Here in Germany I knew basically no one who had an 8-bit Atari, it only became popular enough with the ST. And even then it led a bit of a pariah existence behind the Amiga, just like the Midgard RPG was behind the Dark Eye RPG (to keep with the 80s/90s nostalgia mood).
In Norway the Amiga vs ST wars felt quite real. :) The Former was by far the best, except for Midi of course - and as such it raged on. (I had the Vic20, C64, then Amigas).
For me it being in my mid 40s now it was the original religious tech war. Now we have Android Vs iPhone etc.
It was in the UK too - the worst part of which was the games that developed for ST, as the most limited platform, then ported to Amiga. So many Amiga versions were no better than the ST because of that, as it was obviously cheaper than supporting both platforms properly.
The two most impressive things about the ST were the late addition of midi, and that it was designed and launched in some absurdly short time - six months or less?? - which explains many of the compromises, and it getting Gem.
Having had Amiga snatched from under him, Jack Tramiel wanted a fast response to spoil their party. Tramiel who'd only left Commodore the previous year.
There's so many what-ifs to play with this timeline.
Well Atari and Commodore enthusiasts were already used to crippled ports through their experiences with Apple II ports with that awful aliased color palette. :)
To show how real it was the Populous the Promised Lands expansion had a skin which was Atari vs Commodore, on a computer paper landscape with digits for the sea as I recall.
Not just regional, but also tribal. I was firmly in C64 camp and we always make fun of ZX owners or Sharpists and vice versa. It is silly looking back two dacedas, but hey we were all “kids” back then.
It is interesting how biggest flamewars are always between groups of people that are most in common and exclude rest of general public.
