After the massive success of Pool of Radiance, Strategic Simulations, Inc. (SSI) released Curse of the Azure Bonds in 1989—taking the Gold Box Dungeons & Dragons formula to a whole new level on the Commodore 64.

In this video, we unbox the original gold box, dive into the Adventurer’s Journal, load up the 5.25" floppy disk on the Commodore 1541 disk drive, use the original translation wheel to crack the copy protection, and jump straight into real hardware gameplay!

In this video:

Original SSI Gold Box & manual unboxing

Cracking copy protection using the translation code wheel

Loading and running on real Commodore 64 silicon & 1541 drive

Turn-based tactical D&D combat featuring Magic Missiles, Black Dragons, and iconic boss screens

What was your favorite Gold Box RPG back in the day? Did you play this on C64, DOS, or Amiga? Let me know in the comments!

#CurseOfTheAzureBonds #Commodore64 #GoldBox #DungeonsAndDragons #RetroGaming #C64 #SSI #ADND #FloppyDeepDive #1541

👇 ABOUT FLOPPY DEEP DIVE 👇

Hey, it’s Tom from Texas. I run the machines we grew up with.

No emulators. No shortcuts. Just real hardware powered on the way it was meant to be. The click of keyboards, the whir of floppy drives, and the glow of a CRT hitting you right in the nostalgia.

If you remember swapping disks, waiting for games to load, or hearing a startup sound that instantly took you somewhere else… you’re in the right place.

Here you’ll find:

🕹️ Real hardware gameplay across C64, Atari, DOS PCs, consoles, and more

⚔️ Head-to-head comparisons (C64 vs Atari, C64 vs NES)

💾 Deep dives into forgotten games and mystery floppies

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🇩🇪 Willkommen! 🇵🇱 Cześć!

Real hardware. Real memories.

BOOM. 💥