If you could only choose between a Commodore 128 or Amstrad CPC 6128 what 's picked?

5rtytry56

Brief synosis of these 8 bit systems

The Commodore 128 had 128 kb memory and, well, like the Commodore 64 had a good sound chip

The CPC 6128 had better graphics than the Commodore, but the sound is nothing extraordinary.

So vote in the poll!

CiDeRmAn

Kinda addicted to polls there, ain't ya?

And, in answer to the poll, neither.

5rtytry56

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

Kinda addicted to polls there, ain't ya?

A wee bit....... Still, the votes are coming in. I'm not a re reg either.:D

Bracken3000

5rtytry56 wrote:

The Commodore 128 had 128 kb memory and, well, like the Commodore 64 had a good sound chip

Dont think I have ever seen a C128! Was it much more expensive than a C64 ?

5rtytry56

If you looked hard enough, you could get a Commodore 128 for £250 punts. C 64 would retail for about £150 punts

£1 punt = €1.27

CiDeRmAn

If I had to have a Commodore and had moved on from the C64 I think the obvious upgrade path would be to the Amiga 500.
A similar thing was with the Spectrum.
Sinclair/Amstrad would have loved if everyone's answer was one of the 128k machines, but more likely people bought into the Atari At or Amiga instead.
Me, I just took a break and bought a Gameboy in 1990 instead.

Tom Mann Centuria

Eleventy-six percent of Spectrum owners would burn both options at the stake.

5rtytry56

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

Eleventy-six percent of Spectrum owners would burn both options at the stake.

yes i owned a 48k 'rubber wonder'

The awful colour clash was never got rid of though on the 128k Specstrad mind.

The Last Bandit

Amstrad 6128(+) all day every day.

BGOllie

Always wanted (still looking for one) a CPC 6128 .
My neighbour had one as a kid and there were some fun games on it.
Didn't even know there was a C128 till a few years ago tbh,
The logical upgrade from the C64 -and only we really knew of at the time, was to the Amiga 500 (or the Atari 520ST for some poor lost souls )

CiDeRmAn

5rtytry56 wrote: »

yes i owned a 48k 'rubber wonder'

The awful colour clash was never got rid of though on the 128k Specstrad mind.

The real genius is the work done on the Spectrum within those visual and aural limits.
It's easy to get smooth scrolling and amaze-balls music from a C64, it takes talent to get that from a Spectrum.

paul777300

I'd go for the C128, but i don't know of any software that was coded for it.

eddhorse

I probably would choose neither at the time. Better systems were available

5rtytry56

eddhorse wrote: »

IBetter systems were available

Name one. Any one.

eddhorse

5rtytry56 wrote: »

eddhorse wrote: »

IBetter systems were available

Name one. Any one.

Do i have a budget?
Atari ST
Amiga 1000
Apple II
IBM PC

5rtytry56

@Edhorse: No budget for a boardsie like you, with your sage unassailable posts on this thread.

eddhorse

5rtytry56 wrote: »

@Edhorse: No budget for a boardsie like you, with your sage unassailable posts on this thread.

I sense sarcasm.
I think the NES came out around then too so that sent the gamers away from the "personal computers" imo.

Wouldnt mind getting a hands on look at the two options though. How much would they cost nowadays?

Tom Mann Centuria

eddhorse wrote: »

I sense sarcasm.
I think the NES came out around then too so that sent the gamers away from the "personal computers" imo.

Wouldnt mind getting a hands on look at the two options though. How much would they cost nowadays?

My experience is quite different in the UK back then, presume (but don't know) Ireland was similar.
I don't think the NES sent many gamers away from home computers this side of the Atlantic at all, they were too well dug in by the time it came out. You could get hundreds of games for a couple of quid for the Spectrum et al. or free game's on the front of magazines, or trade copies for free in your lunch break at school. Quality of games wasn't enough. So think you're wrong about gamers going from their computers to the NES.

Not saying there wasn't better options than what's offered in this thread but the NES wasn't even a blip on the radar in my youth.

Dr Bob

I was a gamer back then .( the 80s).I kew a a lot of C64 owners ,zx Spectrums , a few Atari 8bit owners and a few posh kids with STs..oddly enough no Amstrads in my area..but retrospectively they must have been there. I knew two or three Master System owners but the NES wasnt really promoted much back then and I didnt really see them until 93 or 94 when it was sold as a budget system.
A mate of mine had a knockoff early famiclone (referred to as "the texet") which has dad bought from a dodgy shop in moore st. Also a local arcade had a Play 10 Nes cabinet.But the Nes made very little headway here compared to the US.

Dr Bob

For the record Id rate the C64 /Speccy as the joint winners of the UK/Ireland 8 bit era .
The c64's sound was fantastic..if it was coded properly a game could be silky smooth and look great. (There was almost zero reason for a non business computer owner to buy it as no games took advantage of the extra video mode and memory that I remember)The spectrum when coded correctly could have fantastic large graphics (colour clash thiugh..cough).

.the Amstrad was a great machine..but had way too many lazy straight up "reuse of spectrum code" ports. The Atari 8bits could have been the best machine of the lot..but were crippled in the states by the games crash..and software dried up for it way to early.The Sms was well promoted over here (virgin/mastertronic made sure it was on a lot of shop shelves),and a brilliant machine..but in an age of people used to paying a tenner for a new full price game ..and two or three for an older one ..it was too expensive..

alpahaeagle

I started with the good old rubber key 16K spectrum ( i upgraded it to 48K).
Then I moved to the C64...Yes the music was better but to me the spectrum was the best, most commodre games looked clutered unlike the bear screen of the spectrum.


I then moved onto the the Atari ST and then to the amiga...


For me the best system was the spectrum and the the Atari ST...


I had a c128 and it was a good system, still have the CPC6128 love the design but the system does nothing for me.

strangel00p

eddhorse wrote: »

I sense sarcasm.
I think the NES came out around then too so that sent the gamers away from the "personal computers" imo.

Back in the 80s, I don't remember anyone having Nintendo or sega. It was all about the c64, BBCs, spectrums, amstrads and a few upgraded to the amiga. There was a 'computer club' I used to attend in the city which was packed full of c64s and amigas copying games.

I only noticed the popularity of consoles in 91/92 when the megadrive and snes really took off.

hungry hypno toad

Amiga 1200 FTW with a second flop drive for playing Monkey Island 2 and Indiana Jones and Fate of Atlantis with 11 disks each.

Steve

CiDeRmAn wrote: »

The real genius is the work done on the Spectrum within those visual and aural limits.
It's easy to get smooth scrolling and amaze-balls music from a C64, it takes talent to get that from a Spectrum.

I remember being blown away by the first psuedopolyphonic games on the S48. Fairlight was one?

Tom Mann Centuria

Steve wrote: »

I remember being blown away by the first psuedopolyphonic games on the S48. Fairlight was one?

Music in Farlight is stunning, on 128k anyways, not sure what it was like on the 48k

strangel00p

Steve wrote: »

I remember being blown away by the first psuedopolyphonic games on the S48. Fairlight was one?

Fairlight was a classic. I'm still amazed by some of the 8-bit programmers - some of them were just kids learning to program. The Rowland brothers and Manfred Trenz were incredible at pushing the early computers to their limits.

Steve

It's funny, I still program 8 and 16 bit archaic systems today. Some are still used used to manufacture and assemble today's cutting edge 64 bit builds.

There'll be an animated move about it someday where I win.. bit like cars..

5rtytry56

As well as keeping a thread like this alive Steve.

Ah well, yez are all doing grand. I don't care if yee buy the Nintendo Switch, etc etc.

Just steer clear of buying a retro ZX Spectrum called the Vega+ . The outfit have done a runner apparently with the investment capital.

Tom Mann Centuria

5rtytry56 wrote: »

As well as keeping a thread like this alive Steve.

Ah well, yez are all doing grand. I don't care if yee buy the Nintendo Switch, etc etc.

Just steer clear of buying a retro ZX Spectrum called the Vega+ . The outfit have done a runner apparently with the investment capital.

They took half a million, some group has set up on faceache to launch legal action.

It's all very disappointing, particularly when the emulation and screen wouldn't be any better than zxds on an old ds etc for half the price.

Star Lord

Never really saw any CPC6128s, the popular Amstrad systems among those I knew were the Amstrad CPC464s

Ongo Goblogian

Bought a 48k speccy with my confirmation money (Tomorrows World in the Ilac, remember them) spent extra on a Kempston interface and joystick. Mates all went with C64's(I envied the carts) and one odd ball got an Amstrad(reckon it was his parents choice rather then his). Breaking the games and "poke"ing and "peek"ing the memory was like hacking the pentagon to my naive mind. Desperately wanted (and still do to this day) a Sam Coupe by Miles Gordon. It was the natural progress path to the spectrum and a stop gap before the 16bit revolution.

Anyway the Sam Coupe never really made it over here and ended up with an Amiga 500, mates went wit ST's. Really think they just did not want to share their games with me at this point. Loved Monkey Island but the disk swapping drove me mad. Ended up buying an Amiga 1200 in Harry Moore's but ordered it with a 250Mb hard drive for the bones of an extra £300 punts. Damn game makers still required the disks as most would not officially install on a hard disk. They really dropped the ball with the potential of the Amiga and let the PC take over. I persisted with this through the Win95 craze and added a 68030 and FPU and 4Mb of extra memory. Eventually had to give in and get a PC from Time (Another blast from the past) Really wanted a Wang but Time came with a better software bundle. Also of note but not mentioned above was the Acorn Archimedes, always admired from afar but seemed too niche and expensive at the time for my pocket money!

But back to the OP's question. I would go for the C64 or anything over Amstrad any day of the week. Never liked Alan Sugar or Amstrad for some unknown reason. Don't know what it is but I have always just had a dislike of certain people for no good reason. Alan Sugar, Elton John, Phil Collins, Jimmy Saville(Plenty of reason here, but this was before the revelations), Just want to kick the TV when I see their faces on it.

5rtytry56

Ongo Goblogian wrote: »

Bought a 48k speccy with my confirmation money (Tomorrows World in the Ilac, remember them)

YUP.
Sent my own speccy 48k into them one time. Poor experience I recall with them.
You were better off sending your broken 8 bit micro to their head office in Dundrum.

strangel00p

Ongo Goblogian wrote: »

Bought a 48k speccy with my confirmation money (Tomorrows World in the Ilac, remember them) .

Bought quite a few games from Tomorrows world. Peats were terrible when it came to returning games - I think just about every c64 game I bought from them didn't load.

n97 mini

Graphics on the CPC6128 (and 464) had similar resolutions but way less hardware assistance compared to the C64 (and C128). CPC6128+ on the other hand had lots of hardware assistance but came out so late it was competing against the well-established 16-bit machines.

C128 was two computers in one, with the MOS 8510 CPU for C64 type operation and a Zilog Z80 for running CP/M. They couldn't really operate at the same time, and the Z80 only operated when the screen was in 80-column mode.

Poll is closed but I'd vote C128. I already have two, and a CPC464.

DinoRex

Did many games actually take advantage of the C128?

The Rocky Horror Show game is the only one that I recall.

n97 mini

Feck all. Aside from the RAM and a slightly faster CPU there was little else "better" than the C64.

Mancomb Seepgood

I think you needed a C128 to run the GEOS operating system?It may have been more of a thing in the US.

5rtytry56

Anything Amstrad would have been unknown Stateside too, though :}

The Last Bandit

CPC6128 was released in the US, didn't catch on over there and the announcement of its release sank the 664 everywhere else.

C128 also has a Z80 processor so could run CP/M software as well as most C64 stuff.

Dr Bob

strangel00p wrote: »

Bought quite a few games from Tomorrows world. Peats were terrible when it came to returning games - I think just about every c64 game I bought from them didn't load.

I had similar problems with Atari tape games from them. Still have a lot of good memories of Peats. Also that games club mentioned earlier..was that one in the Orrmonde hotel? I bought my first c64 from the guy who ran that..

strangel00p

Dr Bob wrote: »

Also that games club mentioned earlier..was that one in the Orrmonde hotel? I bought my first c64 from the guy who ran that..

yep, that was the one. I thought I was joining the club to learn how to program...never saw so much piracy :cool:

beardo81

Had the 6128+ myself. Hours whiled away playing Burnin Rubber and typing up simple Pong type games from the manual. Oh those were the days

TinCool

I had a C128 back in the day. You could book it in C64 mode so was 100% compatible with all the C64 games myself and my brother had amassed. From what I remember there was little to none specific C128 games released. At least we never had any.

I had the 6128 as well.

Great times being able to buy a game for £3.50!

5rtytry56

Folks, let's face it, ALL 8 bit machines were Solutions that did'nt work, but were bought anyway.

DinoRex

TinCool wrote: »

I had a C128 back in the day. You could book it in C64 mode so was 100% compatible with all the C64 games myself and my brother had amassed. From what I remember there was little to none specific C128 games released. At least we never had any.

Yeah. The Rocky Horror Show is the only one that I remember having a C128 version and it was considerably better looking than the C64 version as well.