The Best Commodore 64 Shoot 'Em Ups In Order Of Greatness
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 25 มิ.ย. 2024
- Hey whatsup guys its OSG here and today we will be counting down the best Shoot em ups on the Commodore 64.
The C64 was renowned for having some great shoot em ups so as this is my favourite genre the fact that I chose C64 as my favourite system was a no brainer.
There were literally hundreds of Shooters on the C64 so I’ve whittled it down to what I would say are the best 28 on the system
For a 64k machine some of these games are outstanding but really they are all worth a play. As with all my lists the order is completely subjective but I’m sure that most people’s favourites will be in here at some point
Games in this video:-
Zybex @ 00:47
Skramble @ 01:22
Bulldog @ 01:57
Galpus @ 02:29
Gyrus @ 03:04
Parallax @ 03:34
Sidewinder II @ 03:59
Gladiators @ 04:37
Sanxion @ 05:15
Subterania @ 05:52
DragonBreed @ 06:28
Zaxxon @ 07:10
Terra Cresta @ 07:48
Delta @ 08:14
Salamander @ 08:54
Enforcer @ 09:31
IO - Into Oblivion @ 10:07
Slayer @ 10:29
Uridium @ 11:02
Nemesis @ 11:36
SlapFight @ 12:11
Zynaps @ 12:46
Metal Dust @ 13:20
Catalypse @ 14:07
X-OUT @ 14:51
R-Type @ 15:26
Armalyte @ 16:00
Katakis @ 16:35
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Ohh, Katakis. My Number one gamne on the C64 for sure. You either managed to complete it in one life or not at all. Getting a lot of red and green bubbles early on was the key to completing this game.
I recently started exploring shmups and just got a C64. I will be going through a lot of these games for the first time. Thanks for a great video.
Me thinks there may be another best shoot me up video for the C64 coming, so many fantastic shooters. Yet another wonderful video.
I thinks you might be right...maybe I'll call it c64 shoot em ups.. .the ones I missed lol
That's a great list you opened my eyes I know there is thousands of games on the C64 but you had a few shooters there ive never seen
Great list great vid nice one
So glad you're doing commentary on these now. Feels much more personal 👍
Thanks mate
Bandits is my favourite shmup on C64, great video, must play this stuff again...
Insects in Space should have been in there - the most magic gameplay of them all and one of the best “high-score” shooters around.
My favourites was 1942 and Nemesis. I didnt have aceess to most of those on your list. Great compilation.
YOU SAVED MY DAY!!! I was struggling searching for a game I liked a lot and finally I know is called ZYBEX. Thank you so much!
You got number 1 spot on, katakis was the most awesome shoot em up on the C64 & what a soundtrack it had as well!
Couldn't believe that I played most of these games brought back some nostalgia. Still though Delta number 1
Delta is excellent and I also thought it deserved a much higher rating. I feel it is let down by the fact that the game is difficult from the beginning. I've been playing it for over 30 years and can only get to stage 9 out of 28 ?? Disclaimer- although I have been playing it for 30 years their was a small break of about 28 years in that time period 😂
solid upload thank u
i didnt grow up with the c64 but recently got one
dragon breed is probably my favorite arcade game of all time
I’d have put Silkworm, SWiV and UN Squadron in this list and in Top 10 places as well, glad to see X-Out get a mention though, it’s kinda become a forgotten game.
I thought the UN Squadron port was poor, but I'm right with you regarding Silkworm and SWIV: For my money, those two games are better than most of those on this list.
Great list👍 many of them I played, but also many surprises. I played Salamander, Slap Flight and Hades Nebula the most😀
Great list. Gonna play some of these tomorrow night with a few beers! Feel silkworm was noticeably missing from your list. Love that game. Great 2 player.
Silk worm is best on the Amiga though...one of the few times when the home system beat the Arcade
@@oldstylegaming On that basis, you could disqualify a number of games, though: For example, Slap Fight is much better played on the Mega Drive than anywhere else (including arcade), because of the arrange mode and the Yuzo Koshiro soundtrack.
@@sjake8308 i didnt discount silkworm for that reason though, i was stating that its good on the amiga.... silkworm is not on this list as the games on this list are better than it in my opinion
Amazing list! Love it
Great list, never heard of the CMD SuperCPU and SuperRAM Card - WOW!
A few suggestions to expand the list:
Dropzone, Lightforce, Warhawk, Cybernoid 1& 2, Pastfinder, Thrust, Wizball, Hunter’s Moon, River Raid, Silkworm, Enforcer, Iball, Citadel and Firefly.
No Thrust or Wizball? Shocking. Also, Uridium, Paradroid, Zynaps, Cybernoid, Turrican.
@@rakido7388 Thrust is one of my favorite c-64 games.
Here are a few shooters which I really enjoyed:
Zone Ranger
Dropzone
Pastfinder (if you consider it a shooter)
A little surprised that Saint Dragon, Blood Money and Silkworm didn't make it in here somewhere, but otherwise, great video, some good memories here
Agreed. Wizball, Hunter's Moon, Retrograde and SWIV should have made it, too. I'd also take the Gemini Wing port over some of the games on this list.
A little surprised not to see Drop Zone, SWIV, or Hunter’s Moon.
you forgot two of my favourites!
Phobia : very difficult but amazing concept as you fly through planets based on phobias
Retrograde: a bit of a grind-em-up but the platform levels break up the shooting, there is a huge amount of power ups and the bosses are incredible
I love Retrograde, it was one of my favourite C64 games!
Katakis was the C64 version of the classic Japanese game Darius. Remixed versions of the Darius soundtrack turned up on the recent D4DJ Groovy Mix mobile app rhythm game, alongside Sega Outrun, Bubble Bobble, Space Harrier and Ghosts n Goblins music too.
Signum 7, Firefly, Firetrack and Warhawk were also good shoot em ups on the C64. Also Quintic Warrior, lol! It wasn't about the graphics (since it was an early 1983 game) it was the gameplay. Most hated the game but it was a fondly remembered game alongside Aquaplane which originally came with the C64 around about 1984ish.
While a lot of folk lazily describe Katakis as an R-Type clone, it borrows as much from Darius as you correctly point out.
Sanxion. My favorite. Main title music is amazing.
Wow, I didn't know Galpus had received a home translation! Looks excellent too. Galaga is my favorite but Galpus is a great game in its own right.
Ha, I have to commend you on your commentary for this vid. I think it's the best you've done yet! I can remember when you made the format change. You could tell that you really weren't enjoying yourself but you've REALLY grown into the roll! I knew you would lol! Take care mate!
Thanks mate...yeah im getting more into it now and with the Live Streams im now doing its getting easier
Some notable titles which didn't make your list I'd include: Saint Dragon, Dominator, the under-rated Forgotten Worlds and the brutal insta-death mayhem of Task III.
Another great video, thx for the upload.
No Probs mate thanks for continually watching :-)
Sanxion and delta both excellent but too hard for me. I used to love x out as well. Nice vid
Absolutely stellar list.
Second time I watched this video, I absolutely love it, well done OSG
Thanks man. I love your Amiga Videos too
Great list.. Personally I think Phobia should be up there with some of those :)
I'll check that game out...is it good?
Yeah, I have a soft spot for that game as well! Way too hard perhaps but the phobia-themed levels were interesting, ranging from slightly scary to silly but always interesting... I really dig the way the game looks! Antony Crowther programmed it and he did a fine job once again!
I just remember it making an impact on me like Salamander and x-out did back in the day.
yeah it looks good im gonna have a play on it later
Enforcer in my opinion is the best looking and playing shoot 'em up for the system. Plays smoothly more like a japanese title than an european one, great graphics with tons of parallax scrolling and with both music and sfx playing on each stage, music is great and there are tons of enemies on screen.
From the comments it seems that there are enough games for a part 2 : best shooters from the People List
BTW greetings from Nebraska
I really look forward to your videos
Just got a C64 Maxi from the UK since it didn’t get released here in the US
Nice, I love that they brought out a full sized one instead of that little one with pretend keyboard
had to import the maxi as well-
next step is trying to figure out how to get a zx spectrum up and running properly haha
Zynaps was alway my favourite. Glad it placed so highly!
Well.. I see that someone mentioned Dropzone and I agree, but on the Defender clones side I would like to spot the lights on Guardian from Alligata, the best one in its genre. Good one for Galpus, but there's also Galencia.
Glad to see Slap Fight, awesome game... But what about Crazy Comets and Mega Apocalypse... Also do I recognise a Newcastle accent???
Sort of...like slap bang in between Newcastle , Sunderland and Durham
@@oldstylegaming So South Shields then... I was born in Durham, when Houghton was in County Durham, before it became part of Tyne and Wear...
@@Xeopuppy hahahaha im from houghton....well fence houses
@@oldstylegaming I still live in Houghton, why were practically neighbours... HaHa.
@@Xeopuppy Haha yeah
Perhaps the C64 didn't do sports games too well (with the odd exceptions) but shoot em ups are top notch.
Nice list OSG! Are you familiar with the 2015 version of Scramble by Thomas Kite ("Tomk")? Worth a play for sure!
I am now as you and someone else have mentioned it ;-)
I was going to point this out too, since it kicks Skramble out the door and curbstomps it. But you beat me to it.
Armalyte was my favourite shooter on C64...salamander..R-type..Delta..Zybex..I.O..slayer..i-ball..nemesis..loved them all.
Excellent list of games, Lions of the Universe and Blood money should be on this list instead of a couple of the begining.
Flying shark is another great shooter.
R-Type and Armalyte or such awesome games...played them over and over back in the days...but zynaps has a very cool power up system
8:15 Delta, I was looking for its name
Thanks for making a comprehensive list. I jist picked up a c64 and I'm going to start with shoot em ups
What you going into after shooters?
@@oldstylegaming ive got a few of them on the list. But the shoot em ups are what I want to collect 1st the other types of games ill collect later. I had to pick up another drive my 1st 1541 isnt working properly and ive already swapped the 6522 ic,s and to no avail.
@@majesticpaint161 I'm interested, what was your preference in getting the original c=64 over the newly released one which has USB.
@@MegaasAlexandros just like the original hardware. And its fun finding old floppies and seeing what games are on them
@@majesticpaint161 I can understand that, id love to see one of those in action again. Where do you find the games ?
Oh heck yeah! Another video from this amazing channel! How in the world did you know that I am actually currently looking for some shoot-em-ups on the C64?
I'm psychic:-)
@@oldstylegaming Well that would explain it. Now, since you're psychic 🔮 could you tell me if I'll ever finally find an original "Donald Duck's Playground" cassette for the C64? Cuz that would be really awesome.
@@jkajmo erm.... im not that psychic lol
@@jkajmo But i will also keep an eye out for you mate
Dropzone, Warhawk and then just write your own on SEUCK for me
Warhawk was only a £1.99 release and had a Rob Hubbard soundtrack - plus your ship had a shield (9 little yellow triangles) that got reduced on contact. A lot better than having your ship blow up from a single pixel hit like other shmups.
Great list, thank you! You may update it with the last releases.. such as Zeta Wing and Soul Force
Yeah i will do that mate
Soul Force is an incredible game.
Oh wow bulldog, completely forgot about this one, played this as a kid and I definitely don’t own it now
i bet this is a list you could get your teeth into mate ...i know you love a shooter
Love me some shoot em ups, R Type and Salamander have to be here
dont want to spoil it....but they are lol
I love R-Type as you will see in the vid i place it high
Slapfight and Terra Cresta are very canny choices !!! I remember R-Type though, it had a horrific multiload.
Yeah, it was pretty buggy, too. Manfred Trenz did a hell of a job to get that one done in six weeks, but it really would have benefitted from more time in the oven.
Could you make a video about vertical scrolling shooters only? And I miss Time Pilot (which you mentioned) and Lightforce.
I burned out my c64's powerpack playing x-out.
X-OOT is class its so slick
Lol I remember those things would get so hot, you could probably warm up the house on a cold winters day with those things !!!!
The C64 sure was the 8-Bit to own back then if you liked a good shmup with a great tune. Great list m8, Sanxion, Delta and Uridium should be higher up the list imo, but like you stated it's all subjective. I missed R-Type and Katakis back then, they look awesome!
They are mate and you should defo check out catalypse, Enforcer and Metal Dust ...you will love them mate
@@oldstylegaming I'll check em out m8 :)
Have you played Saint Dragon? Compare it to the arcade version, and it is amazing work.
Panther was a great game too. It had an awesome soundtrack
oooo ive never played that ill check it out now
gaming really good game 😀
Wow that does look great sort of a mix between Desert Strike and Choplifter....im defo gonna fire that up now. I love it when i find new games to play...and with over 20k games on the c64 there is an abundance of hidden gems
@@oldstylegaming My Favourite computer of all time. The c64 had it all
@@darthvader78441 mine too mate
I absolutely liked Katakis. This was my game. Still play it occasionally emulated. Nemesis no. 2. X-Out was my prime amiga shooter were I also likes Intact (and on PC from then till now its Tyrian). Armalyte no 3
Mmm good list but what about Iridis Alpha and Dropzone they would definitely be in my top 20
Did you ever try Z? Very much like time pilot but it’s is a bit too quick
I also like Black Hawk and Invade a Load, my favourite version on Space Invaders
Z ??? no i aint played it...on the C64?
old style gaming it’s probably nostalgia but I loved it, space bar fires the bombs.
th-cam.com/video/rRUsrB7Bulo/w-d-xo.html
Watch the attract otherwise you won’t know what to do
Guruss had amazing sound and music you gotta admit
I would Include Galencia somewhere in there although that might be too new for your list.
Nothing is too new ....I'll check that game out
I'm trying to find a c64 game I had when I was a kid. It was an FPS style game similar to Battlezone or Star Raiders II. Space themed, with multicoloured levels that scaled towards the screen. It also had two visible guns at the bottom of the screen that you fired from. Does it ring any bells for anyone?
Excellent! 80% or so of these, I've never seen. Though I was a C64 geek, shumps weren't my preference back in the day. I like them now, so it's good to have the best sorted out for me! :)
me too i mean i liked shoot em ups but only recently have i loved them.... there are some great ones on the c64 though
I can't believe you didn't like Gyrus , I love that game, I have an arcade machine with that on it, but I still agree with the others one aswell.
Its not i dont like it ...its more it doesnt like me lol
Delta is number one in my eyes, with amazing music, cool graphics. But the trouble with it, is that it was a very hard game. And the only way to enjoy it would to have unlimited lives.
I'm not sure if I had ST Dragon on the c64 or other format, but definently remember playing Gemini Wing alot. Might of been the only shooter bar Uridium I had. I also had the Shoot 'em up construction kit too.
The Gemini Wing port was definitely a guilty pleasure of mine when I was a kid (in part because of the nice Barry Leitch soundtrack). Not a bad port, if a bit rough. The Saint Dragon C64 port was a really nice one though, and I think really should have made this list.
Thought phobia might have been in here, great 2 player shooter and music
yeah i had never even heard of that game, someone else has mentioned it and it looks great :-)
@@oldstylegaming It had a unique mechanic to the game for its time, playing the game 2 player one person could keep shooting the other persons ship which made it store the shots and eventually build up as an r-type beam up shot when released, the ship would change colour when the beam was ready, always useful just before the boss.
that sounds cool
Fort Apocalypse, Tiger Mission, Zaxxon, Uridium, Nemesis, Salamander, R-Type, Gyruss
Katakis is great, I agree. But do you know Lightforce? I liked it very much when I was a kid. Itˋs from 1986 and for this early it´s quite impressive.
Was Soul Force released when you made this video?
No
OSG, Zybex was 2 quid! I remember buying it and living it.
2 quid ...what an absolute bargain
@@oldstylegaming Zeppelin games as I recall. And I didnt live it I loved it. Damn sausage fingers .
hahahahaha i thought you had a jetpack and were in the game lol
@@oldstylegaming I wish. Looking at your list and my memories, alot of 64 shooters were far too tough. The thalamus games are overrated (music aside).
Armalyte was still good though
Nice list, and I adore Slap Fight too, but you do have some (albeit few) questionable choices on your list, especially the terrible Scramble version. The Scramble clone Skramble by Anirog is incredibly great and much superior, also Penetrator by Melbourne House is a far better Scramble clone. What I am clearly missing is Asteroids, as the version included in the budget game Arcade Classics by Firebird, featuring possibly Rob Hubbards best game music of all time, Also missing is the great arcade port of Bosconian by Mastertronic. A brilliant but much overlooked arcade classic. And while I like the Zaxxon port by Synapse, I feel that the Super Zaxxon version by Sega is superior.
Some other nice, but largely forgotten shooters are Survivor by Synapse, Repton by Sirius Software (an outstanding defender variant), Wavy Navy also by Sirus Software (absolutely great Galaxians variant and imho leagues ahead of eg Gaplus) and Space Pilot by Kingsoft (an excellent Time Pilot port). With variant I mean that the gameplay has been slightly twisted, so thatit's not a direct port/clone.
Falcon Patrol is my favourite - mediocre graphic and gameplay, but my first game... so that probably explains it.
always felt Slayer and I.O were far too hard to be enjoyable. Couple of favourites you didn't like were Lightforce, Trojan Warrior, Saint dragon and Dominator, and can't leave out Out Of This World music alone makes it an essential, i quite like Black Hornet too.
Slayer wasn't bad (especially for a budget title), but IO was a murderous memory test of a game. I'd go as far as to say that IO is a lousy game with great graphics.
The version of Skramble you show is NOT the Anirog version. It's a version by Terminal Software called Super Skramble
THIS is the Anirog version
www.gamebase64.com/game.php?id=6873&d=45&h=0
Speaking of Scramble/Skramble you should try the 2015 homebrew version by Thomas Kite
Oh, sorry 2014.
www.gamebase64.com/game.php?id=25850&d=45&h=0 It's probably the most faithful version I've seen to the arcade on the C64.
Great list, some of them completely unkonwn to me. What about Jeff Minter's Iridis Alpha? Some of the guys at Zzap!64 thought it was the best shmup for the platform. Hard as nails, though.
lol i never got on with Minters games
It's a technical marvel, but I don't think it's very fun to play. That said, I also feel the same way about Uridium, Parallax and Phobia.
No love for ?
Silkworm
SWIV
Wizball
Phoenix
Space Pilot (Time Pilot clone)
1942
I like them but just not as much as these. Silkworm and swiv were games I loved in the Amiga though
The c64 had a bit of everything didn't it ? So many games to choose from. Although im a platformer fan at heart, it's always good to change it up.
yeah there is loads of different types of great games on the C64
@@oldstylegaming I'm getting the new 64 for Christmas. I've already got the new zzap annual.
Its a bit light on decent beatem ups. Only a handful are any good.
Here's one for ya, I had this Scramble clone on the speccy, I remember if you accidentally bombed a mushroom it would turn into a mushroom cloud killing you. Anyone remember what it was called? I think it began with the letter "D" Deflector...Devastator, something like that?
zybex looks like it's built using the code for delta :D
A big part of shooters is the soundtrack and R-Type’s is AWESOME, better than the arcade soundtrack and IMO. Only Last Ninja 2 compares. Of course you don’t get sound effects in LN2 so arguably R-Type is even better (although is obviously not an original composition).
Factor 5 goodness
Wizball!!! :)
Dropzone, Silkworm and Choplifter.
Each to his own. You just missed out on Dropzone which _I_ think is the best of them all.
I'm not sold on drop zone but one of my mates has mentioned it before
I've never heard of any games that couldn't be played on original hardware. Do you think you could do a round up of any other such games?
Yeah I think that's a great idea for a video mate :-)
There was that scrolling hack that would freeze some C64s, right? I think Mayhem in Monsterland was one of many games that used it.
No Hades Nebula ? it usually appears on most C64 top ten Shoot em up lists. Really surprised not to see it in the video or mentioned in the comments.
I rank X-out the best shmup I have ever played. I don't mean the best shoot em' up on c64. I mean the best.
The second is Salamander, which is awesome, but short.
The third is Swiv, which isn't on the list at all. I prefer c64 version over Amiga. While Amiga version is technically unbeatable, it's so difficult that it is really unbeatable.
Do you consider tony Crowther's Suicide Express a decent S64 Shoot em up ? I'm not saying it should be topping the best list as it was untimately repetitive but it was pretty impressive in it's day and was well recieved.
I'm only 20 seconds in, paused it to say: "This is going to be interesting!!" :) OK, here I go...
And it was in fact interesting! This channel is on such a great roll with quality content.
Denaris didnt get a mention, have you played it?
..... Denaris is in 1st place mate under its other name of Katakis ... its my favourite c64 shoot em up
It might be cheating but my favourite is seuck since it let you make your own shoot em up games. Yes it was pretty limited but being able to cobble together my own shooter was well worth it.
The only proper game mechanics siding from this list is the excellent port of Gemini Wing
No light force? Even with a quick shot 2 turbo with attitude that game was tough. I also loved Hades nebula but mainly for the great music.
I wasn't really keen on lightforce to be honest if it's what I'm thinking of it all seemed a bit cluttered thank that was down to the aspect ratio
Bulldog reminds me of Starforce somewhat
I remember playing Space Pilot & Skramble both from Anirog back in the day!
I know it's a list but what about Cybernoid, Zynaps 2 and crazy comets 2
Cybernoid had great music
Salamander is the same as Life Force for NES, and almost as Gradius.
I would have to say Lightforce is the best shooter on C64. I'm surprised it never made the list.
What, no Dropzone or Gemini Wing?
Or Wizball or Paradroid? (Well, those two are quite different shooters, even if definitely "shooters")
Katakis +1 with R-Type #2
I’m a R-Type fan but Parsec is also a great C64 Shmup. Katakis and Armalyte are fantastic C64 Shmups better than the AMIGA 500 version. Think Enforcer is the best C64 Shmup.
Have you seen Enforcer 2 that was never released?
Saw 13 years ago Enforcer 2 Level 2 Preview but not the final version since then.