The A500 Mini

[subcon959]

Introducing THEA500 Mini, a compact reimagining of the Amiga 500 home computer. Featuring perfect emulation of not only the original A500 but also the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA) of the A1200.

Play one of the included 25 classic Amiga games, selected from a simple to use carousel, including all-time greats like Alien Breed, Another World, Chaos Engine, Simon the Sorcerer and Worms.

Or load your own games via USB stick with WHDLoad support and an array of options to choose from.

Plus save and resume your game at any time to help you finish those punishingly difficult classics.

THEA500 Mini comes with the original style 2-button mouse and newly engineered 8-button precision gamepad.

• Emulates A500, A600 & A1200 (ECS/OCS/AGA)
• Save & resume your progress at any time
• Add your own games
• 720p HD display, at 50 Hz (Europe) or 60 Hz (USA)
• Multiple scaling options and CRT filter
• Virtual keyboard, and USB keyboard support
• Upgradable firmware

THEA500® Mini will hit the shops 25th March 2022 with a suggested retail price of GBP£119.99/ EUR€129.99/ USD$139.99/ AUD$199.99

https://retrogames.biz/thea500-mini

​

 

[Pleng]

Alien Breed 3D

An odd choice of game. Hopefully it emulates an accelerator as this game ran terribly on a stock A1200.

Also, I get that people have more nostalgia for the A500, but this essentially seems like an A1200 mini in an A500 case.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

An odd choice of game. Hopefully it emulates an accelerator as this game ran terribly on a stock A1200.

Also, I get that people have more nostalgia for the A500, but this essentially seems like an A1200 mini in an A500 case.

It is emulation, so you'd expect it to be able to emulate any model. Nothing wrong with that.

 

[Bladexdsl]

$200 aud for 25 games they must be fucking joking! also why only pinball dreams that's the most boring one! good luck selling that POS here

 

[subcon959]

The pricing definitely seems out of touch for mini consoles. The mouse and controller don't add that much more value.

Then how much are they going to charge for the eventual full version?

Here's some pics of the UI..

 

[Veho]

Add your own games

Now we're talking

It would be worth the money if the keyboard was functional. Alas, it's just a giant (tiny) tease. Meh.

 

[tech3475]

I wonder how far the emulation goes, i.e. will it allow for different CPUs (e.g. 68040), HDF, OS, etc? Although I wouldn’t buy this at full price, maybe discounted like the C64 Mini got, but even then I’d prefer a ‘Maxi’ version.

I say that, if I can get hold of a Keyrah, I’d like to convert my old A1200 case into a RPi system.

The pricing definitely seems out of touch for mini consoles. The mouse and controller don't add that much more value.

Then how much are they going to charge for the eventual full version?

I’m expecting something like £170-200 for a ‘Maxi’ version.

The C64 Maxi had about a £40 price difference and the A500 is larger with more keys.

 

[spinal_cord]

Seriously! VIRTUAL keyboard? Why do they not learn?

 

[tech3475]

Seriously! VIRTUAL keyboard? Why do they not learn?

What's wrong with providing the option? Sure I wouldn't use one for editing the Startup-Sequence but not every game may require heavy usage of it and it may be easier than digging out a USB keyboard.

 

[spinal_cord]

If someone is making a version of a popular home computer, they should provide a working physical keyboard, especially if the original had an integrated keyboard. Having a fake keyboard on it is just as bad as putting a sticker there whit a photo of the keyboard. And nobody should even think about mentioning the 'difficulty' of that, If you can buy a USB keyboard for ~£5, then there is no excuse for not creating a WORKING keyboard on these things. I 100% guarantee they would get a lot more sales even if they had to add £10 or so to the price, if the keyboard actually worked.

 

[tech3475]

If someone is making a version of a popular home computer, they should provide a working physical keyboard, especially if the original had an integrated keyboard. Having a fake keyboard on it is just as bad as putting a sticker there whit a photo of the keyboard. And nobody should even think about mentioning the 'difficulty' of that, If you can buy a USB keyboard for ~£5, then there is no excuse for not creating a WORKING keyboard on these things. I 100% guarantee they would get a lot more sales even if they had to add £10 or so to the price, if the keyboard actually worked.

If this thing is similar in scale to the C64 mini, then it would be pointless IMO to include a working keyboard on the device since you'd probably need a cocktail stick to use it.

We may see a 'full sized' version with a working keyboard in time, they did this with the C64 mini.

 

[FAST6191]

More Amiga fans around here than last time.
https://gbatemp.net/threads/essentials-amiga-atari-spectrum-c64.126626/
Choice video as well if you are interested in the underlying aspects of the original A500


Anyway £120 of my hard earned for that game selection... no thanks, though fairly impressive effort getting Gremlin, Team17 and Bitmap Brothers onboard as that means they surely have some idea where their bread is buttered. I think Sony own Psygnosis (they of Lemmings fame) these days so will have to be one of those own loads there. Elite would be quite surprising, though maybe with Elite dangerous being a thing they have buried the hatchet, and as of the recent EA buyout of Codemasters then I guess Sensible Software (Cannon Fodder, Sensible Soccer) will also not be present, EA long having owned Bullfrog (Populous, Syndicate) so yeah roll on ADF support. No idea who owns James Pond these days, though given it saw one of those awful mobile phone nostalgia cash ins (don't look it up if you have any affection for the original, there is a reason I am not giving the name here either) some years back it might be available.


Fingers crossed for Simulcra.

 

[spotanjo3]

Yikes! Skip!

 

[subcon959]

There will definitely be a full version with working keyboard so I really don't suggest buying this as adding a USB keyboard just seems daft. You might as well go the Raspberry Pi + Amiberry route at that point.

Also, no SWOS would be a crime.

 

[jesterscourt]

As an American I always found the whole home PC market in Europe in the 80's/90's fascinating. Between the Amstrad, Sinclair, and Commodore, it seems like there was a lot of great stuff coming out from a ton of small companies (or even solo devs). It's interest to compare it to the indie renaissance we have been going through for the past ten years or so.

 

[kublai]

I'm going to wait for the A500 maxi.

 

[XDel]

I hope this is real

 

[subcon959]

As an American I always found the whole home PC market in Europe in the 80's/90's fascinating. Between the Amstrad, Sinclair, and Commodore, it seems like there was a lot of great stuff coming out from a ton of small companies (or even solo devs).

And then there was the demo scene that was often even more impressive than the games.

 

[XDel]

Exciting!

 

[tech3475]

There will definitely be a full version with working keyboard so I really don't suggest buying this as adding a USB keyboard just seems daft. You might as well go the Raspberry Pi + Amiberry route at that point.

Also, no SWOS would be a crime.

Yes and no.

If I was buying a gift for family, this would still be preferable because it should be much easier to use and setup.

I’ve given mini consoles (including the C64 Mini) to family and the ‘nice box’, the ‘plug and play’ aspect combined with their smaller size was a plus for them. I doubt an RPi would have gone down as well even if I preconfigured everything.

As for myself, I agree about the Maxi or emulation route and would only pick one of these up for ‘collection’ sake…..but then I’m the type of person who bought Amiga OS 3.2 and is trying to make a custom Kickstart ROM.