So, here's a question. I own an Ultimate 64 Elite with two 6581 SID chips installed, and an Ultimate 1541 II which I use in conjunction with my Commodore C128D-Cr, CMD RAMLink, SuperCPU and FD4000. I also own a C64GS, two SX-64s, some other C128Ds, and several variants of the C64 and C64c. Surely I wouldn't have a use for THEC64, would I? Not that thing with the broken joystick according to some people on the Internets.
Well, if you're talking about THEC64 Mini, no, not really. The most use I get out of my Mini units is for some testing occasionally for Retro Games Ltd. Although it's smallness is useful sometimes in the communal living room (say if I want to give Soulless published by Psytronik Software a few hours of my time, or any of the other carousel games for that matter). It's great that it works on modern-days TVs too. If I wanted to, I could take this anywhere pretty easily, and for extra software I just need a USB drive. In that way, the Mini is pretty convenient.
My main interest is actually THEVIC20 model. I think it's an aesphetically pleasing machine; I love the keyboard, and its slate-white casing, and joystick. It's a really nice tribute to Commodore's first colour computer. But why would I choose to use it? Surely I have no use for it... it's just running VICE, right? On a Raspberry Pi, right? (Definitely not, it uses Allwinner Technology boards). Why don't I just buy a Raspberry Pi anyway and spend time learning how to set up BCM (I think it's called) and get with the kool kids?
Firstly, I'm not and will never be one of the kool kids. Aside from that, I don't have time to mess about setting up emulators (even if it's relatively simple). Building my U64 Elite was about as far as I wanted to go, finding the required ROM images and getting a spare casing, keyboard and some SID chips. And I know from trying to set up a version of UAE on a Raspberry Pi that I'm not cut out for it. I mostly want things that I plug in, switch on and that's all the set up that I need these days.
Moreover, the reason that I have a use for THEC64 (or in my case, THEVIC20 - well I actually have two THEC64 units as well, and another THEVIC20) is because I actually like the VIC-20. Using the VIC-20 mode on THEC64/THEVIC20 is a really good user experience. Most importantly, the keyboard is properly mapped to the original. And secondly, THEVIC20 joystick bundled with the machine is really nice to use. Some people don't believe me, but if you've read my VIC-20 articles one published in gamesTM, and another more recently in Popular Retro magazine, you will know that I really do have a soft spot for this friendly computer. Yes, the graphics aren't the best, and the screen area is small. BASIC 2 has always had its shortcomings, and it's a very limited platform even for its original launch in October of 1980 (as the VIC-1001 in Japan). But it's a charming machine that has a warm and fuzzy feeling for me, and all of this reflected very well in THEVIC20.
More than this, my actual Commodore VIC-20s, well one of them isn't working and the other is a VC-20, they don't work well with modern days televisions, and there's a lot of messing about with various hardware to use all software available (yes, I know there are cartridge upgrades available that allow for multiple memory schemas, but I seem to have lost mine). Albeit, there aren't many releases that require more than an extra 16KB of RAM, but there is Doom for the 35K machine by Steve McCrea and all considered, it's a pretty good version too. It's also not trivial on the VIC-20 (or VC-20, or VIC-1001) to play games written for PAL if you have an NTSC machine, or NTSC if you have a PAL VIC. THEVIC20 and THEC64 handles the various VIC memory maps and NTSC/PAL pretty well, and it's fairly easy to do.
Of course, some people still don't buy this. One guy on BookFace actually said to me that there was no way I could own a U64 Elite and still use THEC64 or THEVIC20 - even though I pointed out that the U64 DOES NOT mimic or emulate the VIC-20 hardware in any way (less the shared Kernal, BASIC and CBM DOS, of course). I suspect that this guy just doesn't like the VIC-20 platform so probably doesn't see the point of loading any VIC-20 software on anything ever.
A broader point is that THEC64 platform is made for an audience that just wants something that works out of the box; no messing about with installing this or that on some Raspberry Pi and then setting up configurations, finding various ROM images (not game disk or tape images, you know, the BASIC, Kernal and character ROMs from the original hardware) and then a suitable housing and probably not properly mapped keyboard (this point is the most frustrating on modern-days PC emulation and the like, especially if you do BASIC programming like I do).
If you're happy with using a Raspberry Pi for your retro gaming needs then good for you. If you think that everything else is worthless because you own a U64, then that's pretty narrow minded and stupid. Stuff that works out of the box is good. The newer micro-switched joysticks [for THEC64 range] are good, and now there's even mouse support, and that even extends to third-party USB mouses too. In fact, I use a trackball on THEVIC20.
Yes, there are still some shortcomings of THEC64 platform, one of them is that you only have one drive locked to device 8 (although that could be a 1541, 1571 or 1581), and I'd like it to support multiple drives to try GEOS on. Most users won't be using GEOS on THEC64. Another thing that I'd like is the ability to add a second SID chip, but then again I have a U64 with two real SID chips, so this is another outlier case, and you have to manually configure the second SID to be used by the (small amount) of software that supports it anyway, and that changes from one program to another. But for most users most of the time, THEC64 set up perfectly for them.
Anyway, I'm off to play one of my favourite VIC games Rockman, on my beautiful THEVIC20.
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