The Commodore 64 was released in the UK in early 1983, a couple of months after the ZX Spectrum. The graphics chip and SID sound chip were the best around in the home computer scene at the time, featuring 16 colours and three channel sound respectively.

Double the price of the ZX Spectrum, it struggled to compete until Commodore lowered the purchase cost and this opened the flood gates for the average home user to enjoy thousands of quality games, indeed nearly 10,000 were produced!!

The machine itself featured a robust outer casing with a full-size keyboard and additional function keys down the right hand side.

In 1986 a sleeker, flatter model was released, similar to the look of the C128. Personally I prefer the older, chunkier style but who am I to argue with Commodore.

Total sales of the C64 reached 30 million units and even today it is still popular with demo coders who are familiar with the C64's hardware.