Amiga A500 Mini Review - The DF Retro Verdict - Reasonable Hardware, Lacklustre Games
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- Опубліковано 13 тра 2024
- Join Audi Sorlie for a deep dive into the Amiga A500 Mini - it's a mini-computer that aims to bring back the heights of 16-bit microcomputer gaming. Emulation is decent, open access to a wider library is welcome - but what you get falls short owing to a disappointing controller and a highly limited line-up of games.
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This was such an amazing video! The clear coverage, strong knowledge and experience with the Amiga, and the jokes LOL seriously loved those throughout. Nice work! Thank you!
Sluurp.
I also recommend video *Echa Ekranu* 👍
@@Denis_1994 Great video!
I was a Megadrive kid back in the day.
Really not trying to be 'that guy' or anything, but I never could see the appeal of the Amiga other than for those getting cheap pirated games from market stalls back in the 90's (which is made all the more strange as market stalls also done swap a game plus a fiver for Megadrive and SNES games also back then).
Seemed that an awful lot of Amiga games didn't have any in game music either as it seemed to be either music OR sound FX but not both running at the same time. Hardly the hallmark of an impressive system.
I never grew up with an Amiga but was aware of it. I also never grew up with the P.C Engine but was impressed with the recent PC Engine Coregrafx mini as it clearly redefined what I thought old school shmups were all about.
As stated, I was a Megadrive kid growing up. The Megadrive also had The Chaos Engine and Speedball 2, so why would anyone bother with an Amiga?
Considering what I've just said about the Amiga's only real USP in the 90's it's also Ironic that the type of kids that had an Amiga back then were also the type of kids that did well at maths and were probably going to grow up to become accountants, bookkeepers or estate agents etc but they seemingly couldn't care less about indulging in software piracy. 😂😂
Always nice to see a new retro gaming product on the market even though I'm probably going to sit this one out.
Man I'm so old I still think Amiga graphics look really smooth.
They were such a dramatic advancement from the C64, that 8bit to 16bit shift.
The successor to the C64 was the failed C128. It was still a large jump from either of those two systems. Hell, from a multimedia point of view it was ahead of pretty much anything on the market at that point, particularly from a price stand point.
@@gameguy73 yeah, I mean, as a games machine, the 128 was mostly used for 64 games. I think there might have been a small number of 128 exclusives, from memory? I don't think it was ever meant as a 'next gen' replacement; more a sort of upgraded 64 for business etc.
The advancement of graphics and sound from the C64 to the Amiga was indeed a huge leap forward. There was a night and day difference in quality.
Im so old i still rather play my amiga games than my series x :/
I'll never forget having an amstrad cpc464 for years, then seeing shadow of the beast running on an a500. Dat parallax scrolling tho.
The "your dead to me" line got me. Didn't expect that and a good laugh.
Even though, it would be more authentic to apply those filters. Old graphics wasn't meant to be displayed in HD.☝🧐😏
Didn't know Audi was a GGmanlives fan
This was a HILARIOUS episode! Really enjoyed it. 😂
Well said MJR!
MJR!! 💪😃
I also recommend video *Echa Ekranu* 😃👍
I ended up working at Team17 due to my childhood growing up with the Amiga!
Great video ❤ I also recommend *Echa Ekranu* ❤
😃👍
Audi is such an asset to DF. I love his humour.
Awesome job with this one, Audi. I think you did great work with this first solo effort. Looking forward to more!
"I have no idea what to do with a stick and balls. My wife can confirm this." Love Audi's humor!
Thanks for the wonderful review 💚 It's very informative and insightful. I think the A500 is just beautiful! The A500 has contributed so much to the evolution of our games today and was way ahead of its time. Great device for the collection 👍💚
👍
Better late than never.
Love the shoutout to Kim Justice! They have an amazing channel with some of the best content on retro British developers.
Kim's doc on Ocean was one of my favourites.
Clearly an Audi production through & through, much appreciated.
Love the comment about the Mister at the end. And yes, my parents are very proud, thank you 🙇
Thank you so much for covering this. Amiga A500 was the first computer I bought with my own money and I LOVED it. Batman Pack plus Shadow of the Beast and I was in 16bit heaven.
I can see myself getting a mini to sit next to my SNES Mini, my other favourite 16bit machine.
One request I have for future emulation-based hardware reviews; please give at least some information on input latency in comparison to original hardware or an FPGA. Even if purely anecdotally perceived and not rigidly tested, it would be helpful to know. Great video as usual, Audi!
I agree, and I feel bad for all the people who "unknowingly" will be plugging this into a TV without game mode.
Yeah, very lax for Digital Foundry of all places to omit an input latency test.
I agree it's one of DF's main purposes to test that kind of technical point. My personal experience with the A500 Mini: No significant input latency or audio latency to mention. It's probably a few frames - very much within expectations for software emulation. (This is contrary to some people's bad reports, so I was pleasantly surprised).
As great as they are I always wonder why DF overlook this.
@@rasmusolesen5307 what will happen if you don’t have a game mode?
Great work on the episode Audi , it was a lot fun to watch!
After a year this finally popped up on my recommendation. Thanks UA-cam. That being said, I am watching now but something before I forget. The Amiga CD32, still got mine, came with a sticky piece for the controller circle pad that made a difference. At least as long as the sticky pad lasted.
Oh and the A500 also makes a great Christmas ornament :) I am also waiting for the recently announced A500 Max.
Great review! The humor was perfect! Thanks Audi!
Man, I love Audi's deadpan delivery. Magnificent
Audi's dry humour is bang on. A great informative look at the Amiga A500 Mini.
Speed Ball 2, Great Giana Sisters, Populous, Bloodwych, International Karate, Metal Masters, North & South, Strip poker. Magic years for any young teenager who loved games.
Fantastic review! Never got my hands on one of the original machines, so it's nice to see how the newer version holds up in your experienced eyes. Plus: Your borderline dry humor never fails to make me chuckle. Looking forward to more!
Nostalgia overload. My dad bought me an Amiga 500 when I was 5. Or maybe he bought it for himself. Almost all of our games had been illegal copies (I do wonder if this affected the longevity of the system). Sensible soccer and Cannon Fodder should have been included but this looks amazing.
In answer to your question: yes, the rampant piracy affected both the quality of the games (little to no profit to be made from designing games to take advantage of the Amiga's hardware; cheaper to just port the Atari ST version) and also hastened the death of the Amiga as a viable platform. Developers abandoned ship to write games for the new consoles instead, which were far less susceptible to piracy.
@@Midwinter2 Thanks mate. I absolutely adored the system. One of the few games I had that wasn't pirated was Zool. The game required a physical circular card to decipher a code. Unfortunately, I lost the card and the game became unplayable. Ironic. I loved seeing my dad come back from work with new copies of games at the time and I'm sure I wasn't the only kid who just assumed that's how they were supposed to be shared. All changed now, definitely no longer normal. It would be interesting for DF to look at the impact of piracy, DRM and other early anti piracy measures, particularly due to the impact it had on some systems like the Amiga.
@@Sambrowski10 I hear you - and I'm not getting on my high horse. I had pirated copies too, though I'd say half my games were bought. I was 15 when the Amiga was released - and my father bought one about a year later (the original Amiga 1000). I adored my Amiga too. It was an amazing computer at the time - and in some respects, I find modern computers quite clunky to use by comparison.
Cannon fodder 😁 keep Jools and Jops alive 👍
10/10 coverage Audi! Very niche topic big I really hope this video does well for you guys. Actually got a bunch of laughs out of me.
I knew nothing about the Amiga until today but I'm gonna mess with some emulators at work tomorrow.
Awesome review and VERY useful!!! I just ordred my A500 mini and its coming in from Amazon tomorrow......this is my first experience with anything AMiga related at all! I have plenty of experience with PC's and most consoles from say NES & TG16 up to say.....my current gaming pc with an RTX 3090 card. I also own every system from my PSX, PSX2, PSX3, 3DO, Jaguar, Gamecube, MY BELOVED SEGA SATURN!!!! Nuff said!!!......hope i enjoy this little system and its nostalgic trip down memory lane!!!!!!!!
15:15 “Node activated!” “PAHTEE POWAH!!” (slap bass, super funky synth… HEAVEN)
It seems like Team 17 were really on board with this project, I guess they offered their entire catalog when asked about licensing, which is a good thing because they usually publish good games to this day.
It also helps that Team 17 is one of the few companies from the era that's still around today.
Don't understand why every company just doesn't licence their games to whoever wants to produce minis.
Nintendo and Sega should be doing it as well since their mini consoles have been discontinued.
@@bigbabatunde1218 well Nintendo loves to limit the availability of their games so they can get away with charging higher than average prices on stuff that's decades old.
On the other hand Sega is happy to sell collections like there's no tomorrow, you can find old Sega games in practically any platform. And they used to license their stuff to other companies to make little mini consoles back in the 2000's but after quite a few ended up being kinda crap they stopped doing so.
@@axelprino All it takes is for Sega to licence its games for an Evercade collection on a cart or two and Nintendo will be on the back foot.
Rubbish games from Codemasters or other lesser known publishers is one thing but this needs to get to the next level with the big players to fully expand this retro market.
@@SuperFriendBFG Sensible Soccer, by Sensible Software, Acquired by Codemasters, Acquired by Electronic Arts and ah, well, who do you contact about anything?
Props for using the R-Type menu music for your intro, one of my fav video game themes ever.
The R-Type intro soundtrack is great.
Anyways, I disagree with the "lacklustre games" argument. Except for one or two of them, they are all great classics that any true Amiga user ( I have been one until my job forced me to switch to PC ) knows and loves.
Plus, the A500 Mini has been thought with the option of adding all the games you want, thanks to the nice WHDLoad implementation (and with some workaround also ADFs and HDFs... And more).
To be honest, I have been more a professional Amiga user back then, although sure enough I also played tons of games.
As far as concern the keyboard... Well, if it was a working one it would have been a waste. Given how small it is, it only makes sense as an aesthetic non working feature.
I think this A500 Mini is a well built and well thought little piece of kit. I really love mine more than I expected to.
P.S. The Amiga was not a console!! -_-
Agree, absolute list of bangers. couple of duds but 90% of them would be on any Amiga setup I would have!
@@CCaribou
Exactly, it's subjective.
That means the list is good, not lacklustre.
Some can like it more than others and vice versa.
As I said in my comment, I have been an Amiga user, even at a professional level (when I switched to the A4000 to do my first serious jobs), for as long as this computer was relevant.
I had pretty much all of them: A1000, A500, A500+, A1200, A4000 and A4000 T.
Dang, is this Audi's first full-length fully produced video? Great job!
While I disagree with you on some of the titles that were included- I love the video! You are a terrific edition to the DF crew. Battle Chess is awesome by the way :)
omg the stick and balls comment... lmao
Really enjoyed this video! The Amiga 500 was my proper introduction to gaming at home, can’t wait to get my hands on one of these 😍
This was a great review. It really reminded me of the tone you’d get reading the UK PC magazines of the 90s and 2000s.
I can see digital foundry now experimenting more with comedy
the older videos were Interesting but lacked much personality
I loved that "Get out of my office" line
I bet you did. I bet you could watch some stand up comedy if you want to watch comedy.
@@johnboylan3832 so... You think tech videos should be absolutely devoid of humor or personality?
@@mrburns366 Yes.
@@johnboylan3832 Thankfully there are loads of other channels devoid of any humour out there for you to enjoy.
@@OriginalChrizum You going to make me leave?
Audi is awesome. Great to see him do his own video. Especially on my childhood device (well A1200)
Great review!
Grow up with the Amiga. Dad brought the very first Amiga 1000. Played so many games, music demo's and deluxe paints .
Dad used to work on the Amiga in gaming and other things.
Such a great machine and soooo many memories 👍
We had an Amiga 1000 as well. An amazing machine - I've never experienced that magic with any other computer.
I was really hoping for DF to review the mini version of the computer i love above all others. Thank you DF
Do not dismiss Dragon's Breath. You need to read the instructions before you play, but it is one of the best games included on the system and I am overjoyed to see it here. You can play it against the computer or up to two human players, and it is a fantastic strategy game with a lot of depth. It also has moody visuals and one of the best soundtracks on the Amiga, period. Don't blow past it.
I love the comedy Audi brings to DF content. All the best from the UK!
His jokes are hit and miss to be honest.
Love the tone of this video, funny and informative.
This episode was just fantastic. Thank you for that!!
I did not own an Amiga, but my friend did. I absolutely loved it and have so many fond memories of playing it with him. We used to love playing North and South, canon fodder, sensible soccer, Defender of the crown, silent service and, monkey Island, speed ball 2 and super off road.
Fantastic video. Cant wait for more!
Glad to see Lotus Esprit Challenge (loved I & II), also liked Super Cars series. Kick Off wasn't that bad but I preferred Sensible Soccer. My fave was IK+. A lot of games had amazing soundtracks imo! Fond memories!
+
The Secret of Monkey Island
Rainbow Islands
Cannon Fodder
Super Frog
Bubble Bobble
Pang (also on PSNow)
Star Dust
Lemmings
It Came From the Desert
Nice list. All great games. A couple of others I liked: Apidya, Desert Strike, Alien Breed, Speedball 2...
@@Midwinter2 Can we add Moonstone and The Chaos Engine to the list?
@@bigchinkid9052 We sure as hell can! Terrific games.
Great video and Audi's sense of humour was the icing on the cake. 🙂
that wonderful dry humor .. totally clicked with me .. Awesome Video .. love the Amiga.. Good Job :D
Audi was amazing as always, amazing video!
Always a system I wanted to get into and this seems like a pretty neat little product. Thanks for the excellent review. I had a good few laughs, esp the Richard bits.
" only to realise I was alone, confused and there is no keyboard here on this unit" that is a brilliant line
Fantastic solo debut from Audi, I have no history with the Amiga family of computers but this was interesting and entertaining nonetheless.
I love his dry delivery of jokes
Unfortunately, his combination of hair styles, expressions, and even his voice keeps giving me Dreamcast Guy vibes.
Great video! The 25 games included are not worth the price, but the ability to add more content makes it much more appealing. The Amiga 500 was an incredibly colourful and impressive machine back in the day and I am glad people are discovering some of its hidden gems, like Stardust.
Brilliant choice of the R-Type theme fir the opening, the theme tune of my childhood right there
Lemmings on my Amiga 500 plus was my introduction to gaming, hooked ever since.
Moonstone, Wings, Speedball, Apidya, Cannon Fodder, Pirates, Battle Isle, Ambermoon - there was so much good stuff on the Amiga. The demos, music, crackintros and other scene releases were also mighty impressive to me whenever i was at my cousins house and besieged his Amiga.
Ahh Moonstone, O Moonstone.. where art thou, i miss you so on that list of games included.
The firmware released today in europe increases controller compatibility so hopefully your experience is now better :-)
Where can I get the firmware? I it the WHDLoad file on their website? listed as 1.0.1 ? EDIT: Found it in the manual. No new firmware available on their website so far. So I am not sure what are you talking about.
Class video, loved the “get out of my office” clips.
Did not expect to laugh out loud multiple times when I started watching this. Top stuff as always! 😁
Having an Amiga Device without Turrican seems almost pointless to me sadly...
Fantastic video, as usual..keep up
thank you so much, I love my Amiga and i still play some games with my brothers like Kick Off 2.
Love the start with the R-type intro music.
stardust(especially the warp sequence) and elfmania graphics still hold up today. seeing them run at this level of fedality on a 37 year old hardware is shocking. they're not even AGA titles. developed by the returnal guys
also slam tilt is a zillion times better than pinball fantasies. also developed by Dice
no it wasnt. slamtilt was developed by liquid dezign and released by 21st Century Entertainment
yep my bad. The same publisher
Yes, Stardust was terrific in all respects. Elfmania was visually superb - though the gameplay could have been better. Both games are examples of the amazing results that could be achieved when the Amiga's hardware was properly exploited.
I need more Audi videos in my life.
Great work, as always.
Miss some Turrican, Ruff n Tumble, or a few Core Design games in that selection
I got one of these for Christmas from my sister and immediately put Aminimiga on it. It's so rad.
Oh Audi. Never change! This is as hilarious as it is informative
Glad to see some Amiga coverage. It truly is the best gaming computer of all times for me.
Yes, I loved my Amiga. When the Amiga was discontinued, I lost all interest in computers. Even with the high-powered computers that are around today, they are just necessary tools to me, no more. But the Amiga was something magical.
@@Midwinter2 absolutely this! I will not be buying this mini, I think it's crap. But I do have a serious itch for actual Amiga 1200.
@@DarthChillash Well, the recent flurry of activity around the Amiga plus nostalgia really makes me want to play Amiga games in some form. I am clueless about emulation etc - so I'll probably get this mini thing, imperfect as it may be...
Good video I was excited for this when I thought it would have a working keyboard.We really should have gotten a maxi version
7:07 lol I just rewatched that episode yesterday too. Nice timing
Audi is brilliant! Pity that such high quality DF Retro videos that he and John makes don't get more views.
Agreed.
This was a great video and super funny too! Congrats, Audi, and now get out of my office!
I've recently been diving into the Amiga library before the mini came out and have found a couple great games if you've wanted some direction of what to look for that might be less known. First Samurai and Second Samurai and Savage are must play action games. Ciemna Strona is a must experience adventure game in Polish but completely unbeatable outside of save game hex editing. Ambermoon and Amberstar are cool precursors to the DOS RPG Albion. BloodNet is a cool mature adventure game. Australo Piticus Mechanicus is an action game with a cool name but is surprisingly fun to play.
Paradroid is such a neat game, I wish we’d get a more modern remake of it. The idea of taking over robots and building an army while being able change up combat as either active or hacking (like Nier Automata does when playing as 9S) and taking back ship after ship.
I didn't know this existed and now I am far more excited than a cynical 47 year old is supposed to be about... well, anything. But crikey, where is Cannon Fodder, Turrican 3, Lemmings, Apidya, Chase HQ, Beneath a Steel Sky? At least you can chuck your own stuff on it though, which saves the day. It's going on the "if we get a company bonus this Christmas" list. Thanks for the wonderful video.
Yeah, that gaming library is oof.
Personally I thought Turrican 2, was better than 3. Also, what about The Settlers, Dune II, Superfrog, Syndicate, Gods, Space Crusade, UFO: Enemy Unknown, Pirates!, Populous, Mega-Lo-Mania, James Pond 2, RodLand,, Ruff 'n' Tumble, The Secret of Monkey Island, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Walker, Strider, Desert/Jungle Strike, It Came From The Desert, Waxworks, IK+, Moonstone, Ambermoon, BattleIsle/HistoryLine, PGA Golf, Super Skidmarks, Micro Machines, Disposable Hero, SlamTilt, Frontier: Elite 2, Theme Park, SimCity 2000, Dyna Blaster, Blood & Heimdall (I or II), along with a good old school Amiga dungeon crawler or two like Dungeon Master (1 or 2), Eye of the Beholder II, Ishar II, Hired Guns or Black Crypt.
TBH, you could very easily make another list of 25 games (50 even), since there really was some great games on the Amiga.
Just stick them on yourself, I added 250 extra games on mine they very day it arrived from Amazon, and it’s been amazing playing them again 😁
It all comes down to legal issues like being able to license these games to be bundled with the device. Many of the companies do not even exist today or exist in a very different form.
Reason why there is so many Team 17 games, is because they still exist and has been very nice since the get go when it comes to emulation and think they even released many of their disk files for free a long time ago.
But yeah overall it is definitely not a good selection, but luckily not a problem since you can load anything you want nearly and I think you can even hook up a keyboard to the mini now.
Great content, epic humour - keep it up! :)
I grew up with A500. Our first computer was ZXSpectrum, after we had an Atari 800XL and C64. But Amiga was where my true gaming and design life started - from A500 to A1200, so many great gaming memories and my first steps into digital art with PPaint and Deluxe Paint. Another World, Flashback, Alien Breed (esp Tower Assault on CD32 with the amazing cgi demo) and Alien Breed 3D - Alien Breed is such a fun Alien “ripoff”. Arcade Pool. Chaos Engine was amazing. Most of Psygnosis games as well. Sensible Soccer was my fave - agree - it was a great game. Giana Sister, Walker, even MK1 and MK2. Team17 was big on Amiga. Amiga 4000 was my first computer I used to make 3D art with Lightwave and C4D. 30 years of making art. Uff. So many great memories.
Great vid. More Amiga stuff please
Great review!!!!
Captain Planet, Lemmings, Bart Simpson vs The Space Mutants, Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, Sensible Soccer. Amazing stuff looking back. It was my PC before I had a PC if that makes sense.
This video makes me love Audi even more. Really funny in-depth and informative. Need more Audi videos.
Great video and review, thank you ! Can we do something else than playing games with the A500 ? Word processing ? Inventory ? Accouting ?
I like that John is your emergency contact
Very thorough review
"If you're the kind of person that has a recall box or a MiSTer, then you're already an emulation expert and your parents are very proud of you" On the nose! That describes the scene well, though very sarcastically. Yes MiSTer is superior, but in ways that most people will never care about.
Audi, I really loved this video, thank you. I like your style and sense of humour, whilst keeping things informative and relevant.
Love Audi's talkage style and presentation prowessnessness. More Audi please thanks
Nice Silkworm OST in the background while playing Worms and Zool.
My cousin used to have an A500 but he never let me play. There was a game called Robokid with the GREATEST MUSIC of all time
I rather fell in love with the USB tank mouse it came with, I even ordered one as my daily driver on my PC. It's very comfy. I also liked the controller. It feels like using a Playstation DPad and the buttons are great. Very comfy to hold so I like it... I do wish it worked on my MiSTerFPGA. Seems to be a proprietary configuration. Since I develop Amiga games I got one for myself to use for QA and one for my kids to have a go on. We have workbench 3.1 running on ours and I'm even learning how to use Disney Animation Studio software. For the price, it's an AMAZING way to get started with the Amiga. So much you can do out of the box!
I don't know on Amiga, but Titus the Fox on PC was great! I loved it and I played it a lot!. that one and Prehistorik 1 also made by Titus were among my favorites!.
I remember Burning Rubber being an insanely awesome game, from the graphics and in-car view, to the nitrous, tyres and other engine mods, I was addicted to only that game. It was like a Gran Turismo prequel
It's a shame there aren't more great Amiga games - It came from the desert, Fire & Ice, Rick Dangerous, PP Hammer, Venus the Flytrap, James Pond 2: Codename Robocod, Lemmings, Flashback, Sensible (World of) Soccer, Soccer Kid, Eye of the Beholder 2, Rod Land... to name a few.
Nice list, could be my picks... only one i don't know is Venus the Flytrap. I add to the list Myth, Traps and Treasures, Lionheart, Rockn Roll, Wizkid, Wings of War...
@@Teknikfrik Venus The Flytrap is completely underrated.
We had an Amiga 500 Plus, Amiga 600, Amiga 1200 and Amiga CD32 (over the course of numerous years)....that was my megadrive/snes equivalent experience. I'm glad I grew up on Amiga instead of a games console...using Deluxe Paint and learning BASIC was super valuable. Weird to see the CD32 controller on the A500 Mini (in beige).
I love Audi’s enthusiasm! 🤣
Enjoying this video slowly, like a good wine. The Amiga was legendary for me, as it was the first home platform to have a proper rendition of Street Fighter 2. Good times.
edit: I just learned that the Amiga version was not the 1st, and surely not the best. The SNES and PC ones were better, but among my circle of friends we all had Commodore 64, Spectrum and Amiga; I remember a lot of excitement for the Amiga SF2 because it was the better looking among those systems, we used to make comparisons all the time looking at pictures on magazines.
Btw great video, Another World, what a game man.
Audi is a national treasure!
Loved my commodore 64! I got it when I was like 6 or 7. Never had the amiga tho, we got a Nintendo and Sega and it wasn't until I was in my late teens before I got PC.
Amiga, Commodore and Spectrum were before my time, but I remember playing Lotus and RoboCod on my 386 PC in the late 90s.