Commodore almost did it with the Commodore 65, which has been reborn as the Mega 65 now: https://mega65.org/
Based on the Commodore 128 64 mode it is backwards compatible. The Mega 65 is the fastest 8 bit computer out there.
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The 65CE02 was a very slight improvement over the 65C02. It's a bit faster at the same clock and has some tricks that appeared on the 65816, but, apart from that, is not that impressive.
The C65 would have been a much nicer computer than the C128.
Unfortunately, for Apple II users, the fact it doesn't match 6502 timings perfectly makes it difficult to use as a drop-in replacement, as time-critical ops in joystick sensing and floppy IO may need some adjustment.
https://www.lemon64.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=58855&start=50...
The Commodore 64 has a 65816 Super CPU add on that some games can take advantage of. It is needed for that Super Mario Brothers clone to get proper scrolling.