Retro Gamer

The ZX Spectrum is arguably the most iconic and important home computer the UK has ever produced. It sparked playground arguments in the Eighties that are still being defended today, while all manner of delightfully inventive games were spawned from

Having firmly established the Evercade as part of the retro-gaming ecosystem, Blaze is just about to begin its most extensive programme of hardware releases so far. It is not only replacing its core consoles, but adding two new budget handhelds and e

Videogame artist Brett Jones, who worked on GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark, passed away in July. The sad news was confirmed on social media by his former colleague David Doak, who also added, “So much of what made GE007 and PD special came from Brett

Permission to say something controversial? And you have to believe me, I’m not doing this to be a contrarian and to start a fight. I used to do that on the radio years ago. I remember once saying on air we should close all libraries and turn them int

Artificial Intelligence scares me. I’ve written about it before in this column, but that was when we were seeing the first flickers of what it can do. Recently, I was listening to some new music by one of my favourite artists, Steven Wilson… except t

The Japanese developer Sunsoft is back in a big way thanks to Ufouria The Saga 2 and its new Retro Game Selection. Sunsoft’s head Yuichi Ochi, Ufouria The Saga 2 director Masatomo Ina and Retro Game Selection’s director Shoki Harada tell us what to e

Criterion unleashed Burnout Paradise on the HD consoles this month, and Official Xbox 360 Magazine felt that taking the aggressive automobile action from standard circuits to the open world “has managed to refresh the franchise without completely cha

» ATARI 2600 » 1982 » COLECO This may be hard to believe given the way I make my living, but although I know that I own the first videogame I ever played, I can’t actually remember which one it was. I know for sure that I played it in my family home

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE SPECTRUM YOU CAN VISIT THE RETRO GAMES LIMITED WEBSITE USING THIS QR CODE Of all the things the Retro Gamer team could be surprised by, you wouldn’t think the device you’re seeing on these pages should rank very highly on t

You couldn’t accuse the old Vega of being short on games, with 1,000 packed in and the option to add more via Micro SD card. The joypad body didn’t mesh well with the many text adventures included, and these days the composite video output feels even

Unsurprisingly, this debut effort had 64 built-in games including the likes of Impossible Mission, California Games, Monty On The Run and Paradroid. It was a good start, although the included joystick was a bit stiff and many people longed for a full

Ahead of the launch of The Spectrum in November, we were given the chance to spend some time with a prototype system for this feature. We should stress that it wasn’t near final – while most of the system software features were available, we had a ve

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» PLATFORM: ARCADE » RELEASED: 1982 » DEVELOPER: UNIVERSAL One of the things you love about Mr Do! is the sheer versatility it offers when completing a stage. You can choose to either collect every single cherry on the screen, or if you fancy more of

Formed in 1984 by two advertising executives who had noticed how poorly computer games were often promoted, Domark’s place in the games industry cannot be underestimated. But it almost didn’t happen. “We did a game called Eureka!,” begins Dominic Whe

◼ ODE and Domark cleverly released two versions of this follow-up – one an expansion that loaded into the original Genus edition and a standalone game, which was naturally more expensive. With its questions aimed at people now approaching middle age,

» ARCADE » 1982 » SEGA  There’s a lot of iteration within the videogame industry with developers taking an existing concept and expanding it with their own ideas, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. While many feel that the games of

◼ In the US during the Eighties, GI Joe and Strawberry Shortcake were incredibly popular toys, and James Bond movies were almost as popular as Star Wars. With this in mind, it’s hardly surprising that Parker Brothers secured the rights to make licens

» MANUFACTURER: Mattel Electronics » YEAR: 1983 » COST: £89.95 (launch), £130+ (today, boxed), £70+ (today, unboxed) With the home-computer market booming in the early Eighties, everyone wanted a slice of the pie – even Mattel Electronics, despite it

Flashback to 1987. The year’s software sales charts are dominated by coin-op conversions – Out Run from US Gold, Combat School from Ocean, Enduro Racer from Activision and Paperboy from Elite, to name just four. The outlook for 1988 looks to be no di

◼ The lead version is not just the best brawler on the Speccy, but probably the finest co-op game too. It builds on the brilliant original to deliver a thrilling arcade experience. The gameplay, graphics and sound (on the 128K) are all excellent, mak

◼ The brothers will be greasing back their hair and wrapping up their hands once more as Target: Renegade heads to the Spectrum Next. The updated version is being developed by WASP (We Are Spectrum Programmers), with Next luminary Phoebus Dokos overs

» GAME GEAR » 1991 » JAPAN SYSTEM HOUSE There are many reasons that I count myself as fortunate to be working on Retro Gamer, but one of the big ones is that everybody is pushing in the same direction. Many years ago, in a different job, I often felt

Few people who played through Ambermoon on its release three decades ago seem to have forgotten the feeling of awe it gave them. The reputation of the game has snowballed in recent years, with copies changing hands for high prices and an unofficial e

◼ The PC game Albion is closely connected to the Amber games. Not only was it made by some of the same team, including Jurie Horneman and Erik Simon after they joined Blue Byte, but it was also built using the same game editor. “It was very much the

◼ Karsten believes the Ultima series has given us “the greatest role-playing games of all time” and Erik tells us Thalion’s RPGs are “rooted in Ultima”. The first instalment of Richard Garriott’s adventure series was released in 1981 for the Apple II

So Robert, when did you start playing Ambermoon? I guess I was around 12 so it was probably around 1997. My brother-in-law gifted me his Amiga and with it his whole gaming collection. I explored one game at a time and one of them was Ambermoon. I lov

The idea of Mickey Mania started with a game called Mickey’s Birthday Party, which was going to be an epic, story-driven adventure centred around a journey through the key adventures of the famous cartoon mouse. It was the pet project of then 22-year

◼ Alongside the Mega Drive version, Mickey Mania was also released on the Super Nintendo. This version is slightly more colourful than the original and has a few graphical improvements. Unfortunately, it also has a much smaller playfield, fewer speci

» PLATFORM: NES » YEAR: 1990 » COST: £40 (launch), £20+ (today, boxed), £12+ (today, unboxed) Once upon a time, gamers had to use POKES and PEEKs to get the upper hand in videogames, or simply scour magazines for codes and cheats. The Game Genie seri

Raised on movies, his parents encouraging him to watch them by himself from a young age, Hideo Kojima quickly turned to making his own short films. He yearned to become a professional filmmaker – but ultimately joined the games industry and took his

◼ Snatcher was envisaged as a PC-8801 exclusive and released first for the Japanese home-computer line in November 1988. While compromised compared to later versions of the game it’s still superbly atmospheric, with its crisp pixel art capturing a lo

How did you come to work on the English-language version of Snatcher? I was asked by R&D to give my opinion as to whether or not Snatcher would be enjoyed by the English audience. I very enthusiastically said yes, it would potentially be very welcome

◼ Snatcher owes its three-act storyline to 1990’s SD Snatcher, a cute-looking RPG based on 1988’s original which takes some creative liberties and adds a clearer, cleaner conclusion. An MSX2 exclusive, SD Snatcher turns Snatcher’s characters into ‘su

» PLAYSTATION » 1999 » BLACK OPS ENTERTAINMENT When I was very, very young I would always say I wanted to be a dinosaur hunter when relatives asked what I’d like to be when I grew up. I actually meant I wanted to be a palaeontologist, but I could nev

What do you feel elevates Snatcher above its array of influences? Snatcher’s in-game computer, JORDAN, is cool – I wanted to have a JORDAN system in 2064, which was going to be called MINERVA. MINERVA went on to be an information science organisation

While we’re not here to start a fight, the Nineties was arguably one of the most significant decades for gaming in its entire history. The leaps and bounds of technology came at a bullet’s pace, and videogames came hurtling along with it: 3D graphics

◼ This was the first expansion pack released for the game and came out roughly a year afterwards, giving players a new lizard-like race called the Iksar, the new continent of Kunark to explore, epic class weapon quests, a raised level cap and plenty

◼ This halfling town is a picturesque spot beside a small lake. It’s not especially significant except for a vendor who sells both muffins and milk. IYKYK. ◼ This zone was unique in that it changed when the game time entered into night time, swapping

◼ Not content with getting DS into the game’s subtitle, Konami also saw fit to lumber Dawn Of Sorrow with a truly aggravating touch-screen command that saw you hastily tracing an on-screen shape in order to defeat a boss. It’s needlessly fiddly to pu

Doug Macrae was different from most studying at the famous Massachusetts Institute Of Technology (MIT) – he had a car, a girlfriend and an arcade business. Whilst still a student, he founded General Computer Corporation (GCC) with fellow undergraduat

◼ GCC became the kings of arcade conversions, especially on the ageing 2600, with solid ports of Dig Dug, Phoenix and many others. Its version of Ms Pac-Man is especially impressive, given the critical panning Tod Frye’s version of the original game

◼ “Crazy Otto had intermissions, like in the original Pac-Man,” explains Doug, when asked how the game came to have a female lead. “The first one had him meeting a female character. In the second, they chase each other, like a Romeo and Juliet thing,

» DREAMCAST » 2000 » PITBULL SYNDICATE I have defied the destiny of my bloodline. That’s a fairly dramatic statement, isn’t it? But it’s true – before me, the men on both sides of my family were lorry drivers, mechanics, chauffeurs, so I was born to

>> This month we take Super Woden GP II and Neo Sprint for a spin, go for a kickabout with Sociable Soccer 24, meet the Retro Revengers and take to the skies with Over Horizon X Steel Empire In a world where additional extras are often hidden behind

While the original Super Woden GP allowed you to collect and race in over 70 different cars, the sequel ups this number considerably. There are now over 180 different vehicles to master, from humble bangers to deluxe sports cars and, as you’d expect,

» System: Switch (version tested), PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X » Buy it for: £19.99 » Buy it from: Online If you didn’t know this was meant to be a spiritual successor to Sensible Soccer, you wouldn’t guess from a first glance – not with

» System: PS5 (tested), PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X » Buy it from: Online » Buy it for: £19.99 If Super Woden GP II is the expert option for fans of arcade racers, then Atari’s reboot of its classic Sprint series will appease everyone

KICKSTARTER HAS BECOME AN IMPORTANT WAY FOR HOMEBREW DEVELOPERS TO GET THEIR FINISHED PRODUCT INTO THE HANDS OF THE GAMER. TWO OF THE GAMES FEATURED THIS MONTH HAVE GONE THAT ROUTE – TRIALS OF KHARZOID HAS ALREADY BEEN SUCCESSFULLY FUNDED, WH

» System: Switch (tested), PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X » Buy it for: £13.49 » Buy it from: Online ININ Gems’ latest collection offers three shmups: Over Horizon and two variants of Steel Empire. If you’ve never played Over Horizon, it’s a

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The latest game from Pascal Belisle takes its ideas from numerous classic games. “I was inspired by Arkanoid, Castlevania and Zelda, but also lesser-known games like Pinball Quest and Kirby’s Block Ball, where I got the idea of using more than

Few gaming platforms are truly unavoidable, but if you’re a UK resident of a certain age, the ZX Spectrum was just that – the Retro Gamer crew had other 8-bit computers at home, but Sinclair’s platform became a feature of our gaming lives regardless.

A chance discovery 11 years ago led to Adam Bickell’s current collection of over 3,000 games. “It started with my parents clearing out the loft and finding my original NES, SNES and Game Boy,” he tells us. “I then started picking up the odd game at c

If you like the look of The Spectrum, you’ll be pleased to know you can preorder it now for £89.99, with the controller costing an additional £19.99. It might have been pricey on release, but that’s no longer the case now. You shouldn’t have to pay m

The time? 1994, or thereabouts. The place? A seaside arcade, in a town I’ve long forgotten. The game? Virtua Fighter. Everything surrounding my first encounter with that game may have been lost to the mists of time, but the impression it made on me i

Hi Iain, I read your piece ‘Watch What You Do’ in issue 261 and just wanted to share how much it resonated. You even awoke a lost memory about the water puzzle games – so thanks for that. I can’t help but wonder though: did the person who invented th

20 YEARS ON, WE GO BEHIND THE SCENES OF UBISOFT’S AMBITIOUS ADVENTURE GAME Commodore 16, Ridge Racer, Die Hard Arcade, Wonder Boy In Monster Land, Super SWIV, Dungeons & Dragons, Echochrome, The Legend Of Kyrandia, Elite Beat Agents, Virtua Cop 2■

» PLAYSTATION PORTABLE » 2009 » HARMONIX, BACKBONE ENTERTAINMENT Sony’s portable handheld has a number of excellent music-focussed games, from Lumines and the Patapon series, to overseas exclusives like Taiko No Tatsujin Portable and DJMax Portable.