My fantasy VIC-20 replacement

[carlsson]

As I mentioned in the thread about the 40/80 column cartridge, Commodore once had a 40 column VIC-20 under development, called VIC-40. It was not finished as they released the C64 instead.

Most of you probably remember that a few years later, Commodore released a series of computers: Commodore 16, 116 and Plus/4; all based on the new TED chip, which is an integrated chip with both video, audio, clock and some other stuff. They run Basic V3.5, have custom connectors everywhere and are just remotely backwards compatible with both VIC-20 and C64.

Officially the C16 was meant as a replacement machine for VIC users wishing to upgrade but who couldn't afford getting a 64 instead. Other people mention it was a machine supposed to compete with cheaper machines like the ZX Spectrum here in Europe. In reality they probably were released due to Commodore had spent so much money on R/D and had talked about these machines for a few years, originally meant as C64 upgrade machines.

The C16 and Plus/4 had to build up a user base, a software library, hardware etc more or less from scratch. It would never compete with a machine that already had two years on the market, and neither of these computers commercially lasted for a long time.

Here comes the interesting thing. Why didn't Commodore bring up the VIC-40 idea again? Make it fully VIC-I compatible with a POKE, add 127 colours, bitmap mode, maybe even sprites, maybe even better sound but not too good sound because then it would directly compete with the 64. Maybe replace the 6502 with a 6510 to allow bank switching and more memory. Maybe have two memory maps, one VIC-20 original and one VIC-40 unique.

Imagine the potential to replace the VIC-20 with a VIC-40 in mid-1984! It would instantly have a great library of software, would be compatible with both VIC-20 and to some extent the C64. Set the price to match the competitor of your choice, and then start looking into the future how to replace the C64 within two years.

Wow. I can't believe this wasn't done. Maybe even the TED chip could have been designed to be VIC-I compatible and make the whole computer more like an improved VIC-20 than a whole new machine.

[aneurysm]

It's amazing what decisions management makes for a company sometimes. I prefer the VIC to the C64 for sure. VIC-I has 4 voices - VIC-II has only three and input you hafta hard wire...

I think it would be amazing to develop something using a VIC that could utilize a huge amount of memory like 512kb or a meg... that would be crazy. I want to see it do full screen animations that tell a short story.