Commodore 64

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer developed by Commodore and released in 1982 in both the US and Europe. While it enjoyed only moderate success in the US thanks to the rise of PCs and home consoles, it was a large hit in Europe thanks to the hardware scrolling and the SID chip used for sound.

There are variations of the C64 but they were not successful. Commodore 128 was an upgraded version with extra memory, more colors and an extra processor however only a few games took advantage of the features. There is also a console version called the Commodore 64 GS (basically the C64 without the keyboard) however it failed due to the expensive cartridge format and a limited library, some that forgot that it had no keyboard and could not be run. Also there were plans for an upgraded version of the home computer called the Commodore 65 however only a few units were made and was not released.

Ripping Tools

C64 Sprite / CharSet Ripper

Sprites from Commodore 64 games can be ripped using savestates from CCS64 or VICE making it easier to sprite rip. There are some games that use layers making it harder to rip, examples include Target Renegade and Crystal Kingdom Dizzy.

SpritePad

SpritePad is a C64 sprite editor that can import snapshots from VICE. Unlike using C64 Sprite / CharSet Ripper or CSFEC, no offset adjusting is required. Sprites in earlier free versions have to be exported one at a time.

Versions after 2.0 Beta are paid only that support more features including sprite assembly, palette editor, export animated GIFs and can load from images.

CharPad

SpritePad is a C64 character set editor that can import snapshots from VICE that can rip tiles or sprites that are classed as a character set. Unlike using C64 Sprite / CharSet Ripper or CSFEC, no offset adjusting is required.

Unlike the sprite counterpart, there is a more modern free option however the latest and pro versions are paid.

Suggested Emulators

VICE

VICE is a cycle accurate emulator for the C64 and the C128 but also has a less accurate version for lower powered computers or if the cycle accurate option doesn't run full speed on your computer. It is not easy to set up as well as changing the settings every time you boot the emulator up and the Auto Load function may vary depending on game.

CSFEC

CSFEC is an emulator bundled with CPCEC and ZXSEC created by CNGSoft. It has a graphics and sprite viewer. To activate the graphics viewer, enable debug and press W. Pressing tab switches between monochrome and multi-color modes while pressing End and Home changes the bitplanes. For the majority of sprites, they can be found on bitplane 3 however character sets can be on different bitplanes. The emulator gives a custom palette for the sprites.

The downsides to this emulator is due to its WIP status, it means that there are missing features despite its high enough accuracy so far and ease of use compared to other C64 emulators. The emulator can only load tapes (.tap,.t64) and .prg files however it fails to load up disks and cartridges. Due to unable to load disks, the emulator is as a side effect restricted to PAL only tapes leaving out most of the US library or cart only games. Also there are many games that either won't boot up, crash on the loading sequence or unable to continue when changing sides on the tape.

C64 Debugger

C64 Debugger can be used to view the graphics and edit the sprites in the game however it is very hard to use. It uses the same emulation as VICE and is also bundled with 65XE Debugger for the Atari 8-bit and NES Debugger.

CCS64

CCS64 also is an accurate emulator, featuring emulator speed modification, pausing, frame-by-frame animation, and save states. This emulator is shareware so it may require registration, and the developer may charge for the emulator in the future.