Commodore 64 Rises From The Ashes To Take On The SNES Classic

Seemingly inspired by the popularity of the NES Classic and the interest in the new SNES Classic (which launches today, by the way), the Commodore 64 is making a comeback. Today the folks at Retro Games Limited announced the new C64 Mini, a retro console that introduces a new generation to the Commodore 64. We're going back to the early days of video games with this release, as the Commodore 64 first launched way back in 1982.

35 years later, it's being reborn as a retro console of sorts. Like the SNES Classic, the C64 Mini shrinks everything about the Commodore 64 down to a package that's 50% the size of the original. It's also packed with a surprisingly large number of games, with 64 in total. Here's the full game list:

AlleyKat, Anarchy, Armalyte: Competition Edition, Avenger, Battle Valley, Bounder, California Games, Chip's Challenge, Confuzion, Cosmic Causeway: Trailblazer II, Creatures, Cyberdyne Warrior, Cybernoid II: The Revenge, Cybernoid: The Fighting Machine, Deflektor, Everyone's A Wally, Firelord, Gribbly's Day Out, Hawkeye, Heartland, Herobotix, Highway Encounter, Hunter's Moon, Hysteria, Impossible Mission, Impossible Mission II, Insects In Space, Mega-Apocalypse, Mission A.D, Monty Mole, Monty on the Run, Nebulus, Netherworld, Nobby the Aardvark, Nodes Of Yesod, Paradroid, Pitstop II, Rana Rama, Robin Of The Wood, Rubicon, Skate Crazy, Skool Daze, Slayer, Snare, Speedball, Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe, Spindizzy, Star Paws, Steel, Stormlord, Street Sports Baseball, Summer Games II, Super Cycle, Temple of Apshai Trilogy, The Arc Of Yesod, Thing Bounces Back, Thing on a Spring, Trailblazer, Uchi Mata, Uridium, Who Dares Wins II, Winter Games, World Games, Zynaps

The C64 Mini will connect to your TV though HDMI, and it ships with a wired joystick controller that plugs into one of the two included USB ports. Those USB ports will even allow you to update the C64's firmware, if you so choose, which is functionality we don't see all that often on these retro consoles.

Of course, the Commodore 64 wasn't just a game platform, as it was also a home computer. That aspect lives on in the C64 Mini, as you'll be able to to connect a keyboard through one of those included USB ports to type in BASIC or program your own games. That's pretty interesting, and the C64 Mini might find itself a sizable homebrew audience because of it.

This isn't Retro Games' first outing with the Commodore 64 either, as it was also responsible for porting a number of C64 games to the Nintendo Wii. There's no solid release date for the C64 Mini just yet, but it should be here early next year with a $69.99 price tag. For now, you can keep up with news and even interact with the C64 Mini community by visiting the retro console's official site.