The Commodore 64 turns 30 this month. That’s right. The computer that I grew up with and thought was the coolest piece of gadgetry since the, er, Atari, TURNS 30. THIS MONTH.
I’d only just got over the fact that it’s already August (exactly WHERE has this year disappeared to, please?) when this bombshell dropped. I mean, how old does that make us all feel? Especially when you look back at some of the C64’s lovable ‘charms’…
- THE CHIRPY, BLEEPY MUSIC!
- THE ‘HIGH QUALITY’ GRAPHICS!
- THE JOYS OF THE CASSETTE LOADER WASTING 34950439509 HOURS OF YOUR LIFE YOU’LL NEVER GET BACK!
- THE EVER SO 80s BEIGE COLOURED, CHUNKY KEYBOARD!
What’s not to love? And love it, we did. According to the 2001 edition of Guinness book of records, the C64 was the most “prolific computing device ever manufactured”. During its production run from 1982 to 1993, about 30 million units were sold. To put that into perspective, that’s, well… SHITLOADS.
I’m pretty sure the Commodore 64 instilled the geek within me as I’d sit with my older brothers and play the video style games for hours, my faves being:
Trollie Wallie (like Pac Man doing a supermarket sweep on acid, with excellent accompanying music)
Kickstart (based on the popular motorcycling TV show of the same name and with the best crash sound EVER)
Summer Games (appropriately enough based on the Olympics. I nearly broke my hand hammering the joystick so hard – my competitive streak developed at a very early age)
And if all of the above hasn’t made you feel WELL old, take a gander at this video: BBC News invited Commodore enthusiast Mat Allen to show schoolchildren his c.. arefully preserved computer, at a primary school and secondary school in London. Behold their bemused little faces:
On a similar note, does anyone remember those shite educational games you’d play on the computer at school in the 80s?
Like Granny’s Garden with the spooksome Wicked Witch? Here you go – but don’t have nightmares (at the crap graphics and shocking sound effects, ha)…
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