Retro Gamer

I saw myself as a Sega fan growing up, but my large collection of N64, SNES, Wii, GBA and DS games now tells a different story. Expertise: Juggling a gorgeous wife, two beautiful girls and an award-winning magazine Currently playing: Mystical Ninja S

APRIL 2003 – This month may only bring a trickle of interesting games, but you’ll find showers of important news stories wherever you turn. Nick Thorpe ditches the umbrella and soaks up that moist, juicy gossip… The war in Iraq raged on this month, w

Reader Michelle Waghorn writes, “Retro gaming may be becoming popular, but where are they going to draw the line on what they bring back? Sonic will always be cool, but ye olde Atari arcade games? […] Please tell me they’re not going to bring back Ho

Who is Iain Lee? Iain Lee is a freelance broadcaster who loves gaming, particularly retro gaming. He currently hosts The Late Night Alternative show at weekdays from 10pm on www.talkradio.co.uk and runs daily retro streams on www.twitch.tv/iainlee. T

1 – Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell (Ubisoft) 2 – Primal (Sony) 3 – The Sims (EA) 4 – Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (Take 2) 5 – The Getaway (Sony) 1 – The Sims (EA) 2 – Halo: Combat Evolved (Microsoft) 3 – Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance (Konami) 4 – Tom Cla

On paper, Nintendo and Sega should have been a classic Japanese rivalry. Much could be made of a battle between Nintendo, the established traditionalist company based in the ancient capital Kyoto, and Sega, the Tokyo-based upstart founded by American

When you look at the state of the PlayStation 4 vs Xbox One discourse today, it’s easy to wonder if we were always like this. Thanks to the magic of ancient Usenet discussions, we can tell you that console wars never change. Can you tell the vintage

Owners of both consoles could be satisfied that they had great conversions of the hottest arcade game of the era, as Capcom did a fantastic job with both. Nintendo’s version just clinches it, thanks to better colour and clearer voices, as well as a s

» C64 RELEASE: 1986 » ZX SPECTRUM RELEASE: 1986 » CONVERSION CODER: DOMINIC ROBINSON » AVERAGE SCORE: 92% The UK’s top two home computers during the Eighties – the ZX Spectrum and the Commodore 64 – had very different hardware, which made it challeng

DEVELOPER: VIC TOKAI YEAR: 1986 Based on the arcade game Baluba-Louk No Densetsu and its Famicom follow-up, this was developed by Software Creations for the Japanese publisher. Mixing RPG and platformer game design, you’ll find weapons to kill enemie

After stints at Lionhead, BioWare and Ubisoft, Chris Blackbourn is back in New Zealand, and he’s returned to that amazing Amiga racing game he created all those years ago. “I’ve recovered all the original content, tracks, cars, sounds, music etc, and

The Mini is the car that Super Skidmarks starts you off with, a bit like in real life. No one has a Porsche as their first car, right? Unless you’re a spoiled teenager in one of those beastly American reality TV shows. Actually, thinking about it, di

The Amiga version of Super Skidmarks came on seven floppy disks, and it was compatible with both the Amiga 500 and Amiga 1200. But there were several improvements for the 1200, including a high-resolution mode, options for having eight cars on the tr

The first event you’ll take on in Numan Athletics is easily the most familiar – a simple race. However, our competitors are no ordinary humans, so they cover an enormous distance in the typical time taken for a 100-metre sprint. In fact, they’re trav

With the Mega Drive and Super Nintendo firmly in power by 1993, it’s somewhat surprising that versions of RoboCop Versus The Terminator were even mooted in the first place on the previous generation of games consoles. Yet not only were these ports pr

One of the greatest genre comebacks in videogames in recent years has been the old-school first-person shooter. From Doom and Wolfenstein’s masterful reboots, to Nineties-inspired indie shooters like Dusk, Ion Fury and Amid Evil (the closest thing we

The original and best, developed in-house at Virgin Games. Fierce, loud and violent, it was a game with no rival on the 16-bit console, its oversized sprites, prone to exploding in a mass of crimson, are a thing of beauty even over 25 years later. It

Yes, it’s the original PC Engine favourite. As much as we love the more modern take on the game, there’s a deliberate roughness about the pixel art that really appeals to us. Plus, it clearly deserves some recognition for its originality. You’ve gott

Doubling down on the house customisation aspect of the mainline games, Happy Home Designer bins off the rest of the life sim stuff and is significantly weaker as a result. While there is an odd satisfaction to getting a resident’s brief spot-on, you

■ ELVIRA AND THE PARTY MONSTERS [1989] PINBALL ■ GILLIGAN’S ISLAND [1991] PINBALL ■ TWILIGHT ZONE [1993] PINBALL ■ JUDGE DREDD [1993] PINBALL ■ NBA JAM [1993] ARCADE ■ NBA JAM: TOURNAMENT EDITION [1994] ARCADE ■ POPEYE SAVES THE EARTH [1994] PINBALL

This enhanced sequel is remembered for fast two-on-two basketball action, hidden characters and Tim’s commentary. The gravity-defying dunks and ‘on fire’ mode gained so much energy from the short, snappy phrases. Tim had to wait until NBA Showtime to

MR JENZIE: If you could voice any famous line in entertainment, what would that line of dialogue be? Wow, good question. Maybe I would take the guy from boxing (Michael Buffer) that does his [trademarked] famous line, and I’ll change it a little bit.

It’s been another solid month thanks to the latest Mega Man collection from Capcom, another Psikyo shooter collection from NIS America and a new HD update of the exceptional Devil May Cry 3. We even made Nick watch Sonic… PICKS OF THE MONTH Mega Man

Editorial Editor Darran ‘Team Sega’ Jones darran.jones@futurenet.com 0330 390 6443 Art Editor Andy ‘Team Sega’ Salter Production Editor Drew ‘Team Sega’ Sleep Features Editor Nick ‘Team Sega’ Thorpe Photographer Phil ‘Team Nintendo’ Barker Group Art

WIN! Dear Sir, Is it just me now I’m older, or has console rivalry cooled off somewhat these days? I well remember the times when there were bitter arguments on whether the PlayStation was greater than the Nintendo, or, going back further, the Amiga