❗ History of the VC-20: • From typewriters to the VC-20: the... ❗ In 1982, Commodore followed up the successful, inexpensive VC-20 home computer with a higher-quality model: the Commodore 64 with the unprecedented memory expansion to 64 kilobytes of RAM. With revolutionary technology, aggressive pricing and an exploding range of software, the C64 soon displaced many competitors and established itself - and the computer as a whole - as one of the most popular gaming platforms ever. Henner Thomsen and Gunnar Lott tell the story of this fascinating machine, explain the technology and - of course - also talk for a while about the best games for the platform. This episode first appeared here: https://www.stayforever.de/2023/07/co... Chapters: 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:53 Commodore before the C-64 00:10:38 Albert Charpentier and the VIC-2 00:15:53 ​​What the VIC-2 can do 00:19:27 Bob Yannis and the SID chip 00:28:15 The chips become a computer: the VIC-40 00:32:23 Jack Tramiel's RAM bet 00:37:10 CPU upgrade: MOS 6510 00:38:58 The VIC-40 becomes the C-64 00:41:51 Presentation at the Winter CES 1982 00:46:59 The C-64 is made ready for production 00:49:39 The sister models of the C-64: Commodore P and B 00:52:53 A computer for Japan: The Max Machine 01:04:56 1982: Market launch of the C-64 01:11:54 The packaging design 01:12:17 Error on the English box 01:13:15 The manual 01:14:02 Case and keyboard 01:17:02 The connections 01:20:01 The data cassette 01:25:07 The floppy disk drive: 1540 / 1541 01:29:29 Fastload from Epyx 01:31:02 The Commodore mouse 01:32:57 The joysticks: Quickshot or Competition Pro? 01:35:30 The MOS 6510 processor and the 64 KB of memory 01:39:37 Where is my free memory?? 01:41:26 The VIC-2 graphics chip 01:42:27 Q*Bert: VC-20 vs C-64 01:42:56 Triggers and color palette 01:44:53 Contra on the C-64 and the Schneider CPC 01:46:59 Hardware scrolling: Giana Sisters C-64 vs. Atari ST 01:49:45 Graphics board: The Last Ninja 01:50:04 The SID chip and the sound of the C-64 01:51:53 How the SID chip generates sounds 01:55:11 Sampling and voice output: Impossible Mission 01:56:54 Arpeggios instead of chords 01:58:19 Outrun: Europe 01:59:42 Chris Hülsbeck and the rise of computer composers 02:04:11 Music example: Last Ninja 2 02:05:49 The start screen of the C-64 02:08:44 Commodore BASIC 02:12:06 The most popular BASIC extension: Simons' BASIC 02:13:02 Software from Commodore 02:14:09 Third-party applications 02:15:54 GEOS, the graphical user interface 02:19:07 PrintShop 02:20:12 Commodore's own games 02:21:22 How many games are there for the C-64? 02:23:24 The homebrew scene 02:24:31 The ultimate list of the best C-64 games! 02:27:13 10th place: Turrican 2 (1991) 02:27:58 9th place: Wizball (1987) 02:28:56 8th place: Boulder Dash (1984) 02:29:34 7th place: Bruce Lee (1984) 02:30:46 5th place: Sid Meier's Pirates! (1987)... 02:31:18 ... and Impossible Mission (1984) 02:31:57 4th place: Maniac Mansion (1987) 02:32:24 3rd place: International Karate+ (1987) 02:33:11 2nd place: The Great Giana Sisters (1987) 02:34:24 1st place: Bubble Bobble (1987) 02:37:52 Winter Games 02:38:41 Elite 02:39:18 Colossus Chess 2 02:40:27 The phenomenon of pirated copies 02:47:12 Countermeasures and cracker groups 02:50:48 Trending today: C-64 demos 02:51:51 How successful is the C-64? 02:57:31 Commodore's price war 03:03:00 Atari 1200XL 03:04:33 Why was the C-64 so successful? 03:08:57 Where the C-64 fails 03:12:42 Model update: the C-64C (1986) 03:14:13 Spin-offs: SX-64 (1983) ... 03:15:05 ... and C-64 GS (1990) 03:15:50 Problems with the successor model 03:18:28 The true successor to the C-64 03:19:06 The long life of the C-64 03:23:06 Attempts at revival: C64 Mini 03:24:22 Aftermath and legacy of the C-64 03:28:43 A word from Claudius Podcast credits: Speaker/editor: Henner Thomsen, Gunnar Lott With original sound from: Al Charpentier Audio production: Fabian Langer, Christian Schmidt Title graphics: Paul Schmidt ------------------------------------------- STAY FOREVER PODCASTS ELSEWHERE: SF website: https://stayforever.de SF on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id46... SF on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0HrgGvh... SF on Deezer: https://www.deezer.com/en/show/722062 SF as audio feed: https://podcastd45a61.podigee.io/feed... ------------------------------------------- STAY FOREVER ON SOCIAL WEB: Our forum: https://community.stayforever.de/ The SF merch shop: https://retroshirty.com/stayforever SF on Twitter: / stayforeverde SF on Facebook: / stayforeverpodcast SF on Instagram: / stay_forever_podcast SF on Discord: / discord