Best classic computer

[Reid]

Hi guys- I was looking for what classic computer was 'the best'. I am a modern computer nerd, but the classic computers were before my time. Which one do you think is the most gaming friendly, or which one had the best or most games?

[Imstarryeyed]

Hoo boy, that is a very subjective question. I don't really think there is any one "best" computer, just ones we favor because of personal reasons.

Having said that my personal favorite retro computers are the Commodore Vic -20 as it was my first computer and I really learned so much on it.

I am also a fan of the C128 cause it had a nice sleek design and can still play C64 software.

Of course I moved onto Commodore Amiga 500 after that and loved that computer as it played some of the best games and have really great stereo sound.

I own an Atari 1200XL and I have to say some of the Atarisoft games like Donkey Kong and others are very, very challenging on it so I seem to come back to it over and over again.

I am not sure if I or anyone can say what is best but I think saying what we like is reasonable.

[Darth Sensei]

Commodore 64. Even tho it took forever and a day to load games, it was so worth it.

[Poofta!]

i think the best classic pc games are on DOS. so any windows 95 pc should be fine...

[LAGO]

I'm goingto throw a vote in for the Commodore 64. Does anybody remember Jaws for the C64? That game was so freaking fun.

[Griking]

Where's the choice for Apple II computers?

[Jibbajaba]

Where's the choice for Apple II computers?

Seconded. I would vote for the Apple ][ just because you could expand it and play with the hardware in so many ways. The C64 was a great gaming machine, and certainly capable of better graphics than the Apple, but I think that the Apple was a better all around computer for general computing enthusiasts. Until the first DOS machines started to hit the market, that is. I guess it depends on what time period you are talking about then. Mid 70's, I would say the Altair. Late 70's and early 80's, I would say the Apple ][, ][+, //e, or IIgs. The //c's were cool but not expandable, though they came with everything built in that a normal user would want, but you couldn't pop in any of those cool wierdo boards like a CP/M board or a RAMFactor card. After that, an 8088 with at least an EGA card in it would be awesome. But if you are really into classic computing from that era, you have to get a C64 as well, and maybe even an Atari 800 or something. There was a lot more diverse computer goodness around back then.

Chris

[Dave Farquhar]

The Amiga, with its custom chipset, lots of memory, and reasonably fast processor (especially by 1980s standards) certainly has the most potential. Some games took better advantage of that potential than others.

The C-64 is certainly a contender. It's a toss-up whether the C-64 or Apple II had the biggest software library, and the 64's graphics and sound capabilities were exceptional from the get-go, and they aged well. Any machine that managed to stay on the market for 10 years essentially unchanged had to have something right. Load times were painfully slow, but fastloaders solve that problem. And in emulation, it becomes a non-issue.

But frankly I can have a blast with any of those old machines, even the ones that weren't my faves back in the 1980s. There was no perfect machine, so all of them had certain strengths.

As far as PCs go, they definitely need qualification. There's the PCjr or Tandy 1000, which had decent sound capabilities and good graphics. An XT with CGA will send you screaming. A later PC, say, 33 MHz or faster, with VGA or SVGA and a good sound card makes for a fun machine. But it almost seems like a different era--kind of like comparing a Genesis to a Colecovision. Comparing them to an Amiga or ST is a bit more fair, but by the time the 486 came around, neither of those machines was getting much in the way of new development. To me, the era of "Classic" computing ended when the ST and Amiga stopped being viable competitors, and it became a two-man race between 32-bit PCs and the Macintosh line.

[Pantechnicon]

Given the choices listed (not a great selection, btw...Apple? Tandy? Atari? Helloooo) I'm voting for the C64.

I'm trying to look at this from more than a gaming standpoint. And what differentiates the C64 from these other machines is...eh...look: Back in the day, you took a new C64 out the box, hooked it up to your TV, turned on the power, and nothing happened.

Nothing, that is, except for the appearance of that little blinking cursor, which was an invitation for you to do something with it...

10 PRINT "THIS IS MY FIRST PROGRAM"
RUN

THIS IS MY FIRST PROGRAM
READY
_

"Interactivity" at its most intimate.

As I said in another thread, programming was an inseperable and important aspect of the first computers to commonly make their way into households. Obviously one could program an Amiga or a DOS PC, but that ability wasn't the first thing that greeted one when sitting before it.

If you were there, none of this needs justification. If you weren't there, more's the loss.

[Saabmeister]

Personally, I think the best computer of all time is the Commodore 64.

However, I think your poll is flawed by not including other classic computers like the Apple II, Trash 80, TI-99, Atari, Macintosh, etc, etc.

[ghostangelofcky]

Where's the choice for Apple II computers?

Seconded. I would vote for the Apple ][ just because you could expand it and play with the hardware in so many ways. The C64 was a great gaming machine, and certainly capable of better graphics than the Apple, but I think that the Apple was a better all around computer for general computing enthusiasts. Until the first DOS machines started to hit the market, that is. I guess it depends on what time period you are talking about then. Mid 70's, I would say the Altair. Late 70's and early 80's, I would say the Apple ][, ][+, //e, or IIgs. The //c's were cool but not expandable, though they came with everything built in that a normal user would want, but you couldn't pop in any of those cool wierdo boards like a CP/M board or a RAMFactor card. After that, an 8088 with at least an EGA card in it would be awesome. But if you are really into classic computing from that era, you have to get a C64 as well, and maybe even an Atari 800 or something. There was a lot more diverse computer goodness around back then.

Chris

Apple love!!!

[Sniderman]

Let's see how fast I can do this...

LOAD "*",8,1



I looooooved my C64. Great games. Fun to program yourself. And with my 1200 baud modem, I was the fastest thing in town for a few months. Only bad thing was the power supply keep burning out. I must've bought 6 of those things over the years. But, wow, was that thing a powerful gaming system for the time period. And the musical SID chip? Don't even get me started...

[Reid]

Lol- I just threw in the poll for fun- not anything serious. Since you can get them for about 5.00 at a yard sale, I could try them all. Though I think of the C64 when I think of classic computer gaming.

[cyberfluxor]

I was brought up in DOS so that's got my vote all the way.

[icbrkr]

I'm guessing you can guess what I chose but.. it's really a toss-up between the miggy and the C64. Even though I chose the Amiga, I have wayyy too many fond memories of the C64. I was in the C64 scene a lot longer than the Amiga one and made lots of friends I still talk to

[Niku-Sama]

i voted dos, but i really just like any thing in a XT style computer, is kinda like a modern computer, just dumbed down and the motehrboard doesent really do any thing except act as a way for the boards to communicate and for the ram and cpu to sit

[ozyr]

This poll needs to be re-done with more choices. There are too many popular classic systems that are missing!

[lurpak]

I would agree more choices were needed, however I had c64 in mind while waiting for the options to appear.

the c64 was the defining computer of the 80s without a doubt.

I still have one, up until very recently all my pincodes were 1541.

mps801 printer

kickstart, kennedy approach, Raid over moscow...

c2n cassette... and best of all the datel cart that froze games and saved them to disk.