THE LOST AMIGA CD64 - After the CD32... - A Commodore History Documentary

[@LadyDecade]

Got a question to feature at the end of a future episode, back my show on Patreon! - www.patreon.com/LadyDecade

[@jonathanjollimore7156]

This thing makes the 3DO look good and that's not easy

[@stevewilliams9085]

LOL yuck that guy looks like Ron Jeremy

[@tenbob1972]

nice video as per but please don't do a brummy accent again . please please.

[@dodgydruid]

A friend of mine a retired BBC Sound Engineer had a slew of Amiga's in his studio as nothing at the time PC wise without vast fortunes spent could keep up with the Amiga's video and sound editing capability and some very high end BBC stuff was done on his machines as he used one particular one to blend in rendered graphics onto a green screen which then the studio team could create some stunning overlays at the office. He also produced country style music scores for American studios and he would record everything using his Amiga hooked up to some serious sound kit. I very nearly bought a CD32 myself but I didn't get on with Amiga's being a dyed in the wool PC chap and after finding the Atari ST disappointing I didn't want to risk again further disappointment. For me I liked me consoles all NES'y and SNES'y with maybe a hint or two of Mega Drive :D

[@robsmall6466]

Let's not forget the part the Amiga played in creating the CGI for the Babylon 5 TV series as well

[@naviamiga]

So many what ifs with the Amiga. Still my favourite set of machines, but the miss management of the company was painful.

[@uberdude2555]

I think you forgot to mention that the console was also used by big credit union in Vancouver, they rented these to customers via a monthly subscription service which allowed customers to access a homebaking service called VanCity Direct. It was essentially a CD32 console with an external modem module which clipped onto the left side of the console via the CD32 Aux port. The modem module also had inferred capabilities which supported a wireless remote control so it could seemlessly sit under the TV and be controled without the original joypad. The remote also allowed you to control the CD32 in normal operations which made it useful for changing tracks on audio CD's and Video CD's if the FMV module was installed.

[@Sembazuru]

Unfortunately, the lawsuit that you cite wasn't the only thing that killed Commodore, rather it was one of many nails in the coffin. The coffin, itself, was the inept leadership of people like Mehdi Ali...

[@danwood_uk]

Great overview! What could have been eh? Thanks for the shoutout for my podcast too, Haynie is a legend! :)

[@LadyDecade]

No worries!

[@Brianycus]

Just finished watching the Zelda one and now I have this one. Thank you Lady Decade!

[@tradinglive]

Any Amiga content is always appreciated!

[@julaizaya7946]

I am a newcomer to your channel, I watched some of your videos and I really love you're "Lost games/consoles" videos Keep up the good work !! Greetings from Belgium in Europe !! ^^

[@dyscotopia]

Every time I have to use windows I miss my Amigas. As soon as I switched, all the excitement and creativity computers coaxed from me ceased and they became these characterless work machines.

[@MrYossarianuk]

Same here, which is why I ended up using Linux full time (including every job) since 2003. It had the community aspect I found closer to the Amiga than Windows

[@grinbrothers]

Fantastic to see so much spotlight given to Commodore's console here. The timeline of what could have been and what would have needed to occur for Commodore not to collapse is to me as fascinating to ponder as with Sega. Fantastic coverage with plenty of jokes and new info I had not heard about such as the Hombre chip.

[@d_vibe-swe]

It still breaks my heart thinking of Commodore's bankruptcy. 💔

[@davidhogben1455]

if it had some decent managment like David Pleasance then Commodore might still be around today

[@d_vibe-swe]

@@davidhogben1455 Imagine having a Commodore Amiga Smartphone 😉

[@oraclejmt]

@@d_vibe-swe Having Amiga around today in a modern state, would trash even Apple

[@krisztianakarmilyen7050]

😢

[@MiKeFish2012]

3D0s aswell

[@Bertie_Ahern]

So sad to see one of America's best computer companies collapse through terrible mismanagement. The competition it (and Atari) could have provided to the industry could have pushed technology years ahead of where it is today.

[@Coockiez-007]

your game room looks so fun id jump around like a 5 year old on christmas if I had this room

[@AcornElectron]

Brilliant as always! Keep up the good work lass and stay safe!

[@studiokadaver]

Love the topics of this channel. The CD32 is one of my top console wishlist systems.

[@RMoocher]

Hey Lady, this video has caused quite a stir on a post in the Facebook commodore Amiga group! Members getting into different facts and information on the history (scrapped CD64 plans VS a CD1200 prototype.) Some have questioned the validity of the CD64 altogether, and others have criticized and praised this video, same with your research and narration style, hahaha, it's funny to see them squirm. Commodore people are generally fanatics. Thanks for yet another cool video.

[@Waccoon]

The timeline for these projects matters a lot. Acutiator was an early project and had already been abandoned along with the AAA chipset, since it was obsoleted by the then-new PCI spec. Hombre was designed right from the beginning with full PCI support. As far as my own research tells me, there was never an official CD64 project, just speculation on what kind of system could be built with Hombre (several different machines were proposed in the Hombre presentation papers, including video cards for low-end HP workstations). But, hey, it's fun to think of what could have been. I've been playing with the source code of WinUAE and developing an alternate ECS chipset with double-CAS and chunky pixel support. It's fun to think of what you could accomplish (and how compatibility breaks) if you really push the architecture to its limits.

[@GoldenRetreiver85]

Great video! Love the channel, your videos are informative and entertaining.

[@JoeMagillacutty]

Cleavage is a big help too

[@Mr.1.i]

My mate had cd32.......the amiga development and research was done under ataris employment,when tramiel bought atari the amiga team left and the tryed their luck with commodore and things went from there ,the amiga almost had an atari logo on the technology

[@crt82]

Great video! Many thanks!

[@heartwilson.8943]

The CD32 was just and Amiga with much faster loading time ( ten times faster ) and CD quality sound , I had one I really liked it .

[@LadyNicola]

Here's me thinking I knew all about my CD32. Wow.

[@Freddie1980]

It's always fun to think what might have been. As a games console an Amiga 64 would have struggled to make inroads even if Commodore didn't have that lawsuit to contend with. Back in the early 90s gaming was evolving rapidly and even if a Amiga 64 CD had better hardware the a PS1 or Sega Saturn Commodore didn't have good enough publishers who could really take advantage of the hardware. Sega and Nintendo had all those established IP's to draw from (plus Sega's arcade lineup) and all the best game developers at that time were Japanese who worked for Sony, Sega and Nintendo. A realistic and best outcome for such a console would be 4th place behind the Saturn imo beating out that other crap that was around at that time (Philips CD-i, 3DO and Atari Jaguar).

[@AussieAmigan]

I prefer the alternate reality in my head where Commodore never went bankrupt..... I was thoroughly disappointed when I didn't see one in the parallel reality in the Fringe TV Show, especially when they went to see Nimoy in the still existing Twin Towers. I prefer that reality so much so I tried to make it a reality by partnering to create Commodore USA, LLC (and co-created the Commodore C64x), which you keep showing the premises of in your videos BTW. I think I may even have taken that photo. You know, the one with the car in front of the cream building with the Commodore logo. You can use it, it's fine. I just find it funny.

[@seamusoblainn]

From what I can see in online discussions by engineers, the A500's custom chipsets could have been more powerful, and the AGA was just a rush job. Again, easily made better. Also a better chipset was being developed around 1989\90 but was canned, as far as I recall. My takeaway from this is that the Amiga should have led the way in graphics substantially until the mid-nineties, giving the company some chance to stay a niche maker.

[@Waccoon]

There were two projects let by different teams with regards to a "super Denise" chip, both of which were just minor hack jobs. The first got canned and the second went on to be the lackluster ECS chipset. Once ECS was done, they once again started a hack job to get AGA out the door, which really only attempted to improve the video chip and left the rest of the machine to languish. Hedley Davis (project manager of the A3000) stated that at the time, Commodore was only really moving transistors around and put no effort into new architecture, layout, or die shrinks. It's sad to think that the 8-bit C65 was in many ways more powerful than the current 16-bit Amiga at the time. They were betting the farm on AAA, and that was a mistake. AAA was in development hell for 5 years, included everything and the kitchen sink, and was way too ambitious and expensive (a total of 9 chips in the 64-bit configuration, if you include the 3 CIA timers). Hombre was the way to go, but that decision was made too late.

[@vast634]

Since the Amiga was primarily a gaming system for most users, being niche would not cut it, as game companies develop for the most common systems or console market first. The PC was simply too big of a contender to leave any room, even for a better Amiga. And Apple had the professional market.

[@IMAN7THRYLOS]

I don’t understand why engineers in Commodore thought to build their own RISC chip. The future of the 680xx series CPUs was already known: Power PC, a collaboration of IBM, Apple and Motorola. Commodore should have boarded the same train.

[@JDoe-gf5oz]

"For the masses, not the classes" has been stuck in my head for a couple weeks now.

[@cubeflinger]

What's the classes? Apple pippin?

[@SlavomirG]

7:14

[@DanielBMS]

It is interesting how Commodore did not realize they are really competing with Nintendo.

[@fattiger6957]

Both Nintendo and Sony (and Sega to a lesser extent) Even if the lawsuit didn't kill Commodore, the CD32 and whatever came after would have been destroyed by the PS1.

[@kcgeil]

You cover the most interesting of topics in gaming. Brava mate.

[@johnd6487]

Oh wow.. what a random place to be reminded of the Commodore International on Nutthall road.. it was the East Midlands premiere nightclub you know.. well, that's what they claimed in the Evening Post when they decided to knock it down.. became a Sainsburys Local though, not a Morrisons 😂

[@flavortown3781]

The Amiga using a risc chip seems most interesting to me considering how the whole world is moving that way now

[@maroon9273]

When amiga got it right and then it died due to the cdtv and cd32.

[@_devik]

so basically Amiga Jaguar

[@matthewmartin5610]

I seem to remember the next system was supposed to be the Loki, that may have been Sinclair.

[@puparn93]

Awesome WWF clip From the Big Shows Dad's funeral. Attitude Era!

[@Lucretia9000]

Project reality, hmm N64 designed by SGI. SGI had the Reality Engine which ran on massive machines, I have experienced it at SGI back in 98, a real time tendered zoom in of the earth up to “microscopic level” at which point it ends with the N64, the speed that thing rendered at was impressive.

[@clobberonline6812]

Top vid again !

[@blackflame4506]

Thanks for another awesome video Lady Decade.

[@Synthematix]

If commodore were around today at their rate of innovation the PC and APPLE would both be dead.

[@juksie]

Mustaches aren't the same now a days. Thank you for the quality videos

[@darkchild130]

Serious research went into this, cool video.

[@asinlogtotellastory9444]

Awesome liji

[@palewizarddan]

Really enjoyed this video. Keep up the great work x

[@bghoody5665]

I wasn't even aware Commodore/Amiga had entered the home gaming console market. Fascinating.

[@fattiger6957]

They had a couple of attempts. The CD32 and a consolized C64. They failed miserably.

[@bghoody5665]

@@fattiger6957 I watched the previous video on the CD32 after watching this one, where she mentions the C64 console, and I realized that I was wrong because I had seen it before (probably in an 8-Bit Guy video).

[@maroon9273]

They were better off going to the home console market with the hombre chipset (cd64)

[@bootmii98]

I'm gonna stop you right there. There was no 64-bit 68k processor, and I don't think there was a 64-bit PowerPC processor until 1997.

[@ALurkingGrue]

Tim Jenison owner of NewTek tried to buy up the stock of CD32's during the bankruptcy hearing. At the time I actually got a Video Toaster running on one with a weird bit of hacks and he was considering trying to use them to make Video Toaster boxes. In the past NewTek tried to make an Amiga on a PC card so you could install a full Amiga and toaster complete into a intel PC. I have a few prototype boards in my collection.

[@VJagentONE]

No Way! Can I ask a MAJOR MAJOR Favor if you still in contact with him? To release the Source Code for Elan Performer and Invision software, so that someone can add AGA and RTG and sound capabilities to that software including Vampire card and RaspberryPi Zero as a Gfx card support to make it a full fledged up to date VJ software. I used to be a VJ at a club and used Elan Performer on a CD32 with a DCTV (with RGB adaptor) to do live Visuals to the beat of the music and also transitions smoothly into SCALA MM400 to add to the mix. Had 128mb RAM and an SX32 Pro board 68030 with FPU 50mhz unit inside the CD32....what an awesome piece of kit.

[@MrDflego]

I was just talking to somebody the other day about Big Boss Man at Big Shows Dads funeral, what a classic.

[@MaximusJohal]

I really wanted an amiga 32.... Shame it didnt last, i had amiga 500 and loved it.

[@insertuselessname]

I tell you what Lady i played a few different commodore machines like C64, Amiga 1020 even played few times even on commodore 32 cd player but didn't know about 64 they were good machines for there time, and you dig up some interesting facts once again that I didn't know keep up the good detective work 👍. Can't wait for your next up load.

[@velhobxretrogamer7557]

Hei, from Brazil here , i love you work!🥰

[@seamusoblainn]

"and the entity simply continued business as normal" - but that was business as normal for Commodore lol. A technology company which wouldn't let its engineers design and make things.

[@Waccoon]

Actually, the problem was that the engineers were allowed to do whatever they wanted with AAA with almost no oversight. They ended up making a huge, complex monster that couldn't be finished on schedule or cost-reduced over time. That was actually the same mistake as the west-coast Amiga engineers working on their VRAM-based Ranger chipset, which was also way too expensive. Engineers are artists making machines. If you don't keep them on a tight leash and enforce deadlines, they will design forever and never release anything.

[@seamusoblainn]

@@Waccoon I'm going on what I've picked up from Hynie and Miner interviews but your perspective is another way of looking at the problem and they can both run in parallel. I guess Commodore needed a Steve Jobs character to bring everyone under a single vision

[@WorKoHolik84]

Yes that some nice recommendation well done KZbin algorithm. And thank You lady Decade.

[@maroon9273]

I wish amiga would've sell the hombre64 chipset to a computer graphics and arcade companies.

[@charlesduboise5198]

I bought my brother a NEC turbo graphics turbo duo in for Christmas 1993 it had a CD ROM and a 16 bit cartridges it came with several games and I bought him several more he played it for a long time then he put it away for over 25 years about a year ago he took it out and it worked like it did in 1993

[@virtuafighter3]

Good sibling you are to get him that, as that machine is brilliant.

[@charlesduboise5198]

@@virtuafighter3 he is my youngest brother he was 13 and I was 25 at the time he is way younger than the rest of us kids so we would buy him all the stuff we didn't get as kids he is now 41 a CPA and has 3 computer degrees his accounting business has about 2000 accounts and he does books for people all over the world

[@OtterSkull]

Just recently discovered this channel, awesome content!! Keep it up!

[@thecunninlynguist]

There was a sequel? The nerd should look Into this.

[@Zontar82]

the nerd is the less adapt person to review european console or pc or computers and should just stick to usa consoles, like his c64 videos showed us

[@thecunninlynguist]

@@Zontar82 it's all in fun. Your comment would make more sense if he was doing documentary style like Ms. Decade or Top Hat, but he's poking fun at all the old stuff.

[@thecunninlynguist]

@@stevemelo touche

[@nathanmerritt1581]

Great content as always lady decade.

[@gavtheskav]

The story of the CD64! 😂😂😂. Was I the only one that heard that?

[@jeff97ish]

Very interesting! I enjoy your videos immensely!

[@rwelch411]

That billboard outside of Sega was on another level tho lol

[@Waccoon]

David Pleasance has told some amusing stories of his encounters with Sega representatives. 8)

[@JustAMindlessDrone]

I love these vids, her style is awesome.

[@sseb22]

Hi I live in France and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen CD32s used in driving schools here as well in the late 90s

[@chaospoet]

In terms of a "Where are they now?" fate being a slot machine is much more glamorous than what happened to the Atrai Jaguar.

[@pigs18]

At least they're not coffee machines (3DO M2)

[@Waccoon]

I love the fact that the original Jaguar plastic molds were used to manufacture dental equipment. Talk about losing your fangs.

[@chaospoet]

@@Waccoon HA! I never thought of that! 😆

[@Retro-Fez]

I couldnt wait to get my cd32 when it released i loved it then and still do today it just never got the chance it deserved

[@RiotRetroGaming]

I've held the prototype in Leicester Computer Museum, we also covered the story years ago with Andy there too. The video is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g3XUgYOqr9CmoLs Enjoy! 🤟😎🤟

[@shadownet_nft]

Excellent trip down memory lane as always! I'm off to listen to the music from the last ninja 🤘

[@LegitMan335]

I want a CD 32 I’m that interested in one 😲

[@actuallyusingmyrealnameher5061]

Thanks for another entertaining video 🙂

[@SegaCDUniverse]

Nice "masses not the classes" throwback reference. I like when you use that accent lol

[@robertmij7425]

I saw the Metroid video you did. I was wondering if you played the Metroid clone that was Turrican. I remember playing this when I was about twelve on an a1200 Amiga. It was actually a good game

[@carbonara2144]

Metroid clone? Turrican was on A500 already and was absolute dynamite!

[@yeraysantanaaday6827]

...the company is not ended...i just have one that still works,,,,hundred of games and collecting more by a very rentable bussines in internet...

[@vast634]

The Amiga was stalling in its tech in the early 90s anyhow. Its was a system doomed to die off, and get replaced by the PC for gaming. I remember being jealous of the VGA cards in PCs back then already, when owning a new A 1200

[@vast634]

@Neb6 Scrolling was only really relevant to sidescrolling games anyways. Mostly due to the specific Amiga Blitter chip. The early 3D PC games looked better on VGA than contemporary Amiga versions. Red Baron 3D was such an example.

[@philosophyoftrucking]

The music and editing in these videos are fantastic. Clearly for the masses, not the classes.

[@neilo3476]

It's not for me sadly. I find the background music a distraction to what is actually being said.

[@pnvgordinho]

If the cd32 is an expensive console to get today, I can imagine how much an arcade made with the cd32 would cost. I wonder if there's still any around.

[@matthewmartin5610]

I have 1, the future of gaming the man said in the shop.

[@MrJaz8088]

Just like the add use to say "Are you keeping up with The Commodore, as the Commodore is keeping up with you 64bit Arc would of been Magic

[@bubba842]

It sounds like the hombre would have suffered from lazy developers. Leaving a Motorola 68000 chip in the system for backwards compatibility would have seen alot of developers porting crappy games onto the system. This is what happened to the Atari Jaguar. Atari left the 6800 chip in as a controller for the Tom and Jerry chips. Unfortunately, lazy developers just used the Motorola chip and didn't even bother to utilize the Tom and Jerry chip. Hence why the Jaguar had such poor games, alot of them ports.

[@BerryTheBnnuy]

"an x-o-r patent" It's XOR (x-or), not x-o-r... XOR as in eXclusive OR. In computers, you have for types of "or". OR, XOR, NOR, and XNOR OR returns true if input A or B is true. XOR returns true if only A or B is true, but not both. NOR returns true only if neither A nor B are true. XNOR returns true if only A and B have the same truth value. So it's not initials, and instead is pronounced "ex or"

[@mrwizman34dave56]

Great videos do you know how to connect amiga32 to new tv? That would be a great help thank you :-)

[@Rackatiakka]

sounds like they were sabotaged from being too advanced too soon

[@maroon9273]

Due to bad ideas like the cdtv and cd32. Amiga would've been better had they waited cd64 as it's first gaming console.

[@garyhart6421]

Ah yes, the Floppy Drive for the CD32 was Wall Street Institute badged.

[@flo_raf]

Hi, another interresting vidéo. Thanks. Will you do a video on Philips cd-i ? Thanks from France. 😊

[@andersmmvfc.8376]

Thank you, you are really good at finding strange intresting things but how many do you have left?

[@rawhide2803]

I don't know? Would i have wanted a 3D Amiga? No is probably my best answer.

[@giuseppelavecchia775]

Un buon video,brava

[@mountainbearoutdoors]

hey great content as always, are you going to pick up the A500 mini when it comes out in early 2022? I cant wait to get one and relive my child hood favourite games.

[@mountainbearoutdoors]

@@jurassicmatt2796 the same company that did the c64 mini is doing an a500 there's video's on yt about it, I have one pre-order on Amazon

[@mcborge1]

Ah what could have been.

[@danielepomposelli7345]

Fantastico!!! Bello

[@adventuretaco7140]

I keep saying “ for the masses! Not the classes!”

[@fattiger6957]

Even if that lawsuit didn't kill Commodore then, I can't see them surviving much longer afterwards. Their consoles would have been buried under the PS1 and their computers would have been steamrolled by the DOS/Windows PC. Commodore just didn't have the funds to compete with Sony or Nintendo and PCs were available from so many manufacturers that Amigas could never compete in price or software library.

[@stillbuyvhs]

Jack Tramiel left Commodore before they bought Amiga...

[@pauledwards2817]

What's with showing a plain Amiga 3000 board?

[@namakudamono]

Thanks for producing Amiga content. However, most of the footage in this video appears to just be a random selection of Amiga games and commercials, with little connection to the actual topic.

[@eijentwun5509]

Even though I love the Amiga CD32 and it is my 2nd Favorite Amiga (After the A600) Commodore did NOT know how to go out with a Bang.... they stupidly were competing with a super inferior console (Sega Genesis) at a time when the Playstation was about to be released and thought it was a cool marketting ploy to say they are better than Sega.....like an A500 was better than a Sega...so this was stupid. I knew this that the CD32 was going to be basically a plain A1200 (which was itself too little too late) in a console box. Pure Shovelware software was released for it and hardly anything amazing. The Main reason I wanted it soooo badly was because I needed AGA first of all.....but MOSTLY because I was an up and coming VJ and I saw a Program for it called Video Creator that gave me such hope (it wasn't that great) aand got me started in my VJ-ing gigs...although it took off for me round 2006 many years later and only did it for a few months.. Of course my CD32 was SUPER DUPER jacked up with Power at this point with an SX32 Pro 50mhz and FPU 50Mhz, 128MB RAM (yes you read that correct) and I think a larger than 40gb HD (Huge for an Amiga) loaded with SCALA MM400, Elan Performer, MindEYE device and Software, DCTV with the RGB adaptor, SUperGenSX Genlock, ChromaPlus ChromaKey and three 5" Sony PlaysationONE screens I hacked into one rig. I was VJ-ing my behing off and having fun like hell. ANyway my point it...the CD32 with an SX32 Pro is the best SINGLE Amiga to have if you could only have one and wanted the MOST compatibility with ALL software . I also had the FMV cartridge to watch VideoCD (VCD) Movies and My cousing would burn/convert DVD's into VCD's for me althuogh I also bought many many Philips VIdeoCD Movies. The Best times!

[@stefanegger]

2:12- it is called "CUBO CD32", not 3D-32. It's not from Star Wars................

[@xenaretos]

Seems to be some naming confusion. AGA is a name for the existing late Amiga graphics system present in Amiga 1200 and 4000. What's being discussed here seems to be something new.

[@thetezz0001]

Looking classy Lady Decade

[@Coolremac]

You should review the Dr. V64 add on for the N64.

[@Schwagg86]

“I am Lady Decade. There are double d’s in “Decade,” double d’s on my chest, I’m hotter than your girlfriend and know more about video games than you. Come to terms with my obvious superiority and enjoy the video!!…. And don’t forget to like and subscribe!” *Mic Drop*

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

Great tune in the beginning of the video. Wiich game is it from? Crazy Cars?

[@LadyDecade]

Puzznic!

[@dbnpoldermans4120]

@@LadyDecade Ah yes, Puzznic! thx. I see Tim Follin made it. Tim Follin one of the best Amiga musicians!

[@fdtdev]

where's the end of the video's music from ???? thanks!

[@edgecrush3r]

I love all Amiga's with the exception of the CD32. The controller was horrendus and the cd loading was flaky at best (freezing during loading). Whilst there were plenty of great aga based 1200 games, lot of them never made it to the CD32.

[@maroon9273]

Worst part commandore market it as a home console.