My first computer was a VIC-20, it was amazing back then with the graphics, colors and sound. I didn't have that many games, but the User Manual was very good. Basically it was like 2 pages of: this is how you connect your VIC-20 to your TV and then the rest was: This is how you write programs for your new computer.

I loved that little machine. It was the second computer I had gotten. The first was the Tmex Sinclair 1000. It was a nice intro into computers but got frustrating real fast with the membrane keyboard and intermittent crashes while typing in long programs. The Vic-20 was a breath of fresh air with color, sound, and a real keyboard. That and really launched me into computers. I was very much into electronics at the time and dove into interfacing my VIC into some of my breadboard digital projects for control and monitoring. Started out using the parallel port, but later learned to make use of the expansion/cartridge port after building my own "real world" interfaces. Ah, the days of computer discovery in my youth. My next and all time favorite computer was the Commodore 64. But the VIC-20 will always have a special place in my heart. I loved the games, but played mostly on the C64. I still have my original VIC, along with the TS 1000 and a few C64s. Also a C16 and C128. Even a couple of SX-64's I am restoring. I loved the games, but played mostly on the C64. Even ran a BBS for a time on the C64s.

The Vic 20 holds bitter sweet memories for me! While everyone I knew had either the spectrum 48k or Commodore 64, we had the Vic 20. Our local Video Rental store had about half a dozen Vic games and a billion Spectrum and Commodore 64 games that got constantly refreshed with the latest and greatest game releases! I think the only game I remember was blitz. Seeing Chariot Racer rings a bell but I can’t honestly say it’s one I had / played, seeing it here just struck a chord! The Vic kind of shattered my illusion of computers back in the day, it was just so unusable to be of anything useful. Enjoyed this video, thanks! Subscribed!

Great list! I spent so much time with my Vic in the early 80's. Very fond memories.

This takes me back in Time !!! It had an Excellent choice of Vector graphics and good selection of games, some were very addictive as well. an ideally designed machine for our time, rather I see it been as one of the most colorful and expandable computers of its Era and a role model for its daughter computers in the 80's. Was cleverly designed and had less fail prone components then its other commodore counterparts. I never had a Vic fail on me, even the Roms...unless you neglect one of course or the power supply warps, above all these were all a good selection of games and those were mostly added on the penaultimate+ cartridge decades later...which became a must for the Vic-20 lovers.

I like Cosmic Cruncher. It was loud and colorful and the pacman is replaced by the C=. My other fave was Demon Attack. The VIC-20 was my first computer (I was 11). I learned BASIC on it. Great video! Cheers!

I've always thought it was interesting to see the variance in quality of VIC-20 games. Some games (Vic Invaders, Omega Race) are amazingly good arcade ports considering the system's limited hardware, and then you've got Q*bert - that one is painful to see.

#17 The picture on the cartridge was cool and well, we get phasers anyway we could back then.

Got my first computer chops on a hand-me-down VIC-20 when my brother got a C64. Loved my VIC-20, and just picked one up about six months ago.

I really enjoyed the VIC 20.Thanks Mom And Dad.

When I was about 7 years old in 1985, I had Gorf, Cosmic Cruncher, Raid On Fort Knox, Poker, Blackjack, Pipes, Radar Ratrace, Omega Race, Tooth Invaders, Jupiter Lander, Donkey Kong, and some others that I can't remember off the top of my head. The joystick I used had a rubber ball end that had toothmarks from my cat, Dusty. He liked it so I just let him chew on it and it was all good lol he was a great kitty

Great video for a great machine

Nice video. I'm not familiar with his system, but some of those games look great. Excellent port of not space invaders.

Those top arcade games are definitely a must have for it.

I can't complain about the list since it's totally subjecctive even if my top ten differs a fair bit. My faves in no particular order: - Tutankham - Lode Runner - Demon Attack - Sword of Fargoal - Galaxian - Sargon 2 - Pole Position - Gorf - Pharaoh's Curse - Ultima: Escape from Mount Drash Such a brilliant computer. 40+ years and I'm still loving it.

I love how the Jelly Monsters box art has zero hints that the game is a Pac-Man clone.

I remember the VIC-20, it was my first computer from either Christmas 1981 or 1982. Don't remember having any games on cassette tape just on cartridges. I did have Radar Rat Race and space invaders game Star Battle and those were the two I probably played the most. The only other one I can remember is Mole Attack.

Thank you for the video. About 5 of these would be in my top 20 as well. I still have my original Vic-20 from about 1982 and a pretty huge collection of games. Games not on this list that I like more than some are Froggee, Vic-21 Blackjack, Artillery Duel, Galaxian, and one that my friends and I played a ton... Dodgecars. For this one, I remember three of us in the same room with three Vic-20s and 3 TVs. A great memory.

A great watch that, Think i got my Vic 20 late in 85 after having the brilliant Spekky 48k since 82 which actually ruled the 80s for home gaming for me,

Played a TON of Omega Race! My faves were that, GORF, Cosmic Cruncher, Tooth Invaders, Gortek and the Microchips (an educational game) and weirdly enough, Hangman.

Happy to see some Scott Adams adventures there 🧡 But I really miss Moon Patrol 🥹 Great Video - cheers!

Great video. That blue and white chess game reminds me of a very similar one I had on cartridge for my Commodore 64.

What a great video. I wish I had the words to describe how desperately I wanted one of these back when I was a kid. I would see them on display (in department stores, haha), running something fascinating, but alas, it was not meant to be. Loved your video, and I see that it really was as amazing as I thought it was as a little kid, especially when framed in the context of when it was released. And, let's face it, as a fan of Star Trek, my sadness (at not having one) was amplified considerably.

Just found my old Choplifter cartridge in good condition from my parents attic.

I’m undergoing extensive trauma therapy after taking a second look at the Jelly Monsters game cover

The retro groups should try some of the newer Vic20 games. For an all time list, these are all 40 years old. Example: Cheese and Onion is a smooth scrolling platformer.

The Vic was my first computer. It is hard to imagine a worse business computer than the VIC. The ONLY thing the vic had going for it, even for a gaming computer was it was cheap. I literally saved my allowance and lawn mowing to buy it because it was under 100 Dollars. The VIC was just one long series of compromises that leads to a whole that is not very good. No hardware scrolling. No hardware sprites. 5k of RAM. Extremely low resolution screen. I think even the atari 2600 has a higher horizontal resolution. The 22 character text mode is only 176 pixels wide. Using multicolor characters cuts that in 1/2.

Suprised my all time fave game Parker bros tutankhamun was only #15 truly top ten material also no Frogger I thought again Parker bros did an awesome conversion .great work lots of memories had no idea the Vic20 had a star trek game

The iOS version of Gridrunner is unbelievable. I wish they would reissue it.

Surprised not to see demon attack on this list, to this day vic 20 had the best version.

Glad to see Radar Ratrace made the list, that was my favorite on the system.

Ah Gorf, best cart game I had on the old Vic, lost count of how long I spent on that one as it was always fun to go back to

8:52 ahhh not the Popcorn Song again nooooooo

The games I remember from my VIC 20 were Gorf, Omega Race, Demon Attack, Atlantis, Lunar Leepers, and The Count (and several other Scott Adams text games).

We had a vic 20 for a couple years (I think it was borrowed from someone). I remember Radar Rat Race and Omega Race fondly. Glad to see them on the list :-) The only other Vic 20 game I remember was tooth Invaders. I loved that one too at the time but it may not have aged so well. Would need to try it again to know for sure

Mostly agree with the list. One game not mentioned was Jungle Hunt. Good port of the arcade game.

An older cousin of mine had a VIC-20 when I was little and I remember playing Clowns and Seawolf on it, surprised neither made this list.

My first computer was the vic 20, a newsagent was getting rid of them for $50 AUD at the time, I think they were getting the old stock out in time for the incoming c64. I never had a tape drive for it so I kept typing in a program from the manual or a magazine or something each time I wanted to play it! Glad when I moved onto the c64 though, it was a massive upgrade.

Great Nostalgia However I would like to point out that the Better Vic20 games have appeared in the last 6-7 years. Cheese and Onion, Escape 2020, Pentagorat, Monaco GP. etc.

7:15 All I can hear is the ZX Spectrum Knightlore tune, I wonder which came first?

Interesting video. Not sure I've learned anything vital but interesting. I read the title. Then you said top VIC-20 games of all time, i engaged thought... and then really thought... followed by tumbleweed. Realised i know very little about the VIC-20's games. I remember using one a few times in computer studies at school, used mainly PETS, the sole C64 was hogged. BBC Micro replaced them all eventually. Interesting words used in the Shatner advert. Did he say best or most exciting computer of the 80's, words to that effect? Start of the wrong couple of decades to claim that. Understandable as the 70's were a bit slow, slow and brown, with beige for computers. Interesting the term games console had not yet reared it's head, back then they were apparently just called games. They were pretty much locked in with what they had, no internet, no patches nor updates. Each machine a veritable Pong multiverse.

I loved my Vic 20. You had to use your imagination and I certainly did. As a kid, I played the games Wacky Waiters, Scramble, Jackpot and Radar Rat Race. When we eventually upgraded to the C64 and played the games Scramble and Jackpot I remember being disappointed as the graphics on the C64 were jerky and not as smooth as I thought they were on the Vic20. I then went back and played them on the Vic 20 only to find they were jerky, I was sure the versions I had were not the same as when I was younger so I searched high and low for the games that I thought I remembered, but they were the games I remembered, it's just my imagination filled in the details for me and as I grew older that magical imagination stopped working. Initially, I was also disappointed with the sound of the C64 because I could make music on the Vic20 much more easily (Even though it was out of tune, Radar Rat Race for example) it was easy to program music in basic. It was only later when my brain expanded that I came to appreciate the C64 with its ADSR and filters which were too complicated for the younger me. Anyway, the Vic20 is still an amazing machine that deserves more recognition than it does, it's just overshadowed by the mighty C64.

I dont remember jelly monsters, but i do remember a commodore game called cosmic cruncher. That was also a pacman clone

Makes me wish I had more experience with computers in the early-mid 80's. Used Apple ii'sinschool a bit mostly remembere playing Conan on it. My first PC was a Leading Edge 386, with the printer it was about $2500, must have been the early 90's.

I suspect some of my top games now would be quite different from my list back in the 80's... for example, I recall loving Garden Wars as a child, but seeing footage of the game now, the sheer amount of activity on the screen is brain melting! Gorf was definitely one that held up though!

There was a sking one that I spent hours on as well

UNderstand the methodology.. but surprised.. a) Jetpac isn't in the Top3 - it's the best looking game on the platform by miles b) Matrix didn't make it. 100% approve of Omega Race tho :) And Blitz... helped that it was a pack-in game.. but I played it for hours and hours :)

great video all best for 2024

As a UK VIC owner, my list would look quite different. I'd have Gorf, Jetpac and Blitz, but also titles like The Perils of Willy, Skyhawk, Bonzo, Star Battle, Raid on Fort Knox, Arcadia, Metagalatic Llamas Battle at the Edge of Time and Psycho Shopper.

I never owned a Vic20 but I had a few games for that system due to trades and whatnot, but some of them would run on my C64 as well.

Demon Attack and Abductor were/are my favourite

I had a VIC20 with Radar Rat Race and like 10 text adventures, all on cartridge. No idea where I might find games. So it was disappointing for that reason.

I REALY LOVE MY C64 ❤❤❤ FOREVER ❤❤❤

Is it practical to actually buy a Vic-20 these days to play it? I looked some up online but tested and working ones seem few and far between. I’d love to own one. The spider and snake games looked so neat for the time period.

I remember playing Blitz on my mate's VIC 20 but it was not an original, it was a copy of the 1977 Atari arcade game Canyon Bomber

I want to change my votes after watching this... Can't believe I forgot to include any of the Scott Adams adventures!!! I loved those!!! ;-) Of course, my top 5 changes weekly anyways depending on what I've seen/played recently... ;-)

Number one and two are correct - but I'd switch them around. Gorf was a blast on the system. I'm surprised with your PacMan clone pick when Cosmic Cruncher was such a solid title.

Both the official Galaxians port and Star Battle rip off are great games that deserve to be on the list.

So glad you did not put Ms. Pacman on that list. Though it looked better than any PacMac game on home consoles, the playability was horrendous. It was super slow too. Everything moved a fraction of the speed of the game in the arcade. I felt so ripped off when i purchased the game for my VIC-20 back in '83 (or '84?). Gorf was my favorite but I was a bit disappointed to discover upon the first play that it did not have the Galaxian screen. Big bummer. I still remember going back to the box and reading front and back to notice that indeed Galaxian were not mentioned anywhere. Bummer. Later and thanks!

VIC-20 was my first ever computer and the step to my career in computing. When friends had Spectrums I wanted something with a real keyboard as I wanted to program. My favorite games were Gorf, Cosmic Cruncher, Perils of Willy, Sargon II and of course Blitz. Surprised Perils of Willy didn't make the Top 20.

No vicross 😢. A nice port of crossroads on the vic.

I agree with the list except for Blitz.. That game was crap! All you did was time when to hit the fire button. I would swap it out for Bomber which was an amazing Scramble clone (which I thought actually looked better than Scramble)

Never seen a c16 or vic20 in my life. Only 128 and 64.

My first computer was the Vic20 but it was a terrible machine with rubbish games. My parents bought me one from a pile of on sale VICS sold from 'What Every Woman Wants' store in early eighties for £70. Even back then it was terrible. Computing began for me once I sold my Vic20 and I got a Commodore 64 - a real computer.

Very US-biased list here. Not your fault, most of the people on the forums will be Yanks, but I have to say as a British VIC owner back in the day I don't recognise the majority of these...

I think the text games should have been left out and some modern games like pentogorat, cheese & onion, and planet X1 should have been included. I can't even imagine the level of disappointment if someone invited me over to use their new vic20 computer that I'd seen advertised has having cool arcade games, only to have them plop on a humdrum text adventures. "Wtf is this? I thought you said you had video games but this is just a digital version of one of those dumb choose your own adventure books. I can have this experience without a computer, where's the video games you promised!?!?!

Thanks! Winter Games/Events. Kingsoft.