Commodore 64 joystick adapters

Commodore 64 joystick adapters are hardware peripherals that extend the number of joystick ports on the Commodore 64 computer. The additional joysticks can be used on games with dedicated support for the specific adapter.

A number of different joystick adapters have been constructed for use with the C64. The Classical Games / Protovision adapter is by far supported by the largest number of games. While building instructions are available for most of the adapters, a few adapters are also available commercially. The adapters are also emulated in some of the C64 emulators.

Original Adapters

Starbyte adapter (1990)

Supports 2 additional joysticks at the userport. Released by Starbyte Software in 1990 for use with their game Adidas Championship Tie Break. At the time sold separately under the name Tie Break Adaptor.[1][2]

Building instructions (plugs and wires only) have been reverse engineered and made available by Groepaz/Hitmen.[3]

Kingsoft adapter (1992)

Supports 2 additional joysticks at the userport. Introduced with the game Bug Bomber by Kingsoft in 1992. The game came with instructions to build your own 4-player adapter.[4]

Building instructions (plugs and wires only) have been reverse engineered and made available by Groepaz/Hitmen.[3]

Protovision 4 player interface / Classical Games adapter (1997)

Supports 2 additional joysticks at the userport. Designed by Chester Kollschen (CKX) of Classical Games and released in 1997 with the game Bomb Mania. Kollschen later joined Protovision and the adapter is now available as the Protovision 4 player interface.[5][6][7]

Building instructions (plugs, wires and an IC), sample code, shop and list of supported games are available at the Protovision website.[7]

Space Balls adapter (1998)

Supports 8 joysticks, all connected to the user port and one joyport. Designed by Luigi Pantarotto and released with the game Space Balls (1998) for 2-8 players.

Building instructions (plugs and wires only) is provided with the game Space Balls (called Star Balls in its schematics page).[4]

Ninjas SNES pad adapter (1998)

Supports 8 SNES pads at the joyports. Designed by Ninja of The Dreams.[8]

Building instructions (plugs and wires only) are available at the Hitmen 4 player adapter website.[3] Code interface is demonstrated in the SNES-Pad-Tooldisk #1.[9]

Digital Excess & Hitmen 4 player joystick adapter (1999)

Supports 2 additional joysticks at the userport. Designed by Groepaz of Hitmen and Thomas Koncina and Bjoern Odendahl of Digital Excess in 1999 as an easier to build alternative to the Classical Games adapter.[10]

Building instructions (plugs and wires only) and sample code is available at the Hitmen 4 player adapter website.[3]

Inception - 8 joysticks adapter (2013)
Inception

Supports 8 joysticks at one joystick port. Designed by Ray and PCH (Petr Chlud). [11]

Available commercially at the c64.cz website.[12]

Compatible Adapters

Singular Crew 4Player Adapter (2008)

Supports 2 additional joysticks at the userport. Compatible with the Protovision 4 player interface / the Classical Games Adapter, Digital Excess & Hitmen 4 player joystick adapter and the Kingsoft Adapter. Designed by Singular Crew. [13]

Available commercially at www.zsibvasar.hu website.[14]

Adapters for a few related computers can also be used with the C64. Those adapters include PET (normally only used on the PET/CBM2), Hummer (normally only used on the C64DTV) and OEM (normally only used on the VIC20).[15] There are probably no game supporting those adapters on the C64.

Emulation

The C64 emulator VICE supports the Classical Games / Protovision and the Digital Excess & Hitmen adapters from version 2.3.,[15] and the Kingsoft and Starbyte adapters from version 2.4.[16]

Supported games

A (near) complete list of games with original or added support for the various adapters. [3] [7] [17] [18] [19]

TitleYearDescription# JoysticksAdapterInterfaced by
Tie Break1990original1-4SStarbyte[2]
Bug Bomber1992Bomberman clone1-4KKingsoft
Bomb Mania1997Bomberman clone2-4CProtovision[7]
Bomb Mania patch1998Bomb Mania (1997) patch2-4C, NDa!NyL[20]
Space Balls1998original2-8BPantarotto[21]
Quadris1998Tetris clone1-4CProtovision[22]
Bomb Mania patch1999Bomb Mania (1997) patch2-4C, DDXS & HIT[23]
Pac It (preview)2000Pacman clone1-4CProtovision[7]
Quadtron2000Snakes clone2-4CProtovision[22]
International Karate + Gold2001International Karate + (1987) hack1-3C, D, NThe Dreams[24]
Thrust Gold2001Thrust (1986) patch1NNinja/The Dreams[25]
Snacks 4 Snakes2002Snakes clone2-4CProtovision[7]
Rampage Gold2003Rampage (1987) hack1-3C, D, NThe Dreams[26]
Grubz (preview)2004Worms clone2-4CSingular Crew[27]
Hockey Mania2004original2-4CProtovision[7]
Marble Madness+2004Marble Madness (1986) hack1-4CNostalgia[28]
Phong2004Pong clone1-4C, NInstinct/Triad[29]
Amazing Maze2005Amazing Maze (1983) hack1-3CTriad
Team Patrol2005original2-4CProtovision[7]
Tour de France2005original2-4CHack n' Trade[30]
Tanks 30002006original2-4CProtovision[7]
Garrison2007Gauntlet (1986) hack1-4C, DNostalgia[28]
Super Off Road+2007Super Off Road (1990) hack1-3C, DNostalgia[28]
Alone in the Green2009original1-4CEdikles[31]
M.U.L.E.2011M.U.L.E. (1983) hack1-4CPeiselulli[32]
Space Lords2011Pong clone1-4CP1X3L.net[33]
Square Attack2011original4CProf. Pi^2[34]
Icon Run2012original?-4CEvil Joe[35]
Bomberland2013Bomberman clone1-4CSamar Productions (SMR) [36]
Octron2013Tron clone2-8C+Centhusi of Onslaught [37]
Schlimeisch Mania2013Snakes clone1-8IUnreal[38]
Race2014Car race original1-8C, ISokrates[39]
Tiger Claw2014Bruce Lee hack1-4CLazycow[40]
Kim Pong2015Pong clone1-4CTechnische Maschinenfabrik[41]
Jam It2015Basketball original1-4CThrowback Games[42]
Shotgun2016original2-4CDr. Wuro Industries[43]
Snafu2016original2-4CMegastyle and Protovision[44]
Frogs2017original2-4CDr. Wuro Industries[45]
Zatacka2017hack?2-4CRabenauge [46]

Adapter: S = Starbyte, C = Protovision / Classical Games, D = Digital Excess & Hitmen, N = Ninjas SNES pad, K = Kingsoft, B = Space Balls, I = Inception

Description: original/clone = new implementation, patch = patch for existing game, hack = unauthorized release based on existing game.

Interface origin: Publisher or official source of joystick adapter support. In order to use hacked versions legally, you should own the original game.

References
  1. "Zzap!Test! Tie Break", Zzap!64, 1990 Nov (67), p 12. zzap.co.uk. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  2. "Adidas Championship Tie Break", Ocean Software & Starbyte Software, 1990. Stadium 64 Manuals Archive. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  3. "4 Player Adapter". Hitmen. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  4. Synnes, Stig: Joystick adapter schematics
  5. "Commodore Free interview with the Protovision team", Commodore Free, 2011, issue 51, p 37. Commodore Free. Retrieved 8 August 2011.
  6. "Classical Games 4 Player Interface". CSDB. Retrieved 9 March 2011.
  7. "4 Player Interface". Protovision. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  8. Ninja. "How to connect 8 snes-pads to your c64 v1.1". Hitmen. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  9. "SNES-Pad-Tooldisk #1". CSDB. Retrieved 19 October 2011.
  10. Groepaz. "The Digital Excess & Hitmen 4-Player Joystick adapter". Hitmen. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  11. "Eight joysticks on the C64". c128.net (from German via Google translate). Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  12. "C64.cz". Retrieved 26 August 2014.
  13. "Singular Crew 4Player Adapter for Commodore 64". Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  14. "zsibvasar.hu". Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  15. "What is NEW with the 2.3 release?". VICE team. Archived from the original on 7 November 2010. Retrieved 4 March 2011.
  16. "VICE Feature Requeset tracker: Joystick emulation of Starbyte/Kingsoft adapters". SourceForge. Retrieved 15 March 2012.
  17. "Nostalgia releases". Archived from the original on 14 August 2011. Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  18. Gutjahr, Christoph. "C64-games supporting four joysticks". Delirium BBS. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  19. Synnes, Stig. "4-joystick adapter". Retrieved 6 March 2011.
  20. Da!NyL's workspace. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  21. . GameBase 64 Collection. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  22. . The GameBase 64 Collection. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  23. DXS & HIT 4-Player Joystick Adapter. CSDB. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  24. International Karate+ GOLD. CSDB. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  25. Ninja. CSDB. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  26. Rampage Gold. CSDB. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  27. Grubz. Singular Crew. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  28. Nostalgia releases Archived 14 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  29. Phong. CSDB. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  30. Tour de France. CSDB. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  31. Alone in the green. CSDB. Retrieved 20 October 20111.
  32. MULE. CSDB. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  33. Space Lords. P1X3L.net. Retrieved 26 January 2012.
  34. Square Attack. CSDB. Retrieved 20 October 2011.
  35. Icon Run. CSDB. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  36. Bomberland. RGCD. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  37. Octron. CSDB. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  38. Schlimeisch Mania. CSDB. Retrieved 6 August 2014.
  39. Race. CSDB. Retrieved 11 March 2015.
  40. Tiger Claw. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  41. Kim Pong. CSDB. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  42. Jam It. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  43. Shotgun. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
  44. Snafu. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  45. Frogs. Retrieved 03 April 2017.
  46. Zatacka. Retrieved 30 July 2018.
  • Protovision 4 player interface page, shop and list of compatible games
  • Hitmen building instruction on 4 player adapters and list of 4 player games

  • C64.cz Inception 8 joysticks adapter interface, shop and list of compatible games
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