The Commodore 64 Appreciation Thread

[Alshie]

7 hours ago, squirtle said:

We're now on Apple!

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/zapped-to-the-past/id1551619912

 

 

 

It's taking forever to download for me (looks like it may be at least 15-20. minutes).

 

Not that big a deal as I never leave the house now but just incase there is something up? It's def not my connection or phone!

 

edit: I've just set it to stream, will hopefully get to listen later in the week

Edited February 3, 2021 by Alshie

[squirtle]

1 hour ago, Alshie said:

 

It's taking forever to download for me (looks like it may be at least 15-20. minutes).

 

Not that big a deal as I never leave the house now but just incase there is something up? It's def not my connection or phone!

 

edit: I've just set it to stream, will hopefully get to listen later in the week

I can only hope it's worth the wait...

 

Not had anyone else say anything. I'll see how many downloads we've had via apple. It might just be because it's new on there or something. 

 

Only had one via apple so I guess that's you. Like I said, I imagine it's just because it's new on there. 

[squirtle]

I just tried via Spotify and Podcast Addict and seems slow through those too. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing. 

[carleton]

I’ve enjoyed what I’ve listed to this far, nice work. Controversial slamming of Elite and my old boss and mentor did the C64 conversion of Tir Na Nog. I don’t think even he knew what was going on. He was a Spectrum programmer at heart which is probably why it looks exactly the same.

[squirtle]

It's our genuine opinion. Neither of us ever liked elite, and although we appreciate the technical skill, we always found it dull. We were a bit worried that people might think we were being contrary for effect but it's always been our feelings about it. 

[carleton]

Yeah, you explained yourselves very well. It wasn’t a rant in any way. I really like Elite but dislike Elite Dangerous as it’s far too complicated for what I want from a game.

[squirtle]

That's good to hear. Nothing like one of the biggest games ever that you don't particularly like to start off with. But you know, that was the Gold Medal in issue one of zzap so we had no choice. 

[Alshie]

14 hours ago, squirtle said:

I just tried via Spotify and Podcast Addict and seems slow through those too. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing. 

 

Honestly have no idea how these things work, just thought I'd let you know in case it was a problem  Looking forward to it.

[squirtle]

Just now, Alshie said:

 

Honestly have no idea how these things work, just thought I'd let you know in case it was a problem  Looking forward to it.

If I'm honest, neither do I. I leave the tech stuff to my co-host who does all the mixing and uploading. I do the hosting and social media stuff.

 

Oh, yeah, if anyone fancies giving us a follow on twitter (I know, I know) you can find us at @zappedtothe .

[squirtle]

On 29/01/2021 at 16:04, carleton said:

My new game Runn ‘n’ Gunn is out now. It was hard work but incredibly rewarding.

 

https://carletonhandley.itch.io/runn-n-gunn

 

 

Just got round to buying this as well. Looking forward to giving it a blast!

[Unofficial Who]

On 03/02/2021 at 22:04, squirtle said:

We're now on Apple!

 

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/zapped-to-the-past/id1551619912

 

 

 

Loving it! A couple of quick requests/point.

 

1. This podcast deserves a thread of it's own!

2. Could you note the games covered in the show notes? (Or here?)

 

It's interesting playing old games,I've found that the more ambitious games that I would play back in the day just don't hold up now because they've been rendered obsolete. Elite for instance has been superseded many times over since its release whereas simpler games like Zenji, Park Patrol and H.E.R.O remain rather unique.

 

I had to laugh though when you were talking about Boounty Bob Strikes Back feeling like a sequel and then a few minutes later "this reminds me of Miner 2049'er." I was yelling at the speaker "so close!"

[squirtle]

1 minute ago, Unofficial Who said:

 

Loving it! A couple of quick requests/point.

 

1. This podcast deserves a thread of it's own!

2. Could you note the games covered in the show notes? (Or here?)

 

It's interesting playing old games,I've found that the more ambitious games that I would play back in the day just don't hold up now because they've been rendered obsolete. Elite for instance has been superseded many times over since its release whereas simpler games like Zenji, Park Patrol and H.E.R.O remain rather unique.

 

I had to laugh though when you were talking about Boounty Bob Strikes Back feeling like a sequel and then a few minutes later "this reminds me of Miner 2049'er." I was yelling at the speaker "so close!"

That's great that you're liking it. I would feel quite presumptuous to start a thread but if you want to, feel free. I'll suggest to Graham that we put the games in the show notes, but if you do want to see what we've covered in this part and the next one, you can check the website zappedtothepast.com. Also, our knowledge of C64 games is not encyclopedic and we made a choice to not look up too much and just go with what we know. 

 

Still, great that you're enjoying it. We have 14 episodes recorded now so we ain't going anywhere. 

[ScouserInExile]

If its not a stupid question, why isn't it "zzaped to the past"? 

[Stoppy2000]

On 02/02/2021 at 00:06, squirtle said:

We're now available on Spotify. 

 

 

If you want to listen to us yap about Elite, Shadowfire, Cauldron and others, then here you go. 

 

We're looking at games on a month by month basis, covering the majority of games that were reviewed in that month's issue of Zzap!64. Not all of them are good, I can tell you that. 

I really enjoyed this - will be adding this to my weekly podcasts. Hopefully you eventually find a game you like as well!

[squirtle]

2 hours ago, ScouserInExile said:

If its not a stupid question, why isn't it "zzaped to the past"? 

We state that we are not affiliated with the magazine and felt that if we spelt it zzaped we'd leave ourselves open to legal issues. The word Zapped is perfectly fine, though, and we're only using the magazine as a guide to what came out that month. We could have easily called it C&VG to the Past or Commodore Userd to the Past but didn't feel they were quite as snappy... 

[squirtle]

1 hour ago, Stoppy2000 said:

I really enjoyed this - will be adding this to my weekly podcasts. Hopefully you eventually find a game you like as well!

Excellent. Thank you very much. We do get to some games we like very much... Eventually... 

[Vimster]

Nice review of the game here that features the man himself @carleton

 

 

[carleton]

1 hour ago, Vimster said:

Nice review of the game here that features the man himself @carleton

 

 

Cheers. Turns out it’s really hard to literally phone in an interview. Still I think it’s a great video.

[Camel]

On 22/01/2021 at 21:13, carleton said:

Runn ‘n’ Gunn is out next week. I’ve opened up $3 preorders(!) but a $10 purchase gets your name in the in game backers list. It’s gone down really well. Much more successful than anything I’ve published on the App Store.

 

https://carletonhandley.itch.io/runn-n-gunn

 

 

I'm ashamed to say that despite backing this before it came out, I've only just got round to playing it.

 

Wow, It's amazing. A truly great game. Astonishingly good. Some really neat ideas in there like

 

Spoiler

the little robot chap who copies your inputs. Also the control scheme. I know a lot of people don't like up for jump so it's a great alternative. I switched to control b after a while though as I was getting confused  

 

The levels are really well designed too. Controls are super tight. Brilliant game. Now if I can just figure out how to beat the 

 

Spoiler

big green alien boss

 

I'll be golden.

[carleton]

On 18/04/2021 at 00:27, Camel said:

 

I'm ashamed to say that despite backing this before it came out, I've only just got round to playing it.

 

Wow, It's amazing. A truly great game. Astonishingly good. Some really neat ideas in there like

 

  Hide contents

the little robot chap who copies your inputs. Also the control scheme. I know a lot of people don't like up for jump so it's a great alternative. I switched to control b after a while though as I was getting confused  

 

The levels are really well designed too. Controls are super tight. Brilliant game. Now if I can just figure out how to beat the 

 

  Hide contents

big green alien boss

 

I'll be golden.

Thanks @Camel. I'm really pleased with the game. I think some people say it's a little short but an episodic release was always my intention. I think there's plenty of game in there still, especially with the hard modes (which have extra enemies etc.). There's a no death playthrough of hard on You Tube which is pretty impressive.

As for

 

Spoiler

Alu-minion, that enemy has gone down really well. I've seen more than one streamer describe him as "stressful" which I count as a win.

 

[Clipper]

A small nugget of info for Llamasoft fans. Jeff Minter has fixed the collision detection on Revenge of the mutant camels for the c64 and released a vice snapshot for it.

 

 

[Vimster]

Will give that a go. When you compare his games to others that came out at the same time his have proper arcade energy about them. 

[Camel]

That is amazing.

[Clipper]

My c64 breadbin setup is up and running AGAIN after a few months of being in storage AGAIN. Tape loading isn't as onerous on the c64 as people remember 2.5-3 mins for most tapes and most tapes still work.

 

I am considering a real 1541 drive but what sort of success rate do people get with old discs? I find 90% of old tapes work just fine as the data is low density, as I recall the data on c64 disks is also low density and slow to read so does it survive as well?

 

 

Also modern releases , I see @carleton has Milly and Molly on tape with bitmapsoft

 

https://www.bitmapsoft.co.uk/product-category/c64/

 

I assume they are legit sellers and you get something from that! Did Runn and Gunn get a physical release?

 

Also what was the other company releases new games for old platforms I thought there was a site with more releases but can't recall the name.

 

[Camel]

My experience with old C64 disks is that most of my copied disks still work fine. None of the ones I created back in the day with the Expert cartridge's warp speed loader work at all but that's a bit of an edge case. Originals are hit and miss. The ratio of non-working disks is definitely higher than the copied ones. Because of fancy unorthodox loaders/copy protection relying on half-tracks and intentional errors, I should imagine.

 

If tape loading doesn't bother you (and you're right, this idea that the games all took 20 minutes to load is nonsense), you could get a tapuino and load tape games from an SD card. Or one of the disk drive emulation SD solutions. 

 

If you want to splash out a bit (lot actually) more, the 1541-Ultimate is brilliant. Essentially, a 1541 disk drive emulator, but it connects to the cartridge port, so you get a nice front end and it really is a nice bit of kit with great compatibility.

 

If you want a real 1541, I find they're generally pretty reliable.

 

I hope you're not using an original PSU or that you have a saver between PSU and C64. Ticking time bomb otherwise.

[Clipper]

9 minutes ago, Camel said:

My experience with old C64 disks is that most of my copied disks still work fine. None of the ones I created back in the day with the Expert cartridge's warp speed loader work at all but that's a bit of an edge case. Originals are hit and miss. The ratio of non-working disks is definitely higher than the copied ones. Because of fancy unorthodox loaders/copy protection relying on half-tracks and intentional errors, I should imagine.

 

If tape loading doesn't bother you (and you're right, this idea that the games all took 20 minutes to load is nonsense), you could get a tapuino and load tape games from an SD card. Or one of the disk drive emulation SD solutions. 

 

If you want to splash out a bit (lot actually) more, the 1541-Ultimate is brilliant. Essentially, a 1541 disk drive emulator, but it connects to the cartridge port, so you get a nice front end and it really is a nice bit of kit with great compatibility.

 

If you want a real 1541, I find they're generally pretty reliable.

 

I hope you're not using an original PSU or that you have a saver between PSU and C64. Ticking time bomb otherwise.

I have a new psu for the c64 so that is all sorted ( a third party one made by a polish guy) which seems solid built used to sell on amazon

 

https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B071LG4LBR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

I note with interest that others are now available on amazon... but I do need to consider getting my c64 recapped.

 

I have an SD2IEC with a big set of games on SD card. It works fine and so I can play images and d64s ands prgs  but sometimes I like to use original media not sure why

 

Also if I buy new releases and possibly get the zzap64 mag with coverdisc (patreon) I'll need a real 1541 so just wondered about old discs. Thanks for the info!

 

 

EDIT - the guy still makes those psus and sells them on ebay

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/112636456654?epid=28009156520&hash=item1a39a7eece:g:CdsAAOSwJjtegOEI

 

[Camel]

Sorry for all the redundant info.

 

I find 5.25" disks are a lot more reliable than 3.5" disks but will depend a lot on how they've been stored. 

 

I like loading up old media sometimes too so you're not alone.

[Clipper]

6 minutes ago, Camel said:

Sorry for all the redundant info.

 

I find 5.25" disks are a lot more reliable than 3.5" disks but will depend a lot on how they've been stored. 

 

I like loading up old media sometimes too so you're not alone.

No worries - always worth repeating as it is a shame when an old 64 goes pop because someone didn't realise that the PSU is a disaster area when old!

 

And noted on the discs - there is a 1541-2 refurbed on ebay that I might take a punt on as it isnt too badly priced at £60

[carleton]

Hi @Clipper, yeah Bitmapsoft are the genuine publishers of Millie and Molly. Runn ‘n’ Gunn may get a tape release eventually but we need to find the time.

 

if you like Picross games my other title Grid Pix is available physically from Psytronik.

 

[Camel]

Also play his Blockheads game, it’s ace.