C64 posts

Did you know you could play Commodore 64 games on your iPhone?

by Sebastian Anthony Nov 11th 2009

C64 emulator on the iPhone. Image ruthlessly stolen from the c64iphone.com website.

Maybe you did, maybe you didn't... but now you know!

The aptly-named Commodore 64 Emulator is yet again available in the App Store for the frugal sum of $4.99 (£2.99 for my fellow imperialists).

It was originally released back in June but unavailable due to violation of Apple's rules on launching executable code (which is what an emulator does). Then in September it was actually approved by Apple -- but only for a few days because of another security issue.

And now... it seems it's back! Properly! 30% faster!

There's bad news however: you can only play games downloaded from the App Store. No uploading your own abandonware ROMs I'm afraid. Maybe some enterprising fellow will manage to hack it...?

There's a fun and detailed 9 minute video of the emulator in action after the break.

[via TouchArcade -- or visit the emulator's official site]

Tags: c64, c64 emulator, C64Emulator, emulator, iphone, retro gaming

Filed under: Apple, iPhone

Apple yanks Commodore 64 emulator for BASIC interpreter easter egg

by Lee Mathews Sep 8th 2009

Manomio has certainly been patient in waiting for their fully licensed, retro-awesome Commodore 64 app to be allowed beyond the velvet rope guarding the entrance App Store.

One of the hold ups that led to their initial rejection back in June was the presence of a BASIC interpreter. Rather than strip the code entirely, Manomio tucked it behind a Konami code of sorts. Once users began reporting their luck in re-enabling the interpreter, Apple unceremoniously booted the emulator out the back door.

According to Manomio, the code has now been totally removed and the application re-re-submitted to Apple for re-re-approval.

It seems like an odd point of contention. As PC Mag's Jamie Lendino puts it, "anyone who would try and crash the iPhone via programming the C-64 emulator in BASIC deserves a gold star more than anything else, but that's my opinion."

Tags: app store, AppStore, c64, commodore 64, Commodore64, rejection, retrocomputing

Filed under: Fun, Apple, iPhone

Commodore 64 vs. iPhone 3GS showdown

by Jason Clarke Jun 23rd 2009

I have a confession to make: though I am an unabashed iPhone lover, nothing will ever top the infatuation I had with the Commodore 64. The C64 was my family's first computer, and it was soon to become my computer.

Harry McCracken over at the Technologizer blog latches onto a recent story about a Commodore 64 emulator (reputedly a very good one) that was rejected for entry into Apple's iPhone App Store due to the fact that code interpreters and emulators are expressly forbidden. Unfortunately, this appears to be a a blanket application of this rule, which seems to have been intended to block things like Adobe Flash, but the point is that it was blocked.

That story lead Harry to come up with a magnificent grid comparing the venerable C64 to the iPhone 3GS, a comparison which seems apt considering the fervent popularity of each platform.

A couple statistics from Harry's form really jumped out at me. For example, the iPhone already boasts over 50,000 software titles in the App Store. Compare that to only 10,000 titles total that were released for the Commodore 64 over the course of its life. Also, did you know that the iPhone's resolution is higher than the C64's was? The iPhone's display is 320 x 480, while the C64 sported a 320 x 200 pixel display.

The comparison grid isn't serious business; it's clearly intended to have some fun with a couple iconic computing devices, and for me at least it hits home.

Tags: c64, commodore 64 emulator, commodore-64, commodore-64-emulator, Commodore64Emulator, emulators, first computer, first-computer, FirstComputer, harry mccracken, harry-mccracken, HarryMccracken, iphone

Filed under: Internet, Social Software

BREADBOX64: Twitter client for the Commodore 64 - Video

by Brad Linder Jun 15th 2009

Sure, there are plenty of Twitter clients for Windows, OS X, Linux, the iPhone, Windows Mobile, and pretty much any other modern operating system. But what if you've got a soft spot for 25 year old computers? No problem. BREADBOX64 is a twitter client for Commodore 64 and 128 computers.

No, seriously.

The results aren't pretty. In fact, they're kind of ugly. But BREADBOX64 let's you view your friends timeline and post status updates. The timeline is updated every two minutes. Setup is a bit more complicated than most Twitter clients. You'll need to compile the source yourself. But if you're still using a C64 machine, something tells me that's not going to be a problem for you.

You can check out a video of BREADBOX64 in action after the break.

[via Digg]

Tags: breadbox64, c64, commodore-64

Filed under: Fun, Games, Internet, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Online C64 emulator with games - Time Waster

by Jason Clarke Feb 12th 2008

Ahh, the good old Commodore-64. Many of us here at Download Squad count the C-64 as one of their first computers. While the Apple IIc was arguably more important, nobody would dispute the fact that the C-64 had what kids want: games, and lots of them. It was also pretty cool that the operating system was also a BASIC interpreter. How many young programmers learned GOTO and LOOP commands in those days, only to have to unlearn them later on?

But even with the educational value that the C-64 could provide, its place in our collective heart was cemented by all of the great games that were available for the platform.

While C-64 emulators are available for every platform from XBox and PSP to Windows, Mac, and Linux, many of them can be finicky to set up. If you're looking for a quick hit of C-64 goodness but don't want to commit to a hackathon to get things working right, check out Commodore Gaming's Play Classic Games page.

The list of games that are available is not as long as we might like, but you'll almost certainly find an old friend in there. For us it was Jupiter Lander; this game has been made and remade seemingly a million times, but none have the charm and addictive game play that can be found in the original.

To play, simply click on the screenshot of the game you'd like to try in the scrolling marquee on the left. Click the Stick 1 button, then remember to click inside the game window before resorting to your number pad for controlling the game. We forgot that at first, and were frustrated at not being able to control anything.

What's your favorite old C-64 game? Anybody remember M.U.L.E.?

Tags: C-64, C-64-emulator, C-64-games, C64, C64-emulator, C64-games, Commodore-64, jupiter-lander, m.u.l.e., mule, online-emulator

Filed under: Fun, Games, Open Source

Commodore 64 emulator in Flash

by Jordan Running May 26th 2006

It's one thing to clone a video game in Flash; it's something else entirely to write an entire emulator for an entire game console, and I don't think it's done until now: Darron Schall and Claus Wahlers have released FC64, a Commodore 64 emulator implemented in Flash. For now FC64 is alpha-quality and very much a work in progress, but if you have Flash Player 9 beta installed you can play a live demo of Matrix, a homebrew C64 game by Llamasoft. Darron Schall has some more information about the project on his blog, and the full source code for you ActionScript jockeys is available at the FC64 web site.

[Via Waxy.org]

Tags: alpha, c64, commodore, commodore64, fc64, flash, games, opensource, retro, videogames

Filed under: Fun, Games, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Freeware, Time-Wasters

Play Commodore 64 games in your browser - Today's Time Waster

by Jordan Running Jan 19th 2006

c64s.com is a web site where you can play dozens of classic Commodore 64 games in your browser. The games run as Java applets and a few of them are a bit funky or slow, but there's a huge selection to choose from. Be warned, this is a time waster in the extreme: Don't follow the link unless you're prepared to lose a few hours to retro nostalgia.

Tags: c64, commodore 64, game, java, retro, time waster

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