Indholdsfortegnelse for No. 245 i Retro Gamer

Although the Wii U isn’t quite retro yet, the hardware still has plenty of retro appeal. Unfortunately, a recent spate of reports has highlighted that the console’s NAND memory seems to be susceptible to corruption if the system isn’t powered on for a long period of time, leaving the system inoperable. The modder Voultar has shown that many cases can be fixed using a Raspberry Pi Pico and a program called UDPIH, but it’s a good reminder to regularly check your old hardware.…

Demon’s Tilt wowed gamers with its mix of shooting and frenetic pinball action and now its developers are back with its sequel. Software engineer and producer Ralph Barbagallo and game designer, artist and animator Adam Ferrando tell us how Xenotilt: Hostile Pinball Action came to be. Were you surprised by the reception of Demon’s Tilt? Ralph: When I first saw Adam’s prototype, I loved it – but know my own tastes are kind of esoteric. At the time I figured there were maybe 10-15,000 people across all platforms that shared my enthusiasm for video pinball. I can say that our sales blew past my expectations. It was surprising, but not entirely since I try to base business models around the most pessimistic possible projections. Why add the Turrets to Xenotilt…

Over the course of almost three decades, Core Design was defined by three factors above all others: the passion of those that worked in its mansion-like offices, its relationship with Sega and the originality of its output. The latter was in no small part down to the firm continuing the anything goes ethos of Gremlin Graphics’ Derby staff – a number of whom had founded Core in 1988. Core’s launch title, Rick Dangerous, embraced this approach, and was duly lauded for its quirky, inventive platforming. Core’s second title was a conversion of the obscure Sega coinop Dynamite Düx, which in addition to reviewing well marked the beginning of an important relationship for the Derby-based developer. Early Nineties highlights from Core included the humorous Stone-Age platformer Chuck Rock. The first of…

■ Considering the source material, it’s amazing Core managed to make any sort of game based on Monty Python’s Flying Circus – let alone one with compelling gameplay. The end result is an interactive Terry Gilliam animation that primarily plays like a shoot-’em-up. You take charge of the Python character Gumby, who suffers all manner of strange body deformations in the core gameplay, before getting reconstructed when a sketch-based minigame is triggered. JEREMY’S MEMORIES “Whether it was a great game or not I think is arguable, but we definitely captured the essence of Monty Python. It really had that look and feel of Terry Gilliam’s animations. It was all about getting sucked through pipes, and all sorts of other crazy shit. Virgin was the publisher, and it absolutely loved it,…

■ Although Chuck Rock II doesn’t stray too far from the foundations laid by the original game, there are some fairly major differences that help to differentiate the sequel. Its subtitle is Son Of Chuck, appropriately enough since it stars Chuck’s baby boy. Unlike Chuck, the second game’s newly born protagonist is somehow highly skilled at swinging around a massive wooden club. The difference this makes to the follow-up’s combat is that Chuck Junior’s weapon has greater range than the heavy boulders his dad throws around in the first game. On the down side, Junior isn’t able to hold rocks above his head for protection or pull off some of his dad’s other tricks. But Chuck Rock II doesn’t suffer from this omission too much, as its levels are designed…

■ Employing the same sprite-scaling tech as Soulstar, BC Racers concludes Core’s Chuck Rock trilogy with a violent into-the-screen racing title. The cast have been fleshed out beyond Chuck and Junior in order to give a range of competitors to choose from, with vehicles that provide differing levels of acceleration, speed and energy. A nice touch is that there are two characters per vehicle, with different crews having differing strengths of attacks. As well as allowing Chuck Rock and his son to compete together, having two-seater vehicles also lets drivers attack rivals from one side while their passenger launches assaults from the other side. BC Racers has four difficulty levels and an eclectic range of courses, including tracks set at sunset and at night, and environments ranging from deserts and…

■ The sort of game that not many developers were making during the PlayStation era, Swagman is a top-down 2D arcade-style adventure where progress depends on equal measures of dexterity, problem solving and enemy bashing. If you get stuck, hints can be obtained by interacting with friendly non-player characters, but half the fun is working out how to unlock new areas of the game. Swagman is stuffed full of obstructive and scary opponents that chime well with the idea that the game is a child’s nightmare come true. You can swat these away with an appropriate number of swipes, but of course that doesn’t protect you from foes that have ranged weapons. For that you need to find a device that gives you long-range projectiles of your own. Overall, what…

■ Great efforts were made to distinguish Tomb Raider III from its predecessors in order to appeal to jaded gamers while at the same time not abandoning the things that made the earlier games so popular with fans. As well as running on a new engine that allows for more detailed environments, Tomb Raider III introduces various new gameplay features to the series. There are environmental hazards such as quicksand that can be waded through at the risk of Lara getting sucked under, and underwater sections where the currents drag her down or where the temperature is so low that she can only survive swimming through them for short spells. The third game also goes big on vehicles, including a kayak, quad bike, a boat and a mine cart. Tomb…

■ In Core’s whimsical adventure, a young boy named Gerdy has to learn how to herd weird creatures to save his island from an evil wizard. What makes this interesting is that different creatures require different herding techniques – you chase some, others follow you and one wants to eat you and the other creatures! A rich narrative adds depth, and introduces sidequests to earn useful herding tools. JEREMY’S MEMORIES “Sadly, Herdy Gerdy didn’t quite work in the end, but it was so close. It took us forever to bloody write it, and at some stage I had to say that enough was enough. But for originality and styling it was amazing.”…

Creating a true smash-hit success is a feeling unlike anything else in the world. You struggle and toil away at something, much of the process taking place well away from the public gaze, and suddenly all eyes are on the thing you created. Tomb Raider was a cultural phenomenon from the very first outing, an enormous achievement for a small band of coders in Derby whose best-known creation before that was a caveman with a name that described his abilities, ‘Large Stone Thrower’ or something like that. [Do you mean Chuck Rock? – Ed] But having the eyes of the world on you is a double-edged sword. In 1996, the team at Core Design would have been happy with a magazine cover or two – in 1997, Lara Croft could…

How did you first encounter Tomb Raider II? My mum said to me and my brother that we could pick any game we want from this catalogue. All we had was the image of the game to go on, so we picked Tekken and Tomb Raider and I remember specifically it was the covers and just seeing Lara Croft captured me. I think I was about six years old, and before that every game I played was Mario or Zelda so it was the first time a female protagonist caught my eye. What made an impression when you played the game? It was the exploration and the puzzles, and feeling like I was outsmarting the game even though that was the intended way of playing it. Also the sort of…

» PLATFORM: NEO GEO » RELEASED: 1991 » DEVELOPER: SNK So far, the combatants of Fatal Fury have been pretty fearsome types. There are the main characters – Terry’s got street-fighting savvy, Andy has ninja skills and Joe’s got his kickboxing. Then there are your opponents, like obvious Mike Tyson homage Michael Max, and the bizarre dance-inspired fighting style of Duck King. None of them would look particularly out of place in a standard martial arts film, and the difficulty of the game certainly backs up their toughness. Then there’s Tung Fu Rue, a diminutive old man who looks more like he’s ready for a nice cup of tea and some Bargain Hunt than a good scrap in the rain. But that’s why you shouldn’t judge a book by its…

ZX SPECTRUM ■ Dinamic’s trademark attribute clash is ever-present in the Spectrum version of Game Over as Arkos charges across each world. Highly responsive controls and some fast shooting action ensure it plays a lot better than it looks, although it’s a shame about the harsh restart points. AMSTRAD CPC ■ The Amstrad game is full of vibrant colours and plays reasonably well. While the respawning issue is still present, the controls are tight, and the pace of the game is notably slower, which for once, suits the gameplay. That laser-fire sound effect can get a tad annoying, however. C64 ■ The C64 loading screen tackles that problem by zooming the view in. Unfortunately, things don’t improve in-game, with an ill-judged jump mechanic resulting in frequent deaths and a frustrating…

» MEGA DRIVE » 1990 » SEGA R&D2 I never really enjoyed Sega’s arcade sequel to Shinobi. While it was quite similar mechanically I couldn’t really get on with its canine sidekick and I didn’t really like its real-life locations and aesthetic style. All said, it left me quite underwhelmed. Needless to say Shadow Dancer wasn’t even on my radar when the Mega Drive came out and if it wasn’t for the fact that I saw it running on a visit to the Video Game Centre I’d have probably missed it entirely. I’m glad I did discover it though, as Shadow Dancer on the Mega Drive is a darn sight better than its arcade counterpart and is essentially a completely different game. Sure many of the enemies are familiar and…

SWEET WORLD ■ The Sweet World is filled to the brim with sugary treats and lollipops that can be cracked open to find bonus points. In the European and Japanese versions, the Chupa Chups logo can be seen throughout the level but was excluded from the US version. MUSIC WORLD ■ In the Music World you’re faced with a tricky puzzle that requires you to play a giant keyboard to complete the level. This world also includes two of the bonus shooter levels hidden behind secret entrances and speakers that can be destroyed for bonus points. FRUIT WORLD ■ Even a ninja needs his fruit and vegetables to keep his strength up and you will find plenty of healthy snacks while exploring Fruit World. Fruit cans, used as springs, propel…

We’ll be honest, dear reader – if you’d approached us on 1 January 2023 and asked us to place a bet that the cult Dreamcast favourite Cosmic Smash would get a VR revival before the year was out, we’d have advised you to spend your money on magic beans. Although we’re converts to the VR cause and we’re certainly very fond of Sega’s futuristic cross between squash and Breakout, we’d never once imagined combining the two. Yet it’s the kind of idea that makes perfect sense once it’s presented to you, melding the simple appeal of the original with the physicality that makes games like Wii Sports and Beat Saber so much fun. But who would dare to revive a Japan-only Dreamcast game for PlayStation VR2? Enter Jorg Tittel, a…

C64 ■ The C64 release was coded by Dave Vout and delivers the same well-designed gameplay that exists across all the available conversions. Isometric graphics, turn-based battling and quests from the board game are all present and correct. The colour scheme is pretty beige, but it plays great. ZX SPECTRUM ■ Colourful scenes abound here with bright backgrounds making every screen feel like a distinct location. You could almost forget you’re in a dark and dingy dungeon. As with the other 8-bit conversions, much of the action is conveyed through text descriptions. AMSTRAD CPC ■ This port swapped the Spectrum’s vibrant backgrounds for a persistent blue wash with little colour contrast, apart from on the battle screen when a few other colours emerge. Moving the cursor around feels a little…

» PLAYSTATION » 2001 » TEAM17 For a few months, back when I was 16, I had a temp job processing credit card applications. It wasn’t particularly involved or interesting work, mostly just correcting any mistakes the optical character recognition software made when reading the scanned forms. What’s more, the working conditions were pretty lousy – talking to your colleagues during a shift was forbidden, any performance below bonus level was insufficient, and the company even tracked employees’ toilet breaks. It’s funny because on my first day, I was sure I’d stumbled upon a decent workplace – if there was a PlayStation in the break room, how bad could it be? The only game we ever played in that office was Worms World Party, but I rapidly came to realise…

TURN AROUND BRIGHT EYES ■ Upon entering a landscape, study the Sentinel and note which way it rotates. Now look at the geography of the landscape closest to you and plot a pathway to an area nearest the Sentinel where you can remain just behind its 28-degree field of view. THE ONLY WAY IS UP ■ If you can absorb enough energy from the surrounding landscape, quickly move to a mid-height plateau, build a precariously tall tower of boulders level with the Sentinel, then place your robot on top. Although horribly exposed, you should be able to quickly absorb the Sentinel. I SEE TREES OF GREEN ■ The Sentinel is friendly to trees, so use this to your advantage. When caught directly in the Sentinel’s gaze, create a tree directly…

» System: PS5 (version tested), PS4, Switch, PC » Buy it for: £15.99 » Buy it from: Online, retail This twin-stick shooter is a little bit like Cannon Fodder, with your heavily outnumbered mercenary squad undertaking dangerous missions with no small dose of humour. However, the balance leans more to arcade action than strategy, with combo-based scoring mechanics and the limited ability to revive downed allies, and you’ll want to head back to HQ between missions in order to acquire better weaponry. The scenery sometimes obscures your view of the action, bullets occasionally travel through buildings and the funny voice clips during the action soon become very repetitive. Still, there’s enough variety in the main missions for fans of the style to have a good time. NICK THORPE Score 78%…

<Apple II: Lee Fastenau released a brilliant conversion of Game Boy Tetris. You can find it at bit.ly/gbtetris-apple/ > <Aquarius: Check out new release Aquatris from Christophe Possamai – bit.ly/aquatris/ > <C16: Sir Knight 16K is an updated version of the Plus/4 game, fitting into 16K but with extra levels and features. Give it a try by visiting c64mark.itch.io/sir-knight-c16/ > <C64: Knifegrinder’s debut game is the superb Lester (above) a Metroidvania-style offering with a cute robot – inspired by the MSX game Ghost. Get it at knifegrinder.itch.io/lester/ > <MSX: The 2023 coding competition is underway at msxdev.org – the theme is Freestyle, and the deadline is 14 October. /> <NES: Haplo has converted his light-based puzzle game Tenebra, you can buy it by visiting h4plo.itch.io/tenebra/ > <PET: Jimbo’s latest is PET…

<BODY> The curse of Trasmoz has been broken, but Mutanim is plotting his revenge! One or two players must descend through the Cemetery, Catacombs and Hidden Temple to defeat him. In each area, defeated enemies drop Orbs, used to light a candle. When all candles are lit, play moves on to the next of 12 levels. The single-screen playfields wrap around at the edges, making for very tactical play. Take too long and Mutanim will appear to chase you. Treasure chests award extra points and bonus lives can be found. This is great fun with excellent graphics and sound. Get a friend to help you and it’s even better. We were left wanting more levels and variety in play, however. </BODY> Score: 86%…

The Game Boy Advance was a significant upgrade over the original Game Boy and cemented Nintendo’s vice-like grip on the handheld market. Join Tim, Darran and Nick as they revisit the popular handheld. DARRAN What’s your first memory of the Game Boy Advance? TIM Finding one in my drawer when I started on Cube. I was like, “Is this for me?” Then someone said, “No. And it’s broken.” NICK My cousin got one in the summer of 2001. Mostly, I remember Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 being not so great, and struggling to see the action on that awful screen. DARRAN I got mine in 2002 with Castlevania, Golden Sun and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and I remember the screen being lousy. It’s apparently why so many of the…

This month saw the arrival of Prey, a first-person shooter for Xbox 360 and PC that blends sci-fi and spiritual themes. The game had been in development since 1995, but you wouldn’t have known, with PC Gamer’s 82% review praising it as an “astonishing-looking” game that “is often great fun, occasionally very creepy and frequently highly impressive”. In games™ it earned 8/10 for being “a masterpiece of design”, whereas X-360 felt that “online multiplayer more than makes up for the single-player’s shortcomings”, but that for those without Xbox Live it was “a very short and linear adventure that you’ll probably only play through once”, awarding it 6/10. Beyond that, Microsoft’s consoles had little to offer, with a dearth of exciting software for either the Xbox 360 or its older sibling.…

■ Infuriating and rewarding by turn, Rick Dangerous differentiates itself from most other platformers of the time by incorporating hidden dangers that players aren’t given prior warning of. The effect of this is to make the game more of a memory test than a test of timing and reflexes. But its Indiana Jones stylings and the pleasure you get from working out how to outmanoeuvre its fiendish traps keeps you coming back for more. JEREMY’S MEMORIES “We were doing a conversion of Dynamite Düx for Sega, so we wanted to do an original game too, and Simon Phipps came up with Rick Dangerous. The guys who founded the business had been raised on platformers, so we all just loved it.”…

■ It isn’t Wolfchild’s futuristic level designs that set it apart from other platform games. What makes it unique is that its challenge veers from near-impossible to manageable depending on if its hero is in human or wolf form, and if he’s in the latter how powerful a weapon he’s packing. In that respect, Wolfchild has a difficulty curve more like a power-up-based shoot-’emup than a platformer, where the emphasis is on avoiding hits that will transform your character back to a human with only his fists to defend himself with. ULTIMATE UPGRADES The combat platformer’s coolest power-ups ARC BLAST ■ Although these only take out one enemy per shot, their downward curved trajectories are handy for taking out opponents that are standing directly beneath you and sending ammo in…

■ A love letter to coin-ops such as Capcom’s 1942 and its sequels, Core’s Amiga 1200 and CD32 exclusive adds lush AGA graphics to the proven formula. To the uninformed, 1942 is an epic top-down shoot-’em-up set in World War II that’s designed to be hard as nails. It’s fair to say that Banshee respects that last aspect of the Capcom shooter. It also retains the arcade game’s focus on obtaining better weapons in order to give you at least a chance of not being shot out of the sky. Split across four huge and distinct levels – including a final mission set in space, Banshee incorporates endless airborne, seafaring and ground-based opponents. Special mention goes to its impressive screen-sized bosses, and the decision to end the game on another…

■ Built around the concept of controlling four team members with different skillsets, Project Eden is best described as Tomb Raider with delegation and a sci-fi setting. What also sets it apart from Core’s earlier title is its linear narrative, which is driven along by a sequence of set missions, each of which have to be accomplished before the next is rolled out. There’s also an element of trial and error to Project Eden, where even if there’s no one correct team member to use on a mission then there’s probably one who’s the most suitable for the job. JEREMY’S MEMORIES “Around about that time, we were looking at trends that were happening outside the videogames world, and there were superhero movies coming out where they joined forces. So the…

■ There’s no doubting the ambition of Core’s final Tomb Raider title, and this approach is exemplified by its strides towards realism. Instead of boundless energy, Lara has limited stamina. Once exhausted, she’s left with no energy to complete her current action. This can have fatal consequences in some situations, like if she’s hanging from a ledge or overhead cable. The solution is to first build up her strength, by pushing heavy objects, for example. Encounters with NPCs are more realistic too, in that your responses affect your progress, and rather than charging into situations Lara has stealth attacks. Perhaps if Core had played it safe with The Angel Of Darkness it might have survived longer, but like Lara, playing it safe wasn’t in its DNA.…

One of the most infamous features of Tomb Raider II is the ability to carry out an act of bizarre cruelty by locking Lara Croft’s butler Winston in the walk-in freezer at her mansion. If you’ve played it, you’ve almost certainly done it. Don’t worry, we’re not judging you – we’ve done it too, as well as just about everyone else. But how did this odd inclusion come about? “Winston was a very last-minute addition to the game,” Gavin recalls. “Our second animator, Joss [Jocelyn Charmet], had finished everything that was needed for the game, but had the idea that Lara should have a butler – Joss was French, and to him this is what upper-class Brits would have. I was originally sceptical that Lara was the kind of girl…

» MASTER SYSTEM » 1992 » SIMS There have been countless games over the years that have failed to successfully execute an interesting concept, and sadly Air Rescue is one of them. It’s not a complex idea – basically it’s just a bit like Choplifter but with a greater variety of settings, like a burning skyscraper and underground caves. I’ve owned this game for years and once every few years, I convince myself that I was just rubbish at it as a kid and it’s probably quite good. Filled to the brim with confidence, I set off for the far side of the first stage and immediately fail in my first attempt at a rescue. The game’s collision detection often feels quite suspect, which is quite a problem when you’re…

THE PTERODACTYL ■ “All of the core enemies are smarter and faster than in the original Joust but the pterodactyl is especially so. Trying to run away from it is folly as it will follow you, similar to a Baiter in Defender. Your best hope is to kill it as soon as it appears.” HATCHED WARRIORS ■ “Unlike the original game, freshly hatched Warriors are threats if you are in ostrich form, as they now walk back and forth with lance protruding, looking to disembowel you. They cannot harm you in Pegasus form, though, so approach them as a beast rather than a bird.” GOLDEN EGGS ■ “Look out for Golden Eggs which, when collected, trigger a timer. By stepping on this timer, which is limited in duration to about…

It may surprise you to learn that before it was bought by Commodore in 1984, Amiga Corporation manufactured peripherals for the Atari 2600. Essentially, the peripherals business was a front to hide the company’s top-secret work on the 16-bit Amiga chipset, codenamed Lorraine, although getting into the accessories business also helped the fledgling company to open communication channels with retailers and distributors. When the Amiga chipset was finally shown at the January 1984 Consumer Electronics Show, selected business people were escorted past the rows of peripherals at the Amiga booth to a private demonstration. The Power-Stick was a tiny controller, much smaller than Atari’s official joysticks, and it was designed so that it could be played with just one hand, with the player’s thumb resting on top of the diminutive…

Zool is a side-scrolling platform game designed by George Allan, who was working at Gremlin Graphics when the Amiga needed a platforming mascot to rival its console competitors. Zool was seen by some as the Amiga’s answer to Sonic The Hedgehog and Gremlin Graphics’ marketing made no secret of this. In the run-up to its October 1992 release, fullpage adverts declaring that it’s “bad news for hedgehogs” were mixed in with Amiga magazines confirming Zool would dethrone Sonic. None of this hyperbole would come true for Gremlin Graphics and its own brand of anthropomorphic hero. However, Zool did far better than most of Sonic’s challengers by providing a unique blend of platforming, exploring and action. It was also successful enough to get a sequel and was eventually ported to almost every…

If you’ve never played The Sentinel, imagine a game played on 3D checkerboard landscapes with plateaus of varying heights. Standing on the highest point in the landscape is a sinister creature known only as the Sentinel. It slowly rotates, watching the landscape as it tries to catch sight of, and drain energy from the player who is ascending to a position where they can absorb the Sentinel and replace it as ruler of the landscape. The game was a strategic balancing act of energy expenditure, energy absorption, movement and stealth. The player could expend energy creating objects that allowed them to move across the landscape and absorb other objects to gain energy. As they made progress conquering the Sentinel on each new landscape, additional threats were introduced in the form…

SENTRY ■ This freeware effort was created by Momor Productions in 1998/99, written for Windows 95/98. Sentry featured an optional red/green or red/blue 3D spectacles mode and played exactly the same as the game that inspired it, although the difficulty could be adjusted. Icons were added to the main display, and sparkly effects showed when an object was under the Sentinel’s gaze. Some nice 3D effects were used when the player moved to new areas. ZENITH ■ Zenith first appeared in 2005 and was another freeware interpretation for Windows. Programmer John Valentine updated the clean-cut look of the original game and added some nice fog effects. OpenGL and more modern hardware gave quick fluid movement within the 3D landscapes, and larger landscapes were also possible. Gameplay was almost identical, except…

» XBOX » 2006 » APPALOOSA INTERACTIVE Sometimes, when I’m playing a game I just want to be bad. In the Eighties that meant playing Jack The Nipper and causing a large amount of toddler-fuelled carnage, while the top-down shenanigans of Grand Theft Auto saw me mowing down innocent bystanders and plugging bad guys in the late-Nineties. When it came to the mid-Noughties, Jaws Unleashed was my go-to game and it’s a shame it’s not backwards compatible with the Xbox Series X (although I suppose Maneater now fills the fishy void where Jaws Unleashed once swam). Created by the same studio that spawned the Ecco The Dolphin series, Jaws Unleashed shares numerous similarities with Ecco The Dolphin: Defender Of The Future. It’s a much more entertaining game, though, mainly because…

» System: Switch (tested) PS4, PS5, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X » Buy it for: £39.99 » Buy it from: Online Originally released as a Japan-only Wii exclusive in 2008, Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse has finally received an official Western release with rather mixed results. While there’s no doubting the quality of its core story or the makeover that the game has received, non-fans may find the controls and slow sense of progression outdated. We’d argue that you stick with it though, because while Mask does indeed feel dated (with a few performance issues on the Switch version) there’s still much to enjoy. Snapping ghosts with the Camera Obscura is still as entertaining as ever, while the story is one of the franchise’s best. DARRAN JONES Score 72%…

<INTRO> FIRSTLY, AN APOLOGY FOR THE PROBLEMS WITH THE DUNGEON & SOULS REVIEW IN ISSUE 244 – THE FULL REVIEW IS REPRINTED BELOW. AND IF SPECTRUM FANS ENJOY THAT GAME, THEY SHOULD ALSO CHECK OUT OUR COVERAGE OF THE CSSCGC 2022 – AND THE DELIGHTFUL SPECTRUM-STYLE BEEP’S ESCAPE. 16-BIT FANS ARE CATERED FOR BY OUR CHAMPION CODER AND PROCESSING PREVIEW, AND THERE’S SO MUCH HAPPENING IN OUR NEWS BYTES. ENJOY MORE HOMEBREW AND SEE YOU NEXT TIME! </INTRO> <BODY> Andy’s hilarious opening ceremony was coded in BASIC, “To demonstrate just how rubbish something could be to be considered worthy of entering – and to test the website. I’m pleased to have had genuine attempts to make entertaining games, experimental programming showcases as well as zeitgeisty jokes and political statements hidden…

<BODY> Robot Beep must escape a junk-filled planet in this Dizzy-style adventure. Objects solve puzzles and batteries are scavenged for extra lives. Guard bots, water and toxic spills are among the hazards that cost Beep a life, while circuit boards boost your completion rate. There are multiple difficulty settings, a CRT filter, and the clever option to switch off the ‘colour clash’. The graphics have a colourful Spectrum style, with gameplay to match and a cute chiptune as you explore. Craig Smith is even planning a Spectrum Next conversion. </BODY> Score: 85%…

THE RIGHT FIGHT Hi Retro Gamer, I was wondering if you might consider reviewing Mazin Wars, the 1993 Sega Mega Drive beat-’emup? It was based on a manga that is part of a long-running Japanese franchise called Mazinger, and it is a futuristic brawler with similar gameplay to the Golden Axe series. It also has very nice graphics and character designs. To date, it has never been re-released, which I think is a shame, but I’ve always felt that it matches Sega’s iconic series in terms of playability. It’s certainly worth checking out. Kind regards, Vittorio Trevitt. Well this is a blast from the past. Thanks for the reminder, Vittorio. Nick is our resident fighting expert so I’m sure we can put something together on it. NEW GAME, OLD IDEA…

Dear Retro Gamer, It feels like a retrospective on Nintendo’s DS is long overdue in the mag. I’m a huge fan of the system and feel like it was not only instrumental in taking Nintendo in a new direction, but also highlighted the incoming popularity of ‘casual games’ thanks to titles like Yoshi Touch & Go, Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training and Nintendogs. I’m clearly not the only person who feels like this as it has sold over 154 million units. Handhelds never seem to get as much coverage in the gaming press like home consoles and computers do, so it would be great to see a list of the best DS games, or a look at how it was made. Please run a cover feature on this exceptional handheld, I’d…

» PSP » 2005 » SUMO DIGITAL Having a big collection of games has paid off for me on a few occasions, and in 2006 I was paid to scan the covers of my games in order to help build a website’s database. Receiving games rather than cash worked out better for me, so I ended up with a massive Amazon order that naturally ended up split across multiple deliveries. Two PSP games showed up in the second consignment, followed by the console and another two games in the third, which left me in an awkward spot. I’d been convinced to skip the Giga Pack bundle and go for a separate 2GB memory card, but since that had yet to arrive I had no way to save my games. Virtua…

■ The manga-inspired Switchblade is a tricky platformer with impressive combat mechanics. But rather than relying on timing challenges or difficult to reach platforms, the challenge to Switchblade’s platforming comes from the fact that unexplored areas are hidden. So until you find them you don’t know they’re there. The game’s equally well-worked combat lets you perform different attacks based on how long you press the fire button, and there are collectable ranged weapons too. JEREMY’S MEMORIES “If you look back at that period of time, manga was a huge influence on so many people who were in that world, if you like. So it wasn’t mainstream entertainment, it was classed as geeky – just like videogames were back then.”…

■ If The Flintstones had been created in Derby then it would have looked like Chuck Rock. As you might have guessed, the player character Chuck Rock chucks rocks, and by doing so he can dispatch prehistoric opponents. But he can also hold rocks above his head to give him protection from aerial foes and projectiles, or jump off them onto high-up ledges. Half the fun is experimenting to see what you can do with the rocks, and how they might help you survive Chuck’s Stone-Age world. JEREMY’S MEMORIES “It was great that you had this item that you could use as a weapon, a step or a blocking tool. Chris Long was the game’s creator. I think he was modelling Chuck Rock on me, with the big belly, wandering…

■ Designed to take on Gremlin Graphics’ Lotus games, Jaguar XJ220 is a racing game in the vein of Sega’s Out Run rather than an attempt to make a realistic driving sim. Where it differs from the coin-op is with its mechanics, in so much as you’re competing in races for money against a set number of contestants – which often leaves you driving on an open road. Jaguar XJ220’s scope is also broader in that your car sustains damage that requires you to purchase replacement parts between races. Another of XJ220’s notable features is that the challenge of the game’s courses is affected by weather and driving conditions, such as heavy rain, icy tarmac and sandy road surfaces JEREMY’S MEMORIES “We felt most of the other car games on…

■ Based on its opening levels, you’d be forgiven for thinking Soulstar was an homage to Sega sprite-scaling shooters such as Galaxy Force. But while Core’s immersive sci-fi title initially hurtles you through space and over the surface of a planet on rails, that all changes when you enter an enemy base for the game’s second phase. This begins with a free-roaming third-person mission, where the Strike Craft you’ve been piloting transforms into a hovercraft-like Hover Copter. The Hover Copter allows you to seek and destroy a central computer before warping onto further stages, where you alternate between it and the Strike Craft in levels set undersea and an epically long tunnel. The game’s final phase puts you in the seat of a Combat Walker – an armed mecha –…

■ Groundbreaking in that it was one of the first polygon-driven 3D adventures, Tomb Raider defied convention with its female protagonist at a time when games were typically fronted by male characters. Not only did its hero Lara Croft became a global icon for her looks and attitude, her debut title also wowed players, and set the tone for 32-bit gaming. Tomb Raider’s appeal stems from its immersive exploration, its well-thought-out puzzles and its kill-or-be-killed encounters with extinct and endangered predators. JEREMY’S MEMORIES “The way we had the 3D engine, the graphics and level design had never been done before, so people were blown away by that. Secondly, there was this female character bouncing around the screen, shooting dinosaurs and tigers, and everything she shouldn’t have been shooting! That was…

■ The original wasn’t broken, so when it came to Tomb Raider II Core didn’t have too much to fix. Not that it repeated itself, of course, the sequel delivers an entirely fresh challenge. But the second game has the same sort of fiendish puzzles, tricky platforming, epic exploration and heart-stopping encounters with vicious animals that make the first game so compelling. Added to the mix are vehicles that Lara drives around environments she doesn’t encounter in the original, and new tests of agility such as zip lines and climbing. The follow-up’s new supplementary weapons range from machine guns and grenade launchers to harpoons. JEREMY’S MEMORIES “You have so many amazing locations around the world. You could be in Venice, and then you could have a secret clan there as…

■ The jump in aesthetic quality between the original 16-bit Thunderhawk and this PS2 sequel is remarkable, but in many ways the third game follows the formula established by the first one very closely. In terms of visuals, Operation Phoenix depicts far more realistic environments, but in terms of structure it retains the same mission-based formula as the game that it’s based on. Where it improves vastly in terms of gameplay is with the sheer number and variety of opponents that it throws at you at any one time. Then in terms of level design, where the original Thunderhawk is limited to flat surfaces with small raised structures, Operation Phoenix has hills and valleys, snow-topped mountains and vast, detailed structures like oil rigs. Everything that makes the first game great…

Retro-inspiredwired controller worth £29.99 Rumblevibration, clickable joysticks and a proper d-pad Compatiblewith Switch, Windows, Steam and Raspberry Pi Reasons to subscribe… Stunningexclusive subscriber-only covers Youll never miss an issue! Its delivered direct to your door Brilliantvalue – save money on the cover price SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE Our six-month best offer breaks up the annual subscription into two easily manageable payments over the course of the year PRINT £27.99 every 6 months Get 13 Issues of Retro Gamer over 12 Months in Print, straight to your door and save 20% PRINT + DIGITAL £35.49 every 6 months 13 issues of Retro Gamer over 12 months in print and digital, saving 47% DIGITAL £19.50 every 6 months 13 issues of Retro Gamer over 12 Months in digital, and save 25% *(gifts not…

It’s the summer of 1982 and John Newcomer, designer of Joust, is watching his game collecting quarters in arcades across America. It’s a supremely satisfying moment, given how many industry insiders doubted this strange game, which replaced the ubiquitous fire button with one marked ‘flap’, would ever be a hit. Yet even then, he was mulling over what could have been. “I’d have liked to add more variety in terms of levels and ledge layouts,” John explains. “I wish I’d had more memory to put in more characters. I would’ve messed about with the layouts and taken some risks. I wish I’d made it, not harder, but more challenging. There’s a difference in making something harder just to force someone off the machine and making it more of a puzzle,…

» MANUFACTURER: Atari » YEAR: 1982 » COST: $269.99 (launch), £100+ (today, boxed), £60+ (today, unboxed) In theory, the Atari 5200 represented a solid idea for a successor to the venerable 2600. By basing its technology on that of the company’s 8-bit home-computer line, Atari could offer clear improvements in graphics and sound without requiring programmers to learn a brand-new system. With four controller ports, a storage bay for two controllers and an automatic RF switch-box, the system was designed to be highly convenient. Of course, the best-laid plans rarely work out. The system’s joysticks were a disaster, almost all of the initial games were improved versions of existing Atari software, and Atari 2600 owners felt free to explore other options due to a lack of backwards compatibility. To compete…

WAS GAME OVER YOUR FIRST GAME AT OCEAN SOFTWARE? No, my first job was porting Green Beret to the Thomson MO5/TO7-70 and TO9. Then I did Arkanoid, Yie Ar Kung Fu II, and then Game Over and Game Over II. WERE YOU AT ALL FAMILIAR WITH THE THOMSON COMPUTER? I’d never heard of it! I called up [Ocean] hoping to get a job. I spoke to Gary [Bracey, Ocean’s software manager] who became very interested when I mentioned I could code 6809 processor – I had a Dragon 32 computer. Gary had a need for a 6809 coder; I took the train down to Manchester and pretty much said, “No problem.” I was left with an MO5 and got cracking. HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT CREATING GAME OVER? I had…

MASTER ARKOS ■ Arkos is an agile fellow able to jump long distances and run swiftly across each screen. But while it may be tempting to rush, he’ll last much longer if you take your time across each area, assessing where the danger comes from. OVER A BARREL ■ These red barrels pepper the first world, and shooting them reveals a useful power-up – or a life-destroying bomb. They can be a pain, absorbing Arkos’ fire while enemies close in, so it’s best to get rid of them ASAP. MIND THE GAP ■ Throughout Game Over’s two worlds, gaps appear in the floor, chasms of instant death for its protagonist. Sometimes Arkos even has to endure a leap of faith, jumping into the next screen and over a gaping hole,…

THE HUM-BUGGER ■ The first boss takes the shape of a giant bumblebee that buzzes about the screen dropping bombs. HOW TO BEAT THEM Stick to one side of the screen and jump up and down. This helps you avoid bombs and makes it easier to aim your stars. BANANA AND ALARM CLOCK ■ This boss has gone bananas and shoots pips at you while a clock flings mini bananas in the air. HOW TO BEAT THEM Jump over the clock as it moves underneath then take your chance to jump and unleash ninja stars when both are on the opposite side of the screen. MAXIE THE ROBOT ■ This robot fires electric bolts at awkward angles that will have you scurrying from side to side as it jumps. HOW…

“I BEGAN TO TALK ABOUT THE OPPORTUNITY OF MAKING A SIMPLE FANTASY BOARD GAME FOR THE MASS MARKET” STEPHEN BAKEN Against a torchlit dungeon backdrop, a barbarian swings his sword wildly while a wizard, a dwarf and an elf battle orcs and other creatures of darkness. The iconic box art may already be firmly embedded in your memory and need no introduction. This is HeroQuest, the 1989 role-playing board game that swiftly became a colossal hit, thanks in large part to just how fun and accessible it was. Older children and adults alike could enjoy its simpler take on Dungeons & Dragons style high fantasy adventuring. And yet for all that learning the rules was straightforward, HeroQuest also offered a satisfyingly deep and varied fantasy experience. For some players it…

PC ■ Sentinel Returns for Windows 95/98 looked fine using DirectX and Direct3D, but really shone with a 3DFX add-on card despite the maximum 800x600 resolution, with better textures and quicker 3D thanks to point-sampled texture mapping, anti-aliasing and Gouraud shading, along with many other advanced features. The PC version was more configurable and had the added bonus of the exclusive two-player mode, with players acting like Meanies in a race to be the first to beat the Sentinel. PLAYSTATION ■ More powerful on the 3D front than the average PC back in the late-Nineties, the PlayStation version utilised the console’s ability to do 3D quickly. It might have looked a little rougher than on the PC, especially when compared to the 3DFX-enhanced version, but once you got used to…

» PLATFORM: Xbox 360 » YEAR: 2007 » COST: £14.99 (launch), £10+ (today, boxed), £6+ (today, unboxed) External cooling fans for consoles had existed before the arrival of the Xbox 360, but rarely drew much attention since most consoles had adequate thermal management. But as rumours spread that Microsoft’s second console might be particularly unreliable, players looked for ways to protect their investments, and the Nyko Intercooler shipped over half-a-million units in around six months. However, allegations that the Intercooler itself was damaging consoles soon began to surface, with users complaining of scorched power ports and even the device melting itself onto the console, leading Microsoft to advise against its use. Like its predecessor, the Intercooler EX is a plastic unit housing three large fans. The EX version has a…

GATEHOUSE 1 The key entryway to your keep, and the best way to allow your gatherers and soldiers to move in and out of the castle without exposing yourself to enemies. TOWERS 2 These are unsurprisingly crucial for your defences, but place them logically so that they will be most effective when filled with archers to shoot your enemies. MOAT 3 The strongest defence you can build, since a moat either directs attackers to a heavily fortified entrance or forces them to fill in the moat which takes a lot of time. WALLS 4 Early walls will be basic structures, but as you expand your castle you should learn to use walls to guide attacks with specific routes and additional wall layers. PITCH 5 The most deadly defence a lord…

INFORMATION » FORMAT REVIEWED: PS5 » ALSO AVAILABLE ON: PS4, PC, XBOX ONE, XBOX SERIES S/X » RELEASED: OUT NOW » PRICE: £59.99 » PUBLISHER: CAPCOM » DEVELOPER: CAPCOM » PLAYERS: 1 How do you improve on a game that many consider perfect? That’s the task Capcom has given itself with its latest remake, and while it’s not without its faults, it remains an excellent companion piece to the 2005 classic. Even if you’ve never played Capcom’s game before you’ll most certainly be aware of its heritage and how it reinvented both the Resident Evil franchise and the third-person action genre in general. This remake doesn’t do that, but you’ll be having such a good time you won’t really care. It’s perhaps inevitable that Capcom’s remake doesn’t immediately impress in…

» System: Switch (version tested), PS4, PS5 » Buy it for: £44.99 » Buy it from: Online, retail Vanillaware’s fantasy real-time strategy game first appeared on the PS2 in 2007, and time hasn’t dulled its unique appeal one bit. The developer has always been known for its excellent 2D art and the transition to HD displays has been handled superbly, while gameplay has been tweaked with the addition of new Grand Magic abilities and a skill tree to develop your units. Unfortunately the lack of visual variety in the battlefields was a weak point of the original and it hasn’t really been addressed here, and the English voice acting isn’t the strongest, but overall this is a solid update that has clearly been handled with great care. NICK THORPE Score…

GRUMPHERS (Jim Waterman, Lambda 8300 16K) <Made for the Hong Kong-built ZX81 clone, the title Grumphers does not fit a single-screen racing game!/> SPECTRUM COMPUTING HAS GOT LOVE BUGS (Robert Morrison, ZX Spectrum) <Requiring the Kempston Mouse, this game has brilliant presentation with its 1-bit graphics of Internet memes. /> STICKY HORACE (ZXKerl, ZX Spectrum) <The overall ‘winner’, as they put it, was Sticky Horace with a very familiar blue sprite pole vaulting his way across varying-size gaps. /> ERROR REPORT ROULETTE (Jim Waterman, Various) <Jim’s unusual title “would have been improved by being an actual game, rather than an encyclopaedic exploration of error messages”, says Andy. /> 10D BATHROOM DESIGN (Firelord, ZX Spectrum) <“The manual contains scientific explanations of why you are more creative in your bathroom!” says Firelord…

<BODY> This mixes an old-school dungeon explorer with elements from Dark Souls. There are four character classes to choose from – knight, paladin, swordsman and wizard – affecting your starting stats. These are strength, dexterity, intelligence, vitality, and endurance. Entering the dungeon, your view is shown in first-person with walls and other objects visible as you explore. On each procedurally generated level, there is a bonfire where you can seek refuge. Here you can restore health or level-up (improving your stats) by spending Souls. Potions can also be used to restore health. Encountering the blacksmith allows you to buy, sell and forge weapons, you can pray at statues, and run into enemies to defeat. Combat moves the action to a simple overhead view. To attack an enemy you must move…

<BODY> “I made the music for the original PC version,” explains DJ H0ffman (Ian Ford). “When I was looking for a new Amiga project, I approached Gareth Noyce to see if he would be happy for me to port it. He’s been really helpful when I’ve raised questions about mechanics and has been playtesting parts of the game to make sure everything feels right.” The game’s known for its particle effects – achieved here by using four bitplanes and triple buffering. “Emoon/The Black Lotus designed a system which used the blitter to generate self-modifying code for drawing and highly optimised the update process. I added an adaptive mode – when the game overruns a frame, it throttles the particle counts. It means gameplay still feels really fluid even on low-spec…