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Amiga Appreciation Thread

Lorfarius

By Lorfarius,
in Retro & Arcade Gaming

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I can’t remember whether I’ve posted this before, but thought people in here might be interested. Someone has been developing a Doom TC based on Alien Breed 3D, and has frankly done an amazing job. I’d always wondered what the game would be like when played at 60fps in fullscreen with mouselook - I remember AB3D as being this unjustly forgotten, surprisingly good Doom clone, although my memory is somewhat influenced by not having played Doom at the time, and having to make do with whatever came out on the Amiga. Replaying it, it’s not as good as I remember, but not bad either. You can download it from the links in the forum thread below:

 

https://forum.zdoom.org/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=67666&start=45

 

Interestingly, Andy Clitheroe, the original developer of Alien Breed 3D pops up in the comments (at the bottom of the link above)and goes on to provide a lot of fascinating detail and background about the original game and the sequel. I was really surprised to learn that Team 17 seemed to be mostly aware that AB3D2 wasn’t very good, and Andy in particular knew it was rubbish. He seems to have only developed it as an intellectual challenge, and Team17 only published it out of sentimentality, as an attempt to say goodbye to the Amiga. 

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Vimster

Vimster

Posted
Posted

Suggestions please. I want to send my 1200 off for a full service and refurb but the damn thing is an awkward size and I'm having a job finding a box long enough (it's not  boxed). Any good tips about packing one up for postage? If it was a 600 it would be no bother. Normally I'd just lash a load of card together, bang some bubble wrap on and hope for the best.

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Lorfarius

Lorfarius

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Just now, Vimster said:

Suggestions please. I want to send my 1200 off for a full service and refurb but the damn thing is an awkward size and I'm having a job finding a box long enough (it's not  boxed). Any good tips about packing one up for postage? If it was a 600 it would be no bother. Normally I'd just lash a load of card together, bang some bubble wrap on and hope for the best.

 

Large monitor box. Loads of bubblewrap triple wrapped should do the trick.

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MikeJ

MikeJ

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2 hours ago, Lorfarius said:

 

Large monitor box. Loads of bubblewrap triple wrapped should do the trick.

 

This, and depending on what you are getting refurbed you might be able to get away with just sending the motherboard which is much smaller.

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Yasawas

Yasawas

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I hope this isn’t too frowned upon but I’ve finally discovered the Amiga via emulation at the age of 40. I always wanted one, and lusted over the reviews in CVG, the snatches of game footage on GamesMaster etc but went straight from a Spectrum to a MegaDrive and never really looked back. Trying it now it’s utterly unique being similar in power to the consoles of the early-90s but from a bizarro universe where the Europeans made all the games instead. It’s the most excited I’ve been with gaming in ages.

 

My first question is a bit weird - what is the best magazine to load my iPad up with to wallow in the era? Maybe I just chose a bad example but I looked at one Amiga Format and it seemed a bit dry, and from my browsing on HOL for example there were a ton out there at the time.

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christaylor

christaylor

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16 minutes ago, Yasawas said:

I hope this isn’t too frowned upon but I’ve finally discovered the Amiga via emulation at the age of 40. I always wanted one, and lusted over the reviews in CVG, the snatches of game footage on GamesMaster etc but went straight from a Spectrum to a MegaDrive and never really looked back. Trying it now it’s utterly unique being similar in power to the consoles of the early-90s but from a bizarro universe where the Europeans made all the games instead. It’s the most excited I’ve been with gaming in ages.

 

My first question is a bit weird - what is the best magazine to load my iPad up with to wallow in the era? Maybe I just chose a bad example but I looked at one Amiga Format and it seemed a bit dry, and from my browsing on HOL for example there were a ton out there at the time.

Zero was the best mag of the era, multiformat but there was always a heavy slant towards the Amiga in it. 

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Anne Summers

Anne Summers

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Nah, Amiga Power missed the golden age of the Amiga by a few years. Though it is probably the best Amiga magazine, and did cover most of the best games.

I've written about this before in this thread I think, but the late 80s were the time when the Amiga was miles more powerful than any other gaming machines that were available, or the CGA/EGA PCs everyone had, if they had a PC at home that early on.

If you're diving into the history of its games you should start with something like Commodore User or C&VG when they started covering Amiga stuff in 1987 or something. You'll get all the amazing US stuff like Cinemaware and Lucasfilm games. And see how excited everyone got about the graphics in Shadow Of The Beast. Also there were a lot of conversions of classic 80s arcade games at a time when the Amiga was the machine on the market that was most capable of handling them. Games like Marble Madness, Rolling Thunder, Ghosts N Goblins, Alien Syndrome, Bubble Bobble. Even though the Amiga isn't thought of as a great home of arcade conversions, there were some very decent ones around that time. 

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ulala

ulala

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On 25/08/2021 at 08:57, Yasawas said:

I hope this isn’t too frowned upon but I’ve finally discovered the Amiga via emulation at the age of 40. I always wanted one, and lusted over the reviews in CVG, the snatches of game footage on GamesMaster etc but went straight from a Spectrum to a MegaDrive and never really looked back. Trying it now it’s utterly unique being similar in power to the consoles of the early-90s but from a bizarro universe where the Europeans made all the games instead. It’s the most excited I’ve been with gaming in ages.

 

My first question is a bit weird - what is the best magazine to load my iPad up with to wallow in the era? Maybe I just chose a bad example but I looked at one Amiga Format and it seemed a bit dry, and from my browsing on HOL for example there were a ton out there at the time.

 

I am reading though 100+ issues of Amiga computing

 

there are so many old magazines available, they are great nostalgia reading - no need for the "new" ones.

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ianinthefuture

ianinthefuture

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18 hours ago, Anne Summers said:

Nah, Amiga Power missed the golden age of the Amiga by a few years

 

I completely disagree with that, the Amiga's golden age was the early 90s... But then there's no way of truly quantifying a golden era of anything.

 

It's the golden era for me because I got an Amiga either 89 or 90, so that's when I was into it and playing the most games. It's different for others.

 

AP launched in 91, it covered most of my golden era.

 

There's this, but it's based on user scores which are unreliable at best: https://www.everythingamiga.com/2020/09/when-was-the-golden-era-for-amiga-gaming.html

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Vimster

Vimster

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There was a pretty good discussion of Amiga vs consoles:

 

Briefly, I'd say there were three phases for the Amiga:

1985-1988 - early years, unique computer, some interesting games but not really a gaming machine.

1989-1991 - A500 era, Batman pack, premiere gaming home computer

1992-1995ish - tried and failed to compete with consoles, was at its best when concentrating on its strengths.

 

Obviously there's some overlap.

 

CU Amiga covered everything the best for me. It wasn't as serious as Amiga Format, it was more gaming-foucsed than the earlier mags like Amiga User International or Commodore User, it had a good balance. Amiga Power was very entertaining though.

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Anne Summers

Anne Summers

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3 hours ago, ianinthefuture said:

 

I completely disagree with that, the Amiga's golden age was the early 90s... But then there's no way of truly quantifying a golden era of anything.

 

It's the golden era for me because I got an Amiga either 89 or 90, so that's when I was into it and playing the most games. It's different for others.

 

AP launched in 91, it covered most of my golden era.

 

There's this, but it's based on user scores which are unreliable at best: https://www.everythingamiga.com/2020/09/when-was-the-golden-era-for-amiga-gaming.html

 

Hmm, okay. Of course there is no legally defined "golden age". Or anything that there is a general consensus on being a golden age, like there is with say the golden age of Hollywood or golden age of comics. 

I call the years from 90-93 (the years that I was active as an Amiga owner) the "Age of Legends." It is the time when the Amiga's most fondly remembered games came out. Bitmap Bros, Sensible Software, Team 17 etc.

 

The previous era I call the Golden Age because it was the time when the Amiga was miles better than anything else, and if you had one, you were playing the most impressive version of a game available. And every other machine owner was looking at you in envy. The turning point between the ages is just after the release of Shadow Of The Beast - when UK/European developers started to realise they could do more than just make 8-bit "arcade adventure" games with flashy graphics. 

But if you disagree with my nomenclature, I will from henceforth refer to the earlier period (87 - 89 ish) as the Mythic Age. 

 

 

 

 

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Anne Summers

Anne Summers

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7 hours ago, ulala said:

in 1988 Amiga was the king of consoles and computers.... then the Megadrive knocked it off the top spot 

Not sure about that. I wasn't that bothered by the Mega Drive at the time, or probably at all until something like Mortal Kombat really showed up the difference, in a game I wanted to play. 

It was definitely more PC games, in 92 - 93, that made me feel like the Amiga was falling behind. Stuff like Wing Commander 2 and Ultima Underworld. 

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Yasawas

Yasawas

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On 25/08/2021 at 09:45, Protocol Penguin said:

Amiga magazines? Amiga Power, natch.


I’ve started here and I’m into it, good shout. I notice that about half the staff would go on to MEGA which was always one of my favourite magazines for that machine. 

 

It’s so sweet to read about Flashback very early on, before its announcement I think, where they barely dare hope that it “might be even better than Another World!”. Aye, just a bit. Oh 90s gaming 😍

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Zio

Zio

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14 hours ago, Anne Summers said:

Not sure about that. I wasn't that bothered by the Mega Drive at the time, or probably at all until something like Mortal Kombat really showed up the difference, in a game I wanted to play. 

It was definitely more PC games, in 92 - 93, that made me feel like the Amiga was falling behind. Stuff like Wing Commander 2 and Ultima Underworld. 

 

Day of the Tentacle was the moment for me. I loved point-and-clicks on the Amiga and seeing that the sequel to Maniac Mansion was going to be PC-exclusive was where I could unquestionably see that the Amiga's days were limited.

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Anne Summers

Anne Summers

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6 minutes ago, Zio said:

 

Day of the Tentacle was the moment for me. I loved point-and-clicks on the Amiga and seeing that the sequel to Maniac Mansion was going to be PC-exclusive was where I could unquestionably see that the Amiga's days were limited.

That was definitely a big one for me too.

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ucci

ucci

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In terms of graphics the PC surged, but interfaces were a different story. The physical joystick inputs were years ahead of PC, I remember playing a PC and having driver issues in the early 90s, 30 years later, loads better but still exist. No problem on the Amiga. 

 

*AMIGA FASCIST GROOVE THANG*

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roberthazelby

roberthazelby

Posted
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2 hours ago, Lorfarius said:

Has anyone picked up that new Zzap Amiga? Orderded a copy the other day and a pretty good read, noticed another mag on Twitter that's had a paper print run, first issue is winging its way to me in the post:

 

https://www.amiga-addict.com/

 

I've been a subscriber of Amiga Addict since issue two, and it's been great to see it evolve. The first few issues were mainly retrospective in content, but it's really starting to cover a lot of current Amiga stuff now, with some of the articles getting quite technical, which is what interests me.

 

I was tempted with Zzap Amiga, but already subscribe to Amiga Addict, Amiga Future, Retro Gamer and Crash. I can't justify yet another subscription.

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