What Software did you actually pay for ?

[Megalomaniac]

I was one of those people who mostly bought games. I saw it that programmers only made games because they could make a living from it, they had families to feed, and that they could make more money making console or PC games (which were more expensive than Amiga ones) by then - or indeed from programming databases or something. I liked having the boxes and manuals to look at, and by late 1991 they were mostly a standard size (though I remember arranging them with the slightly bigger e.g. MicroProse boxes slightly further back so they'd sit alongside everything else). For 'feelies' they were well short of what the US publishers did in those days, all I really remember there was the infamous Chupa-Chup with Zool and the sachet of ketchup with Bill's Tomato Game (both in the 'stinkers' list from my perspective, though objectively Bill's is probably a good game, everyone else seemed to like it. That situation happens to us all sometimes). I liked most of what I bought, maybe I was just very tolerant, but magazine reviews and word-of-mouth helped. Then again, they all loved Zool and Body Blows at the time, and hardly any of us seemed to.

It helped that by the time I got an Amiga the standard of games had improved, ST ports had largely died out and the magazines generally did call out the really bad games. The majority were bought as budgets (though ST ports were still prevalent there in 1991 and beyond), compilations, mail-order and occasional sales, and a couple from magazine subscriptions and as birthday / Christmas presents. It probably worked out at something like £6-8 per game on average, which I'd say was good value, even if they were mostly a year or more old once I got them. Free ex-commercial games on magazine coverdisks had stopped by the time I arrived, but a mix of demos and PD games on the disks meant there was always something to play - it was rare for me not to reload at least something from that issue's disks well after that month.

[fxgogo]

I bought all my creative apps, so Imagine, Deluxe Paint, Scala, Image Master. Bought a bunch of games when I got my Amiga, but never bought more.

In South Africa, there was zero retail presence for the Amiga.

[jabbadude]

NComm and a script companion I don't remember the name of (Tor, Thor?). The rest was 'share' ware.
Wait .. I did buy a couple of games .. after I had played them as 'share' ware. EOB for sure. Still got the package somewhere deep down in the basement.

[arcanist]

Of the few things I could afford Directory Opus Magellan was my favorite. I was so excited when the box arrived I took the manual to school to read at lunchtime. Browsing the PDF instills the same sense of excitement even today.

What a fantastic Workbench transformation. FTP in a lister, it felt like living in the future! Everything was so customizable, scriptable. I still use it to this day.

If I hadn't switched to Linux I'd be running the current version on Windows.

[Swe_Kryten2x4b]

Originally Posted by arcanist

Of the few things I could afford Directory Opus Magellan was my favorite. I was so excited when the box arrived I took the manual to school to read at lunchtime. Browsing the PDF instills the same sense of excitement even today.

What a fantastic Workbench transformation. FTP in a lister, it felt like living in the future! Everything was so customizable, scriptable. I still use it to this day.

That must be the the ultimate piece of software in the category that you either love or hate. I never became friends with it although I could see its potential.

[Jope]

Originally Posted by Swe_Kryten2x4b

That must be the the ultimate piece of software in the category that you either love or hate. I never became friends with it although I could see its potential.

+1. I have Magellan boxed with the manual, but it was just all too much. Yes, I installed it, yes I tried the Workbench replacement mode, but man. Endless things to configure and I just wasn't in the mood for configuring so much and the defaults weren't immediately appealing. Back to filemaster.

[Frog]

I bought few software :
Hippoplayer
Deli14bitgenie (Chris Hodges) in fact you have to send a postal card
Filemaster
MakeCD ?
WHDLoad

some friends of mine bought : Amos Pro, OctaMED, Devpac and few others dev tools.

Games :
Dungeon master (one of the best game in the world)
Lemmings (given the number of levels the lifespan was more excellent)
Shadow of the Beast
Shadow of the beast 2
Great Courts 2
Interphase
Kick off
Star Ray
and quite surprising, lot of 3.5 floppy disk DD

[Nobby_UK]

Too much of it

[4pLaY]

I bought quite a lot of things, at least in the late 90s, less so before as i was too young and had no cash for it. Mostly applications, very few games as i was never much of a gamer and the Amiga to me was my main computer and never used as a "game console".

I only really regret one purchase that i can remember and that is the web browser Voyager. While Vapor had some good products like amIRC, their browser was horrible.

[CCRider]

Stinkers?

Boy... I BOUGHT Barravento: O Mestre da Capoeira.

Yeah, I know... I'm probably de dumbest Amigan on Earth.

[gimbal]

Originally Posted by CCRider

Stinkers?

Boy... I BOUGHT Barravento: O Mestre da Capoeira.

Yeah, I know... I'm probably de dumbest Amigan on Earth.

Oh you were the one.

[CCCP alert]

I am not actually sure anymore whether I bought the ST version of a particular game and got an Amiga version as a crack disk in the post or vice versa. I lost all my stuff in a move abroad in 1990 when the UK job market/economy turned to shit and I got a job working abroad in Cyprus. I did buy loads of games, if it was on sale after 87 then defo Amiga version.

I guess because I don't really care anymore I have lost exact memories of what I bought/played on pirate crack disks on either the ST/Amiga back then but a lot of money was spent on originals.

Blood Money was a massive disappointment for me on Amiga though as somebody who was in the arcades frequently, awesome intro, shit boring underwhelming Amiga game technically IMO etc. Psygnosis Barbarian was another wanker of the week development I wished I could get a refund on lol and Ikari Warriors was just PD quality technically, Commando and Ghosts n Goblins were much better but I never bought them as they came later and I had given up paying for games.

By contrast I was happy with 125/130 C64 games I bought

[Etze]

I bought a lot of software, even if I could get it for free. But I wanted the manuals:
- BeckerText I+II
- Reflections 1, 2 and 2.5
- Maxon Cinema 4D 1.5 and 2
- Wordworth (AmiWrite?) 1-6
- Amiga Writer
- Maxon C++ 3
- Maxon Basic 3
- DOpus Magellan
- Amos Pro
- Blitz Basic 2
- Fusion
- Deluxe Paint IV

- MakeCD
- Shapeshifter
- WHDload
- MagicWB

I only started buying games when all of my friends moved to PC (early 90s). Like Sensible Soccer, Silent Service II, Knights of the sky, Formula One Grand Prix. The last games I ever bought were Jurassic Park AGA and Rise of the robots AGA…. After that I was done with Amiga games.

[Geordie-Jedi]

Originally Posted by Etze

I only started buying games when all of my friends moved to PC (early 90s). Like Sensible Soccer, Silent Service II, Knights of the sky, Formula One Grand Prix. The last games I ever bought were Jurassic Park AGA and Rise of the robots AGA…. After that I was done with Amiga games.

Did you stop buying Amiga games because you were moving over to PC / consoles ?
Or were Jurassic Park and Rise of the Robots, enough to push you
over the edge, and soured you on buying any more Amiga games ?