Commodore News · NEW RELEASE
The C64C Ultimate is shipping
The slimline 64C is back, built in cases from the original 1986 molds, in three editions from $299.99.
Forty years after the Commodore 64C first went on sale, it is back. On October 27 Commodore started shipping the C64C Ultimate to the people who pre-ordered it, and opened it to everyone else.
The Case
This is not a new design made to look old. Commodore bought back the original injection molds for the 64C case, the same tooling used in Japan and at Commodore's plants in Pennsylvania and Dallas. The molds turned up at auction in 2014 and survived a factory fire before they came home. The flow marks from the 1986 cooling pattern are still in the plastic, and Commodore left them there on purpose.
Inside
The insides match last year's C64 Ultimate: an FPGA that rebuilds the C64's chips in hardware rather than emulating them, HDMI, USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and sockets for two real SID chips. New this time are the latest firmware, support for an ordinary USB mouse, the full GEOS suite, a USB cassette with more than 100 games and demos, and a manual in the style of the original 64C guide.
Three Editions
BASIC Beige, $299.99, looks like the 64C you remember. Starlight, $349.99, has a see-through case with lights that react to the game. The Founder's Edition, $499.99, has gold keycaps and gold-plated badges.