Unlike the “Mini” consoles that have been released to date, such as the NES Mini, Super Nintendo Mini or SEGA Mega Drive Mini, to name just three of the most popular, the recent TheA500 Mini allows us expand your game list.
This procedure is carried out via USB and with support for WHDLoad, but if you don’t know how it is done, we will explain it to you taking into account a series of prerequisites, apart from the most obvious one to enter the legality when talking about ROMs: it is supposed that if you load a game, it is that you keep it physically.
What do you need to download first from the A500 Mini
From the official page of this TheA500 Mini, which is from the same team that gave us TheC64 and TheVIC20 long ago, the tiny versions of the mythical Commodore 64 and Commodore VIC-20, respectively, we have a special section dedicated to this new device and a section centered on the support.
There we can (and must) download three files:
What requirements must be met to load games
The second essential step to be able to load external games is to have a pendrive USB that is formatted in FAT32 (or exFAT, being more current) and with the contents of the WHLoad package installed in your main path. Also, you have to make sure that the games come with LHA extension and that they are full versions. No weird versions or demos, which may not work.
Because TheA500 Mini does not support the entire Amiga 500 catalog, that is clear. Not even all full versions work, although it does offer support for a large percentage. Although, yes, its execution is not as showy as the 25 that come as standard, having to load them from the menu USB Media Access. And here you will no longer have illustrative images of each game, unfortunately.
And how is the WHLoad installed on the USB? You must extract its .zip in the root directory of said pendrive, all inside the folder called “TheA500”. And how is the process with the games? In this case, after downloading them from an emulator page, copy the file of each game directly to the TheA500 folder, where it will share a directory with the “whdboot” folder and the “version” text document. Remember, games must be in LHA format. Don’t extract them.
How to access downloaded games on A500 Mini
When you’ve copied classics like Cannon Fodder, The Secret of Monkey Island and its sequel, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, The Settlers or the Turrican trilogy, among countless legendary games for the Amiga 500, and goals the pendrive through the USB port of the A500 Mini, a new icon will appear in the main menu called USB Media Access. Click on it and select the TheA500 Mini folder. Inside it you will see all the video games that you have copied.
It has no more mystery, although keep in mind that there may be errors with some. Make sure you download the correct version of each classic. And to enjoy.
