Though the Commodore VIC-20 was not the first microcomputer available, it was the most inexpensive one on the market in the early 1980s. because of its significantly low price, the VIC-20 became the first color home computer that was affordable for everyone.
Billed as "The Wonder Computer of the 1980's," the VIC-20 succeeded the Commodore PET series. The PET computer was among the first to be sold as a complete system with an attached monitor and keyboard. Commodore designer Bob Yannes built the prototype for the VIC-20 using a large amount of PET system parts. The VIC-20 was introduced as the MicroPET when it was premiered at the 1980 Computer Electronics Show. It was sold in Japan as the VIC-1001.
What does VIC-20 mean? It is taken from the acronym "Video Interface Chip" (VIC). The VIC displays the computer output. Commodore had originally developed the VIC to be sold to other manufacturers. After discovering that there was little outside interest in the new chip, Commodore decided to build a home computer around it. Initially the company's main interest in marketing VIC-20 was to earn back development costs. The "20" was derived from an approximation of the number of the kilobytes contained in the system's memory (RAM and ROM).
In June 1980 the VIC-20 retailed for $300, an unusually low price for a color home computer. In order to keep costs down, only the CPU and keyboard were included. All accessories for the VIC-20 were optional. The keyboard plugged directly into a television set like a video game console. A cartridge port was located in the rear of the VIC-20 unit.
The VIC-20 was powered by the 6502A processor, which ran at 1.02 MHz. The original VIC-20 contained 5KB of RAM (expandable to 32KB) and 16 KB of ROM. Up to 16 colors could be displayed on-screen at one time.
The Cassette Unit was a special tape recorder drive for the VIC-20. Software could be loaded from cassette tape into the computer. Information could also be saved through the Cassette Unit onto normal cassette tapes. A regular tape recorder could not function as a VIC-20 cassette drive. Not surprisingly, the use of tape as a medium for loading programs proved to be a slow one for users.
The VIC-20 Disc Drive used 5.25" floppy disks. Each disc held up to 170KBs. The Disc Drive was optional and plugged into the rear serial port.
There were joystick and paddle controllers available for gameplay on the VIC-20. The controller design was similar to that of the Atari 2600 system. In fact 2600 controllers could actually be plugged in and used interchangeably on the VIC-20. In 1982, Atari sought to recoup lost money on its controller design and filed a lawsuit against Commodore.
By 1982, sales for the VIC-20 had reached $300 million. In late 1982, Commodore dropped the price of the VIC-20 to $200. In the spring of 1985, Commodore discontinued the VIC-20. It was succeeded by the Commodore 64.
Over 160 cartridges were manufactured for the VIC-20 system.
Third Party Developers include: UMI (Satellites and Meteorites), Creative Software (Black Hole), Atarisoft (Pac-Man) and Parker Brothers (Frogger)
Best Cartridge Games for the VIC-20 system include: Defender, Jelly Monsters, Mountain King, Choplifter, Pharaoh's Curse, Demon Attack and Miner 2049'er. ~ Dave Beuscher, All Game Guide