The Commodore VIC 20 has recently become one of my favorite "consoles" to collect for. I know it's actually a full fledged computer, however it's possible to just use it as a game console with cartridge games. You can plug in an Atari style joystick, struggle to insert a cartridge (they're extremely tight for some reason), and turn on the computer to boot straight into a game. No waiting for floppy drives or cassettes needed. Most of the quality VIC 20 games released on cartridge, so you're not missing that much if you don't have a floppy drive or a cassette loader. This quality is shared by the fantastic Atari 8-bit line of computers as well. I do have a cassette loader, but the only software I have for the VIC 20 on cassette are very barebones productivity apps, including the most bare bones word processor I've ever seen and stuff like a mortgage calculator no one cares about anymore. Since the VIC 20 was very low on RAM, most cassette and floppy programs would have to be very simple to fit inside RAM, however cartridges have ROM and thus don't suffer from this issue.
The VIC 20 was a great success when it released, however it was essentially completely overshadowed by the Commodore 64 once it released. Compared to the VIC 20, the C64 had significantly less quality cartridge games available. The best games on C64 were on floppy, which makes it much more difficult to just plug in and use like a game console.
So, judging the VIC 20 as a game console, how does it compare to the leading console of the second generation, the Atari 2600? I think the VIC 20 is advantaged in several areas and disadvantaged in others. A big limitation of the VIC 20 is it had no sprites, only a grid of tiles that could be redefined to create graphics. The 2600 also had a lot more colors than the VIC 20. However, the VIC 20 had much more RAM than the 2600, and it had a full computer keyboard. The VIC 20 did only have one joystick port though, so multiplayer games were limited to paddle games (which have two paddles plug into one port). The 2600 on the other hand was full of multiplayer games. As a result, I find some multiplatform games play better on the 2600, while others are better on the VIC 20. Sometime I want to write an article comparing some of them to highlight their strengths and weaknesses.
So, what makes the VIC 20 compelling as a game platform? If you're into the second generation of game consoles, I think the VIC 20 is up there as one of the best due to having a quality library of games, a few of which I'd like to go over in detail. The VIC 20 collector's scene seems fairly small, so a lot of games tend to go for fairly good prices, however a lot of them can be difficult to find online.
And without further ado, here are some of my favorite VIC 20 games:
Omega Race
When the VIC 20 is brought up, it seems like Omega Race is always at the forefront of discussions, and it's plainly obvious why. Considered by most to be the best VIC 20 game, I've found it seems to have overshadowed even the original arcade release and the 2600 release, which is pretty rare. It's probably because this is probably the best version of Omega Race out there. It plays similarly to Asteroids, except each round there are a bunch of enemy ships you have to shoot down. The original game had a vector display, and the VIC 20 does a great job preserving the aesthetic with pleasant looking and smoothly moving graphics. If you're interested in getting a VIC 20, this is a great game to get with it, as it goes for pretty cheap and is a lot of fun!
Gridrunner & Gridrunner II/AMC
Another well known game is Jeff Minter's Gridrunner and its sequel, which is either known as Gridrunner II or "Attack of the Mutant Camels" depending on the region. AMC was the title of a completely unrelated Commodore 64 game, so I'm not sure why the sequel was called that in certain places. Either way, both games play pretty much the same, except Gridrunner II has more polish, with great sound and visual effects. It's very much inspired by Centipede, but I found it much harder. I still need to play them more, but I can definitely recommend either one of these games.
Jelly Monsters
Commodore wanted to ensure the VIC 20 would be a success in Japan, so they partnered directly with Namco to have VIC 20 games developed by HAL and released on the platform. One such game was Pac-Man, which Commodore sneakily tried to release outside of Japan as "Jelly Monsters". Atari had the rights to Pac-Man and Commodore ended up having to stop selling Jelly Monsters due to copyright infringement. However, this version of Pac-Man is leagues better than Atari's horrible Pac-Man port. The maze is faithful to the arcade, the sprites are big and colorful, and the game plays very smoothly. Unfortunately this game is pretty rare and expensive, but it's worthwhile if you can get it.
Star Battle
This is another Namco game developed by HAL that Commodore tried to release elsewhere. This time, it's Galaxian, and it's another pretty good port. Your shots aren't registered unless you shoot the aliens in their centers, which takes some getting used to. I'm not sure how well this compares to Atari's official port because I don't own it (it's very rare and expensive), so I'm not 100% sure which version of Galaxian is better. The most notable thing about this game was it was the first commercially released game developed by the late Satoru Iwata when he was a programmer at HAL. It's another expensive one, but still pretty cool!
Radar Ratrace
This is the last in the series of Commodore's Namco "ripoffs", being based off of Rally X. Interestingly Atari seems to have never gone after this one, so it was never taken off shelves and even got a C64 port. In this game you run around the maze as a rat trying to find cheeze, which is a fun variant on Rally X's theme. It's pretty cheap and fun.
Buck Rogers Planet of Zoom
This seems to be a more obscure game, but I really like it. It's a pseudo 3D space shooter where you try to fly through towers and shoot aliens. I believe Sega developed this themselves, and it's pretty amazing seeing this game run so playably on such limited hardware.
Centipede
Atari's port of Centipede is really well done. Unlike the 2600 version, the mushrooms are actually mushrooms! The only issue is it suffers from slowdown, but it doesn't ruin the experience too much for me. This game is pretty common and worth buying!
Avenger
Commodore was no stranger to making blatant ripoffs, and this is pretty definitive proof of that. Avenger is a near perfect clone of Space Invaders, playing extremely close to the arcade game. I find it impressive how faithful it was, especially considering it's a clone. The aliens look the same, the game plays the same, and it's a pretty great version of Space Invaders!
Ms. Pac-Man
Atari's official port of Pac-Man was genuinely terrible, but Atari cleaned up their act with Ms. Pac-Man. It's not perfect, but it does fairly well with the VIC 20's limited hardware. The mazes are faithful, however the game feels a bit sluggish compared to the arcade original.
Donkey Kong
The VIC 20 port of Donkey Kong absolutely blows the Atari 2600 port out of the water. It has all the levels and it actually feels pretty good to control! Very surprising for a system with no sprites, but very appreciated. This version of Donkey Kong is fantastic.
Those were most of my favorites for the VIC 20. I'm still expanding my collection and especially looking for some of the rarer games like Battlezone and Galaxian, which both look really good as well. I might update this list as time goes on. Hopefully I convinced you to consider taking a look at the VIC 20 sometime!