Druid II
C64, Firebird (1987)

Taking the basic design and style of Gauntlet and adding a few twists, Druid II picks up where the original left off.

Released one year after the original, Druid expands the Land of Belorn into ten different additional levels. Like a Star Wars movie, each zone consists of a completely different climate (ice, desert, forest, etc.) Players get to choose their path across the enchanted land, similar to the path-picking portion of Crossbow.

The spell casting system of Druid II has been greatly expanded. Druid II gives players 30 new spells to choose from, including Wall of Fire, Death Touch, and Teleport. Like the original, in Druid II additional help can be summoned. While the original game only allowed the summoning of golems, Druid II players can now choose between conjuring up Fire, Water, Earth and Air Elementals. Each of these elementals can be used in one of three ways. They can simply follow you around, they can be controlled by simply keyboard commands (‘run forward’), or they can be controlled by another human player using a second joystick.

Despite the expanded features, Druid II plays essentially the same as the first game. Based upon the Gauntlet style of play, players will run through mazes, shooting anything that moves and collecting everything that doesn’t.

Druid II takes the already established rules of the first game and simply expands the amount of levels, worlds, spells and enemies in the game. One reason I think these games did so well is because there was nothing to compare them to. Many Commodore 64 owners were disappointed in the home version of Gauntlet, simply because it didn’t look as good as the arcade version. With Druid and Druid II, there was no arcade game to compare them to, and thus, no disappointment.

Donkey Kong
C64, Ocean (1986)

Three years after the release of AtariSoft’s Commodore 64 Donkey Kong port, European software developer Ocean Software decided it was time for another Donkey Kong remake and accepted the challenge.

It goes without saying that the more familiar programmers become with a particular platform, the more advanced their games will look and play. This is generally why games released later in a platform’s lifespan often seem more advanced than earlier titles. Such is the case with Ocean’s version of Donkey Kong. With an additional three years of familiarity with the Commodore behind them, Ocean was really able to crank one great looking port.

Pretty much all the items gamers nitpicked about AtariSoft’s release were addressed in Ocean’s. The game now appears in its native vertical mode, thanks to large amounts of black space surrounding the sides of the screen. The layout more closely resembles the arcade’s, including the timer and score windows. Multi-color shading has been added to every game element – the girders are now drawn with shades of red and purple, for example. Even Donkey Kong himself appears in much greater detail and more lively this time around – he grunts, he growls, he stomps … he lives.

All the sounds have been modified this time around as well, but not all of them were improved. While many of the sound effects themselves sound better that the AtariSoft port, the music sounds much less authentic. Between the two you could probably make a really good sounding port, but on their own, neither one is perfect.

Ocean’s port of Donkey Kong returns to the original Japanese level order (girders, pies, elevators, rivets). One noticeable difference between the two versions is that Ocean’s port runs much faster, which makes some levels easier (rivets) but makes timing your jumps on the elevator level much more challenging.

Ocean’s port comes complete with a splash screen tacked on to the front of the game, done in red (as a throwback to the original cabinets, perhaps?). The only option lost between the two was the ability to select a starting level.

Three extra years of familiarity with programming Commodore hardware shows on this translation which is more accurate, but not necessarily more fun, than AtariSoft’s version. Both versions are worth acquiring and playing.

Donkey Kong
C64, AtariSoft (1983)

In 1980, Space Invaders became the first arcade game to be officially licensed to a home videogame system. Sales of both the game and the Atari 2600 console itself skyrocketed, thus giving birth to a genre that still exists and sells strongly today: the arcade port. For two years, Atari released ports of arcade games for their competitors’ systems under the brand name Atarisoft. Atarisoft focused predominantly on the expanding home computer market, porting popular arcade games such as Centipede, Dig Dug and Pac-Man to the Apple II, TI-99/4A, IBM PC, and of course the best game-playing machine of the era, the Commodore 64.

When the Commodore 64 debuted in 1982, the Commodore 1541 disk drive sold separately for around $400. As a result, many early Commodore owners relied on either the inexpensive Datasette, or cartridges (which did not require any other loading method). Most of AtariSoft’s ports for the Commodore were available on cartridge.

AtariSoft’s port of Nintendo’s insanely popular Donkey Kong was released in 1983, two years after the game’s arcade debut. By the time Donkey Kong hit the Commodore 64 platform, Donkey Kong mania was in full effect; Mario and Donkey Kong were appearing on lunchboxes, in songs, and on television in the Saturday Supercade cartoon program. The game’s popularity combined with booming home computer sales combined to give AtariSoft one of their most popular videogame ports.

AtariSoft’s version of Donkey Kong was the very first game I ever saw on a Commodore 64 and, for all intents and purposes, it looked identical to Nintendo’s arcade version to my ten-year-old eyes. The C64 port was light years ahead of the crappy Atari 2600 version, released only a year prior. In the C64 port, barrels no longer resembled Ritz crackers and flaming barrels looked nothing like oil lamps.

Equally impressive was the fact that AtariSoft’s port of Donkey Kong contained all four levels from the arcade version. Colecovision’s port for the Atari 2600 only contained the first two levels – Nintendo’s own version, released two years later in ’85, only contained three! To my circle of friends, AtariSoft’s version of Donkey Kong was virtually identical to its arcade counterpart.

With two decades of space between us, we can now see that AtariSoft’s port was far from perfect. The arcade version of Donkey Kong uses a vertical monitor; AtariSoft’s solution to porting the game to horizontal television sets was to simply make everything reeeeeally wide. Other hardware limitations led to a few corners being cut. The infamous “How high can you go?” screen is nowhere to be found. The colors and sounds, while probably the best of any home version at the time, still weren’t perfect. Red girders appeared purple, some of the sound effects (like Donkey Kong’s grunts) didn’t sound quite right, and some of the animation (such as Donkey Kong’s) had been greatly reduced.

That’s not to say the game wasn’t incredible; it was, especially considering the entire thing was crammed into a cartridge that maxed out at 16k. AtariSoft’s port of Donkey Kong was one of many early games that dazzled home computer owners. The ability to get arcade graphics into your home (or a reasonable facsimile thereof …) turned millions of people on to home computers and proved that they could be viable gaming platforms.

Ignoring slight changes in graphics in sound due to less powerful hardware than its arcade counterpart, Atarisoft’s version of Donkey Kong delivers an arcade quality experience in a fashion that seemed impossible at the time.

Defender of the Crown
C64, Cinemaware (1987)

In 1986 Cinemaware released Defender of the Crown for the Commodore Amiga, introducing a new style of game to home computer owners. Equal parts movie, strategy and action, Cinemaware called their new style of games “Interactive Movies”. Defender of the Crown begins like a real Hollywood experience, complete with opening credits and a montage explaining the game’s back story. The Amiga version’s graphics were literally mind-blowing. No one had seen graphics like that before on a home computer, and gamers were convinced that the game would not appear on any other platform. Commodore 64 owners got their wish one year later, when Cinemaware ported the game over to the Amiga’s 8-bit little brother. Defender of the Crown was also eventually ported to several other platforms, including the Apple II, Atari ST, NES, and even the PC. Much like the Amiga version, the Commodore 64 version of Defender of the Crown raised the bar on graphics for the system.

Defender of the Crown begins with a bit of back story, relayed to your character by none other than the infamous Robin Hood himself. The King of England has been murdered and the crown has been stolen. The Saxons and Normans have blamed each other for the King’s death, and war has broken out across the land. To recover the crown and declare yourself the new King, you’ll need to gather some troops, amass some weapons, and kick some butt medieval-style.

The basic core of Defender of the Crown plays like Risk. Each round, your character earns gold based on how many territories you own and how much equipment you’ve acquired. In turn, gold can be used to purchase more equipment, such as catapults and soldiers. During each round, players have several default options: Hold a Tournament (which takes gold), Conquest, Go Raiding, or Buy Army. Other game specific choices (cush as Rescue Fair Maiden) appear throughout the game.

The format of acquiring new territories is also similar to Risk’s. While some randomization of soldier loss occurs, generally “he with the biggest army” wins. Other actions, like tournaments and castle sieges, lead players to arcade-style action sequences. To destroy an enemy’s castle you’ll need to be a good shot with a catapult. In castle invasions, you’ll participate in swordfights alongside your men. During tournament jousts you’ll need to line your bobbing lance up with a bobbing opponent on horseback headed toward you. For the record, I’ve won about three jousting tournaments since I first started playing this game almost 20 ago. You’ll need more than Robin Hood’s help in that area to be successful.

With each round you’ll earn more gold, which will eventually begin to open up more options. Keep in mind your enemy’s armies are growing each round as well, so it’s best to attack early and swiftly. The ultimate goal is to conquer all of Britain by capturing the other three Lord’s domains, and you’ll need a large army along with catapult skills, a true blade and quick reflexes to pull that off.

Defender of the Crown isn’t perfect. Fans searching for an action-packed title may find themselves bored waiting for things to happen, while those looking for a fun strategic title may find their plans dashed by an unlucky lance to the head. Neither portions of the game are particularly deep in design, but to me that’s what makes it an enjoyable title for a broad range of gamers.

The game’s biggest drawback has since been overcome by technology. Due to the amount of graphics, cut scenes and different mini-games, playing Defender of the Crown on an original Commodore 64 was SLOW. The game was incompatible with most turbo loading cartridges, forcing users to wait (and wait and wait) for the game to load. While the cinematic experience is impressive the first few times, having to wait almost five minutes each time to start the game is frustrating to say the least. Thanks to modern emulation (and WinVice’s warp mode”) load times can be practically eliminated.

Cinemaware went on to release several other fantastic games for the Commodore 64, including Sinbad, Rocket Ranger, and The Three Stooges. Although the company originally filed for bankruptcy in 1991, several of the company’s employees have resurrected Cinemaware and released an updated version of Defender of the Crown for the Xbox and PS2 consoles titled Robin Hood: Defender of the Crown.

With equal parts cinema, action, and strategy, Defender of the Crown was a ground breaking game that should be played by every Commodore 64 owner at least once. Only load times and somewhat shallow action/strategy portions keep the game from being perfect.