A Zelda Clone for the C64: Game Concept

1 January 2020 · Updated 26 February 2026

The question of why a quality Zelda-style game has never materialized for the Commodore 64 remains intriguing. The original Legend of Zelda released in 1986 during the C64’s peak years, yet no comparable experience emerged for the platform despite its technical capability.

Essential Requirements

Such a C64 title would need to incorporate:

Full-color omnidirectional smooth scrolling enabling exploration without jarring screen transitions, maintaining immersion as players traverse the world
Explorable structures with detailed interior environments featuring puzzles, enemies, and treasure that reward thorough investigation
Compelling adventure gameplay capturing the original Zelda’s appeal—the sense of discovery, gradual empowerment through item acquisition, and challenging but fair combat
Artwork rivaling console-quality productions like Sam’s Journey, with character sprites that convey personality and environments that establish distinct regional identities

Development Obstacles

Creating artwork that meets these high standards poses the primary difficulty, exceeding even the considerable challenges of smooth scrolling implementation. A Zelda-style game requires hundreds of unique tiles, dozens of enemy designs, and consistent visual language across varied environments. Finding artists capable of this volume while respecting C64 constraints proves difficult.

Advanced methods such as AGSP (Any Given Screen Position), employed in titles like Fred’s Back, could provide the technical foundation for smooth omnidirectional scrolling. The programming challenges, while significant, have known solutions within the development community.

Existing Precedent: Mythos Demo

The Mythos demonstration by Crest proves these concepts are achievable on C64 hardware. The demo showcases smooth scrolling across detailed environments with responsive character control. Unfortunately, the creators confirmed no plans to expand it into a full release, leaving an opportunity for other development teams to tackle this ambitious goal.

Perhaps such a project awaits a developer with both the technical skills and artistic resources to realize what remains one of the C64’s notable gaps.