THEC64 is back on Amazon UK

After the announcement of TheSpectrum by Retro Games Ltd (RGL) et al, Amazon UK has THEC64 Classic edition back in stock.

THEC64, an excellent recreation of the famous and well loved Commodore C64 home computer, is back on Amazon.co.uk again, proving my earlier conjecture as just that. What do I know anyway? It is currently retailing at £119.99p, and according to some reports on some social media sites, this can be shipped to North America, where there seems to be some interest in procuring these systems.

Whilst this recreation of the C64 has a slightly imperfect keyboard according to some purists, that is from a purely aesthetic point of view of course (it's actually pretty good to type on), it is packed with 64 pretty well recieved games (of course, those might not be your favourites). If you update to the latest firmware, you will get a more complete experience. The latest version of THEC64 [firmware] includes support for the powerful Commodore RAM Expansion Unit, can use any USB mouse as a 1351 mouse, and will support many Four Player adapted and modified games. One favourite of mine is IK+ Gold, which allows three humans to compete in this Karate chopping classic. IK+ was developed by the late, great Archer MacLean, who sadly passed on 17th December 2022 (RIP).

Initially, my conjecture was that RGL's THE400 Mini was competing in a similar consumer space to THEC64 as they are fairly similar machines from the same era or generation (roughly) of the home computing revolution.

THEC64, with it's working keyboard and 64 included games already has many of the best Atari XE/XL games available for it, and many more titles too. This made THEC64 look much better value than THE400 Mini, especially when you add in that THEC64 can also play nearly all (if not all) VIC-20 games as well. So, more games, emulating a comparable computer from the same era of home computing, and two systems in one for not much more money. Bargain! But it seemed like it was slowly being discontinued to make some space for THE400 Mini.

What I think has now got THEC64 back into production is the announcement and pre-orders for TheSpeccy. Although many may not know it in North America, the C64 and Sinclair ZX Spectrum platforms were [some may say] fierce competitors in the UK in the 1980s. Clearly, a lot of people have already added TheSpectrum to their Christmas lists for 2024, but this isn't a mini console with a cosmetic, non-working keyboard. It is complete with a fully working keyboard including the rather curious one touch BASIC keyword entry system. Seeing the orders stack up for one system from RGL has very likely reignited interest in the other. Of course, THEC64 Mini has always been available, as far as I can tell, but that doesn't have a working keyboard out of the box. All I want now is for a flamewar to start with endless arguments over which is better... THEC64 or TheSpectrum. Of course, we all know the answer to that one, don't we?