Let’s start with Commodore, the company that made the glorious breadbox that was the Commodore 64 - aka the best-selling home computer of all time, aka the reason your parents thought you were a hacker at age 9. Turns out, that iconic name has been passed around over the last three decades like a stick of Deodorant at a retro LAN party (Just kidding, nobody uses deodorant at LAN parties). The Commodore name has been nice and dead for a while, But now? It might actually mean something again.
Enter Christian Simpson, better known to retro gaming nerds as PeriFractic on YouTube. He just announced that he’s the new acting CEO of Commodore Corporation. Not the original Commodore (that one sadly died in 1994), but the Dutch firm that owns 46 of the trademarks. He’s been negotiating the deal for seven months, he re-mortgaged his house to make it happen (that’s commitment), and he’s now officially steering the ship on a mission to “honor the past and innovate the future.” Bold words, my dude.
But here’s the kicker: He’s bringing back actual Commodore legends to help. We’re talking Albert Charpentier (designed the C64), Bill Herd (C128), Michael Tomczyk (VIC-20), and even David Pleasance, who ran Commodore UK. It’s like the Rolling Stones of retro computing just got back together. The dream is to create a version of Commodore that could’ve existed if it hadn’t gone bankrupt in the 90s. Like, a world where Facebook never happened and everyone just made chiptune music on their C64s. Sounds good, honestly.
There’s even a hardware tease in the announcement video. Simpson sits with a mystery device on his lap, the screen cuts to a pixelated loading screen, and we’re promised a reveal in two weeks. I haven’t been this intrigued since I saw a BBS directory printed on a cereal box.
Now, let’s talk about Sega.
Remember the Sega Neptune? No? That’s fair. It was a prototype from the mid-90s - a weird hybrid console that combined the Sega Genesis and 32X into one machine. Sega announced it, showed some mockups to the press… and then promptly canceled it when they realized no one was really buying into the 32X. The company shifted focus to the Saturn, and the Neptune was left in the dustbin of gaming what-ifs.
But guess what? It’s back. A Brazilian team called GamesCare is releasing the GF1 Neptune, a faithful recreation built around FPGA tech. That means it’s not just emulation - it’s hardware-level re-creation, giving you that original performance and accuracy that software can only dream of. They’re aiming to launch in December 2025, and they’re skipping preorders and crowdfunding entirely. It’s coming. For real. Like a Christmas miracle in cartridge form.
They haven’t announced pricing yet, but they promise it’ll be in line with similar FPGA-based consoles. So probably not cheap, but hey - you spent $300 on a SNES Classic and didn’t blink, don’t lie.
Between the Commodore resurrection and the Neptune’s arrival, I genuinely had to check the calendar. Is it 2025? 1995? Both? Did someone spill Surge on the multiverse controls again?
In all seriousness, this isn’t just a nostalgia trip. It’s a sign of how deep our love for these platforms still runs. Commodore and Sega weren’t just hardware - they were a whole era, a whole vibe. Seeing passionate fans bring them back, not for cheap cash grabs, but with real care and vision? That’s something special.
So yeah. Commodore’s got a new captain. The Neptune is rising. The 90s are calling… and this time, they brought their A-game.
