Computer Shopper - UK (2019-10)

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RETRO

ISSUE 380|COMPUTERSHOPPER|OCTOBER 2019

“Wehaveincluded anew,improved
joystick with microswitches and ametal shaft
inside,and you’ll be able to plug two of them
in if you get hold of another,” Andrews says.
That is welcome news foranyone who
has used the controller forTHEC64 Mini:
toomany photos on social media showed
broken shafts, while the lack of microswitches
meant that the Mini’s joystick was too
imprecise; pulling off diagonal moves proved
particularly troublesome.

NEWFOR OLD

And yet it’s the built-in keyboard that’s truly
turning heads, given the opportunities this
can bring. The Basic programming language is
built intoTHEC64, and there’s every chance it
could revive the healthy coding scene that
existed the first time around.
Indeed, Andrews is hoping it will encourage
users to tinker with the computer and come
up with new programs.
“The Mini seems to have started off
anew cottage industry of new
games and we’d love this to
continue,” Andrews says.
But could this actually be
an ambition toofar?
Neil Grayson, who
edits atributesiteto
the 1990s British
computer magazine
Commodore Format,
believes there is great
potential, first and foremost.

“The Commodore 64 wasn’t and isn’t a

niche product forhardcore nerds, and most

people don’t want to mess about with

Raspberry Pis or finding emulators,”hesays.

“Plenty of casual folk will be rediscovering a

fantastic machine because of its plug-and-play

natureandit’sbrilliantto thinkitmightpickup

new fans.”

Chris Wilkins, who has been instrumental

in helping to reviveZzap!64magazine as an

annual, agrees.

“THEC64 Mini seems to have attracted new

people to the scene as well as those who used

to have aC64 when theywere akid,”hesays.

Whether or not theywill then go on to

seek out and perhaps buy new games for

their fresh purchase,

however,remains to be

seen. Jakob Voos, who

oversees Protovision,

anon-profit software

house that continues

to develop C64 games,

is among those who

are sceptical.

“Most of the buyers will

be mainly interested in old

games that theyknow from

their childhood, and theywill

be unaware of the fact

theycould feed their

computer new software,

which limits the overall

impact,”Voos argues.

Similarly,Simon

Ullyatt, who distributes

new 8-bit games

through his publishing

company Cronosoft, doesn’t

believe it will affect sales in any

way, good or bad.

“People interested in new games

are probably the more hardcore user and

collector types that would have to have the

real machine,” he says.

“Casual users probably won’t be interested

in buying new software.”

⬆Asyou can see,the Commodore 64 logo has been replaced with asimilar-looking THEC64 logo,but it’s otherwise afaithful-looking replica

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PPERPPER||OCTOBER 2019OCTOCTOBEOBER 2019

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➡The bundled joystick has been revised
following complaints about the poor
controller boxed with THEC64 Mini