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Nostalgia Time

Memory can play tricks on us all, and nostalgia often makes you remember old games looking better than they really do--at least, by today's standards. But the fact remains that true classics often still have the tight gameplay, the humor, or whatever the original charm when you go back and play them. There's still something unique and satisfying, a spark that defines them as entertainment that we might still relate to--like 1950s TV reruns on late-night cable--rather than mere museum pieces. At least, that's been my experience lately, digging out old Commodore 64 games that I grew up with.

Who said monster dueling was a new thing? Mail-Order Monsters...your catalog is in the mail.

The nostalgia trip included a few rude awakenings. The first shock to hit came in remembering that computer games could be played with a four-axis joystick with a single button. How could computer games be played with such a simple control scheme? The mouse-and-keyboard decade has practically driven joysticks off the market, so it's no wonder they're easy to forget. The great thing about the C64 was that it used the Atari 2600 sticks that were so readily available in the '80s--if you didn't have a few of your own, or needed to replace a broken one, it was just a matter of picking one up at a swap meet or garage sale.

One side effect of the system depending on the original Atari console's controller is that it was perfectly ready for multiplayer games. While DOS games made you share a keyboard with a friend, getting ready for full-on action duels just meant plugging in another stick with the C64. Plus, it was never too hard to find opponents, since the simple controls were easy enough for practically anyone to learn and pick up, if just for a few uneven matches.

While some long-running PC franchises got their start back in the days of home computers--Ultima and SimCity come to mind--gaming on those early computer systems didn't seem all that different from console gaming. Sure, some of the games were pretty complex and already started establishing PC genre conventions that live with us today. But you could still set the system up on a TV, and there were millions of practically identical C64s out there, so there were few technical barriers to deal with, like unpredictable system requirements or daunting upgrades. In fact, the C64 had an amazingly long shelf life. Mine got daily use from the mid-'80s to 1991, when I got a VGA-ready PC just to play Wing Commander--well, that's not exactly how I explained it to my dad.

All the current PC gaming stereotypes break when you look back. It wasn't about fancy computer hardware, and a lot of games defied categorization. Lots of deep games mixed strategy with real-time action (Archon, Star Control, and Populous come to mind), role-playing with action (Starflight), or adventuring with action (Neuromancer). And there were plenty of games that were just plain hard. Without quick save or automapping, those games could be brutal. The first Bard's Tale games practically required you to graph out dungeons on paper. Then there was Sword of Fargoal, which played out like Diablo II in hardcore mode--there were no saves, plus the goal (the titular sword) was 15 or 20 random levels and many monsters away.

Meet the original Diablo II: Sword of Fargoal came with hardcore mode turned on by default.

Not all games looked their best on the C64. There were tons of ports from the Apple II, Atari computers, DOS PCs, and even the Amiga. But ingenious programmers--often solo in those low-budget, low-resolution days--figured out how to squeeze games onto other platforms. But while I watched other computer systems quickly start to lose shelf space in the stores I frequented, the C64's sheer popularity (and mainstream price) let it hold its own against the DOS invasion. Sure, it was eventually time for game designers to focus exclusively on new hardware, and the biggest developers in that transition--I'd gladly name Origin, Bullfrog, and MicroProse at the top of my personal list--seemed to benefit from the transition for a while. Current independent studios can only hope to have as long a run.

These nostalgic musings have a few points. I can even spell them out: Computer games can be great with even the simplest controls. Save your old games to remind yourself why you loved them in the first place. And there's a long, rough-and-tumble history to gaming that usually defies contemporary predictions. Who'd ever have thought the C64 would be as great a gaming system as it was? Millions of satisfied gamers can't be wrong.