For me it was the Atari 130 xe faster than the C64 and a much better floppy drive in the 1050 commodore drive was so slow almost painful and all i got to say is Star raiders still the dogs bo****cks
I have to go with the Commodore 64.. when you total up everything, the colors, scrolling, sound effects, music, the 64K ram, the affordable price, the large number of games and software available and the large user community.. it just offered so much for the value.
It also has a lot to do with the teams of programmers. There were lots of people working on code only for the best selling computers and not the best machines. Zxspectrum had great isometric games that look really cool like the killing tomatoes and more and also some games made good use of speech synthesiser like say combat and others. After the spectrum I had the Atari 800xl and the sound and graphics were great and also had some drum machines made for it. But at the time my dream was to have the Philips msx2 it had an amazing sound and it was the first time I saw a music keyboard attached to a computer.its a shame I couldn’t afford it. It seems that there is an increased interest in these machines now. Is it a final revival or a new welcome?
Professional Retard Detectoron August 17, 2020 at 9:24 pm
I think best is such a subjective thing. Even though the C64 was my favorite 8-bit gaming computer, it doesn’t mean I didn’t like or respect other 8-bit computers. A friend of mine had a Coleco Adam, and while it wasn’t exactly a big name computer during it’s time, I really thought the high speed tape deck was unique for its time, and the fact that it was compatible with ColecoVision games, so it was basically a computer and a gaming console all rolled into one system. It wasn’t without its shortcomings, but even the C64 had it’s share of shortcomings.
We didn’t have Speccy’s in North America (at least under that name) I never got to experience the Speccy until emulation. So I cannot judge it on it’s hardware.
For me… The C128, even though I didn’t have one. All the features of the C64… and more. Yes it was ludicrously expensive and yes it was FAR too late coming to the market, but that’s not what was asked. Purely on the grounds of being the best 8bit computer, I think the C128 was far superior to everything else.
Thanks to the power of the internet we can still have these playground arguments 30 years later.Â
My dad’s bigger than your dad and the C64 is best 😉
This has to be the MSX2+ but that one already has more memory than the MSX1, Atari 800XL and C64 for example. I own many 8-bit systems and overall the C64 is the best of the early systems and the MSX2+ of all the 8-bit systems.
Tor-Eirik Bakke Lundeon August 17, 2020 at 9:34 pm
There have been so many great 8bit machines and so far I’ve collected a few of them, but while there have been many strong contenders for the throne they must be viewed as a whole. MSX and Atari 8bits had the best graphics, but the Commodore 64 was the only one to make them flow with hardware based scrolling and the likes though 16 grubby colors were definitely an issue making every standalone picture look like mud. The SID really made the C64 shine through to the end, no doubt about it. When in it comes to community and sheer inventiveness for working around hardware limitations, there’s nothing that even comes close to the ZX Spectrum. You just had to work through the 18000 awful titles before you find those that mattered. Get them all, but a C64 first and then a ZX Spectrum if you find the time for it…
i was a dedicated commodore user when i was 11.my freinds had spectrums wich i still loved.but the sound from the commodore was miles ahead of the speccy.we had arguments for years over what was best.just recently watched 8 bit wars on youtube and it made me rethink.i looked at the lovely colour palet the spectrum and amstrad cpc had never realised that the c64 colours were so dull compared.and why racing games were so poor and disappointing compared to speccy…as in wec le mans…chase hq ect.apart from outrun.wen i look back now seems the c64 had such blocky graphics.i still love the c64 though.its still the top for me
My first two computers were a Commodore Vic-20 and then I had a C64, and later an Amiga 500. I think what made the C64 special more than anything was the SID chip. The IBM/PC graphics were also pretty terrible back in the day with it’s CGA graphics. The Tandy computers were an exception when it came to PC compatibles
Man, that’s just an impossible question.
I’m a bit like you, in that I had a c64 back in the day but have recently warmed to the Spectrum.
I’d had almost zero experience of the Atari 8bits until the past couple of years, those are some damn good machines.
The view of the BBC was almost entirely through school, so games wise I didn’t really see a lot besides Elite and things like Grannies Garden. Crazy things you can do with expansion on those things though.
I think from the original set of machines, Speccy 48k, c64, Atari 800(xl), Amstrad, BBC B, that lot. I think its a fight to death between the Atari and c64.
I think when you get into the 2nd round of those machines, Speccy +3, C128, atari 130, BBC master, Amstrad 6128, it changes again.
I don’t think Atari did enough to keep up with those machines (not surprising considering what happened) the C128 and the BBC Master are amazing machines and no longer all about games.
I’m a Commodore man, I went from a Vic20 through C64 all the way to Amiga 4000s and most of the steps in between, as much as it pains me, I think I’d have to go for the BBC Master as the best 8-bit machine, just for the sheer amount of things it could do and more importantly, did do.
I’ve no doubt that the c128 could have run the Domesday project back in the day and I’m sure you could have used it to design a RISC chip. I guess the differentiating factor is that the BBC was used for those things.
Now, I must go scrub myself, I feel dirty for choosing BBC over Commodore.
I have to say the Color Computer 2 from tandy radioshack. It has the best keyboard and form factor and was simple to program. The texas instruments ti99 is really great as well. Having said this I love all of them and have a collection of commodore’s, atari’s, trs80’s.
I always had an Atari 8-Bit back in the day and yes, those early games blew all other platforms’ versions away. But whilst I don’t like the C64’s colour palette and think that SID is an acquired taste, I’m willing to settle for a C64 in second place, ONLY if no Atari version of a particular game exists already.
I had a ZX Spectrum (16K then 48K) for a few years, but bought a C64 when I saw and heard Uridium (in 1986). The C64 was just better hardware for gaming. 2D arcade games always looked and sounded better. The Z80A was clocked much higher than the 6510 in the C64, but I’m not sure they can be compared like that. Spectrum programmers had to mess about with routines to interrupt the Z80 just to make a fart noise out of the beeper. More often though they just let the flow of the game stop whenever it played a tune. Some very fun and original games were made for the Speccy, but that was down to programming genius, not the capability of the hardware.Â
Atari was a nice bit of kit. Yeah I remember drooling over the original 800 in 1979… but 800 pounds was about what it cost too! I dunno.. it was just really expensive and my pocket money didn’t stretch that far. By 1986 when I bought the C64, the XL ( or was it XE) didn’t seem like an option. There was a lot more software on the shelves for Spectrum and C64 than anything else. Hardware is no good without good software is it.
The best Pacman conversion I saw on 8 bit was on an 800XL though.
Â
If you were into programming then the BBC model B was the best 8 bit machine. It had by far the best built-in BASIC, which also included an in-line assembler. 6502 at 2MHz. if you were rich you could add a Z80 to run CP/M. It didn’t have the best graphics or sound, but it was decent in that respect. There were plenty of interfaces, and it had a fair few peripherals. There was a lack of games for the BBC though but my (rich) friend seemed to have about 20 good titles, including Chuckie Egg and Elite.
The ZX Spectrum was great at certain gamesÂ
The C64 was great at others and had a great SID-chip
The Amstrad CPC had an amazing potential to blow them all out of the water but due to lazy programming it sadly got quite a few lazy ports
The MSX had an awesome libraryÂ
I personally had a C64 so this has the most sentimental value for me, but I ended up playing and programming the above mentioned too at my cousin’s and my friend’s places.Â
Interested to think what in your opinion was the best 8 bit computer?
MSX 2
For me it was the Atari 130 xe faster than the C64 and a much better floppy drive in the 1050 commodore drive was so slow almost painful and all i got to say is Star raiders still the dogs bo****cks
I have to go with the Commodore 64.. when you total up everything, the colors, scrolling, sound effects, music, the 64K ram, the affordable price, the large number of games and software available and the large user community.. it just offered so much for the value.
It also has a lot to do with the teams of programmers. There were lots of people working on code only for the best selling computers and not the best machines. Zxspectrum had great isometric games that look really cool like the killing tomatoes and more and also some games made good use of speech synthesiser like say combat and others. After the spectrum I had the Atari 800xl and the sound and graphics were great and also had some drum machines made for it. But at the time my dream was to have the Philips msx2 it had an amazing sound and it was the first time I saw a music keyboard attached to a computer.its a shame I couldn’t afford it. It seems that there is an increased interest in these machines now. Is it a final revival or a new welcome?
I think best is such a subjective thing. Even though the C64 was my favorite 8-bit gaming computer, it doesn’t mean I didn’t like or respect other 8-bit computers. A friend of mine had a Coleco Adam, and while it wasn’t exactly a big name computer during it’s time, I really thought the high speed tape deck was unique for its time, and the fact that it was compatible with ColecoVision games, so it was basically a computer and a gaming console all rolled into one system. It wasn’t without its shortcomings, but even the C64 had it’s share of shortcomings.
We didn’t have Speccy’s in North America (at least under that name) I never got to experience the Speccy until emulation. So I cannot judge it on it’s hardware.
I dinna say can with absolute certainty, but the TRS-80 MC-10 comes pretty close b’y: https://youtu.be/nJxxdFt9iEI?list=UUUtXDjPX3EbKaByo5MeFlYg
For me… The C128, even though I didn’t have one. All the features of the C64… and more. Yes it was ludicrously expensive and yes it was FAR too late coming to the market, but that’s not what was asked. Purely on the grounds of being the best 8bit computer, I think the C128 was far superior to everything else.
I have no idea of what language you are using.
Thanks to the power of the internet we can still have these playground arguments 30 years later.Â
My dad’s bigger than your dad and the C64 is best 😉
SPECTRUM!!…..
I’ve not even watched the video yet. Ha ha. I will later. 😉
This has to be the MSX2+ but that one already has more memory than the MSX1, Atari 800XL and C64 for example. I own many 8-bit systems and overall the C64 is the best of the early systems and the MSX2+ of all the 8-bit systems.
There have been so many great 8bit machines and so far I’ve collected a few of them, but while there have been many strong contenders for the throne they must be viewed as a whole. MSX and Atari 8bits had the best graphics, but the Commodore 64 was the only one to make them flow with hardware based scrolling and the likes though 16 grubby colors were definitely an issue making every standalone picture look like mud. The SID really made the C64 shine through to the end, no doubt about it. When in it comes to community and sheer inventiveness for working around hardware limitations, there’s nothing that even comes close to the ZX Spectrum. You just had to work through the 18000 awful titles before you find those that mattered. Get them all, but a C64 first and then a ZX Spectrum if you find the time for it…
i was a dedicated commodore user when i was 11.my freinds had spectrums wich i still loved.but the sound from the commodore was miles ahead of the speccy.we had arguments for years over what was best.just recently watched 8 bit wars on youtube and it made me rethink.i looked at the lovely colour palet the spectrum and amstrad cpc had never realised that the c64 colours were so dull compared.and why racing games were so poor and disappointing compared to speccy…as in wec le mans…chase hq ect.apart from outrun.wen i look back now seems the c64 had such blocky graphics.i still love the c64 though.its still the top for me
Great vid.
I think the Amstrad could have been pretty epic! C64 does have good tunes, but I think it can get a little samey.
PS: Speccy still wins!! 😉
Speccy!
Doesn’t come down graphics or sound, as we have learned with more modern consoles good hardware doesn’t mean it’s going to take the crown.
1) faster CPU = faster game play
2) most popular 8 bit system in the uk and uk designed and made
3) most games for an 8 bit system
4) longest life span
5) Because I had 1 or 2 back in the day 🙂
My first two computers were a Commodore Vic-20 and then I had a C64, and later an Amiga 500. I think what made the C64 special more than anything was the SID chip. The IBM/PC graphics were also pretty terrible back in the day with it’s CGA graphics. The Tandy computers were an exception when it came to PC compatibles
MSX2+
I don’t think you can say that any one machine was the best, they all had their own strengths and weaknesses.
That being said, Spectrum wins 🙂
Man, that’s just an impossible question.
I’m a bit like you, in that I had a c64 back in the day but have recently warmed to the Spectrum.
I’d had almost zero experience of the Atari 8bits until the past couple of years, those are some damn good machines.
The view of the BBC was almost entirely through school, so games wise I didn’t really see a lot besides Elite and things like Grannies Garden. Crazy things you can do with expansion on those things though.
I think from the original set of machines, Speccy 48k, c64, Atari 800(xl), Amstrad, BBC B, that lot. I think its a fight to death between the Atari and c64.
I think when you get into the 2nd round of those machines, Speccy +3, C128, atari 130, BBC master, Amstrad 6128, it changes again.
I don’t think Atari did enough to keep up with those machines (not surprising considering what happened) the C128 and the BBC Master are amazing machines and no longer all about games.
I’m a Commodore man, I went from a Vic20 through C64 all the way to Amiga 4000s and most of the steps in between, as much as it pains me, I think I’d have to go for the BBC Master as the best 8-bit machine, just for the sheer amount of things it could do and more importantly, did do.
I’ve no doubt that the c128 could have run the Domesday project back in the day and I’m sure you could have used it to design a RISC chip. I guess the differentiating factor is that the BBC was used for those things.
Now, I must go scrub myself, I feel dirty for choosing BBC over Commodore.
honestly,msx is the best 8-bit computer
I have to say the Color Computer 2 from tandy radioshack. It has the best keyboard and form factor and was simple to program. The texas instruments ti99 is really great as well. Having said this I love all of them and have a collection of commodore’s, atari’s, trs80’s.
All my friends were on the 486 and I got a Comodore 64, still have and love it.
If it comes to hardware, I guess the Sam Coupé, MSX2+ and the Enterprise 128 are the best… Otherwise the C64 is the best machine.
I always had an Atari 8-Bit back in the day and yes, those early games blew all other platforms’ versions away. But whilst I don’t like the C64’s colour palette and think that SID is an acquired taste, I’m willing to settle for a C64 in second place, ONLY if no Atari version of a particular game exists already.
I had a ZX Spectrum (16K then 48K) for a few years, but bought a C64 when I saw and heard Uridium (in 1986). The C64 was just better hardware for gaming. 2D arcade games always looked and sounded better. The Z80A was clocked much higher than the 6510 in the C64, but I’m not sure they can be compared like that. Spectrum programmers had to mess about with routines to interrupt the Z80 just to make a fart noise out of the beeper. More often though they just let the flow of the game stop whenever it played a tune. Some very fun and original games were made for the Speccy, but that was down to programming genius, not the capability of the hardware.Â
Atari was a nice bit of kit. Yeah I remember drooling over the original 800 in 1979… but 800 pounds was about what it cost too! I dunno.. it was just really expensive and my pocket money didn’t stretch that far. By 1986 when I bought the C64, the XL ( or was it XE) didn’t seem like an option. There was a lot more software on the shelves for Spectrum and C64 than anything else. Hardware is no good without good software is it.
The best Pacman conversion I saw on 8 bit was on an 800XL though.
Â
If you were into programming then the BBC model B was the best 8 bit machine. It had by far the best built-in BASIC, which also included an in-line assembler. 6502 at 2MHz. if you were rich you could add a Z80 to run CP/M. It didn’t have the best graphics or sound, but it was decent in that respect. There were plenty of interfaces, and it had a fair few peripherals. There was a lack of games for the BBC though but my (rich) friend seemed to have about 20 good titles, including Chuckie Egg and Elite.
C64 with a diskdrive and Turrican 2. No 8 bit computer can beat that. The biggest problem I have with the C64 is the colour palette.
Graphically…Not a lot in it. Soundwise – the c64 was, and still is incredible. Played on all 3 of them. I loved all of them, but the c64… winner!
dat bub at background looks like is broken
That’s all relative…
The ZX Spectrum was great at certain gamesÂ
The C64 was great at others and had a great SID-chip
The Amstrad CPC had an amazing potential to blow them all out of the water but due to lazy programming it sadly got quite a few lazy ports
The MSX had an awesome libraryÂ
I personally had a C64 so this has the most sentimental value for me, but I ended up playing and programming the above mentioned too at my cousin’s and my friend’s places.Â