C64 Mini Review - Rerez 

They made a full sized version of this recently with a functional keyboard. You should really check it out.

Man, I really want one of these, but geez, with all the mini systems coming out, I'm gonna need like a 10 port HDMI switcher to hook them all up! Being able to load up ROMs makes it worth it to me, even if it's wonky. Like Shane sez, that was kinda part of the C64 experience!

the original name was Nebulus since it was developed in the UK. It is only called Tower Toppler in north america. Also the best version of Chip's Challenge was on the Atari Lynx imo. And it is now on the Lynx collection 2 for the Evercade

The one button thing is something those of us from this era are totally used to. It's no limitation.

When I saw Chip's Challenge, I vaguely remember playing it when I was around kindergarten. My dad introduced me to the computer and showed me of to that game as well. Only 8 years later do I know the name of that game.

take one of these, make it look like a cybiko, and give people the ability to code and do fun stuff on the go instead of plugging it into a TV. maybe a fold-out keyboard, I dunno.

Man I was a master at Aardvark when being a kid< the C64/128 was my first PC console back in mid 80s

You can add more games with the new firmware.. also there is many new c64 games coming out try looking up new c64 sam's journey it's almost 16 bit looking just as good or better then mario 3.. again the new firmware you can add you own games .. not hard for me i grew up with up as jump.. again you can use some mods with the new firm ware and add jump to the button point is mute.. The new games coming out now look play a lot better.. just look up new c64 games for 2018..

OMG Did you even play Uridium??? (Needs very loud bass) Best arcade sound effects of any C64 game, amazingly playable.

I just bought this after buying the Amiga Mini. Even though I never had a C64, I really like this. However you have to use a different controller as the included one makes it virtually impossible to use. I’ve seen read reviews that complain about and thought they were overreacting, it was worse than what I read.

Are you keeping up with the commodore?

C64: I came for the Chip's Challenge, but stayed for the other games it had. I want one.

Tell me when they make an Atari ST with midi out!

The C64 was my dad’s first computer.

‘Frimware’?

Something worth mentioning is that the history of the Commodore 64 as presented in this video is only in regards to the American release. In the UK, personal computers such as the Commodore 64, Amstrad computers and ZX Spectrum reigned supreme. This was mainly due to their much cheaper games in comparison to consoles. Games on these systems were also easy to copy so you could have a large library of games for practically no cost if you knew people who had them or you could just programme a game, yourself for no cost as gaming magazines would often print the entire code of games for you to do just that. Another reason why personal computers did so well over here was that the NES which ruled America was a total flop in the UK. This was thanks to some frankly idiotic decisions by Nintendo such as releasing 2 versions of the NES (one by Nintendo and one by another company with Nintendo's permission) which were practically identical but didn't play each other's games. This made buying games for the NES (which were already more than 10× the price of a game on commodore 64, ZX Spectrum etc.) a bit of a gamble as they may not even work on your version of the NES. Plus they chose to sell the NES almost exclusively in chemist shops rather than more appropriate places like toy shops for some reason. We didn't even have a video game crash in the UK for the NES to save us from like it did in America. While America was suffering from her video game crash, personal computers kept the UK's video game industry going strong the entire time. It was also because of these decisions by Nintendo that Sega's Master System and Mega Drive easily outsold the NES and SNES respectively in the UK. Nintendo wouldn't really rise to any kind of prominence in the UK until the release of the N64 but even that was outsold and overshadowed by the original PlayStation.

U FINALLY GOT C64!

TBH, I would rather stick to the emulators, just because I can use my 360 controller to play games unlike the joystick that was provided. It just feels wrong to use up or down to control something when I could use face buttons instead (hallelujah for input editors), but that could just be me with how I was raised with different hardware.

hah, rerez predicted the iphone 12 not coming with a brick in-box.

I'm waiting for a Tandy Color Computer 3 Mini

If they can make a Commodore 64 Mini, then someone can actually make a mini Amiga CD32 (or at lease a mini Amiga).

Awesome nostalgic♡ 😏glad I have one

Ok which usb keyboard? I have typed three times does not work. Now came the Amiga mini.

What’s the point of having a Classic Edition of a computer? Don’t we all have one of those already which would work better than this?

lol im trying to find all the mini systems so far here is my list: nes mini snes mini famicom mini super famicom mini ps1 mini COMPUTER! mini C64 mini sega genesis mini if i missed any feel free to reply with the one(s) i missed :p

shane, how long do you spend with anything you do a review on ? sometimes you do mention but other times you don't and to me it seems when a company sends you something to review you either have a beta or promo unit and by the time your review drops they have either updated the firmware/software/OS or done a complete remodel and it makes your review seem off. bad timing i guess... because i own a few of the things you have reviewed either before or after i've seen your review and in MOST cases have not experienced issues or concerns that you had or brought up that could become an issue. case in point, you reviewed the Revo K101 plus clone.... called the retro-game. there are 3 version of it (not sure if all 3 are made by the same company under 3 different IPs) with the same hardware but using different firmware/OS.... one was so bad that half the time it wouldn't boot up because the firmware had a bad file so it would freeze on the startup screen. the second unit would boot up but a lot of the emulators were badly outdated or just simply never worked and the 3rd was ok and worked but some roms wouldn't depending on what system it was. there is a forum for these units that members actually re-write the programming and fix the emulators so that the games run better than a raspberry pi... they have actually ported other emulators never intended for these units and have pretty much 100% working state ! i know you are doing things from your average consumer going to the store and buying these and this is the experience they would get.. i get that... but i'm wondering if you actually do research on more than the company and the actual item ? this kinda stuff for the rest of us would actually be great info to know, especially for those in the modding scene. i'm NOT knocking you as i know i couldn't really do a channel like this, and i know you do so much with hot take, the worst console ever, and other reviews so please don't take it personal... of all the review channels or personalities on youtube you are the best on here as you get into the workings, the included accessories/games and ease of use and longevity. i'm only asking because some companies tend to rush things out the door and will in some cases send an alpha or beta and i feel that doesn't help your review if you aren't getting a real retail version to try out.

I was wanting to get this since it looked like a great way to learn about the Commodore 64's Gaming Side. After watching this review, I definitely need to get it soon. Thanks Rerez!

the joystick isn't 8 directional?

Check out the C64 Maxi!

Wish they would do that with the Amiga (since Commodore screwed it up)

Glad to see this shared. Never knew this existed. Looks like something I would love to have, for the right price. I think this is worth sharing.

Please do more thanks

What I got from this review was "I couldn't be arsed to learn how to play these games so they are fun but not that great" Also what about the new firmware allowing you to sideload games? I can only assume it is because this firmware wasn't out at the time of this video

Chip's challenge I haven't played that since i was 6

we want beard back

Summer games and winter games are known by most, but Epyx made World Games and I don't think it got ported to too many other systems. The log toss was so ridiculous it was awesome, and cliff diving was pretty great, too. Gateway to apshai is one of my fave games of all time. Also came out on colecovision.

Is it at this point reasonable to be able to run arbitrary C64 software on this thing, or is that not easy to do?

They keyboard is the whole point. Who would buy this?

what’s the game at 4:59?

No power adapter is not a big deal

Great review, very professional! I just bought a C64 for 30€, a great deal, but I was an Amstrad user, I doubt they launch a mini Amstrad Cpc464 😕

Did you basically say that some of these games are hard, so you probably won't like them? I'm not sure if that is a statement about people today or just you not giving them enough credit. Is having to spend a little time to get the hang of a control scheme really a problem nowadays?

Basically, ＩＴ ＡＩＮ‘Ｔ ＢＵＤＧＩＮ’

With this. I'd rather just use a retropie for sure

It's sad that the C64 has a better UI than the PSClassic :P

REALLY? YOU CANT USE THE KEYBOARD? *YOU HAD ONE JOB*

Your control complaints are valid, but this is authenticity!

As far as I understood from what is said here, games that required you to press keys on a keyboard in the days are still needing a keyboard on this system. If that's the case, then one thing they should have thought of is to NOT include any such games. Ok, on this system you can probably use the virtual keyboard, but I bet it's just too clunky to do so. I imagine myself playing "Skooldaze" and bashing Einstein to avoid 2000 lines in the free period, using this method. My guess is: It won't work. And I think it's generally a bad thing if you are required to buy extra gear to play what you should be able to play just fine without it...

"Probably have kids themselves ..." Probably actually have grandkids by now

Actually the people that played on an original c64 don't just have kids, their kids likely have had kids too. We're old now. Lol

I grew up with a commodore 64 before my household got a NES, and I played a TON of Jumpman and Space Taxi.

...Really can't do anything in BASIC? What?! You can do a lot of really interesting things in BASIC, or at least some of us can. Programming is a lot of fun, and for the motivated person, the C64 mini offers a chance to have a lot of coding fun.

I think it's interesting that a bunch of the earliest cartridge Commodore 64 games were developed by HAL Labs in Japan, like the very first release Jupiter Lander, Pinball Spectacular, Billiards (I played this a ton) and others. Satoru Iwata had worked as an intern at Commodore of Japan. There are a few similarities between the 1982 Commodore 64 and the 1983 Famicom. They are based on different variations of the MOS Technology (Commodore in house chip maker) 6502 CPU and pretty much introduced hardware scrolling to home computer and console gaming respectively. There is a interview of the UK developers Oliver Twins (they worked with Codemasters) and at one point they are talk about how they started thinking about developing on the NES and say something like "It was effectively a Commodore 64 in a box!". I found this funny, even though I believe the NES is fairly more advanced.

I had fond memories of playing my cousin Gavin's C64 back in the early 90s at his house when we were kids. And may he rest in piece.

The C64 was my second computer, which I first got in 1985 (when I was 23). Probably my favorite games on that system was Gateway to Apshai, Davids Midnight Magic, Forbidden Forest and Bill Budge's Pinball Construction Kit (he later made Virtual Pinball for the Sega Genesis). Later in 1995 I used one to get on the internet for the first time (1200 baud modem and Telix on a floppy disk to get on The Greater Columbus Freenet). Wasn't much, but it did get me e-mail and newsgroups and I could use WAIS and Webcrawler to "surf" the Web. I still have a C64C in my collection but this thing does look interesting. Find some old Compute! magazines on Archive.org and start typing those programs (if you can with a standard keyboard, which is doubtful).

I grew up with a C64 in the US. So multi disk RPG and Flight Sims were a big thing I played a lot of. Well most of those had PC or Amiga ports that were generally superior. And the ones that don't I can play on my Atari 800 and 130xe computers. I want to want this Plug and Play thing but its too limited and based on the Breadbox model instead of the cooler C model I had or one of the 128 models which were even more capable machines even if few games utilized it..

8-bit guy already did a review of the C64 6 months ago and it's more in-depth hardcore perspective. I recommend not only watching Shane's Rerez review, but also his if you get the chance. They both did a good job covering the product in their own right. Shane's approach thankfully focused more on the games while 8-bit Guy's was on the technical side. His review will help you figure out how to get more games on the system. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GXXCj5kqPcM.html

I'm always impressed when I see this consoles titles. To this day it has the most accurate port of Donkey Kong of any console.

That tower toppler sprite is adorable.

Someone should make an Atari ST Mini or an Amiga Mini!

The added games that didn't work with the joystick- is there any chance those were games that required the joystick to be in the other port on a real C64? If you plug in a second joystick, perhaps that will work if there is no option to swap ports. Of course, then you won't be able to plug in a keyboard (at least without a USB hub).

Anybody remember putting about 20 games on a blank cassette and and writing out the numbers for the counter so, you'd know where each game loaded from? Oh those memories of epileptic fits!...

I know I'm late to the game but your reviews are helping me through tough times right now. I truly appreciate your honesty and humor. Thank you so much

Rerez there is a way to put new software into the C64 mini in way it doesn't fail like the new games in the new firmware update. What you need to do is put one game on a pen drive, you will call this game "THEC64-drive8.D64". Then you plug the pen drive, joystick and a keyboard, "but wait there's only two USB ports", you can use a USB hub or just unplug the joystick and then plug the keyboard and vice-versa. So, you will load the game in the same way you do on C64s (Load "*",8). The loading will be the same as in a real C64 disk drive, but nothing awful. When the game loads, go to save state and save a state of your game in BASIC. Now, you can turn off the computer and the game will still be there. There are 4 slots, so you can save 4 games. Enjoy your new 4 games, Rerez! (and yes, I learned that from The 8-bit Guy)

The C64 Mini 'keyboard' is completely overkill/redundant. I've a C64 plug n" play which uses just the joystick, so, it's confusing why manufacture the faux keyboard peripheral at all? Oh, also, lag.

Considering this computer came from an era where a UK (one of the main markets for the Commodore) software house could be as simple as a teenager with a cassette drive and a TV, there are probably more than 10 thousand games for it.

Wait!!!! No Sam Fox Strip Poker??! Are you kidding me! IM OUT!!!

It's not that it won't work with the joystick, you need to rename the file and add _J1 at end of the file name (before the extension) (Donkey Kong as you showed is one of those port 1 games that need that fix) That's mainly because the vast majority of C64 games used port 2 as the main controller, so you have to put _J1 at the end to tell the machine to switch to port 1 Also a lot of the games that crash is because they are for the PAL models. So for that, you have to put _TP at the end of the file for that, which tells the device to run in PAL mode This is a list of all the games that use port 1 as the primary controller www.gamebase64.com/search.php?d=45&h=1&adv_game_name_t=2&adv_game_name=&adv_year=0&adv_publisher_t=2&adv_publisher=&adv_graphician_t=2&adv_graphician=&adv_musician_t=2&adv_musician=&adv_programmer_t=2&adv_programmer=&adv_language=0&adv_genre=0&adv_cracker_t=2&adv_cracker=&adv_control=1&adv_display=&adv_players=0&adv_max_players=0&adv_trained=0&adv_highscore=0&adv_loading_screen=0&adv_18=0&adv_TDE=0&adv_Doc=0&adv_game_file=0&adv_sid_file=0&adv_working=0&b=Go!&a=6

Looks neat, might buy it, probably won't. Actually I definitely won't, I'd rather use an original Commodore 64 but if I buy this for my dad or something for Christmas he'd very well enjoy it.

The ruff estimate of games and software on the C64 is 20.000... How do I know this? I have most of these and still collecting as I have a real C64, SD2IEC and Dataset to load software..

Nice video, I would take exception that the C64 was not designed for games, admittedly it was initially sold as a catch all home computer but it came loaded with game orientated hardware, hardware sprites and scrolling, decent colour palette, superb sound. The C64 was nearly as equipped for games as a dedicated arcade unit at the time it came out (1982). Also as a successor to the Vic 20- that was essentially a games console in home computer clothing- it couldn't be seen as anything else. Otherwise I agree with more or less what you say in your review.

You can program in Basic, save it on the system , but you need to flash it on external software, test it and ensure its a bootable file, then you can load it on the system

i wish there was a usb keyboard that looked and felt like a c64 keyboard.

Kinda late, but my Dad had Temple of Apshai (im guessing a sequel?) and the info that came with it said it was based around Tabletop RPGs, and it even referred to the game as "A Dungeon Master on a chip".

HoH

Let the brand new C64 memes BEGIN!!!!

I hear they're thinking of making a full-size version with a working keyboard. I'm honestly waiting for that. I have a couple C64 programs in my computer.

RU-vid features just Monty on the Run

that is tiny... like seriously

Would making the "console" a functional keyboard really have been that prohibitively expensive? Because I really can't imagine it would have been that difficult from a manufacturing stand point

First to comment and click on the vid

Sorry, but the built in games are just not worth it for the most part. If you get this, get this for the good games that AREN'T on the System. And yes, with a tiny bit of reading and understanding, you can run pretty much 90% of the software, and play it or use it. The C64 was amazing and has amazing games, even new ones made this year, like Sams Journey! In North America, everyone was obsessed with the NES, but here in Germany, everbody used home computers like this. Give it a whirl.

Shane, I thought this was a “Worst Ever” console because of there no symbols on the keys.

Real keyboard or nothing.

Oh man the memories playing Breakdance.... I never knew there was more than one soundtrack until I got the SID dump of it.

Does the c64 mini let you switch which 'control port' the joystick is plugged into? Most of the time when playing the c64 if the joystick wasn't working it was because it was in the wrong port... Yes.. sometimes player 1 played by plugging into port 2...

They are actually doing a full-size revision simply called "THEC64", with a working keyboard, an issue fixed from THEC64 Mini.

I had a c64 as a kid. I can explain the joystick issue. There was no stabdard foir the joystick input, port 1 and port 2 depends on the game. Actually, most games used joy port 1 for play, but alot used port 1 as well. So u gotta try both ports if one isnt working.,

I'm hoping that the C64 Mini Developers release the Joystick separately. Otherwise I'll just stick to my Laptop with C64 Forever

I think this would be a good option for people who want to get into Commodore Basic coding but don't want to pick up an original C64.

I got the full size one just yesterday. It's my first experience with a Commdore 64 and it's a darn cool one.

“Summer games and winter games” - shows California games 😂

I don’t have a USB keyboard so I’m gonna code like Sakurai in the Famicom days I guess 🤷‍♀️

C64 Basic actually allows you to load a C64 rom file through USB. Did you not know that??

I used to love playing “Summer Games” and “Winter Games” which I thought were pretty popular but it doesn’t look like those are on it

They made the controller for left handed and right handed people, Also the reason they use 1 button is because the commodore 64 used ATARI joysticks (with a joystick and a Single button)

A firmware update allows you to put your games much more easily on the system. (v1.1.0 - Introduces the File Loader so compatible programs can be loaded from USB. See File Loader for further information)

I had a plug and play c64, it was a joystick that just plugged into the tv. It was actually my first video game console and spent hours playing paradroid, impossible mission, and firelord.

I have 5000 unique games in my digital collection for it, so its game library is at least 5000

I wish it had Turrican, that was the 1st game that really got me hooked, like, staying up late just to play it.