Why are we playing Retaliate on the Commodore 64?
There are lots of vertical scrolling shooters for the Commodore C64 that follow the tried and true gameplay of shooting everything that moves. Take a look at our Galencia tribute page if you want to how enjoyable this approach is. Retaliate takes a unique twist on this gameplay by forcing you to collect laser bolts in order to fire back and destroy the enemy spaceships.
Retaliate is based on an original game for Android and then reimagined on the Commodore 64. In many ways, Retaliate is the perfect game concept for the Commodore 64. It isn't often that you see an Android game ported to a retrogaming platform. The development path has also been interesting. The Commodore 64 version of Retaliate started as a project for Marcelo Lv Cabra learn assembly language. This is yet more evidence that learning assembler was one of the Top 5 reasons why the Commodore 64 is so popular.
The development of Retaliate on the Commodore 64 has also grown. Development of Retaliate started as a learning project, then it grew into a beta release. It will be released for retail sale on a Commodore C64 cartridge as Retailiate DX.
Please note that youtube and the video author(s) have not endorsed this article. This video is served directly by YouTube. The opinions expressed may not reflect the opinion of this site.
Retaliate gameplay
Retaliate is a shoot'em up with a unique twist. You start with no ammunition in your arsenel. Zero, zip, none. Instead, your space craft has a shield that collects laser bolts from enemy space crafts. Then when the time is right, retaliate by shooting the enemy hordes with their own laser bolts.
Loading the game leads to you the title screen that describes tells you about the game and the credits. Press start and you white spaceship starts flying into the first wave of attack. Your natural response is to thumb the fire button like a pro, only to be met the dissapointment of nothingness. It it takes a little while get grasp the concept, but once you are get into the catch and shoot approach, the gameplays is rather fun.
Is Retaliate worth playing?
The final Community Edition game has been released and is avaible for download from Github. I've played the game many times and it grows on you. At first it is frustrating and then you get into the catch and fire approach. This fresh gameplay is rewarding and change your expectations on how a vertical shoot'em up should be played. If you can spare a few bucks then the Retaliate DX edition is even better.