Commodore Plus/4 Home Computer (CBM, Vintage 64 Retro Gaming - Pre-Amiga C64 +)

I picked up a Commodore Plus4 for cheap in a thrift store back in the latter half of the 1990s. I knew its status as a failed product, in the USA at least. When it was released in 1984 it was no match for its blockbuster, already-world-famous cousin, the C64 with its hardware sprites and SID chip. It was jokingly referred to as the Minus60 in comparison to the C64. Still, I'd always been curious about this funky little machine and here was my chance to try it out.When I took it out of the box, I found a pleasingly compact and handsome console. Its color scheme of dark gray case with off-white keys is even better looking in person than it is in photos. The arrow-shaped cursor keys are very functional and user-friendly, not gimmicky at all despite their appearance. The four separate cursor keys on the Plus4 beat hands-down the C64's two cursor keys that require a shift key press for left and up directions. The low close-to-the-desk-surface wedge of the keyboard is vastly ergonomically superior to the C64's clunky breadbin case. For me, the Plus4's case is analogous to a Subaru-- contemporary style but with something quirky about it. In my opinion, it's one of the most appealing case designs to come out of Commodore.I hooked it up and quickly discovered that the four built-in applications (the "+4" software programs - word processor, spreadsheet, data base, and graphics) were crude to the point of uselessness. Never mind, i was never going to use this obsolete computer for any of those purposes anyway.One of the first things I noticed was the boot screen touting BASIC V3.5. What a very nice implementation of BASIC it is, too. Compared to the C64's bare-bones BASIC V2.0 which relies heavily on obscure PEEKs and POKEs to make things happen, the Plus4's BASIC is fully featured and powerful, and just feels luxurious. It's extremely enjoyable to program pure BASIC programs on the Plus4. The accompanying manual is a good source for all the BASIC commands and statements available. Commodore had a reputation for producing excellent user manuals for their computers, and the Plus4's is no exception.The amount of memory available for BASIC programs on the Plus4 is an impressive 60671 bytes compared to the C64's 38911 bytes, a full 56% more.There are no hardware sprites like on the C64, but then this computer was targeted at small business users rather than game players. What the Plus4 user gets in exchange is 121 colors, compared to the C64s 16 color palette. Sound generation can't compete with the C64's fantastic SID chip; it's more akin to the Vic20's sound capabilities. But the Plus4's sound capabilities are supported by powerful and easy-to-use BASIC 3.5 statements.For the machine language programmer (which I am not) there's a built-in ML monitor. There's also a reset button on the side of the case. Neither of those features appear on the C64.The Plus4 user experience makes you feel like you're living in an alternate timeline where the C64 never happened and Commodore transitioned directly from the VIC-20 to the significantly more advanced and polished Plus4. That experience in itself can be a lot of fun. Just extend the illusion a bit more and pretend the awful built-in +4 applications aren't there.My advice: think of the Plus4 as the VIC-20's natural evolutionary successor. In that light, the Plus4 shines.