The Amiga is unique in the mid-to late-1980s home computer boom. Though its untimely demise was unanticipated, the powerful Commodore successor to the immortal C64 made several important technological and artistic achievements when it launched in 1985. Even while those who grew up with it will never forget its library and applications, it has sadly received little attention when it comes to vintage gaming material. The A500 Mini, a brand-new plug-and-play solution from Retro Games Ltd., claims to make it simple and pleasant for people of all ages and interests to access the Amiga library. Let’s examine its features and performance.
The Amiga 500, the most well-liked Amiga model released in 1987, served as the model for the A500 Mini. The initial console ran on a Motorola 68000 with 512KB of RAM and a clock speed of about 7MHz; the latter specification gave rise to the console’s moniker. With an All Winner H6 ARM processor and Amiberry emulation software operating at a basic resolution of 720p, the A500 Mini is rather more contemporary. Similar to other new “mini” releases, this is a full emulation solution, with a little edge in accuracy and compatibility owing to its foundation in WinUAE, the de facto Amiga emulation solution. In this instance, it is closely based on Raspberry Pi 3 hardware support.
The A500 Mini is directly inspired by the full-size console, with three USB ports, an HDMI port, a small power button, an inoperative tiny keyboard, and USB-C for power. The plastic on this lovely little device is of a decent quality, and it makes me feel warm and fuzzy, however the power button seems cheap and lacks feedback.
The A500 gamepad and mouse needed to play any game on the system are included with the system. The mouse is a scaled-down version of the original, feels real, if a little light, and has an optical sensor instead of a rubber ball. This controller offers a new’standard’ for the Amiga with its introduction, drawing influence from the Amiga CD32 controller that made its debut in 1993. Once more, the construction seems adequate, and the button arrangement has been updated from the 1993 original. The original disc-shaped d-pad has also been replaced with a more precise, but somewhat stiffer, PlayStation-style version.
I examined hundreds of controllers in an attempt to discover a better solution, but frequently the device mappings were off. I had to completely switch to the 8BitDo SF30 controller because it was the only one that could function flawlessly with the gadget. We would truly be in business if mouse emulation could be applied, say, to an analog stick. Hopefully, this is something that can be fixed in future firmware.
When the gadget first boots up, the 25 available games are shown in a frontend that looks a lot like Netflix. While not all are true masterpieces, several apparent additions may not have been feasible because to the complex licensing circumstances. The video attached above delves into each game, but because of its distinct mood and use of a CPU-controlled avatar, I think Another World is the best option. The A500 Mini and the original machine only differ slightly in terms of visuals, sound, and run time, but overall the games are accurately replicated.
There’s also an options menu available to you. Keep in mind that you shouldn’t automatically choose the 60Hz output option if you have the option of 50Hz or 60Hz. Since most games were designed to operate on the European 50Hz standard, they perform better here. It also functions rather well to dynamically crop and zoom the image to fit the screen size of contemporary monitors. Additionally, there are filters—a CRT filter among them—but they’re a little rudimentary and are probably best avoided. Lastly, the device’s LEDs may be configured to react to disk activity, which helps you differentiate between games that have crashed and those that are just loading the next level.
WHDLoad support is the A500 Mini’s last major selling feature. In essence, this is a game’s archived picture file that has been optimized and set up to perform at its peak on the original hardware. Although WHDLoad is commonly referred to as an emulator, it was designed for the original hardware and functions exactly the same on any simulated device. The most significant feature of WHDLoad is its ability to combine floppies into a single drive image, therefore eliminating the need for disk shifting and producing a one file solution for any system game. Because of their simple setup and drag-and-drop operation, the games on the A500 Mini effectively simplify the gaming experience even further.
Retro Games offers the WHDLoad profile for download to a USB drive on their website. It’s a very involved process that allows you to prepare and dump your own Amiga diskettes. From that point on, practically the whole Amiga universe is at your fingertips. You may even customize the emulation of the game with additional choices for each game.
In the end, looking at these little devices leaves us with the standard two-fold answer. With its open nature when it comes to sideloading games, the A500 Mini is a very welcome gadget, whether you’re revisiting old memories or discovering the Amiga library for the first time. It provides a more contemporary console experience and unlocks several amazing games that were previously difficult to locate in original versions and challenging to get right during emulation. However, there is nothing new here for those who have previously experimented with the original hardware or have customized their emulation boxes using Recalbox or MiSTer devices; you would likely be better off working inside your own infrastructure of unique settings.
It will be interesting to see if the A500 Mini, like the C64 Mini before it, sparks a boom in new commercial releases based on Amiga technology. The mini console presented developers with a chance to focus on a ‘new’ platform for their contemporary retro releases, and sales grew steadily as new and old fans discovered software tailored especially for the aftermarket device—a concept that could be expanded upon on the A500 Mini with WHDLoad. It’s unclear whether Retro Games Ltd. will make the A500 Mini feasible, but it may bring in a new generation of Amiga enthusiasts and software.