The C64 Mini

The British company Retro Games Ltd. produced this Commodore 64 mini. This computer was one of the best selling 8-bit computer in its days and the inspiration for many hobby enthusiasts to pursue a career in programming and information technology.

Gameplay

This mini is a much smaller version of the original and has a non-functioning keyboard. Inside the casing is a micro-controller that runs a C64 emulator, and has 64 built in games. It comes with a remake of the Commodore 64 iconic joystick that has extra buttons and a USB connector. It is much stiffer than the original, and this causes the stick to respond much less quick, making playing certain games very hard.

The OS of this mini is a carousel that takes only a second to boot. The lower half of the screen shows the box art for the game, and by moving the joystick left and right you can choose a game to play. A still image or a short video will show on the left top and on the right a brief description of the game.

Even though 64 games are included, the original Commodore library included hundreds of great games. Due to licensing and copyrights some of the greatest C64 games are not present in this line-up.

Using it as a computer

The system does allow you to side-load games. You can start the mini up in BASIC mode and use the normal procedure to load a .C64 or .D64 ROM or disk file into the memory of the mini computer. It is not easy to do however. You need a joystick to activate the BASIC, and a keyboard to enter the commands to load the game. But the device only has one USB port. You are left typing the BASIC load commands using the virtual on-screen keyboard that takes all the fun out of getting it to load.

Basically the C64 mini has only been produced because there is a generation of people who grew up on these machines, and have a nostalgic need to re-live those days. In my opinion you are better off trying to get your hands on "The C64" which is essentially the same machine but has a full-functioning keyboard and basically is a full-fledged Commodore 64 with the benefits of HDMI output and USB storage.

Full list of all the included games

1. Alleykat
2. Anarcy
3. Armalyte - Competition Edition
4. Avenger
5. Battle Valley
6. Boulder Dash
7. Bounder
8. California Games
9. Chip's Challenge
10. Confusion
11. Cosmic Causeway
12. Creatures
13. Cyberdyne Warrior
14. Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine
15. Cybernoid II: The Revenve
16. Deflektor
17. Everone's a Wally
18. Firelord
19. Gribbly's Day Out
20. Hawkeye
21. Heartland
22. Herobotix
23. Highway Encounter
24. Hunter's Moon
25. Hysteria
26. Impossible Mission
27. Impossible Mission II
28. IO
29. Jumpman
30. Mega Acpocalypse
31. Mission A.D.
32. Monty Mole
33. Monty On the Run
34. Nebulus
35. Netherworld
36. Nobby the Aardvark
37. Nodes of Yesod
38. Paradroid
39. Pitstop II
40. Ranarama
41. Robin of the Wood
42. Rubicon
43. Skate Crazy
44. Skool Daze
45. Snare
46. Speedball
47. Speedball 2 - Brutal Deluxe
48. Spindizzy
49. Star Paws
50. Steel
51. Street Sports Baseball
52. Summer Games II
53. Super Cycle
54. Temple of Apshai Trilogy
55. The Arc of Yesod
56. Thing on a Spring
57. Trailblazer
58. Uchi Mata
59. Uridium
60. Who Dares Wins II
61. Winter Games
62. World Games
63. Zynaps
64. Commodore BASIC