Retro Gamer

Being blown away by Sumo’s incredibly ambitious port of the magnificent OutRun 2006: Coast 2 Coast. Playing OutRun in the palm of your hand felt outrageous. Expertise: Juggling a gorgeous wife, two beautiful girls and an award-winning magazine, all u

There was sad news in the retrogaming community recently with the passing of Andy Dyer, a veteran of several beloved UK gaming magazines. Andy first rose to fame in the Nineties and started off as a writer for the popular Commodore Format. He soon te

The Switch may be over seven years old now, but the latest Nintendo Direct proves there’s still plenty of life left in the ageing console. The clear highlight of the show was saved for last, as Nintendo revealed the first proper look at Metroid Prime

If you sign up to a service like Game Pass on the Xbox, then you’re getting hundreds of games for free. I know, I know. They’re not really free. It’s like saying the NHS is free. Yeah, it’s free at the point of contact but you pay for it through taxe

Has it really been 20 years since the release of Sony’s first handheld? I can still remember the day I received mine from Lik Sang, along with copies of Lumines, Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower, Ridge Racer and the excellent Everybody’s Golf

How do you enjoy yours? No, I’m not talking about Cadbury’s Crème Eggs. This is a videogames magazine, so that’d be a weird question to open with. Obviously, I’m talking about games. See, I’ve never been one for high scores. I never understand the ap

Over a lengthy career in games, Richard C Hewison has been a project manager, a game tester, worked on the original PlayStation and often writes for Retro Gamer. That journey began at Telecomsoft in the late-Eighties, and now Richard has chronicled t

You know how things go in the music business – when the money starts rolling in, success can drive bands apart. That was certainly the case for Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock, the first game in the series to be developed by Neversoft. Official Play

JANUARY 2008 – Are those shambling zombies from Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, or just hungover revellers dancing to Rock Band and Guitar Hero III? Nick Thorpe’s beardy face is here, providing valuable familiarity in a strange new year The f

1 – Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft) 2 – Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision) 3 – Halo 3 (Microsoft) 4 – WWE Smackdown Vs Raw 2008 (THQ) 5 – Pro Evolution Soccer 2008 (Konami) 1 – Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo) 2 – Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games

» INTELLIVISION » 1987 » REALTIME ASSOCIATES The North American videogame market crash of 1983 killed certain consoles dead, but the Intellivision wasn’t one of them – INTV Corporation bought the rights to the format from Mattel Electronics in 1984,

When the tenth anniversary of the PlayStation rolled around on 3 December 2004, Sony was on top of the world. Its original machine had transformed the business, and the PlayStation 2 had only extended its market dominance. What’s more, the company wa

Rachid EI Guerrab ■ CEO, Haiba Labs Chris Bourassa ■ Cofounder, Red Hook Studios Paul Hughes ■ Head of technology, Ripstone Leon Hurley ■ Guides coordinator, GamesRadar Steve Lycett ■ Development director, Sumo Digital Jeb Mayers ■ Ex-head of R&D, Aw

■ The world’s first third-party videogame publisher was behind plenty of the best Atari 2600 games, and this compilation includes 44 games from that era, plus some Eighties hit singles. Highlights include Pitfall II: The Lost Caverns, River Raid, End

The ability to watch DVDs on the PS2 was a key part of that console’s massive success, so Sony desired to make films a central pillar of its strategy to turn the PSP into the “Walkman of the 21st century”. However, where the PS2 had latched onto an e

HOW DID YOU COME TO WORK ON A PSP LAUNCH GAME? I joined Awesome Studios in April 2003 as head of research and development. This was the first time I had met Archer Maclean. Archer was a hugely charismatic person, very passionate about everything he d

Having an overwhelmingly successful console isn’t usually considered to be a problem, but by the end of 2006, the PS2 had Sony in a bit of a bind. Despite the ageing system being past its sales peak, new customers were still adding to the total of ov

■ The PSP’s first iteration is perfectly serviceable, but has a slightly mushy d-pad, and the square button feels rather odd as it has a cut-out that’s necessary to accommodate the LCD screen. Its low system RAM means it can’t use the UMD cache mode

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Formed in 1982 by the Stamper family, Ultimate Play The Game’s debut, Jet Pac, set the tone for the software house during the second half of the following year, cementing its place as the premier ZX Spectrum game developer. Just have a look at these

Having produced the Knight Lore sequel Pentagram, with the sci-fi game Alien 8 between, the Stampers began to refine their advanced Filmation engine. First up was Nightshade, a new adventure starring a nameless knight, charged with saving the village

■ Dusko Dimitrijevic’s cool isometric gumshoe adventure Movie was a hit in 1986, securing several accolades in the press. With its laconic star, hands plunged in pockets and noir plot, Movie was already a world away from Knight Lore. The ability to ‘

SYSTEM: ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, Commodore Plus/4 YEAR: 1984 ■ In his debut adventure, Sabreman is venturing deep within a convoluted jungle brimming with dangerous beasts and fauna. To escape, the hero must gather the four pieces of a

» COMMODORE 64 » 1987 » TIME WARP PRODUCTIONS The NES wasn’t very prolific at all where I lived and I only knew a couple of people who owned them growing up. As a result, most of my interaction with the console initially came from playing Super Mario

Shigeru Miyamoto is famous for making people happy, but the Nintendo legend caused tears when the concept for Mother landed on his desk. In a public discussion between the two men published on the Hobonichi website earlier this year, Mother creator S

Nintendo deployed a strange US marketing campaign for EarthBound in 1995. A scratch-and-sniff magazine advert ran the headline, “This game stinks,” and an explanation that, “You’ve never seen or smelled a role-playing game like this!” Fart jokes abou

Development of Mother 3 began on the SNES, before Ape Inc moved its sights to the N64 and its 64DD floppy disk drive extension. Taking inspiration from Super Mario 64, the ambition was to bring the series into polygonal 3D and push the boundaries of

Founded by Mike Montgomery, Eric Matthews and Steve Kelly, The Bitmap Brothers’ 1988 debut Xenon was an innovative arcade-quality shooter, while its subsequent release Speedball depicted a compelling violent future sport in pixel form. The following

Appetite for an English translation of Mother 3 was strong enough after its Game Boy Advance launch that a petition of 31,000 signatures was delivered to Nintendo. When it became clear that no official localisation was forthcoming, fans took things i

» PLATFORM: Mega Drive » YEAR: 1993 » COST: £54.99 (launch, with game), £65+ (today, boxed with game), £15+ (today, unboxed) Lightgun peripherals can be a tough sell if the software isn’t there to support them, and Sega knows that all too well – back

The first Alien 3 game was produced in the UK by Probe Software and released for the Mega Drive in October 1992, six months after the movie. It is a routine platform shooter, spread across 20 labyrinthine stages, where as Ripley, you’re tasked with r

When there’s a divisive entry in a popular series, there’s often an effort to retrospectively change it, to fix it. This is quite apparent with Alien 3, where various ‘alternative takes’ have been released since the movie opened in 1992. These storie

CAN YOU START BY TELLING US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF? Hello there, I’m 36 and live in Salford, England. I enjoy playing arcade games and anything difficult appeals the most. I do like a challenge. My favourite genre is lightgun games and I can 1CC [one-c

■ Your gun’s power becomes crippled if you hold your finger on the fire button too long. In addition, its power subtly decreases as the bar depletes, so for maximum impact it’s best to continually hold and release the trigger, firing off quick bursts

■ This oversized critter scuttles around the evacuation vehicle at the end of the first stage and tries to whip you with its tail. HOW TO BEAT THEM: As with regular Facehuggers, shoot it when it leaps towards you. The best time to damage it is immedi

» PC ENGINE » 1991 » KONAMI In the spring of 2007, it felt like the writing was finally on the wall for the Dreamcast. The fact that my favoured console was still receiving new games at all after being discontinued in 2001 was miraculous, so I could

The history of Animation Magic feels like that moment in Rocky IV when a tired and beat up Sylvester Stallone proudly announced the end of the frictions between the USA and USSR by screaming, “Everyone can change!” But, well, that was a few years bef

PHILIPS CD-I, 1993 ■ The first game developed by Animation Magic, notorious today for its quirky animated cutscenes. PHILIPS CD-I, 1993 ■ Released the same day as Wand Of Gamelon, it featured the same engine and similar animated cutscenes. PC, 1994 ■

■ Animation Magic first cut its teeth working with Philips, or rather the American publishing branch of the company, for two games starring Nintendo characters, Link and Zelda. For several reasons, these games were not up to the quality that players

Dale started creating games for his students, as a schoolteacher. After winning several prizes, he started developing software and games full-time. He was behind Commodore 64 titles such as Alice In Wonderland, and Below The Root. Along with the CD-i

» MANUFACTURER: Tapwave » YEAR: 2003 » COST: £299.99 (launch), £300+ (today, boxed), £100+ (today, unboxed) In the handheld market of the early Noughties, the Game Boy Advance was essentially competing in a one-horse race. Undeterred by Nintendo’s do

We really can’t complain about a lack of excellent racing games at the moment: the new Forza Motorsport leaves nothing to be desired, while games such as F1 23, GRID Legends, Dirt Rally 2 and Assetto Corsa Competizione cater for every virtual racing

According to Sakis, the main inspiration for Old School Rally was the 1998 Colin McRae Rally. No big surprise, as it was a landmark title featuring real cars, real rallies and a very real rally champion namesake (who sadly passed away in 2007). Combi

Seaside Driving began as a mobile game for Android systems in 2019, before being ported to PC (2022) and Switch (2023). The gameplay is very simple – your car accelerates automatically, and all you have to do is keep it on the endless track for as lo

» NINTENDO 64 » 1998 » PLAYER1 During lockdown, I found several ways to keep myself distracted from the threat of COVID-19. One was going for daily walks with my family in our local park, the other was building an N64 collection. The vast majority of

Shoshinkai is a Japanese word which literally means ‘beginning party’. From 1989 until 1996, it was also the name of a three-daylong videogame tradeshow hosted by Nintendo, during which the company would showcase its new and upcoming products to a ra

◼ Each racer in Wave Race 64 looks and handles differently. Miles Jeter is a 24-year-old burly Canadian with a blue and red jet ski. His stats elevate handling over average stability, speed and acceleration. His grip is appalling. Jeter’s intended fo

◼ Racing games live or die by their racetracks, and Wave Race 64’s warm-up course sets the perfect tone. At Dolphin Park, players learn to ride the 3D waves. It’s a happy place, a bright introduction to the Nintendo 64’s first racing game. ◼ The game

◼ Any time we mention Wave Race 64, someone inevitably recalls Hydro Thunder. Released by Midway for arcades in 1999, Hydro Thunder made its biggest splash as a Sega Dreamcast launch title, where its fast action, impressive water physics and arcadepe

◼ The Wave Race series debuted on the Nintendo Game Boy in 1992 (USA) and 1997 (Europe). A top-down 2D racer in which players slalomed around buoys or competed in race circuits, it was a widely forgotten game until the success of its sequel. ◼ Wave R

Few games understand their subject matter as much as 2019’s Lonely Mountains: Downhill. And yet the intently single-player mountain biking game started out as something rather different. Megagon Industries began work on the game in 2015, originally i

Crowdfunded on Kickstarter via a very successful campaign, Lonely Mountains includes content suggested by the upper-tier backers – from bike paint jobs to animals and trees. While Lonely Mountains is an assuredly single-player game, various leaderboa

Picture the scene. Peter Molyneux is lying in bed, covers tucked up around his neck, dreaming soundly. Suddenly he awakes, startled, sitting bolt upright, eyes widened and a smile on his face. It is 5am and Peter is excited. He has just come up with

For those who wanted to take their movies to another level with additional sets, props, vehicles, backdrops and costumes, Lionhead released an expansion pack called The Movies: Stunts & Effects in 2006 which integrated well with the core game. As the

◼ When you’re looking for a star for your movie, physique and looks are actually important in this game. But so too is the need to go for a star who isn’t prone to stress and addiction. You’d have to work harder to make them happy. ◼ Directors need t

By flexing their creative muscles in the game’s film-making tool, players of The Movies were able to produce some stunning machinima-style films. Perhaps the most famous is Alex Chan’s The French Democracy which was created over four days to highligh

» FLASH » 2005 » TAKAHIRO NARUMIYA In the days before internet culture was consolidated under a few massive social-media sites, I’d often find myself playing around with browser games made with Macromedia Flash. There were big sites that hosted plent

» FORMAT REVIEWED: PS5 » ALSO ON: PC, PS4, SWITCH, XBOX ONE, XBOX SERIES S/X » RELEASED: OUT NOW » PRICE: £17.99 » PUBLISHER: UBISOFT » DEVELOPER: UBISOFT » PLAYERS: 1 While it wasn’t a huge commercial hit on release, Ubisoft’s Beyond Good & Evil has

» System: Switch » Buy it for: £24.99, (£49.99 physical edition) » Buy it from: Online, retail This speedrunning package is comprised of 13 classic NES games, including all four Super Mario Bros games, both Zelda games, Metroid, Excitebike, Kirby’s A

» System: Switch » Buy it for: £39.99 » Buy it from: Online, retail Sega’s spectacular simians are back, and mostly back on form. The Adventure Mode gives you a lightweight story and 200 new levels to tackle in solo or co-op fashion, and in tradition

» Buy it for: £34.99 » Buy it from: bitmapbooks.com After debuting with Go Straight, Dave Cook’s second Bitmap Books release is a far stronger offering that’s dedicated to the run-and-gun shooter. As with Go Straight, a number of other writers have c

» System: Switch (tested), PC, PS4 » Buy it for: £24.98 » Buy it from: Online First released on Nintendo’s 3DS, Monster Hunter Stories is undoubtedly aimed at the younger gamer. It’s far more story-focussed than traditional games in the series and al

The PlayStation Portable was a phenomenal piece of kit that boasted some superb titles. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, Nick, Tim and Darran recall their favourite moments with Sony’s exceptional handheld. What was your first encounter with an act

INSPIRATION CAN COME FROM MANY PLACES. IT COULD BE THE THEME OF A COMPETITION OR GAME JAM. IT COULD BE A CLASSIC ARCADE GAME OR AN INDIE HIT FROM A MODERN FORMAT. IT COULD BE THE AVIAN STAR OF A CLASSIC CHILDREN’S PROGRAMME, OR YOU COULD DRAW

“One of the coolest systems I own is this Sega Dreamcast development system. It was another broken system (due to a shipping incident by a previous owner). Thankfully, it is easy to work on and is now part of a complete Dreamcast development environm

Midnight Club 3: Dub Edition was the best! WipEout Pure was the game that convinced me that I needed to get a PSP on launch. Ridge Racer – absolute top-notch version, and Ridge Racer 2 is even better. Metal Gear Acid. Who else thought it was a real M

There are still plenty of original PSP handhelds out there with used ones costing under £50, sometimes with a game or two included. Those wanting something boxed, with the paperwork, and in good condition should look to pay closer to £70. Buying a co

Call me a loser if you must, but there’s a thrill to be found with a fresh install of Windows. I’m one of those people who periodically factory resets Windows on an annual basis, And I find there’s a joy in it. In doing so, I’m forced to make an acti

Balloon Fight has been an unexpected ever-present for me since it was included in the 3DS Ambassador program. Really simple, momentum-based controls that feel incredibly satisfying to master. Balloon Trip Mode has that oddly serene, solitary quality

Hi Retro Gamer, Why does no one ever talk about Zoo Keeper anymore? It’s a genuinely fantastic game by Taito and has you running around the outside of an enclosure as you try and recapture the escaped animals. It’s never on any Taito compilations and

Editor Darran ‘Metal Gear Acid 2’ Jones darran.jones@futurenet.com 0330 3906443 Art Editor Andy ‘Heaven Vs Hell’ Salter Production Editor Tim ‘Power Stone Collection’ Empey Features Editor Nick ‘WipEout Pure’ Thorpe Photographer Phil ‘WipEout Pulse’

» PSP » 2007 » CLAP HANZ I recently had the pleasure of being invited onto The Back Page podcast to draft my ten essential PSP games with co-host Samuel Roberts. As we went through our picks, I realised that I’d left no space for Clap Hanz’s entertai

A TRIBUTE TO PARKER BROS FROM STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK TO Q*BERT’S QUBES, WE REVISIT THE CLASSIC GAMES THAT DEFINED THE POPULAR PUBLISHER AND MUCH MORE, INCLUDING… Snatcher, Mickey Mania, Ambermoon, Warpath: Jurassic Park, Evercade Alpha, R

» Surviving the vehicular violence of Twisted Metal isn’t easy, but it’s something that drivers are willing to risk in exchange for the prize – a single wish. Last year, good cop Carl Roberts wished for a world free of Twisted Metal, and earned a one