The Video Game Critic

VideoGameCritic wrote:Floppy disks are FAST! It was those old tape-loading games that always killed me! 10 minutes and counting!

When people complained about the load times of the PlayStation or Sega CD, I always thought that was warp speed compared to the old cassette loaders. I think I only lasted about 3/4ths of a year before I had the money for a floppy drive. For the C64, the floppy drive rivaled the computer in price.

From their language, I take it the company is hoping to do a firmware upgrade that emulates an Epyx fastloader to help

VideoGameCritic wrote:I'm intrigued. I found a games list here:
https://thec64.com/games/

Has anybody tried this? Would it be faithful enough to allow me to review C64 games? Yeah I know I had a C64 Critic but his system has been in disrepair.

I noticed it says "no AC adapter" on the front. What does that mean??

As to the no A/C adapter, I think it doesn't come with an A/C to USB adapter. It has a micro-USB port for power. You probably have an adapter that will work, or a powered USB port on your tv, but its an odd omission.

While you can load your own games, its one title at a time on the SD card, and you'll need a USB hub or keyboard with its own USB ports.

The emulation is getting good marks, but the joystick is getting poor reviews.

Its a mixed bag then

I had an Apple IIe for the bulk of my life, up until the PS2 was new, and I don't remember the floppy drives being slow at all, unless you were writing/formatting a disk, that might have taken a few minutes.

I agree overall though with emulation being the best way to enjoy these games now though. A lot of these older electronics are really hard to keep running at this point, and replicating the 80's experience is becoming more and more impractical.

scotland wrote:https://www.amazon.com/C64-Mini-not-machine-specific/dp/B07GMV1X1K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1538960564&sr=8-1&keywords=c64+mini

The C64 mini is available on Amazon for $80.

Key points are that its VICE emulation, and you can add your own games. The keyboard is just decorative, and there are complaints on the joystick.

I decided to go ahead and order one for myself yesterday for $60 on Black Friday. I checked this morning (Day after Black Friday) and they are still $60.

You might still want a USB keyboard, and another controller. You can buy a USB Atari controller for about $15, or for $20 you can get a USB to twin Genesis 9 pin sub D connectors which should work, or a twin pack of SNES style USB controllers for the same price.

Remember that you can also buy a USB to 9 pin serial, which might work as well. Its annoying because its designed to screw into the back of a computer's serial port, but I think it should work. I got a dedicated USB to 9 pin D a few years ago, but can't recall where I got it from.

scotland wrote:I decided to go ahead and order one for myself yesterday for $60 on Black Friday. I checked this morning (Day after Black Friday) and they are still $60.

I was going to mention this but Scotland beat me to the punch! I probably won't get one myself since the included games are so weak given the extensive awesome library otherwise available for the C64, but other may get a kick out of it. I realize you can add your own ROM's after the fact to extend the library, but at that point I may as well just run an emulator on my PC anyway and it'll give me the same thing.

Weird thought...you could run stuff like word processors or Printshop on this thing. Wonder if you could get a printer to work with them? A USB to Centronics adapter/cable that would work with an old Epson compatible printer...yeah, I know, goofy thought.

zetax wrote:Weird thought...you could run stuff like word processors or Printshop on this thing. Wonder if you could get a printer to work with them? A USB to Centronics adapter/cable that would work with an old Epson compatible printer...yeah, I know, goofy thought.

But fun goofy - now if you could get a nice line printer to work, imagine the confused young folk trying to figure out what was making all that horrible noise when you print.

Just be sure you got the newer 'North American' revision as it contains a number of improvements including better emulation and easier side-loading of games via USB stick.

David Murray (The 8-bit Guy) on YouTube did a review of both the original and updated versions. Supposedly there is a version in the works with a functioning keyboard as well which should be interesting if it ever sees the light of day.

I ordered one for Christmas, since $60 is a reasonable price. I know the included joystick has issues, but it is easily modded with a longer screw (see YouTube). I have a small usb drive already loaded with a bunch of games. I also have an ibuffalo usb snes controller that supposedly works well. A usb hub and keyboard should complete the setup.

This should be a fun novelty. I always feel like my original C64 is going to eventually die on me, so having one with hdmi will be nice.

noah98 wrote:I ordered one for Christmas, since $60 is a reasonable price. I know the included joystick has issues, but it is easily modded with a longer screw (see YouTube). I have a small usb drive already loaded with a bunch of games. I also have an ibuffalo usb snes controller that supposedly works well. A usb hub and keyboard should complete the setup.

This should be a fun novelty. I always feel like my original C64 is going to eventually die on me, so having one with hdmi will be nice.

I've had to go through a couple of C64 breadbox computers - the other C128 design seems more robust, but its not the nostalgic design. If you have a computer, you can do what this can already, but yeah - its a fun novelty. Not sure if I will get the updated version, but hopefully you can download a firmware update via the USB port.

I didn't know about the joystick mod, so thanks. I'll have to look for that.