C64 Games System

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C64 Games System

Type:	Video Console
Producer:	Commodore
Price:	100 £; (ca. 230 DM, ca. 115 €)
Released:	1990
Discontinued:	1990
Processor:	MOS 6510 @ ca. 1 MHz
Memory:	64 KByte
OS:	modify C64 KERNAL & BASIC V2.0
Info:	alias C64GS; Handling only with joysticks; Software handling only with cartridges

The C64 Games System (AKA the C64GS) marked Commodore’s entry into the video games console market. It was released in 1990 in the UK at a price of around £100.^[1]

As a games console, the C64GS had no keyboard, but there were connectors for two joysticks, a game cartridge (like the C64 Games System (Cartridge Collection)), TV, and monitor. Game companies such as Domark, System 3, Ocean, and Dinamic also developed new cartridge games for the C64GS. But by 1990, the 8-bit market had dried up, and, facing stiff competition from consoles like Nintendo's NES and Sega's Master System, the C64GS flopped.

In 1991, Commodore again ventured into the video game console market with their new Amiga 500 based CDTV, which came with a built-in CD drive. Thanks possibly to Commodore’s demand that stores locate the CDTV in the audio/video entertainment section (rather than with the home computers), the CDTV also failed.

In 1992, Commodore produced another console, the CD32. Based on the Amiga 1200 design, it was the first 32-bit game console and came with a built-in proprietary CD drive. It proved popular, with customers ordering over 100,000 units. But Commodore’s continuing legal problems with US customs meant they could not ship the finished units to the US. Despite massive back orders, the CD32 failed.