The C64 Mini

[ParanoiaDragon]

Just wondering if anybody else around here is interested in the C64 Mini?  I'm looking forward to it, just waiting for info on the Western release.  I'm also looking forward to the ZX Spectrum Vega Plus.....if it indeed is actually coming out.  I like the look of the system & it's games.....none of which I really grew up with.  The only Euro stuff I grew up with is the Amiga, with Shadow of the Beast & such.    A friend of mine has an Amiga with tons of games from BITD, though I recall the games taking forever to load.  I have fiddled around with Amiga emu's, but I'd love to see an Amiga Mini!

[td741]

Just wondering if anybody else around here is interested in the C64 Mini?  I'm looking forward to it, just waiting for info on the Western release.  I'm also looking forward to the ZX Spectrum Vega Plus.....if it indeed is actually coming out.  I like the look of the system & it's games.....none of which I really grew up with.  The only Euro stuff I grew up with is the Amiga, with Shadow of the Beast & such.    A friend of mine has an Amiga with tons of games from BITD, though I recall the games taking forever to load.  I have fiddled around with Amiga emu's, but I'd love to see an Amiga Mini!

I'm keeping an eye on the C64 mini. I guess the closest you have to an Amiga Mini is the various  Minimigs. Not that they are official or come with software...

[zetastrike]

I'm holding out in hope of a full size model with a functional keyboard.  I know it's just an emulator, but I do like self contained systems that do nothing else but play games.  The reviews of the mini are kind of off-putting.  Among other things, I'd like to be able to use a real Competition Pro through a USB adapter.  I appreciate that they advocate loading your own roms, which is awfully nice of them.

[wildfruit]

No Frankenstein Jr, no sale

[TheClash603]

I'm holding out in hope of a full size model with a functional keyboard.  I know it's just an emulator, but I do like self contained systems that do nothing else but play games.  The reviews of the mini are kind of off-putting.  Among other things, I'd like to be able to use a real Competition Pro through a USB adapter.  I appreciate that they advocate loading your own roms, which is awfully nice of them.

This had me thinking, why the mini craze?  It would be a lot more fun to have a MEGA system.  Imagine a NES that is 4x the size of the original, complete with giant NES cart that put the Neo Geo to shame.  Obviously it would be a novelty, but I would pick up a C64 MEGA, Sega MEGA, or whatever MEGA system is available.

[SignOfZeta]

Given how...lets face it...shitty...the C64 was I don't see any need for a totally perfect dialed in official 1st party sort of system like this. Since you straight up NEED a keyboard to play a huge number of C64 games and the sticks were usually some 2600 stuff you had laying around the best way to play C64 games, to me, is just to run an emulator on another computer you already have. Or your Dreamcast. Fucking anything with a keyboard and decent video out. You don't need to buy something every time you see it

[esteban]

Given how...lets face it...shitty...the C64 was I don't see any need for a totally perfect dialed in official 1st party sort of system like this. Since you straight up NEED a keyboard to play a huge number of C64 games and the sticks were usually some 2600 stuff you had laying around the best way to play C64 games, to me, is just to run an emulator on another computer you already have. Or your Dreamcast. f*cking anything with a keyboard and decent video out. You don't need to buy something every time you see it

Last time I checked, my infrared WebTV keyboard was supported by this device.

[Mathius]

I got to play the PAL version in our museum at MGC this last weekend. I'm sold! It has a huge amount of games on it and my only complaint is the controller. It's uncomfortable and I could only play Armalyte for a few seconds before the pain kicked in. One aside; it may have been the LCD TV/PAL frequencies but there was considerable lag which made action games unplayable. Hopefully this and the controller will be rectified in the NTSC release if it even happens.

[ClodBusted]

The 8bit guy did an in-depth review on the C64 mini on Youtube. If I remember correctly, he complained about the lag, too.

EDIT:

[Galad]

Well people have tested it on other forums

"My monitor has 27.5ms, that is measured with a real latency tester. A thing you put between your computer and lay flat on the screen. The difference, 116.5ms, can only come from the mini. Nowhere else."

[SignOfZeta]

I got to play the PAL version in our museum at MGC this last weekend. I'm sold! It has a huge amount of games on it and my only complaint is the controller. It's uncomfortable and I could only play Armalyte for a few seconds before the pain kicked in. One aside; it may have been the LCD TV/PAL frequencies but there was considerable lag which made action games unplayable. Hopefully this and the controller will be rectified in the NTSC release if it even happens.

You just gave a product a terrible review. I'm not sure if your good natured heart realized this.

All this thing IS is a controller. If the controller sucks because it's uncomfortable and all it's actions are delayed then THIS THING SUCKS.

There is a C64 archive on the torrent sites that is nearly 4GB. I'm not exactly sure how that's even possible but that's probably more games than this POS has and there is no lag on my Mac because the (not fake) KB has a wired mode. I'm one click away from a hugely superior experience for free, anyone who hasn't ditched real computers is also there.

[Mathius]

I got to play the PAL version in our museum at MGC this last weekend. I'm sold! It has a huge amount of games on it and my only complaint is the controller. It's uncomfortable and I could only play Armalyte for a few seconds before the pain kicked in. One aside; it may have been the LCD TV/PAL frequencies but there was considerable lag which made action games unplayable. Hopefully this and the controller will be rectified in the NTSC release if it even happens.

You just gave a product a terrible review. I'm not sure if your good natured heart realized this.

All this thing IS is a controller. If the controller sucks because it's uncomfortable and all it's actions are delayed then THIS THING SUCKS.

There is a C64 archive on the torrent sites that is nearly 4GB. I'm not exactly sure how that's even possible but that's probably more games than this POS has and there is no lag on my Mac because the (not fake) KB has a wired mode. I'm one click away from a hugely superior experience for free, anyone who hasn't ditched real computers is also there.

I was looking at it from an isolated experience having not heard anything about it other than it was coming out. The controller and lag were two things that I definitely didn't like but was hoping for workarounds/fixes in the US release. I was pretty excited about it otherwise.

[ParanoiaDragon]

Yeah, there is supposed to be an upcoming North American release.  I'm assuming it'll at least be available via Amazon.  Didn't think about the PAL situation, so, yeah, I do hope it's tweaked for NTSC.

[zetastrike]

"Just download an emulator" is sounding better and better.  That much lag is crazy, I can't believe they released it like that.

[SignOfZeta]

I wouldn't want to play Zork with that much lag...not that this thing comes with Zork...

[Digi.k]

saw one for sale earlier but decided to research a bit more on this lag...

also saw a spectrum for sale too

imgur.com/UJRg5iX.jpg

[zetastrike]

saw one for sale earlier but decided to research a bit more on this lag...

also saw a spectrum for sale too

imgur.com/UJRg5iX.jpg

1000 games?  I think Retro Gamer said that's full of shovelware games because they couldn't get the licenses to the ones people actually want.  I can't imagine that thing is good to use without a keyboard.  And it only has composite if I remember correctly.