Available Software
Support from games companies was limited, as many were unconvinced that the C64GS would be a success in the console market. Ocean Software were the most supportive, offering a wide range of titles, some C64GS cartridge-based only, offering features in games that would have been impossible on cassette-based games, others were straight ports of C64 games. Domark and System 3 also released a number of titles for the system, and conversions of some Codemasters and Microprose games also appeared. Denton Designs also released some games, among them Bounces, which was released in 1985.
The software bundled with the C64GS, a four-game cartridge containing Fiendish Freddy's Big Top O'Fun, International Soccer, Flimbo's Quest and Klax, were likely the most well-known on the system. These games, with the exception of International Soccer, were previously ordinary tape-based games, but their structure and control systems (no keyboard needed) made them well-suited to the new console. International Soccer was previously released in 1983 on cartridge for the original C64 computer.
Ocean produced a number of games for the C64GS, among them a remake of Double Dragon (which seemed to be more linked to the NES version than the original C64 cassette version), Navy SEALS, Robocop 2, Robocop 3, Chase HQ 2: Special Criminal Investigation, Pang, Battle Command, Toki, Shadow of the Beast and Lemmings. They also produced Batman The Movie for the console, but this was a direct conversion of the cassette game, evidenced by the screens inciting the player to "press PLAY" that briefly appeared between levels. Some of the earliest Ocean cartridges had a manufacturing flaw, where the connector was placed too far back in the cartridge case. The end result was that the cartridge could not be used with the standard C64 computer. Members of Ocean staff had to manually drill holes in the side of the cartridges to make them fit.
System 3 released Last Ninja Remix and Myth: History in the Making, although both were also available on cassette. Domark also offered two titles, Badlands and Cyberball, which were available on cartridge only.
Through publisher The Disc Company a number of Codemasters and Microprose titles were also reworked and released as compilations for the C64GS. Fun Play featured three Codemasters titles: Fast Food Dizzy, Professional Skateboard Simulator and Professional Tennis Simulator. Power Play featured three Microprose titles: Rick Dangerous, Stunt Car Racer and Microprose Soccer, although Rick Dangerous was produced by Core Design, not Microprose themselves. Stunt Car Racer and Microprose Soccer needed to be heavily modified to enable them to run on the C64GS.
Uncharacteristically, Commodore never produced or published a single title for the C64GS beyond the bundled four-game cartridge. International Soccer was the only widely-available game for the C64GS but had actually been written for the C64.
Read more about this topic: Commodore 64 Games System