The Commodore 64 was an 8-bit home computer that launched in January 1982. We weren't even alive at the time, but the console was a big hit. It shifted some 17 million units during its lifespan.
As the C64 approaches its 40th birthday, we're here to celebrate the thing. Primitive as it is now compared to modern games consoles, its retro charms are undeniable.
We recently picked up the C64 Mini at a retro gaming market in Birmingham. And we've enjoyed the SOB ever since!
Hurray for the Commodore 64 Mini
The Commodore 64 was manufactured by American company Commodore Business Machines (CBM), which is now defunct.
For the mini version, which launched in December 2019, British manufacturer Retro Games Ltd. took on the heroic manufacturing duties.
Nintendo started this craze for "mini" versions of old consoles, with the likes of the SNES Classic Mini. That launched in 2017. Sony and SEGA have since copied the idea, the former very poorly, but the latter with serious aplomb.
And we're happy to confirm the C64 Mini gets it bang on.
This diddy version is a 50% scale replica of the original console, but comes complete with a full-sized version of the original joystick. It's easy to setup, too, you just connect a couple of wires to your TV and it's good to go!
There are 64 games here to play, all with HD output through HDMI with 720p or 50Hz. In other words, these classic games look great on any sized TV.
As with other mini consoles, you get a save progress feature. This just lets you save as you play, allowing you to return to a game whenever you want (something missing off games from the '80s era).
Amazingly, there's also a feature that lets you program in BASIC. It's a true home computer—the real deal. You can use it to write your own programs, save them to USB, and export them to other devices.
Now, retro gaming has a huge appeal across the world. We occasionally think back to our parents buying the kid versions of us the Nintendo Entertainment System in the late 1980s. Then the Super Nintendo in the early 1990s.
Expensive investments for a family with little money.
All whilst, we should imagine, thinking it'd be a passing fad for the five-year-old Mr. Wapojif. But gaming is fantastic, a wonderful pastime, and the appeal of these games has a charming, nostalgic effect.
It's the same as having a favourite book, film, or band from your younger years. You'll have a copy of, for example, a book you cherish. You may not even read it, you just want the thing around as a soothing remember of yesteryear.
That's what retro gaming is now.
We can often pinpoint specific gaming moments and remember a year, for example playing Runner2 religiously throughout 2013. When we think of that year, we think of Runner2. It wasn't a very happy period in our lives, but that game brought an enormous of delights with it.
And the C64 was the same.
It looks primitive now. As it is primitive compared to modern consoles—utterly pathetic in comparison to the likes of the PlayStation 5.
Yet we don't have a PS5, have no plans to buy one, and instead went well out of our way to pick up a C64 Mini for £40. Why?! For those silly retro pixels from decades gone by? Yeah!
The games carry with them a real charm of a burgeoning era for the video game industry. When what a video game was just wasn't clearly defined. Something we discussed in a look at the bizarre C64 game Dancing Monster.
Sadly (although expectedly), that one isn't on the C64 Mini.
But the games that are available?! Righteous and true. The C64 Mini is an absolute delight to just own, never mind play. The attention to detail by Retro Games Ltd. is wonderful.
Sure, this thing isn't for everyone. If you're graphics obsessed and refuse to play anything except top-end PC games, or PS5 titles with cutting-edge realism, the C64 isn't for you. Steer well clear.
But it's a most fitting homage to a landmark home computer.
Anyone with a modicum of interest in the history of gaming should, at the very least, give some of these games a whirl.
Some of the C64 Mini Games to Go Retro On
With over 60 games to choose from on this thing, where do you even start? Well, we just gradually made out way through a batch and had a whirl.
As with many consoles, the C64 had a version of the legendary California Games (1987). Developer by now defunct San Francisco studio Epyx, the player indulges in various events to get high scores.
That was a NES staple for us in the early 1990s and was ported to the NES by legendary British developer Rare.
Other notable C64 games here include:
- Paradroid
- Boulder Dash
- Speedball II
- Temple of Apshai (a trilogy)
- Uridium
- Impossible Mission
- Nebulus
- Spindizzy
- Monty on the Run
- Cyberdyne Warrior
- Firelord
- Skool Daze
- Nobby the Aardvark
Naturally, Nobby the Aardvark caught our interest and we gave it a go. Developed by Genesis Software Developments and launched in 1993 (!!), it's a fairly basic platformer.
However, it has a stupid name and stars an aardvark. It had us at aardvark.
C64 magazine Zzap!64 loved the game and handed it 96%.
Possibly a bit of sycophancy going on there. Nintendo's landmark Super Mario World had launched in 1991 and set new boundaries for gaming. Nobby the Aardvark was more of a colossal step back than anything.
But this is part of the C64 appeal, with its cut back technology.
Skool Daze is another curiosity. We once watched Mr. Biffo of Digitiser fame "do" a livestream of this one and it piqued our interest.
By British developer Microsphere, and also released on the ZX Spectrum, it was a big commercial success and a critical darling.
In this one, you take control of Eric the schoolboy. You get a report card and must attend school and aim to get good grades. Any misbehaviour and you'll be punished.
Launched in 1984, Skool Daze was way ahead of its time and cutting-edge.
It involved advanced AI (artificial intelligence) with the processor controlling many computer characters. It's basically a modern simulation game, like you find now with indie games such as Stardew Valley (all the work of one man).
By modern standards, the C64's games are unusual.
They reflect a totally different era of gaming, which is why they're so fascinating to so many people. Beyond the nostalgic appeal, contemporary developers had to work beyond the technological limitations to deliver impressive feats of technology.
International Karate (1987), an obvious rip-off of the popularity of 1984 film Karate Kid, is one fine example.
Another example is Wizball (1987), which inventively played around with the shoot-'em-up genre through clever bouncing mechanics.
Plunging through the 60+ games is hit-and-miss.
Some games are borderline unplayable, sure, or baffling to behold. You have to go off online and research how to participate in some of them. That's just what some video games were like in this era.
We remember it even on the NES. You'd get a game, start playing, and within seconds be totally baffled about what to do.
That'll be confusing for modern gamers, but it's part of the charm now. Looking back and remembering these curiosities that could delight and infuriate in equal measure.
A Brief History of the Commodore 64
In 1982, the Commodore 64 was advertised as an affordable home computer. It's difficult to comprehend now, but computers were very expensive in the 1980s.
And it was marketed at families. Before its arrival, home computers where a specialist niche hobbyist type of deal.
But the C64 was readily available in the electronic sections of retail stores.
It was rare for people to have a home computer in the late 1980s and most of the 1990s. Our mate Ben got a PC in the mid-1990s and it was jaw-dropping news.
Although we remember having a basic home computer in the late 1980s Wapojif Snr. used for his work stuff. In fact, here's Wapojif Jnr. digging on the thing.
Note the classic old joystick in the mid-left there. But we didn't have a proper, high-tech, modern PC build until 1998.
Prior to that, during our run at primary school (1989-1996), one PC was introduced in 1995 and caused consternation. We never even got to use the bloody thing; there were hushed whispers amongst kids about those lucky enough to get the chance.
Further back, in 1982, the C64 cut to the chase with a $595 price tag, although that's $1,800 (£1,445) in modern money. Not exactly cheap, but much more affordable than other home computers from the day.
That price tag helped it shift between 12-17 million units. Games developers jumped on that bandwagon, with over 3,500 games eventually produced for the home computer.
And including those games, some 10,000 pieces of software were created for the C64—that includes development tool and office workplace applications,.
Many of the games were crap beyond words. But a bunch of classics made it through quality control, too.
That allowed the Commodore 64 to annihilate the opposition in North America, holding around a 40% market share from 1983-1986. However, it didn't fair too well in Japan or England (BOO! HISS! Bloody Brits!), actually failing badly in the former. Japan booted it off the market after just six months.
In the UK, the BBC Micro, ZX Spectrum, and Amstrad CPC 464 ensured the C64 couldn't gain a market stranglehold.
But once Nintendo's NES arrived in Europe from 1987, this signalled the start of a new era. Much more affordable, accessible, and packing Super Mario Bros., it ushered in the start of modern gaming.
The C64 was discontinued in April 1994, highlighting an incredible 12 year run. And one of the reasons why it holds such reverence to this day—modern games consoles usually have around a five-six year lifespan.
During its heyday, the Commodore 64 obliterated everything before it in North America. All glory to it! It is the retro console Overlord.
No comments:
Post a Comment