In the latter half of the previous decade, several videogame manufacturers hit upon gamer nostalgia to produce some beloved blasts from the past. Nintendo released the NES Classic in 2016 and the SNES Classic a year later, featuring built-in playable game libraries using hardware emulation. Sony also got into the act with the PlayStation Classic in 2018, alongside Sega with the Genesis Mini in 2019. Other computer consoles have been revived in “mini” editions like the now-defunct Commodore, courtesy of UK-based Retro Games Ltd. After their release of THEC64 (2019) and THEC64 Mini (2018) emulating Commodore 64 games, they are now introducing a mini version of the Commodore Amiga 500.

IGN tells us that Retro Games has announced the A500 Mini, a licensed micro-console emulator for the Amiga 500, the home computer released in 1987 that was capable of playing videogames. Planned to release next year, the A500 Mini packs no less than 25 well-known 16-bit game titles that released for the original Amiga 500 throughout its production life. But that is not all; the Mini is also capable of emulating the AGA graphics of its successor computer the Amiga 1200, and thus includes game titles released for that model.

Among the sample game titles that can be played on the A500 Mini are computer classics like “Battle Chess” and “Worms: The Director’s Cut,” plus “ATR: All Terrain Racing,” “Kick Off 2,” “Simon the Sorcerer,” “Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension” and more. Furthermore, similar to THEC64 Retro Games enables A500 Mini owners to load more Amiga game ports to the console via USB, something the micro-consoles released by Nintendo, Sega and Sony lacked (beyond alternate market-based variants). Players can select their choice game on a virtual carousel, choose between 50Hz or 60Hz screen refresh rates, add an optional CRT filter, and other display options.

Like Retro Games’ THEC64, the A500 Mini main unit is shaped like the actual Amiga 500 keyboard, but scaled down and with decorative keys. It comes with a real Amiga 2-button mouse and a controller based on the Amiga CD32, Commodore’s last attempt to create a true videogame console in 1993 before going bankrupt the following year. Extra plugin ports will also enable gamers to use a real computer keyboard. Retro Games will release the A500 Mini in 2022, priced at $139.99 in the US and £119.99 in the UK.

Image courtesy of The Verge