The Commodore 64 Games System (often abbreviated C64GS) is the
cartridge
Cartridge may refer to:
Objects
* Cartridge (firearms), a type of modern ammunition
* ROM cartridge, a removable component in an electronic device
* Cartridge (respirator), a type of filter used in respirators
Other uses
* Cartridge (surname), a ...
-based
home video game console
A home video game console is a video game console that is designed to be connected to a display device, such as a television, and an external power source as to play video games. Home consoles are generally less powerful and customizable than ...
version of the popular
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
home computer. It was released in December 1990 by
Commodore
Commodore may refer to:
Ranks
* Commodore (rank), a naval rank
** Commodore (Royal Navy), in the United Kingdom
** Commodore (United States)
** Commodore (Canada)
** Commodore (Finland)
** Commodore (Germany) or ''Kommodore''
* Air commodore, a ...
into a booming console market dominated by
Nintendo
is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles.
Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produce ...
and
Sega
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...
. It was only released in Europe and was a considerable commercial failure.
The C64GS came bundled with a cartridge that featured four games: ''
Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun
''Fiendish Freddy's Big Top o' Fun'' is a video game developed by Gray Matter under developer Chris Gray and published in 1990 by Mindscape. It originally appeared on the 16-bit Atari ST, IBM PC and Commodore Amiga, before later being conver ...
'', ''
International Soccer
''International Soccer'', also known as ''International Football'' is a sports video game written by Andrew Spencer for the Commodore 64 and published by Commodore International in 1983. Originally only available on cartridge, CRL re-released the ...
'', ''
Flimbo's Quest'' and ''
Klax''.
The C64GS was not Commodore's first gaming system based on the C64 hardware. However, unlike the 1982
MAX Machine
MAX Machine, also known as Ultimax in the United States and Canada and VC-10 in Germany, is a Video game console designed and sold by Commodore International in Japan, beginning in early 1982, a predecessor to the popular Commodore 64. The Commo ...
(a game-oriented computer based on a very cut-down version of the same hardware family), the C64GS is internally very similar to the complete C64, with which it is compatible.
Out of the approximately 80,000 consoles produced, only 20,000 consoles were sold.
Available software
Support from games companies was limited, as many were unconvinced that the C64GS would be a success in the console market.
Ocean Software
Ocean Software Ltd was a British software development company that became one of the biggest European video game developers and video game publisher, publishers of the 1980s and 1990s.
The company was founded by David Ward and Jon Woods and wa ...
was the most supportive, offering a wide range of titles, some C64GS cartridge-based only, offering features in games that would have been impossible on cassette-based games, others straight ports of games for the original C64.
Domark
Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was in ...
and
System 3 also released a number of titles for the system, and conversions of some Codemasters and MicroProse games also appeared. Denton Designs also released some games, among them
Bounces, which was released in 1985.
The software bundled with the C64GS, a four-game cartridge containing ''
Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun
''Fiendish Freddy's Big Top o' Fun'' is a video game developed by Gray Matter under developer Chris Gray and published in 1990 by Mindscape. It originally appeared on the 16-bit Atari ST, IBM PC and Commodore Amiga, before later being conver ...
'', ''
International Soccer
''International Soccer'', also known as ''International Football'' is a sports video game written by Andrew Spencer for the Commodore 64 and published by Commodore International in 1983. Originally only available on cartridge, CRL re-released the ...
'', ''
Flimbo's Quest'' and ''
Klax'', were likely the most well known on the system. These games, with the exception of ''International Soccer'', were previously ordinary tape-based games, but their structure and control systems (no keyboard needed) made them well-suited to the new console. ''International Soccer'' was previously released in 1983 on cartridge for the original C64 computer.
Ocean produced a number of games for the C64GS, among them a
remake
A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same ...
of ''
Double Dragon
is a beat 'em up video game series initially developed by Technōs Japan and released as an arcade game in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight against various adversaries and rivals.
The original ...
'' (which was only sold at trade shows), ''
Navy SEALS
The United States Navy Sea, Air, and Land (SEAL) Teams, commonly known as Navy SEALs, are the United States Navy, U.S. Navy's primary special operations force and a component of the United States Naval Special Warfare Command, Naval Special Wa ...
'', ''
RoboCop 2
''RoboCop 2'' is a 1990 American science fiction action film directed by Irvin Kershner and written by Frank Miller and Walon Green. It stars Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Belinda Bauer, Tom Noonan and Gabriel Damon. It is the seq ...
'', ''
RoboCop 3
''RoboCop 3'' is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Fred Dekker and written by Dekker and Frank Miller. It is the sequel to the 1990 film ''RoboCop 2'' and the third entry in the ''RoboCop'' franchise. It stars Robert Bur ...
'', ''
Chase HQ 2: Special Criminal Investigation'', ''
Pang'', ''
Battle Command
Battle command (BC) is the discipline of visualizing, describing, directing, and leading forces in operations against a hostile, thinking, and adaptive enemy. Battle command applies leadership to translate decision into actions, by synchronizing ...
'', ''
Toki'', ''
Shadow of the Beast'' and ''
Lemmings
A lemming is a small rodent, usually found in or near the Arctic in tundra biomes. Lemmings form the subfamily Arvicolinae (also known as Microtinae) together with voles and muskrats, which form part of the superfamily Muroidea, which also include ...
''. They also produced ''
Batman The Movie'' for the console, but this was a direct conversion of the cassette game, evidenced by the screens prompting the player to "press PLAY" that briefly appeared between levels. Some of the earliest Ocean cartridges had a manufacturing flaw, where the connector was placed too far back in the cartridge case. The end result was that the cartridge could not be used with the standard C64 computer. Members of Ocean staff had to manually drill holes in the side of the cartridges to make them fit.
System 3 released ''
Last Ninja Remix'' and ''
Myth: History in the Making'', although both were also available on cassette. Domark also offered two titles, ''
Badlands
Badlands are a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded."Badlands" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newnes, 1961, Vol. 2, p. 47. They are characterized by steep slopes, m ...
'' and ''
Cyberball
is a video game released in arcades in 1988 by Atari Games. The game is a 7-man American football using robotic avatars of different speeds, sizes, and skill sets set in the year 2022. Originally released for arcades, ''Cyberball'' was ported to ...
'', which were available on cartridge only.
Through publisher
The Disc Company, a number of
Codemasters
The Codemasters Software Company Limited (trade name: Codemasters) is a British video game developer based in Southam, England, which is a subsidiary of American corporation Electronic Arts. Founded by brothers Richard and David Darling in Octo ...
and
MicroProse
MicroProse is an American video game publisher and video game developer, developer founded by Bill Stealey, Sid Meier, and Andy Hollis in 1982. It developed and published numerous games, including starting the ''Civilization (series), Civilizatio ...
titles were also reworked and released as compilations for the C64GS. ''Fun Play'' featured three Codemasters titles: ''
Fast Food
Fast food is a type of mass-produced food designed for commercial resale, with a strong priority placed on speed of service. It is a commercial term, limited to food sold in a restaurant or store with frozen, preheated or precooked ingredien ...
'', ''
Professional Skateboard Simulator
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
'' and ''
Professional Tennis Simulator
A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...
''. ''Power Play'' featured three MicroProse titles: ''
Rick Dangerous'', ''
Stunt Car Racer
''Stunt Car Racer'' (published as ''Stunt Track Racer'' in the United States) is a racing video game developed by Geoff Crammond. It was published in 1989 by MicroProse, under their MicroStyle and MicroPlay labels in the United Kingdom and in ...
'' and ''
MicroProse Soccer
''MicroProse Soccer'' is an association football video game published by MicroProse in 1988. The original Commodore 64 version was developed by Sensible Software and ported to other systems. In the United States, the game was released as ''Keith ...
'', although ''Rick Dangerous'' was produced by
Core Design
Core Design Limited (known as Rebellion (Derby) Ltd between 2006 and 2010) was a British video game developer based in Derby. Founded in May 1988 by former Gremlin Graphics employees, it originally bore the name Megabrite until rebranding as Co ...
, not MicroProse themselves. ''Stunt Car Racer'' and ''MicroProse Soccer'' needed to be heavily modified to enable them to run on the C64GS.
Commodore never produced or published a single title for the C64GS beyond the bundled four-game cartridge. ''International Soccer'' was the only widely available game for the C64GS but had actually been written for the C64.
Hardware-based problems
The C64GS was plagued with problems from the outset. Firstly, despite the wealth of software already available on cartridge for C64, the lack of a keyboard means that most cannot be used with the console. This means that much of the cartridge-based C64 software, while fundamentally compatible with the C64GS, was unplayable. The standard C64 version of ''
Terminator 2: Judgment Day'' was designed for the console,
but was included on a cartridge that required the user to press a key in the initial menu to access the game, rendering it unplayable, despite the game itself being entirely playable with joystick only on a conventional C64.
To partially compensate for the lack of a keyboard, the basic control system for the C64GS was a joystick supplied by Cheetah called the Annihilator. This joystick, while using the standard Atari 9-pin plug, offers two independent buttons, with the second button located on the base of the joystick. The joystick standard is fundamentally compatible with the
ZX Spectrum
The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer.
Referred to during development as t ...
's
Kempston Interface
Kempston Micro Electronics was an electronics company based in Kempston, Bedfordshire, England specialising in computer joysticks and related home computer peripherals during the 1980s.
The Kempston Interface, a peripheral which allowed a joys ...
and the
Sega Master System
The is an 8-bit
third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...
, but no other joystick on the market offered compatibility with the proprietary second-button function. Standard C64 joysticks and Sega Master System controllers were fundamentally supported, but the lack of second-button support (the Sega Master System's second button did not function in the same way) meant that the Cheetah Annihilator was essential for playing certain titles such as ''Last Ninja Remix'' and ''Chase HQ 2''.
However, it was poorly built, had a short life, and was not widely available, making replacements difficult to come by.
Primary reasons for failure
Prior to the console's release, Commodore had generated a great deal of marketing hype to drum up interest in an already crowded market. ''
Zzap!64
''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact.
The magazine ...
'' and ''
Your Commodore
''Your Commodore'' was a magazine for Commodore International, Commodore computers, including the Commodore 64, Amiga, and the Commodore Personal computer, PC range. It was published in the UK from October 1984 until late 1989 when the name was s ...
'', Commodore 64 magazines of the era, reported that Commodore had promised "up to 100 titles before December",
even though December was two months from the time of its writing. In reality 28 games were produced for the console during its shelf life - most of which were compilations of older titles, and a majority of which were from Ocean. Of those 28 titles, only 9 were cartridge-exclusive titles, the remainder being ports of older cassette-based games.
While most of the titles that Ocean announced did appear for the GS (with the notable exception of ''
Operation Thunderbolt''), a number of promises from other publishers failed to materialize. Although
Thalamus
The thalamus (from Greek θάλαμος, "chamber") is a large mass of gray matter located in the dorsal part of the diencephalon (a division of the forebrain). Nerve fibers project out of the thalamus to the cerebral cortex in all directions, ...
,
The Sales Curve
SCi Entertainment Group plc (formerly The Sales Curve Limited and SCi (Sales Curve Interactive) Limited) was a British video game publisher based in London. The company was founded in 1988 by Jane Cavanagh and floated on the stock exchange in 1 ...
,
Mirrorsoft
Mirrorsoft was a British video game publisher founded by Jim Mackonochie as a division of Mirror Group Newspapers. The company was active between 1983 and 1991, and shut down completely in early 1992.
History
In the early 1980s, Jim Mackono ...
and
Hewson had expressed an interest, nothing ever materialized from these firms. Similar problems plagued rival company
Amstrad
Amstrad was a British electronics company, founded in 1968 by Alan Sugar at the age of 21. The name is a contraction of Alan Michael Sugar Trading. It was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in April 1980. During the late 1980s, Amstrad ...
when they released their
GX4000
The GX4000 is a video game console that was manufactured by Amstrad. It was the company's short-lived attempt to enter the games console market. The console was released in Europe in 1990 and was an upgraded design based on the then still-popular ...
console the same year.
There were other reasons attributed to the failure of the C64GS, the major ones being the following:
*''Poor software support:'' Most of the existing software on cartridge did not function well with the C64GS, and enthusiasm from publishers was low. Ocean Software, Codemasters, System 3, MicroProse and Domark developed titles for the system, but probably only because the games were compatible with the original C64, providing the titles with a commercial safety net in case the C64GS failed. And failure to reprogram the games for use with the cut-back system was another blame for the fault.
*''The C64 computer:'' The C64GS was essentially a cut-back version of the original Commodore 64, and the games developed for it could also be run on the original computer. The C64 was already at an affordable price, and the C64GS was sold for the same. People preferred the original C64, particularly since the cassette versions of games could often be picked up for a fraction of the cost of the cartridge versions.
*''Obsolete technology:'' The C64 was introduced in 1982.
*''An already saturated console market:'' The 8-bit C64GS entered the market in 1990, parallel to 16-bit
fourth generation consoles such as the
Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan a ...
and the
Super Nintendo
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...
. The
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
and
Sega Master System
The is an 8-bit
third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...
were already dominating the market with more popular titles, and did so until around 1992.
*''TV hookup'', joystick support and cartridge slots were already found on regular C64 machines. Hence normal C64s were already recognized as "game consoles" despite actually being home computers with integrated keyboards.
Commodore eventually shipped the four-game cartridge and Cheetah Annihilator joysticks in a "Playful Intelligence" bundle with the standard Commodore 64C computer. Several years later, Commodore's next attempt at a games console, the
Amiga CD32
The Amiga CD32 (stylized as Amiga CD32, code-named "Spellbound") is a 32-bit home video game console developed by Commodore and released in Europe, Australia, Canada, and Brazil. It was first announced at the Science Museum in London on July 16, ...
, encountered many of the same problems.
Technical specifications
The specifications of the C64GS are a subset of those of the regular C64; the main differences being the omission of the user port, serial interface, and cassette port. Since the system board is a regular C64C board these ports are actually present, but simply not exposed at the rear.
See also
*
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...
*
Commodore MAX Machine
The Commodore MAX Machine, also known as Ultimax in the United States and Canada and VC-10 in Germany, is a home computer designed and sold by Commodore International in Japan, beginning in early 1982, a predecessor to the popular Commodore 64. ...
References
External links
"The C64 Console!" / "Inside the future: The C64GS"– By Ed Stu, ''
Zzap 64
''Zzap!64'' was a computer games magazine covering games on the Commodore International series of computers, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact.
The magazine ...
'' magazine, issue 66, October 1990
The Commodore C64 Games System– Photos and information from Bo Zimmermann's collection
– Nice pictures of the C64GS
{{Home video game consoles
1990s toys
Commodore 64
Products introduced in 1990
Third-generation video game consoles
65xx-based video game consoles