Perifractic over at the popular nostalgia themed Retro Recipes YouTube channel has a goal! He wants to save the Commodore Brand, and I for one hope and pray he can do it! I love his channel… and will admit more than a few times I have been choked up at the nostalgia that smacks me in the face when watching him. Case in point, the video he released a few days ago on June 6th. If you haven’t seem it and are a huge Commodore fan you need to check it out… and be sure to watch ALL THE WAY TO THE END.
Retro Recipes: Can We Save Commodore Video
My Thoughts:
My C128 will always hold a special place in my heart, and to this day I still load up and mess around with a C64 or C128 program once or twice a week. I don’t own original hardware anymore, I play via emulation on my PC 95% of the time. The other 5% is when I break out my Maxi 64 or mess around with emulation on my Pi 400.
I see the future of the Commodore Brand existing very much on something like the C64X by my My Retro Computer Limited, Linux based with the Commodore Vision Operating System: a modern PC with modern combabilities that can run the old software via emulation.
A Modern Commodore Needs Modern Capabilities:
It needs to be able to access the internet. It needs to be able to run some modern programs/apps. It needs to be able to handle teaching modern programming. And it needs to be able to run all those old retro 8 bit games we all loved to play. I use my main PC for work, news, playing modern games, coding, and playing retro games via emulation.
Give The Modern Commodore Legs To Move Forward:
The future of the Commodore Brand could be built upon modern capabilities while still catering to retro software (games).
If Perifractic at Retro Recipes can pull this off, he could create a special “Commodore Seal of Approval” to promote modern retro. What do I mean? Well, a modern system can run modern software. Imagine software developers making retro style video games using modern programming (like Python and Pigame or higher level languages too) that run on modern hardware, but has the look and feel of retro from the 1980s, 1990s, and up to 2005 (from PCs and consoles). If a game or piece of software fits the ‘look, style, feel, and sound’ of software for those retro years (and future retro years yet to come), give it the Commodore Seal of Approval.
Here are some examples:
- Thunderhelix: A helicopter flight combat game (Reminds me of Gunship 2000)
- Tiny Combat Arena: A harrier jump jet sim (Reminds me of Harrier Combat Simulator)
- Skald, Against the Black Priory: RPG adventure (Reminds me of Ultima V or Legacy of the Ancients)
There will always be people getting older and looking back at their youth at the games they played as kids. What I played in the 80s is special to me. What my nephew plays now at age 16, will be special to him when he is my age (51)… so on and so forth. I’m over on Itchio buying new/old games every month to play on Vice or UAE.
The future of the Commodore Brand could be focused on modern retro, with a means to click back easily to the glory gaming days of Commodore in the 80s and early 90s.
To Succeed There Will Need To Be Software Developers:
There needs to be people, groups, indie companies, big name companies, that see they can make a profit making modern retro games, seeking the Commodore Seal of Approval for their game, to catch the attention of nostalgic old farts like me. If this can happen, Commodore would never die. Is there money making modern retro games that middle aged people will want to buy and play? I dunno. Maybe.
Just my initial thoughts on the subject…