Commodore C64X Mister FPGA Build - The Best Retro Gaming Setup Ever
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- After years of sitting on the sidelines, I finally took the MiSTer FPGA plunge after a friend showed me his latest Commodore-wrapped creation using a brand new C64X case. The C64X can become a full-blown MiSTer in just a matter of minutes once you get all of the parts. You can get beige, a VIC-20 color scheme or even a black "TED" styled version. They are all Commodore branded with the C= key and badges and even come in a gorgeous professionally designed Commodore-branded box.
In this video I show you how to put one together, then show you some of my favorite games. And if you wait until the very end, I'll blow your mind with a Mister Add-On you'll want the second you see it in action. ARTICLE VERSION with Parts List: www.amigalove.com/viewtopic.p...
Table of Contents
00:00 - 00:25 Intro Titles
00:26 - 02:13 Overview and Commodore C64x Backstory
02:14 - 09:26 The Build
09:27 - 09:52 Power Test
09:53 - 11:00 Playing with the MiSTer: Altered Beast, Commando (Arcade)
11:01 - 11:34 Playing with the MiSTer: Colecovision
11:35 - 11:52 Playing with the MiSTer: Shinobi (Arcade)
11:53 - 12:49 Special Add-On SURPRISE!!!
12:50 - 13:16 Outro
● Many thanks to our awesome monthly Site Supporters and Channel Members for their support!!!
Michael Wallen (walldog)
Travis Carter (joethezombie)
Graham Shaw (grshaw)
Acknowledgements
● Intro/Outro music (and more) by the ULTRA bad ass: Axion, with permission [Canada].
axionsynthwave.bandcamp.com/
● Additional Soundtrack music permission by the RIGHTEOUSLY awesome Droid Bishop, with permission [Los Angeles, CA]
droidbishop.bandcamp.com/
● Amiga 3D case render during the intro by the INSANELY talented Thomas (Tommes) Koch - Наука та технологія
Damn, that's one of the sweetest MiSTer builds I've seen.
Good job. I have my MiSTer inside an amiga 600 shell, it surely was cheaper, got the shell and the keyboard back when they you could find them for relatively cheap at 40 euros each.
Very nice. Did you follow my friend mattsoft's build? (He also did this with an A1000, but never publicized that one) www.amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?t=636
@@AmigaLove Yes, mostly. You can thank him on my behalf. I got the idea when I saw the 3D printed conversion kit on eBay, and later I found out it was based on his design (it gotta be, it's identical).
@@urracojalpa4481 Yes indeed - a lot of people take his creations and recreate them and sell them w/o any credit. He doesn't want or expect $ from his ideas but the lack of credit is ... tacky, I guess is the right word. He's a mad scientist! =)
I used to love my commodore 64 as a kid - Chuckie Egg all the way for me
Love this, nice job!
Thank you! I'm in love with this machine and glad I could share it. Cheers!
c64 my fav system of alltime
Same.
kudos again!
Cool project! I love your videos man! Thanks.
Thank you! I appreciate that.
Excellent video, thanks.
Thank you, Jim!
ok brilliant video - I have just bought the same hardware with v3 memory! and SD to SD extension cable - bought the 64X translucent case with RGB lighting!
That sounds awesome. That should be quite the retro gaming disco when you’re done!
@@AmigaLove thanks! checkout the video for a demo by "MyRetroComputers Translucent c64x Breadbin/RGB Keyboard Review"
This was a very well made and timely video! I've been wondering what to do with my transparent C64x case (even contemplating selling it) and the news of the cheap Mister clone has reawakened my interest in finally getting one. This is would be the perfect match. I started searching around for builds like this but did not see much being done, and now you have shared the definitive example. Thank you! Here's hoping the MisterFPGA will fit perfectly.
Thank you so much and I’m glad you found the video useful. In the description area I link to an article with a shopping list. (I’m not attached to any of the shops in any way.) the entire build - for me, with shipping, was $700-800 total. However you’re right - a very affordable clone Mister at $100 appears to be dropping any day now, which is amazing. Good luck with your build! Would love to see it when it is done. The motherboard took the longest for me to receive.
Happy 4th Eric, great build.
Thanks, man! Easily one of my favorite gaming machines now. Honestly will be picking up a USB arcade joystick later this summer. I love me some Shinobi but it just feels wrong on a Logitech joystick. I need a real joystick where I can slap the buttons properly. Cheers!
Great video! Wow.. how cool…
Dude - it's SUPER cool! I love this thing!! Good to see you as always, Michael! Happy 4th
I really enjoy your videos, really professional, I love 'em! About this fpga build, wonderful! keep up the good work! P.s. Greetings from Sicily!
Thank you SO much. You, my friend, have made my day. Grazie!
Great stuff, i had this idea also , really great , great retro minds think alike 🤣
C64X mister fpga building working for me only 2 weeks in total to order and assemble all components! Everything working other than power light so checking your written guide in case Ive positioned the led dupont connectors incorrectly. FYI the USB on the ITX mini has been revised and moved to bottom right of the mini ethernet cable section - in that space.
This looks wonderfull. I have a modded "TheC64" (simply used the keyboard part of it (it is usb)) myself with a mister in it. it is a very good way to experience the C64 this way. Your build looks a lot more tidy and better though! Mine is a mess inside :) I did not know about that floppydrive intrface!! Awesome!
Very cool! And thanks!
that is...awesome
Thanks!! I totally dig it, too.
Now all we need is easyflash saving to be added to the mister c64 core 😂
Honestly, being able to run EasyFlash CRT files (like Curse of the Azure Bonds) would be very cool...
You can run the easyflash carts it just won't save to the file for things like highscore etc
@@alpanchen Oh, now this is really cool to learn. I had no idea! Many of my favorite EF3 carts are SSI D&D adventures. What's cool about them is when you load them they ask which drive you want to save to. Since I have the IEC adapter, I should be able to set the external to 9 and save games to disk that way. I'll give that a shot later today. That would be cool!
@@alpanchen So check this out. If you use the EF3 ports created by s!r, he has coded ways for you to save your games via floppy disk, or 3 slots on the EF cart! I've created a party in Curse of the Azure Bonds and saved the characters/game to floppy, all while playing off the cartridge. It's great!
@AmigaLove not the same as it retaining the info in the cart like real ez or even u64 or kungfu flash.... a dump of the file back to sd on exit to the osd would solve the issue on mister
Nice build! I'm not convinced a MiSTer is compelling for me but I'd definitely consider this case as an option on my short list for a Denise mini-ITX Amiga. I feel pretty confident it would be a good fit with a picoATX power supply even allowing room for a CPU socket accelerator and a smaller (or maybe even two) zorro II card with an appropriate right angle riser.
If you decide to get a case, be sure to do a search on mini-itx.com for "barebones" and you'll see the 3 color options. The VIC-20 white case would look good with an Amiga core... hell, even the black one!
@@AmigaLove I was just looking at those and yeah, I agree the VIC-20 case feels the most Amiga. Ideal I think would be to have that paired with the white keyboard with grey function keys although I have no clue if they could accommodate that. Another option since it's standard MX mount keycaps would just be to swap the keycaps for something more appropriate.
Awesome build Eric!
Thank you!!!
I've been waiting a lifetime now for a full fat 1:1 parity Amiga 1200 & C64 FPGA computer, that has a full mech KB, floppy drive and CD-ROM, plus native OPL3, SID and MIDI built in, along with a UHS-III full-size SD card reader, or something even better than that even like CFExpress, a traditional cart slot that can boot games, soundbanks/fonts and software, along with high-quality repro games inc modern indie releases and ports, basically the perfect C64 & Amiga computer FPGA all-in-one, would be amazing to get either X68K mode as well, or a standalone Sharp X6800 1:1 FPGA computer system with a replica of the OG case, keyboard and mouse, speakers and an OLED 4:3 monitor replica using an iPad 4:3 OLED panel, also with a proper Yamaha OPL3 ASIC and a nice Wolfson DAC, plus a collection or repro X68K game carts/box's/manuals, I hope someone does this one day, as the Amiga 1200 and Sharp X68K are the best way to enjoy retro computer games imo, but unobtainium for the most part (the Sharp X68K especially).
surprised the ironclad board doesn't have a microSD extension option. Also you could probably mount a 2.5" hard drive in the DVD slot using a 2.5 to laptop DVD drive adapter.
wow this is awesome!
I wish there was a keyboard in the style of the Atari 800XL
I wouldn't stick a MiSTer in it, but put an USB port instead, so I can take the same keyboard from Altirra to MiSTer when I feel like it.
That would be cool! Have you seen the clear 800xl case?
Damn it ! You just made me spend half a grand lol 😂
Haha! I don’t think you’ll regret it. Have fun!!
I LOVE this build - by far the best mister setup. Links? I don’t see them yet.
I put this build into my arcade as I can also take it out of the drawer and take it with me.
I’ve done the same build a couple times with the Atlantis for Mister FPGA. From a price perspective it’s a nice value and wires in the ATX power switch.
Hey thanks! I love it, too. The link to all of the stuff is in the description. Here it is again: www.amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?t=2765
@@AmigaLove thanks - and thanks for all you do for the community
I really used to love loading a tape on my 64 for 45 mins only to have it crash and have to start again. people moan about game crashes now, but they have no idea.
haha! so true
I bought the C64x two years ago with the intention of turning it into a MiSTer. I lost interest part way through trying to get the perfect mix of ports and connectors. Still got the keyboard though
If you want to use what I used in the video, you can find the entire list of stuff (including optional parts) here: www.amigalove.com/viewtopic.php?t=2765
"enough games to fill a Tardis" Really enjoyed this line, great voice writing! 💫
Haha thanks, Dan! You'd think this machine would help me "exterminate" some of my collection and yet it still seems to grow. I'm doing something wrong!
What monitor is that?
Hey, it's a Beetronics 15” 4:3 LCD. Truth is an analogue CRT would be great, too, as the MiSTer really shines on analogue video. But I'm using this one as seen in the video because 1) it's new 2) it's a natural 4:3 and 3) it's "retro sized" in that it isn't huge, which I like. It can do both HDMI or VGA, so I sometimes pair it with my A3000 as well as my Mac Quadra 700. But I have a friend who uses a screen that will rotate 90 degrees so the arcade cores like vertical shooters look awesome. Lots of options!
@@AmigaLove thanks!
so how much was it to make? heck the MEGA65 has a ton of cores and used the MISTER core for an awesome C64 too and in my opinion the MEGA65 case and keyboard is much cooler than this C64 PC case
At the end of the day, it's about the same price as a Mega, maybe a touch higher. I had a 1st-batch Mega, but finally sold it (broke even on it) earlier this year and went all-in on this instead.
@@AmigaLove ah ok I guess it’s a cool project too and of course personal preference
@@f1lupo If I were based in the UK or EU I might have kept the Mega65. But it was so PAL-focused and fragmented about what the machine should actually *be* I honestly felt kind cast to the side from a user standpoint. And I feel like I kept wanting the machine to be something, or become something, that it wasn't. If you're a programmer and want to program on the machine you're the perfect target audience. If, like me, you're just a user... well, it's a bit more wild west. And there's a bit of a philosophical split between core Mega65 development and other cores, like the Commodore 64. Plus, I'm not a programmer. So, I solved my own issues and let someone else buy my machine (he was a programmer!). ;) It's a very cool machine and one of my good friends is now on the steering committee so I get monthly updates on the progress from the top. I definitely still "stay connected" to the scene. Some very smart people involved.
the c64x is way too expensive. try the 8bitdo c64 keyboard, comes with joystick and also 2 separate massive fire buttons. i'm hoping there's space inside to fit the nano or the raspi : )
UPDATE: you will just get an email when posted - so don't worry if you don't hear back for a week :-) WARNING: DO NOT BUY the MiSTer Mini-ITX Ironclad Lite - I ordered it from d3fmod weeks ago and have had no reply from my chaser emails/tweets to the company or Roberto the owner. Don't know if hes been in germany for weeks watching spain but I was stupid to order and pay immediately after watching this video and had no response.
He has a very long backlog. Mine took 2 months.
@@AmigaLove ok will wait rather than chargeback
@@AmigaLove ignore me received email this morning from Robert/ d3fmod to confirm its been posted!
ITX mini arrived from Spain so all is good in the world 🙂thanks for great video - I'm now up and runing with the C64X - I went for clear/ RGB lighting keys in the breadbin
A.I. voiceover = downvote, regardless of content.
AI voiceover? What the heck are you talking about? That's all me from beginning to end.
Uh, that's Eric's actual voice.
lol, that's Eric speaking. I don't blame anyone for having a hair trigger on sensing AI these days, but you're incorrect in this case. :)
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣