Merry Amigamas

Christmas, eh? (Etc.) The true meaning of which is, of course, to eat several times your own body weight in food and giving your liver a tough time with excessive alcohol consumption. But do you know what else is great about Christmas? Presents, naturally. And even better – Amiga-themed presents. Let’s face it, if you’ve ever owned an Amiga, you either got the computer itself or some other pieces of software or hardware over the festive season, to be used over and over again no doubt (in a way that many disappointed folks who tried in vain to obtain a new PlayStation or Xbox this year can’t). Alternatively, you may well have some other fond memories associated with it from that time of year. And hey – is there a more suitable way to fill an article (fashionably late, as usual, ensuring we casually miss the whole thing) than to take a whole bunch of comments from NAG members in our Facebook group recounting these tales? No, I didn’t think there was. Let’s roll…

  • I used to love writing the little Christmas demos that were displayed on an Amiga in the window at Viking Computers. I lived nearby and spent a lot of time down there, and actually worked there part-time for a while. The Amiga packs were their big Christmas sellers so I used to write little demos advertising the packs and showing what the Amiga could do. Probably still got the source code and graphics somewhere for some of them. Francis Lillie

Now that would be fascinating to see…

  • Getting an ‘Amiga 500 with 100 games’ from a local advert. The 100 games were tiny PD ones over 7 disks. I was disappointed in that but managed to get Populous II anyway. What a game! Sean Arkady
  • I remember getting the Powerdrive big box version from my grandparents for Christmas as a kid. I had bit of an obsession with the Mini Cooper and racing games are one of my favourite game types so I was pretty psyched – there’s also something about that new box smell. Stephen Flood
  • The Amiga 500+ was the first family computer we had growing up. It was bought with money we all received as a small inheritance around Christmas when my Nan passed away. I think I was around 5 at the time. Joe Grey
  • A500, Rainbow Islands/Escape From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters pack, Christmas day afternoon. I asked Santa for a C64 and opening that monster absolutely made my Christmas, blew my tiny mind. I still play Rainbow Islands sometimes now. I think about the second game I got was R-Type, I can still play the first 3 levels with my eyes closed! I can still see the box coming out now, it was the most memorable Christmas present ever for me! Alex Watt
  • Most of my Amiga memories don’t pertain to Christmas, aside from, y’know, playing some Amiga when it happened to be Christmas. But there is one: being dragged round a supermarket as a child doing the ‘big shop’ when I spot a magazine advertising that it has Holiday Lemmings on its coverdisk. I was quite excited to get that home to play it! We were a family of Lemmings addicts – the only game that united us all. Iain Sell
  • Amiga Format (I think) coverdisk with Christmas Lemmings! Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer playing on brain-meltingly incessant repeat with the occasional sound of squishing, popping, or screaming Lemmings; or if you were very lucky, escaping ones. Steve Engledow

And finally…

  • I remember buying my Amiga before Christmas. It was an A1200 (I must have had an A600 before). I ordered it from Special Reserve early December (Christmas pressie to myself). It arrived a few days later, it worked, but the caps lock key didn’t light up. Minor issue I’m sure, but for a £400 computer it was unacceptable, it might have been a sign of a bigger issue later on.
    Anyway, I called Special Reserve and they arranged for it to be collected. Parcelforce collected it and they were going to send a replacement.
    I waited and waited, contacted SR, only to discover Parcelforce had lost the return parcel! After much hassle and threatening to contact credit card company, on Christmas Eve Parcelforce delivered a brand new A1200 to me. My Christmas present arrived!
    As for the returned parcel; well, the story doesn’t end there. Mid-July the next year, Parcelforce dropped off a parcel for me. I wasn’t expecting anything, but when I saw it, I knew it was the original A1200 I sent off the previous year. I have no idea where they found it, or where it had been for the past 6 months! Special Reserve were not interested in getting it back (I guess claimed on parcel insurance by then) so yes, I ended up with two A1200s… double bonus! Kevin Mayes

It doesn’t get much better than that does it?

I hope that little collection of, er, recollections evokes memories of a time when Christmas didn’t mean pandemics, lockdowns or any of that rather unpleasant stuff. Of course, it may have helped remind you of a similar, happy, Amiga-filled festive season, whether that was decades ago or more recently. Why not share yours below?

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