Commodore VIC-20

[nesfan]

A friend of mine gave me a VIC-20 when we were hanging out a couple nights ago. It's cool but I really don't know much about these old computers. What would you guys say are some must-have games for it? I know the C64 had Zork and I'd love to play that. Is Zork on VIC-20 as well?

[Retro STrife]

Good question; I'll be following along too. I picked up a VIC-20 several years ago from a thrift shop for like $25, and I've snagged like 10-20 games over the years. But I've still never hooked it up. I'd be interested in knowing if there's any must haves, especially exclusives.

[Mpls_Vato]

The Commodore Vic-20 was the first “gaming console” I ever had. I’m stretching the limits of my memory here but I do have some nostalgia for a few games:

1) Raid on Fort Knox - Each level was a maze you would traverse to obtain bars of gold and avoid guards (which resembled insects to my recollection). This was my go-to game for the time we owned the Vic-20.

2) Radar Rat Race - go through a maze getting cheese and avoiding cats or other rats I believe? I remember having some fun with this one.

3) Gorf - classic arcade-style shooter. Good game.

4) Adventureland - I believe that was the name? This was a Zork-inspired text-based adventure. I remember using the keyboard for this game and we had a tape player for saving our progress, which in retrospect is pretty damn cool.

[nesfan]

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll definitely keep them in mind. I've played Gorf before. It's a fun game so I'll be on the lookout for a VIC-20 copy. Adventureland sounds good too. You had me at "Zork-inspired".

[C64_Critic]

"Omega Race" springs to mind as one of the few VIC-20 games we had back when we owned an original one. We also had Adventureland, and I definitely played a LOT of that but really it was more out of a lack of options than anything stellar about the game itself.

I'm pretty sure I have a VIC-20 in my collection of hardware, but I don't think I've ever bothered hooking it up. I can't think of anything for the VIC-20 that wasn't done and done WAY better by the C-64. Yes, I'm a homer in that regards.

[Retro STrife]

Funny, I flipped through my Vic-20 games tonight - I only have 10, but most are ones you guys have suggested. I have Omega Race, Adventure Land, Raid on Fort Knox, and Radar Rat Race. A few others I have are Clowns, Sky is Falling, Jupiter Lander, and Mission Impossible. But I've never played them yet, so I'm not sure if any of those are good.

By the way, I just found this Top 10 list of Vic-20 games by Retro Gamer magazine. From the ones we've mentioned here, only Omega Race made the cut.

https://www.retrogamer.net/top_10/top-t ... -20-games/

Also, after recently playing the arcade game Sea Wolf and seeing the VGC's new review of the 2600 homebrew version, I'm tempted to seek out the Vic-20 version. Back in the day, only the Vic-20 and C-64 got home versions of the game.

[C64_Critic]

By the way, I just found this Top 10 list of Vic-20 games by Retro Gamer magazine. From the ones we've mentioned here, only Omega Race made the cut.

https://www.retrogamer.net/top_10/top-t ... -20-games/

WHOA! I had no idea that Sword of Fargoal was ever released for the Vic-20, I would say that was a must-have if you can get your hands on it. It's one of my favorites for the C64.

[newmodelarmy]

I was a big C-64 guy back in the day (as I have pointed out about 100 times here) but never knew the difference between that machine and the Vic-20. Was the Vic-20 the predecessor?

[Mpls_Vato]

Again, I’m going off 30+ year memories here so bear with me. I believe we had Jupiter Lander in our collection and it was a Lunar Lander clone. Also not a bad game. As a 5-6 year old the game was a bit on the slow side but we played it now and again.

I believe another game we had was Avenger, which was a decent Space Invaders clone. I was never a big fan of that game but for all intents and purposes this was a pretty good port of it.

[C64_Critic]

I was a big C-64 guy back in the day (as I have pointed out about 100 times here) but never knew the difference between that machine and the Vic-20. Was the Vic-20 the predecessor?

Yes, the Vic-20 was the predecessor to the C-64. It wasn't a bad machine I suppose, but it was the difference (generically, not literally) between the NES and SNES in terms of capabilities. If you went straight to the C-64, you didn't miss much I assure you.