| These games are not the Commodore versions, rather they are the real arcade versions which have been recoded in MacroMedia Flash, and should play in your browser. On the off chance you do not have Flash, you can get it for free HERE. After many discussions about getting a Commodore emulator to work in a web page (i.e. Java VICE), and finding no such tool, we have given up and this is the best we can provide. Unfortunately these games require a modern browser like Netscape 5 or Internet Explorer 6. | |
| Asteroids
|
In the years after
Star Wars, anything involving outer space, speedy interstellar craft and
dangerous battles was considered golden. Into this arena of sci-fi fantasy
came Atari’s Asteroids, one of the most enduring hits in video game history.
Atari’s recipe for addiction consisted of the following: one screen, five
buttons, one ship, a few UFO’s, and several ship-smashing asteroids. Smack
dab in the center of the action was your triangle-shaped spacecraft, adrift
in a sea of space rocks. The Blasting large, slow-moving asteroids turned
them into two medium-sized, speedier asteroids. Another blast at the medium
asteroids split them into small, fast-moving asteroids, which could be
vaporized with one more shot. Thus, if you started firing wildly into fields
of big asteroids, you would likely end up in an even bigger mess than you
started with, facing a swarm of tiny, zippy asteroids. The controls allow
you to rotate left and right, thrust, warp into hyperspace, and most
importantly, to fire your blaster at the rocky menaces. For a generation of
video game addicts, Asteroids will always mean simple graphics, stressful
and addictive game play, and dreams of high-scoring glory. Now Featuring
High Scores!
Special Instructions : Use your mouse to click start, Space bar = Fire , Up arrow key to thrust, Left/Right arrow keys to move left/right |
| PACMAN
|
If you haven't
played this all time classic game it must be because you've been hiding out
in a shack on top of a mountain in Montana for the last 20+ years. The
object of the game is to move around the small yellow blob (PAC MAN) and
chomp up the white dots. Oh, and watch out for Blinky, Pinky, Inkey, and
Clyde (the spooky ghosts). Now Featuring High Scores!
Special Instructions : Use mouse to click 'Start' , Use your arrow keys to move Up/Down Left an Right. Press "M" to Mute/Unmute sound, and "P" to Pause/Unpause the game. |
| Space
Invaders
|
You can't get
anymore retro than this classic shoot'em up game. Yes, the graphics are
chunky - a far cry from X-Box or PS2 standards - but at the time it seemed
like 'space-age' technology :-) . Now Featuring High Scores!
Special Instructions : Space Bar = Fire, Move Left / Right using your arrow keys.
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|
Frogger
|
Strangely addictive game that I remember playing
on my old Amstrad PC back in the day when Windows and MS-DOS was still in
its embryonic stages. You are the frog and your task is to make it across
the road without being hit by traffic, and finally make it across the river
by skillfully hitching a ride on the floating logs. Sounds simple enough,
but it's the end pockets which are the hardest - and watch out for those
pesky crocodiles!
Special Instructions : Left/Right : User your left/right arrows. To move up/forward - use Up arrow
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|
Donkey Kong
|
This classic game first appeared at the arcades
in 1981, and was the first to introduce such characters as Mario, Donkey
Kong and Peach. Donkey Kong was the product of a Nintendo artist named
Shigeru Miyamoto. Miyamoto did the entire game himself (even the music), the
only help he got was with the name. He and a manager decided they'd call it
"Donkey Kong" because "Kong" would imply a gorilla was involved, and
"donkey" was used because their Japanese-to-English dictionary said it meant
"stubborn, wily, and goofy." The story : Donkey Kong has stolen Mario's
girlfriend and taken her to the top of a steel structure. You move Mario
over girders and up ladders, leap over tumbling barrels, dodge lethal
fireballs and jump onto fast-moving elevators, trying to rescue Mario's
girlfriend from Donkey Kong
Special Instructions : Space Bar to jump; Use your left/right arrow keys to move from left to right, etc. To climb ladders use your Up arrow |
|
Moon Patrol
|
Classic 'left-to-right' shoot'em up game that I
remember playing vividly on my old Atari 2600. An impressive yet quite
challenging action/shooter game with its unique 3D graphics, funky techno
background music - and its revolutionary game play, that's still good even
by today's standards - Ok, maybe not - but Moon Patrol excels in so many
areas that it's sure to please diehard Atari 2600 fans :)
Special Instructions : Move left/right : use your Left/Right arrow keys, Jump : Up arrow , Fire : Space Bar |
|
Duck Hunt
|
Released in 1984 by Nintendo, Duck Hunt was one
of the first games on the NES platform to use the 'light gun'. The basic
idea of this game is pretty simple - you're a duck hunter armed with a
pistol and your trusty dog. You have three shots to shoot one or two ducks
each round. After ten rounds of duck hunting (you'll probably be rather
bored of shooting duck at this point), you go to the shooting range and
shoot at clay pigeons for another ten rounds - although the dog is absent.
The game is rather fun and satisfying initially but gets old quickly. The
sound effects are pretty much what you'd expect for a game from the early
1980s - that is, awful by today's standards - game play and graphics are
simple - but it remains a classic and is fun to play every once in a while.
Special Instructions : Be patient for this game to load. To fire your pistol click your mouse button. |
|
Pong
|
Pong, while not the first videogame, was the
first coin-op arcade game and the first mainstream videogame that was
available to almost everyone. The origins of Pong lie with an abstract
tennis game created with an old oscilloscope and some vacuum tubes by Willy
Higinbotham way back in 1958. What eventually became "Pong" was a pretty
simple game with simple rules - hit the ball across the playing field and
try your best to hit it past your opponents paddle on the other side.
Special Instructions : Use your mouse to guide your paddle up and down.
|
|
Star Castle
|
You may not remember Star Castle - actually, I
didn't either - but visually this game (released in 1980) uses the same
'vector graphics' that are seen in games such as Asteroids and Battlezone.
Vector graphics are, as seen in the screen shot to the right, simple lines
to create objects - and while it may seem cheesy compared to present day
graphics, they were considered cutting edge stuff back in the '70s and early
'80s. This was also one of the first games to use an experimental artificial
intelligence to harass the game player's ship. A barely noticeable feature
of the game from our perspective, but a fundamental element of all video
games today. Your task in Star Castle is to break through the three layers
of walls and destroy the central behemoth. Success in this game is primarily
determined by how well you can control your ship.
Special Instructions : Use the space bar to fire, move around using your arrows keys. |
| Simon
|
This game will
test your memory, and, ultimately, your sanity. The object of the game is to
memorize Simon's sequence of lights. On that note, does anyone remember
those Simon commercials in the '80s? How could you forget! :)
Special Instructions : Use your mouse to click start and click the color bars. |
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Note these games and the text have been graciously provided by the good people at www.80smusiclyrics.com |
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