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75 Articles

DARRAN JONES Donkey Kong Country Returns for me, even with the annoying motion-based moves. It’s just so much fun. Expertise: Juggling a gorgeous wife, two beautiful girls and an award-winning magazine, all under one roof! Currently playing: Ridge Racer 7 Favourite game of all time: Strider ANDY SALTER If we are only picking actual Donkey Kong games and not games featuring the big guy or Jr. I’d go for Donkey Kong Jr on Game & Watch. Expertise: Modding games, no ‘vanilla’ versions for me, thanks! Currently modding: RTR: Imperium Surrectum Favourite game of all time: Rome: Total War although I guess it’s the Remastered edition now. ANDREW FISHER The original SNES game – I got it with the console second-hand in 1994, and it still looks amazing now. Expertise: Forty years of gaming, from…

ATARI TURNS 50 Donald Louie on how Atari is celebrating its 50th anniversary The Atari brand has been synonymous with gaming since the early Seventies, so it’s somewhat fitting that a new compilation is on the way. Atari 50: The Anniversary Collection is no ordinary compilation however, as it not only features an astonishing 90 games, but will also cover most of Atari’s history, in a similar style to the excellent Rare Replay. The collection is being overseen by Digital Eclipse, a company that, along with M2, is one of the finest curators of classic games in the business. According to Donald Louie, a producer at Atari, Digital Eclipse was “the obvious choice” for the prestigious project. “They are known for retro compilations, they have the technical skills to handle…

Playground currency

Who is Iain Lee? Iain Lee is a freelance broadcaster who loves gaming, particularly retro gaming. Join him as he hosts a phone-in show and plays games at www.twitch.tv/iainlee and also check out www.patreon.com/iainandKatherine When I was a kid, it was de rigueur to take ‘things’ into school to boost your social standing. For a while, bizarrely, it was books about Bruce Lee. God knows what a bunch of ten-year-olds who had never seen Enter The Dragon got out of looking at pics of Lee. I suspect it was the visceral thrill of knowing that he was the star of X-rated movies and was therefore inherently naughty. Of course, the boasts that ‘my dad could beat Bruce Lee’ rang throughout the playground. How much would I have loved to see…

Playground currency

That belongs in a museum

Who is Paul Rose? Paul is probably better known as Mr Biffo – the creator of legendary teletext games magazine Digitiser. These days, he mostly writes his videogame ramblings over at Digitiser2000.com. If you want more Biffo in your eyes, you can catch him as the host of Digitizer The Show at www.bit.ly/biffo2000. As I’m writing this, it’s a few days after my eldest daughter got married. I’m exhausted, frankly, because the morning after the wedding came the clean-up, and it went on for hours. They’d hired their local village hall for the wedding, and so it was on all of us to get the place back to normal by lunchtime the next day. No sleeping off the hangover for any of us. The main job, apart from ripping down…

That belongs in a museum

Zapped To The Past

Commodore 64 owners are certainly being well catered for at the moment. In addition to the resurrection of Zzap!64 and the long-running Freeze 64, there’s also the fun podcast Zapped To The Past to enjoy. Created by Adrian Mills and Graham Raddings it’s a delightful listen where the two friends revisit every issue of Zzap!64. Here we find out from Adrian how it all came about. Why choose to focus on the C64? It was our main computer through the Eighties, so we had a good knowledge of the software at the time. How long have you and Graham known each other? For over 30 years, first meeting around a Dungeons & Dragons poster, then collaborating on a demo for Graham’s demo group S-Xpress. Has is it been useful framing…

Zapped To The Past

BACK TO THE NOUGHTIES

DECEMBER 2005 – The Xbox 360 is here, and a whole bunch of sequels have arrived with it. Find out what the UK press made of those, plus all the other big games vying for your Christmas cash in 2005, as Nick Thorpe juices up the time machine again NEWS DECEMBER 2005 Trading of shares in specialist magazine publisher Highbury House was suspended on 15 December, as the company faced mounting debts. The company had already sold many of its titles to Future Publishing earlier in 2005, after a full buy out was referred to the Competition Commission over concerns about dominance of the gaming magazine sector. The fate of magazines such as games™ and Play, as well as other titles such as Front and Hotdog, hung in the balance.…

BACK TO THE NOUGHTIES

THIS MONTH IN…

Xbox 360: The Official Magazine “If you’re a die-hard and quite old Sonic fan, Shadow The Hedgehog will probably disappoint,” says a 7.0/10 review. “This is more of the same thing [as Sonic Heroes] only with loads more stuff to do – and guns!” Very generous indeed. Cube “Cube has always been first when it comes to all the big Capcom news, and we’re set to continue that record with the DS,” says Cube, hyping a preview of Resident Evil: Deadly Silence that never arrives as issue 53 never sees shelves. Retro Gamer “Here at Retro Gamer we’re absolutely committed to the retro cause and want to give you, the reader, a lavish publication that you’ll be proud to display on your coffee table,” says Darran Jones, editor of the…

Myth: History In The Making

» ZX SPECTRUM » 1989 » SYSTEM 3 Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s Adrian Pimento may have described jealousy as “the hottest emotion”, but he clearly never owned an Amstrad growing up. It was anger, not desire that shaped my jealousy as a teenager and it was typically directed at friends with Spectrums. As an Amstrad owner it often felt like the games I bought were afterthoughts and it always seemed like the Spectrum versions were better. Obviously that wasn’t true, but that’s how it seemed and it’s something I felt quite keenly when I experienced Myth: History In The Making for the first time. Myth on the Spectrum is simply gorgeous to look at. The sprite design is immense, it has nice animation throughout and its bosses (like this dragon here) are…

Myth: History In The Making

THE EVOLUTION OF DONKEY KONG COUNTRY

If there’s a common thread that runs through Rare’s early output, it’s that it could work miracles on less than state-of-the-art hardware. Knight Lore, for example, ran on the humble Spectrum, and then the Wizards And Warriors series and Battletoads redefined what was possible on the NES and Game Boy. But far from mere technical achievements, these titles were also object lessons in compelling platforming. Donkey Kong Country continued this trend in the mid-Nineties, by coaxing the SNES into displaying 3D-rendered visuals created on advanced SGI workstations. At that point in time, nobody knew how to do this, but Rare artist Kevin Bayliss accepted the challenge. “I was focussed on creating a 3D ape character that looked believable,” Kevin ponders, “but it was a little bit daunting, because it just hadn’t…

THE EVOLUTION OF DONKEY KONG COUNTRY

STAGES OF EVOLUTION:DONKEY KONG LAND

How did the Game Boy’s screen affect DKL’s boss fights? We had to make what happened more predictable. Having consistency of movement and regularity of actions allowed fast gameplay to be packed into a small and difficult to discern view, while also helping to manage the difficulty of the experience. Why did DKL have a giant-clam boss? Admittedly clams don’t attack in real life, but we improvised, and had this one spit out an unrealistic abundance of pearls! There was a consistent rhythm to the pearl spitting and clam movement so that you could become familiar with it and learn how to beat it. How about DKLs flying pig, which occasionally doubled as a platform? It was a nice asset that someone made, and we just randomly put it in…

STAGES OF EVOLUTION:DONKEY KONG LAND

STAGES OF EVOLUTION: DONKEY KONG LAND 2

What was your role on Donkey Kong Land 2? It was my first game-design project. A software engineer called Rob Harrison had built this level editor on a Silicon Graphics machine, and an artist, Dean Smith, had taken the Donkey Kong Country 2 graphics and turned them into greyscale versions. I was given the level creation tool, told to make levels that had the flavour of the SNES version and hurry the fuck up. But in a nice way! How challenging were the levels to design? My first attempt was like Mario, and Gregg Mayles was like, “No, no, no. That’s not Donkey Kong Country.” Because it was more about how you flowed through the levels. So once he nudged me in the right direction I started designing them more…

STAGES OF EVOLUTION: DONKEY KONG LAND 2

STAGES OF EVOLUTION: DONKEY KONG LAND III

How did you approach the design of Donkey Kong Land III? The same people were playing our games on the Game Boy and the SNES, so there was a management decision to give us free rein to come up with fresh takes on the ideas in Donkey Kong Country 3, which was my favourite in the trilogy. So it was just a case of working out how we could create an experience that people would find familiar but different. How did its unique Ellie The Elephant level come about? Since you weren’t refilling its trunk all the time then we made it into a stage where you were going along taking out the enemies with a ‘water gun’. It was nice to get a mix of different game styles in…

STAGES OF EVOLUTION: DONKEY KONG LAND III

STAGES OF EVOLUTION: COMPOSING DONKEY KONG COUNTRY

Why did the Donkey Kong Country soundtracks tend to alternate between upbeat and atmospheric? The music was driven by what we wanted the player to do, and if we wanted to panic them! So there was always a lot of ‘psycho-acoustic’ stuff going in, and that was why we chose Stickerbush Symphony for Bramble Blast. Because it was a really hard level, and having the juxtaposition of smooth music created a different feeling than if we had put really hard music in. What sort of direction did Tim Stamper give you on the DKC games? It was never Tim standing over your shoulder. He would take you away and explain exactly what he wanted, and you would come back with something that might work. Invariably there could then be several…

STAGES OF EVOLUTION: COMPOSING DONKEY KONG COUNTRY

STAGES OF EVOLUTION: COMPARING THE KONGS

DONKEY KONG In the SNES original, DK can dispatch foes by jumping on them, rolling into them, throwing barrels at them and slapping the ground in front of them! In DKC Returns, he can also climb grass-covered walls and ceilings, and in Tropical Freeze he can pull handles to activate mechanics. DIDDY KONG Like DK, Diddy can throw barrels at opponents or jump on them in Donkey Kong Country – although he can jump higher and is faster, and he has a cartwheel attack. His abilities are identical in DKC 2, but in DKC Returns and Tropical Freeze he has a peanut popgun and a barrel jetpack. DIXIE KONG In DKC 2 and 3, Dixie’s most useful talent is her ability to spin her ponytail-like helicopter blades while jumping, which…

STAGES OF EVOLUTION: COMPARING THE KONGS

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Why you’ll enjoy this modern-day blast from the past! Contains a fantastic library of 64 built-in games Easysetup-Just connect to your HDTV, plug in the joystick and off you go! Gone are the days of loading slowly from cassette or disk! Foursaveslotsforeach game Ahostofotherfeatures including being able to program in BASIC THENOSTALGIA GIFT WORTH £59.99 SUBSCRIBE ONLINE NOW AT www.magazinesdirect.com/RET/A78H TELEPHONE 0330 333 1113 AND QUOTE A78H Exclusive Subscriber Cover Every Issue! Reasons to subscribe… Stunning exclusive subscriber-only covers Youllnever miss an issue! Itsdelivered direct to your door Brilliantvalue save money on the cover price SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE Our six-month best offer breaks up the annual subscription into two easily manageable payments over the course of the year PRINT £28 every 6 months Get 13…

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THE MAKING OF CIRCUS

It might be 45 years ago, but Howell Ivy clearly remembers the evening of 4 July 1977. “I was working on Circus late into the night,” he recalls, wistfully, “and I wandered outside and all the fireworks were going off. I remember thinking, ‘It’s Independence Day. Why am I working on a holiday?’ But I had to get the game done and shipped. That is what you have to do when you own a company.” The company in question was Exidy, founded in 1973, and after some minor success with Pong variants such as TV Pinball, had crashed into the public imagination through its 1976 release, Death Race. The game required you to drive your car over pedestrians - sorry, ‘gremlins’ – and was dubbed the first ‘videogame nasty’ by…

THE MAKING OF CIRCUS

THE LITTLE BIG TOP

CIRCUS ATARI ATARI 2600 Ignoring the square balloons, this is a good match for the hardware, not only in terms of the straightforward gameplay but because of the paddle controllers bundled with the console. The simultaneous two-player options are great. CLOWNS C64 A very early release for the Commodore 64 when games were in short supply. While it hardly showed off the capabilities of the new machine, it replicates the original well and the chunkier, slower-moving clowns make it considerably easier. CLOWNS AND BALLOONS ATARI 8-BIT Datasoft swapped the seesaw for a trampoline and added a third clown to the troupe, who scales the ladders which border the screen before taking his leaps of faith. Also features a terrifying giant monkey with glowing eyes and a top hat. CIRCUS LINUX!…

THE LITTLE BIG TOP

THE MAKING OF Demon ATTACK

Our story begins with a break-up. Rob Fulop had worked on a range of games at Atari in the late-Seventies, including a version of Space Invaders for Atari’s 8-bit computers, but by 1981 he’d had enough. Programmers at the firm had long been at loggerheads with management over their meagre compensation – David Crane and several others had left to form Activision two years previously after Atari refused to pay them royalties for the games they had created, or even give them a credit on the box. For Rob, the straw that broke the camel’s back was the insulting compensation he received for coding the multi-million-selling Atari 2600 version of Missile Command. “They gave me a turkey for Thanksgiving,” he says. “That was my bonus.” Suitably outraged, Rob and a…

THE MAKING OF Demon ATTACK

STAY CENTRED Only three demons appear at a time, and only the bottom one fires at you. The firing demon will track your movements, so try to avoid getting trapped in the corners, instead move back and forth in the centre of the screen to avoid incoming fire. BOTTOM FIRST Concentrate your fire on the demon at the bottom. Each wave consists of eight demons, so after the bottom demon has been defeated six times, you’ll be left with two non-firing demons that can be picked off at your leisure. RAPID TAKEDOWN If you pay attention to where the demons are spawning, you could take them out as soon as they appear. Watch for the lines emerging from the sides of the screen and aim for where they converge to…

THE NEVER ENDING STORY

Rob found the later levels of Demon Attack impossible. “It’s hard to make a game that plays better than you can play, right?” he chuckles. “There was no way I could test it beyond a certain point, because it was faster than I could do.” He says that at the time, Imagic couldn’t afford to bring in children for playtesting sessions and set them up behind a two-way mirror, as was often done at Atari. “I didn’t really know how hard it needed to get,” continues Rob, “and I [thought] no one’s ever going to do 84 waves, you know? So after 12 times seven, I didn’t want it to repeat, so then I just decided, ‘OK, you won’, and the game would just go blank. And I did that…

THE NEVER ENDING STORY

Sensible Soccer

» EUROCOM » 1993 » MASTER SYSTEM As a Master System owner in 1993, I came to understand that while I could have some of the same big name games that my dad could get on the Mega Drive, there would inevitably be compromises to deal with when they came to my console. Mortal Kombat only had two backgrounds and you couldn’t play as Kano, while Streets Of Rage had its multiplayer support omitted. Even miraculous efforts like the brilliant conversion of Desert Strike suffered a little because of the system’s two-button control pad. Then there was Sensible Soccer, the Amiga classic ported by Eurocom. If I hadn’t known any better, I could have been convinced that it was designed specifically for the 8-bit machine. The small sprites were a stylistic choice…

Sensible Soccer

AMSTRAD CPC 464 GAMES

EXPECT TO PAY £200+ EUROPE BOILING HOT SUPER CAULDRON DEVELOPER: ELMAR KRIEGER RELEASE: 1993 By 1993, Austrian coder Elmar Krieger was already well-known within the CPC community for his demoscene exploits and development of Zap’t’Balls, his superb Pang clone. He then impressed gamers further by coding Super Cauldron and Prehistorik 2 for Titus – both now something of a holy grail for CPC game collectors. Super Cauldron – a continuation of the Cauldron series – was arguably the most satisfying in terms of gameplay, but only by a smidgen. Aside from its beautiful presentation, this console-like game pushed the Amstrad’s technical boundaries, boasting overscan graphics and fast, smooth, vertical and horizontal scrolling. It was the best home-computer version by a mile. Sadly, the game was also one of the final…

AMSTRAD CPC 464 GAMES

MORE GAMES TO CONSIDER

GUILLEM DE BERGUEDA DEVELOPER: ACE SOFTWARE RELEASED: 1985 EXPECT TO PAY: £85+ (EUROPE) HAMMER-HEAD DEVELOPER: POSTUM SOFT RELEASED: 1992 EXPECT TO PAY: £85+ (EUROPE) DIGGER BARNES DEVELOPER: K SPINNER RELEASED: 1985 EXPECT TO PAY: £59+ (EUROPE) TARGET: RENEGADE DEVELOPER: IMAGINE SOFTWARE RELEASED: 1988 EXPECT TO PAY: £5+ (EUROPE) PURPLE SATURN DAY DEVELOPER: ERE INFORMATIQUE RELEASED: 1989 EXPECT TO PAY: £15+ (EUROPE) CASTLE MASTER DEVELOPER: INCENTIVE SOFTWARE RELEASED: 1990 EXPECT TO PAY: £150 (EUROPE) INGRID’S BACK DEVELOPER: LEVEL 9 RELEASED: 1988 EXPECT TO PAY: £300+ (EUROPE) MGT DEVELOPER: DOMARK RELEASED: 1986 EXPECT TO PAY: £15+ (EUROPE) TITUS THE FOX DEVELOPER: TITUS FRANCE RELEASED: 1991 EXPECT TO PAY: £30+ (EUROPE) BLUES BROTHERS DEVELOPER: TITUS FRANCE RELEASED: 1992 EXPECT TO PAY: £40+ (EUROPE)…

MORE GAMES TO CONSIDER

WEIRD CHARACTER NAMES

GUYBRUSH THREEPWOOD THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND Back when he was being made, Guybrush Threepwood was just Guy – it was only a Deluxe Paint file name that gave him his proper forename, while Threepwood came from a contest within LucasArts. We’re glad things turned out that way, as the name fits the character to a tee. NOOB SAIBOT MORTAL KOMBAT II We know how this name came to be, as it’s the reversed surnames of Mortal Kombat creators Ed Boon and John Tobias. This one was odd but not particularly funny, until the internet decided to shorten the derogatory term ‘Newbie’ into ‘Noob’. WAKLE SKADE GUNGAGE For two-and-a-half decades scholars have undertaken intensive research, yet none of their efforts have borne fruit. They do not know what language Wakle…

WEIRD CHARACTER NAMES

THE MAKING OF MANIA

From grunting cavemen to space-age UFO pilots, Mega lo Mania granted us the power to play god with an evolving civilisation while battling rival deities. This was at a time when ‘god games’ and ‘real-time strategy’ were still years away from becoming part of the gaming lexicon. It was hot on the heels of Bullfrog’s Populous, which had broken broadly similar ground two years before. Between that and both Dune II and Civilization launching in the same year it was released, you could say Mega lo Mania was part of a wave of genre-defining strategy classics. It also fully embodied the tongue-in-cheek Sensible Software ethos with plenty of comic touches, from sassy voiceovers recorded by professional actors to island levels with gloriously irreverent names such as Hernia and Pyjama. Mega…

THE MAKING OF MANIA

HOW TO BE A MEGA LO MANIAC

BUILD THE BASICS Sticks and stones may win you thrones. Viking-style lightning raids with these easily designed basic weapons can catch your rivals off guard early in the game. As you progress through the islands, you’ll need better tech. ADVANCE AND EVOLVE Building better gear will help you evolve a tech level. From Neanderthals to the Ancient Greeks, right through to Victorian and nuclear ages, each society is stronger and more efficient. Progressing faster than your enemies is often key to victory. MINE FOR GLORY To build weapons, you’ll need to acquire elements. Some are ‘Gatherables’ which means your men will collect them automatically. Others need men assigned as miners. Try finding areas with open mines, which look like moon craters, and build deep pit mines when your tech level…

HOW TO BE A MEGA LO MANIAC

CONVERSION CAPERS

AMIGA The original Amiga version of the game is hard to beat. Using the classic Amiga tank mouse to control your army and resources is deeply satisfying, and it makes navigating the menus a breeze. Amiga magazines heaped praise on the game. MEGA DRIVE Jon says this is his favourite conversion. Designed by Stoo Cambridge and Jools Jameson with great care, it would make GamesRadar’s 2017 list of ‘Top 50 Mega Drive Games Of All Time’. It’s also the version playable on Blaze Entertainment’s Evercade. SNES For the SNES port, character illustrations were redrawn to fit better with the Nintendo look, and more upbeat music was introduced. It loses some of the character of the original but plays fine once you get into the controls and menus. ATARIST With fewer…

CONVERSION CAPERS

A SECOND COMING?

Jon is currently working hard on PC and console versions of his hit mobile game Sociable Soccer. But he tells us recreating Mega lo Mania is something he would love to do if he had more time. “From a personal perspective, of all the Sensible games, Mega lo Mania is the one I would most like to do a remake of for modern machines,” he says. “Because it’s not been touched since we did it. It would have been great to get the game online. That’s what I would like to see, people playing it together in real time.” Back in 1992, a planned sequel was cancelled after a short while in production. “David ‘Ubik’ Korn was working on Mega lo Mania 2, which was going to have 3D textured…

A SECOND COMING?

LOST IN TRANSLATION

RANMA 1/2: CHOUNAI GEKITOU HEN JPN→USA Japan→USA RANMA 1/2: CHOUNAI GEKITOU HEN Departing: 1992 FORMAT SNES ■ DEVELOPER NCS ■ YEAR 1992 ■ ORIGIN Japan ■ LOCALISED FOR USA ■ REASONS Commercial ■ ECONOMY If you’re into anime or manga, you’re probably well aware of Ranma 1/2 – it was one of the earliest series to gain popularity among English-speaking fans. For the uninitiated, the series was created by famed author Rumiko Takahashi in 1987 and follows the teenage martial artist Ranma Saotome, who is cursed to transform into a girl when splashed with cold water, and back into a boy if splashed with hot water. By 1992, Ranma 1/2 had transcended manga and had received adaptations including an anime series, an animated movie and a few videogames. With Street…

LOST IN TRANSLATION

SHINOBI III Return of the Ninja Master

If you were in the market for a Mega Drive during the early days of the console’s life, chances are that one of the games that convinced you to take a look was The Revenge Of Shinobi. The slick sequel to the hit arcade game evolved the action with new stages, moves and magic, and the soundtrack by Yuzo Koshiro is still revered to this day. Critics loved it, it was a sales hit and it became such a common inclusion on the Mega Games compilation cartridges that we’d be surprised if any Mega Drive owner had managed to miss it. There was no question that Sega would put another sequel into production. What is interesting is that this didn’t happen right away. The core team of The Revenge Of…

SHINOBI III Return of the Ninja Master

MAGNIFICENT MOVES

SOMERSAULT Press jump again at the height of a regular jump, and Joe will curl up and gain extra height. You can also press your attack button to send out a deadly spray of shurikens. SPRINTING SLASH Double tap left or right to begin running in that direction. The extra speed is handy, but if you press the attack button, you’ll gain a brief bit of invincibility as you swing your sword. DIVE KICK During a jump, while Joe is in mid-air, press down and attack. He’ll come down and forward in a diagonal motion, kicking enemies in the head and rebounding off them. WALL JUMP When Joe is directly touching a wall in mid-air, hold the d-pad towards the direction of the wall and press jump for some extra…

MAGNIFICENT MOVES

CRATE EXPECTATIONS

POWER PACK Allows you to deal extra damage with both shurikens and melee attacks. The effect lasts until you next get hit. SHURIKENS (SMALL) You know those dangerous metal projectiles that Joe throws about? Here are some of those. Don’t throw them all in one place. SHURIKENS (LARGE) This is very much like the small pack, but twice as big – easily enough to have someone’s eye out with, we reckon. HEART (SMALL) A healing item for those of you who can’t stay out of trouble. This restores a little bit of Joe’s life bar, but not much. HEART (LARGE) For those with much love to share, here’s a bigger version of the healing item, which makes you feel far safer. EXTRA LIFE Collect a picture of Joe’s masked face,…

CRATE EXPECTATIONS

ADDITIONAL TRAINING

The game we know as Shinobi III today isn’t the team’s original stab at the concept. In fact, the game was first completed around the end of 1992, and sent out to a number of magazines for review. This early version of the game didn’t feature any of the horseback or surfing levels, but did feature a number of levels not included in the final game. These included a rocky stage set at night, featuring enemy tigers, and other stages such as the outside of a rocket readying for launch. The bosses were generally retained in some fashion, but most of the stages were heavily reworked even if their concepts were kept. Reviewers generally scored this version highly, but expressed some disappointment in it. Mean Machines Sega gave the game…

ADDITIONAL TRAINING

STAGE 1 This multi-limbed terror looks intimidating, but isn’t actually too tough. It’s vulnerable to a running slash whenever it isn’t attacking, so hit it with one of those. It’ll then rear back and attempt to charge you, so be ready to jump – maybe even somersault, just to be safe. There are no alternative phases here, so this is very simple. STAGE 2 When the screen is normal, this floating brain can be attacked so long as it isn’t blasting electricity – if it is, your shurikens will be deflected. Try to time your attacks for when it attempts to drop on top of you. Whenever the screen is warping, your controls will be reversed, so take evasive action as best you can. STAGE 3 The eye is the…

MEGA DRIVE » 1993 » M2 A few years ago my daughter bought me a copy of Gauntlet IV on the Mega Drive for my birthday. I remember rinsing it with friends via the Mega Drive’s 4-Player Adaptor back in the day and I had wistful thoughts of revisiting that period of my life, except with Melanie and my girls filling in for my friends who have long moved away, making gaming nights impossible. I loaded the game up and nothing happened. I pulled the cart out, gave it a clean and tried again. This time the game played for a few moments before crashing and no amount of cleaning would solve the issue. Disappointed that I couldn’t play the game Emily had bought for me, I spoke to the…

THE HISTORY OF SCREAMER

Once upon a time, arcade racing seemed to be very much a genre with a secret recipe which only Japanese developers seemed to have access to. Ever since the Eighties, with classic coin-ops like Pole Position, Out Run and Chase HQ, all the best racers seemed to only come out of Japan. A trend which continued with the jump to 3D and polygonal graphics, thanks to hits like Sega’s Daytona USA and Namco’s Ridge Racer. But by the mid-Nineties, things changed. The new hot series suddenly was Screamer, a newcomer which almost managed to defeat its rivals, at least in the home-computer market. The first in the series was developed in 1995 by Milan software house Graffiti, a company created by Antonio Farina after leaving his previous job. “Idea Software,…

THE HISTORY OF SCREAMER

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

Iron Assault was the first title that Graffiti started developing, shortly after the studio was founded in game was put on the backburner while the team worked around the clock to complete Screamer in as little time as possible. Inspired by MechWarrior, the game lets the player choose and arm a mech, then go on missions to save the Earth from the threat of mega corporations. Programmer Stefano Lecchi remembers being basically left alone to solve the bugs on Iron Assault, as it was a project he had brought over to the studio. He mentions the 3D engine being developed as an evolution of what he had seen in Wolfenstein 3D, so much so that when Doom came out he remembers feeling a sense of unease, since Iron Assault already…

OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

The Screamer series definitely features a varied selection of tracks, from the overall relaxing and fun arcade-like offerings of the original, to the challenging layouts that feature in the later games. Sunbeach Hill is one particular standout from Screamer, as it looks relaxing and laid back with its palm trees and a lighthouse, but it also requires some attentive driving. Sandrock, featuring cacti and oil rigs, is the final track in the original title, and also one that will demand the most attention from the player. The California track from Screamer 2 features some of the most beautiful scenery from the entire series, but don’t let the backgrounds distract from the driving because, while not the most difficult one from the series, it will still challenge many drivers. The Tunnel…

SCREAMER’S INSPIRATION

All of the Screamer developers have no doubts on which were the major inspirations on the series. First, Daytona USA and Ridge Racer, while Sega Rally was definitely an influence for the later instalments of Screamer. Namco’s Ridge Racer was released in 1993, first in the arcades and then ported to the PlayStation, it was based on a popular hobby of young Japanese people: racing expensive cars on mountain tracks while dangerously drifting around. Daytona USA was developed by Sega with the purpose of having a title that could rival Namco’s, an arcade racer which would make full use of the Sega Arcade 2 board. Using its experience on its previous 3D title, Virtua Racer, the Sega AM2 team extensively researched NASCAR races to develop a title that was also…

SCREAMER’S INSPIRATION

SCREAMER’S LEGACY

With the success of the original Screamer, along with its two sequels, in the course of a few years Milestone went from being a small Italian team, to the top developers in the world for racing games. Since 1995, it has been going on strong, developing mostly racing games, with the exception of a couple of talent show related tie-ins like The X Factor Sing. Superbike World Championship, originally released in 1999, was the first title developed for Electronic Arts, and Milestone’s first attempt at simulating motorbike racing. The series would later jump ship, becoming MotoGP, a yearly released series of titles which (with the exception of three titles developed by Capcom), has been a staple of Milestone to this day, with the recent release of MotoGP 22. Apex from…

SCREAMER’S LEGACY

Have you ever bemoaned the fact that your regular console controller doesn’t allow you to play games and hold a drink at the same time? If so, you may enjoy the ASCII Grip – a pad that is designed to be used with one hand. Most of the standard face and shoulder buttons are located on the front of the controller, but the important cross and circle buttons are located on the underside of the device, so that you don’t need to move your thumb from the d-pad. The ASCII Grip was officially licensed by Sony in all major regions, and although it has all of the functions of a regular PlayStation controller, it is better suited to some genres than others. The packaging recommends it as being ideal for…

DIGITAL ECLIPSE

ere at Retro Gamer we depend on emulation. Without access to emulators, the job of illustrating features like this would be so much trickier. It’d be like stepping back in time 30 years, using a combination of photography and Heath Robinson capture devices to grab screenshots. Nightmare. We rely on emulation, yet many often take it for granted. Emulators for almost every old system are available, either as free/shareware or as part of commercial retro-game packages. They’re so convenient that it’s easy to forget there was a time when emulating old games seemed like sorcery. This was particularly true of the coin-ops that we’d marvel at in the arcades. Then in 1994, Digital Eclipse conjured up versions of classic Williams games Joust, Defender and Robotron: 2084 for the Apple Mac.…

DIGITAL ECLIPSE

SELECTED TIMELINE

1994 THE DIGITAL ARCADE Mac, PC ■ A pack featuring perfect emulations of three timeless classics from Williams: Joust, Defender and Robotron: 2084 (pictured). 1995 ACTIVISION’S C64 15 PACK PC ■ A rare computer-game collection, containing a bunch of C64 hits including Toy Bizarre, Decathlon and Park Patrol (pictured). 1998 THE ATARI COLLECTION 2 PlayStation, PC ■ Paperboy, Gauntlet and Marble Madness on one disc, plus three other coin-op classics. Surpasses the original Atari Collection. 1999 DISNEY’S TARZAN Game Boy Color ■ A delightful Disney platformer for the GBC that reportedly sold more copies than the PlayStation and N64 versions combined. 2000 DRAGON’S LAIR Game Boy Color The LaserDisc classic, somehow crunched to fit on the GBC and managing to retain its sense of wonder. 2002 DISNEY’S LILO & STITCH…

SELECTED TIMELINE

WHERE ARE THEY NOW

ANDREW AYRE Harvard graduate Andrew cofounded Digital Eclipse in 1992 and has remained involved ever since, through senior roles at Backbone Entertainment and Foundation 9, and subsequently as CEO of Other Ocean Group which he established in 2006. These days Other Ocean operates several studios in the US and Canada, and since 2015 has been the home of Digital Eclipse. MIKE MIKA Mike left behind games journalism to join Digital Eclipse in 1998, where he developed many handheld titles for the Game Boy line. He then headed up various studies and has had a hand in more than 100 games. More recently he was responsible for the 2015 hit #IDARB and the arcade mod Donkey Kong – Pauline Edition (Google it). He’s currently president of Digital Eclipse. JEFF VAVASOUR Jeff…

WHERE ARE THEY NOW

DNA OF DIGITAL ECLIPSE

RETRO COLLECTIONS Digital Eclipse shipped the first commercial emulation of any coin-op in 1994 and over the years has released dozens of retro-game collections for numerous formats, working with significant IP holders like Sega, Capcom and Konami. These collections remain its bread and butter. FILM AND TV TIE-INS In the early Noughties the firm enjoyed a profitable sideline developing licences for Nintendo handhelds. “We did a game based on the Adam Sandler film Little Nicky,” says Mike. “Nobody bothered to get approvals or anything. There’s stuff in there that really shouldn’t be there!” EMULATION ACCURACY While its retro releases offer modern features like load/save and rewind, you can still play the games just as they were back in the day. Various filters and presentation options are also included for those…

DNA OF DIGITAL ECLIPSE

One Piece Mansion

» PLAYSTATION » 2000 » CAPCOM The block of flats I live in is a bit weird. I used to live next to a family with three kids, but now they’ve moved out, the flat is just as quiet as it was when they were there. On the other hand, I can hear every footstep coming from the flat above me, a fact that has ensured that I never bust out the dance mats – after all, I have no desire to annoy my downstairs neighbour. Not everybody is so considerate though, as Capcom’s One Piece Mansion reminds me. It’s a very cool action puzzle game in which you’re put in charge of a block of flats, with different goals to reach – for example, making a certain amount of…

One Piece Mansion

THE MAKING OF BIOSHOCK

Let’s address that elephant in the room. We know what you’re thinking: BioShock isn’t a retro game. It’s a fair standpoint, but the underwater FPS is celebrating its 15th anniversary this month, which falls within our own remit, and regardless, no one can discount its status as an utter classic. And the fact is, when it comes to selecting games from the pile of ‘recently retro’ to cover, only the very best, most innovative, most impactful games can make the cut… and that basically defines BioShock. But what’s interesting about the game’s development is how so much of its essence is owed to a much older, equally beloved release. “We didn’t think we were done with some of the ideas that we worked with on System Shock 2 and we…

THE MAKING OF BIOSHOCK

REMASTERING BIOSHOCK

As an Xbox 360 game over the age of ten, BioShock is obviously a prime candidate to receive the remaster treatment. As usual, the purpose here is full HD resolution, improved framerates (60fps) and general texture and lighting upgrades. While there are some areas that this has improved the game – particularly with detailing in the textures and enhanced visual effects – the switch does mean that some of that Xbox 360 haziness is lost. Our impression of BioShock in our minds’ eyes is it being dark, claustrophobic and foreboding, and without that of-the-era fuzz on the graphics, some of that feeling is dispersed in switching to the new visuals. But it is available as part of a complete package, which means players can run through the whole story –…

REMASTERING BIOSHOCK

BEYOND BIOSHOCK

CHALLENGE ROOMS Let’s not forget that while BioShock might still feel like a modern title, it released before a lot of the familiar tropes of the modern gaming industry – including DLC. The Challenge Rooms for the original game were the best attempt at adding more content to the game, but were just a series of tests for the player. BIOSHOCK 2 Releasing a sequel to BioShock was always going to be tough, and sure enough the response to the second game was mixed. Some felt it was too similar, others felt that it didn’t touch on what made the original great. But in hindsight, it did go on to become a well-loved addition to the series. MINERVA’S DEN Learning its lesson the second time around, this DLC for BioShock…

BEYOND BIOSHOCK

WHO’S WHO UNDER THE SEA?

ANDREW RYAN The main man of Rapture, its creator and the embodiment of philosophical Obstructivism that had been crucial to his design by Ken Levine. Andrew Ryan doesn’t actually appear for very long in the game, what with him being hunkered down in his safe house after the fall of Rapture, but you’ll see his image, hear his voice and learn of his ideologies throughout the game. ATLAS Known as the Liberator Of Rapture, it was Atlas that led the disgruntled masses against Andrew Ryan that started the Civil War and ultimately the downfall of the underwater city. He also very politely asks the player character, Jack, if he would kindly embark on a number of tasks throughout the game, and is a major character in unravelling BioShock’s story. BRIGID…

WHO’S WHO UNDER THE SEA?

Hardware Heaven

N-Gage QD fact ■ Though the N-Gage QD was released in a variety of colour schemes, the Silver Edition differs from most as the 5 and 7 keys were not raised for ease of gaming use. PROCESSOR: 32-BIT ARM920T CPU (104 MHZ) GRAPHICS: 176X208 DISPLAY, UP TO 4096 COLOURS ON SCREEN, SOFTWARE 3D RENDERING NETWORKING: GPRS MOBILE INTERNET CONNECTION, BLUETOOTH AUDIO: MONOPHONIC, POLYPHONIC AND WAV SOUNDS SUPPORTED STORAGE: 16MB INTERNAL MEMORY (3.4MB AVAILABLE TO USER), EXPANDABLE VIA MMC CARD OPERATING SYSTEM: NOKIA SYMBIAN 6.1 MEDIA: MMC CARD (UP TO 2GB) RAM: 16MB SDRAM N-Gage QD » MANUFACTURER: Nokia » YEAR: 2004 » COST: £149.99 (launch), £120+ (today, boxed, unlocked), £50+ (today, unboxed, unlocked) In 2003, Nokia had posed a simple question to consumers – why carry a handheld console and a…

Hardware Heaven

John Calhoun became a well-known name in Macintosh circles following the release of his acclaimed game, Glider, published as shareware in 1988. Forming his own company (Soft Dorothy Software – a nod to The Wizard Of Oz since he grew up in Kansas), John also created other innovative Mac titles. He struck a deal with publisher Casady & Greene and became a full-time games developer, too. By the mid-Nineties, however, he landed a job with Apple, before Steve Jobs returned and created a powerhouse of a company. Being employed by Apple effectively ended his gaming endeavours (except for a brief period when he produced iOS titles) but, now he’s retired, he can be found blogging and working on projects at engineersneedart.com and he doesn’t rule out a return. Can you…

JOHN’S STANDOUT GAMES

GLIDER Year: 1988 ■ Glider involved flying a paper plane through rooms of a house avoiding objects and using air currents to keep moving. The first three versions were shareware but Glider 4.0 was commercial and introduced colour. Glider PRO added power-ups, obstacles and the ability to fly outside. “It was the sweet spot for the series,” says John. STELLA OBSCURA Year: 1990 ■ This 3D stereoscopic game had two slightly different images on the screen and needed a homemade viewer (full instructions provided) in order to play it. “It was vintage Mac only but it’ll no doubt run on an emulator,” John says. “Don’t expect much, but the stereo effect is surprisingly decent.” PARARENA Year: 1991 ■ Introduced as a black-and-white shareware game and commercially as Pararena 2.0, players…

JOHN’S STANDOUT GAMES

■ One of the downsides to working for Apple was the inability to develop programs independently. “Suddenly I found out that you couldn’t do stuff in your spare time,” John says. “Apple assumed it owned everything in terms of programming and it had a right to first refusal yet you couldn’t go somewhere else and have your games published.” As it happens, John was fine with this. Although any development of games had to be solely for his own amusement, he believed the industry was changing and making it harder for indie developers to make any headway. “You had big players like LucasArts, coming into the fold, writing games that shipped on CD-ROM,” he says. “It just felt like the indie games I wrote were just not really on the…

STICKING TO THE MAC

■ John Calhoun spent his entire career either developing games for Apple platforms or working for Apple itself. But why didn’t he earmark other flourishing platforms at the time? After all, there were lots of home computers to develop for, from the 8-bits to the 16-bits. “I didn’t think of myself as being really that smart of a programmer,” he says. “I thought of myself as a Macintosh programmer because I’d kind of struggled for a year to get to where I could do games like Glider on the Macintosh. “To go to a different platform, such as Windows or the Amiga, I’d have to learn the development environment and learn how to program the graphics routines on that platform. That was kind of intimidating. I thought that’s like starting…

STICKING TO THE MAC

Ultimate Ghosts ’N Goblins

» PSP » 2006 » TOSE Even when the PSP first came out, aspects of it felt decidedly retro to me. Sure it had a cutting-edge LCD screen and sure it was able to offer PS2-type experiences, but in the palm of your hand, yet it also had a lot of retro stuff on it, so it regularly appeared in the reviews section of the magazine. Those links to gaming’s past didn’t just come in the form of compilations, of which there were many, with Activision Hits Remixed and Capcom Classics Collection Remixed being particular favourites. In fact, Capcom literally jumped on the retro bandwagon by releasing a number of compilations (Power Stone Collection) updating past games (Breath Of Fire III, Mega Man: Powered-Up and Street Fighter Alpha 3 Max)…

Ultimate Ghosts ’N Goblins

>> This month we build the latest Lego set, try out all the games on Capcom’s second Stadium collection, test the latest Evercade cartridges and find out if Chris Scullion’s new book will have you jumping for joy PICKS OF THE MONTH DARRAN Evercade: Jaleco Arcade 1 I always regretted selling my PCB of P-47: The Phantom Fighter, so I’m delighted to legitimately own it again. NICK Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium I’m a simple man – give me Saturday Night Slam Masters and Puzzle Fighter on the go and I’ll be happy. Atari Video Computer System THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF NOSTALGIA INFORMATION » FORMAT REVIEWED: LEGO » ALSO ON: NA » RELEASED: OUT NOW » PRICE: £209.99 » PUBLISHER: LEGO » DEVELOPER: LEGO » BUY IT FROM: LEGO.COM Few companies…

Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium

INFORMATION » FORMAT: SWITCH » RELEASED: OUT NOW » PRICE: FREE (WITH ADD-ONS) » PUBLISHER: CAPCOM » DEVELOPER: CAPCOM » PLAYERS: 1-4 WHY NOT TRY ▼ SOMETHING OLD CAPCOM CLASSICS COLLECTION RELOADED (PSP) ▼ SOMETHING NEW CAPCOM ARCADE STADIUM (SWITCH) When the original Capcom Arcade Stadium launched, our impression was that it was meant to serve as a platform to be built on, with new packs of games to launch in the future. We were clearly mistaken, as Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium is now here with 32 more games for fans to enjoy. The package is free to download on all platforms, with Son Son included as a way for you to try it out, but further games must be bought. The individual games are priced fairly reasonably at £3.29…

Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium

Turrican Anthology Vol I & Vol II

» System: Switch (Tested), PS4 » Buy it from: Online » Buy it for: £29.99 (each) Don’t worry, you haven’t slipped back in time. Though Turrican Flashback brought Factor 5’s classic run-and-gun series to modern hardware about a year-and-a-half ago, we now have a more comprehensive pair of compilations to enjoy from the same team, based on Strictly Limited Games’ physical editions. The first volume includes the Amiga versions of Turrican and Turrican II, the SNES game Super Turrican in both regular and Director’s Cut versions, and the Mega Turrican score-attack demo. The second includes the Amiga version of Turrican 3, the Mega Drive game Mega Turrican and its Director’s Cut version, Super Turrican 2 and a Super Turrican score-attack demo. Unfortunately, there are no 8-bit versions available. If you like…

Turrican Anthology Vol I & Vol II

Mega Man Battle & Fighters

» System: Switch » Buy it for: £7.19 » Buy it from: Online After a couple of decades as an expensive import curio, this Neo Geo Pocket Color game finally gets a wide release. It’s a miniaturised version of the two Mega Man arcade games, which were essentially boss rushes featuring classic enemies from across the series. If that sounds appealing, there is plenty of it to get through and it’s a nice-looking game. The usual Neo Geo Pocket Color Selection presentation is here, but the presentation is undermined by the fact that the in-game text hasn’t been translated and is still in Japanese. There’s a brand-new translated manual to refer to, but you’ll do so frequently as there are lots of menu options to navigate. NICK THORPE Score 76%…

Mega Man Battle & Fighters

Jumping For Joy: The History Of Platform Video Games

» Buy it for: £25 » Buy it from: pen-and-sword.co.uk The history of platform games is a broad subject to tackle in just 168 pages, and the author Chris Scullion takes a good crack at it here – he knows his stuff and the book is engaging and informative throughout. The first two sections consist of comprehensive coverage of the Mario and Sonic series, with 50 more iconic games making up the third. Consequently there are odd coverage imbalances, with Super Mario Bros getting just half a page compared to Bubsy The Bobcat’s two-page spread, while the likes of Jet Set Willy and Braid are given just 50 words each in box out entries. While it’s still a good read, we can’t help but feel that a different structure or…

Jumping For Joy: The History Of Platform Video Games

Evercade: Jaleco Arcade 1

» System: Evercade » Buy it for: £17.99 » Buy it from: Online, retail It’s great to see Blaze releasing its arcade themed carts on a more regular basis. Jaleco Arcade 1 is a solid offering with P-47: The Phantom Fighter, Rod-Land, Avenging Spirit and Saint Dragon being the obvious highlights. The remaining games are 64th Street: A Detective Story, The Astyanax, EDF: Earth Defence Force and Cybattler and they’re all of a decent quality, although Cybattler does suffer when playing on the handheld due to its vertical orientation and 64th Street is a little sedate for a scrolling fighter. Emulation seems up to the usual quality, although we noticed some weird ghosting when playing on the Evercade VS (restarting solved this issue, though). All in all Jaleco Arcade 1 is a…

Evercade: Jaleco Arcade 1

THE HOMEBREWER’S KIT

A BIG SHOUT OUT TO THE YEAR 6 PUPILS OF BEARSDEN PRIMARY SCHOOL, WHO HAVE TAKEN PART IN THEIR ANNUAL ZX SPECTRUM CODING EXPERIENCE. WITH THE HELP OF JONATHAN CAULDWELL’S ARCADE GAME DESIGNER, THE PUPILS HAVE DESIGNED AND CREATED A DOZEN NEW GAMES AVAILABLE AT BIT.LY/BEARSDEN-2022 IT’S A SPLENDID EXAMPLE OF HOW TO GET PEOPLE INTERESTED IN CODING; ANOTHER WAY IS TO READ THE PROGRAMMING BOOKS DISCUSSED IN OUR MAIN NEWS STORY.

BINARY BOOKS FOR THOSE WANTING TO LEARN HOW TO PROGRAM HOMEBREW GAMES, THE BOOKS FROM DEREK MORRIS AND AKUYOU ARE ESSENTIAL READING Derek Morris has been a professional programmer for many years. “I hope in some small way to help keep the enthusiasm for retro games and machines alive. They can be…

THE HOMEBREWER’S KIT

MULTI-PLATFORM ARCADE GAME DESIGNER Windows THE SHOOT-’EM-UP CONSTRUCTION KIT C64 SHMUP CREATOR PC GAMEMAKER PC GB STUDIO Windows, Mac, Linux

JEFFREY JANSSEN

WHAT DREW YOU TO DEVELOP FOR PHILIPS’ CD-I? IS THERE A PARTICULAR DEVELOPMENT ENVIRONMENT?

JEFFREY JANSSEN

Built with Scorpion Engine (see RG236), this is a remake of a NES prototype that also appeared on ZX Spectrum and MSX (all available for free from the link). Aura the delivery duck must find and return eight floppy disks, but that won’t be the end of her tasks. To help her get around, she can drop an explosive egg – and by timing her jump right, she’ll get an extra boost to help her reach higher platforms. While some enemies can be jumped on to squash them, others are fatal to the touch. Spikes and plungers will also harm our poor little duck, so be careful. Switches open new areas of the level, and the plinths can be activated to ‘remember’ your starting position for your next life.…

“I make games in GBstudio because I’ve always wanted to make a real Game Boy game,” Max tells us. “The limitations can create tons of creativity and streamline the development process.” Ruby & Rusty is published by Bitmap Soft (bit.ly/rubyrusty). “I was planning to publish the physical release myself, but it’s been great to have a team to work with. My biggest inspiration was living on a farm for a bunch of years when I was a kid, with a vibe straight out of the original The Wizard Of Oz novel – so that’s what inspired the storybook aesthetic.” Next up is Wink And The Broken Robot, a demake of his earlier NES title. “I post my art on Instagram (instagram.com/maxoakland.art) and you’ll often see things from there pop…

NINJA SKILLS Looking at the gaming heroes with real ultimate power Ninjas have been a staple character trope in games for decades, and while they’re frequently enemies or parts of an ensemble cast, they’re often perfect for starring roles too. We got together to discuss why the shadowy assassins have managed to fascinate audiences for so long. NICK Clearly, ninjas are the best videogame heroes. Why do you think that is? TIM Because pirates suck. NICK That’s true, for some reason there aren’t many great pirate-themed games. But ninjas? You’ve got The Last Ninja, Shinobi, Strider, Ninja Gaiden, Tenchu – I could go on. Ninjas are agile, they’re deadly, they’re mysterious and just very cool. TIM And they flip out all the time! DARRAN Can I let the record show…

COLLECTOR’S CORNER

BIO NAME: Richard Ellis LOCATION: Yorkshire, UK FAVOURITE GAME: Suikoden II FAVOURITE SYSTEM: SNES, PlayStation, PS2 COLLECTION WORTH: “£100,000 would be a conservative estimate” GOOD THINGS IN SMALL PACKAGES Richard’s collection has grown naturally over 25 years This month’s collector has a bit of a surprising origin story, as he bounced off his first system, a Commodore 64. “I think I just found the actual kit quite hard to use when I was maybe seven years old,” says Richard Ellis. “My parents realised the mistake, I kept asking for videogames still but I didn’t like the videogames on my C64. I used to play on a Mega Drive in Comet, and that ended up being my proper first console.” After some years enjoying games like Sonic 2 and Street Fighter II,…

COLLECTOR’S CORNER

CONSUMED BY COLLECTING Darran ponders his life choices Regular readers of this section of the magazine will know I have a lot of games. You’ll also know that I’ve used these pages of the magazine to occasionally mention the depression I’ve suffered from over the years as well. While I won’t bore you with the reasons behind my long-term bouts of depression I will share something that some of you may have already guessed by now – I buy videogames as a coping mechanism. I’ve always made excuses for the games I collect and to a point I still make some of them now. I grew up relatively poor as a child (our childhood photos of our home consist of mismatched furniture and all of us wearing hand-me-down clothes) and…

STAR LETTER SATURN FOREVER Dear Retro Gamer, I was wondering which of the following three Sega consoles you guys like: the Mega Drive, Saturn or Dreamcast? I like the Sega Saturn. Not only are its imported games awesome but there are some game ports which were even better than their PlayStation versions. It’s easy to see why Sega Saturn was dismissed in the West because most of those great imported games never made it overseas and there was no proper Sonic game except Sonic R. But now that I have seen with my own eyes what Saturn can do, I have become a big fan of it. Anyway, I am sure that the Retro Gamer team will have different opinions as to which Sega console they like. Cheers, Zahir Hassan…

What’s your favourite Donkey Kong Country game? Daley Eve Donkey Kong Country 2. It took the best bits of the original and injected them with banana juice. It has to be one of the greatest games of all time. ACO The first one. It was mindblowing to see the SNES pull off what it did. Retro Blast Donkey Kong Country 2. Not only was it a more polished game with improved mechanics and level design, the soundtrack by David Wise is one of the greatest on the SNES. Ever. Simon Morgan Donkey Kong Country on the SNES. It felt like a giant leap forward at the time. Awesome soundtrack too. I stayed at university through the Easter holiday to work on my final year project. That wouldn’t have been necessary…

» DS » 2005 » NINTENDO EAD If you want to start a contentious debate, just rank the entries in the Mario Kart series – you’ll soon reveal the Double Dash!! diehards and 64 sceptics. I won’t do a full ranking for that very reason, but I will say that Mario Kart DS is easily in my personal top three. It’s the last one before they changed the drifting mechanic, and it has some truly awesome tracks like Waluigi Pinball, Airship Fortress and Luigi’s Mansion. But in truth, my fond memories of the game have as much to do with the DS itself as the game design. I was pretty suspicious of the DS when it was first announced. Did a second screen really enhance gaming that much? Could a…

VIRTUA FIGHTER KIDS: JEFFRY’S ENDING » Let’s be honest, the Virtua Fighter Kids are weird kids. Just look at Jeffry – he’s a child with a thick beard, and an inexplicable rivalry with one particular shark. We didn’t know anybody like that at school, and we were weird kids who had a magnetic effect on other weird kids. Anyway, it turns out Jeffry wins the game if you’re good, so let’s see what happens when he does.…

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