Vic20 Minority Report

Discuss anything related to the VIC

What games should make the final list?

Poll ended at Sun Apr 27, 2014 2:30 pm

Bongo
3
8%
Chariot Race
3
8%
Crossfire
2
5%
Hellgate
5
13%
Jelly Monsters
7
18%
Matrix
4
10%
Rockman
4
10%
Skyhawk
7
18%
Tank Atak
4
10%
Villain
1
3%
 
Total votes: 40

User avatar
Mayhem
High Bidder
Posts: 3003
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 7:03 am
Website: http://www.mayhem64.co.uk
Location: London

Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Mayhem »

There is an article category for Retro Gamer magazine called "Minority Report". This is a section for highlighting great games from a non-mainstream platform. Now, I'm sure we could argue the Vic20 was mainstream, but compared to the C64, NES, Playstation... maybe not quite. But this is an excuse for getting a bit more Vic into the magazine!

Anyhow, I've been commissioned to write a four page piece on some excellent but slightly obscure titles. Now I'm putting my own shortlist together, but now is your chance to nominate something I may have overlooked, or argue its case :wink:

These should be original commercial games released between 1980-86. I may be able to sneak some type-ins and/or homebrew in there, but the featured titles should be mostly commercial.
Lie with passion and be forever damned...
English Invader
Vic 20 Scientist
Posts: 1186
Joined: Tue Apr 28, 2009 3:51 pm

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by English Invader »

I've given this a bit of thought and the first game I would nominate is Return to Fort Knox. It's almost always the first game I play when I set up the VIC. Raid on Fort Knox is the original release, but Return is just that bit more polished.

VIC Rally X - arcade perfect port of Namco's Rally X that most people know better as Radar Rat Race :(
Garden Wars
Keyquest
Traxx (Gridrunner gets mentioned in RG enough as it is and this article would be a good opportunity to talk about some of the games that don't get mentioned)
Blitz/City Bomber (it's the signature game on the VIC and should get a mention somewhere)

I would like to recommend Dragonfire and Demon Attack, but most RG readers are probably already familiar with the Atari 2600 versions of those games so they would be a bit old hat.
User avatar
Misfit
Vic 20 Devotee
Posts: 207
Joined: Thu Nov 28, 2013 9:09 am

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Misfit »

Great news! RetroGamer is my all time favourite magazine and it needs more VIC-20 stuff.
Mayhem wrote:I may be able to sneak some type-ins and/or homebrew in there
hmm.. maybe I have to release my newest 16k homebrew project soon. :D
User avatar
Mayhem
High Bidder
Posts: 3003
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 7:03 am
Website: http://www.mayhem64.co.uk
Location: London

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Mayhem »

Blitz, apparently, is getting a small article to itself in issue #130 anyhow, so I shall probably not include it heh.

Key Quest is already in the shortlist. Rally-X I believe is there too. "Shortlist" as in I've been through most of the entries in GB20 and decided what might go in. I've got 19 entries of varying length to fill here. If I can get away with it, I'll make the uber short ones (30 words each) as the homebrew exposure points.
Lie with passion and be forever damned...
malcontent
Vic 20 Hobbyist
Posts: 128
Joined: Sun Dec 26, 2010 1:51 pm

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by malcontent »

Seems like it would be a shame not to mention Scott Adams, as the VIC was the platform he really exploded on. Although I'm sure the readers of RG are familiar with him.

I think Mutant Herd is an interesting game. Also Wunda Walter, which is a weird one. And Tomb of Drewan for something to replace the better known Sword of Fargoal.
User avatar
Mayhem
High Bidder
Posts: 3003
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 7:03 am
Website: http://www.mayhem64.co.uk
Location: London

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Mayhem »

Although in all honesty, the majority of the readership is in the UK, and I'll willing to bet a lot of folks here don't know Sword of Fargoal. It's far more well known in the US. I umm'ed and ahhh'ed about Mutant Herd, it may go in the short (long) list.
Lie with passion and be forever damned...
andyryan
Vic 20 Drifter
Posts: 20
Joined: Sun Nov 17, 2013 3:43 pm

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by andyryan »

How about Pollywog, a simple frogger type clone but very playable.

I also quite like Ludwigs lemon lazers but I think that is for its sheer bizarreness rather than it being a particularly good game.
RJBowman
Vic 20 Enthusiast
Posts: 198
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 7:50 pm

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by RJBowman »

A lot of the effort in VIC-20 game production was geared at cloning popular arcade games.

Commodore themselves released the affore mentioned "Radar Rat Race", and also "Vic Invaders" and the very briefly available Pac-Man clone "Jelly Monsters", which were all high quality games programmed by one of Nintendo's contractors.

I had a Pac Man knockoff by Microdigital called "Snakman"; it was very fast, and had an odd feature where the blue ghosts would re-emerge in their box still blue to be eaten again, and if you entered the box at that time you could rack up a huge score.

A genuine, licensed Donkey Kong game did finally arrive from Atarisoft; it was fairly faithful to the arcade game, and I think that it was superior to versions that ran on the 2600 and on supposedly more powerful computers.
User avatar
Mayhem
High Bidder
Posts: 3003
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 7:03 am
Website: http://www.mayhem64.co.uk
Location: London

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Mayhem »

Rally-X, Galaxian and Pac-Man were all legit in Japan as far as we have always been able to tell. The problems came when Commodore tried to sell them in the West as Radar Rat Race, Star Battle and Jelly Monster, when other companies (Midway and Atari) had the home rights. RRR went under the radar, the other two weren't so lucky.
andyryan wrote:I also quite like Ludwigs lemon lazers but I think that is for its sheer bizarreness rather than it being a particularly good game.
Quite :P
Lie with passion and be forever damned...
Vic20-Ian
Vic 20 Scientist
Posts: 1218
Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2008 1:58 pm

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Vic20-Ian »

Star Defence by Anirog and the mystery the Firebomber Showdown wave (Wave 10? and I think they run away ;-)

Myriad - probable the best Vic 20 sound experience of any game. I love the hang back of one alien left on screen when the new wave starts and the "multi-threaded" signature alien sounds.
Vic20-Ian

The best things in life are Vic-20

Upgrade all new gadgets and mobiles to 3583 Bytes Free today! Ready
User avatar
Peter
Vic 20 Drifter
Posts: 33
Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2011 1:03 am

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Peter »

Moon of Jupiter by Romic. Fast, smooth and plenty of action. Released in 1982 this was a big step in terms of quality from what was available at the time.

Submarine Commander by Thorn Emi. A simulation that actually is playable on the VIC. See this link from a very well known website:

http://www.retrogamer.net/retro_games80 ... commander/

Skyhawk by Quicksilva. Plenty of action and so many things to do! One of my favorite VIC games ever.

Hope you have these on your shortlist. :wink:
User avatar
fgasking
Vic 20 Devotee
Posts: 233
Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 7:53 am

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by fgasking »

Mat, i'd highly recommend "3D Silicon Fish", which is a pretty neat maze game with hints of Bomberman in it with the exploding mines. All on an unexpanded Vic 20, with a wonderful colour cycle effect when you die at the end.
Fairly obscure too and not a title that many have had the chance to play.

Other obscure suggestions would be:

Forbidden Tower (Atlantis - Late to the party, rock hard though)
Meteor Blaster (Terminal)
Wunda Walter (Interceptor)
Plumb Crazy (Terminal - not many copies sold as late in the Vic 20's life, pretty solid conversion).
User avatar
Mayhem
High Bidder
Posts: 3003
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 7:03 am
Website: http://www.mayhem64.co.uk
Location: London

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Mayhem »

I think Moons of Jupiter and 3D Silicon Fish are already in the shortlist, maybe Skyhawk too. Whether they make the final 15 is a different matter...
Lie with passion and be forever damned...
User avatar
Mayhem
High Bidder
Posts: 3003
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 7:03 am
Website: http://www.mayhem64.co.uk
Location: London

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Mayhem »

Still trying to narrow the list down here heh... I'll probably post the final 15 (plus 4 homebrew) when sorted... hopefully this weekend :p
Lie with passion and be forever damned...
User avatar
Mayhem
High Bidder
Posts: 3003
Joined: Mon May 24, 2004 7:03 am
Website: http://www.mayhem64.co.uk
Location: London

Re: Vic20 Minority Report

Post by Mayhem »

Okay, I've picked ten games from my shortlist that are definitely going in... but I'm a little stuck narrowing down the other ten to a final five. Which is where you lot can come in! I've added a poll to the first post, please vote for up to five choices from the list, and I may go with popular opinion ;)
Lie with passion and be forever damned...
Post Reply