PET News

Freshly fished out of the net...

Here you will find the latest news about the first affordable, mass-produced personal computer for private households: the Commodore PET. This ticker contains news about new game and hardware releases, latest video and podcast uploads, trivia and product information. All freshly fished from the web. RSS feed available!

News filter:
All C64 Amiga C128 Plus/4 VIC-20 PET

06.08.2025 - Little Computer People : A Commodore 64 SPECIAL - video by 'BastichB 64K'
A mini documentary for the 1985 original pet simulator "Little Computer People" on the Commodore 64.

05.08.2025 - C64 game 'Florida Man Saves The World' released
Aliens have invaded Florida, and your task is to escape their grasp. Control Florida Man to make your way through each level, gather artifacts, and leave together with your pet alligator! Use the alligator to assist Florida Man in escaping aliens, giant pythons, and porta-potties. Find all nine artifacts to unlock the final battle with Zadron the alien boss. Features: 9 Regular Levels, 1 Secret Boss Level, 3 Tiers of difficulty and 4 Endings. You can get the game as digital download for a bargain (name your own price) to support the developer.

14.07.2025 - 'Schlangenwurm' - game for C64 / C128 / C16 / PET released - free for download
'Schlangenwurm' is a modern twist on the classic snake formula - simple to learn, endlessly addictive, and brutally unforgiving. Take control of a growing serpent in this fast-paced arcade challenge.

28.06.2025 - C64 game 'Space Invaders 2' released - free for download
Taito released the original Space Invaders arcade game in 1978, and as a high school student Satoshi Matsuoka created a masterpiece replica of Space Invaders for the Commodore PET in 1980. 'Space Invaders 2' is an updated version of Professor Matsuoka's original PET game that more closely matches the gameplay of Taito's 1979 updated Part II version. Originally for the PET/CBM Series of computers, and now available on C64 with this port by Milasoft.

14.05.2025 - Commodore PET game 'Qixie ' released
'Qixie ' is a PET clone of Qix a 1981 puzzle video game published in the arcades by Taito America. After PETSCII Qix for the C64 was released, developer milasoft64 thought: why not try to port it to the PET? After some struggles it is now done. You can get the game as digital download for little money (name your own price) to support the developer.

11.04.2025 - Optimizing 1979's Manbiki Shounen: Shoplifting Boy for Commodore PET - video by '8-Bit Show And Tell'
Today we look at how Robin went about optimizing the BASIC code written way back in 1979 by Hiroshi Suzuki in Japan for his ground-breaking Commodore PET 2001 game called Manbiki Shounen, aka Shoplifting Boy. We'll go step by step through all the changes from the original, and learn quite a bit about how the gameplay was implemented in this possibly first-ever stealth video game. After going through the code, we'll quickly adapt the code to run on a Commodore 64 and take advantage of the Faster 64 variable profiler to add an extra layer of optimizing.

14.12.2024 - Commodore PET game 'Escape from PETSCII Castle' released - free for download
Wolfenstein 3D broke all the molds when it was release in 1992. 'Escape From PETSCII Castle' is a new game inspired by Wolf3D but written for a 1981-vintage Commodore PET computer (32K, 40 or 80 columns). Shoot enemies, gather treasures ... and find the elevator to escape.

07.10.2024 - C64 game 'Manbiki Shounen' released - free for download
This game is a Commodore 64 port of the Commodore PET version made by Hiroshi Suzuki in 1979. It is widely credited as the first ever stealth game.

01.10.2024 - VIC-20 game 'Green on Black 2' (Santa Paravia, Dungeon) released - free for download
'Green on Black 2' are two converts of old Commodore PET-games to the VIC-20 using the VIC-40 (or FAT-40)-program which provides 40 columns. The two games are: Dungeon is a Rogue-like before there even was the original "Rogue"-game and Santa Paravia and Fiumaccio is one of the first "economic simulation"-games, originally published for the TRS-80 in December of 1978.

19.08.2024 - Robotron: 2084 One-Bit Fix and Many Other Thoughts - video from '8-Bit Show And Tell'
Today we'll look at several aspects of Robotron: 2084. First we'll examine two of the main inspirations for Robotron's development: "Chase" for the Commodore PET (which we've modified to be a bit more playable) and "Berzerk" (demonstrated on the Atari 2600+ since we don't have access to the original arcade version). Then we'll look at the decent AtariSoft port of Robotron to the Commodore 64, including a Lego-assisted way of bringing the twin stick controls home. Then we'll examine the bizarre freezing bug when C64 Robotron is run on the Commodore SX-64, also known as the Executive 64. We'll examine the root causes: a hardware flaw in the SX-64, but also a software bug in Robotron, and suggest three different fixes for the problem.

29.06.2024 - 'PETSCII Wizard Of Wor' for C64, Plus/4 and PET released - free for download
As the name suggests, this a clone of Wizard of Wor, the old classic arcade video game from Midway, entirely made in PETSCII graphics. The game mechanics are very similar to the original, although slight differences are possible. The Plus/4 version can be downloaded here and the PET version here.

08.06.2024 - 'Orac Draughts' - game for C16, Plus/4 and C64 released - free for download
ORAC is a (fairly) strong 6502 checkers playing program. Its was originally written a long time ago for the Commodore PET, then later adapted for the Commodore 64 and C16. VIC20 version to come, hopefully...

20.03.2024 - Commodore PET game 'Slimed' released - free for download
'Slimed' is a remake of Jim Summer's SLIME game for the Commodore PET 2001. This game works on 8K PET 2001 models. As a result, the menu system was redesigned, there's no sound and the game is only 25 blocks in size.

25.02.2024 - Found: "Lost" 1979 Stealth Game: Manbiki Shonen / Shoplifting Boy - Commodore PET (Japan) - video from '8-Bit Show And Tell'
Way back in 1979 in Japan, Hiroshi Suzuki programmed a game for the Commodore PET that many consider the first-ever Stealth game: Manbiki Shonen aka Shoplifting Boy. Predating Castle Wolfenstein, it's a game in which a young shoplifter attempts to clear a supermarket of all items on the shelves without being caught.

24.01.2024 - 'Colour Space Invaders' v1.0 for Commodore PET released
This is, as the name suggests, a coloured version of Space Invaders for the Commodore PET. The IRQ has been fixed to work on different PET models (30xx, 40xx). You can get it as digital download for a bargain (name your own price) to support the developer.