Indholdsfortegnelse for No. 276 i Retro Gamer

If you have ever played more than one game by the Spanish developer Dinamic, you will no doubt begin to notice a common theme. No, they’re not all based around a particular mechanic or a certain character. Instead, they’re all intensely challenging – frustratingly so at times – and it would appear that’s just the way the company wanted it to be. “One of the characteristics of Dinamic games was their difficulty,” admits programmer Ignacio Abril. And if you ever want proof of that then you just need to give the first stage of Navy Moves a try. Taxing on both the memory and a player’s reflexes it could easily take days of hard graft to beat it and progress. “But it was a way of extending the duration of…

■ Proof that a good game never truly dies, Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Abril led the development of a PC remake of Navy Moves. He joined FX Interactive, a company that rose from the remnants of Dinamic (which went bankrupt in 1992) and Dinamic Multimedia (which shut down in 2001). Both Dinamic Multimedia and FX Interactive were cofounded by Nacho’s brother, Carlos Abril, and Navy Moves was seen as a good game to dust down and revive. “We started production of the new game in 1999 when the main graphics card of the time was the Nvidia TNT2,” Nacho says. “The game was very good for that time but the responsible people at FX Interactive were afraid of releasing it. They were very well regarded thanks to the past games they’d made…

People say that sequels are often a case of diminishing returns. Yet playing Championship Sprint, the follow-up to Super Sprint, it genuinely seems like things have actually diminished. The first track is exactly the same as the first track from Super Sprint – only the grandstands along the start/finish straight have been removed for some reason. Out of the eight tracks, three are carried over from Super Sprint, and none of the new ones bring anything new or particularly special to the table. Even the memorable ‘jump ramp’ element from Super Sprint, which admittedly was more Hazzard County than Brands Hatch, is missing. The key difference though is the number of players. Super Sprint supports three, which was one of the game’s big selling points when it was released, but…

SUPER OFF ROAD 1989 ■ Almost as a response to Atari’s slick circuits, Leland Corp’s Super Off Road served up rough tracks littered with bumps and jumps. The result was a supremely fun racer that made Super Sprint look rather routine. It even nicked its key feature – three-player support. BADLANDS 1990 ■ This is what happened when Atari crossed Super Sprint with Mad Max. It’s basically Sprint racing in a future wasteland, with the cars now equipped with weapons. The track theming was excellent, so it’s a shame the game opted to use a standard low-resolution display. ROUGH RACER 1990 ■ If medium-res racing was more your thing, this System 24 game from Sega was designed just for you. It played like a mash-up of Super Sprint and Wacky…

How do you possibly follow up a game like Elite? The 1984 space trading adventure was not only a best-seller, but broke boundaries in the history of gaming too. It pioneered the concept of open-ended gameplay within an expansive 3D world, and inspired countless space simulators that followed. In the aftermath of such a milestone, you might have forgiven David Braben, who made Elite with his fellow Cambridge graduate Ian Bell, for taking some time off to enjoy his success. Of course, David had other plans. “After Elite, there were things I was keen to do to improve the graphics. I knew I could improve them, even on the 8-bit machines,” David tells us. “Immediately after finishing Elite, I wrote a faster renderer, still line-drawn, but one that could do…

AMIGA ■ Playing the original game on a standard Amiga 500 offers a decent experience, but you might notice things getting a bit slow around planets. The Amiga 1200 fares better. The enhanced version released for the Amiga CD32 improves the game with extra touches and more fluidity. ATARI ST ■ This is essentially the same as the Amiga game, but with certain stripped back elements. The lower-resolution graphics are noticeable when you look down at the surface of planets, and the simplified sound is quite tinny. Overall though the performance is pleasingly nippy. PC ■ The 1997 PC port was handled by Chris Sawyer, who is well known for creating Rollercoaster Tycoon and Transport Tycoon. Chris added texturemapped graphics, optimised performance and fixed bugs. Just note that many people…

In 1991, hot off the heels of shipping his fifth massively popular Final Fantasy title, series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi found no well-deserved rest. Instead, he immediately pivoted to development of the next game in the series, Final Fantasy VI, and another major development, this one more personal: he was now a father. Sakaguchi has always allowed his life experiences to shape his art, from memories of his mother to the sciencefantasy mashup of Ultima, he inserts himself into his games in a way that lays bare his most vulnerable moments. And Final Fantasy VI (originally released as Final Fantasy III in the West) was no different. Even as Sakaguchi’s experience as a new father shaped his personal life, it also defined the themes and ideas forming the foundation of his…

■ After its original release on the Super NES, Final Fantasy VI has seen regular rereleases and remasters on various platforms. None of them are perfect, though they each made attempts to add to the original experience (to varying degrees of success). Nowadays, the most practical way to play Final Fantasy VI comes as part of Square Enix’s massive Pixel Remaster set, which saw major remasters of all the 8 and 16-bit games. These versions offer newly polished pixel-art graphics for each game – leading to a consistent look between all six titles for the first time, including new character sprites redrawn by series creator Kazuko Shibuya – and are widely available on all major gaming platforms and mobile devices. Whether you buy them as a bundle or pick them…

The plunge into the depths of Descent began with the ascent of two people: Mike Kulas and Matt Toschlog. The two met at Sublogic in the mid-Eighties, where they were part of the development team of the early Flight Simulator games. Shortly thereafter, both moved to Lerner Research, programming games like Car & Driver and (after the company merged with Blue Sky Productions to become Looking Glass Studios) Ultima Underworld: The Stygian Abyss. Their love of textured polygons led them to propose a project to the company’s management, a mixture of a flight simulator and a tunnel shooter, which fell on deaf ears. So they left Looking Glass and founded their own company, Parallax Software, in June 1993 to realise their vision. Descent was originally given the working title XYZBots…

Modern games you’ll still be playing in years to come THE BACKGROUND The colloquialism ‘stopped me dead in my tracks’ is almost always used metaphorically. We say it to mean we’ve been emotionally stunned or surprised by something strange or awesome. But when we say that Sayonara Wild Hearts stopped us in our tracks, we mean it quite literally. We were walking the show floor of PAX East, one of the largest gaming conventions in North America, searching for something we’d never seen before. We passed by countless 2D Metroidvanias, the brilliant primary colours of the Pokémon showcase, the nondescript rash of Soulslikes and the seemingly endless stream of roguelikes. Plenty of games worth playing, but none that we’d describe as totally new. That’s when we saw the hyper-coloured synth-pop…

» DREAMCAST » 2001 » SONIC TEAM Sonic’s tenth anniversary outing is a funny one, as I initially thought it was an unquestionable improvement over its predecessor, but these days I prefer the original. Sonic Adventure 2 certainly isn’t short on visual flair and when you’ve mastered the main platform stages, the new moves provide a real sense of flow. Carving a path of destruction with Tails or Robotnik in their mech walkers is often great fun too, even if I do miss the faster pace of E-102’s stages from the original. I’m not sure how I overlooked just how infuriating the treasure-hunting stages starring Knuckles and Rouge are, though – as well as being larger and more numerous than before, there’s a less effective radar and worse clues. Of course,…

» System: Switch (version tested), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X » Buy it for: £31.99 » Buy it from: Online, retail Few names are as revered by shoot-’em up fans as Toaplan, and this compilation proves exactly why that is. You’ll find everything from the merciless precision of Tiger-Heli’s enemies to the early bullet hell of Batsugun here, with Flying Shark, Twin Cobra, Fire Shark, Out Zone, FixEight and Dogyuun also included to keep you blasting all night long. The emulation is solid and you get alternative regional versions, dip switch options and audio and visual filter options, so it’s hard to fault in gameplay terms. The only thing this lacks compared to the very best compilations is some museum-style extras, just to add a little context. >> Score…

<Amiga: Krogharr The Berserker is a scrolling beat-’em-up from Tigerskunk and currently $12 on itch. (1 Mb RAM, any Amiga) go rampaging at bit.ly/krogharr-amiga /> <Apple II: Colin Leroy-Mira has converted Shufflepuck Café, with mouse controls and a clever two-player mode via a null modem cable. Shuffle on over to bit.ly/shufflepuck-apple /> <BBC Micro: Alec Barker released the underwater maze game, AreGo: Deep Sea Rescue. Play it by visiting bit.ly/arego-bbc /> <Book: Shaun McClure has published How To Design Adventure Games, available in paperback and Kindle. Get reading at tinyurl.com/DesignAdventureGames /> <Intellivision: John Hancock’s block-breaking puzzle game Block ’Em Sock ’Em has been converted and is $9.99. Grab it from bit.ly/blockem-intellivsion /> <PC: Check out The Utterly Splendid Adventures Of Horace by Langford Productions, recreating the classic character’s games. Name your…

<BODY> Back in 1992, Koen was part of an MSX club. “I founded FutureDisk together with Dennis Lardenoye, until it came to an end in 2000. The MSX scene in the Netherlands had reached a low point. When we rebooted in 2021 with FutureDisk 46, 50 was a magical number we set out to reach, and it is a good moment to stop – while floppy disks are still available.” As well as articles in Dutch and English, there is a software menu. “It includes Nora by the creators of Pampas & Selene, and Sweet Acorn 2 (for MSX2). Peng Pong is a minigame where you play volleyball with penguins,” Koen says. “Two patches translate the intro demo of Burai and the entire game Seed Of Dragon into English. A…

Exclusive Subscriber Cover Every Issue! Reasons to subscribe… • NEW! Full digital access to 80+ back issues when you subscribe to print!** • You’ll never miss an issue! • It’s delivered direct to your door • Brilliant value – save money on the cover price SUBSCRIBE AND SAVE PRINT + DIGITAL ACCESS £21.06 EVERY 6 MONTHS SAVE 40%* DIGITAL EDITION £19.46 EVERY 6 MONTHS SUBSCRIBE ONLINE NOW AT www.magazinesdirect.com/RET/DH44E TELEPHONE 0330 333 1113 AND QUOTE DH44E TERMS & CONDITIONS Offer closes 1st November 2025. Price is guaranteed for the first 6 months, please allow up to 6 weeks for the delivery of your first subscription issue (up to 8 weeks overseas) the subscription rate includes postage and packaging. *Savings are based on the cover price. Payment is non-refundable after the 14-day cancel ation…

ARMY MOVES ■ The first game in the Moves trilogy was released in 1986. In this tricky starter, players would jump behind the wheel of a jeep or chopper and ensure their safe passage by blasting at any enemies that happened to be in the way. They’d then complete the game as a foot soldier. ARCTIC MOVES ■ This sequel to Navy Moves was originally earmarked for the Atari ST in the early Nineties but financial troubles meant it ended up being released instead for DOS PCs in 1995. The ST version was released in 2001 and this was used as the basis for an enhanced Amiga port in 2017.…

THIS MONTH IN DECEMBER 1991 Christmas 1991 was an exciting time for gamers. Sonic had debuted and the SNES was months away from its UK launch. 8-bit owners still had plenty to keep them happy though, and the January 1992 issue of Commodore Format included two tapes, selling almost 70,000 copies. One tape featured outstanding demos of two of the C64’s best games, First Samurai and Creatures 2, and two complete games from Hewson, Head The Ball and Mission Impossibubble. The second tape featured the Graphic Adventure Creator, an entire game-making package, letting readers create their own worlds. THE MAIN EVENT: FIRST SAMURAI The pull of 16-bit was strong in 1991, but First Samurai showed the C64 could still handle the games wowing on their shinier cousins. The C64 version…

C64 ■ A slight improvement over the C64 version of Super Sprint. There are now four cars (three of which are playable – hurrah!), but they are on the small side. The biggest regret is the lack of sound – bar some intro music, most of the action is accompanied by complete silence. The track editor is the saving grace. AMSTRAD CPC ■ This nice-looking version suffers from rather pedestrian gameplay, even when you upgrade your car with extra speed. Engine noise is present, but it’s pretty grating (think wasp in your ear canal). The track editor element is the best of all three versions, as it’s laid out in a way that makes it quick and easy to create courses. ZX SPECTRUM ■ Similar to the CPC version, only…

TRACK 1 ■ The sedate opening track returns from Super Sprint – a curious decision, but at least the simple layout and wide corners allow players to get accustomed to the controls. This is an ‘easy’ track, so no bonus wrenches are awarded, but you will find some out on the tarmac. TRACK 2 ■ A new track, but still straightforward. The crossroads is the only area to apply caution, especially if you meet the back markers on your way around. The two gates do save a little time, but only use them if you’re trailing behind, otherwise just go round the long way. TRACK 3 ■ Your first ‘medium’ difficulty track is nothing to worry about. Again, the crossroads can be chaotic if not timed right, but the shortcut…

■ Observant players discovered some curious, mostly harmless bugs in the launch version of Frontier: Elite II. The most famous of these, now known online as the wormhole bug, allowed you to overcome the normal limits for hyperspace jumps and travel vast distances across space if you targeted certain distant systems, including those between 655.36 and 670.36 light years away. Another example was the bribery bug. After committing a crime, attempting to bribe the police would see your fine become increasingly expensive. By then simply pleading innocence and responding “I didn’t do it”, the fine would suddenly reduce to just 500 credits. One more serious bug could crash the game if certain mining equipment was left behind at a base before a hyperspace jump. These issues were fixed in later…

» MEGA DRIVE » 1990 » NAMCO When I was a kid, The Complete Sega Solution was one of my greatest sources of gaming knowledge. It was a book full of reviews and tips for Master System and Mega Drive games, put together by the people who would later establish the magazine Sega Pro, and I read it until it literally fell to pieces. One game I discovered through this book was Megapanel, a puzzle game that was represented with a single black-and-white screenshot of a bunch of blocks against a rather nice anime-style backdrop of a woman with a camel. The gameplay is simple. Coloured blocks rise from the bottom of the screen, and you need to rearrange them to match three or more of the same colour in…

■ After the success of Descent on PC and PlayStation, a sequel was only logical, even if, according to Matt, it was originally planned as an add-on, “After the original release we started working on the CD version of Descent, which was supposed to include digital audio, better textures and other enhancements. But when Descent became a hit, the enhanced version became a sequel. It was basically the same game, but I think we added enough new content to justify it.” Immediately afterwards, the two founders of Parallax Software went their separate ways: Mike founded Volition Software, while Matt went independent with Outrage Entertainment, which led to interesting new game series such as Red Faction, Freespace and Saints Row. Outrage also developed Descent3 (1999), which wasn’t as successful as its…

EVERYBODY’S GOLF 4 ■ An action hero in a golf game is practically duty bound to play for laughs, and that’s exactly what Jak does in Everybody’s Golf 4. His celebrations include jumping uppercuts and ground pounds followed by perfectly delivered deadpan gags. RATCHET: DEADLOCKED ■ As a change of pace, the fourth title in the Ratchet & Clank series is a third-person shooter rather than a platformer with shooting and other gameplay involved. Deadlocked lets you play as Jak in its co-op mode if you get 50 Glamour Stars. PAIN ■ Given that Pain involves damaging ragdoll characters by slingshotting them into harm’s way, it follows that Daxter is featured. Humiliation and suffering are often amusingly heaped on the tiny Ottsel, so he’s the perfect candidate for Pain. LITTLEBIGPLANET…

A prolific composer for film, television and videogames, Jason Graves has always had a streak of horror coursing through his musical output. Following in the footsteps of genre legends Christopher Young and Jerry Goldsmith – think Hellraiser, Copycat, Alien and The Omen – Graves’ studies in composition came from beneath a dark, deadly shadow. The series for which he is perhaps best known today is the grisly, violently atmospheric – and oftentimes strangely beautiful – survival horror series Dead Space. Following embattled protagonist, the resourceful engineer Isaac Clarke, the player frequently fights off against grotesquely reanimated humans in the form of deadly Necromorphs, brought back to life by a mysterious extraterrestrial artefact known as the Marker. The environments of each Dead Space game are often dark, dank and deserted, leaving…

While this year’s Evercade cartridges have been something of a mixed bag, things are certainly hotting up as the year draws to a close. As much as we enjoyed the puzzle-focussed structure of Full Void and its gorgeous aesthetics, it felt like there simply wasn’t enough game there to justify being the first standalone Evercade release. Roguecraft DX has no such problems and it’s easily the best cartridge Blaze has released this year. If you’ve never played the Amiga version, Roguecraft DX is a roguelike that focusses on exploring dangerous isometric dungeons that are full of treasure and deadly monsters. You can go dungeon delving with three different characters, all of which have their own unique abilities. The Warrior is your archetypal tank and can soak up large amounts of…

» System: PC (version tested), PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X, Switch » Buy it for: £24.99 » Buy it from: Online, retail (PS5 and Switch only) This series of arcade golf games from Incredible Technologies has been a popular staple of bars for over three decades now, and this compilation includes six early entries, from Golden Tee 3D Golf to Golden Tee Classic. Shuffleshot and World Class Bowling are also included. Digital Eclipse handled this package and has made a creditable effort to translate the trackball controls for controllers, but they’ll never feel quite right – fortunately, real trackballs are supported for series enthusiasts. Unfortunately the collection doesn’t feature the wealth of brilliant extras we’ve come to expect from Digital Eclipse, with only some arcade flyers to look at.…

<INTRO> WE HAVE THREE MEGA DRIVE CARTRIDGES TO TEST THIS MONTH, HIGHLIGHTING JUST HOW MUCH INTEREST THERE STILL IS IN THE POPULAR 16-BIT CONSOLE. 8-BIT FANS CAN CHECK OUT A FORTHCOMING GAME WHERE YOU PAINT THE PLATFORMS YOU WALK ON, AND THE FINAL ISSUE OF A LONG-RUNNING MSX DISK MAGAZINE. THE HIGHLIGHT IS OUR MAIN FEATURE, WITH A SUPERB SINGLE-SCREEN PLATFORMER HEADING TO A LESS-COMMON FORMAT. </INTRO> <BODY> The Nyanja’s designer Sarumaru has long been a fan of NEC’s PC Engine. “As a kid, I always wanted to create art for a game company like Hudson. Once I started working on digital art, I began putting together more convincing-looking game mock-ups,” we’re told. “When I met the programmer, Tater Pants, I was finally able to bring my idea to reality.…

» WII » 2008 » RED FLY STUDIO My youngest daughter and I share a lot in common and one of the things we love to do is visit charity shops. I’m always on the lookout for new CDs and games to add to my collection, while Alice scours the many clothes racks and seeks out DVDs starring Paul Dano (her favourite actor). A few weeks ago we were both at loose ends so decided to head into Charminster because it has a good range of charity shops and is quite close to where we live. Alice added a new item of clothing and a couple of books to her growing library, while I picked up a number of CDs, including More Than This, the greatest hits of Bryan Ferry…

AMSTRAD CPC ■ Beautifully presented and colourful, Navy Moves made great use of the Amstrad CPC’s Mode 0 graphics mode although the mines in the first section could be a little difficult to see at speed. The game required patience and a good memory to get past the first stage. ZX SPECTRUM ■ Despite having fewer colours, this actually worked in the game’s favour – those USSEX-12 mines in the water were easier to spot and that initial stage felt a tad easier (but not by much). Overall, the game looked great and felt faster. The controls were more responsive too. C64 ■ The C64 version was programmed by Luis Mariano García Corral using Jorge Azpiri’s graphics. It used up to 16 colours and the scrolling was smooth. Sprite animation…

CREATURES 2 DEMO ■ This demo for Creatures 2 is a technical showpiece. It’s one of the game’s interlude levels, with you controlling a trampoline, trying to bounce your fluffy little friends across the screen. There’s a side helping of gore along with the Christmas cheer as your creatures make a bloody splat on the ground if you drop them. HEAD THE BALL ■ This is an intriguing platformer by Graftgold, with banging intro music. The eponymous head’s bounce mechanic makes navigating levels a challenge, but one you can rise to with practice. You’ve also got a gun, bomb and shield, but with limited ammo you need to think carefully about when to deploy them. MISSION IMPOSSIBUBBLE ■ In the second of this month’s games starring a disembodied head you…

CAN YOU START BY TELLING US A BIT ABOUT THE GAME’S DEVELOPER, CATALYST CODERS? Catalyst Coders was a small company based in North End, Portsmouth. It mainly consisted of David Wainwright and a group of teenage coders, artists and sound guys, plus various girlfriends who hung out with us. The atmosphere was very relaxed and almost like a group of friends hanging out together, sharing ideas. There was no nine-to-five time structure. We just appeared and disappeared at will. WHAT WAS YOUR ROLE ON CHAMPIONSHIP SPRINT? I originally got the job as co-writer on the Commodore 64 version of Super Sprint. The project had fallen behind as the coder had left, and David Wainwright and I worked together to try and complete the project on time. I was then the…

MORE SPACE ■ Publisher GameTek promoted there being 100 billion planets to explore in Frontier. This compared with 2,048 planets in the original Elite. Exploration in the original was also less varied, with just a single planet and star to find in each system. TIME CONTROL ■ In a rush? Fear not, as Frontier enables you to fast forward time, up to 10,000 times the standard rate. Combined with autopilot, it takes the strain out of travelling between star systems and makes the game accessible for beginners. SUPERIOR GRAPHICS ■ Frontier was a step up in graphics from the simple wireframe vector shapes of Elite. The 3D graphics engine allowed for curved polygons, and dynamically adjusted shades of colours to fit different scenes, both of which were trailblazing features. REALISTIC…

So Phil, how did your writing career begin? I was mucking about with being a writer around 1984. I was talking about being a writer. A friend of mine said I should be a writer. I wanted to be a writer my whole life. But, y’know, you can’t earn a living at it. Then my friend, John Molloy, said it depended on whether you knew the right people, and he introduced me to Kevin Cox, who at the time was working at a place called Argus Specialist Publications in Golden Square, London. Kevin would go on to edit and publish Your Sinclair, of course. That’s right, but back then, he employed me on a magazine called Software Today. There I reviewed MSX games on cartridge, C64 games and not many…

With Final Fantasy VII launching the console RPG genre into the stratosphere, and making the PlayStation the go-to console for RPG fans, Square Enix went digging in its back catalogue of legendary Super NES RPGs for games it could reintroduce to a suddenly much larger and more fervent audience. In 1999, it released Final Fantasy Anthology in North America, which included the first official English release of Final Fantasy V and a more-or-less straight port of Final Fantasy VI. Besides a couple of CGI cutscenes and minor features like a sound room and bestiary, all it really added to Final Fantasy VI were irritating load times. Final Fantasy Anthology was released in Europe in 2002, but, oddly, it included Final Fantasy IV and V, instead. While Nintendo and Square parted…

» PLAYSTATION » 1995 » NAMCO If there’s one franchise I’ve always enjoyed, it’s the Ace Combat series. While I care little for traditional flight simulators, the arcade-focussed Ace Combat games are far more to my liking and also my skill set. Weirdly though, my relationship with the long-running series is far from traditional as I didn’t actually start playing them until the Xbox 360 came along, meaning I missed all the PlayStation and PlayStation 2 entries. I’ve since looked at correcting that and in recent years, acquired the first three games in NTSC forms, along with US copies of two of the three PS2 games that were released (I just need The Belkan War to complete the trilogy). Finding myself with some spare time recently, I decided to play…

■ Descent was originally going to be released through Apogee, as Matt tells us, “We signed with Apogee shortly after id Software had parted ways with them. Apogee, I think, was looking for something to fill that hole and they signed up Descent.” Scott Miller, founder of Apogee, confirms this, “They sent us a very early demo. George Broussard and I loved what we saw so we flew Matt and Mike in and spent the day with them, including going to see the movie Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and visiting id Software. By the end of the trip we agreed to do a publishing deal with them. I think we were funding them at $18,000 a month, which was far higher than any of our other projects at the…

■ The survival horror genre relies heavily on atmosphere to heighten the tension of the player experience, and Dead Space is a classic example of how sound design can be used to great effect. In particular, the shrieks of and unsettling whispers of the Necromorphs that the player encounters throughout the game are composed of terrifying subliminal messages. Recordings of phrases such as “cut off their limbs” and “make us whole” were played backwards and then distorted, giving an added sense of creepiness. The player will also experience numerous hallucinations across the game, due to neural interruptions caused by frequencies emitted from the sinister Marker. Notably, in the game’s 2023 remake, the whispers that the player encounters are comprised of deceased characters who subsequently enter a “whisper pool”, with their…

» Buy it for: £34.99 » Buy it from: lego.com The latest set from Lego is a delightful little build that not only tugs at the retro heartstrings, but will hopefully lead to similar designs in the future. The build itself consists of six paper bags that contain the 468 pieces needed to design the arcade cabinet. It’s not a particularly challenging build, taking just over an hour to complete, but there’s a lot of interesting techniques and building the insides (the cabinet splits apart to reveal a retro game pad) is a lot of fun. Yes it’s a generic game and not a licensed one like the earlier, magnificent Pac-Man build, but that does mean Lego can keep costs down. The end result is a delightful little shelf piece…

SELECT A NINJA <The game offers a choice between two cool cats – Nyanmaru in blue and Nekomi in pink. /> LETTER GRABBING <Picking up bonus letters to spell NYANJA in the lower border is a familiar gameplay idea from other single-screen platformers. /> FUN UPGRADES <Defeated enemies will drop upgrades for your weapons, and sometimes a helpful shield that will protect you for a short while. /> BOSS FIGHTS <A large boss waits at the end of each of the seven worlds, the first being based on a Kabuki theatre actor. /> GOBBLE THE SUSHI <Like the fruit in Bubble Bobble, defeated enemies drop sushi items – collect them to gain bonus points. />…

COLOCO DX <INFO FORMAT: MEGA DRIVE / GENESIS CREDITS: TUXEDO GAMEDEVS PRICE: 54,90EUROS(CARTRIDGE) WEB: BIT.LY/COLOCODX /> <BODY> Originally a Spectrum and Amstrad game (download it for free at tuxedogamedevs.com), we previewed this conversion in RG243. The title stands for Cosmos Orbital Landing Outer Crash Officer Deluxe and you fly your rescue ship into a series of caves to pick up stranded pilots. Playing like Space Taxi and Thrust, your craft can pick up extra tools that require battery power; these include a drill to break through rocks, a hacking key to unlock coloured doors, and a plasma cannon to eliminate enemies. Your main fuel tank is also draining as you use your thrusters, but you can refill at fuel platforms or pick up a fuel can. The first world eases…

THE GAME The tenth entry in the Castlevania series takes place in 1792 and features Richter Belmont in the starring role, as he becomes the latest heir of the Vampire Killer whip to venture to Dracula’s castle and try to take out the blood-sucking baddie. Fans of the series will know exactly what to expect – a platform game featuring plenty of enemy monsters in the western horror tradition, from skeletons and zombies to bosses that include a wyvern, a werewolf who doesn’t seem to be particularly bothered with clothing himself, and even Death itself. Along the way, there are plenty of damsels in distress within the castle who will also need to be rescued. Like Super Castlevania IV on the SNES and Castlevania: The New Generation on the Mega…

What’s your favourite PlayStation 2 platformer? retrofan01 Sly Cooper. I had a PS2 at the time but didn’t discover the series until lockdown. It’s a real hidden gem! Rat Stash Crash Twinsanity. I know it’s not perfect, but I just love it so much, He’s trying his best OK?! Lee Mc The PS2 is the best generation for the platformer. The Jak And Daxter games, Sly Cooper but for me the best were Ratchet & Clank. Such great gameplay, stunning environments and great characters with such good humour. Moster Erik Sly 2. Jumping around on top of buildings and crawling through vents was so cool, it’s basically a kids’ version of Assassin’s Creed. cloudy_nz I can’t decide between Jak And Daxter or Haven: Call Of The King. ev Jak And…