Non-RPG General News - The C64 is coming back

PC Gamer reports that the C64 is coming back:

A full-sized Commodore 64 keyboard is getting released this year

It's a fully functioning replica keyboard that comes with 64 retro games pre-installed.

If mini consoles like the NES and SNES Classic Edition have proved anything, it's that gaming nostalgia is in full-swing. But while the mini C64 is great if you just want access to a library of classic PC games, its fun-sized keyboard isn't exactly practical.

For those nostalgic for the true PC classic experience, this full-sized C64 keyboard fills the gap. It's a classic PC--complete with a boot to BASIC option and 64 classics like Paradroid and Boulder Dash pre-installed--as well as a fully-functioning C64 keyboard to control those games. It still has the same footprint of the original Commodore 64, too.
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Thanks henriquejr!

More information.

While it would be cool at play C64 games again, i would really love a workable Amiga. I loved that thing. And the games were great too.

The C64 is the machine of my childhood. I didn't have a videogame system until I was in my 20's, and I didn't have a Dos/Windows machine until I was in my late teens. I'll always be nostalgic for those days. But I can't see myself playing those games now.

It's never really left as far as I'm concerned. I love the ol' C64 and first love never dies as they say! I saw this story too and have been watching it develop slowly over time on Lemon64.

I've still got two C64 c's and my original breadbin model that I bought from a Salvation Army for $2. Usually they only come out over longer holiday periods.

A mate of mine gave me his SD2IEC last year as well which gave my setup a new lease of life. This enables one to use an SD card to transfer data to the C64 by acting as a virtual disk drive. Given that there have been lots of new reworkings, remasterings and reimaginings of old arcade games still being made today, this has been a fantastic way to catch up on releases. The scene is as vibrant today as ever.

This is certainly good news for the more casual fans who want to dip into a bit of C64 action without the hassles of original hardware.

I see our own @Zloth has posted in their comments, lol.

Is there some company in Europe still making Amiga variants with the latest hardware?

I should also point out, to get it running decently, does it need an optional drive that costs 2x the price of the box itself?

The emulators that exists does a good job.. The one thing that can suck is understanding e.g the keyboard commands and getting gamepad controlls to work properly. i wouldn't mind something where it just makes sense from the start.. and yeah the looks is almost worth it alone too

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
I should also point out, to get it running decently, does it need an optional drive that costs 2x the price of the box itself?

it has USB to read the roms.. edit: oh, you probably meant the amiga, no idea.

Originally Posted by Lucky Day
I see our own @Zloth has posted in their comments, lol.

I'm everywhere, for your convenience.

But all the special effects for Babylon 5 were done on Amiga, not C64!

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
The C64 is the machine of my childhood.

Same here, we got one of those 2nd generation C64's when I was already a teen. Although my brother who was much younger used it a lot more, it was still my first gaming machine. I was already 20 when I got my first PC, which was when I got really hooked.

I still remember having some games on tapes that you had to forward to the right position to be able to play the game

I still have mine. C64. Gathering dust.
I have no idea why am I keeping it, it does still work but I cba to use it. Ah, well, I *am* crazy, there is no question about that…

Anyway, I don't need this new thing and am unsure what are they trying to do with it. If someone wants more VIC/SID games, just check kickstarter and browse through steam shovelware. Okay, most of those look worse than C64 had, but let's not nitpick.

I loved my C-64 for the years of service that I got out of it, but I don' think I could easily go back to using it now. Sometimes nostalgia just doesn't win out.

Grade 7, any given day at 11am

me: Mr. Hamilton, I'm done all my work for the day. Can I go to the computer room?

him: *Sigh* Yes, screeg, go ahead.

Then I'd spend the rest of the day playing games (primarily Gateway to Apshai) on the school's one C-64.

Better idea than the mini, I'm sure they will sell a lot just on nostalgia. Happy about it, haven't been able to hunt down a secondhand one. Hopefully they do it right this time.

This is good

As an old Apple ][ user I found the 101 uses for a Commodore 64 especially helpful

#85 Take the lid off and use it for your cat's littler box.

That's difficult to do with the mini.

The C64 got me into computers and gaming as a kid. I fondly remember computer prompts to unpause my game's tape cassette after issuing order to drop a nuclear bomb or move into a new dungeon. I wrote two basic, in at least two senses of the word, computer games on the C64, never to attempt the effort again.

Also grew up with the C64, but tbh there isn't really anything I'd want to go back to regarding games and actual gameplay. My recent adventures in The Bards Tale remastered also kind of confirmed that.
It would be fun to look back into a lot of these games, being it Giana Sisters, Operation Wolf, Boulder Dash or Barbarian. But I doub't I'd play any of them longer than an hour.

However these kind of arcade games aged okish because arcade gameplay stays arcade gameplay.

Games with more complex mechanics, being it RPGs or Strategy games came a long way. Either the mechanics improved a lot, the immersion improved a lot, or the interface.

That said, with retro hardware it's also the question whether you want to have some "original replica" stuff as here, which uses a software emulator. Or if you want to use an FPGA, which pretty much works like the real deal (hardware emulator).
Or…well, you just buy the real thing and modify it. In this case probably 200-300€+

I find that i want to go back mostly for the sound. The SID chip was (and is) quite amazing.. the chip alone can sell for quite a lot, especially the old 6581 (dirtier sounding than the newer version which later came out).

But yes, this is nothing you play for hours (at least not me). I also have an arcade machine for MAME (etc) games, its fun to play sometimes, but i doubt i've ever played any game for more than 1h at a time.

Yep, the sound (or specifically the music) in some game is really amazing. I am still listening quite often to old C64 tunes. But I'd rather do that via youtube while working or so, instead of playing the game. Well…actually it's the title screen music in lots of these games, so you wouldn't even get the music when playing normally .

The SID chip was so good that it is released as various MIDI controlled synth boxes by little boutique companies. The Elektron SidStation probably the most popular among them. Using actual SID chips. I've been meaning to get one for a while.

I played many games on the C64 including but not limited to my first foray in the Ultima series via the 5th installment. (which incidentally didn't have music unless it was the C128 version)

But I also had a program where I could drag notes onto a staff and have it play my music creations. Three note polyphony. I had a 100 year old upright to play, and the C64 synth to compose with as well in the next room.

Ultima 5, Impossible Mission, and that music program.
Them's my memories of the C64.