I want an Amiga gaming system!

[jjans]

...but the A3000 is not an AGA machine.
blakespot

True, alas, but I like monitor support it has. Also does it not have  flippable 1.3 or 2.0 AmigaOS Roms ?

[leirbag28]

jjsans:  DO NOT go by those screnshots of the Amiga RF modulator.........those screenshots look like crap and in no way do justice to what a A520 looks like........trust me it looks much better than that, I have 2 of them right here and just tested them and they look crisp.when connected with the Video composite. and im sure the RF looks pretty good too.

Someone metioned something about a 3000?  anyone got the Super kickstart on a floppy they could send me? maybe as an adf file?

[leirbag28]

mugenakuma:

just get the A500 and later get an A1200..........no big deal
they are both good for games
its not complicated at all.

And some people here keep saying it will be difficult to find games. BALONEY!!!!!

they are super duper duper easy to find..and best of all, for FREE!!!!

remember this:    "back2theroots"

thats the website to get all your gaming needs and for free!....... they have some of the best Amiga games ever made there........ like ProjectX, SuperFrog, and so many more I cant remember at the moment.even AGA versions

so dont get complicated.......get a plain A500 and thats it........it will work fine just like that.no need to add anything.....there are plenty of games that run on 512k of mem if thats all it has.......so dont worry..just get it.and later sell it on eBay.and get a 1200.

ok?

[mugenakuma]

leirbag28 I see what you are saying and the sensible thrifty side of me says buy an A500. The devil crazy gamer inside me says buy the A1200. To have an internal hard drive and the AGA chipset is really appealing.

From what I have seen a nice A500 (mint condition) is going to cost at least $130-$200.  For a bit more I could get a 1200 so why not just spend the extra cash so I don't have to worry about selling off the 500 later?

[Tomas]

Get both  :-P

[leirbag28]

mugenakuma:

I dont know where you saw an A500 for $130.00
but it should not cost more than $40.00 for an A500, and do not pay a dime more unless its upgraded. an A1200 you can get for about $120.00 and I would not pay a dime more for a basic setup. If you really do some searching, you can find an A500 for $20.00 or less!

[jjans]

Hey leirbag28:

Thanks for the info on the A520. Very interesting. How do you find it for applications run from Workbench?

[mugenakuma]

Well redrumloa was selling a basically new refurbished Amiga for $150 shipped. Which I think is well worth it considering it's basically new.

I have looked on ebay and the A1200's I have seen are at least $130 now with quite a bit more auction time left.

There is one place I saw on the net called Visalia, I think, that is selling A1200's with a 6GB internal hard drive, basic software, 2mb ram, for $200 or so.

As far as getting a cheap Amiga, well I really don't want some dirty, yellowed, tape residue covered system. The cheap ones I find usually are in this type of conditon.

So far I haven't found ANYWHERE that seems good for Amiga computer purchases, other than ebay.

[leirbag28]

jjans:
How do you find it for applications run from Workbench?

What do you mean? do you mean if it needs drivers?

the answer is NO..you just plug it in the RGB port and it functions just like if you were to connect a SEGA genesis or SNES or PSone to a TV.......using the composite.

[mepmepmep]

those screenshots look like crap

Well, I have some interference from electric equipment close to the antenna cable. Also the images are compressed with jpg which ofcourse is not the optimal compression to use in this case.

What do you mean? do you mean if it needs drivers?

I believe he wonders if the output to your TV is so good that you do not find it bothersome to read small text and such from the screen.

@jjans
The best solution I have used was to connect a cable from the monitor output of the Amiga to the SCART on a TV-set. My big nice TV-set has collapsed now so I cannot do this anymore:( The AV channel on the TV-set has to be able to be set to display RGB! This produces the nicest image on a TV that I have seen! Then ofcourse you connect the audio left and right from your Amiga to your stereo with those huge speakers and of you go;-)
Your wife will be really happy about this solution  :-D

[Viking]

@mepmepmep

I'd like to add some classics:


4D Sports Driving (Motor, Mindscape 1992)

A-10 Tank Killer (Flight sim, Dynamix 1991)
A-Train (Strategy, Maxis 1993)
Air Warrior (Flight sim, On-Line 1993)
Alien 3 (Action, Virgin Games 1993)
Alien Breed Special Edition 92   (Shoot'em up, Team 17 1992)
Another World ("Out of this World" in the US), (Arcade/Adventure, Delphine 1990)
Arcade Pool (Sports sim, Team 17 1994)
Armour Geddon II: Codename Hellfire (Tactical wargame, Psygnosis 1994)

B-17 Flying Fortress (Flight sim, MicroProse 1993)
BAT 2 (Action Adventure, UBI Soft 1993)
Battle Chess ("Violent" chess, Electronic Arts 1988)
Benefactor (Platform/Puzzle, Digital Illusions 1994)
BlockOut ("Tetris-category", California Dreams/Rainbow Arts 1990)

Caesar Deluxe (Strategy, Impressions 1993)
Clue, The (Adventure, Kompart 1994)
Conflict: Korea (Strategy/Warsim, SSI 1992)
Cool World (Platform, Ocean 1992)
Colonization (Strategy, MicroProse 1995) *
Crime City (Adventure, Impressions 1992)
Crystals of Arborea (RPG, Silmarils 1991)
Cybernetix (Shoot'em up, 1995 PD)
Cytron (Shoot'em up, Psygnosis 1993)

Damocles (Arcade/Adventure, Novagen 1990)
Darkmere (Arcade/Adventure, Core Design 1994)
Demoniak (Adventure, Palace 1991)
Dreamweb, The (Adventure, Empire 1995) *

F-15 Strike Eagle III (MicroProse 1993)
F-16 Combat Pilot (Digital Integration 1989)
Fighter Duel Pro (Flight sim, Jaeger Software 1993)
Formula 1 Grand Prix (Motor, MicroProse 1992) *

Global Effect (Strategy, Millennium 1992)
Gravity Force 2 (Platform, Kingsoft 1989)

Harpoon (Naval strategy, Three-Sixty 1990)
Harpoon + Scenarios (Naval strategy, Electronic Arts 1992)
History Line: 1914-1918 (Strategy, Blue Byte 1993)
Hudson Hawk (Platform, Ocean 1992)

Impossible Mission 2025 (Arcade/Adventure, MicroProse 1994)

Kingmaker (Strategy, US Gold 1993)
Kingpin Bowling (Sports sim, Team 17 1995)
Kings Quest III: The Heir is Human (Adventure, Sierra On-Line 1987)
Knights of the Crystallion (Mixed but mostly Adventure. US Gold 1989)

Legend (RPG, Mindscape 1992)
Legend Of Kyrandia, The (Adventure, Westwood Studios/Virgin Games 1992)

Maniac Mansion (Adventure, Lucasfilm 1989)
Mean Streets (Adventure, US Gold 1990) *
MiG 27 Super Fulcrum (Flight sim, Domark 1991)
Mighty Bombjack (Platform, Elite 1991)
Might & Magic 3 (RPG, New World Computing, 1992)

Nightbreed - The Action Game (Action/Adventure, Ocean 1991)
No Greater Glory (Strategy, SSI 1992)

Oil Imperium (Strategy, reLine/Rainbow Arts 1988)
Outrun Europe (Motor, US Gold 1991)
Overlord (Flight sim, Virgin 1995) *

Panzer Battles (Strategy, SSG 1992)
Patrician, The (Strategy/Trade sim, Ascon 1993)
Perfect General, The (Strategy, QQP 1992)
Police Quest: In Pursuit of the Death Angel (Adventure, Sierra 1987)
Police Quest 3 (Adventure, Sierra 1992)
Pools of Darkness (RPG, SSI 1992)
Premier Manager (Football management, Gremlin 1993)
Premier Manager 2 (Football management, Gremlin 1993)
Premier Manager 3 (Football management, Gremlin 1994)
Pro Flight (Realistic bomber/flight sim, HiSoft 1992)
Pro Tennis Tour II (Tennis sim, UBI Soft 1991)

Ranx (Platform/Fighting, UBI Soft 1991)
Reach For The Skies (Flight sim, Virgin Games 1993)
Realms (Strategy/Action-adventure, Virgin Games 1992) *
Rings of Medusa (Strategy, Starbyte 1989)
Rings of Medusa 2: Return of Medusa (RPG, Starbyte 1991)
Road Rash (Motor (MC), Electronic Arts 1993)
Robin Hood - Conquest of the Longbow (Adventure, Sierra Online 1992)
Robocod (Platform, Millennium 1991)
Robosport (Action/Strategy, Maxis 1992)
Rocket Ranger (Arcade/Adventure, Cinemaware/Mirror Image 1988)
Rubicon (Platform shooter, 21st Century 1991)

Seek & Destroy (Shoot'em up, Mindscape 1994)
Sensible Golf (Sensible Software 1995)
Shadow Fighter (Beat'em up, Gremlin 1995)
Sim Ant (Strategy, Maxis 1992)
Simon the Sorcerer (Adventure, Adventure Soft 1994) *
Sleepwalker (Platform, Ocean 1993)
Space 1889 (Adventure/RPG, Empire 1992)
Space Gun (Shoot'em up, Ocean 1992)
Streetfighter 2 (US Gold 1993)
Strike Fleet (Naval sim, Electronic Arts 1991)
Super Monaco GP (Motor, US Gold 1991)
Surgeon, The (Surgical sim(!), ISM Inc. 1986)

T.F.X (Flight sim, Ocean 1995)
Tearaway Thomas (Platform, Play Byte/Head-On Technology 1993)
Test Drive 2 - The Duel (Motor, Accolade 1989)
Their Finest Hour: The Battle of Britain (Flight sim, LucasFilm 1989)
Tornado (Flight sim, Digital Integration 1993) *
Troddlers (Mix of Lemmings/Boulder Dash, ATOD Design/The Sales Curve 1992)
Trolls (Platform, Flair Software 1993)

Viking Child, The (Platform adventure, Electronic Zoo 1991)
Voyages of Discovery (Strategy, Black Legend 1995)

Wayne Gretzky Ice Hockey (Bethesda Softworks 1989)
Wayne Gretzky Ice Hockey 2 (Bethesda Softworks 1992)
Willy Beamish (Adventure, Dynamix 1992)
Wolfpack (Naval sim, Mirrorsoft 1990)
Wrath Of The Demon (Adventure, ReadySoft 1990)

Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders (Adventure, Lucasfilm 1988)


* Certainly some of the best games in its category / era


TEXT ADVENTURES:
The Lost Treasures of Infocom   -a collection of 20 classic Infocom adventures, re-released by Activision in 1992. The probably best 10 of'em:

Leather Goddesses of Phobos (1986)
The Hitchhiker's Guide to The Galaxy (1984)
Zork (1986)
Zork II (1986)
Zork III (1986)
Zork Zero (1989)
Planetfall (1983)
Stationfall (1987)
Lurking Horror (1987)
Spellbreaker (1987)
-A game not in this box - A Mind Forever Voyaging - written by the legend Steve Meretzky at Infocom (1985), is definately worth looking for.



@mugenakuma

I've not mentioned any AGA games. After 1994 most games worth mentioning is AGA versions. It means you'll miss alot if you choose a non-AGA model. One more way to run old incompatible programs on an A1200/4000 is simply to load an old Kickstart from floppy.

[leirbag28]

@mepmepmep

No one here in North America knows what a SCART led is.......here in America we use S-Video (Chroma and Luma) and since no amiga except the CDTV and CD32 have S-Video out, you have to get a Genlock wich wil give you the S-Video out and then connect it to a S-Video TV  and the picture looks almost as good as an RGB monitor

[leirbag28]

@jjans: How do you find it for applications run from Workbench?


 Ah ok, now I understand the question......(thanks mepmepmep)

For Applications run from Workbench, it does not look very readable especially because of the flickering...........BUT.......I have managed to make it look godd using Visual Prefs to reduce the fliskering and using larger fonts to make text more readable. Anyone whoever connects any kind of computer to a TV must do this anyway, unless you have a really large TV.  The way Visual Prefs can help you is by changing the colors of the lines around the window borders to a light grey for the Shine and a dark grey for the shadow..because what causes alot of the flickering, is the contrast between the very thin white line and the very thin black line......ah, also double the thickness of the window border lines and the button borders.......youll see a huge difference. Thats why if you ver connected a Windows PC to a TV, you'll notice is flickers alot less than Workbench.............this is one of the reasons, because their window borders have thicker lines of 2 pixels or more, while workbench in Highres Interlace mode has a very thin one like maybe one pixel thick, that includes the little line under the Title bar.

[jjans]

@mepmepmep & leirbag28:
Thanks for the info. Any ideas on how I can justify 'borrowing'  the family's big screen TV without causing a riot?

What the hell was the original post anyway???

Oh yeah, mugenakuma, sounds like you want the A1200. There seems to be people here with that fine system, that are able to help you out with any A1200 questions.

Here is an interesting link:
http://www.amigau.com/c-amiga/A1200.htm

[mepmepmep]

sounds like you want the A1200

@mugenakuma
I agree. Judging from your latest statements, I  think you should go for a nice A1200-setup with lots of included software.
Then, later, if you are not happy with the support for old games, just get a cheap A500 with some golden oldies included to make your gaming experience complete.
That is the route to gaming heaven.

[Ren]

Well, I was in the same boat as @mugenakuma a few weeks ago, i.e. wanted Amiga mainly for the games (and hopefully if I find some time some programming).

Anyway, I ended up getting:

Amiga 600 with 2.04 Rom, 40 HD (without the cable, whoever had it beforehand had the HD outside, since there is an ugly cut at the back just wide enough for the cable , no mouse, stuffed floppy and most of all NO BADGE (anyone knows where I could get a replacement A600 badge??) . Luckily there is a dealer nearby which has a "Evergreen" mouse for $A15 and a replacement floppy for $A35 (BTW, are A1200 and A600 internal floppies different?).

Amiga 1200 with 3.0 Roms, Expansion board with 4 mb & RTC, 500 mb HD, PCMCIA network adapter and 2nd floppy.

I found the PCMCIA network adapter (with the A1200) VERY useful. If you got a PC and/or broadband internet it will make life a lot easier if you want to download stuff off the internet (such as WHDload patches or games) or copy stuff to or from PC.

Now I haven't tried the nic with the A600 (since the floppy is dead) yet but I don't see why it shouldn't work (except for transfers being slower maybe).

Anyway, I got a few questions:

Did the Commdodore 1084S come with cable for Amiga? I bought it so long ago I'm not really sure.

Also, is it worth getting an accelerator board for A1200 for games? Like how many good games run better with it than with a stock A1200?

PS. Forgot to mention this originally. There is quite a few freeware/PD games on Aminet:

http://wuarchive.wustl.edu/aminet/game/index.html