A brief look at the history of
the company….. Founded in 1954 by
Jack Tramiel as a type writer repair
service Commodore was a company that
had its beginnings based in such things
as low cost office furniture, watches
and cash registers. In the 1970s when
many analysts believed the future of
computers lay in mammoth databases that
users accessed via terminals Commodores
found Jack Tramiel had other ideas.
Practical affordable models were deemed
years away. A populist at heart, Tramiel
rejected this notion as elitist. "Computers
for the masses, not the classes," became
his guiding aphorism and in 1977 the
PET personal computer was unveiled followed
by the Vic20 in 1981. In 1982 however
the Vic20 was superseded by the best
selling home computer of all time… the
C64. In 1985 Commodore introduced the
world's first multi-media computer,
the Amiga 1000 was unveiled at New York's
Lincoln Center to huge acclaim. Although
this was the case and the Amiga was
born into such positive beginnings it
is here that commodore the company began
to falter, Tramiel resigned and sold
off his shares in 1984 and had left
a space at the company noone else could
fill. 
As well as the various other Amiga incarnations,
commodore also tried to tap into the
console market with the release of the
CD32 and CDTV but marketing strategies
saw these machines do little to impact
the ever expanding console market. In
1992 Commodore closed it’s doors for
good.
Gaming Culture…..
Although that makes for a depressing read it is now that we examine the good stuff as we take a look back at the wonder that was
the Amiga computer. In this instance we’ll examine the Amiga 500 and 1200 models as these are the machines that became popular
amongst gamers and computer users alike. What made the Amiga special to me is simple, it was more than just a computer, to sound a
little schmaltzy it worked as the hub of a social life where all Amiga users stood under the banner of a shared understanding,
that we all owned the BEST home computer available. There was a community feel to the machine, it took on an almost sentient nature,
and became a friend to many. Amiga clubs shot up all over the globe and magazines along with them as users basked in the glory of
Amiga. The seedier side to this of course rested in cracking and piracy, games swap meets were often part of many clubs and schoolyard
banter. Along with this was the ‘demo culture’ that ran alongside the Amiga (and to a certain extent the c64 before it) wherein various
groups would put together demos showing off how they’d pushed the Amigas hardware that little bit further, always interesting to see
and sadly no more.
From c64 to Amiga…..
The first time I saw an Amiga in action
was at a computer meeting, I was the
proud owner of a C128 (ok so it was
really a flashy c64 since that’s the
only mode it ever got used in) and had
gone along to see what all the fuss
was about regarding this ‘Amiga 1000’
many of my friends were going on about
endlessly. When I walked in there was
a red and white bouncing ball on screen
and I was literally stunned… this was
amazing.. the graphics unbelievable…
why this was… almost lifelike, it truly
was bouncing so smoothly. Laughable
now but I am trying to get across to
you that feeling of awe, oh sure it’s
nothing now compared to your Xboxes
and Voodoo Hoodoo Cards but then.. this
was computing magic. I MUST have one….
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First Hand
Experiences…..
Tax Time!! Oh yes the time of year that puts fear into the hearts of many.. but not me for this year (1987) I was due a large rebate.
Off I went to my local electronics store to pick up my spangly new Amiga 500 and 1084 Monitor!! Although I liked the Amiga 1000 it was
truly on the release of the A500 that the Amiga came into its own, it was sleek, it was modern… it was a gamers dream machine. Lucky
for me I had numerous friends who had already swam in Amiga infested waters and they owned games… lots of them. My first few hours were
spent trying numerous different games for 15 minutes each… it was like Christmas only better and I had all but forgotten about the c128
gathering dust in the other room along with the Coleco Vision, the Amiga had arrived and gaming was never the same again.
Console or Computer? …..
In terms of usability the Amiga was a strange animal because although it was a computer its simplicity made it almost as easy as a
console in terms of use. You’d plug in your joystick, pop in the disk and it would load, no faffing, that was you. You could plug
it into any TV via the ‘modulator’ or a standalone monitor. The only real advantage a console had over the machine in terms of use
was its size and load times. Another bonus of the Amiga was the ‘public domain’ or ‘shareware’ side of things wherein people could
get software free or for minimal price, this was something no console could hope to accomplish given the costs involved. As well as
gaming the Amiga also had its computing side, it was a word processor, games creator, music maker… it was in essence a true multi
media machine, the first of its kind in many respects.
Gaming Delights…..
They don’t make em like that anymore…..
So the hardware was great, no games machine is anything without good games to play on it, for me the Amiga shined in this area,
it was genius because so many fresh ideas were implemented for it, it was the seed of many a great game of today. Without going
into too much detail because these will at some point be covered in more detail in the retro section of the site, lets examine a
few of the truly mighty games and developers that made the Amiga one mighty machine….
Team 17: Most true gamers will know this lot, and although they’re still about it has to be said they TRULY shone on the Amiga,
they wrote some of the BEST gaming moments over any format, titles such as: Alien Breed 1&2, Project X & Superfrog. The Mighty
Cinemaware with in depth story led gaming such as Wings, Defender of the Crown, IT Came From the Desert and Rocket Ranger. The
Bitmap Brothers: Speedball, Chaos Engine, Magic Pockets and Xenon. The list could go on and on so I’ll stop and say I WILL be
adding some of my all time favourites to the Retro reviews of the site, spur some fond memories and maybe grab a few screenshots.
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