Homebrew
The term Homebrew is a relatively new term, often encountered in the retro scene. A homebrew version refers to a computer program that is not officially licensed by the manufacturer or publisher, or as an official conversion of a computer platform (including consoles or handheld systems such as the Atari 2600 or Gameboy). Homebrew software is developed by a programmer or team as a hobby or fan project and is usually released free of charge as public domain (PD) or Freeware.
Often, well-known games are converted faithfully from arcade machines or video game consoles for computer systems, for which there was previously no official or faithful implementation. At other times, existing games are modified or extended, so that there is, for example, an unofficial follow-up game.
Furthermore, new storage media of recent years has created possibilities for home computer systems that did not exist in the 1980s and 1990s, making it possible for today's programmers to develop perfect conversions that could not exist earlier due to earlier memory limitations (e.g. for graphics or music). With the C64, earlier limitations are removed by the use of, for example, modern cartridges like EasyFlash or memory cards.
There are always new ideas from hobby programmers, which are often implemented as games, sometimes with programming aids or game creation programs such as S.E.U.C.K., and these are then published for free as digital .D64 images for emulators on scene websites, such as the CSDb.
C64 Fan Projects (Selection)[edit | edit source]
Some well-known and interesting Homebrew versions and fan projects:
- Bellringer (2003)
- Color Catcher (2004)
- Gold Quest (2005; SEUCK)
- Gold Quest II (2006; SEUCK)
- Gold Quest III (2006; SEUCK)
- Zoo Mania (2006; unofficial conversion)
- Flaschbier 2007 (2007; follow-up)
- Gold Quest 4 (2008; SEUCK)
- Trash Course (2009; SEUCK)
- Spike (2010; unofficial conversion)
- Prince of Persia (2011; unofficial conversion; only EasyFlash)
- Gold Quest 5 (2013; SEUCK)
- Commando Arcade (2014; unofficial conversion)
- Donkey Kong Junior (2014; unofficial conversion)
- Bruce Lee II (2015; follow-up)
- Ghosts'n Goblins Arcade (2015; unofficial conversion)
- Frogger Arcade (2015; unofficial conversion)
- CRX Race (2015/16)
- QWAK (2016; unofficial conversion)
- Shotgun (2016)
- Frogs (2017)
- Iceblox Plus (2018; follower)
- Portal (2018) (2018)
- Bruce Lee - Return of Fury (2019; follow-up)
- Super Mario Bros 64 (2019; unofficial conversion)
- Plekthora (2021)
- Sonic the Hedgehog (2021; with REU; unofficial conversion)
- Puzzle Bobble (2022, unofficial conversion)
- Gold Quest VI (2022,)
- The Empire Strikes Back 2022 (unofficial conversion)
Links[edit | edit source]
(video games) Wikipedia: Homebrew (video games) |