This will be a forum series where I'll talk about the history and my experience with the gaming consoles and today I'm looking at the Commodore VIC-20.
Commodore VIC-20
History:Released in 1980 the VIC-20 was the Economical version to Commodore's PET Computer, this was a popular choice for parents who wanted a home computer and for kids who wanted to play games.
How did it do?Very well, in the early 80's this was a good answer for a budget home computer. The VIC-20 sold more then a Million systems before it was discontinued in 1985.
Graphics: While better then the Atari 2600, I personally think the Atari computers looked better. They kinda remind me of the Intellivision's Graphics just with better sound.
Is this system still fun to play?Yes If you like the classics, most of the games you can play on most any other console.
What games are worth playing? Again most are the Classics, Pac-Man, Frogger, Q*Bert, Avenger (Space Invaders) there's also a lot of odd games you can play using the Tape Deck and if you love text adventures this system is for you! I don't have any tape games for this system, so I really don't know what to recommend.
How many versions are there?Two main ones in the US, over in Japan there's a VIC-1001 version and in Germany there was a VC20 version. But in the US there's the Rainbow label version and the gold label version. The AC adapter can be two different styles and the side keys can also in different colors from brown, gray and yellow.
What do I need to know if I start collecting this system? This system is pretty common and is cheap to collect. The most you should pay for a system is $30-$40 and games run from $1 to $5 on average. Now I'm going to talk about this as a gaming console not as a computer. The game cartridges are a pain to get into and remove from the console, I swear I feel like I'm breaking a game trying to put it in and pull it out. To play games you can use any old Atari 2600 or Sega Genesis controller. If you want to use the tape deck and have no tape games for it you can go online and find files and transfer them over to a blank cassette and they will work fine. There's also disc drive games but there's not a lot for it to make it worth using.
My Experience with the ConsoleI didn't get a VIC-20 til the 2000's, I avoided this console for years because to me it was an old computer and not a gaming system. But it can hook up to a TV, so I finally picked one up from a garage sale, but you will need it's special cable and adapter to do so. If you find one and this is missing you might have issues hooking it up. You'll also need an old analog TV or Commodore monitor, I tried hooking up both my models to a modern HDTV (1080p & 720p) and both I only get a scrambled screen. I play the console once in a while, mainly when I pick up a new game for it, It's a pain just because I have to drag out an old heavy TV out to play the stupid thing. lol
Final ThoughtsIf you find one on the cheap and you like the old classic games I say pick one up. It's fun to mess around on but it's not better then say an Atari 5200 or 400/800 as far as playing games on. You just better have an old TV or monitor to hook it up to.
Let me know what you think, I'm planning on continuing the reviews in a somewhat order of when they came out.
Leave reply's on your experience with the Commodore VIC-20. I would love to hear them.
By the Numbers: At the time of this article 28 people have a VIC-20 and 9 have the German VC20. No one has the Japanese VIC 1001 version.
Past Reviews:
MB Microvision
Atari 400/800
Mattel Intellivision
Magnavox Odyssey 2
Interton VC 4000
APF MP1000
Bally Astrocade
Atari 2600
Coleco Telstar Arcade
RCA Studio II
Fairchild Channel F
PC-50X
Pong Consoles
Magnavox Odyssey