I want to get some Commodore computers (mainly 64 and Amiga) What do I look for?

[razorbeamz]

I'm interested in a Commodore 64 and a Commodore Amiga to play a bunch of European titles that were never big here in the US. First off, can the US versions of them play PAL games? I'd assume they do, but I'm just making sure. Also, what model numbers should I be on the lookout for, and what additional hardware besides the computers themselves will I need?

[burningdoom]

I've never had an Amiga, unfortunately. But I am familiar with Commodore 64. What you will need:

-The Computer itself (duh) - The keyboard is built-into it.
-Power Chord
-A T.V. Hook-Up or a Monitor (T.V. hook-up is cheaper)
-A Floppy Drive - Technically you don't need this, it does have a cartridge slot built-in, but the large majority of C64's games and programs came on floppy.
-A basic understanding of BASIC computer language, or you'll have a helluva time getting anything to load up.
-And a joystick if you plan on gaming. An Atari 2600 joystick will work fine. Unfortunately, unlike the Atari 2600, a Sega Genesis controller will not work. I've heard it can short your system out.

If you aren't worried about getting official copies of games, the good news is that games were notoriously easy to copy onto blank floppies on C64. So most games can be obtained quite easily.

Don't be surprised by long-load-times. I daresay that the C64 has the longest load-times of any system, ever. I swear I could set a game to load, go make a sandwich, come back, and it's still loading. Except for cartridges, those are instant. Speaking of cartridges, Epyx makes a "Fast-Load" cartridge that cuts down on floppy load-times somewhat.

There was also a cassette drive. I know little about it, as I never had one. I still played all the game I wanted to play on my C64 without it

[fazerco]

Pal vs NTSC has more to do with the TV, Pal is 50 mhz, and NTSC is 60 mhz.

So i believe you cant play pal on a ntsc machine.

[argyle]

I agree with pretty much everything Burningdoom said, except I wouldn't say you really have to have much of a knowledge at all of Basic - just a couple of commands you'll need to know:

To get a directory listing:   LOAD “$”,8
To load & run a specific game:   LOAD “FILENAME”,8,1
To load & run the first file on the disk:  LOAD “*”,8,1

[dreama1]

Check out the amiga cd 32 console.  Apparently it's a good console and was met with postive reviews.

[maximo310]

Check out the amiga cd 32 console.  Apparently it's a good console and was met with postive reviews.

There are some good games, but its a pretty small huge library since commodore filed for bankruptcy and discontinued the system only 7 months after it was released. Personally, I'm not too interested in commodore stuff, but the cd32 is a interesting collector's piece of gaming history.

[dreama1]

Check out the amiga cd 32 console.  Apparently it's a good console and was met with postive reviews.

There are some good games, but its a pretty small huge library since commodore filed for bankruptcy and discontinued the system only 7 months after it was released. Personally, I'm not too interested in commodore stuff, but the cd32 is a interesting collector's piece of gaming history.

It's to bad. They did put up a good fight tho when it lasted there's atleast 1 or 2 good games for every genre you can think of on the system including rpg's. I find it quite interesting seeing a console that supported point and click adventure games despite it lasting only 7 months.

http://www.retrogamegeeks.co.uk/#!commodore-amiga-cd-32/csyf
read fascinating stuff