We'd have much preferred an all purpose built-in emulator on the device that would allow us to instantly load up hundreds of games from a connected USB drive without having to jump through a bunch of time-consuming hoops. On the other hand, its approach to ROM loading, authentic as it may be, feels especially antiquated in 2018. On the one hand, it's cool that you can load up BASIC and use the C64 Mini as a functioning (albeit limited) computer. While a great deal of care and attention to detail has gone into the creation of the C64 Mini, we can't help but consider the retro console as something of a missed opportunity for fans.

If you have a keyboard connected, this shouldn't be too hard to do, and you can also use the C64 Mini's virtual keyboard to do this (slowly) via the joystick. Just like in the old days, to start a ROM you'll have to load up BASIC and type out a command to load your chosen ROM (LOAD'*',8) and then another command to run it (RUN). While you can get around this by moving ROMs in and out of a sub folder on your USB drive from your PC, but there's no denying that this is an annoying and limiting hassle. The ROM file will also need to be renamed (THEC64-drive8.d64), meaning you can only have one active ROM on your USB drive at any given time. First, you'll need to acquire said ROMs, which must be the correct file type (.d64) and must also be saved to the root folder of a FAT32 formatted USB drive. Thankfully, the C64 Mini is able to run Commodore 64 ROMs right out of the box via its USB port, however the process of getting these going isn't particularly user-friendly. Here, you can use the joystick to scroll through the seemingly endless selection of games that are listed alphabetically, one of which lets you launch Commodore 64 BASIC, and another of which launches an applet which displays a thank you to each one of the backers from the C64 Mini's crowd-funding campaign. Listed horizontally, each of the mini computer's 64 included titles are presented with accompanying original box art and a blurb about the game. However, the next screen after this will be very familiar to anyone who's played with a NES Classic or SNES Classic Mini console. Upon booting up the C64 Mini, you'll be greeted with a number of language options. To the immediate upper left and right of the stick, there are two buttons which didn't seem to provide any functionality in any of the games we played for this review.ДЄlong the bottom of the joystick is a row of four buttons -В the first one acts as a start button of sorts, while the last one is used to bring up a number of actions, including the ability to save or load you game (which can be done at any time), launch the virtual keyboard or exit your current game.ДЄt 1.5 meters (just under 60 inches), the joystick's USB cord is a decent length, although unless you're planning to sit on the ground in front of your television to play, you're probably going to have to invest in an extension cable. Up top, you have the joystick's two main buttons, which feel spongy and unresponsive to press. Moreover, while there are a total of eight buttons on the controller, many of them don't really seem to do anything. In use, the joystick feels very stiff and immovable and while your movements will mostly register on screen, it just doesn't feel that way in your hand.

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