ChinnyVision - Ep 94 - The Last V8 - C64, CPC, Atari XL/XE
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
- V8 Return To The Base Immediately screams the computer. Or at least the C64 version. This MAD £2.99 game was programmed by Richard and David Darling who went on to found Codemasters and found its way onto the C64, CPC and Atari XL/XE. Join ChinnyVision as we look back at this 30 year old game on the original hardware.
![The Last V8 (Rob Hubbard, 1985) 🏎️ - C64 LIVE REMIX [LukHash]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/zEZIfG1VEkc/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm a gluten for punishment. I actually got to the point where I could regularly finish this game on Atari. I remember loving the music on Atari until I heard the SID rendition on the C64, my mind was blown when I heard that version.
I had this for my Atari 130XE. It was hard as **** and guaranteed to have you swearing like a trooper.
This game's control system is part of the reason why I started losing my hair early on in life
7:21 "The Amstrad version beeing a bit slow."
The greatest understatement of the century!
There are soooo many games on the C64 (and other systems too) that miss the mark of greatness by horrible controls. What gets me though is, these games went through weeks and probably MONTHS of development and playtesting and not one person said, "Hey, this is a great game but these controls SUCK!"? In most cases, from a programming point of view, changing what each direction on the joystick does is a very simple matter that could be fixed easily in an afternoon and probably far less than that. _ALL_ games should allow you to re-map the joystick and/or keyboard buttons to your liking, or at least have several layouts to choose from.
The Commodore 128 only version is well worth a look if you get chance - better speech and an extra mission (plus the same Rob Hubbard soundtrack as the C64.) Massively frustrating game though, I have to agree.
Funny thing is that this control issue is probably easily fixable with a few POKEs to change the masks used when polling $DC00 and checking the bits.
great game, lovely musix, its been eons since i saw that codemasters pic of the darling brothers! great videos
Three of my all time 8 bit C64 favourites were " raid over moscow" , Pacland & Beach Head II - kickstart, and 180 darts for the atari 65xe and THRUST on the atari STe, RoadKill on the amiga cd32 was an awsome game too
I had this the controls made me so mad , I took it out on the tape by taking out of the tape deck , putting it on the floor and stamping on it , made me feel better.
Found this on catridge.
Oh yes i remember this game very well
Had this game for the 800 XL, so hard at the beginning not to go too fast and run off the road. Think the people that made this are the same Darling brothers that formed Codemasters.
+craig gilchrist Yes, the Darling/Codemasters link is pointed out. Also, slowest loader ever for the Atari. Takes about 20 minutes with little indication of if is properly loading or not.
Sorry I never heard you mention the link between them. Yeah it did take a while to load. Ace of Aces was the one for loading. 13 miles of tape lol.
@@chinnyvision Red Max, Gauntlet and Ace Of Aces might have it beaten for loading times 😂
this is up there with LA Swat and Outrun. great...
I quite enjoyed "Master of Magic" - another MAD label Darlings game - but iirc that game was by Richard whereas this one was David's baby. "Master of Magic" wasn't much to look at (one step above ASCII) but it was quite a neat little dungeon-crawler thing with a bit of depth to it. It floated my boat, anyway :)
Had a play on both the CPC and C64 versions. CPC has keyboard controls that seem a little easier (not much though) and if you brake and slow down the car will flip 180 in the opposite direction! Also tried holding the joystick 90 degrees right so that up becomes the accelerator but again not much improvement as the steering is too fiddly. Music is awesome though.
It's funny how this was one of the 'premier' titles for the MAD label… I don't think it bodes well when you launch a label with a game that badly designed.
Not sure if you've played it - but they rehashed the engine a bit later with "Red Max", which felt a *bit* better if memory serves (though, I'm not sure if it appeared on the CPC or Ataris, as I've only tried it on the C64), but still somewhat infuriating.
But you're basically spot on - if the handling along with the controls were more sensible, I think it'd make for an okay racer. Just one with a very short shelf life.
+hellfire64 Concept seems like good fun but yeah, the controls. Yeah no longevity there but games like Kane could be completed in 10 minutes as well.
+hellfire64 I'm sure I've seen Red Max for Atari, heck, even played it at some point.
Had Red Max on both C64 and A8
Never got too level 2 - Hard as Balls !!
I always held the joystick side ways so that steering was left and right movement.
The controls switch 90 degrees depending on the car orientation I think.
A free game with your SID tune purchase
I've got the CPC version and don't remember it being that bad, still loved the music though.
The CPC version runs slower and it's reflected on the dash by limiting the car to 200 kph instead of 400 kph like the other two :)
+SLaCK Gaming Hah, hadn't noticed that!
I always though the box art for this game was great, but I never actually got to play it because of the afore-mentioned lack of a Spectrum version (I hadn't realised until now that it had hit the Amstrad, tbh - even more surprising they didn't make a Spectrum version now).
Having had a go just now, however, I can see that I was spared a pretty disappointing experience - like you, I found it almost completely uncontrollable. I do love the music, though.... although that CPC version sounds absolutely dreadful!
+Blerkotron Might have been faster on the Speccy. Although still like playing a normal top down racer through a letterbox while you shout instructions to someone inside.
just turn the joystick around lol
Could rotating the joystick 90 degrees help the controls?
+ParkProductionsGames Didn't try but doubt it. Needs a Supercars fire to accelerate system. Perhaps someone could hack one in.
Even for a retro game it seems a really strange control system. No fire button use either?
There's already a version on the C64 with modified controls: csdb.dk/release/?id=93985&show=summary#summary - but it's just a matter of getting used to what it already has!
Cheers. Will give that a go.
Up and down to go left and right has to be one of the dumbest programming decisions ever.
Considering just how ridiculously short this game is, I wonder if they intentionally made the controls difficult just so you couldn't complete the game on the first go in less than 2 minutes!
Possible.
Typo in the title...
[edit] fixed
+curbuser Cheers.
+ChinnyVision - The Retro Game Review Channel
np, i dig your output!
I hope you do Turrican for ep.100!
+curbuser Unlikely to be covering either game due to music copyright claims against people using the Amiga and ST Turrican music. I don't run adverts on this channel let alone allowing someone else to get the money!
+ChinnyVision - The Retro Game Review Channel
I'd settle for just the 8bit Turricans...shame about this.
I had some copyright bs with some of my uploaded Chiptunes too...
"mistaken Content ID tracking"
+ChinnyVision - The Retro Game Review Channel is it spurious claims? Surely Chris Huelsbeck isn't that silly.
The C64 version has awesome music, so it's a shame that the controls are so frustrating. Could have easily have been a reasonable little game if the controls felt intuitive.
+kingstonlj My thoughts exactly. Possibly also no insta-death when you hit something even at low speed as well.
Yeah, insta-death is always a design choice that annoys me.