Where's the affordable Amiga Retro console?

Pyromania · 30 May 2018, 15:59

New Intellivision soon

https://www.cnet.com/news/new-intell...nsole-in-2018/

Let's not even mention all the Atari retro consoles that have come out. My only question is where is the affordable Amiga retro console? We are missing out by not having one.

SteveMoody · 30 May 2018, 16:16

I still have my Intellivision, it was a nice console at the time.

Will have to power it up one day and see if it still works.

jotd · 30 May 2018, 21:27

One of the problems would be the controls. Console games have standardized controls (1 to 5 or more buttons, start/select, pause). Amiga games use a ludicrious unstandardized variety of keyboard controls (P for pause, but sometimes F1, F10, M for map, Q to quit, or ESC, unless it is shift+ESC...)

So you'd need a keyboard with your console. Or just release CD32-pad compatible games.

Gorf · 30 May 2018, 21:55

Amiga was/is not a console with the except of CDTV and CD32.
Both console approaches had no success (for different reasons).

Amiga was and still is a full computer platform.

aside from this:
who would dare to release a retro-gadget?
The legal situation is a big mess - there seems to be no single party that could give you the permission/license, without being sued immediately by others.

Predseda · 30 May 2018, 22:07

You mean Vampire standalone? In progress.

Pyromania · 31 May 2018, 00:53

It needs to be around 100 Euro.

Photon · 31 May 2018, 01:00

How about CD32?

They've gone up a bit in price lately, I think. They used to be 80 EUR. They're not rare or anything, it's just people completing their collection driving the prices up a bit.

I guess a lot of people do the RPi or already have done, and there was the Minimig. Now there's the AmyITX. All of these require a case and then AmyITX requires a lot of DIY, but some are putting RPis in original cases.

I don't see why there couldn't be a CD32 case remake like the Kickstarter ones for A500 now, very likely it would be CD-less but it would celebrate the one console Commodore-Amiga did make and could provide modern jacks.

If you're asking why Amiga isn't getting the console treatment older computers get, I guess the truthful answer is that most users don't see it as a console and those who are interested have an Amiga set up and working.

Maybe the Gotek removed the need for a remake. I think the Gotek makes any Amiga console-y on par with the rest of them, while the rest of them take a bit of work to load games in a modern way. Gotek and a USB stick will have preempted that need for a lot of people looking for just what you ask.

That still doesn't exclude the possibility of a console-y case. I think it could be a good idea if supported with modern mouse, keyboard, and screen jacks. Which instantly suggests just a CD32 case with an RPi inside. I think that could work.

Gorf · 31 May 2018, 01:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pyromania

It needs to be around 100 Euro.

Does it now?

than take a Raspberry Pi or some clone and Amiberry.

(again: we won't get anything official with the ongoing legal situation - especially not for around 100€.)

31 May 2018, 06:34

My A4000/40 cost me a bundle and I love it so much. So much, that I would do it again ... There are times, I question my sanity, however ...

AdvanceFollow · 31 May 2018, 10:20

Well there was an Amiga "console" announced not too long ago, but unsurprisingly, it looks like it got shut down due to the licensing/trademark minefield.

Honestly I don't see the appeal of all those cheap plastic boxes that pretend to look like retro consoles. They all use emulators running on underpowered ARM SoC's that are less powerful than a Raspberry Pi. Since you're locked to the manufacturer's Firmware, updates and bug fixes are much less frequent than for an open-source project like Amiberry.

rare_j · 31 May 2018, 11:26

WinUAEX on the original xbox is the closest thing I've seen to a consolised Amiga. It had an on-screen keyboard. Everything could be done through the xbox pad.
Unfortunately there's no hdmi on the xbox so getting it to work well on a modern TV is problematic. And it was a really old version of UAE which caused a few problems. And the hardware wasn't capable enough for many AGA games.

ptyerman · 31 May 2018, 11:51

Urgh! No consoles please, the Amiga was/is a full computer with all the advantages that brings!
If you want a Amiga based console there is plenty of CD32's still knocking around, some were even been sold new until last year. There probably still is somewhere that has NOS available, if you can find them.

Predseda · 31 May 2018, 13:32

But I think the point of this thread is NOT TO MESS with old big Amiga HW, just get a small box with built in game hits like mini SNES, just plug an USB charger with low power consumption, plug the device to HDMI of your modern TV and have an instant fun. That is very different to original CD32, which is slow, big, unreliable, you need CDs, you need come complicated way how to connect it to modern TVs and get super expensive joypads.

I have mini NES, mini SNES, I will probably obtain mini C64 and I can imagine to have also mini Amiga, if there would be any. But as many of you said - this is not going to happen because of complicated legal issues.

DamienD · 31 May 2018, 13:40

Quote:

Originally Posted by Predseda

But I think the point of this thread is NOT TO MESS with old big Amiga HW, just get a small box with built in game hits like mini SNES, just plug an USB charger with low power consumption, plug the device to HDMI of your modern TV and have an instant fun.

...I do all that using my laptop via HDMI and have Xbox 360 wireless controllers

ptyerman · 31 May 2018, 13:55

Exactly! Not everything should be a console, plenty of them about.

Hewitson · 31 May 2018, 14:40

If a retro console was ever designed, it should come with an FDD or at the very least support one.

Overlord · 01 June 2018, 09:58

Check out the ARMiga... You can have it with a FDD and use it to convert old Amiga disks to ADF. It works with a standard USB keyboard and Mouse and reads USB memory sticks. Works on an Acorn ARM chip. I had a friend round with one last night. It's a pretty nice piece of kit.

https://www.armigaproject.com/

ptyerman · 01 June 2018, 10:25

Unfortunately the ARMiga is out of stock according to the web site and they aren't making any more as they can't meet demand. They're looking for someone to take over the production side.

clebin · 01 June 2018, 11:49

All I know is, Amiga users are the last people on earth who should design an console for Joe Public.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Amiga Mini: