Purchasing an Amiga 1200 in 2026

So finally, I've managed to get hold of myself a WORKING Amiga 1200 that I'm happy with, but bloody hell it cost me a few bob, I didn't realise how much 1200s were fetching these days.

Let's take a closer look at this machine, what I got, why I got it from whom I got it from and a bit more.

Buying the 1200

So, my good friend James bought an A1200 recently and was telling me how good it was, how happy he was with the purchase, and how much he recommended the seller, especially as he knew I was also on the lookout for a good 1200. So, I waited until the same seller had another 1200 up for grabs, and I pulled the trigger on it, splashing out just a little over £500 for a really good example.

What did I end up with?

So, this is the machine I ended up with:

• ESCOM Amiga 1200 rev 2B (lovely "like new" condition)

• No accelerator (so stock 68020) and no Fast RAM

• Kickstart 3.0 ROMs

• Internal 4GB CF card hard drive

• Power Supply

• machine already recapped & had timing fixes done

• fully refurbished and working internal floppy disk drive

• a few floppy disk games chucked in for free

• a couple of games already installed on the CF card

and tbh, I think that was a good deal considering the prices these are nowadays

What games were thrown in?

On floppy disk, I got:

• Test Drive 2

• Super Cars

• Final Fight Enhanced

• Benefactor

• Alien Breed Special Edition

and already installed on the CF card

• Alien Breed 2

• Alien Breed Tower Assault

So what have you done with it so far?

Firstly, I managed to find my PCMCIA SRAM card, adding 2MB Fast RAM to the machine, which makes it a lot more usable. I installed a few more games on the machine (Virocop AGA, Shadow Fighter AGA, Fighting Spirit, Flight Of The Amazon Queen, Simon The Sorcerer and many more) and I also installed some utilities, then I installed the AMOS collection (Easy AMOS, AMOS 1.3 and AMOS Pro) followed by DPaint, DMC (Disk Mag Creator) and some other stuff.

The finishing touches and a lot of the stuff for the "Adventures In Retro" disk mag have been completed on this very 1200.

Do you intend to do any upgrades?

Well, I'm definitely looking to get some form of Fast RAM and/or accelerator in it, but I'm undecided between the following

• 4/8MB trapdoor Fast RAM card

• PiStorm32-Lite

• an ACA card of some sort

• TF1230 or TF1260

but, budget is a slight concern and I need to think about what I intend to do with the machine.

You already have a 500 and a 500+, why do you need a 1200?

One reason: AGA

A lot of new homebrew releases seem to be targeted at AGA machines (much to my frustration) and hence, getting a 1200 is a necessity.

Do you intend to get any more Amigas?

Possibly - I'm tempted with a CD32, but the prices are insane for these, however, I may still consider one.