That said, the Amiga’s arcade conversions were generally inferior to their console counterparts - Street Fighter II being a classic example.
Amiga versions sometimes featured better graphics, sound, music or gameplay than their counterparts, though not always (especially once the PC got better and more affordable). Many games of the period were developed for the Amiga before being ported to other systems. Obviously, there was also still a vast slew of effluent to wade through (cough, cough … Zool). There was much experimentation, innovation, and variety, even within the mainstream sphere, with new genres being defined and highly original games being produced – something akin to the modern indie scene. The late 80s and early 90s was a great era for gaming. The games, of course, the games! The Amiga Hall of Light lists nearly 7000 titles, with dedicated fans still creating expansions, new levels, mods, unofficial sequels and even entirely new games. Yup, Amigians are a dedicated, obsessive and die-hard bunch.ĭMA Design’s classic action-puzzler Lemmings, released in 1991 Why would I bother? There’s even a niche market for modern computers that run on derivatives of the original Amiga operating system. Original Amigas are highly sought after and even broken or damaged machines can fetch hundreds of pounds over on trading sites. It continues to enjoy a cult status and thriving community today, with new games, software, music and hardware still being regularly produced for it.
It’s a genuinely tragic yet fascinating story, and I highly recommend checking out Jeremy Reimer’s engrossing History of the Amiga series over on Ars Technica or the Caulfield’s brilliant feature-length documentary From Bedroom to Billions: The Amiga Years. It was the result of a nearly a decade of incompetence, mismanagement, lack of vision and greed. Then Commodore went bust in 1994, shortly after releasing the Amiga CD32 games console.
The Amiga reached its zenith in the early 1990s, thanks to the popularity of lower end models such as the A500 and A1200, which were largely sold and used as games machines. Yet, despite this, it took several years to take off and even then, only really in Britain and Europe. When it first launched in 1986, the Amiga 1000 was well ahead of its time and arguably the first true multimedia machine and modern computer. You’re kidding, right? The Amiga was a series of 16/32-bit home computers manufactured by Commodore and originally designed by Jay Miner. First up is the Commodore Amiga, the best computer ever made!!! What the hell is an Amiga? This is the first in a series of articles aimed at providing a general overview of emulating games from classic consoles and home computers.