Confession:  I bought the iPod Touch for this app.  Ok, not really, but I thought about it.  Unfortunately, the C64 app got pulled from the iTunes store for violating Apple’s Terms of Service about a week before I got the iPod Touch.  (Why that happened is a story unto itself.)  Manomio revised the emulator and Apple finally approved the re-release last week.

Premise

The C64 app is a Commodore 64 emulator for the iPhone / iPod Touch.  It plays authentic, licensed reproductions of classic C64 games.  The app currently comes with 8 games built in:  Arctic Shipwreck, Dragons Den, International Basketball, International Soccer, International Tennis, Jack Attack, Jupiter Lander, and Le Mans.  The games are not the first that come to my mind when I think C64 games, except maybe International Soccer, but it’s a nice spread of genres.

Presentation

The graphics used imitate a classic look and feel.  I’m not overly impressed with the rounded screen effect, and really don’t like the fake screen glare they added (you can see it in the upper half of the gaming screens on my screenshots, especially when there’s a dark background).  I hope future version will allow you to turn these on and off per your preference.  You can play games in portrait and landscape modes.

The game audio is  the original SID (Sound Interface Device) sound, and sounded good to me.

Interface

Controlling games is a matter of using the old joystick and fire button combination.  In portrait mode, the game takes up the upper half of the screen and the joystick and fire button take up the bottom, similar to a Nintendo DS.  In landscape mode, the game is fullscreen and the controls are invisibly overlayed on the gameplay screen.  Both seem to work fine, but I haven’t decided which I like better.  The games are not like the type where your character stays in the middle of the screen and your fingers don’t get in the way much when they are positioned over the gameplay screen.  I’m starting to think that it depends on the game.

Freshness

The app is groundbreaking in terms of it being on of the few emulators of a gaming platform that is officially approved by Apple.  Apple would not allow the inclusion of uploading your own games to it (not sure why Frotz is still allowed to).  It works well though and gives me a serious C64 fix.  Hopefully we’ll see other official game platform apps like this, rather than a separate app for each

Value

The app is $4.99, which is not overly expensive.  Manomio LLC has already submitted the first round of downloadable addon games to Apple for approval, which they say will be priced from free to $1.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the price doesn’t go down around the time those are released, probably in December.  Being a Commodore 64 fan from years back, I’m definitely enjoying the C64 app.

Summary

Premise:  Excellent
Presentation:  Decent
Interface:  Good
Freshness:  Superlative
Value:  Good
Overall:  Great app