Oasis vs Blur? Pfft! The real battle for hearts and minds in the 1990s was between the Commodore Amiga and Atari ST. At least if you were a massive nerd. So rather than sneering “you gotta roll with it” or yelling “PARKLIFE!” at an irritatingly loud volume, you were busy playing SWOS, Speedball II, Stunt Car Racer and Lemmings.
Of course, the Amiga was the best machine of the two. (Sorry, ST fans – you know it’s true.) But, chances are, even if your pride and joy somehow survived a car boot sale, it’s probably long given up the ghost. Fortunately, if you’re now a grown-up nerd with a major case of nostalgia, Retro Games Ltd is resurrecting Commodore’s legendary 16-bit micro as a full-size, plug-and-play machine for the modern era.
Keys are good
Like basically everything else Retro Games Ltd does, THEA1200 is a plug-and-play love letter to the past that balances immediacy and flexibility. It looks just like the 1992 original, minus the Commodore badge, because trademarks. So you’ll have to draw that on in pen.
It’s authentic, fully-licensed fare, mind. Connect the thing to your TV via HDMI and you’ll be ready to have your ego crushed anew while playing 25 pre-loaded classics, including Turrican, Settlers II and Beneath a Steel Sky. It’s all emulated rather than FPGA, unlike the ZX Spectrum Next, but if THEA500 Mini is anything to go by, accuracy won’t be an issue. And because you’re old now and life’s too short, that this device erodes authenticity a touch with save states is very welcome.
Elsewhere, THEA1200 one-ups THEA500 with a full-size keyboard for text adventures, coding and pretending the platform never died. The box includes the spit of the original mouse and a terrible gamepad you wouldn’t spit on if it was on fire. But you can plug better controllers into the USB-A ports, which also allow you to load your own games. Interested? THEA1200 lands 16 June 2026, for $189.99/£149.99. Preorders kick off on 10 November.
Pieces of 8-bits
If you can’t wait until next summer for your Commodore retro fix, there’s something smaller, darker and already available. And that’s because Retro Games Ltd is having yet another crack at resurrecting the C64.
THEC64 Mini – Black Edition is more or less THEC64 gone all moody and goth. But it’s more than just a paint job. This version of the tiny telly console has binned the pre-loaded games from the original and replaced them with 25 handpicked titles that represent the very best of C64 gaming after the micro’s commercial lifetime was over.
That means you can take a crack at the likes of Sam’s Journey, A Pig Quest, Knight ’N’ Grail, Millie & Molly, and Hunter’s Moon Remastered. That lot would cost a pretty penny on their own, making the £89.99 unit solid value. And if those names mean nothing to you and you’re sobbing about the loss of your childhood favourites, relax. You can still shove a USB stick full of classics into this machine too.
