Commodore VIC-20

The VIC-20 (known as VC-20 in Germany and VIC-1001) is an 8-bit home computer developed by Commodore International and released in June 1980. It succeeded to the Commodore PET home computer, and was succeeded by the Commodore MAX Machine in 1982, the Commodore 64 in that same year, and the Commodore 16 in 1984. It uses a video chip called VIC (Video Interface Chip) or MOS 6560, hence the name VIC-20, but there is some debate as to where the number 20 used for the name came from.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) Reasonable launch price of US$299.
 * 2) Commodore had a brilliant marketing strategy for their VIC-20. They sold the computer through regular department stores, right along with the Atari VCS and Intellivision consoles, making it a major factor to how it became the first home computer to sell over a million units worldwide.
 * 3) You could display the screen and sounds on a television by plugging it into it with composite cables, though most TVs at the time the VIC-20 came out rarely had composite ports.
 * 4) The RAM expander add-on gives the computer even more capabilities, like displaying high quality images, the latter that was ahead of its time. It even allowed the VIC-20 to play Doom, a port that pushes the computer to the limits with 2.5D graphics.
 * 5) It was even advertised as being able to play games, to compete with consoles like the Atari VCS and Mattel's Intellivision. And there are still many good games on the system despite being clones of already existing games like Cosmic Cruncher which is a Pac-Man clone, and even the limitations the VIC-20 had.
 * 6) *In addition, just like its successor, the Commodore 64, developers can still make their own games for it today.
 * 7) Atari even supported the computer a lot by adding many ports of arcade games such as Pac-Man.
 * 8) Booting up a game on a cartridge is simple. A user only needs to insert a cartridge then reset the computer, and it'll boot automatically, similar to the Atari VCS system.
 * 9) It had an advanced sound chip for a 1980 computer.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) To achieve its low price point, the VIC-20 only came with 5KB of RAM stock, when most of its contemporaries had at least 8KB of RAM. However, many games were released on cartridge, alleviating this issue.
 * 2) The screen is only 22 columns by 23 rows, making text input cumbersome, particularly when writing out a BASIC program.
 * 3) There is only one controller input.
 * 4) It has no support for hardware sprites, smooth scrolling, bitmap modes, and ADSR envelopes for every channel.
 * 5) Inserting cartridges into the computer can be difficult.

Reception
It became the first home computer in the world to sell over a million units. At the end of its lifespan, 2.5 million units were sold.

Trivia

 * The computer was renamed to VC-20 in Germany because the pronunciation of VIC with a German accent sounds like German curse words "fick" or "wichsen". The term VC was marketed as though it was an abbreviation of Volkscomputer ("people's computer," similar to Volkswagen and Volksempfänger).
 * It, along with the Commodore 64, would get a dedicated console remake developed by Retro Games Ltd. called TheVIC20.

Videos
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External link
Wikipedia article