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Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:02 am
by Leisher
Father of the Commodore 64
I have fond memories of the 64. I still think one of the best games I ever played was Autoduel.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:22 am
by GORDON
In the 9th grade, 1985, I was the only kid in school writing papers on a computer. A C64 using the GEOS word processor, and inserting images (bio diagrams and shit) that I made in the GEOS art program. Of course this means I also had the 5.25 inch floppy drive, and the dot matrix printer.
The C64 was truly ahead of its time. I still have my old one out in the garage. Last tried to turn it on about 10 years ago... failed. I read that they had a lot of badly soldered components that couldn't last long.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:31 am
by TheCatt
I loved my C64. Games, my first 300 baud modem, writing software (usually copied from magazines, littered with mistakes), DUAL floppy drives, QuantumOnline, MULE, Bard's Tale, etc, etc.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 7:44 am
by GORDON
Never needed dual floppy drives...
Insert Disk #1...
Insert Disk #2...
Insert Disk #1...
was good enough for copying. 
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:51 am
by Leisher
I only had the one hard drive as well.
I am amazed that nobody has remade M.U.L.E. yet.
I actually had graph paper to draw out dungeons for Bard's Tale.
Impossible Mission was pretty cool as well. Let's not forget the little known titles of Wasteland (Fallout's dad) and the Ultima series.
I used to spend a lot of time on BBSs back then. One of my best friend's dad was Agent Orange. If you ever played any pirated games back then and saw that code name, that game went through this area.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 8:55 am
by GORDON
I tried playing Bard's Tale 2, but Disk 2 had a glitch and when I entered one of the dungeons it would error, and I couldn't finish the game. Took it back to Sears(!), told them there was a bad disk, and was disappointed when I saw the box stapled shut and back on the shelf.
I graph-paper-mapped all the dungeons in Ultima III. I was pretty pleased with myself the first time I figured out what the ocean whirlpool did, and I had notes taped onto the cloth map that had the settings for every moongate, so I could use them efficiently.
That is how I got through my first breakup at the age of 16... Ultima III and Legacy of the Ancients on the C64.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:03 am
by TheCatt
Oh yeah, Ultima series. SPY VS SPY! That was cool multiplayer.
I had graph paper for Bard's Tale too. My brother, friend, and I would stay up all night trying to beat it. We spent one entire weekend beating one version (can't remember which, either 2 or 3). There was one particularly challenging place I still remember, where you would warp around the maze, but could never use torches, so had to navigate by recording where warped to where and figuring out the map to get there without seeing.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:05 am
by GORDON
TheCatt wrote: There was one particularly challenging place I still remember, where you would warp around the maze, but could never use torches, so had to navigate by recording where warped to where and figuring out the map to get there without seeing.
YEP.
There were spinners and you could not keep track of the direction in which you were traveling. Pretty fucked up.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 9:58 am
by TPRJones
Wow, this is a lot of sudden nostalgia. My third computer was a C128, and I as well was the only kid in my school turning in reports written on a word processor. I remember that nasty little thermal printer I had. Looking back on it now, I can't believe my teachers accepted that stuff.
It may have been a C128, but I never used it in CPM mode. It was always in C64 mode. Of course I had a 1541 drive, and a shoebox full of hacked games. Bard's Tale, Impossible Mission, Summer Games, Strip Poker, Elite, M.U.L.E., Montezuma's Revenge, etc etc etc. This was also the computer I stated to learn to hack code on. I remember digging into the code of all my favorite games, figuring out how parts of it worked, and messing with it to see what would happen. I also remember figuring out how to make the drive hum Mary Had a Little Lamb, and setting up one of the Commodore Pets with a killer poke trap for my much-hated computer teacher.
By far the best computer of it's time, and it did a lot to shape many a childhood. I never heard of Jack Tramiel before today, but he had more to do with my formative years than many of my own family. RIP indeed.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:03 am
by TheCatt
I remember discovering the magic of font size around 6th grade, although that may have been on my dad's PC. I also remember a classmate saying "Hey! you put fewer words on that page than I did!" The magic of page-length essays. I was always mad that girls could get away with 1/2 the words cuz they wrote so big and flowery, and now, I had my own weapon.
Summer Games! Elite! OH god, yes, Elite. I even named myself Ryder in an online game due to that back in the day.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:17 am
by TPRJones
Boulderdash, Defender of the Crown, Pirates!, Archon, Winter Games, California Games, Pool of Radiance, Little Computer People, Racing Destruction Set, Castle Wolfenstein, and of course everything ever published by Infocom.
I could go on for days, but those are the rest of the big names I remember off the top of my head. I wonder if any of them would still be fun after all this time...
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:20 am
by TheCatt
MAME tells me: Yes, but never as fun as you remember.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 10:53 am
by GORDON
TPRJones wrote:Boulderdash, Defender of the Crown, Pirates!, Archon, Winter Games, California Games, Pool of Radiance, Little Computer People, Racing Destruction Set, Castle Wolfenstein, and of course everything ever published by Infocom.
I could go on for days, but those are the rest of the big names I remember off the top of my head. I wonder if any of them would still be fun after all this time...
Defender of the Crown... is that the one where you fight over territories in England? You siege castles by first knocking down the walls with catapults and then lobbing in disease and greek fire? Rescuing princesses?
Was about to mention "Racing Destruction." Spent many hours making my own tracks, and setting gravity to "Lunar."
Yep, played Pool of radiance, and its followup, "Curse of the Azure Bonds."
And speaking of Infocom, I still have "Wishbringer" in the original box, with its little glow-in-the-dark stone.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:07 am
by TheCatt
DotC, completely forgot about, but loved it, I think, if it's the one I'm remember, I think same as Gordon.
Pirates, of course.
Archon was cool, but didn't love it.
I wonder how many hours I played games as a kid?
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:12 am
by GORDON
Seems like my memory is from age 12-15 playing sports and riding bikes, and age 16+ has been cars, women, and video games.
Now mostly just video games.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 11:36 am
by Leisher
There was one particularly challenging place I still remember, where you would warp around the maze, but could never use torches, so had to navigate by recording where warped to where and figuring out the map to get there without seeing.
I remember that too. My favorite character in Bard's Tale was a Monk I had, Amon Ra. He was pretty much the offensive juggernaut for my party, and was bare handed.
Defender of the Crown and Pirates were classics. Both were also remade.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 12:44 pm
by GORDON
Defender of the Crown, when you rescued one of the princess.... had a silhouette/embrace that made it look like she was giving him a handy-j. 15-year-old-me spent a lot of time contemplating that image.
Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2012 1:32 pm
by Leisher
And giving yourself a handy.