Commodore 64 returns with FPGA-powered remake, coming this fall starting at $299

[Daniel Sims]

TL;DR: The Commodore 64, the world's top-selling personal computer, has received revival clones before, but a new undertaking from Commodore International's new owners feature hardware emulation with 99% accuracy. The upcoming HDMI-enabled model uses the same technology behind Analogue's well-regarded retro consoles.

A crowdfunding campaign is now live for a modern clone of Commodore's iconic 1982 home computer. The newly revived company promises to combine near-perfect retro hardware accuracy with support for modern inputs.

Although the images on Commodore's campaign are preview renders, the company has a clear vision of what the Commodore 64 Ultimate will include later this year. At its core lies an AMD Xilinx Artix-7 FPGA processor, which supports over 10,000 C64 games.

Check out TechSpot's retro feature:
The Commodore Story: Gone But Not Forgotten

FPGAs (Field programmable gate arrays) are chips that allow developers to reconfigure their circuits for various tasks, making them ideal for replicating vintage hardware. Previous FPGA-based clones of systems such as the NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy Advance have earned praise for delivering highly accurate emulation with low power consumption.

The FPGA-powered Commodore will support cartridges, datasettes, disk drives, and CRT displays for users seeking an authentic retro experience. It also outputs up to 1080p at 60Hz through HDMI and includes Wi-Fi and USB connectivity.

A bundled USB "cassette" will offer a selection of games, demos, music, and an all-new sequel to Jupiter Lander. Support for C64 OS is coming soon.

Although Commodore International is officially behind the crowdfunding campaign, the team leading the effort is almost entirely new. Retro gaming YouTuber Christian "Retro Recipes" Simpson acquired the company and 47 of its trademarks late last month. He has pledged to revive the brand with a mix of retro and modern products. Al Charpentier, one of the original C64 designers, is serving as a technical advisor.

Also see: GPUs vs. FPGAs: What's the Difference?

The company expects to begin shipping the Commodore 64 Ultimate in October or November 2025. The standard price is $349, but early supporters can save $50 through a limited-time promotion.

Other developers are also planning to revive classic gaming devices using FPGA technology.

Analogue, which has previously used FPGA to recreate the NES, Super NES, Sega Genesis, TurboGrafx, and Game Boy Advance, will open preorders for the Analogue 3D on October 21. The new console plays Nintendo 64 games in 4K. Meanwhile, tinkerer Taki Udon is developing an FPGA-based PlayStation clone, and engineer Piotr "Osa" Ostapowicz is working on an enhanced version of the Atari using the same approach.

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Commodore 64 returns with FPGA-powered remake, coming this fall starting at $299

 

[Kashim]

Oh yeah, I'm sure there are a total of five guys out there looking forward to throwing away $300 on this nonsense. You can run a Commodore emulator for free on just about any device you can imagine, phone, tablet, handheld console, computer, etc. But yes, let's pay $300 for something you'll probably use for a couple of days and then the novelty and nostalgia will wear off, at which point it will be collecting dust.

PS. - They should release a $300 Atari 2600 next, these geniuses.

 

[SRB]

Oh yeah, I'm sure there are a total of five guys out there looking forward to throwing away $300 on this nonsense. You can run a Commodore emulator for free on just about any device you can imagine, phone, tablet, handheld console, computer, etc. But yes, let's pay $300 for something you'll probably use for a couple of days and then the novelty and nostalgia will wear off, at which point it will be collecting dust.

PS. - They should release a $300 Atari 2600 next, these geniuses.

There is something to be said to a device that supports the cartridges, floppy drive and what not. I'd be interested if I didn't still have my C=128 and all of my disks and a few cartridges. What can I say, I have an 1980 seperates stereo, turntable, Amiga 4000, AMD Windows 7 and Pentium Win95 PCs kicking around that I enjoy frining up and playing some old games on.

By learning all of the older machines, it helped me immensely when working on the newer systems and OSs. Needless to say, I've never bought a pre built x86 desktop in my life.

 

[amghwk]

Just use an emulator. Runs perfectly in even modest systems. Emulation level is 99.99% complete. C64 cassette images and disk images are available abundantly online.

For sure, this unit maybe using the same emulators.

 

[The Ghump]

"Promising 99% accuracy with over 10,000 games - too good to be true?"

Since the total list of every single C=64 game ever made has 5668 titles on it, I will say... probably?

 

[HardReset]

"Promising 99% accuracy with over 10,000 games - too good to be true?"

Since the total list of every single C=64 game ever made has 5668 titles on it, I will say... probably?

That number is missing many games that were not standalone commercial games. There were huge amount of semi commercial games (sold with magazine or just subscription based floppies) and compilations of not so well games that had their own merits.

 

[takaozo]

10K games...

LOAD"*",8,1

 

[Thrackerzod]

This seems like a really stupid waste of $300 to me. You can emulate a C64 perfectly fine on any device these days and if you want the real experience you can buy an actual C64 and a flash cart for a fraction of that price.