ScuzzBlog: Diaries September 2020
Entry 26th September 2020: Post 1: Amiga - The ten year Format.
Amiga - The ten year Format.
I had intended doing a feature on the first 25 issues of Amiga
Format but sadly I couldn't find issue 5. I do have them all but
if you look at the challenge I face of going thro my many hundreds
of mags I just couldn't face it. Especially as it was hotter than
hell the day I had planned to do it.
I guess Amiga Format was the first and last Amiga magazine that
I bought. Always a good read and made the Amiga into a truly fun
and magical experience. It was light hearted but honest and gave
away some absolutely magic cover disks.
Anyhoo here is nearly twenty of the first editions plus images of
the cover disks. When I find number five I'll add it to the set.
Amiga Format as we know and love was shipped with a cover disk in
August of 1989. There had been previous versions of Format but
this consolidated the Amiga into Amiga Format. Each month we got
a steadily growing number of disks.
By issue 24 we were being given two disks, neither carrying the
edition name .. Vaxine and Archipelagos. Issue 26 saw the change
in size of the magazine that would span many years. The cover
disks were strangely un-numbered from issue 33 being called ' Down
the Arcade ' for some reason. The magazine also shipped special
collection disks.
The celebratory 50th edition would signal the end to the older style
of disk and spawn the disks with letter reference from the next
issue. The first in this format being 51a and 51b including the
game Second Samurai.
By issue 93 we were being treated to special extra CDs along with
CD issues of the magazine plus the old format cover disks version
for those not wishing to have the CD. This continued and issue 100
carried the CD and a special extra CD.
Sadly issue 136 for May 2000 would see the last magazine published
for Amiga Format. It was a very sad day I have to say. Nothing would
ever be the same. The loss of the magazine left a very big hole in
my Amiga world. I felt abandoned and cut off. So very sad.
For some years after the demise many of the readers met up for
chats on Amiga Format AFB user group on the web. It was kinda fast
and furious at times and well populated. This too was to fall silent
by mid way thro the first new decade. You can still get a ping
on members if you throw a pebble in the pond, but sadly it just
isn't ever going to be the massive body of active users as it was.
Someone commented the other day to me that one of the noticeable
aspects of the Amiga scene today was the lack of enthusiasts that
actually remember what it was like. It is easy to assume that the
current user base has some recollection of the heady days of the
Amiga, but in truth the hardened long standing user base gets
smaller and smaller by the year. I find myself having to kinda
apologise these days to readers of blogs cus it is obvious they
haven't got the first clue what life was really like in the
good old days of the Amiga. I even was criticised on a forum for
assuming a poster was even remotely interested in using the Amiga
for serious software, referring to the Workbench as a management
tool that gamers are not interested in.
Anyway, that was that. Ten years plus of Amiga Format. Something
I remember very well. I will search again for number five. It's
a passion of mine... as you probably well know. Format is one of
those magazines that I do have each and every copy.. and for very
good reason.
Amiga - The ten year Format.
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