The C64 Mini Black Edition Review: Exciting Games, But Spoiled By Poor Build Quality

Miniature consoles have fast become one of the best ways for gamers to revisit the games of their childhoods. It's all well and good having a 4K TV to play PS5 titles on, but when it comes to finding something to hook your old Atari 2600 or ZX Spectrum up to, it means getting a decent CRT which not everyone has room for.

Mini consoles provide you with a space-saving console that hooks up to your TV via HDMI, as well as including a bunch of pre-installed games for you to try out. Retro Games LTD have become a bit of a one-stop shop for mini and reproduction consoles lately, bringing out The Spectrum, The 400 mini and the A500 Mini to name a few. And now, they've added a Black Edition of The C64 Mini with new games for you to play.

I've spent a couple of days with this console now to get to grips with it for this review, and I've got mixed feelings about it. That's all I'm going to say for now - keep reading to find out why!

• Release Date: 24^th October 2025
• Price: £89.99/$119.99
• Available From: Amazon, Smyths
• Alternative Products: The C64, The C64 Mini

What's In The Box?

I'll say this for Retro Games LTD; their packaging is superb. I love the design of the box for The C64 Mini and the fact that it's packed with information, and I'm a big fan of the black colour scheme of the console. I don't know whether it's because I listen to a lot of heavy metal or what, but black consoles suit me down to the ground, and if it worked for the PS2, it can definitely work here.

Inside the box you'll find the console itself in a little cardboard frame, the joystick, a USB-C cable, an HDMI cable, and an instruction booklet. Yes, you'll either need to run around the house finding a USB plug from an old iPhone to play this console or have a USB port in your desk to plug it into. I don't know why we can't get wires with plugs on them anymore, but here we are.

The Joystick

I'm going to start with the joystick controller because I need to get this off my chest. For a console that requires a joystick, you would think that it would be the most important part of the entire product. You would think that it would be a joy to use (excuse the pun), comfortable in the hand, and quiet. I know I had some issues with the joystick for the Atari 2600+ PAC-MAN edition, but at least it looked and felt like a premium product.

The joystick for the C64 Mini feels, for want of a better word, cheap. It sounds incredibly plasticky and annoying when I'm using it - it's too loud for a game controller. And it's a shame because it really promotes that arcade feel of the games on offer and gives me a different feeling than I would get from playing other mini consoles. But after using it for 30 minutes, I'm ready to put it back in the box.

The buttons aren't visually mapped out on the joystick either, so you don't even where the TL or TR buttons are if you've never played a C64 before, never mind what they do! The two fire buttons are large enough to press down repeatedly when in the heat of battle, but again, they sound super cheap and clacky, and not the nice kind of dull thunk of a mechanical keyboard, but the higher clack of rubbish plastic.

I'm so disappointed by this joystick, especially after how much thought went into the Atari 2600+ CX-40+ controller. Had the joystick for The C64 Mini had a bit more thought put into it instead of feeling like something mass-produced, I think it would have made the whole package much more appealing to me.

The Console

I know what you're thinking, and yes, those keys are tiny. That's because they're just for display purposes only. You can't press them, which I think is a real shame, because having an enter button or a start button on there at least would have been a cool touch.

I can't fault the look of the console; it definitely looks like a miniature version of the C64 turned goth. But again, it feels a little cheap, like a kind of Christmas ornament I might pick up from Home Bargains. It doesn't feel like it has the same build quality as the SNES Mini or the Mega Drive Mini, and that's what disappoints me the most.

I know with a miniature console you can't really help the fact that the ports have to be normal-sized, but having everything set around one corner makes it feel a little like a spaghetti junction. The cables that come with the C64 Mini are long, giving you a chance to feed wires into your TV or monitor, but herein lies another problem.

Ideally, this console would be played on a table or a desk so you've got something to put the joystick on, which means you're more than likely to play it on your desk in your office and hook it up to your monitor like I have. That means that you've got a massive cable just hanging around on your desk, with a load of wires coming from one corner of the console.

Why could this joystick not have been wireless? It would have made much more sense to add in a receiver and allow us to place the console out of sight almost, letting us play from the sofa while resting it on the Scrabble box or something.

User Experience

One thing I will say about consoles from Retro Games LTD is that they're incredibly easy to navigate once you get into choosing the games. The initial setup was a little convoluted because it's not instantly obvious what all of the buttons do and how to select stuff, but once you get into actually picking your games, it's a piece of cake.

The game select carousel shows cover images for each of the 25 titles. Once you hover over a game, you'll get a little bit about the plot and a gameplay image to entice you in, as well as information about the game's author, composer, and genre. It's all nicely set out and easy to follow, something that I often wish I could have on some of the handhelds that come into the office for review. User experience is everything, and thankfully, the C64 wins points here.

Emulation

The saving grace of this console is the emulation, which is its USP, after all. Annoyingly, and I say annoyingly because I'm in the business of retro, all of the games on this console are new. So while it's a miniature console, it's one that's playing all new games made for the C64. Don't get me wrong, some of them are awesome and I've had a blast playing them, but it's essentially a small box that plays new games - there are very few points for nostalgia here. What's more, a lot of the platform games feel exactly the same.

The previous edition of the C64 Mini boasted all original C64 games, which to me is much more appealing. I can see why Retro Games LTD wanted to include new games on this version of the console because it gives people a reason to buy a second version as a sort of upgrade. You can also upload your own C64 games via a USB drive too, so while it's initially only homebrew games on offer, if you've got California Games on a USB stick, then there's no reason why you couldn't get playing that too.

Let's talk about some of the games though because I don't want this to be all doom and gloom. There are 25 games on offer for you to play, the full list of which can be found below:

• A Pig Quest
• Caren and the Tangled Tentacles
• Galencia
• Good Knight
• Grid Pix
• Guns 'N' Ghosts
• Hessian
• Hunter's Moon Remastered
• It's Magic 2
• Joe Gunn: Gold Edition
• Knight 'N' Grail
• Metal Warrior Ultra
• Millie & Molly
• Nixy and the Seeds of Doom
• Ooze: The Escape
• pO Snake
• Pains 'N' Aches
• Planet Golf
• Rocky Memphis: The Legend of Atlantis
• Runn 'N' Gunn
• Sam's Journey
• Shadow Switcher
• Spinning Image
• Steel Ranger
• Yeti Mountain

I'm going to start with Steel Ranger, because it feels very much like a cross between Metroid and Altered Beast in its design and plays brilliantly. It's definitely Metroidvania-esque and utilises the joystick and fire buttons perfectly, giving you an arcade feel in your living room. It's the graphics and textures that remind me most of Altered Beast, with a protagonist that could have jumped out of a 2D version of Halo. The storyline is compelling, the gameplay is smooth, and it could well be one of the best homebrew games I've ever played.

'It's Magic 2' has a feel of the Game Boy versions of Croc and Rayman about it. It's a simple 'jump 'n' run' platformer with collecting elements playing a huge part. Tom the Tomcat's second game (the first one was simply called 'It's Magic') capitilises on the success Protovision had with their first title and has some brilliantly designed levels to play through, all inhabited by imaginative enemies.

I also enjoyed A Pig Quest, a game that feels a little like Shinobi crossed with Zelda, Castlevania... and a pig. It's a cool concept and one with a cute character that you definitely won't want to put into harm's way. There are different weapons to pick up along the way and chests to open to receive various items, and the gameplay is definitely compelling enough to keep me hooked for long periods of time - I'm really digging this one.

Final Thoughts

Here comes the most important question - would I recommend you buy The C64 Mini: Black Edition? Honestly, no... not when The C64 and The C64 Mini already exist. The fact that the Black Edition showcases homebrew games is great, and I'm all for supporting budding developers trying to keep old consoles alive, but 25 homebrew games on the Black Edition vs 64 Commodore 64 games on The C64 and its mini counterpart just seems like such a better deal to me, especially as you're buying this console to feel nostalgic, not necesarily to experience new games.

It's worth noting that the joystick controller on the original C64 is the same as the Black Edition, so I would definitely opt for The C64 replica if it were my money on the line.

There's definitely a market for the Black Edition, and it'll entice C64 gamers looking for a sleek console that boasts a whole new bunch of games for them to check out after completing everything in their collection hundreds of times. But for the casual gamer, there doesn't seem to be enough reason to pull the trigger and make this purchase, especially if they're trying to learn the most about the Commodore 64's back catalogue.

The joystick is disappointing, the product itself a little lacklustre, but the games are fun. If they made a black version with a working keyboard and the original 64 games added into the mix, then that would interest me more. But for now, it's less 'back in black,' and more 'back to the drawing board!'