Manomio's Commodore 64 Emulator Returns to App Store
posted by Eli Hodapp on November 9th, 2009 5:57 PM EST in $4.99, Retro, iPhone games, iPod touch games
There are few things on the App Store (Short of maybe Edge [$4.99 / Free].) that have as much drama surrounding them as Manomio's C64 [$4.99]. All the way back in June we originally reported on its existence along with the sad news that the fully licensed emulator was rejected by Apple for violating the terms of the SDK regarding installing and launching executable code.
In September, the C64 emulator was finally approved by Apple, and available for a short period of time. Just a few days later, it was pulled from the App Store because the BASIC interpreter included was not removed, only disabled, and reactivating it was extremely simple.
Manomio once again submitted an updated version of the emulator to the App Store, and it was finally approved this afternoon. Aside from (hopefully) removing all the things that Apple didn't like, it also sports up to a 30% performance improvement, onboard instructions for each of the included games, and three new games: International Basketball, International Baseball, and International Tennis.
[ Full HD version | Low Bandwidth version ]
Following its initial rejection, we did a full hands-on preview, and aside from the improvements and changes mentioned above the emulator seems quite similar to its original release. Since C64 has had such a torrid history of being pulled from the App Store and then taking months to reappear, if you've been waiting to grab this fully featured emulator, I wouldn't hesitate for long.
App Store Link: C64, $4.99
Can you finally play Bruce Lee on it, or is that just a picture?
That's IK, not Bruce Lee, and, no, it's not included.
What games are on it and can you download more games as DLC?
Version 1.2 will be submitted for approval ASAP, and support in-app purchases.
Version 1.2 will support in-app purchases. We hope to have an early to mid December release for this. We'll keep you updated on the web site.
Castles of Dr. Creep and Adventure Construction Set please! And KoalaPaint!
Pffft! Adventure Construction set? Racing Destruction Set is I'm sure what you meant to type. A far more worthy endeavour.
Actually, Electronic Arts would probably be quite into having all their old IP released as game-packs for this. ..I wonder if copyright has reverted to the original authors for these though, or whether any big companies like Electronic Arts still have right so some of their old games?
Hmm… I got it the first time 'round. One of my favorite features is being able to "hack" it to write BASIC code. I don't think I'll get the update… :-/ Crazy Apple.
You can always overwrite the new IPA with the old one in iTunes and synchronize again – even without jailbreaking. This way, you can switch between the two versions.
And if you do jailbreak, I bet you can install both versions. Just ask a hacker to change the name of the original app.
… or just do it yourself.
go into the package and change every instance of the app name you find
(although the package identifier should suffice, better be sure)
the package identifier can very easily be found. just look in the .plists for stuff that looks like a reverse URL, à la
com.someCompanyName.someAppName
Guys, it's HERE! Just downloading it…
Great! Too bad the keyboard seem to be completely removed. That is, BASIC hacking seems to be harder.
When can we expect wireless multiplayer support, which is supported by the Windows Mobile version?
Bought!
Wohoo! Updating it on my iPhone right now. (And backing up the older version on my PC so I can still get at BASIC later.)
So, to the Manomio guys: When y'all do the game packs, would it be possible to do a free game pack for International Soccer, Basketball, etc so they're still playable on the older version of the C64.app? (For those of us who were quick enough to purchase that one.)
I totally love International Soccer and Basketball ..but I do love being able to pop open the basic interpreter to type that all important 10 PRINT "BLAH! ";:GOTO 10 stuff – though I'm sure I'm lowering Apple's shares by a significant amount every time I do it.
Thinking again: Wasn't there an Advanced BASIC cart available for the c64 at one time? I wonder if Apple could ever be convinced to allow *that* as a content update? Heck, their approval process is so schizophrenic, I wouldn't be surprised if they allowed that.
That way, if they were to disapprove of anything, it would be the game-pack, not the emulator itself. (unbundling the BASIC from the core emulator could be advantageous in this respect.)
Yeah, it was Simons BASIC: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simons%27_BASIC ..do an 'educational' bundle that's that, Math Blaster, Crane Driver, Space Lander ..I dunno, whatever you can get a deal knocked out for. Just an idea.
Thinking yet again: Could Zork be considered educational?
Okay.. time to stop replying to myself.
And, yet again: how about a virtual 1520 printer/plotter page? Those things were awesome fun. I made a program for mine so I could print maps to all the dungeons in Ultima IV. That would be educational.
Okay.. this time .. really stopping.
Great looking emulator but the included games are like the absolute worst C64 games in the whole history of the machine. Please bring us some cool classics and fast!
I'm guessing no-one bought the rights to the games way back when Commodore went into receivership? That would make them easy to redistribute.
Tracking down the authors of other stuff and obtaining permision might be trickier. For a lot of the good stuff, I'd be inclined to contact the people who made the C64 Direct-to-TV joystick and find out who they licensed their games from.
Can you swap the joystick and button positions? I know it sounds silly, but that's the only thing keeping me from buying this.
That isn't silly at all. Excellent point! I just impulsively bought this due to my excitement of its return without finding out if you can, in fact, swap the joystick and button positions..
Can't believe I did that!!!
We are definitely going to support joystick swap in a future update. Please let us know and we will prioritise higher, but in-app is top on the list initially.
Cheers and thanks for the support.
Stuart
I had that exact problem with flashback. Think it's the only game I've ever played using the right thumb to move
Want:
Bruce Lee
Dropzone
Conan: Hall of Volta
Marble Madness
Great Giana Sisters
Park Patrol
Dino Eggs
Paradroid
The Last Ninja
IK+
Karateka
H.E.R.O.
Trap Door
Wizball
Tapper
Adventure Construction Builder
Zork and associates.
Brimstone
Load Runner
Worms
M.U.L.E.
To be on Top
Turrican
hmm how quickly everyone seems to have forgotten that these guys basically screwed over the entire dev community by flat out trying to game Apple last time around – by their own admission – effectively making it even harder to get apps approved in a timely fashion.
I won't be rewarding them. Plus all the included games suck and the controls are abysmal.
You think they're the only one been trying to game the system? I bet they get submissions every *day* trying to do that. I doubt Apple have changed their processes significantly because one BASIC interpreter managed to get through the gates. What damage can one do with that? Run a "Johnny was hair!!!" loop until the battery is drained?
Is it also true that this is a port of Frodo, which is a GPL-licensed emulator? I seem to remember some mention by the developer of this meh that they'd release the source…Yeah, when has that happened?
Skip.
Well, I've got the source code to iPhone Super Methane Bros. ..they were happy to send it to any customers that asked. (I never did anything with it ..but it was fun to test if they were on the level.)
@chang, it's unfortunate as you seem bitter for whatever reason; however, I still struggle to understand why we are the target of your frustrations with the App Store. Something that is completely outside our control.
Apple is obviously trying to make the process better, with the introduction of automated tools like Clang to catch certain issue, perhaps they will loosen the reins a little in the future.
Just requested the source code to Stuart by the Manomio contact form, since it's confirmed the app is covered by the GPL license.
I'm surprised this isn't free with DLC. I would have imagined it released for free with one or two games, and the rest available as in-app purchases.
Yeah. That would seem to me to be the better business model. ..Um, but you need to have a few game-packs up your sleeve before you can do that. Maybe it will move to that once they have some game-packs?
Without Basic and the keyboard "The I must buy this impulse is gone".
Will BASIC return in a later version?
On the previous version, you could modify the app on a jailbroken iPhone and install some disk images, provided that you created appropriate metadata for the games. This was a great workaround until official games are released, and for the games that aren’t going to be released at all due to rights complexities.
Does anyone know if this still works in the new one? I realise it’s not supported, and that the devs have every right to block this, but official or not, it’s a selling point. Unfortunately I managed to corrupt my V1.0 this way, before syncing, and couldn’t redownload it because it went AWOL from the App Store.
JFur: I tried the simple hack to get other games in the scrollable list…. doesn`t work.. I seem to remember reading something to do with signitures or something… I`m sure someone will work it out… but creating metadata, images and the .d64 image doesn`t seem to to be working atm..
So far, I haven't managed to "hack" any disk / tape image into the system. Nevertheless, i still haven't checked for global for example CRC databases used for deciding whether a given image has been tampered with. Hope someone finds a way to do this
Keep your eyes on my site for all the c64 dirt your looking for
Custom Keyboard Layouts, Enabling BASIC, and Installing Custom Game Packs.
Yea the included games ate nothing to jump up and down about.
Why show a vid of Bruce lee if it's not downloadable.
A little Monezuma's revenge would be nice.
;
*sigh* It's not Bruce Lee, it's International Karate. While both are damn fun, they're hard to mistake. Mistaking it for "Way of the Exploding Fist" I could understand, but "Bruce Lee"?
Just two words : Commodore sucks !
Worst idea ever to release commodore 64 games.
To each there own i suppose. However just remember that the Commodore is a great peice of history. I myself spent many a night on my C64 back in the day. However if you didn't grow up with it then this app might not be that special to you.
Yup – if, as a child / youngster the c64 wasn't part of your life, I understand you don't find anything special in it. Albeit a wireless multiplayer-enabled version of the emulator would be pretty nice with multiplayer titles like Archon I / II, Wizard of Wor etc. and could be easily comparable to current native iPhone games.
We, however, who loved the c64 some 20-27 years ago, do love the unique games it had. Which, again, would compare favorably even to today's iPhone games when played in multiplayer.
Yeah.. Selling an emulator for the biggest selling home computer ever.. stupid idea. There were only seventeen million of the things ever sold. Must be one or two of those former owners who have an iPhone, eh? :p
Great news!!! Thank you for the work on this! My C64C made some of the favorite memories of my youth.
A few requests:
Legacy of the Ancients/The Legend of Blacksilver
Druid 1 & 2
Bard's Tale 1-3
So many more, but I have to go flip through my floppies to remember them.
See our website, as Druid I and II will be available for in-app in the future!
BTW, Stuart, is it in some way possible to offer an "unlocked" version of the emulator over Cydia – with BASIC and without any protection for adding your own game packs? I'd happily pay even $20 for such a version (of course, it's even better if existing Windows Mobile customers get a rebate
) – then, I woulnd't have to wait for people's finding out how to hack third-party games into the new version.
Afer all, your (completley unlocked) WinMo version is (was?) between $20…$30. Similarly-priced iPhone versions could also sell for C64 freaks like me.
Stuart Carnie:
You are still selling cracked games… is that fair?
We are selling licensed games – these are the only versions that the original IP holders have.
And what about Flashback ?
You have NO rights for that, this is an fully unlicensed port, while you claim it legal !
I totally agree with conrad, they DON'T have the rights for flashback … I hope one day this app will be removed from the appstore unless they manage to get a licence.
Yeah, strangely Stuart from Manomio is very quiet about this….
The games included are worst games ever made for C64. So, I paid 4 EUR for some stupid games I will never play. Very nice Stuart Carnie. If you sell these games without label "C64 emu" I don't think anybody will pay for it that much. This emulator is worth 4 EUR only if somebody find a way to hack it and enabling downloading new games (and I hope somebody will).
You didn't deserve my 4 EUR and if you enable in-game purchase I will not buy anything. You won't get from me any money again.
Hate the game (Apple), not the player (Stuart)!
You don't understand, do you? Stuart is just following Apples ridiculous rules and old C64 games are still copyrighted so what can he do without breaking Apples and copyright rules? If he didn't follow these rules the app wouldn't even be available in the App Store!
My tips is: BUY this app to SUPPORT the developers, jailbreak and revert to v1.0 and you are able to add own games, modify the keyboard, access BASIC and so on. That's a kind of win-win situation.
@Mackie – really appreciate your support.
Naturally if the terms of the SDK agreement were to change, we'd re-evaluate accordingly.
It's unfortunate you feel that way – as we've certainly tried everything we could to bring the best experience possible, whilst still following Apple's SDK requirements and those who own the IP. If you read all the earlier posts and news about C64, we tried hard…
Well unfortunatly there are going to be some nay-Sayers. That is just the way it is. Don't let people discourage you. Apple is really the one holding you back, and anyone that would bother to read some history could figure that out. Keep up the good work and looking forward to some new game packs. Hopefully a little bruce.
;
http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/4237/c64n2.jpg
I want BASIC, and custom games… keyboard is here.