Full-sized A1200 Amiga remake spotted on display — A1200 will come with a port of The Settlers 2 that took 30 years, and a working keyboard

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Retro Games Ltd says it will ‘lift the curtain completely’ on specs etc, in October.

An original Commodore Amiga 1200
(Image credit: Federico Leva (WMIT))

After so many playable tribute mini computers and mini consoles released over recent years, it looks like it’s the turn of the legendary Commodore Amiga A1200 home computer - with a full sized working keyboard built-in. And soon. Retro Games Ltd (RGL), the company behind hardware like The A500 Mini (which had a non-functioning keyboard), The C64 Mini, The Spectrum, and others, is showcasing The A1200 at Gamescom 2025 over the next few days. Full details are promised in October.

If you ponder over the lengthy RGL Tweet regarding its “glimpse of its next machine” at Gamescom (see above), you will see not a single mention of The Amiga. However, Gamescom has already opened its doors and the Amiga fans over at Amiga NG have already spilled the beans. A photo of what looks like a banner from the show in Cologne, seems to suggest The A1200 will be bundled with the recently announced The Settlers II Gold Edition.

RGL has responded to the sharing of the above Tweet, by online retro news portal Time Extension. Zipping over to Facebook, we see that the retro hardware outfit has sought to clear up some of the questions that are already swirling among Amigans.

In its social media statement, RGL says that “Yes it has a full sized working keyboard,” addressing a hot question among Amiga watchers, who may have been disappointed with The A500 Mini. The firm also confirmed that specs for this machine, hardware / accessories / software are being kept under wraps until October. It is highly likely to be based on a similar, if not identical single board computer (SBC) running Linux and emulators with officially licensed Kickstart ROMs.

Retro gaming machine fans might also be excited to hear that RGL is promising “multiple full sized and mini releases over 2025-2026 and beyond.” What’s an obvious gap in its range that aligns with your retro dreams? An Archimedes, or Atari ST/TT/Falcon inspired device?

While we haven’t any RGL-produced device like the A500 Mini, The C64, or The Spectrum in the labs, we’d echo a certain group of the public who prefer a fully working keyboard equipped device. The mini format machines are probably a better fit for console-based nostalgia.

Also, you might get some hints about what to expect from The A1200 from various reviews of The A500 Mini. That machine was actually capable of running A1200 / CD32 enhanced software reliant on the AGA chipset of these later-gen Amigas. Thus, a nose at the aforementioned AmigaNG team’s site, specifically its review of that mini release, could provide a few clues about what to expect with The A1200 in October.

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Mark Tyson
Mark Tyson
News Editor

Mark Tyson is a news editor at Tom's Hardware. He enjoys covering the full breadth of PC tech; from business and semiconductor design to products approaching the edge of reason.

3 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Findecanor
    The TheA500 Mini did come with a few CD32 titles ... that took advantage of the buttons on the bundled CD32-inspired game-pad.

    One detail they need to make right on a full-size Amiga with keyboard is to use the keyboard matrix that was published in the Commodore Amiga Hardware Reference Manual.
    All official Amiga keyboards had this same matrix (except for one that has N-key rollover, or a subset of keys as in the case of A1000 and A600).
    It was published so that software developers could use it to figure out which key combinations that would work and which would be blocked.
    If RetroGames Ltd gets this wrong, then some programs/games won't be completely compatible: some key combinations would be blocked that would otherwise have been valid.
    Reply
  • TerryLaze
    Admin said:
    Retro Games Ltd is showcasing The A1200 at Gamescom 2025, over the next few days.

    Full-sized A1200 Amiga remake spotted on display — A1200 Mini will come with a port of The Settlers 2 which took 30 years and a working keyboard : Read more
    This one is full sized not mini, it's not the "A1200 Mini" it's the "the A1200"
    Reply
  • edzieba
    Findecanor said:
    The TheA500 Mini did come with a few CD32 titles ... that took advantage of the buttons on the bundled CD32-inspired game-pad.

    One detail they need to make right on a full-size Amiga with keyboard is to use the keyboard matrix that was published in the Commodore Amiga Hardware Reference Manual.
    All official Amiga keyboards had this same matrix (except for one that has N-key rollover, or a subset of keys as in the case of A1000 and A600).
    It was published so that software developers could use it to figure out which key combinations that would work and which would be blocked.
    If RetroGames Ltd gets this wrong, then some programs/games won't be completely compatible: some key combinations would be blocked that would otherwise have been valid.
    Since software is being emulated rather than executed directly or near-directly on metal (e.g. as with an FPGA core) then the physical matrix is pretty much irrelevant: the hardware translation layer can tell the software whatever hardware is present that you want as needed for functionality.
    Reply