Originally released in 1982, the Commodore 64 was a revolutionary personal computing device that made an at-the-time technical marvel accessible to more consumers than ever. It helped to demystify the advent of computing technology, and its user-friendly approach helped budding developers get into gaming and programming. Now, nearly 40 years later, indie developer Thalamus Digital has announced that it will bring long-forgotten Commodore 64 classics to the Nintendo Switch in 2022.
In a recent tweet, Thalamus Digital simply stated “you asked for Commodore 64 games on the Nintendo Switch. We Listened. Stay Tuned.” Aside from the 2022 hashtag, there’s not much else to go on, and Commodore fans have been left guessing as to what games will make the jump to the Switch and at what point over the next year that might happen.
The tweet was met with dozens of classic computing fans voicing their excitement, and many were eager to suggest games to be added to the Switch’s library. Well-known releases like the surprisingly refined platformer Montezuma’s Revenge and the isometric space shooter Zaxxon cropped up alongside less celebrated games such as The Last Ninja and Tooth Invaders. Unabashedly aged at this point, modern conversions of Commodore 64 games are destined to be niche, but the prospect of playing some of these older titles on the Switch should warm the hearts of retro enthusiasts and video game preservationists alike.
While a small, independent developer best known for the Switch edition of the puzzle game Word Forward may seem ill-equipped to deal with modernizations of decades-old games, Thalamus Digital worked on a remaster for the Commodore 64 shooter Hunter’s Moon. It’s also likely that the game will be made available for the Nintendo Switch in the near future.
Names like Fantasy World Dizzy and Mayhem in Monster Land may not carry much weight for modern gamers, but the ability to play these once nearly-inaccessible games on the go shouldn’t be overlooked. Playing Commodore 64 games on mobile devices once required homebrew emulators and tricky workarounds, and the convoluted and ununified control schemes of these older games made setting them up properly an incredible hassle. Fortunately, should Thalamus Digital make good on its promise, these titles will be more playable than ever before.
