Amiga
From Sega Retro
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Amiga |
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Manufacturer: Commodore Business Machines |
The Amiga is a line of computers originally produced by Commodore Business Machines and marketed as a 16-bit replacement to the Commodore 64.
The first Amiga computer was released in 1985 in the form of the Amiga 1000, however it is the lower cost Amiga 500 from 1987 which is generally credited for reviving Commodore's fortunes with the brand as a gaming machine. Commodore's bankruptcy in 1994 put an end to Amiga production, though after Escom purchased the rights to the Amiga and its assets, a further run kept the system selling until 1996. Approximately 4.91 million Amigas (including the Amiga CD32 console) were sold in total[1].
Contents
Sega support
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Like all home computers prior the rise of IBM PC compatibles running Windows 95 (and excluding the Sega-designed SC-3000), Sega did not bring any of its games to the Amiga directly, instead licensing out arcade properties to the likes of Activision (Mediagenic) and U.S. Gold, which would in turn sub-license development work to smaller studios. As the Amiga spent a good portion of its life being the most capable 16-bit home computer available to consumers in North America and Europe, it was natural that Sega games would appear on the platform.
Until the release of the Sega Mega Drive, the Amiga was often the best place for Americans and Europeans to go for the most accurate ports of 16-bit Sega arcade games (Japan having the X68000 and FM Towns as options), although a lack of close co-operation with Sega meant that all home computer conversions of this era took liberties with the source material. From a technical perspective, the Amiga 500 is a step above its closest rival, the Atari ST 520, and would not be truly challenged by the IBM PC until the early 1990s.
Most Amiga games were distributed on double density 3½-inch floppy disks, although the low storage capacity of this medium (usually 880kB when formatted) means games are often spread across multiple disks, with the user required to switch between them at certain points in the game.
While Commodore sold the Amiga in numerous territories, it was predominantly Europe that accepted it as a form of low-cost gaming, and so the majority of Sega titles for the Amiga were only sold in this region. Mindscape distributed a handful in the United States, but their success is hard to quantify due to the way the Amiga (and home computers as a whole) were marketed.
A side effect of competing against the Atari ST was that when faced with multiple platforms to cater for, game developers often did not fully utilise the Amiga hardware. It was common to see games written with the ST in mind, before quickly being ported to the Amiga with only minor improvements (if indeed any improvements were made at all). Part of the reason for this was that the Atari ST was able to undercut the Amiga's price at launch with a more focused marketing campaign - the ST became more common throughout much of Europe and so writing games for the system was initially a more profitable venture.
While perhaps not as versatile as an IBM PC, all Amigas are upgradable. As games were generally created for the mass market, most were typically designed to run on the most popular mass market Amiga machine - the Amiga 500, however the Amiga version of Power Drift for example can tap into the faster Motorola 68020 processor (a standard feature of the Amiga 2500) should one exist.
List of Sega games for the Amiga
- Action Fighter (1989)
- After Burner (1988)
- Alien Storm (1991)
- Alien Syndrome (1988)
- Altered Beast (1990)
- Arcade Smash Hits: Limited Collector's Edition (1990)
- Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf (1990)
- Bonanza Bros. (1991)
- Crack Down (1990)
- Cyber Police ESWAT (1990)
- Dynamite Dux (1989)
- G-LOC (1992)
- Galaxy Force II ( ?)
- Golden Axe (1990)
- Hot-Rod (1990)
- Last Battle (1991)
- Line of Fire (1991)
- OutRun (1988)
- OutRun Europa (1991)
- Passing Shot (1989)
- Power Drift (1989)
- Scramble Spirits (1990)
- SDI: Strategic Defense Initiative (1989)
- Sega Arcade Turbo (1990)
- Sega Master Mix (1990)
- Shadow Dancer (1991)
- Shinobi (1989)
- Sonic Boom (1990)
- Space Harrier (1988)
- Space Harrier II (1990)
- Sports Spectacular (1991)
- Super Hang-On (1989)
- Super Monaco GP (1991)
- Super Sega (1991)
- Thunder Blade (1988)
- Time Scanner (1989)
- Turbo OutRun (1989)
- Wheels of Fire (1990)
- Wonder Boy in Monster Land (1989)
- World Cup Soccer (1990)
Other Amiga games also released for Sega systems
- 688 Attack Sub
- Alien 3
- American Gladiators
- Another World
- Atomic Robo-Kid
- Back to the Future Part II
- Back to the Future Part III
- Battle Squadron
- Battlemaster
- Battletoads
- Best of the Best: Championship Karate
- Blockout
- Bomb Jack
- Brutal: Paws of Fury
- Bubba 'N' Stix
- Bubble and Squeak
- Bubble Bobble
- Budokan: The Martial Spirit
- California Games
- California Games II
- Cannon Fodder
- Centurion: Defender of Rome
- Chase H.Q.
- Chiki Chiki Boys
- Chuck Rock
- Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck
- Civilization: Shin Sekai Shichi Dai Bunmei
- Cliffhanger
- Cool Spot
- Corporation
- Cosmic Spacehead
- CyberBall
- Dark Castle
- Dark Seed
- Desert Strike: Return to the Gulf
- Double Dragon
- Double Dragon 3: The Rosetta Stone
- Double Dragon II: The Revenge
- Dune
- Dungeon Master II: Skullkeep
- Eye of the Beholder
- F-15 Strike Eagle II
- F1
- F1: World Championship Edition
- Fantastic Dizzy
- Fatal Rewind
- FIFA International Soccer
- Final Fight CD
- Fire & Forget II
- Fire & Ice
- Flashback
- Forgotten Worlds
- Forgotten Worlds
- Galahad
- Gear Works
- Ghouls'n Ghosts
- Gods
- Gunship
- Hard Drivin'
- HardBall!
- Heimdall
- Heroes of the Lance
- Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
- Ishido: The Way of Stones
- Jaguar XJ220
- James "Buster" Douglas Knockout Boxing
- James Pond II: Codename RoboCod
- James Pond: Underwater Agent
- Jimmy White's Whirlwind Snooker
- Joe & Mac
- Jungle Strike
- Kick Off 3: European Challenge
- King's Bounty: The Conqueror's Quest
- King's Quest: Quest for the Crown
- Klax
- Krusty's Fun House
- Lemmings
- Lemmings 2: The Tribes
- Links: The Challenge of Golf
- Lotus II: RECS
- Lotus Turbo Challenge
- Magic Pockets
- Marble Madness
- Mega Lo Mania
- Mega Turrican
- Mercs
- Mick & Mack as the Global Gladiators
- Micro Machines
- Midnight Resistance
- Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra
- Might and Magic: Gates to Another World
- Mizubaku Daibouken
- Mortal Kombat
- Mortal Kombat II
- Nigel Mansell's World Championship Racing
- Nobunaga's Ambition
- Onslaught
- Operation Wolf
- Pac-Mania
- Paperboy
- Paperboy 2
- PGA European Tour
- PGA Tour Golf
- Pinball Dreams
- Pit-Fighter
- Populous
- Power Drive
- Power Monger
- Premier Manager
- Prince of Persia
- Puggsy
- Puznic
- R-Type
- Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2
- Rampage
- Rampart
- Renegade
- Rise of the Dragon
- Risky Woods
- Road Rash
- RoadBlasters
- Romance of the Three Kingdoms II
- S.S. Lucifer: Man Overboard!
- Shadow of the Beast
- Shadow of the Beast II
- Shanghai
- SimEarth
- Slider
- Smash T.V.
- Snow Bros.
- Space Gun
- Special Criminal Investigation
- Speedball
- Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe
- Spy vs Spy
- Star Control
- Starflight
- Stormlord
- Strider
- Strider II
- Striker
- Suikoden: Tenmei no Chikai
- Super Off Road
- Super Space Invaders
- Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
- Sword of Sodan
- T2: The Arcade Game
- Technocop
- The Addams Family
- The Adventures of Willy Beamish
- The Aquatic Games Starring James Pond and The Aquabats
- The Chaos Engine
- The Duel: Test Drive II
- The Faery Tale Adventure
- The Flintstones
- The Humans
- The Incredible Crash Dummies
- The Lost Vikings
- The NewZealand Story
- The Ninja Warriors
- The Second Samurai
- The Secret of Monkey Island
- The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants
- The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World
- Theme Park
- Time Soldiers
- Top Gear 2
- Total Football
- Turrican
- Two Tribes: Populous II
- Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar
- Ultimate Qix
- Vigilante
- Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?
- Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego?
- Whizz
- Will Harvey Presents The Immortal
- Wing Commander
- Winter Olympics
- Wipeout 2097
- Wiz 'n' Liz
- Wolfchild
- Wonder Dog
- World Class Leader Board
- World Cup USA 94
- World Games
- Worms
- Xenon 2: Megablast
- Zany Golf
- Zool
- Zoom!
AGA
- Bubble and Squeak
- Disney's Aladdin
- Fantastic Dizzy
- James Pond 3: Operation Starfish
- James Pond II: Codename RoboCod
- Jungle Strike
- Myst
- PGA European Tour
- Primal Rage
- Quake
- Rise of the Robots
- Shaq Fu
- SimCity 2000
- Skeleton Krew
- Street Racer
- Super Skidmarks
- Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers
- The Chaos Engine
- The Lion King
- Theme Park
- Top Gear 2
- Whizz