Commodore Vic-20

The VIC-20 is an 8-bit home computer was released in 1981 by Commodore. The VIC-20 was Commodore’s first colour home computer and was the year’s best-selling home computer.

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This was the state of the computer when I first got my hands on it. You can see how disgusting it looks. I cleaned it up the best that I could, then used the same method of Retrobrighting that I used here and here, and the results were pretty good. However I ruined the whole cleaning aspect of this, as I mistakenly used isopropyl alcohol to clean the keys, and as you can see I ended up removing several of the icons from the keys.


The Vic-20 also came with these RF boxes

The Commodore Datassette also came with the Vic-20, it needs a lot of refurbishment

A Joystick was also included

Pirate Cove – Commodore Vic 20 (1981)

This is adventure #2 in Scott Adam’s text adventure series. In this adventure, you shuffle between three locales: an unremarkable (at first) London flat and two islands littered with dangerous critters and people. The goal of the game is to find the two pirate treasures on the treasure island. You move about and use objects by typing one or two word commands such as NORTH, INVENTORY, or GET SNEAKERS. You only have to type the first 3 letters of a command or object for the parser to recognize it.


Gridrunner – Commodore Vic 20 (1982)

This is an arcade game in the style of Centipede. You control a ship, at the bottom of a grid. Moving toward you in a zig-zag is a chain of pods. The objective is to shoot them before they get the ship. As the pods are shot, the dead pod remains on the screen, as a blocker to your bullets. The live pods on either side form two new chains, both moving toward you.
Further complicating the game are two guns outside the grid, shooting at your ship from beneath and from your left side. You are able to move into the grid, toward the pod-chain, to avoid the guns. The combination puts pressure on you, from front, back and the side.
There are twenty waves to be completed in the game.


Mosquito – Commodore Vic 20 (1984)

In this game, a horde of mosquitos attacks you and your only weapon is a chemical spray. One bite from a mosquito and you are dead. You are in a maze visible from the top. The game consists of four screens. To go to the next screen, you have to find a key. The maze sometimes goes black to harden your challenge. Find the keys to replenish your spray and hope for the best.


Cosmaids – Commodore Vic 20 (1982)

Cosmiads is a Galaxian variant where you must defeat waves of swooping alien attackers with a spaceship that moves back and forwards across the bottom of the screen. When in formation, the attacking ships are coloured and worth 10 points each. When they swoop down to attack, they turn white and are worth 100 points each. After all of the regular ships are shot down, two larger shielded vessels begin to attack, and these take multiple hits to destroy. Once these are dispatched, the next level starts with a slightly higher speed.


New York Blitz – Commodore Vic 20 (1984)

New York Blitz is a 1-player arcade game for the VIC-20.
You are flying over the city, watching the landscape below when suddenly you find you are out of fuel. Your plane starts to descend towards the skyscrapers below and you realize you are not going to reach an airfield in time. Now it seems that the only way you and your crew are going to land safely is to flatten the city. Will you be successful? Will you be promoted?
A plane flies across a single-screen city at a steady pace. When it reaches the edge of the screen, it wraps to the other side at a lower altitude. The player drops bombs from the plane, with only 1 bomb on the screen at a time. Each bomb removes one building if it hits. As the plane descends, it risks colliding with remaining buildings. The level is complete when all buildings are destroyed. The player receives a higher rank with each city destroyed.


An Introduction To Basic: Part 1

This instructional software was included


A little bit of light reading