What an incredible project you all have put together!! I'm working on a C64 game currently, but perhaps a next project will be C65. Thank you for all your hard work!! Looking forward to pre-ordering!
I really wish you that... in the amiga camp there is a similar hardware with even better specs but most games that are developed are still for the old hardware. The problem is small market general and new hardware means even a much smaller market. You have to find idealists to do it. And better hardware also means higher expectations by people and that means you need teams of developers, graphicians, music specialists and so on.
My pie in the sky dream would be for this to explode in popularity with games being sold in the hundreds of thousands and possibly even encouraging some support from big publishers, such as writing retro versions of their modern games or brand new ones. Who knows? Maybe they will even decide that there is a sizeable market for these nostalgic retro systems and come out with their own version. Unlikely, but you never know!
This is going to sound mean but: almost all people who are passionate about developing games are interested in having as many people play their work as possible (and perhaps make some money, get recognition, feedback, more jobs etc). This platform is not without some entertainment value but it's a hobby project built for - and by - bedroom tinkerers who like to fiddle and make short demos. Have a place ready on the shelf for this to gather dust next to all the others.. or - keep it clean and dusted in a display case; whatever floats your board ;-)
That's actually the exact same tile set and colors from the Amiga version running at 320x200 @50fps. I wish I had tried to rip the PC graphics instead as they are much more than the 16 color tile set the Amiga used. Thankfully my new engine is much more powerful and has lots of flexibility to do insane detail built into it :)
Hey guys, this is really shaping up veeeery nicely and exciting, the work your are doing is beyond incredible !!! Thx for that, can't wait for the release :-) Do you intend at some point to write some sort of "history of the development ? " , maybe explaining where the 65 was when you decided to revive it, what you could find, the state of the development, what you could get from the existing hdw, the different direction they were exploring at the time, the papers you saved, may be what you could get from discussions with the original developers ? And also maybe what you understood was the "intents" and the vision they had at commodore for the 65 and how you relate to that how you went forward with your how ideas. I think this would really connect the dots and explain how you are true heirs and continuation of the original commodore dev team.
Thx for the Präso, finde ich gut, dass auch auf diesem Weg Infos verteilt werden. Hab n Devkit bin „noch“ kein Developer , arbeite seit mehr als 30 Jahren in der IT, mein knowHow liegt mehr in Cloud, Infrastruktur , Storage und Netzwerk. Hoffe ich kann auch gewisse Dinge beitragen, nur schon das ich Euch unterstütze mit dem Kauf des DevKit. Hab übrigens 2 Kollegen welche glückliche Besitzer eine C65 Prototyp sind. Cheers, weiter so 👍
Syntax Highlighting, the Tech Demo, BASIC Improvements and Gameboy Core... The sky is the limit! Thanks to everyone and now I have to go grab the latest core to test! :)
Syntax (keyword) highlighting is very useful. Hopefully it can be modified so that the keywords are highlighted automatically without having to list the program first (as you type, for example). This would be more practical for very large programs you may be typing in. Love the fact that you can scroll UP in your BASIC listing too!
It is possible to connect and re-install a Cassette port...BUT... this is something we'll leave to the community. This is not on our release agenda. So to answer your question: Yes, it is theoretically possible and we've already designed breakout ports on the MEGA65 case to support this possibility.
So great to see the scene alive. Even though it hurt a little that the machine was turned on and off so often... : ) Is there no elegant way to do a soft reset? Best regards.
The MEGA65 has a RESET button on the left hand side, also you could do a RESET in the Freeze menu. But tbh, we treated the C64 in a similar way back in the days and the MEGA65 has, from a quality standpoint of view, to be able to withstand our nerdy Treatment :-D
Absolutely. while the X16 is a completely new Computer, the MEGA65 is the finalisation of Commodores C65 and while the X16 is a real computer, you won't be able to run other "cores" on it, compared to the MEGA65 huge fpga, where already cores from the MiSter project have been ported over (ZXuno, Gameboy Color). So you really can't compare these two machines. Oh, last but not least, the MEGA65 is fully open-source !
@@olafschonwei6420 It's 8 bit and very much like coding for a C64 on steroids, with an enhanced VIC4 and quad SID chips. The demo is just using character based screens for pretty much everything, only the player and enemies are HW sprites, the rest is chars, including the HUD and bullets
@@Shallan64 enhanced VIC means how many colors and which resolutions? And how much RAM? 64 kb is very limited... with 8bit you can only address a very limited area
@@olafschonwei6420 The actual memory address space is 28bit, with the VIC4 able to see 384kb of that. However this is still using 8 bit assembly, referencing areas >64Kb is done using new indirect addressing modes and a pseudo 32bit register called Q (uses A,X,Y and Z registers combined). The VIC4 allows multiple 256 color palettes selected from a 23bit color space with sprites using up to 16 per sprite and chars using up to 256 per char. Resolution is 320x200 or 640x400 base, with some options for moving borders and increasing these slightly
awesome! - but better wait a little bit longer and give the developers all the time they need for high quality of hardware & software. i'm looking forward!
This project continues to blow me away every time I see one of these updates. Really, really cool stuff, guys. One thing (I can't remember if I asked before on another video), will the Mega 65 support inputs for 2 buttons? I think it would be a very welcome feature for any new titles going forward.
I can't believe someone thinks this would only sell, if it were $150.00 or less. I would expect to pay at least $300.00 - seeing it is a "new" computer, supporting a retro-based community interest... and how powerful it is. I'm pretty sure a Commodore (or is it called Amiga, I forget) C-128, that was brand new in the box... would EASILY sell on eBay for over $300.00!! I would pay $300.00 for this - especially if it included a nice, printed, spiral-wire bound (I'd want it to lay flat when open, so it's easier to use) user manual and starter guide... and a nice, starter software package. I've never owned a Commodore computer, but after watching numerous videos by "The 8-Bit Guy" about them, I'm really interested in the platform! On a side note... I was "REALLY" hoping one of these two would need to leave for a moment to get something, and say, "I'll be back!" 😆
I have always been an Apple ][ (e, e+, c, c+, GS) user. This MEGA=65 is OUTSTANDING!. I want to get one for sure. Maybe someday make the never released IIGS+ with ROM04?
I'm a 47 years old man growth with Commodore. I started with VIC20 then my dad gave me the C16 and, after some years, i buyed the C64 and next the C128. Thanks to the Commodore, now i'm a IT Senior in a big italian farm. Now i want the MEGA65. Who should i give my money now? :D I'm born the 18 of March ...
FRIG-GIN amazing! I was i could code!!! I wish you guys get more devs onboard then playstation. We should go back in time, keep computers simple and accessible, not those bloated windows 10 crap😀 cause what are we gonna do when all high-level devs die of corona? (Just joking😀😂)
Wish you luck, but I don't think anyone sane would buy what's amounts to a slightly enhanced C64 for more than $150 (and even that might be a stretch, $100 is more likely to be the breaking point), even among retro enthusiasts.
:-D :-D Sorry for laughing...for 150 € you won't even get the keyboard. Do yourself a favor and look what a PC mechanical keyboard, with Cherry key Switches, doubleshot keycaps, mounted on an brushed aluminium plate alone would cost....
@Blitzen RC And compare it to hardware made on discrete chips and the price is criminal. The truth is FPGAs were never meant to be in a consumer products, they're purely for prototyping before you can manufacture actual chips.
I would pay at least $1000, since this is not for everyone, everyone else not willing to pay more then $100-150 dont understand all the work and whats actually is being made.
@@UltimatePerfection Using discrete chips would determine this computer as a one-trick pony: a computer that possibly never will have too many programs written for. Using FPGA can make it an all-in-one computer so even if developers don't write too many programs for it it can work as a Nintendo GBC or a C64 with REU. I remember the time when 3D printers were considered as machines that intended to create pre-production prototypes only and now a few years later they became consumer products.
Der MEGA65 hat einen SD Kartenslot UND einen microSD Karten slot. Mit dem 3.5" Laufwerk teilen sich die Meinungen, manche wollen es unbedingt haben, andere wie du sagen es wird nicht benötigt. Um Original zum C65 zu bleiben werden wir so lange das Laufwerk einbauen, bis wir keine mehr haben. Es gibt nämlich weltweit keinen Hersteller mehr und wir haben so ziemlich alles gekauft, was uns in die Hände gefallen ist. Ausserdem hat das 3.5" Zoll Laufwerk noch den schönen Nebeneffekt, dass es bei Zugriff auf die SD Karte die Geräusche macht ;-)
This is a very exciting project but PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DITCH the OLD 3.5" diskette drives -- NOBODY EVER USES THEM ANYMORE??? and it is near impossible to find new media for them. Replace them with a 4-port USB 3 or C HUB please. And an SD-card reader.
The MEGA65 comes equipped with an SD card (internal accessible via trapdoor) and micro SD card slot (accessible from the rear). The floppy drive adds to stay with the original C65 and additionally produces sound when accessing the SD cards. New floppy disk media can be found and is produced albeit they have some trouble meeting the demand. Just a side note regarding the use of floppy disks have a look at Boeing 747 and DEF CON 28 from 2020 as one example ;-)
obviously you don't have a clue about a project of this size and the quality the MEGA65 is reflecting. We sell the MEGA65 only for the price to cover our costs. There is no profit for us and we all work on the project for free. So please, do the math.
What an incredible project you all have put together!! I'm working on a C64 game currently, but perhaps a next project will be C65. Thank you for all your hard work!! Looking forward to pre-ordering!
I really hope when the Mega65 comes out to the public we will see a big boom in new games again like we had for the C64.
I really wish you that... in the amiga camp there is a similar hardware with even better specs but most games that are developed are still for the old hardware. The problem is small market general and new hardware means even a much smaller market. You have to find idealists to do it. And better hardware also means higher expectations by people and that means you need teams of developers, graphicians, music specialists and so on.
but there is a positive effect... more hardware sales motivates more developers to do something
My pie in the sky dream would be for this to explode in popularity with games being sold in the hundreds of thousands and possibly even encouraging some support from big publishers, such as writing retro versions of their modern games or brand new ones. Who knows? Maybe they will even decide that there is a sizeable market for these nostalgic retro systems and come out with their own version. Unlikely, but you never know!
I would love that, but the price would be way too high, just like with ZX Spectrum Next or any ither FPGA powered device. No one sane would buy it.
This is going to sound mean but: almost all people who are passionate about developing games are interested in having as many people play their work as possible (and perhaps make some money, get recognition, feedback, more jobs etc). This platform is not without some entertainment value but it's a hobby project built for - and by - bedroom tinkerers who like to fiddle and make short demos. Have a place ready on the shelf for this to gather dust next to all the others.. or - keep it clean and dusted in a display case; whatever floats your board ;-)
Im gonna make a Graphical Interface on this boy if i can
That Turrican tech demo looks like a lower resolution version of the amiga game. Pretty damn cool.
That's actually the exact same tile set and colors from the Amiga version running at 320x200 @50fps. I wish I had tried to rip the PC graphics instead as they are much more than the 16 color tile set the Amiga used. Thankfully my new engine is much more powerful and has lots of flexibility to do insane detail built into it :)
Must have, must have.
Love the Mega65
Hey guys, this is really shaping up veeeery nicely and exciting, the work your are doing is beyond incredible !!! Thx for that, can't wait for the release :-)
Do you intend at some point to write some sort of "history of the development ? " , maybe explaining where the 65 was when you decided to revive it, what you could find, the state of the development, what you could get from the existing hdw, the different direction they were exploring at the time, the papers you saved, may be what you could get from discussions with the original developers ? And also maybe what you understood was the "intents" and the vision they had at commodore for the 65 and how you relate to that how you went forward with your how ideas. I think this would really connect the dots and explain how you are true heirs and continuation of the original commodore dev team.
when all done there probably will be a book about this unique journey .. possible working titles so far: "making mega" and "men of mega" :)
Ich kanns kaum noch erwarten bis ich das Teil endlich kaufen kann.
2021 pre-orders will start for the final machines :)
@@MEGA65retro How do i know when the preorder begins?
@@manfredwittemann4198 if you subscribed on mega65.org, we will send you an email (right, we never send out any if it is not super important)
@@MEGA65retro thanks. 👍
Can't wait. Must buy.
Must wait. But not too long. It's worth the wait :)
Thx for the Präso, finde ich gut, dass auch auf diesem Weg Infos verteilt werden. Hab n Devkit bin „noch“ kein Developer , arbeite seit mehr als 30 Jahren in der IT, mein knowHow liegt mehr in Cloud, Infrastruktur , Storage und Netzwerk. Hoffe ich kann auch gewisse Dinge beitragen, nur schon das ich Euch unterstütze mit dem Kauf des DevKit. Hab übrigens 2 Kollegen welche glückliche Besitzer eine C65 Prototyp sind. Cheers, weiter so 👍
Danke für Deine Unterstützung!
Syntax Highlighting, the Tech Demo, BASIC Improvements and Gameboy Core... The sky is the limit! Thanks to everyone and now I have to go grab the latest core to test! :)
Cross-platform with the Mister!!!! The Game Boy Color version of Tetris is my favorite. It has them nice tunes. Gonna join on Twitch and Discord!
Personally think the Gameboy version of Tetris is the best
Wow, first time i heard about that project. Awesome - und aus Deutschland
Hi guys, when do you expect we can place an (pre) order for this wonderful machine?
short answer: this year.
Syntax (keyword) highlighting is very useful. Hopefully it can be modified so that the keywords are highlighted automatically without having to list the program first (as you type, for example). This would be more practical for very large programs you may be typing in. Love the fact that you can scroll UP in your BASIC listing too!
Take my money !!!!
please keep it for the moment and don't waste it on a ps5 before christmas ;)
@@MEGA65retro Personally, I'm going to buy both. I'm determined to have my cake and eat it 😂
Looking forward to picking one up, £££.is waiting!
Absolute awesome guys..
Could you add a cassette port? Or at least a 3.5 jack to connect any tape recorder?
It is possible to connect and re-install a Cassette port...BUT... this is something we'll leave to the community. This is not on our release agenda.
So to answer your question: Yes, it is theoretically possible and we've already designed breakout ports on the MEGA65 case to support this possibility.
great stuff
Very exciting stuff.
Quick Q: Which make/model monitor is that? 📺
As it looks perfect, thx! 🤓
Thank you for the update.
wow thats great news...
I'd like to get one. Will a shirt come with it? Wouldn't mind having one of those shirts too
We are working on getting our shop ready
So great to see the scene alive.
Even though it hurt a little that
the machine was turned on and
off so often... : )
Is there no elegant way to do a soft reset?
Best regards.
The MEGA65 has a RESET button on the left hand side, also you could do a RESET in the Freeze menu.
But tbh, we treated the C64 in a similar way back in the days and the MEGA65 has, from a quality standpoint of view, to be able to withstand our nerdy Treatment :-D
I am curious if you are able to give an estimate to how much it would cost to purchase one when it available?
Sounds nice . lets see whats coming out...
Just stumbled across this - best of luck - what a fantastic project. I've only just seen this - will it be available to purchase?
And we can compare games with the Spectrum Next :) This will take people back to their school days!
Is there a lot of difference between this Mega 65 and the Commander X16?
Absolutely. while the X16 is a completely new Computer, the MEGA65 is the finalisation of Commodores C65 and while the X16 is a real computer, you won't be able to run other "cores" on it, compared to the MEGA65 huge fpga, where already cores from the MiSter project have been ported over (ZXuno, Gameboy Color).
So you really can't compare these two machines.
Oh, last but not least, the MEGA65 is fully open-source !
The guy on the right sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger hehe :D
and he hits like Bud Spencer ;)
Let me know when it can do Turrican 3 lol Turrican 1 and 2 on Amiga look like 8 bit games or Atari ST games
Sensational project BTW. Impressive demo running on a kind of C64, indeed looking like on amiga ;)
Do you have a chipset like on amiga with blitter/copper or are the old chips like sid implemented with better specs? Is it 16 bit?
@@olafschonwei6420 It's 8 bit and very much like coding for a C64 on steroids, with an enhanced VIC4 and quad SID chips. The demo is just using character based screens for pretty much everything, only the player and enemies are HW sprites, the rest is chars, including the HUD and bullets
@@Shallan64 enhanced VIC means how many colors and which resolutions? And how much RAM? 64 kb is very limited... with 8bit you can only address a very limited area
@@olafschonwei6420 The actual memory address space is 28bit, with the VIC4 able to see 384kb of that. However this is still using 8 bit assembly, referencing areas >64Kb is done using new indirect addressing modes and a pseudo 32bit register called Q (uses A,X,Y and Z registers combined).
The VIC4 allows multiple 256 color palettes selected from a 23bit color space with sprites using up to 16 per sprite and chars using up to 256 per char. Resolution is 320x200 or 640x400 base, with some options for moving borders and increasing these slightly
@@Shallan64 sounds interesting. I look forward to see what will be created for it
Great work!
I wonder. Why do we "still" need the go 64 command? Why is it not possible to load the stuff through the c65 cli?
It absolutely IS possible, it depends on what the developer intended. Try it out yourself in XEMU65 please!
@@MEGA65retro I would really love to, but I am no programmer. I have no skills with this! :-)
awesome! - but better wait a little bit longer and give the developers all the time they need for high quality of hardware & software. i'm looking forward!
I like that it has an ethernet interface. The sound quality is fantastic. I wonder how Hubbard's LightForce tune would sound on the M65.
This project continues to blow me away every time I see one of these updates. Really, really cool stuff, guys.
One thing (I can't remember if I asked before on another video), will the Mega 65 support inputs for 2 buttons? I think it would be a very welcome feature for any new titles going forward.
We are looking into this, it's on the list ..
i need it very very much!!!! ;) i can't waiting! ;P
Please just wait a little longer :P
I can't believe someone thinks this would only sell, if it were $150.00 or less. I would expect to pay at least $300.00 - seeing it is a "new" computer, supporting a retro-based community interest... and how powerful it is. I'm pretty sure a Commodore (or is it called Amiga, I forget) C-128, that was brand new in the box... would EASILY sell on eBay for over $300.00!!
I would pay $300.00 for this - especially if it included a nice, printed, spiral-wire bound (I'd want it to lay flat when open, so it's easier to use) user manual and starter guide... and a nice, starter software package. I've never owned a Commodore computer, but after watching numerous videos by "The 8-Bit Guy" about them, I'm really interested in the platform!
On a side note... I was "REALLY" hoping one of these two would need to leave for a moment to get something, and say, "I'll be back!" 😆
This looks awesome. I've been wanting to get a C64 again but I would buy this instead.
This is exactly our goal: get a modern replacement, that makes it easy to get all retro machines, but especially the C64 and C65 under one hood ;-)
@@antonschneider-michallek8544 love it, I'm excited!
I have always been an Apple ][ (e, e+, c, c+, GS) user. This MEGA=65 is OUTSTANDING!. I want to get one for sure. Maybe someday make the never released IIGS+ with ROM04?
Tolles Teil, aber ihr müsst endlich mal zum Liefern kommen!!
Frei nach Guy Kawasaki=> don't worry be crappy !
Nee, wird erst gelierfert wenn ALLES GEIL IST :)
I'm a 47 years old man growth with Commodore. I started with VIC20 then my dad gave me the C16 and, after some years, i buyed the C64 and next the C128. Thanks to the Commodore, now i'm a IT Senior in a big italian farm. Now i want the MEGA65. Who should i give my money now? :D I'm born the 18 of March ...
We will announce it on all our channels once the preorder starts and no worries, there will be enough machines available :-)
FRIG-GIN amazing! I was i could code!!! I wish you guys get more devs onboard then playstation. We should go back in time, keep computers simple and accessible, not those bloated windows 10 crap😀 cause what are we gonna do when all high-level devs die of corona? (Just joking😀😂)
Wish you luck, but I don't think anyone sane would buy what's amounts to a slightly enhanced C64 for more than $150 (and even that might be a stretch, $100 is more likely to be the breaking point), even among retro enthusiasts.
:-D :-D Sorry for laughing...for 150 € you won't even get the keyboard.
Do yourself a favor and look what a PC mechanical keyboard, with Cherry key Switches, doubleshot keycaps, mounted on an brushed aluminium plate alone would cost....
@Blitzen RC And compare it to hardware made on discrete chips and the price is criminal. The truth is FPGAs were never meant to be in a consumer products, they're purely for prototyping before you can manufacture actual chips.
@@antonschneider-michallek8544 That's why I don't buy mechanical keyboards. Membrane are good enough.
I would pay at least $1000, since this is not for everyone, everyone else not willing to pay more then $100-150 dont understand all the work and whats actually is being made.
@@UltimatePerfection Using discrete chips would determine this computer as a one-trick pony: a computer that possibly never will have too many programs written for. Using FPGA can make it an all-in-one computer so even if developers don't write too many programs for it it can work as a Nintendo GBC or a C64 with REU.
I remember the time when 3D printers were considered as machines that intended to create pre-production prototypes only and now a few years later they became consumer products.
Ich würde das Gehäuse schmaler machen, die Floppy will keine Sau mehr (mangels Disks). Lieber irgendwo ein microSD Slot.
Der MEGA65 hat einen SD Kartenslot UND einen microSD Karten slot.
Mit dem 3.5" Laufwerk teilen sich die Meinungen, manche wollen es unbedingt haben, andere wie du sagen es wird nicht benötigt.
Um Original zum C65 zu bleiben werden wir so lange das Laufwerk einbauen, bis wir keine mehr haben. Es gibt nämlich weltweit keinen Hersteller mehr und wir haben so ziemlich alles gekauft, was uns in die Hände gefallen ist.
Ausserdem hat das 3.5" Zoll Laufwerk noch den schönen Nebeneffekt, dass es bei Zugriff auf die SD Karte die Geräusche macht ;-)
@@antonschneider-michallek8544 Ich freue mich darauf und hoffe es gibt keine Kopfschmerzen bei dem Preis :-)
This is a very exciting project but PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DITCH the OLD 3.5" diskette drives -- NOBODY EVER USES THEM ANYMORE??? and it is near impossible to find new media for them. Replace them with a 4-port USB 3 or C HUB please. And an SD-card reader.
The MEGA65 comes equipped with an SD card (internal accessible via trapdoor) and micro SD card slot (accessible from the rear). The floppy drive adds to stay with the original C65 and additionally produces sound when accessing the SD cards. New floppy disk media can be found and is produced albeit they have some trouble meeting the demand.
Just a side note regarding the use of floppy disks have a look at Boeing 747 and DEF CON 28 from 2020 as one example ;-)
Too expensive.
obviously you don't have a clue about a project of this size and the quality the MEGA65 is reflecting.
We sell the MEGA65 only for the price to cover our costs. There is no profit for us and we all work on the project for free.
So please, do the math.