Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Who Dares Wins II only exists because a real life sheriff's posse once raided a video game studio over a lawsuit, and that is not an exaggeration. Developed and published by Alligata Software, the original Who Dares Wins released for the Commodore 64 in 1985 as a Commando style run and gun, except it copied Capcom's arcade hit Commando so closely that Elite Systems, who actually held the official home conversion license for that game, took serious legal action against it.
Elite tried warning Alligata directly first, but got told to get lost, so they went to the High Court instead and were granted something called an Anton Piller Order, a rare legal tool used to seize evidence before it can be destroyed. The local sheriff in Sheffield genuinely assembled a posse and sealed off Alligata's offices over a single weekend, sequestering their entire warehouse stock of the game. Rather than fold completely, Alligata just made some cosmetic changes, a different colored beret on the soldier and altered level layouts, and quickly reissued the exact same game as Who Dares Wins II, technically getting around the specific court order against the original.
Once you actually play it, you control a lone soldier armed with a rifle and five grenades, fighting up through eight enemy outposts using a vertically scrolling flip screen, rescuing captured prisoners tied to trees before a firing squad executes them if you take too long. Zzap!64 magazine gave it a glowing 90 out of 100 score at launch, and even all these years later, plenty of fans still argue this unofficial copy plays better and feels more tactical than Elite's own official licensed Commando port, which is a pretty ironic outcome for a game that nearly got shut down for existing in the first place.
Let me know in the comments if you ever realized this whole game started out as a legal workaround. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#whodareswins #commodore64 #c64 #alligata #retrogaming #classicgaming #80sgaming #retrogames #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #80snostalgia #commandoclone #c64games #retroconsole #youtubeshorts #gaming
Who Dares Wins II only exists because a real life sheriff's posse once raided a video game studio over a lawsuit, and that is not an exaggeration. Developed and published by Alligata Software, the original Who Dares Wins released for the Commodore 64 in 1985 as a Commando style run and gun, except it copied Capcom's arcade hit Commando so closely that Elite Systems, who actually held the official home conversion license for that game, took serious legal action against it.
Elite tried warning Alligata directly first, but got told to get lost, so they went to the High Court instead and were granted something called an Anton Piller Order, a rare legal tool used to seize evidence before it can be destroyed. The local sheriff in Sheffield genuinely assembled a posse and sealed off Alligata's offices over a single weekend, sequestering their entire warehouse stock of the game. Rather than fold completely, Alligata just made some cosmetic changes, a different colored beret on the soldier and altered level layouts, and quickly reissued the exact same game as Who Dares Wins II, technically getting around the specific court order against the original.
Once you actually play it, you control a lone soldier armed with a rifle and five grenades, fighting up through eight enemy outposts using a vertically scrolling flip screen, rescuing captured prisoners tied to trees before a firing squad executes them if you take too long. Zzap!64 magazine gave it a glowing 90 out of 100 score at launch, and even all these years later, plenty of fans still argue this unofficial copy plays better and feels more tactical than Elite's own official licensed Commando port, which is a pretty ironic outcome for a game that nearly got shut down for existing in the first place.
Let me know in the comments if you ever realized this whole game started out as a legal workaround. Subscribe to Game Forest GF for retro gaming content every single day.
#whodareswins #commodore64 #c64 #alligata #retrogaming #classicgaming #80sgaming #retrogames #oldschoolgaming #vintagegaming #gaminghistory #80snostalgia #commandoclone #c64games #retroconsole #youtubeshorts #gaming
