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The A1200: Release Date, Specs and What's Included

Last updated: 11 September 2026

Retro Games Ltd. has been drip-feeding details about The A1200, a full-size reimagining of the classic Amiga 1200, for well over a year. Since the summer, most of the open questions have been answered officially, so this is a summary of everything that's now confirmed, as of September 2026.

Release date and price

The A1200 was originally announced with a June 2026 delivery, but was pushed back several times. It now launches on Friday 4 December 2026 at a suggested price of 189.99 Euro. A USB-C power cable is included, but the AC adapter is not, so you'll need your own power supply or a phone charger.

Workbench and software

The biggest addition since the initial announcement is that the machine ships with Workbench 3.1 pre-installed and ready to boot. This means it's not just a games machine, you can also run Amiga productivity and creative software right out of the box. Via a USB stick you can load other Workbench versions, so a preferred release can be selected.

Emulation coverage

Rather than a single fixed core, The A1200 emulates several Amiga configurations:

Games

There are 25 games pre-installed, launched from a simple carousel. The line-up includes Defender of the Crown I & II, the Turrican trilogy, Beneath a Steel Sky, Lure of the Temptress, Ruff 'n' Tumble, The Settlers II, Slam Tilt, Rocket Ranger and the newer Amiga title Reshoot Proxima 3.

Each game gets four save slots, while The Settlers II adds six in-game save slots. Controls can be remapped, assigning controller buttons and analogue inputs to keyboard, mouse and joystick functions.

Loading your own software

Legally acquired Amiga software can be sideloaded via USB stick. This includes full WHDLoad support as well as floppy, hard-drive and CD-ROM images. Games can be saved and resumed at any time, which helps with the punishingly difficult classics.

Hardware and ports

The A1200 keeps the original full-size design with a fully working keyboard. There are four USB-A ports for gamepads, joysticks, mice and USB flash drives, and third-party controllers and keyboards are supported. With an appropriate adapter, even original Amiga peripherals can be used.

For display output it offers 50 Hz PAL and 60 Hz NTSC, plus scaling modes, CRT effects, smart crop and aspect ratio settings over HDMI.

What's in the box

Context: where this fits in the retro landscape

The A1200 sits in a growing market of mini-consoles and FPGA recreations. Unlike MiSTer FPGA, which aims for cycle-accurate hardware reproduction, the A1200 is a software emulation box, similar to the A500 Mini that Retro Games Ltd. released in 2022. The A500 Mini was well-received but had its quirks, and the A1200 addresses some of those criticisms, particularly with the working keyboard and expanded I/O.

There's a legitimate debate about software emulation versus FPGA in 2026, and some of the Amiga community is waiting for a full FPGA-based Amiga. But at 189.99 Euro, the A1200 is an approachable plug-and-play entry point that ships with a real Workbench and strong sideloading support.

What this means for the Amiga community

The original hardware is getting harder to find in good condition, and the capacitor-bomb motherboard issue means that even working units need recapping. A modern, reliable reproduction, even as software emulation, lowers the barrier significantly. The 25 pre-installed games give newcomers a curated starting point, and the USB sideloading support means the library can be expanded without hardware modifications.

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