You’ve heard of the SNES Classic Edition; now prepare for the C64 Mini.
The diminutive recreation console from Retro Games follows in Nintendo’s footsteps by providing an oh-so-appropriate 64 video games from the Commodore 64 house pc that thrived within the 1980s.
As somebody who truly owned a Commodore 64 (and nonetheless has it stashed round right here someplace), I admit I’m extra fascinated by this than Nintendo’s choices.
That’s partly as a result of the C64 Mini isn’t simply in regards to the video games, though there are some good fully-licensed ones tucked in right here like Chip’s Challenge, California Games, and Impossible Mission. You can view among the video games here.
Honestly, talking as an ‘80s child, I see a number of obvious omissions. The NES and SNES Classics do an excellent job of together with iconic video games for his or her period, however right here I discover no Lode Runner, Archon, Karateka, or Ghostbusters.
For me, not less than, the console’s chief enchantment is that it comes with the video games alongside with the power to run BASIC so you may create and save your personal applications. You see, youngsters, again at nighttime ages video games have been so scarce that we frequently needed to program our personal.
Memory journey
The C64 Mini marks a fantastic enchancment over the unique in that you just don’t should take care of the glacial speeds of floppy drives and their clickety-clack racket.
At $70/£70/AU$89, it’s a tad costly in comparison with Nintendo’s tiny lovely duo, however not less than that value will get you a single joystick controller.
You get the BASIC performance as nicely, together with two USB ports for an additional joystick or a full-sized keyboard. It additionally options HDMI help, in addition to filters that mimic the tough pictures all of us noticed whereas taking part in on CRT screens in 1984.
Unfortunately, it received’t be house for Christmas. The web site lists solely a obscure early 2018 launch date with no specifics past that. If the “mini” side isn’t your factor, a full-sized model will reportedly additionally make an look subsequent 12 months.
Or, so we hope. As Gizmodo’s Andrew Liszewski notes, the group behind the C64 Mini additionally seems to be answerable for an Indiegogo-funded Commodore 64 clone referred to as THE 64, which hasn’t shipped to backers regardless of a promised supply date of December 2016.
Hopefully it’ll all work out. It ought to, as Koch Media is the distributor, they usually’ve obtained a strong title within the video games enterprise.
In the meantime, I suppose we will all begin ready for the announcement of the Apple II Mini. Or possibly not. Knowing Apple, that’ll most likely by no means occur.
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