As I mentioned previously, the Commodore 64 Ultimate edition, which is an authentic-style FPGA-based C-64 computer with modern features, starts at just $299.99 USD. It’s leaving production for shipping soon (use this link to save $10 on any order). Among the production and materials updates was a cool announcement about an “exclusive USB Cassette, pre-loaded with over 100 games, demos, music collections, and other goodies.”

Although you can obviously use your own software, digital, or in their original media formats (cartridge, disk, cassette, etc., with the right peripheral), this is a fun addition to an already value-packed package. I’m personally getting a Founders Edition, but both the Starlight and BASIC Beige are also pretty slick. There are lots of great original and hombrew games on the USB drive, including personal favorites Bruce Lee: Return of Fury (unofficial sequel to one of the greatest 8-bit puzzle action platformers) and C64anabalt, a C-64 version of modern classic endless runner Canabalt. There are also music and demo selections to check out, as well as a complete GEOS suite, which is the “impossible” GUI OS for stock C-64 (just 64K!) systems. I used GEOS quite a bit back in the day for my first true exposure to WYSIWIG word processing.