No other computer model has sold more units than it, and surely those who spent their youth playing games and doing other stuff with the good old Commodore 64 were excited when it was announced last September that a remake of the original classic computer would be released this year.
Of course, Commodore itself, a Canadian computer manufacturer founded in 1954 with headquarters in Pennsylvania, closed its doors more than 20 years ago (in 1994 to be exact), so it won’t be it but rather UK company Retro Games in partnership with German giant Koch Media which will be bringing this replica of the Commodore 64 (C64 for short) to the market this fall.
The C64 Mini, as this modern remake of the original is called, will hit shelves on October 9 and will retail for a reasonable $70 in the US.
This system comes with a joystick (retro-style, of course), which plugs into one of the two USB ports the machine is equipped with, while the C64 Mini also comes preloaded with a whopping 64 games. These include old classics like Speedball and its sequel, Cybernoid II, Boulder Dash, Impossible Mission, World Games and others.
Regarding the machine’s outputs, besides the two USB ports this also has an HDMI port capable of outputting a 720p image, although true purists might perhaps be disappointed by the fact that this does not include a floppy drive or cassette…
Of course, these technologies went obsolete yonks ago, but at least you’ll be able to plug any USB sticks you have lying around and run any C64 programs you wish. Actually, the C64 Mini as you might expect comes with a version of the BASIC programming language many were so fond of back in the early 80’s.
It remains to be seen, though, whether this will be as successful as other retro computer products such as Nintendo’s NES Classic, or whether this will be more of a collector’s item rather than something you will spend long hours playing around with. Nonetheless, this surely is an item that those who grew up playing with the old C64 (yours truly included) will surely want to pick up when it hits shelves this fall.
The C64 Mini (Retro Games Ltd)