Commodore 64

From Dolphin Emulator Wiki
Revision as of 20:29, 1 September 2010 by Otomo (talk | contribs)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982. Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US $595[1][2]. Preceded by the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore MAX Machine, the C64 features 64 kilobytes (65,536 bytes) of memory with sound and graphics performance that were superior to IBM-compatible computers of that time. It is commonly known as the C64 or C=64 (after the graphic logo on the case) and occasionally as the CBM 64 (for Commodore Business Machines), or VIC-64[3] It has also been affectionately nicknamed the "breadbox" and "bullnose" due to the shape and color of the first version of its casing[citation needed].

During the C64's lifetime, sales totaled 17 million units, making it the best-selling single personal computer model of all time.[4] For a substantial period of time (1983–1986), the C64 dominated the market with between 30% and 40% share and 2 million units sold per year[5], outselling the IBM PC clones, Apple Inc. computers, and Atari 8-bit family computers. Sam Tramiel, a former Atari president and the son of Commodore's founder, said in a 1989 interview "When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years."[6]

Part of its success was because it was sold in retail stores instead of electronics stores, and also because these machines can be directly plugged into an existing home television without any modifications. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control supplies and cost. It is sometimes compared to the Ford Model-T automobile for bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative mass-production[7].

Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles were made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office applications, and games[8]. Various C64 emulators allow anyone with a modern computer, or a compatible game console, to run these programs today. The machine is also credited with popularizing the computer demo scene. The C64 is still used today by some computer hobbyists[9].

Since 28 March 2008, Commodore 64 games have been available to buy through Nintendo's Virtual Console service in Europe; the first games available were Uridium and International Karate[10][11]. Later, on February 23, 2009, the Commodore 64 section was launched in North America with the first three titles, International Karate, The Last Ninja and Pitstop II. A C64 emulator application with classic games also appears on Apple Inc.'s App Store.



Compatibility Description
Stars5.png Perfect: No issues at all!
Stars4.png Playable: Runs well, only minor graphical or audio glitches. Games can be played all the way through
Stars3.png Starts: Starts, maybe even plays well, but crashes or major graphical/audio glitches
Stars2.png Intro/Menu: Hangs/crashes somewhere between booting and starting
Stars1.png Broken: Crashes when booting
Stars0.png Unknown: Has not been tested yet
Region indicator Region description
AU Australia
CA Canada (NTSC /w French translation)
EU Europe, PAL/SECAM territories
JP Japan and Asia (NTSC-J)
KO Korea
NA North America and NTSC territories
RU Russia


Template:CompactTOC8

Title Year Genre Region Compatibility
Boulder Dash 1984 Arcade NA Template:RatingsVC
California Games 1987 Sports NA/PAL Template:RatingsVC
Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine 1987 Shoot 'em up NA/PAL Template:RatingsVC
International Karate 1986 Vs. NA/PAL Template:RatingsVC
Last Ninja 2: Back with a Vengeance 1988 Action/Adventure NA Template:RatingsVC
Pitstop II 1985 Racing NA/PAL Template:RatingsVC
Summer Games II 1985 Sports NA/PAL Template:RatingsVC
The Last Ninja 1987 Action/Adventure NA/PAL Template:RatingsVC
Tower Toppler 1987 Platform NA/PAL Template:RatingsVC