A tip on the disk swapping games. As soon as disk 2 is loaded and game is ready to play, take a snapshot in one of the save states. Next time you want to play the game, just insert disk2 directly and load the save state. This saves time since a lot of multi disk games takes a while to load since they also often needs accurate disk mode to load correctly (AD)
Man, I remember playing Defender of the Crown on dual tape. Such a great game, so much loading. Still have it in the big box, too. Feelies are gone, though.
The joystick swapping is easily the most useful feature for me at least. I've wasted countless minutes loading tape images only to discover that the joystick is needed in port 1.
@@TheRetroShack I must admit I caved recently and got a second joystick to overcome the problem, but this will at least allow me to unplug it and clean up my setup.
Some things I would like to see on both Maxi and Mini systems; Aside from joystick swapping, there should be an option to clone the joystick as both Joy 1 & 2 simultaneously. That would be a super simple way to assure game control. You can assign buttons in CJM files and that is great, but even better would be macros. Assign a series of key presses to one button, to help brute force you way through intros and trainers and "what the hell button starts this game". USB mouse support including use as game paddles. An on screen keyboard that doesn't assume that I'm using the stock joystick (enter button...). An in game CJM editor menu would be fantastic.
Loved Pool of Radiance. On the Commodore 64 version (at least the one I had), there was a bug on one of the sides. I think it was with the Outpost of Zhentil Keep mission. If you did the mission, you couldn't get back into Phlan and you were basically done. When I got my CMD FD2000, I was able to copy all of the disks over to one full disk partition and it worked! No more swapping and I could complete the mission! There was a file on the Outpost mission disk that was defective. Turned out there were a few files common to all of the disks. I kept the ones from disk 1 and skipped them for the others.
I'm glad you told me that as I'm still playing through the Slums (don't get much time to actually play these games...) so before I go any further, I think I'll investigate a bit more to make sure I don't get stuck too! Might just switch and play it on my Amiga :)
@@TheRetroShack I wish I could remember which file it was that caused the issue (and which side it was on). You could probably copy the file from one of the other disks to the offending one. The mission would play out fine and you could finish it. Just if you saved your progress, you'd get stuck. The nice thing though is that they didn't require the 1541 structure to play the game. Some games relied on the 1541 characteristics and other trickery. They would refuse to play on anything other than their original disk. Hmm...... just had a thought. I wonder if The C64 would let you do what I did with the FD2000. Copy everything into one folder and run the game from there.
They need to switch the emulator to the bare-metal bmc64, based on porting Vice to run on bare metal libraries (no Linux kernel overhead); its capable of running Commodore 64 demo scene programs flawlessly as to both sound and graphics
Something I tried with this update was Changing joystick ports with the keyboard as left shift left arrow is menu, and ABC are the buttons, but it doesn't let you change with these buttons which is strange as I would think as long as the button maps are pressed it should do the same as the buttons do, don't know why they didnt think to include that given how many people vocaly tell them on groups and forums they use 3rd party or original joysticks with adaptors
My goodness that Turrican opening is more terrifying than falling off a screen in Impossible Mission on an SX-64 (where the internal speaker resonates on the plastic grill cover and creates a more intense screaming sound)
It would be cool if someone would patch those multidisk/multiside games so that they could load as if they were from a higher-capacity drive like the 71, 81, 1001, or even HDDs 9090 or Lt. Kernal.
@@TheRetroShack I'm not sure how to load it on the TheC64 though. On the Ultimate 1541/64, you preload the demo data into the REU via it's menu and then load the actual demo to use it. No idea, if or how that would work on TheC64.
You save the demo onto the thumb drive with the _RMAD tags, rm for max reu 16mb, and ad for accurate disk emulation, then you just launch it or load it like any other disk
I just bought myself a The C64 and a The VIC20. Really impressed with what they managed to do for the price. However, I have a few gripes. I don't understand why they haven't implemented an option to enable accurate disk emulation from the menus. It's way too much hassle to rename D64s in order for disk images that require true disk drive emulation to load. Also, I wish they had an option to enable autofire from the menus or via a button combination.
@@TheRetroShack If only it has a proper keyboard, I won't buy any micro that isn't a true micro! Fair enough power it with a pi but you can't not have as keyboard that works. I can already emulate the a500 what I can't emulate is how using the a500 makes you feel. Yeah needs a proper keyboard mouse and a joystick imho. Retro please make it £30 more expensive to include those things. I'd buy that one definitely after how good this C64 is!
@@TheRetroShack It [Sonic Hedgehog] kind of sets a new bar for game quality on C64 and hopefully it will encourage/inspire contemporary C64 game developers to go ahead and embrace the REU and up the ante Then TheC64 would become the perfect C64 gaming platform as it already has intrinsic support for REU (512KB, 2MB, or even 16MB), and its price is not bad at all, and it's available through mainstream online retailers
The more I look into this unit the more I appreciate the emulator on the pi. Considerably cheaper too, and I downloaded every single North American software release in a single .zip file, no loading screens. I guess if you really need that nostalgia hit this is cool, but I have way more options with the pi out of the box, could always swap controller ports in software, and the awesome front-end also plays every single english game on every single console from the 2600 to the N64. 128gb limits me to a few hundred PS1 and SegaCD games but that’s fine. For $35 plus a $20 tiny SNES case and a pair of wireless wii I controllers that look like a mashup of SNES and 360 controllers I get so much more awesome gaming time out of it than I would with this unit…
I think the significance of the updates to the theC64mini are underplayed. The "mini" was intended to be just a game machine but they opened pandora's box when they provided access to BASIC. For many, this really kicked off the craze! The "virtual keyboard" just wasn't enough. USB keyboards were necessary... and it just grew into the necessity of the "full" sized machine. But is the mini useless? Well NO! It got a LOT better without people noticing! It now has "classic" (boot to BASIC) mode! That's huge! With a good keyboard everything opens up. And frankly, while I have the "full" the mini is more useful to me because of desk space sharing. One of the mini's shortcomings is the number of USB ports and so USB keyboards which provide more USB ports or a USB hub is necessary. I started using a USB hub but found a fantastic USB keyboard with USB hub ports included! (Perixx Periboard-409!) The Full size uses the power button as a "menu" button but also as a means of providing a "hard" and "soft" reset. But the mini's power button only serves as a power button as a momentary click will cue the shutdown script for the machine. But RetroGames provided this hard/soft functionality to a USB keyboard user via the F12 key. (Most mini keyboards only provide up to F10 and provide F12 as a "Fn+F2" combination) With the Periboard-409 providing two USB hub ports, I can send the mini to the back of the desk and use the USB hub ports (still two) for a USB drive and game controller! This is exceedingly convenient. I added a label to the keyboard with two labels. The first: LShift+F12: Soft Reset LShift+[OS]+F12: Hard Reset The second: Recover BASIC program after soft reset poke 2050,1:sys42291:poke46,peek(35):poke45,peek(781)+2:clr Soft reset is useful/important when using virtual cartridges like supersnapshot and TurboMacroPro for assembly development. Once again there are many small USB keyboards out there. Most have no physical F12 key so those key combinations become more complicated (LeftShift+Fn+F2... also note that [OS] refers to the Windows key but could be any symbol there) This is why I simply prefer a mini keyboard with the full range of F keys. That combination of keys and USB hub ports makes the selection of possible options much more limited... and "expensive." So far, only Periboard-409 does it all. I'd be glad to know if there are other options which are affordable in a mini keyboard. (If readers here know of any other options tell me! I want to know!) The point of my commentary here is to say that the mini is actually "better" [more appropriate/useful] depending on the circumstances. And the mini is ABSOLUTELY easier to find and buy because they are still everywhere and absolutely CHEAPER as well. It's cheaper even after you buy a periboard-409! And I learned about "Periboard" because of the Commander X16 project as Perixx is providing the keyboards for the still-in-development "Commander X16" series of machines which utilize PETSCII keyboards and character sets. So Perixx will be providing PETSCII labeled keyboards! I don't know when they will be released to the public but the fact that they are will also serve my interests with the "theC64" series machines. Lots of awesome!
@@TheRetroShack Yes. Quite a struggle trying to keep up with the demand on RG's end. That may have been a factor in upgrading the function of the mini in the first place -- so that everyone can get the function they want even if they can't get the full size for now.
@@TheRetroShack It's going to be a mad-house. The demand will be high. I still think they should work to add more present-day interfacing in there. For example, providing "modem access" using dial strings like "ATDT ssh 192.168.0.10 22" as there are actual BBSes on the internet. Also allowing people to SSH into the VM host itself in order to upload image files or run XC-BASIC to write and compile BASIC code and then make them available to the emulator inside of a disk image or things like that. It's probably a lot to ask but it would be pretty awesome. But for now a second virtual floppy drive (device 9) would be very welcome.
If you update to 1.6, you'll have REU suport. That means Sonic C64 play. Oh yes. And joypad support, and new games. Worth it. Doesn't overwrite your added games either.
Also most late Infocom games, Wizardry 1-3 and 5, the modern Ozmoo interpreter, and some improved game versions by the Nostalgia cracking group, which can load the entire thing in one go with an REU, and then have zero disk accesses when playing (except for saving and restoring your position, of course). :)
I have found quite a few C64 games don't work on The C64. Many graphic adventures and games that are not as well known, like Portal by Activision. These all work in Vice emulation on my PC, so I presume it's because The C64 doesn't have the latest version of WinVice. I hope they can update the emulation, so more games will run on it. The more games you have to end up emulating on the PC, the more you feel there was no point spending the money on The C64!
Yep, TheC64 does use an older version of Vice - I don't really think it's powerful enough to run the later versions. I'm still hopeful though and definitely hope they don't under-power the Amiga 500 they've got in the works :)
Wait, did they not include RAM expansion options out of the box?! My retro arch pi thing emulator has all of the ram expansions enable-able in the stock software…
Looks like I'll be picking me up one of these on eBay along with a USB disk drive. I'd prefer to load my games, old school. and as luck would have it I can even still get a USB tape player and load my games from tape if I wanted to.
I bought this thing as soon as it was released and played 30 minutes of Bruce Lee with it. Now it's just a conversation piece on my desk 'cause nobody knows what it is :)
@@TheRetroShack Most people think it's some sort of typewriter. It's pretty hilarious. But yeah, each time I look at the thing, it makes me smile. Good times... the C64 had something romantic about it, something I have never felt for any computer I owned after that.
@@gamingtonight1526 It was all new. Most people were scared of computers these days. Us being kids, playing the games that later would become the classics. Sweet childhood memories... ah, I miss the eighties. Great times!
That’s exactly what it does. TheC64 doesn’t have a cartridge port so all cartridges and hardware is emulated - They’re a very cool modernisation of the C64 :)
I have no idea what I had this mixed up with in my head, lol. I was thinking there was a c64 knockoff that had an actual cartridge port. Now it makes sense!
They really need to update the actual Vice Emulator they are using, I believe it is 2.4 which is more than 10 years ago . The Vice Team are up to 3.5 now.
I think it’s probably down to a price/performance trade off. In order to run the later more cycle accurate versions of Vice the price of the hardware would have to rise also and the majority of users wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Anyone that invested in the c64 probably has the real hardware in any case :)
Check out PCUAE (Project Carousel USB) if you want to try out full vice running on thec64/mini. You get all the options, but the hardware just isnt fast enough so there is more screen tearing and latency.
If you figure out how to remap the buttons a video would be great. Thanks for the update. If I understood correctly it allows us to play games that take up more than 1 d64 file? I usually use CRT files for games to get around this but this certainly makes it easier to get all the games I want.
Yep - you can just swap the disks as if it were a real disk drive. I've been playing Pool Of Radiance all week :) (When I should have been doing other things.... ;) )
i have a c64 maxi is there a chance that if i use a machine code monitor like supermon64 that a program can be saved on a usb drive, at the moment a machine code monitor does not seem to reconise the usb drive, maybe a further firmware update might cure this problem.
What about the speed of games? They have speed really like the originals? Or the games on C64 Maxi are little slow or too fast? I saw boulder dash and I think it's slow than on original C64. Please let me know, I want to end some games so I thinking about the C64 Maxi... I'm lazy and I don't want to setup cassette on original C64 :)
To be honest it's pretty good - I'm sure there are frame skips in some games at times but in general I don't really notice any difference between this a and a real c64 :)
I used REU in GEOS for many years and wrote 1000's of pages and of geoWrite and geoPaint and my thinking is the save to REU as a stand alone file for the 2 meg etc. available? The Ultimate 2+ does it. So I am hoping to save files from GEOS.
@@TheRetroShack I got a Mini last Monday as the Maxi is not for sale here yet. I think it is slow on J stick response but only tried the Boulder Dash as I played that. I was more into productive software. The time when a PC cost 10K US.
What difference does it make if you plug in your usb drive to the rear port for a firmware update? I don't see why it would matter what USB port you use.
@@TheRetroShack Indeed! Took me a while to find one that would actually work! If you have any influence on RetroGames.biz, I would ask that they add a "second floppy drive" option. I'm getting to the point where I want to do more of what I do on the machine more directly. I hate removing the USB drive, putting it into a PC running DirMaster and other things to arrange things the way I like them when I could more easily have two disk images mounted at once and copy things and stuff like that. They keep making it incrementally better as they go! More good suggestions means better upgrades in the future.
@@TheRetroShack It's showing "Currently unavailable" for me... guess they have some kind of geo blocking on amazon for this product (I'm in Hong Kong at the moment). Thanks anyway
Would be good if you could mount more than one disk image at a time. Some games I love have a ton of disk sides and the swapping gets very tiresome ..Ultima V anyone?
I have a The C64 but my version seems to hold a different name yours is amora while mine is snowbird. question now the reu expansion works what about loading CRT files and TAP files also for the life of me how do I use the REU util disk in .d64 image to mage a blank REU drive 9 of a 512k ram disk.
You’ve made me wonder whether a third party stick with auto fire would work? You don’t need to use the joystick that came with TheC64 - any one will do as long as it has enough buttons :)
@@TheRetroShack Do you get USB auto fire joysticks that are compatible? I had a Quickshot 2 (rubbish build quality, was always fixing the damn ring inside) and eventually a microswitch joystick back in the day, both with auto fire. Great times!
@@TheRetroShack I believe with lots of trial and error, yes... but the CJM will map buttons to key presses only as I understand it. It will require a LOT of luck to figure that out as this mapping is completely by text file. I would suggest creating a CJM file listing LOTS of buttons which may or may not exist and map them to every letter of the keyboard. Then start playing and mapping. So far, I have found the Logiteh F310 to be the best alternative controller. I've heard "iNNext" SNES style USB controllers work but can't attest to that. I have suggested to RetroGames to create and sell their own game pads because the joystick is just not convenient.
You have just lost me £10! Mrs Retroshack said 'you need to dust that...' and I said 'Bet you a tenner no-one will notice or care...' Thing is, you can't even see the dust in the flesh, bloomin' iPhones :( OK, OK - I'll do a better job from now on :) :)
My question is ( and it's HIGHLY unlikely to be answered) : *Where in the Bloody 'Ell are the units for the US market?!* They appear to be unobtanium and I certainly am not going to pay some slimy, sleazy, skeevy Jimmy Savile wannabe eBay scalper for one!
They do seem to have some supply problems! Have you considered getting the Vic-20 version? Inside, both machines are identical I believe, it's purely a cosmetic difference. Unless anyone knows differently?
Oh yeah how you gonna sort that 15 MB address list on your c64 without 16MB of RAM huh? How you gonna sort the first million or so real randoms for a freq analysis test huh? How you gonna find out what the 16 million digit of pi is on your c64 huh? You can never have too much RAM! 🤓
Hey, if it gets more love for the machine and keeps the legacy going i’m happy. Never going to beat the real deal, but close enough for most casual users. Thanks for watching!
A tip on the disk swapping games. As soon as disk 2 is loaded and game is ready to play, take a snapshot in one of the save states. Next time you want to play the game, just insert disk2 directly and load the save state. This saves time since a lot of multi disk games takes a while to load since they also often needs accurate disk mode to load correctly (AD)
Nice tip!!!! Thanks :)
I was doing this exact disk swapping thing on TheC64 before the update, and it worked just as well. It's only a change/update if you have the Mini.
Yep, I was a bit behind on my firmware ! Been loving being able to play multi disk games now :)
Man, I remember playing Defender of the Crown on dual tape. Such a great game, so much loading. Still have it in the big box, too. Feelies are gone, though.
The joystick swapping is easily the most useful feature for me at least. I've wasted countless minutes loading tape images only to discover that the joystick is needed in port 1.
Annoying isn’t it! :)
@@TheRetroShack I must admit I caved recently and got a second joystick to overcome the problem, but this will at least allow me to unplug it and clean up my setup.
Some things I would like to see on both Maxi and Mini systems; Aside from joystick swapping, there should be an option to clone the joystick as both Joy 1 & 2 simultaneously. That would be a super simple way to assure game control. You can assign buttons in CJM files and that is great, but even better would be macros. Assign a series of key presses to one button, to help brute force you way through intros and trainers and "what the hell button starts this game". USB mouse support including use as game paddles. An on screen keyboard that doesn't assume that I'm using the stock joystick (enter button...). An in game CJM editor menu would be fantastic.
Great ideas! Let's hope Retrogames deliver :)
Loved Pool of Radiance. On the Commodore 64 version (at least the one I had), there was a bug on one of the sides. I think it was with the Outpost of Zhentil Keep mission. If you did the mission, you couldn't get back into Phlan and you were basically done. When I got my CMD FD2000, I was able to copy all of the disks over to one full disk partition and it worked! No more swapping and I could complete the mission! There was a file on the Outpost mission disk that was defective. Turned out there were a few files common to all of the disks. I kept the ones from disk 1 and skipped them for the others.
I'm glad you told me that as I'm still playing through the Slums (don't get much time to actually play these games...) so before I go any further, I think I'll investigate a bit more to make sure I don't get stuck too! Might just switch and play it on my Amiga :)
@@TheRetroShack I wish I could remember which file it was that caused the issue (and which side it was on). You could probably copy the file from one of the other disks to the offending one. The mission would play out fine and you could finish it. Just if you saved your progress, you'd get stuck.
The nice thing though is that they didn't require the 1541 structure to play the game. Some games relied on the 1541 characteristics and other trickery. They would refuse to play on anything other than their original disk.
Hmm...... just had a thought. I wonder if The C64 would let you do what I did with the FD2000. Copy everything into one folder and run the game from there.
They need to switch the emulator to the bare-metal bmc64, based on porting Vice to run on bare metal libraries (no Linux kernel overhead); its capable of running Commodore 64 demo scene programs flawlessly as to both sound and graphics
That would be an interesting challenge:)
Something I tried with this update was Changing joystick ports with the keyboard as left shift left arrow is menu, and ABC are the buttons, but it doesn't let you change with these buttons which is strange as I would think as long as the button maps are pressed it should do the same as the buttons do, don't know why they didnt think to include that given how many people vocaly tell them on groups and forums they use 3rd party or original joysticks with adaptors
Yep, that would be a useful feature!
The new microphone is really, really good! :)
Phew!! That’s good to hear (no pun intended!) Thanks for letting me know :)
Great video thanks, how many extra games can you add to the c64 mini, is 64 games the max ?
My goodness that Turrican opening is more terrifying than falling off a screen in Impossible Mission on an SX-64 (where the internal speaker resonates on the plastic grill cover and creates a more intense screaming sound)
It’s fabulous isn’t it! :)
It would be cool if someone would patch those multidisk/multiside games so that they could load as if they were from a higher-capacity drive like the 71, 81, 1001, or even HDDs 9090 or Lt. Kernal.
The BluREU demo from Crest uses the whole 16 MB.
Thanks for that - will download and take a look! :)
@@TheRetroShack I'm not sure how to load it on the TheC64 though. On the Ultimate 1541/64, you preload the demo data into the REU via it's menu and then load the actual demo to use it. No idea, if or how that would work on TheC64.
@@EgonOlsen71 I’ll let you know how I get on :)
You save the demo onto the thumb drive with the _RMAD tags, rm for max reu 16mb, and ad for accurate disk emulation, then you just launch it or load it like any other disk
I just bought myself a The C64 and a The VIC20. Really impressed with what they managed to do for the price. However, I have a few gripes. I don't understand why they haven't implemented an option to enable accurate disk emulation from the menus. It's way too much hassle to rename D64s in order for disk images that require true disk drive emulation to load. Also, I wish they had an option to enable autofire from the menus or via a button combination.
Can't wait till they bring out the Amiga 500! :)
@@TheRetroShack If only it has a proper keyboard, I won't buy any micro that isn't a true micro! Fair enough power it with a pi but you can't not have as keyboard that works. I can already emulate the a500 what I can't emulate is how using the a500 makes you feel. Yeah needs a proper keyboard mouse and a joystick imho.
Retro please make it £30 more expensive to include those things. I'd buy that one definitely after how good this C64 is!
Update to 1.6. You can play Sonic C64. It has FASt/standard drive emulation.
in Dec 2021 the C64 port of SEGA Sonic the Hedgehog has been released and it requires minimum 256KB of REU to run - it's a very impressive port
Yes it's an amazing achievement and hopefully it opens the door for more people to develop for the expanded machine!
@@TheRetroShack It [Sonic Hedgehog] kind of sets a new bar for game quality on C64 and hopefully it will encourage/inspire contemporary C64 game developers to go ahead and embrace the REU and up the ante
Then TheC64 would become the perfect C64 gaming platform as it already has intrinsic support for REU (512KB, 2MB, or even 16MB), and its price is not bad at all, and it's available through mainstream online retailers
Yay! The Last Ninja Here I come
Haaaaaaaaaaaa YA!
Mouse support would be nice, especially if you want to fool around with stuff like GEOS
Agreed :)
The more I look into this unit the more I appreciate the emulator on the pi. Considerably cheaper too, and I downloaded every single North American software release in a single .zip file, no loading screens. I guess if you really need that nostalgia hit this is cool, but I have way more options with the pi out of the box, could always swap controller ports in software, and the awesome front-end also plays every single english game on every single console from the 2600 to the N64. 128gb limits me to a few hundred PS1 and SegaCD games but that’s fine. For $35 plus a $20 tiny SNES case and a pair of wireless wii I controllers that look like a mashup of SNES and 360 controllers I get so much more awesome gaming time out of it than I would with this unit…
The voice at the beginning of Turrican sounds like a Dalek.
My second favourite 8 bit sample next to Impossible Mission!
and a devon/cornish dalek at that
I think the significance of the updates to the theC64mini are underplayed. The "mini" was intended to be just a game machine but they opened pandora's box when they provided access to BASIC. For many, this really kicked off the craze! The "virtual keyboard" just wasn't enough. USB keyboards were necessary... and it just grew into the necessity of the "full" sized machine. But is the mini useless? Well NO! It got a LOT better without people noticing! It now has "classic" (boot to BASIC) mode! That's huge! With a good keyboard everything opens up. And frankly, while I have the "full" the mini is more useful to me because of desk space sharing. One of the mini's shortcomings is the number of USB ports and so USB keyboards which provide more USB ports or a USB hub is necessary. I started using a USB hub but found a fantastic USB keyboard with USB hub ports included! (Perixx Periboard-409!)
The Full size uses the power button as a "menu" button but also as a means of providing a "hard" and "soft" reset. But the mini's power button only serves as a power button as a momentary click will cue the shutdown script for the machine. But RetroGames provided this hard/soft functionality to a USB keyboard user via the F12 key. (Most mini keyboards only provide up to F10 and provide F12 as a "Fn+F2" combination) With the Periboard-409 providing two USB hub ports, I can send the mini to the back of the desk and use the USB hub ports (still two) for a USB drive and game controller! This is exceedingly convenient. I added a label to the keyboard with two labels. The first:
LShift+F12: Soft Reset
LShift+[OS]+F12: Hard Reset
The second:
Recover BASIC program after soft reset
poke 2050,1:sys42291:poke46,peek(35):poke45,peek(781)+2:clr
Soft reset is useful/important when using virtual cartridges like supersnapshot and TurboMacroPro for assembly development.
Once again there are many small USB keyboards out there. Most have no physical F12 key so those key combinations become more complicated (LeftShift+Fn+F2... also note that [OS] refers to the Windows key but could be any symbol there) This is why I simply prefer a mini keyboard with the full range of F keys. That combination of keys and USB hub ports makes the selection of possible options much more limited... and "expensive." So far, only Periboard-409 does it all. I'd be glad to know if there are other options which are affordable in a mini keyboard. (If readers here know of any other options tell me! I want to know!)
The point of my commentary here is to say that the mini is actually "better" [more appropriate/useful] depending on the circumstances. And the mini is ABSOLUTELY easier to find and buy because they are still everywhere and absolutely CHEAPER as well. It's cheaper even after you buy a periboard-409! And I learned about "Periboard" because of the Commander X16 project as Perixx is providing the keyboards for the still-in-development "Commander X16" series of machines which utilize PETSCII keyboards and character sets. So Perixx will be providing PETSCII labeled keyboards! I don't know when they will be released to the public but the fact that they are will also serve my interests with the "theC64" series machines. Lots of awesome!
Thanks! That’s really useful! Especially for those people struggling to find the Maxi for sale in their own country. Brilliant comment!
@@TheRetroShack Yes. Quite a struggle trying to keep up with the demand on RG's end. That may have been a factor in upgrading the function of the mini in the first place -- so that everyone can get the function they want even if they can't get the full size for now.
@@anjinmiura6708 Just imagine the fuss when they release the Amiga A500... :)
@@TheRetroShack It's going to be a mad-house. The demand will be high. I still think they should work to add more present-day interfacing in there. For example, providing "modem access" using dial strings like "ATDT ssh 192.168.0.10 22" as there are actual BBSes on the internet. Also allowing people to SSH into the VM host itself in order to upload image files or run XC-BASIC to write and compile BASIC code and then make them available to the emulator inside of a disk image or things like that. It's probably a lot to ask but it would be pretty awesome. But for now a second virtual floppy drive (device 9) would be very welcome.
If you update to 1.6, you'll have REU suport. That means Sonic C64 play. Oh yes. And joypad support, and new games. Worth it. Doesn't overwrite your added games either.
There is still no saving back to EasyFlash. This is a really simple change that has not been made.
Hopefully in a future update :)
The REU memory is useful for pre-rendered/pre-loaded video.
Thanks! I’ve been pointed in the way of some demos which look awesome too :)
Also most late Infocom games, Wizardry 1-3 and 5, the modern Ozmoo interpreter, and some improved game versions by the Nostalgia cracking group, which can load the entire thing in one go with an REU, and then have zero disk accesses when playing (except for saving and restoring your position, of course). :)
I have found quite a few C64 games don't work on The C64. Many graphic adventures and games that are not as well known, like Portal by Activision. These all work in Vice emulation on my PC, so I presume it's because The C64 doesn't have the latest version of WinVice. I hope they can update the emulation, so more games will run on it. The more games you have to end up emulating on the PC, the more you feel there was no point spending the money on The C64!
Yep, TheC64 does use an older version of Vice - I don't really think it's powerful enough to run the later versions. I'm still hopeful though and definitely hope they don't under-power the Amiga 500 they've got in the works :)
I just want to be able to change the SID and the colour palette and I'll be happy.
SID - Done. Colour Palette - Keep an eye out for Randy Rossi's replacement VIC-II chip - I'm getting one as soon as I can! :)
Brilliant. If only I could buy one. :-(
Have you checked the Retrogames website? There’s a list of stockists for different countries :) Good luck with the search!
There are tonnes of REU 16MB demos available. Admittedly they're only tech demos....but well with seeing :)
I’ll take a look - thanks!
Can't be fixed with firmware obviously, but the only other thing I want is some nice GPIO pins mapped to the userport of the emulated c64.
Hmmmm perhaps they could actually put in a cartridge port too - that would top it off nicely!
Wait, did they not include RAM expansion options out of the box?! My retro arch pi thing emulator has all of the ram expansions enable-able in the stock software…
Not in the initial release but it's pretty complete now :)
Wonder if it would be possible somehow to emulate dual SID chip support?
Not sure there’s the widespread market for that kind of niche - and it’s not ‘standard’ Commodore so that may be a factor too? Be cool though!
Looks like I'll be picking me up one of these on eBay along with a USB disk drive. I'd prefer to load my games, old school. and as luck would have it I can even still get a USB tape player and load my games from tape if I wanted to.
I bought this thing as soon as it was released and played 30 minutes of Bruce Lee with it. Now it's just a conversation piece on my desk 'cause nobody knows what it is :)
Can't think of a more beautiful paper weight :) :)
@@TheRetroShack Most people think it's some sort of typewriter. It's pretty hilarious. But yeah, each time I look at the thing, it makes me smile. Good times... the C64 had something romantic about it, something I have never felt for any computer I owned after that.
@@S.Y.S.64738 I agree about the romance of the C64. What was that? Us back then, maybe?
@@gamingtonight1526 It was all new. Most people were scared of computers these days. Us being kids, playing the games that later would become the classics. Sweet childhood memories... ah, I miss the eighties. Great times!
What’s the point of being compatible with the REUs? I would think they’d have enough spare RAM already in the core SOC to just emulate them.
That’s exactly what it does. TheC64 doesn’t have a cartridge port so all cartridges and hardware is emulated - They’re a very cool modernisation of the C64 :)
I have no idea what I had this mixed up with in my head, lol. I was thinking there was a c64 knockoff that had an actual cartridge port. Now it makes sense!
@@user-yr1uq1qe6y No worries!
They really need to update the actual Vice Emulator they are using, I believe it is 2.4 which is more than 10 years ago . The Vice Team are up to 3.5 now.
I think it’s probably down to a price/performance trade off. In order to run the later more cycle accurate versions of Vice the price of the hardware would have to rise also and the majority of users wouldn’t be able to tell the difference. Anyone that invested in the c64 probably has the real hardware in any case :)
@@TheRetroShack Yes i was thinking hardware related for sure / price point wise.
Check out PCUAE (Project Carousel USB) if you want to try out full vice running on thec64/mini. You get all the options, but the hardware just isnt fast enough so there is more screen tearing and latency.
16MB REU could be used if a file system was large enough and you can bypass the slow loading.
Yep, can you imagine 16mb loading on the standard 1541? :) :)
the only person whose videos i like before watching (well you and RMC)..
Awww shucks! Thanks - that’s good company you’re putting me with there! :)
What about the new cartridge features?
If you figure out how to remap the buttons a video would be great. Thanks for the update. If I understood correctly it allows us to play games that take up more than 1 d64 file? I usually use CRT files for games to get around this but this certainly makes it easier to get all the games I want.
Yep - you can just swap the disks as if it were a real disk drive. I've been playing Pool Of Radiance all week :) (When I should have been doing other things.... ;) )
i have a c64 maxi is there a chance that if i use a machine code monitor like supermon64 that a program can be saved on a usb drive, at the moment a machine code monitor does not seem to reconise the usb drive, maybe a further firmware update might cure this problem.
I've just tried to update mine and my android tab says, this file type unsupported, and it won't download, what's that about? I've upgraded before.
What about the speed of games? They have speed really like the originals? Or the games on C64 Maxi are little slow or too fast? I saw boulder dash and I think it's slow than on original C64. Please let me know, I want to end some games so I thinking about the C64 Maxi... I'm lazy and I don't want to setup cassette on original C64 :)
To be honest it's pretty good - I'm sure there are frame skips in some games at times but in general I don't really notice any difference between this a and a real c64 :)
I used REU in GEOS for many years and wrote 1000's of pages and of geoWrite and geoPaint and my thinking is the save to REU as a stand alone file for the 2 meg etc. available? The Ultimate 2+ does it. So I am hoping to save files from GEOS.
I have no idea but I’ll give it a go :)
@@TheRetroShack I got a Mini last Monday as the Maxi is not for sale here yet. I think it is slow on J stick response but only tried the Boulder Dash as I played that. I was more into productive software. The time when a PC cost 10K US.
I hope my real C64 and the Mini can play nice!!!!!
all we need now is super cpu support
I wish they’d add full C=128 compatibility, I’d buy it then…
Maybe one day :)
What difference does it make if you plug in your usb drive to the rear port for a firmware update? I don't see why it would matter what USB port you use.
I would love for them to add USB mouse support for GEOS.
That would be awesome - GEOS is a marvel of software engineering !
Audio is fixed, no more bass coloration or reverb
Congrats welcome to the big leagues
Well I’m not sure about the big leagues! But happy that the audio has improved :)
There’s a Defender of the Crown ROM out there that is only 1 disk in size.....
What? Well, you learn something new every day! Thanks!
@@TheRetroShack Indeed! Took me a while to find one that would actually work! If you have any influence on RetroGames.biz, I would ask that they add a "second floppy drive" option. I'm getting to the point where I want to do more of what I do on the machine more directly. I hate removing the USB drive, putting it into a PC running DirMaster and other things to arrange things the way I like them when I could more easily have two disk images mounted at once and copy things and stuff like that. They keep making it incrementally better as they go! More good suggestions means better upgrades in the future.
Are these still being actively made? We had about 5 retailers in Australia, and none of them carry it anymore. And I can't even find one to import.
They’re still being sold on Amazon in the UK : The C64 (Electronic Games) www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07TLCKPQY/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_fabc_CYEQJK055H4TQ0VSTENE
Can we get the ability to delete roms from thumb drives whilst plugged into the maxi already?
Or perhaps Wi-fi access so we can manage the files from a remote PC?
Can you use this or the maxi as a usb keyboard for a PC?
Unfortunately not out of the box. A little google search will unveil a couple of mods that you can do if you're brave enough :)
It would be nice if I could find one of these for sale... been looking for restock for more than a year and nothing...
They’re still for sale on the Amazon UK website but not sure that helps depending where in the world you are :(
@@TheRetroShack It's showing "Currently unavailable" for me... guess they have some kind of geo blocking on amazon for this product (I'm in Hong Kong at the moment). Thanks anyway
@@BrunoFonsecaPT Darn! Hope you manage to land one! Good luck!
In case you haven't ordered yet, they're available now on Amazon. I bought mine on October 26th. I just checked, and they're still in stock.
still havent sussed out multi disk on the sd2iec....need more time with it methinks
Any excuse to play ;)
@@TheRetroShack yeah pity I've still got to work though
Would be good if you could mount more than one disk image at a time. Some games I love have a ton of disk sides and the swapping gets very tiresome ..Ultima V anyone?
Ultima V... Shivers...
For Ultima V, I'd wait until they add C128 support (if they ever do so). Playing it without the soundtrack would be a crime. :)
Are there any usb controllers that work with this thing yet? Or are you still limited to the stick it comes with?
You can use other joystick (I believe) as the function keys on the standard stick also have keyboard shortcuts - I'll try it out :)
@@TheRetroShack I understand a PS4 joypad works fine. Use reset to bring up menu.
I have a The C64 but my version seems to hold a different name yours is amora while mine is snowbird. question now the reu expansion works what about loading CRT files and TAP files also for the life of me how do I use the REU util disk in .d64 image to mage a blank REU drive 9 of a 512k ram disk.
Well, this has got follow up episode on the TheC64 written all over it :) I’ll add it to the list! Thanks so much for watching :)
Amora is the UK version of the firmware, Snowbird is the north American version
@@Kwstr42 I know already. that part was easy to figure out and not part of the question. but thanks anyways.
the link of the turrican ROM?
You'll find all of those with a quick google search ;)
@@TheRetroShack I ask because all the TURRICAN roms I found were corrupted/hacked
Nice, now I'm ready to buy one. But where?
retrogames.biz/thec64/retailers - Good luck and hope you get one!
@@TheRetroShack thanks 👍🏻
Still waiting for mouse support :(
Me too :( Looking forward to Retrogames Amiga though :) :)
still no auto fire option for the joystick.
You’ve made me wonder whether a third party stick with auto fire would work? You don’t need to use the joystick that came with TheC64 - any one will do as long as it has enough buttons :)
@@TheRetroShack well since the delivered joystick has enough buttons, why not implement this feature?...
@@tiger1x I guess I should put that question to Retrogames :) I think I will! :)
@@TheRetroShack I already did but no response yet... But the more people ask for it, the bigger the chance we get it! So ask please! :-)
@@TheRetroShack Do you get USB auto fire joysticks that are compatible? I had a Quickshot 2 (rubbish build quality, was always fixing the damn ring inside) and eventually a microswitch joystick back in the day, both with auto fire. Great times!
Where can I get this the C 64 thanks
Hi there! From the company website: retrogames.biz/thec64/retailers
Nice waggling! 👍🕹️
Thanks - Lots of practice :)
have they given any options to remap the buttons on a controller yet?
Not to my knowledge unfortunately ;(
@@TheRetroShack Aw, that's annoying, I use a SNES USB pad as I find them easier to use, but the fire button is mapped to the R trigger annoyingly.
Should be possible with a CJM file. Look it up in the manual from page 65.
@@JanEspen Thanks - didn’t know CJM files could remap joystick buttons - I’ll take a look!
@@TheRetroShack I believe with lots of trial and error, yes... but the CJM will map buttons to key presses only as I understand it. It will require a LOT of luck to figure that out as this mapping is completely by text file. I would suggest creating a CJM file listing LOTS of buttons which may or may not exist and map them to every letter of the keyboard. Then start playing and mapping. So far, I have found the Logiteh F310 to be the best alternative controller. I've heard "iNNext" SNES style USB controllers work but can't attest to that. I have suggested to RetroGames to create and sell their own game pads because the joystick is just not convenient.
I would just like to know when they are going to release the one for the United States
I thought it had already been release over there?
@@TheRetroShack I check frequently and I’ve never seen them say it’s actually released
@@scotthannan8669 Well I hope their supply chain gets sorted soon! Good luck with the hunt :)
Sadly I think COVID may have killed any chance the full version will come out here. I've been hoping for some time
dust rags are a thing you know
You have just lost me £10! Mrs Retroshack said 'you need to dust that...' and I said 'Bet you a tenner no-one will notice or care...' Thing is, you can't even see the dust in the flesh, bloomin' iPhones :( OK, OK - I'll do a better job from now on :) :)
I wish Nintendo would take note and update their consoles instead of making people buy two mini Sega Mega Drives... so much plastic for no reason 🤯
My question is ( and it's HIGHLY unlikely to be answered) : *Where in the Bloody 'Ell are the units for the US market?!* They appear to be unobtanium and I certainly am not going to pay some slimy, sleazy, skeevy Jimmy Savile wannabe eBay scalper for one!
They've probably all been bought by Chinese bitcoin miners.
@@TheOriginalNCDV OK, you legitimately made me laugh with that post. Good on ya!
They do seem to have some supply problems! Have you considered getting the Vic-20 version? Inside, both machines are identical I believe, it's purely a cosmetic difference. Unless anyone knows differently?
That the TheC64 on the video looks pretty dusty ;)
Exactly what Mrs RetroShack said :) I said ‘No-one will notice...’ How wrong I was! :) Duster bought...
@@TheRetroShack It gives it a more retro look ;)
Update would be more usefull if i could put my hand on a unit...
A familiar story it seems!
Getting it on Amazon is like fishing for the big one. No sense in paying almost double from the other sellers.
@@victormercado4478 I gave up and bought a Mister FPGA instead...
You should really compare it with MiSTer :)
MiSTer is on my hit list, don’t worry ;)
Oh yeah how you gonna sort that 15 MB address list on your c64 without 16MB of RAM huh? How you gonna sort the first million or so real randoms for a freq analysis test huh? How you gonna find out what the 16 million digit of pi is on your c64 huh? You can never have too much RAM! 🤓
Ahh another computer with Linux called a c64.
Hey, if it gets more love for the machine and keeps the legacy going i’m happy. Never going to beat the real deal, but close enough for most casual users. Thanks for watching!
@@TheRetroShack get paid.