What the hell is a Commodore 64??

The Commodore 64 was a marvel in engineering back in my day. Granted so were acid wash jeans and Styrofoam packing for McDonalds food so that doesn’t say a lot. The Commodore was THE computer system for families back in the day. It came out around 1982 but I don’t think we bought one 1986 or so. What set this little beauty a part from other computers, other then the fact it didn’t cost as much as a vehicle were 2 things.

1. It could be bought in any house hold store. You could run down to Sears and grab one which meant you didn’t have to head to an electronics store which to this day can be pretty intimidating to a lot of people.
2. It had an adapter that allowed you to plug it right into your TV so you wouldn’t have to buy a monitor with the unit.

Now you’ll notice I didn’t add “ease of use” to the list even though at the time, it was pretty easy to use. I guess I’m comparing it to today’s GUI (graphic user interface) which the commodore didn’t have! It was all based off the old DOS operating system which means you had to type in all the commands at… and this will blow your mind… THE COMMAND PROMPT. Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

Now the top of the line units (there were several different types) sported an 8 bit processor and 64 kilobytes of memory. I won’t mention what computers are sporting now because that’s always changing but as I’m writing this, I think most watches have more processing power. The system also had top of the line VGA graphics which is basically wearing glasses with 2 inches of Vaseline smeared on them.

Now at this point, you’re probably wondering how this little baby made it into MY memory banks and stuck?? Well I’m going to tell you!! THE GAMES!! Back when this monstrosity came out, games involved you trying to get a little white dot on a screen to go back and forth or climbing a fire escape to kick some barrel throwing monkey’s ass (Atari products, post later). These NEW games on the commodore had simple graphics, sound and colour… but were much more addictive and complex. They tended to have a bit of a story behind them and a lot more in the way of controls.

I still remember when Mom and Dad came home with the computer and setting it up next to the bar downstairs when we were still living in Orangeville. It was a standalone unit with a monitor and a 5 ¼” floppy disk drive. Yes, we used flat chunks of plastic with a metallic disk in the center of them which held between 110 Kilobytes to 700 Kilobytes. As you can well imagine, programs had to be LEAN when it came to coding to fit on these bad boys. How lean you ask… think of a Japanese Club Sandwich. THAT lean. These were later replaced by 3 ½” diskettes but we didn’t get one of these high tech drives until we got an IBM much later on.

Now, onto the memories and games. When Mom and Dad brought home the computer they also brought back a whole box full of ripped off computer games for the computer which I think we all enjoyed immensely. Our supply of games was further augmented by the nerdy, older kid who lived down the street from us (Chris something or other). He was a bit of a dork even back then but as soon as we got a computer, he became my best friend for a time. He not only had a whole PILE of games, but he was also smart enough to figure out how to copy them onto another disk and give them to me! It was GREAT! And to top it off, while he would be copying me games, he’d let me play with his full size pinball machine he had in his basement! Could anything be any better to an 8 year old?? I think not!

The 3 games that I think I played most of all though and have the best memories of were:

Spy Hunter - A cool game where you were the driver of a car outfitted with machine guns, oil slicks, rocket launchers and flame throwers. The best thing about this game though was the soundtrack. I still get the theme running through my head every now and then!

Mission Impossible – This game really got you thinking. It was a side scroller where you were some spy trapped in a mad mans’ mansion and had to escape. It basically had you going from room to room, down halls and in elevators trying to figure out puzzles and avoid henchmen. I remember spending days trying to figure out particular ways to avoid traps.

Spy Vs Spy – This game catered to my funny bone AND an 8 year olds fountain of cruelty without the magnifying glass and ant colony. It was based around two pixilated spies (one black, one white) and their never ending quest to capture and destroy each other in some sort of diabolical trap. You basically set up cruel ways for your opponent to die, run a couple trip wires to set the trap off, then sit back and watch the mayhem!

I played a ton of other games such as Summer/Winter Olympics, Montazuma’s Revenge and a host of others. Usually the more violent, the better the game (I guess some things never change). Mom and Dad tried curtailing that little aspect but when kids are trading games like baseball cards, that can get a bit difficult.

We had the Commodore for several years and was eventually replaced by an IBM which I’m sure I’ll post about later in some kind of tech post. But that Commodore was my first taste of a computer system and the pleasure I got from puzzle solving, coding, troubleshooting and everything else to do with a computer never went away. I eventually got a degree in computer systems but it all started with that old radiation king called a Commodore 64 in my parents’ basement. It just goes to show you how some innocuous thing in your childhood can shape your entire life.

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