A new C64 Software Library on the Internet Archive offers the chance to play tens of thousands of Commodore 64 games via emulation in their latest herculean effort to preserve gaming history (thanks [H]ardOCP. They include a little history lesson on the C64 and its historical success. Here's a bit:

Part of the Commodore 64's success was its sale in regular retail stores instead of only electronics or computer hobbyist specialty stores. Commodore produced many of its parts in-house to control costs, including custom integrated circuit chips from MOS Technology. It has been compared to the Ford Model T automobile for its role in bringing a new technology to middle-class households via creative and affordable mass-production. Approximately 10,000 commercial software titles have been made for the Commodore 64 including development tools, office productivity applications, and video games. C64 emulators allow anyone with a modern computer, or a compatible video game console, to run these programs today. The C64 is also credited with popularizing the computer demoscene and is still used today by some computer hobbyists.

In 2011, 17 years after it was taken off the market, research showed that brand recognition for the model was still at 87%.