Stargate Lands on the Commodore 64 With 100 Percent Machine-Code Arcade Ambitions

MilaSoft brings Williams' 1981 arcade sequel Stargate to the Commodore 64 with a 100% machine-code port supporting PAL and NTSC systems and dual-player modes.

MilaSoft has brought Stargate to the Commodore 64, creating a new homebrew interpretation of Vid Kidz and Williams Electronics' ferociously demanding 1981 arcade sequel to Defender. The C64 release supports one or two players, works on PAL and NTSC machines and is written entirely in machine language, which is the sort of specification that makes veteran Commodore programmers nod approvingly before immediately asking how many raster lines something consumes. Gameplay follows the arcade concept closely. Humanoids are scattered across the planet while hostile aliens attempt to abduct them; players must shoot the attackers, rescue endangered humans and return them to the surface. Smart bombs provide the traditional emergency solution to having far too many unpleasant things on screen, while the Stargate itself can teleport the player toward endangered humans or warp progress under the appropriate conditions.

The project follows MilaSoft's recent VIC-20 interpretation but is a distinct C64 release, taking advantage of Commodore's better-known 8-bit machine while retaining the frantic scrolling rescue structure that made Defender and Stargate famous. Recreating these games is deceptively difficult. Their appeal depends not simply on drawing spaceships but on maintaining a chaotic relationship between enemies, civilians, radar information, scrolling terrain and player movement without the whole thing degenerating into incomprehensible sprite soup. Forty-five years after the arcade original, the C64 is receiving another opportunity to discover just how stressful saving tiny humanoids can be.