Back in the early 90s, the most sophisticated games console that we had at home was our trusty "educational" device, the Commodore 64. I spent many lost hours playing heaps of games on that old thing, time I ought to have spent on looking after my future, developing a career, getting a social life, and so on, but... oh well.
Now, even though I still have the old C64 (and assume that it still works even though it's been sitting in storage for the better part of a decade), I haven't played any of those games in ages. Mostly because the whole procedure of dragging all the bits out, finding somewhere to set them up, plugging them in, loading up the games, etc. etc. just seemed too much trouble.
I was at the Retrospec website the other day, and realised that not only one but two of my all time favourite C64 games have been remade by dedicated programmers - and what's more, both of them were totally free!
My first favourite was the surreal shoot-em-up, Wizball. This is a truly unique gaming experience. You play as a Wizard manipulating a bouncing ball, and you have to shoot enemies to collect green pearls, allowing you to upgrade and gain new abilities. You also have to use your pet cat(!) to collect coloured droplets scattered through each level - once you've mixed up the correct colours, you get to go to a bonus game, and the colour is painted into the landscape you just left!
Okay, so it sounds like something someone would have made up while under the influence. It probably is. But it is a fantastic game, once you get past the difficult controls in the beginning, and once you get the hang of it you will be better for the experience. It also has a great 2 Player Co-op feature that lets two people work together to try and figure out what the hell this game is about.
It's a very slick package (both original and remake), and I highly recommend it.
Click here to read the Wikipedia article about the original game.
Click here to check out and download the Retrospec remake.
The other game that held my mind at the time was the isometric puzzle game Head Over Heels.
The game revolves around two dog-like animals, each named Head and Heels, and each with his own abilities. The aim was to try and reunite the two characters by navigating them through an enormous pseudo-3D maze. Once the two were in the same room, they could both link together and become a single playable character, with both their abilities combined.
But there were a lot of surreal touches to this game as well, with things like a donut-shooting weapon, platforms made of puppy dogs that could disappear, miniature Daleks, Prince Charles effigies, gorillas, elephants, and stuffed toy bunnies as collectable power ups! In amongst all of that was some story about five crowns that had to be rescued, which the authors admitted was a plotline added at the last minute. :)
I wasn't the first in our family to try this game. I remember clearly my younger sister's first attempt to play the game - it resulted in her bashing her hands against the living room floor, tears flowing, and eventually, being sent to her room...
You could say puzzle games aren't really her thing. ;D Meanwhile, I thoroughly enjoyed it, and managed to get all the way through with all five crowns, thank you, so if you need any advice, drop me a line!
Click here to read the Wikipedia article about the original game.
Click here to check out and download the Retrospec remake.
If you're at all interested in vintage video games, check out the Retrospec website for more remade games that have been created purely as a labour of love... ie. they're all free, free, no-payee no-cashee. They have heaps more games than the two I've mentioned, so have a look and see what else tickles that part of your memory locked up with bad 80s fashion and the Reagan era. Go on, off you go!
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