Jeff Plays Some C64 Stuff

5 seconds in and I'm already stoked we are watching this.

The Commodore 64 loading screen was/is/will be the best loading screen ever.

Did Jeff switch to an arcade emulator for Street Fighter II? I couldn't tell the difference.

Great stuff right here.

Joystick port 1 was internally connected to the same I/O pins as the keyboard, so moving the joystick would produce keypresses (the CTRL key was left, and 2 was right, IIRC). At least as far as I know, that's why most games used joystick port 2.

EDIT: Jeff, you need to stop playing 50Hz games at 60Hz. They get glitchy and may not work right.

Too bad I missed the live show. And Giana Sisters is not a rip off. It is inspired by Mario. ;)

Oh god, just watching Jeff play Bubble Ghost is stressing me the hell out.

New VIDEO is Live!

what?

It uses different graphics for the clouds and bushes, it's a completely different game.

Jeff certainly knows his C64! I had a C64 and a Comodore Plus/4 before that. I'm old.... :/

Watching this live gave me the direct opposite of the "Oh god I'm old" thing.

Jeff always makes a great selection when showcasing a game. Cheers Jeff for unraveling more good gems.

Agreed. Though it dosen't have to be solo videos, just the guys doing stuff that they really like (Jeff with classic games in general, Vinny with whatever Vinny loves)

I missed a good chunk of the stream but I was glad to see Jeff spend a chunk of time with Paradroid. I'd never played that game before I covered it on my YouTube show and now I fire it up on a regular basis. Its mechanics are super obtuse but when you figure it out, it's such a satisfying title to play.

The C64 was terrible. Amstrad for life yo!

@emptyquarter: Take that back!

Jeff knows handling on all of the controls!

Jeff playing C64 games for our amusement should become a thing.

These are my favorite type of videos.

O man, that SF port is utter trash.

Uncle Jeffrey sure loves him some C64

I always check Jeff's twitch channel for these videos. I'd love to see more of this on the site

What be the plus?

I want to make the theme of the C64 Transformer game my new ring tone.

Jeff took on a Dalek and the Dalek won. Too bad you couldn't hack Optimus Prime in there. And that Transformers game WAS bunk. Cliffjumper is the red one.

Danny and Jeff should do an amiga stream.

Reminded a lot of this.

Once SOASC is back online it shouldn't be much trouble. It's currently down for server maintenance I think, but try the download page at http://www.6581-8580.com/ and search for Transformers by Fred Gray in a few days, and you'll find a MP3 recording made off real C64 and C128 hardware, which at least if you have an Android phone isn't harder to get as a ringtone than to put in the Ringtone folder on your device.

EDIT: It's up now, here's a direct link to the Transformers theme song on the original C64 sound chip 6581: http://mirror.wgi2015.nl/oakvalley/soasc/soasc_mp3/MUSICIANS/G/Gray_Fred/Transformers_T01.sid_MOS6581R2.mp3

Jeff didn't exactly showcase the games with the best music on the system by the way, Giana Sisters was pretty much the only one doing something interesting with it out of the shown games. The SID sound chip was capable of some amazing shit, like this:

I totally know Bubble Ghost from the OG Game Boy, and that looks like the superior version to me! (That Soundtrack!)

I was a Spectrum disciple myself but I really enjoyed this. Could certainly take another stream in the future.

You know, I really like bearded Jeff. Or facial hair Jeff. Whatever.

Absolutely! The US Amiga scene seems to have been really weird, as gaming on computers just didn't seem to be a thing in the US at the time, everyone was just focused on consoles, so Danny could probably help bring forth some classic European Amiga titles. Hopefully not just it's mediocre platformers, but also the RPG's, shoot 'em ups, violent future sports games and strategy games.

Maybe also the Amiga port of Wing Commander 1:

I swear the Commodore 64 had some of the best sounding video game music.

And much, much love for Jumpman

I'm British, so I'm basically a dyed in the wool Spectrum fanboy. Never really used a C64 too much, but that Jumpman looked spectacularly good, for it's time.

I think another reason for Amiga's less than huge reception in the US is that it had to contend with a lot more competition. There were a lot more consoles, and PCs got cheaper faster here than in europe.

I hadn't seen Jumpman before, it seems totally cool for what it was.

Gotta love Tim Follin.

Genuinely laughed my ass off at the camera switching stuff.

I prefer 'Jumpman Jr.' While it didn't have as many levels as the original, being on a cartridge meant it loaded MUCH faster than the disk-based 'Jumpman.'

Agreed. Back then they didn't have movie-like scores recorded with 60-piece orchestras. The music had to be simple and catchy.

That's why the whole 'C-64 Orchestra' thing was such a hit. The tunes still totally hold up, no matter how they're performed.

You're old? I had a Commodore VIC 20!

I loved those old text adventures like THE COUNT and PIRATE'S COVE.

@cashbailey: The music for G.I. Joe is some of the best!

Wooooow Ken Masters is 49 years old. That has to be a rug he's wearing.

I'm not sure the forced limitations where what caused it as much as the general philosophy regarding video game music. As you said, modern games go with movie like scores, particularly Hollywood blockbuster inspired ones. In general modern games take way too inspiration much from cinema, including trying to force film making rules upon video game design. In Hollywood film making there's the idea that the background music shouldn't be noticed, in order to not distract from what's happening on screen, and when modern game developers go all cinematic with their games they follow that rule and make sure the games have the most generic and unnoticeable music despite there being a huge difference between the way we watch movies and play games - one being passive and the other active. Players don't actually get distracted from what happens on screen the same way movie viewers would just because the music is there, but they still follow that dumb rule despite it not being applicable. :/

I think I knew about Mario when I first played Gianna Sisters but I didn't get that it was a rip off. I thought it was just a coincidence that they were similar, lol. Kids, gotta love em!!!

Whoah, Jump Man is legit amazing for a game in 1983.

Bubble Ghost was pretty cool!

This is Frog Fractions 2. Or Fallout 4.

I never played a C64, but some of these games looked really cool.

@commodore64: I am.