R4 3DS .org

One of the most popular computer systems of its day, the Commodore 64 (or C64 for short) was produced and bought en masse by families wanting to bring the home computer expeirence to their living rooms and offices at home.  While it has all the makings of a computer, and plenty of productivity programs to boot, one of the biggest reasons a lot of these were purchased was for the gaming.  Yes, gaming.  The C64 boasted some of the very best games available, and had some 10,000 or more games that were released.  Games like The Last Ninja, Donkey Kong, PacMan.  And many of the super popular arcade games of the day.  All of them had conversions for the c64 computer.  The system was so popular, and continues to have such a huge following that Commodore USA decided to release a PC with the original C64 form factor.  Now that is devotion folks.

While it's hard to get your hands on one of these classic computers - and even if you could, the space it would take up with a monitor and disk drive would be quite a bit - you can actually get down and go all old c64 8-bit retro on your Nintendo 3DS console.  All you'll need is to have the r4 3ds card, and the excellent FrodoDS c64 emulator for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi and Nintendo 3DS systems.  FrodoDS is essentially the only way to be able to play these old C64 games.  However, when you have just one emulator, that is as good as Frodo DS, you really don't need anything more.  It plays and runs close to 85% of all released titles at full speed, with full graphcis and sound.  The other 15% are truly hardware intensive games, that do have a little bit of slow down.  But with over 10,000 games to choose from, that 85% sure does add up to a whole lot of gaming.

Watch this cool video of one of the best C64 games every made : The Great Giana Sisters.  This video is older, and as such, the speed of the game is nowhere near as fast as it is on the newest version of FrodoDS, but it does show that your DS, DSi and especially your Nintendo 3DS with the R4 3DS card can and does play C64 games just perfectly.  And if you want to get in on the action yourself, then we highly recommend getting your hands on the r4 3ds, and the free FrodoDS emulator.  If you had a c64 (or had a friend with a c64) and have wanted to go back and play some of those amazing games, here is your chance - and you can do it all on the Go. 

We like using the Nintendo 3DS as the ultimate emulation system, and so will you.  The resolution on the 3ds (and DSi as well) is perfectly suited to display these older 8-bit games perfectly.  You won't see pixelation as you would playing it full screen on your PC.  Clearly 1920 x 1080 was not a resolution that was possible back in those days, and having it on a small screen, with a decent resolution means you'll be able to playback the games and really feel like you're actually playing them on the computer itself.  Not to mention the cool factor of having your very own portable Commodore 64 systems.  One that fits in your pocket and goes with you wherever you may be.

Download FrodoDS from our 3DS homebrew section