The Amiga?

Dastardly · 22 August 2003, 23:48

Do you remember first hearing about the Amiga? What was the first time you remember hearing about the machine that would lead to a lifelong obsession? What were your first impressions?
Did you think it would addict you like it has? Do you think Ill ever stop asking these kind of questions?

Go on, wallow in nostalgia....you know you wanna

Dizzy · 23 August 2003, 00:54

Quote:

Originally posted by Dastardly
Do you remember first hearing about the Amiga? What was the first time you remember hearing about the machine that would lead to a lifelong obsession? What were your first impressions?
Did you think it would addict you like it has? Do you think Ill ever stop asking these kind of questions?

Go on, wallow in nostalgia....you know you wanna

yes
during 1988
stunned
yes
No
No

Djay · 23 August 2003, 01:22

although i had heard of Amiga, about the time i was on a c64... i had never actually seen one running...

i did however, listern to an Amiga (!!!???!!!), via the audio tape you got with a c64 (the seuck pack one)....

then a friend stayed over (his parents were going on holiday for 2 weeks)... he brought round his A1000... i played on his A1000, mostly Defender of the Crown and Wizball (i had wizball for c64, and was impressed with the sound quality, but prefered the c64 main theme)...

he played my c64 (ALOT).. fair deal...

being fairly young at the time, and having parents that did really see the need for computers (how things change), i had no chance of getting an Amiga...

6 months later i traded my c64 plus a hundred games for an Amiga 500, and my parents paid balance...

Frootloop · 23 August 2003, 03:32

I think the first time I saw an Amiga 500 in the local computer store. My friend and I would spend hours (not all at once!) standing in front of the computer watching the latest games being demonstrated to the rich people who could afford to buy a computer. We'd drool (figuratively) over it and dream we owned one, but it wasn't until about a few years later that I actually got the money to buy my own. My friend never bought one though.

Yes, I was addicted at first sight. I knew I needed one and that my life*, and the universe, would never be the same again.

* Or lack of life because I'd be spending more time in front of my 'miga than socializing.

Amiga1992 · 23 August 2003, 07:08

I don't remember clearly, if I saw it in the mags or if I saw it in a store. First spotting on a store, I saw an a500 expanded to a *whooping* 1MB of memory, and it was running Accolade's " Les manley in Las Vegas" or something liek that. I was gobsmacked, having played Maniac Mansion on the C64...

On teh mags I saw the machine many times, with not many detail about how it worked. I think this is the first time I see it, because I remember my assumption: The C128 runs in both 128 and 64 mode, therefore the Amiga runs in Amiga 500, C128 and C64c mode!

I am ashamed but I thought this by just seeing pictures. I remember drawing an Amiga and putting it in a frame, hanged in my wall. I *desired* that machine from day one.

I only got one 6 or so years later. aDDicted ever since, was expected!

Shatterhand · 23 August 2003, 09:06

Around 90 the Amiga trend was hitting Brazil. The biggest MSX magazine here (MSX was the most popular computer here at that time, and the only one still being produced here) begun to publish Amiga adverts on its pages.

In the middle 91 the biggest thing happened. This magazine added an Amiga section to it. It made us, MSX users, go mad. There was a fight between MSX users and Amiga users (Which is kind of funny, as both machines have nothing do with each other). I was one of the MSX users, and I was always defending the MSX, though I had never seen an Amiga running.

In 92, my father give me a call. "Hey, I just bought an Amiga. I am getting rid of my MSX stuff, if you want something, come here so you can get whatever you want"

I was like "Oh no, my own father, a traitor!". In the weekend I went to his house, and then I saw an Amiga running for the first time. When I first saw it (It was an A500) I thought "Bah, this small machine, so ugly... how can someone say this little shit is better than an MSX?". Then the Amiga was powered up. Games like Wings og Fury (The 1st thing I ever saw on Amiga), Speedball 2, Prince of Persia, Another World, Elite with much better GFX than the MSX version (And a lot faster too)... I was gobsmacked.

6 months later, in that year Xmas, I had my own Amiga

the wolf · 23 August 2003, 14:19

1988. Amiga have to rulez over the world. Many computer fans got the C64 and were going to "upgrade" it with a freshly new Amiga 500 (VERY expensive in these days!).
Spotting in the stores, overcharmed from magazines and some friends of mine that changed almost immediately their C64.
"Oh yes" I thought. "What a marvellous graphics...but who cares?" Infact, I was too emotionally absorbed from my trustly C64 with floppy (my parents bought this to me after 3 years of pressing!).
Then, when all my friends has got Amigas, and there wasn't more games available, I felt forced to abandon him for "this kind of computer". It was 1990. There was few games that really interests me, because I felt the playability wasn't so good as C64. Then, in 1991 (the best year for Amiga, IMHO), they began to use the real potentiality of this computer and... man, I found myself completely addicted for this new computer! Great!
But C64 is still in my memory...

khephren · 23 August 2003, 14:50

Think I first read about it in a 64 mag, can't remember specifically.

I didn't hear about it, I read the specs in a shop. The 512k and 32 colours onscreen sold it to me. I bought one in November 1987.

Loading the kingtut picture in Deluxe Paint when I got it home for the first time was my first impression and stuck with me. Was amazing to see it.

Just to add that the first game I played on it was Rocket Ranger and was not impressed at all, thought it was shite, looked good though.

I thought I was addicted to the 64 but the Amiga was something else. I dived in head first into learning the programming side, and late nights and early mornings came natural

Was never bored of it like I am with the PC, always someything new to try.

I did prefer the 64 though looking back.

Dastardly · 23 August 2003, 19:03

@all
Great to hear your stories! I love reading this stuff.

Back in about 89 I had never heard of the Amiga but me and my best mate were C64 addicts and it was him that first mentioned to me this new Commodore machine. I remember thinking 'a meega?' wtf!
My mate kept telling me about the capabilities of this new machine and how much better the graphics were compared to the C64 (yes I was a typical kid impressed by gfx) and how it had a disk drive built in and loaded a lot faster. At the time we were cursed with a faulty datasette and we were under the impression that pulling the thing as far away from the C64 as possible, turning it upside down and placing a towel over it made the games load properly!

Not long after, a computer shop opened up on my route home from school. Inside they had an Amiga hooked up and I was gobsmacked at the quality of the graphics this thing could display and the sound was just wow!. This is the point I knew I didnt just want one, I NEEDED one.
I remember cutting out an Amiga advert from Silica Systems (common in the mags of the time) and putting it on my wall and wanting this computer SO BAD. Months went by and I was getting no nearer to getting one, when one fateful day I just happened to come into £350 by pure chance. My dad said he'd pay the extra £50 (good man) and the next Saturday we made the trip to the shop.
That afternoon I became the proud owner of an Amiga 500 Batman pack with a great bundle of games (New Zealand story, Batman the movie and F/A18 Interceptor) what a pack of pure classics eh? and my mate became extremely jealous until he got his a few months later.

Jherek Carnelia · 23 August 2003, 21:24

The first time I saw an Amiga it was being shown on TV - Tomorrow's World (a science programme for non British readers) and they were running a ray traced demo of tiled floors and shiny reflective things like balls or robots, I can't really remember which.
I then read a review in a magazine that said it had 512K RAM and what was the point of such a massive memory - no-one would ever need that much - it was just a waste of money

The price was way out of my range but I really wanted one! And eventually after a couple of years a friend sold me his so he could buy some Sega console or something. How happy I was.
I loved that A500 and it's still in my loft.

Amiga1992 · 23 August 2003, 23:08

Quote:

Originally posted by Jherek Carnelia
they were running a ray traced demo of tiled floors and shiny reflective things like balls or robots, I can't really remember which.

That's the classic juggler demo

woody57 · 24 August 2003, 11:25

At the time my kids had a c64 { T2 cartridge pack } and my son would insist on getting me to watch the original series in the vain hope I would buy him a dedicated console SNES , if I recall right instead I was impressed with miggies graphics , seeing it as a tool I could " borrow " while the kids were in bed .

manicx · 25 August 2003, 08:55

It was back in 87 when I bought a Greek Computer Magazine called Pixel! It was advertised for its super duper Amiga reviews! Amiga? I thought! I only new about CPCs, C64s and Spectrums! WTF!

fiath · 25 August 2003, 11:06

It was 1988-9 (? Batman Pack days ?) and a friend of mine was advising what computer to buy. "Of course, the best computer to buy is the Amstrad CPC 464". "Not the 6128?" "No, that uses expensive disks, and besides we won't be able to swap games..."

"Fine. Amstrad 464 it is then." A massive upgrade to my ZX81!

So I asked my dad about it, being in the industry. He said he would do some research (since he was only exposed to mainframes) and get back to me. A few days later, he said that the best home computers at the moment where either the Atari ST or the Amiga, but the Amiga was sightly better of the two from a technical standpoint.

Fine. Amiga it was then. May "friend" wasn't all that happy about it.

So, down to my local computer shops I go after school and a huge amount of time spent just looking at Shadow of the Beast 1 (OMFG!) and still no computer (I think they thought I was a bit strange, I didn't even ever ask to play it - probably a good idea

). Grrr, my £15/week paperound is sure making me wait.

At least, after months and months of saving (felt like years, perhaps it was) I finally had the £287 required to get an Amiga trade price and tax free from my fathers company. What a steal! £400! Hah!

So anyway finally I get it home. Boot up New Zealand Story. Needs a joystick. Bugger. Boot up Batman, needs a joystick, bugger. Boot up F/A-18, can't take off bugger (but what a fantastic looking game!) DPaint, hmm, this is fun. For a while. Workbench, WTF is the point this this? Still... Seems cool, especially as I can change the mouse pointer, woohoo!

A week later, I buy a joystick with my next £15. I am truely thankful that I had to wait, I would have never bothered reading the manual for Interceptor had I not had the week to play it otherwise!

A few weeks later, my "friend" goes and buys an Amiga. Arsehole!

Taught me a few things about trust that did. I am totally convinced he knew all about the Amiga. Aside from his "impulse" buy, it would have been a looong time before I could recover from the mistake of buying a CPC 464.

So hats off to you dad! R.I.P.

Dastardly · 25 August 2003, 11:19

@fiath

Cool story

IFW · 25 August 2003, 11:42

I was working on my first ever book on gaming in 1987(ish) with a few guys for the C64 basically. A friend working there was borrowing some money that he was about to pay back when the book was out.
One day he called that he had a better idea, than paying back... Oh, dear!

There was a company working on big title conversions (A-Studio) like He-Man that got two machines they want to get rid off asap... They asked for two Atari STs, instead they got two Amiga 500s...
They couldn't sell those as nobody wanted them, but they wanted some money back. We could buy the machines cheaply, if we wanted to...
There was not much info on Amiga that time, apart from it being cool and very expensive, but seemed to be a good idea to get one of those expensive machines at a discount price, possibly a very rare opportunity for a long time to come. So I spent all the money I lent and also the one that I got for the book on that machine, I still don't regret it.
It was one of the first 1.2 A500s ever made and made available to developers.

Tim Janssen · 25 August 2003, 12:25

It was Christmas 1988. In the dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf" a full-page advert of the Commodore Amiga was printed on the back side. It displayed a monitor running Deluxe Paint with a painted baboon magnified.

fiath · 25 August 2003, 12:28

Quote:

Originally posted by IFW
I was working on my first ever book on gaming in 1987(ish)

Book on gaming?

Where??

IFW · 25 August 2003, 12:42

In my CV, read it again

anyway:
http://www.commodore64.hu/c64books.htm

look at #4 and #5

One of the earliest gaming stuff published here.

fiath · 25 August 2003, 12:52

I guess even if I could get hold of a copy I wouldn't be able to read it...

22 August 2003, 23:48	#1
Dastardly Into the Wonderful Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: England Age: 49 Posts: 2,335	The Amiga? Do you remember first hearing about the Amiga? What was the first time you remember hearing about the machine that would lead to a lifelong obsession? What were your first impressions? Did you think it would addict you like it has? Do you think Ill ever stop asking these kind of questions? Go on, wallow in nostalgia....you know you wanna

23 August 2003, 14:50	#8
khephren Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: Exeter, UK Age: 52 Posts: 128	Think I first read about it in a 64 mag, can't remember specifically. I didn't hear about it, I read the specs in a shop. The 512k and 32 colours onscreen sold it to me. I bought one in November 1987. Loading the kingtut picture in Deluxe Paint when I got it home for the first time was my first impression and stuck with me. Was amazing to see it. Just to add that the first game I played on it was Rocket Ranger and was not impressed at all, thought it was shite, looked good though. I thought I was addicted to the 64 but the Amiga was something else. I dived in head first into learning the programming side, and late nights and early mornings came natural Was never bored of it like I am with the PC, always someything new to try. I did prefer the 64 though looking back. Last edited by khephren; 23 August 2003 at 19:28.

24 August 2003, 11:25	#12
woody57 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Manchester Posts: 801	Games Master the TV show...... At the time my kids had a c64 { T2 cartridge pack } and my son would insist on getting me to watch the original series in the vain hope I would buy him a dedicated console SNES , if I recall right instead I was impressed with miggies graphics , seeing it as a tool I could " borrow " while the kids were in bed .

25 August 2003, 11:06	#14
fiath Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South East / UK Age: 46 Posts: 1,930	It was 1988-9 (? Batman Pack days ?) and a friend of mine was advising what computer to buy. "Of course, the best computer to buy is the Amstrad CPC 464". "Not the 6128?" "No, that uses expensive disks, and besides we won't be able to swap games..." "Fine. Amstrad 464 it is then." A massive upgrade to my ZX81! So I asked my dad about it, being in the industry. He said he would do some research (since he was only exposed to mainframes) and get back to me. A few days later, he said that the best home computers at the moment where either the Atari ST or the Amiga, but the Amiga was sightly better of the two from a technical standpoint. Fine. Amiga it was then. May "friend" wasn't all that happy about it. So, down to my local computer shops I go after school and a huge amount of time spent just looking at Shadow of the Beast 1 (OMFG!) and still no computer (I think they thought I was a bit strange, I didn't even ever ask to play it - probably a good idea ). Grrr, my £15/week paperound is sure making me wait. At least, after months and months of saving (felt like years, perhaps it was) I finally had the £287 required to get an Amiga trade price and tax free from my fathers company. What a steal! £400! Hah! So anyway finally I get it home. Boot up New Zealand Story. Needs a joystick. Bugger. Boot up Batman, needs a joystick, bugger. Boot up F/A-18, can't take off bugger (but what a fantastic looking game!) DPaint, hmm, this is fun. For a while. Workbench, WTF is the point this this? Still... Seems cool, especially as I can change the mouse pointer, woohoo! A week later, I buy a joystick with my next £15. I am truely thankful that I had to wait, I would have never bothered reading the manual for Interceptor had I not had the week to play it otherwise! A few weeks later, my "friend" goes and buys an Amiga. Arsehole! Taught me a few things about trust that did. I am totally convinced he knew all about the Amiga. Aside from his "impulse" buy, it would have been a looong time before I could recover from the mistake of buying a CPC 464. So hats off to you dad! R.I.P. Last edited by fiath; 25 August 2003 at 12:29.

25 August 2003, 12:25	#17
Tim Janssen Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: Den Bosch / The Netherlands Age: 47 Posts: 1,271	Advert in daily newspaper It was Christmas 1988. In the dutch newspaper "De Telegraaf" a full-page advert of the Commodore Amiga was printed on the back side. It displayed a monitor running Deluxe Paint with a painted baboon magnified.

23 August 2003, 01:22	#3
Djay 95th User Join Date: May 2001 Location: Brighton/UK Age: 48 Posts: 3,120	although i had heard of Amiga, about the time i was on a c64... i had never actually seen one running... i did however, listern to an Amiga (!!!???!!!), via the audio tape you got with a c64 (the seuck pack one).... then a friend stayed over (his parents were going on holiday for 2 weeks)... he brought round his A1000... i played on his A1000, mostly Defender of the Crown and Wizball (i had wizball for c64, and was impressed with the sound quality, but prefered the c64 main theme)... he played my c64 (ALOT).. fair deal... being fairly young at the time, and having parents that did really see the need for computers (how things change), i had no chance of getting an Amiga... 6 months later i traded my c64 plus a hundred games for an Amiga 500, and my parents paid balance...

23 August 2003, 03:32	#4
Frootloop Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Canada, Eh Posts: 167	I think the first time I saw an Amiga 500 in the local computer store. My friend and I would spend hours (not all at once!) standing in front of the computer watching the latest games being demonstrated to the rich people who could afford to buy a computer. We'd drool (figuratively) over it and dream we owned one, but it wasn't until about a few years later that I actually got the money to buy my own. My friend never bought one though. Yes, I was addicted at first sight. I knew I needed one and that my life, and the universe, would never be the same again. Or lack of life because I'd be spending more time in front of my 'miga than socializing.

23 August 2003, 07:08	#5
Amiga1992 Registered User Join Date: May 2001 Location: ? Posts: 19,645	I don't remember clearly, if I saw it in the mags or if I saw it in a store. First spotting on a store, I saw an a500 expanded to a whooping 1MB of memory, and it was running Accolade's " Les manley in Las Vegas" or something liek that. I was gobsmacked, having played Maniac Mansion on the C64... On teh mags I saw the machine many times, with not many detail about how it worked. I think this is the first time I see it, because I remember my assumption: The C128 runs in both 128 and 64 mode, therefore the Amiga runs in Amiga 500, C128 and C64c mode! I am ashamed but I thought this by just seeing pictures. I remember drawing an Amiga and putting it in a frame, hanged in my wall. I desired that machine from day one. I only got one 6 or so years later. aDDicted ever since, was expected!

23 August 2003, 09:06	#6
Shatterhand Warhasneverbeensomuchfun Join Date: Jun 2001 Location: Rio de Janeiro / Brazil Age: 41 Posts: 3,450	Around 90 the Amiga trend was hitting Brazil. The biggest MSX magazine here (MSX was the most popular computer here at that time, and the only one still being produced here) begun to publish Amiga adverts on its pages. In the middle 91 the biggest thing happened. This magazine added an Amiga section to it. It made us, MSX users, go mad. There was a fight between MSX users and Amiga users (Which is kind of funny, as both machines have nothing do with each other). I was one of the MSX users, and I was always defending the MSX, though I had never seen an Amiga running. In 92, my father give me a call. "Hey, I just bought an Amiga. I am getting rid of my MSX stuff, if you want something, come here so you can get whatever you want" I was like "Oh no, my own father, a traitor!". In the weekend I went to his house, and then I saw an Amiga running for the first time. When I first saw it (It was an A500) I thought "Bah, this small machine, so ugly... how can someone say this little shit is better than an MSX?". Then the Amiga was powered up. Games like Wings og Fury (The 1st thing I ever saw on Amiga), Speedball 2, Prince of Persia, Another World, Elite with much better GFX than the MSX version (And a lot faster too)... I was gobsmacked. 6 months later, in that year Xmas, I had my own Amiga

23 August 2003, 14:19	#7
the wolf Just Leeching Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Italy Age: 52 Posts: 416	1988. Amiga have to rulez over the world. Many computer fans got the C64 and were going to "upgrade" it with a freshly new Amiga 500 (VERY expensive in these days!). Spotting in the stores, overcharmed from magazines and some friends of mine that changed almost immediately their C64. "Oh yes" I thought. "What a marvellous graphics...but who cares?" Infact, I was too emotionally absorbed from my trustly C64 with floppy (my parents bought this to me after 3 years of pressing!). Then, when all my friends has got Amigas, and there wasn't more games available, I felt forced to abandon him for "this kind of computer". It was 1990. There was few games that really interests me, because I felt the playability wasn't so good as C64. Then, in 1991 (the best year for Amiga, IMHO), they began to use the real potentiality of this computer and... man, I found myself completely addicted for this new computer! Great! But C64 is still in my memory...

23 August 2003, 19:03	#9
Dastardly Into the Wonderful Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: England Age: 49 Posts: 2,335	@all Great to hear your stories! I love reading this stuff. Back in about 89 I had never heard of the Amiga but me and my best mate were C64 addicts and it was him that first mentioned to me this new Commodore machine. I remember thinking 'a meega?' wtf! My mate kept telling me about the capabilities of this new machine and how much better the graphics were compared to the C64 (yes I was a typical kid impressed by gfx) and how it had a disk drive built in and loaded a lot faster. At the time we were cursed with a faulty datasette and we were under the impression that pulling the thing as far away from the C64 as possible, turning it upside down and placing a towel over it made the games load properly! Not long after, a computer shop opened up on my route home from school. Inside they had an Amiga hooked up and I was gobsmacked at the quality of the graphics this thing could display and the sound was just wow!. This is the point I knew I didnt just want one, I NEEDED one. I remember cutting out an Amiga advert from Silica Systems (common in the mags of the time) and putting it on my wall and wanting this computer SO BAD. Months went by and I was getting no nearer to getting one, when one fateful day I just happened to come into £350 by pure chance. My dad said he'd pay the extra £50 (good man) and the next Saturday we made the trip to the shop. That afternoon I became the proud owner of an Amiga 500 Batman pack with a great bundle of games (New Zealand story, Batman the movie and F/A18 Interceptor) what a pack of pure classics eh? and my mate became extremely jealous until he got his a few months later.

23 August 2003, 21:24	#10
Jherek Carnelia Dazed and Confused Join Date: Dec 2001 Location: portsmouth/uk Posts: 242	The first time I saw an Amiga it was being shown on TV - Tomorrow's World (a science programme for non British readers) and they were running a ray traced demo of tiled floors and shiny reflective things like balls or robots, I can't really remember which. I then read a review in a magazine that said it had 512K RAM and what was the point of such a massive memory - no-one would ever need that much - it was just a waste of money The price was way out of my range but I really wanted one! And eventually after a couple of years a friend sold me his so he could buy some Sega console or something. How happy I was. I loved that A500 and it's still in my loft.

25 August 2003, 08:55	#13
manicx Junior Member Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Athens, Greece Posts: 991	It was back in 87 when I bought a Greek Computer Magazine called Pixel! It was advertised for its super duper Amiga reviews! Amiga? I thought! I only new about CPCs, C64s and Spectrums! WTF!

25 August 2003, 11:19	#15
Dastardly Into the Wonderful Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: England Age: 49 Posts: 2,335	@fiath Cool story

25 August 2003, 11:42	#16
IFW Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: ... Age: 52 Posts: 1,838	I was working on my first ever book on gaming in 1987(ish) with a few guys for the C64 basically. A friend working there was borrowing some money that he was about to pay back when the book was out. One day he called that he had a better idea, than paying back... Oh, dear! There was a company working on big title conversions (A-Studio) like He-Man that got two machines they want to get rid off asap... They asked for two Atari STs, instead they got two Amiga 500s... They couldn't sell those as nobody wanted them, but they wanted some money back. We could buy the machines cheaply, if we wanted to... There was not much info on Amiga that time, apart from it being cool and very expensive, but seemed to be a good idea to get one of those expensive machines at a discount price, possibly a very rare opportunity for a long time to come. So I spent all the money I lent and also the one that I got for the book on that machine, I still don't regret it. It was one of the first 1.2 A500s ever made and made available to developers.

25 August 2003, 12:42	#19
IFW Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: ... Age: 52 Posts: 1,838	In my CV, read it again anyway: http://www.commodore64.hu/c64books.htm look at #4 and #5 One of the earliest gaming stuff published here.

25 August 2003, 12:52	#20
fiath Moderator Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: South East / UK Age: 46 Posts: 1,930	I guess even if I could get hold of a copy I wouldn't be able to read it...

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