Indholdsfortegnelse for No. 261 i Retro Gamer

Something I’ve learnt over the past few years is that if you say something and then add a ‘but’, everything before the ‘but’ doesn’t count. It’s a pretty solid rule that holds in most situations. “I don’t want to be rude, but that dress isn’t very nice.” “I really like you, but we should split up.” And here’s today’s zinger… “I don’t mean to sound like an old fart, but kids have it way too easy when it comes to videogames these days.” Phones, tablets, consoles, TVs – games are ubiquitous in 2024. Go back 20 years to 1984 (1984 is most definitely NOT 40 years ago, whatever these so-called scientists and calendars will tell you) and we had to hunt high and low for anything resembling a computer game.…

Nintendo can always bank on Mario’s inimitable blend of mass appeal and fundamentally excellent gameplay, and Super Mario Galaxy was its big Wii hit for the holidays. Edge gave it the full 10/10, saying that it “pulls off stunts no one else has even thought of, and makes it look easy”, while nRevolution gave it 9.6/10, praising the planet-hopping platforming for “allowing a huge variety of elements to be squeezed into each stage without ever feeling cluttered or overly confusing”. Official Nintendo Magazine gave it 97% and games™ scored it 9/10. Also on the Wii, Mario & Sonic At The Olympic Games saw the platforming rivals face off in multi-sports action, with scores of 9.0/10 in nRevolution, 90% in ONM and 8/10 in games™ proving the wisdom of the concept. Capcom’s point-and-click…

» AMSTRAD CPC » 1986 » ALAN BRIDGMAN It’s funny what things stay with you. I have a cousin called Chris and like me, he had an Amstrad, although his was a CPC 6128. Chris’ mum and my mum were quite close and would often go out together. One weekend they went away and when they came back they told us that they bought us a game each. Chris got Ocean’s amazing adaptation of RoboCop. I on the other hand received Guzzler. I was disappointed at only getting a budget game, when my cousin got one of the latest full-price releases, but my mum was so pleased she’d found me a game that she thought I’d like, I didn’t let my disappointment show. I said thanks and dutifully loaded it…

EVERYTHING IN-ENGINE ■ Throughout the Nineties as games began to explore what 3D could do, a mix of pre-rendered video clips and static-camera moments were the only way to do exposition and narrative beats. Metal Gear Solid did everything in its engine so there was no separation, which meant a more immersive way of presenting the narrative during play. LAYERED DETECTION ■ Metal Gear Solid released the same year as Thief: The Dark Project, Tenchu: Stealth Assassins and Commandos: Behind Enemy Lines, each handling stealth in their own pioneering ways. Metal Gear Solid had a more detail-orientated approach, such as detection through footprints, stepping into puddles and showing your breath in the cold Alaskan air. CODEC ■ Being that Snake was a lone infiltrator, Kojima needed a way to provide…

Amstrad CPC ■ There’s plenty of colour in this Amstrad port of Booty from Paul Johnson and Melvyn Wright. Despite some bizarre design – the ghost pirates have bright red eyes that resemble the Cylons from Battlestar Galactica – there are some notable improvements, including a sweet explosion every time Jim encounters a booby trap. The tune is just as annoying, however. Commodore 16 ■ Coded by Kevin Moughtin, this version is cut down to 16 screens and shares the burnt umber hue of the C64 game. While the music may possibly be the least annoying of all versions, the inferior graphics and stultifyingly slow gameplay make it a horrendous chore to play. There are also many more trapdoors, which soon becomes very irritating. Commodore 64 ■ Kevin Moughtin’s C64…

» MEGA DRIVE » 1990 » SUNSOFT This may sound like heresy to some of you, but Batman has never really grabbed me. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t actively avoid the franchise and I remember enjoying Batman Begins, but I think I’ve had some rotten luck – after all, Val Kilmer and George Clooney were the silver screen versions of Bruce Wayne that I grew up with, and the mediocre Mega Drive version of Batman Returns was my first videogame encounter with the caped crusader. However, when a friend was selling the first Mega Drive Batman game a little while ago, I had to go for it. Batman is one of the earlier Mega Drive hits, a nice, responsive platform beat-’em-up with some horizontally scrolling shooting sections thrown in…

DEATH A boss, of sorts, Death appears in almost every Gauntlet title from the original onwards. In his first incarnation, Death can only be dispatched by using a magic potion. If this isn’t done then he attempts to partially drain the health of the player characters and then disappears. CHIMERA Keeper of the second key in Gauntlet: Legends, the Chimera has three energy bars depicting the health of its snake, lion and raven heads, which breathe acid, fire and lightning. You can wound it with a scimitar, or by reflecting its attacks back at its heads with a special shield. SCARECROW A disfigured bandaged hookhanded giant, the Scarecrow is the first boss you battle in Gauntlet: Seven Sorrows. Skilled in close combat thanks to his hooks, and capable of performing…

» MANUFACTURER: Sharp » YEAR: 1986 » COST: ¥32,000 (launch), £220+ (today, boxed), £130+ (today, unboxed) The arrival of the Famicom Disk System in early 1986 brought larger games to Nintendo’s 8-bit console, but it had its disadvantages. The bulky extra unit required its own power supply, and had to be disconnected every time you wanted to play a cartridge game. That was unavoidable for existing Famicom owners, but newcomers would have a more convenient option via Sharp, under licence from Nintendo – the Twin Famicom, an all-in-one unit that could play cartridge and disk games as standard. Being a premium option, it retailed for ¥2,200 more than the combined cost of a Famicom and Disk System. The Twin Famicom looks radically different from the standard Famicom but functions similarly,…

ZX SPECTRUM ■ A polished attempt. The scrolling is smooth but slow, and the colours are limited. Sound (or lack of) is the biggest issue, even on the 128K version. Case in point: the climactic Death Star explosion is completely silent. But then, there is no sound in space, so… BBC MICRO ■ This is curious. It’s basically the Speccy version, but with even less colour and sound. Everything else has been ported straight over, so it does play OK. If you think the Ewok TV movies are acceptable entertainment then you’d probably tolerate this. AMSTRAD CPC ■ Now we’re getting somewhere. This is a well-presented conversion, featuring good graphics and enough garish colour to give off strong arcade vibes. The only downside is the difficulty – the levels have…

WATCH YOUR SIX ■ In the first and final scenes, you’ll be fired upon if you let enemies tail you for too long. The trick is to flip positions by leading enemies to the top (right) of the screen, then quickly falling back and blowing them to bits when they’re exposed. IT’S A TRAP! ■ By triggering the Ewok traps in the forest you can destroy pursuing enemies and also bag bonus points. However, this can be a risky strategy and it’s often safer to lure enemies towards traps and then circumvent them at the last second. SCOUTING FOR KILLS ■n All vehicles fire straight-ahead, except the Scout Walker which can also fire to the left and right (use the thumb buttons on the controller to turn its ‘head’). It’s…

THE JETSONS AMIGA, 1991 ■ A TV cartoon licensed game with faithful graphics designed with younger players in mind. THE BLUES BROTHERS C64, 1991 ■ A fun platformer nicely converted for the Commodore 64 with a suitably Blues Brothers vibe. HEROQUEST C64, 1991 ■ 221b’s interpretation of the Milton Bradley board game went down well with reviewers. PREDATOR 2 C64, 1991 ■ This entertaining shooter based on the movie sequel was a frenetic and challenging conversion. ALCATRAZ AMIGA, 1992 ■ A split-screen two player Green Beret and Ninja Warriors mash-up which played surprisingly well. DALEK ATTACK PC, 1992 ■ BBC TV’s Time Lord jumped, dodged and shot his way through yet another Dalek invasion of Earth.…

ATARI ST ■ The ST version, the only other version developed by Tony Crowther, is similar to the Amiga, but far from identical. It has chiptune music and lacks the full scrolling of the Amiga version, with the screen flipping horizontally instead. It also feels a little pacier than the Amiga version. AMSTRAD CPC ■ Like the Spectrum, Captain Planet on the Amstrad is a cheerful affair, with colour aplenty. Completely different to the Amiga version, it plays like a blend of Exolon and Shadow Of The Beast with hints of Robot Unicorn Attack. Also, you get to be Captain Planet right from the start. MEGA DRIVE ■ The Mega Drive game is yet another distinct version, this time by developer NovaLogic. Like the Amiga, it’s a platform game with…

» SATURN » 1995 » SEGA AM3 After 28 years of wanting to own a copy of Baku Baku Animal, I have finally achieved that goal. Now, you may be wondering why I wanted to own the game so much, and that’s a good question. It’s a puzzle game in which you drop blocks representing food, as well as blocks representing the animals that eat that food – rabbits and carrots, pandas and bamboo, and so on. It’s a lot like Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, except with fewer cute chibi fighting game characters, and far more surreal and slightly terrifying pre-rendered 3D imagery. Those animations of animals chomping away are certainly pretty freaky. Anyway, the whole saga started back in 1996 – I’d had my fill of Columns and didn’t…

■ “On the research park in Guildford, we were right next to a hospital, the Royal Surrey,” says Mark, “and Gary Carr and I would actually spend some time walking around the corridors of the hospital just to try and get some inspiration.” In the early design stages, they imagined that Theme Hospital would be more true to life, so they were keen to find out as much as they could about what actually went on inside these buildings. “We contacted the Royal Surrey and asked whether we could come and see behind the scenes, and they wrote back and said, “Yeah, but we want a percentage of the game when it’s finished,” and it was like, there’s no way that’s going to happen,” says Mark. But other hospitals were…

INFORMATION » RELEASED: OUT NOW » SYSTEM: PLAYSTATION 5 (TESTED), PS4, XBOX ONE, XBOX SERIES S/X, PC » PRICE: £34.99 » PUBLISHER: PRIME MATTER » DEVELOPER: NIGHTDIVE STUDIOS » BUY IT FROM: ONLINE, RETAIL » PLAYERS: 1 Nightdive Studios’ ambitious remake of System Shock has certainly been a long time coming. Starting life in 2015, it had a successful Kickstarter but then hit the development doldrums as it had numerous restarts, saw its release pushed back several times and moved engine from Unity to Unreal. Thankfully, the lengthy delay has resulted in a truly exceptional remake that not only captures the essence of the 1994 game but modernises it in numerous ways as well. The most notable change is visually and it looks truly excellent in places. While much of…

If you’ve played Magical Drop before, you know the basics here. Pull gems down, throw them back up and if you match three or more of the same colour in a column, they’ll disappear, along with any of the same colour that are directly connected. If you’re passionate about puzzle games, you’ll love how much has been built on top of that solid base – the usual Story, Match, Survival, Puzzle and Caravan Modes are supplemented with a single-player Story Mode and the Path Of Destiny, plus local and online multiplayer. If you’re not so fanatical, the Arcade Archives release of Magical Drop III offers less but its lower price is hard to overlook. Score 81%…

SUNGLASSES <Timo collects a pair of sunglasses on the first level – pressing Space puts them on or takes them off during the rest of the game. /> IDLE STATE <Leave the controls alone for a few seconds and Timo starts playing with a yo-yo, inspired by a certain hedgehog. /> DOORWAYS <In Henry’s House, the intermission showed Henry travelling between rooms. Timo does the same, with added symbols on the doorways. /> DYNAMIC ENEMIES <Collecting certain items will change the behaviour of enemies or unleash more – such as the runaway horse in The Mews (level 2). /> CHANGING SCREENS <Collecting a particular item on each screen has a major effect – for example, the Garden’s umbrella sets off rain and lightning. />…

ROGUECRAFT <INFO FORMAT: AMIGA CREDITS: BADGERPUNCH GAMES FOR THALAMUS DIGITAL (RICKI SICKINGER – CODE, HENNING LUDVIGSEN – ART, JOGEIR LILJEDAHL – MUSIC) PRICE: TBC WEB: BIT.LY/ROGUECRAFT-AMIGA /> <BODY> The hero Zendar stands outside the Dungeons Of Mordecom, ready to search for a powerful magic amulet. But the legends say dark powers and creatures with tentacles guard it, so the hero needs to be prepared. Zendar can choose one of three classes; Warrior is the easiest difficulty, fighting with a sword, the Rogue (medium difficulty) can use a teleport limited by a cooldown to jump away from battle, while the weak Wizard (hard difficulty due to lower starting health) can fire Magic Missiles to hit enemies at range. The Roguelike isometric dungeons change with each playthrough, with the hero gaining Strength…

Pac-Man’s “Waka-waka-waka”, the Space Invaders pulsing bass drone thing, Mario’s springy jump sound or the ‘ping!’ when he grabs a coin, Sonic The Hedgehog’s final gulps as his lungs fill with water… these are among the most iconic sound effects from gaming history. But… is there any sound from any game that has become as iconic as the alert noise – along with the accompanying exclamation point – from Metal Gear Solid? You know the one. You probably heard it in your head when I just mentioned it. Look at this exclamation mark. Go on. Do it now. I can wait. Look at it and try not to hear the sound – ! I just typed out some punctuation that you could hear. I mean… that. Is. Insane. It’s apparently…

SPLINTER CELL ■ While there were no direct elements taken from Metal Gear Solid into Splinter Cell, Kojima’s work was an influence on Francois Coulon in his approach to directing the Ubisoft stealth series. Following the same desire for a cinematic experience and keeping the player in-game was critical. UNDETECTED ■ One of Antonio Freyre’s games, Undetected wears its Metal Gear Solid inspiration on its sleeve from its top-down camera perspective to item picks-up and character movement. That’s not to say that it’s a game without its own interesting ideas or elements, of course, but fans of Kojima’s work will want to check this out. UNMETAL ■ While the art style is more in line with the original Metal Gear games rather than the 3D Solid versions, UnMetal plays with…

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» AMIGA » 1988 » PALACE SOFTWARE  You see a lot of ambition in the games industry and it can often lead to very good things. Sometimes though, you can push an idea too far, like this sequel from Palace Software. While it improved on the original game in numerous ways, I found it to be a far weaker experience than its predecessor overall. There’s no denying that the presentation and visual quality of Barbarian II is top-notch. From the moment the loading screen appears and a skeletal hand rips its way out of the beefy hero’s chest and motions you inside, it’s obvious you’re going to be in for a lot of fun. And Barbarian II is fun, to a point. One of the biggest differences to the gameplay now…

■ Prior to Atari’s coin-op game, Parker Brothers released its own take on Return Of The Jedi for Atari’s home systems: the 2600, 5200 and 400/800. Subtitled Death Star Battle, the game presents two scenes that recreate the space skirmish from the film’s conclusion. Taking control of the Millennium Falcon, you first have to blast Imperial ships while waiting for an opening to briefly appear in the Death Star’s energy shield. If you manage to pass through the shield, you’re warped into range of the space station where you have to chip away at its outer defences until you hit the core (this is a bit like the boss battle in Phoenix). At this point the Death Star blows and you have to avoid flying chunks of debris that vomit…

ROBOCOP ■ For many this is Ocean’s definitive film licence. Featuring the same scattered structure of game ideas that was found in Platoon and would work its way into many of Ocean’s other film licences, it’s an absolute triumph of a game that’s further bolstered by high-end production values and some excellent versions across all home systems. It became a huge success for Ocean, staying in the charts for months. OPERATION WOLF ■ Ocean converted a number of Taito coin-ops to home computers and this is another sterling conversion from the publisher. It features all the mechanics and levels of the arcade original and manages to retain the same frenetic action as well. It’s also notable in that it has no weak versions with each being well received on release.…

TV LICENCES ■ Working for Alternative Software and Hi-Tec inevitably led to 221b producing TV-licensed products. Hannah Barbera’s The Jetsons and BBC TV’s Doctor Who series gave the team two very different worlds to work in. Neither would prove to be classic games, but what they did prove was 221b’s ability to produce perfectly good games under quite strict creative guidelines. CONVERSION WORK ■ Diverse movie-licensed games like The Blues Brothers and Predator 2 were expertly developed conversions on an ageing 8-bit platform that not only did the original game designs proud, but also proved that the decade-old Commodore 64 platform was not quite dead yet. Being a bigger fish in that shrinking pool paid dividends in the short term but became 221b’s Achilles heel in the end. ONE EGG…

In the early Nineties, cartoon hero Captain Planet made his way to consoles and computers, with his Planeteers in tow. On the Amiga and ST, this took the well-trodden form of a multi-level platform game. But Captain Planet was not your run-of-the-mill platformer. Each of the five Planeteers has their own level, with the characters’ abilities changing the way you navigate the environments. Each level also progresses on to a vehicle section, adding further variety, and there are different tasks on each one, such as rescuing animals and clearing up pollution. On the sixth, and final level, you become Captain Planet himself, and can switch between all the powers you’ve unlocked to take on the obstacles in your path, before a final showdown with boss Duke Nukem. Lead developer Antony…

A SOLID OPTION GRADIUS GAIDEN DEVELOPER: KONAMI RELEASE: 1997 ■ Despite the popularity of Konami’s Gradius series, this PlayStation exclusive was originally confined to Japan. It’s a crying shame because it’s a genuinely great addition to the series with four distinct ships to choose from, some lovely throwbacks to earlier Gradius games and some tough-as-nails bosses. While it’s just as challenging as earlier games in the series, things are made somewhat easier due to Konami finally letting two Gradius players play simultaneously. It’s one of our favourite PlayStation shooters and is absolutely worth owning. Weirdly, prices for Konami’s shooter are all over the place. We’ve seen copies of the original range in price from £17 to £80, but £45 is far more typical. The reissue version, despite having a rather ugly…

DREAMCAST (USA) 14 MARCH 2000 ■ The first home version of the game is virtually indistinguishable from the arcade game on a technical level. Sadly, additions are thin on the ground – Team Battle, Sparring and Versus modes are your lot. The Counter Hold system has been simplified, though you can choose the arcade system. PLAYSTATION 2 (JAPAN) 30 MARCH 2000 ■ On the surface, this is an improvement over the Dreamcast game, with revised lighting and visual effects, as well as three new stages and a multitude of unlockable costumes. Unfortunately, the game was rushed out for the PS2’s launch and suffers from bugs and has a noticeably jagged look. DREAMCAST (EUROPE) 28 JULY 2000 ■ This version is identical to the American Dreamcast release in most respects, but…

Mark Webley joined Bullfrog in the early Nineties, and his first role was to oversee the conversion of games like Populous II, Syndicate and Theme Park to different formats. He went on to design Theme Hospital with Gary Carr, then cofounded Lionhead Studios alongside Peter Molyneux, Tim Rance and Steve Jackson in 1997. He worked on games like Black & White, Fable and The Movies at Lionhead, but left in 2013 after the studio’s owner, Microsoft, began moving towards liveservice games. He cofounded Two Point Studios in 2016, which went on to launch Two Point Hospital in 2018, followed by Two Point Campus in 2022. How did you get into games? During my university industrial year, I spent 14 months programming business software and realised I needed to do something…

■ Mark formed Two Point Studios in 2016 alongside Gary Carr and Ben Hymers, and their first game, 2018’s Two Point Hospital, was a spiritual successor to Theme Hospital. They followed it up with Two Point Campus in 2022, which tasks the player with running a university. “We’ve obviously been working on another one, which I’m not allowed to talk about,” says Mark. “But you can imagine we’re not just sitting around doing nothing.” Two Point was acquired by Sega in 2019, and Mark says it’s been smooth sailing so far. “Sega have left us to do our own thing,” he says. “Obviously, you need to tell them what you’re doing and how much money you’re going to spend, but we’re a small enough studio that I can actually jump…

This classic dungeon crawler has been thoroughly updated. As well as a modern presentation, the game features optional quality-of-life improvements including auto-mapping, the ability to recruit pre-made characters and more. The care and attention we expect from Digital Eclipse is evident, but even with the modern options enabled Wizardry is utterly brutal. The game assaults you with massive groups of enemies and instantly kills your characters, but the process of delving slightly deeper into the maze with every incursion is compelling if you have the stomach for the challenge. Score 78%…

<BODY> “I want to make a game that’s true to the TV show, including puzzling and character interaction, as well as arcade action,” says Tom about his new project. “Treguard will be constantly on-hand to provide clues, as the TV show is effectively a series of 30-ish back-to-back minigames. There’s no way I’m going to be able to squeeze anything like that into memory.” Fortunately, Tom has received help, after revealing a preview on Twitter. “Musician Joe Olney got in touch to create the in-game music,” we’re told. “Neither of us has worked on a Spectrum game before, so we’re both feeling our way in terms of what’s possible. We’re hoping to have a separate score for each of the three dungeon levels as well as the theme tune.” Tom’s…

Who is the best boss from Metal Gear Solid? JeebusCrysis The final fight with Liquid… Out of all the bosses, that fight was so normal yet personal! Basically Liquid and Solid getting rid of all their tricks and settling the fight the old-fashioned way… no bullshit! Joey Freeze Cyborg Ninja… because real men fight without weapons. Martin Whitehouse I quite enjoyed Vulcan Raven. Finding inventive ways to mess him about and damage him with every type of weapon was good fun. Lee The Revolver Ocelot battle is my favourite. All of the strange sexual jokes he spews during the gunfight are hilarious. The battle itself is fun too. Mateus Fedozzi Psycho Mantis… unforgettable! The suspense building to the fight, the controller and memory card shenanigans, the metanarrative permeating everything, the…

INTERNATIONAL SUPERSTAR SOCCER DELUXE » As we write this page, a ball has yet to be kicked in Euro 2024, so we have no idea of the winner. There’s a good chance that you may not know either, given that this issue will be hitting shelves before the quarter-finals. Knowing that, we’re going to try to use the past to predict the future, utilising a retro football classic to see who claims victory this summer.…

While many of us have fond memories of the Intellivision, the brand has seen some rough years recently – most notably through its use for the Amico, a much-delayed console that many have written off as vapourware. That has come to an end though, as Atari has bought the rights to the Intellivision brand and many of its games. “Our decision to purchase the Intellivision brand was an easy one. There is a lot of value in the brand as well as the game IP we acquired. Together they fit very nicely within our business strategy,” says Atari’s David Lowey. The deal is notable because the Intellivision was Mattel Electronics’ competitor to the Atari 2600, arguably the first major competitor that the company faced. “The reaction to the deal that…

With a passion for print and a history of handheld gaming, Paul Murphy has gone from magazines like Vitamag and Switch Player to creating the retro-focussed GameBook and GameBook Color (which, for full disclosure, our own Nick Thorpe contributed to). We took the time to catch up and find out more about his work so far, as well as what’s next for his independent publishing house. How did you start off with The Vita Lounge and Vitamag, Paul? I left school and didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life, so I ended up working at McDonald’s. Fifteen years later, being a store manager, I was going mad – I was getting good money for it, but I had no quality of life. We’d started fostering and…

■ Given the massive visual advances that the PS2 and GameCube had brought about only a couple of years after the release of Metal Gear Solid, it’s not surprising that a remake was on the cards. Titled Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, it took the original game almost exactly and ported it into a more contemporary version of itself. The arrangement for the remake was handled between Konami and Nintendo, but with MGS3 deep in development Kojima couldn’t spare the time. He recommended Silicon Knights due to its work on Eternal Darkness. Ryuhei Kitamura handled the new cutscenes, however, with the director replacing the original’s with his action-movie cinematography. Since MGS2 had released in 2001, a lot of the work was bringing the original game over into that engine.…

Like many of his peers, John F Cain drifted into game development, intrigued by the emergent home-computer market. “I was working as an architect, doing technical drawings for houses and so on,” he begins. “Then someone offered me a job working with electronic equipment, doing engineering drawings – for double the salary.” John’s new company soon folded, but working there gave him an insight into machine code programming. “So I was out of a job and, by coincidence, I’d got myself a ZX80, built it, then got a ZX81 and Spectrum.” Having dabbled with magazine type-ins, he eventually looked to create his own programs. “I was completely self-taught, usually by trial and error. I started moving a dot around the Spectrum screen and seeing what else I could get it…

Look Out For Bombs! ■ Thar be danger in that treasure! Some items Jim picks up contain a lethal bomb, activated when he’s near. Approach cautiously, and try to pick up items from the right as that’s where the collision detection, such as it is, kicks in. Disappearing Deak ■ Jim’s a fragile fellow and will plunge to his doom from even the shortest drop. Consequently, these disappearing platforms require care – don’t try to be a hero and rush across. You won’t make it. Inevitably, the game makes sure you need to traverse them several times. Walking The (moving) plank ■ In Booty, walking the plank is a survival skill. These horizontally moving platforms are in several levels, and getting on to them is tricky. Line Jim up with…

DANDY In terms of its gameplay, Gauntlet takes its lead from John Palevich’s Atari 8-bit dungeon crawler. It may have sparsely coloured levels and barely animated characters, but its four-player co-op, spawners, level exit warps and smart bombs clearly informed Gauntlet’s core mechanics. GAUNTLET (DS) The unreleased DS version of Gauntlet is top-down like the original, but it adopts Gauntlet: Legends’ levelling-up mechanics and its focus on more open stages. The DS title impresses with its bosses and Turbo attacks, and it boasts an online four-player mode as well as a local one. GAUNTLET: SLAYER EDITION Like its DS predecessor, Gauntlet: Slayer Edition favours a bird’s eye view of the action. You can set traps for enemies and buy better attacks between stages using the gold you’ve collected, and there’s…

■ Fans of the film will remember the deadly discs used by Tron in his final battle with Sark, as well as the jai alai-style ring game played by Flynn in an early scene, so understandably Bill tasked one of his programming team with building a level around this concept. “The guy I hired, who shall remain nameless, asked for an oscilloscope,” recalls Bill. “I said, ‘What for?’ and he told me the hardware didn’t work. I explained that he needed to enter a special sequence of code to access the system, which we’d given him, but he just said, ‘No, I write my own code.’ He wanted to do everything his way. We were given all the routines so we programmers could just focus on making the game… but…

Return Of The Jedi, the third film in the original Star Wars trilogy, premiered in May 1983. The same month, Atari capitalised on the latest instalment by releasing its Star Wars arcade game. Fans could watch the film in the auditorium and then play the coin-op in the arcade next door. But Atari’s game was not based on Return Of The Jedi. Rather it was an adaptation of the original 1977 movie and memorably used colour vector graphics to depict the climactic Death Star battle in stunning first-person 3D. Riding high on the saga’s worldwide success, the game proved to be a huge hit, generating sales of $15 million and helping keep Atari’s arcade division buoyant throughout a turbulent time for the industry. Atari had paid $1 million for the…

Return Of The Jedi was both a massive movie licence and the follow-up to Atari’s hit Star Wars game. Did you feel the weight of expectation? Oh, man… did I! I remember that there was a showing at a cinema in Marin County, where Skywalker Ranch is located. I was supposed to have a playable prototype on display in the theatre lobby where people could get photo cameos with Darth Vader. I must have worked 12-16 hours a day in the months leading up to that, and I was really the only programmer. I remember sleeping on a sofa in the lab many times. I knew this game could make or break my career. I had to get it done and it had to be good. How far along was the game at…

Having been in business with his brother Simon for several years as the independent 8-bit developer and publisher Software Invasion, a seismic change came about at the end of the decade, as David Vout explains. “Software Invasion was winding down and my father was in Sheffield. He was diagnosed with cancer, so I went up there to be with him.” Sadly, David’s father passed away a few months later, and David was uncertain what to do next. “I took a temporary job at a friend’s greengrocers,” says David. “I was meant to be driving deliveries, but I ended up stocking shelves. I lasted a week.” That experience proved to be a motivation, spurring him to do something more creative, using his past programming and publishing experience. “I recorded clips of all…

■ Captain Planet has a nice bonus system, where the ghosts of fallen enemies trail your character. Whenever you get points they release score text that floats upwards, changing colour as it goes. If you accumulate a lot of them, this can look spectacular as every time you score points the screen will be peppered with bonuses. It’s also a great way to boost your score, especially if you can keep them around until you save animals towards the end of levels. Your best shot at this is on the relatively gentle first area. They’re lost if you get killed though or if you use your emergency fall recovery power. It’s always a shame to see them go when you fall off a platform, but lives are precious. The idea…

■ When the Xbox launched in 2001, Dead Or Alive 3 served as a fantastic showcase for almost everything the console could do. The only problem was that it couldn’t yet do online play, as Xbox Live didn’t launch until November 2002. Rather than releasing a new version with online play, Tecmo chose to bring the prior entries in the series to the Xbox with online play. Thus, Dead Or Alive Ultimate was born. The original Dead Or Alive is represented with a straight port of the Saturn conversion, but the exciting part is the second game, which has been remade from the ground up. The story is the same and the original soundtrack returns, but many of the locations have been heavily revamped or completely replaced, with new additions…

» GAME BOY ADVANCE » 2004 » GAME FREAK When Pokémon hit the UK, it did so at a personally awkward time. I got Pokémon Blue and a Game Boy Color for my 13th birthday, and both my classmates and adults would sometimes ask me, “But isn’t that for kids?” Of course, being in my early teen years, I was a kid – but it often didn’t feel that way. I wanted to watch the Pokémon TV show at the weekend, but my Saturday morning job forced me to rely on my family remembering to tape it. I’d play the Pokémon trading card game at my local model shop, but ended up favouring Magic: The Gathering because the older players it attracted were more challenging opponents. Soon enough, I began wondering…

The apparitions are acting up again, and Luigi’s back to vacuum them all up. Comparisons to Luigi’s Mansion 3 are inevitable since the two games share a price point. The fantastic animations of the original 3DS version are retained, and watching our petrified protagonist struggle to contain his fear is a delight, but the visual reworking doesn’t quite bring the game up to the standard of Luigi’s Mansion 3. The gameplay is likewise a step behind – it’s certainly fun and the greater variety of locations is welcome, but the mission-based structure can grow tiresome over long sessions. Existing fans will love it, but newcomers should try Luigi’s Mansion 3 first. >> Score 75%…

<INTRO> CASTLES AND DUNGEONS OFTEN PLAY A BIG ROLE IN COMPUTER GAMES. FIND OUT WHAT INSPIRED A NEW C64 GAME BASED AROUND A SCOTTISH CASTLE, DELVE DEEP INTO THE AMIGA DUNGEONS (GENERATED PROCEDURALLY) WITH ROGUECRAFT, AND PREPARE TO FOLLOW TREGUARD’S ADVICE IN A NEW KNIGHTMARE GAME FOR THE ZX SPECTRUM. WATCH OUT FOR GHOSTS WITH A LONG-AWAITED BBC CONVERSION AND CHECK OUT OUR CHAMPION CODER – WHO IS WORKING EXCLUSIVELY IN CGA GRAPhics. </INTRO> <MAIN HEADER> CASTLE CREATION <INTRO> Programmer Roman Werner from Team Pixelbrei takes us behind the scenes of the brilliant new C64 game, Timo’s Castle </INTRO> <BODY> Announcing a new game on 1 April was certainly a brave tactic by Roman Werner. “Ron Gilbert announced Return To Monkey Island on 1 April and got away with it,”…

DAMIAN GARETH WALKER <INTRO> KNOWN AS CYNINGSTAN, DAMIAN’S UNIQUE GAMES ARE DESIGNED WITH CGA GRAPHICS FOR RUNNING ON A 1981 PC </INTRO> <INFO FROM: ENGLAND WEBSITE: DOS.CYNINGSTAN.ORG.UK/ FORMAT: PCDOS/CGA PREVIOUS GAME: OSSUARY (DOS) WORKING ON: OSSUARY SEQUEL (DOS) /> HI DAMIAN, CAN YOU TELL US WHAT CYNINGSTAN MEANS It’s Old English meaning king stone, a piece in a board game the Anglo-Saxons played. It might be difficult to pronounce but has the virtue of not being already taken! WHEN DID YOU START PROGRAMMING CGA GAMES? About 2015, I got a Hewlett Packard 100LX – I started tinkering with game ideas for its CGA display. When the pandemic hit, I had the time and energy to put some serious effort in. I’m not much of an artist – give me four…

A BERLIN TREAT Hi Retro Gamer, After reading about the excellent Leicester games museum piece, which I really need to get to, I thought I would share a tip for any travellers going to Berlin regarding the fantastic Computer Spiele Museum (Computer Games Museum). It’s surprisingly large with an excellent collection, including bedroom setups in Seventies, Eighties and Nineties attire. The highlight though is the East Germany-only games console (picture attached) created from a soap dish for the controller and a margarine tub for the console. They have also had Hideo Kojima, John Romero and Steve Wozniak visit! It’s definitely worth a few hours if you visit Berlin. Keep up the good work Lewis TN, Lincoln Thanks for sharing your images, Lewis. The museum looks absolutely fantastic and we’ll be…

» WII, 2006, KONAMI When I think of Nintendo’s Wii, I don’t think of it as an underpowered console, but one that offered unrivalled possibilities over its peers. The Xbox 360 and PS3 certainly have some sensational games that look as good as they play, but they rarely pushed game mechanics in the same interesting ways that a good Wii game could. Take Eledees for example (or Elebits if you happen to be a Wii owner from NTSC regions). The core concept of Konami’s game isn’t particularly clever, and it’s one that could have been easily replicated on more powerful hardware, but the Wii’s controller helps turn Eledees into a truly delightful experience that’s still a great deal of fun to play today. The game itself requires you to seek…