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#1 |
The Sacred Armour Of
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Sussex, UK
Age: 45
Posts: 1,141
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What if....the Amiga 500 had been a console?
Yes folks, how might it have changed things if the big C= had taken this route instead? Might it have brought success in the US or A for instance or would it have made no difference at all?
Would it have even made it less successful in general than it was? Speculate and debate... |
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#2 |
Pirate
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Denmark
Posts: 3,395
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I think they would have failed... Back then the console market was either Nintendo (for kid) or Sega. I think Sega Mega drive ruled the consolmarket back then, while the computermarket was more open, and Atari where no big threat to the Amiga...
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#3 |
Into the Wonderful
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: England
Age: 49
Posts: 2,335
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HEY! I 'do' the 'What if' threads around here!
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#4 |
Pirate
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Denmark
Posts: 3,395
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What if... Anti and Das played a match of life and death on Atari 2800 playing PONG...
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#5 | |
Zone Friend
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Sweden
Age: 44
Posts: 716
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Quote:
![]() "I just know what I've been told: Antiriad's chances are mighty cold" (free interpretation of Full Metal Jackets) ![]() Last edited by fisken uno; 09 September 2003 at 01:26. |
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#6 |
95th User
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Brighton/UK
Age: 48
Posts: 3,120
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Megadrive has speed on its side and SNES had mode 7....
.... the Amiga has homegrown programmers .... Amiga did go into the console market (CD32), they should have stayed in the computer market and made a computer with built-in CD-ROM support if you talk to alot of PS2/PC coders (well ones in england) they'll tell you they started out on the Amiga... and still have much respect for the Amiga... and ask them if they would of perfered an Amiga computer with 8mb ram and CD-ROM support or CD32, they'll choose the computer option everytime!!! |
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#7 |
Registered User
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If your going to take a computer remove the keyboard and stuff it into a smaller box to make a console why not just keep it as a full functioning computer? What was more expensive the a500 or the cdtv, the a1200 or the cd32? How many games that are popular for the amiga cant be played on a console version with just a joystick? Think about it.
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#8 | |
Junior Member
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Age: 50
Posts: 283
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Quote:
I think even if the A500 was released as a console in 1987 it would still fail despite being ahead hardware wise of its competition because of bad commodore marketing and no 'big-name' game releases. Lets face it - there were not many good games for the A500 back in 1987 compared to the established consoles (Nintendo/Sega master system). Personally I wouldn't have bought an Amiga if it was just another console. The higher models (A2000) were way out of my reach back then ![]() |
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#9 |
Pirate
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Denmark
Posts: 3,395
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I agree with you Gary.
I think another factor was that an amiga you could get games from your mate. The consol had a much better copyprotection, I know you can get piratgame for the console, but you don't swap sms games with your mate back then.. |
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#10 |
Registered User
Join Date: May 2001
Location: ?
Posts: 19,648
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I haven;t seen the piracy helping the Amiga like it helped the consoles. The Amiga dieda spectacular dead thanks to mismanagement by Commodore (someoen here said this recently, who was it?)
\also, you could buy a console backup unit back then and swap genesis and snes games no problem (you think SMD and SFC files were created for emus? PAH!) An Amiga console would have rocked. Actually the original design had a slot for cartridge software. I am sad that it was canned! MSX computers had gams both on disk and carts and they were great. |
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#11 | |
Registered User
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Quote:
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#12 |
Pirate
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Denmark
Posts: 3,395
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I know you could swap console games, but here it was not that ordinary, might have been in Argentina (don't know), but not in Dk, but amiga-games where swap in every school....
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#13 |
2 contact me: email only!
Join Date: May 2001
Location: Auckland / New Zealand
Posts: 3,187
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If the Amiga had been a console I simply would not have bought one - I would have stuck with my C64 for a lot longer. I always intended to do a bit of programming and printing which eliminated consoles as a viable choice.
Also in NZ a lot of C64 and Amiga software was pirated and that is another reason it did so well here! Very few people had Sega Master Systems or Nintendos, but almost everyone had a C64 or Amiga (a few people had Amstrads but nobody I knew owned a Spectrum). A lot of people would only buy a machine they knew they could get copied games for. I also think that the majority of backroom coders that made demos and games would not have bought an Amiga if they couldn't program it. |
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#14 |
Junior Member
Join Date: May 2003
Location: Yorkshire UK
Age: 54
Posts: 160
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If the Miggy had been released as a console I doubt many of us would still be using them now. There would be no PD, demos, diskmags, great games like Worms (bedroom coded) and Monkey Island (too big for a cart), those oh so sweet utilities that get released and slideshows of semi-naked ladies
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#15 |
Junior Member
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: Athens, Greece
Posts: 991
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I think the question should have been:
What if the A500 was a big box Amiga? Nobody cared about consoles anyway! |
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#16 |
Lesser Talent
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: UK
Age: 42
Posts: 7,957
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I for one (in theory) would have probably still got one to be honest. I was (and still am) a very big console fan and as long as it still had decent software support (in the form of games obviously) I probably would have bought one.
There are a lot of flaws to that statement though... When it comes to being able to afford it, I was only young at the time. It was my uncle was the one who bought the A500 and he bought it not because of it's games but because of it's other uses. So I doubt I would have actually ever got around to playing on the A500 console. I'd also been woo'ed too much by sonic and there was no way that a megadrive wouldn't have been on my christmas list. And as a lot of you have already said, you wouldn't have bought one so it probably would have died on it's arse anyway. I'm pretty glad how it's worked out! (Apart from Amiga fudging up and going bust, Sega fudging up and going software only, and the lack of original software in today's market!) |
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#17 |
Into the Wonderful
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: England
Age: 49
Posts: 2,335
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If the A500 had been a console then I wouldnt have bought one.
I was a C64 user at the time and I was looking for another computer. The Amiga just seemed like the perfectly natural choice. I probably would have ended up buying an ST :shudder I didnt actually buy my first console until the CD32 and with the support that received its amazing I ever bought a console again. |
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#18 | |
Registered User
Join Date: May 2001
Location: ?
Posts: 19,648
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Quote:
It happened in Europe, check out lots of Amiga cracktros where the crackers say (contact us for smd/snes copiers and *****) Hmm I think what I actually meant with my post is that I would have liked the Amiga to have cartridge software. Yes, it is more expensive, but it could have been a factor good enough to compete with the consoles. Perhaps a console shouldn't have been as good, or perhaps launching two versions (like the Atari XE Game System) |
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#19 |
Commodore Collector
Join Date: Aug 2001
Location: Austria
Age: 53
Posts: 944
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I agree with Codetapper.
If the Amiga had been a console I would never ever have bought one because I didn't have enough money to buy games and so I wanted to have a machine you could copy games on ![]() ![]() And at least 90% of all A-500 owners here bought the machine just for playing games and because they had seen Amigagames at friends and knew they could be copied. The more serious users here didn't buy an A-500 anyway, but bought an A-2000 insted. |
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#20 |
The Sacred Armour Of
Join Date: Aug 2002
Location: Sussex, UK
Age: 45
Posts: 1,141
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Well, i have to admit that personally speaking I agree that it was better the A500 was a computer for many of the reasons listed above by other people here. I dont think i would have wanted it one if it had been a console.
Still, CDTV aside (which i dont see as a pure console par se) - Im suprised the big dumb C= didnt try it on at least in the US market. Perhaps it was the failure of the C64GS persuaded them otherwise in the short term before they commisioned the CD32 a few years later. |
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