Denial

Hi guys,

I am working on an article for an upcoming issue of Retrogaming Times about why the Vic 20 is such a great platform for classic gaming.

But before I finish the article I thought I would ask some of my fellow Vic 20 enthusiasts their opinion.

So here is the question, "Why would anyone want to own a Vic 20?"

Give me your top five answers and I hope to compile them all into an interesting article that will continue to promote the mighty VIC.

Tonks

Tonks wrote:So here is the question, "Why would anyone want to own a Vic 20?"

Simply because it is fun!

But why a VIC-20 and not a ZX81 for example? Because lots of documentation available, it is hackable (try to hack the ULA of a ZX81) and lots of peripherals available.
The VW Beetle became popular because it was cheap, easy to maintain and a lot of spareparts available on scrapyears (until 1996 :( ).

Top 5? Easy!

5. For many it's nostalgia. In my case, I'm only now discovering all the great VIC games that I missed out on when I was younger, so I'm still enjoying discovering new games.

4. The VIC has (in my opinion) some of the most vivid colors and best sound effects for platforms of that era.

3. There are so many different genres of games available. Shoot-em ups, platformers, first-person perspective, and many that defy genres. And since it's a computer with a keyboard, you han have role-playing games and text adventures too!

2. VIC-20s are cheap. Commodore designed them to be cheap and readily available. The common games are cheap. So even today, you can get a decent VIC-20 setup and many cartridges for the cost of a single cartridge for other gaming systems.

1. Best of all, you can write your own games! With BASIC and programmable characters etc. anyone can create a fairly professional-looking game that is a lot of fun too.

1. It was my first computer

2. Nice little games

3. Nostalgia and great memorys

4. More special than C64, 64 was very common.

5. New Vic20 demos are great/amazing

Besides the nostalgia factor and the huge amount of games made for the machine originally, the VIC-20 is a GREAT programming & experimenter's platform. This is just something you cannot do on a console.

It's a computer that is very capable, yet simple enough that a single mind (i.e. my mind!) can get a grip on its inner and outer workings. This is in comparison to a modern computer which would take a design team to completely understand.

So if you are interested in learning how to completely repair, program and hardware-hack a computer, the VIC-20 is a good one you can wrap your mind around. Plus with the flexible VIC chip, good BASIC, and all those special I/O ports, the possibilities are endless.

The principles you learn in programming / hacking the VIC-20 are applicable to other computers as well.

It's just the charm of a computer that seems so simple, and humble, being able to do amazing things in the hands of regular, yet talented users (like the ones on this discussion board).

Plus, when you get tired of hacking/programming, you can plug in a GORF cartridge and blow off some steam.

And, they are (still) dirt cheap.

I didn't take the Vic-20 to the fullest extremes I wanted to in the 80's and for nostalgia purposes and personal goals left unfullfilled, I now have the chance!

So for me:
1. Reaching unfullfilled personal potential for the Vic-20 now.
2. Historical collecting value
3. Computer repair to broaden my technical skills
4. To play all the games I never knew existed or couldn't afford back then

Brian

Centallica wrote:I didn't take the Vic-20 to the fullest extremes I wanted to in the 80's and for nostalgia purposes and personal goals left unfullfilled, I now have the chance!

So for me:
1. Reaching unfullfilled personal potential for the Vic-20 now.
2. Historical collecting value
3. Computer repair to broaden my technical skills
4. To play all the games I never knew existed or couldn't afford back then

Brian

Well said. All of the above applies to me as well. One of the reasons I collect old systems and video games is that I can now own all of the stuff I drooled over when I was 12 --- for very cheap.

Also, I always wanted to program a Sword of Fargoal type game and hope to one day.

1. Joystick (and other controller accessories) are compatible with the Atari 2600 (the most popular classic collectible machine). It is a perfect match time-wise to the VCS. Atari collectors would enjoy reusing controllers. I am still planning on making a VIC 20 game that uses the 2600 keyboard controls.

2. It's very pretty. Unlike the sinclair and other systems of the time, the VIC has a very retro style appearance. It just looks interesting set-up; yet, the keys are more practical than the Atari 800 or Timex systems.

(more to come. . . )

Jeff-20 wrote:1. Joystick (and other controller accessories) are compatible with the Atari 2600 (the most popular classic collectible machine).

Most accessories (joysticks, paddles, tape drives, disk drives, printers, modems etc) are compatible with the most sold computer ever (the Commodore 64) which makes them inexpensive and easy to find.

...on the other hand, if you find accessories for an obscure computer nobody collects, then you will probably pay even less or get it for free....

Didn't Ward Shrake once figure that the besides the Atari 2600, the VIC-20 probably had the most cartridges manufactured for it of any classic system? If this is still the case, then I think that's important to collectors. Add to that the 1000s of tape games released and you have an immense game library.

Plus, because the VIC had a full keyboard, you got a lot more variety than on the Atari 2600: i.e. text adventures, strategy games, educational titles, RPG games like Apshai & Sword of Fargoal.

Not to mention serious application software.

Also, the quality of AtariSoft cartridges for the VIC-20 (i.e. Pac Man, Donkey Kong, Centipede, etc.) were WAAAAY better than the same titles on the Atari 2600 itself. PAC MAN was almost arcade looking (compare it to the brown and pale blue version on the 2600 that bore no resemblance to the arcade). Defender and ROBOTRON are amazing conversions to this day. I think Donkey Kong for the VIC was the ONLY cartridge at the time to have ALL FOUR levels of the arcade (including Cement mixer level)....even the COLECO didn't have that!

Plus, well-programmed games for the VIC had graphics that came close to or rivalled the ColecoVision (and considering the VIC wasn't as powerful, this was really something). Play Lunar Leeper, Bandits, etc. for an example of this - the Atari 2600 couldn't come close to this, despite having roughly the same screen resolution.

Lately, there seems to be a movement towards making new games for classic systems. The VIC-20 is way ahead in this regard. People were already programming new games for it before those on consoles got started, there is more programming documentation, and it's one of the easiest systems to program on.

Boray wrote:...on the other hand, if you find accessories for an obscure computer nobody collects, then you will probably pay even less or get it for free....

That's true....because the VIC is still one of the lesser collected systems, prices for it is haven't become inflated (but wait until the article comes out - uh oh!)

ral-clan wrote:Didn't Ward Shrake once figure that the besides the Atari 2600, the VIC-20 probably had the most cartridges manufactured for it of any classic system? If this is still the case, then I think that's important to collectors. Add to that the 1000s of tape games released and you have an immense game library.

Nah, the number of games carts for the Vic20 still hasn't broken 200 yet. I've got almost 300 listed for the C64 (I do both the Vic20 and C64 lists for Digital Press now) and there's over 300 for the Atari computers.

1. Dial into BBS's across North America with a 1200 bps modem. All right, it's not as fast and convenient like my 2 GHz PC connected to high speed internet but it's still kind of fun in it's own way.

2. Develop software

3. Play games

4. The VIC-20 was my first computer and there's a lot of sentimentality towards it. This doesn't really entice someone who has never owned a VIC-20 of course.

5. The VIC chip is the core of the machine and it's very easily programmable. I find the column screen to be a feature rather than a limitation. Any text or custom character graphics will look gigantic on a VIC-20 screen. In order to replicate this effect on 40 column computers, you have to use twice as much memory. It does have some flaws and weaknesses--most notably the changes in screen memory when you add memory expansion and the lack of sprites. But with the VIC-20, all you have to do is manipulate a couple of registers to create almost instantaneous graphics and sound (as opposed to the C64's SID chip which requires several POKEs just to make it beep).