The C64 Direct-to-TV, or C64DTV for short, is a single chip implementation of the Commodore 64 contained in a joystick and with 30 built-in games. The design is similar to the Atari Classics 10-in-1 TV Game.

Mammoth Toys produced the units with the software included licensed from Ironstone Partners. QVC purchased the entire first production run of 250,000 units and sold 70,000 of them the first day they were offered.

The circuitry of the C64DTV was designed by Jeri Ellsworth, a self-taught computer chip designer. Before the DTV, she designed the C-One.

Specifications

The C64DTV runs on four AA batteries, has a composite video output, and monaural audio output. The joystick has two fire buttons and four function buttons. The internal hardware is a clone of the C64 and thus has the same features and limitations, but it lacks the keyboard and I/O ports*. On the other hand, it has a few new features:

• The palette is reprogrammable, with 4 bits of luma and 4 bits of chroma
• There is 64 KB of extra RAM, and a 2 MB ROM for the built-in games
• It has DMA engine that can be used to copy data between system RAM and the game ROM and extra RAM

(* The internal circuit boards have exposed solder points for data and keyboard ports and detailed instructions for adding them is avaialble. )

Built-in games

The official games for the unit are mostly a mix of Epyx and Hewson C64 games. The following games list is sorted by original publisher.

EPYX

• Summer Games I
• Winter Games I
• Pitstop I
• Pitstop II
• Supercycle
• Jumpman Jr.
• Impossible Mission I
• Impossible Mission II
• Championship Wrestling
• Gateway to Apshai
• Sword of Fargoal
• Silicon Warrior
• World Karate Champion
• Several events taken from Epyx "Games" series, including Bull Riding, Sumo Wrestling, Flying Disks, Surfing

Hewson

• Tower Toppler
• Paradroid
• Eliminator
• Cyberdyne Warrior
• Cybernoid I
• Cybernoid II
• Ranarama
• Firelord
• Exolon
• Uridium
• Zynaps

Image Works

• Speedball

Easter eggs

The console also contains several Easter eggs, planted by the software developers (and accessed by wiggling the joystick left to right when the C64DTV enters the "LOAD" mode) and secret commands to enable hidden functions such as a Commodore BASIC editor with an on-screen keyboard, demoscene animations, and 6 additional bonus games.

• Tip 01

To 'Turbo Load' the Games menu: Hold down the Left Joystick Button as you power on or reset. The games menu will load much more quickly.

• Tip 02

To boot to C64 mode: Wiggle the Joystick back and forth (left to right) VERY FAST as you power on or reset. Do this all through the credits screen until after the blue screen displays for a couple of seconds. The display will load and list several programs and stop.

• Tip 03

To load and run a listed program from the C64 mode list: Boot to C64 mode (Tip 02), then Use the Joystick to move up to a listed program Hit the Left Joystick Button The chosen program will load and run. Hint: If you keep holding the button down, it will Turbo Load (Tip 01).

• Tip 04

To go to BASIC mode: Boot to C64 mode (Tip 02), then Load and run (Tip 03) the listed "BASIC PROMPT" program. The familiar blank C64 blue screen will come up.

• Tip 05

To use the Joystick Keyboard: Go to BASIC mode (Tip 04), then Hold down the Left Joystick Button. The Joystick Keyboard appears. Release the button and the keyboard disappears.

• Tip 06

To type using the Joystick Keyboard: Bring up the Joystick Keyboard (Tip 05), then While still holding down the Left Joystick Button, Move to the key you want to type using the Joystick, then Release the Left Joystick Button. The key you selected will appear on the screen. Repeat. The Shift Keys are "sticky". That is, when selected they will stay in effect until you select them again. (Consult an online C64 reference for an explanation of the C64's keyboard layout and functions.)

• Tip 07

To list the programs in memory: Go to BASIC mode (Tip 03), then type (Tip 06): LOAD "$",1[enter] LIST[enter] A huge list of programs will scroll by. Hint: Hold down the Left Joystick Button to bring up the Joystick Keyboard as the list scrolls. This will temporarily halt scrolling (though it also obscures the bottom half of the screen...)

• Tip 08

To load and run the "ENTROPY" demo: Go to BASIC mode (Tip 03), then type (Tip 06): 0 POKE1,55:LOAD"ENTROPY",1[enter] RUN[enter] The Entropy demo will load and run.

• Tip 09

To page through different screens in the Entropy demo: Load and run the Entropy demo (Tip 08), then Hold down the A Button and move the Joystick to the Up position. Hold for a couple of seconds and release. The next screen will load and run in a few seconds. There are 5 different screens.

• Tip 10

To list programming info for the new graphics modes: Go to BASIC mode (Tip 04), then type (Tip 06): LOAD"DOCVIEWER",1,1[enter] RUN[enter] The first page of info will display. Scroll through more screens by hitting the Left Joystick Button.

• Tip 11

To see the simple text Easter Egg: Go to BASIC mode (Tip 04), then type (Tip 06): POKE53280,0:POKE53281,0[enter] The screen will turn black, which makes some text (which was already there!) visible around the BASIC header at the top of the screen.

• Tip 12

To see the slightly less simple text Easter Egg: Go to C64 mode (Tip 02), then Use the Joystick to move up to the line that says 0 BYTES FREE and hit and release the Left Joystick Button. You will see a name in the upper left-hand corner of the screen. Hit the button again and the name changes. Repeat.

• Tip 13

To see a picture of a Commodore Legend Drinking Beer: Go to BASIC mode (Tip 04), then type (Tip 06): LOAD"1337",1,1[enter] RUN[enter] Voilà. A grainy picture of Jim Butterfield and friend.

• Tip 14

To see a picture of the DTV Development Team: Go to BASIC mode (Tip 04), then type (Tip 06): LOAD"DTVTEAM",1,1[enter] RUN[enter] Voilà again. Jeri and friends.

External links

• Mammoth Toys
• Ironstone Partners
• A Toy with a Story by John Markoff
• dtvhacking.info C64 DTV Hacking how-to website and discussion forum
• Detailed HowTo Article on Adding Power and Ports to the C64DTV
• C64DTV Hacking Website
• C64DTV hacking Forum