Did you get an Amiga because of the C64 legacy?

[Zak]

Did you or your relatives get an Amiga for you back then, because of the good legacy of the C64? Or was it a well-planned rational decision because of the technical specifications?

My father bought an Amiga 500 because it was recommended at the shop. We had a Spectrum before.

I guess only few would admit though, that they bought an Amiga just because the C64 was good. It was however a thing. My father bought all kind of machines just because of a former elite-brand that he new from 60's.

[A500]

For me back then, Commodore was the sign of quality so it did have some influence. But to be honest, after seeing the A500 in action at a friend's I was so astounded that I probably wouldn't have cared if it'd been a different brand.

[d4rk3lf]

Simply answer: No

I had C64 at the time I saw Amiga (500) for the first time, and I knew only of 8-bit computers and consoles, and arcade machines.
The Amiga was so impressive, that it felt like my friend had a computer capable of running arcade quality titles... it was soo much better graphics then on 8-bit machines... and I still admire Amiga for that reason... the ability to pick from 4096 colors is very very impressive.
And even I know today a difference in quality between arcade titles and A500 titles, back then I wasn't aware of parallaxes, or if the game uses less colors on A500 (it was very colorful anyway), and it really felt very very close to the arcades.. especially all these nice platformers.
I mean.. look at Arabian Nights for example.. pure arcade awesomeness, if you ask me.

Maybe one year later, I had my first PC experience on my friends 386DX/40 VGA computer, and I was looking forward to it, so I can compare it to the Amiga expirience.
I was very very dissapointed. The games looked aweful (some of them even worse then on my C64), the gameplay felt aweful.. there was no joystick (that was standard even on C64), there was no sound (only PS Speaker biping).
So I asked my friend:
- Where's the joystick bro?
* Well, that's pretty expensive for PC
- Where's the sound bro?
* Well, sound cards are pretty expensive
- Where's the colors bro?
* Colored monitors are pretty expensive, so my father purchased this B/W
- Ok, then use the freaking TV
* It can't be done on PC bro

And when he told me the price of that PC was something like 5 A500 prices, I couldn't believed.

[stx2199]

I purchased my Amiga 500 at the end of 1990 I was influenced by some VHS videos that the computer shop promoted featuring dragon's lair, chessmaster 2000, shadow of the beast and some other crap

in the time I have a spectrum 128k since 1987 but the spectrum era was dying at such moment

I did not have a commodore 64 but but I knew well because some friends had one and I know by fact the c64 was superior to the spectrum 128k even having less memory

so my decision not was by the C64 influence but by some market influence and the fact that the AMiga have stereo sound + 4 audio channels and some colorful games

[Bren McGuire]

No

[CFou!]

nop for me, l was never used C64 (previously i used AMSTRAD/SCHNEIDER CPC664, ZX81 or ALICE (from MATRA for his integred disassembler)

[Thorham]

Originally Posted by d4rk3lf

I had my first PC experience on my friends 386DX/40 VGA computer, and I was looking forward to it, so I can compare it to the Amiga expirience. I was very very dissapointed.

Indeed

Originally Posted by d4rk3lf

So I asked my friend:

- Where's the joystick bro?
* Well, that's pretty expensive for PC
- Where's the sound bro?
* Well, sound cards are pretty expensive
- Where's the colors bro?
* Colored monitors are pretty expensive, so my father purchased this B/W
- Ok, then use the freaking TV
* It can't be done on PC bro

That sums it up nicely

[eXeler0]

After I got my C128 and the A1000 was a thing, I first saw an ST at my local shop before i ever saw an Amiga (The didnt have an A1000 on display) so for a short while I wanted an ST ;-) But then some time after that two of my close buddies got their A500s and I knew the ST wasnt the way foward ;-)

[dannyp1]

Yes. I loved my C64 and my 128D. It took a few years because of price but I obtained a used 2000 and have never looked back.

[lmimmfn]

No, i came from an Amstrad CPC 464, reason for the Amstrad over a C64 was i liked art(creating images) and the colours and true 16 colour bitmapped mode were better than the colours/bitmap gfx limitation of the 64, plus my folks didnt want to have to buy another TV or hog the "good" tv.

When it came to upgrading, i really wanted a 16 bit machine mid to late 89, had toyed with getting an ST as was cheaper but knew i wouldnt be happy with it(same audio as the CPC was already off putting, thought the CPC audio was fine for the time and 8bit), so held out before getting an Amiga ~ September 1990, with the Screen Gems pack.

So glad i held out, Shadow of the Beast 2 intro was amazing to see, then the audio and smoothness of the game was stunning. I think Turrican 1 was the first game i got(ahem ahem) outside of the Screen Gems pack, more awesome music/audio and super smooth, it was heaven

DPaint 2 also coming with Screen Gems pack was absolutely amazing the first time i tried it and probably spent 50% of my Amiga time creating images, animations, 3D Images with Imagine with the other 50% spent gaming. I cant remember how i got DPaint 3 but i remember buying DPaint 4 when it came out.

At that time i was the only one with an Amiga apart from the baker who delivered to our school who lived 40 Km away and he used to bring me games regularly, around 91 a lot more of my friends got Amiga's which was awesome for swapping games, playing 2 player games etc.

[kremiso]

i reached to keep the C64 when i got the Amiga

i remember to have played a couple of games at my cousin house, and after one year of afterschool work i also reached to gain the needed money

it was the pre Shadow of the Beast era
i remember for sure Carrier Command, cannot remember the other 2/3 ones

[XPD]

Knew of the C64, was keen on getting one for a long time, but then everyone I knew with one upgraded to an Amiga. Made some new friends who also owned an Amiga, which convinced me it was the machine to get

[klx300r]

@ Zak

I saw Defender of the Crown on an Amiga 1000 at a local computer shop and I've been in love ever since

[Amigajay]

No, we weren’t loyal to any brand.

Went from C16 to Spectrum128+2 to Sega Master System, Nintendo Gameboy, Sega Mega Drive then Amiga 500.

[gimbal]

Nah, my parents got one because a colleague of my dad sold it second hand. I guess it was just lucky it happened to be an Amiga, my parents didn't know anything about computers at that time. Except maybe that they saw it coming that computers were going to be a big thing so they had to have one.

Definitely shaped my future, for better or for worse.

[Megalomaniac]

I'm not sure if there's any particular reason that the second-hand computer my dad (a computer programmer at the time) got me as a 9-year old in 1990 was a Spectrum rather than a C64. I'd like to think he felt that I had potential and was drawn to a mix of the better BASIC, the Britishness and the wider range of game styles it was good at (though the C64 was 'great' at more styles), but it was probably just the first For Sale ad he saw. With hindsight I might have enjoyed the whizz-bang action of the C64 more than the isometric monochrome or colour clash of the Spectrum, but I enjoyed the Spectrum and learned a lot from it. Both great machines of course.

Still, the C64 had no bearing on my choice of 16-bit. I saw the ST first and wanted one, but luckily saw an Amiga long before the chance to get a 16-bit came along. Of course, there's an irony that the Amiga was made by the same people as the 8-bit Ataris, whereas the ST had developer overlap with the C64. If there'd been a Sinclair (or Amstrad) 16-bit home computer, maybe I'd've been drawn to that first...

[Thomas Richter]

Originally Posted by Zak

Did you or your relatives get an Amiga for you back then, because of the good legacy of the C64? Or was it a well-planned rational decision because of the technical specifications?

Please remember that the Amiga is not descendend from the C64. The two machines are, except for the brand name, unrelated. Rather, the Amiga descends from the Atari 8-bit machines, there are many similarities in how the chip set is designed and how their work is spread.

In my case, I had an 8-bit Atari before, and I considered buying an ST. However, the technical specifications of the Amiga were superiour when I had the chance to check both machines, probably with the exception of the monitor. When it became clear that the Amiga chip design was from the same person who did the 8-bit Ataris, I made the choice and go for an Amiga.

[Amiga Lifestyle]

Our Amiga was the first computer our household owned.

[saimon69]

Originally Posted by Thomas Richter

Please remember that the Amiga is not descendend from the C64. The two machines are, except for the brand name, unrelated. Rather, the Amiga descends from the Atari 8-bit machines, there are many similarities in how the chip set is designed and how their work is spread.

Preaching to the choir here, however the "legacy" was in Commodore distributing Smash hits machines, not in the supposed direct legacy; we all know the dad of the Amiga was the Atari 8-bit

[insert an Atari 400 saying to a crazed Amiga "i am your father" pic here]

For me, at the time game addict and owner of a ZX spectrum where was trying to code games in BASIC, was the potential to code games that were looking like arcade games; at the end though the code skill was lost and did delve in the graphical and sound capabilities

[fxgogo]

I didn’t get the Amiga because of the C64, it was specs. But my dad made me do a comparison between the Amiga 500, Atari 520 ST and Apple IIc. Probably a delay tactic on his part. We ended with the ST. It was only a few years later that I bought my own 500