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89 Articles

Darran Jones It’s got to be Mario. He’s a legendary everyman who tackles anything with ease. A bit like myself. Expertise: Juggling a gorgeous wife, two beautiful girls and an awardwinning magazine Currently playing: Mario Kart DS Favourite game of all time: Strider Nick Thorpe I tend to pick Toad – the high acceleration seems pretty good when you’re being battered by shells. Expertise: Owning five Master Systems (I sold two) Currently playing: Persona 5 Favourite game of all time: Sonic The Hedgehog Drew Sleep Toad’s my man. Flip over to the cover and look at that face, how could you not pick that derpy little muppet? Expertise: Ultimate Despair Currently playing: Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair Favourite game of all time: Final Fantasy VIII Sam ribbits And now…

Super Mario Kart certainly wasn’t the first significant karting game – Sega’s Power Drift says hello – but it’s arguably one of the most important, creating a subgenre of racing games that still remain extremely popular today. Sure, you can argue that the genre suffers from an overabundance of weak licences, but let’s face it, that’s hardly the fault of Nintendo, or its versatile plumber. Our amazing behind-the-scenes access this month features a whole host of astonishing facts and anecdotes about Nintendo’s popular SNES game, many of which I’d never heard of before. It explains how the game evolved from another popular Nintendo game, why Mario features in it and so much more. In short it’s a superb read and I really feel you’re…

From power to power

Y ou have developer Christopher Obritsch’s daughter to thank for this tribute to Ghouls ‘N Ghosts. Battle Princess Madelyn exists because the young retro gamer wanted to play as herself in her favourite game, Ghouls ‘N Ghosts. Now Christopher has been working hard with a small talented team to make his daughter’s wish come true. He’s taken the time out of development to tell us how everything is progressing. Where did the idea for Battle Princess Madelyn originate? When Maddi wanted to be in Ghouls ’N Ghosts and fight ‘Green Head’. I said it was someone else’s game, but I could make her one that was like it. Then she said, ‘But girls can’t be knights, Daddy. Only boys…’ to which I answered, ‘Pshh…What colour do…

From power to power

Backed it now, looks promising and relatively inexpensive. Antiriad2097 I’m pretty sure this game will be an instant classic among indie gamers and people who wants old school feels in modern games. Jose Manuel Suarez Who doesn’t want more Ghouls ’N Ghosts? Chris Flaherty It looks awesome! Really looking forward to the physical Limited Run Games release as well Raccoons Cave It looks tremendous, now that it’s been funded, though, I’ll hang fire and buy it on release, as I’ve no idea which of the platforms it’s being released for I’ll have in 12 months time. the_hawk…

Capcom digs up NES classics

Capcom sent the internet into a spin recently, with the announcement that several of its classic NES Disney games would be heading to current systems. The Disney Afternoon Collection, which should be available now, is a compendium of six classic NES games from the late Eighties and Nineties that includes Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers, Darkwing Duck, TaleSpin and DuckTales. Capcom producer, John Faciane is confident the collection is going to resonate with gamers. “During my childhood several of Capcom’s titles had a huge impact on me, and some of my earliest fond memories of gaming were with DuckTales and Chip 'N Dale: Rescue Rangers in particular,” he tells us. “Throughout the course of production I’ve been able to relive my childhood, and Capcom fans far and wide will be…

Capcom digs up NES classics

The Dreamcast Junkyard has revealed that a brand-new game has been discovered for Sega's 128-bit console. The game in question is a PC futuristic racing game called Millennium Racer: Y2K Fighters and it’s been causing much excitement with the Dreamcast community. Created by Creat Studio and released in 1999, it was also planned for release on Sega’s Dreamcast, but like so many other Dreamcast games at the time, it ended up getting cancelled. Astonishingly, the Dreamcast port has not only been found, but appears to be complete and fully playable. The Dreamcast Junkyard’s owner, Tom Charnock, revealed in his blog update that he’d been made aware of the game by a fellow Dreamcast fan known as Kuririn84. Since discovering the game on an abandoned dev kit, Kuririn84 has been working…

The Spectrum salvager

BIO NAME: Mark R Jones Twitter: @MarkRJones1970 Estimated value: £8,000 Favourite System: ZX Spectrum Favourite game: Legend Of Avalon JEWEL IN THE CROWN Boxed 48k ZX Spectrum ■ "I was real lucky with this one – the box is in near-perfect condition and the whole thing only cost me £21 about six years ago. You’d be lucky to get one for under £100 now in the same condition." Paid: £21 Shadow of the Unicorn “This copy is a bit ropey but it’s one I got in 1989 from the part exchangers who were looking to go 16-bit. I was tempted to get another copy in better condition, but now they’re going for £60-£70 so I’ll stick with this one. ” Paid: £2 Multiface 128 “I sold my original Multiface about…

The Spectrum salvager

‘Videogameyness’

“Games have never been more cinematic than they are now – and that isn’t a compliment” What was the point at which videogames became ashamed of themselves? You know what I’m talking about: when they stopped just enjoying being what they are, and started trying to emulate the cool kids. Specifically, when was the moment that videogames started trying to be movies? Was it when Cinemaware released Defender Of The Crown? When Steve Spielberg conceived of The Dig? Or perhaps when CD-ROM dropped a ton of allegedly interactive movies on us like an unsolicited dung delivery? For me, one of the most risible moments in the history of videogames was The Order: 1886. Not because it was a bad game – merely grossly underwhelming – but because they chose to…

‘Videogameyness’

Mikado Game Center

Arcades aren’t an uncommon sight in central Tokyo, but encountering arcades like Mikado Game Center in the Takadanobaba district anywhere on Earth is a rarity. Mikado is well-known for several reasons: it has a vibrant scene devoted to the fighting game Guilty Gear Xrd, it supports numerous other communities for competitive games, large and small, and it has a jaw-dropping collection of retro machines in excellent condition: you can play Starblade or Darius on its original cabinet, followed up with a round of Fighters History Dynamite or Street Fighter III: Third Strike. If you really want a rare experience, you can ride one of the few remaining full-motion Space Harrier setups! The selection and curation of the machines at Mikado is top-notch, and thanks to the attentive efforts of its…

Mikado Game Center

The latest news from March 2000

The first console of the new millennium arrived this month, as the hotlyanticipated PlayStation 2 launched in Japan with a selection of ten games. Namco’s Ridge Racer V was the clear highlight of a relatively weak launch lineup, with other notable games including the underwhelming Street Fighter EX3, the historical strategy game Kessen and the music games Stepping Selection and DrumMania. That didn’t hurt the machine with the public, though – the machine flew off the shelves thanks to its status as both a cutting-edge console and an affordable DVD player, selling 1.4 million units before March was over. That wasn’t the only big news from Japan, either. Having successfully turned its Final Fantasy franchise into a worldwide phenomenon over the previous three years, the famed RPG developer Squaresoft made…

The latest news from March 2000

NEWS March 2000

10 March saw the NASDAQ stock index close at an all-time high of 5,048, marking the peak of the dotcom bubble. For the past five years, tech companies were able to inflate their market values based on the promise of future profits and a general growth in the sector, and the market expanded rapidly based on the philosophy that it was more important to grow a customer base than turn profits in the early years of the internet. However, many companies failed to generate any real profit, while others were found to be engaging in fraudulent accounting. In the coming months, companies would fold and lose huge chunks of their value – at one point, Amazon’s share price fell from $107 to $7. On 26 March, Russia elected Vladimir Putin…

THIS MONTH IN…

Arcade This month’s group test saw four car mechanics gathered together to play a selection of top racing games, including Crazy Taxi, Gran Turismo 2 and Speed Freaks. We learn that, “If you don’t have the right exhaust on the car, it’ll make a lot of noise but it won’t increase the performance.” Okay then. Dreamcast Magazine The best letters page quote of the month goes to Simon Hopes, who wrote the following words: “You don’t see people who were loyal to the C64 and Spectrum still harping on about how brilliant they are.” Well Simon, we know quite a few people who would beg to differ on that particular point… Computer & Video Games This month, the team split a £250 budget for retro games five ways and ended…

CHARTS March 2000

NINTENDO 64 1 . esident Evil 2 (Virgin) 2 Vigilante 8 (Activision) 3 Toy Story 2 (Activision) 4 Super Mario 64 (Nintendo) 5 F-Zero X (Nintendo) Playstation 1 . ran Turismo 2 (Sony) 2 .FIFA 2000 (Electronic Arts) 3 Medal Of Honor (Electronic Arts) 4 Tomorrow Never Dies (Electronic Arts) 5 Tomb Raider: The Last Revelation (Eidos) Dreamcast 1 Crazy Taxi (Sega) 2 Virtua Striker 2 (Sega) 3 Sega Worldwide Soccer 2000 (Sega) 4 Zombie Revenge (Sega) 5 SoulCalibur (Sega) MUSIC 1 . ag It Up (Geri Halliwell) 2 All The Small Things (Blink 182) 3 Don’t Give Up (Chicane ft. Bryan Adams) 4 . iller (ATB) 5 American Pie (Madonna)…

CHARTS March 2000

» On-Line Systems » Apple II » 1980 Almost every PC gamer knows Sierra (or, as it used to go by, On-Line Systems) is famous for its cutting-edge adventure games from the Eighties and Nineties. Not everybody realizes that Sierra’s roots actually began on the Apple II and its seven high-res adventures, though. After founders Ken and Roberta Williams discovered a game called Colossal Cave Adventure, they discussed plans for their first ‘whodunit’ adventure, Mystery House. The game has a whodunit theme. The player stands outside an abandoned Victorian house. Once they enter, they are greeted by seven people. Here, before the game begins, you are told who each of the characters are, what their occupation is, and – although completely irrelevant to this game – what colour their hair…

MARIO KART THE UNTOLD STORY

KARTING KINGS The Nintendo all-stars that we spoke to about Super Mario Kart Shigeru Miyamoto Producer, super mario kart Hideki Konno director, super mario kart Tadashi Sugiyama Director, super mario kart “I had absolutely no objections with enemy characters racing against rivals” Shigeru Miyamoto Videogame spinoffs are a tricky thing to get right. Often, it seems like someone in marketing has asked the question, “Why don’t we take [Property X] and make a [Genre Y] game out of it?” and then left the developers to solve the problem. Sometimes, the idea is sound but hampered by trying to adhere too closely to the original game’s mechanics. On other occasions, the spirit of the original property is lost in the transition to a new genre, or the developer has wandered too…

MARIO KART THE UNTOLD STORY

Darran Rainbow Road ■ This track felt like a loving homage to the racers I used to play in my local arcade. It’s certainly not the easiest of tracks and I was never amazing at it, but the feeling you get when you complete the course without falling off is mighty sweet. Nick Donut Plains 3 ■ With a little bit of practice, this course will let you unleash your inner scumbag – which is exactly why I love it. Mastery of mushrooms will allow you to hop over the walls, making for huge sneaky shortcuts that will keep you ahead of the pack. Drew Bowser’s Castle 2 ■ I always felt a degree of trepidation when navigating Bowser’s Castle. Maybe it was the Thwomps, and the fact that this…

Mushroom ■ This item gives you a brief burst of speed, and is commonly handed out to racers that are falling behind the pack. Use it to cover rough terrain for a handy shortcut! Star ■ If you’re struggling to keep up, you may receive this rare item. It both temporarily boosts your speed and enables you to attack other racers by ramming them. Feather ■ Using the feather will allow for a super high jump that creates major shortcut opportunities. These are most commonly found in the Ghost Valley circuits. Banana Peel ■ This defensive item is commonly dished out to the frontrunners, and can be thrown forwards or backwards. If another racer hits it, they’ll spin out immediately! Green Shell ■ Once fired, this projectile weapon will continue…

TIMELINE ATTACK

Mario Kart 64 n64, 1996 ■ The first sequel to Super Mario Kart used the N64’s power to move the series into full 3D, allowing for more dynamic course designs. It also bumped the player count from two to four and introduced the dreaded Blue Shell. Mario Kart Super Circuit Game Boy Advance, 2001 ■ Like the SNES original, the first handheld Mario Kart used Mode-7-style flat, rotating tracks. It also included the SNES courses as unlockable extras, combining with the game’s 20 brand-new tracks for a mammoth roster of 40. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! Gamecube, 2003 ■ This experimental title required players to pick two racers which could be freely swapped during the race, and karts were also chosen separately. Special weapons for each racer were also included, for…

TIMELINE ATTACK

Sometimes, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone – and that’s certainly true for many elements of the original Super Mario Kart, which have come and gone over the years. Character-specific items and collectable coins were both omitted from Mario Kart 64 but later returned to the series, and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is bringing back more SNES-era features that have been missing as of late. With the original Wii U version of Mario Kart 8, the biggest complaint that many had was the omission of the classic Battle Mode, a feature which originated on the SNES. Instead of being able to roam around specially-designed arenas that encouraged carnage and interaction, the game featured battles on regular racing tracks, a compromise which satisfied few. The good news is…

MAKING A SPLASH FROGGER

Frogger is such a simple game. Four directions, one joystick, no fire button. Your job is to guide five frogs to the safety of their homes on the other side of a busy road and hazardous river. When this is complete it starts over – only with slight variations that make the task trickier. Beyond this, the main reason for playing is to see how many ‘loops’ you can complete and how many points you can accrue while doing so. For such a basic concept there are a surprising number of ways you can cark it. Nine, in fact. Getting squished under a vehicle is the obvious one, but you can also drown if you fail to secure a ride on a turtle’s back or passing log and…

MAKING A SPLASH FROGGER

Spring Back ■ The nature of the game compels you to continually move up the screen, but often, especially when crossing the river, you should consider hopping backwards to avoid enemies and better position yourself to reach vacant bays. Croc Ride ■ From the second round onwards, crocodiles will often appear in place of logs. Don’t worry, you can still jump on the croc’s back and use it like a log, but avoid jumping on the head as this will result in loss of life. Now You’re ‘Four’ It ■ When crossing the road pay attention to the fourth lane of traffic in particular. The sporty cars here may suddenly speed up during a round, usually if you’re taking too long to progress. It pays to keep your eye on…

LEAPING TO NINTENDO

Can you briefly reveal how you got the job of converting Frogger to Nintendo systems? I had been working for Absolute Entertainment, which went out of business in 1994. One of the partners, Dan Kitchen, got a job with Majesco. He contacted me to do some Game Boy conversions. When Majesco licensed Frogger, Dan asked me if I was interested in doing the conversion. I leapt on it (pun intended) because Frogger is a classic game. By the time you worked on your versions, the original Frogger was close to 17 years old. Why was it decided to resurrect such an old game at that time? That was a decision made by Majesco. Though looking back it was a good idea, as…

LEAPING TO NINTENDO

Frogger II: ThreeeDeep! 1984, various ■ This sequel for home systems sees you progressing through three separate screens. The first screen (pictured above, on the Atari 8-bit) is underwater, proving that our amphibian hero can swim after all! An odd game that feels slightly thrown together. Frogger 1997, PS1/PC ■ The packaging proudly exclaimed the return of a gaming icon with ‘He’s Back!’, and it wasn’t wrong. This is one of the best examples of how you update a classic for the PlayStation era, and it still holds up well today, despite the time limits sapping some of the fun. Frogger 2: Swampy’s Revenge 2000, PS1/Dreamcast/PC ■ The 1997 Frogger revived the series and this excellent sequel from Blitz Games basically acted as a springboard for future titles, moving further…

CONVERSION CAPERS

Intellivision This version features simple graphics and sound, but it plays well and is undeniably Frogger. As you’ll see in this round-up, it’s very difficult to truly mess up a Frogger conversion. One interesting note: the screen wraps around on the early levels. ColecoVision The pastel hues aside, this is one of the best versions available in terms of playability. Movement is quick and smooth and very close to the arcade original. The TI-99/4A version is almost identical to this so that also comes with a recommendation. Atari 2600 (Cart) The standard 2600 version is a surprisingly good effort. The graphics are basic and prone to flicker, but all of the features are here and it plays pretty well. The collision detection is a tad suspect but it’s not a…

CONVERSION CAPERS

Kirby’s Dream Land

» Game Boy » HAL Laboratory » 1992 You don’t always get things exactly right on your first attempt, and neither do videogame developers – even the very best can miss out something that will come to define the series down the line. You couldn’t perform combos in the original Street Fighter, Sonic didn’t learn the spin dash until the sequel, and Kirby couldn’t copy any abilities until Kirby’s Adventure. That last point is a bit problematic, though. I’ve always accepted Kirby’s constant inhalation of enemies as a means of drawing some form of sustenance – after all, something is clearly happening in there when Kirby copies abilities. But when this aspect of the character is removed, suddenly there’s no advantage in simply digesting enemies, and it’s better to spit…

Kirby’s Dream Land

ALL POINTS BULLETIN APB

“I liked to get to work at like five or six in the morning and then work until five or six in the evening”Mike Hally While it’s true that Dave Theurer’s I, Robot failed to replicate the massive success of his earlier hits Missile Command and Tempest , the legendary Atari coder’s pioneering polygon coin-op never the less turned a tidy profit. But perhaps because of its low earnings relative to his previous triumphs, or possibly due to the programmer’s relentless drive for innovation, Dave’s next project – APB – would be sprite-based rather than polygon-powered and would favour realism over science-fiction. In keeping with I, Robot, however, which combined platforming with shooting, APB would also mix genres, with…

ALL POINTS BULLETIN APB

IT’S CRIMINAL !

Freddy Freak ■ Hippy Freddy can be difficult to ram off the road. The trick is to edge ahead and then turn hard into his van and show him the strong arm of the law. Candy Goodbody ■ It seems extreme to shoot up Candy’s car for prostitution, but it really slows her down. Just be careful not to hit lawful drivers. Bernie Gasman ■ Given how fast this crazed pyromaniac’s car is, it requires a few holes shot in it during pursuit, but get close up before firing. Phillip Fuse ■ You can find this unhinged felon throwing dynamite off an overpass. First, knock him off, then perforate his car and run him off the road. Cool Hand Duke ■ The Duke pimps next to a bar and won’t…

IT’S CRIMINAL !

Had you played APB before Domark assigned Walking Circles the licence? No. I’d never seen it. We used to go to Manchester – me and some friends – and play in an arcade, and I don’t think they had APB, but they had Toobin’, and we really liked it. I think we were pitching for both Toobin’ and APB, and I remember thinking: ‘I hope we get Toobin’.’ And then we didn’t, we got APB, which is a good game. Did you get much access to the coin-op while developing the C64 version? We had the arcade machine. It was actually the second one – the first one the courier delivered, they dropped it! It was all shrink-wrapped and smashed to pieces. It took a while…

BUSTING THE BADDIES

Wailing Siren ■ As well as providing Officer Bob’s main means of detaining perps, his siren serves a useful secondary purpose. When chasing offenders, it will encourage obstructive lawabiding drivers to pull over so Bob can continue his high-speed pursuit unhindered. Bumper Cars ■ Officer Bob is supposed to make arrests by targeting offenders with a crosshair and then sounding his siren, but a faster, riskier method is to keep Bob’s siren on constantly and ram into one criminal after another while avoiding lawful drivers. Police Harassment ■ As well as safe streets, APB’s legal motorists expect not to be crashed into. Additionally, Bob gets a ‘demerit’ for doing so if his siren isn’t on, which should be actively avoided since accruing too many will cost him his badge. Local…

BUSTING THE BADDIES

CONVERSION CAPERS

Commodore 64 ■ Rightly praised by magazines on its release, the C64 APB really captures the look and feel of the coin-op. Obvious concessions include far less detailed vehicles, a cut in speed and the removal of the original’s road blocks and speech, but the core gameplay and zany humour is all there. ZX Spectrum ■ Although the Spectrum APB can’t compare to the coin-op in terms of visuals, its small monochrome vehicles do look distinct from each other. Just as importantly, the Spectrum version faithfully replicates the bulk of the original’s gameplay – and it runs slightly faster than its C64 counterpart. Amstrad CPC ■ Far from a lazy Spectrum port, the Amstrad APB sports attractive Mode 0 visuals, which arguably make it the best-looking 8-bit conversion. Sadly, these…

CONVERSION CAPERS

Q & A : MIKE HALLY

Why was APB in development for so long before you eventually joined the project? There could have been a year’s worth of programming just to get to the point where Dave Theurer could start piecing the game together. You had an artist creating tiles [that] could be put together in any configuration – roads, bushes, trees. All that work was done when I came on the project. My responsibility was to take the tiles and start building a world that the player could drive around in. How did working on APB affect your working day? Dave would get to Atari about four in the afternoon, and we would work until, like, four in the morning. I liked to get to work at…

Q & A : MIKE HALLY

COLECOVISION s vid s e t o em game

Away from the searing bright lights of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 1982, Al Nilsen was standing in the sales meeting room of the Coleco booth, his ears resonating to the sound of an enthusiastic business pitch about a brand-new games console. As the assistant buyer for JCPenny – a huge chain of department stores – his potential backing was judged to be crucial. Yet all Coleco had to show him was a binder containing a plastic sleeve with an image of the machine and some screenshots of games it could run. In the end, it was all he really needed to see. Back then, the videogame market in the US was worth an estimated $5 billion and there was a clamour for companies to grab a…

COLECOVISION s vid s e t o em game

ESSENTIAL GAMES

DONKEY KONG JR. Turning the tables on its predecessor, Donkey Kong, by putting Junior on a mission to rescue his caged father from Mario, this highly-innovative arcade conversion may have had just three levels but it made up fork with colourful graphic, decant sand and some solid platformr-to-vine traversing, fruit-collecting action. MINER 2049ER Bigger doesn't always mean better yet 11 levels of platforming greatness awaited anyone playing Big Five Software's creation, and that was one more than ColecoVision's rival machines. The promise was simple- to fill each section of flooring by walking on it - but perilous jumps, time limits and enemies conspired against you. WARGAMES Inspired by the classic 1983 movie, this ColecoVision title had you defending the US from enemy missiles in real time. With six sectors to…

ESSENTIAL GAMES

Coleco made a big play on the fact its console could be expanded straight away. “The front port for accessories and expansion packs was pretty much there from the start,” says Bruce Popek, former director of design at Coleco. “It made us different.” And yet, ironically, it helped make the ColecoVision into a makeshift Atari 2600 anyway. Expansion Module 1 took advantage of the fact Atari’s console used standard, off-the-shelf components. By stuffing a recreated 2600 into the sizeable module using the hardware only, the reproduction was so faithful it ran almost all of Atari’s games for the machine, substantially expanding the ColecoVision’s catalogue. It had a slot where Atari cartridges could be inserted as well as the necessary switches and controller ports for 2600 compatibility. What’s more Atari was…

Controllers ■ There were two controllers which plugged into inputs located within the console’s storage compartment. branding ■ This model is from North America but those distributed outside were branded the CBS ColecoVision. Number pad ■ Each controller had 12 buttons, an eight-directional control stick, side buttons and the ability to use overlays for some games. under the hood ■ The console was powered by a 3.58MHz Z80 CPU, a Texas Instruments TMS9928A video processor and a Texas Instruments SN76389A sound chip. It had 1KB RAM and 8KB ROM. power ■ The switch to the left powered the machine while the one to the right was used to reset it. Sockets ■ There were sockets at the back for the power supply and game cable. The latter plugged into an…

It’s funny to think that there was a time when the Japanese RPG wasn’t a particularly well-defined type of game, but 1987 definitely qualifies. Most Japanese game designers were still taking their inspiration from Western games such as Wizardry and Ultima, but Enix’s Dragon Quest had achieved enormous success on the Famicom – and in doing so, it spurred the development of rival console RPGs and laid the groundwork for the genre as we know it today. On computers, Falcom was developing the first game in the seminal Ys series, and the Famicom was to benefit from Square’s decision to throw resources behind a project called Final Fantasy. Sega couldn’t rely on thirdparty support to ensure that its own Master System console had an RPG though, so it began to…

A NEW GENERATION

During the early Noughties, Sega got particularly serious about revamping its own back catalogue for the PlayStation 2, to the point of setting up a new joint venture with D3 Publisher (named 3D AGES) and a budget label called Sega Ages 2500. The game chosen to launch this new range of games was a remake of Phantasy Star, titled Phantasy Star Generation: 1, released on 28th August 2003 in Japan only. The game has been given a facelift, featuring high-resolution (albeit low-budget) 2D visuals and real-time 3D dungeons, as well as depicting multiple monsters and the player characters in battle. The music has also been updated, but the biggest change comes in terms of storytelling. Not only were the characters given more expressive dialogue, but additional illustrated cutscenes gave a…

A NEW GENERATION

Alis ■ Our heroine, whose brother was cruelly slain by King Lassic’s forces. She’s headstrong and determined to carry out her brother Nero’s dying wish – that she force Lassic from power by killing him. Her quest becomes a prominent part of the series mythology. Myau ■ This cat-like chap is not only pretty talkative, in spite of his appearance, he is a surprisingly skilled fighter who sticks by Odin through thick and thin. Of course, this particular trait can land both of them in more hot water than they’d like. Odin ■ Odin is your standard issue big muscular warrior, and a long-standing enemy of the tyrannical King Lassic. He and Myau travelled together until Odin tried to fight Medusa, resulting in the hulking warrior being turned completely to…

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO ALGOL

Palma ■ Alis’ home planet is much like Earth, with vast bodies of water and distinct island continents. It’s highly developed by the standards of Algol, with many towns to visit and relatively little obstructive terrain. Medusa’s Tower ■ This is where to head if you want to take revenge on the beast for turning poor Odin to stone, just don’t forget your Mirror Shield – it’s essential! Naula Cave ■ This cave is home to the world’s least-conveniently located cake shop – it’s many floors down and you’ve got to survive countless monster attacks to reach it. Camineet ■ This is Alis’ home town, and the scene of Nero’s murder. Friendly faces here will aid you, including Suelo, who offers essential free healing at her house. Maharu Cave ■…

HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO ALGOL

LOST IN TRANSLATION

As the first Japanese RPG to gain prominence in the West, Phantasy Star’s localisation was pioneering, but far from perfect. Part of the problem was that the game was designed to display Japanese characters, and rather than reprogramming the game to allow for the greater number of characters that an English translation would ideally require, the localisation programmers truncated the script to fit the engine. You can see this in menu items like ‘ATTK’ – a word for which four characters are sufficient in Japanese but not English. As a result, a team of programmers from SMS Power got together to retranslate the original game into English, and released their efforts in 2008. The engine was modified to better suit English text, featuring more lines of dialogue per screen for…

LOST IN TRANSLATION

Minority Report

AMSTRAD CPC 6128 The CPC 6128 was Amstrad’s follow-up to the 464. Out went cassettes, in came threeinch disks, 64k RAM and a new look. Sugar meant business! Al ‘Xyphoe’ White takes a look at some lost classics MEGABLASTERS ■ Developer: Odiesoft ■ Year: 1994 ■ Who doesn’t like Bomberman? He’s been around since the early Eighties with many sequels and versions released over the years, and he’s recently returned once more onto Nintendo’s new console, the Switch. The games generally follow a very simple formula – what if you took Pac-Man but instead of running away from ghosts you could drop bombs and blow them up? Added to that you could destroy walls, and replacing the power pills was a whole range of various power-ups. Given the single-screen simplicity…

Minority Report

MORE GAMES TO PLAY

» .The Addams Family ■ Developer: Ocean Software ■ Year: 1991 ■ Ocean surprised many at the time by releasing only one 128k game, which turned out to be its final Amstrad release. It’s a cracking platformer to go out on, though, and once you realise the sheer size of the game it’s no wonder it had no choice but to use that extra memory. Gomez has to rescue each family member imprisoned around his dangerous mansion. Spooky kooky fun. » P . rohibition ■ Developer: Infogrames ■ Year: 1987 ■ Based closely on Empire City 1931, a little known coin-op, Prohibition is a fast-paced shooting gallery game. An arrow guides you to gangsters popping out of windows, doorways, alleys, etc. giving you only a few seconds to shoot them.…

MORE GAMES TO PLAY

The early Nineties was a halcyon era for the racing game. From sprite-based Eighties arcade releases such as Chase HQ and Out Run and primitive 3D games such as Atari’s Hard Drivin’, a revolution in graphics hardware saw the arrival of a new thrilling breed of coin-op titles. Sega’s seminal Virtua Racing set a new standard for arcade racers in 1992, and was followed a year later by Namco’s Ridge Racer and Sega’s Daytona USA, games which set new benchmarks in realism with their vibrant, fully texture-mapped 3D graphics and incredible fastpaced onscreen action. While gamers waited for the new generation of consoles, the PlayStation and Saturn, and their upcoming home versions of these titles, the only way to experience them was to join the inevitable queue of virtual Prosts…

The Need For Speed 1995 ■ The original release in Electronic Arts’ franchise hit shelves in the same year as Screamer. More geared towards being a realistic simulation than an arcade racer, NFS featured a range of real-life supercars and plenty of now-signature police chases. Destruction Derby 1995 ■ For those whose tastes tended more towards demolition than driving finesse came this vehicular equivalent of a pub punch-up from Psygnosis. There’s not more much to it than racing around a handful of rather limited arenas crashing into stuff. Daytona USA 1996 ■ A stalwart of the Nineties arcade, along with Ridge Racer, Sega’s classic racer was a huge influence on driving games for the decade and beyond. The PC port is disappointing, though, lacking the variety and larger number of…

SCREAM MACHINES

PANTHER ■ This great little all-rounder is probably the most recognisable vehicle in Screamer, being based on the Porsche 911 Turbo. Its may not be the best handling car in the game, but it boasts superb acceleration and excellent traction. YANKEE ■ Inspired by the Chevrolet Corvette C4, The Yankee is very fast, but, like a lot of American muscle cars, it seems to have a little bit of a problem doing anything but going in a straight line. Its acceleration is also not too hot. RISING SUN ■ This Japanese power drifter is derived from the Mitsubishi GTO (aka Mitsubishi GT3000) and is a bit of a pocket rocket in being able to out-accelerate every other car in the game. The downside is that it’s very prone to spins.…

SCREAM MACHINES

MOSAIC PUBLISHING

“We had a series of books on using computers for different jobs” Vicky Carne It’s an Autumnal Saturday lunchtime and Chiswick High Street is teeming with activity. After negotiating multiple junctions and mini roundabouts, and scoring a suitable parking space in a bucolic side street, Retro Gamer arrives ten minutes late at the charming coffee shop where we have arranged to meet our interviewee. Her name is Vicky Carne, and we last spoke to the well-spoken Londoner for a Desert Island Discs feature way back in issue 12. We want to talk to her exclusively about the software house she created and ran from 1983 to 1988: Mosaic Publishing. First we offer Vicky an apology for our tardiness and order a coffee. A large one. The early stages of the…

MOSAIC PUBLISHING

■ Vicky Carne was inspired by Melbourne House’s The Hobbit to start her company specialising in book adaptations. ■ Vicky was relatively young at 27 years old when she started Mosaic. ■ Surprisingly, Mosaic released just one actual book, and it was gaming-related – 1984’s Beyond The Arcade by Nicholas Palmer. ■ In addition to its logo, Richard Kelly designed many of Mosaic’s excellent game covers. ■ Mosaic published clue sheets to help any gamers that were in trouble. ■ In 1988, Mosaic sold the Adrian Mole licence to Virgin, who produced a sequel, Growing Pains, again written by Level 9. ■ A game based around the anarchic hit comedy Not The Nine O’Clock News was some way into development before being judged unpublishable by Vicky and abandoned. ■ The…

1982 ■ Melbourne House releases The Hobbit, the first major and successful graphic adventure, and the inspiration behind Mosaic. Meanwhile, Vicky Carne is working for publisher Sinclair Browne, among others. 1983 ■ Vicky starts Mosaic and begins searching for suitable source material on which to base her first games. 1984 ■ Mosaic releases its first handful of games: the utility-lite My Secret Diary, The Unorthodox Engineers, The Pen And The Dark and The Width Of The World, plus the Michael Moorcock adaptation, The Nomad Of Time. 1985 ■ After the success of Terry Gilliam/Level 9 adaptation, The Saga Of Erik The Viking, this year provides Mosaic with its biggest hit, The Secret Diary Of Adrian Mole Aged 13 ¾. 1986 ■ There’s only one release from Mosaic this year but…

The Saga Of Erik The Viking ■ This was Mosaic’s breakthrough hit. Its previous games had all been good sellers (especially via the Book Club Associates), yet Terry Gilliam’s excellent novel for kids was the most well known of Vicky’s acquisitions up to this point. Sporting a different plot to the novel, it’s a stiff challenge and included (albeit simplistic) graphics. It was also the first in a profitable association between Mosaic and Level 9. M The ole Secre A d t 13 Diary 1/3 Of Adrian ge ■ Having solidified its reputation with The Saga Of Erik The Viking, Mosaic’s procurement of the Adrian Mole licence proved an inspired choice. In the hands of Level 9’s Pete Stone, the game was opened out to a wider audience thanks to…

■ The Home Computer Club, an offshoot of the well-known Book Club from Book Club Associates, utilised virtually the same method as its famous forebear. Via leaflets placed inside gaming magazines, the club would offer a handful of introductory games at unbelievably low prices; single games were often just 49p, with compilations and premium titles at less than £2.50. There was a catch, of course. Signing up meant committing to purchasing at least one /slightly/ discounted full-price game every eight weeks, for a minimum of one year. Worse, failure to get down to the post office in time meant the club automatically sent you its ‘Selection Of The Month” which was guaranteed to be one of the most expensive games on offer at the time. Still, it didn’t do many…

where are they now?

Vicky Carne ■ Post-Mosaic, Vicky kept herself busy, running a free local magazines business and more book publishing in the form of Business Books Direct, a magazine-style catalogue through which she sold business books around the world. Then, around 2000, Vicky teamed up once more with Pete and Mike Austin to form Email Reaction, an email marketing company, before selling it off in 2006. Today, having published Clickety Dog (clicketydog.com), Vicky mainly occupies herself with another canine-related venture, dogcoachvideos.com, a website that curates the very best in dog training videos. Tim Hartnell ■ An Australian journalist, self-taught programmer and prolific author, Tim forged a profitable career via his own company, Interface Publications. Combining a sharp technical insight with a knack for entertaining writing, Tim sadly died of cancer in 1991…

where are they now?

dna of mosaic publishing

Licences ■ Although The Hobbit had laid the foundation, no other company had concentrated solely on licensed products before Mosaic. The bookish association undoubtedly gave Mosaic’s games gravitas and, crucially, a niche market, helping it to survive for a considerable time during a very volatile period of the home computer games market. Book Club Association ■ Mosaic’s releases were a natural for the Book Club Associates’ Home Computer Club due to their high price and superficially superior entertainment (they were still text adventures at the end of the day). Becoming a coveted choice of the month was even better, as this title got automatically sent out to anyone not able to get to the Post Office in time to make their order. HighBrow Entertainment ■ Everyone bought a home computer…

dna of mosaic publishing

» Platform: Amiga » Developer: Cinemaware » Released: 1990 When you first typed his name into your Amiga, you didn’t feel a whole bunch of attachment to Hank Franklin. Sure, you did your best to keep him alive during those early dogfights, but it was in the same way that you didn’t want Pac-Man to get caught by ghosts. The problem is, over time you did begin to care for your goofily-named pilot. You’d read his diary, cheered in triumph as he outgunned the Fokker Scourge, and gasped in horror more than once as his engine stalled. With 12 confirmed kills, he was close to becoming the ace of the squadron. But now, thanks to some lucky shots from an outnumbered Eindecker, he was also close to meeting his maker.…

MORE classic Wings MOMENTS

A Personal History It’s not often that we’ll highlight the story of a game, especially when it’s told through text, but Wings deserves special mention for its diary entries. As well as giving character to your pilot and his fellow airmen, they draw you into the World War I setting effectively, mixing grim realities with humorous takes on leave and target practice. Convoy Buster It’s said that there’s no honour in an unfair fight, but honour doesn’t feel important when your life is on the line. Strafing missions are all about bringing your superior firepower to bear on ground targets – breaking an infantry stalemate, disrupting the enemy supply lines by blowing up a convoy, or even taking out a moving train! A Mission Every Night With bombs in short…

MORE classic Wings MOMENTS

THIMBLEWEED PARK

“It was almost, like, too easy, to slip back into it” Ron Gilbert This is an adventure game that feels like it has been caught out time. The gaming landscape has shifted significantly in the last 30 years, ensuring that a handful of once-impactful game genres were left to gather dust as the industry pushed on in its plight to build bigger worlds, foster more realistic experiences and introduce unprecedented levels of technical fidelity to play – all at the behest of the unhinged creativity and intricate craftwork that defined many of the early classics. But that, in so many ways, is what makes Thimbleweed Park so appealing. It harkens back to an era in which the graphic adventure broke out of its niche and pushed the point-and-click adventure to…

THIMBLEWEED PARK

The DNA of Thimbleweed Park

Police protection ■ Mysteries abound and two FBI detectives in search of answers ensures that Thimbleweed Park has a distinct X-Files feel to its overarching narrative. multitiered puzzles ■ Much like in Day Of The Tentacle, many of Thimbleweed Park’s puzzles will lean on you positioning various characters in specific locations and around certain integral items. strong nostalgia ■ Much like Netflix hit Stranger Things, Thimbleweed Park brings a childlike sense of wonder to its strange world, riffing on an idealistic vision of rural America. Useful items ■ The puzzles have been designed to be as intuitive as possible in an effort to bring in modern gamers – fans of Kentucky Route Zero and Firewatch – into the fold. Words aplenty ■ Ron Gilbert was never a fan of the…

The DNA of Thimbleweed Park

Agent Ray Pixel Count 1,158 ■ Agent Ray is first on the scene in Thimbleweed Park but her true motives are unknown. Will she get what she wants? And will she do it without murdering Junior Agent Reyes? Agent Reyes Pixel Count 1,104 ■ Junior Agent Reyes is far more of a do-gooder compared to the senior Agent Ray, but he too has a secret. As to what that secret is? You’ll just have to play the game in order to find out. Ransome Pixel Count 1,882 ■ Ransome – or as he is better known, Ransome The *Bleeping* Clown is nothing short of an awful human being, and has been cursed so he can’t remove his gaudy clown getup or leave the town. Franklin Pixel Count 1,648 ■ This…

Peripheral Vision

Saturn controller » Platform: Sega Saturn » Released: 1994 » Cost: £19.99 (launch), £15+ (today) When designing the control pad for its brand-new Saturn console, Sega’s engineers adopted the philosophy, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ The controller was a simple evolution of the Mega Drive’s six-button controller, with the addition of two shoulder buttons and a new body that fit better in the hands. Not only was the pad ideally laid out for the many arcade conversions that would make their way to the Saturn, including Capcom’s six-button fighting games, it was responsive and comfortable. As a result, the pad is still widely regarded as being an excellent piece of hardware design. However, when the Saturn made its way outside of Japan, the pad was redesigned. The new…

Peripheral Vision

In the early Nineties, it was quite apparent that mascot-driven games sold like crazy. The delivery method of choice? Platformers. The kind of vibrant, accessible adventures that anyone could pick up and play. Nintendo had struck gold with its jovial plumber and Sega found similar success with its hip hedgehog, and as such the 3DO was in search of a representative to call its very own, one that could move units of the company’s infamously expensive Interactive Multiplayer. The task would fall on the shoulders of Crystal Dynamics, a small, scrappy studio that was not only looking to make a name for itself to rival the neighbouring Electronic Arts, but also broaden its burgeoning game portfolio. “I got recruited from Virgin Interactive by Crystal Dynamics in late 1992 to start…

The Way of the lizard

Tongue Lash ■ The trusty tongue lash. Excellent for snagging power-ups, grabbing onto ledges and grabbing the TV remote from across the room. Tail Whip ■ Gex’s go-to method of attack, the tail whip is lightning fast and perfect for eliminating your average Media Dimension monster. Tail Bounce ■ Useful for crushing enemies, the tail bounce also allows Gex to jump higher and reach areas that no gecko should naturally be able to explore. Wall Stick ■ A gecko hallmark, Gex’s ability to adhere to almost any surface comes in handy when exploring some of the more precarious locations. Tail Kick ■ This special move is easy to execute while running and works well to quickly clear away oncoming baddies. Swimming ■ Who knew lizards could be such good swimmers?…

The Way of the lizard

Pop Culture of Gex

raiden Gex ■ This is an obvious reference to the antagonists in Big Trouble In Little China, this electric enemy could also easily pass for Raiden from Mortal Kombat. gexzilla Gex ■ Your typical, run-of-the-mill gecko isn’t exactly terrifying, but grow it to gigantic, kaiju-like proportions and it may be time to start running. bugs bunny Gex 2: enter the gecko ■ For a bona-fide Loony Tunes effect, Gex dons a pink Bugs Bunnylike rabbit suit. Hey, wait a second… is that Elmer Fudd snooping in the background? indiana jones Gex 2: enter the gecko ■ Not even Spielberg was safe from Crystal Dynamics’ pop culture parody. Gex does make for a rather dashing Indiana Jones, brown hat, leather jacket and all. frankenstein Gex ■ What’s more imposing than Frankenstein…

Pop Culture of Gex

Gex ■ Anthropomorphic gecko and hopeless TV addict, Gex enjoys spouting snarky one-liners, downing copious numbers of flies and giving Rez one hell of a hard time. rez ■ Evil denizen and overlord of the Media Dimension, Rez is what happens when you cross a piranha with a robot. He wants to trap Gex and make him a network mascot. agent xtra ■ A secret agent that gets kidnapped by the villainous Rez, Agent Xtra is also Gex’s unrequited love interest, at least for the time being… alfred turtle ■ Gex’s dapper turtle butler , Alfred serves as the brains of the operation and always seems to appear at odd times. He spills advice when smacked. rex ■ Rex is Gex’s long-lost prehistoric dinosaur ancestor. Rez freezes this tiny tyrannosaurus…

Conversion Capers

3DO ■ The first iteration of Gex to be released stands out among the ports as being the only version that gives players the ability to directly save progress, in this case to the 3DO’s internal memory. Graphically, it’s the weakest port, as it only runs at 30 frames per second. playstation ■ Sony’s console received a solid port of Gex, but gone missing in the transition from 3DO was, strangely, the save feature. This was replaced by a more rudimentary password system, though to make up for it, the game runs at twice the frame-rate of the 3DO port. Saturn ■ Released after the PlayStation port, this version is more or less identical to the release on Sony’s console. It relies on passwords instead of save data, oddly bypassing…

Conversion Capers

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

“The game is genuinely funny, which is rare in any era” Info » Featured System: PlayStation Vita » Year: 2014 » Publisher: NIS America » Developer: Spike Chunsoft » Key People: Yuichiro Saito (producer), Kazutaka Kodaka (writer), Masafumi Takada (composer) Go Deeper » In the Japanese version, Monokuma was voiced by Nobuyo Oyama – a voice actress best known for portraying the popular children’s TV character Doraemon. » In . development, the game used black-andwhite visuals with red blood; when colour was added, blood was coloured pink instead to retain visual impact. The Background At the tail end of the Noughties, Spike was having a crisis of creativity. Having spent a couple of years releasing sequels and updates, the Japanese developer decided to introduce an original game for the first…

Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc

Multimedia Murder Danganronpa’s popularity has seen it adapted twice as a manga, once as a TV series and once as a stage play that has been toured in Japan. Give Up Hope In a scrapped ‘true ending’ scene, the students of Hope’s Peak agree to abandon their talents and all escape, before the events of the game are written off as a dream. Ports & Clubs The success of Danganronpa on Vita has resulted in ports for other platforms, including the PC and PS4 – the latter as part of the twin pack Danganronpa 1.2 Reload. Extra Homework The Vita release of Danganronpa adds bonus features, including the School Mode which allows you to get to know characters better. Sequel Spoilers As a heavily plot-driven game, it’s advised that you…

Richard Costello What cherished would take to the island? games you

“Playing a game and racing a car completely involve you mentally. You can’t think about anything else” As we sit in Richard Costello’s tastefullyconverted farmhouse in rural Leicestershire, listening to tales of working on big-name franchises such as Gauntlet and Mortal Kombat and his days driving single-seaters around Donington Park and Silverstone, we wonder aloud if there are parallels between coding games and racing fast cars, beyond both being boyhood fantasies for many of us? “Playing a game and racing a car completely involves you mentally,” nods Richard. “You can’t think about anything else. I’ve always liked engineering, too. When I was making games, it was more about how to make the hardware work, playing around with chips… that’s why I got…

Richard Costello What cherished would take to the island? games you

Praise for Richard

Darran Jones I didn’t own an Amiga until quite late, so a lot of Richard’s work on the computer went unnoticed by me, as I was playing the likes of Mortal Kombat II on my Mega Drive. I did however play a surprising amount of Gauntlet II on Commodore’s machine, which gave me a great amount of pleasure. Paul Drury During his decade-long tenure in the games business, Richard brought his technical nous to many fine 16-bit ports of high-profile coin-ops and finding out how he approached the challenges was intriguing. And anyone who’s made a game about Lemmy is alright in my book.…

Praise for Richard

1985 Way of the Exploding Fist ■ YEAR: 1985 ■ FORMAT: C16 Richard’s only title for the Commodore 16 was this plucky version of Melbourne House’s martialarts-based beat-’em-up. 1988 Gauntlet II ■ YEAR: 1988 ■ FORMAT: ST/Amiga The first of many fine 16-bit conversions, you can read more about Richard’s work on this sequel in RG164. 1989 Hot rod ■ YEAR: 1989 ■ FORMAT: ST/Amiga This top-down racer allows much pimping of your ride and works especially well when trying to force rivals off the road. 1990 Golden Axe ■ YEAR: 1990 ■ FORMAT: ST/Amiga Another solid port of an iconic coin-op. Who doesn’t enjoy kicking elves dressed as a scantily-clad barbarian warrior? 1991 Terminator 2 ■ YEAR:1991 ■ FORMAT: ST/Amiga Richard’s least favourite project of his whole game programming…

Fergus McGovern

“He was a really nice guy and good fun,” recalls Richard of his former boss Fergus McGovern, who sadly passed away last year. “I met him first at US Gold and he could come across as a little bit boring. I think he was a surveyor who saw there was money to be made in games. I remember I once went to a karting event with him in 1990 with a bunch of programmers and we both got to the final. He was leading and I was second, which I was happy with, but then I thought, ‘Gilles Villeneuve wouldn’t think like that!’ I really put my foot down and got into the zone, like when I play Tempest. I overtook Fergus and won and that’s when I first thought,…

Readers’ Questions

Merman: Apart from Ramrod, do you have any other unreleased games? Napalm Nigel ! It was a character that looked like Tintin but could burst into flames like The Human Torch. It was towards the end of the Eighties on the ST and Amiga. It was a platformer with a cartoon look and I’ve still got some graphics and the code for the main loop. but nothing more than that. Northway: Did you consider compression for the Gauntlet II speech samples? No, and they were massive. The only thing we had access to was the coin-op machine, so we recorded them onto tape from that and then digitised them. Half of the memory is taken up by the sound in that game! Mr Jenzie: How did you get the…

Richard Costello’s Desert Island Disks

01 Galaga (Arcade) It was flat out fast. Just the ultimate shoot-‘em-up. I used to play it in the basement of Selectadisc on Market Street in Nottingham. My high is 110K I think… 02 10-Yard Fight (Arcade) I played this in the arcade near the Odeon cinema in Nottingham. I was really into American Football when it used to be fantastic on World of Sport when it showed the Superbowl once a year, ten years before Channel 4 started showing it! 03 Tempest (Arcade) Awesome. I get totally lost in it, just like when I’m driving a racing car. Nothing else in the world exists when you’re playing Tempest. 04 Revs (BBC Micro) I used to play it all day long. To get my 1.22.1 lap time on Silverstone, you…

Richard Costello’s
Desert Island Disks

Golden Axe: The Revenge Of Death Adder

» Arcade » Sega AM1 » 1992 We’ve all heard stories of games that got people into trouble. Some recall how perfecting laps on Super Mario Kart caused them to miss exams, while others would spend countless late nights with Jet Set Willy, which led to being late for school the following day. My own particular tale involves Sega’s arcade sequel to its hit 1989 brawler, Golden Axe. I was a huge fan of the original game and would continually play it whenever I visited Poole Quay Amusements. By the time the sequel arrived in 1992 I was 18 years old and working at Tesco. We had an arcade machine in our cafeteria and games would be rotated every few weeks, leading me to discover some truly quirky games like…

Golden Axe: The Revenge Of Death Adder

Thimbleweed Park

>> It’s certainly been a good month for We games ’ve got . big reviews on Thimbleweed Park and Yooka-Laylee, touch down with Persona 5 and catch up with the few relevant Switch games we missed last issue Information » .Featured System: PC » .also available on: PS4, Xbox One, iOS, Android » .Released: Out Now » .Price: TBC » Publisher: Terrible Toybox » ..Developer: In-House » Players: 1 It feels quite fitting that we’re reviewing Thimbleweed Park and Yooka-Laylee in this month’s issue. Both titles started off life on Kickstarter, both wanted to resurrect interest in their chosen genres (the point-and-click and 3D platformer genres respectively) and both are headed by well-known names from within their respected genres. What’s interesting, though,…

Thimbleweed Park

Information » .Featured System: Xbox One » .also available on: PC, PS4, Switch » .Released: Out Now » .Price: £34.99 » Publisher: Team17 » ..Developer: Playtonic Games » Players: 1-2 (1-4 multiplayer) brief history » Yooka-Laylee is Playtonic’s first game, but the developer is no stranger to the platform genre, with members having created the likes of Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie while working at Rare. Yooka-Laylee is a clear spiritual successor to the popular N64 games and remains the most successful UK-developed game on the crowdfunding service. The great news about Playtonic’s spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie is that it plays exactly like a classic 3D platformer plucked straight from the late Nineties. The bad news about Playtonic’s spiritual successor to Banjo-Kazooie is that it plays exactly like a classic 3D platformer…

Minigame mayhem

One of the biggest additions to Yooka-Laylee is a number of retro-styled games that can be found either in the game world, or played in multiplayer mode. Some are based on retro classics such as Skidmarks, while others take their inspiration from more modern releases like Flappy Bird. The quality of the eight available games range in quality and while the likes of Gun-let Run, Glaciators and Blag The Flag are quite fun, offerings like Hurdle Hijinx, Jobstacle Course and Kartos Karting are completely forgettable. All the games admittedly become far better when played with friends, but they should be seen as a diversion to the main game, rather than anything with substantial lasting appeal.…

Minigame mayhem

» System: PS4 (Tested), PS3 » Buy it for: £54.99 » Buy it from:Online, retail The latest instalment in this long-running JRPG series doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but presents a refined take on the series’ formula – dungeon exploration and turn-based combat, held together with stylish presentation and the social link system that provides rewards for getting to know characters. Dungeons are improved over Persona 4 as they’re predesigned rather than procedurally generated, allowing for more puzzlesolving to be added, and a new security system ties in with the game’s theme of being thieves, encouraging you to attack enemies stealthily. The ability to talk to enemies has returned, allowing you to hold them up for money or items, or even persuade them to join you as new personas. Fans of…

Super Bomberman R

» System: Switch » Buy it for: £49.99 » Buy it from:Online, retail Tired is perhaps the best way to sum up the latest (and very expensive) Bomberman game. While its 50-stage story mode adds (irritating) voices and some admittedly impressive boss battles, it’s a rather bland experience like the story modes of many earlier Bomberman games. The multiplayer is another matter entirely and that’s where the game starts to earn its goodwill. There are lots of configurations during play allowing for up to eight players to participate, while a decent selection of courses and power-ups ensure the game remains fun and frantic. The in-game customisation isn’t as comprehensive as we’d like and the controls aren’t as tight as we’d want in a Bomberman game, but there is fun to…

Super Bomberman R

» System: Switch » Buy it for: £18.99 » Buy it from:Online F-Zero in everything but name only, Fast RMX straps you into a futuristic craft and sets you off on a blisteringly-fast Grand Prix. Shin’en’s racer will feel instantly familiar to those that enjoyed their share of Captain Falcon – there’s even a track that feels maybe a little too familar to Fire Field – so expect boosting, crashing and screams of frustration in multiplayer as Player Two steals first from you in the last millisecond. There is an effective Ikaruga-like colour system, where you have to shift your ships ‘boost mode’ from orange to blue to benefit from any corresponding boost pad – get the wrong colour and it will slow you right down and may cost you…

Gamers HOMEBREW Brewing since 2005

JAMMING WITH AMIGA Run by game developers Underground Arcade, the AmiGameJam 2016 ended on the last day of January 2017 and, as the name probably suggests, was a competition for Amiga developers. Entries were to be based on television shows or movies – preferably ones that hadn’t previously received an Amiga game – but, since the Christmas period went past during the competition, festive games were also allowed for those who didn’t find that primary theme appealing. There were two platform-based games entered which both leant on the festive side of things. Easter Egg is a vertically-scrolling affair where a young chick heads out in search of eggs while avoiding enemies, while Max Knight Xmas Edition is a Christmas-skinned version of the first stage from Pixel Nation’s Max Knight. This…

Gamers HOMEBREW Brewing since 2005

HOMEBREW HEROES

Everybody likes bunnies, but where did the idea for Hotel Bunny come from? During an exceptionally harsh winter a few years ago, a rabbit settled near our house until spring. I took pity and built him a small den from a shipping box on top of which I piled snow. Since he was to reside there only temporarily, I named his den ‘Hotel Bunny’. I imagined that a suburban bunny would often seek refuge from neighbourhood dogs, so I shaped the game’s foes in that fashion. As you can see from my large number of projects, my approach has always been variety over depth. I enjoy writing many, small games. This is all good, but it requires a commensurate amount of ideas. Thus, through the years,…

HOMEBREW HEROES

DO YOU REMEMBER ?

The lacklustre version of Commando for the C16 released in 1986 wasn’t particularly faithful to the Capcom coin-op so, six years after that version was released, programmer Tamás ‘TCFS’ Sasvári decided to do something about the situation by writing his own 64K iteration which added the scrolling and a TED-powered version of Rob Hubbard’s C64 soundtrack. Some elements have been either reworked or omitted – there are no grenades so the ammo counter has been repurposed for the player’s primary weapon, something the original game didn’t limit – but the action is much improved over Elite’s effort; limited ammo and more trigger-happy enemy forces make this more challenging than other 8-bit versions of the game, but Commando is still a solid shoot-’em-up for those who enjoy a good fight. Head…

DO YOU REMEMBER ?

SLIPSTREAM » format: Commodore Plus/4 and 64 » Developer: Bauknecht » download: Kikstart.eu/slipstream-264 » Price: free download, £TBA for tape or disk Every year the Omikron system is battered by a two-day-long meteor shower; the system’s inhabitants call this cataclysmic event “the days of judgement” and, when the technology became available, created a shielding station which defended the inhabited worlds of their system. All was going well until the AI robots aboard the shielding station started to disappear and, taking their given task to the extreme began roaming the local systems, classifying entire planets as meteors and destroying them! To date, they haven’t obliterated any inhabited worlds but it’s only a matter of time... which is where the Slipstream, a strange vehicle that resembles a paper plane flapping its wings,…

» format: Intellivision » Price: Free » Developer: Nanochess » download: Kikstart.eu/mummy-intv Egyptian tombs can be extremely hazardous to your health, especially for explorers whose intention is to ‘borrow’ the various riches. In this case a tomb raider must search each level for a specific artefact – in this case a game cartridge – and the key which grants access to the next, more perilous stage. As the player moves around a trail of footsteps appears and opening a sarcophagus involves walking around all four sides but this is easier said than done while manoeuvring around the tomb’s skeletal protectors. Some players might find that the short piece of looping music looping in the background to be grating after time, but Oh Mummy! for the Intellivision captures the no frills…

» format: MSX » Developer: N.I » Price: free » download: Kikstart.eu/slime-msx The Slime Center has been overrun by a horde of escaped slime creatures and that’s more than enough reason to be leaving because these gooey creatures slowly drain the player’s energy. There are some items lying around which will prove helpful including colour-coded keys to open doors, useful medical kits which counteract the effect of the slime on the player and explosive devices which make a sticky mess of the already sticky nasties. The graphics and sound are primitive but still functional and it’s the gameplay where Slime Center really shines. Although the bombs are powerful and have quite a bit of range, the limited supply means that indiscriminate use isn’t the best approach and a little timing…

GPAC DEMENTIA DEFENDER

» format: Commodore 64 » Developer: Gray Defender » download: Kikstart.eu/gpac-c64 » Price: Free GPAC is a former doctor who, having spent his life eating poorly, is now a convert to healthy living. To this end he decides to break into an almost maze-like warehouse storing all manner of food supplements and ‘vita pills’ with the ultimate aim being to consume everything without succumbing to his demons who bear an uncanny resemblance to ghosts. Just a glance at the screenshots should hint that GPAC Dementia Defender is based on the coin-op classic Pac-Man but also has quite a bit in common with the clones that appeared in the early Eighties on home computers. The developer has put his own slant on the gameplay rather than copying the original directly –…

GPAC DEMENTIA DEFENDER

MSXtra Hi Darran/Retro Gamer team, Is there any chance you could do a feature on the MSX range of computers in the future? They were quite an unsung piece of hardware technically, using the same graphic chip as the ColecoVision and the AY sound chip etc. Alison Bewick It’s certainly been a while since we covered the MSX – since the Retroinspection feature in issue 60, it has mostly featured in the Homebrew section of the magazine. There’s more ground to cover, so we’ll look at some of its best games next issue. Scraping The Barrel Hi RG Bubsy 3D jogged up a memory of my time as a nine-year-old playing a game which I never thought was deemed truly terrible. That game was Rise Of The Robots. So fast…

Dear RG team, It was with interest that I read the letter from Andy Phillips in issue 166 of Retro Gamer, as I have also been thinking about the price of retro gaming lately. However, I differ from him in one major respect: I believe that retro gaming is undergoing a price bubble, one which will soon burst in the near future. I recently picked up a collection locally, and looked to save myself some time by selling the excess games to a high street store. However, I found the experience to be disappointing. I started off with CeX, and found that they routinely offer cash buy prices of 20-25 per cent the sale price. A nearby independent store was no better, citing competition in the market. I understand that…

What are your favourite Mario Kart memories? RodimusPrime Groups of us staring at screenshots in magazines, then one of my friends’ parents had bought him it for Christmas and hidden it. He found it but did not have a SNES yet. His parents went away for the weekend and I took my SNES round and about six of us piled into his house, and we all stayed there the entire weekend playing the game. What a great time. TheDude18 Ghost Valley 1. Multiplayer with my mates and that shortcut. A simple map, even by original Mario Kart standards, but yet perfect. And once we discovered that the shortcut can be taken with a mushroom, as well as the less risky feather power-up, it was game on. flatapex I was a…

Virtua Fighter Kids: Sarah Bryant’s Ending

» We’re not sure who was asking for a version of Virtua Fighter 2 in which all the characters are large-headed children, but Sega answered their call anyway. We’re scared of the children with beards, bald heads and grey hair, so let’s follow Sarah Bryant. She’s just as brainwashed and crazy as her adult counterpart, and now we get to see what she does after winning the World Fighting Tournament… » Okay Sarah, you’ve got one job. Dural wants you to eliminate your brother, Jacky Bryant. Now, he might be a world-class martial artist, but so are you – and you’ve got the advantage of being brainwashed, so you’re totally ruthless too. » Unfortunately, while your brainwashing did rid you of pesky things like emotion and free will, it didn’t…

Virtua Fighter Kids: Sarah Bryant’s Ending

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