What is the most powerfull Amiga setup for gaming? Beyond A500?

[sharpie]

I used to have an A500 with the extra 512kb of RAM. What would you say is the most powerful Amiga system (that runs all of the original Amiga games)?

Are the 600, 1000, and 1200 better options in terms of speed, memory and hard drive options? Or can I supe up my A500 to be good enough?

And how much of a difference does it make? Weren't most games back then made to run on A500 as the lowest common denominator?

Thoughts? I am in the market for more Amiga hardware

[Desolator]

Depends on the games you intend to play. The A500 is better suitable for old games since not every game will work on the A1200, which is THE computer to have for (example) AGA games. Add some nifty hardware and you'll get a machine that can handle somewhat modern 3D games too, like Quake.

Note though, that the A500 doesn't have a harddrive so the A1200 is also better suited for large games that can be installed onto the HDD or WHDLoad'ed.

[redrumloa]

To run original games? As in the majority of the games ever written? An A500 with 1Meg and KS1.3 is all you need, maybe adding a few external floppy drives.

The vast majority of old school games were made to run on an OCS or ECS based machine with KS1.3.  Some older games will refuse to run on this but most will. There are also degrading tricks to help run stubborn older games.

Newer Amigas with heavy expansions don't do much to improve
old school games.

[sharpie]

1st, What is an AGA game?

2nd, is it not possible to connect an external HD to the A500?

3rd, is there somekind of masterlist for determining compatibility of games between the various Amigas?

Lastly, am I correct in presuming that anything beyond the A1200 is overkill for gaming?

[sharpie]

The vast majority of old school games were made to run on an OCS or ECS based machine with KS1.3. Some older games will refuse to run on this but most will. There are also degrading tricks to help run stubborn older games.

I don't want to get annoying, is there somewhere I can look up these acronyms? I was 13 when I owned my original A500. ECS and OCS don't ring a bell.

I guess I am interested in the games that were out when the A500 was king, but I am also clueless as to what games came after. I thought that gaming on the Amiga kind of died after that but maybe I'm wrong. Were there any classics or top shelf games that were geared towards later generation Amigas?

[redrumloa]

To put in simple terms without going into an miga history.

The Amiga 500 is the most compatible for old games.

There were games made later on that will not be compatible for one reason or another. Yes there is still a few new games coming out to this day for the Amiga. Quake II is the last one I can think of.

When looking for games for your Amiga 500 most of them will say "For Amiga 1000 500 2000", but some may say "For OCS/ECS".

-Edit-
By the way, welcome to Amiga.org!! I hope you enjoy your stay:-)

[redrumloa]

Oh yeah, KS stands for KickStart. This is the part of the operating system that resides on a rom inside the computer. The Amiga 500 over the years came with KS1.2, KS1.3 and KS2.04. The one you would preferably want is KS1.3. To find out simply turn on the computer with no floppy disks inserted and see what the prompter says. If it is not KS1.3 you may want to consider buying and replacing the KickStart.

[x56h34]

Amiga 500 with KS1.2 will be just as compatible as 1.3. Have you honestly ever ran into a game that doesn't boot on 1.2 and does on 1.3?

[redrumloa]

x56h34 wrote:
Amiga 500 with KS1.2 will be just as compatible as 1.3. Have you honestly ever ran into a game that doesn't boot on 1.2 and does on 1.3?

Yes!!!!!!!! (!!!!!!!!)

[sharpie]

Ok, great roundup, I'll go read this history of the Amiga to catchup on the gaps, but first, what is an AGA game?

I don't think you answered that last tidbit yet, did you?

Thanks for all your help!

[redrumloa]

AGA is the graphics chipset that came in the Amiga 1200, Amiga 4000 and CD32 computers. It is newer than the original OCS/ECS graphics chipsets that came in the earlier Amigas and is not 100% backwards compatible. Any game written for AGA will not run on an Amiga 500. Luckily there was very few games that were AGA only.

[x56h34]

Not me. :-) I am not saying there are none, but probably it's a rare ocasion, and not worth it as if it would be if you had a let's say 2.04 powered A500.

[mantisspider]

history of AGA : nice info

[downix]

I'm partial to the Pegasos II w/ a G3-600 or G4-1000, a Voodoo4 video card, and SCSI controller.

[sharpie]

I'm partial to the Pegasos II w/ a G3-600 or G4-1000, a Voodoo4 video card, and SCSI controller.

Sorry for my ignorance but does that run the original Amiga game titles?