The Commodore 64 was the COOLEST
The Commodore 64 was the COOLEST
Released in the 1980s and selling around 15 MILLION units, the Commodore 64 computer is the epitome of 8-bit cool.
I was ten years old. The time had come to replace the family’s battered membrane keyboard-equipped Atari 400. The Atari was a fun machine: It had a cartridge slot supporting a decent selection of games, four (YES, FOUR) joystick ports and a multimedia ‘Invitation to programming’ experience, complete with synchronised audio playing from tape. Ahead of its time. Video available on YouTube!
I’d been exposed to the wonders of the BBC Micro courtesy of the British schools system in the 1980s, where 80% of all schools had one. It was chunky. It had a pretty decent BASIC to write software in. It had floppy disks! And, unlike the Atari, it had a keyboard where the buttons actually moved when you pressed them! I WANT ME ONE OF THOSE PLEASE.
Narrator: He didn’t get one of those.
The BBC Micro was retailing for £100 more than the Commodore 64 at the time, which was a significant chunk of change. My parents were apparently talked round by whoever was working in the computer store in Guildford. I was a bit annoyed, but these feelings soon evaporated.
Why? Because the Commodore 64 is the coolest computer that has ever been created. And this article is going to tell you exactly why.
It wasn’t an Amstrad
There were credible competing machines to the Commodore 64. The most well-known was the pint-sized rubber-keyed ZX Spectrum. Home to classic games such as Manic Miner, Atic Atac and Jet Set Willy.
The slightly odd one out was the Amstrad CPC. It just didn’t fit in. It was aiming to be an all-in-one device. It had a weird vibe, like a creepy uncle at a wedding. Even the floppy disks were a STRANGE SIZE. So alien. So confusing.
It sold three million units compared to the C64’s fifteen million (and Spectrum’s five million). Three million people probably wishing they had made a different choice.
It looked like a bread bin
Fashions fade, only style remains the same. Thanks Coco Chanel.
The Commodore 64 looked like it meant serious business. It was not afraid to be a beige bread bin with crisp, dark keys sprinkled on top. It would hurt someone if you threw it at them. Every press of one of those keys signalled intent.
It would have a facelift in later years in the form of the C64C, when it became more angular and was given a teeth whitening treatment. This was the model I had, and while it was definitely more modern… it just wasn’t cool (man).
VERDICT: Crusty Cool.
You could listen to SID for days
6581 was the magic number. MOS Technology 6581, that is, more commonly known as the C64’s SID (Sound Interface Device).
I thought the sound chips on the market, including those in the Atari computers, were primitive and obviously had been designed by people who knew nothing about music.
— Robert Yannes, On the Edge: The Spectacular Rise and Fall of Commodore
This masterpiece combined analogue and digital circuits into a single chip. It allowed music to be created that actually SOUNDED like music, in contrast to the ‘beeps and bops’ or just plain NOISE that was more commonly associated with computers.
My favourite C64 track is that of Monty on the Run, by Rob Hubbard. You must listen to it immediately.
Such is the power of those C64 tunes, various artists have created modern day versions. PRESS PLAY ON TAPE are a band that have released three studio albums of the stuff.
VERDICT: Synthesised Cool.
You could reset it with a paper clip
The standard way to PEEK and POKE inside games and other software was with a special cartridge that let you press a button and freeze time. The most well known is the Action Replay series. Enter cheats! Rip graphics and sound! Make ‘special backups’ of software! It was all possible.
Or…. you could bend a paperclip and touch two pins together on the User Port. If you are happy taking the risk of shoving a piece of metal onto a live circuit board, of course.
Can you reset your PC or Mac by pushing a paperclip into one of its ports? Of course you can’t. BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT COOL.
VERDICT: Magic Smoke-Inducingly Cool.
Loading games was a visceral experience
Loading a Commodore 64 game from tape took some minutes. As a result, the loading screen experience was a real thing, including the infamous OCEAN LOADER series.
How can music combined with a title image slowly appearing evoke such joyful and nostalgic feelings?
I don’t really have the answer. But if watching this example video doesn’t cause your soul to bloom, then you are dead inside.
BONUS POINTS to INVADE-A-LOAD! which allowed those with even less patience to play a version of Space Invaders as the main event was on its way.
VERDICT: Deferred Gratification Cool.
Its BASIC made you work harder
Like most computers of its era, you could power on the Commodore 64 and immediately start programming. Children around the world soon mastered 10 PRINT “TRISTAN IS COOL”, 20 GOTO 10, and beyond. I spent some of my misspent youth re-creating classic BBC Micro educational games such as Granny’s Garden and Dragon World.
It was not a great BASIC experience compared to, say, the BBC Micro. The BBC had such quality of life features as PROCEDURES and RENUMBERING. None of that on the C64. You couldn’t even change the colours on the screen without mystical incantations (POKE 53281,0 - so catchy).
EVERYTHING WAS HARD.
This was made really obvious by the INPUT magazine series. Every issue had type-in software, many of which involved graphics. Most of these were not available for the C64 unless you had the add-on Simon’s Basic cartridge which boosted the machine’s capability to a more sensible level.
Taking the easy route is not cool. Adversity IS cool.
VERDICT: Cryptically Cool.
You could visit Compunet
Before the Internet, dial-up modems allowed computers to connect to other computers in a much more rudimentary way. And, for 80 pence per off-peak hour, a Commodore 64 armed with a custom modem could tie up the phone line to be part of Compunet.
Compunet allowed users to upload and download software, chat, play games (including multi-user experience Federation 2 - still running in a new community form) and more. The custom modem software presented this using the graphical style of the Commodore 64, complete with a scrolling ‘duck shoot’ selection system. This was in sharp contrast to most dial-up systems that presented slow scrolling text only.
At the time, phone bills in the UK arrived quarterly. This meant my time with Compunet lasted about one quarter before my parents got the first phone bill: Those 80 pences per off-peak hour sure added up after a while.
VERDICT: Bank-breakingly Cool.
You could take a dip in the Pool of Radiance
Even now, the thought of the ‘Gold Box’ series sends a chill down my spine. Such is the impact of this game on my childhood, it has been a bit of a staple in my intro when I give talks about the gaming industry.
Pool of Radiance was a Dungeons and Dragons-based Role Playing Game (RPG). You formed a party of adventurers, went on quests, and battled enemies in turn based combat. Cities, slums and the wilds could be explored.
You needed the optional 1541 disk drive for this one: It came on four double-sided disks. Good training for disk swapping. It thankfully came embedded with a ‘Fastloader’ — essential as the disk drive out of the box was incredibly slow due to some interesting technical decisions by Commodore at the time.
Stranger Things has made D&D cool in recent years. Pool of Radiance did it in 1988.
VERDICT: A Successful Saving Throw vs Uncool.
It still has the BEST fans
Something is definitely swaggeringly cool if, despite being discontinued in 1994, it still commands the creation of dedicated glossy paper fanzines today.
FREEZE64 is such a magazine that I am proud to say I am a paid subscriber to. Every issue is packed full of content from the ‘golden years’, but also telling stories of modern day software creations for the Commodore 64. Yes, developers are still churning out new games for the C64 (taking advantage of modern computers and toolchains to make this a bit easier). An outstanding example of this was the release of Eye of the Beholder - previously a fully-fledged 16 bit game, very credibly ported to a much less powerful architecture.
If people are cool for wearing vintage clothing, then people are going to be cool for creating for retro platforms.
VERDICT: Audrey Hepburn Cool.
You can visit this world again
Want to dip back in to the world of the Commodore 64? Or perhaps pick one up for the first time?
In terms of NEW hardware, there are two options available today: THEC64 Mini (tiny!) and THEC64 (actual size). These are running emulators under the hood, come pre-loaded with a selection of classic games, and can load additional games via a USB stick. So wholesome. Oh, and you even get a proper joystick and the whole thing can plug into a modern TV or monitor via HDMI.
I have the larger version, and it is everything that I hoped it would be. There’s even a third-party carousel ‘hack’ (Project Carousel USB) that drastically increases the number of games available.
Buy the C64Mini today on Amazon!
VERDICT: Repeatedly Cool
I learned computing from a Radio Shack TRS-80. I remember the cassette tape storage, and I remember typing in software from a magazine. That was in 1981, and I was 14 then. I had a group of friends all with Trash-80s and we would gather with our recently "acquired" software and make copies for each other. We'd download stuff off BBSes. Then we watched "War Games" and laughed because what they depicted did not reflect reality. We were quintessential "computer geeks" of the 1980s. Those were days.