C64 Graphics Explorer
Authentic CRT simulation and pixel inspection tool for enjoying artwork made for the Commodore 64.
Download for macOS (free)Requires macOS 14.0 or later, sample images included
Authentic CRT simulation and pixel inspection tool for enjoying artwork made for the Commodore 64.
Download for macOS (free)Requires macOS 14.0 or later, sample images included
Say you have a couple of PNGs from your favorite childhood game stored on disk or downloaded from the internet. Sometimes they have wonky colors, and they always have blocky pixels.
This app remaps the colors to the closest ones from the authentic C64 palette, and applies a CRT filter that simulates how it would look on a real Commodore 64.
Using the magnifying loupe, you see each character block in detail. If the grid is aligned properly, you can see that no matter where you look, a complex multicolor image still shows just 3 colors per block with one shared color across the whole image.
Modern pieces often leave you wondering: how the hell did they get away with these impossible limits?
That's the correct mindset.
There is an inherent beauty in the pixel graphics of the Commodore 64.
The original, somewhat washed-out color set emerged from a small team working on the VIC chip: with direct control over hue, saturation, and luminance, the colors were chosen largely by instinct.
These colors, combined with the strict limitations on how they could be used (four colors per character block, with one color shared across the entire image to save RAM), gave rise to an entire era of artists who perfected the craft of pixel placement.
You might think this all stopped in 1991, when the world moved on from the Commodore 64. But these colors and these rules became a new norm, a canonical part of life for those who grew up with this 8-bit platform producing not only pixel art, but code and music.
Hell, yeah, my friends.
Automatically finds the best match to the real C64's 16 colors using CIEDE2000 + the Hungarian algorithm, then lets you fine-tune any color by clicking.
Pepto's Colodore filter with scanlines, Hanover bars, chroma subsampling, and configurable gamma. It's very close to the VICE emulation experience and you can even tweak it to your liking.
Magnifying loupe with 8×8 character grid overlay. Reveals the exact colors in each character block. The app uses simple heuristics to detect the global background color and highlight it in the loupe.
For images with borders. You don't need a graphics tool to fix improper placement, just align the grid manually using cursor keys.
Automatically detects Hires (2 colors per block) and Multicolor (up to 4 colors per block where one is the global background) modes.
Curated collection of C64 artwork that showcases some of the very best this platform has to offer. Do yourself a favor and explore c64gfx.com for more!