Innehållsförteckning för No. 253 från Retro Gamer

STEVE CARTWRIGHT BARNSTORMING, MEGAMANIA, FROSTBITE AND MORE DAVID CRANE PITFALL!, CANYON BOMBER, CIRCUS CONVOY AND MORE JON MIKULA MR RUN AND JUMP ALEX PIETROW ASTRONOMER, MONKEY KING BOBPOLARO DEFENDER, DESERT FALCON, BUGS BUNNY AND MORE True revolutions in the field of game console engineering are a rarity, but there’s no doubt that the Atari 2600 fits the bill. The earliest home consoles had been dedicated Pong consoles and similar devices, which were designed to play only the games that they were built for, with no capability for expansion. The Atari 2600 was a completely different proposition, with its use of a programmable CPU and ROM cartridges allowing for a theoretically unlimited number of games. Though Atari’s console wasn’t the first to offer this capability – the Fairchild Channel F claimed that…

■ With just five hardware sprites to play with, and three of them carrying heavy restrictions, the Atari 2600 posed a considerable challenge to anyone seeking to convert more complex arcade games with plenty of moving parts. Fortunately, the Atari 2600 allowed for the replication and reuse of sprites, greatly easing this burden. By using the debug features of the emulator Stella, we can see how programmers got maximum utility from these features, and learn why flickering was sometimes unavoidable. SAPCE INVADERS ■ Both player sprites are employed to draw the enemies. Each sprite is drawn three times per row for a total of six enemies. Wide spacing is used so that data can be swapped out between each drawing. Shots use the ball sprite and can overlap, so player…

When growing up, Ben Jones played on an Atari 2600. “I was born in 1978 so I was six, seven or eight when I enjoyed the console – about halfway through its lifecycle,” he says. He recalls its iconic design and the large number of games (“I remember enjoying Pong and we had River Raid”). But never in his wildest dreams did he ever think he would one day be remaking the machine 46 years after it originally launched. “I’m really quite taken aback that Atari invited me to be the custodian of what, I would say, was the first mainstream console that had interchangeable cartridges,” he says, the excitement still starkly evident on his face. Indeed, as the commercial director of retro at Plaion (formerly Koch Media), Ben has…

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ULTIMA II: THE REVENGE OF THE ENCHANTRESS ◼ While it is not the most detailed of maps, Ultima II recreates an oddly misshapen Earth (Scotland looks a bit lumpen), the intervening seas and oceans patrolled by monsters and sailboats. It marked the beginning of the series’ famous cloth maps, which remain highly sought after today. DRAGONTORC ◼ Steve Turner’s follow-up to Avalon was as equally embedded in English folklore as its predecessor. Dotted with mystical woods, stone circles, castles and more, it’s more beautiful than practical, not least with its delicate and spindly typeface. The reverse contains a poem by Steve Turner explaining the game’s plot. IT CAME FROM THE DESERT ◼ Created by the sadly late Jeff Hilbers, this fine line-drawn map perfectly encapsulates the Fifties B-movie charm of…

◼ Ever since she was little, growing up in her native Italy, artist Francesca Baerald has loved maps. “I’ve always been fascinated by the maps I found in games – then discovered a passion for drawing them much later,” she tells us. Living in Italy, a country laden with exquisite historical art, Francesca draws on this and her acute observational skills. While Francesca’s most famous works are for 2018’s Octopath Traveler (“One of the biggest maps I’ve done – it is almost bigger than a dinner table for eight people!”), and a map of Dragon Age’s Thedas, her favourite is from a series that holds special significance for her. “Diablo was one of the first games I ever played, so my map of Sanctuary for the Diablo IV Collector’s Edition…

ONE-MAN BAND ◼ Parasol Stars’ first boss takes the shape of a one-man band made up of the instruments that are found in the first world. HOW TO BEAT THEM: This is as simple as it gets for bosses. It simply floats around slowly and can be shot at constantly. CASINO QUEEN ◼ Gamble Star’s boss heads right for you, chucking deadly notes upwards. She only causes death if players are hit with a note or her centre, so keep that in mind. HOW TO BEAT THEM: Keep moving but leave room to duck under her where possible. Time your lightning shots and use the parasol to block the cash. SUPER VIO-KUN ◼ This mother bird flies about slowly and throws her chicks at you, which spray out like a…

IN THE KNOW » PUBLISHER: THQ » DEVELOPER: UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENT » SYSTEM: GAME BOY » DUE FOR RELEASE: 1994 The first mention of a new Home Alone spin-off was made in the May 1993 issue of US magazine Electronic Gaming Monthly. In an interview feature with Argonaut Software, which was focussed on the Super FX chip, boss Jez San let the details slip. “We’ve done a new SNES interpretation of Home Alone 2 for THQ,” he revealed, “but it’s not based on the movie. We’ve taken the characters from the film and created a totally new game story involving them. It’s probably going to be called Kevin’s Dream or Kevin’s Nightmare.” Obviously the game was never released and none of the key players at Argonaut can recall why. Jez draws…

» PLATFORM: TurboGrafx-16 » YEAR: 1989 » COST: $39.95 (launch), £65+ (today, boxed), £30+ (today, unboxed) Though the success of the NES had popularised the joypad as the dominant controller for use on home consoles by the end of the Eighties, joysticks were still the preferred option for many players – after all, the arcades were still the home of cutting-edge gaming at the time. So it should come as no surprise that NEC introduced the TurboStick for the TurboGrafx-16, a large arcade-style joystick featuring turbo fire buttons with adjustable rate sliders and a Slow-Motion button. Like many console joysticks of the era, the TurboStick doesn’t quite offer the arcade experience. It’s a rather light device and neither the stick nor the buttons contain microswitches, which means it doesn’t give…

» SNES » 1990 » NINTENDO EAD I, like many others, was sucked into the hype of F-Zero 99 when it dropped without warning at the last Nintendo Direct. While I initially had a lot of fun with the online racer, I ended up pining for the 1990 original. It’s not that F-Zero 99 is a bad game, it’s just that it doesn’t capture the thrill of high-octane racing like the first game managed to do so well. Play F-Zero on its highest difficulty setting and every inch of ground gained feels like a massive victory. While the AI racers are never unfair, they’re relentless in their pursuit of you and simply finishing every lap feels like a small triumph in itself, let alone staying ahead of the rest of the…

■ One thing that’s interesting about Volition is that many of the developers that worked there, stayed there – definitely something of a rarity in the industry. “It’s funny, when there’s a thousand studios around and you can bop around, it doesn’t mean that much,” says Dan Cermak, highlighting how important it was for the studio to feel like a home from home for many of its developers who would move across the country to be there. “We’d go off to Reindeer Ranch every winter and we’d bring all the kids. We’d bring out our keg every two weeks and drink beer and talk about what people were working on. To me it felt like this is the right balance of life.” And because of this, Volition’s 200+ employees were…

■ Entering GBHSRSPM into Spider-Man’s cheat menu activates the What If…? mode – and modifies a ton of things about the game. The overall design remains the same, but many details change – sometimes slightly, other times into something completely crazy – The chimneys spewing out the green mist are no longer simply closed, but blocked with gigantic bananas. The Symbiote-infested warehouse hides a very Indiana Jones-y Ark Of The Covenant. Doc Ock’s underwater tunnel features a very yellow submarine. And Black Cat is trapped in the party zone, dancing non-stop while talking to Spider-Man. Also you will have additional encounters with your superhero pals. In the normal game you meet the likes of Black Cat, Daredevil and Captain America – and in the What if…? version there are also…

Hi Paul, which childhood experiences influenced your creativity as a grown-up? The major factor was reading. As a science-fiction enthusiast I read a few classics and anything related to technology has always interested me. I also enjoyed Eighties films, coming with new incredible special effects: Blade Runner, 2001: A Space Odyssey and The Terminator are masterpieces. Also Star Wars. These films were offering incredible backgrounds. Computers were fascinating: when the ZX81 was released I realised from watching advertisements how extraordinary it was to be able to possess a small computer at home. At the time, computers were sort of a myth: a huge machine in a refrigerated building with many people around wearing white coats. Knowing that it was possible to have the same thing at home triggered something in…

■ Paul gathered Raphaël Gesqua and Thierry Perreau, who worked on the first 1992 Flashback iteration, with younger developers to send Conrad B Hart to face the Morphs once again. The aliens are attempting to enslave all the solar system civilisations, so Conrad prepares to eradicate the deadly threat. Like the 2013 remake, Flashback 2’s gameplay requires one stick to move around with and another one to shoot. Additionally, the shooting action sequences prevail over platforming in Flashback 2, meaning it should feel quite different to the earlier games. As you’d expect, the art direction features plenty of Eighties science-fiction film references, like Blade Runner and Total Recall, giving it a suitably retro vibe. Sadly, Paul has confirmed that no artworks from the original 1992 game will feature in Flashback…

System: Switch (tested), PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S/X Buy it for: £15.99+ (digital), 34.99 (physical) Buy it from: Online, retail If you’re looking for an entertaining arcade-style racer, we’d recommend this fun sequel from Repixel8. The big new addition this time around is the inclusion of muscle cars, which admittedly take a while to master. They don’t feel very weighty and as a result they slide all over the place, making them much harder to control than their racing car equivalents. The latter vehicles also feel better designed to handle the huge number of challenging courses that have been included, making them our preferred choice. There’s a number of modes, including an expansive Arcade offering, an endurance-sapping Eliminator competition, a Grand Prix mode and the ability to just practice…

<Amiga: Beat-’em-up Krogharr The Beerserker is looking rather exciting in its first video outing, complete with plenty of decapitations. Watch that at youtu.be/cRQJdLq0ZUQ /> <C64: RetroGL’s fantastic tribute to the Neo Geo Pocket Color’s SNK Vs Capcom is now complete, and available to download for free by visiting bit.ly/SvC64 /> <Game Boy Color: Weiwei Leung’s RPG Aaling The Ghost, based on Chinese mythology, has been successfully funded via Kickstarter. Follow its progress at bit.ly/AalingGBC /> <Mega Drive: The visually stunning shoot-’emup ZPF now has a demo ROM available. Give it a try at bit.ly/3S5wquD /> <MSX: ARC8 has released Snake And Rhino In The Sketchbook, a puzzle game in which the two titular animals must co-operate to escape each world. Get it at bit.ly/SnRMSX /> <Oric: Commodore Plus has just released…

<INFO FOFORMAT: GAME BOY COLOR CREDITS: EDWARD LA BARBERA PRICE: DIGITAL DOWNLOAD (FREE) WEBSITE: EDWARD-LA-BARBERA.ITCH.IO/FRASIER-FANTASY /> <BODY> If the recent Paramount+ revival of Frasier left you longing for the classic characters of the Nineties series, this top-down RPG may well be just what the doctor ordered. Frasier is throwing a party, but things are going predictably badly as Niles has borrowed his grape scissors and he needs Martin and Eddie to take a walk. Thanks to some choice gags (we liked the Freudian slap attack) and creative battle scenarios, this short but sweet adventure left us wanting more. </BODY> SCORE: 83%…

Whether he’s acting as an adversary in the Castlevania series, or is the focus of investigation in Dracula The Undead on Atari’s Lynx, Count Dracula has appeared in no shortage of videogames. Proving that the undead can never die, a brand-new Dracula game is heading to the Game Boy Color of all places, but this one appears to have the actual blessing of The Stokerverse Project, meaning it has been approved by Chris McAuley and Dacre Stoker, the great grand-nephew of Bram Stoker. Dracula: Dark Reign is being published by Incube8 Games and will be receiving an official cartridge release. It’s planned to appear in 2024 and coding duties are being handled by Spacebot Interactive, which is currently working on the Kickstarter project Dragonhym. One interesting aspect of Dracula: Dark…

After being incredibly impressed with Mike Chi’s RetroTink-5X (both Nick and Darran own one) the team is now looking forward to the incoming RetroTink 4K. Creator Mike Chi explains how it has all come together. Why make an upscaler that targets 4K? I think there’s really two things… [sharp pixels and CRT simulation]. One of the big things is, you have optimal sampling, but you never quite get the right proportions, but with a 4K you can use linear scale directly from the console to 4K and basically get all that at once. So that’s the sharp pixel side. The other thing is at 4K you have a lot more pixels to work with for CRT simulation. So you can create not only scanlines, but CRT shadow masks and aperture…

1 TIA The TIA, short for Television Interface Adapter, is the chip that provides the graphics and sound capabilities for the console. This chip is also included in Atari 7800 consoles for backwards compatibility and sound generation. 2 MOS TECHNOLOGY 6507 A MOS Technology 6507 chip serves as the CPU of the Atari 2600. This is a cost-reduced version of the 6502, which is used in Atari’s 8-bit computers, the Commodore 64 and many other systems. 3 MOS TECHNOLOGY 6532 The MOS Technology 6532 is an integrated chip that holds 128 bytes of RAM, handles input and output and provides a programmable interval timer. It’s nicknamed RIOT (RAM, IO, Timer). 4 CARTRIDGE SLOT This is the cartridge slot. On six-switch consoles this is mounted at an angle, but on four…

■ One of the advantages of cartridge-based games is the ability to add extra processing power with on-board chips. Though many players would become familiar with this in later years thanks to examples like the Super FX used in SNES games, David Crane actually did so early on with Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, which arrived when the Atari 2600 was already over six years old. “Designing a custom IC to go into the cartridge was my attempt to squeeze a couple more years of life out of our beloved 2600,” David explains. “It certainly added cost (although I don’t know how much) so it made sense to use for a blockbuster like Pitfall!’s only 2600 sequel, but might be hard to justify for a lesser title. “It was called the…

» ZX SPECTRUM » 1989 » OCEAN SOFTWARE Working on this magazine can do funny things to you, and Chase HQ is a great example of one of them. I know that the arcade game is the original version, and therefore the definitive release. Most of my time playing the game was on the Master System conversion, a pretty solid rendition that may well be the first combat racer I ever actually played. On a nostalgic level, it’s the obvious choice for me. Yet when I think of Chase HQ these days, I don’t think of either the original version or the version that I played the most – I think of the ZX Spectrum version. Those of you who are in the know won’t need telling, but for the benefit…

WHEN AND WHY DID YOU DECIDE TO START COLLECTING VIDEOGAME MAPS? With my first C64 games back in the Eighties, we were fortunate enough to get instruction manuals and adventure guides and usually a map of some kind. Nothing was more fun than obsessing over a game map and pushing yourself to reach those locations in-game. WHAT DO YOU THINK MADE MAPS SO IMPORTANT BACK IN THOSE DAYS? In the days of 8-bit graphics, we often had to use our imaginations to visualise these worlds. A map served as a window into a far-off realm that we were anxious to explore. In lieu of high-end graphics, a well-detailed map, with cities, towns, dungeons and shrines would be the catalyst for spurring our imaginations and help transplant us to these strange…

IN THE KNOW » PUBLISHER: TAITO » DEVELOPER: TAITO » RELEASED: 1991 » PLATFORM: PC ENGINE, VARIOUS » GENRE: PLATFORMER DEVELOPER HIGHLIGHTS SPACE INVADERS RELEASED: 1978 PLATFORM: ARCADE, VARIOUS BUBBLE BOBBLE RELEASED: 1985 PLATFORM: ARCADE, VARIOUS THE NEWZEALAND STORY (PICTURED) RELEASED: 1988 PLATFORM: ARCADE, VARIOUS Parasol Stars was the first original title in the Bubble Bobble series not to be developed for arcades. Initially designed by Taito on PC Engine, it was then ported to various computers and consoles by Ocean for the European markets. It may be less known than its predecessors Bubble Bobble and Rainbow Islands but it builds on everything these two classics laid down. Parasol Star’s story continues directly after Rainbow Islands. Bub and Bob, still in their human form, have been presented with magical parasols…

BOUNTIFUL BUCCANEERING THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND DEVELOPER: LUCASFILM GAMES RELEASE: 1990 ◼ Somewhere, deep in the Caribbean, wanna be pirate Guybrush Threepwood began his journey and charmed a generation of gamers in this seminal graphic adventure. Ron Gilbert’s most famous game married warm-hearted, goofy humour with brilliant pixel-art backdrops and pleasing puzzles. It sold well on release, but not to an extent that matches current levels of fandom for the series, meaning copies are in high demand. This is even more the case when the Dial-A-Pirate copy-protection wheel – a circular, cardboard contraption for lining up pirate face parts – is present and intact. Although UK budget-label release versions start at around £30, first edition Amiga and Sega Mega-CD copies can easily go for £60 or more. For a…

Well, all things told, 2023 wasn’t a golden year for the games industry. For all the potential future classics that have been released, there’s been untold heartbreak. An unprecedented amount, really. Whether you blame the economy and gamers with fewer coins to spare or point the finger at cynical corporate entities, the fact is layoffs and studio closures have been happening on a weekly basis. From massive billion-dollar publishers to smaller indie teams, there have been over 6,000 game industry professionals put out of work this year. And among these closures have been some long-running notable developers, such as Volition Inc which announced in August that the 30-year-old studio with more than 200 employees will be closed. That’s a blow that every generation of gamer can understand. Volition was one…

AN OPEN WORLD ◼ While not all of Volition’s games have been strictly open-world experiences, not at least until Saints Row, they have been foundationally about freedom of movement and exploration ever since the release of Descent. PLAYER CHOICE ◼ This was essentially the driving factor behind Saints Row’s sandbox gameplay or around Red Faction’s destruction-based toolset, but it was important for Volition that its players could express themselves through customisation. CHARACTER DRIVEN ◼ Though Volition didn’t fully begin to realise this until the release of Saints Row, there has been a strong emphasis on high-quality storytelling. Later it would be the likes of Johnny Gat, Shaundi and Kinzie Kensington that players would remember the most. HUMOUR AND SATIRE ◼ Volition didn’t really begin to incorporate comedy into its games…

Nintendo 64 ■ Three months after the PlayStation release, Spider-Man made his way onto the N64, courtesy of Edge Of Reality. The game remained very much the same, but due to the limited cartridge space, all cutscenes had to be presented as comic-panelled still pictures – which actually fits them very well. The biggest disadvantage of this version, however, is the complete lack of the What If…? mode. Dreamcast ■ Treyarch was responsible for bringing Spidey to the Sega system in April 2001 (the UK release followed in June) – and this version is generally considered to be the best of them all. It has high-resolution, bilinear-filtered graphics with added effects, completely devoid of any slowdown, all of the contents and perfect controls – catch this version in your web…

» PLAYSTATION 3 » 2006 » EVOLUTION STUDIOS By the time the PS3 launched in late 2006, I was rather fed up with Sony. Lik Sang, my favourite import shop, had been forced into closure because of legal action over PSP imports. Sony executive Ken Kutaragi was making ridiculous statements about how people should want to work more hours to buy the PS3, and that it was too cheap anyway. Beyond that, the PS3 hype had been misleading. Remember how the E3 2005 MotorStorm trailer looked too good to be true? That’s because it was actually a VFX studio’s work. So when the game finally arrived and received some criticism, I was perfectly happy to believe it and felt like I wasn’t missing out by not playing it myself. Fast forward…

<INTRO> WITH OUR REGULAR HOMEBREW HERO ANDREW FISHER SUFFERING FROM ILLNESS, THE HOMEBREWER’S KIT IS A LITTLE LIGHTER THAN USUAL BUT WILL BE BACK TO ITS USUAL LENGTH NEXT ISSUE. THIS MONTH WE SPEAK TO DAD AND LAD CODING DUO SLOANYSOFT AND AMIGAMEJAM WINNER JOHN GIRVIN OF NIVRIG GAMES, AND TAKE A LOOK AT THE LATEST HANDHELD RELEASES WITH ASSEMBLOIDS FOR THE LYNX AND FRASIER FANTASY FOR THE GAME BOY COLOR </INTRO> <BODY> “It all started when Nate showed me some of the games he’d coded at primary school using Scratch,” says Dave Sloan, the elder member of the father and son development duo Sloanysoft. “It reminded me of playing about with Spectrum games as a kid, changing a few things in BASIC listings and harbouring an ambition to make…

Our latest collector got his start in gaming in a way that will resonate with plenty of American gamers. “My earliest memories of gaming was playing my dad’s ColecoVision. Growing up he was a huge Video Pinball fan and we had a huge collection of Coleco and Atari 2600 games,” says Adam Kessell. “My brothers had received a NES for Christmas one year, but they very rarely played it. That meant it was fair game for me to play whenever I wanted to. I remember there were shops near our house that would have used games for $1 on NES once the SNES and Genesis had hit the market, so I’d go there with my $5 allowance and get a handful of games.” That love for Nintendo’s 8-bit hit turned…

Dear Retro Gamer, One of the things I love about retro gaming is the great sense of community spirit that can be found within it. Sure, there’s always a few that upset the apple cart, but generally it’s full of passionate people, many of which are incredibly generous and helpful. I recently started collecting games for the original PlayStation, as it was a system I never owned back in the day and I joined a few PlayStation-specific groups. The advice I was given was phenomenal, explaining the differences between PAL and NTSC, the best games I should look out for and interesting peripherals to try. When my PlayStation suddenly stopped working, a kind gentleman (who I won’t name to spare his blushes) not only fixed the disc-spinning issue with my…

On 13 October 2023, Microsoft officially announced the completed acquisition of Activision Blizzard for an astonishing $68.7 billion. The completed deal not only includes precious brands like Call Of Duty, Diablo, World Of Warcraft, Crash Bandicoot and Candy Crush, but a number of subsidiary studios. Beenox, Demon Ware, Digital Legends, High Moon Studios, Infinity Ward, King, Major League Gaming, Radical Entertainment, Raven Software, Sledgehammer Games, Toys For Bob and Treyarch all now fall under the Microsoft umbrella, and join earlier acquisition Zenimax Media, which owned Arkane, id Software, MachineGames and Tango Gameworks. That’s an impressive amount of talent and between them they’re responsible for some truly fantastic modern franchises. King is also a big deal, thanks to its huge success in the mobile division with games like Candy Crush and…

Sonic Superstars, the latest Sonic game from Sega is a throwback to his classic side-on adventures of old. Designed by Arzest and Sonic Team, it captures the essence of the original Mega Drive games, while adding plenty of ideas of its own. We’ve teamed up with Sega to offer you the chance to not only win a copy of the game on Switch, but also a Switch™ OLED to play it on. The winner of this prize (which is only open to UK residents) will receive a Switch™ OLED and a copy of Sonic Superstars on Switch. Second prize is a copy of Sonic Superstars on Switch with a set of smart Sonic the Hedgehog Top Trumps cards, while third place will receive the Top Trumps playing cards. Good luck!…

With Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo all having launched their new consoles, the argument over which was selling the best began in earnest. The Wii was rapidly catching up to the Xbox 360’s head start, with Edge reporting “widespread stock shortages”. The PS3 was doing less well, with Edge reporting sales that were “substantially lower than those of PS2” at the same point in its life. Edge also reported that Sony Computer Entertainment America president Jack Tretton offered an Electronic Gaming Monthly interviewer $1,200 if they could find a PS3 that had been on shelves for more than five minutes, only to be told that half of the 18 stores called had PS3 consoles in stock – some as many as 20. “Tretton’s remarks were instantly received as either insular corporate naivety…

1 HEADS-UP DISPLAY Since no other game elements share this part of the screen, player sprites can be used to display the timer, score and lives remaining. 2 BACKCiROUND MIRRORINCi The Atari 2600’s background graphics register holds enough information for half a screen, which is then mirrored or repeated. In Pitfall!, it is always mirrored – any asymmetrical elements use sprites. 3 BACKCiROUND COLOURS The background can only have two colours on any scanline – but as you can see, these colours are changed as the screen is drawn to create the trees, the ground and the water, and the underground. 4 lREE BRANCHES The background graphics are too coarse to draw fine details, and both colours are already used. Since Harry and the enemies never occupy this region of…

■ The Television Interface Adapter had somewhat different capabilities depending on the television system it was designed for. “The hardware and programming were identical until the final step of translating a digital code to colours,” says David Crane. “The way the hardware worked, and probably due to cost considerations, SECAM colours were muted and PAL colours showed up at different positions on the colour wheel. We just did our best with the colours that were available.” That wasn’t too hard for PAL consoles, which have access to 104 colours compared to the 128 of NTSC consoles, but owners of SECAM consoles in countries like France had to make do with just eight colours. However, as is so often the case when it comes to international gaming hardware, frequency was the…

HYPERKIN RETRON 77 ◼ Hyperkin’s RetroN 77 is similar to the Atari 2600+ in some ways. It has a cart slot and plays 2600 games via Stella emulation, outputting via HDMI. There’s also a reimagined joystick. But there are many incompatible carts and the earlier joysticks proved fragile. ATARI FLASHBACK 11 ◼ If you don’t want the hassle of sourcing carts, then a console with 110 built-in games is worth considering. Built by AtGames, it’ll fit in the palm of your hand and it comes with a couple of wired joysticks. You can save game states too. ATARI 50: THE ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION ◼ Going well beyond allowing you to play more than 100 classic games, this superb standard-setting release (issued on a host of modern consoles and PC) doubles as…

ESCAPE-CND ◼ Jeff may be a peace-loving hippie but he chose to make this room, featuring the logo of the Campaign For Nuclear Disarmament, especially aggressive, due to the four interior walls. Jumping and turning in such a tight space is tricky. HENDY’S JEANS ◼ Jeff’s mate Hendy and his incendiary trousers inspired this denim-filled room, which also stars Jeff and his trusty zippo lighter. Hendy’s wardrobe would return in Jean Status Marginal, which includes his yellowing Y-fronts. NO SPRITES NO NOTHING ◼ Jeff was pretty clear about which side he was on in the 8-bit home micros war. This level requires you to blast Commodore 64s into Sinclair Spectrums. You can almost smell the burning rubber. RORY ON THE BOOZE ◼ Rory was based on a real guinea pig,…

■ Arguably just as cherished as the original, and more ambitious in storytelling and scope, Monkey Island 2: Le Chuck’s Revenge commands similar prices as a collectible. The Amiga version came on 11 floppy disks, which may prove a challenge if you want to pick up a fully tested, working copy for its £75 asking price. The next sequel, Curse Of Monkey Island, lacked involvement from the original development team but has many fans, including series creator Ron Gilbert who incorporated aspects of the story in his 2022 comeback success Return To Monkey Island. Copies of Curse start at around £15. To play the entire initial trilogy for less, you could seek out the Bounty Pack three-CD compilation for PC. Slightly cast out from the pack is the fourth instalment,…

The surprise hit of 2023 is a fruity puzzle game that inspires rage and relaxation in equal measure, and came from a totally unexpected source. Here’s why so many players are after a big pair of watermelons Info » System: Switch » Year: 2021 » Publisher: Aladdin X  » Developer: Aladdin X » Key People: Unknown Go Deeper » Suika Game is the only game to date that Aladdin X has released on home consoles, since game development is not its main business focus. » The official English title of Suika Game briefly changed to Watermelon Game, before reverting back to its better-known Japanese title. » The concept for Suika Game can be traced back to a 2021 Chinese browser game called Synthetic Big Watermelon. SUIKA GAME THE BACKGROUND If you visit the…

■ No less than three games designed by Paul Cuisset – Flashback, Future Wars and Operation Stealth – are available on Blaze’s Evercade systems via the Delphine Software Cinematique Collection 1 cartridge along with Another World. ThecompilationisstampedAmiga, butclearly specifies using the Mega Drive version of Flashback. It’s Paul’s favourite version, since, according to him, “The game was clearly originally designed to take into account Sega’s controller and the Mega Drive’s hardware technical constraints.” No noticeable issues with the VS controller or the EXP’s d-pad were observed, and moving the mouse pointer is easy and precise enough, especially on the VS. When it comes to Future Wars, it is sometimes quite hard to be precise in pointing to a location and moving the character due to the screen size when played…

INFORMATION » FORMAT REVIEWED: SWITCH » ALSO AVAILABLE ON: NA » RELEASED: OUT NOW » PRICE: £49.99 » PUBLISHER: NINTENDO » DEVELOPER: NINTENDO EPD » PLAYERS: 1-4 For all the spectacle and creativity found in Mario’s latest adventure, it starts off in rather conventional fashion. Mario and his friends are visiting Prince Florian in the neighbouring Flower Kingdom. When the prince shows off the castle’s Wonder Flower, it’s stolen by Bowser who uses its powers for his own nefarious means. Needless to say, Mario and his mates set off on a quest to retrieve the precious artefact. One of the delights of the 3D Mario games is that you never quite knew what to expect when navigating a new stage. Sure, you’re introduced to new base mechanics, but they were…

System: PS5 (tested), Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox Series S/X Buy it for: £54.99 Buy it from: Online, retail Disappointing is the best way to sum up Konami’s new collection. While there’s no denying the quality of the included titles, the execution is rather lacking. Presentation is great with beautiful menus, a digital Master Book that features key revelations from the series, huge screenplays and some lovely graphic novels. While the emulation for the early Metal Gear games is what you’d expect from M2, there are currently no filters or scaling options, meaning they look quite blurry. Nothing has been attempted with the Metal Gear Solid sequels either, as they simply output to 720p, while the Switch sequels run at 30fps (MGS2 originally ran at 60fps on PS2). Yes, there’s plenty…

<INFO FORMAT: ATARI LYNX (TESTED), WATARA SUPERVISION CREDITS: POLY.PLAY (PUBLISHER), PRIORART (DEVELOPER) PRICE: DIGITAL DOWNLOAD, PHYSICAL CART €29, LIMITED EDITION WITH POSTER €35 WEBSITE: POLYPLAY.XYZ/ASSEMBLOIDS-LIMITED-EDITION-LYNX_1 /> <BODY> This fun puzzle game was a C64 cartridge and has reached several formats. Place parts of a face into four bays, trying to make a complete face. Match the four pieces for bonus points to make a full face, or clear the board for a bonus life. The quick-moving gameplay has three difficulty levels and is ideal to pick up and play in short bursts. The gorgeous manual explains access to hidden extras (a picture, music demo and clever 3D landscape to explore). </BODY> SCORE: 83% NEW GAMES NEEDED Our new email address is waiting for all your homebrew news, previews and more:…

THE COVER STAR ATARI 2600 Atari’s classic console starts at £20 in tested, working order, with boxed models of the Atari 2600 Jr starting at around £30. A ‘Woody’ model will set you back £70, unless you fancy gambling on an untested machine. Don’t forget, all models need an analogue-compatible TV. ANCIPITAL This early Jeff Minter effort isn’t cheap at £35, but there’s a less expensive option. Commodore Format Power Pack 21 also contains Ancipital along with various other games, and that can be had for under £5. PARASOL STARS You’ll really make it rain by spending £100 on the PC Engine original, or slightly more on the TurboGrafx version. Loose NES carts start from £25, Game Boy ones £12.50, and a big-box Amiga version can be yours for £30.…

MUSICAL MUSING Dear Retro Gamer team, Seeing Smooth McGroove’s second comeback on YouTube reminded me of your little Q&A you did with him in one of your earlier issues. Videogame music is something I find dazzling, thanks to the skill and love put into certain iconic tracks. Every time I hear the final boss track in Yoshi’s Island on the SNES I’m like, “Wow, they went all out.” What are your favourite videogame soundtracks? My personal favourite can be found here: tinyurl.com/48nx8kuv Kind regards, Matteo Fossi Thanks for writing in, Matteo. We really enjoyed listening to the tracks that you shared and you’ll probably be pleased to hear that Smooth McGroove was interviewed in issue 252. In terms of videogame soundtracks, Darran thinks Super Castlevania IV is faultless, while Nick…