Well, I must say that it doesn't get much easier than this to get Amiga emulation up and running on a PC. I got the PLUS edition, so I was pre-loaded with some great games and demos. If you don't know what I mean here by "demos," that's a good reason to get this package. Demos for the Amiga aren't "previews" or playable ads for games; they are stand-alone programs that show off the hardware's immense capabilities. Generally they are put together by hackers (the creative, not the criminal kind!) who want to show the world their skills. Back in the day, nothing would make an Amigan prouder than showing off these amazing demos to his PC friends, who were limited to monochrome and CGA graphics, not to mention the world's crappiest sound. It took a long time for even high-end PCs to catch up with the Amiga in terms of graphics and sound.
Anyway, Amiga Forever 2006 comes with a "launcher" that makes it point-and-click simple to get these games and demos up and running. No need to bother with configurations and such; these can be a nightmare for inexperienced Amiga users because of the bewildering array of OS versions and chip configurations required by the software. A program that runs fine on 1.0 won't run at all on 1.3, and so on, to say nothing of the problems associated with ram and graphics chips. Trust me, you want the launcher.
The pack-in games are some of the best on the Amiga system. Mindwalker was the first commercial game for the platform and remains one of the best (seconded only by Defender of the Crown) in my opinion. It's staggeringly original and sets a psychedelic mood like no other. The ambient marimba music alone makes it worth checking out. Also included is Deluxe Galaga, one of the best shoot'em ups I've ever played, and a game called Ports of Call. This last game is a graphically rich strategy game (by Sachs, same guy as Defender of the Crown) involving cargo ships. My dad and I stayed up all night playing this game on countless weekends.
Of course, there are some priceless Amiga treasures missing here, so you'll need to hit a site like Back to the Roots (which appears to be down at this moment) to get gems like Defender of the Crown, which any Amigan worth his AREXX will tell you is the best Amiga strategy game, period. Other must-see Amiga titles include the Shadow of the Beast series, The Settlers), Lemmings, Cannon Fodder, Stunt Car Racer, Turrican (1-3), and Syndicate. There are many other Amiga classics that are available in decent form on other platforms, but these are the ones I'd expect to see in any serious Amiga collection.
The Amiga Forever package also includes Workbench 3.x, which has some interesting tools on it--including a web browser. I wasn't able to login to this site with it, but was able to surf the net a bit and think of what might have been. Honestly, though, at this point I don't know who would be using Amiga productivity software unless they were nostalgic. As far as I'm concerned, the Amiga never even had a top-notch word processor, though Deluxe Paint IV was one of the most user-friendly yet powerful graphics editors I've had the pleasure of playing with. The games are the only thing that keeps me coming back!
Well, I must say that it doesn't get much easier than this to get Amiga emulation up and running on a PC. I got the PLUS edition, so I was pre-loaded with some great games and demos. If you don't know what I mean here by "demos," that's a good reason to get this package. Demos for the Amiga aren't "previews" or playable ads for games; they are stand-alone programs that show off the hardware's immense capabilities. Generally they are put together by hackers (the creative, not the criminal kind!) who want to show the world their skills. Back in the day, nothing would make an Amigan prouder than showing off these amazing demos to his PC friends, who were limited to monochrome and CGA graphics, not to mention the world's crappiest sound. It took a long time for even high-end PCs to catch up with the Amiga in terms of graphics and sound.
Anyway, Amiga Forever 2006 comes with a "launcher" that makes it point-and-click simple to get these games and demos up and running. No need to bother with configurations and such; these can be a nightmare for inexperienced Amiga users because of the bewildering array of OS versions and chip configurations required by the software. A program that runs fine on 1.0 won't run at all on 1.3, and so on, to say nothing of the problems associated with ram and graphics chips. Trust me, you want the launcher.
The pack-in games are some of the best on the Amiga system. Mindwalker was the first commercial game for the platform and remains one of the best (seconded only by Defender of the Crown) in my opinion. It's staggeringly original and sets a psychedelic mood like no other. The ambient marimba music alone makes it worth checking out. Also included is Deluxe Galaga, one of the best shoot'em ups I've ever played, and a game called Ports of Call. This last game is a graphically rich strategy game (by Sachs, same guy as Defender of the Crown) involving cargo ships. My dad and I stayed up all night playing this game on countless weekends.
Of course, there are some priceless Amiga treasures missing here, so you'll need to hit a site like Back to the Roots (which appears to be down at this moment) to get gems like Defender of the Crown, which any Amigan worth his AREXX will tell you is the best Amiga strategy game, period. Other must-see Amiga titles include the Shadow of the Beast series, The Settlers), Lemmings, Cannon Fodder, Stunt Car Racer, Turrican (1-3), and Syndicate. There are many other Amiga classics that are available in decent form on other platforms, but these are the ones I'd expect to see in any serious Amiga collection.
The Amiga Forever package also includes Workbench 3.x, which has some interesting tools on it--including a web browser. I wasn't able to login to this site with it, but was able to surf the net a bit and think of what might have been. Honestly, though, at this point I don't know who would be using Amiga productivity software unless they were nostalgic. As far as I'm concerned, the Amiga never even had a top-notch word processor, though Deluxe Paint IV was one of the most user-friendly yet powerful graphics editors I've had the pleasure of playing with. The games are the only thing that keeps me coming back!
Matt Barton, Managing Editor
Location: St. Cloud, Minnesota, USA
Email: matt@armchairarcade.com