Commodore Amiga question

[Gogan]

Can the Commodore Amiga be hooked up to a normal CRT television? I was on Shmups.com and this seems like a sweet little system, but seems to have a monitor as well.

Was it sold as a computer, or as a home gaming console?

Also, there seems to be different model numbers for them as well, are all "Amiga" games compatible with any model? I'd like to pick one up.

[Vecanti]

You can hook any of them up to a CRT, though with most models you need an A520 adapter. (Gives you video out and RF out many A500s came with the adapter in the box).

There are 2 different graphic chipsets.  The A500, A1000, A2000 use "OCS" or Original Chip Set.  That is what 95% of the games use.

Later the new chipset came out "AGA" which had more colors. These were mainly the A1200 and A4000.  There are some AGA games, but not a lot of good ones.  An A1200 will play most "OCS" games though you often need some software to "degrade" it down to "OCS". (degrading is easy, it's just a floppy you boot and it's temporary, just lasts until you power it off.)

A500 or A1200 would probably be the best system to go for.  The A1200 has color video out and RF out so you don't need the adapter to hook it to your TV.  Plus with the A1200 you can play the few AGA games out there, it has more ram and things like the that. 

The only problem I ran into when I used some Amiga's again after all these years is that a lot of games are in PAL. (I live in an NTSC country).  Like the with the PCE where most of the games are from Japan, with the Amiga most of the games come from Europe where they use PAL.

None of the TVs in my house would do PAL so I basically couldn't play very many games.  In the old days TVs use to have a manual "Vsync" knob and you just adjusted that and they did PAL fine (50hz instead of 60hz).  But none of the TVs I have (even 7 to 8 years old) have a way to adjust Vsync.

There is also always, WinUAE.  An excellent emulator that emulates pretty much all Amiga hardware that ever came out. 

[Tatsujin]

if your crt supports true rgb inputs via scart, there is no problem of hooking it up with the best signal possible

[Gogan]

Thanks for the onfo, sadly my TV at the moment doesn't have scart input, I think I may just use emulator, means more money for obey >

Any good ones for a Mac computer?

[SignOfZeta]

I would say it was sold as a legit computer (more legit than a C64 anyway) but it was also very fun. It certainly wasn't a "gaming system".

[Arkhan]

you need a modulator or a modification to go to a normal TV.  Otherwise its black and white. They make a nice svideo board to do regular TVs. and the flickerfixer!

Anyway what you want for the ultimate Amiga experience is either:

A1200 w/ a hard drive + proper ram expansions + accelerator (maybe) + WHDLoad plus a full install of OS possibly w/ kickstart rom upgrades (to install a newer OS)
A4000 w/ the same.  The 4000 is easier to modify since rather than being a wedgeboard, its a desktop.  You can get nice accelerators and shit.  Even a network card and surf the net all gimped 1995 style.

So one of the above w/ hard drive and ram expansions, and os3.1 or better is good..... you can get away with an older OS but its kinda lame.  Then, you can download games for whdload and play them.  You generally dont need an accelerator unless you are going to play 3d games.   The reason for WHDLoad is for compatibility with the different processors, etc. (And for free games!)

That being said, and with all due respect to Amigans, f*ck the Amiga.  What a waste of time and money.  If you didn't experience them when they were current, getting one now is just a bad idea.  The arcade conversions are gimped compared to other systems of the same era.  Getting a working model up to speed in order to easily play games is a pretty hefty investment....and even then you get the whole thing setup, and it takes a big deal of space....for a less than <3 experience.

a solid A4000 will run you 500+$ on a good day, and a solid A1200 maybe about 350....... and youll still need to get a composite or svideo solution after that. 

Definitely not worth it because you're in it for the games, and not the Amiga computer experience , I think.

If you want to diddle around with Workbench, and actually try using the thing seriously, then by all means go for it.  Hell, PM me even, I know people who can hook you up with nice Amiga systems.

and in the end you could emulate it and be fine.  The "real hardware" experience is not that great, and I speak from experience. I've had an A500, 1200, 2000, 2500, 3000 and 4000

I still have a 1200.  I think.    They really arent worth the time unless you just have to play the exclusives or if you are programming / using workbench.

I think youd be better off spending the $$ on a nice imported Japanese computer, like an MSX.  Definitely cooler IMO.

[nat]

Yeah, the Amiga was definitely a computer and NOT a "console." My grandmother, who is a professional artist, used an Amiga 500 and an Amiga 1000 from the late '80s through the late '90s for graphic design.

There are also Amiga models beyond the 4000, although I'm unsure if the newest hardware can run the old games. The newest Amiga models are actually called "AmigaOne" and have various identifiers (XE, SE, etc). There is a new model in development called the AmigaOne X1000 which was announced in January of this year.

[Tatsujin]

All what he needs is a plain A500 w/ 1MB RAM and probably 2nd disk drive.

[Arkhan]

All what he needs is a plain A500 w/ 1MB RAM and probably 2nd disk drive.

no AGA games? No thanks.  You're just wasting your time with Amiga if you don't have access to AGA games.

also, Nat, all of those aftermarket Amigas (minimig, etc) are all junk.  Plus, the minimig has some f*cking stupid port placement.  cables coming out of 3 sides of the board.  totally great for setting up on a desk.  Totally.  XD

[Gogan]

Thanks for the infos. I def only want it for teh games, so I'd be bettr off with emulation.

What's with this MSX thing? Games look rather stellar...

[Vecanti]

Plus, the minimig has some f*cking stupid port placement.  cables coming out of 3 sides of the board. 

* GobanToba hides his TG16 and PCE cables.     :oops:

[Arkhan]

Thanks for the infos. I def only want it for teh games, so I'd be bettr off with emulation.

What's with this MSX thing? Games look rather stellar...

The msx is the real wonder computer of the 80s.  Not that dumbass VIC-20 that shatner was rambling about.

It's where Vampire Killer ( castlevania) came from.  Theres a ton of great Konami games, (original metal gear 1 and 2), alot of RPGs and stuff.

You'll see games on MSX that were also on PCE, like Fray, Xak, Ys, Emerald Dragon....

great stuff.  They are really fun machines w/ great sound options...

PSG, FM, and SCC

SCC is konami's sound chip.  It sounds like a PC Engine!

WOOO.

MSX. 

[ccovell]

No scrolling hardware!  Games in little windows!

Wooo

[Arkhan]

No scrolling hardware!  Games in little windows!

Wooo

Theres vertical scrolling hardware on the MSX2, and horizontal on the 2+....

and Fray and Xak are admittedly better on the MSX despite the hardware shortcomings.


The scrolling complaint is for crybabies anyways.  All the shooters play better on the msx than they do on scrolling computers like the C64.  Unless you simply love you some R-Type with music and no sfx.

and Ill take FM or PSG over horribly redone Paula stuff.

then you got the SCC.  Damn is it good.

[guyjin]

It's where Vampire Killer ( castlevania) came from.  Theres a ton of great Konami games, (original metal gear 1 and 2), alot of RPGs and stuff.

you have that backwards. Castlevania came out on the Famicom first. But the msx version only came a month later, so they were probably in development at the same time.