Posted By
MIK
on 2004-12-20
05:10:39
 |  Re: Commodore 16 memories: 1984
Yeah its funny when you think back. I've known my best friend 20 years, well almost the day we all went back to school which would of been January 1985. As you did you found out what people had for xmas and also found out who got a Plus/4. 
I think I bought Mission Mars around 20 years to the day from Super Drug. I bought a game from my paper round money before the machine was opened.  I had already tested the game because I went back to the shop where the Plus/4 was bought from and loaded it on their demo machine.
I'd already taken an intrest in computers long before. Had 2 school friends who had Vic20, 2 who has C64's and 1 who had a ZX spectrum. I had a couple of years head start and already knew "LOAD" was the key word even on ZX although that has some stupid key/shift on the wrong letter to get something loaded. Remember the old classic line even one used to do on Commodors in the shops?
10 print"mike ";
20 run
Later once I was deep into the plus/4 I'd go into the shops using the same basic lines but also used a poke to disable the run/stop key so the only way to stop it was to turn it off! I got the Poke out of some mag and can't remember it for the life of me haha!
I wanted to do it all and was frusrated I could not do machine code! I hunted for books and info but could not find anything grrrr! I tryed so hard to get my little basic programes to auto run once loaded. It was years later before I got a turbo save but before then I did it cheap by doing a two part loader where the first program was just a basic LOAD line, so you still had to type RUN to get that working.
Anyways I also remember the C16 advert and although I wanted a C64 that C16 looked so cool in its dark shade of grey. I think the TV advert was shown so much for a good number of months leading up to xmas that you almost believed that was the machine you had to own, Commodore was brain washing people. I knew my oldies didn't have much money so I started to look at a C16 in hope of getting a computer... When we went to the shop in early December 1984 there it was, but stat next to a Plus/4. The thing was I'd never seen a Plus/4 until then. It was also around £30 cheaper than the C16 next to it. The plus4 came with a tape deck where the C16 did not, plus4 also had 11 games and 2 joysticks and again the C16 did not. The thing I can't not remember is that so home I knew they were the same machine, what would load on the C16 would do so on the Plus/4. Maybe it was once I'd bought Mission Mars acouple of weeks later maybe, because it was here it said RUNS ON THE C16/Plus4. The machine lable on the tapes was the reason we all called the machine C16/Plus4 and I still do.
Treasure Island was my first game I loaded. I think Fire Ant was the most abused game of them all that xmas because it was at the time a hard little game which kept me coming back for more. When you think back Treasure Island, Icicle Works, Fire Ant and Invaders were the most perfect games that could of ever been released. They looked like C64 games yet it would be some time later before we saw anything of the same quality!! Early 1985 came Sword of Destiny and this must of been the 1st 3rd party title that had the same polished quality as the Commodore releases! Sword of Destiny was something special, great GFX and sound! I also remember BMX Racers which was such a cool game to have owned in the early days of the machine!!
C16/Plus4 nostalgia from 20 or so years ago will never die. When ever I'm about in the City where I live the thought of where I bought each game comes back every time I'm in that area. Things have changed like building, shops ect but its like going back in time and I feel like I'm in 1985. Very stange. There is some enegry from the past that has been with me all these years. I guess these were happy times and my mind wants to got back to the C16/Plus4 era as to why these thoughts never go away.
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