Announcing the Llamatron Arcade Mini

OMG, OMG, OMG, It's here!

If you're not familiar with Robotron 2084, and the glorious Jeff Minter creation Llamatron, piss right off.

Just kidding.

Robotron was a dual-joystick arcade game from Williams, written by Eugene Jarvis, an amazingly foul-mouthed coder responsible for so many arcade hits, it's not funny. 

Llamatron 2112, though...

Llamatron was an Amiga shareware take on Robotron released by another gaming god, Jeff Minter. It takes the insanity of Robotron and cranks the knobs to eleven. Llamas! Camels! Erm, Coke Cans! Zippy the Pinhead? From there it gets weird.

It really was a big bloody deal on the Amiga (and Atari computers, as well. But they can sod off. Just kidding guys. Truce?) I mean, like, wow. Just reading the text file was an adventure. It is estimated that 39,000 pounds of weed were smoked by people playing Llamatron back in the days. There is talk of an island cult built around it.

It was just so freakin' cool.

To be honest, we pirated the Amiga to death, we loved it so much. While I'm sure Jeffy got a few quid for it, he also got a lifetime of worship, admiration, and devotion that continues to this day. Case in point, MY FREAKING LLAMATRON MINI!

I'm a terrible fanboy. I have been talking to my heroes, off and on, for thirty years, now, some of them. Sometimes they even respond! Since I know I didn't send money overseas for this game (or any other game!), I thought the best way to show my appreciation to Jeff would be to commission this Raspberry Pi-based mini, one of a kind. Unique in all the world. Just like Jeff.

Now, the guy who worked on it with me has asked me to keep him anonymous. Something about smegging taxes, copyrights, and dross like that. I sympathize. And, if you look, you can find him, or someone like him.

This guy worked with me very closely on this thing, and did everything to spec. Not only do I not begrudge him the tidy, nay, princely sum I paid for it, I paid him a little extra. It's that cool.

Oh, he's not an Amiga guy (he is now...), so we hit a snag or two. The loader doesn't work like standard emulator ROMs do, it launches into Workbench. Guess what? I love Workbench! It gives it an air of authenticity. Poor guy, I overwhelmed him with so much research material in the design and testing phase, he had to beg off.

But here it is, the crown jewel of my gaming collection. I am as happy as a Llama in Wales.

Jeff, if you're out there, thank you! If you ever want me to have one sent to you, please let me know. It's the least I can do.

Another big thank you to everyone involved in the creation of the Amiga, the Amiga scenesters themselves, Newtek alumni, and Eugene Jarvis, of course. I'm so jazzed, I'm starting work on my first dual-joystick game design. And when I get something playable, I'll get an arcade mini made for it. How cool would that be?