The Commodore 64 deserves to have a cheerful ending it by no means received in life. You’ve doubtless seen not less than a type of rounded beige rectangles sitting susceptible and forlorn in some workplace or forgotten attic. For individuals who liked their age-old house pc, the huge blocky keyboard is again, and for $300 you may get what often is the most correct recreation of the basic pc, no software program emulation required. No less than, will probably be when the corporate manages to finalize the working system and produce all of the elements.
For these questioning simply what the hell the Commodore 64 is, it’s a house pc that first noticed the sunshine of day in 1982, and on the time it was one of many best-selling computer systems on this planet. The 8-bit machine had distinctive qualities for the time, with superior sound and graphics capabilities that made it one of many early leaders for at-home pc gaming due to its compatibility with cartridges. Greater than that, it managed to make computing accessible due to it promoting in shops past specialty pc retailers. There wasn’t any true sequel to the Commodore 64, save for some early Commodore 65 prototypes. Although makers of the Commodore 64 had success with units just like the Amiga 1000, the corporate discontinued the C64 in 1995 and shortly after declared chapter.
So what’s the new Commodore 64 Final and what do you get within the field?
Every thing it’s essential to know is beneath…OVERVIEW
• The Commodore 64 Final is available in 3 varieties: Fundamental Beige, Starlight Version, and Founders Version.
• That is the primary official Commodore 64… pic.twitter.com/Gtm25zPwWw— Commodore Pc Museum 🕹 (@MuseumCommodore) July 12, 2025
This isn’t the primary try at a C64 emulation machine, however it may very well be probably the most thorough. The trendy recreation is utilizing field-programmable gate array expertise, or FPGA, to emulate the unique pc’s design and chip logic. It means the machine is totally suitable with all of the outdated software program and video games that made the machine such a success within the first place. The $300 Fundamental Beige comes bundled with a cassette-style USB that features some music, demos, and video games, together with a “new sequel” to the C64 unique title Jupiter Lander: Ascension. The machine nonetheless has trendy facilities like HDMI and Wi-Fi, so that you’re not going to want to discover a working modem. The Commodore Pc Museum X account stated this model resembles the Final 64 Elite II model. The creator of that C64 model, engineer Gideo Zweijtzer, is known as as a “launch associate” on the corporate’s workforce web page.
The machine is up for preorder, although the corporate claims that the cash goes towards manufacturing, nearly like a Kickstarter. Commodore claims “most elements are already in manufacturing,” and they’re largely trying to fund manufacturing elements just like the keyboard base. A preorder “additionally helps energy the complete reboot of the Commodore model.” The machine is $300 at base, however that doesn’t account for tariffs that can come by way of as a “tariff tax” at checkout. If you wish to see a number of the inside elements in all their glory, you’ll have to go for the $350 Starlight Version that additionally has RGB LEDs beneath the hood to wash your desktop in retro goodness. There’s a separate, restricted “Founders Version” for $500 with clear amber plastic. Whereas there’ll solely be 6,400 of these made, Commodore says each machine may have Easter eggs within the type of the names and/or autographs of the unique C64 creators etched on the motherboard.
Commodore Corp., which was purchased up by YouTuber and actor Christian “Peri Fractic” Simpson in a deal he introduced on his channel June 30. He stated he purchased the corporate for “a low seven-figure sum,” although he didn’t reveal the full quantity or provide another particulars about what went into the acquisition. The exact nature of the deal continues to be in limbo, and the corporate’s new house owners admit on the location that the deal is “near fruition.” The corporate added, “It is a fastidiously structured course of targeted on safety and long-term sustainability,” and promised it’s going to nonetheless make the {hardware} it doesn’t matter what occurs with the Commodore buyout.
Simpson beforehand introduced his intent to purchase Commodore a month in the past, and issues have moved shortly since then. Even with the brand new Commodore workforce’s guarantees for full refunds, the uncertainty is sufficient that I’d advise some hesitation earlier than smashing the purchase button on a brand-new FPGA Commodore 64, even when the translucent version with built-in LED lights seems to be spiffy. The machine gained’t ship till October on the earliest, which supplies us sufficient time to see what sort of pronouncements the dev workforce makes within the coming weeks and months.
