The best Vic-20 game ever

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 9:38 am

Anders Carlsson wrote:Actually, a moon lander (which also exists several games with that concept) may be tricky enough. Fortunately the planet usually is uninhabited, or else someone might be shooting at your vehicle while you try to park it.

Just pulling your leg wrote:Interesting way to write a message, by the way!

Post by **Jeff-20** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 11:25 am

I might seperate "best game" from "most played game" and "game I liked the most".

I put the most time into GRIDRUNNER and OMEGA RACE.

But I enjoyed ADVENTURELAND and QUACKERS... CREEPY CORRIDORS is pretty fun too.

Sometimes a game can be technically good (such as MOSQUITO), but one has more fun playing a silly game like QUACKERS (which is not as impressive in programming).

vic user · Post by **vic user** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 11:52 am

yeah, i am with you about rating games.

although i think omega race is probably the 'flag ship' game for vic 20, it is not the game i tend to play the most on the vic.

that creepy corridors sounds interesting.
is it a text adventure?

chris

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 1:56 pm

Leeeeee wrote:How about a worst game nomination? I vote Clowns as possibly the biggest waste of a cartridge ever.

No way man!

I love Clowns - it was the first game I ever played on a VIC. I would play it daily if my paddles didn't jitter like crazy.

Now Mole Attack is pretty useless. I ripped mine apart to use as a basis for cartridge EPROM experiments.

vic user wrote:Cytherean lander would sound cool!
chris

So - write a 20-line game and call it that!

vic user · Post by **vic user** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 2:03 pm

yeah, a mini lander game.

shouldn't be that hard to do, and having a constraint should help, as i often make things far more complicated than they need to, and then never get the program finished.

chris

Post by **Jeff-20** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 3:22 pm

Schema wrote: No way man! I love Clowns - it was the first game I ever played on a VIC. I would play it daily if my paddles didn't jitter like crazy.

I hate ALL paddle games... the controller just doesn't work right and someone should have stopped that before production...

Mikam73 · Post by **Mikam73** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 3:39 pm

Schema wrote:
Leeeeee wrote:
No way man! I love Clowns - it was the first game I ever played on a VIC. I would play it daily if my paddles didn't jitter like crazy.

Now Mole Attack is pretty useless. I ripped mine apart to use as a basis for cartridge EPROM experiments.

I have same problem... Thing on screen moves left and right quick even I dont touch paddle. And this problem is with all my paddle controllers.

Someone told me that problem is Vic20 joystic port.. But I dont remember problems like that when i was kid.. Now you cant play paddle games..

Schema · Post by **Schema** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 8:23 pm

Mikam73 wrote:Someone told me that problem is Vic20 joystic port.. But I dont remember problems like that when i was kid.. Now you cant play paddle games..

I just tested this - you're right!!

I tried playing Clowns on both the VIC and my C64, using the same paddles. On the VIC, the seesaw was jittering so much it was uncontrollable. On the C64, it jittered a tiny bit, but not even 1/10th of on the VIC.

I don't remember this problem on my VIC from years ago. So what could the problem be?

Tonks · Post by **Tonks** » Thu Jul 08, 2004 8:41 pm

Best games for the Vic 20??? So many to wade through!! But here are my fav's....

Omega Race - totally awesome in every department and by far the best home version IMHO.

Gridrunner - I just can't belive Minter could get so much out of 3k

Lode Runner - bit jerky in the scrolling, but still bril'

Raid on Fort Knox - simple and repetitive, but I just love it.

AE - Brilliant graphics for the Vic and very interesting gameplay make this a must have for any Shoot-em-up fan.

Jelly Monsters - Certainly the best Pacman game on the Vic. Excellent graphics and use of the whole screen.

Choplifter - With some better sounds this would be on the top of my list of best ever for the Vic. Tom Griner arguably pushed the Vic further than anyone - even Minter.

Slap Dab - One of the games I played constantly as a teenager. Simple style game with nice graphics and very addictive gameplay.

Post by **Jeff-20** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 1:29 am

The PADDLE problem is a hardware problem.

It is the same hardware used on the Atari 2600 and experiences the same jitter with Atari 2600 games. The C64 version of pinball and clowns corrects the problem through software by not reading the controller with such sensitivity. I say the paddles still suck.

Mikam73 · Post by **Mikam73** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 3:26 am

Schema wrote:
Mikam73 wrote:Someone told me that problem is Vic20 joystic port.. But I dont remember problems like that when i was kid.. Now you cant play paddle games..

I just tested this - you're right!!

I don't remember this problem on my VIC from years ago. So what could the problem be?

Me either.. But I am sure that no one had played Clowns with Vic20 then years ago if that thing would have shake on screen like it does now.. and same problem with other cames like.. Sky Is Falling..

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 3:42 am

Aren't paddles easily readable from Basic (both on VIC and 64), so you could put up a simple PRINT PEEK:GOTO loop to see how sensitive they are? Maybe Basic is too slow to get really good measurement on jitter in this case?

Schlowski · Post by **Schlowski** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 4:18 am

My absolut all-time favorit is Bonzo, does anyone else knows this game?
Endless hours, nights and a lot of joysticks whre used up for this game, we played it with friends and even my father was addicted to this simple ladder/avoid monsters game. Getting a new hiscore was cause enough to celebrate a party

Second place goes Gridrunner, technically the most impressing game I saw in the 80's on my VIC.

Ah, those were the days...

Schlowski

carlsson · Post by **carlsson** » Fri Jul 09, 2004 4:41 am

The runner-up to Bonzo (8K) is The Pit (3K), by the way. I was more thrilled with the latter type of "sky is falling"-game than the ladder game.

Sword of Fargoal is of course another classic, perhaps better on the VIC than the 64 due to the lower resolution/smaller maps.

Boray · Post by **Boray** » Sun Jul 11, 2004 4:23 am

I never had Clowns in those days, but got it a couple of years ago, and I think it's really fun.

Paddles jittering - It's just the pots in them going bad. The more you use them, the better they will get. Try to just turn them for a while and they will improve. There are also different sprays you can spray into them, but that is not recommended by everyone. I did that on the volume controll of my stereo (a spray called 5-56) and it became as new. 5-56 is my universal fixer. I even repaired a 1541 by spraying a tiny bit into the motor.

Schlowski, Yes, Bonzo is a nice game! There are different versions of it. The main difference is speed and that you can type in your name for the highscore. Some require that you turn off the diskdrive and runstop-restore before playing, or the joystick won't work. (My own old games had the same problem before I fixed it).

I think we have 10 nominations now maybe... I will go through the thread to see...

Ok, back.... We have 9 first nominations... I have not played all of them. I have not even heard of Carlsson's nomination

And the 10th became Gorf (becase it was rated high by two people).... In strong competition with Choplifter and Jelly monsters that didn't make it. I was quite sure that those two would make it. Jelly monsters was one of my own favourites. Pretty strange that no pac-man clone at all made it.... (Is Jelly monsters a PAL only game?)

I will now post a real poll!

/Anders

Denial

The best Vic-20 game ever - Now Voting!