Amiga 500 Mini - £119.99, due 2022

[K]

2 hours ago, Uncle Mike said:

Other than a fancy games-selecting front end and the hardware, what does this offer that RetroPie doesn't? A veneer of legality, or anything more better than that?

Legitimacy, and probably ease of use. RetroPie is pretty easy to setup, but is daunting if you’re not technically minded. I would hazard a guess that there’s a small market of people who want to relive the Amiga days, but can’t be arsed setting up a Raspberry Pi, or an Amiga emulator. I’ve found Amiga emulators more difficult to setup than most console emulators, as you have to fuck around with WHDLoad and setting up virtual boot drives and making sure you’ve got the right kickstart ROMs and that they’re not encrypted, etc etc. It’s great once you get it sorted, and getting it all working is half the fun for me, but the barrier to entry is quite high. I can see the appeal of a plug and play Amiga, especially if you can stick your own games on there.

 

I’m a little bit tempted by this, even though I have a Pi and really don’t need it. I just want the period Amiga mouse. 

 

 

[Hanzo the Razor]

£119,992,022 seems a bit steep for this pile of shit.

[Protocol Penguin]

15 minutes ago, Hanzo the Razor said:

£119,992,022 seems a bit steep for this pile of shit.

Well, what do you expect, nerds always fall for the Wallet Inspector trick.

[Rayn]

3 hours ago, Giddas said:

That pad can get in the bin, get a competition pro in there

Zip Stick ftw!

[Reynard]

Eeew:

[Protocol Penguin]

1 hour ago, K said:

Legitimacy, and probably ease of use. RetroPie is pretty easy to setup, but is daunting if you’re not technically minded. I would hazard a guess that there’s a small market of people who want to relive the Amiga days, but can’t be arsed setting up a Raspberry Pi, or an Amiga emulator. I’ve found Amiga emulators more difficult to setup than most console emulators, as you have to fuck around with WHDLoad and setting up virtual boot drives and making sure you’ve got the right kickstart ROMs and that they’re not encrypted, etc etc. It’s great once you get it sorted, and getting it all working is half the fun for me, but the barrier to entry is quite high. I can see the appeal of a plug and play Amiga, especially if you can stick your own games on there.

 

I’m a little bit tempted by this, even though I have a Pi and really don’t need it. I just want the period Amiga mouse. 

 

 

No offence, but why? You’re an intelligent guy. This isn’t a legit Amiga anymore than a MorphOS PPC box is, or a MiniMig is, or your PC or Mac is when it runs an Amiga emulator. Note that there’s no Amiga trademark in use here – it’s the “A500 Mini”, not the Amiga Mini. Other than the case and mouse design, there’s nothing to suggest that this is an Amiga. There definitely won’t be the tactile feeling of playing a real Amiga 500, even if this actually ran real Amiga code.

 

And, sure, Amiga emulation isn’t as easy to get working as some other emulated systems, but it’s easier now than it ever was. Also, let’s be honest – all of the decent games of the 25 pre-installed on this device had superior versions on other formats which are easier to emulate than an Amiga, or are able to be legitimately purchased over on GOG or Steam or similar places.

[PaB]

3 minutes ago, Protocol Penguin said:

No offence, but why? You’re an intelligent guy. This isn’t a legit Amiga anymore than a MorphOS PPC box is, or a MiniMig is, or your PC or Mac is when it runs an Amiga emulator. Note that there’s no Amiga trademark in use here – it’s the “A500 Mini”, not the Amiga Mini. Other than the case and mouse design, there’s nothing to suggest that this is an Amiga. There definitely won’t be the tactile feeling of playing a real Amiga 500, even if this actually ran real Amiga code.

 

And, sure, Amiga emulation isn’t as easy to get working as some other emulated systems, but it’s easier now than it ever was. Also, let’s be honest – all of the decent games of the 25 pre-installed on this device had superior versions on other formats which are easier to emulate than an Amiga, or are able to be legitimately purchased over on GOG or Steam or similar places.

I’m massively intelligent and  I would buy this over fannying about with retro pie etc because I simply can’t be arsed. 

[PikaStu]

Normally I want to slap folk that say “you’re better off buying a Pi” but in this case a Pi400 with a working keyboard does seem to be the better (and cheaper) option. 

[Marlew]

10 minutes ago, PeteBrant said:

I’m massively intelligent and  I would buy this over fannying about with retro pie etc because I simply can’t be arsed. 

 

Pos for the word 'massively'. 

[Yoshimax]

£120.

 

for an amiga.

 

in 2021.

 

🤣

[SeanR]

8 minutes ago, Yoshimax said:

£120.

 

for an amiga.

 

in 2021.

 

🤣

have you looked at eBay recently?

[matt0]

I'd pay through the nose for an Analogue style FGPA Amiga.

 

Not this though.

[K]

It’s always going to be cheaper if you take a DIY approach and buy a Pi and flash Retropie to the memory card and install Retropie and download the Kickstart ROMs from the web for free rather than pay for a licensed version. That applies to everything. People still sometimes want to just pay for the convenience of having it all ready to go, which is fair enough. I can understand why someone would want to pay £120 for an Amiga Mini rather than £90 for a Pi400. 
 

I chat to the dads in my son’s class about games on occasion, and this would be right up their street - keen to play Amiga games again, flummoxed by the rigmarole of installing Retropie. 

[neoELITE]

Chaos Engine was brilliant. I loved that game. 

The list of games is a bit sparse. This is going to sell about four units. Who would buy it?

[K]

I’m imagining people from rllmuk leaping out of a bush, pulling a pizza delivery man off his scooter, and wrestling him to the ground shouting “why would anyone want this? You can just make your own pizza at home, for less money, AND it tastes nicer.”

[Marlew]

@neoELITE They’ve only released 12/25 from the list of games. 

[LaveDisco]

It's up for preorder:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09BW8N7JZ?psc=1&smid=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&ref_=chk_typ_imgToDp

 

As someone who is MASSIVELY intelligent. I've preordered. Here comes my childhood.

 

 

[Exit Chamber]

5 hours ago, Chosty said:

Now all we need is an Atari ST Mini and we can relive the fractious computer wars of the 80s/90s.

 

Midi ports or GTF

[Bobby Digihill]

If the primary goal of these devices is to recapture a childhood well wasted, how come none of them have been bigger than the originals?

[Protocol Penguin]

32 minutes ago, neoELITE said:

Chaos Engine was brilliant. I loved that game. 

The list of games is a bit sparse. This is going to sell about four units. Who would buy it?

The terminally gullible?

 

If this was the quality of the Super NES Mini or Mega Drive Mini, with their authenticity and curated software selections, I could see the appeal. As it is, you’re getting a meagre selection of games on a dubious device that doesn’t even have the Amiga trademark attached. I really despair at the critical faculties of some of the people here.

[Fletch]

Even the massively intelligent ones? 

[neoELITE]

I just remembered my mates used to say I had a Commode Amiga. 

 

Even with 25 games, they're pushing their luck. They probably can't afford the licences for anything remotely memorable like Pirates or Cannon Fodder. 

[Uncle Mike]

52 minutes ago, K said:

I’m imagining people from rllmuk leaping out of a bush, pulling a pizza delivery man off his scooter, and wrestling him to the ground shouting “why would anyone want this? You can just make your own pizza at home, for less money, AND it tastes nicer.”

 

In fairness, this is literally happening in the food folder now, only about burgers.

[papalazarou]

Me and a mate where talking about how surprised we were there hasn’t been an Amiga mini yet the other day (still dreaming for the mini n64).

 

 if it had of been Half the price I would have been tempted but I Already have the complete Amiga rom collection on my series x via retroarch and it runs as good as I’m guessing this will.  

[Timmo]

Fuckin' zipstick, motherfuckers

 

[JohnC]

4 hours ago, Gabe said:

Wait - the keyboard doesn't work? And people still want to buy it? What's the point of that? 

Wouldn't a working keyboard be pointless? Unless you actually want to type on it with the aid of a toothpick. It'd be far too small to use, surely?

[Avuncular]

You can use a USB keyboard.

[Exit Chamber]

Xzibit.jpg

[matt0]

On paper this probably ticks enough boxes to be worthwhile for a few people who want an out of the box Amiga experience with no mucking about. But the C64 Mini was rough at launch, took a few firmware updates to reach its best and the joystick was unbelievably bad, especially as it had the form factor of a competition pro but was hideous to use in comparison, worse than those all in one plug and play C64 sticks.

 

I don't think anyone should be preordering until they know what the emulation and frontend are like and whether that mouse and pad are any good.

[Ninja Doctor]

1 hour ago, neoELITE said:

Chaos Engine was brilliant. I loved that game. 

The list of games is a bit sparse. This is going to sell about four units. Who would buy it?

@Lorfarius

 

and he’ll have it up in trading three months later.