In anticipation of the upcoming magnum opus of Eye of the Beholder for the C64 by Anreas Larrsson (aka JackAsser), I knew I had to find a 1351 mouse.
And this was especially true after he said he would not only support number-pad movements on machines like the C128, but the 1351 mouse specifically for those who have one.
I have two 1350 mice, and for those that know they pretty much suck if used as a mouse. They look like a mouse and smell like a mouse, but they are joysticks wearing mouse camouflage.
Unless you're playing a game on the C64 that was written for a trackball (e.g. Marble Madness), or frankly just a joystick, you're wasting your time with the 1350. It's really a trackball-wannabe peripheral. So to the uninitiated it feels... well, it feels really weird. Woe be the sorry soul who fires up GEOS and tries to use a 1350 mouse for navigation. It's a tragic sight, if not downright hilarious.
But the 1351 is a true mouse. There's not a ton of software written for it, but there are some standouts including GEOS, Faery Tale Adventure, Operation Wolf, some application/drawing programs, and now Portal and eventually Eye of the Beholder.
So I had to find one.
And find one I did! I snagged a NOS, never opened (until now) .
I hope you enjoy this unboxing as much as I did:
Note: While the Commodore 1351 Mouse looks like an Amiga tank in every single design aspect except for the plug, the truth is it is not compatible.