Retro Games announces Amiga 500

Nintendo popularised mini consoles with its Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 2016. The Kyoto-based company wasn't the first to market but captured the imagination of gamers of all ages with its cute time capsule containing classic curated video games.

Others wanted in on the throwback action, too.

PlayStation Classic, Sega Mega Drive Mini (Sega Genesis Mini if you're in the US), PC Engine CoreGrafx Mini (TurboGrafx-16 Mini if you're in the US) and many more soon arrived on store shelves to scratch that nostalgic itch.

Now Retro Games is following up its popular C64 and VIC-20 8-bit home computer minis with 16-bit successor, the Amiga A500.



Read the official description:

“Developed by Retro Games Ltd. and distributed by Koch Media, the THEA500Mini features the perfect emulation of, not only, the original A500 (OCS) and Enhanced Chip Set (ECS) of future revisions, but also the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) of the A1200. The A500 Mini comes with the original style 2-button mouse and newly engineered 8-button precision gamepad, allowing you to choose your control method. To compliment the on-screen keyboard, you can plug in an external standard PC keyboard for additional functionality.”

Commodore's 16-bit dream machine was synonymous with heated high school playground debates during the mid-eighties' Amiga vs Atari ST wars. As I was already the owner of an Atari VCS (Toys "R" Us was still selling games for the system in 1985), Sinclair ZX Spectrum 48K and Commodore 64, my parents, rightly, did not indulge my request for an Amiga or Atari ST at Christmas. So, I had to settle for looking at screenshots of the 16-bit conversions of Atari Games' Gauntlet II and Marble Madness in magazines.

Confirmed games include: Alien Breed 3D, Another World, ATR: All Terrain Racing, Battle Chess, Cadaver, Kick Off 2, Pinball Dreams, Simon The Sorcerer, Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe, The Chaos Engine, Worms: The Director’s Cut, Zool: Ninja Of The ‘Nth’ Dimension. Further titles are set to be announced before launch.

“In this initial mini version of THEA500, we have created what we believe gaming fans will love, and will see as the evolution of mini games consoles”, said Paul Andrews, Managing Director at Retro Games.

“Retro Games have developed a truly unique product”, said Debbie Bestwick MBE, CEO at Team 17, “and I’m very excited to have our classic games represented in all their original glory”.

Pre-order THE A500 Mini (affiliate link) for delivery in early 2022 with a suggested retail price of £119.99. Koch Media is distributing and I hope to bring you a review in the future.

What are your memories of the Amiga A500? Let me know in the comments below.

Another World on the App Store

Beautifully cinematic, impressively coherent, challenging and elegant; Another World (known as Out of this World in North America) is a stellar example of Nineties game design and was the brainchild of one Eric Chahi and his team at Delphine Software.

You play Lester, the young physics professor, who suddenly finds himself in a strange alien world after a lightning striked his particle experiment.

In 1991 Another World became the poster child of Gallic gaming and adoring magazine editorials in C&VG and the official Nintendo magazine elevated it to blockbuster status. I first played this on the Super Nintendo (SNES), which was, somewhat astonishingly, eclipsed by Sega's Mega Drive console port. Too late, I'd already sold the latter to a College friend who was trying to kick the console habit to no avail.

Another World's stylistic cousin, Flashback, arrived in 1992, but never distilled the mood of its predecessor nor its downbeat ending.

The look and feel of Another World is unique to this day. Oddworld's developers clearly derived insperation from Delphine.

The iOS edition has been given an HD makeover, but purists can switch to the original Amiga graphics. This is, arguably, the new touchstone in retro reboots for the touch generation.

Another World - 20th Anniversary (iTunes)

Commodore Amiga coming to iPhone

The App Store is replete with retro gaming greatness. For example PC-Engine (known as TurboGrafx-16 in the US) fans can download and play Military Madness: Neo Nectaris (iTunes link).

Manomio, creators of C64 (iTunes link), are toiling away on an Amiga emulator, which will be released on the App Store later this year.

Amiga was home to some of the greatest games of all time, like Peter Molyneux’s Populous and Syndicate, FTL’s Dungeon Master, EA’s Earl Weaver Baseball, and everything by Psygnosis and the Bitmap Brothers.

Bring on Marble Madness...

The Settlers 'settle' for iPhone

Following last week's disappointing Command & Conquer Red Alert for iPhone/iPod touch. Gameloft, one of the App Store's most prolific third-party developers, has looked to an established real-time strategy (RTS) license for its latest release.

The Settlers (iTunes) assuredly marches onto the App Store long after it first appeared on the Amiga in 1993.



You’ve arrived in a wondrous place populated by Romans, Vikings and Mayans competing or cooperating to reach a variety of goals. These goals include occupying land, ensuring the supply of raw materials, or simply trying to create the most beautiful settlement. There is more than one path which leads to success – you can engage in trade, forge alliances, or lead your army into battle.



The Settlers stumbled onto mobile platforms with varying degrees of success. But, Apple's iPhone and iPod touch are the perfect medium, and Gameloft has invested considerable time in R&D!

Given the introductory price point of £2.99, I unreservedly recommend The Settlers (iTunes).

Blame It On The Boogie

In 1990 a Media Studies assignment, the music industry, resulted in the brief formation of my Pop/R&B band - Def Track - when I co-wrote "Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover". The band members were Shane Johnson (lead vocals), Jamie Smith (backing vocals and bass) and myself (backing vocals and keyboard).

Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover (MP3), inspired by a verse from Bros’ Life’s A Heartbeat (The Time album), was recorded at Exeter College’s Bishop Blackall annexe to the chagrin of the music department! How dare media studies students display creative versatility and ungraciously use the main studio to produce commercial material! At the time Paula Abdul, Bros and New Kids On The Block dominated the transatlantic airwaves.

At this point it wouldn’t be churlish to reveal that, aside from a few minor ad-libs from the lead vocalist, I single-handedly wrote the lyrics and take the blame myself.

The song was exclusively recorded using electronic keyboards, bass and drums (mixed using a Commodore Amiga A500) in homage to Michael Jackson’s Bad album, which was clearly influenced by synthpop producers Trevor Horn and Giorgio Moroder.

The arrival of Savage Garden, in the late 1990’s, sparked a resurgence in the synthpop genre and the track's production stands up to comparison with their debut. Darren Hayes are you listening?

Originally the group (self-managed to avoid pitfalls) wanted to submit a 4 song demo EP entitled Facade to radio stations such as Atlantic 252. However, it never came to pass. So, via the magic of the internet here's Def Track's breakthrough single that never was.

How The Leopard Got His Spots

With Intel inside of course! To perpetuate my ordained role of Devil's Advocate, I'm excited by the news and will now wait until next year before upgrading (could be as soon as January 2006).



This really makes sense, just think about it. IBM has failed to deliver G5 chips that break the 3GHz barrier and don't think that the proprietary custom chips, produced for PS3, Xbox 360 and Revolution, will power a Mac Mini before the legal contracts end. Once the dust settles the specifics of the Apple/Intel strategic alliance will become clear as the first bespoke hardware emerges.

A decade ago Mac Users were braced for the transition from 68K to PowerPC. If you think we've had it bad, just speak to Amiga owners! I'm off to download Xcode 2.1 and start compiling PowerPC and Intel universal binaries. 'Rosetta' is the pathway from one paradigm to the next.

[As a footnote. How long can CodeWarrior survive with Xcode snapping at its heels?]

Requiem for a Dream

Growing up my aspirations diverged from "learning the ways of the force" and time traveling to video game author and Grammy-winning performances. Yet the desire to act and perform overarched everything.

In 1983 I was selected to audition (along with other hopefuls from around the South West region) for a place at a prestigious acting school. Due to very poor planning, on the part of my school, the day turned into an unmitigated disaster and the schedule went askew. Our audition piece, performed at Exeter's Northcott Theatre, would have been savaged by Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul! I had prepared a solo set reciting HG Wells' The War of the Worlds and instead was instructed to mimic a tree. A conciliatory weekend placement was offered to selected students who showed promise - one of whom had the propensity to burst into tears when they'd forgotten their lines. I felt slighted, but nothing that a new Star Wars Return of the Jedi action figure couldn't fix! Biker Scout, I salute you.

During High School, under the aegis of Mr Burton (no relation of Richard or Tim), my passion for drama class flourished. Regrettably, he decided to change schools and his successor drove out any sense of enjoyment and I dropped out. A few years later my Dad would meet Mr Burton, in Torbay, who had assumed that I had continued with acting. And learnt that this was not the case.

In 1990 whilst at College I formed a Pop/R&B band - Def Track - as part of a Media Studies project concerning the music industry. During the coach ride to and from London's V&A (I was also studying A-Level Fine Art) I co-wrote "Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover". We recorded the song, promo video and prepared marketing materials (using MacDraw) ourselves. At the suggestion of our Media Studies tutor I wrote further songs for a possible EP (for submission to local radio stations). However, during the summer my work was stolen or mislaid and there was no backup other than a skeletal arrangement stored on an Amiga A500.

I acted in a University studio project (1993) and was required to show a complete lack of interest in the main protagonist. This wasn't too difficult a leap as I found the person, in question, unpalateable at best. It was noted that my performance was very effective and made ingenious use of a newspaper (a metaphor for the barriers in our relationship)!

My claim to fame is as a background extra on BBC Radio Four's The Gemini Apes (1998). However, acting has not lost any of its allure and one day I'm hoping for a reprise.

Maniac Mansion

It's very rare to stumble across an application that is a revelation. Earlier this year MacMAME earned such a distinction - authentic arcade action delivered directly to your desktop - and now ScummVM joins the pantheon!

ScummVM derives its name from 'Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion' and is a 'virtual machine' for several notable graphical point-and-click adventure games. For example LucasArts' The Dig, Day of the Tentacle and Full Throttle. Loading Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis rekindled halcyon memories of my Amiga adventures and the often delayed fourth installment in the movie franchise. Incidentally, the Maniac Mansion property was licensed as a family sitcom (in the US) and ran for several seasons in the early 90's. Did it ever show in the UK?

Both MAME and ScummVM are a Work-In-Progress and available for the majority of popular computer platforms. MacMAME now sports an improved OpenGL driver that fixes VBL sync and aspect ratio correction. Checking anti-aliasing (AKA smoothing) in MacMAME's front-end evokes graphical comparison with Sega's underrated and poorly marketed Dreamcast (NAOMI-based console). Playtime.

Google continues to rollout updates to their email service. Gmail POP3 set-up is a breeze in Entourage 2004 and the added benefits of SSL shouldn't be overlooked. As an avid user of Gmail, I hope that the final release retains this feature. Hotmail announced that support for offline reading and composing would be withdrawn sans subscription. If this happens, then Gmail more than meets my needs.

Time to read the latest developments concerning the Mac OS X 10.3.7 update.

American Idol

The Sun keeps on shining in the South West of England!

Aspiring Mac-based musos using iLife '04 should update GarageBand! Version 1.1 “addresses isolated performance and stability issues, allows per-track Echo settings similar to other effects, supports loop libraries in other disk locations, supports importing unprotected AAC audio files in addition to AIF and MP3 files, and addresses issues with ReWire support, moving GarageBand songs between different computers, Help support, fixing the timing of individual notes (as well as entire regions), and dragging entire tracks in the timeline.”

So, grab a bite from SUBWAY®, launch GarageBand 1.1, record, mix and export (in AAC format) your opus and send to Simon Cowell and the AI team! If only Apple's audio application had been available when I formed Def Track at Exeter College! The "joy" of 8-track and an Amiga A500.

At Inside Mac Games we've extended our subscription service IMG Pro to include further "value-added" features. For more details on IMG Pro, please visit here. IMG Pro costs just $19.95 for one year. A two year subscription costs $39.90.