Having owned a Vic-20 as a kid and at the same time my brother owning a C64 which eventually got passed down to me. The hand me down syndrome happened to me a lot when growing up, but I didn't mind in that instance.
As most who read this blog will know the Commodore 64 was and still is the best selling home computer of all time, so why not recreate this?
I wasn't sure about this to begin with, however, after some reading and checking out what other people thought about it and also after interviewing Paul Andrews I thought I would buy one.
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| Top of Box |
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| Bottom of Box |
Once I'd taken some photos of the outside of the box and gotten rather excited about what could be inside, I opened the box, and guess what... there was an inner box so I took another photo.
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| Inner Box |
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| End of Box Show Features |
At this point I opened the inner box and decided to take even more photos and then the time came to touch and see what one of the big issues people were having was like, the keys not moving.
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| Inside the Box - Nice and Shiney |
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| Inner Box minus the Plastic |
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| The Keyboard |
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| The Joystick |
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| The Unpacked Contents |
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| The Keyboard |
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| Size Comparison |
All unpacked and several more photos taken, one with a coke can next to the keyboard to show a size comparison.
Thankfully no major setting up to do, it literally is plug and play. Just plug the HDMI lead in the C64 to the TV and then plug in the micro USB, plug in the joystick to one of the USB ports and switch the whole thing on.
Of course I had to take some video footage as well, not much though as I was quite excited about playing some games.
Just a quick look at the menu layout and some of the games available.
Thought I'd give Uridium a go and see if I remember what to do. I remember it being a really cool game and I wasn't wrong, even if I wasn't very good.
My next game was Super Cycle and found I was pretty good, I got to the final race and scored 100,320 points, not bad for a first go.
I know there is much more to it than I have shown, such as attaching a keyboard and being able to program using C64 Basic, etc. As and when I get ore time to play I might do a further blog commenting on further possibilities.
And what are my views on the hardware, quality, playability etc. Well there's the whole discussion on non-functioning keys, I say - "So what", if it's that important to you then go buy a USB keyboard. I'd say the build quality is excellent and as for reproduction accuracy it's definitely spot on.
So would I recommend this to 40 somethings that remember the original Commodore 64, the answer is a resounding YES and would I recommend this to kids now, the answer, again, is a resounding YES. Understanding computer games of the past allows you to respect games of today.
As a nerd/geek who owns modern consoles it is nice to take a break from all that and play on some of the best hardware produced recently.
Apologies for the photo and video quality.
Michael Holmes
There will be a full-size version released later this year, which will have a working keyboard. Not sure about other differences.
ReplyDeleteSources?
Deletehttps://thec64.com/about/
Delete"PLUS – Full-sized version also coming later in 2018!"
Hello. Just a few comments. :-)
ReplyDeleteMy first impression is why does it look so old fashioned? I never owned a C64 but my friends had modern ones so it seems bit strange basing it on the older model. On the joystick I'm wondering if the cable also used for charging? As I expect a joy stick to be wireless these days. As to the keyboard, well it's good there will be a full version, as I doubt a USB keyboard would cut it. My experience draws from emulators and trying to use a PC keyboard is almost impossible. I found the keys just don't match. So unless there was a C64 specific keyboard it wouldn't be much fun. But if you're playing games and not playing with BASIC you shouldn't need the keyboard. :-)