Wednesday, July 9, 2003
Nostalgia in your Pocket! - Clickgamer's Pocket C64 1.1 Reviewed
Posted by Tim Jump in "SOFTWARE" @ 10:00 AM
Most geeks who survived the 80s will recognize the Commodore 64 as one of the most popular home computers of its time, with fantastic graphics and sound and a huge library of games. Now, twenty-one years after it was introduced, Clickgamer has released a program which brings the C64 to your Pocket PC. Check out my review to see how they did.
Clickgamer has done an amazing job by creating an emulator for one of the most popular computers of the 1980s at a fantastic price, but not without a few flaws.
Background
Introduced in 1982, the Commodore 64 quickly became one of the most popular computers of its time - so popular in fact that Commodore was eventually listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as selling the most computers of a single model. The graphics on the C64 were great, the sound even better due to the custom SID chip built inside every system, so despite slow floppy disk access and a somewhat quirky DOS, it seemed like every other home with a computer had a Commodore...including mine (in fact, I traded my old Atari 130xe for one!). Without going too deeply into the history of the C64 (though you can find a great history page here), it goes without saying that although there were some great applications written for the C64, it was most well known for its massive library of games. When I was a teenager in the early stages of geekdom, one of my fondest dreams was to have a room with each of the computers available at the time - an Apple II, an Atari 800, a TRS-80...and of course a C64. Now, the fine folks at Clickgamer have created an emulator (definition) that allows you to carry the equivalent of a Commodore 64 and four disk drives in your pocket. How can you beat that?
Figure 1: Pocket C64 in action. I cannot decribe how beautiful it is to see this title screen on my iPAQ!
Features
Pocket C64 has a plethora of features designed to make running twenty-year-old software as painless as possible. First, the most noticeable is the key-for-key virtual replica of the Commodore 64 keyboard displayed at the bottom of the display in the default resolution mode. Every key works the same as it did on the original system; even the "restore" key is there which, after twenty years, I STILL don't know what it's used for. Any input methods can be mapped to either the cursor pad or the quickstart buttons on your Pocket PC; for instance I mapped the joystick to the cursor pad, the fire button to one button and the space bar (used to bypass intro screens on many games) to another. Speaking of resolution modes, there are a whopping 12 different modes - four standard modes, four landscape modes (omitting the virtual keyboard) and four inverted landscape modes for the southpaws out there. As I played around with different programs, I found that while some display modes were better for graphics, others better for text. Loading software is quite easy; with a click of the "auto" button above each virtual disk drive you can auto-boot any disk or tape image loaded into either RAM or your Storage Card (the emulator itself only takes about 400K of RAM) or you can select individual files either inside or separate from your disk images.
Figure 2: Outrun in landscape mode. The incredible 8-bit graphics almost makes you feel like your hair is blowing in the wind, don't they?
The preferences screen allows on-the-fly adjustment of video settings in case the display doesn't quite sync up with your memories of a certain game. Perhaps more importantly, several settings are available to make games run faster on slower machines: you can select the amount of frames the game skips or disable the sound to increase speed, disable the "fast reset" kernel hack to provide more "authentic" emulation or have Pocket C64 emulate the horribly slow Commodore 1541 disk drive in order to get past the more annoying copy protection on the games of the time. Finally, although not actually part of the program, Clickgamer's Product FAQ page provides a great resource for owners of Pocket C64, serving up everything from program tweaking tips to links to sites where you can download C64 software to play with. Just remember - be good and only download those games you already own(ed)!
Figure 3: The preferences screen in all its glory. You may tweak this program to your heart's content.
Gotchas
Although this is a great program, there are a few issues with the emulation. After testing around fifty games and programs, I only experienced around a 60% to 70% compatibility rate. While some games simply would not run, others would take so long to load using the 1541 emulation that my patience would run out before my batteries did (tip: after finally loading a slow game use the "save state" command so you won't have to wait around the next time you play). I also experienced a problem with collision detection on certain games - "Paradroid", one of my favorite games from the old days, was virtually unplayable due to this issue. Unfortunately, as stated on the FAQ page this is a known issue with Pocket C64 due to the game requiring exact cycle timing emulation (something unavailable with this program). I also had some problems with games running slow on my iPAQ 3835, although with frame skipping this effect was reduced - newer Pocket PCs should not have an issue. Finally, the FAQ recommends turning off programs such as Gigabar, Dashboard or PocketBlinds if you run this program, which can be a pain if you are a regular user of these apps. With all this said, one thing that should be taken into consideration is that this is a work in progress. Pocket C64 2.0 is being readied for release, which promises higher compatibility as well as a bunch of extras such as cartridge support, autoresuming of games and the like. So if something doesn't work now no matter how much you tweak it, it very well may in the future.
Figure 4: One of my favorite games, Paradroid. Unfortunately it didn't work so well this time around, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Where To Buy
Pocket C64 can be downloaded and purchased from Handango (affiliate link) for the ridiculously low price of $6.95, which oddly enough is just a dollar more than 1% of the Commodore 64's original cost back in 1992 ($595). There is a feature-limited demo available which allows five minutes of play before prompting for an unlock key. Last but not least, program upgrades are free for registered users, so there's no reason to wait until the next version comes out.
Specifications
According to the Pocket C64 homepage, this program will work on any ARM, XScale, MIPS or SH3 Pocket PC device (I tested it on my ARM iPAQ). As stated previously, the program files take up a little over 400K of RAM and are not recommended for install on a storage card, though C64 disk images and program files can be installed wherever you want them.
Conclusions
Pocket C64 by Clickgamer is a fantastic product for those of us who feel the need to have a little nostalgia with us at all times. Although it's not perfect, an active developer receptive to suggestions makes up for a lot. Now, if it could only play 80s music while dispensing good old "New Coke" I'd be in heaven!
Clickgamer has done an amazing job by creating an emulator for one of the most popular computers of the 1980s at a fantastic price, but not without a few flaws.
Background
Introduced in 1982, the Commodore 64 quickly became one of the most popular computers of its time - so popular in fact that Commodore was eventually listed in the Guinness Book of World Records as selling the most computers of a single model. The graphics on the C64 were great, the sound even better due to the custom SID chip built inside every system, so despite slow floppy disk access and a somewhat quirky DOS, it seemed like every other home with a computer had a Commodore...including mine (in fact, I traded my old Atari 130xe for one!). Without going too deeply into the history of the C64 (though you can find a great history page here), it goes without saying that although there were some great applications written for the C64, it was most well known for its massive library of games. When I was a teenager in the early stages of geekdom, one of my fondest dreams was to have a room with each of the computers available at the time - an Apple II, an Atari 800, a TRS-80...and of course a C64. Now, the fine folks at Clickgamer have created an emulator (definition) that allows you to carry the equivalent of a Commodore 64 and four disk drives in your pocket. How can you beat that?
Figure 1: Pocket C64 in action. I cannot decribe how beautiful it is to see this title screen on my iPAQ!
Features
Pocket C64 has a plethora of features designed to make running twenty-year-old software as painless as possible. First, the most noticeable is the key-for-key virtual replica of the Commodore 64 keyboard displayed at the bottom of the display in the default resolution mode. Every key works the same as it did on the original system; even the "restore" key is there which, after twenty years, I STILL don't know what it's used for. Any input methods can be mapped to either the cursor pad or the quickstart buttons on your Pocket PC; for instance I mapped the joystick to the cursor pad, the fire button to one button and the space bar (used to bypass intro screens on many games) to another. Speaking of resolution modes, there are a whopping 12 different modes - four standard modes, four landscape modes (omitting the virtual keyboard) and four inverted landscape modes for the southpaws out there. As I played around with different programs, I found that while some display modes were better for graphics, others better for text. Loading software is quite easy; with a click of the "auto" button above each virtual disk drive you can auto-boot any disk or tape image loaded into either RAM or your Storage Card (the emulator itself only takes about 400K of RAM) or you can select individual files either inside or separate from your disk images.
Figure 2: Outrun in landscape mode. The incredible 8-bit graphics almost makes you feel like your hair is blowing in the wind, don't they?
The preferences screen allows on-the-fly adjustment of video settings in case the display doesn't quite sync up with your memories of a certain game. Perhaps more importantly, several settings are available to make games run faster on slower machines: you can select the amount of frames the game skips or disable the sound to increase speed, disable the "fast reset" kernel hack to provide more "authentic" emulation or have Pocket C64 emulate the horribly slow Commodore 1541 disk drive in order to get past the more annoying copy protection on the games of the time. Finally, although not actually part of the program, Clickgamer's Product FAQ page provides a great resource for owners of Pocket C64, serving up everything from program tweaking tips to links to sites where you can download C64 software to play with. Just remember - be good and only download those games you already own(ed)!
Figure 3: The preferences screen in all its glory. You may tweak this program to your heart's content.
Gotchas
Although this is a great program, there are a few issues with the emulation. After testing around fifty games and programs, I only experienced around a 60% to 70% compatibility rate. While some games simply would not run, others would take so long to load using the 1541 emulation that my patience would run out before my batteries did (tip: after finally loading a slow game use the "save state" command so you won't have to wait around the next time you play). I also experienced a problem with collision detection on certain games - "Paradroid", one of my favorite games from the old days, was virtually unplayable due to this issue. Unfortunately, as stated on the FAQ page this is a known issue with Pocket C64 due to the game requiring exact cycle timing emulation (something unavailable with this program). I also had some problems with games running slow on my iPAQ 3835, although with frame skipping this effect was reduced - newer Pocket PCs should not have an issue. Finally, the FAQ recommends turning off programs such as Gigabar, Dashboard or PocketBlinds if you run this program, which can be a pain if you are a regular user of these apps. With all this said, one thing that should be taken into consideration is that this is a work in progress. Pocket C64 2.0 is being readied for release, which promises higher compatibility as well as a bunch of extras such as cartridge support, autoresuming of games and the like. So if something doesn't work now no matter how much you tweak it, it very well may in the future.
Figure 4: One of my favorite games, Paradroid. Unfortunately it didn't work so well this time around, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Where To Buy
Pocket C64 can be downloaded and purchased from Handango (affiliate link) for the ridiculously low price of $6.95, which oddly enough is just a dollar more than 1% of the Commodore 64's original cost back in 1992 ($595). There is a feature-limited demo available which allows five minutes of play before prompting for an unlock key. Last but not least, program upgrades are free for registered users, so there's no reason to wait until the next version comes out.
Specifications
According to the Pocket C64 homepage, this program will work on any ARM, XScale, MIPS or SH3 Pocket PC device (I tested it on my ARM iPAQ). As stated previously, the program files take up a little over 400K of RAM and are not recommended for install on a storage card, though C64 disk images and program files can be installed wherever you want them.
Conclusions
Pocket C64 by Clickgamer is a fantastic product for those of us who feel the need to have a little nostalgia with us at all times. Although it's not perfect, an active developer receptive to suggestions makes up for a lot. Now, if it could only play 80s music while dispensing good old "New Coke" I'd be in heaven!
