First of all, It's not a toy. I hear this a lot from others. And frankly, this is the elitist attitude that is dividing the Amiga community. I think the Amiga community is more active now than it has ever been. Yet, I see a lot of the old guard throwing road block up after road block with their ugly comments and attitudes.

The Amiga 500 mini is very much an Amiga in spirit. It's another solution for many, in fact. the ONLY solution for most. It's very faithful to the original in what it does. And what it does, it does very well without a needed learning curve, deep pockets and or, all of the other time consuming tasks one might have to go through to get up and going.

A lot of you old guys are literally blocking the door for those of us that want to find our way back to the Amiga.

Many of you offer up suggestions that are actually not only very pricey all said and done but ugly as well. I mean, an unattractive little metal or plastic box that you have to spend, what, $500 on? Let's not talk about the learning curve needed to get it up and going which I've already mentioned.

And sure, for many Amiga guys, that's a very fun part of the experience, configuration, trial and error to get those FPGA Amiga's configured and going. For many tho, it's not.

Most people want to enjoy the Amiga games of yesterday, to re-capture those old fond Amiga memories of playing lemmings for the first time, beating GODS, being blown away by Pinball Fantasies. The incredible journey we all had playing Wings, etc etc. I was there, like many of you and I experienced all of the wonders and excitement of the Amiga. I'm 55 this Aug and was just a 20 year old kid when I got my Amiga 500.

It feels to me, seems to me that many of you forgot your DUTY to the Amiga community in the sense that somehow you've lost the spirit and solidarity of owning an Amiga. We were all friends then and we did anything we could to help each other out. I remember many many many times helping out new guys with getting them a game or two just to get them started. I did this out of pocket sometimes driving to another town. A lot of you did this back in the day, I know you did, we all did.

But, the Amiga 500 mini is a "toy" ... a "money grab" .... "ugly emulation" to a lot of you? Really? That's your attitude. You really don't see the power in this new device, this solution? The value? The incredible tool that it really is?

When I started out on the Amiga and made the trips in-state and out of state to Amiga conventions all over back in 89 - 90 - until 93 when the Amiga basically died here in America, I got to travel and make many new friends. The community was amazing then. Today, it feels splintered and divided. I feel this way from reading all of the negative comments day in and day out all over the internet.

And today, it's ugly. You have all the old "elitest" Amiga guys putting down everything and everyone if it isn't an old "real" Amiga. Well, those are very hard to get. And when you do get them, they've been opened, re-opened and then, opened again. There is a bit of gamble in the process. All of you know this is true. There is the high cost, and then there is the added time and effort in sourcing cables, a storage solution, etc. Have an old dingy looking case? That's another $100 for a new case if you want to replace it, IF, you can get one.

I love the Amiga, but honestly, and this is coming from someone that has a BRAND NEW Amiga 500, no box, BRAND NEW Amiga 1200 in the box and a brand new Amiga 4000, in the box sealed ( yes, I know the battery might have destroyed the board ) ... but I would never dare open them as it's pointless. I just want to play games and the Amiga 500 mini does that perfectly for me and many others.

To me, it's disappointing to see all the jabs, the hate really toward probably the greatest Amiga solution to come to market, ever. It's $109 I think on Amazon if they still have that $20 off coupon. You get everything you need to just go in and play the games right away, turn-key. Want to add more? Sure, it's easy as cake. Latency? There is none if you turn gaming mode on your HDMI port which most sets have these days. And I am just going to say this now, the Amiga 500 mini is very seriously polished. I mean, they did ONE HELL OF A JOB. It just works.

You should see the Amiga 500 mini in action on my LG OLED 48", it's razor sharp, colors explode and the fast latency free gaming action just comes alive. it's actually better than I remember. And sorry, I'm old school. I grew up with pixels and I still love pixels today. Does GODS look a bit like Minecraft? LOL ... maybe but boy those Bitmap Brothers styled art just explode across your eyeballs and face and the HUGE smile that it incites. I played Magic Pockets the other day for HOURS. I mean, I was in heaven.

The Amiga 500 mini is a very affordable, a FAITHFUL way back to the Amiga for those of you wanting to re-capture the magic of those days long past. The memories remain but getting an Amiga, used to be a very expensive and difficult process that many people just honestly abandoned.

Sorry for the rant but it honest breaks my heart that more of you don't ... DON'T recommend this Amiga 500 mini to more people. It's a faithful and affordable way back to the world of the Amiga. You guys shouldn't shame others about getting this Amiga 500 mini, which many many of you do. Help them get back and if they want to take it further with trying to source an original Amiga, or get into FGPAs, then make yourself free to help them then. A lot of you don't realize that your attitudes are actually keeping people away from the Amiga.

Spending $500, $800, $1,000 on an original or FGPA setup is not a real solution for most. And you guys know this full-well. Is it better, sure, in some ways, in others, it's a con, especially to old and new users of the Amiga alike.

Can some of you old crusty Amiga fuckers that don't like the Amiga 500 mini, who make a point of putting it down at every turn and corner please stop and please re-consider your stance, change your attitude and try to see the Amiga 500 mini for the amazing tool it really is? It's a wonderful invitation back, a golden ticket, a magical gateway back to those old glory days we all love and cherish. the potential is just amazing in my eyes and a lot of you are missing the spirit of the Amiga here.

I can absolutely promise you that if Jay Miner was alive and kicking today, he would love the Amiga 500 mini. He would love ANYTHING Amiga related.

Where is this rant coming from? I pointed my old friend and Amiga buddy Dave to the Amiga 500 mini on Amazon, and if you know Dave, he doesn't stop there, he goes and reads the reviews, he reads the comments here and there, reddit, forums, from videos. He comes back to me and says, wow, people really love the Amiga 500 mini on Amazon. The reviews are amazing. But, then I got on reddit, I got on the forums, I watched some of the review videos and a lot of people "hate" the Amiga 500 mini. The are saying it's a money grab, that it's emulation. I reply, well, I mean, there is probably a little bit of truth in all of that but ... do you really want to spend $500 trying to find an Amiga? Probably even more money than that. His reply was ..... "no."

Do you see what I'm trying to say here?

You old guys, the old guard. Your voices and opinions are much louder and stronger than you realize. Some of you are really HURTING the Amiga community. Did Dave buy that Amiga 500 mini? No, he didn't. He was influenced into NOT buying it. In fact, I think he has moved on from just talking to him. What a wasted opportunity.

I have VERY ... VERY thick skin. If some of you old Amiga elitests want to leave negative comments toward me and the Amiga 500 mini, go ahead. But, in doing so, you're only betraying yourself to the rest of us as someone who has lost the true meaning of the Amiga, the spirit and the solidarity we should all have for one another.

Back in the old days, I would take my plastic cases of Amiga games over to the new kids house, knock on the door, get greeted with a smile, "come on in!" and we would sit down and start playing games and before you knew it, the sun was coming up. Remember those days? I do. they were awesome.

We can't really do that anymore, but, a lot of you DO have the option of telling someone about the Amiga 500 mini.

Or, you can talk shit and stop someone from finding their way back to the Amiga.