A couple of years ago Retro Games released TheC64 mini. Basically a little C64 without a working keyboard. It was a lot of fun, especially playing some of the built-in games and of course adding some old favorites.
For Christmas this year Retro Games released TheC64 ‘Maxi’, basically a full-size C64 lookalike with a new microswitch joystick, more USB ports, and a fully working keyboard.
So what are the benefits of TheC64 ‘Maxi’?
Well for starters Retro Games has overcome the biggest problem from the mini, this being the full-size working keyboard which feels pretty close to an original C64. With the special PETasic keyboard symbols on the front and all keys mapped correctly.
Next, the joystick, and yes you will see many people online who are not at all happy with the new joystick but for me, this is a great improvement. This time they have created a joystick with microswitches. Some users have mentioned that the joystick is a little stiff to use but I expect that this will change with time, just like those on arcade cabinets.
Thirdly, more USB ports. While three would be great, one for a USB stick (extra programs) and two for joysticks but a forth has been added for those who rather use an external modern keyboard.
Lastly, something that I have really enjoyed in recent weeks is the VIC-20 mode. See long before the C64 the VIC-20 was Commodore’s first truly home computer, with all of its 5k of memory, single joystick and the ability to write your own programs. My first computer was a VIC-20 so I have a real soft spot for these wonderful little machines, and I can remember the hundreds of hours of enjoyment I had playing games and writing them back in 1981.
So with a working keyboard, there was only one thing left to do and that was to fire up a good old text adventure, so I grab an old D64 image for one I wrote way back in 1986 called ‘Ship Wrecked’ and see whether I could remember how to play it.
Ship Wrecked, release in 1986
Sunken Treasure, release 1984
Then after some texting, I got stuck into playing a few of my old favorites like HERO, and PITFALL and of course the builtin VIC-20 version of Gridrunner.
All in all a great retro experience, plug the micro USB power cable, HDMI and that’s it.