abraXXious

I have two Pal top loaders, one still boxed (never opened) - didnt even know they were expensive! Bought both of them for peanuts in the early 90s when they were briefly sold here as a cheapy alternative to the Snes! How times have changed. Found out the other day that PC Engine LTs are worth $1000+!!! I have three of them.

Yeah, I'd be much happier if I knew that all new games would have an option to ditch the tablet crap and use the pro controller exclusively. That and a few good FPSs and all would be better - I cant stand Nintendo games. Perhaps they will get the hint like MS did with the Kinnect (does ANYONE use this POS?) and Sony did with Move (or this POS?). God knows why they (bloody Nintendo mainly) feel the need to invent some stupid gimmick instead of simply making better games... What next? A controller that farts and you have to sniff out the onscreen culprit? Dont laugh - at this rate this will be next...

The only real Amiga beater in the 80s was the Sharp X68000 - it was like the Japanese version of the Amiga and had amazing capabilities and jaw droppingly accurate arcade conversions - check out Strider or Ghouls and Ghosts...

Common misconception. The Archie series had VERY powerful Risc cpus.... and little else. In practice for gaming, moving graphics (except 3d bitmap based) etc they were completely outclassed by the Amiga. Now 3d is another matter. The Arm based cpus were very powerful and since 3d relies on the cpu more so than any custom graphics hardware (well, back then anyway), the Archie always had the best versions of 3d games. Earlier machines were hideous, however the Risc PC 600/700 case is a thing of beauty and I would never part with any of mine.

Arghhhh. I hate the A500. True it was the most popular Amiga and was the main driving force of sales etc so we Amigans should be respectful of it..... but it is ugly, huge, a pig to upgrade (and not really worthwhile) does not have any redeeming features such as IDE or SCSI built in, no pcmcia interface, no composite out, no AGA etc. It covers half your desk and if you are silly enough to add an A570 or A590 or any sidecar expansion it hangs off the side of your desk! I remember when the A600 came out I thought it was stupid because it had no numeric keypad. That was then. Now the A600 is a FAR better Amiga than the A500. It has built in IDE so you can have a nice compact internal hd, it has a pcmcia port, 2mb agnus, ecs chipset, composite out and is only two thirds the size. The A500 is the only Amiga I refuse to keep in my collection. I have several expanded 2000s, 3000s and 4000s, a 4000T. A CDTV with matching black keyboard, mouse, 1084S and floppy drive. A couple of A600s with ACA630s (68030/32mb ram upgrades), half a dozen A1200s with 030s/040s and even an 060 @ 80 mhz (nice machine), with subway usb cards etc. I even have two A1000s in mint condition, one with a phoenix board. But I draw the line at the craptacular A500. Still, thats me. As for the A500 not having composite, and the A2000s only having mono composite (from memory there is a hack to give chroma) this is true, however composite is crap on a machine that is capable of 1280x512 (and more with overscan) so you really need S-video at a minimum, and S-Video is a simple $30.00 plug in card away.

In working condition, not sure if these came in NTSC and PAL variants, but if they did I would prefer PAL.

Ahhhh, I have fun in PLAYING the games.... collecting is just a requirement for me to be able to play them, so if I can skip this then all the better.... for me that is.

The initial post does not narrow the choice down much. All the systems I mentioned have disk drive options and more modern SD storage options, all of them have a somewhat healthy homebrew and all of them can be connected to a modern TV. With regards TV hook up, even the more modern systems have many options for this. Nearly all Amigas have a composite out, or you can get a decent tv with scart (scart rulez) and use the far better RGB. If you are in a country where scart is not readily available (my condolences) then you can use S-vide which is still quite good for gaming (Amigamaniac sells new RGB to scart adapters for $30.00). I think you need to set more descriminating parameters to narrow down the field of choices.

Depends what you mean by best 80s computer.... ...if you mean best by most powerful and ahead of its time then it would be hands down an Amiga. ...if you mean best by most popular and supported then it would be hands down the C64. ...if you mean best by most fondestly remembered then it would be.... different for everyone. Nostalgia plays a big part in these things so if you were old enough to own/use a computer in the 80s then you will already have an idea of what the "best" 80s computer is. I find them all fascinating in their own ways, but for myself: Amiga - ultra powerful for its time, cutting edge custom chips and made for gaming - same father as the Atari 8 bit computer range. Atari ST - very well supported, first affordable 16 bit computer with good capabilities and some ground breaking games. C64 - first computer to inspire musicians to write gaming soundtracks instead of just noise. Hardware sprites and scrolling made it a very capable 8 bit system. Massive support and games library. Atari 8 bit computers were very much ahead of their time with great specs etc, but very little software support and poor quality games compared to what was available on their peers, which is a shame as in many ways they were more capable machines (except the C64 which was made for gaming). ZX Spectrum was a very low spec system which was designed around a relatively fast cpu which programmers used to replicate hardware features in software meaning that whilst it was never going to be as good as something the like the C64 for scrolling etc, it was very flexible and had some breakthrough gaming styles - such as isometric adventure games etc. Vic 20, C-16, Plus 4 etc were very low end and did not get any more software past the mid 80s (late 80s had the best gaming in my humble opinion) so they missed out big time, similar to the 8 bit Ataris which got VERY little love, arcade ports or even new software releases in the late 80s. Take from it what you will and best of luck.

I purchased a Wii U (32gb black) the day it was released. I looooove game consoles and must have one of everything when released. It came with Nintendo Land, which flat out sux. Sorry, but Im not into kiddy carnival type games. This was ok as I knew it would suck before buying it - I just wanted the console. So after buying the console I thought I shoould buy a game for it. However I soon found there was NOTHING I would play out for it. Okiez, its a new console so you cannot expect it to have a comprehensive library, but should it not have at least a couple of so called "killer apps"? Zombie U was almost universally panned (and with good reason I might add - I played it in store for about 15 minutes and that was more than enough), and not much else was available (you can cram Epic Mickey and all that crap where the sun dont shine). Eventually I purchased Black Ops 2 as I read reviews saying it was ALMOST as good as the versions running on the 7 year old Xbox360 and 6 year old PS3... Now I understand it takes time to learn the ways to harness the full capabilities of new hardware, usually the 2nd generation of games is a big improvement over the first, and by the 3rd generation you are getting a good indication of the power of the hardware. But I must say I was surprised that a new comsole could not even replicate the performance of 7 year old hardware. This is crazy.... or plain lazy on the programmers part. Anywho, not even this bothered me much as I didnt buy the Wii U for "ultra next gen gaming"... but that abortion of a controller is a joke! Not only is it ugly, a finger print magnet and a power whore, but it is a stupid annoying gimmick. I shortly there after purchased a so called "pro controller" (yeah, this is like Nintendo saying if you are a pro, or take your gaming seriously, please feel free to ditch our tablet joke/novelty/gimmick and buy a real controller) which feels quite nice... but I have yet to find a decent game on the Nintendo Wii U/Doorstop to use it on! If anyone knows of a SINGLE decent game being released on this neglected dog of a console please let me know. Im presently playing Bioshock Infinite on the PS3 and Dishonored on the 360 and loving them both, why could not either of these be released on the Wii U.... and support the pro controller so you can gently place that stupid tablet controller in the bin where it belongs? Sorry for the rant, but the Wii U is easily the worst console I have ever purchased from new.

Thanks for that. I downloaded it and found the Atari version in the Player folder. However, do I need the instruments folder etc on the Atari? The docs are very lacking. Also, it does not mention in the docs if it does, but does it also play xex and sap files? Thanks for your help.

OKiez.... now we are on the right track. If that is what a single Pokey is capable of in the right hands I cant wait to get hold of some good dual Pokey tracks. Can anyone suggest any? Also, can someone please suggest a good player for these on the Atari 8 bit?

Thanks W1k. What are the differences, pros and cons to each?

Thanks guys, Ill give it a go. How stable/useable is Sparta Commander?

I had a look at that link - used Google Translate, but I cannot find the download link for it?! Also, it says that it requires SDX and 80 column mode - what is SDX? How do I "get" 80 column mode? Is there a decent file manager that is "ready to go"?

Thanks FJC!

My mummy made me crunchy peanut butter sandwiches instead of smoothie... now I have the royal shits. Sorry, seemed appropriate at the time.

Hi 8bit guy, sorry im new to SpartaDOS, does it have a gui file manager built in? I have a 1mb ultimate on the way, I understand this has SpartaDOS built in, is this correct?

Hi adam242, thanks for the link - that's more like it. I assume this song is a stereo Pokey song, do you know the name of it and if its in the ASMA archive? At least this sounds decent, the other ones sounded like a busted pinball machine.

I downloaded ASMA only <5 Mb which was nice, HVSC is like 90MB. But the dozen or so songs I have have tried so far are pretty ordinary - and thats putting it gently. With regards to chasing GOOD songs, I am referring to something that sounds good overall - song composition does not rely on sound chip quality and is important, but the actual quality of the voices outputting that composition is just as important, and so far that is what I have found lacking with the Pokey music I have tried. The compositions are fine, but the sound the chip itself produces is fairly horrible. Im hoping I have just not happened upon the good ones yet. I was lead to believe that the Pokey was almost the equivalent of the Sid, I was expecting a small difference in quality/ability but am instead finding a yawning chasm. I have a stereo pokey coming with the intention of playing around with some Atari 8 bit music, but at this stage Im not sure if it is worthwhile even installing it, especially if Im only going to be muting the sound. If anyone can suggest any nice pokey music that has nice sounding voices/instruments (any style) please let me know. Thanks.

ST or STe? Actually, it must an ST as I think the oldest STes are 1.06...

Hey Kev, nice ebay shop you got going there, my hat off to you that you are able to make a living out of it - I have a very stressful job and would give anything to be able to do something I enjoy as my primary means of income. Anywho, Im in the market for a working Pal JagCD at the right price. Does not need to have games, box, manual etc, just the main unit and psu. If you ever get one, even down the track, please feel free to PM me. Best of luck with your en-devours and I will check on your shop periodically.

Ouch! What an eyesore! That has to be one of the ugliest things Ive ever seen. The irony is that it looks like a lot of work went into it and the workmanship looks quite good, but the design and aesthetics - barf-o-rama...

Tried those but they are not much good. I think I may have been expecting a little too much from poor Pokey, or perhaps I have been spoiled by Sid, but none of those songs are a patch on even average Sid songs. Surely two Pokeys with 8 available sources should be able to produce better sound than that, perhaps using some reverb or something. I thought Pokey wasnt technically far behind Sid, but so far it appears to not even be in the same league. Is there some better Pokey music pieces out there? Something with nice sounding instruments/voices?

Thanks mate! Appreciated, Will download them now!