Commodore 64 Games System

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Commodore 64GS
Third generation (8-Bit era)
Release dateDecember 1990; 33 years ago (1990-12)[1]
Units sold≈2000
Units shipped≈20000
MediaCartridge
PredecessorMAX Machine
SuccessorCommodore CDTV

The Commodore 64 Games System (often abbreviated C64GS) is the

Klax
.

The C64GS was not Commodore's first gaming system based on the C64 hardware. However, unlike the 1982 MAX Machine (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 20,000 consoles produced,[2] only 2000 consoles were sold.[3]

Available software

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

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

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 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

, which were available on cartridge only.

Through publisher

Fast Food, Professional Skateboard Simulator and Professional Tennis Simulator. Power Play featured three MicroProse titles: Rick Dangerous, Stunt Car Racer and MicroProse Soccer, although Rick Dangerous was produced by Core Design
, 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,[6] 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

Kempston Interface and the Master System
, but no other joystick on the market offered compatibility with the proprietary second-button function. Standard C64 joysticks and Master System controllers were fundamentally supported, but the lack of second-button support (the 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 and Your Commodore, Commodore 64 magazines of the era, reported that Commodore had promised "up to 100 titles before December",[7] 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[citation needed] - 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

The Sales Curve, Mirrorsoft and Hewson had expressed an interest, nothing ever materialized from these firms. Similar problems plagued rival company Amstrad when they released their GX4000
console the same year.

There were other reasons attributed to the failure of the C64GS, the major ones being the following:

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, 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.

References

  1. ^ "Retro Treasures: Commodore 64 GS". retro-treasures.blogspot.se. 2013-06-07. Retrieved 2013-06-16.
  2. ^ "OLD-COMPUTERS.COM : The Museum". www.old-computers.com. Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  3. ^ "Commodore 64 Games System". Retrieved 2022-05-24.
  4. ^ "Commodore C64 GS Games System - REMOVED - Game Console - Computing History".
  5. ^ Fischer, Andrew (2018-04-19). "Revisiting the C64GS". PressReader. Retrieved 2023-02-27.
  6. ^ "File:Terminator2 Cartridge.JPG - C64-Wiki".
  7. ^ "Munchy Box". Your Commodore. UK: Alphaville Bublications Ltd. October 1990.

External links