Amiga A500 Mini

[Chedney Honks]

THEA500® Mini

Now other classic consoles are just toys!

25 Amiga classics, including Worms, The Chaos Engine, Another World & Simon The Sorcerer all feature on the THEA500® Mini

Continuing the popular line of timeless classic consoles being given a new lease of life, today Retro Games announces the creation of THEA500® Mini, a fully licensed reimagining of the much-loved 16-bit home computer starring a plethora of classic Amiga games.

Due early 2022, THEA500® Mini is a homage to the 1980s heyday of 16-bit personal computing; inspired by the 1987 release of the Amiga 500, which  featured a 16/32-bit CPU, 512Kb of RAM and an array of custom chips for producing best-in-class sound and video.

Play one of the included 25 classic Amiga games, selected from a simple to use carousel, including all-time greats Another World, Simon The Sorcerer, The Chaos Engine and Worms. Or side-load your own games via USB stick with full WHDLoad support and an array of options to choose from. Plus, save and resume your game at any time to help you finish those punishingly-difficult classics.

Developed by Retro Games Ltd. and distributed by Koch Media, the THEA500® Mini 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 THEA500® 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.

"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".

THEA500® Mini will hit the shops in early 2022 with a suggested retail price of GBP£119.99/ EUR€129.99/ USD$139.99/ AUD$199.99

To see the trailer -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKUgEOpr4Qs

THEA500® MINI ANNOUNCED GAMES LIST (12 of 25)
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.  Additional games will be announced at a later date.

Included in the box with THEA500® Mini is a 1.8m (6ft) wired USB classic mouse, a 1.8m (6ft) wired precision 8-button gamepad, a USB-A to USB-C power cable (PSU not included) and  HDMI cable (both 1.8m (6ft) in length) allowing full compatibility with all modern TVs.  Other features include a save game function, selectable 50Hz or 60Hz screen refresh, CRT filter and multiple scaling options. Also upload your own files, games and firmware revisions via USB flash drive (not included).

[Neomod]

No Deluxe Paint II.

Ahh, it's because it was a console.

Continuing the popular line of timeless classic consoles being given a new lease of life

[ImmaculateClump]

Included in the box with THEA500® Mini is a 1.8m (6ft) wired USB classic mouse

Wot no classic trackball?



My desk was tiny so I had to have that :D Surprisingly useable once you got used to it!

As usual with these things, I have a pc, amiga emulation is great. I don't want any plastic tat cluttering up my living room.

No Deluxe Paint II.

Ahh, it's because it was a console.

I wasted so much of my youth in that and med/octamed, amos, seuck :D Great days!

edit: Honks, why you no star hunter? You're not keen on the sideways games, is that it? You not fancy playing at the minute? I think you'll like it! It's a bit like rolling gunner without the rolling crossed with espgaluda.

[Sebastian Cobb]

If this is an emulated/arm thing I'd stay away. Amiga's are notoriously a bit of a pain to emulate well.

And not all that much less than the meister de-10 which being an fpga will hardware-emulate pretty much everything below PSX.

[MojoJojo]

Nostalgia aside, most of the Amiga's best games received good ports to other systems.

Glad to see they are keeping the tradition of terrible gamepads.

[Consignia]

More plastic for the landfill, I see.

[Barry Admin]

Amos Pro was my thing, and the Amiga was the most fun I ever had. Golden age of computers.

Used to write and receive correspondence (letters :-)) from people all around the world, just swapping Amos tips and code. I was an agony aunt in a diskmag for a while, got letters from Australia and all sorts.

Had a guy who used to deliver me games on his scooter; he had boot loaders on all his releases, and for a few quid he'd come round and deliver you all the latest shit.

[thehungerartist]

A Raspberry Pi 400 running PiMiga represents far better value.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Imagine wanting to play Zool in 2022.

[madhair60]

Imagine wanting to play Zool in 2022.

There's a remake of that coming out called Zool ReDimensioned.

[Sebastian Cobb]

Amos Pro was my thing, and the Amiga was the most fun I ever had. Golden age of computers.

Used to write and receive correspondence (letters :-)) from people all around the world, just swapping Amos tips and code. I was an agony aunt in a diskmag for a while, got letters from Australia and all sorts.

Had a guy who used to deliver me games on his scooter; he had boot loaders on all his releases, and for a few quid he'd come round and deliver you all the latest shit.

Some of the more dodgy computer fairs had people xcopying while you waited.

Then it was all pc stuff and VCD's that were either malaysian or pornographic.

[Gurke and Hare]

Amos Pro was my thing, and the Amiga was the most fun I ever had. Golden age of computers.

Used to write and receive correspondence (letters :-)) from people all around the world, just swapping Amos tips and code. I was an agony aunt in a diskmag for a while, got letters from Australia and all sorts.

Had a guy who used to deliver me games on his scooter; he had boot loaders on all his releases, and for a few quid he'd come round and deliver you all the latest shit.

Amiga culture was amazing, definitely the golden age as you say. Unforgettable intro screens on cracked games.



I wonder if the cracking group Paradox are the same Paradox that make Cities: Skylines?

[badaids]

A Raspberry Pi 400 running PiMiga represents far better value.

How much would something like this cost, and how difficult is it to set up the hardware and software?

[Famous Mortimer]

I remember we used to play the old roguelikes to death - Angband and Moria, mostly. We tricked permadeath with copying our characters to backup disks and all that, and there was at least one Amiga on all the time in the scummy shared house we all had. Moria time caused more and angrier arguments than anything else.

Re: getting a Raspberry Pi, the 400 complete kits are a shade under a hundred quid, and there are plenty of decently cheap controllers.

[Chedney Honks]

People buying a mini retro console are only doing so because they are unaware of the many emulation options.

[Neomod]

Could do with adding Exile, Hunter, Sid Mead's Pirates, Dungeon Master and Syndicate. Oh and Magic Pockets if they include the Betty Boo sampled Doin' the Do intro (mightily impressive at the time).

[GoblinAhFuckScary]

How much would something like this cost, and how difficult is it to set up the hardware and software?

interested in this

[madhair60]

People buying a mini retro console are only doing so because they are unaware of the many emulation options.

I know you're on the windup but no, the novelty of having a miniaturised take on a classic along with near as damnit the original controller is a huge draw for me.

[Cloud]

Surprisingly affordable considering how much Amiga fans usually get ripped off for, but I'd wager that a Pi400 is indeed a better buy. 

Or just have a real one like me, I'm still waiting for a new case off Kickstarter (already got one for the A1200) and new key caps

[madhair60]

Also Amiga emulation is a fuck-ache so a system pre-loaded with WHD support would make it basically plug and play, simplicity itself. Really excited for this.

[Neomod]

I know you're on the windup but no, the novelty of having a miniaturised take on a classic along with near as damnit the original controller is a huge draw for me.

This was my original controller, yer classic zipstick or are you talking about the mouse?

[Famous Mortimer]

https://www.raspberrypi.org/products/raspberry-pi-400/

I've got one, and it's lovely. Plus, you can buy a few micro SD cards and run all sorts of fun things on a Pi.

https://cubiclenate.com/pimiga/

Looks like it's still getting tweaked a lot, but this lot should get you started. There are old school joysticks available for the Pi too, or you can just get one of the new controllers that work for everything.

[Chedney Honks]

I know you're on the windup but no, the novelty of having a miniaturised take on a classic along with near as damnit the original controller is a huge draw for me.

That was my exact point, yep. Always cheer whenever anyone mentions Raspberry Pi in the context of these retro consoles.

I'm not knocking emulation at all, I just always look forward to seeing the comment.

[Barry Admin]

I murdered those fucking joysticks, absolutely ran through them like a dose of the shits. Ended up just using a Megadrive pad, if memory serves.

[badaids]

This was my original controller, yer classic zipstick or are you talking about the mouse?

The Cruiser was a better joystick. Less robust, but a more forgiving and ergonomic thing to use.

[Sebastian Cobb]

That was my exact point, yep. Always cheer whenever anyone mentions Raspberry Pi in the context of these retro consoles.

I'm not knocking emulation at all, I just always look forward to seeing the comment.

I am, which is why the FPGA-based versions are gamechangers, magic devices that basically dynamically form the circuits and chips of the original machines.

[Famous Mortimer]

Looks like they've made a new spin on the Zipstick - the ArcadeR, which looks decent.

https://retroradionics.co.uk/#!/ArcadeR-USB-Joystick/p/307829369/category=0

[sevendaughters]

I murdered those fucking joysticks, absolutely ran through them like a dose of the shits. Ended up just using a Megadrive pad, if memory serves.

same. always ended up with a left-bias that would mean I'd start every load holding the stick hard right to 'calibrate'.

[Elderly Sumo Prophecy]

Used to love playing Kick Off 2 with friends from school. You'd play a 40 minute match and get scorelines of 18-12. Plus if you got a vindictive ref like I. Ball you'd end up with about 6 players on the pitch.
I, of course, got to use the Zipstick. The other player had to use whatever shit I had as a backup.

[Cold Meat Platter]

Speedball 2 is one of the best games ever made, and I'm not generally a fan of sports games. The game has a great flow to it and the sound effects are satisfying as fuck.
Zool can fuck right off. Unbelievable it's getting a new game.
Will they reproduce the experience of trying to run Monkey Island off 11 floppys?