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- NOSTALGIA
- By Commodore Free
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-
- I suppose we should raise the
- question why are we nostalgic to
- Commodore, why do some of us get so
- angry when someone says my XYZ is
- better then your Commodore because
- it has ZZZZZ
-
- I question myself many times why it
- is I preferred Commodore to the
- Spectrum, the Dragon 32, the Oric or
- any other number of 8-bit systems. I
- suppose I was subconsciously drugged
- by the marketing department of
- Commodore, although the press seemed
- to be all over the Vic20 and the
- colour graphics and real typewriter
- look and feel meant to me it was a
- winner over the Spectrum.
-
- The Commodore 64 won me over firstly
- because I already had a Vic20 and it
- looked the same (physically) but the
- sound processor and hardware sprites
- seemed to be something special, I
- wasn't technically aware why this
- was; only that it sounded better
- then any other 8-bit system and some
- of the games looked bright and
- colourful!
-
- Would I have made the same choice
- now if these machines were lined up
- side by side and I had the benefit
- of hindsight; I have asked this
- myself a number of times, I know
- some spectrum games were better and
- never released on the Commodore 64
- same for the Amstrad and Oric etc.
- The BBC micro had a superb version
- of defender and I am still wowed
- when playing this version. Even
- tanks on the Atari 2600 seemed
- better than the Commodore version,
- however I would have still picked
- the C64. I am not saying mine is
- better than yours but the SID sound
- to me is special, the colour pallet
- of the C64 while not perfect is well
- thought out and immediately
- noticeable when you see a screen
- shot you realise it's a C64
-
- Nostalgia can mean a number of
- things to a number of people, it's a
- childhood look back with rose tinted
- glasses for me, and I have no shame
- admitting that, yes some games on
- other systems were better some coin
- op conversions were poor on the C64
- and yes it had problems with the
- slow tape drive (not to mention the
- expense) and a proprietary tape unit
- and slowwwww loading times, (well
- until speed loaders came out.) I
- played Elite on the BBC and never
- liked any other version! the C64{SHIFT-*}s
- conversion was slow and flickery and
- quite poor.
-
- Sitting with the family for tea,
- nights over at grandparents getting
- away with murder and stopping up all
- night, these are all nostalgic
- memories, fondness, my only problem
- with Commodore was the Amiga 4000
- this machine should have been so
- much more, and I wish now I
- purchased my friends 3000 instead of
- a new 4000, or had at least re read
- some of the reviews of the launch.
-
- Did Commodore get it right all the
- time
-
- NO! many times they failed and
- fudged systems due to time
- restraints or expense, that's down
- to the management of the company,
- but when I see the Commodore logo I
- am drawn to whatever it is to find
- out more.
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