I want an Amiga gaming system!

[mepmepmep]

@HopperJF
The Amiga was very, very poplular in Sweden. If not as popular as in the UK atleast very close. But I have absolutely no idea about the Amiga status in the US where mugenakuma comes from? I get the impression that the Americans in general tends to move on faster and that the Amiga buffs left in the US are much more of buffs than the European buffs, and also not as common;) No harm intended, just an observation!!! ;-) But we shall remember that the Amiga origins from the US and its hard to become a prophet in your own country. Ask a swede if he/she likes ABBA for example;-) Enough of that already!

Second hand stores in the US, hmm. Absolutely no idea. Buying up a stock of illegal copies is ofcourse, the most likely option but that's... Illegal. A lot of really good games have been made free by their producers/publishers ofcourse. I wonder then if it is legal to aquire a pirated copy of a game that has been released from it's copyright by the copyright owner? Well, well... It is not our problem, right;-)

[mepmepmep]

@McTrinsic
Sorry, never actually really played it:-( Have had a brief look at Ultima VI but that's it. I cannot state that a game is great if I never tried it, right;-) You've made a welcome addition to the list of great Amiga games:-)

[mepmepmep]

@mugenakuma
It's really up to how much you want to pay... And if you can get your own software? If you have no idea about how to obtain your own software, I would go for the 1200 package. Because there seems to be truckloads of software included!!! And quite a few gems too!
If you know how to find your games and do not bother about the software included. Go for the 500 because it's much cheaper.
If you go for the 1200, make sure that the games included actually WORKS for the machine that you will get!!!
If everything included in the 1200 package works for that machine, and If I was a newbie, and I had no idea about where to get some games for my system, I believe I would go for the A1200 in this exceptional case;-) It certainly looks set to give you an Amiga Kickstart :-D

[mepmepmep]

@mugenakuma
Yes, yes... But finding 1200 compatible games, and finding games compatible with THAT 1200 system is two different things. You know, add an 030 accelerator, suddenlys many games stop working. Add an scsi interface a few more drops out.. and so on. Some games expect to find 2 megs of memory and find 128 and then totally freaks out ;-) Man, I'm caring about your gaming health here!!! But if the dude that sells that 1200 states that all the software include works for that particular machine. Well, then... It's a gem!!
Your main problem seems to be software, and you certainly get some nice software with the 1200. The software that comes with the 500 is not bad but... ....compared to what comes with the 1200, it is;-)

[mepmepmep]

@mugenakuma
The A1200 is DEFINATELY not a bad system. I have one myself. And ofcourse one or two A500:s too :-D

1200 strengths: Much nicer overall system. Has HD included very often. Faster. More colors. More modern. Supports AGA games (only one or two good of those however;)). PAL/NTSC Selection.

1200 weakness: Many old games just wont run out of the box. Many does.... But many do not. With a lot of tweaking, know-how and general effort many more willl run however.

A500 strengths: For old games, nothing can beat it. It is compatible with 99% of the worthwile Amiga-games because those games were made for this machine quite simply;-)

A500 weakness: For anything but games. It's not a system I would recommend. Slow, old hardware, old software. Not compatible with modern software.

[mepmepmep]

If you go for the 1200 you just have to get your hands on Slamtilt. It's not just because it's a swedish game :-D  Promise! This game is simply the best computer pinball game I have ever played, on any machine. This game is the only really good game that is only for the 1200 and not the 500! Next to that... Get Worms Directors Cut.. Also 1200 only and brilliant.

[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

[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.