📖 Amiga Addict – A NEW Print Amiga Magazine 📖 #RetroGaming #CommodoreAmiga

The Amiga is a system that holds a very dear place in my ticker. I grew up with the A500+ / A1200  and the leap from my Amstrad CPC to the Amiga was akin to spending years watching the films of Albert Pyun and then watching literally any film by any other director…it was a breath-taking, gravity-defying jump in quality and immersion.

From picking up actual briefcases filled with Amiga gold from car boot sales around South Wales to choosing PD bargains from Digital Window (I’ll always love you, High Octane), nervously picking up Strip Poker 3 from Electronics Boutique and actually being brought to tears at the end of The Secret of Monkey Island because I knew I’d never get to experience the game for the first time ever again, it’s fair to say that Commodore’s system is something that I love with a passion that could be described as ‘difficult to comprehend in human terms’.

Naturally, I used to pick up a lot of Amiga magazines (often second-hand) whenever I was able to and from memory, I was pretty undiscerning about what I read, as long as it was Amiga-based. This meant that I had no specific magazine preference as I scanned them all.

Naturally, the Amiga magazines have long since stopped and, whilst I still own and play an Amiga 500*, the last five years working under the furious, drunken, bloodshot eyes of Games Freezer editor Rich (Take this out, TAKE THIS OUT – Ed), combined with dealing with his unflinching solipsism and levels of slave-driving that have been described as ‘historically accurate’ (keep this in, let everyone know what I’m capable of – Ed) means that I’ve barely had time to glance up from my typewriter and acknowledge my weeping family in the last half-decade, let alone pop in a copy of Simon the Sorcerer for a couple of hours. 

When Amiga Addict was brought to my attention (thank you, @Kingdomofcarts) I had been out of the Amiga loop for so long that I was intrigued as to what would be covered and the approach that would be taken. Fast-forward a few days and AA editor Jonah had kindly sent across the first two issues to the Games Freezer Welsh branch for my perusal and, as a spoiler as to how much I loved these magazines, I was an official subscriber shortly after finishing those issues. Amiga Addict is, in the words of Codemasters, ‘Absolutely Brilliant’.

My trousers started removing themselves as soon as I opened up the package. The thick, glossy cover combined with the high-quality paper and 55-page length was almost weirdly impressive in terms of craftsmanship. Sitting down to read through, the contents covered so much ground and had so many articles that were well-researched and rich in knowledge and history as well as being couched in such a deep love of the Amiga systems from all those involved that it almost felt like meeting up with old friends. There’s so much to enjoy here, from reviews of both old and new Amiga games to coverage of upcoming peripherals, interviews with key figures and fans of Amiga (past and present) as well as all adverts in the magazine being linked to the very system it covers (a really nice touch) that I didn’t so much ‘read’ the issues as ‘inhale them so that they were part of me forever.’ I liked it.

As hinted at above, there were a lot of Amiga magazines back in the ‘80s and early ‘90s and they really ran the gamut of what was of interest to readers from the deeply technical and creative to those that just wanted to waggle their joysticks and hammer away at that lonely button. Amiga Addict pulls off an admirable balancing act, not only of dipping into these aspects and referencing the style of humour that was rife in those magazines but also not treating the Amiga as a nostalgic item but looking forward to its rich and fun-filled future. As a gamer, a lot of the more ‘techy’ terminology was initially overwhelming but I found myself googling terms and visiting websites, learning as I worked my way through the magazine and all the while chewing my lip, KNOWING that I’d clearly have to up my game and spend some serious time with Commodore’s masterpiece in the near future. Good.

If you have even a passing interest in Amiga, then I heartily recommend Amiga Addict. Before the magazines plopped through my letterbox, I had no idea that the world of ‘Amigans’ was so active and full of life. The quality of writing and editing as well as the sheer passion of those involved is literally ingrained in the pages as proof that you should subscribe to this magazine or at least grab an issue and let it wash over you like the cool waters that lap at the shores of Melee Island.

I also can’t overstate how much I adore that some of the magazine is actually designed using an Amiga. Perfect.

Find out more at www.amiga-addict.com

Right, I’m off to copy and paste this article for another new magazine called Atari ST Amigos.

*I used to own two Amiga 1200’s and both of them, BOTH of them had their disk drives ruined by a floppy I have of Sink or Swim…I swear, if I could cast curses on plastic, that disk would STINK of voodoo.

Britt