Makers Of The C64 Mini Show Off First Photos Of Full-Sized Commodore 64 Prototype

by Marco Chiappetta — Monday, December 24, 2018, 03:36 PM EDT

The C64 mini is a tiny, retro-console, in the same vein as devices like the NES and SNES Classic Editions and the Sony PlayStation Classic. The C64 mini, of course, is designed to mimic the beloved Commodore 64, which was the best-selling, single model personal computer, of all time – but in a much smaller package.

After a couple of firmware updates, the C64 mini has generally been well received. The diminutive system includes a host of games and offers the ability to program or run your own as well. The keyboard on the mini is not functional, however, so you’re forced to plug in a USB keyboard, and figure out which keys are mapped to some of the original Commodore 64’s proprietary buttons if you want to do anything the required keyboard input. The makers of the C64 mini, Retro Games Ltd., made it known that they intended to also build a full-sized version of the C64 mini, dubbed “THEC64”, which would have a fully functional keyboard, but details have been scarce on the project. Today though, the company posted the first photos of working prototypes that just came off the assembly line.

“We are so excited to finally reveal to you the first photos of the full-size pre-production prototype of ‘THEC64’, complete with a fully functional integrated keyboard, giving you a taster of what’s coming in 2019.”, the company says in a Facebook post.

In a couple of the shots, THEC64 prototype is shown alongside The C64 mini for a sense of scale. THEC64 essentially looks just like a classic “breadbin” Commodore 64, though the coloring and branding and clearly off. The keycaps have funky coloring as well, though we suspect these minor cosmetic issues will be worked out before final production begins.

With the additional real-estate available, Retro Games is likely to incorporate some new things into THEC64, but the company is being tight-lipped for now. “We aren’t revealing the full and final specification quite yet, as we don’t want to spoil all the surprises. For a variety of reasons, we also can’t yet confirm the delivery date, but it will be as soon in 2019 as can be achieved.”, the post also said.

We won’t speculate as to what Retro Games has planned in terms of upgrades, but we suspect more games and more storage are a given, and perhaps wireless networking for easy updating and transferring files. We’ll know for sure in the months ahead.

Tags: console, C64, retro-gaming, commodore-64, c64-mini

Marco Chiappetta

Marco's interest in computing and technology dates all the way back to his early childhood. Even before being exposed to the Commodore P.E.T. and later the Commodore 64 in the early ‘80s, he was interested in electricity and electronics, and he still has the modded AFX cars and shop-worn soldering irons to prove it. Once he got his hands on his own Commodore 64, however, computing became Marco's passion. Throughout his academic and professional lives, Marco has worked with virtually every major platform from the TRS-80 and Amiga, to today's high end, multi-core servers. Over the years, he has worked in many fields related to technology and computing, including system design, assembly and sales, professional quality assurance testing, and technical writing. In addition to being the Managing Editor here at HotHardware for close to 15 years, Marco is also a freelance writer whose work has been published in a number of PC and technology related print publications and he is a regular fixture on HotHardware’s own Two and a Half Geeks webcast. - Contact: marco(at)hothardware(dot)com