Defend your town in snowball fights

Snow Wars is a free-to-play action ROM for Commodore 64 (C64) emulators, developed by Monte Boyd. This action game lets you experience being a kid in winter as invaders step into your turf. With only you and your snowball throwing skills to defend your place, you must make your last stand.

This game requires a compatible C64 emulator, similar to Santa’s Workout. In terms of graphics and gameplay, this indie creation is a great throwback to the games of the now-discontinued platform such as C64 Commando Remake. This game is a welcome nostalgia for winter breaks and the C64.

Back to the 80s

The Commodore 64 was an 8-bit home computer first released in January 1982, dominating the low-end computer market in the following years. Its technology at the time was considered breaking, and its games sported the same 8-bit graphics and what we now know as chipmusic. All these traits are perfectly captured in the Snow Wars video game, bringing you back to the times when games like these were the craze.

In terms of gameplay, it is short yet challenging. As a snowball fight, you can hold the fire button to “charge up” and create a larger snowball, which causes more damage. Also, the farther the target, the more points you get. Enemies have different movement patterns. These gameplay variations make the game more exciting, as well as being more challenging. 

However, as a game ROM, an emulator is required. It is a specialized, separate software developed especially for running these kinds of programs. Supported C64 emulators include Vice, TheC64 Mini, and Maxi. Aside from its non-standalone nature, the game runs rather smoothly and is a great nostalgic experience for people who tried the original Commodore 64. For younger players, it still serves as a short and challenging game experience.

A winter throwback

Its nature as a C64 ROM and a snowball-based game make Snow Wars a perfect throwback to winter breaks as well as to the gameplay experience of the 80s and the early 90s. Despite its retro video and audio choices, developers managed to insert varied gameplay mechanics by mixing up snowball size, distance, and enemy behavior. For those looking for an old-school gameplay challenge, this is a must-try.