Sometimes, it’s the little things that matter most…
1 20 GO TO 10
Whether you were into coding or not, if you had a Commodore 64 back in the day, there was one little bit of BASIC you were sure to learn: 20 GO TO 10. That wasn’t the entire thing, but if you ever used it, you’ll probably know the rest. What really mattered, though, was the result: a chosen word or phrase repeated infinitely down the screen. And, of course, if you had an older brother, that phrase was usually something unflattering about you. Good times.
2 3.5” Floppy Disks
No, we don’t miss the tiny storage space (normally 1.44MB) or the slow access speeds (around 124Kbps), but we do have fond memories of one particular things about this technology: the springy metal bit that covered the disk itself. Obviously, this performed an important and useful function, but what we remember most about it was playing with it, springing it back and forth when we were bored. Also, it turns out you can make something that looks a bit like the Starship Enterprise with it too: youtu.be/B42ZG8-zr-Q.
3 Using A TV
One of the greatest things about computers like the C64, Amiga, Spectrum and so on was the fact you could hook them up to a normal TV – no need for a dedicated monitor. Of course, modern TVs have once again made this possible, but it’s not the same experience, because instead of connecting your computer to the family TV for everyone to enjoy, the low price of screens means there’s no reason not to have a dedicated display for your system. Where’s the fun in doing 20 GOTO 10 if it’s not in the living room where everyone can see it?
4 Loading Screens
Loading up a game from a tape wasn’t exactly fun. It was slow and you often had to watch a bunch of scrambled colours appear on your TV, sometimes accompanied by horrible squealing noises. One thing that made the wait a bit more bearable, however, was the loading picture. There were many great pictures (and you can see some at tinyurl.com/mmtop582), but the one we always remember was for RoboCop on the C64 – not because it was particularly remarkable (at least not looking back at it now) but because someone once said to us, without irony, “Wow. It’s almost photographic.”
5 Loading Games
Because loading games via tape took so long, a few developers took pity on gamers and came up with the idea of offering smaller games that loaded up before the main attraction. Again, though, we’re thinking of a specific C64 title: Ghostbusters from Mastertronic. Like many of this publisher’s C64 games, it featured the Invade-a-Load fast loader routine, which meant you could play a version Space Invaders while you waited. There were other such loading games from other publishers, but this was our favourite, and it helped pass the time until floppy disks and that springy metal bit came along.