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A Commodore 64 Walkabout
Open the door to your retro computing adventure! The Commodore 64 is alive and well in a thriving community of enthusiasts. Updated for 2012 with additional content, the second edition of this book is your gateway to understanding and enjoying the C64 scene today whether it be through emulation or original hardware. With tutorials, reviews, personal stories, interviews, and links galore, the wide world of the C64 is at your fingertips!
Have you ever wanted to know more about the Commodore 64 and how you can enjoy the thousands of programs developed for it? Whether you are a newcomer to the still active Commodore scene, or someone who owned a C64 back in the 80s or 90s who would like to play an old game once again, this book will set you on the right path.
Squarely targeted at the C64 novice, but with plenty for veterans as well, A C64 Walkabout discusses the old and the new, with reviews of great old games and information on new products still being developed for the C64 and VIC-20 home computers of the 1980s.
Have you ever wanted to know more about the Commodore 64 and how you can enjoy the thousands of programs developed for it? Whether you are a newcomer to the still active Commodore scene, or someone who owned a C64 back in the 80s or 90s who would like to play an old game once again, this book will set you on the right path.
Squarely targeted at the C64 novice, but with plenty for veterans as well, A C64 Walkabout discusses the old and the new, with reviews of great old games and information on new products still being developed for the C64 and VIC-20 home computers of the 1980s.
- GenresNonfiction
196 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 13, 2011
40 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Robinson Mason
10 books3 followersWhen not creating his own original fiction based in the world of Hadanum or other closer locales, Robinson Mason writes about retro computers such as the Commodore 64 at the C64Walkabout.
He graduated from a university in Japan where he lived for nearly a decade after moving from Hawaii where he learned how to body surf on the waves of Oahu's shores.
Currently Robinson lives deep among the pine trees in the woods of Magnolia, Texas. He enjoys reading, gardening in the Texas heat, watching movies at the local drive-in, playing boardgames with friends and his collection of 80′s home computer paraphernalia.
He graduated from a university in Japan where he lived for nearly a decade after moving from Hawaii where he learned how to body surf on the waves of Oahu's shores.
Currently Robinson lives deep among the pine trees in the woods of Magnolia, Texas. He enjoys reading, gardening in the Texas heat, watching movies at the local drive-in, playing boardgames with friends and his collection of 80′s home computer paraphernalia.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 9, 2020
Not for me. I can't imagine who the target audience really is because if you're reasonably switched on about how computers work and are at all familiar with the C64 there's nothing here that's going to inform or entertain you.
It describes itself as "squarely pitched at the C64 novice" but feels like it's written for an audience who are confused/scared enough by modern computers to need almost click by click walkthroughs and then tries to explain the C64 as if they're novices who are also scared of that. Hard to imagine who needs this level of simplistic, reassuring guidance but also wants to get into emulating old machines.
A book that can't decide what it wants to be, trapped somewhere between nostalgia and instruction manual. If this was from a professional outlet I'd give it one star but as the work of an amateur enthusiast who is clearly trying very hard, it gets two.
It describes itself as "squarely pitched at the C64 novice" but feels like it's written for an audience who are confused/scared enough by modern computers to need almost click by click walkthroughs and then tries to explain the C64 as if they're novices who are also scared of that. Hard to imagine who needs this level of simplistic, reassuring guidance but also wants to get into emulating old machines.
A book that can't decide what it wants to be, trapped somewhere between nostalgia and instruction manual. If this was from a professional outlet I'd give it one star but as the work of an amateur enthusiast who is clearly trying very hard, it gets two.
November 28, 2022
A must-have for cultural awareness
For C64 owners or previous owners this is a walk down memory lane or maybe an excuse to reach into the back of the closet and dust it off.
I no longer have mine. Gave it to Goodwill and fantasize it is still out there in the ether doing its thing. While most people installed games like early Startrek (in BAIC) adapted from the trash-80, I had it connected to a portable typewriter. No one wanted a dot matrix at the time. Then it became a terminal at 2:00 AM to the local university computer.
Well enough memorizing, let us see what we missed with this book.
For C64 owners or previous owners this is a walk down memory lane or maybe an excuse to reach into the back of the closet and dust it off.
I no longer have mine. Gave it to Goodwill and fantasize it is still out there in the ether doing its thing. While most people installed games like early Startrek (in BAIC) adapted from the trash-80, I had it connected to a portable typewriter. No one wanted a dot matrix at the time. Then it became a terminal at 2:00 AM to the local university computer.
Well enough memorizing, let us see what we missed with this book.
February 20, 2023
As a passionate C64 retrogamer, I enjoyed this tremendously. The book opened my horizons to some games I never played. It's a very personal book written with passion that I believe might be, or should be, contagious to everybody open minded enough to try something this "old" or check on of the roots where it all came from, when it comes to videogames.
For us that were there, and due to some mild psychological disturbances like arrested development, nostalgia, or simply refusing to grow up, this is trip down the memory lane for sure, and strangely, even if we never played those exact games. The passion is here, like it was there in those times around those first, quite often simplistic games that were fantastic catalysts for imaginative upgrade of what was sometimes barely indicated on the screen.
Almost all obvious hits and well known classics like Last Ninja, Commando, Green Beret, Death Ride, Rick Dangerous, Blue Max etc. were avoided in this enjoyable cross section of our childhoods. To everybody "in the know", this is clear indicator how personal this book is.
The real intention of the book was to fire up curiosity and offer step by step introduction to the hobby, be it on emulator or on a real thing. I believe this mission is accomplished.
10/10 will read again. And use it as a reference when I start diggin in that little "playlist" I made for myself in Gamebase64, consisting solely of the games from this book.
All in all, well done, Mr. Robinson. And thank you for this.
For us that were there, and due to some mild psychological disturbances like arrested development, nostalgia, or simply refusing to grow up, this is trip down the memory lane for sure, and strangely, even if we never played those exact games. The passion is here, like it was there in those times around those first, quite often simplistic games that were fantastic catalysts for imaginative upgrade of what was sometimes barely indicated on the screen.
Almost all obvious hits and well known classics like Last Ninja, Commando, Green Beret, Death Ride, Rick Dangerous, Blue Max etc. were avoided in this enjoyable cross section of our childhoods. To everybody "in the know", this is clear indicator how personal this book is.
The real intention of the book was to fire up curiosity and offer step by step introduction to the hobby, be it on emulator or on a real thing. I believe this mission is accomplished.
10/10 will read again. And use it as a reference when I start diggin in that little "playlist" I made for myself in Gamebase64, consisting solely of the games from this book.
All in all, well done, Mr. Robinson. And thank you for this.
December 28, 2019
Un brin de nostalgie avec ce livre qui invite à se replonger dans ses souvenirs d'enfance grâce à l'émulation. Les conseils de softs sont intéressants avec ce soucis de retrouver les plaisirs tactiles des objets accompagnant les logiciels.
April 28, 2012
Great book. Remember my Amiga age.
February 23, 2014
Good nostalgia points. Many nice shivers of nostalgia.
September 3, 2013
Idiosyncratic, personal and charming, but also somewhat arbitrary. It reads less like a book and more like a collection of blog posts.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews