Remembering Commodore’s C64GS at 35 (someone has to) and 6 great GS games

It takes real talent to make a home gaming system uglier than the original C64. But Commodore managed it with the C64GS, which was about as attractive as a radiator. If you bought one back in December 1990, you have Stuff’s sympathies.

But that’s no C64! Where’s the rest of it? Does the ‘GS’ stand for ‘Got Suckered’?

‘Games System’, actually. It’s right there on the sticker, though your version is apt. Commodore UK, having spotted the looming threat of consoles, asked its US overlords for permission to make a cut-price C64 for people who only wanted to play games. It then proceeded to do the bare minimum, shoving a C64 motherboard into the world’s least inspiring case and moving the cart slot to the top for console vibes. It didn’t even update the early-1980s specs.

But surely the games saved it? The C64 had thousands of the things.

Yes, but they were mostly on tape and disk. And Commodore’s genius decision to rip out the keyboard made the GS incompatible even with most existing C64 carts, given that they relied on key-presses for menu selection. This wouldn’t have been a problem had more of the GS’s “up to 100” promised launch titles materialised… but fewer than 30 arrived, and a mere handful were exclusives. Even worse, you had to play them using a terrible joystick with a second fire button that hardly any games supported.

So how did this masterclass in console creation click with the public?

It didn’t. The C64 is the best-selling home computer of all time, yet it was somehow reimagined as one of the worst-selling consoles ever. Charging £99 for the GS when a proper C64 was only £60 more was bonkers, especially since kids could buy C64 games on tape for pocket-money prices rather than stumping up £20 for a cartridge. So units languished on shelves and were later stripped for parts to make more new C64s – which is really what Commodore should have been doing all along.

Six of the best: C64GS games

Oh boy. Usually with classic 8-bit machines, there are thousands of titles to choose from. The C64GS had hardly any – and most of those weren’t much cop. Fortunately, indies have since released compatible carts to (slightly) bolster what you can plug into the GS. Although you’re better off plugging them into a proper C64, given that they’ll work with one of those too…

Stunt Car Racer (1989) combined rollercoasters and drag racing across a series of bone-crunching 3D tracks, and on the GS was bundled on the Power Play cart alongside MicroProse Soccer and Rick Dangerous. Barg!

Last Ninja Remix (1990) revamped the status panel and the SID tunes but, alas, not the stiff and awkward combat. Still, it’s hard to grumble about any game that has you fashion a nunchuck from toilet chains.

Hessian (2016) dumped protagonist Kim in a biotech nightmare, waking up in an operating room, having been ‘augmented’. Still, that gave her a slim chance of surviving this brutal but compelling metroidvania.

Soul Force (2020) tasked yet another lone pilot with saving an entire civilisation by shooting all of the things. Cue: lots of PEW PEW PEW, massive bosses and amazing art that made your beige box feel like an arcade cab.

A Pig Quest (2023) went whole hog on turning your C64GS (or the original breadbin) into a real console with a platformer offering plenty of sizzle, crack(l)ing visuals, and quality tunes that really brought home the bacon.

Yeti Mountain (2024) found you investigating the disappearance of a friend while trying to avoid becoming a yeti’s lunch. It was ambitious fare too, skilfully swapping between RPG, skiing and platforming sections.