Yes I did. My gameboy failed under warranty so I popped into Dixons and swapped it for a GX4000. Hours later I was back in Dixons asking to swap the GX4000 for the C64GS. My only regret was selling it for £20.
I know mate and I am a retro collector. Its not the only thing I was stupid enough to sell in the day either but the truth is at the time no one wanted these so how would we of ever known. At least I still have my Sam Coupe 🙂
Hello there 😺! I'm a longtime retrospective gamer and still owner of the original hardwares of the Commodore 64 (tapes / disks / cartridges) and Amiga 500 😺👍🕹️. And your channel deserves a new retrospective subscriber from Vantaa, Finland 🇫🇮 😺👍🕹️. COMMODORE 64 FOREVER 😺👍🕹️! Press play on tape LOAD "*",8,1 AMIGA FOREVER 😺👍🕹️! Insert disk 💾 2 Thank you 😸😺👍🕹️.
Fun fact, the UK version of the G64 came with a special edition of T2 Judgement day with extra levels . also if you warranty label was single language it ment it was a refurb model sold as new.
One of the most undercooked pieces of hardware of all time... but strangely cute! Also, really impressed by the graphics on Shadow of the beast, didn't know you could do all that on a c64
Hi Everyone. This time Retro Relix reviews the 1990 Commodore C64 Games System. We install some replacement cartridge doors, investigate button 2 on the Cheetah Annihilator, how developers modified their games to be GS compatible and have some fun trying to play some non-Game System games. Enjoy, Mark.
amstrad did one under the same premise , they had lots of boards going spare as they were outdated and sold them as games systems , neat cheap idea they were getting more into the IBM style units at that time i even believe sinclair before selling to amstrad were toying with an 8 bit games machine purely for rom carts to use up all the 48K boards as they thought the QL was going to hit big
Great video really enjoyed that thanks for making quite enlightening to see there was an actual Commodore 64 inside there ,.. good work on the replacement doors .
I really love the simplicity of it, exactly what I would have wanted.. about 5 years prior. And I have to admit, I wouldnt have bought it anyway not having 2 cents to rub together as a kid and by that time the Amiga was all the rage, so it really was a big misfire on their behalf releasing it... if only a few years earlier who knows if it might have taken off?
I remade a C64GS via 3D Printed Case 1:1 using Beige filament (A500 color) modified it with all the back ports, Built-in AV & AV to HDMI (Cheap converted) Used an original C64 logicboard flashed with Original GS rom, bent the cart slot 90 degrees upward, has working traptoor. Custom port for external Keyboard. Built-in 1541 interface for loading disks and can load physical 360k floppies. Built-in USB-C power converter to 9v, NTSC/Pal switcher. Built a multi cart for all the GS titles like this video patched to work with DS. This should be what Commodore should have done. Make make a C64D with a GS shell. Thank you felix for the links to Thingverse
1990 I went to college and moved onto PC (I almost made the mistake of getting an amiga - which were pretty cool at the time). When I saw the GS in walmart, it was pretty clear the writing was on the wall for commodore. The C64 was long in tooth by then. TED (maybe even the 128) onwards was a disaster for commodore low end. Amiga was a tragedy in that management really screwed up an otherwise excellent product.
It was pretty strange how Commodore simply couldn't do a console based design justice despite several attempts at it, even the later day Amiga CD32 has the same "computer moments" where people must have thought the Game Console was broken. Sure the NES did poorly in the EU but Commodore could have bought one to see how the whole concept was supposed to work like. Even the whole C64 switching ports thing was annoying, as if Commodore couldn't enforce a default of Port 1 for all game releases. I'm not even sure why coders kept making games with Player 1 on Port 2?🤔
mmm Shadow of the Beast, this was my favourite version with a soundtrack even better in my eyes (or should that be ears?) than the Amiga version, though the later PC Engince/FM Towns soundtrack is better. That T2 one really is a triumph of not testing
It should have been obvious to Commodore that a console version of the C64 that's 8 years after the computer release is doomed to fail with by then very dated hardware that was ripped to shreds by other consoles at the time.
not to mention the fact that economies of scale on the C64 production meant that it wouldn't have cost much extra to sell C64s "as-is" without the GS cost cutting - downgrading the entire experience you would have been better off stumping up a bit extra for.
@@YBM2007 The NES was towards the end of life however, the Sega Genesis came out in 1989 which truly ripped the Commodore 64 console to shreds, the SNES came out in 1991 in the US and early 1992 in the EU, but it was out in Japan in late 1990.
@RetroRelixRestorer I know a commodore 64 D had 64kb of ram....now the question is has the commodore 64GS.....I believe it has about 2kb ram....for the kernal
@@Mr.1.i Lol - I didn’t find anything about this during my research or subsequent review just now. Do you have any reference links that would suggest this is the case?
So there is 64K RAM on the board, otherwise many games wouldn't run. The 2K were on the Comodore MAX-machine (VC 10 1982). It was a low-cost version, but had the VIC2 and SID. The C64 has a compatibility mode for the MAX
Thanks for your comment. The objective here was to address the cosmetics and functionality of the case and cartridge doors which was completely removable - so would be interested in your thoughts for a better solution.
@@RetroRelixRestorer Sorry, I wasn't referring to your fix, which in my humble opinion was perfect. I was talking about the concept of the console, which could have been better explored by Commodore. Thanks for the video!
@@igorperuchi2114 Thanks for your clarification which I agree with 😂. Regarding my fix, I accept that could also be better - but wanted to provide a full solution just in case there are other GS’s out there without the securing metal hinges. Quite how the cart doors were missing is beyond me though 🤷♂️
I am one of the few thousand that actually bought a C64GS, very nice to know 🙂
…and did you enjoy it at the time?
Yes I did. My gameboy failed under warranty so I popped into Dixons and swapped it for a GX4000. Hours later I was back in Dixons asking to swap the GX4000 for the C64GS. My only regret was selling it for £20.
@@jimmycoupe8021 …and now they cost a mini fortune 🤦♂️
I know mate and I am a retro collector. Its not the only thing I was stupid enough to sell in the day either but the truth is at the time no one wanted these so how would we of ever known. At least I still have my Sam Coupe 🙂
Yeah, the irony are the ideas that didn’t sell are now worth the most 😱
Hello there 😺!
I'm a longtime retrospective gamer and
still owner of the original hardwares of
the Commodore 64 (tapes / disks / cartridges) and Amiga 500 😺👍🕹️.
And your channel deserves a new retrospective subscriber from Vantaa, Finland 🇫🇮 😺👍🕹️.
COMMODORE 64 FOREVER 😺👍🕹️!
Press play on tape
LOAD "*",8,1
AMIGA FOREVER 😺👍🕹️!
Insert disk 💾 2
Thank you 😸😺👍🕹️.
Fun fact, the UK version of the G64 came with a special edition of T2 Judgement day with extra levels . also if you warranty label was single language it ment it was a refurb model sold as new.
One of the most undercooked pieces of hardware of all time... but strangely cute!
Also, really impressed by the graphics on Shadow of the beast, didn't know you could do all that on a c64
I think the GX4000 gave it a good run for its money.
Hi Everyone. This time Retro Relix reviews the 1990 Commodore C64 Games System. We install some replacement cartridge doors, investigate button 2 on the Cheetah Annihilator, how developers modified their games to be GS compatible and have some fun trying to play some non-Game System games. Enjoy, Mark.
amstrad did one under the same premise , they had lots of boards going spare as they were outdated and sold them as games systems , neat cheap idea
they were getting more into the IBM style units at that time
i even believe sinclair before selling to amstrad were toying with an 8 bit games machine purely for rom carts to use up all the 48K boards as they thought the QL was going to hit big
Ah yes, the Amstrad GX4000 😀
Everyone that came over to my house had to play Stunt Car Racer on my A500. That was the best game.
Great video really enjoyed that thanks for making quite enlightening to see there was an actual Commodore 64 inside there ,.. good work on the replacement doors .
I really love the simplicity of it, exactly what I would have wanted.. about 5 years prior. And I have to admit, I wouldnt have bought it anyway not having 2 cents to rub together as a kid and by that time the Amiga was all the rage, so it really was a big misfire on their behalf releasing it... if only a few years earlier who knows if it might have taken off?
I love the case design :)
Stunt car racer, takes me back
Great video
I remade a C64GS via 3D Printed Case 1:1 using Beige filament (A500 color) modified it with all the back ports, Built-in AV & AV to HDMI (Cheap converted) Used an original C64 logicboard flashed with Original GS rom, bent the cart slot 90 degrees upward, has working traptoor. Custom port for external Keyboard. Built-in 1541 interface for loading disks and can load physical 360k floppies. Built-in USB-C power converter to 9v, NTSC/Pal switcher. Built a multi cart for all the GS titles like this video patched to work with DS. This should be what Commodore should have done. Make make a C64D with a GS shell. Thank you felix for the links to Thingverse
Wow, that sounds awesome. Do you have any image links ?
The yellow. The yellow hurts my eyes. :)
I've never seen one of these!
1990 I went to college and moved onto PC (I almost made the mistake of getting an amiga - which were pretty cool at the time). When I saw the GS in walmart, it was pretty clear the writing was on the wall for commodore. The C64 was long in tooth by then. TED (maybe even the 128) onwards was a disaster for commodore low end. Amiga was a tragedy in that management really screwed up an otherwise excellent product.
@@montyhall2805 I agree with your Commodore GS comments and although the Amiga was a power-house at the time; as you say - the PC won that race too…
It was pretty strange how Commodore simply couldn't do a console based design justice despite several attempts at it, even the later day Amiga CD32 has the same "computer moments" where people must have thought the Game Console was broken. Sure the NES did poorly in the EU but Commodore could have bought one to see how the whole concept was supposed to work like.
Even the whole C64 switching ports thing was annoying, as if Commodore couldn't enforce a default of Port 1 for all game releases. I'm not even sure why coders kept making games with Player 1 on Port 2?🤔
I completely agree - especially the joystick port swapping.
mmm Shadow of the Beast, this was my favourite version with a soundtrack even better in my eyes (or should that be ears?) than the Amiga version, though the later PC Engince/FM Towns soundtrack is better. That T2 one really is a triumph of not testing
did touy try usng the 2nd joysitck port? For single player games it might give you the pause or menu?
@@0011peace Great question, I didn’t but will check that out and let you know. 👍
It should have been obvious to Commodore that a console version of the C64 that's 8 years after the computer release is doomed to fail with by then very dated hardware that was ripped to shreds by other consoles at the time.
not to mention the fact that economies of scale on the C64 production meant that it wouldn't have cost much extra to sell C64s "as-is" without the GS cost cutting - downgrading the entire experience you would have been better off stumping up a bit extra for.
1990? NES was still running strong over here, but a weird idea indeed
@@YBM2007 The NES was towards the end of life however, the Sega Genesis came out in 1989 which truly ripped the Commodore 64 console to shreds, the SNES came out in 1991 in the US and early 1992 in the EU, but it was out in Japan in late 1990.
@@pjcnet yeah well the Sega didnt really sell much over here. The world moved a lot slower back then
I wonder if it has any ram
My review of the Commodore 64d has a full breakdown of the Commodore 64’s RAM from 3-51 ua-cam.com/video/3A16ZeY9Vts/v-deo.htmlsi=Ya84HXSJ8V8bnfoE
@RetroRelixRestorer I know a commodore 64 D had 64kb of ram....now the question is has the commodore 64GS.....I believe it has about 2kb ram....for the kernal
@@Mr.1.i Lol - I didn’t find anything about this during my research or subsequent review just now. Do you have any reference links that would suggest this is the case?
@@RetroRelixRestorer does it have a cassette port....if so .....just open it up and see......for crying out load
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So there is 64K RAM on the board, otherwise many games wouldn't run.
The 2K were on the Comodore MAX-machine (VC 10 1982). It was a low-cost version, but had the VIC2 and SID.
The C64 has a compatibility mode for the MAX
PYSGNOSIS presents ...
now rushing an area
Good concept, bad execution.
Thanks for your comment. The objective here was to address the cosmetics and functionality of the case and cartridge doors which was completely removable - so would be interested in your thoughts for a better solution.
@@RetroRelixRestorer Sorry, I wasn't referring to your fix, which in my humble opinion was perfect. I was talking about the concept of the console, which could have been better explored by Commodore. Thanks for the video!
@@igorperuchi2114 Thanks for your clarification which I agree with 😂. Regarding my fix, I accept that could also be better - but wanted to provide a full solution just in case there are other GS’s out there without the securing metal hinges. Quite how the cart doors were missing is beyond me though 🤷♂️