Introduced by Commodore in 1987, the Amiga 500 brought Amiga technology out of the more expensive Amiga 1000 range and made it truly domestic. It became especially popular in Europe, including Italy, while in North America it remained more of a niche machine. It entered a crowded market, facing the Atari ST, the rise of PC compatibles, 8- and 16-bit consoles, and the last traditional home computers, standing out thanks to a very distinctive combination of graphics, sound and a multitasking interface.

At the heart of the machine was the Motorola 68000 at 7.14 MHz in PAL models, supported by 512 KB of RAM, often expanded to 1 MB. Its main storage medium was the 880 KB 3.5-inch floppy disk. What made the A500 special was the OCS chipset, built around Agnus, Denise and Paula: graphics with a 4096-colour palette, hardware sprites, smooth scrolling, modes such as HAM, and four stereo PCM audio channels, crucial for sampled music and sound effects.

Sales of the Amiga family are generally estimated at around 4-5 million units, with the A500 being the most widespread model. Its legacy lives on through games such as Shadow of the Beast, The Secret of Monkey Island, Lemmings, Another World, Sensible Soccer, Turrican II, Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge and Cannon Fodder.