TheC64 Full Size - Pre-orders Open for USA

[jrhodes]

I got the same email.

I've waited this long, i can wait some more.

[DavidC]

I have not received anything other than the original email from when I first pre-ordered.  I will give it some more time.  I was just curious. 

[themewsh]

17 hours ago, DavidC said:

I have not received anything other than the original email from when I first pre-ordered. 

ditto

[leech]

On 10/28/2020 at 10:11 AM, eightbit said:

I think TheC64 full sized unit is a good device. It is especially a good device for those folks who do not have a C64 at all anymore and just want to have most of the experience without dealing with nearly 40 year old hardware. It does indeed work great and the software compatibility is quite high. The emulation is pretty spot on.

 

The only thing that kills it for me is that it is HDMI only. Of course it is pixel perfect crisp on an HDMI flat panel TV, but that is not nostalgic to me personally. I like to use my Commodore 8-bit machines with a CRT TV. If they just added a composite or s-video option that would have been great.

This is why I like my Ultimate64.  All the awesome of modern convenience with the original keyboard and ability to connect to the old Commodore 1084S.  Also dual SID chips!

[+OLD CS1]

21 hours ago, leech said:

This is why I like my Ultimate64.  All the awesome of modern convenience with the original keyboard and ability to connect to the old Commodore 1084S.  Also dual SID chips!

This is the direction I am leaning, away from the 64Maxi.  I have both an Ultimate64 and a 64ReloadedMK2.  Between the two of those I should be just fine.  I am, however, curious about the Maxi's keyboard.

[leech]

1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said:

This is the direction I am leaning, away from the 64Maxi.  I have both an Ultimate64 and a 64ReloadedMK2.  Between the two of those I should be just fine.  I am, however, curious about the Maxi's keyboard.

My red Commie

[carlsson]

1 hour ago, OLD CS1 said:

I have both an Ultimate64 and a 64ReloadedMK2.

Except for wanting it all, I strongly doubt you're in the market segment for the THEC64 Maxi. That isn't to say you're not suitable to buy one, just that you get the product they expect their customers need, not the product that you necessarily would want to buy.

[+OLD CS1]

1 hour ago, carlsson said:

Except for wanting it all, I strongly doubt you're in the market segment for the THEC64 Maxi. That isn't to say you're not suitable to buy one, just that you get the product they expect their customers need, not the product that you necessarily would want to buy.

Yeah.  I think I said as much in another thread.  There are some advantages to the Maxi, but I think not enough to serve me.  I am impressed with the look of the machine and I would like to see what its keyboard is like.  My big aggravation is the disk swapping feature is (apparently) available in the Maxi but not the Mini.

[themewsh]

Small update: I got the “do you still want this?” e-mail from Amazon. Looks like new ship date estimate for my order is mid-December through early January.

 

Here’s hoping some of y’all got the same note

[DavidC]

Yep, I got the same.  Mid Dec-Early Jan.   Cool!

[jrhodes]

Mine is scheduled to arrive sometime 12/22/20 - 1/12/21.

[TimsterAA]

Good and bad news folks. My Amazon purchased “The C64” (pre-ordered in August) arrived today, so yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. 
 

Bad news is “The Vic20” I pre-ordered in October is now showing as an early January delivery, but it’s also now showing as another “The C64”, and a search on Amazon for “The Vic20” no longer finds that unit. ?   I wanted both models! Grrrrrr!!! I never can understand all the licensing and marketing drama on 35+ year old repro tech. Ugh!

[themewsh]

Update: just got an email saying to expect it Saturday, here we go!

[DavidC]

On 11/22/2020 at 4:13 PM, TimsterAA said:

Good and bad news folks. My Amazon purchased “The C64” (pre-ordered in August) arrived today, so yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. 
 

Bad news is “The Vic20” I pre-ordered in October is now showing as an early January delivery, but it’s also now showing as another “The C64”, and a search on Amazon for “The Vic20” no longer finds that unit. ?   I wanted both models! Grrrrrr!!! I never can understand all the licensing and marketing drama on 35+ year old repro tech. Ugh!

How is it?   Do you like it?   

[bradhig1]

13 hours ago, DavidC said:

How is it?   Do you like it?   

Doesn't the C64 maxi have a Vic-20 mode?

[TimsterAA]

I haven't tried it yet, though I did receive my VIC20 unit as well. I'm not even sure if or when I'll open/use them. I wanted them more as collectible pieces than working units. ?   I use real hardware for my gaming/hobbying. 

[Zippy Zapp]

On 11/23/2020 at 1:18 PM, themewsh said:

Update: just got an email saying to expect it Saturday, here we go!

Did yours ship?  When did you pre-order?

 

I pre-ordered 9/8 and got the message about Dec-Jan estimated delivery.  Then a few days later I got a new date of 11/25.  11/25 it didnt ship and I got a new date of today (11/28) and of course it didn't ship and got a new "You must Approve the delay" message.  A call to Amazon was pointless as they know nothing.  Not a really great experience so far...  Of all the years and years of pre-ordering on Amazon this is the most delayed product so far for me.  Of course the world scene doesn't help.  There are reports on facebook that they were briefly in stock and reportedly some were able to order them without a pre-order.  If that is true then it sucks.

 

Oh well life goes on and it is not a big deal in the grand scheme, it's just annoying.

[themewsh]

34 minutes ago, Zippy Zapp said:

Did yours ship?  When did you pre-order?

 

I pre-ordered 9/8 and got the message about Dec-Jan estimated delivery.  Then a few days later I got a new date of 11/25.  11/25 it didnt ship and I got a new date of today (11/28) and of course it didn't ship and got a new "You must Approve the delay" message.  A call to Amazon was pointless as they know nothing.  Not a really great experience so far...  Of all the years and years of pre-ordering on Amazon this is the most delayed product so far for me.  Of course the world scene doesn't help.  There are reports on facebook that they were briefly in stock and reportedly some were able to order them without a pre-order.  If that is true then it sucks.

 

Oh well life goes on and it is not a big deal in the grand scheme, it's just annoying.

It didn’t ship...I’ve been holding out hope as sometimes they do one day stuff bc of a close warehouse.

 

then...
 

I got an email this morning saying they won’t be able to fulfill it

[carlsson]

23 hours ago, bradhig1 said:

Doesn't the C64 maxi have a Vic-20 mode?

Yes, it does but THEVIC20 defaults to VIC-20 mode and has a few more VIC games preinstalled, if that is what ticks your fantasy. Unfortunately it seems to lack all the Commodore cartridges, possibly due to rights issues since many of those were knock-offs or partly licensed arcade games. It also has a very strong UK bias when it comes to the tape based games included, but so does THEC64 to be honest. For people who enjoyed both computers mainly in the USA, a lot of the titles included may be next to unknown, again of course due to which rights owners they were able to reach and from whom they could obtain the rights for a commercial product.

 

I understand that THEVIC20 is a limited run while THEC64 might be remanufactured and/or updated in the future which explains why there are fewer units and that it may to a bigger degree look like a collector's item from the start. I can reveal that a member on the forum hunted high and low for THEVIC20 and was in contact with me for possibly buying overseas, before he found a source which had units for sale at a decent price. Neither of the two resellers (businesses) I was in contact with were eager to sell it abroad, meaning I would have been the middle man and even if I did it for zero profit, the total costs would be in the range of at least $215 - 220, possibly a little more, which probably is 50% more than most people would expect to pay, and still without me gaining a single dollar in helping out.

[themewsh]

Not that it changes anything, but did anyone else have their orders cancelled by Amazon?

[JohnnyRockets]

Hi all,

 

Can you all tell me what the main differences are between the UK version and the US version?

 

 

Thank you!

 

 

JR

[jrhodes]

3 hours ago, JohnnyRockets said:

Hi all,

 

Can you all tell me what the main differences are between the UK version and the US version?

 

 

Thank you!

 

 

JR

The power adapter. That is the only difference in hardware. The games on the UK version are different from the US version.

Other then that, they are literally the same.

[JohnnyRockets]

Perfect, thank you for clarifying!

 

 

JR

[carlsson]

Perhaps my Google-fu is weak, but where is the list of games on the US version?

 

Here are the games on THEC64 Mini European version.

These are the games on THEC64 Mini North American version.

These games come preinstalled on THEC64 Maxi European version.

These games are on the THEVIC20 European (?) version.

 

I'm sure somewhere there is a spreadsheet with which games are present on which edition.

[TimsterAA]

17 hours ago, carlsson said:

Perhaps my Google-fu is weak, but where is the list of games on the US version?

 

Here are the games on THEC64 Mini European version.

These are the games on THEC64 Mini North American version.

These games come preinstalled on THEC64 Maxi European version.

These games are on the THEVIC20 European (?) version.

 

I'm sure somewhere there is a spreadsheet with which games are present on which edition.

Hey Carlsson - thanks again for offering to ship me a "The Vic20". I did get the order I put in that day we spoke and it arrived. I can't believe people that put in before me have now had their orders cancelled. Such bullsh*t!

 

I compared the games listed on my boxes with the listed games from the links you provided. The Vic20 list on mine is identical to the website, but that's because I'm certain mine came from Europe, somehow via Amazon's backend page I stumbled across that weekend I talked to you. It was really weird because a direct search in Amazon yielded nothing, but linking from a google search I did brought me to an American Amazon page for a euro based distributor. I was able to order one, shipped, for just over $150 US. Totally bizarre.

 

The games listed on the C64 box I got are a bit different than the euro list on the website. I've cobbled the two lists in comparison below if anyone else is curious of the differences. According to the site, two of the Euro games (I highlighted in red) are Vic-20 games. If any of the US C64 games are Vic-20 games, I can't tell from the box and I don't know off the top of my head based on the names.

 

I really hope they make more of these and give others that wanted them (and pre-ordered them!) another chance to get them. 

 

Euro	US
AlleyKat	AlleyKat
Anarchy	Anarchy
Attack of the Mutant Camels
Avenger	Avenger
Battle Valley	Battle Valley
Bear Bovver
Boulder Dash	Boulder Dash
Bounder
	Break Dance
California Games	California Games
Chip's Challenge	Chip's Challenge
	Coil Cop
Confuzion	Confuzion
Cosmic Causeway	Cosmic Causeway
Cyberdyne Warrior	Cyberdyne Warrior
	Cybernoid
Cybernoid II: The Revenge	Cybernoid II: The Revenge
Deflektor	Deflektor
Destroyer	Destroyer
Everyone's a Wally	Everyone's a Wally
Firelord	Firelord
Galencia (Firmware 1.2.0+)
Gateway to Apshai	Gateway to Apshai
Gribbly's Day Out	Gribbly's Day Out
GridRunner
Heartland	Heartland
Herobotix	Herobotix
Highway Encounter	Highway Encounter
Hover Bovver
	Hunter's Moon
	Hysteria
IO	IO
Impossible Mission	Impossible Mission
Impossible Mission II	Impossible Mission II
Iridis Alpha
Jumpman	Jumpman
	Jumpman 2
Mega Apolalypse	Mega Apolalypse
Mission A.D.	Mission A.D.
Monty Mole
Monty on the Run	Monty on the Run
Nebulus (Tower Toppler)
Netherworld	Netherworld
	Nobby the Aardvark
Nodes of Yesod	Nodes of Yesod
Paradroid	Paradroid
Pitstop II	Pitstop II
Planet of Death
Psychedlia
Ranarama	Ranarama
Robin of the Wood	Robin of the Wood
Silicon Warrior	Silicon Warrior
Skate Crazy	Skate Crazy
	Skool Daze
	Snare
	Speedball
Speedball 2 – Brutal Deluxe	Speedball 2 – Brutal Deluxe
Spindizzy	Spindizzy
Steel
Street Sports Baseball	Street Sports Baseball
Street Sports Basketball	Street Sports Basketball
	Street Sports Soccer
Summer Games II	Summer Games I & II
Super Cycle	Super Cycle
Sword of Fargoal	Sword of Fargoal
Temple of Apshai Trilogy	Temple of Apshai Trilogy
The Arc of Yesod	The Arc of Yesod
Thing on a Spring	Thing on a Spring
Thing Bounces Back
	Tower Toppler (Nebulous)
Trailblazer	Trailblazer
Uridium	Uridium
	West Bank
Who Dares Wins II	Who Dares Wins II
Winter Games	Winter Games
World Games	World Games
Zynaps	Zynaps

 

 

And for quick summary...

- The games on both systems: AlleyKat, Anarchy, Avenger, Battle Valley, Boulder Dash, California Games, Chip's Challenge, Confuzion, Cosmic Causeway, Cyberdyne Warrior, Cybernoid II: The Revenge, Deflektor, Destroyer, Everyone's a Wally, Firelord, Gateway to Apshai, Gribbly's Day Out, Heartland, Herobotix, Highway Encounter, IO, Impossible Mission, Impossible Mission II, Jumpman, Mega Apolalypse, Mission A.D., Monty on the Run, Netherworld, Nodes of Yesod, Paradroid, Pitstop II, Ranarama, ,Robin of the Wood, Silicon Warrior, Skate Crazy, Speedball 2 – Brutal Deluxe, Spindizzy, Street Sports Baseball, Street Sports Basketball, Summer  Games II, Super Cycle, Sword of Fargoal, Temple of Apshai Trilogy, The Arc of Yesod, Thing on a Spring, Trailblazer, Uridium, Who Dares Wins II, Winter Games, World Games, Zynaps

 

- The games only on the Euro are: Attack of the Mutant Camels, Bear Bovver, Bounder, Galencia (Firmware 1.2.0+), GridRunner, Hover Bovver, Iridis Alpha, Monty Mole, Nebulus (Tower Toppler), Planet of Death, Psychedlia, Steel, Thing Bounces Back

 

- The games only on the US are: Break Dance, Coil Cop, Cybernoid, Hunter's Moon, Hysteria, Jumpman 2, Nobby the Aardvark, Skool Daze, Snare, Speedball, Street Sports Soccer, Tower Toppler (Nebulous), West Bank