my first time playing it was also on a multi cart

[@wibbiddywoo]

Although...... C64 contra looks great! Nowhere as good as the NES version but I am actually surprised at what you have shown! Wish I had got to play this back in the day!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Right! Contra was fun on the C64!

[@krisreddish3066]

The SID version of the track for Commando is stuck in my brain still. Not the best track on the 64, but that loop stays with you forever.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep. It's a classic!

[@HAn-ie2zp]

I had no idea Choplifter existed on the C64. It is actually a great game on the Gameboy too. Another similar game I loved back in the days was Fort Apocalypse.

[@bit-ishbulldog2089]

SEGA Master System version is the best, based on the arcade version of Choplifter by SEGA.. the first coded version of Choplifter was on the Apple computer. SEGA got the rights to create a arcade game based on the Apple computer version but made it 100 times better.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

It's the game that made me buy a Master System.

[@wibbiddywoo]

The problem with the C64 is the controller. One button joysticks were awful to play with. Control pads for the win!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

I wish C64 would have gone in the direction of the Two button controller. Even Amiga failed on the front.

[@LUCKO2022]

Some of these comparisons are not fair. Like Castlevania and Contra. Both of those were done by crappy development houses while the NES versions were done internally by Konami themselves. If done properly the C64 could have done those games easily.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep, but unfortunately they didn’t so it’s all I have to compare. It happens for both systems! Thanks for watching !

[@LUCKO2022]

@@FloppyDeepDive I just don't see it as comparisons. I wish someone would remake them and show that the C64 could do them. Kinda like how Zero showed SMB can be done on thr C64.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yes, that would be awesome!

[@glenndoiron9317]

@@LUCKO2022 Software made today on the C64 can be of a hugely higher quality than software back in the day. All the crazy hardware tricks which were not in the Hardware Reference Manual (simply because the IC designers never designed them to do these things) are now documented and available for use by today's developers. That being said, I agree with comparing the games that we actually have, instead of "what could have been", even if it means comparing games which were developed by terrible developers such as the group that developed Castlevania.

[@RacerX-]

Awesome comparison, and video as usual! The C64 wins this round. haha. Keep up the good work!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thank you, sir!

[@Sinn0100]

Did you know the Nes's processor the Ricoh 2A03 was technically a 6502 MOS with some slight differences? I know BCD Mode was given the axe on 2A03 as given how much memory the Nes had it wasn't necessary. Especially considering the Nes can pack 2 digits per byte making Business Mode unnecessary, I think. Addendum- Okay, here's the real fight...The Nes's Ricoh vs. Sega Master System's Zilog Z-80. I keep hearing "Oh the Nes has efficiency!" or "The Master System has pure clock speed baby!" I want a real breakdown of these two in a nonbiased way. I think this is the channel for it...perhaps after the C64 vs Nes videos?

[@IsaacKuo]

BCD is two digits per byte, and it actually was used a lot ... for some reason. I never really "got" why. But, you go mucking around to edit gamesaves on disc and such, and you see it here and there. Anyway, the CPU speeds on the NES and SMS were not as important as you might think, since their architectures were too limited to implement softsprites or bitmap graphics anyway. Besides the extremely limited RAM, there just wasn't very much bandwidth available between the CPU and the video RAM. So, the CPU had limited amounts it could update video screen/sprite data anyway. This is in contrast to typical home computer systems like the C64 or ZX Spectrum, where the video chip and CPU both accessed RAM via the same main system bus. In those cases, CPU speed could be used draw softsprites and render other things, and typical home computer systems also had enough RAM for bitmap graphics modes (requiring heavy rendering effort). The bottom line is that the similarity of the NES and C64 CPUs basically means nothing. The differences in the way the hardware basically works is more interesting and more relevant to software developers.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

I have both system so I will put on my list of videos to create!

[@Sinn0100]

@@FloppyDeepDive Awesome!!! Subbed.

[@glenndoiron9317]

@@IsaacKuo BCD ("binary coded decimal") was used so that you could add or subtract both digits in a byte, in base-10, at the same time. Without BCD mode you are required to perform a bunch of over/underflow checks on each digit and adjust the result, since without BCD mode the add/subtract commands work in 2-s complement representation. It makes things such as scoring displays faster, since you don't need to perform a binary-to-decimal translation before putting numbers on the screen.

[@signedelacroix7213]

Amazing thanks.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thank you!

[@dontcoloroutsidethelines6815]

I played with the Commodore 64 in the store. Game rental places didn't have games for the Commodore so I am going to say Nintendo was better.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Hmm, I get this logic. Makes sense to me. Thanks for watching!

[@scottythegreat1]

Most games for the Commodore 64 were pirated, it wasnt hard to get your hands on many of the games for next to nothing. Many games had copyright protection to stop them (Zak McCracken and Sid Meier's Pirates being the two big ones with copy protection). Nintendo was actually dead set against having their cartridges in rental stores. They even sued Blockbuster for having their games in their stores....and lost. However Nintendo did win after Blockbuster and several other rental stores started photocopying instruction booklets. If youve ever played Startropics, Nintendo put that 747 Mhz code into the game to stop people from renting the game as video rental stores lost the instruction booklet and Startropics included the code on parchment paper that had to be revealed by dipping the paper in water just so it couldnt be photocopied properly.

[@mondo8bit]

Hi Tom 🙂. I can’t be a fair judge heee… for me, C64 is always the best 😁. Commando win hands down, BTW, and Choplifter can’t be compared, because it was published in the “early stages” of the 64. But no way, Commodore wins for me 😜. Thanks for another great video 👍 - Tony

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Trust me, it’s tough for me too. My C64 rose colored glasses are always on! lol

[@jamesstaggs4160]

I had both of these when I was a kid and some stuff is just way way better on the.C64, assuming you don't take the ridiculous load times into account (fast load cartridge my ass, and that sometimes they wouldn't load at all but since it took five minutes to load a game on occasion you'd have no idea if the game would start. California Games was way way better on the Commodore and I know they tried to port Pool of Radience to the NES but the results were less than stellar, while my copy of Curse of the Azure Bonds made me an RPG junkie for life. The Gold Box games just couldn't be done correctly on a console.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yes sir, the Gold Box games were the best on C64!

[@scottythegreat1]

Once Epyx merged with Starpath, (Epyx President) Michael Katz wanted to make as much money as possible and got their programmers to abandon the Starpath Supercharger and work on the C64 as the original system to work on, and then port it over to the other computers/consoles. Thats why the Epyx games were better on the C64. Even after Michael Katz left Epyx for Atari, Gil Freeman continued the tradition of using the C64 as the original system for development.

[@matiasd.7755]

There's no way to give c64 version of Cabal a point over the NES' one.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks for Watching!

[@Nordischsound]

good compare video, the C64 music of Castlevania hurt my ears, the C64 could do so much better. I did a bunch of C64 Castlevania covers you can find on my channel

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Cool, I will have to check out your channel.

[@timlocke3159]

The Commodore 64 won Commando, and Caveman ugh Olympics. In California Games, the C64 looks best in Footbag because the NES has too much black. The NES looks better for the rest of the events you showed. The NES looks best in the rest of the games. The C64 palette is only 16 colors and those colors are darker and drab relative to the 52 or so color palette on the NES.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Good stuff, hard to argue with any of this assessment. 👍

[@nickolasgaspar9660]

I am not sure whether this video is a prank or nostalgia is doing its thing...again. = ). I didn't own either of them but the NES seems to be in a league of its own. Maybe the question of the video is wrong(Which is Better: C64 or NES?)

[@FloppyDeepDive]

You know I love nostalgia!

[@PabloGonzalez-qh6qq]

With the release of the NES was the moment of the C64 dead.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Thanks for watching

[@timlocke3159]

The white letters in the C64 version of California Games has color fringing.

[@IsaacKuo]

That seems to be an artifact of the capture method used at that time. NTSC C64s, with the exception of some early ones produced in 1982, eliminated color fringing artifacts by alternating chroma phase each field. However, if you capture using composite input AND you capture at 30fps, then you throw away the half of the frames that are used to eliminate the color fringing artifacts. That said, PAL C64s had bad color fringing effects, and this problem was exacerbated by the fact that most users of PAL C64s connected their computers to TV sets. (In North America, it was far more common to connect a C64 to a 1702 monitor, which had Separated Video rather than Composite.) For various reasons, the NTSC NES had particularly bad color fringing effects. It led to generally poor picture quality, and jarring shimmering effects when smooth scrolling. I was very annoyed by these artifacts, but in the modern day it's easy to avoid them via emulation.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep it looked better on my 1702 but didn’t capture well through the card. I didn’t want to play off emulation, I wanted to play my original floppy. Love using originals when I have them.

[@andrewyoung2618]

Caveman games looks great on the c64. You can tell when developers are getting the best out of the old bread bin. The nes has a brighter colour palette and came out later I think. I had hundreds of games on the c64. If I had a nes I'd of had 5-10 games at best because they were very expensive back in the 80's. Both had their advantages.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Yep, Same here I was lucky to get a couple of games a year for the NES. Do you still have either system?

[@andrewyoung2618]

@@FloppyDeepDive my friend had the nes, I had the c64. Unfortunately no wish I'd kept it. However I do have c64 mini which is great nostalgia product.

[@scottythegreat1]

Its Caveman Ugh-lympics. I bet Nintendo forced them to change the name and remove the slightly changed version of Buglar's dream

[@michaelsegal3558]

I thought it was called Caveman Games not Caveman Olympics

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Original on C64 is called Caveman Ugh-lympics

[@michaelsegal3558]

@@FloppyDeepDive I get it because they are cavemen that’s funny because I used to have that game on the NES and it was called Caveman Games

[@scottythegreat1]

It is called Caveman Ugh-lympics. Either the International Olympic Committee sued Dynamix/Electronic Arts over it or Nintendo forced them to change the name and remove all music that is similar to Bugler's dream so that Nintendo couldnt be sued either (probably the latter, but I dont know for sure).

[@michaelsegal3558]

@@scottythegreat1I see because I used to have that game and it was called Caveman Games one thing I didn’t like about that game was that one of the events was to literally throw women seriously you picked a woman by her feet (or might have been her ankles) spun her around and whoever threw their woman the furthest won that part didn’t rub well with me

[@jarredkrum9894]

Nes for the win! 😎🤘🏻

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Did you own a NES?

[@jarredkrum9894]

Yes and my mom ran a video rental store so i got to rent games for free 😃thats how i got my snes too

[@FloppyDeepDive]

That's awesome man! Nice hookup from mom.

[@wibbiddywoo]

If you look at irrelevant games sometimes the C64 may have had the edge in certain areas......maybe?! However....... If you look at the best each system had to offer it isnt even open to debate! Check out top 10s of the C64 and the NES and the difference is laughable! (and it's definitely not nostalgia, I never played a nes until the mid 90s as I live in England. We had mainly Sms and C64.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Another valid point, that's why I stay away from top 10s. 😏

[@technischemaschinenfabrik5882]

The hits on C64 are unfortunately not hits on the nes. And the hits on the nes are unfortunately not hits on the c64.🙂

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Agree, that's why we need both!

[@technischemaschinenfabrik5882]

@@FloppyDeepDive We Europeans also love our Master System. The funny thing is that i prefer the Sega 8 bit consoles. And at the 16 bit consoles i prefer the Super Nintendo. Unfortunately the Turbo Grafx wasn't released in Europe. What a mess, it was such a good console.

[@scottythegreat1]

The problem with that metric is that there was a LOT of piracy back in the days of the C64, especially on earlier games. I know that Lode Runner and Raid on Bungeling Bay sold very well on the NES, but didnt have as much of a dent for Br0derbund on the C64 because everyone had a bootlegged copy of the game and Br0derbund didnt get the same type of money that Hudsonsoft did.

[@valley_robot]

Comparing a computer to a console , is not worth the time , the NES was designed to play games , the C64 was a powerful home computer , the NES stored its games on cartridge, the C64 on tape or disk , occasionally on cartridge, totally different machines , when the NES didn’t have enough ram , no problem because it’s a cartridge, the C64 relied on its ram of 45 k to display everything you saw on the screen , games consoles and computers are just not comparable, the master system and the NES both have 2 buttons compared to 8 bit. Home computers

[@FloppyDeepDive]

60k people watched the series so far so it was worth it. Thanks for watching.

[@glenndoiron9317]

@@FloppyDeepDive Realistically the C64 actually had 60K of usable memory. The other 4K was there but was very difficult to use, since you had to bank out the I/O registers to get at it - and you were typically doing some sort of I/O during interrupts, which would cause you to have to save/restore the memory mapping during an interrupt if you were using it, causing additional overhead/latency. 39K was a BASIC limitation.

[@NathanOZlegend]

arcade was better mate!

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Arcade is always better

[@weightlessliving9856]

Castlevania - Tie though C64 colors are better Contra - C64. The palms, bridges, buildings and streets blow away those repetitive rocks on the NES Commando is definitely C64 Choplifter graphics go to NES but gameplay to C64 California Games is a Tie the c64 version graphics quality is sustained through every game, NES some of the games really let down the version. Your point about Surfing for instance. Cabal definitely goes to C64. The graphics and color palette on the NES are abysmal Caveman Olympics definitely goes to C64 the characters and animation are so much better.

[@FloppyDeepDive]

Great rating! 👍