[aaronbaugher]

The C128 was great, and they sold something like 4 million of them. But that was overshadowed by the C64 selling 15-20 million, and the fact that very little 128-specific software was made, because of the 128's near-100% compatible 64 mode. Unless your program had to have a 128 feature, like the 80-column screen, you wrote it for the 64 and had a much bigger market.

I think it was also hurt by the fact that Commodore was turning attention to the Amiga, marketing-wise, by the time the 128 was on the market. It was intended to be a stop-gap, just to have something new until the next big thing, but it did better than that and the company didn't know what to do with it.

Bil Herd has done some talks about the development of the 128 that are worth watching. They threw the thing together in a matter of months, and features like the 64 mode and the Z-80's CP/M mode were added almost as accidents.