Product test
Finally, no more using my fingernails: Thumby Color review
by Martin Jud
The A500 Mini in review: The wrong girlfriend
13.4.2022
Translation: machine translated
After the C64 and VIC-20, Retro Games has also given the legendary Commodore computer Amiga 500 a mini replica. After initial joy, The A500 Mini also causes melancholy.
This is an article from our content partner "PC Games". Here you can find the original article by Simon Fistrich.
The cute replica, about 20 by 40 centimeters in size, is an eye-catcher, of good plastic quality and resembles the Amiga 500 almost down to the last ventilation crack. The only difference is that everything is much smaller and much less functional than the original. The keyboard is immobile staffage, the drive pure decoration. On the other hand, it's nice that the two LED lights work and behave like the original Amiga when desired.
The A500 Mini is connected to the TV with the included HDMI cable. The USB cable, which is also included, provides the power supply - but a dedicated charging plug is missing. That leaves three additional USB ports. One is suitable for the included, but smaller version of the gray Amiga mouse. However, it no longer contains an analog mouse ball, but now works like a modern computer mouse.
In our test, this worked well in some cases, but the game did not run in others. In still other titles, the timing of the games was not right. All in all, the procedure is a bit fiddly, and it would be desirable if the ADF format was taken into account in a future firmware update.
Speaking of disk images: Although sources for pretty much every Amiga game ever released can be found immediately on the Internet via a simple Google search. But since the rights situation for many games is simply unclear, there is no general license for downloading. It is only legal if you own a license or the original or if the game has been officially released for download.
Conclusion of an Amiga fan
No question: For the feeling described above, an Amiga replica is of course better than a simple software emulator. However, it should ideally be a replica that looks less like a children's version and more like the real thing from 1987. It's understandable that Retro Games hasn't confirmed a large version with functioning keys yet, in contrast to The 64. The original size would take up a lot of space, and only real fans would grab it.
Nevertheless, it would immediately be on my wish list, please with a working keyboard and preferably also the original loading sounds from back then, which sounded as if a carpenter's factory was hidden in the Amiga. Because that's the real charm and also the reason of such in principle actually superfluous retro consoles: To feel for a short time like back then as a child.
From today's point of view, the games are to a large extent of average quality and in some cases unbearably old-fashioned, to say the least. Thus, the reunion with the old, but somehow wrong friend in the shape of The A500 Mini remains nice for old Amiga lovers, but somehow unsatisfying - and simply a few Euros too expensive for the short nostalgic kick.
The following games are also included in the package: Alien Breed 3D, Alien Breed: Special Edition 92, Arcade Pool, ATR: All Terrain Racing, California Games, Citadel (bonus game for download), Dragon's Breath, F-16 Combat Pilot, Paradroid 90, Pinball Dreams, Project-X: Special Editon 93, Qwak, Stunt Car Racer, Super Cars 2, The Chaos Engine, The Lost Patrol, The Sentinel, Titus the Fox, Worms: The Director's Cut, Zool. All games can be run in a carousel view.
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