I Pre-Ordered an Amiga 1200 ⭐

Last summer, I was delighted to learn that Commodore had been acquired by a enthusiast who then announced the company’s first new computer in over 30 years, the Commodore 64 Ultimate. But this was only a minor test of my resolve to not descend into a nostalgia-fueled spiral: Though the original Commodore 64 was my first real computer and I will always love it for that reason, its “breadbox” design is inelegant and uninteresting, and I very much prefer the later C64C design. But even that computer is too primitive, and my mind immediately went to the Amiga, the ultimate what-if of personal computing, and the possibility that the new Commodore could somehow bring back that platform as well.

This is very much a possibility, as it turns out.

Though the new Commodore is the legal owner of the Commodore brand, trademarks, and other intellectual property, that ownership does not extend to the Amiga. After a series of licensing deals by Commodore’s owners over the years, a company called Cloanto acquired “all worldwide rights, title, and interest in and to all Amiga-formative trademarks” from what was then called Amiga Corporation in 2019.

“Since 2019 we have been supporting the efforts of Amiga Corporation to consolidate the Amiga IP as well as the copyrights for all Commodore/Amiga works (software, ROMs, manuals, videos, etc.) that had previously been assigned to Cloanto,” Cloanto explains. Among other things, Cloanto makes the Amiga Forever and C64 Forever emulation solutions that I’ve long owned and championed as a way to relive this incredible past.

And now, Commodore co-founder and CEO Christian Simpson says that he is working to collaborate with Cloanto to bring new Amiga hardware to market.

“We won’t repeat the mistakes of the past relating to Commodore and Amiga,” he writes on the Commodore FAQ page. “We’re in open dialogue with the most relevant rights holder to explore a potential reunion, and techno-optimism is in the air. Commodore and Amiga belong together in spirit, and we hope to make that true in practice as well. We’re just waiting for them to give the green light and let the fun begin.”

As exciting as that possibility is, there are all kinds of questions. Which Amiga being the most obvious, though there is an important and complex series of sub-questions as well. Which Amiga chipsets and capabilities being the next logical chain of thought. The brain wanders, but to me, there are three generations of classic Amiga chipsets, the original OCS, the Enhanced Chipset (ECS), and the Advanced Graphics Architecture (AGA). And any modern Amiga should support—and, God help us all—extend them all.

There’s also issues with the OS(es), including later efforts from companies like Hyperion that licensed the rights to Amiga OS from Amiga Corporation in the early 2000s and created new Amiga OS versions like Amiga OS 3.1+. That went badly, with Amiga suing Hyperion in 2007 and then settling in 2009, after Hyperion tried to open source the Amiga OS source code it had licensed. But the firm went on to create Amiga OS 4.0, claiming it was “an almost complete rewrite for modern times.”

What a mess. What a mess.

But maybe this can all be rectified somehow. Simpson’s heart is clearly in the right place and the Commodore 64 Ultimate is well-received in the limited market for retro enthusiasts. Could something like that happen for the Amiga?

Yes.

Late last year, Retro Games, makers of retro home computer and console emulators like the C64 Mini and A500 Mini, announced a new though awkwardly named THEA1200, meaning “the Amiga 1200,” I guess, that it describes as “an astonishingly accurate, full-sized recreation of one of the most loved home computers of its era, beautifully reimagined with HDMI and USB connectivity for a modern age.” Unlike some of Retro Games’ hardware emulators, the THEA1200 includes a working keyboard, and it ships with a Commodore-style gamepad and mouse.

This is problematic for me.

Though I was, and am, ecstatic about the return of Commodore, I easily fought back the vestiges of nostalgia when it came to the Commodore 64 Ultimate. The THE1200, though “only” an emulator, is the living embodiment of the computer I most lusted after for my entire life. I owned an Amiga 500 and an Amiga 600, and both were partially if not largely driven by my inability at the time to afford a more expensive Amiga. By the time the A1200 appeared in 1992, I wanted one badly, but I couldn’t afford it, and the world was changing. I was getting ready to move to Phoenix and return to school to study software development, and that was going to happen—had to happen—on a PC, no matter what I thought of the platform or the Windows OS that ran on top of it.

Commodore went on to release its second CD-ROM-based machine, the CD32, in 1993, and it was an exciting push forward. It was also too late: The company announced its bankruptcy in 1994, and that was that. Escom, Gateway, and any number of other vultures picked apart the Commodore corpse, with nothing good coming out of any of it. And the Commodore and Amiga brands, rights, and trademarks, as noted, went their separate ways.

But back to Retro Games. This company makes hardware emulators that come bundled with multiple games, and several of them are based on Commodore and Amiga products. And Commodore co-founder and CEO Christian Simpson says that the two companies have an excellent, even cozy relationship.

“We stay in close contact with the makers of incredible THEC64 Mini, THEC64 Maxi, THEA500 Mini, and its upcoming big sister,” he writes, alluding to the THEA1200. “Our dream at Commodore is a single, joined-up family of Commodore machines, from superb-value, low latency emulators, to premium chip-based systems. Collaboration, not competition, is how we build a stronger future for fans. That’s all anyone really wants. Truth is, we have already been unofficial partners for years in a way. Retro Games Ltd. gave our President & CEO prototypes to review, and the resulting videos about [Retro Games] devices have brought their computers to over two million eyeballs. Commodore can’t wait to work with them more officially in the near future. Watch this space for a collaboration coming up soon.”

Interesting.

But that’s for the future. For now, we have Amiga Forever for those who wish to run the real Amiga Kickstart ROMs, Amiga OS 1.x, 2.x, and 3.1 releases, and any and all Amiga games, apps, and demos they support, in emulation on modern Windows PCs. And soon, we have this THEA1200 computer, a sort-of real Amiga 1200 that will also let us run Amiga games, apps, and demos. Logically, I should wait to see what Commodore does, if anything, to bring back the Amiga in “real”, non-emulated form, as it did with the C64.

But logic has nothing to do with it. The heart wants what the heart wants. And last week, I preordered a THEA1200 from Retro Games after getting a marketing email from Commodore and finding my mind drifting to this topic again. I did so in part because it costs just $226, or $264 after shipping fees. It claims to offer “perfect emulation of A1200, A600 & A500 (ECS/OCS/AGA) systems,” which seems ideal, and it comes with 25 built-in Amiga games, including some of my favorites, like Defender of the Crown and the Turrican series. You can side-load software via USB. And while it’s not clear which Workbench/Amiga OS version(s) are included, it appears to be the Amiga OS 2.x that shipped with the OG Amiga 1200.

Retro Games says that the THEA1200 will launch in June 2026. I guess I believe them. I have spent more time than I am comfortable admitting re-reading the Amiga books I have and re-watching Amiga videos to remind myself of the details I’ve long tried to block out. I find myself wondering what it would be like to write Amiga software again. This is not a good use of my time. I can’t help it.

I remain curious whether the new Commodore can pull together something even more interesting. But this is a fascinating side-trip for now, a look back when I should be looking forward, a fleeting chance to reconnect with my original love of personal technology at a time when this industry is doing everything it can, via enshittification and maddening AI hype and overspending, to beat that out of me. This is me resisting. We’ll see what happens.