Commodore 64's turn - The C64 Mini

[Marc 11,863]

 

https://www.gadget.net.au/news/the-commodore-64-is-reborn

 

I'll be getting my order in. California Games !!! No Frogger though

[Guest]

I remember playing Defender on one of these, Fly shoot type 2D game, was fun

[Qwertyqaz 787]

Need Atari 8 bit

[Decky 1,260]

That brings some memories 

[aasza 2,896]

Load"*",8,1

 

 

Edited January 31, 2018 by aasza

[Kaynin 3,660]

These were famous for having thousands of games, releasing only with 64 won't get me over the line.  If they open up the library then they'd go like hot cakes.  Half the listed games I've never heard of...so many classic titles to chose from in their full library.

 

[Marc 11,863]

I'm led to believe you can download games from various sources online (probably unofficial) and play them from USB.

They've just bundled 64 official and licensed games for obvious reasons.

[Kaynin 3,660]

27 minutes ago, Marc said:

I'm led to believe you can download games from various sources online (probably unofficial) and play them from USB.

They've just bundled 64 official and licensed games for obvious reasons.

 

Yes, true, USB does open up a few options.  Wow, now that's got me thinking...Archon, Test Drive, International Karate...so many classics I've forgotten more than I remember.

[rob 118]

Brings back great memories, i remember playing river raid, winter games, boulderdash and montezumas revenge. Maybe pitfall, or was that on the Atari?

[Marc 11,863]

OMG - I just remembered Defender of the Crown. I spent wasted thousands of hours playing that one.

 

[Kaynin 3,660]

5 minutes ago, Marc said:

OMG - I just remembered Defender of the Crown. I spent wasted thousands of hours playing that one.

 

 

 

Yes, plundering and pillaging, sword fighting, catapulting.  I remember the graphics absolutely blew me away!  It was a hard game too and you had to move quickly on taking land.  So many classics on this console.

[Tone Malone 41]

Ahh the memories. Not that *all* the memories were great, especially as I had a cassette tape loader. Remember: 

 

* "Turbo load" games needing audiophile-level tape deck alignment skills

* Epyx tape games without Turbo load. Dragonriders of Pern ... 25 minutes!

* C64 zzap magazine

* Trying to win any game with the standard "carpal tunnel" Commodore joystick

* The joy of speech on Mission Impossible ... "stay a while ... stay forever!"

* Losing about eight months of my childhood playing Elite ... first month getting my ranking from "harmless" to "dangerous", the next seven wondering whether I'd ever make "deadly" (I didn't).

 

Was it all worth it? Without a doubt!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr_Gadget 267]

54 minutes ago, Tone Malone said:

The joy of speech on Mission Impossible ... "stay a while ... stay forever!"

OMG, I remember that. Very hard game too!

 

Some of my favourites include:

Buggy Boy, Fighter Bomber, Maniac Mansion, Giana Sisters, Last Ninja, Ghosts 'N Goblins, etc ........

Edited February 1, 2018 by Mr_Gadget

[Kaynin 3,660]

1 hour ago, Mr_Gadget said:

OMG, I remember that. Very hard game too!

 

Some would say impossible... 

 

That's the thing, the gameplay required skill.  These days you get led by the hand...

[Jventer 1,640]

Spent a lot of time adjusting those tape decks!

[Boomboy 18]

it really did have some super good games .. my fav was IO into oblivion .. i went back and played the emulator when i owned the original sony psp .. good fun . but ... loading time on the tape version sucked back then ..

[Tim D 174]

Got mine on order at JB.

 

Found a heap of old games and carts for my old c64 the other day- pity its long gone.

[Tone Malone 41]

Ok, I can now report first hand on the C64 Mini, having been suckered in by nostalgia. I was in a JB Hifi on Thursday night innocently looking for something else, they had just one C64 Mini left (it was the day of release) and I took that as a sign I should buy it. 

 

It's been fun for a late night or two over the Easter break, and the C64 mini is reasonably well set up. The main challenges with revisiting C64 memories with the Mini are:

* Most of the games actually rely a fair bit on keyboard inputs. The C64 Mini has a fake keyboard ... so you're stuck with using the onscreen keyboard with the joystick ...

* ... speaking of which, the supplied joystick is better than the original Commodore ones (so is a housebrick), but I've found myself fighting the joystick accuracy as much as the onscreen opponents.  Not sure I wanted to re-live that part if the '80s. 

 

A couple of games I loved 30+ years ago are still great fun to play. Paradroid and Impossible Mission are truly brilliant. Jumpman is also solid. Depending on what you played as a kid you may find other gems but there is certainly a lot of rough. A bit of online research for the old manuals might also be in order.

 

In summary, it's been fun but I might sell it soon and move on. I have a hunch that retro Nintendo players, with more arcade games and more recent & slicker graphics, might just enjoy their experience a bit more.

 

 

[coolrunnings 2]

I only seem to remember some tank game on the C64 :/ I was way too young to really fondly remember, but I wonder if I could play it now... i think it's past its prime for me

[Tubularbells 6,270]

55 minutes ago, coolrunnings said:

I only seem to remember some tank game on the C64 :/ I was way too young to really fondly remember, but I wonder if I could play it now... i think it's past its prime for me

Frepower?

 

If so i loved that game

 

 

[Guest Eggcup The Daft]

 

On 2/1/2018 at 8:42 PM, Tone Malone said:

Ahh the memories. Not that *all* the memories were great, especially as I had a cassette tape loader. Remember: 

 

* "Turbo load" games needing audiophile-level tape deck alignment skills

* Epyx tape games without Turbo load. Dragonriders of Pern ... 25 minutes!

* C64 zzap magazine

* Trying to win any game with the standard "carpal tunnel" Commodore joystick

* The joy of speech on Mission Impossible ... "stay a while ... stay forever!"

* Losing about eight months of my childhood playing Elite ... first month getting my ranking from "harmless" to "dangerous", the next seven wondering whether I'd ever make "deadly" (I didn't).

 

Was it all worth it? Without a doubt!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Slow tape loading? You obviously never had the floppy disc drive - it was slower!

 

Elite is still one of the great games. My flatmate had a BBC Micro and the original version. I lost a bit of my 20's to it... there's a free version of the original for Windows and Mac called Oolite, and a new online version called Elite - Dangerous, which I've not gone anywhere near as I'm not ready for divorce and losing my job!

 

I did make Elite - on BBC, Spectrum and PC. The latter was too easy.

[Guest jakeyb77]

On 01/02/2018 at 8:42 PM, Tone Malone said:

Ahh the memories. Not that *all* the memories were great, especially as I had a cassette tape loader. Remember: 

 

* "Turbo load" games needing audiophile-level tape deck alignment skills

* Epyx tape games without Turbo load. Dragonriders of Pern ... 25 minutes!

* C64 zzap magazine

* Trying to win any game with the standard "carpal tunnel" Commodore joystick

* The joy of speech on Mission Impossible ... "stay a while ... stay forever!"

* Losing about eight months of my childhood playing Elite ... first month getting my ranking from "harmless" to "dangerous", the next seven wondering whether I'd ever make "deadly" (I didn't).

 

Was it all worth it? Without a doubt!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I tell my son we would load a tape in the drive, go play cricket for an hour and hopefully the game loaded properly. Blew his mind. 

[blakey72 1,293]

Texas Instruments TI99/4a Were a better unit. Better graphics IMO.

Edited May 1, 2018 by blakey72

[JSmith 1,948]

 

 

JSmith 

[Kaynin 3,660]

On 16/04/2018 at 6:53 PM, Tubularbells said:

Frepower?

 

If so i loved that game

 

 

 

Nah, more like  -