This year Nintendo added old Commodore games to their Wii Shop Channel line up. When I read that news it caused a spark of nostalgia to brighten my somewhat jaded gamer heart.

See, way back in my wasted days of youth I owned a Commodore 64 (some of my "rich" friends owned Amiga or Commodore 128 systems). Back then we played the heck out of our "PC" games. The only 64 had joystick ports that we plugged Atari 2600 joysticks into. Yep, those were some golden days back then.

So, with that in mind, you need to understand that when Nintendo announced that old Commodore games were coming my heart skipped a beat. I thought about all those old games we used to stay up late on a Saturday night playing (yes, I was dateless back then) and I started wondering which ones would arrive first.

The first game that we spent way to much playing in our youth has arrived: Summer Games II™

Summer Games II™
    Summer Games II™

  • Format: Virtual Console
  • Launch Date: 03/16/09
  • ESRB: Everyone
  • Wii Points: 500
  • Game Type: Sports
  • Control Type: Wii Remote, Classic, or GameCube
  • Players: 1-8
  • Publisher: Commodore Gaming

A thousand athletes. A hundred countries. Billions watching around the world as you enter the stadium, marching confidently among your nation's strongest, fastest and boldest young men and women. Your gaze sweeps the crowd as you realize the scope of your achievement. You are about to compete against the world's best athletes in a 3,000-year-old competition. This is the pinnacle of athletic achievement: the Summer Games. Summer Games II challenges your competitive skills with a series of athletic contests for one to eight players. Experience the excitement and realism of eight different events: cycling, equestrian, fencing, high jump, javelin, kayaking, rowing and triple jump. Practice each event to sharpen your skills, then choose from the 18 countries you can represent in the competition.

There were a lot of Olympic game games produced back then. We played the Summer and Winter games a lot. Add in the evil game known as Decathlon (ask old gamers what game they turned off before completing the last event and you will likely get a Decathlon story) and you can enjoy some serious gaming nostalgia.