I know you can put together the emulation without buying the commercial package, but these are really slick bundles: You get legal ROMs (all kinds of versions) and Workbench disks, lots of background info, a collection of utility programs, etc. For someone like me who doesn’t really have time to follow the latest emulator versions and tweaks, etc., the plug-and-play aspect is really nice.
Plus these support lots of emulated add-on hardware devices, so I now have the emulated equivalent of a seriously impressive Amiga 4000 with add-on graphics card and tons of memory. :) And the C64 version essentially does all of the Commodore 8-bits: VIC 20, PET, C128, etc.
They’re great for nostalgia, and mature enough that they run almost all of the classic games well. Each one comes with about 100 games in the full version, plus they’ll use any ADF/D64/etc. files you might have on-hand.
I have no affiliation with these guys, other than having known them since the early versions of the package. I just upgraded, and thought I’d spread the word, as these are great emulators and well-worth the price. The nostalgia factor is great, whether it’s setting up the Super-Amiga I couldn’t afford at the time (and seeing a script I wrote in the 80s included with the Turbotext text editor that’s included!) or doing POKE 53280,0:POKE 53281,6 (enter) (Ctrl-2) to get the screen colors right on my fake C64. :)
These are awesome. I’ve been using both “Forevers” since their initial releases, and they’ve only gotten better since then. AF is based on the very mature WinUAE, and includes nearly every Kickstart and Workbench ROM you can think of. C64F is a little weaker, since it’s basically just a wrapper around ViCE, but it’s still kick ass and convenient to use.
Yeah, I got the impression that these guys could use the business right about now, so if you’ve been thinking of checking them out or upgrading, now would be a good time to help keep them going. :) That’s why I posted about this update instead of doing my usual “yeah, I should see if there’s a topic about these sometime” procrastination.
Nope, separate emulators. If you’re buying just one, you want the Amiga package – it’s super-loaded with cool stuff, different OS versions, historical documents etc. But they’re both worth having.
Should I say that setting up an emulator isn’t that hard? I passed the last 2 weeks hunting great games for the Amiga (RPGs, adventures and wargames in particular) so if someone wants some help setting up, I can.
In particular once you install workbench and whload on hard disk there are packages that pre-install 99% of the games, without the need to juggle virtual floppies.
I wonder if someone’s interested in a list of the best stuff. What REALLY takes time is to find the good games.
HRose, it’s not exactly hard, but you have to hunt illegal OS downloads, and Amiga Forever packages a crapload of stuff all in one handy place. And it has multiple Workbench environments set up (IE: An AmigaDOS 1.3 gaming config, a 3.1 OS config full of things like utilities and paint programs, etc.). Legal copies of DirectoryOpus, Turbotext, etc., Licensed Picasso96 libraries for high-color productivity programs… (I’m amazed there are no modern equivalents to Amiga paint programs.) GEOS is included for the C64 if you want to relive that nightmare.
Certainly you can dig up and install all of this yourself. But the price is reasonable, the companies that made all these add-ons get a little cut of it, and everything (except the classic games you’ll seek out later ;-) is nice and legal.
Anyway, I get your point, but Cloanto spends a lot of time and effort assembling these packages, they support the actual emulator developers, and they make a nice package. No, it’s not hard to figure out how to do it yourself, but these packages will save you time, and personally, I’m happy to spend their very reasonable cost to help support the people who create the emulators and put the Forever packages together.
If you just want to play an old game, sure, just grab the free stuff, pirate some OS ROMs, and you’re good to go. But these packages add a crapload of value for less than the cost of a single modern game.
Nah, I’ll need both to play all of the space games for these platforms from the 1980s, I wanna support 'em both too. I see the link to C64 Forever too now. Thanks!
Starfleet I is a FANTASTIC game! Sunk many hours into that back in the day. I also really liked the sequel…for as long as I could play it until it crashed at least. :-\
Apples and oranges. I played RSR to hell and back. I even sent in the disk for that contest that they had. I was 331 out of over 3000 people. The contest was to play the game and get the highest score possible. The last mission was to stop a Russian Typhoon from launching. So you sent in your save game disk. I sent mine in on a red 5-1/4 floppy. Good times.
Harpoon is cool, but RSR has left an indelible mark on my mind.
The WWII British spy Harry Lime was on board a US submarine en route to his next assignment, when he unexpectedly began seeing double vision. The sub was off the eastern US coast, and so plans were changed so that Lime could be seen by a doctor at Walter Reed Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland. The sub’s captain was suspicious that Lime was actually faking the illness, presumably to go visit a former flame in Annapolis. When the sub pulled into port, he ordered the spy, “You go straight from the sub, Lime, to the Reed oculist!”
There is a website called The Company that repackages old Amiga games into pc executables that you can just double-click and play.
The legality in it I have no idea about though, which is why I havent posted any links here.
I’d support the emulator repackager as well, but I know myself well enough that I’d look at the games, say ooohhh, and then never play them I’m afraid.
Motivated by the desire to replay Skidmarks and Lords of Chaos I tried this Amiga Forever pack a few years ago. I failed miserably to get anything working. Back when I actually had an Amiga, I never hard a hard drive and if I used Workbench at all, it would have been for copying floppies. I would have looked at the time, but didn’t find a tutorial that solved for my incomprehension.
If there is a particular tutorial, written or video, that you’d recommend, I would like to boggle at it :)
