THEC64 Handheld | C64 OS

THEC64 Handheld

There are a lot of Commodore 64s out there. We are blessed with an abundance of options.

There are the motherboard reproductions that you can populate with original chips, like the
C64 Reloaded. There are reimagined mainboards that take original chips, like Uni64.
There are advanced FPGA mainboards like the Ultimate64. There are oddball standalone FPGA
implementations, like TurboChameleon64. There are whole package reproductions, like the
Commodore 64 Ultimate and the Mega65. There are Raspberry Pi-based solutions, like the
BareMetalC64, which runs VICE. And there other dedicated VICE solutions, like THEC64 mini,
and even THEC64 Maxi with the full sized working keyboard.

There are a lot of solutions to get your C64 fix. It’s kinda mind blowing, when you think
about it. I’m probably missing a few options too.

But almost all of these are designed for the desktop or the living room. That’s great,
but it has its limitations.

Retro Games Ltd., the creators of THEC64 mini and Maxi, are introducing THEC64 handheld!!

THEC64 handheld

What do we know?

It’s being sold through a pile of different vendors, and will be available in a ton of
countries. I’m Canadian so that’s the country I care about, and it’s definitely available
here.

It’s currently on pre-order and will ship in October 2026.

It comes preloaded with 25 games. And some of them are really sweet games. A Pig Quest and
Sam’s Journey are among them. These are both fairly recent games with beautiful graphics,
music, and very high production quality. It also comes with some classics, like Boulder Dash,
Nebulus and Paradroid. It’s got some more recent puzzlers, like the excellent Millie and Molly.
And some cool side-scrolling adventures, like Metal Warrior Ultra and Steel Ranger, among
others.

Just like THEC64 mini, you can supply your own games. It has a microSD card slot for side-loading
your own games. And it has a USB-A port on the back, which, as far as I’ve heard can be used
to connect a USB keyboard. If you use a wireless keyboard via USB dongle, this thing becomes
a fully battery powered portable Commodore 64.

You have no idea how stoked I am! I’ve already pre-ordered one of the limited-supply collector
editions.

Specifications

I don’t care all too much about the specifications of the underlying platform. This is, like
the other versions of THEC64, a computer running VICE. They say it’s 1.2GHz with 256MB of RAM.
But, let’s face it, we really just want it to be a C64.

To that end, it has a 4.3″ built-in screen, two front facing speakers that flank the screen
and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It has a side-mounted microSD card slot and a USB-A port on the back.
As well as a power/recharge port on the back.

It’s a clamshell design, vaguely reminiscent of a Nintendo DS lite, but in the soothing beige
colors of a C64 bread bin. I mean, damn, doesn’t this thing look cool!?

THEC64 handheld, closed.

On the inside, you get a D-pad and 4 fire buttons, A, B, X and Y. There are also several
special buttons that games and other software (and the user interface carousel) can map
their functions to. Menu, Select and Start, above the D-pad. And four function keys, naturally
F1, F3, F5 and F7, above the fire buttons.

There is a flat, if slightly recessed, power button towards the lower right of the control
surface. And a volume rocker on the front.

And they say that it’ll get 3+ hours of battery life. Not exactly a MacBook, but 3 hours isn’t
horrible. It weighs 235g and 5.35″ wide, just a hair over an inch thick closed, and 3.4″ deep.

THEC64 handheld, open.

This thing looks really cool. It’s kind of like a childhood dream of mine just materialized
entirely unexpectedly.

The price is $129 USD for the standard edition. Or $149 USD for a limited collectors edition
that comes with a hard shell carry case and a Zzap!64 magazine that has a feature article
about it.

But will it run C64 OS?

I don’t know yet. BUT, given that THEC64 mini and Maxi can run C64 OS, my money is on that we
will get it running C64 OS. Which is kind of exciting all on its own.

Can we all admit now that we’re living in a new golden age of the Commodore 64?

If you want to pre-order it for yourself, just do a quick web search, it’s all over the
retro gaming news websites. And it’s available from a bunch of vendors, so who to order
from really depends on what country you’re in.

THEC64 handheld, front, Sam’s Journey.