Innehållsförteckning för No. 246 från Retro Gamer

Famed musician Ryuichi Sakamoto passed away on 28 March, at the age of 71. Best-known for his work as both a solo artist and a member of Yellow Magic Orchestra, Sakamoto was also a prolific soundtrack composer, earning an Oscar, a Grammy, a BAFTA and more. Sakamoto created the jingle that plays during the Dreamcast’s boot sequence, and scored a number of videogames beginning with the PC Engine CD game Tengai Makyou: Ziria in 1989. Other works include Seven Samurai 20XX, Dawn Of Mana and LOL: Lack Of Love, for which he was also the scenario writer. On 31 March, Michael Berlyn passed away at the age of 73. The industry veteran began his career in videogames in 1981 as a writer on the Apple II game Oo-Topos, and soon…

“I would say that Turrican, Jim Power and Apidya are the essence of a classic Huelsbeck track”PATRICK NEVIAN If you were to list the many great composers for the Commodore 64, we’d imagine that Chris Huelsbeck would be high on your list. His fantastic videogame compositions have regularly been turned into CDs and even vinyl records over the years. One of the most memorable collections is Chris Huelsbeck – The Piano Collection & Limited Score Book, a popular Kickstarter project that raised over $73,000 and featured brand-new compositions of Chris’ work by pianist Patrick Nevian. Patrick is now back with a second collection of piano-based melodies specifically chosen by Chris’ many fans and he was keen to explain how the new project came about. Hi Patrick, tell us how you…

A HELPFUL GUIDE ■ 3D can be daunting for new players. Luckily, Navi is available to guide you when you get stuck and help you look at old puzzles in ways you might not have considered. Listen to her often. LOOKS FAMILIAR ■ Moving away from 2D designs meant having new ways to approach dungeons. The ability to look around your brand-new three-dimensional world proved to be a godsend and is still helpful in new Zelda games. EXPANDING ITEMS ■ Items like the Fairy Slingshot were not only required to master the dungeon you found them in (just like earlier Zelda games), but also made it much easier to navigate the new 3D environments. EASY NAVIGATION ■ Despite utilising a slick new 3D look, navigating Zelda’s new dungeons was always…

GIFT WORTH £29.99 Retro-inspired wired controller worth £29.99 Rumble vibration, clickable joysticks and a proper d-pad Compatiblewith Switch, Windows, Steam and Raspberry Pi SUBSCRIBE ONLINE NOW AT www.magazinesdirect.com/ret/B72J TELEPHONE 0330 333 1113 AND QUOTE B72J Exclusive Subscriber Cover Every Issue! Reasons to subscribe… Stunning exclusive subscriber-only covers You’ll never miss an issue! It’s delivered direct to your door Brilliant value – 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…

VARIOUS, 1984 ■ Otherwise known as the joystick and keyboard breaker, the idea of licensing Olympic personality Daley Thompson was inspired, transforming an otherwise plain Track & Field clone into a smash hit. There are ten events spread over two days: 100m, long jump, shot-put, high jump and 400m on day one, with 100m hurdles, discus, pole vault, javelin and 1,500m on day two. An incredible seller on the ZX Spectrum, Ocean owed much of its early impetus to this renowned joystick waggler. Two sequels, Supertest and Olympic Challenge, followed over the next four years. GARY’S MEMORIES “I think this was the game that elevated Ocean from just another computer-game company to a serious player. Whenever I mention Ocean to anyone from that time, their first response is almost always,…

VARIOUS, 1986 ■ Eighties action movies reached their nadir in 1986 with the bland and nonsensical Sylvester Stallone vehicle, Cobra. But for Spectrum fans in particular, the movie will always be remembered as the basis for coder Jonathan Smith’s best moment in a prestigious career. Set across three scenes from the film (streets, countryside andfactory), the programmer’s trademark sense of humour is present throughout (see Joffa’s Japes), and it plays wonderfully, too. Unfortunately, the Amstrad CPC and Commodore 64 games, while closer in spirit to the Stallone film, were substantially inferior. GARY’S MEMORIES “Joffa did an amazing job with this game, and I think he turned it around in quite a short time frame. We acquired this licence pretty late on, so it needed to be released ASAP to capitalise…

VARIOUS, 1990 ■ The origin of this arcade conversion is convoluted, and at the centre of the chaos was developer Graftgold. Telecomsoft (Firebird) chose Steve Turner’s company to convert the colourful Bubble Bobble sequel to the eight and 16-bit computers, probably on the back of its successful work on Flying Shark. For whatever reason, the deal with Taito elapsed (or fell through) and the legal wranglings were further intensified when MicroProse acquired Telecomsoft in 1989. It took an outside source – Ocean – to solve the mess, stepping in to purchase both the rights to the game and the existing work done by Graftgold, eventually releasing the game in 1990. It was worth the wait, as each version of Rainbow Islands is a multicoloured marvel, a cute and charming platformer…

» MASTER SYSTEM » 1989 » SEGA When I first owned my Master System I snobbishly passed on Sega’s conversion of Enduro Racer. I knew that Sega’s 8-bit console was never going to replicate the thrills and spills of the coin-op game, but the isometric viewpoint and tiny sprites seemed a world away from the arcade original and I decided it wasn’t worth my time. What an idiot I was. Sega’s game is actually tremendous fun. It’s a finely tuned time-based racer with excellent controls, challenging course designs and a time limit that, while tough, never feels unfair. Each level sees you weaving your way past vehicles (typically buggies and other motorbikes) while avoiding hazards and tackling the numerous jumps that appear throughout the course. Tackle these jumps correctly and…

How did you land the job of converting Gun Smoke to the Commodore 64? My company at the time was Lyndon And Associates. In early 1987 we signed a 15-title deal with Capcom USA to convert its many coin-op games to the PC and C64. Gun Smoke was one of them. Did you receive any assets or assistance from Capcom, including access to the coin-op? Yes, Capcom provided all the graphics and we used software to convert them into a format we could use. So we did have to create the graphics, but not from scratch. Capcom also provided the music – its resources were amazing. I remember having the insides of the coin-op laid out on my desk. The monitor had the tube behind it, so it wasn’t even…

Despite games generally using similar copy protection methods, in the Eighties and early Nineties there were several games with unique protections. Among these was I Play 3D Soccer, by Italian studio Simulmondo, which featured its copy-protection method in the starting menu. If one removed it, the game had several protection checks, which, if failed, would make later matches in the game unwinnable. The Amiga version of Hook, after the initial protection check, had another one later, hidden in the code, which would cause a key item to disappear from the game. RoboCop 3 used an expensive dongle that had to be plugged in the second joystick port. Crackers hacked it pretty fast, so that players were unhappily paying more for a game only because of its complicated protection system. Most…

AMSTRAD CPC ■ The AI might not be too smart, but the basic gameplay from the arcade original is here and the backgrounds are bright and detailed. The performance lags in two-player mode, and the controls are a bit cumbersome too. ZX SPECTRUM ■ Greyscale graphics and a soundtrack of silence give the Spectrum version a stark ambience. You almost get the sense of being part of some serious criminal activity. Despite the darker atmosphere, the game plays smoothly. C64 ■ The most enjoyable 8-bit home-computer version by some way. There’s cheerful in-game music and an on-screen map to help you navigate level layouts. The characterful animations also do a great job of conveying the goofy vibe of the arcade game. AMIGA ■ Developed by Twilight, which did a fantastic…

R-TYPE ATARI ST, 1988 ■ Not quite as smooth as the coin-op but just as playable, Image’s conversion was our type of game. FLYING SHARK AMIGA, 1988 ■ Considering the short development, Image’s Flying Shark conversions were impressive. WONDER BOY IN MONSTER LAND AMIGA, 1989 ■ This fun sequel is a gentle introduction to platform-style games. BACK TO THE FUTURE PART II COMMODORE 64, 1990 ■ This version in particular looks good and offers decent value. BEAST BUSTERS ATARI ST, 1990 ■ SNK’s non-stop sideways-scrolling on-rails shooter was expertly converted by Images for 16-bit computers. CHIP’S CHALLENGE COMMODORE 64, 1990 ■ The Atari Lynx puzzle game worked extremely well on every format that Images converted it to. NINJA SPIRIT AMIGA, 1990 ■ Small but perfectly formed sprites and nifty gameplay…

Effectively an origin story to introduce gaming’s most famous plumber to cinemagoers, Illumination’s new movie is a lot of fun. Granted, said fun largely comes from the delight of recognising classic Mario iconography, rather than good actual jokes, but the in-jokes that do land hit hard and it’s all enhanced by some entertaining setpieces. Pratt and Day are fine as the titular brothers, but it’s Taylor-Joy’s Princess Peach and Black’s Bowser who linger in the memory long after the film finishes. Mario’s extended family feels a little pointless, it relies far too much on nostalgia to do the heavy lifting, while the plot itself is forgettable and flimsy. However, if you’re just looking to be wrapped up in a 90-minute nostalgia blanket, this will not disappoint.…

<BODY> When raiders loot and pillage his village, Howel is left for dead. The kind Forester takes Howel in and tends his wounds, before sending Howel and his friend Kay on a quest to find Raedwulf, his missing ward – the raiders are still in the area and are hunting for something. This sets up an interesting first-person RPG in the style of The Bard’s Tale. The view of your surroundings scrolls smoothly and there’s a pleasing graphical effect as you move. Wycheweald also features a mini-map and auto-map that will help you keep track of your surroundings. When combat inevitably happens, the outcome will be affected by the positions of your party, their weapons and their combat choices. For example, defending while holding a shield will reduce the damage…

<BODY> “I always remember Ocean for doing great games, but I found the original Gilligan’s Gold to be a stinker,” Jamie tells us. “I wondered if I could do better with modern tools.” Jamie’s chosen tool is Jonathan Cauldwell’s MPAGD (Multi-Platform Arcade Game Designer). “I don’t feel MPAGD was really made with this sort of game in mind, so that is the challenge,” Jamie adds. “The focus is on tight gameplay. Everything has to work so the player has confidence that Gilligan is going to do what you tell him. The scripting is quite complex as there are several game mechanics that all have to work together.” Was there a particular challenge Jamie faced? “The trickiest bit so far was the minecarts,” he admits. “They must travel between screens regardless…

This month’s collector, Jesús Martinez del Vas, not only has an impressive collection, but also works on the Spanish edition of Retro Gamer. “I think the first step in collecting was the decision to keep my old Spectrum games and my Nintendo Game & Watch machines,” he tells us, going on to say he’s kept all his systems since. Look through Jesús’ gorgeous collection and you’ll notice two companies are particularly prolific: Ultimate Play The Game and Dinamic Software. “Ultimate was a magical company,” Jesús tells us. “Everything was steeped in mystery and fantasy. Their originals are precious. Dinamic knew how to sell their games in Spain like no one else, and surrounded themselves with great programmers and graphic artists.” While he clearly loves both software houses, Jesús collects titles…

One thing Link certainly isn’t short of is adversaries – almost everywhere he goes, he’s under constant threat from all manner of monsters. The tools of the hero trade are weapons with which to beat back the baddies, and in any Zelda game you’ll need to equip yourself appropriately before you can even think about defeating Ganon or rescuing Zelda. Fortunately, Nintendo has carefully crafted a range of weapons which ensure that combat is always a satisfying part of any Zelda game. The Legend Of Zelda is relatively unusual among games of its era, in that Link is wholly unarmed when his adventure begins. This might seem an odd choice as the first thing he does in the game is to find a sword, but that overlooks the symbolic value…

Link is a hero, that’s his destiny – and any hero needs to overcome villains. Of course, he encounters hostility throughout his adventures, but beating up a bunch of cannon fodder baddies like Bokoblins and ChuChus doesn’t strike anyone as being especially heroic. To prove himself as the legendary hero he’s supposed to be, Link needs to take on rather more dangerous foes, from unassuming regular-sized wizards to giant dragons and skeletal monstrosities. As you can probably guess from the descriptions above, one of the primary purposes that Zelda bosses serve is to provide a sense of spectacle – from the very first game the bosses have been larger than Link, and in some games they positively tower over him. The encounters also frequently take place in spectacular areas, atmospheric…

What was the inspiration behind your music-themed game Wandersong? The premise was basically like, Ocarina Of Time is really cool, but you always have to go into a mode to play it, so what if the game was the ocarina? What happens then? That was totally the starting point [laughs]. You use the right stick to bring up a musical wheel, and then you point in different directions to sing notes, or slide it along to play lots of notes. But you’re also a side-scrolling character, so you can run, jump and sing all at the same time! The idea of playing magical songs is really cool, so I thought for a long time that it’d be super cool to see that in more games, which I’ve also seen recently…

You were with your friends looking for a new arcade game to play. With the satisfying sound of coins clinking away in your pockets, the three of you eyed Bally Midway’s Rampage nestling in a particularly smoky corner of your local haunt. You had always enjoyed watching classic monster movies, from Godzilla films to King Kong, so the thought of taking control of a giant beast and terrifying the inhabitants of big American cities was too good an opportunity to miss. Decision made, you all fed your coins into the new machine and began to play. Rampage didn’t disappoint, and as you recreated the destruction you had enjoyed watching in films as a kid an idea suddenly formed. You began climbing towards the top of a building and started swatting…

VARIOUS, 1987 ■ Essex-based Sensible Software had already released shoot-’em-up Parallax with Ocean before 1987 brought this weird yet brilliant follow-up. Wizball is the story of Wiz and his magical cat, living happily in the vivid Wizworld until an evil wizard appears, draining every drop of colour from the landscape. Aghast at this drab world, Wiz sets out to collect the droplets of colour and restore Wizworld to its former glory. This unique, fun and slightly trippy shoot-’em-up is rightly regarded as a classic on the Commodore 64, and Ocean’s 16-bit catalogue was also up and running. GARY’S MEMORIES “I loved Wizball and enjoyed working with Jon and Chris at Sensible. However, it was a tough job to get the company to buy into this game as it was so…

VARIOUS, 1995 ■ By the mid-Nineties, Team17 had fostered an excellent range of videogames, chiefly for the Commodore Amiga market. But with that computer’s popularity dwindling, it decided to branch out with its next game, requiring help from a third-party publisher. The game was Worms, a light-hearted artillery tactical title that brought an idiosyncratic sense of humour to the death and destruction. Devised by Andy Davidson, each player controls a squad of annelids, selecting weapons and tools to eliminate the enemy over a series of diverse scenarios. The simple playability of Worms endeared it to a large audience, with the game appearing on an assortment of formats, including the Mac, Game Boy and PlayStation, and the game would come to define its developer. Ocean also published Worms: The Director’s Cut…

Back in the Eighties, many would buy a new game after reading about it in mags like Crash or Zzap!64. But that was not all: perhaps you called your friend to swap floppies. Or you visited your favourite BBS to check what new games were available. It wasn’t all fun, though. Groups such as Razor 1911, Fairlight, Paradox and THG were infamous for cracking games on the C64, Amiga and PC, often on the very same day of release. They were working day and night, risking jail to crack games. Except for later endeavours such as Twilight or Crazy Bytes, in the Eighties and early Nineties groups were working only for the thrill and fun of the challenge. The first cracked games began appearing in the early Eighties, often signed…

» SNES » 1995 » HUDSON SOFT Back in the Nineties, it seemed as though a puzzle outing was an inevitability for any character or series that was particularly popular. Plenty of them borrowed an established puzzle game like Tetris or Columns as a base, and some spin-offs even got rebranded with other properties – just look at Puyo Puyo. However, some games like Dr Mario and Panic Dizzy were created from the ground up, and Bomberman’s puzzle spin-off series was one of those original efforts. Super Bomberman: Panic Bomber W plays a little like Columns, in that your goal is to match coloured Bomberman icons in lines of three or more – vertically, horizontally or diagonally. These drop in groups of three, but rotate in a square formation rather…

DIVIDE AND CONQUER ■ Every bandit needs a partner in crime, so teaming up with a friend to tackle Bonanza Bros is really the way to go. Check the level map and split up to gather the goods. Later levels in particular are clearly designed to be played this way. PICK YOUR MOMENT ■ There might be a timer ticking but it’s worth staying hidden for a while to watch the movement patterns of guards before you sneak past. Step out at the wrong time and you’ll get noticed, setting off a chaotic chain reaction and Benny Hill-style chasing. KNOW YOUR ENEMY ■ Get to know how the different enemies move and react. The light-blue guard is extra speedy and aggressive, while waiters will fling plates from a distance and…

ATARI 2600 PHYSICAL SWITCHES ■ With limited processing power and a simple joystick, the idea of navigating an options menu on the Atari 2600 doesn’t bear thinking about. The chunky metal switches used to set difficulty and change modes makes it feel like something you’d play with in a workshop, rather than in front of your TV. MASTER SYSTEM SYSTEM DIAGRAM ■ Sega used to put odd promotional messages on its Japanese consoles, but it decided on a very fancy and high-tech look for international audiences. The diagram is a bit suspect though – the system prioritises cards over cartridges when it boots up, and controllers appear to control the connection to the TV. LYNX REVERSIBLE CONTROLS ■ Historically, game controllers haven’t done much to cater for the preferences of…

ADAPTING LICENCES ■ Images racked up a succession of coin-op conversions for various publishers. From the mid-Eighties onwards, coin-ops became the mainstay for many publishers. Images did briefly dabble in film licences as well, producing Back To The Future Part II and The Hunt For Red October, both released in 1990. SPREADING THE LOAD ■ With so many companies falling by the wayside as the industry evolved, Images signed deals with over a dozen different publishers to avoid overly relying on any one company. Activision UK was the most prolific business relationship, as it was based in nearby Southampton. CONVERSION WORK ■ Images often took on conversion work of existing titles, including the 7-Up-licensed Spot: The Video Game for Virgin, the handheld Atari Lynx title Chip’s Challenge for US Gold,…

Sega’s arcade racer Out Run redefined the genre with its impossibly colourful depiction of speeding along the open road and the unbridled joy it gave players. Yu Suzuki’s hit employed 2D sprite scaling to achieve its 3D effect, but a few years later, 3D shaded vector graphics became possible, and designer Eugene Jarvis saw an opportunity to build on the coin-op’s basic concept while adding cutting-edge visuals. “Out Run was a big deal, so I wanted to capture some of that,” Eugene remembers. “The cool thing was the spirit of just having fun and going out for a drive. It wasn’t like a hardcore race. So my idea was to have a really good 3D simulation that was responsive to the driver, and by using 3D texture mapping we could…

Bitmap Bureau continues to port its excellent twin-stick shooter, with the latest offerings being for the N64 and GameCube. For those unaware, Xeno Crisis is an arena shooter where you mow down enemies, whilst rescuing survivors. There’s a nice selection of weapons, some truly punishing bosses and it’s all held together by an astonishing soundtrack and gorgeous pixel art. The N64 version is superb, playing similarly to the slick Dreamcast release. An option to fully customise the controls would have been nice and we’ve had a few issues with our high scores not always saving to the Controller Pak, but they don’t diminish the quality of this stunning game. >> Score 85%…

<Amiga: Retream’s latest is the point-and-click adventure Ring Around The World (pictured), requiring 1MB of Chip RAM and Kickstart 1.3 or higher. It’s free to download at bit.ly/ringaroundtheworld-amiga but Simone asks for charity donations to victims of violence. /> <Atari ST: Rainbow Bytes released a demo of the Minesweeper-inspired Bombwatch, for 1Mb ST/STE, with four graphical styles. Give it a try at bit.ly/bombwatch/> <Atari XL/XE: Enjoy classic falling tetromino action in Mytris for Atari 8-bit users by visiting bit.ly/mytris-atari8/> <BASIC: The 2023 10 Liner competition is in full swing with entries for many machines. Find out more at bit.ly/basic10-2023/> <Game Boy: Wild Haggis Gaming has released the hilarious Taskmaster – The Highly Anticipated Video Game. Play as celebrity contestants and complete the bizarre tasks set by little Alex Horne. Give…

<BODY> One or two brave knights travel to conquer a mysterious continent in this enjoyable strategy game. The continent features five areas: Last Outpost, Desert Of Eternity, Eerie Wastelands, Ancient Forest and Ice Palace, each of which have six missions and a boss battle. Each knight chooses a blade, which offers different strengths and ranges of attack and the player must use the terrain to their advantage, wiping out all the enemies as they go. This turn-based isometric strategy game features great presentation, as well as good graphics and rousing battle music. For fans of Final Fantasy Tactics and similar titles this is very enjoyable (but rather tough, particularly the first battle). Get past this and you’ll discover a unique release for the format. </BODY> Score: 81%…

THE COVER STAR THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME Link’s first 3D adventure remains a true classic and thankfully PAL versions are plentiful. You can get a complete copy for £67 while cartridges are a third of that price. It’s a different matter for the US release though, as high demand for it in the UK sees complete copies fetching as much as £132 whenever they appear. ENDURO RACER As Darran mentioned, Sega’s isometric racer is still cheap and you can get a complete UK copy for under £20. Japanese copies on the other hand can go as high as £60. CRUIS’N USA If you want to experience the first Cruis’n game on a home console complete PAL copies currently fetch up to £52. The US copy is similarly…

HAVE YOUR SAY… SEND US A LETTER OR MAKE YOURSELF HEARD ON SOCIAL MEDIA – TWITTER.COM/RETROGAMER_MAG HUNTING FOR RETRO Dear Retro Gamer, I visit Derby city centre semi-regularly as my mother lives nearby, and I always pop into CEX for a browse. But as I exited CEX on my last visit, I happened to walk down a street I don’t usually take, and came across Mobile Games Exchange, which had a surprisingly decent collection of retro gaming items itself. However, a greater treat was discovered when I walked a little further along the same street and found Retro World (retro-world.co.uk). Inside was a treasure trove absolutely bursting with classic games, hardware, merch and old issues of gaming and manga magazines. It was a great experience and I’d recommend Retro World…

» XBOX » 2004 » AKI CORPORATION/EA CANADA Def Jam Vendetta completely passed me by on release, mainly because playing as super-stylised rappers and hip-hop stars didn’t appeal to me. That all changed with the sequel however, as it became a staple of lunchtime gaming sessions while working on games™. I still don’t know to this day if my fellow team members genuinely enjoyed rap music and thought highly of the likes of Bubba Sparxxx, Ludacris, Henry Rollins, Xzibit and Sean Paul, or just enjoyed throwing them in front of subway trains, but joining them for chaotic four-player death matches was great fun and it led to me grabbing my own copy of the game at a local car boot. Seeing that Fight For NY has the full support of…

The 2023 edition of E3 has been cancelled following the confirmation that several major companies would not be attending the event, leaving the future of the exhibition in doubt. Originally established in 1995 by the Entertainment Software Association, for many years the show was the most important games industry gathering and a venue for major announcements including new hardware, major new games and other initiatives. This year’s event was to be co-organised by ReedPop, a major events company which has experience of running gaming events such as PAX and Minecraft Festival in the USA and EGX in the UK, as well as the likes of New York Comic Con, Emerald City Comic Con and MCM Comic Con. Speaking to games-industry. biz, also owned by ReedPop, ESA president Stanley Pierre-Louis noted that…

Sony promised console-quality games on the go with the PSP, and this month Namco really stepped up to deliver on that with Tekken: Dark Resurrection. The updated version of Tekken 5 earned 10/10 from the Official PlayStation 2 Magazine, which declared it, “The first landmark PSP game.” Go Play gave it 94%, praising the visuals and “genuine, honest-to-goodness, interesting unlockables”, while Play gave it 92% and noted that “there was never a problem with any of the buttons’ responses”, contrasting it with previous PSP fighting games. Edge and games™ both awarded it 7/10, but for different reasons – the former felt that the series had become “unable to innovate” but that there would “always be a place for quality like this”, while the latter lamented juddering performance. Gitaroo Man Lives!,…

» ARCADE » 1984 » SEGA R&D1 One of the things I love about this hobby is the sheer number of games that are out there to be enjoyed. After collecting videogames for decades and working on well over a hundred issues of Retro Gamer, there’s still plenty of room for discovery and new experiences. Spatter is a great example – the original arcade game was completely unknown to me until last year, when Sega and M2 decided to include a conversion on the Mega Drive Mini 2. Reportedly, staff at M2 had programmed the conversion just because they liked the game, about a decade before the mini-console was in the works. I’m glad they did, because Spatter has become a game I really enjoy. It’s a maze game in…

Why do you think Zelda’s overworld is so fun to explore? There’s a lot of sense of exploration in a Zelda overworld. First there’s different distinct areas which you can explore individually, but also you are not very limited in the order in which you can discover them. It’s also full of secrets and surprises, so the exploration, and in general, the player’s curiosity, is rewarded. Zelda games often contain two dual worlds. Did this influence the changing worlds of Evoland? Yes definitely, I remember classics like A Link To The Past which had this Dark World where you could teleport between the two and use it to access secrets, that was very fun. It’s a great way to have a more complex way to travel between worlds. Who would…

MASTER SWORD ■ A legendary blade that must be found as part of Link’s journey, as it alone holds the power to seal away evil and defeat Ganon. It usually has a blue hilt, and is found at a special pedestal. BOOMERANG ■ Rather than causing damage, the boomerang is usually used to stun enemies ahead of sword attacks. They’re very useful in dungeons, as they can retrieve distant items and hit otherwise inaccessible switches. BOMB ■ As you’d expect, bombs can be thrown or placed and will detonate after a short period of time, causing explosive damage. They’re often required to break rocks and other obstacles that Link faces. BOW ■ If you want to attack baddies from a distance, the bow is the ideal way to do it.…

TWINROVA The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time ■ Koume and Kotake wield fire and ice magic, so using the Mirror Shield to redirect one sister’s attacks at the other seems obvious. When they combine into Twinrova you’ll need to repeatedly absorb attacks of one kind, charging up an elemental spell to create an opening by stunning them. ARGOROK The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess ■ A flying foe is always going to be a problem for Link, but by latching onto its tail and equipping the Iron Boots, you can bring it crashing down to the ground. You’ll need to head to the sky to take it out for good though, climbing on the fire-breathing beast’s back to deliver the fatal blow. PUPPET GANON The Legend Of Zelda: The…

A LINK TO THE PAST ■ With the SNES’ audio sampling capabilities, Hyrule came alive with a new grandeur, felt in the title screen’s fanfare to the iconic The Legend Of Zelda theme in the overworld. This is also where recurring themes like Zelda’s Lullaby, Fairy Fountain and Kakariko Village were introduced. OCARINA OF TIME ■ From the dreamy title theme to the sweeping score of Hyrule Field, Ocarina Of Time’s score is truly timeless, with some of the catchiest melodies made from just a few notes of the ocarina. It’s also where the treasure-chest-opening music originated. THE WIND WAKER ■ Perhaps the only time that a Zelda title theme happens to also be instrumental to the story. That aside, The Wind Waker is full of memorable themes from the…

Having first encountered videogames while running a nightclub in the US, Ocean cofounder David Ward returned to the UK in 1981, immediately noticing the green shoots of the industry across the country. But the lack of a real bricks-and-mortar retail market discouraged David and his friend, Jon Woods, from venturing into the business of computer games. Then came the startling rise of Imagine Software and all the talk of flash cars and mega games that accompanied it. The pair took a punt and advertised four (then non-existent) games within the pages of Your Computer magazine. Inundated with postal orders, they suddenly realised that they needed games – and fast. Under the banner of Spectrum Games, David and Jon focussed on creating homages (or clones) of arcade favourites such as Frogger…

NES ■ This is how you do a home conversion. It emulates the arcade game within the limits of the hardware and adds enough new features (like a simple shop system) to keep you pushing on, despite the difficulty. There are fewer stages than the coin-op, but they feel more varied. C64 ■ The presentation is poor, with its oversized sprites and awful in-game music, and it scrolls at a snail’s pace, but it plays OK-ish. The C64 deserved and could have handled a far superior conversion. Indeed, the Outlaw demo game bundled with SEUCK is more fun than this. AMSTRAD CPC ■ As related in the main text, this started out as an unofficial clone released in Europe as Desperado. It’s decent but deviates heavily from the coin-op –…

RAZOR 1911 ■ Founded in Norway in 1986 by Doctor No, Insane TTM and Sector 9, the group was at first a demogroup only, beginning to release cracked games in late-1986. The group also ran the disk mag Propaganda until 1995. FAIRLIGHT ■ Strider and Black Shadow founded Fairlight in Sweden in 1987, after leaving WCC (West Coast Crackers). Strider had managed to bribe a train conductor to bring Commodore 64 games to his fellow member to crack them. Fairlight became the first group to release games on Super Nintendo. PARADOX ■ Founded in 1989 by Danish and French members of the hacking scene, Paradox worked for two years on the Amiga Scene. It was later disbanded and in 1994 it started cracking Sega Mega Drive titles. Paradox was the…

For all their supposed stealth credentials, the Bonanza Bros have a dubious track record of keeping a low profile since their original arcade heist. Take a glance at their prolific police record and you’ll find evidence of Robo and Mobo being present at the scenes of conversions and spin-offs across a litany of consoles and home computers. Those pesky yellow thieves just keep getting away with it. Labelling the brothers as robbers is perhaps a little unfair though, as their criminal status is somewhat up for debate. The introduction screens of the arcade game depict a mystery client recruiting the pair for a mission to help with “cleaning up Badville once and for all” by gathering evidence from “crooked joints that are run by counterfeiters, thieving bankers and cheating casino…

TANT-R ■ In 1992, Sega took the look and feel of Bonanza Bros and turned it into Tant-R, the first of three arcade games released under the Puzzle & Action banner. Think Point Blank or Mario Party – a series of minigames await. Robo and Mobo make an appearance. ICHIDANT-R ■ This sequel, released in 1994, continued in the same vein as Tant-R with more head-scratching puzzles, but this time with a mediaeval theme. Both games were ported to the Mega Drive, the Game Gear, and the Saturn as part of a Sega Ages collection. TREASURE HUNT ■ The final game in the Puzzle & Action trilogy introduced 3D puzzles and a treasure-hunting theme to the mix. It was released for the Japanese Sega Saturn along with some extra features…

Teenager Karl Jeffery started programming in the early Eighties. “I taught myself coding on the ZX81 and wrote some 1K games, then I developed a string of games for the Spectrum, but as soon as I finished one and shared it with my friends I went straight on to the next. It wasn’t until a friend suggested sending off some demo tapes that things moved from a hobby to a business.” Artic published Karl’s Mutant Monty for the ZX Spectrum in 1984, Mad Caverns and Rocket Man Mike were published as listings in Your Computer magazine the following year. “After the Spectrum games I went to uni for a year to study computer science but found it boring and I missed games, so I dropped out when I was 19,”…

» NEO GEO POCKET COLOR » 2000 » SAURUS I’m not the kind of person who sells games very often – while I’m becoming more open to the idea now, historically it’s something I’ve only done when it has been a financial necessity. I’m especially loathe to do it when it’s an expensive game that I may not be able to easily obtain again. Given that, plus my love of fighting games and my affinity for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, it might be surprising that The Last Blade: Beyond The Destiny is a game that is no longer present on my shelves. It certainly wasn’t an easy decision to make, as the game is utterly fantastic. The game retains the excellent weapon-based combat of the Neo Geo originals, and…

Mega Man’s RPG spin-off series is the focus of this collection, comprising six Game Boy Advance games with four of them having Pokémon-style alternate versions. Capcom has done a commendable job in adding online play, implementing the old e-Reader cards and providing extra features like the Gallery mode. Minor quibbles include the mixture of high-resolution text and low-resolution pixel art, as well as the poor display filter option. These games were released in rapid succession from 2001-2005 so they’re all similar to each other, but there’s a lot of meat on the bone here for anyone who gets hooked on their unique battle system. >> Score 75%…

<INTRO> HOMEBREW IS A MIXTURE OF LOOKING BACK AND LOOKING FORWARD. THIS MONTH WE HAVE REMAKES OF A PUZZLE GAME AND ARCADE, PLATFORM, STRATEGY AND RPG GAMES THAT WOULD HAVE WOWED REVIEWERS IN THE EIGHTIES, AND A FEATURE ON HOW A MODERN WORD GAME INSPIRED MANY CODERS. WE ALSO HAVE A YOUNG FRENCH DESIGNER JUST STARTING HIS GAME CAREER. VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE, SO TUCK INTO THIS GREAT RANGE OF FLAVOURS </INTRO> <BODY> “At the peak, I would do Wordle and Quordle every day,” says Antoine Fantys who created Nordle for NES and Famicom, with physical cartridges currently on sale. “I think it’s a fun challenge to ‘de-make’ games for old systems. The game is written in assembler so I only need Notepad for writing code, while assembling…

Dear Retro Gamer, I very much enjoyed reading the article by David Crookes about game-making tools and the time he made his own game. When I was a kid I was fascinated with the prospect of being able to make a computer game and, not having any coding skills to speak of, I loved tinkering with level editors and various construction kits. During the pandemic, with a bit more time on my hands and watching my nine-year-old son Nate code games for school in Scratch and Purple Mash, I began wondering if it would be possible to make a game for my beloved ZX Spectrum. Two months later, with the help of Jonathan Cauldwell’s MPAGD (Multi-Platform Arcade Game Designer) and a lot of very clever and helpful people on the…

» Did you know that this game wasn’t released in North America back in the day? That really proves that you can’t miss something you’ve never had – here in the UK, we had riots in the streets when the sequel Kururin Paradise was confirmed as being a Japanese exclusive. Oh yes, this game has an ending, doesn’t it? Let’s take a look at that. » Finally, Kururin has gathered up all of his siblings. This is quite a difficult task for us in real life, without trying to pilot spinning objects through mazes, so we can really sympathise with the bird here. » Kururin reports his progress to what appears to be his mother, apparently neglecting to mention the status of the girls. What the heck, Kururin? They were…