After almost 35 years since its original release, the Amiga 500 is making a comeback courtesy of Retro Games’ A500 Mini, due for release in early 2022.
If you were a child of the 80s in the UK, and were lucky enough to own a ‘computer’, there was a good chance you owned a system created by Commodore. If you were really lucky, that system was an Amiga.
For many, the Amiga was the little computer that could do it all. I remember spending hours drawing in Deluxe Paint, playing the latest *ahem*legally acquired*ahem* game and then kicking back and checking out the latest demoscene programs on a cover disk.
Even to this day I own a couple of Amiga 500(plus) systems, which I dust off regularly for a quick game of Worms, Gloom or just to make the Amiga’s text-to-speech utility say some naughty words – we all know we did it. Although pulling down the system, along with a box of loose diskettes, is far from convenient.
This is where the guys at Retro Games Ltd come in. Announcing their upcoming A500 Mini, a replica of the iconic Amiga 500. The mini system includes 25 built-in games, including some of the system’s most memorable titles.
So we only have confirmation of 12 of the 25 titles:
- Alien Breed 3D
- Anther World
- ATR: All Terrain Racing
- Battle Chess
- Cadaver
- Kick Off 2
- Pinball Dreams
- Simon The Sorcerer
- Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
- The Chaos Engine
- Worms: The Director’s Cut
- Zool: Ninja of the N’th Dimension
While the number of titles is smaller than that of the many other mini consoles released, there does seem to be a great level of quality in the titles released. However, the A500 mini offers support for adding your own titles by USB, complete with WHDLoad support.
For those interested, the system is available for pre-order from Amazon and Game in the UK for £119.99. Included in the price is the A500 mini console itself, USB Amiga mouse, USB controller, HDMI cable and USB-C power cable (no plug is included). For those wondering – no the keyboard doesn’t work on the system.
So are you excited about the A500 mini? Or are there simply too many mini consoles coming out each year? Let us know in the comments below.
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Michael Minor
Is this a computing platform or a game console platform?
Barry Pearson
The Amiga itself was a computing platform, although the A500 mini is aimed squarely at gaming. You can connect a USB keyboard and the included mouse and side load the Workbench OS onto it, along with other bits of software such as Wordsworth (word processor), Deluxe Paint (graphics editor) and even Cinema4D (3D rendering software) to name a few.