Retro Games and Koch Media have teamed up together to announce the revival of the Commodore 64 in the form of the C64 Mini, a miniature-scaled mini-console designed to give gamers a taste of some retro gaming from the early 1980s.
The Commodore 64 Mini was recently announced over on the official website, where they detailed that the system will come with 64 different games from the C64’s library, packed onto a console 50% smaller than the original, containing two USB output ports, an HDMI port to plug into your TV, and a joystick designed to mimic the original upright joysticks of old.
The console will carry a $69.99 price tag, blowing the SNES Classic Edition’s $80 price tag out of the water with a discount job.
One of the things they talk about on the about page is that not only will this run old emulated games, but the board will also support new-school homebrew content. So in addition to games like Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, Paradroid and Bitmap Brothers coming pre-installed on the system, you’ll also be able to open it up and add your own titles to the library (memory permitting).
All 64 licensed games included in the pack are detailed over on the C64 games page, listing out each of the titles you can expect see make an appearance when the console launches next year.
Apparently a bunch of companies saw all the mega-millions that Nintendo has been making from the NES and SNES Classic Editions and now they want to get in on the retro libraries as well.
The thing they all seem to forget is that Nintendo actually made good games, and their systems are actually beloved for their quality output. These days a lot of companies are all about cashing in and treating costumers like currency cows, as evident with the poorly made Sega Genesis mini-consoles.
While we know that due to Nintendo’s storied history of high quality titles and a pedigree of having worthwhile products to sell has made the market viable for their retro consoles to move millions of units, what we don’t know is if there’s a stable enough market for other retro consoles to eat into the gaming market pie as well. I suppose we’ll find out when Atari’s IndieGoGo campaign gets underway and when the C64 Mini finally launches.
