Didn't even had an Amiga (only borrowed one from a friend) because I jumped from C64 to Mega Drive and then PC, but even I thought of the bouncing ball right away.
My friend in HS had an Amiga. I remember his anticipation and how excited he was when it finally arrived. He talked about how powerful it was and all the things it could do. Only to lose it shortly after for making fake report cards. lol
About the LED, if you go into the system options on the main menu, you can choose to have the power LED "mimic Amiga behaviour", that's how to get the green light to function as well as the red!
The small switch on the board is apparently used to enter the UBoot bootloader. The two unpopulated headers are for 5V/GND (fan?) and serial port (TX/RX). Presumably you can log into a serial console via that header. Looks like it would be fairly easy to hack and tinker with :)
It seems like a pretty standard ARM SBC - but they may have disabled the serial console in the release image so it may require flashing of a custom firmware.
@@JohnnyWednesday Many consumer devices seem to leave the serial TTY enabled, presumably since the average customer will not be tapping into it. Would make messing with the bootloader to flash a new image somewhat more... adventurous for sure. Hoping it's at least a somewhat common Mediatek SoC or similar.
@@MayaPosch - small world :) I work on Linux drivers for Mediatek SoCs for a Chinese SBC firm. Somebody will hack it :) the company themselves will likely have somebody leak any required information - they can't break the law but they know it'll sell even better if the users can :P
@@JohnnyWednesday What a coincidence :) I assume that Mediatek drivers are NDA-ed up the hilt, just like for AllWinner and Broadcom SoCs? Standard joke is still that the moment an SoC is EOL-ed is when it gets mainstream Linux support. Can't really find much reason to disagree with that assessment, unfortunately. Basic drivers like sound and network are generally not that problematic, but as I found out while tinkering with GPU-based video decoding across various ARM SBCs as part of the NymphCast project, anything beyond basic 2D graphics for a UI gets pretty hairy, let alone other advanced features of an SoC. That said, I imagine that the SoC in this Amiga 500 Mini is pretty basic, maybe a Cortex-A53 quad-core or even quad Cortex-A7. It only has run an Amiga emulator, after all, with some basic graphics :)
The fact that the keyboard is a separate molded piece makes me think it's possible someone could make a working keyboard that fits, even if you do have to type with pencils.
Parents bought me an Amiga 500 back in the day and later the 512K RAM expansion (1MB total) Lots of good memories with this computer and still haven't forgot the 6 floppy disk Dragons Lair experience lol.
nothing beats the 80's experience... *nothing* You can built on it and change stuff, but all your doing is adding candy coating.I miss my Action Replay III catridge
The electricity pulse waves that run over the accelerator equipment after the protagonist is teleported away, plus the stereo sound effects had my hair standing on end around my neck. Roto-scoped goodness :D
There was a GDC talk (Classic Game Postmortem) about that game. And there is an amazing article at Fabien Sanglard's website, highly recommend reading for anyone curious on how that game is implemented.
I wish I knew if they were going to come out with a full sized version of this. The minis don't really interest me, but I love the C64 "maxi" I have. I could never afford a Commodore 64 growing up, and it's nice to have something so similar now and also not have to worry about it breaking down.
@@brostenen Yeah, like most "sonic/mario killers" on the Amiga it was just not a very fun platform game. It had so many annoying features that those games didn't have, like how every enemy in zool popped right back if you went even slightly off screen. Some even moved into the screen from offscreen so that they instantly respawned when you beat them. The best Amiga-native platformers (that I know about) were the Turrican games, and the only cutesy one which was actually fun was Robocod.
@@Mnnvint I tried robocop, but I did not like that as well. Turrican-II on the other hand, is a nice game. As much as the Amiga is the absolute best machine between 1985 and 1991, then it had extremely bad games as well. But the best games had no rival on other platforms.
@@brostenen But there was a Robocop 3 on the amiga that was actually quite amazing for the time and afaik I think was exclusive to amiga and maybe Atari ST.
And it will still be emulated on a cheap. ARM quad-core or octo-core SoC. as the A500, C64, VIC-20. N64, SNES, Dreamcast, PSX, etc. Especially given very much any smart-phone made in recent years is much more powerful than a 1970s Cray Supercomputer.
The irony is that this would be doable. I remember when I got my first i7, the i7 920, back in 2009(?) or so, benched it and realised it had significantly higher GFLOPS than a Cray II "super" computer. So making a Cray I or Cray II mini, in a case that looks like the original, only with cheap modern hardware, and 1:1 performance, would be totally doable, even within a reasonable price :D
At 6:29... I was SO HOPING that you would show the "rook" moving, or better still... taking out an opposing piece. This was the most entertaining chess game ever! When the king would take out the opposing queen... he would walk over to her square, grab her and give her a big, loving kiss... then crack her skull with his scepter. Hilarious!!!
Apart from the usual Amiga fan favourites, you can try out the many PD games that were sold with Amiga magazines, such as Asteroids, Tetris Pro. Not to mention Amiga versions of 8 bit games such as Barbarian and Star Wars. The Chaos Engine is a quality game for sure. My friend had an Amiga, with Superfrog, Monkey Island etc. The joypad works on the C64 maxi too. It's much better than the official joystick, albeit I can't get Fist to work too good. Barbarian is way better with the Gamepad. It will be interesting to know when the Amiga full size will turn up. My guess is November 2023. It will be a version of the A600 hd I guess, hopefully full of whd load games and softwares.
@@EnjoySynthSounds The only advantage of a full sized "mini" would be adding a bult in keyboard.. Other than that, you can do can games, software pre-installed to the current mini today by developers.. That's a nitch issue. I don't think this will happen, because its more convenient to use off-the-shielf parts like customers adding a keyboard themselves...
Lemmings would never appear on the A500 mini as it's a Sony property now. Outside of the mobile phone game, it's never appeared on a non Sony system since the Sega Saturn release.
THE showcase game for the Amiga was, tatatataaa, Defender of the Crown. It also came on an impressive two! floppy disks. Amazing and jaw dropping. On topic, you did a great showcase of this little Amiga play toy. Thanks!
I do really like how they've included _Worms: The Director's Cut_ on there of the two Amiga ports! That was arguably the best version of the original game, so it's cool to see it finally get a more widespread release after initially only being right at the end of the Amiga's lifespan.
Couldn't be easier to just and the WHDload file with a thumb drive though! In fact I have every single Amiga game ever made WHDload compatible (probably every game ever made) and altogether they are like 5GB! So out of the box I will have probably have every Amiga game every ready to play on a thumb drive! Too cool!!!
Read the manual, it advises 50hz, as most of the games(and included demoes) were produced in Europe where the Amiga was far more popular than it was in the U.S.
@@ChristianRogersMoneyBruh many can, but with varying frame rate conversion if there’s no native 50/100Hz mode (though many do have such unadvertised support); perhaps they get bothered by subpar frame rate conversion and really want native refresh :)
as a 19 year old fascinated with old computers (mostly because of your videos), the Amiga line (A1000, A500 and so on) have become some of my favorite retro systems and I can't wait to get my hands on one when I get the chance
You really missed out on the Amiga years. I remember them so well. Imagine taking Playstation/Switch/Xbox/PC-gaming culture today, and compressing it to one platform, then replacing the online gaming with gatherings and computer weekends. That was so magic back when 50 to 100 Amiga users would sit in a gym and play games together during one whole weekend. We had magazines back then, and tv shows about games. We gathered in friends bedrooms and played Amiga. And we were few, because most people called us nerds and looked down on us. We were like goth's are still looked at today, because we were different and part of an underground sub culture...... But hey man!!!! We did piracy the big way. Not uncommon to have some 60 to 80 pirated games. Some even had up to 300, and they were "gods".
@@joev178 Wrong..... Original hardware are the best. And you would still not be able to recreate that whole social aspect of an underground youth culture. You just had to have been there.
@@brostenen I was there, I owned an Amiga 500, 3000 and loaded 4000 with Picasso. The original poster can't go back in time to experience what it was like and was commenting on getting an Amiga mini, not the original hardware. It's not wrong to say the Mister FPGA is a better choice. For almost the same price you get the ability to run software as close to original hardware as possible vs emulation. I'm assuming you know what Mister FPGA is but if you don't read up on the hardware and you will understand.
@@joev178 I was there as well. And all I did was to take you directly on your word. Personally I had my first experience with home computers around 1984/85. And after that I experienced that whole evolution of home computers as well as you did. I was kind of a multi platform user, as I tried C64, Amiga and PC. But an original Amiga500, with Gotek and RGBtoHDMI, and you have a better solution than this a500-mini. It is after all for those that can not, or do not wish, to tinker with hardware and just want a nostalgic throwback. I know mister fpga, and have known about it for a number of years. But I have original hardware, so it is pointless to me.
I had to borrow my best friends Commodore 64 back in 1985 just to learn how to type, and I couldn't afford an Amiga 500 until 1993. The memories we all share while growing up with these amazing computers never fade. All of your videos are incredible to watch. Keep the inspiration alive Mr. 8-Bit Guy.😊
I have just pre-ordered one of these, couldn't resist, the nostalgia was just too much haha! So looking forward to playing Worms Directors Cut again, Project X and Pinball Dreams... and the fact that you can pop in a USB stick with more games is just amazing... it's like 1992 all over again haha!
Perhaps its the excitement of connecting it to a big screen? Its defiantly not due to the floppies... but a PC emulator can do the something To me an A500 mini means - plug in, and go (with little setup) - easy add games via USB. - HDMI output. That's it.... For an Amiga buff who owned the hardware in the 80's-90's, i think i deserve more than this.. :) Ya i could add all my adf's to USB. but i also never play with joystick either.... so i'd be forced to attach keyboard, which i already have one built into my Mac. If you only play games. or the occasional DPaint, then perhaps its good enough... Lets just say, II wouldn't wanna replace anything with it..
@Jarek Pelczar I thought the same thing when the NES Mini and Playstation 1 Mini were released. The only upside in my eyes is that they will hopefully bring these older computers to the attention of the younger generations. Hopefully they can be enjoyed again like they first were upon release back in the day
@@pikachulovesketchup666 - for me they’ve hit the nail on the head. The casual user who had one of these back in the day isn’t interested in connecting legacy hardware. They just want to plug it in and play games. For those that want compatibility with legacy hardware, get the real thing.
@UC3TXQc7HGjVyorKL7sxw87A The Amiga was hardware always,you seem to be confused. It was the Amiga hardware that made this possible at the time. I support the real platform and the hardware makers. Sticking Amiga logos on any pc/clone/generic blackbox is not Amiga its just pretend on the best of days. These companies just ride on theC64/Amiga name for profit and put out these fake toys. As for software,i still use 95% of the stuff from the early days,sans the new roms/os's in some of my Amigas. I actually like using quite a few apps.
I didn't have a Nintendo or Sega console until years later. The Amiga 500 was my childhood gaming machine in the early 90s before everyone had a Windows based pc around 1995. This is actually the first mini-console I'm going to buy. This is hugely nostalgic to me and a lot of these games still hold up today, not just relics of the past.
So we could play that horrible version os SF2 again and pretend we do not feel inferior to SNES owners while we actually do hehe (only regarding this game of course).
why would you buy the mini when you have the real a500? I have my old a500 as well Ive been meaning to upgrade it with an ethernet card and us drive converter, but no interest in this thing esp without a working keyboard
@@ytgadfly I perfectly understand your point, but "retro-consumerism is a hell of a drug". Now seriously, I'm not sure if I'm gonna buy it (it is indeed kinda expensive for me) but my main reasons for doing so would be: 1. It is a new product that directly connects to people's childhood and affective memories. 2. Maybe in near future someone will sell a fully working keyboard to be fit inside it just like someone did to C64 mini 3. Because people want it (and have the money) 4. WWIII, Covid or an asteroid may kill us at anytime so why not 5. Come on... It is so darn CUTE!
@@ytgadfly I don't have my childhood amiga 500 anymore. Also this has a much smaller footprint than a real Amiga 500, and besides, I wouldn't want to swap between 15 floppy disks to play Simon the Sorcerer like I did in my childhood
5:30 Lemmings is now a Sony IP after they bought Psygnosis (which became Sony Computer Entertainment Liverpool) so they would have had to have licensed it from them, same as someone wanting any Play The Game Titles (now Epic). Also would have increased the cost of the unit due to that license fee.
@@GiordanDiodato yup, and also specifcally, last year Sony renewed copyright on the Psygnosis IP etc so they still have plans. i'd take a Lemmings mobile game any day of the week!!
As always, another quality video that helps me to really grok the product so much better. Thank you! Next time you find the need to lift a label off, try squirting some isopropyl alcohol into and under the label, it will left off MUCH more cleanly and it'll keep the glue intact so that you can re-apply it afterwards. It's also a great way to defeat security labels that try to leave behind holographic print on a device when they try to tell you that you're not allowed to get inside them or else it'll void warranty (which is arguably illegal for them to tell you in the first place).
Thanks for your videos! I love watching them! I was also just given a Macintosh 513k with mouse and keyboard! I am trying to fix it cause it went up in a cloud of smoke. Your videos helped me a lot! Thanks
Best of luck getting the little lady working again, that's a true Boomer computer :D I had a Mac SE in the original box which sadly was destroyed by a flood, and I also had a BBC model B which had a dodgey PSU and wouldn't power on. Love the older machines, newer stuff is just plastic throwaway. I miss the days when computers and phones came with the power lead in the box lol.
Great video as always! #1-4 was reserved for Retrogames staff, #5 to Koch Media, #6 little ol me :) not sure on #7 though . Keep up with the Amiga videos David, don't worry it's not too much.
They really got me with the keyboard! My first thought when I saw you open the box was "How on earth is an adult supposed to be able to type on those tiny keys?!", but it turns out that nobody is supposed to!
I could imagine someone fabricating a tiny USB keyboard and fitting it into the shell. Easy enough to cut those keys out and attach them to a simple capacitive membrane keyboard and maybe wire it into one of the built in USB ports internally. Maybe add a USB hub controller as a bypass to split one of the ports so you don't lose the functionality of the actual port.
@@juhanipolvi4729 yeah, I wouldn't expect anyone to actually use the keyboard, but it could be fun to show off the tiny impractical functional keyboard you added to the device.
I have a B-29 reference for you: The Amiga was the Enola Gay that nuked Commodore. They should have made an own, true Commodore 16-bit, compatible with the C64, which could have been an IBM-killer.
Looks like they did what we used to do as kids. Hold an empty packet of crisps (chips) on a stick over a fire and shrink it down to a quarter of its size. Made excellent keyrings 😁
Thanks for sharing!!! A500 was my first computer. (It was this or a moped when I turned 16). My favorite games don't get a lot of credit when I view video's about the Amiga. I'm going to mention a few to to unlock the memories of a few people: Fairytale Adventures. Powermonger. Datastorm. Gravity wars. Dungeon Master... etc. Oh yeah. I also had a 68020 and a Vortex Atonce (hardware MS DOS 386, which plugged into the CPU socket) The memories...
The A500 was also my first computer. I first saw the Amiga at a PX on Fort Hood, TX. There was an animation running, where King Tut said "AMIGA" in a robotic voice, then smiled. I immediately thought, I will buy one of these one day. I ended up owning an A500, A1200, and CD32.
America barely had an Amiga scene compared to us in Europe - it's very common for American Amiga users to be unfamiliar with even some of the best games.
Maybe if TCE was labelled as Soldiers Of Fortune or whatever it's US title was lol. I'm more disappointed the machine doesn't have Xenon 2 and Gods installed, those two are synonymous with Amiga for me.
You might be a former Amiga owner, if you recognized the Boing Ball logo long before David explained the logo’s appearance. And YES, not including Lemmings was a COLOSSAL oversight!
As you've said, people have been screaming at ya for a couple years to finish those Amiga episodes, so bring 'em on! I hope you're still planning to finish the Compaq portable series as well.
I guess the unused pinheader is for debugging (looks like a serial-Header) and the button could be for bootloader-selection (since the label "uboot" under it which is an open-source bootloader ;-) )
Great Review, thanks. Funnily enough all Amigas always supported 2 button joysticks but close to no developer ever used that. Great to see, that your game supports the CD32 Pad.
The minute I heard him say "spare USB port" I just knew some genius is going to hang every possible USB peripheral starting with a powered USB hub off of it with daisy chaining to other USB hubs and devices!😊😅👍
Almost certainly need to test a keyboard in that USB port. I'd also like to see games that save - how does that work? E.g., Sim City, Settlers. They missed a huge opportunity to put an SD card slot in the disk drive, but maybe the SoC they used doesn't support that - I'd prefer it to a USB drive dongling off the rear of the device.
It was probably intentional that you received serial number 8, since you are the *8*-bit Guy. At the very least it would be a funny coincidence otherwise.
I'm amazed at this item (especially how you can add games). I've owned about 14 Amigas in my life A500 x 8 A600 x 2 A1200 x 2 A2000 x 2 I ended up selling the remaining Amiga 500's (2 working and 5 for parts) plus games, peripherals to a full on Amiga guy about 15 years ago. He already had a heap of them . Now I just rock Cloan to on my gaming PC
I have one pre-ordered myself. I didn't have an Amiga or C64 as a kid, but I love all these mini/reproduction console/computers that have been coming out lately. It allows me to dip my toes into a semi-authentic experience without having to put in the footwork and shell out the cash to mess with real stuff (Neo Geo stuff is EXPENSIVE). Can't wait to see if they build a full size version.
with a working keyboard yep. Keep the ports "as is" HDMI etc from the mini, just make it larger.. also add to expansion to the menu as well so any ROM's you can add... I guess you could do that already if you do a software update ?????
Used to love playing Supercars 2 as a youngster. There was nothing more fun that blowing up my mate, especially when dropping a mine when he was right behind me. Great fun. Really glad it's included here.
Awesome work! People keep bagging the A500 mini, however I'm still buying it anyway. It's good to put money back into the retro community who support the computers we still have affection for!
@@yuchong1704 Why? With TheC64, the original Commodore keyboard had special graphics assigned to each key. Any graphics or game programming really depended on that specific keyboard layout. With the Amiga, it uses a standard keyboard, there's no reason not to plug in your own usb keyboard. 🙂
@@brianbagnall3029 it's a reference to the AVGN vid (his CD32 only working with something heavy placed on the CD lid). Although AVGN/James is completely clueless about Amigas
I missed the amiga days completely, and actual ones are pretty pricey rn and so are the upgrades for them, this definitely seems like a good way to at least get into amiga gaming (unless /until they make a max version lol) I honestly wouldn't mind picking one up to play around with as well
I feel like even though it is essentially just a "toy", an average consumer that wants to easily play childhood games with no heavy tech knowledge will find great value in this. Just plug it in and go without chasing expensive not to mention rare hardware, especially if it is only used occasionally.
The C64 Mini was the same way...The full size C64 they released on the other hand was completely usable just like the original, with the exception of no disk drives :(....wish they'd figure out a way to build a disk drive for them that works VIA USB port. Or an SD card slot that mimic's a disk drive.
@@squirlmy Their were a lot of us here in the US that had amiga computers. I was apart of the demoscene for example even though I lived in california. We had an active community, but would be great to hear from both sides of the pond.
That is a really cool mini console. Though I understand why they went for the mini first, I am really looking forward to the full size version of the A500 whenever that comes out.
I'm excited! Decent selection of games and a nice price! Great that you can add your own, too. I still have an Ami500 and a 3000T sitting my shed. Wonder if they still boot...
Awesome! If I would not own a working Amiga 500 already I would not hesitate to get one of these. Immediately bought the mouse though and will use it with my desktop computer.
My I.T. lessons at high school was literally playing Lemmings for an hour! Thankfully I managed to teach myself a bit more outside of school. 😂 These mini versions are amazing but once you learn about raspberry pi they all work out crazy expensive. Great video as usual, dude!
The Lemmings version on the Amiga was the definitive one, I remember playing it on the Acorn systems at school and it just didn't feel quite as polished.
They have so many different operating systems for the Raspberry Pi that you can turn a Pi into any retro PC pretty easily if you know how LOL. I had a Pi for a while, never really figured out any use for it myself, so I gave it away. I've thought about getting one for a media center setup, and possibly a NAS at some point, just haven't really dove into any of the Pi stuff far enough to learn much about them and be able to set them up for what I'd want. People are using these Raspberry Pi's for robotics controllers too...and many of these "people" are grade school kids LOL....need to go find one of them to show me how to set one up HAHA!!!
@@GiordanDiodato None of the emulators can properly emulate anything it seems...there's always gonna be issues somewhere along the line. The original is always gonna be the best, but dang the prices on the originals are getting up there, especially if you try and buy them on Ebay....there was a huge warehouse in Texas that had been closed for a couple decades due to the owner's poor health and he passed away recently, so the family opened it up and let people come in and for $150 entry fee you could take anything you wanted...wish I lived close that would have been awesome when they first opened it up, tons of original in box IBM computers, printers, IBM juniors, etc. Lots of old Commodore stuff too. Sadly its all gone, and people that have gone in there sense have trashed the place as well as the stuff that was left in there from what I heard.
that is what I thought as well. I thought that was going to be the case. I'm not interested in an emulator. I had enough with the sega mini megadrive and nintendo mini NES and nintendo mini super nes. I can understand all those mini consoles but when is about a COMPUTER? releasing a mini emulator of the computer? the AMIGA was used as a computer. What is the point of buying an emulator JUST for playing games when the AMIGA was a computer and not a videogames console?. I think the company behind the idea misled customers. And I suspect people not going to be interested on this unless they will come up with something better
Depends how well the mini sells. Its an open secret that its the investors of the company who wanted the mini to come out first to see how well it sells to justify making the maxi. Money talks and all that but we all wanted a maxi rather than the mini first (I say we all because I'm sure we all want a working keyboard for games rather than a model of one) Sadly I'm in two minds about getting one because of the business practice at the company. On 1 hand I want the mini so to make sure the maxi gets made but at the same time I don't want one because if the maxi does get made, I have just wasted £130 on a product i won't be using because the maxi is out. You are basically paying £130 up front in the hopes that the maxi gets made and then have to put more money towards the maxi when its on sale.
@@TBMartin good point they could have made the MAXI version first. with a working keyboard, like a proper functional AMIGA computer, running the AMIGA OS, instead of a mini games emulator
If a full sized version is made, I'd get it. I never owned an Amiga, actually never even used a real one. I've played a few games on an emulator, but haven't done much else regarding Amigas.
@@user-ro1cs5hp5e Its a good point because sadly its true. This company are not making these for the love of retro computing, they are only in it for the money. Typical investor mindset by someone who doesn't understand what they have invested in.
it's a good time to be alive with all these classic consuls i grow up though the 2000s so the consals i played where the game boy, gba, the ninetendo 64, the ps 2 i never thought though of what came before and it's amazing to see all of it it's like a whole world opens up everyday
Another World, Stunt Racer, Pinball Dreams, California Games are some of my favorite. Lemmings is a masterpiece, soundtrack of it was awesome for the time.
no one remembers The Chaos Engine, Desert Strike or even Captain Planet?? Aside from Lemmings (which of my fav. game as well), these would be 2nd, 3rd and 4th places easy.. .... followed by Project X , Alien Breed, and Superfrog
I had to laugh at the "tank" nickname for the mouse. Last time I fired up my a500 I really noticed how brick like the original mouse was. I never had any issues with it when I used it daily, but I guess I've been spoiled over the years with basic ergonomics! The Amiga mouse was kind of futuristic looking, but there was zero consideration of comfort to the user when designing it.
The two unconnected sockets are clearly 5v and Ground for a cooling fan (left), and unconnected internal serial port headers. It really looks good and you have been the last push I needed to get this... now off for some PETSCII! Cheers!
The logo is still used by Amiga World users group ! I so loved my A500 . My children as well loved it after I got my Amiga 2000 . Be so nice to have all the share ware games as well ! So many games that worked just so well and where playable to a point you could even win ! I loved F-18 interceptor.... but you have to have a keyboard for the dozens of controls it took to fly it !
Cool video! Hopefully it can be found for slightly cheaper when it's released in the US (the c64 mini was discounted pretty quickly). Also - any reason why you didn't test a real USB keyboard oh this?
If I had to guess, I'd say they designed the board with an A500Maxi in mind, and the extra headers and caps are for the keyboard and maybe a floppy drive.
Nope, see other comment about debug use of the extra header. The caps being considered then found to be unneeded is common and the location indicates deduction to the USB ports.
Don't forget that a lot of Amiga games were ported to Acorn RISC OS machines. I played a lot of Lemmings on it - with a mouse! - and of course, Zool. I still have the box for the game.
Seems they've done a great fan service with this one. Looks really well made. Have some originals here but would consider buying one for some hassle free couch gaming...or waiting for a maxi version ;-)
1:16 - Perifractic's serial number #1 was for the prototype... His production serial number is #17 - so yours is extra cool... (especially with the 8 connection to 8-bit guy!)
Here we are, some 30-odd years later, and I still immediately associated that logo with Amiga's classic red-and-white bouncing ball.
All serious Amiga users knew what it was instantly.
Didn't even had an Amiga (only borrowed one from a friend) because I jumped from C64 to Mega Drive and then PC, but even I thought of the bouncing ball right away.
As did I!
My friend in HS had an Amiga. I remember his anticipation and how excited he was when it finally arrived. He talked about how powerful it was and all the things it could do. Only to lose it shortly after for making fake report cards. lol
sure "This channel doesn't have any content"
haha that is funny :)
Report cards?
Totally gangster move changes your grade on your report cards
@@58jharris That was an IMSAI 8080 computer, not an Amiga lol.
I'm really sick of these mini computers having non-working keyboards.
Yeah, they can go to hell lol
if the keyboards worked you'd probably need to tape chopsticks to your fingers just to type
About the LED, if you go into the system options on the main menu, you can choose to have the power LED "mimic Amiga behaviour", that's how to get the green light to function as well as the red!
❤
As a child of the 80s, born in the 70s, this opening tune always brightens my day :)
Am child of 90s
I’m a child of the 2020’s, born in the 70’s
Lol same.
I feel the same way. 😁
same. same.
The small switch on the board is apparently used to enter the UBoot bootloader. The two unpopulated headers are for 5V/GND (fan?) and serial port (TX/RX). Presumably you can log into a serial console via that header.
Looks like it would be fairly easy to hack and tinker with :)
It seems like a pretty standard ARM SBC - but they may have disabled the serial console in the release image so it may require flashing of a custom firmware.
@@JohnnyWednesday Many consumer devices seem to leave the serial TTY enabled, presumably since the average customer will not be tapping into it.
Would make messing with the bootloader to flash a new image somewhat more... adventurous for sure. Hoping it's at least a somewhat common Mediatek SoC or similar.
@@MayaPosch - small world :) I work on Linux drivers for Mediatek SoCs for a Chinese SBC firm. Somebody will hack it :) the company themselves will likely have somebody leak any required information - they can't break the law but they know it'll sell even better if the users can :P
@@JohnnyWednesday What a coincidence :)
I assume that Mediatek drivers are NDA-ed up the hilt, just like for AllWinner and Broadcom SoCs? Standard joke is still that the moment an SoC is EOL-ed is when it gets mainstream Linux support. Can't really find much reason to disagree with that assessment, unfortunately.
Basic drivers like sound and network are generally not that problematic, but as I found out while tinkering with GPU-based video decoding across various ARM SBCs as part of the NymphCast project, anything beyond basic 2D graphics for a UI gets pretty hairy, let alone other advanced features of an SoC.
That said, I imagine that the SoC in this Amiga 500 Mini is pretty basic, maybe a Cortex-A53 quad-core or even quad Cortex-A7. It only has run an Amiga emulator, after all, with some basic graphics :)
i want to see someone with logical thinking and run linux on it for no reason
The fact that the keyboard is a separate molded piece makes me think it's possible someone could make a working keyboard that fits, even if you do have to type with pencils.
small qwerty keyboard from older smartphones like xperia x10 mini pro were smaller and... quite comfortable.
It's been done ua-cam.com/video/QTSnuXPwFIs/v-deo.html
Does a keyboard work if connected via USB for games that can use it?
Dean Woodyatt who makes working keyboards for the C64 Mini says he's on it.
@@Emudude1963 Sounds like the right guy for the job, I bet he already has all the tooling to make the keys the correct size.
Parents bought me an Amiga 500 back in the day and later the 512K RAM expansion (1MB total) Lots of good memories with this computer and still haven't forgot the 6 floppy disk Dragons Lair experience lol.
nothing beats the 80's experience...
*nothing*
You can built on it and change stuff, but all your doing is adding candy coating.I miss my Action Replay III catridge
The opening sequence of Another World left a lifelong impression on me, it was truly amazing the first time i saw it.
The electricity pulse waves that run over the accelerator equipment after the protagonist is teleported away, plus the stereo sound effects had my hair standing on end around my neck. Roto-scoped goodness :D
One genius thing was the demo version had the entire intro
@@raulfv the magic of vectors
There was a GDC talk (Classic Game Postmortem) about that game.
And there is an amazing article at Fabien Sanglard's website, highly recommend reading for anyone curious on how that game is implemented.
Good idea to put the controller's desk right behind where the particle accelerator terminates!
Imagine if the disk drive accepted a SD card for loading extra software, that would be neat
Be even cooler if it accepted little floppy disks that were carriers for SD cards.
Let the mods commence mwahaha
@@russdill that what my first thought after reading the first comment :)
True
Neat indeed!
I wish I knew if they were going to come out with a full sized version of this. The minis don't really interest me, but I love the C64 "maxi" I have. I could never afford a Commodore 64 growing up, and it's nice to have something so similar now and also not have to worry about it breaking down.
I like the minis for consoles since they don't require a keyboard, but the 64 and Amiga do so I'd rather have the "maxi"
Apparently a version with a full size keyboard is getting released in the last quarter of 2024 but there's no word on price yet.
❤
Wow, I haven’t seen that first stage of another world in over 20 years… forgot it even existed. What a blast from the past!!
I remember getting the demo on magazine disk. I was amazed
@@wezjgaming1035 Used to go down to my local newsagents just to "see" the coverdisks... I couldn't buy any of them, no money 😆 ....till later on...
"Let's try Zool" ... "Anyway, moving along"
Ah the authentic experience most of us had with Zool 🤣
I never liked Zool my self. I always saw Zool as this inferior candy-pop version of Sonic. Goana sisters are way cooler.
I expect something similar will happen when he tries to play f16 combat pilot without a keyboard. I wonder why they decided to add that game.
@@brostenen Yeah, like most "sonic/mario killers" on the Amiga it was just not a very fun platform game. It had so many annoying features that those games didn't have, like how every enemy in zool popped right back if you went even slightly off screen. Some even moved into the screen from offscreen so that they instantly respawned when you beat them.
The best Amiga-native platformers (that I know about) were the Turrican games, and the only cutesy one which was actually fun was Robocod.
@@Mnnvint I tried robocop, but I did not like that as well. Turrican-II on the other hand, is a nice game. As much as the Amiga is the absolute best machine between 1985 and 1991, then it had extremely bad games as well. But the best games had no rival on other platforms.
@@brostenen But there was a Robocop 3 on the amiga that was actually quite amazing for the time and afaik I think was exclusive to amiga and maybe Atari ST.
" Coming up on *The 8-Bit Guy:* _The Mini Cray Supercomputer!_ "
In other works, thanks, keep 'em coming, and keep up the good work.
I hope they put 5 fans inside of it so it whines like the hounds of hell - more for an SGI Mini ;)
That would be cool
And it will still be emulated on a cheap. ARM quad-core or octo-core SoC. as the A500, C64, VIC-20. N64, SNES, Dreamcast, PSX, etc. Especially given very much any smart-phone made in recent years is much more powerful than a 1970s Cray Supercomputer.
....And the Cray version of Petscii Robots!
The irony is that this would be doable. I remember when I got my first i7, the i7 920, back in 2009(?) or so, benched it and realised it had significantly higher GFLOPS than a Cray II "super" computer. So making a Cray I or Cray II mini, in a case that looks like the original, only with cheap modern hardware, and 1:1 performance, would be totally doable, even within a reasonable price :D
At 6:29... I was SO HOPING that you would show the "rook" moving, or better still... taking out an opposing piece. This was the most entertaining chess game ever! When the king would take out the opposing queen... he would walk over to her square, grab her and give her a big, loving kiss... then crack her skull with his scepter. Hilarious!!!
And I wonder who played seriously to this game instead of just trying to watch every possible ways of killing the characters :-)
@@guillaumejeremia8779 😆 intermission 😆
Apart from the usual Amiga fan favourites, you can try out the many PD games that were sold with Amiga magazines, such as Asteroids, Tetris Pro. Not to mention Amiga versions of 8 bit games such as Barbarian and Star Wars. The Chaos Engine is a quality game for sure. My friend had an Amiga, with Superfrog, Monkey Island etc. The joypad works on the C64 maxi too. It's much better than the official joystick, albeit I can't get Fist to work too good. Barbarian is way better with the Gamepad. It will be interesting to know when the Amiga full size will turn up. My guess is November 2023. It will be a version of the A600 hd I guess, hopefully full of whd load games and softwares.
@@EnjoySynthSounds The only advantage of a full sized "mini" would be adding a bult in keyboard.. Other than that, you can do can games, software pre-installed to the current mini today by developers..
That's a nitch issue. I don't think this will happen, because its more convenient to use off-the-shielf parts like customers adding a keyboard themselves...
Lemmings would never appear on the A500 mini as it's a Sony property now. Outside of the mobile phone game, it's never appeared on a non Sony system since the Sega Saturn release.
But hello you Guru Larry!
So that’s why I’ve only found on PS3
THE showcase game for the Amiga was, tatatataaa, Defender of the Crown. It also came on an impressive two! floppy disks. Amazing and jaw dropping. On topic, you did a great showcase of this little Amiga play toy. Thanks!
I do really like how they've included _Worms: The Director's Cut_ on there of the two Amiga ports! That was arguably the best version of the original game, so it's cool to see it finally get a more widespread release after initially only being right at the end of the Amiga's lifespan.
Yup and they knew it would not sell very well and yet made it exclusive to the amiga.
Couldn't be easier to just and the WHDload file with a thumb drive though! In fact I have every single Amiga game ever made WHDload compatible (probably every game ever made) and altogether they are like 5GB! So out of the box I will have probably have every Amiga game every ready to play on a thumb drive! Too cool!!!
Well, Team 17 started out as an Amiga games publisher.
you only play games?
@@parabolee - and I suppose they’re all genuine copies obtained in a legal way?
I'd love to see an Amiga 500 episode added to your great commodore history series!
i was born in 2003 so i never lived this firsthand, but these retro youtuber really got me interested in older computers.
Read the manual, it advises 50hz, as most of the games(and included demoes) were produced in Europe where the Amiga was far more popular than it was in the U.S.
I might have to get my Plasma back out of storage as that does 50 hz lol
@@DEVILTAZ35 it was under my assumption that most modern hdtvs could handle 50hz. My LG 4K does at least.
@@ChristianRogersMoneyBruh many can, but with varying frame rate conversion if there’s no native 50/100Hz mode (though many do have such unadvertised support); perhaps they get bothered by subpar frame rate conversion and really want native refresh :)
PAL
Interesting, I didn’t know that. Thank you for telling
as a 19 year old fascinated with old computers (mostly because of your videos), the Amiga line (A1000, A500 and so on) have become some of my favorite retro systems and I can't wait to get my hands on one when I get the chance
A Mister FPGA would be money better spent if you want to experience systems of the past.
You really missed out on the Amiga years. I remember them so well. Imagine taking Playstation/Switch/Xbox/PC-gaming culture today, and compressing it to one platform, then replacing the online gaming with gatherings and computer weekends. That was so magic back when 50 to 100 Amiga users would sit in a gym and play games together during one whole weekend. We had magazines back then, and tv shows about games. We gathered in friends bedrooms and played Amiga. And we were few, because most people called us nerds and looked down on us. We were like goth's are still looked at today, because we were different and part of an underground sub culture...... But hey man!!!! We did piracy the big way. Not uncommon to have some 60 to 80 pirated games. Some even had up to 300, and they were "gods".
@@joev178 Wrong..... Original hardware are the best. And you would still not be able to recreate that whole social aspect of an underground youth culture. You just had to have been there.
@@brostenen I was there, I owned an Amiga 500, 3000 and loaded 4000 with Picasso. The original poster can't go back in time to experience what it was like and was commenting on getting an Amiga mini, not the original hardware. It's not wrong to say the Mister FPGA is a better choice. For almost the same price you get the ability to run software as close to original hardware as possible vs emulation. I'm assuming you know what Mister FPGA is but if you don't read up on the hardware and you will understand.
@@joev178 I was there as well. And all I did was to take you directly on your word. Personally I had my first experience with home computers around 1984/85. And after that I experienced that whole evolution of home computers as well as you did. I was kind of a multi platform user, as I tried C64, Amiga and PC. But an original Amiga500, with Gotek and RGBtoHDMI, and you have a better solution than this a500-mini. It is after all for those that can not, or do not wish, to tinker with hardware and just want a nostalgic throwback.
I know mister fpga, and have known about it for a number of years. But I have original hardware, so it is pointless to me.
I had to borrow my best friends Commodore 64 back in 1985 just to learn how to type, and I couldn't afford an Amiga 500 until 1993. The memories we all share while growing up with these amazing computers never fade. All of your videos are incredible to watch. Keep the inspiration alive Mr. 8-Bit Guy.😊
I have just pre-ordered one of these, couldn't resist, the nostalgia was just too much haha! So looking forward to playing Worms Directors Cut again, Project X and Pinball Dreams... and the fact that you can pop in a USB stick with more games is just amazing... it's like 1992 all over again haha!
Perhaps its the excitement of connecting it to a big screen? Its defiantly not due to the floppies... but a PC emulator can do the something
To me an A500 mini means
- plug in, and go (with little setup)
- easy add games via USB.
- HDMI output.
That's it.... For an Amiga buff who owned the hardware in the 80's-90's, i think i deserve more than this.. :) Ya i could add all my adf's to USB. but i also never play with joystick either.... so i'd be forced to attach keyboard, which i already have one built into my Mac. If you only play games. or the occasional DPaint, then perhaps its good enough... Lets just say, II wouldn't wanna replace anything with it..
Actually the boing ball originates in the Atari 8bit line whereJay Miner's team created a demo to display the capabilities of their first machine.
It’s cool to be seeing all these retro mini devices come out lately. Makes things a lot more accessible
@Jarek Pelczar I thought the same thing when the NES Mini and Playstation 1 Mini were released.
The only upside in my eyes is that they will hopefully bring these older computers to the attention of the younger generations. Hopefully they can be enjoyed again like they first were upon release back in the day
Its not an Amiga :)
@@pikachulovesketchup666 - for me they’ve hit the nail on the head. The casual user who had one of these back in the day isn’t interested in connecting legacy hardware. They just want to plug it in and play games.
For those that want compatibility with legacy hardware, get the real thing.
@@leftmono1016 - Exactly - this device isn't trying to be original hardware, it's a love letter - it's art you can play with.
@UC3TXQc7HGjVyorKL7sxw87A The Amiga was hardware always,you seem to be confused. It was the Amiga hardware that made this possible at the time. I support the real platform and the hardware makers. Sticking Amiga logos on any pc/clone/generic blackbox is not Amiga its just pretend on the best of days. These companies just ride on theC64/Amiga name for profit and put out these fake toys. As for software,i still use 95% of the stuff from the early days,sans the new roms/os's in some of my Amigas. I actually like using quite a few apps.
This is so cool. :)
IMO the thing that really made the Amiga version of Lemmings so killer was the dual-mouse two-player mode - truly mayhem!
sad that Sony probably asked for a lot
single player was enough for me to get ti.. It's already hard enough without split screen
I didn't have a Nintendo or Sega console until years later. The Amiga 500 was my childhood gaming machine in the early 90s before everyone had a Windows based pc around 1995. This is actually the first mini-console I'm going to buy. This is hugely nostalgic to me and a lot of these games still hold up today, not just relics of the past.
So we could play that horrible version os SF2 again and pretend we do not feel inferior to SNES owners while we actually do hehe (only regarding this game of course).
why would you buy the mini when you have the real a500? I have my old a500 as well Ive been meaning to upgrade it with an ethernet card and us drive converter, but no interest in this thing esp without a working keyboard
@@ytgadfly I perfectly understand your point, but "retro-consumerism is a hell of a drug". Now seriously, I'm not sure if I'm gonna buy it (it is indeed kinda expensive for me) but my main reasons for doing so would be:
1. It is a new product that directly connects to people's childhood and affective memories.
2. Maybe in near future someone will sell a fully working keyboard to be fit inside it just like someone did to C64 mini
3. Because people want it (and have the money)
4. WWIII, Covid or an asteroid may kill us at anytime so why not
5. Come on... It is so darn CUTE!
@@ytgadfly I don't have my childhood amiga 500 anymore. Also this has a much smaller footprint than a real Amiga 500, and besides, I wouldn't want to swap between 15 floppy disks to play Simon the Sorcerer like I did in my childhood
Can you load roms on it?
5:30 Lemmings is now a Sony IP after they bought Psygnosis (which became Sony Computer Entertainment Liverpool) so they would have had to have licensed it from them, same as someone wanting any Play The Game Titles (now Epic). Also would have increased the cost of the unit due to that license fee.
Ah. So no Walker, either. Ah well.
probably the reason why The New Zealand Story isn't on it, either.
The rights are owned by Square Enix nowadays.
@@GiordanDiodato yup, and also specifcally, last year Sony renewed copyright on the Psygnosis IP etc so they still have plans. i'd take a Lemmings mobile game any day of the week!!
@@DaiAtlus79 maybe they'll reboot it?
heck maybe Bungie could do something with it since they used to develop RTS games like Myth
As always, another quality video that helps me to really grok the product so much better. Thank you! Next time you find the need to lift a label off, try squirting some isopropyl alcohol into and under the label, it will left off MUCH more cleanly and it'll keep the glue intact so that you can re-apply it afterwards. It's also a great way to defeat security labels that try to leave behind holographic print on a device when they try to tell you that you're not allowed to get inside them or else it'll void warranty (which is arguably illegal for them to tell you in the first place).
Great review! I have mine arriving tomorrow.
Thanks for your videos! I love watching them! I was also just given a Macintosh 513k with mouse and keyboard! I am trying to fix it cause it went up in a cloud of smoke. Your videos helped me a lot! Thanks
Best of luck getting the little lady working again, that's a true Boomer computer :D I had a Mac SE in the original box which sadly was destroyed by a flood, and I also had a BBC model B which had a dodgey PSU and wouldn't power on. Love the older machines, newer stuff is just plastic throwaway.
I miss the days when computers and phones came with the power lead in the box lol.
3:58 It says to only use 60 Hz output if your TV doesn't support 50 Hz.
I bet most LCD TVs in the USA support 50 Hz.
Love all these Amiga videos. It's been a long time coming!
Such an AWESOME included game list, I'm so excited to have this thing on pre-order!!! 😊
Great video as always! #1-4 was reserved for Retrogames staff, #5 to Koch Media, #6 little ol me :) not sure on #7 though . Keep up with the Amiga videos David, don't worry it's not too much.
Probably Metal Jesus as he has a review out too
Of course, the _8_ Bit Guy would naturally receive the *#8* serial number!
ua-cam.com/video/yR2lgxy-htU/v-deo.html Daniel Craig should have gotten #7!
I think Perifractic got either #7 or #17. Im not going back to just se what the number was, but I now I saw a 7 in there..
They really got me with the keyboard! My first thought when I saw you open the box was "How on earth is an adult supposed to be able to type on those tiny keys?!", but it turns out that nobody is supposed to!
The TheC64 Mini was the same in that way, but there were crafting individuals who built their own working keyboard to put in there ...
I could imagine someone fabricating a tiny USB keyboard and fitting it into the shell. Easy enough to cut those keys out and attach them to a simple capacitive membrane keyboard and maybe wire it into one of the built in USB ports internally. Maybe add a USB hub controller as a bypass to split one of the ports so you don't lose the functionality of the actual port.
@@dbzgamer72486 Well, as the 8-bit guy said one would probably need to use a pen to use the keyboard, so it wouldn't make much sense.
@@juhanipolvi4729 yeah, I wouldn't expect anyone to actually use the keyboard, but it could be fun to show off the tiny impractical functional keyboard you added to the device.
Someone someone will hack one. IT was done for TheC64 mini...
Thanks for the trip down memory lane! Just to see if I could, I got these all installed on my Retroid Pocket 2+, and they run perfectly!
Thanks friend! this was very helpful in hyping me up to pre-order it! cheers!
Also, I like how the circuit board has "Cosmic Thing" printed on it. Didn't the original Amiga have B-52 references hidden within it, too?
Yes, certain versions on the amiga motherboard featured the names of b-52 songs.
Yes, I remember the "Rock Lobster" Amiga 500 mobo!
I have a B-29 reference for you: The Amiga was the Enola Gay that nuked Commodore. They should have made an own, true Commodore 16-bit, compatible with the C64, which could have been an IBM-killer.
@@NuntiusLegis the b-52's are a lot different than a b-29 🤣
@@mikel6989 They are both bombers.
Looks like they did what we used to do as kids.
Hold an empty packet of crisps (chips) on a stick over a fire and shrink it down to a quarter of its size. Made excellent keyrings 😁
I used to do that in the oven.
Featured on Blue Peter at one point, you happen to be from the UK? :)
I used to do this too. In the oven and also from the UK 👍
@@AmaBroze Yep that's how we used to do it as kids.
Great review, and also your outro is BANGIN! 👌👌
Thanks for sharing!!!
A500 was my first computer. (It was this or a moped when I turned 16).
My favorite games don't get a lot of credit when I view video's about the Amiga.
I'm going to mention a few to to unlock the memories of a few people:
Fairytale Adventures. Powermonger. Datastorm. Gravity wars. Dungeon Master... etc.
Oh yeah. I also had a 68020 and a Vortex Atonce (hardware MS DOS 386, which plugged into the CPU socket)
The memories...
The A500 was also my first computer. I first saw the Amiga at a PX on Fort Hood, TX. There was an animation running, where King Tut said "AMIGA" in a robotic voice, then smiled. I immediately thought, I will buy one of these one day. I ended up owning an A500, A1200, and CD32.
I was very surprised that Speedball, The Chaos Engine and Simon the Sorcerer were not among the games you were familiar with.
Americans.... sigh.....
America barely had an Amiga scene compared to us in Europe - it's very common for American Amiga users to be unfamiliar with even some of the best games.
Maybe if TCE was labelled as Soldiers Of Fortune or whatever it's US title was lol. I'm more disappointed the machine doesn't have Xenon 2 and Gods installed, those two are synonymous with Amiga for me.
i hope simon the sorcerer is the version released with voice acting by the great Chris Barrie!
@@BlazeShorts820 - I believe it's the disk version only - and who on earth is Chris Barrie? sounds like a complete smeghead to me.
You might be a former Amiga owner, if you recognized the Boing Ball logo long before David explained the logo’s appearance. And YES, not including Lemmings was a COLOSSAL oversight!
it's because Sony owns Lemmings and they probably asked a lot for it.
@@GiordanDiodatoWhat he said.
@@GiordanDiodato Greedy companies
I never had a Commodore machine, but "sure enough", you make it feel like I'm remembering the good old days :)
just randomly found this channel..
damn it is fun to see hardware like this
Yeah same here 😀
I just pre-ordered one on Amazon. The current $139 price seems eminently reasonable.
As you've said, people have been screaming at ya for a couple years to finish those Amiga episodes, so bring 'em on! I hope you're still planning to finish the Compaq portable series as well.
Simon the Sorcerer is one of the best point and click adventures ever made. It's also really funny.
Agreed! I played through whole game to end. Very very good game.
I guess the unused pinheader is for debugging (looks like a serial-Header) and the button could be for bootloader-selection (since the label "uboot" under it which is an open-source bootloader ;-) )
Don't worry about the "flooding with amiga" thing. It's a fascinating system that I love hearing about, and coincidences happen.
I hope a full size version with a working keyboard will come. As it happened with the C64.
already announced, temptative date its november, but with pandemic still goin, will have to wait a little bit
@@xXFlameHaze92Xx Great news, I had no idea
@@xXFlameHaze92Xx Really? Source? I'd love to hear that this is true!
I take it that this version doesn't USB keyboards?
@@xRepoUKx it supports USB keyboards
Great Review, thanks. Funnily enough all Amigas always supported 2 button joysticks but close to no developer ever used that. Great to see, that your game supports the CD32 Pad.
Noice show ! bring's me back when i use to play Deuteros ! Many thanx !!!
The minute I heard him say "spare USB port" I just knew some genius is going to hang every possible USB peripheral starting with a powered USB hub off of it with daisy chaining to other USB hubs and devices!😊😅👍
Almost certainly need to test a keyboard in that USB port. I'd also like to see games that save - how does that work? E.g., Sim City, Settlers. They missed a huge opportunity to put an SD card slot in the disk drive, but maybe the SoC they used doesn't support that - I'd prefer it to a USB drive dongling off the rear of the device.
....I would presume the first thing people would connect to it is a USB keyboard, actually.
It was probably intentional that you received serial number 8, since you are the *8*-bit Guy. At the very least it would be a funny coincidence otherwise.
10:25 thanks for taking it apart, that;s what I was looking for to see!
This is right up your alley 8-bit guy. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up one. Thanks for the video.
I'm amazed at this item (especially how you can add games). I've owned about 14 Amigas in my life
A500 x 8
A600 x 2
A1200 x 2
A2000 x 2
I ended up selling the remaining Amiga 500's (2 working and 5 for parts) plus games, peripherals to a full on Amiga guy about 15 years ago. He already had a heap of them .
Now I just rock Cloan to on my gaming PC
Why did you have 8 500s?
I have one pre-ordered myself. I didn't have an Amiga or C64 as a kid, but I love all these mini/reproduction console/computers that have been coming out lately. It allows me to dip my toes into a semi-authentic experience without having to put in the footwork and shell out the cash to mess with real stuff (Neo Geo stuff is EXPENSIVE). Can't wait to see if they build a full size version.
with a working keyboard yep. Keep the ports "as is" HDMI etc from the mini, just make it larger..
also add to expansion to the menu as well so any ROM's you can add... I guess you could do that already if you do a software update ?????
So happy you are making regular content again
Used to love playing Supercars 2 as a youngster. There was nothing more fun that blowing up my mate, especially when dropping a mine when he was right behind me. Great fun. Really glad it's included here.
Awesome work! People keep bagging the A500 mini, however I'm still buying it anyway. It's good to put money back into the retro community who support the computers we still have affection for!
Me too mine comes Friday
I’ll wait for the full size one with working keyboard.
@@yuchong1704 Why? With TheC64, the original Commodore keyboard had special graphics assigned to each key. Any graphics or game programming really depended on that specific keyboard layout. With the Amiga, it uses a standard keyboard, there's no reason not to plug in your own usb keyboard. 🙂
If u buy that you are not supporting the retro community, you are supporting a big company that destroys retro legacy creating those plastic s****
8:20 ah yes, the CD-32, a game console that needs a paint bucket to work 😂
I don't get it. Paint it tan?
@@brianbagnall3029 it's a reference to the AVGN vid (his CD32 only working with something heavy placed on the CD lid). Although AVGN/James is completely clueless about Amigas
Great review David, Thx!
Great video! 8 bit guy has the best intro on UA-cam.
I missed the amiga days completely, and actual ones are pretty pricey rn and so are the upgrades for them, this definitely seems like a good way to at least get into amiga gaming (unless /until they make a max version lol) I honestly wouldn't mind picking one up to play around with as well
I feel like even though it is essentially just a "toy", an average consumer that wants to easily play childhood games with no heavy tech knowledge will find great value in this. Just plug it in and go without chasing expensive not to mention rare hardware, especially if it is only used occasionally.
The C64 Mini was the same way...The full size C64 they released on the other hand was completely usable just like the original, with the exception of no disk drives :(....wish they'd figure out a way to build a disk drive for them that works VIA USB port. Or an SD card slot that mimic's a disk drive.
Adorable... Now I want a mini version of my setup from back in the day. A mini A2000, equipped with a mini toaster & a 030 accelerator card :)
I am going to get one of these...looks a good bit of retro fun.
11:22 based on the labels I'd say one is for a fan and the other is for a UART for debugging the underlying Linux system.
"Flood the channel with Amiga stuff" YES please! 👍
Need more AMIGA!!
I think either a UK or German UA-camr would be more appropriate.
@@squirlmy Their were a lot of us here in the US that had amiga computers. I was apart of the demoscene for example even though I lived in california. We had an active community, but would be great to hear from both sides of the pond.
Kick Off 2 is an amazing game, we played it for hours and hours, great playability and so much fun.
Thanks for another great video. Love that cute Amiga.
That is a really cool mini console. Though I understand why they went for the mini first, I am really looking forward to the full size version of the A500 whenever that comes out.
I'm wondering if we'll even get one, given how big the original Amiga keyboard was.
I gotta ask, would the Amiga A1200 be better?
I might pick this up if it’s discounted like the C64 Mini, or a ‘maxi’ version comes out for ‘reasonable’ price.
I'm excited! Decent selection of games and a nice price! Great that you can add your own, too. I still have an Ami500 and a 3000T sitting my shed. Wonder if they still boot...
Awesome! If I would not own a working Amiga 500 already I would not hesitate to get one of these. Immediately bought the mouse though and will use it with my desktop computer.
My I.T. lessons at high school was literally playing Lemmings for an hour! Thankfully I managed to teach myself a bit more outside of school. 😂
These mini versions are amazing but once you learn about raspberry pi they all work out crazy expensive.
Great video as usual, dude!
The Lemmings version on the Amiga was the definitive one, I remember playing it on the Acorn systems at school and it just didn't feel quite as polished.
They have so many different operating systems for the Raspberry Pi that you can turn a Pi into any retro PC pretty easily if you know how LOL. I had a Pi for a while, never really figured out any use for it myself, so I gave it away. I've thought about getting one for a media center setup, and possibly a NAS at some point, just haven't really dove into any of the Pi stuff far enough to learn much about them and be able to set them up for what I'd want. People are using these Raspberry Pi's for robotics controllers too...and many of these "people" are grade school kids LOL....need to go find one of them to show me how to set one up HAHA!!!
@@wildbill23c too bad it still can't emulate a Sega Saturn properly.
@@GiordanDiodato None of the emulators can properly emulate anything it seems...there's always gonna be issues somewhere along the line. The original is always gonna be the best, but dang the prices on the originals are getting up there, especially if you try and buy them on Ebay....there was a huge warehouse in Texas that had been closed for a couple decades due to the owner's poor health and he passed away recently, so the family opened it up and let people come in and for $150 entry fee you could take anything you wanted...wish I lived close that would have been awesome when they first opened it up, tons of original in box IBM computers, printers, IBM juniors, etc. Lots of old Commodore stuff too. Sadly its all gone, and people that have gone in there sense have trashed the place as well as the stuff that was left in there from what I heard.
Project X is by far one of the hardest and best shoot em ups ever made!
I loved and hated that game.
@@KABBARANKS Many a late school night!
@@whiterabbit1632 Oh yes. I never did finish it, or Xenon 2. 😕
I'm looking forward to those vids coming
Loved Pinball Dreams, Pinball Fantasies & Pinball Illusions, remember Walker, Fire & Ice. Another World was great & my Amiga came with Zool.
I really hope they make a full sized version. Absolutely love the maxi c64
that is what I thought as well. I thought that was going to be the case. I'm not interested in an emulator. I had enough with the sega mini megadrive and nintendo mini NES and nintendo mini super nes. I can understand all those mini consoles but when is about a COMPUTER? releasing a mini emulator of the computer? the AMIGA was used as a computer. What is the point of buying an emulator JUST for playing games when the AMIGA was a computer and not a videogames console?. I think the company behind the idea misled customers. And I suspect people not going to be interested on this unless they will come up with something better
Depends how well the mini sells. Its an open secret that its the investors of the company who wanted the mini to come out first to see how well it sells to justify making the maxi. Money talks and all that but we all wanted a maxi rather than the mini first (I say we all because I'm sure we all want a working keyboard for games rather than a model of one) Sadly I'm in two minds about getting one because of the business practice at the company. On 1 hand I want the mini so to make sure the maxi gets made but at the same time I don't want one because if the maxi does get made, I have just wasted £130 on a product i won't be using because the maxi is out. You are basically paying £130 up front in the hopes that the maxi gets made and then have to put more money towards the maxi when its on sale.
@@TBMartin good point they could have made the MAXI version first. with a working keyboard, like a proper functional AMIGA computer, running the AMIGA OS, instead of a mini games emulator
If a full sized version is made, I'd get it. I never owned an Amiga, actually never even used a real one. I've played a few games on an emulator, but haven't done much else regarding Amigas.
@@user-ro1cs5hp5e Its a good point because sadly its true. This company are not making these for the love of retro computing, they are only in it for the money. Typical investor mindset by someone who doesn't understand what they have invested in.
IMO, the biggest "value" of this is the nostalgia. Yes, it's cute. Yes, it's usable (kinda)... but I wouldn't pay over $100 USD for it.
given that the Amiga was far more popular in Europe than NA, I feel like the price is justified.
plus you could add more ROMs.
It's cool but it isn't practical to have a dedicated emulator that needs it's own separate desktop setup.
Great video as always!
it's a good time to be alive with all these classic consuls i grow up though the 2000s so the consals i played where the game boy, gba, the ninetendo 64, the ps 2 i never thought though of what came before and it's amazing to see all of it it's like a whole world opens up everyday
Another World, Stunt Racer, Pinball Dreams, California Games are some of my favorite. Lemmings is a masterpiece, soundtrack of it was awesome for the time.
no one remembers The Chaos Engine, Desert Strike or even Captain Planet?? Aside from Lemmings (which of my fav. game as well), these would be 2nd, 3rd and 4th places easy.. .... followed by Project X , Alien Breed, and Superfrog
@@Tech-geeky Desert Strike was awesome
I had to laugh at the "tank" nickname for the mouse. Last time I fired up my a500 I really noticed how brick like the original mouse was. I never had any issues with it when I used it daily, but I guess I've been spoiled over the years with basic ergonomics! The Amiga mouse was kind of futuristic looking, but there was zero consideration of comfort to the user when designing it.
The two unconnected sockets are clearly 5v and Ground for a cooling fan (left), and unconnected internal serial port headers. It really looks good and you have been the last push I needed to get this... now off for some PETSCII! Cheers!
The logo is still used by Amiga World users group ! I so loved my A500 . My children as well loved it after I got my Amiga 2000 . Be so nice to have all the share ware games as well ! So many games that worked just so well and where playable to a point you could even win ! I loved F-18 interceptor.... but you have to have a keyboard for the dozens of controls it took to fly it !
F-18 Interceptor was my first Amiga game - got it and my 500 in 1988!
Cool video! Hopefully it can be found for slightly cheaper when it's released in the US (the c64 mini was discounted pretty quickly).
Also - any reason why you didn't test a real USB keyboard oh this?
If I had to guess, I'd say they designed the board with an A500Maxi in mind, and the extra headers and caps are for the keyboard and maybe a floppy drive.
Nope, see other comment about debug use of the extra header. The caps being considered then found to be unneeded is common and the location indicates deduction to the USB ports.
@@johndododoe1411 yeah, same exact debug header on my Legend Of Zelda Edition Game and Watch.
Amiga 500 was part of my childhood. Thank you for review. I've been thinking to buy Amiga mini.
Don't forget that a lot of Amiga games were ported to Acorn RISC OS machines. I played a lot of Lemmings on it - with a mouse! - and of course, Zool. I still have the box for the game.
I also recommend a video on my channel 👉 *Echa Ekranu* 😀👍
Seems they've done a great fan service with this one. Looks really well made. Have some originals here but would consider buying one for some hassle free couch gaming...or waiting for a maxi version ;-)
still heartbroken the keyboard doesn't work.
@@nullvoid564 Its way too small to be of any use anyways. Its like the C64 mini was, keyboard is about 1/4 the size of the original LOL.
TheCD32 Mini?
@@wildbill23c then it needs a USB keyboard with floppy drive the size and look of the original.
or a double size version
From Pinball to Battlefield... DICE has come a long way!
Some might say they have fallen a long way ;)
6:04 Same here; it's one of the toughest games I've ever attempted.
I agree; Lemmings was meant to be played with a mouse/trackball.
1:16 - Perifractic's serial number #1 was for the prototype... His production serial number is #17 - so yours is extra cool... (especially with the 8 connection to 8-bit guy!)