I was lucky enough to have an Archimedes when I was 14, and despite the Arthur OS, it was the best thing in the world for writing games: fastest desktop computer in the world, easy to use 256 colour sprite system and interpreted basic as a programming language. When the basic compiler came out a few years later it all got even faster. The desktop ui seemed pretty amazing to me compared to what else was around that I had seen. But it was an expensive machine, granted.