Beware The Spaceman

Tag: C64

  • Sonic Goes Multiplatform on C64

    Cassette tape with title

    I’ve talked plenty about my love of the Sonic games over on the Retro Reaction blog. If you lived through the late 80s to early 90s, you already know the story. Sonic, Sega’s mascot, took on Nintendo’s plumber and — for a while, especially in the American market — the Hedgehog won.

    Things weren’t quite as clear‑cut here in the UK. For starters, Sega’s 8‑bit Master System was more popular than Nintendo’s NES, and the Mega Drive outperformed the SNES.

    But that’s only half the UK story. Home computers were a huge part of the market, with the main players being the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64. Later, the Amiga and Atari ST would bring 16‑bit home computing into the mix.

    But it raises a question — especially now, when everything is multiplatform.

    What if Sonic hadn’t been a Sega exclusive?

    What if that game had appeared on other platforms back in the day, just as Sonic does now?

    We don’t have to wonder anymore, because in this timeline Commodore 64 owners were loading up their tape drives and heading straight into Green Hill Zone.

    In 2021, homebrew developer Mr Sid and team ported the Master System edition of Sonic the Hedgehog to the Commodore 64. The conversion works brilliantly. This isn’t a demo — it’s the full game, playable end‑to‑end, with only a few minor differences. (I noticed the screen doesn’t auto‑scroll during Bridge Zone.)

    There is an asterisk, though. If you’re playing on real hardware, you’ll need the RAM Expansion Pack. Full disclosure: I’ve run this on both the C64 Mini and the popular Vice emulator. In both cases, it just required tweaking a setting to enable RAM expansion.

    Hardware quirks aside, this is a great port. It raises a wonderful “what if…”

    What if the Commodore 64 had received this back in the day?

    Would it have boosted the Sonic brand?

    Or would it have stopped people upgrading to consoles — whether 8‑bit or 16‑bit?

    It would almost certainly have caused chaos in the school yard. Imagine the arguments over which computer was better if one of them came with a Sonic port.

    And what if the ports hadn’t stopped at the C64?

    Those homebrew geniuses are still at it. As I type this, Sonic is in development for the 16‑bit Amiga, and it looks just like its Mega Drive counterpart.

  • The Commodore 64 Never Died

    Cassette tape with title

    Those following the Retro Reaction blog will know the Commodore 64 wasn’t something I owned back in the day. I came on board with computers in the Amiga era, though through family and friends I had played a ZX Spectrum. The only time I ever saw a breadbin was in the local electronics store, Knights, and I wanted it badly. My parents deemed it too old (and by that point 16‑bit was well and truly here). It wasn’t the machine I was fascinated with particularly, but the games. The C64 in the shop window had Batman and Bart Simpson on display.

    Fast forward to modern times and the C64 Mini was released by RetroGames.biz. Better still, this version was pre‑loaded with games. I waited for a sale. Played it a bit, then read that the machine allowed new games to be loaded via USB… and the door was unlocked.

    I found that the Commodore 64 is one machine that never really died. In fact, the retro scene for this computer is absolutely thriving. These aren’t all hobbyists either — some of the modern C64 games rival the ones that came out back in the day. Some are even being released commercially for original hardware (see publisher Psytronik).

    Through further reading I learned that the C64 Mini is perhaps not the most complete way of enjoying this scene. Later, the C64 Maxi upgraded to a full‑sized keyboard, and later still Commodore were revived and released the Commodore 64 Ultimate. That one even allowed use of original hardware. Or, like me, if you’re a bit techy, there’s always the option of using a Pi 400 to unlock both the C64 homebrew scene and that of other 80s home computers.

    Whichever way you choose to open the door to this retro‑modern rabbit hole is up to you. If you like your classic gaming, though, opening it is a must. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. For these old computers, it will forever be the 80s.

    Next time: It turns out Max Caulfield isn’t the only video game protagonist who can rewind time. Sisters Millie and Molly can too — and they can do it on the Commodore 64. More on the sisters later.