C64 Amaurote Isometric Turbo

Play 'Amaurote Isometric Turbo' on C64 online.

Amaurote Isometric Turbo game data

Commodore 64 game name: Amaurote Isometric Turbo | Release date: 2026 | Publisher: Elysium | Game media type: d64 | Language: en
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About Commodore 64 Amaurote Isometric Turbo

Amaurote Isometric Turbo is the 2026 high-speed version of Elysium’s Commodore 64 conversion of Amaurote, the 1987 Mastertronic game designed by Ste and John Pickford. The original C64 release had no isometric view. Elysium’s port, first released in 2022, brought the isometric Atari 8-bit version to the C64 and added a new SID soundtrack. The Turbo release (8 November 2026) rewrites the rendering routines. The authors measured about 2.2× the rendering throughput and a game loop about 1.9× as fast as the 2022 version. You pilot the Arachnus walker through the insect-infested city of Amaurote and bomb the bugs back to where they came from.

• Original game: Amaurote, © 1987 Mastertronic, by Ste and John Pickford (ZX Spectrum and Atari 8-bit versions are isometric)
• C64 isometric conversion: Elysium. Version 1.0 released 1 April 2022, Turbo released 8 November 2026
• Code: Brush (Krzysztof Dąbrowski) of Elysium
• Music: Michał Hoffmann (Elysium / MultiStyle Labs), a new SID soundtrack
• Title picture: Joe (James Svärd, Wrath Designs)
• Directory art: Buzz Clik (Onslaught). Testing: Bieno
• Genre: isometric action / shoot-’em-up
• Players: 1
• Controls: joystick in port 2
• Format: D64 disk image (amaurote-2.0-turbo.d64), free on itch.io

About the game

Giant insects have overrun the city of Amaurote. You control the Arachnus walking machine and fight them district by district. On the city map you pick a district such as Tara, Dhakos or Esquiline. Inside, you stalk the streets of a black-and-white isometric cityscape full of domed towers and pipes, firing bombs at the bugs that swarm towards you. The real target in each district is the queen. Your money, the “dosh”, pays for the special Supa Bomb you need to finish her off.

The bottom panel shows everything you need: Your Dosh, District DMG (how badly the current district is damaged), No of Bombs, the Supa Bomb status, City DMG and Your Damage. The two arrow displays act as a direction scanner that helps you find your way around the district.

How to play

1. After loading, press SPACE at the title picture. The menu then asks four questions: difficulty (Normal, Easy or Very easy), unlimited cash (Y/N), unlimited energy (Y/N), and whether to use the accelerated 20 MHz version (Y/N).
2. In our browser emulator, answer N to the accelerated-version question. That mode is meant for a SuperCPU, Turbo Chameleon or Ultimate 64 running at 20 MHz.
3. On the city map, move the joystick left or right to choose a district and press fire to enter.
4. Walk the Arachnus with the joystick and press fire to launch a bomb. Bombs are limited, so aim before you fire.
5. Follow the scanner arrows, deal with the insects and take out the queen with the Supa Bomb. Then pick the next district.

The game also uses the keyboard: players on itch.io point out that SPACE and RUN/STOP matter during play. In our emulator the cursor keys are joystick port 2 and Control is fire. See the keyboard table below the emulator.

What’s new in the Turbo version

The Turbo release is, in Elysium’s words, “a substantial rewrite of the rendering routines”. In a 160-step walking benchmark against the 2022 C64 version, the new renderer used 54.6% fewer cycles, about 2.2× the rendering throughput. The full game loop ran about 1.9× as fast. The authors note that the gain depends on the scene, the movement and the number of insects. The changes include:

• selective border updates and cached foreground drawing with early clipping
• faster sprites and quicker camera changes
• reworked insect movement, random-number generation, music playback, text transitions and sprite trails
• fixes to drawing order and memory corruption

History

Amaurote came out in 1987 on Mastertronic’s budget label, and its isometric versions were a showcase for the ZX Spectrum and Atari 8-bit. The original C64 version took a different approach and dropped the isometric view. Brush of Elysium started the conversion after reading a 2014 Atari forum thread about Jakub Husák’s speed-up of the Atari version. That is why the in-game credits list “Optimizations by Jakub Husak” next to “Game written by Zero the Hero” and “Graphics by Ste”. David Whittaker’s original tune was replaced: Elysium said it “does not sound c64’ish and eats a lot of rastertime”. Michał Hoffmann wrote a new soundtrack in its spirit instead.

Version 1.0 appeared on 1 April 2022, and according to Elysium it was first released on the Zzap! 64 Micro Action issue 7 covertape. A native Commodore 128 version (VIC 40-column and VDC 80-column) by Brush and YTM followed on 29 May 2022 and placed 2nd in the Wild compo at Moonshine Dragons 2022. Already in 2022 the C64 version ran about 30% faster on a C128 in C64 mode thanks to its 2 MHz support. The 2026 Turbo version speeds up the stock C64 itself.

Fans of isometric C64 games should also try Knight Lore and the 2026 C64 conversion of Batman (1986 Isometric), which came out on the same day.

FAQ

Can I play Amaurote online?

Yes. Press START in the emulator box on this page to load Amaurote Isometric Turbo in our browser C64 emulator. Answer N to the accelerated-version question, then use the cursor keys as the joystick and Control as fire.

Who made Amaurote?

The original Amaurote was designed by Ste and John Pickford and published by Mastertronic in 1987. The isometric C64 conversion is by Elysium: code by Brush, music by Michał Hoffmann, title picture by Joe.

What is the difference between Amaurote 1.0 and the Turbo version?

Turbo (8 November 2026) rewrites the rendering routines. The renderer needs 54.6% fewer cycles and the game loop runs about 1.9× as fast as version 1.0 from 2022, with smoother sprites and several bug fixes.

Was the original C64 Amaurote isometric?

No. The 1987 C64 version had no isometric view. Elysium’s conversion is faithful to the isometric Atari 8-bit version.

Are there cheats in Amaurote Isometric Turbo?

Yes. The start menu offers Easy and Very easy difficulty, unlimited cash and unlimited energy.

Is there a Commodore 128 version?

Yes. Elysium released native C128 versions for the VIC (40-column) and VDC (80-column) displays in May 2022. You can download them from the itch.io page.

Credits & source

Original game © 1987 Mastertronic, by Ste and John Pickford. C64 conversion: Elysium. Code by Brush, music by Michał Hoffmann, graphics by Joe, directory art by Buzz Clik, testing by Bieno. Download the free D64 and the C128 versions from Elysium on itch.io. Release pages: Amaurote Isometric Turbo on CSDb, Amaurote Isometric 1.0 on CSDb.

In order to play Amaurote Isometric Turbo online, click on the start button located below the Commodore 64 emulator window.