I passed on the recent nintendo retro consoles because this is the one i grew up with and I've been waiting for it. I have no idea of stock levels but might be worth getting in quick.
It's at jb also
https://www.jbhifi.com.au/games-consoles/games/gaming-consol…
A list of games (gotta love the artwork)
https://thec64.com/games/
I had an Apple IIe when I was 8. Very naively tried to write a crappy computer game in Apple Basic. (My brilliant idea at that age was to add a UFO to a ship and submarine game so you could have 3 players). Even back then I knew to create a backup on the fancy 5.25 inch floppies. Well a mouse managed to poop in the drive and cause it to wipe any disk put in, even with the write tab covered. So when my main disk didn't work I put in my write protected backup and poof a few weeks of work were gone. Only worked out what happened when I turned the disk drive front down and mouse poop pellets fell out. The drive actually worked okay after that. I wish I was making this up. Put me off writing software for a good year or two. I was devastated as any 8 year old with a cushy life and no sense of how harsh the world is would be losing a few weeks of work.
Ah! the old mouse poop in the disk drive error. We've all had that one.
Early frustrations with BASIC for c64 turned me off coding forever. I wish I'd stuck with it, being able to program would have come in handy over the years.
By the way, your story doesn't actually warrant a "minus" on this deal.
Edit: read your comment regarding the RRP and not a bargain later on.
Ah yes. I remember opening up 5.25 floppies to physically clean dirt off them, then putting them in a new cover so I could recover the data…. Never saw one with mouse poop over it though.
I meant the floppy disk drive, not the disk itself.
WOW! to have a ][e in those days you had to had come from a privileged family, I'm surprise you had a "dirty" mouse infested house - just sayin'
Not privileged. But it did cause some arguments between my parents. Could have bought a nice 2nd hand car for what they paid. In hindsight it was a mistake asking for it. The Mac had just come out and the salesman was dumping his old stock pushing the education angle. A year or so later, Grace Brothers (now called Myer in NSW too) stopped selling Apple software as Apple decided to sell direct. So I was no longer able to buy software without a 3 hour round trip drive on a Saturday. Never been an Apple fan since. Acquiesced about a decade ago and bought iPods for me and my wife, and that experience only re-affirmed my feelings. I guess I learned not to let marketing sway me but man was that an expensive lesson for my parents.
And mice live everywhere dude. You don't need to be poor and it doesn't need to be dirty. You just have to own a house in a locality where there are lots of mice. The rich just pretend mice don't exist in their home, and have the help deal with it discretely.
I've still got my old disk punch somewhere. When 5 1/2 inch disks come back all these young kids will think I'm a magician by making mine double sided!
We just used a regular hole punch.
lol….at least you could copy the games quickly.
my mate got one of these for xmas and we could copy tapes using the high speed dubbing feature… early piracy!
I actually sold a 10 or so copied cassettes of VZ200 games (I kept originals) to a Federal Policeman who rolled up in a Beige XF Falcon (unmarked cop car!)
He said they were for his nephew! - unprivellaged household or Else I would have had an Apple ][ :)
More like a Mac.
You mind explaining what "Tape" is to the new generation born after the 80's? Lol..
Think of it like an old school modem or even fax machine, you know that squeal and squark sound ? that's data. You recorded it to tape, actual cassette tape. When you wanted to load something, you played it back .. i had one on my C64, it was amazing :) I graduated to a 5 1/4" FDD on my C64 then to an Amiga 1000 with a 3.5"FDD, now that WAS a revelation :)
The Amiga was for the rich kids back in the day. My neighbour had one, and my first ever experience with computer pr0n was some sort of early GIF file that took 20 minutes to load… Now THAT was a revelation!
Lol. I know what it is (I'm a 70 and 80's kid). More for the younger audience here. Haha
Actually I used to find that the Fast Loaders on the tape would be far quicker than loading from floppy disk. That disk drive was atrociously slow.
Ahh yes, the SX-64. Legendary piece of kit. I'll have to drag mine out and give it a run one day soon.
Make it run to me :)
@bargainparker: Ha. No sorry, it's an absolute keeper. Still available on eBay & Gummie from time-to-time but you probably wont see much change out of $1000 (or more!) for one in very good condition and with its original keyboard cable (rare!). I've had a few over the years… starting out with an OK-ish one but then eventually bought & sold whenever I saw better ones appear and now have a
minty one. I stopped searching years ago as I'm happy with the nice one I have however to find one with its original box & packaging would be the holy grail of C-64 collecting. Drool.
Azimuth head alignment tape and micro screw driver is your friend. Well kind of a friend when it actually worked.
that & the isopropyl alcohol (or metho if you were poor/in the bush)
“Note: The keyboard keys are non-functional”
…but you can plug in a USB keyboard and it becomes an (ancient) general purpose computer.
Adds to the authentic 80s experience. Pretend you bought a broken one, and your parents don't have time to take you back to exchange it.
How are you meant to load games without typing "Load *" (I think that's what you typed from memory).
It boots into a NES-Mini-style menu system, where you can select the games, which will then autoload. One of the options is to reset to BASIC, where, with the aid of a USB keyboard, you can write your own programs in BASIC, although as far as I know, there's no way to save your work, or load in external programs/ROMS via and SD card or USB, although I'm sure smart hackers will work it out soon enough, just like the NES/SNES Mini. I think it does have a save/load snapshot feature though for the built-in games.
Oh, and it was LOAD"*",8,1
:)
How to save your BASIC programs.
1. Buy a real C64.
2. Load as normal.
3. ???
4. Profit.
^^^^
See what I did there? Retro joke for a retro "console".
AC Adapter NOT included
No Yi ar Kung fu? Space taxi??
Or last ninja, wizball, great escape hopefully you can add games afterwards somehow if then i might purchase one.
Last ninja definitely was THE game that pushed the C64 to its limits.
Last Ninja 3 to be more precise
@rodripa: Yep, LN3 was a beautiful game, probably one of the best looking games on the C64, but it was let down a bit by the combat and bad puzzles. The fighting was as clunky as it ever was, they just ramped up the difficulty by making the knocked-out enemies come back to life way too quickly. The game just became about how to jump past everyone without fighting, which is boring. I wish there was a blocking move that would leave the enemy open for an attack, and a better 'hurt' animation so the fights didn't just look like two dudes punching and kicking through each other.
Test drive for graphics.
sound - anything by Rob Hubbard Or Martin Galway
No Ikari Warriors or International Karate + either.
I LOVED both of those games!
Yeha..seems like a lot of good games are missing.. i'll stick to my emu's thanks..
Yeah, I'm sure that tracking down who actually owns the rights to some of these games is nearly impossible these days (especially for things like movie license tie-ins and arcade/console conversions), but I would have loved for it to have included more must-have classics such as:
Chomper Man?
Rick Dangerous!!!
Spy Hunter & River Raid!
Wow, The Way of the Exploding Fist was awesome.
It was also a locally developed title too (Melbourne House).
All excellent games which I also had back in the day. A few missing tho cos the c64 had so many great games released for it for so long.
A few more to add would be Turbo Charge, Target Renegade, Retrograde, Zamzara, Maniac Mansion, Armalayte, Microprose Soccer, Racing Destruction Set, Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Vendetta and Yusagi Yujimbo Samurai Warrior.
There were so many it's not funny.
Seems like they licensed from Epyx, Gremlin, Thalamus, and Hewson.
Notably, US Gold, Ocean Software, and System 3 games aren't there. I remember US Gold and Ocean Software were pretty big at the time.
10 PRINT "This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!"
20 GOTO 10
RUN
Perfect.
C64 BASIC hello world for brats of the 1980s ;-)
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
This shop sucks and this computer sucks. Don't buy it!
Looks like you ran out of memory.
Store manager caught him and yelled at him.
how could that simple loop run out of memory, its not allocating anything ?
This is the RRP, not a bargain.
Yes, that's why it was posted on OzRRP
Checks URL bar
Oh my mistake, I thought surely this must have been OzRRP given that this is the retail price.
I was waiting for someone to mention this.
Too many geeks reliving their childhood.
Exactly right… RRP, not a bargain (as much as it's a nice trip down memory lane).
"AC Adapter NOT included"
Seriously?
Yeah, costs of getting AC Adapters certified everywhere is just too prohibitive.
Same for all the nintendo ranges. Cheaper to get them to market on "universal" 5v power supplies as no need for certification. Provide you own power adaptor and no need to get certified.
Declared items are a pain the arse.
I am sure it will just be like the Nes mini where you just get power from a usb socket on your tv.
Negging the deal. I honestly don't know if at $150 with a non-functional keyboard I'd call this a bargain. This appears to be RRP and a pre-order.
Waiting for the Dick Smith VZ200 retro console…
I have Rolf Harris Painting on cassette, I wonder if it's now a collectors item….
Do some touching up with Rolf …
Its as much a collectors item as one of Jimmy Savile's track suits😉
Wow… Load"$",8,1 did that do anything? Probably disc contents I think, been so long O.o
LOAD "$"",8 - that gave a directory listing
LOAD "*",8,1 - loaded the first executable if it was an assembly program, or for Basic programs you could drop the ,1
Still have my C64 setup with an Ultimate 64 - put your money towards those if you want a real C64 experience
Ah I see, cheers :-)
Obligatory it's cheaper to do it on a Raspberry Pi which also emulates a bunch of other systems post.
I know this will bring memories to some, but I tried going back to my old trusty Amiga which I grew up on and had fond memories of it.
Well ugghhh no the graphics looked crap and interface look oh so 80's, but in my mind, it was the best thing since sliced bread.
Leave the retro were it belongs in history!
mixo
Haha yes!
And while we’re back in 1988, Double Dragon was the best game at the Pinnies. Fast forward to 2010 and a mate built a stand up arcade emulator. I nearly lost my shit when he said he had Double Dragon. The graphics were so… 80s. Agreed. Keep the past in the past.
Old games and old movies. I've ruined some good movies rewatching them.
64k or only 38911 bytes free?
READY.
>
READY.
LOAD
PRESS PLAY ON TAPE
OK
SEARCHING
FOUND JUMPING JACK
LOADING
?LOAD ERROR
READY.
RUN
READY.
RUN
READY.
RUN
It's probably a $20 pi zero inside a big case with a 4Gb card. You guys need to stop upvoting RRP bullshit that will have no resale value (which was the main reason for the NES limited manufacturing).
You could do better with a Pi but finding a case like this is hard.
Not when the keyboard doesnt work. Just a plastic mold. Or print your own these day..
That's spinning it into a lot of work and why these kind of things exist. Most people don't have a 3d printer let alone the capability to print something like this.
@Clear: true. However, does the cost of a molded plastic computer cost $130 (on top of a $20 pi zero)? These are mass produced, so probably only going to cost 5-10 RMB to produce in China.
@bchliu: Correct. Fingers crossed the factories see this new console and start pumping out their own.
Probably find a broken C64 keyboard to put Pi inside.
Was going to say exactly the same thing.
@syousef: Which is next to impossible. I've yet to see an alternative the same as this… because there are none.
@Clear: there's been heaps of projects to stick a pi into an olds C64 case with working keyboard. Here's one:
https://medium.com/@dionoid/building-a-c64-pi-8cb6276031a3
Yeah… Nah. It's probably junk. How big would the damn pixels be?
Hmmm, it looks you are able to add more games to this so it may be worthwhile although I don't think supply will be limited so you could probably get it for a better price once the initial hype has died down.
I'm buying one because I'm keeping up with the commodore. And because the commodore is keeping up with me.
I just sang it out loud and I didn't even have one (had an Amstrad and an Amiga though)… thankyou.
Edit: actually I even just played the theme on my Uke… I think its C, G, F, G, C progression :)
how are you going to buy one of these if you are bankrupt like commodore ?
cool…now i can relive waiting 20 minutes for a game to load from tape only to have it crash at 19min45sec!