A lot of people over 30 will probably name a Commodore as the first computer they ever used. Whether it was your first computer game or first program in BASIC, Commodore led an entire generation to a life-long career in the tech industry.
The Commodore Story: Gone but Not Forgotten
- Thread starter midian182
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TomSEA
Posts: 3,372 +2,238
Great article. I loved my Commodore then Amiga. Both very instrumental in influencing my IT training/background. And most responsible for adopting computer gaming as a major component of my recreational activities.
YES!!! You listened ;-) Amiga 1000 and 2500! I still have the 2500, though I haven't turned it on in a few years, it worked the last time I did...my son was "blown" away that a computer that old could "talk" ;-)
Vulcanproject
Posts: 1,699 +3,210
C64 and Amiga are icons, especially in Europe and the UK. The Amiga in particular was pretty spectacular for the time for games, as the article outlines. Popular consoles didn't get near it for several years until the advent of the 32 bit era.
There is a very nice book in my collection by a small British publisher called Fusion Retro Books. The story of the Commodore Amiga in Pixels. It's currently on kickstarter for a reprint run and worth a look if you're interested. If nothing else you get a really nice put together retro product, coffee table material.
There is a very nice book in my collection by a small British publisher called Fusion Retro Books. The story of the Commodore Amiga in Pixels. It's currently on kickstarter for a reprint run and worth a look if you're interested. If nothing else you get a really nice put together retro product, coffee table material.
Squid Surprise
Posts: 5,602 +5,233
I had a VIC-20... used to play on it all the time... still have it, but it hasn't aged well I'm afraid...
Played hours on my Commodore 64 - EPYX Winter and Summer Games were my favourites...
Played hours on my Commodore 64 - EPYX Winter and Summer Games were my favourites...
C64 was our first computer. Lode Runner, Choplifter, Jumpman, Beachead, Ultima III, typing in BASIC games from Compute magazine. Old skool microcomputing.
psycros
Posts: 4,788 +7,391
Jack Trameil took "vendetta" to a new level. The ST series matched the Amiga in every way, which was a tall order, but never proved as popular. Commodore's computer heritage was just stronger than Atari's. What amazes me is how Atari basically thought consoles were dead and pretty much gave up after the 5200, then tried to play catch-up with the Jaguar during Japan's console invasion. A case study in mismanagement.
doomworm
Posts: 28 +34
Oh man Winter and Summer Games! So many sleep overs with friends playing those and California Games, Skate or Die, Karateka. Good times.
TI994a was my first. Man, that was a long time ago. Didn't William Shatner do the commercials for the VIC-20? Everyone fighting for dominance before the PC jr arrived and dominated. When Radio Shack was more than a place you went for batteries and speaker wire.
fadingfool
Posts: 332 +416
We had a Ti 99/4 (not the 4a) with it's chiclet keyboard. Wasn't always compatible with the later cartridge games (e.g. couldn't get Parsec to work) - still remember typing "OLDCS1" - to get games to load from cassette
Did get a commodore 64 later (around 86 IIRC) but that was after getting an Amstrad CPC 464 (never had a Spectrum 48K - the other big 8bit in the UK at the time and whilst the BBC B was famous it was always too expensive and never seemed to have deals though we did get an Electron when they were being sold off cheap).
Commodore was great for sprite based and scrolling games but the Amstrad was a lot better at vector graphics (not having to use the family TV was a boon as well - Alan Sugar's everything on one plug philosophy did have some advantages).
Each machine was individual in capabilities whilst these days everything seems so generic - I sit here with an Alienware area 51 as my main computer, 3 laptops of various vintage (1 on lubuntu), PS4 pro and a HTPC and they are all very capable but also so samey....
As an owner of a C64 which I use almost every day it's not gone yet. As someone said about the 8bit guy, I would like to point you towards retro recipes channel on YouTube for commodore as well as other retro systems.
It did match up for a short period owing to the raw CPU power of the 68000 and the MIDI interface used by musicians (genius move, to be fair). However it had no leading edge custom graphics/sound chips and after a few years got completely overwhelmed by quality Amiga titles from software houses that mastered the hardware. Fine machine at a very cheap price, typical Tramiel product. Agreed, mis-management on an epic scale! I don't think many people realise now how big Commodore were back then, multi-billion $ company in the 1980s!
I dearly wish they'd listened to the engineers and the market and got the C65 out years earlier, when it was relevant, instead of the C128 (which am fond of, admittedly) and those dreadful C16 and Plus 4 abominations. I'd have bought that at the time, instead of migrating to the Mega Drive as the C64 was dying off. Could have saved the company with a massive cash injection. Even the Amiga's launch was botched, it only survived because it was so amazing.
Uncle Al
Posts: 10,185 +9,656
The C-64 was a great machine and a serious competitor to the Apple, Apple ][ and Apple ][e. It's only drawback was it's lack of ability to grow, but still ... a great machine.
Eh? Apart from having built in MIDI ports ST was outperformed in every area.
Commodore's mismanagement was probably the only thing outperformed by Atari.
bexwhitt
Posts: 662 +397
Have you left the original battery in it, they leak all over the board and do serious damage?
He did indeed! Hilarious and marketing genius. I think Shatner actually owned a Commodore Pet at one time. My first computer was a Vic, in fact I still have it and it still works as good as it did back then! Add a penultimate cartridge and you have 32K and some of the best cartridge games from that time. There are some homebrew games made in the last few years which are remarkable (remake of Berzerk with speech, Frogger and even Atkanoid! )
I find it amazing how the C64 and Amigas still have a huge following across the world. They do have a distinct character that is missing from all the computer and console clones of today. It's possible to squeeze every last drop of performance out of them with the techniques learnt over many decades and there's a certain level of achievement in this that's not possible with all the latest hardware where the goal posts are constantly shifting.Considering the lack of dev tools and time back then, some of the games created were works of genius. Some programmers were designing their games with graph paper and a pencil ! (aka "Manic Miner" - Mathew Smith ! )
I remember coding in machine code using a "Action Replay" cartridge, to create multi-plexed sprites, parallax scrolling etc. and having to work out the memory addresses for JSR routines (no labels as in a assembler). Crazy exhausting...
Just didn't have access to tools initially and not much money... Assembler cartridges were expensive and not easy to get hold of.
It did encourage more upfront planning though
I remember coding in machine code using a "Action Replay" cartridge, to create multi-plexed sprites, parallax scrolling etc. and having to work out the memory addresses for JSR routines (no labels as in a assembler). Crazy exhausting...
Just didn't have access to tools initially and not much money... Assembler cartridges were expensive and not easy to get hold of.
It did encourage more upfront planning though
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Kandygrrl
Posts: 9 +10
I still have two working c64's myself. I don't use them daily, but they are fun to pull out every once in awhile for a nostalgic game night!
MaxSmarties
Posts: 559 +326
I had a Vic-20, a C-64 and an Amiga 500 before jumping ship to PC... great memories.
I currently have three breadboxes, one functional, one Ultimate with the chips pulled from two DOA breadboxes, a 1701, and a 128. Three floppy drives and the collection with WinVICE rounds things out. Oh, and a ton of floppies containing precious files and memories.
I wished I had held onto my Panasonic KX-P1191 though. That was one heck of a printer.
I wished I had held onto my Panasonic KX-P1191 though. That was one heck of a printer.
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