Wow! It's been a while .. Help!

[coldfish]

I did this myself a few years back.  The A1200 was a good bit of fun for a while, but as far as using it as a games machine goes, I was a bit disappointed by a couple of things:

1. The A1200 has less compatability with classic Amiga software than a modern PC running WinUAE.  You ususally have to run one of a variety of degrader boot disks first to get some games to play.  And then some still dont work right.
You can install them on the 1200's HD with WHDload but you need original disks (no cracked versions) so many d/led ADFs wont work.

2. Expanding the A1200 is a waste of time and money, if all you want to do is play games.  Most games s/ware is A500 level, so the more you upgrade your A1200 the further you shift away from the compatability sweet spot and actually reduce your options.

I upgraded to an 030/40Mhz with 68882FPU and only noticed a small increase in performance when it came to running higher spec stuff.  There are very few games that require an upgraded Amiga and those that do need something more like an 060 or better.  So youre left with limited options if you want to see what your machine can do.  Demos and a few older games that take advantage of more power.  Dont bother with a FPU either, there are very few apps that will use it.

3. Many AGA-only games aren't all that better than A500 stuff, I'd place the majority somewhere around SuperNES quality or lower.

4. Tech' has moved on, what was once an awesome and unbeleivable display of the Amiga's power, is now just kinda cool, even a bit quaint.  There's fewer genuinely impressive moments if you come from using present day tech and go back to using the Amiga.  Games wize, Id place the A1200 experience at about the level of late 16 bit tech, say something like the SNES but not as good as the Neo-Geo.

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The A1200 -is- good for a taste of better-than-A500 Amiga use.  Once you've used an Amiga with a HD you'll never look at a vanila A500 the same way again.  Its a bit like once you get an A500 you never look back at the C64 the same way, though much less of a dramatic jump.

The trouble with the A1200 is, if your -not- going to use it for games (lets face it, has always been the Amiga's main function) then it's just like using an old 1990's computer with a limited software library.

Which, oddly enough, it is!

[coldfish]

Actually an AGA machine is the best machine to get for games

Without dedicated patching like WHDload and JST I'd disagree.
 
The alternative back when these two methods didn't exist was degrader boot disks (that only sometimes worked), or a backup A500 in the corner.

Truth is, the majority of Amiga software was written for a plain old 1Meg A500, the A1200 never had anywhere near as much software support.  The software variety, (post A1200) only deminishes from there.

In anycase, having both an A1200 and an A500 is essential if your into Amiga for games and just want to play without having to frick around with patches too much.  

Form me, my A500 and A1200 ended up taking up too much space and miagrated into storage for a well earned rest.  Eventually, I sold the lot to someone who would enjoy them more.

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To get my Amiga-nostalgia (sounds like a disease!) fix, I have a little 1Gig HTPC I built here, dedicated to VIVO, DVDs, MP3s and Emulators that actually surpasses the experience I had with my real Amiga, and it runs all sorts of arcade greats too.

Currently, I have it wired to a 5.6" LCD-joypad, so it almost has the feel of a -handheld- Amiga/NeoGeo/Mame-box.

My next project will be nano-ITX...
...for -real- handheld fun!