On May 16th, it was time once again for the Amiga Ruhrpott Convention, which opened its doors for the fourth time at the Friedenskirche in Duisburg.
Packed with a fantastic atmosphere, countless Amiga fans and an impressive range of new products, the ARC has firmly established itself as one of Germany’s most popular Amiga gatherings. Once again, the event proved just how special the Amiga still is to enthusiasts across the retro community.
The Friedenskirche once again provided the perfect backdrop for the event, creating a warm and welcoming atmosphere filled with those uniquely magical Amiga moments. Outside, visitors gathered beneath tents on the green lawn to enjoy food, drinks and relaxed conversations with fellow retro fans.
New Hardware Highlights from Oliver Achten
One of the biggest highlights of the convention was undoubtedly the latest hardware presented by Oliver Achten. Most notably, the Demon D1260 stood out as one of the fastest and most innovative accelerator cards currently in development for the Amiga 1200.
Although the card is still being worked on, a fully functioning prototype was already demonstrated live at the ARC.
Its key features include:
- 256 MB FastRAM
- Two SD card slots (1× boot device, 1× file transfer)
- Integrated Ethernet
- A high-speed expansion slot
An RTG expansion card similar to the P-Vision is already in development for this connector. This leaves the PCMCIA slot free for devices such as the AmiGUS Mini — a fully featured 16-bit sound card.
Unlike the Warp 1260, the 68060 CPU on the Demon D1260 is socketed rather than soldered directly onto the board.
P-Vision at ARC
Also showcased was the P-Vision for the PCMCIA interface of the Amiga 600 and 1200 — an RTG graphics card featuring 32 MB of VRAM and Full HD output.
According to the manufacturer, the card offers performance comparable to Zorro III bus speeds. Visitors could purchase the P-Vision directly from the Alinea stand for 199 Euros.
All in all, Oliver Achten presented an impressively polished and high-quality hardware line-up for the Amiga 1200.
Between Currywurst and High Scores
As always, the ARC provided the perfect opportunity to chat with some of the leading developers from the German Amiga scene in a relaxed atmosphere over currywurst and beer.
Among the highlights was the chance to try the latest build of the upcoming Amiga bullet-hell shooter Mega M.I.L.V. by Daniel Müßener, as well as getting a glimpse of the already completed boxed edition. Daniel had brought along one of his “smaller” dual arcade joysticks — which still managed to take up almost the entire table.
Fans of the genre would probably describe both the game and the packaging with just one word: PREMIUM
ARC4NERD – The Official Game of the Convention
Another standout title at the event was ARC4NERD, the official game of the ARC. Developed by HooGames and published through APC&TCP, the game is an Arkanoid-inspired title designed entirely around joystick controls and built using the Scorpion Engine.
The game is a great example of just how versatile and powerful the engine has become. Naturally, the ball itself is represented by none other than the legendary Boing Ball.
At first, we had our doubts about whether joystick controls would really suit this style of game, but after a few rounds it quickly became clear that the controls work surprisingly well.
The Special Boxed Edition has clearly been put together with collectors in mind and includes:
- A floppy disk
- A credit-card-sized USB stick
- An aluminium collectible floppy disk imprint
- Stickers and various additional goodies
The box even comes with a small hologram sticker. It immediately becomes obvious that a huge amount of love and attention to detail went into this Collector’s Edition. In short: grab one while supplies last.
Factor 5 and Kaiko Games at the ARC
Naturally, Factor 5 also made an appearance at the convention. Music legend Chris Huelsbeck spent much of the event signing autographs, while Willi Bäcker shared a few behind-the-scenes stories and revealed that he is currently working on a game port for the Neo Geo.
Sadly, it seems unlikely that we will see any brand-new Amiga titles from Factor 5 in the future. Instead, the team is focusing on keeping the Turrican legacy alive on modern gaming platforms.
Kaiko Games was also present and showcased its remake of the classic shoot-’em-up Apidya for PC and consoles. The game has been lovingly recreated in a modern 16:9 pixel-art style and features:
- New background artwork
- Redesigned enemies
- Impressive parallax scrolling
- A fully featured two-player mode
One particularly nice touch is that players can switch seamlessly between the modern widescreen presentation and the original Amiga aspect ratio at any point during gameplay. Peter Thierolf, programmer at Kaiko, even mentioned that he is considering the possibility of releasing an enhanced Amiga AGA version based on this remake.
Retro Accessories, AmiKit and the Demo Scene
Anyone searching for retro accessories such as floppy disks, joysticks or oversized mouse mats once again found exactly what they were looking for at Holger Weßling’s stand — and at remarkably reasonable prices.
Visitors could also enjoy a small sneak preview of AmiKit 13 at Philipp Lonke’s booth. Meanwhile, AMOS programmer Michael Kafke was also present and offered some interesting insights into his first experiments with demo scene productions.
A Piece of Amiga History
Amiga history enthusiasts also had a real treat in store. One of the rare prototype cases of the Amiga MMC was on display — a genuine highlight for collectors and hardware enthusiasts alike.
And with that, the Amiga Ruhrpott Convention 2026 comes to a close — at least for this year. Judging by the atmosphere throughout the event, many visitors are already looking forward to returning for next year’s ARC.
Written by: Markus Becker Aka Pixelwalker
