The VIC-20. Is It For You? 

Hi Noel, great review. I designed that packaging, so thanks for the positive feedback! It was hard to combine new with old, especially as we had to scratch copy the original box. THEVIC20 itself was conceived just to be a limited edition release of THEC64, so essentially the same thing albeit it in a different colour and of course that great PET key font. It also has more VIC20 games built in (with even more if you apply the latest firmware update). Regarding size, there were actually many different mould sizes of both the VIC and C64. So our VIC is for sure the same size as the original, or at least one variant. Same for colour as you stated.

Found A VIC-20 in a dumpster a few years ago. Was in fantastic condition, just a little retrobrighting needed. Still have it. Never used it though, but it's a nice addition to my little computer museum.

The C64 has come a LONG way from the Mini. I love it!

The Commodore VIC-20 was my first computer. When I bought the floppy disk attachment I thought I had died and gone to heaven.

One obscure capability of the NTSC VIC-20s was interlaced mode. You could set the interlace bit and everything would continue normally but every other field would be offset downward by half a scanline. This eliminated visible scanline gaps, making the text a bit more pleasing to read.

I bought "The C64" at the end of 2019. Its very convenient thanks to the HDMI output and USB storage, I also have a real Breadbin and a 64C machines with the disk drives etc. Not having anywhere to set them up full time meant it would be a long time between retro games sessions. Now I can just plug "The C64" into my TV and go back to the good old days :)

Thanks SO MUCH for using a proper CRT/scan-line mode. So many reviewers and so-called retro experts don't do this and so miss capturing the real look and feel of using these systems back in the day...

Hello Noel. I bought both the “The C64” mini & maxi. While the mini was nice, it was too small and lacking a working keyboard. The maxi is much better. So much better, that I sold my old C64c and Amiga 500 plus and kept the replicas. As you said, the replicas are great if you don’t want to tinker with the insides. Also, parts are getting scarcer and more expensive, and as I’m 70 next month, it’s getting beyond my fading dexterity. I’m going to buy the replica “The Amiga”, but will wait for the full size model to be released. Meanwhile, I’m using Cloanto Amiga Forever on my PC and getting a nice enough experience. But, it would be nice to have a console & working keyboard to enhance the experience, which is how I use The C64 maxi - even trying typing in and debugging old magazine programs. I absolutely love your presentation style, delivery and content. Also like Adrian’s Digital Basement (minus candy items) and The 8- Bit Guy. You 3 are my go to for the best content. Please don’t ask me to rank you, because that would be very, very difficult. Stay well and keep doing your thing. Ian from Perth Western Australia (only Tasmania and Antarctica are closer the the end of the world and isolated) 😂🤣

I sold all my C64s and Vic 20s as I don't have the nostalgia for them, and they were taking up too much space. But now I want one of these!

FYI, when I bought my original VIC-20 it came with the user guide which I agree is great, but it did not come with the full Programmers Reference Guide. The Programmers Reference Guide was an additional purchase. As I recall it ran around $20 - $25. I still have mine from back in the early 80's.

I find this interest in old 8bit computers to be interesting. I had a small company that used to make RAM expansion cards called Century Micro. we also created an Assembler called Moses for both the Vic 20 and C64.

The RF output of the Vic 20 was perfectly fine. The main text mode of the computer is 22 8 pixel characters. This is 176 pixels wide. The vertical resolution wasn't much higher. More than good enough for pixel perfect. People hook up classic systems with the wrong cable and with none of the switches cleaned and falsely believe this is what we had in the 80s. With the right cable (not an RCA cable) and brand new channel select switches, the computers back then had pixel perfect screens too. Sitting for 40 years unused means the switches have to be cleaned and NTSC RF should not be sent over an audio (RCA) cable, it should be sent over an RF cable.

This is great. I can finally try a Vic 20 and C64. I never got to have one when I was a kid.

This was one of the first computers I ever experienced as a kid. My dad had one and I enjoyed it so much! Thank you for giving me a birthday present idea for him this year!

THEVIC20 is a beautiful machine; I love the colours and the joystick is great, much improved on the original THEC64 Mini joystick, and the earlier microswitch version bundled with THEC64. The fact that the keyboard mapping is 100% is another plus. And yes. DOOM! That's a great game. I recommend trying the latest firmware, which includes The Keep. The Keep is a 5K 3D engine written by Kweepa (the fact that it's for the unexpanded VIC is unbelievable!), who developed VIC Doom that you featured.

The VIC 20 was my first computer. In fact I still have it. I chucked it in the attic in the mid 80s and there it stayed until last year. Took it down plugged it in (needed a cable to plug into flat screen TV). Fully expecting nothing to happen I switched it on and wow it still works after 40 years. Not only that I plugged in the tape recorder and managed to load up the very first program my brother and I created on boxing Day 1983. I couldn't believe it. Bought a cassette tape from Amazon. Yes they still sell them and backed it up several times. The program loaded first time from tape but several days later whe I got the new tape from Amazon I couldn't load the program. It took over 10 tries. Ahh that's what I remember.

I have both The C64 and The VIC20. I also have a real VIC 20 and many C64s aswell. And I am really impressed with The VIC20 and The C64. I love them. Thanks for the video

I picked up THEC64 when it came out in the US as I never got to experience the Commodore 64 at the time it was out as my parents never needed a computer. It has been great to discover a world of 8-bit that I missed out on. The emulation is good enough for someone new like me while I can certainly understand how people would still love to update their originals. I'm glad this option exists.

I laughed at the reveal of the internals with that tiny board, I knew all the weight was going to be the keyboard. Great video! :-)

Awesome video! I really enjoyed your style and how you've integrated general usage tips into the review. I also appreciate your perspective on emulation in general. Emulation is often viewed in a negative way, but I believe it is crucial to the preservation of our gaming history. There are many advantages emulation offers over OG hardware, and many of us would not have been able to experience these wonderful computers from our past without it. Great review my friend, thanks for uploading 😃👍🏻

Incredible attention to detail on the case and keyboard. Emulation looks really good. Excellent well thought out video.

Thank you for the informative, informed, review. _The VIC 20_ looks like a great machine. The one other emulation which I think would have fit would be a C=128 mode. The keyboard would be wrong, but a number of new capabilities would be added, such as 80-column text, double speed, and CP/M, for those who still might be interested.

Hi!. I own a TheC64 and I'm very pleased with it. I never had a C64 in my childhood as I was a ZX Spectrum kid, but I lusted badly for a C64 and now I have a convenient way of owning one. I love it!. Cheers and thanks for the video.

Brilliant video. Immediately subbed!

Hello Noel, great video! I didn't own a Commodore back in the day, but a Speccy. But I have always been curious about these machines, and last christmas I purchased TheVic20 and I'm very happy about it, I love to be able to learn C64/Vic20 Basic with the keyboard it was meant to be. About the Input lag measurement method, you measured keypress-to-video lag, you could also measure keypress-to-audio lag with some program which beeps on keypress. The video and audio lags are usually different. One simple measurement method is to record audio, both the keypress sound AND the beep, and measure the lag with an audio program such as audacity. I know emulators with 100ms video lag and 300ms audio lag... Congrats on the video, I also have a similar opinion on the machine.

I have one of the The Vic-20’s. The keyboard is what I like about it. Not having any serial/network connectivity is a downside - no BBS or connecting to RPi unless I do something funky with the USB ports…..

Boulder Dash is a solid classic! I remember playing it on my IBM in my childhood. Thanks man!

Great video. The Vic20 was my first computer and I’m going to look into getting one of these 😊…

I got TheC64 for Christmas last year and its a permanent fixture with the big TV in the living room, sat next to my Wii, PS4 and Xbox Series X :)

I have The64 and play it from time to time. I never had interest in real C64 (I'm from the Atari world), but I really like the form factor and the way it works. I can bring it from the shelf, put two cables and play a game or two, then close. It just works and experience is quite authentic. I wish they did 800XL or 130XE 😁

Very informative video as always Noel. Thanks.

18:22 And BOOM, my childhood memories hit me hard...I was playing this on B/W TV though. First time I see in color. VC20 was my first computer, I had a 16kB RAM expansion and tape recorder. It was good for 2 years, before I could put my hands on the beastly C64 (oh boy, those were the times). It was great and cheap machine for that time to introduce you to the computing. Thanks for a review.

Nice seeing my "Flinale"-demo running on THE VIC-20. Please note that the NTSC-part of the demo will not work since "THE VIC-20" uses the old VICE 2.4-emulator (as far as I know) and this does not support the interlace-feature which the original NTSC VIC-20 has. Even nowadays VICE does not emulate this, but at least work is being done on that finally. I think THE VIC-20 and THE C64 use the older VICE-version as emulator because it can run fast enough on the ARM-board they use. Newer versions of VICE, while more accurate need more processing power and VICE 2.4 still is good enough for 99% of use cases like this.

Fantastic review, Noel and i really enjoyed watching this video. I was bought the "TheC64 Maxi" for Christmas 2020 by my good lady wife and my son ( i've always been a Commodore fan since the late 80's ) and i love having the option of both the TheC64 and TheVic20 modes. I'm going to pass on buying the next upcoming machine ( The A500 Mini ) and wait till the Maxi version is launched but i really enjoy emulation of retro computers on my desktop pc and on my Raspberry Pi ( mostly for Amiga emulation though ). Keep up the brilliant videos my friend :)

Noel you just blew my mind running Doom on a VIC-20! I shall have to get hold of that. Excellent review and an enjoyable watch as always.

I will say they really went all out for this. Wow! I was looking at the C64. But, after seeing the keycaps, etc... I really like this one better.

That's an amazing video!!! Thank you!

Hi Noel! Very nice video! Showing the things under the hood, SW and HW, is really great. You maybe can't experiment that much with HW but even more with SW. I own THE C64. What I like about it?! I can connect it to my big LCD TV and play games in the living room, like I've done as a kid! 👍

It is! I skipped "The 64" in favour of a real C64, which was restored and a little bit modified for use in modern environment. But the colour scheme and the design of the case itself is really intriguing. Also the PETSCII keycaps are hilariously beautiful. I prefer this more than the overall look of "The 64". And the fact i can do the same with it as with "The 64" is why it will find its way in my collection ... one day or another. Thank you for the vid! It was really nice to watch.

The new keyboard layout also seems to have much larger printed letters. Awesome comparison study!

Man. I love how the whole computer could fit on a small board like that. I had the insane thought myself, based on my "vague" understanding of how it all works, that you could probably build an Apple II+ clone, with a minor difference - Start in a 65C816. Have two ROM slots, one that is the "default", which gives you full access to the features of the chip, the second is for the Apple II+ ROM. If that AII+ ROM is installed, then you a) latch the ROM, so it shows up as the working one, and b) you have what ever GPU setup you put in the thing "emulate" the old Apple II video capabilities. If the ROM is missing, then your the "comes with it" ROM would a) give access to something "more modern" in graphics, b) provide access to a full 16mb (on a single chip), minus the parts used for the bank 00 and 01 ROMs, c) maybe also take up some room, such as in the FE/FF banks, which the IIgs used (or, if you wanted to make it able to emulate that, FD or something, with a "system bios" type thing, which would let you make some adjustments to how things work. d) since you are latching the ROMs, you could also latch the clock speed, so it runs at the original 1mhz when in "emulation mode", and at full speed otherwise. e) Also use the 65C816's added calls to have a way to "call" functionality in what would have to be a bank FE/FF area, to "turn on" the native mode, and bypass the emulation, from disc (might need this anyway, since the chip, I think, "starts" executing in 65C02 mode, I think. But, basically, with some minor quibbles, you could probably still use an actual 65C816 chip, 1-2 ROMs, a modern 16mb SDRAM chip, and some sort of video chip, the clock logic and a few other things and "build" a working computer, which "might be" able to at least run old Apple II stuff, if you don't mind it not being able to use all the peripherals from the old machines. Or, I am utterly nuts, and this simply wouldn't work. Sadly, not being a) rich, b) connected to someone/something that would let me experiment, or c) actually ever built anything more complex than a transistor tester kit (which didn't work, and I still haven't got around to 'debugging' to figure out why), I don't have the time, the skill, or the money, to try... Sigh... But, seems like everyone making these things just goes with, "Oh, I can be clever and, instead of trying to semi-match the original chip, lets use a Raspberry PI!" But.. to me this misses the point, because watching the vids by Ben Eater, on how a freaking 8 bit machine actually works, in which he literally "builds one, from the 6502 up, one section at time, on bread boards" - that freaking impressed me, and I learned more in 3 days watching those vids that I *ever* knew, or could have learned running an emulation program on a Pi....

Awesome Review. I own both ,THEC64 and THEVIC20 which I think are amazing. The case on your real Vic 20 is i believe is the MK2 Slim version. I do have a couple of real Vic 20's here myself with the larger case and they are identical in size to THEVIC20. But going back to your review .. Excellent !! I literally agree with everything you said which is unusual for me :)

Great comparison and detailed look at The VIC-20 Noel. Really enjoyed this one.

I preordered The C64 a year ago, in November when it was released in America there were supply issues and they didn't ship them first come first served so I didn't get mine till mid January. Because of this I also ordered The Vic 20 the same day the C64 released to ensure I would get one by Christmas to bring back a tradition of listening to C64 xmas music while opening presents. I love the devices and as I have an original vic 20 and c64, it gives me a full collection of each. Now I'm setting up a retro desk with wood paneling and 80s tech to set this up as I had it as a kid, just need a 1701/2 monitor. I even bought an empty EZ Flash cartridge to encase my usb drive and hid the wires to make it look more authentic

I have both TheC64 and TheVIC20. My 20 is still boxed since it is essentially the same. I appreciate the ease of use and access to games to show off C64 in a general sense to my friends or fire up a quick game. I have a late model VIC and a PET style keyboard version on the way.

Awesome & comprehensive review! Thank you so much for the video! I’m on the fence about whether to pick this THE C64 “Vic 20 maxi version” or THE C64 “standard maxi”. I have no nostalgia for either of them, as I grew up with an Apple II, but I love retro collecting so I want to know which of the two is a better package to buy, enjoy, & display. Thanks!

Nice. Imagine what 80's Noel would have thought opening that up. :D

Awesome Video!

Thank you Noel for another fabulous video, in depth and well presented as always. The VIC20 was something of an important place in the timeline. Still quirky but beyond doubt aimed at the consumer and marketed as such, the the TI99 as equally quirky with even more odd design decisions was just too expensive as were the more capable Atari 8bit machines. It's amazing what can be achieved but as the audience gets older for retro machines the emphasis will soon move entirely to the Nintendo generation. Sad for me when I stared my home computer journey at the end of the 70s, so many of the machines I remember will never find the way in to FPGA or emulation and some later ones too. Does an FPGA Lisa core exist? Being consumer machines and the age group doing all this fabulous work naturally the focus is on game preservation side of matters, Mister development is almost all console and arcade focused now when these lates 70s machines cannot be to complex.

TheVic20 really is a nice device. The difference over emulators, fpga etc is the presentation and an accurately laid out keyboard with all the graphic characters is what elevates it. I do have room for this and one of my real Vic 20's to be set up and love both. If you can find a TheVic20 I would also highly recommend. TheC64 is easier to get hold of and other than the look and built in games line up, is exactly the same and worth getting if you can't find a TheVic20.

the Commander X16 will have nice manuals like the original Commodores

Very informative, thank you for it!!! :-) Michael

I used to have a "TheC64 Mini" a while back, and while of course that means no real keyboard, even just the fact it was emulated meant it felt less authentic. It pushed me to get a real C64 from eBay though, so I have to thank it for that. Using the real hardware just feels far more authentic than an amulator, even if it's housed in a perfect recreation shell. But for the majority of people, I absolutely agree with you. These beauties are a perfect match. And I always love to tinker with things that run a Linux core!

Thanks Noel, another great video.

I had a VIC20 as my first computer and ofcourse back then it meant the world to me. Since I had a C64 I found it to be a underperforming dog and I don’t feel have any nostalgie towards it. I felt more nostalgie when earlier this year I bought an MSX2 that we had in school and I never owned :)

Commodore used several different cases for the original VIC-20. While THE VIC-20 may be thicker than your original VIC-20, it matches the thickness of some of the other VIC-20's Commodore sold.

One thing I would like to see them add support for or make an own machine out of is the Commodore 16 or Plus/4. Would be cool to have a "The C16" in a black breadbin case. Anyways, this looks like a very decent machine! If I didn't already have a VIC-20 and a C64, I would've been very tempted to buy one. I love that they went with the PET style keyboard! If a "The C16" would ever see the light of day, then I would most likely buy it since I don't have an original machine.

Great stuff! I own "The C64" which works fine in VIC-20 mode. I would actually prefer "The VIC-20", but they don't sell them in the USA. I enjoy mine just fine, but usually just use real hardware

I wish there was support for printing, maybe as a pdf saved to the usb drive. Printing from the Vic and the C64 was an unique experience and it would be cool to have a way to emulate that experience.

A C16/Plus 4 mode would have been a nice addition. The C-16 shares the form factor. And the Commodore 16/Plus 4 probably isn't a well known enough product to warrant a full release model.

I managed to find a VIC-20 on eBay in the "PET keyboard" version (2-pin power socket), plus the older datasette model + a few extensions (3K, 16K). The machine is in "like new" condition. Originally, the computer was simply intended to join my collection. I've never owned a VIC before, and the hardware specs don't look impressive compared to the C64. Nevertheless... I connected the SD2IEC, ran a number of demos and games and... I'm shocked! What you can get out of this equipment is amazing! And besides... an original is still... an original. Computers from that time have a "soul", each one is unique and unfortunately, IMHO, even the best emulator does not have it... Thanks for the great review anyway!

Oh nice it has C64 built in- I missed the run of the C64 maxi. I would miss the original keyboard but having said that I grew up with a C64C anyway so if I wanted an original experience would go with that. Cool it comes with a decent 🕹️

Got the 64 and loving it!

What an excellent review 👍🏻 probably the best made review I have seen of "the VIC20". Good balance between information, facts, and general use. As usual a joy to follow you channel, Thanks 😃

I am going to get a The C64. in a few weeks, I never had one I was a ZX Spectrum user, like the ZX the C64 had a keyboard that was only used by the machine. Emulation is the way to go now. Not many have displays that support old hardware.

20:05 10th Frame... What a game!

Great review. I never had a Commodore 64 (brother once had a Vic-20 though), but for me - I really wish someone would do this for the Amstrad CPC 6128. I'd love to get my hands on a "modern" 6128 that can do HD graphics, and load files off a USB drive - using a 6128 keyboard of course as most of the nostalgia is in the keyboard. It could be switchable between 464/6128. Proper retro machines off eBay are stupidly priced.

The (original) VIC 20 (germany: VC-20) is still missing in my small Commodore collection. Thanks for the comparison which helps me to the decide whether to go for the original (and expensive) or the recreation :-)

I have the C64 and managed to attach a floppy drive to it. Makes it even more retro.

Both the bread bin C64 and the VIC 20 came in different height cases. This is the same size as the taller ones of both designs.

ALL 6502-based devices are for me!

I had it in 81 or 82... in Germany it was called VC-20... VolksComputer 20 maybe in relation to Volkswagen... I remember putting my alarm clock to 5o in the morning... because the tape deck was so slow and I had to leave at 7o... so I could played maybe three rounds of Asteroids before school... LOL³ I still have a Competition Pro joystick WITHOUT micro switches but silver blades. MUCH BETTER and with some skills it could always be returned into shortest switch ways... when the rubber degraded... just some tape on the metal cylinder would make it fit again... and a simple piece of flat wood to screw it on would save your hands in demanding games.

I imported The VIC 20 because I couldn't get the C64. I really like it, and I can always switch between the C64 and VIC20 modes. The only thing I don't like, is that there's almost like.. a highlighter neon yellow sheen on the case under certain light.

fantastic video.

The user port probably could be easily emulated with the SoC GPIO mostly because the protocol is simple and a few protocols like serial it's natively supported by it, the main 2 problems are the emulator who would be tied to the SoC and the power level, 9V and more a than 100mA, which would fry the SoC

The lack of user ports puts me off. I've got both the Harlequin and the Element ZX computers, They both use original Specrum ROMs and Z80 CPU and are 128K with stereo AY sound. The Harlequin fits inside either the rubber keyboard case or the Spectrum+. And the Element fits inside the Spectrum +2/+2A/+2B case. They also have the edge connector which is 100% compatible with 80's add-ons as well as tape in/out.

VIC-20 in some form is on my list of systems I want to pick up. All I have for Commodore right now is a Plus/4. Oddly, for such a notoriously unreliable system, that was sold as not powering up at all, it works *perfectly*. I'm not sure what the sellers issue was, I can speculate but I really don't know.

I would love it if the people who made The VIC-20 and The C-64 would make their excellent keyboards available as a drop in replacement for the original hardware.

remember you can download updates for it from the retrogames website on a usb stick and formatted for FAT32 with MBR the updates will help with the input lag

Cool!! I had a C64, not the VIC20. So interesting. Doom showed the display in a little 8x8 area, requiring only 64 distinct characters to reprogram each frame. For those still pictures, on the other hand, it looks like it was taking advantage of the raster interrupts and quickly changing the color of something (background or character color) to draw out a "hires" picture with lots of colors that wouldn't normally be possible. However, the limited size of the picture on the screen in this case (I'm guessing) was the amount of RAM available, even with the expansion.

Great video Noel. And the 'proof of the pudding is in the eating'. There is no proof in the pudding. Agree, Vic 20 & C64 is just right. And a good keyboard means everything.

The VIC-20 mode should let you select RAM sizes and not default to the unexpanded VIC.

The VIC20 God Damn near cured me of EVER touching a computer ever again. Bought it used from a friend, had an audio recorder "hard drive" and a junk tube portable TV "display." Some time later I bought a used bleeding edge desktop, DOS 3. something, small amber display, and the rest was all downhill from there. I had a 29MB hard drive been added, and I found the receipt inside the machine. It was more than 2 grand (US) for the hard drive and controller!!! I think I paid 150US for the thing, 8 1/4 floppies 'n all!!!

Great overview, Noel. It's a shame, THEC64 (Maxi) and THEVIC20 never sold in Canada and the US. I would have liked THEVIC20 in my collection.

there is an open source project out there, forgot the name, that _is_ a _bare metal_ emulation of Commodore machines running on a specific raspberry Pi model, IIRC 3. It is a port of VICE to run bare metal on that device. Hypothetically that could be perfect, no hiccups due to the nature of undeterministic OS.

There were multiple variations of VIC20 cases. Including different heights and keyboards

I realize most people buying these types of machines are mostly interested in gaming, but I would be very interested in their ability to run BBS software. Packages like Ivory, CNet, Image, etc... it would be very interesting to see.

Great presentation. The Vic20 was my first computer. If I brought this machine, would I be able to use it as a lynux machine when I got bored of playing Vic20 games?

Sadly,the emulators I have had a go with were not useful for programming my own work and saving my own games on. So I went back to using my old machines. If I wanted an emulator ......there are plenty on android and for pc. The best innovational tech I ever found for my original machines was a scart output which allowed me to project my 1985 tech onto the wall of my house. My neighbours freaked when they saw me playing David Braben's ELITE in my back garden with the kids on a summer evening. >Looking forward to knocking up a silent fireworks display for nov5th.

I'd love to have the keyboard with the PET style font on the keys for my later model VIC 20 :) I used to have that on my very first one, but that got scrapped (hitting myself over the head for that now - note it was sprayed black, though... er...). I don't like the remake in FPGA, though (USB ports, urgh!) The only advantage is that the USB connection are less likely to go bad on the Joystick side of the connection... Oh! I also wouldn't mind having the charset with Euro Symbol, also for that key, instead of Pound for modern applications in NL/DE etc. ;-) Also, I appear to be missing the option to give it 3KB expansion from the main menu (multi VIC20 "base" models), 8, 16 or 24 KB with or without the 3KB and 8KB RAM in the section for the cartridge... (total: up to 35KB expansion) ?

Hi Noel, I just got my TheVIC20 #3820; I believe I see yours is #2589? I noticed the rubber feet look odd to me, tapering towards the case, and very smooth - are they installed upside down?

I love my C64c.

I got a Vic-20 in college. It was 1982. I decided to get a complete math degree in two semesters. I figured out a way to hook my tiny Vic-20 to the University Vac 4040(?) through my rotary phone. I finished a math degree in two semesters with a 3.95. What were you saying?

My 2nd computer was a VIC-20, err the Original one, lol (First was a ZX-81) Then a Commodore 64, Commodore 128 (I still have this) and then Amiga(s). PC's these days, not a Windows user though. That OS is vile to me.

Where did you find the finale-pal.d64 image, I have looked all over for it.

I got my own copy of your "BASIC benchmark results" and tried to sort the platforms by Time but couldn't. I'm not an expert at spreadsheet but I think the actual data is missing. Am I right ?

Pi 400 should put an end to other forms of emulation, pretty much do it all at a very attractive price. Yes you miss the form factor, more than offset by current usability and as you said reliability. The one you should watch is the new steam handheld, it is an open echosystem and has the power to emulate every machine you own all while slipping into a pocket. I beliveve what people really miss about the old games is how very playable they were. They were play tested for enjoyment. So many new games are pretty graphics and mash a button. That said, hats off to MS flight 20, a feat our past could not darred dream of.

Blitz is a better version of Blitzkrieg and was a firm favourite of my father in his 40’s. As for older retro computers, I would like a mini Amstrad CPC464 as the Speccy has been done to death.

I really don't know what happened but this video has a lot of artifacts in it, other than that great video as always.

Is it possible to put an original C64 or Vic-20 Motherboard/Keyboard inside one of those cases? Obviously, cutting the space for the userport, etc.