Commodore Amiga 600



I finally succumbed. The dying days of the Spectrum, Your Sinclair had just published their BIG FINAL ISSUE (That's one of those things that has to be written in capitals, sorry), game development had all but stopped as the software houses flocked to the shinier, spankier 16-bit consoles and computers. Once again, the rule was in place: no consoles, only computers, but I could "ask Father Christmas" for one (I was a bit old for that, but I'm sure you know what it was like back then...). So I plumped for the Atari TT.

Thankfully again, I was overruled. Bless my mum.

Even more thankfully, she got it bloody right again. Browsing through the Silica Systems adverts that always featured in Your Sinclair, I'd picked out the Atari TT as a powerful 32-bit system, capable of... alright, it was all about bragging rights. That and the base price of a Grand. So, more logically, I plumped for an Amiga, and getting the "The Wild, The Weird and The Wicked" pack, plus the special offer "Zool" pack, and that was Christmas 1993 pretty much sorted. I wasn't seen for weeks playing Pinball Dreams. That was, of course, if I could get my dad off it.

As for the Atari TT, production ceased later that year, and systems were used to develop games of the Atari Jaguar, which was a roaring success, sold zillions of units and became the single biggest selling item of the CENTURY. I think.

Anyway, back to the Amiga 600... a "stubby" version of the 500, it lost the numeric keypad (which was fine) and incorporated the RF output rather than having a separate box dangling out of the back (also fine). I expanded the computer a year later with an extra Megabyte of RAM and a second floppy drive. I was re-introduced to the wonders of MOD music (after Soundtracker on the Spectrum), as well as an extraordinary range of games, many of which were absolute classics.

I recently acquired my old Amiga, which still works, except for the keyboard... which unfortunately renders Pinball Dreams unplayable. Memories flooded back as I powered it up and watched the on-screen animation of the disk sliding into the drive...