C64 Mini Review - Rerez

there are a lot of companies out there taking old video game systems and turning them into brand new plug-and-play systems that utilize modern technology to connect to your new television and right now there's a bunch of other companies attempting to do other things with other devices from the past that could work on your TV and one of those devices is the Commodore 64 and the folks behind the Commodore 64 mini just sent this in how does it work should you get one well let's find out the Commodore 64 or c64 for short was a personal computer that was released in the early 80s for many consumers at the time this became their very first computer due to its cheap price point and wide availability it quickly became a market leader having sold somewhere over 12 million units and at the time period there really wasn't a lot of people that wanted home computers in their house so that was a pretty amazing feat while there was a lot of software made for the Commodore 64 that dealt with productivity like taxes and text files and stuff like that there's no doubt in my mind that the majority of you out there that know what the c64 is know what for one reason only and that reason is gaming nobody can give you an exact number for how many pieces of software release for the Commodore 64 and commercially we can only assume that was above a thousand but when it came to the homebrew scene in people making games in their basements well it could mean that the number is likely a lot higher and because of that it makes perfect sense to me that somebody out there would want to release a brand-new version of the Commodore 64 for your modern TV and that's exactly what this is meet the Commodore 64 many in this box you get a miniaturized Commodore 64 unfortunately though this commodore 64 doesn't actually have a real working keyboard what you're seeing on here is simply just for show it's made of hard plastic and isn't functional at all instead what you get to control the system is a joystick the styled in the classic competition Pro c64 joystick that you may have also seen on amiga systems but this kind of has a couple of extra buttons that we'll get into a little bit later the controller plugs up to one of two USB ports on the side of the c64 Mini leaving a secondary port free for an additional joystick or if you like plugging in a keyboard which will become very useful with the other features that this thing has built into it there are no analog out options on the c64 mini instead you have an H DMI out that goes to a resolution of 720p complete in the box you'll get a c64 mini the c64 joystick an HDMI cable an instruction manual and a USB power cable but you will not get a USB power adapter what you're gonna need to do is find a secondary one probably lying around your house or plug it up directly to your TV because nowadays most TVs have USB power built into them it's unfortunate that the power adapter isn't included but nowadays this is just becoming the norm but what is nice to see is that this system comes with 64 games pre-built into the system this means that the moment you buy it and bring it home you're gonna be able to play these games right from the get-go as soon as you turn on the system for the very first time you'll be greeted to some very cool music and a screen that allows you to choose what language you want the system be playing in once you've chosen your language you'll get straight to the games from here you can choose any of the built-in games you want to play each game has a description with its title the author the composer's a genre a nice high-quality screen shot and you'll also see the game's original box art at the bottom of the game selection menu you'll find three option settings the first one is for display so that you can pick a different display setting including a CRT mode so that you can get the system to look exactly like it did on an original CRT screen the other options include the ability to factory reset the system change some settings on the USB keyboard and also update the firmware you're primarily dealing with some fairly light options here but realistically this is just a plug-and-play system so it doesn't need to have the world inside of its option settings but one thing that I did find was lacking was the ability to put in your own software now this does come with a fully functional version of c64 basic from here you can write lines of code utilizing the joystick by using an on-screen virtual keyboard now personally I don't recommend that because if you're really driven enough if you want to do any typing at all i heavily recommend plugging in a generic USB keyboard but even then there's really not much you can do with basic and although you could code something you realistically can't do anything with it once it's coded the best you can really do is just write something down and then press the safe state function on the controller now what this does is it gives you the ability to save state anywhere at any time playing anything on the system and while I can assume a couple of you out there do have the ability to code your own Commodore 64 games the majority of you likely can't there was an update to the c64 frame where that was really easy to utilize once you installed it you were capable of accessing a whole bunch of external software that you would load onto a USB stick unfortunately though dependent on how familiar you are with the c64 some of the software might not run the right way in some cases you might have to switch disks in other cases you'll have to use a keyboard and not everything work with the joystick when we try so it's a little bit of a hit and miss scenario but realistically that's basically what you're gonna be expecting running such old software but it definitely isn't the easiest experience and when it comes to a plug-and-play system like this well easy really should be the name of the game so in my opinion if you're looking at picking up a c64 Mini it's got to be about the games that are pre-installed and what do you get well let's take a closer look of the 64 games pre-built into the system the majority of them really only use one button and the joystick the rest of the buttons on the joystick typically don't get used that much and the bottom ones at the very base of the joystick those really tiny ones there are really only used to exit games in save and load States the limited controller input options was very common for Commodore 64 games this forced developers at the time to be incredibly creative with the way that you would control games this means a title like pitstop 2 would use one of the buttons to accelerate and then the joystick moving left and right would move your vehicle left and right but at the same time you would have to switch gears with up or down while that might not sound difficult when you're taking a turn and you have to switch gears it suddenly becomes a big problem up until the end of the Commodore 64's lifespan in the 90s there were still games being produced with this limitation in mind so a game like nah be the aardvark which has an amazing visual style for its time has some issues when you try to play it like any traditional platforming game you have to move your character around and jump to places so when you want to move around you move left and right but when you need to jump you have to push up now this is a big issue the button that they use for this game is regulated to firing things so when you need to jump you need to kind of master the up move and left move really quick in a certain specific way or you just won't make the jump at all this is a very difficult thing to master through practice I feel a lot of modern gamers out there will be able to figure it out but I think a lot of folks out there are going to be really frustrated with it but that's kind of okay that's sort of what the Commodore 64 is all about it really wasn't the most polished video game system in the world because it really wasn't supposed to be a video game system the games you'll find on here are very much adventures in game making these game developers were just exploring new ways to develop games with new ideas and methods that had never been done before for instance you'll find a game like netherworld a late 80s game that makes use of some really cool animations and a really interesting free-flowing dynamic see most games like this that featured any kind of ship moving around in free space usually had a ship moving forward and never moving backwards but with this you're exploring a maze in space that's really different this game was ported to multiple different systems but it originated on the Commodore 64 you'll also find monte on the run which is a hard as nails platforming game that believe me looks easy but it's incredibly unforgiving every screen of this game is almost like a puzzle forcing you to really think about what your next move is gonna be because if you do anything wrong it's gonna punish you but what makes this game so remarkable is that many people consider the main game theme to be the best music ever produced on the commodore 64 and if you're a fan of commodore 64 music well you might just agree to other games will find on the system our jump man 1 and jump man 2 now these games kind of look easy but they're really not they try to mess with you at every moment and it can actually be really fun to play them and every time you clear a screen you'll feel like you're the king of the world there are plenty of games on the system that are visually impressive for their time period but unfortunately I really wouldn't recommend playing them as games although they look great they just don't really play that well and sometimes you'll find a game that doesn't look very good but is really fun to play and one of those games would be boulder - all you need to do in this game is collect every single gem you see on the screen get to the exit and don't get crushed by boulders it seems simple but that's what makes it so fun you've got plenty of screens to go through and a lot of fun to be had this game was released on tons of different platforms in the Commodore sixty-four version is just as fun as any of them are and maybe when you're done playing that you can try out breakdance it's a game it's on the system and that's all you need to know now maybe some of these games you've seen so far might seem a little bit too basic for you but there are some games on here that are actually pretty complex and deep like gateway to apps I now this game is just really visually basic but you do have a stat system on here in the game you're exploring an underground labyrinth finding treasure unlocking doors and attacking monsters but one thing you need to keep in mind with this game is you're likely gonna need a keyboard it makes switching between your inventory faster you're not gonna really be getting a deep story here but some of you might have a lot of fun playing it because it's kind of like Skyrim if Skyrim was made on the Commodore 64 and it was in 2d a game I was really happy to see on this system was chips challenge now this is probably one of the best puzzle games you're gonna find on the c64 mini and it's also a game that many of you older PC gamers may remember having been released on dos and windows because of the simplified controls in this game it's so easy to play on the c64 that it actually ends up being a pretty enjoyable experience in each stage what you're doing is looking to collect every single microchip you can find and once you found all of them a door unlocks that allows you to go to the next stage there's also a bunch of items you can find that get you through certain obstacles but the way that the game is set up it kind of teaches you everything as you go along you'll find a lot of other puzzle games on the system including games like deflector which is good in its own right but chips challenge really stands out as being one of the best that the system has to offer another game will find on the system that in my opinion is one of the better platformer games is tower topler now this almost feels like a puzzle game because you're essentially trying to get through the top of every single tower but it does control more like a platformer than anything else and because the way it was designed its controls aren't really that bad this game was available on multiple platforms including the Game Boy it went by the name castilian or nebulous but on the c64 it's probably one of the best versions that exists the console is loaded with tons of other games that were available on the c64 way back in the day a whole bunch of games from epics like the street sports series or even the game series like our games in winter games he will also find things like speed ball and speed ball - which are all very fun games in their own right some of them even have great multiplayer components that are really fun to play with friends even to this day but the c64 Mini is definitely not for everyone if you're gonna be picking up this system because you really like the PC from way back in the day well you're probably gonna enjoy this and for anyone out there that has never played a c64 I would definitely recommend trying this all you need to keep in mind is that you're gonna be dealing with graphics that look like this and controls that can be a little bit frustrating at times but if you're a big enough fan of video games and you're looking for something that you're likely never gonna find anywhere else well the c64 Mini might just be for you the Commodore 64 platform is so old that the majority of gamers back then that actually used to play this as kids probably have kids themselves and what's so interesting about this thing is that it's so easy to plug up to your modern televisions so that you can show your kids what games used to look like back when you're younger but even then if you're just looking at something for nostalgic purposes I think this is something that's really fun to play for any gamer out there

Channel: Rerez

Views: 134,484

Keywords: Rerez, Video, Games, Shane, Luis, Gaming, Gamers, Reviews, Review, C64, Comodore 64, commodore 64, c64 mini, the c64 mini, commodore, commodore 64 mini, retro, pc

Id: a6at-CaPj4I

Length: 12min 11sec (731 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 18 2018