If you are actually reading this, congratulations, you are a true nerd and probably born around 1975 or before. (Don't worry, present company is included). One of my favorite childhood games of all time was Raid Over Moscow. I loved the game and played it frequently on my father's Commodore 64. I can still remember typing Load "*" ,8,1 on the pale blue screen to start the game each time. A few years later we got a Nintendo and the Commodore was sold at a garage sale for $12 with a box of giant floppy disks full of games. I didn't care at the time, but now i regret it.

Although I can't go back in time and prevent my old C64 from being sold, I can use an emulator to play old Commodore 64 games. To play any game with an emulator, you will need two key pieces of software: an emulator application and a game ROM. Brilliant programmers with a passion for old computer systems and gaming consoles have made software emulators for all sorts of devices, including the Commodore 64.

NERD NOTE: The computer company called Commodore is dead as you might remember it. Commodore declared bankruptcy and sold off all their assets in 1994. A series of poor business decisions, corporate scandals and corruption as well as competition from Apple and IBM ultimately destroyed the original company. Since 1994, several companies have bought and sold the Commodore name. Who knows, you might be able to buy the name yourself on eBay right now. If you want more information about the Commodore computer company there's a book you should check out called called On the Edge: the Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore.

Ready to play an old Commodore 64 game like Raid Over Moscow? Here's how:

1) Find and Download a Commodore 64 Emulator Program

If you are a Macintosh user, head on over to the official Power64 homepage and download a Commodore 64 emulator called Power64. It is available for both Macintosh OS X and OS 9. You may also want to download any extra files listed on the page including sound enhancer's, screen shots, sample games and instruction manuals. A kind sole named Roland Lieger wrote Power64 for the Mac so remember him while you are playing all those old games. If the Power64 page is down for any reason, download Power64 at Emulation.net. They are a great resource for all types of Emulators and definitely worth checking out anyway.

PC users should look up a program called CCS64. It can be downloaded here. You can also do a Google search for "commodore 64 windows emulator" and find plenty of Windows compatible C64 emulators.

2) Uncompress and Organize Your Files

After you download Power64, you may need to uncompress it unless your web browser is configured to do it automatically for you. Mac and PC users should just double-click on your downloaded files. They should decompress and mount on your computer's Desktop. Depending on what C64 Emulator you downloaded, you make have to install it. If your downloaded Power64, it should be a Macintosh ".dmg" disk image file after you uncompress it. Double-click on this ".dmg" file and a virtual disk image will mount on your computer. Open the image and copy the Power64 folder to your Desktop.

3) Find Game ROMs

Now that you have the C64 emulator all setup, you need to find some games. Go to The BBC Lives! and do a search for the game you are looking for. In this case I'll be searching for Raid Over Moscow.

If you strike out at The BBC Lives!, do a Google search for "commodore 64 game roms" and you should find some good stuff.

Always download multiple copies of game ROMs because sometimes they might be corrupted.

4) Open the Emulator

From here on, the directions in this tutorial will be for Power64. But you can follow along and apply the general concepts to any emulation program.

Double click on the Power64 icon. You will be prompted to register Power64. It's a $25 registration fee. Anytime you find a Shareware application useful, always pay the programmer to encourage them to make updates and reward them for making great software. You can still use Power64 without paying the registration fee but you will have a 10 minute time limit.

After you open Power64, a new Commodore 64 blue window should open up. You can also open a new emulator window by selecting New from the File menu.

5) Load Games into the Emulator

Next, you need to load a game into the emulator. From the Devices menu, select your game. ROMs come in a number of different type and flavors like ZIP, tape, floppy, etc.

You have two options. You can either load the games into the emulator one at a time like this:

(Devices > Disk Drive #8 > Attach ZIP Archive > Select ZIP-Archive)

Or make a games folder. I prefer to put all my games into one folder called something like "c64 games" and then drag that folder into a new emulator window. Try it. Open a new emulator window and drag a folder full of C64 games into the window.

6) Select the Game

After you drag and drop your games folder into a blank emulator window, a new window will appear listing all you files. Just double click on a game and it should launch. If it doesn't, you may have a corrupted file.

As you can see from this screen shot, I have three copies of Raid Over Moscow. Guess what? Only one of them works... the d64 file. Remember in Step #3 when I said "Always download multiple copies of game ROMs because sometimes they might be corrupted." This is why.

7) Setup Your Emulator Preferences.

Take a moment to customize your emulators preferences to your liking.

8) That's it!

Congratulations! You are done. Go buy yourself a drink... and feel free to buy us one too. These articles don't write themselves. Show us some love and drop a PayPal dollar in our MethodShop.com Beer Fund. Beer Fund If you are low on cash, you can say thanks by following us on Twitter, friending us on Facebook, subscribing to our RSS feed or joining our weekly mailing list. We totally apprecieate your support.

If you want to learn more about Commodore 64 and Amiga emulation on the Macintosh, you should check out http://www.thinkcommodore.com. They have a very active forum too.