Anybody who says that A8 is superior to ST is, well, delusional. It doesn't matter if it has hardware scrolling or not. The very proof is in software not in hardware.
ST has games that A8 can only dream of. And please, don't even start with such primitive games like Joust or Boulder Dash. I'm talking about games like Civilization, Dungeon Master, Populous, Operation Thunderbolt, Epic etc. You can brag all day about how joystick ports are blazing fast on A8, but it will not change the fact that ST is simply better.