Here is a screen shot of the arcade version of Rygar:

About Rygar

Rygar was created by Tecmo in 1986 and is is a scrolling ‘platform’ game where you play as Rygar, the “Legendary Warrior”. Moving through the levels, you will come across many different enemies, increasing in skill the further your progress.

Your main method of attack is via your Diskarmor, a large chain wielded disk (shield) weapon. landscape. During the game, you can acquire one of five special power icons to assist your attacks. These are:

Star Icon: Provides a longer chain to hit your enemy from a greater distance.

Crown Icon: Provides a stronger disk to hit more enemies with q single attack.

Tiger Icon: Gives ability to jump on enemies and kill them.

Cross Icon: Gives a temporary shield lasting from 10 to 45 seconds.

Sun Icon: Gives ability to shoot directly upwards, rather than the sweeping motion.

The other great attraction to Rygar is the number of hidden bonus items that can be found. There are hidden golden stars (which give you an extra life when you have collected 7 of them), hidden bomb icons that clear the screen of all enemies and time icons that extend your time in that round.

More information on Rygar, including level walkthroughs and hints, can be found at Rygar Info Site

Emulation and Rygar

The best version of Rygar available on emulation is the Sharp X68000 version. It is almost a perfect arcade machine port and is such a great version of this game. To play this game on your PC you will need to get a Sharp X68000 emulator and the Rygar disk image. You can download the emulator and the Rygar disk image from the Japanese Computer Emulation Centre. Have fun!

Most gamers will already know about emulators, but I recently discovered online C64 emulation. This is C64 emulation using Java or Flash online to run all of our favourite C64 games from the past. While it is still in its early stages, the progress so far is very impressive. Take a look at c64s.com and take a trip back to 80′s gaming at it’s best.

For those looking for details on more conventional emulation, I can recommend the CCS64 for Windows 98/2000/XP or VICE for OS X, Linux and for Windows users who don’t like CCS64. Most of the popular games and applications can be found at Lemon 64 or Arnold but for the hard to find ones, try a search at www.c64db.com – The Internet Database for C64 Games with over 30000 entries!

So now there even more ways to explore this wonderful machine and keep the Commodore 64 and its software alive, even when your 20+ year old hardware packs it in.

CCS64 Version 3

Super Mario 64 – Released in 1997 by Nintendo

Super Mario 64 contains 15 massive 3D worlds that are cleverly laid-out so that there’s never a dull moment. Each world requires Mario to find seven stars, and also find a hidden secret star, in order to move onto the next area. This game recaptures the classic gameplay style of the orignal 2D series that was on previous Nintendo consoles. This is just one game that has excellent replay value and is fun for everyone from children to adults.

Golden Eye 007 – Released in 1997 by Rare

GoldenEye was the best game in 1997, and to this day is arguably the best FPS to ever come out as it is the game that revolutionized the First Person genre. There is a lot more to do in this game than just blow away your enemy. Goldeneye 007 is built around 18 varying levels that must be played through in linear fashion in the easy mode, which will open up the possibility of playing the game in harder levels once completed. You will need to master all the different weapons available, as in some levels there are only a one or a few weapons available. You will also need to perform covert operations in typical Bond style all based on actual events from the Golden Eye movie. Awesome.

Wave Race 64 – Released in 1997 by Nintendo

Wave Race 64 features nine challenging water courses featuring buoys, ramps, mines, hairpin turns and more. You can compete in single races or in championship mode, which has three difficulty levels. The higher the difficulty level, the tougher the courses become and the more routhless your opponents get. The challenge of the game is to race with the realistic water/wind physics inside the game (the first game to do something like this) and to also maintain max power the entire race – miss just one buoy or crtical track section and you lose it and need to build it up again. Great water racing game.

Pilot Wings 64 – Released in 1997 by Paradigm Entertainment

Pilot Wings 64 is the best flight sim for the Nintendo 64. You choose a character and tackle flying assignments with various craft to gain your pilot wings. You are required to successfully complete challenges with a Hang Glider, Rocket Belt and Gyrocopter. If you make great scores during your challenges, you can open up bonus games. These include Sky Diving (Parachute), Birdman outfit (complet with wings and feathers), Jumble Hopper (huge bouncing device) and the human cannonball where you try to hit a distant bull’s eye on a target. Heaps of fun.

Banjo-Kazooie – Released in 1998 by Rare

Banjo-Kazooie is a platform game that features a goofy honey bear named Banjo. Banjo runs around in tight yellow shorts and carries his raucous, red-crested bird friend Tooie in his backpack. Together, the bear-bird duo must use teamwork to complete various challenges and to rescue Banjo’s sister Tootie from the ugly evil witch Gruntilda, who wants to steal her beauty. Bottles, a mole with Coke-bottle glasses, is around to teach everything from the basic moves to advanced techniques that they need to survive. On your missions, you will need to collect musical notes, Jiggys (puzzle pieces), Jinjos, Honeycomb pieces (adds to life bar), and Mumbo tokens. Some doors are locked with musical spells where you must have a certain number of musical notes in order to open them while new areas require puzzle pieces to complete the locking puzzle to open them up. This is great family entertainment and a welcome change from the plumber :)

Mario Tennis – Released in 2000 by Camelot

Mario Tennis is an arcade style tennis game featuring Mario and all the usual friends including Luigi, Peach, Toad and Bowser. You can play a quick 2 game set to a 5 set marathon match and compete in a tournament against all the characters. With a simple, yet realistic game control, you can mix up your game with lobs, volleys, and varying degrees of topspin and slice. Strike your serves at exactly the correct time and your serve is much more powerful. There are various courts and surfaces to play on, all with various degrees of ball speed and bounce height. With singles mode, doubles mode and challenge mode, and the ability to have up to 4 players on the court at once, there is lots of game options available. Great fun.

1080 Snowboarding – Released in 1998 by Nintendo

1080 Snowboarding is an action packed snowboarding game. You race your character through six mountainside tracks while attempting to score the highest amount of points by performing trick moves (in trick mode) or by getting through the course as fast as possible (in time and match mode). Match mode puts you up against computer opponents that you are required to beat over 4 to 6 courses. With 30 different tricks to master, you have plenty of tricks to try and the harder the trick, the higher the score. With the excellent graphical detail adding to the game (includes falling snow and powder) and split-screen two player mode, this game is great fun on your own or with a mate.

All-Star Baseball 2000 – Released in 1999 by Acclaim

All-Star Baseball 2000 is a great baseball game that features 30 major league teams and stadiums in full detail. You can play the game in a variety of modes including exhibition, season and playoffs. The control mechanism of this game is where it really shines. You have excellent control over pitching, batting and fielding. You can line up and send pitches into exactly the spot you want. When batting, you can shift the bat and direct your swing so you can target left field or right field with ease. It is also easier to make double plays due to the manner in which you can throw to and between the bases. The game also reacts slightly differently when game conditions change. Weather and surface effects a teams performance, home games can slightly favour the home team and player streaks, slumps, and errors based on real life posibilities. The game also features commentary from New York Yankee broadcasters John Sterling and Michael Kay. My favourite baseball game on the Nintendo 64.

Ridge Racer 64 – Released in 2000 by Namco

Ridge Racer 64 is based on the arcade classic and it does a pretty good job of maintaining all the fun from that game. You race against 19 other cars on 8 different tracks (includes all tracks from the original Ridge Racer). You must drive as quickly as possible to complete sections of the track in the specified time to reach the checkpoint to extend your time. While going fast, you will need to control and manage the drift your car possesses when it goes around high speed corners. Failure to do this will result in your car smashing into the side walls or spinning out. This is one of the quickest racing games on the Nintendo 64 and with its four-player mode, there is room for everyone to join in. Drift away!

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Released in 1998 by Nintendo

Considered by many to be the greatest single-player video game ever created (not in my opinion, but close), Zelda – Ocarina of Time features young Link who lives in the Kingdom of Hyrule. Link starts out as the only elf without a fairy, but Link soon meets up Navi, and sets out on this adventure which inevitably turns into a rescue mission for Princess Zelda. Link is lead through dark dungeons, villages, into a volcano, to the bottom of a lake, through a haunted desert, into a magical forest, into a giant tree, inside the belly of a beast, and even through time. Link must defeat strange monsters lurking in the area and stop a growing evil spreading thoughout the land. And a vast land it its, taking a very long time to explore it all. This is not one of those one weekend RPG games and it is also far more rewarding to find the objects and secrets of this game than to use a guide. One of the best RPGs around.

Civilization I is a turn-based strategy game where up to seven civilizations are spread across the world, each starting with next to nothing. You can play the game on five different skill levels and with over 9 different civilizations, each with their own points of differences and advatanges. You will be involved with a battle to conquer the globe and along the way, you must deal with balancing your economy, maintaining civil order, and keeping your population fed. Throughout the game you will engage in war, develop diplomatic and trade relationships with other civilizations, and eventually send a spaceship to Alpha Centauri.

The beauty of the game is that there are no set paths a player is forced to take and you are open to test your own strategies. You can spend time and money conducting research advancements like Iron Working, Engineering and Combustion to enhance your civilization’s technology. You can build a strong millitary to defend your civilization and use them when necessary to attack other civilizations.

You can expand your civilization by creating many citys and encouraging population growth by using settler units. These settler units can found new cities, explore the surrounding area and create roads, irrigation lines, mines and even railroad tracks between your cities. Roads allow units to travel further during their turn and also enhance trade between cities. Trade and commerce are especially important if you want to maintain your military and cities. You can also build Wonders of the World to give your Civilization the historic appeal and to keep your civilians happy.

It’s totally up to each individual player how to proceed, but those looking for success will strike a balance between all of these elements. I am so glad I spent some time again with this fantastic game. More information about the entire Civilization series can be found at civfanatics.com

My Favourite Eight ’8-bit’ Games

Impossible Mission – Released in 1984 by Epyx

You are Agent 4125, sent to crack the secret code of Elvin Atombender who is planning on destroying the world. Guide 4125 down elevator shafts into rooms, exploring for clues and combining these clues to form a code word. Amazing gameplay, and one of the first games to offer digitised speech.

Boulder Dash – Released in 1984 by First Star Software

Guide ‘Rockford’ through a maze-like Cave, digging dirt, pushing and dodging boulders, while collecting the required amount of diamonds to open the next level door. A gameplay classic.

The Last Ninja – Released in 1987 by System 3

Puzzle solving, arcade adventure game with ninja fighting. It has some of the best graphics and sounds ever produced on the C64 and most people who owned this game rated it in their top 5. Brilliant.

Archon – Released in 1983 by Electronic Arts

Dark vs. Light – A chess-like game were you must destroy the opposing side or take control of the five ‘power squares’ on the board. When two pieces ‘meet’ on the same square, a fight is initiated in which only one piece comes out alive. Each piece has their own traits, some much stronger than others, making for a variety of combinations in fights. A classic.

World Class Leaderboard – Released in 1987 by Access Software

One of the first double disk games I ever bought! I enjoyed the original leaderboard, even though it only was comprised of fairways and greens and water hazards, so when this came out with the additions of trees, bunkers, and rough, plus the ability to play real-life golf courses, I could not resist it. Playability wise, many golf games are still based on the Leaderboard games to this day.

Into The Eagles Nest – Released in 1987 by Pandora

Before First-Person Shooting games like Doom and Wolfenstein, we had Into The Eagles Nest. Played from a top-down perspective (like in Gauntlet), your mission is to rescue three hostages captured in WWII who are being held somewhere in Eagle’s Nest, a German fortress. You must destroy the fortress up once you have rescued all the captives. It is a fast, and sometimes frustrating game, and remember to use your keys wisely.

Yie Ar Kung Fu – Released in 1985 by Imagine

You play Oolong, who wants to follow his father’s footsteps and become a Kung Fu Grand Master. To achieve this, you must defeat ten opponents, some with weapons such as Shriken, Nunchuckas and Tonfun. You can perform moves such as the flying kick, punch, round house kick, and leg swoop against your opponents, with some moves being more effective against some opponents and not others. A fun, power-bar based beat-em up.

Curse Of The Azure Bonds – Released in 1989 by Strategic Simulations, Inc.

The second game in the AD&D Forgotten Realms series, it is one of the best RPGs I have ever played. You construct a party of up to 6 players, using different ‘races’ and skills eg. Human Cleric, Elf Mage, Dwarf Fighter etc. and you guide them through the Forgotten Realms in search of the bonds. If you have played it, you no doubt would remember the Drow in the castle, the Black Dragons and the Bits O’ Moander. Addictive RPG.

Microprose Soccer – Release in 1988 by Microprose

This was the forerunner to the great football game Sensible Soccer. This game changed the way football games were perceived and still stands up quite well today. It included features never before seen in football games at that time: it was the first game to use ‘aftertouch’, allowing you to swerve the ball after kicking it; the field view was the bird’s eye view, allowing you to plan passing moves and defend more effectively; and it was the first football game to include bad weather!

California Games – Released in 1987 by Epyx

California Games is the fifth in the Games series, and is my favourite. It has six events: Half Pipe, Surfing, Foot Bag, BMX, Roller Skating and Frisbee, that require skill and precision to score high points. Try to tube ride the wave, 720 in the halfpipe, backflip on the BMX and double horseshoe the foot bag for maximum points. An entertaining game for up to eight players at once.

Hardball – Released in 1985 by Accolade

This was the best baseball game for a long time. Easy gameplay and excellent graphics made this fun for even people who didn’t really understand baseball. The game offers a behind the pitcher view which is similar to how you see it on TV. When pitching, you put in the direction indicated to select that type of pitch and this is confirmed with the fire button. You can then select how high/low/wide/inside the pitch goes over the plate. The batter attempts to hit the pitch by pressing the fire button or by pushing right and pressing fire to bunt. Fielding is easy too, just move towards the ball and push in the direction of the base you want to throw to while pressing fire to throw to that base.

IK+ – Released in 1987 by System 3

A karate game with some of the best music, animation and background graphics seen in 8-bits. You start as a white belt and work your way through to yellow, green, purple and finally black. Points are awarded to a fighter who knocks down an opponent with a successful kick or punch – one point for a good hit and two for an exceptional one. Try to score five points before the others, or to score the highest within the 30 second time limit and you progress to the next round. The lowest scorer is eliminated. The player has fourteen different moves accessible via directional movements in conjunction with the fire button. It is this simple gameplay and the exceptional graphics and sound that keep you coming back for more.

Lode Runner – Released in 1983 by Br0derbund

My sister will agree with me on this one as this was her favourite game. The concept was simple, challenging and fun. You just run around the levels, climbing ladders and moving across poles with the aim of collecting all the gold. You can dig holes in the ground to make a quick escape or to trap your enemies as they attempt to stop you from completing the level, but don’t let them get to close or they will hinder your attempts and you will lose a life. 8-bit gaming at it’s best.

Uridium – Released in 1986 by Hewson

Tremendously addictive and challenging, this sideways scrolling space shoot-em-up is a space game with a difference. The game requires to you destroy as much as possible while seeking the docking point on the opposite side of the level. To get there you will need to dodge various types of missiles and survive the alien attack formations.

About The Machines

Commodore 64 (C64c)

Specifications

• Year: 1983
• CPU: MOS 8510 @ 1MHz
• RAM: 64KB – Cartridge socket for RAM expansion
• ROM: 20KB
• Sound: SID 6581 – 3 Voices, 8 bit mono
• Video: VIC II – 320 x 200 in 16 colours
• Text Mode: 40 x 25
• External 170k 5.25″ Disk Drive or Tape Drive
• Required a TV or Commodore Monitor like 1701

Apple IIc

Specifications

• Year: 1984
• CPU: MOS 65C02 @ 1MHz
• RAM: 128KB – expandable to 1MB
• ROM: 32KB
• Sound: Internal Speaker
• Video: 280 x 192, 590 x 192 (Hi-Res) in 16 colours
• Text Mode: 40×40 or 80×40
• Internal 140K 5.25″ Disk Drive
• Shipped with 9″ Monochrome monitor

External Links

If you wish to read more these marvelous machines and the games and applications that ran in just 8-bits, take a look at:

Apple IIe/c:

http://apple.duke.net/main.html
http://apple2history.org/

Commodore 64:

http://www.lemon64.com/
http://www.c64.com/