Newcomer – Enhanced Edition (2001, Cinematic Intuitive Dynamix, Protovision)

One of the outstanding gems of the Commodore 64 games, this is an enhanced version of the original Newcomer, released in 1994. Created over ten years of development by Cinematic Intuitive Dynamix and then refined by Protovision, it is a sci-fi inspired role-playing/adventure game hybrid that pushes the limits of the C64 hardware.

Newcomer takes you to an alien planet, where you wake up as the survivor of a mysterious accident with no memories. Your mission is to discover your identity, understand the world around you, and navigate the intrigues and dangers of an alien society. The story is reminiscent of classic sci-fi stories such as Star Wars or The Bounty Hunter, but adapted to the limitations of the C64, it can also convey emotion and tension. The branching system of dialogue is the heart of the game: your decisions determine not only your relationship with the characters, but also the outcome of the plot, a real rarity in the 8-bit era.

Newcomer combines the investigative logic of adventure games with the character-driven depth of RPGs. The player moves around an overhead map, collecting items, solving puzzles and interacting with NPCs. The dialogue system is outstanding: you can use a joystick or a keyboard to navigate between answer options, which can be selected using the fire button or the Return/Space key. The Enhanced Edition has made significant improvements in this area: answers are more responsive, menus are clearer and navigation is more intuitive.

Newcomer is partly classic adventure and part RPG and contains situations and encounters that occur in these genres. The focus is on the interaction with a large and varied number of characters, exploring the game world, the development of a wide range of skills within the game as in real life, and solving complex puzzles and mysteries.

Combat is simple, based on strategic decisions rather than reflexes, while inventory management is practical but not overly complicated. The game’s difficulty level is well balanced: fans of retro games will enjoy the challenge, but newcomers will not find the puzzles or storyline hopeless.

Considering the capabilities of the C64, Newcomer’s graphics are an impressive achievement. Compared to the 1994 original, the Enhanced Edition offers sharper sprites, smoother animations and a richer colour palette, while retaining a retro feel. Locations, from abandoned space bases to alien cities, are detailed and screen shifts are less jerky. The music and sound effects, powered by the SID chip, are simple but effective: background noises and melodies perfectly underline the sci-fi atmosphere, although variety is not their strong point.

Technical details
Enhanced Newcomer is available in the disk format (.d64) and can be run flawlessly on modern machines with the VICE emulator. Compared to the original 1994 release, the Enhanced version has improved load times and fewer technical bugs, although emulation of the C64 floppy drive still requires patience. Controls are customisable: joystick (port 2) is the recommended choice, but keyboard (e.g. numeric keypad or WASD configuration) is also comfortable to play, especially on emulators. The Enhanced Edition was developed in the years following its debut in 1994 and became more widely available in the early 2000s, around 2001, through Protovision distribution.

Rating

Positives: branching narrative, improved graphics and controls, immersive sci-fi world.

Negatives: slow loading, simple sound, steep learning curve for newcomers.

Final result: 8.5/10 – A must-have for C64 collections.

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Ultimate Newcomer

Ultimate Newcomer is an ambitious attempt to crown the legacy of Newcomer, which could be one of the biggest and most complex games on the C64. NTSC/PAL compatibility, modern hardware support and a Hungarian language option are all enticing promises. However, the long development time and uncertain status make it more legend than reality for now.

Features:

• 180+ characters you can interact with, each with his/her own portrait graphic
• 10+ people who may join you, to make a team of up to 6 members
• …or try it on your own, in the extra challenging Solo game mode…
• 50+ different areas to explore, created with 30+ different graphic sets
• 100+ cutscenes/situational graphics in-game, that make you feel like you are there
• 180,000+ words of ingame text, mostly interactive conversations
• No random encounters
• Thousands of puzzles and situations to encounter and solve
• Complex, non-linear gameplay with multiple levels of endings
• Months or weeks of immersive gaming until you “complete” the game…
• …but there will still be a thousand situations, resolutions and encounters you have not seen yet, and 2 more game modes to complete!
• Animated intro and outro sequences
• Game controls changed for more comfort for emulator users on PC/Mac keyboards
• VICE fully supported, extensively tested, no virtual floppy disk swapping, works like a native PC / Mac / Linux game
• Much faster disk I/O in the 1541 version, compared to classic or Enhanced Newcomer
• Less floppy disk swapping needed – optimized data layout, area sorting and duplication for all multiple floppy disk versions
• 1541 version: 12* floppy disk sides
• 1581 version: 3* DD floppy disks
• CMD FD2000 version: 2* HD floppy disks
• CMD FD4000 version: a single ED floppy disk – zero disk swapping
• IDE64 version: 2 MB installed, “instant I/O”, playing from HDD / CD / DVD / CF / remote filesystem (ethernet, USB, or User Port PCLink, via ideserv – IDE DOS v0.91 or newer required for this feature) supported, different data and save devices supported
• PAL and NTSC Commodore 64/64C/128/128D/128DCr systems auto-detected and supported
• 6581 and 8580 SID chips auto-detected and supported
• C128 2MHz CPU mode auto-detected and supported – much faster unpacking for all storage devices
• SuperCPU 20MHz mode auto-detected and supported – instant unpacking for all storage devices