magazine

OLD! 

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO CLASSIC GAMES 

AMSTRAD | COMMODORE | SEGA | NINTENDO | ATARI | SINCLAIR | NEO-GEO | SONY | COIN-OP | MOBILE 

tm 

ZX sPectruM 

celebration 

the 35 games that have defined the 

machine for each year of its life 

Medal of 

honor 

the declassified report on ea’s 

world war ii blockbuster series 

Import Icon 

Discover how 

NEC’s miniature 

console made 

the west green 

with envy 

surviving 

night traP 

everything you need to know about 

sega’s controversial fmv oddity 

Also 

inside 

• Sonic Mania 

• SUNSET RIDERS 

• gaMe gear 

• jet set radio 

• rod-land 

• phoenix 

11 atari st 

essentials 

obscure gems that made the 

16-bit home computer sing 

navigating 

Moon Patrol 

our fantastic guide to irem’s cult 

arcade game is out of this world 

MayheM in 

Monsterland 

how the rowlands brothers 

made their c64 swan song 

load 172

LOADING... 

THE RETROBATES 

WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE 

SPECTRUM GAME? 

DARRAN JONES 

It will always be Sabre Wulf 

for me. It’s the Dark Souls of 

Spectrum games. 

Expertise: 

Juggling a gorgeous wife, two 

beautiful girls and an awardwinning 

magazine 

Currently playing: 

Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon 

Favourite game of all time: 

Strider 

SAM RIBBITS 

Pass. 

Expertise: 

Pixels 


Life is Strange: Before The 

Storm 


Croc: Legend Of The Gobbos 

PAUL DRURY 

A tie between Jetpac and Manic 

Miner, though if we’re talking 

a Speccy exclusive, I’ll say the 

charming and experimental 

Knot in 3D. 

Expertise: 

Codswallop 


WipEout: The Omega 

Collection 


Sheep in Space 

NICK THORPE 

Deflektor is on other systems 

too, but I first played Gremlin’s 

excellent puzzle game on the 

Spectrum and that’s 

the platform I’ll always 

associate it with. 

Expertise: 

Owning five Master Systems 

(I sold two) 


Sonic Mania 


Sonic The Hedgehog 

JASON KELK 

I have fond memories of 

Chronos from ‘back in the day’ 

and enjoy picking it up for a 

blast once in a while. 

Expertise: 

Being a homebrew hero 


Wheelin’ Wally 


Io 

MARTYN CARROLL 

Jet Set Willy. Exploring Miner 

Willy’s mansion is one of my 

earliest and fondest gaming 

memories. 

Expertise: 

Sinclair stuff 


The Witness 


Jet Set Willy 

DREW SLEEP 

R-Type on the Spectrum is 

astounding. There must have 

been dark rituals involved; actual 

magic, you know? 

Expertise: 

Creating the Optimum Playing 

Distance(). 


Persona 5 


Final Fantasy VIII 

GRAEME MASON 

Crikey… that’s akin to choosing 

your favourite child. Erm, erm... 

I’ll go with Chaos but ask me 

again next week and it’ll be 

something else. 

Expertise: 

Adjusting the tape azimuth with 

a screwdriver 


Dying Light 


Resident Evil 4 

I 

always wanted to own a PC Engine and 

I’ve always wanted to put it on the cover 

of Retro Gamer. It’s the first ever games 

machine that I truly coveted, and the first 

that felt truly special to me as a youngster. I’d 

seen the screenshots of R-Type in the likes of 

CVG and the quality of the graphics made me 

giddy with excitement. We once screamed 

‘Arcade Perfect’ on the cover of Retro 

Gamer when we featured the Neo-Geo, but 

I’d argue that the tagline was also suitable for 

NEC’s delightful console, particularly when 

it was placed up against the 8-bit and 16-bit 

home computers of the time. 

So this month, we’ve spoken to the people 

who were on the frontlines when NEC’s 

console first arrived, those that were telling 

us about this wondrous new console, which 

sadly never made the impact here that it 

made in its native Japan. I would go on to 

own both a PC Engine and the excellent GT 

handheld model but, like an idiot, I sold them 

on. If you are tempted to pick up a PC Engine 

after reading our cover feature then I implore 

you not to make the same mistake as me. 

I also implore you to read the excellent 

edition of Super Play that has been 

resurrected for a special one-off issue this 

month. It’s been lovingly put together by many 

of the original members and is an excellent 

companion piece for the incoming release of 

the SNES Mini. And who knows? If this issue 

is well received there’s always 

the chance we’ll return to the 

Future vaults and revisit more 

classic mags. 

Enjoy the magazine(s)!

CONTENTS 

>> Load 172 Breathing new life into classic games 

RETRO RADAR FEATURED 

06 Flashback Strikes Back 

ATGames’ Yada Khoongumjorn on how 

Nintendo’s Classic Mini range has made the 

company up its game 

08 News Wall 

Jeff Minter is teaming up with Atari for a brand 

new Tempest game 

10 The Vault 

Records, books and other goodies to spend 

your hard-earned cash on 

11 Collector’s Corner 

This month’s collector has built a shrine to 

all things retro in his attic 

12 Mr Biffo 

More musings from our resident 

monthly columnist 

13 A Moment With 

Andy Remic tells us about his brand-new 

ZX Spectrum documentary, Memoirs Of A 

Spectrum Addict 

14 Back To The Noughties 

Nick’s time machine has stopped off in 

August 2000. Dare you follow him? 

REVIVALS 

52 Rod-Land 

Darran loved taking the mickey out of his 

Amiga-owning friends. Until one of them 

got sweet revenge… 

74 Super Hang On 

Why the Mega Drive home conversion is a 

worthy alternative to its arcade big brother 

100 Jet Set Radio 

Nick’s not a hipster, not really, but 

sometimes he has hipster thoughts 

26 Peripheral Vision: NES 

Advantage Controller 

A NES peripheral that’s guaranteed not to 

kill your hands 

34 Classic Moments: 

Phoenix 

Do you remember taking on this early 

videogame boss? Darran does 

42 Hardware Heaven: 

Game Gear 

Your instant guide to Sega’s first handheld 

games console 

54 From The Archives: 

M-Network 

Read Keith Robinson’s final interview about 

his time at Mattel Electronics’ game division 

60 The Unconverted: 

Dead Connection 

We take a look at Taito’s unconventional 

arcade shooter 

68 Classic Moments: 

Sunset Riders 

Throw your Stetson in the air as we 

celebrate the coolest bits from 

Konami’s cult run-and-gun 

70 Minority Report: Atari ST 

Kim Justice has scoured Atari’s 16-bit 

computer to unearth some of its 

quirkiest gems 

84 Whatever Happened 

To… Dragon Sword 

Philip Oliver explains why his N64 action 

game was never released 

88 The Making Of: Call Of 

Cthulhu: Dark Corners 

Of The Earth 

We go behind the scenes of one of the 

Xbox’s best survival horror games 

94 Desert Island Disks: 

Adrian Longland 

The classic coder on a varied career 

that’s covered everything from the 

Spectrum to Gex 

18 

PC Engine: 

Import Icon 

Games journalists from the late Eighties recall the excitement of 

seeing NEC’s miniature console in action 

28 

The Making Of: 

Mayhem In Monsterland 

The Rowlands brothers discuss their 

astonishing finale for the Commodore 64 

4 | RETRO GAMER

Don’t forget to follow us online for all your latest retro updates 

RetroGamerUK 

@RetroGamer_Mag 

TODAY! 

Retro Gamer Magazine 

@RetroGamerMag 

darran.jones@futurenet.com 

SUBSCRIBE 

The only thing more desirable than NEC’s console 

AND 

SAVE 

20% 

ZX Spectrum: 

35 Years, 35 Games 

62 

44 

Ultimate Guide: 

Night Trap 

We had been taken over by the 

EA machine, and there was a huge 

downslope at that point 

36 

Ultimate Guide: 

Moon Patrol 

Graeme Mason explores Irem’s popular arcade 

game and plays its numerous home conversions 

76 74 

REVIEWS 

102 Sonic Mania 

104 Memoirs Of A Spectrum 

Addict 

104 Namco Museum 

History Of Medal Of Honor 

Chris Cross look back at the legacy of 

Electronic Arts’ World War II blockbuster 

ESSENTIALS 

86 Subscriptions 

It’s better than a five-player 

Bomberman session 

106 Homebrew 

Jason Kelk returns with all the latest on 

the popular scene 

110 Mailbag 

Send us an entertaining letter and you 

might win a bookazine 

113 Next Month 

And you thought this issue was great… 

114 Endgame 

Nick runs through the ending of 

Star Parodier for you 

RETRO GAMER | 5

give us two minutes and we'll give you the retro world 

CONTENTS 

6 FLASHBACK 

STRIKES BACK 

Yada Khoongumjorn tells us about the latest 

lineup of AtGames’ plug-and-play devices 

8 NEWS WALL 

All the latest news, including the revelation 

that Jeff Minter is teaming up with Atari again 

10 THE VAULT 

This month’s goodies include an Altered 

Beast vinyl and a new Fighting Fantasy book 

11 COLLECTOR’S CORNER 

Our latest collector’s hoard is so big he 

had to move it into his loft 

12 COLUMN 

Mr Biffo’s talks about his new Found Footage 

show and the DIY spirit of the ZX Spectrum 

13 A MOMENT WITH... 

Andy Remic chats about his new project: 

Memoirs Of A Spectrum Addict 

14 BACK TO THE 

NOUGHTIES 

Nick is back in his time machine and this time 

he’s crashing into August 2000 

We also started 

working with 

Bandai Namco 

this year 

Yada Khoongumjorn 

FLASHBACK STRIKES 

BACK 

AtGames reveals brand-new 

hardware for 2017 

AtGames is one of the most 

prolific manufacturers 

of plug-and-play retro 

consoles, with more 

than a decade of experience in 

the sector and two major longterm 

licensing deals with Atari 

and Sega. While the company has 

traditionally made minor tweaks to 

its offerings annually, this year it’s 

introducing brand-new hardware with 

more modern features. To find out 

more, we spoke to AtGames’ product 

coordinator Yada Khoongumjorn. 

AtGames has had heavier 

competition over the past year 

than it has experienced in the past, 

and this year you’re marketing a 

» [Mega Drive] HDMI output ensures that games like Sonic 

The Hedgehog look better than ever. 

new range of hardware with lots 

of improvements. How much of 

that is as a reaction to increased 

competition in the sector? 

I would say that it’s not so much due 

to the increased competition as due to 

the increased exposure to the space, 

if that makes sense. AtGames has 

been manufacturing officially licensed 

Atari and Sega consoles for many 

years – our Sega line has been going 

on since 2005 – so we have always 

known that this is something that lots 

of people are interested in, something 

that people love to purchase for 

themselves, for their husbands and 

wives, to show retro games to their 

kids. We made some changes to our 

lineup this year and elsewhere in the 

business in response to the increased 

exposure, definitely. 

What are the key new features of 

the Atari Flashback 8 Gold and 

Sega Genesis Flashback this year? 

We have a new premium line, in 

addition to the normal line we produce 

every year, for both the Sega Genesis 

and the Atari 2600. These premium 

consoles feature more modern 

features, such as HDMI output, which 

is something that people have been 

asking for – for a while, actually. 

They feature 2.4GHz wireless 

controllers – frankly, I know that the 

ones in the past just didn’t work 

very well, they were infrared 

and these are not. They 

feature vastly improved 

sound on the Sega, 

the wrong pitch 

» The presentation of the Atari Flashback is nice and slick. 

The Nintendo influence is clear. 

on the previous consoles does not 

exist on the new consoles, and on 

the Atari we have a selection of new 

games, mainly from Activision. 

The Atari Flashback 8 Gold comes 

in two models – a regular edition 

and an Activision edition. What’s 

the difference? 

The Activision edition of our Atari 

console is done in very close 

partnership with Activision, they’ve 

actually never done anything in the 

retro console space before, even 

though they have such a big library. 

The difference is the normal Atari 

Flashback 8 Gold has 20 Activision 

games, and then it also has a couple 

of others like Taito’s Space Invaders 

and Konami’s Frogger. The Activision 

edition only has Atari first-party, and 

then 39 Activision games. 

With the Genesis Flashback, you 

mentioned that the sound has been 

vastly improved. That’s something 

that the classic gaming community 

has recognised as a problem with 

the old hardware for some time – 

why has it taken until now to fix it? 

I believe a large part of it comes down 

to increased exposure creating the 

incentive to tackle this issue. I’m a 

relatively new hire, and it’s definitely 

6 | RETRO GAMER

Visit RETROGAMER.NET/FORUM to haVe your say 

RETRORADAR: FLASHBACK STRIKES BACK 

THE FULL RANGE 

Get up to speed on the details of AtGames’ 2017 product range… 

Atari Flashback 8 Gold 

PRICE: $79.99 

■ 120 built-in games (130 in activision edition) 

■ two 2.4Ghz wireless controllers 

■ two control ports 

■ 720p hDMi output 

■ optional scanline filter 

■ save/pause/rewind feature for all games 

part of a larger strategy of 

AtGames in modernising what 

we’ve been doing for so long. I think 

when Nintendo came out [with the 

Nintendo Classic Mini: NES], it was 

part of making retro gaming more 

mainstream, and in the same way we 

as a company decided to move in that 

direction as well. 

A number of early reviews of the 

Sega Genesis Flashback went up, 

and they weren’t great. AtGames 

put out a statement that the initial 

review units were faulty, and that 

was down to outdated firmware. Is 

that correct? 

Correct. It was outdated firmware, 

it was a number of mistakes that we 

made with that initial batch. Those 

units are in no way representative of 

what will be going out to retailers at 

the end of September. 

The two complaints in the reviews 

were poor wireless control 

response and stuttering. Will both 

of those issues be fixed? 

Correct, as well as a number of others 

– it was a pretty severe rollback in 

the firmware. I’ll speak frankly, I don’t 

know which reviews you saw, but 

some of them were also speaking 

about the power switch – that’s not 

representative of what we’re putting 

out at all, either. 

» The roster of Mega Drive games misses a few classics, 

but it otherwise surprisingly good. 

» [Atari 2600] Darran’s looking forward to taking Dig Dug 

everywhere with him! [Ed – no he definitely isn’t!] 

Are the non-premium 

range consoles – the Atari 

Flashback 8 and the Sega Genesis 

Classic Game Console – are 

they using the same hardware 

and emulation that was used in 

previous years? 

They are. So what we call the value 

line, which is the same as previous 

years, is all the same emulation and 

all the same hardware. The premium 

line is, as you’ve surmised, completely 

new emulation. 

The handheld editions of the 

machines for this year both feature 

Namco games which aren’t 

available on the home models – 

why is that? 

In addition to Activision we also started 

working with Bandai Namco this year. 

If what you’re asking is why we have 

Pac-Man on the portables but not on 

the consoles, just like everything else 

it purely comes down to licensing. 

You’ll see some of the Namco titles 

on other systems, and that doesn’t 

mean that we’re never going to have 

them, but this year we decided just 

the portables would be a good entry 

point for this. 

» As well as 

Sega’s games, 

the Sega 

Genesis Ultimate 

Portable 

Game Player 

includes Rolling 

Thunder 2, Pac- 

Panic and other 

Namco games. 

Atari Flashback Portable 

Game Player 

PRICE: $59.99 

■ 70 built-in games 

■ 2.8 inch LCD display 

■ sD card slot for additional games 

■ tV output via standard definition 

composite aV 

Sega Genesis Classic Game 

Console 

PRICE: $59.99 


■ Cartridge port for additional games 

■ two wired controllers 


■ standard definition composite aV output 

Atari Flashback 8 

PRICE: $59.99 


■ two wired controllers 


■ standard definition composite aV output 

Sega Genesis Flashback 

PRICE: $79.99 


■ Cartridge port for additional games 

■ two 2.4Ghz wireless controllers 


■ 720p hDMi output and scanline filter 

■ save/pause/rewind feature for all games 

Sega Genesis Ultimate Portable 

Game Player 

PRICE: $59.99 


■ save game support 

■ 2.8 inch LCD display 

■ sD card slot for additional games 

■ tV output via standard definition composite aV 

RETRO GAMER | 7

NEWS WALL 

Dispatches from the frontline of retro gaming 

TEMPEST ON THE HORIZON 

ATARI AND JEFF MINTER TEAM UP 

FOR A NEW GAME 

Few developers have had as 

many ups and downs as 

Jeff Minter has. One minute 

he’s riding high with the 

critical acclaim for his awesome 

shoot-’em-up TxK, the next he’s 

receiving lawsuits from Atari wanting 

to quash said game. It meant that 

the planned PlayStation 4 and PC 

builds that Jeff had been working on 

never received a release, meaning a 

great many gamers missed out on his 

excellent shooter. That was in 2015, 

and a list of demands from Atari that 

Jeff Minter published on his site (and 

has since taken down) highlighted 

that Jeff knew he wouldn’t have been 

able to battle the lawsuit. 

Fortunately, it would appear that 

time is a great healer, as both Atari 

and Jeff have announced they are 

working together on Tempest 4000, a 

brand-new game in the classic series. 

“At the end of the day, videogamers 

always win,” revealed Jeff is a new 

press release. “I am very happy to 

work with Atari again to bring the 

long-awaited sequel of Tempest to our 

legion of fans and a new generation of 

gamers worldwide.” 

While it’s looking highly unlikely that 

Tempest 4000 will be featuring a VR 

mode, Atari is promising 4K resolution 

visuals, 100 unique levels and a 

suitably retro-inspired soundtrack. 

It’s also going to be possible to play 

an enhanced version of the original 

Tempest as well, which pleases us. 

“The original Tempest is a beloved 

arcade classic with a unique style and 

intense, edge-of-your-seat gameplay,” 

revealed Atari’s CEO, Todd Shallbetter. 

“We’re thrilled to be able to work 

with Jeff Minter again, someone who 

is a legend in the industry and has 

made a huge impact on the history of 

videogames, to develop this highlyanticipated 

next instalment of the 

Tempest franchise, updated with 

today’s technology.” 

There’s no news on when 

Tempest 4000 will be released, but it 

will be reviewed in a future issue of 

Retro Gamer. Hopefully, Jeff Minter 

will be able to reveal a little more 

information in the coming months. 

» [Jaguar] Expect the incoming Tempest 4000 to be just as searing on your retinas as Tempest 2000 and Tempest 3000 were. 

Tempest is a beloved classic with 

a unique style and intense, 

edge-of-your-seat gameplay 

Todd Shallbetter 

» [PS Vita] Jeff Minter’s superb TxK remains one of the Vita's best shooters. We’d love a physical release. 

NEW N64 CONTROLLER ANNOUNCED 

HERE'S AN EXCUSE NOT TO RENEW YOUR TRIDENT 

Retro Fighters recently 

announced a brand-new 

controller for the N64 and 

it’s already annihilated 

its Kickstarter target. Rather than 

» [N64] It will be interesting to see how games like Sin & 

Punishment play with the new controller. 

build around the infamous pronged 

'trident' design of the original pad, 

Retro Fighters has instead based its 

new build on the Classic Controller 

range that Nintendo has made for 

its more recent consoles. The new 

design also adds Turbo and Clear 

buttons in addition to those found on 

the original pad. It will be 100 per cent 

compatible with original memory cards 

and Rumble Paks and backers are 

expected to receive their pads within 

12 weeks of the project being funded. 

Retro Fighters only wanted $13,000 

to complete funding, but it appears 

that there’s a lot of interest in the new 

pad and it currently sits on a total 

of $114,747 with 24 days to 

go. While we like the look 

of the new design, we’re 

concerned that the $20 

asking price might be a 

little too low to create 

the quality product 

that’s being promised. 

It’s also worth noting 

that many N64 games 

were purposely built around the 

original controller, which could affect 

gameplay. Needless to say, we’ll have 

more information once the controller is 

finally made available. 

8 | RETRO GAMER

THE VAULT 

the cool retro stuff that we’ve had our eye on this month 

Sonic The Hedgehog: 1991-2016 

It’s a good time to be a Sonic fan, as this belated 25th anniversary art 

book joins Sonic Mania in evoking memories of the Blue Blur’s best days. 

This book features just about everything a fan could desire, from familiar 

artwork, such as game covers and in-game sprites to preproduction 

sketches and concept artwork – much of which hasn’t been seen before. 

Interviews with key staff members give insight into the design choices 

made over the last 25 years, and the presentation is enhanced with foldout 

and transparent pages. The book covers the whole series, but is heavier on 

the early games due to their introduction of key characters and concepts. 

There’s also a lavish Collector’s Edition, which includes an outer box, 

an inner sleeve which folds into a book stand, and an art print from Yuji 

Uekawa which shows Sonic in his three different incarnations. 

Price: £40.00 (Collector’s Edition £95.00) 

From: candb.com 

PICK 

OF THE 

MONTH 

Altered Beast soundtrack 

Although the Mega Drive version of Altered Beast was 

popular due to its status as the machine’s first pack-in 

game, we’re surprised that Data Discs has opted to 

go with this version for a soundtrack release instead 

of the original arcade music. The usual high-quality 

production applies, though, with a printed inner sleeve 

and art poster accompanying the record. 

Price: £19.99 From: data-discs.com 

Fighting Fantasy: 

The Port Of Peril 

You know the deal with Fighting 

Fantasy – the gamebooks popular in the 

Eighties and Nineties have you create 

a hero, then choose your own path 

through an adventure, flicking back and 

forth through the book to find the next 

section. This is Ian Livingstone’s first 

new Fighting Fantasy since 2012’s Blood 

Of The Zombies, celebrating the 35th 

anniversary of the classic series. 

Price: £6.99 

From: waterstones.com 

SmartBoy 

If you’ve got a library of Game Boy cartridges kicking around but 

your hardware’s a bit knackered, why not try the SmartBoy? The 

USB Type-C accessory gives your phone a cartridge port and 

physical controls, allowing you to enjoy the classics with modern 

display technology. We’re using it with a Google Pixel here, but it’s 

officially only designed for Samsung phones. 

Price: £59.99 From: funstockretro.co.uk 

PlayStation Hoodie 

There are few symbols more recognised 

in the gaming world than the classic 

PlayStation logo – it’s been visible 

for over 20 years and on six different 

platforms. So why not wear it across 

your chest? This hoodie lets you do 

exactly that, throws the Japanese text 

for PlayStation in too, and keeps you 

warm while doing all of that. 

Price: £40.00 

From: insertcoinclothing.com 

10 | RETRO GAMER

COLLECTOR’S CORNER 

Spotlighting the greateSt retro collectorS out there 

BIO 

NAME: Jamie Monk 

ESTIMATED VALUE: 

£2,500 - £3,000 

FAVOURITE GAME: 

Wonder Boy on Sega 

Master System 

JEWEL 

IN THE 

CROWN 

HALO HELMET 

■ “The Jewel of my collection is 

a limited edition Halo 3 Spartan 

helmet. I think it’s so cool, so well 

made and I got it in mint condition 

for a pretty good price too!” 

PAID: £20 

Attic Attack 

Readers take us through the retro keyhole 

Unlike many of our collectors, reader 

Jamie Monk isn’t too fussy when it 

comes to how he amasses his game 

collection. “To me, a game is a game. 

Whether it comes with or without a manual, or a 

perfect untouched disc. As long as it’s playable,” he 

tells us. “A lot of the time I pick up games from local 

car boot sales and charity shops without spending 

hardly anything. The downside is that they aren’t 

always perfect condition, but that’s okay because I 

like playing the games, not admiring the cases!” 

It’s a refreshing attitude to take and it’s one 

that makes a lot of sense, particularly when you 

consider how difficult it is to find cardboard cases in 

great condition and the high prices they inevitably 

command. For Jamie, the biggest thing that’s always 

held him back in the past wasn’t the condition of 

the games he chose to collect, but where he would 

actually keep them. “I’ve been an avid gamer all 

my life, but have never had the space to create a 

games room and really go to town with collecting,” 

he continues. “Since buying my own house two 

years ago, I’ve converted the attic into a games 

room, which has allowed me to hit retro collecting 

hard.” The finished product looks fantastic and it’s 

clear its creation was a labour of love for Jamie. 

“It took me four months to convert the attic into a 

room,” he recalls. “To begin with it was full of dust 

and insulation, manned by beams. It was pretty 

unusable. Once transformed, it took about a week to 

set up shelves and storage, and then I just organised 

it into some kind of order.” 

“YOU’RE NEVER TOO 

OLD, AND IT’S NEVER 

TOO LATE. I’M 25 AND I’LL 

STILL BE COLLECTING 

WHEN I’M 50!” 

That order not only includes a large number 

of games he’s always loved playing, but it’s 

also provided him with a chance to collect for 

consoles that he missed the first time around 

as well. “I missed out on some systems growing 

up as a kid, which made me want to try them. I’ve 

just bought a Sega Dreamcast and Nintendo 64 

so I’m kind of focused on those two at the 

minute. However I have a pretty neat collection of 

PlayStation and PS2 games. If there is a game I see 

and it looks good, I will give it a shot and game on! I 

will try every game in my attic at some point. I try to 

avoid fodder that I know I wont really play.” 

So does Jamie have any advice for anyone else 

wanting to build up their own collection? “The 

best advice I can give is you’re never too old, and 

it’s never too late. I’m 25 and I’ll still be collecting 

when I’m 50! Also, when you’re strapped for cash, 

car boots are your best friend. Some people have 

no idea what treasures they have in their loft, until 

a gamer like you comes along and picks up their 

console for next to nothing.” 

CRASH TEAM 

RACING 

“Still the best version of Crash 

Team. It’s so addictive. I bagged 

this at the car boot for 50p, decent 

condition, and it came with the 

original manual.” 

PAID: 50p 

HALO 

GAMES 

“I bought these when I had no 

idea about car boots and ways to 

get games cheaper. I bought them 

new, so around £39.99 each. I don’t 

regret it. Halo is one of the best 

games I’ve played. ” 

PAID: £207 

WONDER BOY 

“When I was younger I 

played this game at an arcade 

when I went on holiday with my 

parents. I absolutely loved it but forgot 

the name. Years later, I saw it again and 

knew I had to get it. My Mrs bought it 

me for around £10 on eBay, so it 

was technically free!” 

PAID: Free 

SUPER 

MARIO 64 

“I think this has got to be one 

of the best original games for 

Nintendo 64. A complete classic 

that is always great fun to play and 

reminisce with. I bought this at a 

car boot sale.” 

PAID: £2 

SONIC 

TRILOGY 

“I used to love playing Sonic 

as a kid and couldn’t believe how 

expensive it was when I looked on 

eBay. Looking out for them at car 

boots I managed to bag all three 

for about £5. ” 

PAID: £5 

RETRO GAMER | 11

COLUMN 

Featuring Digitiser 2000’s Mr BiFFo 

Here’s my bio… Paul Rose 

Paul Rose is probably better known as Mr Biffo – the creator and chief writer of legendary teletext 

games magazine Digitiser. These days, he mostly writes for kids TV, but can still be found rambling on 

about games, old and new, for his daily website, Digitiser2000.com. 

Do It Yourself: Speccy-style 

Because I’m clearly mad, I’ve spent the 

last month or two preparing to film a 

sci-fi movie. By the time you read this, I’ll 

have either managed it, or by weeping 

and broken in an abandoned nuclear bunker 

somewhere in the Midlands. 

Mr Biffo’s Found Footage is a series that will 

be hitting the Digitiser2000 YouTube channel 

in September. It’s a weird, woozy, deliberately 

rough-looking sketch show (of sorts), but the 

finale will be a 30-minute short film, which aims 

to be slick, glossy, and unique as we can manage 

on our relatively miniscule budget. 

Of interest to Retro Gamer readers, it will also 

mark the first modern onscreen reunion of two 

stars from CITV’s gaming TV show Bad Influence. 

If you want to see Violet Berlin and Nam Rood 

shooting at bum-faced monsters… this’ll be right 

up your post-apocalyptic alley. 

However, it’s the budget I wanted to talk about. 

Though we’ve splurged on a rather impressive 

location, it means we can only afford a two-day 

shoot, our set and props are made from junk and 

household items, and we’ll be doing whatever 

we can to hide the lack of millions of dollars using 

clever lighting, shadows, and smoke haze. 

Indeed, I realised while compiling the list of 

shots I need to get how much my approached 

has been influenced by the ZX Spectrum games 

I loved. Indeed; that I still love. The fact that they 

felt handmade, the way their creators worked 

within their limitations, the fashion in which the 

Spectrum’s default black background could be 

used to convey depth or atmosphere, somehow 

made those games more tangible to me. 

Certainly, there can be few gamers of my 

vintage who didn’t feel that they could also make 

their own game. I mean, I never did – but Mr 

Biffo’s Found Footage is paying homage to that 

era however it can. Aside from the way we’re 

working within our limitations on the finale, the 

series will feature parodies of The Hobbit, and a 

Spectrum-ified musical tribute to Sir Clive Sinclair, 

revealing the true story of what he got up to 

post-C5. It’s the closest I’ve come to making my 

own Spectrum game. 

However, I think the Spectrum’s DIY aesthetic 

is one of the reasons – barring the fact games 

are no longer ‘new’ to me – why I sometimes 

struggle somewhat when it comes to engaging 

with modern gaming. I mean, aside from them all 

looking the same – shiny armour and holographic 

displays are the default look for any modern sci-fi 

game - it doesn’t feel as if modern triple-A games 

are something the average gamer can do. They 

feel aloof, out of the reach of my ability. 

Because of that, I somehow feel detached from 

them. It’s like they’re less real, less the product of 

a person than a machine. They’re homogenised, 

lacking personality. They’re never the work of a 

single vision, but a team of hundreds trying to 

justify a budget in the millions. 

Give me a bedroom coder over that any day. 

Do you agree with Paul’s thoughts? Contact us at: 

RetroGamerUK @RetroGamer_Mag darran.jones@futurenet.com 

www.retrogamer.net/forum 

12 | RETRO GAMER

A MOMENT WITH... 

Showing off cool retro-themed Stuff that’S going on 

Andy Remic 

The fantasy author tells us about his new documentary 

Andy Remic has always 

loved the ZX Spectrum. 

He started off writing various 

computer games, including 

text adventures, for the system, 

before going on to become an English 

teacher. He now writes novels 

and has his own ebook publishing 

company, Anarchy Books, but has 

never forgotten his first love. That love 

has now crystallised in the form of a 

brand-new documentary, Memoirs Of 

A Spectrum Addict. 

CHECK 

OUT OUR 

REVIEW ON 

p104 

Why create Memoirs Of A 

Spectrum Addict? 

As a child, I was obsessed with the ZX 

Spectrum. It was in my blood. As the 

years rolled by, I knew one day I had 

to make a film about it (and it gave 

me – shh – an excuse to meet my 

childhood heroes). 

So why go down the 

crowdfunding route? 

I’d read about Bedrooms To Billions, 

and how it wasn’t ‘broadcast 

standard’. I wanted the best 

equipment to make this happen, 

hence lots of research, so I used 

crowdfunding to generate the money 

needed to buy what I needed: a 

Blackmagic Ursa 4K. That’s probably 

why I then went £15,000 over 

budget. Ha! I didn’t earn enough. 

How long has it taken to film? 

Two years. A non-amicable divorce got 

very much in the way. Anybody who 

has been through a protracted (and 

ongoing) non-amicable divorce will 

relate to that and understand. And Tim 

Stamper took years to get in touch 

with. In fact, I’m still waiting. 

» Mark R Jones’ enthusiasm for the Spectrum is infectious. 

He’s a great addition to the documentary. 

How does making a film compare 

to working on books? 

I’m quite solitary and shy (yeah, 

right). Writing is a solitary business 

but I enjoy the solitude, the creative 

process, being ‘god’ – it’s also why I 

used to climb mountains. To be alone. 

Thus, I love the editing process of 

film-making, the creative structuring, 

creating something original... but the 

interviewing hit me a like a sock full of 

half-brick. I was suddenly interviewing 

my childhood ‘heroes’ – which is why 

my partner Marie got involved. Before 

interviewing Steve Turner, I was a 

gibbering imbecile, and then 

there she was, just chatting away 

about her grandma. It became 

a symbiotic process – Marie 

would ‘interview’, I’d film and 

do sound. 

What issues have you 

encountered along the way? 

4K. What a pain in the arse – 

with regards sheer volume of 

data, editing, processing power, 

rendering time. I mean, it looks 

beautiful, just awesome in 

4K fully rendered, but it’s a 

massive time sink, a resource 

sink, just a – a big sink. 

Why chose to focus on the 

ZX Spectrum? 

The Spectrum was my childhood 

machine. In those old Speccy vs C64 

arguments, I was Spectrum all the 

way. I couldn’t make a film about the 

Commodore 64 because I don’t care 

about it. To some filmmakers – this 

retro thing is a cash cow. It’s like, I 

couldn’t make a romantic comedy: I 

don’t care. But the Spectrum... I was 

an obsessive. It was my drug. I was an 

(ahem) Spectrum Addict. 

What’s the most interesting 

anecdote you can tell us about 

making the film? 

Oh. Watching Clive Townsend do a 

cider-fuelled Saboteur forward-roll 

across a hedge was pretty cool – I 

wondered if he was going to break 

his spine. As was Clive showing us 

» You can’t have a Spectrum documentary without featuring 

Crash stars, Oliver Frey and Roger Kean. It’s the law. 

The Spectrum... I was an 

obsessive. It was my drug. 

I was an (ahem) 

Spectrum Addict 

Andy Remic 

around the village where Hot Fuzz 

was filmed. My personal favourite, 

though, was being ‘escorted’ 

from a certain dockland hotel after 

interviewing Mev Dinc ‘guerrilla-style’ 

(i.e. not telling anybody what we were 

doing’). I learnt a while back that the 

more people you tell, the more 

people whinge and whine – so we 

just do it, and if we’re moved on, 

we’re moved on. In this case by 

security. After two hours of filming. 

I salute their security. And I blame 

Mev. It was all his fault. 

Why do you think there’s still so 

much love for the Spectrum? 

I think, despite what Sir Clive intended, 

it became a games obsession for 

many. It became a way of life – an 

addiction. And that’s what fuelled my 

film! My Spectrum addiction. 

RETRO GAMER | 13

AUGUST 2000 – One 

hardware death, the gaming 

equivalent of a nil-nil draw 

on a rainy Sunday afternoon, 

a few good games and not 

a lot of news. That’s what 

we enjoyed during 2000’s 

summer holiday – let’s 

dive on in… 

NEWS AUGUST 2000 

On 12 August 2000, the first 

major Russian naval operation 

in a decade ended in tragedy 

when the Kursk submarine 

was sunk, killing all on board. 

During the loading of a dummy 

torpedo, a hydrogen peroxide 

solution leaked from the weapon 

due to faulty case welding. 

This caused an explosion with 

kerosene fuel, which killed a 

number of crew and started a 

major fire. This fire caused the 

explosion of roughly half a dozen 

warheads, killing any survivors 

and tearing a major hole in the 

hull. The Russian government 

claimed that the submarine had 

merely been grounded and that 

all crew members were alive on 

14 August, but following rescue 

aid from the UK and Norway, the 

military was forced to reveal the 

deaths of all crew on 23 August. 

London gangster Reggie Kray 

was released from prison on 26 

August 2000, having served over 

30 years for a series of crimes 

including murder throughout the 

Fifties and Sixties. The end of this 

life sentence was ordered by the 

Home Secretary Jack Straw, after 

it was discovered that Kray was 

suffering from terminal cancer. 

Kray spent the remainder of his life 

with his wife Roberta, whom he’d 

married in 1997, before passing 

away in his sleep on 1 October 

2000. He was buried next to his 

twin brother and partner in crime 

Ronnie Kray, who had died of a 

heart attack five years earlier. 

THE LATEST NEWS 

FROM AUGUST 2000 

Though it barely registered 

on many peoples’ radars, 

SNK’s Neo-Geo Pocket 

gained the unfortunate 

distinction of becoming the first 

console casualty of the decade, after 

less than one year on the shelves. 

While the system wasn’t anywhere 

near challenging the Pokémon-driven 

resurgence of the Game Boy, the 

system was gaining a following amongst 

hardcore gamers and had quickly 

amassed a strong library of games. The 

news came as a shock to SNK Europe 

– speaking to Arcade, UK managing 

director Robbie Phillips said, “We’ve all 

worked hard to establish the platform in 

[Game Boy Color]In a month of slim pickings for 

Nintendo fans, Pro Pool came out on top. 

a short space of time and it’s a pity that 

we never got a chance to show what the 

brand could do with real support.” The 

move was part of a total withdrawal from 

non-Japanese markets at the behest of 

Aruze, a pachinko manufacturer that had 

recently taken over SNK. 

The release of the month was the 

arrival of EA’s world-conquering FIFA 

series on the PS2. Unfortunately, 

FIFA Soccer: World Championship had 

a lot in common with other early PS2 

games, in that it was nowhere near 

living up to the hype. While the graphical 

leap over the previous generation was 

noted, GamesMaster’s 67% review 

swiftly condemned it, saying “that’s 

all the game is good for – watching”. 

Arcade was similarly unimpressed in a 

3/5 review, complaining that “the players 

are just plain stupid” and that multiplayer 

hinged on enjoying the errors. “The 

terrible refereeing decisions become 

comical and the inability of your players 

to clear the simplest ball out of the 

box becomes clown-like,” Nick Jones 

complained, concluding “that says it all, 

FIFA is fun for all the wrong reasons.” 

[Dreamcast] Marvel Vs Capcom 2 was excellent, though the 

multiformat mags weren’t keen on making that clear. 

Big names were thin on the ground 

elsewhere, as the post-E3 news lull 

combined with the usual summer 

software drought. This ensured that 

some of the less high-profile games 

came to the fore in review sections this 

month, with the best of them Silent 

Bomber, a high-quality PlayStation 

action game from the virtually unknown 

Japanese developer CyberConnect2. 

The game puts you in control of 

mercenary Jutah Fate, whose goal is to 

blow up the mothership Dante from the 

inside with remote controlled bombs. 

Arcade declared it ‘PlayStation Game Of 

The Month’, and while we’re not sure 

that we’d agree with the description, 

“Metal Gear Solid with a firework up its 

arse,” we can definitely agree with the 

4/5 score. GamesMaster concluded that 

it’s “not sexy, but got it where it counts” 

in an 86% review. 

Over on the Dreamcast, Marvel Vs 

Capcom 2 was the biggest game of 

the month. This 2D fighter took the 

standard Capcom crossover formula 

and turned everything up to 11 – the 

game’s three-on-three tag battles were 

14 | RETRO GAMER

BACK TO THE NOUGHTIES: AUGUST 2000 

AUGUST 2000 

[PS2] Premier League visuals meet Sunday league game design in FIFA’s first next-gen outing. 

characterised by extreme speed, screenfilling 

special moves and enormous 

combos. There was also a huge roster of 

56 characters, taking in the likes of Street 

Fighter, Resident Evil, Mega Man, X-Men, 

Spider-Man and Iron Man. Despite the 

game’s quality and competitive longevity, 

the press gave it a surprisingly muted 

response – GamesMaster could only 

find space for a 25-word review, despite 

awarding the game 91%, and Arcade 

gave it 3/5 despite describing it as “2D 

fighting at its very best.” 

N64 Magazine could only find one UK 

release to review this month, Konami’s 

basketball sim NBA In The Zone 2000. 

Sadly, it wasn’t anything to shout about – 

despite receiving four pages of coverage 

(likely due to necessity rather than 

enthusiasm), the game got just 69% 

from Alan Maddrell. The kicker was that 

NBA Courtside 2 Featuring Kobe Bryant, 

an import basketball game reviewed 

immediately afterwards, scored 87% 

and would never receive a PAL release. 

Also on import, the nostalgia-baiting 

duo of Namco Museum 64 and Space 

Invaders received 70% and 73% 

respectively. Game Boy Color owners 

had more to choose from but still 

struggled this month, with only Pro Pool 

standing out amongst a pile of dross 

including Ultimate Paintball and Catz. N64 

Magazine felt that it played as well as 

Virtual Pool on the N64, while Arcade 

enjoyed the adult sense of humour. Both 

magazines scored it 4/5. 

Vampire The Masquerade: 

Redemption arrived on PC this month, 

and nobody could quite agree on how 

good it was. The RPG based on the 

tabletop franchise earned the ire of Edge, 

which gave it 4/10. “The biggest fault 

[PlayStation] Silent Bomber received strong reviews and 

went on to become a cult favourite. 

of the game is in the overall structure, 

which repeatedly deprives the player 

of any degree of choice,” the reviewer 

complained, who felt that the game 

was “an abject failure to convey the spirit 

of the pen-and-paper original.” Arcade 

went down the middle, offering 3/5 and 

an observation that the multiplayer was 

far better than the single-player. C&VG’s 

Maura Sutton felt that it was “one of the 

most lavish RPGs ever” and gave it 4/5. 

Still, with Next Month pages touting 

the likes of Final Fantasy IX and WWF 

No Mercy, and the inevitable Christmas 

rush coming soon after, it’s not as if 

there was a lack of things to look forward 

to in the future. Join us again next time 

to see how those things turned out. 

[PC] What kind of vampire uses a massive chain gun to take out his enemies? 

NINTENDO 64 

1 Perfect Dark 

(Nintendo) 

2 Pokémon Stadium (Nintendo) 

3 The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina 

Of Time (Nintendo) 

4 Track & Field 2000 (Konami) 

5 Turok: Rage Wars (Acclaim) 

PLAYSTATION 

1 Colin McRae Rally 2.0 

(Codemasters) 

2 WWF Smackdown 

(THQ) 

3 Euro 2000 (Electronic Arts) 

4 F1 2000 (Electronic Arts) 

5 Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles 

(LucasArts) 

DREAMCAST 

1 Tony Hawk’s 

Skateboarding (Crave) 

2 Resident Evil: Code 

Veronica (Eidos) 

3 Wacky Races (Infogrames) 

4 Crazy Taxi (Sega) 

5 MDK2 (Interplay) 

MUSIC 

1 Groovejet [If This Ain’t 

Love] (Spiller) 

2 Out Of Your Mind 

(True Steppers/ 

Bowers/Beckham) 

3 Rock DJ (Robbie Williams) 

4 I Turn To You (Melanie C) 

5 Lucky (Britney Spears) 

THIS MONTH IN… 

N64 

Secret 151st Pokémon Mew had 

arrived in the UK, with Nintendo 

holding an event at the Bluewater 

shopping centre in Kent to distribute 

the mythical creature. It wasn’t the 

most high-tech of affairs, though – 

the download stations were basically 

comprised of old SNES consoles 

running the distribution software 

through Super Game Boy hardware. 

Edge 

Was the Dreamcast in big trouble? 

According to Edge’s “Ever 

Decreasing Circles?” feature, it 

was indeed. An impressive launch 

had stalled, and for most of 2000 it 

was selling similar numbers to the 

N64 – a console in decline. “They 

almost had a chance, but now I fear 

their chance has gone” said 

Jez San on Sega. 

Arcade 

“The Japanese taste in videogames 

is almost as strange as their taste in 

food,” declares a ridiculous feature 

entitled “The Japanese. Bonkers? 

Surely not?” Apparently, Densha De 

Go and Tokimeki Memorial 2 were 

proof that Japan was, indeed, mad. 

Indeed – in the West, we play Train 

Simulator 2017, Dropsy and Dream 

Daddy instead. 

RETRO GAMER | 15

Palace Of Magic 

A DISCOVERY THREE DECADES IN THE MAKING 

» RETROREVIVAL 

» BBC MICRO » 1987 » SUPERIOR SOFTWARE 

This BBC Micro release escaped my 

attention on its debut, mainly because 

I only knew a few people who owned a 

BBC Micro when I was a kid. Luckily, we 

now live in the age of the internet, and it’s 

possible to discuss games with all sorts of people and even 

see what said games are like without the need to ever pop 

over to someone’s house. 

I first came into contact with Martyn R Howard’s 

entertaining adventure game a few months back as it was 

being sold on a Facebook group that I’m a member of. It 

immediately caught my attention because there was a frog 

on the cover (I like frogs) along with a stylish-looking castle. 

I headed over to YouTube to get a little more information 

about it and felt it seemed interesting enough to warrant 

actually playing. 

I’m glad I gave it a whirl, because Howard’s game still 

holds up exceptionally well today. Yes, it has the garish 

eye-assaulting colours that so many BBC Micro games 

seem to suffer from, but it also has decent collision 

detection, tightly honed controls and a quick fluid pace to 

it that makes exploring the huge palace a joy rather than 

a chore. It’s also surprisingly complex with keys and other 

objects slowly opening up new sections of the sprawling 

palace. I’ve seen it described in the same breath as 

Metroid, but it’s not really on par with Nintendo’s gem, as 

your main character never really expands his skills beyond 

the ability to jump. It’s clear that a lot of thought has gone 

into Palace Of Magic’s level design, though, and if I still had 

access to gridded paper, I’d probably feel the itch to map it 

all out so I could uncover every last secret. 

I came under fire a few months back because I 

professed my dislike of Chuckie Egg II, suggesting it had 

aged poorly (which it has). While I still believe that there 

are a fair number of classic home computer games that 

are nowhere near as good as our rose-tinted memories of 

them, it’s equally satisfying to discover plenty of 

seemingly-forgotten titles that play as good now as they 

did on their original release. 

16 | RETRO GAMER

RETRO GAMER | 17

Import Icon 

As NEC’s diminutive 

console reaches its 30th 

anniversary, we remember 

how its combination of 

exoticism and arcade appeal 

gave birth to the market 

for import games. Join Nick 

Thorpe for a look back at 

this legendary piece 

of hardware… 

18 | RETRO GAMER

PC ENGINE: IMPORT ICON 

“If you hAd moNEy 

ANd wErE A 

hArdCorE gAmEr, 

ThE PC ENgINE 

wAs ThE CoolEsT 

sysTEm you 

Could owN” 

Julian Rignall 

11 yEArs, 

7 moNThs 

& 4 dAys 

passed between PC 

Engine’s launch 

(30 October 1987) and 

its final game, Dead Of 

The Brain 1 & 2 

(3 June 1999). 

Japanese console manufacturers 

didn’t have an easy time of 

breaking into the European gaming 

market – but then, it can’t be said 

that they put much effort into it. 

Unlike in North America, where Nintendo and 

Sega had dedicated operations, the NES and 

Master System were introduced into European 

territories by third-party distributors in 1987. 

The consoles occupied an awkward middle 

ground in the gaming market. The hardware was 

more capable than the 8-bit home micros, and 

competitively priced, but software was slow to 

arrive and cost as much as full-price games for 

the 16-bit computers. 

So when the May 1988 issue Computer 

& Video Games featured a report on a tiny 

Japanese wonder-console capable of sublime 

arcade-perfect games, you’d have been forgiven 

for being sceptical – especially given that the 

author of the ‘Mean Machines’ column had a 

penchant for enthusiastic hyperbole. “Forget 

Nintendo and Sega, they are not even a spit in 

the ocean in terms of power and gameplay,” 

Tony Takoushi gushed in his two-page feature 

introducing this technical marvel. “I have used all 

the superlatives in the past and yet none of them 

begin to be adequate when you come up against 

the most powerful console in the world.” It’s often 

said that if something sounds too good to be 

true, then it usually is. However, hype will always 

» [PC Engine] A special adaptor was needed for multiplayer games like 

Bomberman ’93 due to the PC Engine only having one controller port. 

» [PC Engine] The PC Engine’s colour handling allowed the original Lords Of 

Thunder to outshine its Mega-CD conversion. 

beat scepticism when gamers are concerned, 

and the seed was planted in the minds of British 

gamers – the PC Engine was something to watch. 

Designed by Hudson Soft and manufactured 

by electronics giant NEC, the PC Engine actually 

lived up to the claims made about it. Roughly the 

size of three CD cases stacked atop one another, 

the machine could display sprites that were larger 

and more colourful than the other consoles, and 

it could display more of them. With six audio 

channels it delivered richer sound than the Sega 

and Nintendo machines, and the games came on 

thin cards. However, with no UK model available, 

players had to take Tony’s word for it – and with 

that in mind, we wondered how he first came to 

witness the machine. 

“I used to get games and consoles direct 

from Japan and the USA and review them for 

UK magazines in the early days when few (if 

any) others did so. It was expensive with phone 

calls and shipping but very exciting times,” says 

Tony, remembering his writing days. “I saw the 

PC Engine in a Japanese magazine while I was 

working for Virgin Mastertronic and mentioned it 

to Frank Herman, one of the directors, who was 

about to go to Japan on business. He returned 

with one and a few games – an RPG, Drunken 

Master and a Namco platformer. Wow!” Despite 

the fact that the console was impossible to 

obtain in the UK, Tony continued to cover the PC 

Engine in his Mean Machines sections. “I was 

very lucky the editor Tim Metcalfe was awesome 

and understood the excitement and impact of 

these reviews, and letting people know what was 

coming (hopefully) to our shores.” 

The decision to run with the coverage despite 

the machine’s lack of an official presence in the UK 

proved to be the right move. “The response was 

insane, everyone wanted to get it but NEC had no 

plans to release in the UK, they were looking to a 

US launch was best I heard. CVG got inundated 

with mail asking for more info and reviews,” 

remembers Tony. However, not everybody 

welcomed the attention that the console was 

gathering. “I decided to call NEC and see if they 

were going to release/confirm arrival of the 

RETRO GAMER | 19

669 

HuCard and 

CD-ROM games were 

released for the PC 

Engine in Japan. 

PCE in Europe. I eventually got through to the 

relevant person at NEC in Europe who said, ‘So 

it was you that did the review… I’m seriously 

thinking about putting a contract out on you for 

the heat you’ve caused us!’” 

Like the public, members of the press quickly 

started paying attention to the new machine 

based on the coverage it received in CVG. The 

Games Machine featured a PC Engine cover 

story in issue eight, which included repeated 

references to the Mean Machines coverage, 

and ACE also began to cover the machine. The 

attention from multiformat magazines was 

expected, but even the dedicated ZX Spectrum 

magazine Crash would find itself giving the PC 

Engine a few pages before the Eighties were over. 

The console was simply too exciting to ignore. 

Zzap!64 editor Julian ‘Jaz’ Rignall was also 

paying attention. “I first heard about the PC 

Engine in early 1988 through Computer & Video 

Games magazine’s original Mean Machines 

column, which was written by freelancer Tony 

Takoushi. He was very enthusiastic about the 

system and its handful of games, and my 

interest was well and truly piqued by his hype,” 

remembers the veteran journalist, who despite 

» [PC Engine] Gate Of Thunder was available as a pack-in game for the American 

Turbo Duo alongside Bonk’s Adventure, Bonk’s Revenge and Bomberman. 

being editor of a Commodore 64 magazine, 

was starting to be drawn away from the home 

computers. “At the time I was seriously getting 

into consoles – I had both an NES and a Master 

System – and this new-generation machine 

sounded very promising indeed.” 

Julian moved to CVG during 1988, and by the 

end of the year he was a key part of the Mean 

Machines column – and with that move came his 

first chance to actually check out the PC Engine. 

“I persuaded CVG editor Eugene Lacey to let me 

expense a PC Engine for the office, and a week or 

two later it arrived.” The experience wasn’t quite 

what Julian had expected, however. “I was really 

excited, but unfortunately it came with just two 

games: Shanghai and Kato-Chan Ken-Chan. 

While the latter was quite amusing for its crude 

sense of humour, neither game blew me away. 

They were just okay.” 

so what was it that turned this 

opinion around? “A couple of weeks 

later we got hold of R-Type, and that 

was absolutely sensational,” Julian 

explains. “I loved the coin-op, so 

getting the chance to play what felt like a carbon 

copy at home was quite the revelation. That game 

really showcased the PC Engine’s potential, and 

immediately made me a huge fan of the system. 

Over the following months more really highquality 

games were released, including Galaga 

‘88, Legendary Axe, Alien Crush, Space Harrier and 

Dragon Spirit. All helped make the PC Engine – in 

my eyes at least – the single most desirable games 

machine of the period.” 

BEgINNEr’s guIdE 

CArd Cd ■ Region-free 

HuCARD 

■ 2 -20 megabit capacity 

■ Region locked 

HuCard 

280 GAMES 

■ Playable on all PC Engine consoles 

■ Connector pins are at the top of the card 

when artwork is the right way up 

SuperGrafx 

5 GAMES 

■ Only playable on SuperGrafx consoles 

■ The connector pins are at the bottom of 

the card when artwork is the right way up 

Here’s a guide to what you’ll need to play the complete 

library of PC Engine sotware 

■ Up to 650 megabit capacity 

Cd-rom 2 

120 GAMES 

■ Playable as standard on all PC Engine 

Duo and Super CD-ROM² consoles 

■ System Card 1.0 or higher required on 

original CD-ROM² add-on

“ThE PErsoN AT 

NEC sAId, ‘so IT 

wAs you ThAT 

dId ThE rEvIEw… 

I’m sErIously 

ThINkINg ABouT 

PuTTINg A 

CoNTrACT ouT 

oN you!’” 

Tony Takoushi 

A record 

20 

mEgABIT 

HuCard was used for Street 

Fighter II: Championship 

Edition (that’s 2.5 times 

the size of the next 

biggest card). 

As well as delivering a selection of unmatched 

arcade conversions, the PC Engine was breaking 

new ground with the introduction of CD-ROM 

technology. This was by no means cheap, but 

for your trouble you were able to play the best 

home conversion of the popular Capcom arcade 

game Street Fighter. Bikkuriman Daijikai was 

less accessible to non-Japanese audiences, 

but the heaps of speech and CD audio showed 

the possibilities of this high-capacity storage 

medium. In introducing this system, CVG also 

made a famous comparison. “I thought that 

it might be a good idea to show how small it 

was by including something in the shot that 

everybody could relate to. Fortunately, I’d just 

been across the road to Arkwrights, the local 

corner store, to buy some afternoon snacks, 

and just happened to have a packet of Skips at 

hand,” remembers Julian. “We’d said numerous 

times that the PC Engine was diminutive, but 

that picture really helped readers understand 

just how truly tiny it was.” Indeed, it captured the 

imagination of readers to the point that our own 

Editor Darran Jones still describes the console as 

being as big as a packet of crisps. 

By this point, players had received about a 

year of PC Engine coverage and had their wallets 

primed and ready. “Judging by the mail we 

received, it seemed that many of CVG’s readers 

were very excited about the PC Engine – which 

wasn’t particularly surprising considering how 

incredibly enthusiastic we were when we wrote 

about the console and its games,” says Julian. 

» [PC Engine] RPGs like Cosmic Fantasy 2 benefit massively from the shift 

from HuCards to CD-ROM. 

“Most people wanted to know when it was going 

to be officially launched, how much it’d cost, and 

what games would be released in the UK.” The 

only problem was NEC – the company was silent 

on all of those matters. 

What happened next was unprecedented 

in the videogaming market at the time. With a 

clear demand for PC Engine products and no 

official supply of them, entrepreneurial types 

began to import the machines directly from 

Japan to sell on in their own regions. Magazines 

were suddenly stuffed with adverts for import 

game retailers, eager to sell you this previously 

elusive console. Importing presented some new 

considerations for players, who had to know if 

they needed a SCART or PAL machine, as well 

as get an appropriate step-down converter for 

110V power. However, even factoring in the price 

premium associated with importing, a PC Engine 

would cost you £200 or so – less than an Atari ST, 

and about half the price of an Amiga 500. This 

wasn’t just limited to the UK market, either. The 

most sophisticated PC Engine import operation of 

the time seems to have been the French company 

Sodipeng (Société De Distribution De La PC 

Engine), a subsidiary of accessory manufacturer 

Guillemot International which sold imported 

consoles with unique French instructions and 

packaging, and even warranty support. 

Super CD-ROM 2 

255 games 

■ Playable as standard on all PC engine 

Duo and super CD-ROm² consoles 

■ super system Card 3.0 or higher 

required on original CD-ROm² add-on 

Arcade CD-ROM2 

11 games 

■ arcade Card Duo required on all PC 

engine Duo and super CD-ROm² consoles 

■ arcade Card Pro required on original 

CD-ROm² add-on 

lAsErdIsC 

ld-rom 2 

11 games 

■ Only playable on a Pioneer Laseractive 

with PC engine expansion module 

■ Contains high-quality analogue video 

■ Region-free 

RETRO GAMER | 21

sIZE mATTErs 

The PC Engine is a famously dinky piece of gaming hardware – 

here’s how it stacks up against other devices 

PC 

ENgINE 

Length: 14cm 

Width: 14cm 

Depth: 3.8cm 

NEs 

CArTrIdgE 

Length: 13.3cm 

Width: 12cm 

Depth: 2cm 

“I ACTuAlly lovE 

ThAT wE dIdN’T 

hAvE AN offICIAl 

rElEAsE BECAusE 

wE goT All ThE 

TITlEs IN ThEIr 

PurEsT forms” 

Paul Weller 

One of the customers funnelled into the 

PC Engine market by the press and importers 

was Paul Weller, who today runs the PC Engine 

Software Bible at pcengine.co.uk, one of the best 

online resources for fans of the system. “It was 

the first machine that truly felt like the arcade 

experience. Previously I had a Sega Master 

System and while it was great, the limitations 

were obvious. But the PC Engine ran fast and 

smooth with loads of sprites and amazing sound. 

It was a turning point in consoles for me,” Paul 

reflects. “The physical design of the machine was 

also highly appealing, and because the games 

were all imports it added an exotic air to them.” 

mEgA 

drIvE 

Length: 28cm 

Width: 21.2cm 

Depth: 7cm 

ATArI 

lyNx 


Width: 10.8cm 

Depth: 3.8cm 

3 

mAIN ChIPs 

make up the PC Engine – 

the HuC6280A CPU/sound 

generator, the HuC6270 

GPU and the HuC6260 

video encoder. 

The import market didn’t go 

unnoticed. Within a few months, 

NEC would take out advertising 

that warned users about imported 

PC Engine consoles – they were 

likely modified without NEC’s consent and the 

company wouldn’t offer warranty support or 

repairs for them. Its intent as a deterrent against 

import purchases was obvious, but went 

largely unheeded by players. As far as the 

public was concerned, the PC Engine was 

available and NEC’s endorsement was 

no big deal – after all, the company still 

hadn’t come forward with any release 

plans to make waiting worthwhile. 

xBox 

CoNTrol PAd 


Width: 16.5cm 

Depth: 7.6cm 

Ps Tv 

Length: 6.5cm 

Width: 10.5cm 

Depth: 1.36cm 

22 | RETRO GAMER

12 

distinct HuCard-compatible PC 

Engine devices were released in 

Japan: PC Engine, PC Engine Shuttle, 

SuperGrafx, CoreGrafx, CoreGrafx II, 

PC Engine GT, PC Engine LT, PC 

Engine Duo, PC Engine Duo-R, 

Sharp X1 Twin, PC-KD863G 

monitor, Pioneer Laseractive 

PAC-N1 control pack. 


Ironically, the reason that the warnings 

were being placed was because those 

official plans did exist – NEC was just 

keeping quiet about them, since North 

America was going to be tackled 

first. The decision makes some 

sense, since Nintendo had already 

established videogame consoles as a hot 

product in the region, and the European market’s 

various languages and customs present additional 

challenges. It ultimately turned out to be a bad 

move, squandering a market primed and ready for 

the system for the potential to make even more 

money. The PC Engine was released in North 

America in late 1989, redesigned and rebranded 

as the Turbografx-16, and an initial batch of PAL 

units simply called Turbografx made it as far as 

manufacturing. However, the system bombed with 

the American audience and NEC lost confidence 

in the system’s European prospects, quietly 

pulling the plug on its unannounced release and 

offloading its stock to Telegames. 

The system’s failure to launch in Europe 

resulted in a decline in coverage for the system. 

“It was a real disappointment when we realised 

the machine wasn’t ever going to officially hit UK 

shores, but by that time the Mega Drive and Super 

Famicom had arrived and were beginning to take 

up the lion’s share of our focus,” remembers 

Julian. “It’s not that I lost interest in the PC Engine 

per se – I’ve always loved the machine – but 

» We couldn’t resist a modern day re-enactment of the Skips comparison. 

Truly, we stand on the shoulders of giants. 

there was just a lot more 

excitement surrounding the 

Super Famicom and Mega Drive as we 

headed into the Nineties. CVG ’s readers also 

seemed to be far more interested in hearing about 

Nintendo and Sega’s new machines because 

they knew that it was only a matter of time before 

they were officially launched in the UK.” When 

Mean Machines launched in October of 1990, the 

Amstrad GX4000 took the PC Engine’s cover spot 

because while it was unproven, its official release 

meant that it actually had a chance of attracting 

some advertising. 

As an import console, game prices 

would always be high, as Paul 

remembers: “It did mean I’d have 

to be quite particular and careful 

about what I spent my money on. 

But luckily I think my core collection from back 

then was very solid.” As mainstream coverage of 

the PC Engine in the UK press went into decline, 

players would eventually have to look elsewhere 

for information. “I’d regularly read (i.e. look at the 

pictures) the Japanese magazines as well to get 

the lowdown on the latest titles,” notes Paul. “I 

was also lucky enough to have a couple of friends 

who would have the resources to buy a lot more 

games than I did, so there was always a chance 

for me to experience a range of new titles that I 

couldn’t afford.” 

While the lack of an official release did present 

some unusual obstacles, the import-only nature 

of the machine only added to the appeal for those 

players that had already bought in. “I actually 

love that we didn’t have an official release 

because we got all the titles in their purest forms 

without censorship or having to put up with tacky 

» [PC Engine] Bonk’s Revenge put the system’s power to use with excellent 

cartoon animation, like this fishing gag. 

name changes and bad cover art,” says Paul. “I 

was really into the manga/anime style back then 

– it was something fresh and new and hard to 

get hold of in the UK at the time, so I tended to 

gravitate towards anything with that kind of art 

on it. Schbibin Man was one of my early pickups, 

as well as City Hunter as I was a pretty big fan of 

the comic.” 

As we moved into the Nineties, the nature of 

the PC Engine market changed considerably – but 

with coverage now the domain of fanzines like 

Electric Brain, UK players won’t have noticed 

unless they were already invested. The 

RETRO GAMER | 23

ArCAdE PErfECT? 

The PC Engine was famed for its conversions – here’s 

how some notable examples compare to the originals 

R-Type 

IREM, 1988 

■ This conversion was 

mindblowing in 1988, and 

it’s still impressive today. While it’s not quite a 1:1 fit with the arcade 

game graphically, you’d be hard-pressed to notice unless you put 

the two side by side. The sound is also slightly weaker on the 

PC Engine, which is common – most arcade games were using FM 

sound by this point. 

Galaga ’88 

NAMCO, 1988 

■ The original 

arcade game uses a 

vertically-oriented monitor, but the PC Engine stays horizontal 

with some small black borders making for a square playfield. The 

arcade game generally exhibits higher quality sprite work with 

superior shading, too. Thankfully, the cosmetic changes don’t mar 

an excellent blaster. 

Out Run 

NEC AVENUE, 1990 

■ While the PC Engine version of Out Run is generally considered 

to be the best of the early bunch of coin-op conversions, the arcade 

machine was a sprite monster and Hudson’s hardware could never 

realistically hope to match its processing power. There’s no sprite 

scaling and fewer sprites on screen overall with this version, and 

this opening stage misses the sea on the left-hand side of the road. 

Still, it’s an admirable effort to say the least. 

¥24,800 

PC Engine’s price on launch 

(30/10/1987). 

¥57,800 

CD-ROM² System’s price on 

launch (4/12/1988). 

emergence of the Super CD-ROM² format in 

1991 sent HuCard releases into decline, as the 

CD format allowed NEC some advantages over 

the explosively popular Super Famicom, but 

Paul was still along for the ride. “The PC Engine 

was always designed to have the CD add-on, 

and as such it felt like a natural progression of 

the machine, unlike the Mega-CD,” he notes. “I 

was lucky enough to buy a CD unit from a friend 

(after playing titles like Monster Lair and Ys I just 

had to have one) so I was building up a good 

library of both CD and HuCard games, but mostly 

focussing on the CDs.” 

While some great arcade conversions were 

released on disc including Pomping World 

(better known as Pang) and Gradius II, the high 

capacity of CDs was more commonly used for 

digital comics, RPGs and adventure games with 

lavish animation and lots of speech. “CD-based 

games opened up a whole new world which 

was truly exciting to be a part of. We now had 

stunning anime-style visual scenes, amazing 

music and the storage capability that allowed 

for some incredible games,” says Paul, and 

there’s no denying the quality of what’s out 

there. Original games like Gate Of Thunder and 

Winds Of Thunder, the Cosmic Fantasy games 

and Castlevania: Rondo Of Blood were simply 

fantastic, and the CD-ROM system attracted more 

RPG conversions such as Might & Magic III and 

Dungeon Master. It’s hard to disgree when Paul 

says “To me, a PC Engine without a CD unit is 

only half a machine.” 

Still, one last play for the arcade lover’s cash 

was made in the form of 1994’s Arcade Card, 

a CD-ROM add-on which gave the PC Engine 

an additional two megabytes of RAM – a 

preposterous amount by the standards of the 

day, more suited to next-generation 

machines. While it did allow the system 

24 | RETRO GAMER


Golden Axe 

RENOVATION, 1990 

■ While many PC Engine 

arcade conversions 

are great, stinkers like this ensure that you still need to do your 

research. CD-ROM owners must have felt well and truly ripped 

off – while some nice arranged music and animated cutscenes 

utilise the extra storage well, the sluggish controls and laughable 

graphics ruin the experience. 

Fatal 

Fury 2 

HUDSON SOFT, 1994 

■ This late conversion 

comes surprisingly close to the Neo-Geo original – the PC Engine 

sprites aren’t quite as big and don’t scale, and some background 

detail is lost. However, it knocks spots off the Mega Drive and 

SNES versions, which it frankly should do considering the cost of 

an Arcade CD-ROM² system capable of running it. 

¥9,800 

Super System Card 3.0’s price 

on launch (25/10/1991). 

¥17,800 

Arcade Card Pro’s price on 

launch (12/03/1994). 

“I ThINk ThE PC ENgINE wAs 

INsTrumENTAl IN kICkINg off 

ThE uk ImPorT gAmE mArkET” 

Julian Rignall 

to host the best conversions of Neo-Geo games, 

it didn’t revitalise the system like the advent of 

Super CD-ROM² did – just 11 dedicated Arcade 

CD-ROM² games came out. 

Paul is still heavily involved in the 

PC Engine scene – as well as 

his website, he has worked on 

homebrew games, fanzines and 

much more. For him, flying the PC 

Engine flag is a labour of love. “Retro gaming is 

big these days, but most of the chat is Nintendo 

this or Sega that. The PC Engine is a bit of an 

underdog and it’s nice to supply information that 

allows people that are new to the machine to 

discover how great it really is,” he explains. “The 

PC Engine isn’t my only beloved system, but it’s 

the one that needs more appreciation.” 

Those who were lucky enough to experience it 

at the time need no convincing of the PC Engine’s 

quality, of course. Tony still remembers being 

drawn to “the speed, colour, size and accuracy of 

the conversions coupled with the tiny size of the 

console itself,” and has a list of favourite games 

a mile long, including Gunhed (“For all the men 

among you who could take the bullet heat!”), 

Monster Lair (“Awesome music track, one of the 

best ever”) and SonSon II. 

“I took it down to Jeff Minter 

and we literally holed up for 

two days playing this game 

between us and chowed down, 

one of my best memories from 

that time!” 

“I have very fond memories 

playing the early PC Engine 

arcade conversions like 

Galaga ‘88, Dragon Spirit, and R-Type I and 

R-Type II. I also spent a lot of my time mastering 

the two pinball games, Alien Crush and Devil 

Crash – both of which are superb,” Julian 

says enthusiastically. “Then there’s Vigilante, 

Splatterhouse, Pac-Land and Side Arms. Oh! 

And I can’t forget Legendary Axe too: a classic 

platformer that features some fantastic music.” 

It seems strange to talk about the legacy of a 

console in a market which never officially had it, 

but the PC Engine actually seems to have created 

a legacy by virtue of its non-release. Can the PC 

Engine be credited with the rise of import gaming 

in the UK? “I think yes, that would be fair to say, 

the PC Engine started it all, then it continued with 

Mega Drive and SNES and more esoteric systems 

like the X68000 from Sharp,” says Tony. “I think 

» [PC Engine] Jaz Rignall counts The Legendary Axe as one of his favourite PC Engine games. 

the PC Engine was instrumental in kicking off 

the UK import game market – buoyed in part by 

the journalistic hype from magazines like CVG,” 

agrees Julian. “If you look at early grey import 

advertisements in magazines of the period, they 

were very much focused on the PC Engine. If you 

had money and were a hardcore gamer, the PC 

Engine was the coolest system you could own.” 

Ultimately, that’s what drove players to the 

system – we’re always searching for the latest 

and greatest ways to experience our games, 

and it doesn’t matter how we get them. The PC 

Engine was the turning point at which consoles 

overtook computers as the most exciting 

hardware to play games on, and neither a foreign 

language nor high costs would deter some of us 

from having it. 

RETRO GAMER | 25

NES Advantage 

» PlAtform: NES » rElEASEd: 1987 » CoSt: £39.95 (lauNch), £30+ (today, boxEd), £10+ (today, looSE) 

Nintendo’s official joystick for the NES 

might not seem like much given the 

standard of arcade-style controllers that 

would follow, but for the late Eighties it 

was a trailblazing product. As well as the 

small joystick and four regular buttons, the 

NES Advantage had some neat tricks of its 

own. First of all, the A and B buttons offered 

a turbo fire option, with individual activation 

switches and adjustable speed dials to achieve 

the optimum rate of fire. There was also 

a switch marked ‘Slow’, which achieved a 

slow-motion effect by rapidly hitting the start 

button, pausing and resuming the game in 

progress. This feature was unheard of at the 

time, but soon became a popular inclusion on 

controllers for all formats. Finally, the controller 

actually includes two connectors and a switch 

to choose between player 1 and 2, so that 

both players can use the NES Advantage in 

multiplayer games where players take turns. 

The NES Advantage is a treat for any fan of 

the NES aesthetic, as the design and colour 

scheme mimic those of the console itself. 

The large buttons are satisfyingly 

springy, and while the joystick 

isn’t microswitched, the 

ball-top design is at least a 

familiar one to regular 

arcadegoers.

PERIPHERAL VISION: NES ADVANTAGE 

ESSENTIAL GAME Gun-Nac 

Shoot-’em-ups can always benefit from a good joystick controller, especially 

one with an excellent turbo function, and Gun-Nac is a very good example of 

this. After adjusting the dial to the sweet spot, you’ll be pumping out hot laser 

death at previously unseen speeds. It 

also doesn’t hurt that Compile’s flair for 

crafting fast-paced and memorable 

shoot-’em-ups is on full display here, 

ensuring that this blaster is one of the 

finest available for Nintendo’s 8-bit 

platform. The only downside is the 

extraordinary cost of purchasing a copy 

for yourself, as even loose American NES 

cartridges routinely pass the £150 mark. 

NES 

Advantage 

Fact 

■ The NES Advantage makes a 

memorable cameo during the climax 

of Ghostbusters II, as it was used to 

control the Statue Of Liberty as 

it walked through 

New York.

maYHem 

in 

monsterland 

Unpaid roYalties and a fading C64 sCene 

ConvinCed JoHn and steve rowlands to 

self-pUblisH tHeir CreatUres 2 follow-Up. rorY 

milne learns How tHeY Created monsterland 

IN THE 

KNOW 

» Publisher: APEX 

COMPUTER PRODUCTIONS 

» DeveloPer: 

STEVE AND JOHN 

ROWLANDS 

» releaseD: 1993 

» Platform: C64 

» Genre: PLATFORMER 

the dealings that developers John and 

Steve Rowlands had with publisher 

Thalamus during the early Nineties is 

a story in and of itself. Suffice to say, 

that experience, coupled with declining 

demand for Commodore 64 games, persuaded the 

talented brothers to go down the self-publishing route 

for their next project. “We were chasing Thalamus 

for unpaid royalties when they went bankrupt, so we 

never received any royalties for either Creatures title,” 

John begins. “After that, we decided to release the 

next game ourselves. The C64 market was reducing 

– everybody was going on to 16-bit – but we had 

a name for ourselves in the market. We wanted to 

produce something we were really proud of, and we 

didn’t care if we only sold a fraction of the amount as 

we were going to get all the money.” 

Equally adept at creating hardcore 

shoot-‘em-ups and cartoon-style 

platformers, the Rowlands team opted 

to keep working in the latter subgenre 

for its first self-published title. “By the 

time we had finished Retrograde, we 

had been in that zone for years doing 

28 | RETRO GAMER

THE MAKING OF: MAYHEM IN MONSTERLAND 

tHe 

remarkable 

rowlands 

Selected titles from the Rowlands 

brothers’ gameography 

CYberdYne warrior 1989 

■ While blasting is required in 

Cyberdyne Warrior, this early 

Rowlands release is more 

platformer than shoot-‘em-up. 

The game looks and plays a little 

like Turrican on first inspection, 

but its flick-screen format, smaller sprites and confined 

spaces make it unique. This is enhanced by the need to 

regularly top-up your warrior’s time, energy and ammo. 

» [C64] A big green monster feels the business end of a 

speeding Mayhem’s horn. 

serious shooters,” John reflects. “When we started 

developing Creatures, that was with the intention of 

going onto something cute. So we did Creatures, 

Creatures 2, and then we were still into doing 

something cute. And at the time, you obviously 

had Mario and you had Sonic. They were the big 

flagship characters.” 

But the Commodore 64 lacked a true ‘flagship’ 

character – big or otherwise – and so for inspiration 

the brothers looked to a bestselling novel that was 

being adapted to the silver screen at the time, as John 

reveals. “The success of Jurassic Park was a bit of an 

influence, but obviously it only came through: ‘Where 

do we set this? What sort of environment do we set it 

in?’ When it actually came to the look and the play, it 

had nothing to do with it; it was just a nice idea: ‘Okay, 

let’s make it a dinosaur game.’” 

With a theme in place, the brothers dreamt up a 

world called Monsterland, and Steve got down to 

drafting sprites to depict its hero – a baby dinosaur 

called Mayhem, of which a high-resolution version 

was chosen. “I got him to sort of look like a dinosaur, 

and just pushed some pixels around. It took a while to 

get to the final design of him; he could be a chunky 

» [C64] A baby dinosaur called Mayhem begins his mission to 

brighten up the drab hues of Monsterland. 

multicoloured sprite or multi-definition with a 

high-resolution sprite overlay.” 

Design concepts followed, which John describes as 

emerging from an organic process where basic ideas 

were fleshed out and refined through playtesting. “I 

think we had an idea at the start of the sort of road we 

could go down; there was a skeleton of an idea. As 

we developed it, and started playing what we were 

developing, ideas bounced around and all of a sudden 

the game started appearing in front of us.” 

But unlike any title that the Rowlands brothers had 

developed previously, the game now taking shape on 

their screens incorporated abstract geometry. John 

credits one popular platformer for influencing this look 

and a second for influencing the brothers’ approach to 

gameplay. “Mario had geometric designs, so I think 

Mario was a bigger influence over the look of the 

game, but Sonic was probably a bigger influence over 

the gameplay. That was the whole intension of it at the 

start; you had these two games and we tried to deliver 

something for the C64, because it hadn’t got that.” 

Further inspiration was sought as John and Steve 

devised a clever system that provided an overall 

objective for Mayhem by introducing duality into 

retrograde 1989 

■ There’s more to Retrograde 

than its Defender-like core design 

might suggest. The game’s twist 

is that credits collected from 

fallen enemies can be used to buy 

upgrades to your character’s initially 

underpowered gear. With enough funds, Planetbusters 

can be purchased, which give access to verticallyscrolling 

platformer sections guarded by huge bosses. 

CreatUres 1990 

■ Visually, Creatures marks the 

Rowlands’ move from serious to 

seriously cute. However, this runand-gunner 

contains elements 

that are anything but. As well as 

a fire-breathing hero, Creatures 

also ends levels with torture-themed 

set-pieces. Besides being gory, these grizzly challenges 

are as fiendishly tough as the game’s main stages. 

CreatUres 2 1992 

■ For the Creatures sequel, the 

Rowlands took the torture scenes 

from their original game as their 

starting point, adapted these 

into rescue missions and then 

interspersed them with agility tests 

and testing encounters with screen-sized bosses. 

Intermissions aside, Creatures 2 provides a series of 

compelling memory tests that require perfect timing. 

mat Hoffman’s 

pro bmX 2 2002 

■ The fourth and final BMX title that 

the Rowlands worked on, and the 

most accomplished, Mat Hoffman’s 

Pro BMX 2 utilises button and 

direction-pad combinations in order to perform various 

stunts. Although the combos required for each stunt are 

displayed, they’re tricky to pull off, which ensures that 

this is as challenging as any of the Rowlands’ games. 

RETRO GAMER | 29

» [C64] Having run past an arch to mark his restart point, Mayhem 

collects a few stars. 

» [C64] A momentary loss of concentration under a Rockland waterfall costs Mayhem a precious life. 

“wizball was tHe 

inspiration for 

How we started 

it off blaCk 

and wHite and 

ColoUred it in” 

John Rowlands 

his environment. “We had come up with the idea of 

having this ‘happy’ and ‘sad’ world,” John remembers. 

“Wizball was the inspiration for how we started it off 

black and white and coloured it in. But with Wizball, it 

got coloured and you moved on with no change to the 

gameplay, we wanted to change the way Mayhem 

played once it had changed its mode.” 

Of course, the logistics of how Mayhem would 

cheer up Monsterland remained, and so Steve littered 

the plucky little dinosaur’s world with collectible 

bags of magic dust and gave him a best friend called 

Theo. “The magic dust came from us wanting to do 

the happy and sad thing, but how did we transition 

between them? So you’ve got to have the magic dust, 

then Theo Saurus does his thing with the magic and 

then things change.” 

But rather than creating Theo Saurus from scratch, 

John recalls him being rescued from a batch of 

abandoned projects that the team had previously let 

their imaginations run riot on. “They were almost 

like sub-games, he says.” Theo Saurus was the 

only thing that we recycled from those – the little 

dinosaur, and he was just a very small part really; he 

was there after each stage.” Steve adds: “Mayhem 

was all dinosaurs anyway, so it was a natural thing 

to do. But it’s not like we had a design for the Theo 

Saurus game, other than a big dinosaur stomping on 

villagers! I think it was the name, pretty much, that 

we took to Mayhem.” 

as well as reimagining Theo, Steve 

also ensured that Monsterland lived 

up to its name by creating a wealth 

of increasingly challenging monsters 

for Mayhem to encounter. “Every new 

level I had a whole new set of characters to design, 

and they got progressively harder. There were three 

or four normal monsters and one or two double-sized 

ones every level – one of my favourites was the black 

cucumber one!” 

Besides looking different from one another, Steve’s 

monsters also all behaved differently, which John 

puts down to their game’s use of multiload. “It was a 

Home CompUter Heroes 

sUperkid 

■ The original Spectrum Superkid 

games reviewed well, but were 

largely overlooked. This is a shame, 

as they provide undemanding fun. 

Admittedly, Superkid lacks replay 

value, but Superkid In Space cleverly 

riffs on Exolon, and Skatin’ USA 

offers nicely skewed platforming. 

blinkY 

tHe gHost 

■ Blinky the platforming ghost didn’t 

do anything revolutionary, but his 

capers won plaudits across formats. 

Blinky’s Scary School is a collect- 

’em-up, but the more accomplished 

Titanic Blinky mixes platforming with 

shooting and puzzles. 

edd tHe dUCk 

■ Despite being an irritating 

puppet on children’s TV, Edd The 

Duck’s videogame is actually 

pretty decent. Although it channels 

Rainbow Islands, Zeppelin’s vibrant 

vertical platformer is very much an 

original title, which revolves around 

amassing stars and freezing foes. 

More stars of Nineties home 

computer platformers 

CJ tHe 

elepHant 

■ Dave Clarke and Jonathan 

Smyth were something of a C64 

hits machine, with their two CJ 

platformers arguably being their 

best-remembered titles. Elephant 

Antics and CJ In The USA offer 

compelling two-player challenges. 

nobbY tHe 

aardvark 

■ Most C64 platformers fall short 

of Mayhem In Monsterland, but 

Nobby The Aardvark is arguably 

an exception. As well as tricky 

platforming, the aardvark must 

also pilot everything from a hot-air 

balloon to a submarine. 

30 | RETRO GAMER


» Designer/coder John 

Rowlands (left) and 

designer/artist /musician 

Steve Rowlands (right). 

» [C64] An invincibility power-up allows Mayhem to dispatch 

multiple foes at breakneck speed. 

multiload title as we were getting inspired by console 

games and we couldn’t fit everything into 64K. We 

wouldn’t just load in the background graphics, we 

would load in the full sprite-bank as well, so we would 

fill it up. And the ideas we were having necessitated 

monsters with different abilities.” 

As to why Steve created huge monsters using the 

C64’s expanded-sprite capability, as well as foes of a 

similar scale to Mayhem, the developer cites screen 

presence and efficiency as motivators. “It was just 

to give the impact on the screen. We needed big 

monsters, and rather than unnecessarily build them up 

out of loads of normal-res sprites, we had two 

double-sized sprites.” John cites necessity as the 

reason for Mayhem’s low-res, outsized foes exploiting 

the C64’s clever sprite hardware. “Okay, they looked 

chunky. But they came about because we didn’t have 

the memory – or sometimes the onscreen sprites.” 

But given Mayhem’s numerous foes – both big and 

small – it seemed only fair that the brothers give their 

baby dinosaur some offensive moves. Steve recollects 

a console favourite and John’s need for speed inspiring 

two quite distinct attacks. “Because Mario had 

the jump attack, we had to do that – it was a basic 

platformer thing. Then once we got the fast scrolling 

working you were never going to be able to see what 

was coming. That was when, from a gameplay point 

of view, Mayhem had to be doing something where 

he was killing things – because [otherwise] he could 

die before the screen caught up. So that’s how the 

charge attack came about.” 

On the need for the Jurassic hero’s charge 

attack, John concedes that even he was surprised 

at the speed that he got Mayhem zooming around 

at. “You had other fast games, like Uridium, but it 

wasn’t anywhere as near as fast. But when we were 

designing Mayhem In Monsterland, we were thinking 

that was how fast it was going to be – maybe a bit 

faster. But when we actually developed it, it was like: 

‘Whoa! Hold on. Mayhem needs to be protected.’” 

but in order to get the maximum impact 

from the attack, the brothers decided 

to throttle Mayhem’s velocity on 

their game’s first level by withholding 

his charge and making it a level two 

power-up, as John explains. “The point of the 

players collecting the charge ability when they had 

completed the first sad stage and gone into the first 

happy stage was that they had spent 20 minutes, 

half an hour, playing the game at that speed. Then by 

introducing them to that ability it was like: ‘Wow!’ So it 

was getting them used to what they thought was the 

game’s speed and then whacking it right up.” 

tUrbo tHe 

tortoise 

■ Visual Impact clearly took 

inspiration from Mario when 

designing Turbo; the tortoise lives in 

a colourful world and he jumps on 

his foes to dispatch them. He also 

time travels, however, which lends 

his platforming some originality. 

tHe troll 

■ Inspired by a fad for spiky-haired 

dolls, the Troll starred in a top-notch 

C64 platformer unimaginatively 

titled Trolls. The game’s blindingly 

fast four-way scrolling does initially 

cause frustration, but patience is 

rewarded with a series of cleverly 

constructed levels. 

ralpH tHe dog 

■ Faithful Ralph’s attempts to safely 

guide his sleepwalking owner Lee 

on a jaunt around town provides 

the premise for Ocean’s final C64 

game Sleepwalker. The publisher’s 

swan song is an attractive scrolling 

platformer that plays a little like a 

more hands-on Lemmings. 

RETRO GAMER | 31

“we were trYing 

to enCoUrage 

plaYers to 

eXplore and not 

JUst take tHings 

at faCe valUe” 

John Rowlands 

» [C64] Mayhem’s high-speed charge attack is considerably slower when performed in underwater sections. 

One downside of Mayhem’s charge, however, 

was that it let him take out any opponents in his path, 

which made it pointless to give the game’s big foes 

huge hit-counts, as Steve acknowledges. “In charge 

mode, Mayhem was pretty much invincible, apart 

from falling into gaps. So if you could stay up on the 

platforms you could just kill everything. It’s just that you 

had to know the level layout before you got to the big 

monsters so you could charge them.” 

But in order to make their game more than a 

high-speed monster mash, the Rowlands brothers 

hid bonuses, such as extra lives and time, around 

Monsterland. “We were trying to encourage players 

to explore a bit and not just take things at face value,” 

John reasons. “It wasn’t just charging around at 100 

miles per hour, it had elements of exploring and being 

rewarded for that. And also at that speed you would be 

missing out things in the landscape that went past in a 

blur if you were charging.” 

Another consideration for the brothers was their 

game’s soundtrack, which Steve remembers using 

to give audio cues to reflect the nature of Mayhem’s 

upcoming challenges. “We just wanted to make it 

reflect the area you were in. So if you were going 

towards something it would impact what was coming 

up. A whole section would have slow stuff, say, and 

when you came up to it, it would change into slow 

music. So you knew you should be taking it a bit easy 

and not be charging around.” 

An equally innovative system came in the form 

of optional, rather than obligatory, restart points, 

although John views these more as an evolution. 

“With Creatures, we had the restart points fixed; with 

Mayhem, it was taken to the next level. And playing 

Mario, at the time, sometimes could feel frustrating. 

You would die and then you were all the way over 

there. So we wanted to avoid that.” 

the brothers also devised a novel 

ending for the colourful versions of 

their game’s levels, where Mayhem 

was required to run – or skilfully skid 

– over a chequered section in order 

to complete them. “A lot of people would just run 

across the line,” Steve notes. “It was hard to time 

the skid to get across them, but it was something to 

do right at the end. Another little bonus.” John adds: 

“And the chequered line – the look of that – was easy 

to identify. Whatever the world looked like, as soon as 

you saw the black and white checks you knew that 

was where you had to go to. And obviously you 

saw it in sad versions of the levels, so you thought: 

‘Right, I know when I complete the happy version 

where I’m going to.’” 

Final touches to the Rowlands’ seemingly everevolving 

game, by this stage known as Mayhem 

In Monsterland, included atmospheric pre-level 

animations depicting forthcoming terrains. “The ‘Get 

» [C64] Mayhem bounces on the back of a passing owl in order 

to reach a high platform. 

32 | RETRO GAMER


maYHem’s 

magiC dUst 

The Mayhem sequel that you’ve 

likely never played 

» [C64] “Don’t you know about the bird? Well everybody knows that the bird is the word!” 

Ready’ screen was actually afforded a little bit of 

memory!” John enthuses. “So we went through quite 

a few different ideas for that. Then we hit on a little 

parallax-scrolling window with lightning or whatever. 

So there was always a lot of throwing out of ideas, 

you had to be willing to invest time and effort before 

saying: ‘No, that doesn’t work – bin it.’” 

The Rowlands also invested time and effort 

playtesting their game, with the result that they 

ended up as expert players of their increasingly 

challenging platformer. “Because it was the title that 

we playtested and refined the most, we got quite 

good at it,” John says modestly. “And as a side-effect 

of that we released a game that most other people 

took a long time to get good at.” On reflection, Steve 

views Mayhem In Monsterland’s difficulty as being 

reasonable: “Some levels were harder than others, and 

some sections of levels were harder than others – as 

with all sprite-based platformers. But we could do it, 

and coming up to the end of the game we wanted to 

give players a challenge.” 

Difficulty curve aside, Mayhem In Monsterland 

was released to unanimous acclaim, with one review 

famously giving the game a 100% overall rating. “At 

the time, we were ecstatic – we got very drunk!” 

John says of Mayhem’s perfect score in Commodore 

Format. “It was only afterwards we started to think 

that it could actually have a negative impact on the 

perception of the game. But I don’t think it hindered 

sales, and because we released it ourselves we were 

essentially on a hundred percent royalty.” 

With the benefit of hindsight, Steve Rowlands now 

views Mayhem as a job well done and a project he very 

much enjoyed working on. “I’m pleased with Mayhem; 

it was how we wanted it, other than it being a bit hard 

to play. I remember it being a pretty good time.” John 

Rowlands is frustrated that Mayhem In Monsterland is 

often remembered for a decades-old percentage score, 

but he only has fond memories of its development and 

dreams of someday creating a full sequel. “Over the 

years it’s been controversial because of the 100% 

score, and it’s taken a little bit away from all 

its achievements. But every couple of 

years, I have dreams that we’re back 

working on a sequel, because it was 

my favourite game. Those days on 

Mayhem were the most creative, 

free days we ever had.” 

Many thanks to John and 

Steve Rowlands for returning 

to Monsterland. 

Despite the 11-year 

gap between Mayhem 

In Monsterland and the 

initial incarnation of its 

sequel Mayhem’s Magic 

Dust, Steve Rowlands and 

Robin Ellis’s mobile and 

browser-based follow-up 

is remarkably faithful to 

its predecessor in terms 

of both visuals and level of challenge. 

Due to Magic Dust’s smartphone origins, 

Mayhem’s return sees him restricted to a small 

number of actions; he can walk, jump, and duck. 

Mayhem’s second outing also proceeds at a far 

more sedate pace than his irst. But this is no bad 

thing, as the dinosaur’s quest for magic dust is all 

about accuracy. Mayhem has to jump on the heads 

of opponents while avoiding the business ends of 

their spikes and beaks. The reward for pulling this 

of a set number of times is a bag – or bags – of 

magic dust, which when collected provide Mayhem 

with Star Strike power-ups. These are essential 

when it comes to taking down Magic Dust’s seven 

bosses. A single Star Strike will deplete a boss’s 

energy bar far more successfully than a standard 

jump, but multiple Star Strikes can be chained 

together to devastating efect. 

Enhancing Magic Dust’s superlative core design 

are mechanics inherited from Monsterland, such 

as rainbow gates to set restart points, and fresh 

features like each life consisting of six ‘mini-lives’ 

– represented by hearts – that when lost can 

be chased ater and retrieved. 

Play Mayhem’s Magic Dust for free at 

mayhemsmagicdust.com. 

RETRO GAMER | 33

CLASSIC MOMENTS 

Phoenix 

» Platform: ARCADE » DeveloPer: CENTURI/TAITO » releaseD: 1980 

Few moments in arcade videogames are as 

impactful as meeting the gigantic mothership 

in the Centuri-published Phoenix for the first 

time. First, you have to deal with waves of 

alien birds across two stages, and then you have to deal 

with the larger Phoenixes that hatch from eggs and fire 

down relentless streams of bullets at you. Pass those 

and you’re faced with an alien safely ensconced in a 

seemingly impenetrable ship that you need to continually 

shoot at. Needless to say, when you finally defeat your 

alien foe the satisfaction is immense. Congratulations, 

you’ve just destroyed one of gaming’s earliest bosses. 

MORE CLASSIC 

PHOENIX MOMENTS 

Shoot the stomach 

The third and fourth stages of 

Phoenix has you encountering 

large eagle-like Phoenixes 

that hatch from eggs and 

transform into deadly killer 

birds that do their best to turn 

your ship into a smouldering 

wreck. Shooting off the wings 

simply cause them to regenerate, meaning you 

need a direct hit on their bellies to split them in 

half so you can finish your quest. 

Shields up! 

One of the mechanics that 

set Phoenix apart from other 

shooters at the time was its 

shield, which enabled you to 

absorb enemy bullets for a 

few precious moments. While 

it’s typically used as a defence 

mechanism, if you’re feeling 

ballsy you can use it as a weapon, raising it at 

just the right moment so that an enemy ship flies 

straight into it. Blam! 

BIO 

Apparently, no one knows the 

developer that was responsible 

for creating Phoenix. What we 

do know is that Centuri and Taito 

published the game in arcades 

with Atari taking control of the sole 

home conversion for the Atari 2600. 

Similar in style to Gorf, Phoenix 

tasks you with shooting your way 

through a number of distinctly 

different stages before you finally 

encountered one of the first bosses 

to ever appear in a videogame. 

Needless to say it’s a memory that 

would stay with you forever.

HAVE YOUR SAY AT THE 

35TH ANNIVERSARY OF 

the Golden JoyStick AwArdS 

THE ONLY 

GAMING AWARDS 

VOTED FOR BY 

GAMERS 

VOTING OPENS 

21 September 2017 

Visit www.gamesradar.com to cast your vote 

facebook.com/goldenjoysticks 

@GoldenJoysticks

Ultimate gUide to 

arcades. 1982 was titles a big sUch year as in scramble the 

generation had set of the games tone, were bUt a pUshing new 

the it’s limits. time strap for a in moon to yoUr patrol! bUggy, 

it’s a tough life being a police officer in 

the Luna City police force. Far away from 

home, stuck on the inhospitable satellite, 

things are bad enough before you’re 

assigned to Sector Nine, home of some of the 

most dangerous criminals in the solar system. 

Fortunately you have help. Fortunately, you have a 

state-of-the-art, six-wheeled moon buggy. 

Moon Patrol’s bespoke buggy is a technological 

marvel. Especially adapted to cope with the 

rough demands of the moon’s surface, it has 

three extra shock-absorbent axles that are adept 

at cruising over the consistently bumpy surface. 

Its six wheels also have a special power – they 

can propel the buggy into the air, useful for 

straddling the many craters and other hazards 

on the surface, the buggy seemingly hanging 

in the air in the low gravity of the moon. Finally, 

the vehicle is well armed, too. In addition to a 

forward-pointing cannon, it can simultaneously 

shoot multiple missiles upwards. And these 

weapons are going to come in very useful, for 

the villains of the sector own a vast fleet of flying 

saucers and other spacecraft with which to try and 

eliminate our valiant police officer. Two of these, 

the regular spaceship and a flying saucer, drop 

missiles which can either be shot or dodged. The 

third, a strange collection of constantly-shifting 

orbs, drop powerful bombs in front of the buggy, 

creating new craters in the process. Clearly, this 

dedicated patrolman has one hell of a job in front 

of them. But that’s not all: there are also 

» [Arcade] Moon 

Patrol ’s city, 

sweetly lit up on one 

side by the sun. 

36 | RETRO GAMER

shoot for the moon 

How to survive your excursion onto the satellite 

CRATER MAKERS 

■ These triangular swines drop 

powerful bombs in front of the buggy 

that leave lethal craters. They can be 

extremely troublesome on later levels 

when they swarm with the other UFOs, 

so aim to take them out as quickly as 

possible in order to avoid a chaotic and 

explosive demise. 

A ROLLING STONE 

■ Several inclines pepper the moon 

landscape, and while they contain no 

craters, rolling rocks of various sizes 

must be negotiated. Most simply, 

they require blasting, but often quickwheeled 

jumping is required, too, and 

there are some horrible combinations of 

rock in the latter levels. 

DEATH FROM ABOVE 

■ The other two UFOs drop slower 

bombs that are aimed at the buggy 

itself, and can be shot down by an 

expert marksman. However, in later 

levels when the UFOs mass above, a 

combination of shooting and evasion 

must be utilised to ensure survival, and 

the best way is to alternate your speed. 

JUMPING FOR JOY 

■ Jumping in Moon Patrol is not only 

beautifully smooth, but also a vital 

defence against the moon surface. 

Mastering the different pace of jumps, 

and even controlling the buggy mid-air 

is vital if you are to survive. And resist 

the temptation to jump unnecessarily as 

you never know what’s coming! 

ENEMY MINE 

■ One touch of these glowing mines 

and it’s wheels everywhere for our 

brave moon buggy. Naturally, they 

must be approached with caution, 

and the spacing of the mines is often 

demonically narrow. The layouts can be 

conquered first time by taking it slow 

and manipulating the buggy mid-air. 

KNOW YOUR ROCKS 

■ As dangerous as the UFOs are, the 

moon’s surface causes just as much 

grief. How you approach each type of 

rock is key: small ones cannot be easily 

shot and must be straddled. Larger 

ones can be jumped, but often are 

doubled up, making this tough. In which 

case, you’d better just open fire. 

RETRO GAMER | 37

coleco cUriosity 

We talk to Matthew Householder, author of the completed, but originally 

unreleased, Colecovision port of Moon Patrol 

So how did you get involved 

with Moon Patrol? 

I had been hired by Atari to join 

their in-house ColecoVision game 

development group. Atarisot 

[the division of Atari that published games on 

non-Atari systems] was our publishing label 

and I was assigned to convert the arcade 

game Vanguard. I spent a month learning 

the Colecovision hardware and ZAX Z80 

development system and during that time I 

designed a sotware-scrolling background 

engine to use with the Vanguard port as the 

Colecovision has no hardware scrolling. Then, 

in September 1983, I was told to drop that and 

convert Moon Patrol instead. 

What did you think of Moon Patrol? 

I was happier, as it was a better game, but 

realised it would be more challenging work, 

too. A machine soon turned up in our oice. No 

source code or graphics were provided, but I 

had the keys to the machine and its operator 

manual. I played it for several hours a day 

until I could get through the beginner course 

and most of the championship course. Then I 

set the DIP switches to allow me to pause the 

machine as I played in ‘God’ mode, allowing me 

to reverse engineer how far apart the craters 

were, how may UFOs there were, how they 

behaved, how high the buggy jumped, and 

so on. I employed the sophisticated tools of a 

pencil, pad of paper and ruler. 

How long did it take? 

Through to March 1984. I wrote the code, 

created the sound efects and drew the 

graphics. All the art was done on graph paper 

and then converted by eye into hexadecimal as I 

typed it into the assembly source code iles. 

Did you change the game at all? 

I added some personal touches. I modelled the 

irst section’s graphics on my ride to work which 

included a series of seemingly-endless foothills 

and a coastal mountain range. I also redesigned 

the cityscape to have a more modern ‘Jetsons’ 

feel to it rather than the naturalistic, organic 

sprites of the original. It used fewer graphic 

elements that way, and I preferred the look, too. 

The exploding buggy is more elaborate too, with 

a little mini mushroom cloud that morphs into a 

skull as it collapses. 

Sounds like fun! What happened then – 

why was the game unreleased? 

Throughout my employment, it was rumoured 

Atari had been losing more than $1 million 

dollars a day. Rumours were spreading that no 

more Atarisot titles would be published ater 

some unnamed title, so I slapped a quick title 

screen on it and submitted it to testing. But then 

it stalled, and in May 1984 Atarisot was closed. 

Fortunately, I kept the ROM image and my 

design documents and then made a few quick 

art changes. In 2014, a reconstructed version of 

Moon Patrol was manufactured and distributed 

to a handful of fans. I have a copy. 

» [ColecoVision] The ColecoVision version of Moon Patrol 

surfaced in 2014. 

I played it for several 

hours a day 

until I could get 

through the 

beginner course 

Matthew Householder 

enemies on the ground, in the form of bright 

yellow tanks and flying cars. These must be either 

shot or jumped over, otherwise its curtains for 

your valiant hero. Even worse, the devils have 

placed landmines within certain sectors, and have 

a propensity for rolling rocks down at the buggy 

whenever it climbs an incline. The moon is fighting 

you, too: some craters are occupied by volcanoesque 

plants that try to grab the buggy as it flies 

over them. This is no ordinary patrol. 

moon Patrol was released in arcades in 

1982 by Irem, with Williams handling 

distribution in the west. Generally 

assumed to have been designed by 

Takashi Nishiyama (Kung-Fu Master), it, along 

with Taito’s Jungle Hunt, is one of the first side-on 

games to contain parallax scrolling. Each of the 

three levels of gameplay scroll at a different rate, 

giving an excellent impression of depth, despite 

the fact that the majority of the action takes place 

at the bottom of the screen. The game contains 

five stages which are made up of a series of 

checkpoints based on the alphabet. Each stage 

comprises of five letters (except for the last, which 

has the extra letter) and these checkpoints mark not 

only the player’s progress, but also the restart point 

should a buggy be destroyed. The display above 

the action screen contains the data you’d expect 

(timeline style map, score, number of lives left) 

as well as three coloured indicators that warn the 

player of incoming hazards. The top light indicates 

38 | RETRO GAMER

ULTIMATE GUIDE: MOON PATROL 

clone Killers 

Can’t afford/be bothered with an official licence? Just tweak the game and away you go! 

MOON ALERT 

ZX SPECTRUM 

■ This early game from Ocean Software 

copied the template laid down by the arcade 

game and added a few elements of its own. 

The buggy is now escaping from a crash 

rocket and there are troughs that must be 

jumped in and out of, as well as some 

newly-designed enemies. 

JEEP COMMAND 

COMMODORE 64 

■ Unlike the Spectrum, the Commodore 64 

actually did get an official conversion, but 

that didn’t stop the clones. Replacing the 

buggy with a jeep and the moon with Earth 

disguises this effort but its origins are 

still obvious. Gameplay tweaks include no 

upward fire but a useful rear cannon. 

MOON BUGGY 

COMMODORE 64 

■ Anirog’s Moon Patrol clone was brazen 

in its lack of any major changes beyond the 

technical restrictions of the Commodore 16 

hardware. It’s actually a fair representation 

of the arcade game, although the buggy itself 

is oddly avian in shape, and its gunfire sound 

effect quickly gets very irritating. 

CASEY JONES 

ZX SPECTRUM 

■ Now this is strange. Casey Jones is so 

obviously a Moon Patrol clone, yet it replaces 

the famous buggy with… a train! Fortunately, 

this antique locomotive can still jump and 

fire, but the game is ridiculously tough, 

despite some nicely bizarre enemies in the 

mould of Jet Set Willy. 

impending attacks from above, the middle one of 

mines ahead, and the final light of an imminent 

attack from behind. At the end of each stage, the 

player is rewarded for their speediness in crossing 

the level with bonus points awarded for every 

second under the average time for the stage. A 

combination of speed, dexterity and shooting skill is 

essential in order to obtain the best bonus. 

Most of the hazards in Moon Patrol can be dealt 

with either by dodging them or shooting them. 

The commonest threat is your basic stationary 

rock; stupid and ugly, but damn painful if you 

crash into it. These fall into three categories: the 

standard large rock which takes one shot, or can 

be jumped over; a ‘double’ version of this that 

requires two shots, and can also be jumped over, 

albeit carefully. And a small tiny rock, that despite 

its size, can shred the moon buggy’s tyres and 

chassis to bits; unfortunately, these are often 

» The arcade flyer for 

Moon Patrol looks 

suitably epic and 

makes you excited to 

play the game. 

RETRO GAMER | 39

conversion capers 

apple ii 

■ A propensity for the action to slow down 

when the screen gets busy and a rather jarring 

tune ruins what is otherwise a competent 

port. The buggy looks good and the levels are 

represented well. And, like the original itself, 

the hit detection is a little off, sometimes to 

the player’s advantage! 

colecovision 

■ Matthew Householder’s ColecoVision 

game finally saw the light of day a few years 

ago and is an admirable port, making it a 

shame it wasn’t released back in the day. 

Despite some ‘odd’ graphics, it copies the 

arcade game well. The moon city has a more 

modern look to it as well. 

sord m5 

■ Outside of the arcade game, this version 

on the Sord M5 computer boasts the jolliest 

rendition of Moon Patrol’s theme tune. 

Published (apparently legitimately, considering 

it mentions Irem on the front cover) by Takara, 

it’s also a respectable take on the game albeit 

with some creative level design. 

atari 2600 

■ This is a decent conversion that plays well. 

The buggy itself may not much resemble its 

arcade parent (it’s sleeker here), but many of 

the game’s elements remain, although the 

similarity of the enemy bombs to the player’s 

own missiles doesn’t help survival. Oh, and 

the rocks look like doggy poo. 

commodore 64 

■ This C64 port is an excellent game, despite 

lacking some graphical finesse. While it lacks 

the city backdrop, the parallax scrolling is 

emulated well, the buggy is easy to control, 

and the action is fast and furious. Just as 

rock hard as the arcade original, this is great 

blasting fun with some meaty sound effects. 

t1-99/4a 

■ Okay, so it’s a little cute buggy; apart from 

this strange departure from the original, 

though this is a reasonably faithful port on the 

Texas Instruments computer. Again, the screen 

seems cramped and the high score table is 

at the bottom instead of top, but otherwise a 

decent attempt at recreating the lunar spills. 

atari 5200 

■ Apart from an ugly attempt at interpreting 

the iconic buggy, this is a neat version of 

Moon Patrol. The graphics, especially the 

mountainous backdrops, are close to superior 

to the arcade original and the game moves at 

a very quick pace, retaining many frustrations 

as well. But that buggy… ugh. 

game boy color 

■ Released as part of a double arcade hits 

compilation along with Spy Hunter, the Game 

Boy Color proved adept at converting both 

games, despite a predictable lack of clarity 

in the sound department. Otherwise, it’s 

well-presented and a nice throwaway blaster 

for the system. 

vic-20 

■ There’s little to recommend in Atarisoft’s 

Vic-20 port of Moon Patrol. Most of the 

background scenery has gone and the 

gameplay is too slow and cramped to be 

truly enjoyable. Plus the buggy makes a 

horrible chugging sound that we really could 

have done without. 

atari 8-bit 

■ While maybe not as fast as the Atari 5200 

version, that fact helped Moon Patrol on the 

8-bit Atari in the playability stakes. It’s still a 

tough game, however, but fun to play despite 

lacking certain graphical resemblances to the 

original, although there’s a pleasant attempt 

at the cityscape and parallax scrolling. 

msX 

■ While it introduces a few extra elements, 

such as a buggy driver popping out of the 

ice-white vehicle every time it crashes, the 

MSX version struggles to reproduce the pace 

and excitement of the arcade original. A 

garish yellow city and some juddery scrolling 

don’t help things, either. 

ZX spectrUm 

■ This unreleased port to the ZX Spectrum 

has been recovered recently and is available 

online. Visually it looks good, but it plays 

so slowly that virtually every iota of fun is 

sucked out of the game. This probably went 

unreleased due to Atarisoft’s withdrawal from 

the Spectrum market. 

40 | RETRO GAMER

ULTIMATE GUIDE: MOON PATROL 

atari st 

■ Converting a five-year-old arcade game to 

the new 16-bit computer must have seemed 

like a good idea to someone. It’s a competent 

conversion and almost arcade perfect, 

however it is slow in parts. Why you’d want to 

play an ancient arcade game on your 

brand-new 16-bit computer is another thing… 

pc 

■ Like the VIC-20 version, the PC 

abandons all pretence of trying to copy 

the arcade original’s innovative parallax 

scrolling. Instead we get a dotted line, an 

oversized buggy and a very Mars-like moon. 

Farty sound effects and flickery sprites 

make it one to miss. 

too low to be destroyed by the vehicle’s front 

cannon. Craters also pepper the landscape and 

there’s no choice here: they must be jumped over, 

and even glancing one trailing tyre into a crater can 

cause the buggy to fall into the hole and explode. 

Landmines must also be jumped, and their spacing 

is increasingly perilous, requiring precise judgment 

and a sensible speed in order to land the buggy 

in time to jump off again, thus avoiding the next 

waiting mine. Stationary tanks offer less threat 

than the aerial enemies but are often awkwardly 

placed, and they always seem to manage to loose 

off one shot before the buggy can take them out. 

And, finally, there’s possibly the easiest enemy, the 

flying car. Hovering behind the buggy, this unarmed 

vehicle waits for a few moments before jetting 

forwards, seemingly unconcerned of the potentially 

self-destructive collision ahead. The car must be 

jumped over before an optional forward cannon 

shot nets the player a neat (and simple) bonus. 

like many arcade machines of the era, 

Moon Patrol is a score-attack game at 

heart, although one with an unusual 

continue option. Should the player lose 

all their buggies, they can continue, as normal, by 

feeding the coin-op more coins. We can’t recall 

many other arcade games which then retains 

the player’s score after continuing, making the 

high score table more a battle of the richest, than 

the most skilful. Eventually, after completing 

the first beginner course, there’s a somewhat 

incongruously-named championship course, 

which then loops continuously. Seems there are a 

lot of nasty people up on the moon. 

As an early arcade game, home ports of Moon 

Patrol were inevitably slow to appear, with the 

» [Arcade] The buggy is just about to explode having fallen into 

this cavernous crater. 

I redesigned the 

cityscape to have a 

more modern ‘Jetsons’ 

feel to it 

Matthew Householder 

majority of them handled by Atari and Atarisoft. 

This predictably meant the game appeared on 

most of Atari’s home formats including the 2600, 

5200 and 8-bit computers. Elsewhere, an Atarisoft 

port was released for the Commodore 64, VIC-20 

and PC, and there was even an Atari ST version 

several years later that was aptly subtitled A Lunar 

Combat Mission. The ZX Spectrum missed out, 

although a port was completed by Atarisoft, but 

never published, for reasons unclear. Never mind: 

like many of its peers, Moon Patrol received the 

honour of several unofficial clones, of which Ocean 

Software’s Moon Buggy was possibly the best. 

While it may not be as famous as Space 

Invaders or Pac-Man, Moon Patrol is a solid 

entry in the history of arcade games. Presenting 

technological innovation in its parallax scrolling, 

the simple-yet-devious gameplay ensured the 

machines consumed a vast quantity 

of coins from the pockets of eager 

virtual Luna City police officers. 

RETRO GAMER | 41

EDITOR’S CHOICE 

Popils: The Blockbusting Challenge 

This block-punching puzzle game was originally intended to come to a variety 

of platforms, including PC Engine and Famicom, but Tengen only ever released 

it for Sega’s handheld platform, making it one of the few great Game Gear 

exclusives. The game is the brainchild 

of Bubble Bobble designer Fukio 

Mitsuji, and contains 100 levels in which 

your goal is to rescue the princess. 

Unfortunately walls, portals, spikes, bats 

and slime monsters stand in your way, 

making for a brain-busting challenge. And 

if you somehow finish all of those, there’s 

an edit mode which allows you to make 

your own levels. 

44 | RETRO GAMER

HARDWARE HEAVEN: GAME GEAR 

Game Gear 

» Manufacturer: Sega » Year: 1990 » cost: £99 (launch), £40+ (today) 

Sega was late to enter the handheld 

market, arriving a year after Atari’s 

Lynx and Nintendo’s Game Boy hit the 

shelves, and the company clearly chose 

to save time by retooling existing technology 

rather than starting from scratch. Externally, the 

bulky machine has an unremarkable design with 

an odd circular d-pad, three buttons (including 

Start) and a 3.2-inch screen. However, internally 

the Game Gear is heavily based on that of the 

Master System home console, with the 

addition of a new video mode that 

trades a lower resolution for a 

wider range of colours. 

The result of this decision was a system that 

was caught between its competitors – it couldn’t 

match the Lynx for technical wizardry like sprite 

scaling, and the Game Boy easily outlasted its 

battery consumption rate of six AA batteries 

roughly every four hours. While it couldn’t best 

Nintendo’s machine, Sega comfortably outpaced 

the Lynx thanks to superior marketing and third 

party support, racking up over 10 million sales. 

Despite this contemporary popularity, the Game 

Gear receives relatively little love today due to 

hosting few high-quality exclusive games, as 

well as a high long-term failure rate caused by 

the use of low-quality capacitors. 

Game Gear fact 

■ a game gear equivalent of the Super game Boy is impossible on the 

mega drive, as the game gear’s palette of 4,096 colours dwarfs the 512 

available on the 16-bit machine. 

RAM: 8KB main, 16KB video 

PROCESSOR: Zilog Z80 8-Bit CPU (3.58 mHZ) 

GRAPHICS: Sega vdP (32 ColoUrS – 4,096 Palette) 

RESOLUTION: 160 x 144 

AUDIO: Sn76489 (foUr-CHannel PSg) 

MEDIA: rom Cartridge (1mB maximUm) 

RETRO GAMER | 45

35 

35 

Years 

zx spectrum 

games 

more than 10,000 

games have been released 

for the zx spectrum and 

that number grows everY single 

Year. as it celebrates its 35th 

anniversarY, martYn carroll selects 

a keY title from each Year, from 

1982 to todaY, highlighting the sheer 

durabilitY of this diminutive micro 

44 | RETRO GAMER

1982 the hobbit 

DEVELOPER: BeaM Software GENRE: text adventure 

Were it not for The Hobbit the Spectrum’s first year 

would have been forgettable as far as gaming goes. 

The reason for the lack of quality software early on is 

clear: the Spectrum officially launched in April 1982, yet 

Sinclair struggled to meet demand with some waiting 

for months for their machines to arrive. These delays 

meant that there wasn’t a great deal of games software 

available this year, decent or otherwise. Quick arcade 

clones were the order of the day, and it was obvious that 

many were hastily updated versions of existing ZX81 

releases. Sinclair’s own label published some early hits 

like Space Raiders and Hungry Horace but they were 

simple, fleeting affairs. This begs the question: how 

did Philip Mitchell and Veronika Megler, authors of The 

Hobbit text adventure, create such a sophisticated title 

and have it ready so soon after the Spectrum’s launch? 

The pair actually began developing the game on the 

Tandy TRS-80, but when Beam Software witnessed the 

clamour for the Spectrum it shifted the development 

over. An added benefit of the move was that it allowed 

for colour location graphics to accompany the text 

descriptions. These images will evoke memories for 

many gamers, as they were slowly sketched on screen 

and then painstakingly coloured in, line by line. But for 

fans of interactive fiction, behind the crude graphics 

lay an engrossing adventure. The Hobbit was ahead of 

its time, introducing an intelligent parser, non-playable 

characters and non-linear progression years before it 

became commonplace. 

Tolkien, who famously wrote his tomes by hand, 

would have been baffled by this game, for sure. Yet the 

idea of readers being able to explore his world at will 

would have surely satisfied him. 

THE ZX SPECTRUM: 35 YEARS, 35 GAMES 

on spec 

veronika megler 

The Spectrum developer talks Tolkein 

On the Spectrum 

It was sleek, very obviously aimed at the home 

market. It was a good game-playing machine. We 

did all our development on the TRS-80 which was 

more focused on the business market. 

On developing The Hobbit 

We knew we were taking the current state of the 

art a leap forwards. But we got so caught up in the building of 

the game we didn’t think about that much. We talked more about 

design and the challenges of debugging something so complex. 

The ‘Inglish’ environment was more structured and testable, 

while the randomness of the NPCs and the game engine made 

testing that a real challenge. 

On the impact of The Hobbit 

I’m still astonished and humbled when I hear the impact The 

Hobbit had on peoples’ lives, and on other gamers and developers 

who came ater. Playing the game had far more impact on their 

lives than developing the game had on mine! 

of 

1984 the midnight lords 

1983 Jetpac 

DEVELOPER: Mike Singleton 

Ultimate carried on where it had left 

off, releasing several more Spectrum 

classics this year including Atic Atac, 

Sabre Wulf and the groundbreaking 

Knight Lore. Any one of those was a 

contender for 1984’s best game, as were 

Graftgold’s Avalon and Microsphere’s 

Skool Daze, but there’s one title that 

comes out on top for being both 

technically brilliant and brilliantly fun. 

The Lords Of Midnight, developed 

by Mike Singleton and published by 

Beyond, was so advanced that it made 

The Hobbit look like a type-in listing. 

Featuring 4,000 locations (all depicted 

GENRE: Strategy adventure 

visually, thanks to Mike’s inventive 

‘Landscaping’ system), dozens of 

playable characters and multiple 

ways of seizing victory, this sprawling 

strategy adventure shouldn’t really have 

been possible on the Spectrum with 

its limited hardware and meagre 48K 

memory. But Mike brought the land 

of Midnight to life and everyone who 

trekked, battled, cowered and bluffed 

their way across its icy wastes will 

know that The Lords Of Midnight was 

simply peerless on release. Even the 

follow-up, 1985’s Doomdark’s Revenge, 

struggled to top the seminal original. 

DEVELOPER: ultiMate 

GENRE: Shoot-‘eM-up 

‘From famine to feast’: that sums up 

1983 basically. The Spectrum was 

suddenly everywhere, with Sinclair 

reportedly selling half a million 

machines by August 1983. The userbase 

exploded and so did the number of 

amazing games available. Sandy White’s 

Ant Attack pioneered the isometric 

adventure while Matthew Smith’s Manic 

Miner redefined the platform game. 

And then a brand-new outfit from the 

Midlands went and produced the purest 

arcade experience yet on the Spectrum. 

Jetpac was the debut offering 

from Ultimate Play The Game, the 

software house that would dominate 

the Spectrum’s early years. There 

were many single-screen shooters 

around at the time, but this was just so 

polished, so professional, that it could 

have come straight out of the arcades. 

The objective of warily refuelling your 

space rocket while blasting aliens was 

simple yet compulsive. Yes, colours 

clashed and sprites flickered but 

there’s arguably never been a better 

example of a pick-up-and-play game 

for the Spectrum – and it still holds up 

today. Jetpac was just the beginning for 

Ultimate: Pssst, Cookie, Tranz Am and 

Jetpac sequel Lunar Jetman all arrived 

before the year was out. 

RETRO GAMER | 45

1986 turbo esprit 

1985 chaos 

DEVELOPER: Julian gollop GENRE: turn-BaSed coMBat 

With each passing year more and more 

amazing games were made available 

for the Spectrum. 1985 saw the release 

of many fan favourites including Fairlight, 

Saboteur, Cyclone, Highway Encounter 

and Tau Ceti. This was also the year that 

Acornsoft’s all-conquering Elite finally 

docked onto the Spectrum and easily 

justified the hype surrounding it. 

In comparison, Chaos was not a game 

that people were waiting for. Creator 

Julian Gollop was hardly known and 

publisher Games Workshop was better 

known as a developer of board games 

than computer games. The game’s 

appearance certainly didn’t help sell it 

in the press, thanks to the sparse black 

backgrounds and tiny, twitching sprites. 

But if there was ever a game where 

its design triumphed over graphics 

then Chaos was it. Up to eight warring 

wizards battled it out on the ‘Plane Of 

Limbo’, taking turns to unleash their 

spells and be the last sorcerer standing. 

The spells were randomly apportioned, 

so every game played out differently. 

on spec 

Julian gollop 

Julian had been developing the game for 

years, initially as a board game played 

between friends, so the computer version 

was impressively deep and perfectly 

balanced. And when eight human players 

were locked in battle, hurling gold 

dragons and gooey blobs around the 

place, it was, well, chaos. 

The game might not have been a hit 

when first released but over the years it 

has attracted a devoted following. Many 

will have discovered it retrospectively 

thanks to Your Sinclair magazine, which 

included it on two separate cover tapes 

in 1990 and 1993. The magazine billed it 

as a “true classic” and it’s impossible to 

argue with that. 

The legendary designer talks about Chaos 

On creating Chaos as a computer game 

I was able to add an extraordinary game mechanic – the 

illusion system. The idea was that you could summon a 

creature as an illusion and they would behave as normal but they could be 

‘disbelieved’ by any other player. I still saw Chaos as primarily a multiplayer 

game, but the AI proved to be pretty cool – something you can’t really do 

for a board game. Many players loved to play a co-op game against the AI 

wizards before turning on each other. 

DEVELOPER: durell Software 

In this year Sinclair launched the 

Spectrum 128, a new model that was 

supposed to usher in the next generation 

of Speccy games. That didn’t happen, of 

course, as most publishers were happy to 

continue releasing standard 48K games with 

some token 128 improvements (Rainbird’s 

Starglider and Mastertronic’s Knight Tyme 

were two early exceptions). It didn’t matter 

too much as the flow of amazing 48K games 

continued with gems like The Great Escape, 

The Trap Door and Quazatron. 

Turbo Esprit from programmer 

Mike Richardson was another title that 

showcased what could be achieved on the 

bog-standard Speccy. It was essentially an 

8-bit prototype of Driver from Reflections, 

presenting ‘living’ 3D cities which you could 

1987 

GENRE: driving 

freely navigate. The objective was to catch 

drug runners but for most players there 

was joy in simply driving around, obeying 

traffic lights, zebra crossings, junctions 

and the general rules of the road – or more 

likely, flouting them. Even now, we feel 

desperately sorry for those little guys on 

their ladders, just going about their work. 

head over heels 

DEVELOPER: ocean Software 

Isometric adventures were hugely popular 

on the Spectrum. Ultimate showed with 

Knight Lore and Alien 8 that the Spectrum’s 

processor had the grunt to make isometric 

presentation work well, and then pretty 

much everyone else followed its lead. 

Games like Sweevo’s World, Movie and 

Batman not only optimised the technique 

but also added their own unique traits 

and quirks. This progression peaked with 

Head Over Heels. 

Jon Ritman and Bernie Drummond’s 

follow-up to their Batman game may have 

lacked a popular licence but it was strong 

enough to succeed on reputation alone. Its 

key feature was to introduce two playable 

GENRE: iSoMetric adventure 

characters, with their own strengths 

and weaknesses, which you could flick 

between. And when reunited (which was 

the game’s first task), you could join them 

up and take on the evil Blacktooth Empire 

together. Head Over Heels was cute, clever, 

devious and delightful. The graphics and 

animation were excellent and so was the 

sound (on the 128K version at least). All in 

all, this was an instant Spectrum classic 

and yet another hit for Ocean which was 

finding form after a few uneven years. 

On the Spectrum 

The Speccy was absolutely essential for my career. For strategy games it 

was great because you had a whopping 48K available and it was cheaper 

than the alternatives. Not only was I able to persuade my parents to buy 

me one but I was able to make fairly sophisticated games for it. And the ZX 

microdrives never let me down! 

46 | RETRO GAMER


1988 r-tYpe 

1989 mYth 

Developer: concept aniMationS 

This was the year of Robocop. Ocean’s 

blockbuster film tie-in was released 

at the end of 1988 and dominated the 

sales charts throughout 1989. With such 

emphasis of licensed properties games, 

like Myth, were easy to overlook. But 

not here, not now. 

Myth was basically a traditional 

arcade adventure dressed up to the 

nines. You played a young boy travelling 

through time, solving clever puzzles in 

order to defeat demons and dragons 

and other mythical beasts. Each 

stage was almost like a spectacle that 

kept unfolding, and the whole thing 

was enlivened by the most fantastic 

Genre: adventure 

graphics and animation (the driving rain 

and lightning strikes on the Viking stage 

were like something from a 16-bit title). 

The controls were a bit iffy (pressing 

down to jump?), and the shoot-’em-up 

finale felt bolted on, but overall Myth 

was an experience that felt like it 

had been crafted with great care and 

attention. It was the kind of game you’d 

imagine Ultimate would be making had 

it not quit the Spectrum scene. 

Developer: Software StudioS 

By this point the Spectrum market 

was becoming increasingly dominated 

by coin-op conversions. That was not 

necessarily a bad thing, as there had 

been genuinely excellent attempts 

(Bomb Jack from Elite, Renegade from 

Imagine, and Bubble Bobble from 

Firebird being just three). Yet the whole 

circus surrounding US Gold’s hopelessly 

optimistic version of Out Run did leave a 

sour taste behind. 

Hopes weren’t particularly high 

for the Spectrum version of R-Type. 

How could anyone conceivably take 

the hottest shooter in the arcades, 

with its crazy array of weapons and 

Genre: Shoot-’eM-up 

screen-filling bosses, and squeeze it 

all onto the Speccy with any degree 

of accuracy? Programmer Bob Pape 

somehow managed it, delivering 

not only the number one coin-op 

conversion for the Spectrum but also 

one of the best games for the machine 

period. Some suspect witchcraft was 

involved in pushing the Spectrum to its 

absolute limits, but by reading the story 

behind R-Type in Bob’s free PDF book 

It’s Behind You, you’ll discover that he 

was a meticulous coder who chewed 

through problem after problem and 

simply wouldn’t settle for second best. 

An absolutely sublime conversion. 

1990 rainbow 

islands 

Colour clash was the Spectrum problem that never 

went away and one of the most common ways of 

avoiding it was to opt for a two-colour display. This 

resulted in too many monochrome titles that didn’t clash 

but looked plain drab. Clearly this wasn’t an option for 

Rainbow Islands, as doing it in monochrome would have 

caused an outcry (and possibly contravened the UK’s 

Trade Descriptions Act in some way). After all, this was 

a conversion of a coin-op that was almost incandescent. 

Developer: graftgold 

Genre: platforMer 

The Spectrum version was handled by Graftgold 

which made the most of the Spectrum’s vibrant palette, 

throwing reds, yellows, cyans and magentas all over the 

place. The criminally overlooked ‘bright’ variants were 

also splashed about. Obviously, the character sprites 

and the rainbows themselves couldn’t be multi-coloured 

on the Spectrum, but otherwise this was a bright and 

beautiful game. It played really well, too, and featured 

all of the content from the coin-op (bar the three 

secret islands, as per most of the home conversions). 

The game also performed admirably, barely slowing 

down even when the screen was really busy, and was 

enhanced for 128K machines with AY tunes and effects 

being the main addition. 

Rainbow Islands was published by Ocean which was 

enjoying another strong year, particularly with its 

coin-op conversions. In addition to Rainbow Islands it 

also published excellent versions of Midnight Resistance 

by Special FX and Pang by Arc Developments. Towards 

the end of the year Ocean announced that it would focus 

on 128K-only games going forward. Would this decision 

spell the end for the trusty 48K Spectrum? 

on spec 

steve turner 

The developer looks over the rainbow 

on developing Rainbow Islands 

at Gratgold 

The rainbows were a particular problem as 

they were huge colourful sprites. The game did 

not suit the Spectrum, but programmer David 

O’Connor did a brilliant job. He was determined 

to get the gameplay elements correct so it 

played just like the original. He invented a way 

of packing the maps so he could squeeze the data into the 

Spectrum’s memory. He also understood the key to playability 

was a high framerate. 

on the Spectrum 

The Spectrum was an essential element to the beginning of 

Gratgold. At the time there was no other machine that sold in 

the numbers required to give a userbase big enough to make 

games development viable. It was cheap and easy to develop 

for. It was all down to programming techniques, rather than 

inding tricks with chips. Everything had to be built from the 

ground up, giving a good standing for more complex machines. 

RETRO GAMER | 47

dizzY 

1991 spellbound 

the 

1992 turbo tortoise 

DEVELOPER: Big red Software GENRE: adventure DEVELOPER: viSual iMpact GENRE: platforMer 

Owners of 48K models needn’t 

have worried about Ocean’s 

decision to overlook them as most 

publishers continued to support the 

original machine. This was particularly 

true of the budget publishers who began 

to pick up the slack as the number of 

full-price releases noticeably declined. 

Codemasters was the king of budget 

publishers and Dizzy was its prince. This, 

the fifth in the main Dizzy series, was his 

biggest adventure yet with 105 screens in 

total (the original Dizzy had 52 screens in 

comparison). It was also one of the best in 

the series, featuring some strong puzzles 

and fun sequences including a mine cart 

ride. It was best played on a 128K machine 

as it included AY music and extra character 

animations, but the whole adventure 

run perfectly on the standard 48K 

iteration of the Speccy. 

This year also saw a couple of 

high-profile 16-bit releases ported 

down to the Spectrum in Lemmings and 

North & South. Both were decent versions 

and showed that the Speccy was still a 

viable platform for the latest hits. 

Another year where budget titles 

outshone full-price releases. Ocean’s 

Space Gun and The Addams Family were 

pretty solid, as was US Gold’s Indiana 

Jones And The Fate of Atlantis, but the big 

publishers were clearly focusing on the 

16-bit market now. Codemasters was still 

reliably cranking out budget games like 

Captain Dynamo and Wild West Seymour, 

yet it was this brilliant little platformer 

from Hi-Tec Software that stood out. 

Turbo The Tortoise was obviously riffing 

heavily on Sonic The Hedgehog, although 

the game had more in common with 

Super Mario Bros. in terms of gameplay 

and presentation. As Turbo, you bounded 

through six horizontally-scrolling stages, 

disposing of baddies by jumping on their 

heads (or shooting them with a handy 

gun). Waiting at the end of each stage was 

a large boss which you had to defeat, and 

there were a number of bonus levels to 

find, too. Turbo The Tortoise was release 

twice – first by Hi-Tec, which went bust 

soon after, before being picking up and put 

out again by (guess who…) Codemasters. 

1993 

dalek attack 

DEVELOPER: 221B Software 

GENRE: platforMer 

In the UK releases reduced to a trickle this year. The 

titles were Nigel Mansell’s World Championship from 

Gremlin and this, Alternative’s long-awaited Doctor Who 

game (which was due out in 1992 but kept slipping). 

Bizarrely it was a run-and-gun platformer but it was fast 

and mostly fun. Dalek 

Attack was the last 

game to feature on the 

cover of Your Sinclair 

magazine which closed 

this year, along with 

Sinclair User. 

1996 

of prince persia 

DEVELOPER: entropy 


This story behind the belated release probably needs its 

own article. Having converted Jordan Mechner’s hit game 

to the SAM Coupe, the programmers shopped around a 

Spectrum port in 1993 but there were no takers due to 

the shrinking market. Three years later this version was 

somehow acquired and sold commercially in Russia! It 

really is a great version of a classic game, and such a 

shame it wasn’t put out properly in 1993. 

1994 towdie 

DEVELOPER: the Balara BrotherS 

GENRE: adventure 

While the Spectrum was effectively finished in the United 

Kingdom, this was not the case elsewhere. Ultrasoft, 

from the former Czechoslovakia, continued to release 

commercial titles in Central Europe, including the 

puzzle game Quadrex and the arcade adventure Towdie. 

Although heavily indebted to the Dizzy series (of where 

there were many unofficial mods), Towdie was a 

great-looking game in which you played a tiny troll on a 

mission to slay a dragon. 

1997 

black raven 

DEVELOPER: copper feet 

GENRE: real-tiMe Strategy 

The Spectrum remained hugely popular in Eastern 

Europe and there was strong demand for new software. 

This RTS game from Russian developer Copper Feet 

was definitely not Stonkers, being based instead on 

Warcraft. Despite the monochrome graphics, it played 

really well and was 

popular enough to 

spawn a mission 

disk and an isometric 

sequel (which sadly 

never progressed 

beyond a demo). 

1995 twilight 

DEVELOPER: ultraSoft 

GENRE: point-and-click adventure 

Subtitled Land Of Shadows, this was another impressive 

release from Ultrasoft that successfully implemented 

a point-and-click adventure on the Spectrum. You play 

an astronaut returning to a barren Earth in the distant 

future. It doesn’t feature too many locations and can be 

finished quickly, but 

it was an admirable 

achievement. A 

version of the 

game with the text 

translated into 

English was later 

released. 

1998 headball 

DEVELOPER: Zx MaSterS 

GENRE: SportS 

This was a fairly lean year in Spectrum land with just a 

steady flow of Russian games to keep things ticking over. 

The highlight of the year’s output was this entertaining 

sports game from ZX Masters. Featuring nice chunky 

sprites and colourful animated backdrops, two players 

headed a ball (and later a bomb!) back and forth over a 

net, trying to keep it in the air for as long as possible. Not 

sophisticated, but a lot of fun – with some nice AY tunes. 

48 | RETRO GAMER

1999 titanic 2000existenz his 

2001one 

droid man ii& 

DEVELOPER: fatality 

GENRE: puZZle 

Or Pussy: Love Story From Titanic to give the game its full, 

inexplicable title. This Russian oddity was themed around 

James Cameron’s movie, yet the two players were based 

on Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet rather than their 

characters! The game was based on the little-known 

Japanese puzzle 

game Magical 

Puzzle Popils which 

was released for the 

Game Gear in 1991. 

Wait… are those 

Dragonball Z sprites 

we see!? 

2002zx heroes 

DEVELOPER: igor MakovSky 

There have been dozens of Jet Set Willy mods 

over the years, with the number increasing 

following the initial release of John Elliott’s 

popular JSWED tool in 1996. Where as 

previously the mods simply added new screens 

for the intrepid Miner Willy to explore, the 

new editor introduced changes to the way 

many game elements worked, leading to 

more sophisticated room layouts for players 

to negotiate. 

This 40-room mod from Igor Makovsky 

is one of the very best and needs to be 

experienced. It’s basically a respectful tribute 

to some of the greatest games from the 

Spectrum archive including Pyjamarama, 

Technician Ted and Dynamite Dan. Some classic 

arcade conversions get a look in too, namely 

2003fire ’n ice 

DEVELOPER: n-diScovery 

GENRE: arcade puZZle 


Tecmo’s arcade puzzle Solomon’s Key was ported to 

many home systems including the Spectrum in 1987. 

Fire ’n Ice was the follow-up in which players had to 

extinguish the flames using blocks of ice. It was released 

for the NES in 1992 – until Russian group n-Discovery 

created this unofficial port for the 128K Spectrum. 

This is perhaps the first title to open peoples’ eyes 

to the Spectrum homebrew scene. Graphics and sound 

are top-notch and the design is perfect. All in all it’s a 

gorgeous game that everyone should try out. 

DEVELOPER: triuMph gaMe laBS 

GENRE: Shoot-’eM-up 

It would be remiss 

of us not to highlight 

some mods. Existenz 

was an unofficial 

update of Delfox, 

the 1988 horizontal 

shooter from 

Spanish developer 

Dinamic Software. In fact, the game is also known as 

Crazy Delfox and that gives you an idea of what’s going 

on here. The Russian dev team took the original game 

and ramped up the action to manic proportions and then 

underlined everything with a thumping AY soundtrack. 

Bubble Bobble and Arkanoid. Imagine a bunch 

of classic game characters crashing a party in 

Willy’s mansion and you get the idea. Another 

impressive Speccy release this year was Abe’s 

Mission: Escape, a version of the first two 

Oddworld games which was the winning entry 

in the Your Game 2002 competition. 

2005dominetris 

DEVELOPER: BoB SMith 

In Bob Smith’s Dominetris you 

have to arrange falling dominoes 

so that the digits match, and then 

align the corresponding number 

of blocks to make them disappear 

from play (i.e., you need to place 

five fives together, and six sixes). 

It’s simple stuff but quickly gets 


on spec 

2004fun park 

Jonathan Cauldwell is known to 

many fans as a prolific creator 

of homebrew, releasing dozens 

of games over the past 15 or so 

years. Fun Park is one of his most 

ambitious titles, being a demake 

of Bullfrog’s Theme Park that runs 

GENRE: arcade puZZle 

fraught as the screen starts to 

get cluttered. As Spectrum Tetris 

clones go this is easily one of the 

best. Bob would go on to create 

a name for himself in homebrew 

circles, and in 2010 he’d create an 

expanded version of Dominetris – 

for the ZX81, no less! 

DEVELOPER: clive Brooker 

GENRE: MaZe gaMe 

igor makovskY 

The Spectrum superhero stops by for a chat 

On growing up with 

the Spectrum 

A Soviet Spectrum clone (Kvant 

BK) was my father’s present to me 

when I was six years old. Loading 

tapes, playing games, trying my 

first attempts at coding are deeply 

connected with sweet times spent 

together with my dad. 

On the popularity of Jet Set 

Willy clones 

It’s easy to create a whole world with 

custom animations and an interesting, 

According to World of Spectrum, there were fewer games 

released this year than any other. Still, a total of 43 titles 

arrived in 2001, including this previously unreleased 

sequel. Clive Brooker wrote his follow-up in 1991, 

but Mastertronic 

wasn’t interested in 

publishing it, so he 

shared it on the web. 

And we should thank 

Clive, as it’s a 

sequel that deserves 

to be played. 

non-linear story with 

the right editor, like the 

amazing JSWED. 

DEVELOPER: Jonathan cauldwell 

GENRE: SiMulation 

On creating ZX Heroes 

Jet Set Willy games have a unique 

rhythm. It’s not too fast and not too 

dynamic – cosy and enjoyable to play 

with a cup of tea! I’m fond of making 

tributes and many games inspired 

me when creating ZX Heroes. The 

Doom 3 beta was released that year 

and I wanted to show that we can keep 

Spectrum games in our hearts. 

on a 16K Spectrum. The original 

version, a minigame competition 

titled Amusement Park 4000, was 

even more remarkable, running 

in just 4K! But Fun Park is much 

more than an example of what can 

be achieved in limited memory. 

RETRO GAMER | 49

on spec 

Jonathan cauldwell 

The developer on his love for the Speccy Scene 

On his favourite creation 

Most of them have something going 

for them. The title which I’m most 

proud of is Encyclopaedia Galactica 

Remixed, which sees the player flying 

around different star systems and 

collecting samples of alien life to 

document for the eponymous tome. 

On the Spectrum scene 

Dozens of new games are created 

every year with new authors 

appearing to write the game they 

wanted to as a child. It’s great to see 

bubble 

2007cannon 

DEVELOPER: coMputer eMuZone 

GENRE: puZZle 

Spanish team Computer Emuzone produced some strong 

demakes this year, including the Bejeweled clone Betiled. 

But in terms of retro appeal you can’t beat Cannon 

Bubble. Featuring pirate-themed graphics and a jaunty 

soundtrack, this is 

a game that does 

everything right. 

It even includes a 

two-player mode so 

you can go 

head-to-head 

against a friend. 

2010 

horace mYstic woods in the 



Horace was a mascot for the Speccy, appearing in three 

beloved titles. A fourth game was canned in 1985 but that 

wasn’t the end. In 1995 Psion hired Michael Ware to write 

Horace In The Mystic Woods for the Psion 3 PDA and 15 

years later Bob Smith ported the game to the Spectrum. 

Horace’s return was the highlight release of this 

year. The original version was monochrome, but on the 

Spectrum all 64 screens of platforming action are daubed 

with lovely colour. The controls are excellent, as is the 

sound. It’s good to have you back, Horace. 

so many people 

interested in 

learning Z80 

assembler or 

using Churrera 

or Arcade Game 

Designer in 

different ways to create new titles. The 

quality is high and some of the games 

developed over recent years would 

have received rave reviews in the 

Eighties. Interest in developing new 

games just keeps growing and I have 

no plans to stop any time soon. 

2008splattr 



Another one from Jonathan Cauldwell and 

this was probably his most intriguing and 

ambitious game to date. We say ‘game’ when 

this is actually a collection of 16 minigames 

based on classic arcade concepts (although to 

refer to them as mere clones is doing them 

a disservice, as there are some brilliant little 

challenges included). 

Rather than just be a collection of titles, 

the games are all connected by the unique 

‘Games Exchange’ element where you buy 

and sell shares in the games on offer. So you 

begin by building up some of your capital by 

playing a Pac-Man variant and then invest this 

in other titles of varying difficulty, using your 

own game-playing skills to amass more and 

more resources. You’ll need to watch out for 

Massive graphics 

and no colour clash? 

That doesn’t sound 

like the Speccy. 

Yet if the sprites 

are built using 

character squares 

then the attributes 

can’t clash. Based on this observation (which is reflected 

in the title – ATTR is the attribute command in Sinclair 

Basic), Bob Smith created this unique shooter where you 

blast huge sprites that fill the screen. This is one of those 

games where static screenshots simply don’t do it justice. 

2006gamex 

DEVELOPER: Jonathan cauldwell GENRE: MinigaMe collection 

tax (too many penalties and it’s game over), 

but more importantly you need to keep your 

eye on the time as it’s easy to lose track of it 

when you are wheelin’ and dealin’ on GameX. 

The stock market shenanigans returned for a 

sequel, subtitled Playing Dividends, which was 

released in 2015 

valleY 

2009king’s 

DEVELOPER: retroworkS 


The MSX library is littered with Speccy ports, so it’s nice 

to see it work in reverse sometimes. This conversion 

of Konami’s platformer from Spain’s RetroWorks is 

a joy to play. Think Lode Runner, only here you’re 

raiding pyramids 

for treasure. As 

you’d expect from 

RetroWorks the 

presentation is 

spot-on, featuring 

impressive graphics 

and AY tunes. 

2011 craY 5 

This was the strongest year yet for 

homebrew releases, with a glut of 

great games arriving. Cray 5 takes 

the crown for being charming, 

challenging and just brilliant. 

The game was originally 

developed by Topo Soft in 1987 

and released for the Amstrad CPC. 

Topo Soft did release a number 

2012 survivisection 

DEVELOPER: SancheZ 

Another year where it’s hard 

to select the best game. 

Survivisection from Sanchez 

(Aleksander Udotov) has to be 

singled out, though, for taking the 

theme of Commando and taking 

it further than anyone thought 

possible on the Spectrum. 



Rather than control your 

soldier directly you use a pointer 

to select where he moves and 

fires. And it’s not about shooting 

everything, as there’s a degree of 

strategy and puzzling, too. Plus it 

looks great, featuring full colour 

and full-screen scrolling. 


of games for the Spectrum but 

Cray 5 was not one of them. 

Thanks to RetroWorks, this 

oversight has been corrected – 

with some style. It looks amazing, 

resembling a Raffaele Cecco 

game, and the AY soundtrack is 

fantastic. Overall it’s a clear 

cut above the CPC original. 

50 | RETRO GAMER


2013 brunilda 

In this Zelda-style adventure you 

play a monk on a pilgrimage who 

seeks shelter for the night in a 

village – and it turns into a long 

night indeed as a mystery unfolds 

and you’re called on to converse 

with the locals and explore the 

surrounding forests and caves. 

2014 metal man reloaded 

DEVELOPER: oleg origin 

There was a time when Robocop was 

held up as one of the most impressive 

games on the Spectrum. Fast forward 

25 years and we have Metal Man, who 

stomps all over poor Murphy. The 

design is similar to Ocean’s hit but the 

graphics are, well, just look at them. 

There’s no monochrome drabness 



GENRE: graphic adventure 

here, oh no. Like many of Ocean’s 

titles, it’s a mix of styles, with on-foot 

shooting with puzzle sections and a 

nifty motorbike sequence. 

If you’re wondering about the title, 

the original Metal Man was originally 

released by Oleg Origin in 1997 on a 

Russian compilation disk. 

This is a pure graphic 

adventure with no battles, and 

the emphasis is on story, and 

the adventure system, with its 

colourful environments and 

eight-way scrolling, is exceptional. 

It’s long and involving but it’s split 

into several chapters. 

2015 

castlevania: 

interlude spectral 

DEVELOPER: rewind 

GENRE: adventure 

You could say that the games in this list have been 

leading to this moment, when in 2015 Aleksander Udotov 

unveiled his version of Castlevania for the Spectrum 

128K. It was a significant moment, as word of this title 

spread far beyond the usual circles. For a while it seemed 

that everyone was talking about Spectral Interlude: the 

detailed graphics, the incredible 12-song soundtrack, and 

the fact that this was Castlevania, in all its whip-cracking, 

vampire-slaying glory, on the Spectrum. 

The game actually started out as a Spectrum version 

of the NES game Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest but soon 

emerged as an original, 150-screen adventure that 

stands proudly on its own. 

2017 beYond... and 

2016 snake escape 

DEVELOPER: einar SaukaS GENRE: puZZle 

This year is already looking like a 

promising one for new releases. 

Some nice arcade platformers have 

already been released in the first 

half of the year including The Ship 

Of Doom from Mat Recardo, Foggy’s 

Quest from John Blythe, and Ooze 

from Andy Johns. Looking ahead, 

both Jonathan Cauldwell (Egghead 

6) and Bob Smith (SokoBAArn) are 

busy with new developments. The 

one we’re most looking forward to is 

No Fate (pictured), an arcade-style 

brawler from the same team behind 

Castlevania: Spectral Interlude. 

The release of the Spectrum Next 

device at the end of year will signal 

the arrival of more fresh games, 

including some 256-colour ones like 

Baggers On Ladders from Jim Bagley 

and Nodes of Yesod Next from Steve 

Wetherill. There’s also Wonderful 

Dizzy from the Oliver twins and 

friends, which was initiated when a 

stretch goal for the Next Kickstarter 

campaign was met. Which of these 

games will be the best of 2017, and 

what can we expect in future years 

following the debut of the Next? We 

can’t wait to find out. 

Perhaps fuelled by the success of 

Spectral Interlude, 2016 turned out 

to be a golden year for releases. 

Highlights include the adventure 

game Sam Mallard, the Boulder Dash 

update Tourmaline, and unique driving/ 

action/puzzle thing Car Wars. And not 

forgetting The Dark, the Doom clone 

from Oleg Origin (which was another 

update of one of his experiments). 

Our top choice is Snake Escape, 

Einar Saukas’ version of the popular 

online game Lime Rick in which you 

guide a snake to the apple using its 

own coiling body as a platform. You’ll 

notice that the graphics (by Jarrod 

Bentley) are a lot more colourful than 

usual and that’s because the game 

uses Einar’s own Nirvana Engine, 

a software solution to the Speccy’s 

limited colour resolution which lets you 

have up to eight colours per character 

square. It’s a truly impressive 

effect and it works on any standard 

Spectrum. Several other Nirvana 

games, including Dreamwalker, 

Multidude and Stormfinch, have been 

released previously and Snake 

Escape continues this trend for 

hyper-colourful Spectrum games. 

RETRO GAMER | 51

Rod-Land 

IN ROD WE TRUST 


» AMIGA » 1991 » THE SALES CURVE 

It’s a well-known fact that if you’re 

friends with someone who owns a 

different gaming system to your own, 

you mercilessly rib them for it until 

they end up a broken mess. Some 

see it as mean-spirited, but it’s simply a friendly rivalry 

that allows you to constantly remind someone that 

they’ve backed the wrong horse. Sometimes, though, 

it backfires, and one of those times involved this 

cracking conversion by The Sales Curve. 

As a Mega Drive owner, I was always able to lord 

it over my Amiga-owning friend, Marcus, because 

he had an Amiga and therefore had rubbish versions 

of most of the arcade games we both used to enjoy 

playing. We also enjoyed shooters, and, again, the 

Mega Drive always won out, allowing me a smugness 

that I’m sure my long-standing friend got tired of. 

Granted, there were lots of great games on the Amiga 

(I’d later own a 1200), but we were rivals and it was 

all about that one-upmanship that is as prevalent in 

teenagers as thinking they know everything. 

Marcus had a trump card, though. Marcus had 

Rod-Land on the Amiga, and he loaded it up with 

a strange smile on his face. A smile I’d rarely seen, 

and it was because I later realised it was a smile of 

satisfaction. The cutscenes, the graphics, the bosses, 

everything seemed perfect to me and while I now 

know it’s not as arcade perfect as I remember, it 

certainly seemed that way to 17-year-old me. “Have 

you got this on your Mega Drive yet, Darran? It’s 

really good,” began Marcus, knowing full well that it 

wasn’t coming out on Sega’s console. “I think it’s out 

in Japan,” he pressed. “Maybe you can pop into the 

Video Game Centre and order it from there.” 

A trip later that week to Winton proved that I had 

been well and truly stitched up by my good friend. I 

had the last laugh though – Rod-Land didn’t exist but I 

was able to pick up a copy of Streets Of Rage. Game 

set and match, Darran. 

54 | RETRO GAMER

RETRO GAMER | 55

54 | RETRO GAMER 

The passing of Keith Robinson earlier this year 

let a gap in many peoples’ hearts. Although 

best known for his work on the Intellivision, 

M Network represents another highlight of his 

career. Kieren Hawken uncovers its legacy

» [Atari 2600] Air Raiders is an impressive 

cockpit-viewed shoot-’em-up that was later 

rereleased as Bogey Blaster by Telegames. 

InsTanT 

ExpErT 

■ M Network was a division of Mattel 

Electronics set up to publish games for 

rival machines. 

■ Many of M Network’s Atari 2600 games 

featured different names to their 

Intellivision counterparts. 

■ The label was formed out of Mattel 

external contractor APh wanting more 

royalties from its games. 

■ M Network licensed several popular 

arcade games from Data East, including 

the likes of Bump ‘N’ Jump, BurgerTime and 

Lock ‘N’ Chase. 

■ Other properties licensed by M Network 

included cult Disney film Tron, Advanced 

Dungeons & Dragons, Rocky And Bullwinkle 

and Masters Of The Universe. 

■ M Network developed an expansion 

module to enhance the abilities of the 

Atari 2600 but decided against releasing it. 

■ Jerry Lawson, the creator of the 

world’s first programmable games console, 

the Fairchild Channel F, was a programmer 

at M Network. 

■ After the division was shut down, as a 

result of the videogames crash, M Network’s 

vast back catalogue was purchased by mail 

order specialists Telegames. 

■ Mattel was known for its highly realistic 

– for the time, at least – sports games and 

several of these appeared on the Atari 2600. 

■ Before M Network’s demise there were 

plans to publish games for the ColecoVision, 

IBM PC, TI-99, Atari 8-bit, Apple II and 

Commodore 64. 

The story starts in 1977, with the release 

of the Atari 2600, which would go onto 

become a massive success. The Design 

And Development division of Mattel 

Toys looked on with interest and saw enough room 

in the market for a competitor. So the head of this 

department, Richard Chang, sought out some 

help from people who were already involved in 

the microprocessor and computer programming 

industry. Richard soon came across a company 

by the name of APh Technology Consulting, and 

after some fruitful discussions with its owner Glenn 

Hightower, they came to an agreement to develop 

what would become the Mattel Intellivision. 

However, it wasn’t long before this partnership 

started to sour, as APh started to become aware of 

just how big the videogame market had become. 

As 1980 rolled around, it was reported that Mattel 

was raking in around $1.5m revenue per game. 

With APh being paid just $30,000 per game, Glenn 

was understandably annoyed. So he gathered 

round his senior staff and decided that they should 

develop games for Mattel’s biggest rival, Atari, 

instead and then offer them to the highest bidder. 

The problem was that APh was locked into an 

exclusivity agreement with Mattel that would be 

hard to get out of. 

Glenn came up with a clever way to get round 

the agreement with Mattel that would hopefully 

avoid the ire of its lawyers. He immediately 

made all his programmers redundant. He wasn’t 

getting rid of them completely, though, he actually 

hired them all back immediately on consultancy 

contracts, giving them the top-secret task of reverse 

engineering the Atari 2600’s technology. It wasn’t 

long before Glenn’s team of coders had come up 

with some impressive new games and demos for 

the 2600, but he then had to decide what to do with 

them. After having a change of heart, he decided 

that he had nothing to lose by offering these games 

back to Mattel. If Mattel wanted them, then his 

company was in the money, if it didn’t, then he may 

be able to negotiate a termination of the contract. 

He then went to Mattel and told it that a team 

of outside contractors had approached him and 

offered APh some new games for Atari’s console. 

This wasn’t an outright lie, of course, but he was 

bending the truth more than many would see as 

reasonable. Mattel Electronics fell for the story and 

showed an interest in the games, promising to 

discuss it with the higher ups in the company. Since 

Glenn would be paying this ‘outside group’ via his 

company, he hired a close friend to head it up. Any 

deal would then allow him to not only demand 

money up front, but also royalties based on every 

copy sold, which would work out to be far more 

lucrative than the Intellivision deal ever was. 

The decision by Mattel to produce 2600 

cartridges was controversial within the 

company. One faction argued that it could 

be used to help sell its competing game 

console by making the games inferior. 

While the other side reasoned that it 

would give consumers less reason 

to choose the Intellivision over the 

2600. At a group meeting, Mattel 

formally announced Project Irata 

(Atari spelled backwards) and a 

senior Intellivision programmer 

» [Atari 2600] 

International 

Soccer was a huge 

improvement on 

Atari’s Pele Soccer. 

RETRO GAMER | 55

1977 

1980 

1981 

1982 

1983 

1984 

1985 

1997 

1999 

2000 

TImElInE 

■ Mattel takes a great interest in the 

videogame industry after the launch of 

the Atari 2600. 

■ External contractor APh Consulting 

soon realises that it had got a bad deal from 

Mattel on payments for Intellivision games 

and considers creating Atari 2600 games 

on the quiet. 

■ APh forms an external group to develop 

games for the Atari 2600 so it can shop them 

to potential publishers. 

■ An agreement is reached between Mattel 

and APh to publish the Atari games on a 

new label called M Network. 

■ After the success of games based on Tron, 

M Network shows off highly advanced new 

games carrying the Advanced Dungeons & 

Dragons licence to the public. 

■ The North American videogame crash 

hits Mattel hard and it decides to close down 

the entire videogame division cancelling all 

existing projects. 

■ Mattel sells all assets of the M Network 

label to popular mail order specialists 

Telegames which republishes the games. 

■ Keith Robinson forms Intellivision 

Productions and buys the rights to much 

of the former Mattel Electronics and 

M Network IP. 

■ Intellivision Productions shows off several 

unreleased M Network prototypes at the 

Classic Gaming Expo in America. 

■ Plans to release a number of unreleased 

M Network games through Intellivision 

Productions is announced. Sword Fight is 

the first of these. 

quipped back, “That’s errata all right!” But when 

it came down to the final decision on whether to 

progress with this venture, the numbers didn’t lie. 

At that time there were 10 million Atari consoles 

in peoples’ homes, compared to just two million 

of Mattel’s machine. It made more financial sense 

to develop games for the 12 million. And with that 

savvy decision the M Network label was born, with 

the M obviously standing for Mattel. The only thing 

to decide now was who was going to run the new 

venture, Mattel needed to act quickly as several 

games were ready to go so it turned to the head 

of the Blue Sky Rangers, Mattel’s own team of 

Intellivision programmers, Keith Robinson. Before 

he passed away we were lucky enough to speak 

with Keith about his role at M Network and how he 

felt about producing games for other systems. “It 

was really great,” he said. “It’s always a challenge 

to learn a new system but also an exciting one. I 

always made sure that I would still control at least 

some of the Intellivision development, since I knew 

that Intellivision would always be the focal point of 

» [Atari 2600] Bump ‘N’ Jump is an excellent conversion of the incredibly fun 

Data East arcade game of the same name. 

DEfInIng gamEs 

Mattel Electronics output.” The original games that 

APh produced for M Network sold well, averaging 

around 200,000 cartridges each. They featured a 

brand-new cartridge design, based on Mattel’s 

own Intellivision shells and packaging that made 

the brand very much the focal point. Before long, 

Mattel Electronics had to start hiring programmers 

to produce these new Atari games in-house. 

programmer Dave Akers was one of the 

first men in at M Network and was 

responsible for some of its best games 

in Star Strike, Bump ‘N’ Jump and 

BurgerTime. It was his very first job in the industry 

before going on to even greater success with 

Atari’s coin-op division and titles such as Klax and 

Escape From the Planet Of The Robot Monsters. 

Dave remembers his route to Mattel well. “I studied 

Electrical Engineering in college, but took a lot of 

programming courses,” he says. “After graduation, 

I got a job in aerospace, but I enjoyed playing 

videogames in my spare time. I remember reading 

the first issue of Electronics Games magazine and 

realising that some people were making a living 

at developing games and I thought why couldn’t 

I do that? I was living in the Los Angeles area at 

the time, and thought I would have to move to 

Silicon Valley to work at a game company, but then 

Mattel Electronics started advertising for game 

programmers for their Intellivision console. Mattel’s 

headquarters was about a mile from where I was 

currently working. So I applied for a job there 

and was accepted. As it turns out, they were also 

looking for Atari programmers too, and this was 

the division that I ended up being assigned to.” 

Another one of the first people through the door at 

M Network was coder Hal Finney, who would go on 

to help pioneer Bit Coin. Unfortunately Hal passed 

TrOn: DEaDly DIscs 

■ While M Network released several games based on the cult 

Disney film Tron, by far the best one was Deadly Discs. The idea 

of the game is to use your frisbee-style weapon to take out the 

enemies before they get you, and make it to the next level. As 

the game goes on the enemies get harder, smarter and faster 

making the challenge that much greater. Their level of prowess 

is cleverly gauged by their colour – starting at blue and going 

up to orange. There are few Atari 2600 games out there that 

are more fast and frantic than Deadly Discs. 

BurgErTImE 

■ Of the many arcade conversions released by M Network, 

BurgerTime is perhaps the most popular. Originally released 

in the arcades by Data East, this game sees you take on the 

role of Chef Peter Pepper who is trying to complete an order 

of tasty burgers. He makes this food in a rather strange way, 

though – by walking on the ingredients! He must trample over 

all of the ingredients until they drop down onto the plates to 

form a complete burger. Trying to stop you on your mission are 

three deadly antagonists: Mr Egg, Mr Pickle and Mr Hot Dog.

aDvancED 

DungEOns 

& DragOns 

The purchase of the videogame rights to 

the hugely popular Advanced Dungeons 

& Dragons was one of Mattel’s most 

prestigious, astute and expensive 

acquisitions. So with that in mind, it’s 

almost mind-blowing to learn that 

neither of M Network’s planned AD&D 

games were ever released! The two 

titles in question, Treasures Of Tarmin 

and Tower Of Mystery were among the 

most advanced games developed for 

the console and were shown off in the 

press and at several shows only to be 

canned just before release. Taking the 

form of first-person RPG-type games, 

they used huge (for the time, anyway) 

16K cartridges with an extra 2K of 

RAM for assistance. There were plans 

to finally release these in recent years 

through Keith Robinson’s company The 

Intellivision Corporation, but obtaining 

the relevant rights for a fair price has put 

paid to these efforts thus far. 

It’s always a 

challenge to learn a 

new system but also 

an exciting one 

Keith Robinson 

away in 2014. In an interview with Digital 

Press several years ago he detailed how 

he ended up at Mattel: “I was supposed 

to graduate from the California Institute of 

Technology in 1978 but I was short a few 

units. So I got hired full time at APh the summer 

of 1978 and just took the remaining classes at 

Caltech during that first year at APh, eventually 

graduating in 1979. I was hired by Glenn Hightower, 

who was co-owner and the main manager at that 

time, but I knew Dave Rolfe very well, who was 

already working there, and he put in a good word 

for me. For my first year or so I was working on 

cash register software but then moved into games 

when Mattel set up their new M Network label and 

needed Atari 2600 programmers.” 

Ironically, after worries that the Atari versions 

might reflect badly on its Intellivision counterparts, 

several key voices in the media felt the Atari 2600 

games played better. Mattel had changed some 

of the names of the games to help combat this 

– thus Astrosmash became Astroblast, Armor 

Battle became Armor Ambush, Frog Bog became 

Frogs And Flies. It was only the licensed games 

that kept the same titles, such as the Tron games, 

Lock ‘N’ Chase and BurgerTime. Eager to improve 

the 2600 offering and bring them closer to the 

original Intellivision games, Mattel’s Design And 

Development department came up with a ‘Super 

Charger’ module that could be plugged into the 

Atari 2600. The module added 2K of RAM to the 

console and circuitry that allowed game cartridges 

four times larger than previously released. 

The first cartridge for the Super Charger was 

supposed to be an Atari version of BurgerTime. 

While the game was still in development however, 

sales results were coming in for the similar 

enhancement add-on for the Intellivision, 

the Intellivoice speech module. The figures 

turned out to be disappointing, though, with 

fewer than 350,000 Intellivoices sold, despite 

there being over 3 million consoles on the 

market. M Network’s expansion module 

was promptly cancelled. Many of the 

programmers were pulling double duty 

producing both Intellivision games for 

Mattel and Atari 2600 titles for sister 

company M Network. As one of 

those people, Hal detailed what it 

armOr amBush 

■ One of the Atari 2600’s most iconic games is undoubtedly the 

original pack-in game Combat. So it wasn’t surprising to see 

Mattel copy this game and improve upon it for the Intellivision 

release of Armor Battle. But the 2600 didn’t have to be envious 

for long as the game was ported back to the Atari system as 

Armor Ambush. The main upgrade from the seminal Combat is 

the use of scenery on the battlefield. This can be used to hide 

behind and also as a weapon. This is because your shots will 

bounce off objects and fly across the screen at a new angle. 

sTar sTrIkE 

■ Inspired by the trench run sequence from Star Wars, Dave 

Akers’s Star Strike is one of the more graphically impressive 

games to be released by M Network. Here, you pilot a 

spaceship on a mission to wipe out five weapon silos on a giant 

alien mothership that is heading towards Earth. You must drop 

a bomb on each of these installations before the home world 

comes into view or it’s game over! The enemy is also well 

aware of your presence. Thankfully, your ship is armed with 

unlimited lasers and bombs.

whErE arE 

ThEy nOw? 

kEITh rOBInsOn 

■ After being made redundant 

by Mattel, Keith moved away 

from videogames and became 

an illustrator. Keith returned to 

videogames in 1997 by forming Intellivision 

Productions to help the legacy of Mattel’s 

console and its products live on. His first 

success comes with the Intellivision Lives 

compilation for PC and Nintendo DS. 

Although his health had been declining, it 

still came as a shock to all to learn that Keith 

Robinson passed away in June 2017. He will 

be sorely missed. 

JErry lawsOn 

■ Jerry is perhaps best 

known as the creator of the 

world’s first programmable 

games console the Fairchild 

Channel F. In 1980 Jerry left Fairchild and 

founded Videosoft, a development company 

which made software for the Atari 2600. He 

then formed an agreement to develop games 

for M Network through his new company. 

After this, Jerry became a consultant who 

worked juggernauts like Stevie Wonder and 

Stanford University. In 2003 we lost one of the 

industry’s pioneers when Jerry passed away. 

DavE akErs 

■ After his time with Mattel, 

Dave secured a job at Atari 

Games helping to develop arcade 

hits such as Klax, Toobin’, Escape 

From The Planet Of The Robot Monsters and 

Cyberball. He left the historic arcade company 

in 1999 after it was closed down by Midway 

and then moved to Japan to become a teacher 

specialising in technology and English. He 

returned to videogames in 2013 developing 

two Intellivision games for Indie publishers 

Elektronite – Match 5 and Paddle Party, both 

games were well received by the community. 

hal fInnEy 

■ After his time at Mattel 

designing games for the 

Intellivision and Atari 2600, Hal 

stayed in the software industry 

but moved away from games. He took up 

work at McAfee where he would made his 

name again helping to develop its virus 

software. Cryptography became his main 

passion from there on and he worked in this 

field from 2004 until his retirement in 2011 

after being diagnosed with Motor Neurone 

Disease. He sadly lost the fight against this 

illness in August 2014. 

ThE Dna Of m nETwOrk 

InTEllIgEnT TElEvIsIOn 

■ Mattel’s key focus was always the Intellivision, but it still 

allowed ports of all its best games to appear on the Atari 2600 

too albeit under a slightly amended name. The Atari versions 

of these games were often adapted to make better use of the 

somewhat inferior hardware, but sometimes they actually 

turned out to be more enjoyable. 

was like going from the Mattel machine to Atari’s. 

“The Intellivision was easier, but in a way there 

was more of a sense of satisfaction with the Atari 

since it was so difficult just to get a coherent picture 

on the screen. Everything in a 2600 program was 

timed to synchronise with the TV screen. With the 

Intellivision, we had interrupts to do the timing, and 

Dave had created the Exec, which was a system 

control and library ROM that was in all the units and 

hid a lot of the gory details. I always thought Dark 

Cavern was one of my more successful porting 

efforts. There is the usual Atari flashing when we 

get too many sprites on a scanline but it wasn’t too 

bad. In fact, I think I may have even adjusted the 

‘AI’ of the bad guys to try to avoid that – they would 

turn away if they were going to get on the same line 

as others. We couldn’t control the player’s motion, 

of course, so it wasn’t prevented altogether.” 

A big part of M Network’s business was in 

licences and its acquisition of the Tron videogame 

rights was without doubt its most famous. It 

published several games based on the franchise to 

try and get as much out of the licence at it could. 

» [Atari 2600] Kool-Aid Man is an early example of advertising crossing 

over into videogames. 

arcaDE acTIOn 

■ With Coleco, Atari and Parker Brothers fighting over most of 

the big arcade licences, Mattel turned to a then-small company 

in Japan called Data East. The gamble soon paid off, as titles 

such as Lock ‘N’ Chase, BurgerTime and Bump ‘N’ Jump 

became big hits for the company and Data East itself would go 

on to become a respected and widely-known name. 

Given how protective Disney has become of its 

properties, we were surprised to discover that it 

relinquished all control over Mattel’s offerings as 

Keith had explained to us. “Disney never even 

looked at any of the Tron games before they 

were released or even after! I was responsible 

for the entire Solar Sailer game and the graphics. 

A number of others helped out, threw in ideas, 

worked on optimising the code, but ultimately I was 

responsible and no one from Disney or Mattel was 

looking over my shoulder. Some of the licensors 

did take more of an interest in their properties, 

though. The D&D people did review the games 

before putting the trademark on them and Mattel 

Toys was very snickety about the Masters Of The 

Universe game, particularly the colours used in the 

Castle Grayskull graphic. But I don’t recall anyone 

from Disney taking any interest in any of the Tron 

games at all!” Through an old interview with Hal 

we discovered that Space Battle was originally 

intended to be a game that was based on Battlestar 

Galactica. “I’m not sure of the specifics of why it 

had to be changed but Space Battle was originally 

going to be licensed from Battlestar Galactica,” 

he said. “Originally there was music based on the 

original theme song, which obviously got taken 

out. The ships were supposed to look like Cylon 

flying saucers, but that never changed as the 

graphics back then were crude enough that the 

resemblance wasn’t strong enough to be a concern. 

So if you look closely you can still see it! 

The M Network label had proved to be 

enormously successful for Mattel and 

it had ideas to grow the branding to 

cover more systems. But unfortunately, 

like so many others in the industry, it failed to 

predict the great videogame crash. Keith detailed 

his memories of this, “In July 1983 as all the 

58 | RETRO GAMER

FROM THE ARCHIVES: M NETWORK 

supEr spOrTs 

■ The key focus of Mattel’s marketing when it put its 

Intellivision console up against the industry-leading 

Atari 2600 was the ‘realism’ of its sports games. So it might 

seem somewhat surprising that it then chose to port several 

of these back across to Atari’s console. These ports were 

definitely inferior games, however. 

mOvIE maDnEss 

■ Not just content with snapping up arcade licences, Mattel 

also sought out other popular forms of media that were ripe 

for the videogame treatment, too. Among the candidates were 

Disney’s Tron, the kids TV show Rocky And Bullwinkle, 

He-Man And The Masters Of The Universe and, most bizarrely 

of all, Kool-Aid Man. 

TElEgamIng 

■ Unlike many of the companies that closed down after the 

devastating impact of the North American videogame crash, 

M Network managed to live on through UK-owned company 

Telegames which then republished its games on both sides of 

the pond for many years to come. This allowed a whole new 

audience to enjoy M Network’s games. 

Disney never 

even looked at 

any of the 

Tron games 

Keith Robinson 

videogame companies started posting losses, 

Mattel revamped its management team and focus. 

From then on, games would be ‘all flavours’, that 

is, for all platforms. If you look at our commercial 

for BurgerTime on YouTube, for example, you’ll 

see at the end it is advertised as available for 

Intellivision, Atari 2600, Colecovision, Apple II, 

IBM PC and Mattel Electronics’ own computer the 

Aquarius. We had games in development for all 

of these platforms and were looking at C64 and 

Atari 8-bit at the end of 1983, too. So had Mattel 

Electronics and M Network continued, I’m sure 

we would have developed for Nintendo and Sega 

too as those consoles came to market.” Dave 

Akers remembered the suddenness of it all, “For 

two years solid I worked on Atari 2600 games at 

Mattel, it was non-stop. But then, almost overnight, 

the games market just imploded in America. We 

were all shown the door, with open projects just 

left in limbo, and Mattel Electronics closed down 

for good.” The closure of M Network saw all of its 

properties sold to Telegames, which republished 

nearly all its games in similar packaging just with a 

new logo. We asked Telegames CEO Pete Mortimer 

how this came about, “It was mostly handled on 

the US side, but we already had good dealing with 

Mattel having been the official UK distributor for the 

Intellivision, he said. “The opportunity came about 

to buy their back catalogue and as we still saw 

enormous value in the Atari 2600 

it was a bit of a no-brainer.” 

M Network’s life might have 

been a short one, but there’s 

no doubting that it published 

some of the best third-party 

games for the Atari 2600 – aside 

from Activision, anyway – and it would have been 

interesting to see what would have become of it 

had it been allowed to continue on. The sad losses 

of Hal Finney, Keith Robinson and also Jerry 

Lawson, who was also the creator of the Fairchild 

Channel F, only enforces M Network’s legacy in 

the industry and the great memories it left for the 

people who bought and enjoyed the company’s 

games. Mattel is still very much a household 

name but M Network is a name that certainly 

shouldn’t be forgotten, either. 

Special thanks to the interviewees and families 

of Keith Robinson and Hal Finney who allow their 

genius to live on for others to enjoy. 

RETRO GAMER | 59

Arcade games that never made it home 

DEAD CONNECTION 

DEVELOPER: TaiTo YEAR: 1992 GENRE: ShooT-’em-up 

■ Shooting this table will knock 

over the candles and cause a 

large fire, which can have the 

beneficial side-effect of taking 

out a couple of baddies 

■ These piles of tyres 

can be used for cover, 

though as you might 

guess they don’t last 

forever. Constant 

movement is key to 

survival here. 

■ With no stairs in sight, your 

character has to clamber 

up this pile of junked cars in 

order to get a better shot at 

the legions of goons below. 

■ We love Prohibition-era America – a place where 

the impossible dream of an alcohol-free society was 

realised, with no negative consequences whatsoever. 

Nope, that mobster with the Tommy Gun was always 

there. What are you looking at? Keep walking. In any 

case it seems like Taito took a shine to the period too, 

as despite the intro’s claim that it’s 1953, it’s clearly the 

setting for Dead Connection. The game is a shoot-’emup 

which tasks one or two players with cleaning up the 

town, using only their considerable firepower. 

Each stage tasks you with taking down a large 

number of bad guys (the first stage alone demands 30 

bodies), and while each stage takes place on a single 

screen with no scrolling whatsoever, there’s still plenty 

of scope for action. Stage layouts are nice and varied, 

with a mostly flat restaurant following a junkyard with 

moving vehicles and an enormous scrap pile to climb, 

while later on you’ll find conveyor belts and more in the 

factory stage. Destructible cover is plentiful, power-ups 

include new guns, such as a spread-showering shotgun 

and a bullet-hosing machine gun, and your protagonist 

is able to dive and roll under enemy fire. 

Dead Connection’s nifty game design is matched well 

by the presentation. There are plenty of nice graphical 

touches during gameplay, as the scenery gets torn to 

shreds while you fight the city’s gangs – tables collapse, 

bullet holes appear, fires ignite and the first stage even 

has a chandelier drop down on you. Between stages, it’s 

just as good. Illustrated story scenes explain your arrival 

in each new area, and there are little introductions as 

a level starts (our favourite moment is stage three, 

in which your guy crashes through the windows of a 

restaurant in a car). 

Given how cool this gangland shooter is, the only 

unsolved crime here is Dead Connection’s lack of a 

home conversion. It doesn’t seem like the kind of game 

that would have been difficult to convert to the SNES 

or Mega Drive at the time, nor would it have posed 

any unusual problems if added to one of Taito’s many 

retro compilations. We can only assume that Dead 

Connection just never found its audience in arcades 

– that’s the only scenario which would provide a 

satisfying explanation for the complete lack of 

attention it has received. 

■ Our protagonist here is using a dodge 

roll to avoid the deadly machine gun 

fire. He can roll in any direction, and 

even up stairs if he chooses. 

CONVERTED 

ALTERNATIVE 

SMASH TV 

1990 

■ The fast-paced and frantic twin-stick 

shooting in Smash TV is a world away 

from the slightly more considered pace of 

Dead Connection, but it’s about as close as 

you’ll get on a console. That uniqueness 

is part of what makes Dead Connection so 

appealing, though. 

60 | RETRO GAMER

THE UNCONVERTED 

SPIKERS BATTLE 

DEVELOPER: amuSemenT ViSion YEAR: 2001 GENRE: BeaT-’em-up 

■ If there’s one thing you can say 

about the original Spikeout, it’s that 

it was an ambitious game – nobody 

had yet nailed the formula for 3D 

beat-’em-ups, and multi-cabinet 

linked play was a novelty for the 

genre. This spin-off is characterised 

by a distinct lack of ambition. 

The game puts you into enclosed 

arenas with a few enemies, and 

it’s your job to beat them all over 

the best of three rounds. There 

are lots of items scattered about, 

from basketballs to knives and 

flamethrowers, and enemies drop 

power-ups when defeated. 

The fighting is fine, with lots of 

techniques to discover and utilise 

and eight distinct characters. 

However, the arenas in Spikers 

Battle are dull – simple circular or 

rectangular areas without even 

the most basic of distinguishing 

CONVERTED ALTERNATIVE 

POWER STONE 2 

2000 

■ With a more suitable camera and vastly 

more enjoyable stages, Capcom’s four-player 

brawler is a much better bet for anyone 

who happens to be in the mood for some 

unconventional fighting action. The fact that it 

happens to have better character balance is 

just icing on the cake, really. 

» [Arcade] The Spikeout formula loses a lot when the 

linked cabinets and open stages are stripped away. 

features like platforms. The 

exception is the second stage, set 

in a restaurant, which has windows 

you can throw enemies through and 

is full of tables and chairs to pick up. 

It’s also a bit too difficult, thanks to 

the fact that enemies can team up 

to juggle your character, inflicting 

damage with no way to defend. It’s 

okay, but we can see why there was 

no Dreamcast version. 

CONVERTED ALTERNATIVE 

COSMIC SMASH 

2001 

■ Cosmic Smash offers a different mixture of 

games, going with squash and Breakout, but 

the futuristic aesthetic shows that it’s cut from 

a similar cloth to Goalie Ghost. There’s no forced 

split-screen element here, though, as Cosmic 

Smash is a single-player game all the way. 

GOALIE GHOST 

DEVELOPER: Bally SenTe YEAR: 1984 GENRE: SporTS 

■ Goalie Ghost is a strange sports 

game, sitting somewhere between 

football, tennis and air hockey. 

The aim is simple: defend your 

goal and put the ball in the other 

player’s goal. Playing the game 

is simple thanks to the intuitive 

control scheme, with a trackball for 

movement and one button to jump 

– the ball is kicked automatically 

when your player collides with it. 

Games are played to a time limit, 

and the player who scored the most 

goals wins. To spice things up, the 

game has some special features. A 

headed ball will bounce around like 

a mad thing, making its height hard 

to predict as it heads towards your 

goal. The other big one is that after 

a certain amount of time, extra balls 

get added into the mix – each kick 

off can have up to three. 

» [Arcade] You need to be very quick on the trackball to 

deal with three balls. 

Vaguely nonsensical name 

aside, Goalie Ghost is good fun. It’s 

not groundbreaking stuff, for sure, 

but it works well and the futuristic 

visual style holds up relatively 

well. The CPU opponent is a little 

on the tough side, even on novice 

difficulty, but if you play against 

a friend of a similar skill level you 

should both enjoy the experience. 

CAPCOM SPORTS CLUB 

DEVELOPER: CapCom YEAR: 1997 GENRE: SporTS 

■ We understand the appeal that 

Capcom Sports Club must have 

had to arcade operators – after 

all, getting three sports games 

into one cabinet can only broaden 

that cabinet’s appeal and thus get 

more money. However, if you’re a 

player it doesn’t make a whole lot 

of sense as you only get to play 

one of the three games. None 

of the games were actively bad, 

they were just outclassed by their 

existing competitors – the basketball 

component is weaker than NBA 

Jam and the football component 

is weaker than the likes of Super 

Sidekicks and Virtua Striker. If you 

were in the position to play an 

arcade game, you’d probably pick 

any of those first. 

Though Capcom Sports Club 

never received a full conversion to 

any home console, the tennis game 

did end up forming the basis of a 

Japan-only Dreamcast game by the 

name of Net De Tennis, which got 

its name from the fact that it could 

be played online. It was passable, 

but rather predictably weaker than 

the sublime Virtua Tennis. 

RETRO GAMER | 61

ULTIMATE GUIDE: NIGHT TRAP 

» [3DO] It’s the most infamous scene in the entire game, 

and one which basically gave us age ratings. 

Q&A: Tyler Hogle 

The Screaming Villains developer discusses the original game 

and the new anniversary version 

How did you irst encounter Night Trap, 

and what did you make of it? 

I irst played Night Trap in 1995 when I was in 

the seventh grade. There was always that rich 

kid at school who owned a Sega CD. I was at 

his house and he was showing it of since he 

just got it for Christmas. I ended up playing 

Night Trap irst because it had a cool cover, but I 

honestly didn’t play the game very long because 

I didn’t understand it. 

They say that controversy 

creates cash, and Digital 

Pictures certainly found that 

to be true with the original 

full-motion video nasty. Nick 

Thorpe looks back at a game 

which found fame with both 

players and parents… 

Night Trap is a game that almost 

shouldn’t exist. Not because it’s bad 

(although its detractors certainly have 

some valid points), but because of 

everything that happened to it along its journey 

from conception to release, and beyond. 

The original design for Night Trap has its roots 

in Scene Of The Crime, a demo game produced 

for the ill-fated Hasbro Control-Vision – a console 

which interfaced with a VCR for its primary 

graphical output, allowing players the choice of up 

to four video tracks, all running simultaneously. 

Scene Of The Crime positioned players as a 

security camera operator, watching a series of 

feeds with the goal of protecting a wealthy man’s 

vault. The demo went down well with execs, and 

the system was put into production alongside an 

expanded version of the camera game concept. 

The team kept the basic concept, but in order to 

inject some interactivity they moved from solving 

a crime to preventing it. The production version of 

the game would feature ninja burglars, who could 

be thwarted with elaborate traps set around the 

mansion – and instead of just protecting money, 

you also needed to protect the daughter of the 

Night Trap was pretty well received at its 

launch, but oten gets a rough ride from 

the gaming press today. Why do you 

think that is? 

When you see an FMV game in 1992 it’s 

groundbreaking because you haven’t seen 

anything like it before, but looking at it today 

it’s clear that they did not age very well at all. 

People either forget or don’t know that Night 

Trap was made in 1986-1987 for something 

that supported VHS tapes and wasn’t intended 

for something that could barely play video ive 

years later from a CD-ROM. Age and YouTube 

could also play a factor in this. One thing I kept 

hearing a lot was, ‘I have never played this 

game before but it sucks,’ which leads me to 

believe that this comment is being made by 

someone who watched a video on YouTube 

of someone else playing the game very badly 

and making jokes the whole time, and there’s 

a lot of those types of videos out there. I think 

if it was released in the late Eighties like it was 

originally planned then it probably wouldn’t get 

as much hate as it does now. 

How did you get the chance to work on 

the anniversary edition? 

During the summer of 2016 I was looking for 

something new to work on and noticed that 

some fans of Night Trap tried to recreate the 

game themselves. I was working on some 

mobile games and thought the idea of Night 

Trap on a phone was pretty rad, so I created 

a prototype in about three days that ran on an 

Android device. A friend of mine came up with 

the idea of posting a video of it being played 

on YouTube just to see what kind of reaction 

it would get. A couple of websites saw it and 

decided to contact the owners of Night Trap to 

see if they had any information about it or if they 

were even involved. SegaBits.com contacted 

Tom Zito and FMVWorld.com contacted Rob 

Fulop. Both of them said that they had no 

involvement, of course, but what stuck out to me 

was in Rob’s response to the prototype he said, 

‘The developer of this demo needs to negotiate 

a licence from the Night Trap copyright holder 

to make this real,’ so to me that sounded like 

they were interested in making this oicial. I 

was able to track down Tom’s email address, 

he gave me a call the next day and ater ive 

minutes of talking he asked what I wanted to 

do with it so I just blurted out, ‘I want to release 

this oicially if that’s cool with you,’ and then he 

said, ‘Wonderful! Let’s work something out!’ 

other than the improved video quality, 

what improvements can fans expect 

from the anniversary edition? 

When you’re remaking an FMV game there’s 

only so much you can do so I tried to do things 

to make it feel more like a game. Load times 

are gone, so switching rooms is now instant, 

and when you press a button to trap an Auger 

the game should respond immediately instead 

of having a delayed response when showing 

the trapping sequence. The original game 

was designed to have a good/bad outcome on 

speciic scenarios but a lot of that was changed 

when the game switched to Sega, so some 

of those elements are put back in there. For 

example, there’s a part in the game where a 

member of SCAT goes upstairs and encounters 

an Auger and you can trap the SCAT member. 

One complaint I saw in a lot in older reviews 

was not being able to watch the main story 

without trapping Augers. The game couldn’t 

be changed since it was ilmed 30 years 

ago, so we created a ‘Theatre’ section in the 

game where you can now watch all storyrelated 

videos without having to worry about 

trapping. Something involving random Augers 

was another thing that I saw a lot of, so we 

created a new mode called Survivor. Augers will 

now randomly appear throughout the house and 

you go through endless waves and the diiculty 

increases with each round. 

Would you vote in favour of a law 

requiring all karaoke bars to have the 

Night Trap theme available for play? 

As a fan? Deinitely. As a developer? Hell no! 

RETRO GAMER | 63

» [3DO] How did Hasbro decide that sci-fi neck 

drills were better than people getting punched? 

household and her friends. However, concerns 

over violence that could be imitated switched 

the setting – first by embracing the supernatural, 

adopting vampires as the antagonistic forces, and 

later adding sci-fi weaponry to further remove any 

reproducible aspect of the game’s attacks. 

In the end, the game turned into Night Trap, a 

pastiche of Eighties horror films. Teenagers 

have been going missing, and their last known 

location is a remote lakeside house owned by 

the Martin family. As a member of the Special 

Control Attack Team, you’ve discovered that the 

house has an advanced security system with eight 

live feeds and a series of traps. As another six 

teenagers arrive for a sleepover, your goal is to use 

this hijacked system to observe the house, use the 

traps to protect people from mysterious black-clad 

intruders that enter the property, and help your 

undercover agent Kelly find out what’s going on. 

Despite having shot the footage for both this 

game and a shoot-’em-up project (Sewer Shark), 

Hasbro dropped plans to release the Control- 

Vision, due to rising hardware costs and the 

realisation that game production was set to run 

to a few million dollars per game. However, the 

shelved footage was acquired by a new company 

called Digital Pictures, which would find a new 

outlet for the games with the advent of CD-ROM 

gaming. Sega’s Mega-CD was powerful enough to 

run streaming video from the CD, albeit at a much 

lower quality than VHS – limitations on colour and 

resolution gave Mega-CD video a grainy look. 

Though the video was bad then and is 

practically intolerable now, it’s not hard to 

see how Night Trap once felt like the future of 

entertainment, because at its heart is a B-movie 

that you can watch however you choose. Maybe 

you’ll stick with the main girls and see what they 

get up, or perhaps you’ll follow the kid brother 

who quietly leaves the group to look around the 

house. You could even choose to visit another 

room entirely, hoping to catch an intruder or 

stumble on another member of the family going 

about their business. It’s no horror classic, but it 

doesn’t take itself seriously and it’s fun to watch it 

a few times over in order to see alternative scenes 

and get the whole story, especially given that the 

game is less than half an hour long. 

The problem is the game on top of that 

interactive B-movie. The team behind Night Trap 

sought to add a greater deal of interactivity to 

videogames based on full-motion video, and they 

succeeded – what you do in Night Trap is a world 

away from the ‘press button to continue movie’ 

formula employed by the likes of Dragon’s Lair. 

However, the appeal of success in those games 

was getting to see that movie. Success at 

HOUSE GUESTS Take a look at the participants in this drama… 

LIEUTENANT SIMMS 

PLAYED BY: J BILL JONES 

■ Your commander for this SCAT operation, he’ll 

give you your orders and cut you off if you fail to 

protect the guests. Late in the plot, he makes a 

direct intervention in the house. 

KELLY MEDD 

PLAYED BY: DANA PLATO 

■ An undercover SCAT agent investigating the 

disappearances at the Martin family residence, 

she’s unarmed and in need of protection. She’s 

the token recognisable face, too. 

CINDY 

PLAYED BY: TRACY MATHESON 

■ The oblivious member of the group – she 

doesn’t realise anything’s wrong until biting into 

a ‘cherry’ popsicle. She’s also the only one that is 

shown to become a vampire herself if not saved. 

LISA 

PLAYED BY: DEBRA PARKS 

■ Here’s the arch-fashionista of the group, and 

the older sister of Danny. Lisa is the first of the 

girls to be directly attacked, and she’s the star of 

the game’s infamous bathroom scene. 

EDDIE 

PLAYED BY: WILLIAM BERTRAND 

■ ‘Weird’ Eddie is a neighbour of the Martins, 

who knows that they’re dangerous. Of course, his 

reputation means that nobody believes him. He 

invents a laser gun that fries Augers. 

VICTOR MARTIN 

PLAYED BY: JON R KAMAL 

■ As the patriarch of the family, Victor’s main 

concern is the production and bottling of the 

special vintage so beloved by the Martins. He 

also designed and built the traps in the house. 

SHEILA MARTIN 

PLAYED BY: MOLLY STARR 

■ Devoted wife to Victor, Sheila’s main concern 

is feeding the Augers – a concern referred to as 

‘charity’ by her husband. Building the elaborate 

security system was her idea initially. 

SARAH MARTIN 

PLAYED BY: SUZY COTE 

■ The devious daughter of the Martins looks 

sweet, but she’s the bait in the trap. She 

befriends the girls at the mall to lure them to her 

house, and seems to take charge of the hunt. 

64 | RETRO GAMER


Q&A: JOSH FAIRHURST 

How did you first encounter Night Trap, and what 

did you make of it? 

Growing up, I had a neighbour across the street who had a 

Sega CD. I had a Genesis but I couldn’t aford the CD add-on 

back then – he showed me a few games but the one that 

stood out for me was Night Trap. I had never encountered an 

FMV game at the time so the idea of controlling a movie was 

kind of mind-blowing. This may sound kind of ridiculous, but 

I remember that moment as vividly as I remember my irst 

experience with Mario 64 on an in-store demo kiosk. Seeing 

a game like Night Trap was eye-opening. 

I acquired a Sega CD of my own several years later and 

became a huge fan of the platform and of Night Trap. 

Were you surprised to discover that the game still 

has an active fan following today? 

Not really, I’m nostalgic for some stuf I feel like very few 

are nostalgic for (MegaRace, for example). For nearly half 

a decade, FMV games were king and sold millions upon 

millions of copies. I don’t think that was just due to the 

novelty – some of these experiences were legitimately good! 

It doesn’t surprise me at all that people are fond of the genre 

and Night Trap in particular since I think that game was 

many people’s gateway into the genre. 

We ind out why Limited Run Games has 

taken on the new version of Night Trap 

Why did Limited Run Games choose to 

produce Night Trap 25th Anniversary Edition 

as a physical game? 

I’m a huge Sega fan so having the opportunity to publish 

something so intrinsically tied to a Sega platform was a big 

deal for me. Historically, it’s a pretty important game given 

its links to the formation of the Entertainment Sotware 

Ratings Board. I also love the game, so there’s that. 

How did you decide on the patch and cassette as 

extras for the Collector’s Edition? 

I feel like the theme song to the game is almost as infamous 

as the game itself at this point so I wanted to include it in 

some capacity with the Collector’s Edition. Night Trap doesn’t 

really have a full soundtrack so it didn’t really make sense 

to do a CD with only ive minutes of music – I thought doing 

a cassette would be more fun. With the patch, I wanted to 

do something thematically linked to the game. In the 3DO 

release of the game – and only that release – there is a 

logo for the in-game Special Control Attack Team (SCAT). I 

thought we could do something cool with that and create a 

patch that members of the team could wear on 

their gear. The patch is sewn on ballistic ibre so Augers 

can’t drill through it! 

Why do you think the game remains so popular? 

There are a few reasons: it’s a fun game with solid 

mechanics, the ilm aspect has the same appeal as any 

B-horror movie, and to a lot of people - this was their 

irst experience with CD-ROM gaming. There’s a lot to be 

nostalgic about with Night Trap. 

I’d say that Night Trap is pretty much the granddaddy 

of the trap-’em-up genre that Five Nights At 

Freddy’s has popularised. There’s a really solid core in this 

game that a lot of people missed due to the controversy. I 

hope with the remaster, more people are able to see 

and discover what has made Night Trap so popular 

among its current fans! 

ASHLEY 

PLAYED BY: ALISON RHEA 

■ The relatively level-headed girl in the group. 

She’s a matter of special interest for Tony as she 

seems to resemble someone from his past by 

the name of Madeleine. 

MEGAN 

PLAYED BY: CHRISTY FORD 

■ Megan is apparently a bit of a prankster. She is 

also irritation made flesh, thanks to her annoying 

antics. You can actually trap her ‘accidentally’ late 

in the game, which is rather tempting. 

DANNY 

PLAYED BY: JOSH GODDARD 

■ Lisa’s genre-savvy little brother knows that 

something is up with the Martin household. After 

stumbling into the Augers, he finds out what – 

and with the local weirdo’s help, he fights back. 

SCAT TEAM 

PLAYED BY: ARTHUR BURGHARDT, 

HEIDI VON BRECHT, DEKE 

ANDERSON, BLAKE GIBBONS, 

ROY EISENSTEIN 

■ These operatives are also performing 

reconnaissance on the Martin house, and will 

back you up if things go horribly wrong. 

JEFF MARTIN 

PLAYED BY: ANDRAS JONES 

■ Jeff’s main concern is the security of the 

house – he’s the character to watch for security 

code changes, and in one bad ending he 

disconnects your security override. 

TONY 

PLAYED BY: GIOVANNI LEMM 

■ Despite sharing the same secret as the Martin 

family, Tony is a reluctant participant in the 

night’s fun and tries to save Ashley. He isn’t a fan 

of Kelly snooping around the house, though. 

AUGERS 

PLAYED BY: VARIOUS 

■ These vampiric victims lean heavily on the 

‘dead’ part of undead. Their skin is falling off, 

hence the bodysuits, and they seek blood to 

complete their transformation into full vampires. 

RETRO GAMER | 65

TRAP MAP 

The eight rooms of the Martin household offer lots 

of traps – here’s a complete look at how you can 

cleanse this place of intruders… 

HALLWAY 1 

17 AUGERS 

■ WALL TRAP A false wall on one 

side of the hallway opens up, while 

the opposite one extends out to push 

intruders into the trap. 

■ FLOOR TRAP Right by the 

security override cable, there’s a 

simple false floor trap. Unfortunately, 

you can’t protect the override with it. 

HALL 1 

BATHROOM 

5 AUGERS 

■ WALL TRAP Stepping on the 

scales in this bathroom is bad news 

– the corner wall will quickly turn 

around, swallowing you whole. 

■ FLOOR TRAP Between the 

shower and the exit into the hallway, 

there’s a classic false floor trap to 

satisfy any fans of Mr Burns. 

BATHROOM 

BEDROOM 

BEDROOM 

14 AUGERS 

■ BED TRAP This elaborate trap uses a false wardrobe to 

push the intruder onto a bed, which then flings the helpless 

person backwards out of the window. 

■ FLOOR TRAP Right between the window and the doorway 

to the bathroom, you’ll find another false floor. 

KITCHEN 

3 AUGERS 

■ FLOOR TRAP Situated over by 

the big fridge freezers, there’s another 

excellent false floor trap. You will 

rarely find that you actually need to 

use this one, though. 

KITCHEN LIVING ROOM 

ENTRY WAY 

HALL 2 

DRIVEWAY 

HALLWAY 2 

18 AUGERS 

■ CHAMBER TRAP A glass 

chamber quickly surrounds you, with 

red lights alerting you to your imminent 

demise by way of a long drop. 

■ FLOOR TRAP Closer to the 

camera, and the entrance to the 

bedroom, lies a regular false floor that 

is waiting for anyone who avoided the 

containment chamber. 

DRIVEWAY 

10 AUGERS 

■ CATAPULT TRAP Don’t creep 

around on the Martin family’s roof – 

you’ll be flung off spectacularly via 

catapult if you try. 

LIVING ROOM 

20 AUGERS 

■ BOOKSHELF TRAP Anyone 

who wanders by the left side of the 

bookshelf is asking for trouble – 

the whole shelf revolves, pushing 

unwelcome guests into a trap. 

■ FLOOR TRAP The right of the 

room contains a simple but always 

effective false floor trap. Down the 

chasm you go, baddies! 

ENTRY WAY 

8 AUGERS 

■ STAIRS TRAP This excellent trap 

flips the steps of the staircase up to 

a 45-degree angle, creating a slide 

which delivers intruders into the trap. 

■ FLOOR TRAP Just by the 

window, you’ll find a false floor trap. 

It’s always good to cover entry and exit 

points, isn’t it?


CONVERSION 

CAPERS 

Here’s how the four existing 

versions of Night Trap stack up 

against one another… 

» [3DO] Megan’s found the unfortunate SCAT member having his blood bottled. 

Night Trap requires that you basically ignore the 

movie in order to trap Augers – if you’re shooting 

for a perfect game, you need to trap 95 of them in 

25 minutes, with some captures occurring within 

seconds of each other. Worse still, some of the 

design is downright counterintuitive. On more than 

one occasion, the game will present you with a 

girl in obvious danger, but stopping to monitor this 

situation will cause you to miss a random Auger 

milling about in another room. 

Despite the design flaws, Night Trap received a 

warm reception from the press due to its 

novelty and its advances over the old LaserDisc 

games. Mean Machines Sega gave it 89% and 

called it “the most advanced and innovative 

Mega-CD game seen yet.” In an 84% review, 

Adrian Pittowski of Sega Force claimed that “the 

crazy way Augs are trapped and the way the 

actors camp it up gives Night Trap an incredibly 

tacky yet humorous feel.” GamesMaster offered it 

85%, deeming it a “must have” too. 

But as we know, that wasn’t the end of the 

story as controversy over the game erupted 

in the spring of 1993, spreading from USA 

to the rest of the world. In the UK, the Daily 

Mail dubbed the game “The Sega Sickener” and 

grabbed some rent-a-quote politicians to condemn 

the game, including Conservative MP Terry Dicks 

who declared that, “The manufacturers are evil 

and ought to be punished for promoting this 

game.” Sega Ozisoft declined to release the game 

in Australia after it came to the attention of various 

politicians, but this didn’t do much to quell concerns 

and the game was frequently mentioned during 

» [PS4] The PS4 version of Night Trap was released just as we 

went to press. Expect a review in the next issue. 

the development of the Classification (Publications, 

Films and Computer Games) Act 1995. 

The next major flashpoint for the game was in 

December 1993, when clips were shown before 

the United States Congress during a hearing on 

violent videogames. Nintendo’s Howard Lincoln 

used the game as a rod with which to beat his 

business rivals, claiming, “I can’t let you sit here 

and buy this nonsense that this Sega Night Trap 

game was somehow only meant for adults. […] 

Small children bought this at Toys R Us and 

he [Sega’s Bill White] knows that as well as I 

do.” Within days, Toys R Us had withdrawn the 

game from its US stores, and international press 

attention was focused on the game again – even 

in the UK, despite the game carrying a 15 rating 

from the BBFC. That said, Sega hardly helped 

itself – when questioned by The Independent, a 

spokesman for Sega Europe offered the following 

bizarre defence: “Yes there is, how shall I say, 

women in underwear being dragged off by the 

aliens. But the game is so difficult hardly anyone 

ever gets that far.” By 1994, the videogame 

industry had introduced self-regulated ratings 

systems (ESRB in NA, ELSPA in the UK) which 

quietened critics for a time. 

25 years later, it all seems so quaint. Similar 

FMV games entered the market over the years that 

followed, exposing the limitations of the format, 

and the boundaries of taste would be pushed 

much farther by the likes of Phantasmagoria. But 

Night Trap is a key piece of history – a technically 

ambitious game that blew people away upon first 

viewing, made much more enticing by the stamp 

of parental disapproval. Without it, videogames 

would be a different medium today, and it’s worth 

revisiting Night Trap for that reason alone. 

mEGa-Cd 

1992 

■ The original and most common version of Night Trap 

is also the worst. The colour limitations of the hardware 

necessitate massive dithering in the small FMV window, 

and the presentation is ugly. It does have an exclusive 

version of the intro sequence, though. 

32X Cd 

1994 

■ Adding a 32X to your Mega-CD 

setup allows you to play an 

enhanced version of Night Trap. 

The presentation has been fully 

overhauled, with a much larger 

video window and better colour reproduction, but 

there’s still a grainy quality to the footage. 

3dO 

1994 

■ Night Trap on the 3DO offers 

slightly clearer and brighter video 

than the 32X version of the game, 

but the frame rate is reduced by 20 

per cent, down to just 12 frames 

a second. Personal preference will decide which 

approach you favour. It also sports a touched-up 

version of the new 32X interface. 

PC 

1995 

■ A new mouse-driven interface 

is introduced for the PC version of 

Night Trap, which speeds up your 

ability to transition between rooms. 

You can save, too. The video is the 

worst of the improved versions, with 32X image quality 

and 3DO framerate. 

RETRO GAMER | 67

CLASSIC MOMENTS 

Sunset Riders 

» Platform: ARCADE » DeveloPer: KONAMI » releaseD: 1991 

The signature moment of Sunset Riders comes on the 

second level of the game, as you find yourself at the 

reigns of a galloping stallion accosted by mounted 

bad guys in the Arizona desert. Returning fire as the 

majestic scenery rushes by, you notice you’re riding alongside 

a railroad track. All of a sudden, a massive locomotive steams 

up from behind, while a wagon appears ahead with an outlaw 

throwing logs at your expensive thoroughbred charge. After 

dispatching the unruly wagon guy, what follows is a thrilling 

firefight with the pistol-packing occupants of the train’s 

carriages, who pop up from its windows taking pot shots at 

you. All of which is happening as further mounted bandits 

attack. It’s a pure Saturday-morning matinee adrenaline rush, 

neatly segueing into the end-of-stage boss fight as the train 

pulls up at a frontier town station, leaving you alone with your 

bounty, Hawkeye Hank Hatfield. 

BIO 

One of Konami’s most beloved Nineties 

videogames, Sunset Riders is a rollicking 

old-time western adventure starring four 

plucky bounty hunters, with eight levels to 

traverse. It’s a scrolling shooter in the vein 

of the Contra series, and the similarity is no 

coincidence. Sunset Riders was directed 

by Hideyuki Tsujimoto, who also produced 

the Super Contra arcade game, and the 

shoot-‘em-up Lightning Fighters. Sunset 

Riders is a much more humorous game 

than the likes of Contra, though, packed 

with gorgeous cartoon style animation.

MORE CLASSIC SUNSET RIDERS MOMENTS 

Stampede! 

Halfway through the first 

level you come across a little 

farmstead on the prairie, 

where you’re greeted by 

the thunderous approach of 

stampeding cattle. Your only 

escape is to run full tilt along 

their backs, which, as any cowboy will tell you, is by far the 

best way to deal with rampaging bulls. 

Deadly Territory 

While not exactly politically 

correct, Sunset Riders does 

throw in a level where you 

enter a canyon-side Native 

American encampment, 

complete with this traditional 

raffia work cable car. This 

stage was notably altered for the SNES version, along with the 

end boss, originally named Chief Scalpem. 

Saloon Skulduggery 

Being a Sunset Rider isn’t just 

about guts, glory, and taking 

down the bad guys. It’s also 

about being a hit with the 

locals, especially in this saloon 

bar boss fight. After, swinging 

on a chandelier, rescuing 

saloon workers, and stealing a few cheeky kisses you’re treated 

to an impromptu can-can dance as a reward. 

High Noon 

As a break from running left 

to right shooting cowboy 

baddies why not take a break 

with this bonus minigame 

where you shoot yet more 

cowboy baddies in pseudo 

3D? Cropping up after 

the two train-themed sections in the game, it’s a matter of 

pushing the stick in the direction the baddies appear, fast.

INTERESTING GAMES 

YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED 

ATARI ST 

Nowadays, it’s quite 

fashionable to be 

critical of the Atari ST’s 

weaknesses in the 

games department, but 

Kim Justice has arrived 

to cover some of the 

price-tastic computer’s 

unheralded highlights. 

Did you play any of them? 

EyE of Horus 

■ DEVELOPER: DEnton DEsigns ■ YEAR: 1989 

■ The Denton Designs story is one that spans 

across the whole of the Eighties and involves 

the likes of Imagine and Ocean Software, 

but by the end of the decade we’re in the 

last chapters – the majority of the studio’s 

founders had left by now. Still, that didn’t stop 

Denton from making Eye Of Horus – a game 

that might have been a little out of time by 

1989, but still stands as a solid adventure. 

As you might expect from the name, Eye Of 

Horus has something of an Egyptian theme. 

You play as Horus (naturally) and you must 

find the pieces of your father Osiris that are 

dotted around a labyrinth, before using them 

to defeat your dad’s killer, Set – the god of 

‘bad stuff’. Fortunately, however, Horus is 

the god of the sky, meaning that he has the 

ability to transform into a falcon and fly around 

whenever he pleases, which comes in handy 

quite often, especially as large groups of 

enemies plucked straight from the pages of 

Egyptian lore – scrolls, asps and the like – will 

be set upon you as you try to complete your 

quest. Not to fret, as you can also find amulets 

that will upgrade your weapon or help you 

out in other ways, thus making it easier to 

cast down these hordes and ultimately get the 

better of your rival deity. 

The game plays like something of a 

hybrid; we have the classic maze-like arcade 

adventure, the sort that were a dime a dozen 

back in the day, but being able to become a 

falcon at any time is important in fights, which 

often play out like something you’d find in a 

shoot-’em-up. There’s quite a lot of enemies 

around, and you’ll probably spend more time 

in bird form than in regular form, unless you’re 

picking up items. It feels in many ways like 

an updated version of Imagine Software’s 

classic Alchemist, which covered somewhat 

similar ground with another hero capable of 

humanoid/avian metamorphosis – considering 

that Denton Designs was born from the ashes 

of Imagine (Alchemist’s designer, the late Ian 

Weatherburn, was a part of the group in the 

early days), that feels somewhat appropriate. 

Whether Eye Of Horus is possibly the last 

‘true’ Imagine game or not is a curious subject, 

but the game is certainly quality. One of the 

best things about the ST, oddly, is that you 

could get somewhat Spectrum-esque games 

like this one only with better graphics, but you 

keep the Spectrum’s AY synth-based sounds 

– it’s a strange combination, but it happens to 

work a lot of the time, certainly in this case. 

Eye Of Horus is a compelling adventure with a 

lot of shooter-based excitement packed into it 

too, and it’s seldom not fun to fool around and 

play as an actual legitimate god. It’s true that 

by the end of the Eighties, it may have looked 

outdated as a game and something that 

belonged more on the 8-bits – reviews of the 

time focused on that. Today, it stands as 

a farewell to the 8-bit 

arcade adventure 

– one that’s worth 

sacrificing a little 

bit of your bank 

balance for. 

70 | RETRO GAMER

MINORITY REPORT: ATARI ST 

ALCHEMIST 

ZX SPECTRUM, 1983 

■ Ian Weatherburn’s arcade 

adventure was one of the 

original Imagine Software’s 

most successful and 

best-received games, one 

where the titular alchemist 

can turn into an eagle at will. While Eye Of Horus is not an 

official sequel, chances are good that it wouldn’t exist at 

all if it weren’t for Alchemist. 

ENTOMBED 

COMMODORE 64, 1985 

■ If you’re looking for more 

Egyptian-themed antics and 

quests, Entombed might 

be for you – an arcade 

adventure by Ultimate Play 

The Game. People tend 

to be pretty mixed on the Sir Arthur Pendragon series 

and Ultimate’s Commodore 64 output in general, but 

Entombed is arguably the best game of the trilogy. 

WAXWORKS 

AMIGA, 1992 

■ For something completely 

different, how about this 

gory little dungeon RPG 

from Horrorsoft with an 

Egyptian setting? Travel your 

way through various stages 

of time on a quest to rid your family of an ancient curse 

where you’ll die in ways so gruesome they would make 

Treguard vomit. Oh, nasty. 

PICK UP THE 

PIECES 

■ These are various 

items that you can 

pick up, some of which 

you’ll need to traverse 

the labyrinth. Normal 

enough, but some of 

them are actually little 

bits of your dead dad. 

RUNNING 

ON EMPTY 

■ This fancy scorpion 

on a ball represents 

your current health – the 

further left it is, the 

closer you are to death. 

Fortunately, you do 

have a bunch of lives to 

help you out. 

I’M LIKE A 

BIRD 

■ This is Horus, our 

hero. He’s currently a 

bird – you fly by pressing 

Up, and Horus goes back 

to human form when 

he touches the ground. 

You’ll spend a lot of time 

like this. 

OPPOSITES 

ATTRACT 

■ These magnet-type 

things are one of the 

game’s enemies. There’s 

a lot of them and it’s 

usually best to attack 

them as a bird – the 

human Horus is pretty 

weak against enemies. 

RETRO GAMER | 71

orK 

■ PUBLISHER: Psygnosis ■ YEAR: 1991 

■ When you capture a games-playing public 

with a world in the way that Psygnosis did with 

Shadow Of The Beast, one logical response to 

that is to make more games like that. Of course, 

Psygnosis was never shy of making games that looked 

like they were plucked from a piece of Roger Dean 

album art in the first place, and that’s what they did 

with Ork – a game from the Liverpool-based owlish folk 

that’s fallen somewhat under the radar. 

Ork plays somewhat like a proggier and more 

puzzle-laden Turrican – there are lots of enemies for the 

alien Kul-Kabul to kill and platforms to navigate, but also 

puzzles to solve and items to find. He can also fly, but 

this ability is limited by the fuel you have. The game’s 

world is very reminiscent of SOTB indeed, and it’s 

easy to see why the game might have been 

disregarded as Psygnosis basically plagiarising 

themselves – however, Ork possesses a level of 

gameplay that SOTB itself wouldn’t attain until its third 

instalment, with ever more challenging levels, controls 

that actually work well and sensible puzzles marrying 

nicely with the angular, artsy creations. 

Of all the versions of this game, the Atari ST version 

is perhaps the most loved – while Ork does move 

smoother on the Amiga, the graphics and game seem 

to lack something and it all appears flat. The ST, on 

the other hand, gives the game a nice dirty look that 

plays to the system’s plus points – the world looks 

much more grimier and lived in as opposed to feeling 

untouched. It’s just a shame that there’s no in-game 

music to speak of – but otherwise, Ork is one of the 

better shooter-adventure hybrids around on the system. 

» [Atari ST] Kul-Kabul will fight against various aliens on his 

quest, including these weird things who like to climb up 

posts and bother you. 

» [Atari ST] Here’s Kul-Kabul taking flight. Strange alien 

creatures are always that much more awesome when they’re 

jet-propelled, aren’t they? 

» Vaxine » Microprose GoLf » HeLter skeLter » no Buddies Land 

■ DEVELOPER: us goLD 

■ YEAR: 1990 

■ DEVELOPER: MiCroProsE 

■ YEAR: 1991 

■ DEVELOPER: AuDiogEniC 

■ YEAR: 1989 

■ DEVELOPER: ExPosE softWArE 

■ YEAR: 1991 

■ If you’ve ever wanted to be a blood 

cell charged with stopping your host 

from becoming one of those bad 

idiots who goes around catching 

diseases, then this is apparently an 

accurate simulation of the process. 

In Vaxine, you shoot spheres at other 

spheres of the same colour on a 3D 

grid before they bond with each other 

and cause you damage. A strange 

little game that’s very fun once you 

figure out what on earth’s going on. 

■ Golf games tend to work on 

computers because they offer all the 

fun and relaxation of a day out on the 

tees without the extortionate cost of 

buying your own clubs or listening to 

drunken old club members bellowing 

at one another on the 19th hole. 

Microprose Golf is one of the better 

ways to do it on the ST with all the 

usual options you’d want, and it’s a 

good alternative to the more famous 

likes of PGA Tour and Leaderboard. 

■ A puzzle game that seems pretty 

easy on the surface – all you have to 

do is touch some enemies with your 

bouncy ball, and you win. However, 

you have to touch them in a specific 

order – if you touch any out of order 

they multiply, and the time is pretty 

tight. An engaging game that’s a lot 

trickier than it seems especially as it 

goes on, but one that’s very addicting 

– it’s incredibly fun to simply bounce 

around everywhere. 

■ How do you solve the ST’s issues 

with horizontal scrolling? Why, just 

make a game that scrolls vertically! 

No Buddies Land is a solid example 

of the rarer vertical platformer – the 

graphics aren’t a whole lot to speak of 

and the difficulty is rather unforgiving, 

but there’s a cute hero to play as and 

a tension in the air as you’re forever 

chased by a body of water as you 

make your way up the tower. A solid 

little diversion. 

72 | RETRO GAMER

MINORITY REPORT: ATARI ST 

son sHu sHi 

■ DEVELOPER: ExPosE softWArE ■ YEAR: 1991 

■ It’s easy to say that the Atari ST cannot 

do horizontal-scrolling platformers due to 

its limitations, but Son Shu Shi provides 

a solid argument to the contrary – a 

Chinese-themed platformer that actually 

moves very well. The big-haired hero and 

the enemies he faces allow for something 

of a different aesthetic to the norm – a 

European game that’s influenced by Asian 

themes. The result is like a weird arcade 

take on a NES platformer – it’s what an ST 

port of Conquest For The Crystal Palace 

might have looked like if mixed with 

Venus The Flytrap. 

Son Shu Shi is technically superb for 

the ST and a game that’s worth playing – a 

solid-controlling arcade platformer by any 

measure, although there are some caveats. 

The main one is that the game itself is 

extremely rare – copies of the game do 

exist on the internet, but they are far from 

accurate and crash after the first few levels, 

and it seems as though a bona-fide retail 

copy of the game is still yet to be dumped 

onto the internet. There’s a lot of mystery 

surrounding this obscure game, and 

no one seems to know where it was even 

released – however, what can be seen by 

most people is still a game that’s worth 

playing. Hopefully someone will be able 

to find a proper version of this game soon 

and give it the respect that it deserves. 

» [Atari ST] Somehow, these balloons magically drop 

a rock onto your cranium when you pass under them. 

Just another painful day at the office. 

» [Atari ST] These creatures are another 

foe that Son Shu Si will have to take care 

of, despite his stance on animal cruelty. 

» outrun 

■ DEVELOPER: us goLD ■ YEAR: 1988 

■ Dogged as an ‘ST port’ by Amiga users, 

which misses out one thing – ST users 

by and large despised this botch job 

too. A thoroughly unfortunate 

treatment of a classic that 

should be avoided. 

» tonic tiLe » HeroQuest » kiLLerBaLL » skyrider 

■ DEVELOPER: tHE EDgE 

■ YEAR: 1988 

■ DEVELOPER: grEMLin 

■ YEAR: 1991 

■ DEVELOPER: MiCroiDs 

■ YEAR: 1991 

■ DEVELOPER: DiAMonD gAMEs 

■ YEAR: 1988 

■ It seems like every computer has 

their version of Arkanoid that’s as 

good if not better than the original’s 

port on said system – the Spectrum’s 

Batty is a good example of this, and 

Tonic Tile fits the bill on the Atari ST. 

It’s an obscure release that delivers a 

decent slice of bat-and-ball action, with 

the usual power ups included. The 

game’s mouse controls are just right for 

sensitivity, and it moves fast, if a little 

choppy. Not bad at all. 

■ A must for all those kids who had 

the board game and enjoyed many 

an adventure to Barak Tor back in the 

day, HeroQuest is a fine and accurate 

conversion of the game complete with 

all of the original quests. The Amiga 

and Atari ST versions of this game 

are pretty much exactly the same as 

each other, but the ST has the bonus 

of including that lovely AY synth music 

from the Speccy version, outshining 

the Amiga this time around. 

■ The future sport genre wouldn’t 

exist without the classic Seventies 

film Rollerball, in which James Caan 

and company skated around a track in 

pursuit of the opponent’s goal. While 

the likes of Speedball 2 are a lot more 

famous and perhaps better, Killerball 

is as close as you’ll get to playing a 

future sports game based exactly on 

Rollerball, complete with lots of highly 

necessary roughness. An interesting 

addition to the genre. 

■ It’s pretty clear that Skyrider takes 

more than a few notes from the pages 

of Hewson’s classic Uridium – it’s all 

about short levels where you fly at 

high speed over a base, with plenty 

of enemies to kill and objects to avoid 

while you take out as much of the 

ground as you can. Derivative though 

it may be, Skyrider is a good stab at 

the game, a neat little budget effort 

that’ll certainly hold your attention for 

a little bit. 

RETRO GAMER | 73

74 | RETRO GAMER

Super Hang On 

More than just a bog-standard racing gaMe 


» MEGA DRIVE » 1989 » SEGA 

One of the best things about being 

a Mega Drive owner in its early 

years was having access to an 

amazing array of arcade conversions. 

Admittedly, they weren’t quite as 

arcade perfect as we’d tell our friends, but they were 

typically of a very high quality compared to their home 

computer alternatives and I lapped them up. 

In many cases, they were even better than their 

arcade parents, because while they were usually 

aesthetically inferior, they often had all sorts of cool 

extras that made them stand apart from the original 

game. E-Swat and Shadow Dancer were totally 

redesigned from the ground up, while the likes of 

Golden Axe featured an additional stage that was 

exclusive to the console. One such example of a 

game with extras that went beyond the call of duty 

was Sega’s excellent conversion of Super Hang On, 

which came with a brand-new game mode. 

While it was entirely possible to play a surprisingly 

authentic version of the original arcade game, Sega 

also included an excellent extra called ‘Original Mode’ 

which let you start off with an absolutely awful bike 

and then use your winnings from races to slowly 

upgrade it with various new parts. As you’d expect, 

those early races can be quite tough, particularly if you 

want to beat your AI rival into the asphalt, but as you 

slowly build up your reputation you earn more and 

more cash, which you can put towards better parts. 

It’s a neat system that felt surprisingly comprehensive 

back in 1989, although it’s nowhere near as in-depth 

as the home computer racing simulators that were 

available at the time. Sponsors could be attracted to 

help you bring in more cash to upgrade your bike, 

while crashing impacted negatively on you because 

now you were buying replacement parts instead of 

simply losing precious time like in ‘Arcade’ mode. 

Needless to say I was pretty satisfied with Super 

Hang On, as that career mode offered some muchneeded 

longevity, making it far easier to justify the 

expensive £40 price tag to myself when I purchased it 

from the Video Game Centre. The fact it can now be 

purchased for under a fiver is mind-boggling. 

RETRO GAMER | 75

here’s a sort of bittersweet irony to 

the life of Medal Of Honor. There’s 

no denying the impact it had on the 

industry, not only did it turn the 

first-person shooter on its head and popularise 

the World War II setting across a spectrum of 

titles, but it also gave the PlayStation a leg up in 

a genre that was only really at home on PC. But 

consider it now: the franchise is all but dead after 

Electronic Arts eventually slowed it to a halt, the 

brand unable to fend off the competition that it 

had helped to spawn. Let’s admit it, retro fans are 

no strangers to witnessing famed and reputed 

franchises fall by the wayside, but rare are the 

times when it is hubris that sees the fall of a 

beloved series. And yet it all started so well. 

The original came out of nowhere, really. 

The PlayStation had recently launched and 

was starting to make waves, and DreamWorks 

Interactive was looking to garner some success in 

the industry. Like so many videogame tangents of 

film companies at the time, there was excitement 

and eagerness to utilise its silver screen brands 

for interactive entertainment. And it was here 

where Medal Of Honor began, when famed 

director Steven Spielberg directed a project 

away from its original design. The team working 

on Jurassic Park 2 for the PlayStation took him 

the early prototype, only to find the director 

– and cofounder of DreamWorks Interactive – 

underwhelmed by the idea. “I was working at 

DreamWorks Interactive at the time,” says Chris 

Cross, lead designer on the original Medal Of 

Honor and six titles that followed thereafter. “I had 

just finished a couple of kids titles on PC, first, and 

then I floated a little. I worked on Trespasser, to 

help get that out of the door and when that was 

done the lead designer on what at that time was 

the very beginning – like two milestones in – of 

what would be Medal Of Honor was like, ‘Ah, 

I’m not really into this.’ And there’s a little story 

behind that, they went to show Steven Spielberg 

– because he was still active at DreamWorks 

Interactive at the time. They went to go show 

him Jurassic Park 2 for PlayStation and he was 

like, ‘Ugh... Jurassic Park, that’s a dead licence. 

I’m doing this movie called Saving Private Ryan. 

World War II is gonna get hot. You guys should do 

GoldenEye World War II’.” 

According to Chris, Spielberg was big into 

gaming at the time, he and his young son Max 

bonding over the burgeoning and exciting 

entertainment. Even more than that, he was

MEDAL OF HONOR 

How Medal Of Honor recreated these 

vital World War II battles 

OperatiOn: Market Garden 

HOw iT reAlly HAPPened: This was the largest air 

operation up until that point, with the airborne ‘Market’ forces 

seizing bridges between Eindhoven and Nijmegen and the ground 

‘Garden’ forces assisting. 

HOw iT wAS recreATed: Lieutenant Jimmy Patterson 

travels with his squad to and through Arnhem to reach 

Arnhem Bridge so they can assist the Allied forces desperately 

trying to hold on to the strategic point. 

attack On pearl HarbOr 

HOw iT reAlly HAPPened: Japanese forces launched a 

surprise military operation against the American naval base at Pearl 

Harbor in Hawaii. Though the assault is famed for its kamikaze pilots, 

in truth, though, there were very limited examples of this. 

HOw iT wAS recreATed: Corporal Joseph Griffin wakes to 

the attack on board the USS California, begins gunning down several 

Japanese planes before being knocked from the ship. He later helps 

the USS Nevada escape the harbour. 

intrigued by the medium’s interactive storytelling, 

and sought to bring the world of cinematography 

into videogames. With the release of GoldenEye 

on N64 – arguably the first truly ‘console’ 

first-person shooter – Spielberg was inspired into 

seeing the creation of something similar, with a 

setting that he could predict was going to become 

popular. “And I think somebody actually asked 

him, do you want to make it a Saving Private Ryan 

game? And he goes, ‘No, because that’s not the 

right thing for gaming, you guys need to come up 

with your own story. Making it World War II, and 

make it as good as GoldenEye.’” 

nd so the team set off trying to create 

just that, a console shooter that could 

hold a candle to Rare’s incredibly 

successful GoldenEye, on a console 

built for 3D that few developers had yet been 

able to crack. “So the team went back and they 

started messing around with how to actually do 

that on a PlayStation. In three months they kind 

of figured out how to do it, but in that exploration 

the original lead designer left. He wasn’t the right 

guy to do, he was a very heavy PC guy, he wanted 

to make it into a Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein 3D 

kind of thing.” At this point, Chris was brought in 

as the lead designer, looking to create something 

that could achieve those lofty goals. And Chris 

had his own way of approaching such a project, 

believing it was about making a game that felt true 

to a historic setting. This wasn’t supposed to be a 

game about killing monsters or propelling rockets 

into the face of a mecha-nazi, this needed to be a 

more slow-paced, methodical way of playing. 

Heavy Water plant SabOtaGe 

battle Of tHe bulGe 

HOw iT reAlly HAPPened: This was the last major German 

offensive of WWII, intended to take control of the port city of Antwerp 

to gain the upper hand in peace treaty negotiations. 

HOw iT wAS recreATed: Lieutenant William Holt assists the 

101st Airborne in the battle at the Ardennes before moving to liberate 

key strategic points. Holt then infiltrates a farmhouse to rescue OSS 

agent and recurring Medal Of Honor character Manon Batiste. 

HOw iT reAlly HAPPened: The Norwegian power plant 

at Rjukan secretly transported its heavy water (which could be used 

to create nuclear weapons) to France while Norwegian saboteurs 

destroyed the facilities to prevent the creation of any more. 

HOw iT wAS recreATed: Jimmy infiltrates the plant, 

disrupts its ability to produce electricity, destroys the research and 

flushes out the heavy water before disabling the base’s transport. 

d-day 

HOw iT reAlly HAPPened: The largest seaborne assault in 

history, this operation saw Allied forces approach five key Normandy 

beaches that had been occupied and fortified by the Germans. Over 

24,000 soldiers landed on the shores via amphibious vehicles. 

HOw iT wAS recreATed: An opening cinematic has Jimmy 

Patterson riding a Higgins boat. After being knocked into the sea and 

with most of his squad killed or injured, Patterson single-handedly 

disables the German bunkers and liberates the trenches behind. 

RETRO GAMER | 77

But first the task was to get the game 

running on the PlayStation, and there were a lot 

of shortcuts and workarounds that needed doing 

to get the 3D engine working. Whether that was 

limitations on the number of enemies that could 

be on the screen, the way the player’s weapons 

were modelled to minimise the memory usage or 

simply the way that the controls were mapped to 

the controller, there was a hell of a lot to consider 

just to get it to function at all. “Memory was a 

very, very real consideration for building games 

on the PlayStation,” recalls Chris. “A significant 

amount of the memory was taken up by 

background geometry and then probably the most 

significant after that was the enemy animations. 

We had some engineers and we had one guy who 

was essentially a down-to-the-metal engineer. 

He knew what all the chips did and how to write 

assembly code to access those chips correctly. 

In fact, if you load Medal Of Honor on disc onto a 

PS3 with backwards compatibility, you can reach 

the end of the world where it doesn’t load because 

whatever instructions we were sending to initiate 

streaming off the disc at the time isn’t recognised 

by the newer machines. Sometimes it was spotty, 

you could go through the place where the trigger 

was and sometimes it would load and sometimes 

it wouldn’t. It was basically so highly optimised for 

the PlayStation that there was no guarantee that 

it was going to work on newer machines, it was 

specific for those machines, right?” 

hile the programmers and 

technical artists got to work 

with the engine, however, the 

rest of the team needed to 

devise a suitable means of combining the 

spy-based antics of James Bond with a World 

War II setting, and as they explored options the 

route they should take became increasingly clear. 

“We were going to make an OSS agent and put 

him on secret missions behind enemy lines,” says 

Chris, “which is still on top of the main running 

theme, a Goldeneye World War II, right? And so 

we took that and it ended up becoming such an 

interesting subject matter. The Offices Of Strategic 

Services was a really interesting thing at that time, 

so we dove really deep into the history of that, 

and we dove really deep into the historical battles 

around World War II and then we found ways to 

insert plausible deniability on the idea that there 

The weaponry used to achieve 

victory for the Allied forces 

M1911a1 

M1 Garand 

Mp 40 

M1912 

■ No first-person shooter is complete 

without a basic pistol, typically the one you’ll 

start the game with. In this case it’s the 

M1911A1, the most popular sidearm in World 

War II games. Across the spectrum of games 

it was often the gun you started the game 

with, before escalating to some of the more 

powerful tools of destruction. 

■ Easily the most iconic weapon of 

World War II and, by association, the Medal 

Of Honor series. The recognisable ‘ping’ 

that the weapon made as it ejected an 

empty shell from the barrel of the gun was 

replicated with great care by recording the 

sounds of a real-life M1 Garand striking a 

sack of meat. 

■ Despite being long since out of production, 

the MP 40 remains one of the most popular 

submachine guns in history and is a regular 

appearance FPS games – even those set in 

a contemporary era – thanks to its familiar 

shape. This was a favourite of the Axis forces 

in WWII, and is regularly collected from the 

corpses of enemies in the games. 

■ Shotguns weren’t quite as varied as they 

are these days, and the M1912 shotgun was 

only really used in close-quarters combat, 

such as that of the various trenches of World 

War II, hence its ‘Trench Gun’ nickname. In 

Medal Of Honor it is typical the most powerful 

gun in the game, though its spread naturally 

makes it tougher to use effectively. 

78 | RETRO GAMER


was a secret agent there at the time.” This meant 

the most exciting or intriguing events of World 

War II could become their own missions for the 

game, and since they were played as disparate 

sequences – almost like interactive recreations 

from the dossiers sat in the war room – there 

was no need to confuse matters with the truth. 

Lieutenant Jimmy Patterson could have been at 

any of these famous WWII events. 

The result of this was a finely tuned title that 

drew on a fantasy that few gamers had been 

given the opportunity to discover so thoroughly, 

and so when Medal Of Honor launched it 1999 

it didn’t take much for it to become a flyaway 

success. Chris explains that while the team could 

never have predicted the popularity, they were 

at least aware that it was “going to be different”. 

The release was praised for its graphics, the 

well-rounded combat mechanics, the compelling 

setting and its varied pace and playstyles. But 

more than that, it was a booming commercial 

success, too, going on to sell over 2 million 

copies worldwide. With Electronic Arts as the 

publisher behind this new franchise, a sequel was 

inevitable. But rather than continue on with the 

original’s Lieutenant Jimmy Patterson, the team 

saw an opportunity to utilise a protagonist from 

the original, casting off the shackles of the trope 

of the American saviour and instead opting for 

something a little more closer to home: French 

resistance fighter Manon Batiste, a character that 

had originally been designed around famed realworld 

OSS member Hélène Deschamps Adams. 

Chris described the release as “a short expansion 

project”, and yet while it didn’t change the formula 

at all it did at least give players an opportunity to 

take control of the intriguing character that had 

been previously introduced, have her backstory 

fleshed out a little more and take on some of 

war-torn Europe’s more exotic locales. And, like 

most big name console titles of the time, there 

was an obligatory and half-assed Game Boy 

Advance release, too, a game that was left to dwell 

in history as much as its subject matter. 

But this wasn’t the only sequel in the works. 

Medal Of Honor had been a roaring success, 

but this at a time where PC gaming was still the 

primary platform for shooters, when the likes 

of Doom and Wolfenstein had been born on PC 

hardware and were still the de facto shooter 

experience. EA still wanted to focus some of its 

efforts into this market, and yet Medal Of Honor 

had been so specifically coded for the PlayStation; 

it wouldn’t be such an easy task to convert to 

keyboard. Chris was in charge of this project too, 

though he admits he was mostly hands-off when it 

came to this platform. “That really came down to, 

‘Look: I don’t make PC games, here are the pillars 

of the game and the essence of the project – see 

you later. Cause I’m not gonna tell you guys 

MOdel 24 

StielHandGranate 

M9a1 bazOOka 

M1918 brOWninG 

autOMatic rifle 

■ It was the Mk II grenade that we know 

and recognise to this day that became the de 

facto hand grenade for modern militaries, 

which is what makes the German Model 24 

such an intriguing weapon in the Medal Of 

Honor series. Its unique stick shape makes 

it something of a novelty to eyes that are so 

familiar with the egg shape of the Mk II. 

■ No FPS would be without a bazooka 

at some point, and while Medal Of Honor 

typically offers up both the Allied and 

Axis versions – the latter being the 

Panzerschreck – it is the familiar curved 

end of the Allied M9A1 that stands out the 

most. If you see one of these in-game, 

expect to also see a tank soon after. 

■ The series typically included US weaponry 

since they were the strongest option during 

World War II. While rare inclusions like the 

British Lee-Enfield rifle were exciting for us 

European gamers, the Browning Automatic 

Rifle – more commonly seen in the game 

as BAR – is easily one of the more thrilling 

choices due to its huge clip capacity. 

RETRO GAMER | 79

how to make a PC game. You need to own what 

you’re making, it’s all you.’ But it was nice because 

I always got first consultant. I watched over the 

franchise for seven titles, seven years, something 

like that.” The third game in the series in only 

three years – Medal Of Honor : Allied Assault – was 

released in 2002 on PC, and despite the favourable 

attention it drew, the game – and its 32-person 

multiplayer component – was mostly overlooked 

and left in obscurity. 

What was surprising, however, was the 

suddenness with which EA sought to capitalise on 

the success of the original. Chris explains that at 

the same time that development begun on Medal 

Of Honor: Underground, work on what would be 

the first PS2 outing for the franchise started at the 

same time. “We took a full two years for that and 

the first nine months were really frustrating,” he 

recalls. “I got into it with the executives at the time, 

and they were frustrated with our lack of progress. 

I threw the gauntlet down and said, ‘Fuck you 

guys, it’s gonna be good in January, come back 

in January.’ Needless to say we were late for that 

milestone anyway, but the progress could be seen, 

right? I got real hot under the collar.” 

Now if you’ve had any experience with the 

Medal Of Honor franchise, it’s a safe call to 

suggest that it was the fourth game in the series 

that you remember the most. If not for its highly 

enhanced graphics and improved gameplay, then 

at least for that opening segment. But the D-Day 

landing stage was never intended to be part of the 

game at all, explains Chris, and that it was only 

because the developers of the PC game – Medal 

Of Honor: Allied Assault – had done so prior that 

its inclusion had been considered at all. “We 

originally didn’t plan a D-Day level for Frontline,” 

he admits. “That was an Allied Assault PC feature: 

they did that first, and what ended up happening 

was that they basically mimicked Saving Private 

Ryan shot for shot and put it into the Unreal 

Engine. They went and they did a demo for Steven 

[Spielberg] on the set of Saving Private Ryan, and 

he was like: ‘Oh my god, this is the most amazing 

thing I’ve ever seen!’ It was so powerful at the 

time to be able to play that, and what ended up 

happening was that we were like, ‘Shit, we’ve got 

to put that into the console product.’” 

ut that wasn’t such a simple decision. 

The game itself had been in production 

for months already, and was mostly set 

in stone as to what levels and features 

would be included. “We had always avoided 

D-Day because that’s a potential memory hog. On 

PC they had way different memory constraints, 

a different approach to building things and so 

building D-Day for them was relatively trivial. 

We had to bring in a separate producer, another 

two designers to tack it on in the last half of the 

project.” But it was worthwhile. If there’s one thing 

anyone recalls about the Medal Of Honor series 

it’s Frontline’s D-Day opening cinematic and the 

ensuing gameplay. The game itself featured so 

many great, compelling moments, the improved 

visuals were some of the best on PS2 at the time 

and the continuing narrative – rather than a set of 

disparate missions – helped to draw that movielike 

sensation out of those that played it, but none 

of that mattered. The D-Day landing, however 

much of a carbon copy of the same scene from 

Saving Private Ryan it was, left such a powerful 

impression on anyone that played it. Videogames 

had, up until that point, struggled to represent 

that same, Spielberg-esque quality; this was a 

80 | RETRO GAMER


arnHeM, HOlland 

Medal Of HOnOr frOntline 

rjukan, nOrWay 

Medal Of HOnOr 

ardenneS, belGiuM 

Medal Of HOnOr eurOpean assault 

nOrdHauSen, GerMany 


St. nazaire, 

france 


eurOpean assault 

eSSen, GerMany 

Medal Of HOnOr airbOrne 

nOrMandy, france 

Medal Of HOnOr frOntline 

rHine, GerMany 

Medal Of HOnOr Vanguard 

pariS, 

france 


undergrOund 

dubuiSSOn, 

france 


MOnte caSSinO, italy 

Medal Of HOnOr undergrOund 

napleS, italy 

Medal Of HOnOr airbOrne 

StalinGrad, 

ruSSia 


eurOpean assault 

Sicily 

Medal Of HOnOr Vanguard 

crete, Greece 

Medal Of HOnOr undergrOund 

alGierS, alGeria 

Medal Of HOnOr allied assault 

karacHi, 

pakiStan 


WarfigHter 

taraWa atOll, 

Gilbert iSlandS 

Medal Of HOnOr pacific assault 

nOrtH africa 

Medal Of HOnOr eurOpean assault 

beGraM, 

afGHaniStan 

Medal Of HOnOr (2010) 

OaHu, HaWaii 

Medal Of HOnOr rising sun 

SinGapOre 

Medal Of HOnOr rising sun 

Makin iSland 

Medal Of HOnOr pacific assault 

Guadalcanal 


pacific assault 

RETRO GAMER | 81

How the Hollywood director made his 

mark on the series 

According to Chris Cross, much of Steven 

Spielberg’s input into Medal Of Honor was advisory. 

Rather than directly controlling the project and 

ensuring certain elements would get implemented, 

he would instead make irregular visits into the 

development oices – which was intentionally 

located of the highway on the way to his studio at 

DreamWorks – to catch up on the work of not only 

the Medal Of Honor team but the rest of the projects 

at DreamWorks Interactive. 

For the original, many of his suggestions were 

more creative, ilmic additions. For example, 

Spielberg would ofer up places where explosive 

barrels should be placed for a easy – and thrilling – 

kill on a larger group of enemies. He also suggested 

points where enemies ought to appear, or the 

placement of stationary gun turrets for moments 

of excitement to help control the pace of the level. 

Chris also adds that he ofered more broader 

reaching suggestions, too, but that many of them 

would have proven to be too diicult to implement 

with the hardware at the time. 

But Spielberg’s biggest input into the series 

was with the development of Frontline. Ater 2015 

Inc had showed him their demo of the Normandy 

beach landings in Allied Assault – which was taken 

shot-for-shot from Spielberg’s Saving Private 

Ryan – he became enamoured with the idea of 

playing the same moment interactively. Spielberg 

guided the cinematography of the inal product, 

while also suggesting to the console team working 

on Frontline that they should also add the D-Day 

landings to the game, speciically making it the 

opening section. Despite the project already well 

on the way to completion, Spielberg’s input took 

interest from EA executives who then ensured that 

the segment would be added, bringing that famed 

cinematic moment to gamers. 

defining moment not only for the franchise, but 

the industry as a wider whole. “In hindsight, it was 

the right thing to do,” says Chris, who wasn’t quite 

so happy at the time, “but I fought it the whole 

way. It was the right choice to put first because it 

was so impactful and so memorable, and it sets 

up the fantasy of World War II so strongly in the 

player’s brain, kind of like that action scene in the 

beginning of a movie. It’s the first thing to set 

everything up. I’m so happy that we did it, but at 

the time when you’re really close to a product you 

fight everything.” 

rontline released on PS2 in 

mid-2002, months after its earlier PC 

counterpart had already launched, 

and is still undeniably the high point 

for the franchise. The combination of the game’s 

cinematic quality and its rich flowing story – 

which, says Chris, was intended to essentially be 

A Bridge Too Far – with intense street-to-street 

fighting and an excellent use of the historic setting 

really raised the title above its competitors, a 

facet that Medal Of Honor was soon going to 

have to contend with. The game went on to sell 

well over 6 million copies on PS2 alone, with a 

further 2 million across its Xbox and GameCube 

versions and is, to this day, the highest selling 

entry of the series. But trouble was brewing, and 

the clash between the historic shooters had only 

just begun to heat up; this was an early victory 

for EA and DreamWorks Interactive in a war that 

they would ultimately be unable to fight. The first 

assault would, ironically, come from EA itself, 

when it teamed up with then-relatively unknown 

developer DICE to release the first entry in the 

Battlefield series in September 2002. Utilising the 

World War II setting and focusing on a large-scale 

multiplayer mode, as had been the case with 

Medal Of Honor: Allied Assault, Battlefield 1942 

quickly built up a following that would one day 

work to undo a lot of the recognition that the 

Medal Of Honor franchise had been building. But 

it wasn’t until 2003, with the release of the first Call 

Of Duty, that Medal Of Honor ’s demise began in 

earnest. Activision’s first competitor in the World 

War II shooter market leveraged a greater sense of 

spectacle than Medal Of Honor had been known 

for – even after the release of Frontline – and 

before long the series would struggle to keep up 

with the escalating thrills that COD would offer. 

But before all that, EA was riding high on the 

success of Frontline. Two expansions to the PC 

title were released – one in 2002 and one in 2003 

– while the team behind Frontline then utilised the 

same engine to quickly release Rising Sun, moving 

away from war torn Europe for the first time into 

the battles of the Pacific. Courtesy of the series’ 

82 | RETRO GAMER


fame the title still managed to garner a great deal 

of commercial success, but critics weren’t quite 

as drawn in as the classic film-inspired Frontline. 

It’d be easy to accredit this to a fatigue with the 

genre already – a fact that would only become 

exacerbated in the years that followed – but in 

truth, the team behind Frontline just wasn’t the 

same. “I moved on to Rising Sun, and that was 

originally meant to be a two-game series but by 

that point in time, I’d had enough,” says Chris. 

“The team from Frontline went to start Spark 

Unlimited, after Allied Assault the team from 2015 

Inc went to start Infinity Ward, Call Of Duty 

started to encroach, you know, we lost our way 

on that. I worked on European Assault also, but I 

was having extreme burnout. We had been taken 

over by the EA machine, and there was a huge 

downslope at that point.” 

ising Sun was released on PS2, Xbox 

and GameCube in 2003, followed by 

Infiltrator, a surprisingly good GBA 

game in late 2003 in time for the 

Christmas purchases. Each year saw the release 

of a new Medal Of Honor game, and alongside 

it Activision would release its own Call Of Duty, 

continuing to chip away at the respect that Medal 

Of Honor had stockpiled. “The beginning of the 

Noughties for me, it was like the end of the end, 

you know what I mean?” ponders Chris. “I was 

unwilling to play the politics of EA and become an 

executive producer, because I wanted to always 

stay as a game designer. I don’t regret that, but 

there is an alternative reality where I say, ‘Okay, I’ll 

be the EP, give me the franchise.’ Which was the 

power move, and I’m glad I didn’t, but that would 

have been the only way to keep the integrity of the 

franchise – to fight those battles on my own rather 

than leaning in on my executive producer.” 

Medal Of Honor: Pacific Assault released for PC 

in 2004, recreating many of the events of Rising 

Sun for the non-console crowd. This was followed 

by a new partnership with Sony to release the PSP 

game Medal Of Honor: Heroes in 2006, a title that 

was sadly aligned with a handheld that was poorly 

equipped to house it. Then there was the last ditch 

attempt on PS2 to regain interest in the franchise 

with 2007’s Vanguard on PS2 and Wii – but the 

damage was already done. It was enough that Call 

Of Duty had been climbing the charts with its own 

releases, but after every other major developer in 

the industry had already been trying its hand at 

World War II, interest in the setting was at an all 

time low – so much so that even now the idea of 

a new WWII shooter is met mostly with derision. 

The nail in the coffin truly came in 2007: a three 

platform assault from EA had Vanguard on PS2, 

a Heroes sequel on PSP and Airborne on PS3 that 

saw players take part in some of World War II’s 

most iconic battles. But at a time when interest in 

World War II FPS games was at its lowest, 2007 

saw something far more compelling to the shooter 

fan: Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, a name 

whose significance needs no explanation. Medal 

Of Honor was dead and EA knew it, changing 

instead focus on its Battlefield franchise. 

But that wasn’t quite the end, EA gave the ailing 

franchise one last chance. In 2010, the publisher 

made quite a show about its rebooting of the 

series. A joint effort between Danger Close Games 

on single-player and DICE – considered to be the 

multiplayer experts – the franchise finally cut ties 

with World War II and, instead, focused on a more 

contemporary battle in the Middle East. It was 

brave, and continued the sobriety and respect 

for soldiers that the series had, if nothing else, 

maintained over the years. But it was too late: 

Call Of Duty had exploded and it seemed nothing 

could be done to dislodge reigning champion. The 

name that had once set in motion a the creation of 

the military shooter genre had been beaten, and 

to add insult to injury was even termed a ‘Call Of 

Duty clone’. A hurried sequel – Medal Of Honor: 

Warfighter – didn’t do anything to counteract the 

poor commercial reception of the reboot, leading 

to EA all but confirming that the Medal Of Honor 

brand was to be resigned to the history books. 

And there it lies: much like the famed soldiers of 

the war the series was most known for covering, 

it is best remembered as the valiant hero of a very 

difficult battle it simply could not have won. 

RETRO GAMER | 83

WHATEVER 

HAPPENED 

TO... 

GAMES THAT NEVER 

SAW THE LIGHT OF DAY 

IN THE 

KNOW 

» PUBLISHER: 

MGM Interactive 

» DEVELOPER: 

Interactive Studios (Team Storm) 

» SYSTEM: 

Nintendo 64 

» DUE FOR RELEASE: 

December 1999 


DRAGON SWORD 

Dragon Sword was set to be an exciting action game 

for the Nintendo 64 but it never saw the light of 

day. Philip Oliver reveals what led to its cancellation 

Creating videogames is 

a tough business – it’s 

filled with winners and 

losers. For every triple-A 

game that receives critical acclaim and 

sales, there are countless others that 

simply fail to leave a mark on us. Worse 

yet, there are many games that don’t get 

off the starting line. Some are cancelled 

early when it’s clear they’re not going 

anywhere, but others get canned when 

they’re literally ready for release. Dragon 

Sword was one such game… 

“We were big fans of Gauntlet and 

loved creating fantasy words with 

medieval-style characters and locations,” 

reveals Philip Oliver about the origins of 

his team’s missing N64 game. “With 

the advent of consoles being able to 

do 3D graphics we felt that players 

would love to control a warrior in a richly 

detailed close-combat action adventure 

3D world, [this] was in 1997. Nintendo 

was the dominant console manufacturer, 

although Sony was rising fast. Like most 

good developers, we had PlayStation 

development kits, but that also meant 

a lot of competition. Having won the 

contract for Glover on N64, we had 

several N64 [Dolphin] development 

kits and we had to create a good 3D 

engine and we knew Nintendo would 

market the console well. With other 

developers not being able to get dev 

N64 kits, we figured we were in a good 

position to make another great game on 

this console.” It was a sound plan and 

Members of the Dragon Sword team 

pose with Philip and Andrew Oliver. 

the team got to work on its game (then 

known as Dragon Storm). The team 

started off with just four people, but as 

development ramped up there were 

14 people working on Dragon Sword 

after eight months of development. The 

game was due to master for December 

1998 and there were also options with 

publisher MGM to have versions for 

the PlayStation and PC as well. Dragon 

Sword would end up being in production 

for around 20 months, which is a long 

period for a release from around that 

time, but nowhere near the 12-year 

gestation period that has been bandied 

around the internet. 

That development time was fraught 

with difficulty, too, because the team 

were facing numerous issues due to 

the software they were using to make 

Dragon Sword. “The 3D engine and 

tools were the greatest challenge,” 

admits Philip. “We choose not to use 

the Silicon Graphics suite that Nintendo 

and Rare were using, because they were 

so expensive. We’d starting working

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO: DRAGON SWORD 

OR YOU COULD PLAY... 

GAUNTLET LEGENDS 

1999, MIDWAY GAMES 

■ Midway’s port of Atari Games’ four-player arcade game worked 

exceptionally well on the N64. 

It retains all the elements of 

the arcade original, meaning 

you could team up with 

three friends and take on the 

dark forces with a variety of 

powerful heroes. 

DIABLO 

1996, BLIZZARD 

■ It’s unclear if Diablo had any influence on Dragon Sword, but its 

hack-and-slash elements 

and heavy RPG mechanics 

certainly share many parallels 

with the cancelled game. While 

it still holds up well today, 

we would say to seek out the 

superior 1999 sequel. 

BALDUR’S GATE: DARK ALLIANCE 

2001, SNOWBLIND STUDIOS 

■ Dragon Sword was hanging around release schedules as late as 

August 2001, meaning it would 

have been up against this 

superb ARPG from Snowblind 

Studios. It definitely benefits 

from being released in the PS2 

generation and was followed 

by an equally good sequel. 

“Fundamentally Dragon 

Sword was a great game, 

but on the wrong platform” 

with 3D Studio Max on PlayStation, so 

our artists were used to this and we’d 

already created a 3D engine. The 64-bit 

floating-point main processor on the 

Nintendo 64 was very different to the 

PlayStation. The biggest problem was 

actually the vastly reduced number of 

polygons the Nintendo could display, 

compared to the PlayStation, but they 

were better quality, not suffering from 

warping, jiggling and texture distortion.” 

The team battled on, though, creating 

a solid 3D brawler that catered for 

co-op play and saw you seeking out the 

fabled Dragon Sword after escaping from 

a dungeon during the game’s intro. Like 

Gauntlet Legends, Dragon Sword had 

you smashing generators to stop them 

from spawning monsters; various items 

that could be picked up to enhance your 

warrior and diverse fantasy backdrops 

to battle through. While its co-operative 

mode only catered for two players, it 

mixed things up by including characters 

that were distinctly different to control, 

various areas that couldn’t be assessed 

until you found the right switch and far 

better bosses. It also included a fourplayer 

deathmatch arena mode and had 

destructible objects. Everything was 

going well, but then disaster struck and 

MGM Interactive (which had already 

published the studio’s previous game, 

Wargames) got cold feet and Dragon 

Sword was pulled from the release 

schedule. “Things had gone relatively 

well with [MGM] on the PlayStation and 

PC [with] Wargames, and they wanted a 

game on the N64,” reveals Philip. “But, 

they were struggling to make money as 

a full corporation and their games division 

wasn’t bringing in enough money. Like 

other film companies [Disney, Universal, 

DreamWorks, Time Warner etc] they 

were hoping to capitalise on their film 

franchises, but wanted to see if they 

could also create some original titles. But, 

towards the end of development, MGM 

Interactive was being closed down and 

it’s assets sold to Electronic Art.” 

It was a bitter blow to the team, 

particularly as the game had been going 

out for reviews and had received an 

impressive 93% from 64 Magazine, 

which then started a petition to try 

and get the game published. “It was 

frustrating,” recalls Philip who mentions 

that Nintendo’s platform was struggling 

due to the cost of cartridges. Something 

that would have been of huge concern to 

the cost-conscious MGM. “Maybe we 

could have ported it to PlayStation and 

PC, but MGM owned the title and MGM 

Interactive was being sold to EA who did 

not want to support the N64 due to the 

expensive cartridge costs and they had 

little interest in Dragon Sword. Their main 

reason for purchasing MGM Interactive 

was for the James Bond licence.” 

Despite Dragon Sword 

never getting a release 

many have now played 

the game as a ROM exists 

for it online, something that Philip is 

aware of. “The game was close to being 

finished and many review and testing 

cartridges were made,” he explains. 

“We also had quite a few Nintendo 

cartridges with EPROM chips of the 

game, and people would borrow these 

to play, as they were fun. It’s easy to 

copy these, with the right equipment. 

Clearly someone uploaded the ROM 

to the internet and it spread.” That 

distribution has now enabled people to 

discover Dragon Sword for themselves, 

with many comments on the likes of 

unseen64.net suggesting there would 

have been a decent market for the game 

had it been released. “Fundamentally 

Dragon Sword was a great game, but on 

the wrong platform,” concludes Philip. “It 

goes to show that success in the games 

industry, is not just about writing a great 

game. You need to have a great game, 

on the right platforms, at the right price 

with positive reviews and customers 

excited to spend money.” 

A lot of effort went in to Dragon Sword, 

it’s a pity it never received a release.

Subscription offer 

Subscribe and save 20%* 

Every issue, delivered straight to your door 

Never miss an issue 

13 issues a year, and you’ll be 

sure to get every single one 

Delivered to your home 

Free delivery of every issue, direct 

to your doorstep 

Get the biggest savings 

Get your favourite magazine for 

less by ordering direct 

What our readers are saying about us… 

“The craft that goes into each issue of 

@RetroGamer_Mag, absolutely 10/10. 

First class…” @jaygavin via Twitter 

“@RetroGamer_Mag Best magazine ever. 

Subscriber for 2 years now!” 

@dial999now via Twitter 

“Very impressed with this months 

Retro Gamer (Offi cial) magazine - some 

absolutely amazing articles in there . . . 

nice work guys.” @AndyRCM via Twitter

Subscription offer 

Pick the subscription that’s right for you 

MOST 

FLEXIBLE 

Subscribe and save 20% 

✔ Automatic renewal – never miss an issue 

✔ Pay by Direct Debit 

Recurring payment of £26 every six months, 

saving 20% on the retail price 

GREAT 

VALUE 

One year subscription 

✔ Great offers, available world-wide 

✔ One payment, by card or cheque 

A simple one-off payment ensures you never miss 

an issue for one full year. That’s 13 issues, 

direct to your doorstep 

Name of bank 

Address of bank 

Account Name 

Instruction to your Bank 

or Building Society to pay 

by Direct Debit 

Originator’s reference 

7 

Postcode 

6 8 1 9 

5 

UK £51.90 (saving 20% on the retail price) 

Europe €81.55 USA $103.20 

Rest of the world $103.20 

Pay by card or cheque 

Pay by Credit or Debit card 

Visa Mastercard Amex 

Card number 

Sort Code 

Account no 

Expiry date 

Please pay Future Publishing Ltd Direct Debits from the account detailed in this instruction subject to the 

safeguards assured by the Direct Debit guarantee. I understand that this instruction may remain with 

Future Publishing Ltd and, if so, details will be passed on electronically to my Bank/Building Society. 

Banks & Building Societies may not accept Direct Debit instructions for some types of account 

Signature 

Date 

Pay by Cheque 

I enclose a cheque for 

Signature 

£ 

Date 

Made payable to 

Future Publishing Ltd 

Name 

Your information 

Address 

Telephone number 

Mobile number 

Email address 

■ Please tick if you want to receive any communications from Future and its group companies containing news, special 

offers and product information 

Postcode 

Please post this form to 

Retro Gamer Subscriptions, Future Publishing Ltd, 3 Queensbridge, The 

Lakes, NoRthampton, NN4 7BF 

Order securely online 

www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/RET/PS17 

Speak to one of our friendly 

customer service team 

Call 0844 848 8412 

These offers will expire on 

30 September 2017 

Please quote code PS17 

*Prices and savings are compared to buying full priced print issues. You will receive 13 issues in a year. You can write to us or call us to cancel your subscription within 14 days of purchase. Payment is non-refundable after the 14 day 

cancellation period unless exceptional circumstances apply. Your statutory rights are not affected. Prices correct at point of print and subject to change. Full details of the Direct Debit guarantee are available upon request. UK calls will cost the 

same as other standard fi xed line numbers (starting 01 or 02) are included as part of any inclusive or free minutes allowances (if offered by your phone tariff). For full terms and conditions please visit: bit.ly/magtandc 

Offer ends 30th September 2017.

Dark Corners of the Earth 

“I do not expect the 

reader to believe what 

I am about to relate. 

Any sane mind must 

reject such a fantastic 

tale. And yet I do not 

know which would be 

worse: for my story to 

be the truth, or for my 

mind to be capable of 

imagining such things” 

Despite renowned horror 

writer HP Lovecraft having 

authored some of the 

most haunting stories of 

the 20th century, his works remain 

noticeably unfulfilled in videogames, 

despite inspiration evident in games 

such as the Alone In The Dark series. 

By the late Nineties, none had placed 

themselves within a recognisable world 

based directly on Lovecraft’s writings 

until Call Of Cthulhu: Dark Corners Of 

The Earth, the story of private investigator 

Jack Walters. After a dramatic prelude in 

which Walters encounters arcane horrors 

that send him straight to the Arkham 

Asylum For The Insane, the detective 

apparently recovers, and finds himself 

once more behind his desk, investigating 

the disappearance of grocery store clerk 

Brian Burnham from the Massachusetts 

In The 

Know... 

» PUBLISHER: 

BETHESDA 

» DEVELOPER: 

HEADFIRST 

PRODUCTIONS 

» RELEASED: 2005 

» GENRE: SURVIVAL 

HORROR 

» PLATFORM: XBOX, PC 

town of Innsmouth. Getting to 

Innsmouth is easy; getting out, and with 

your skin intact, is a different matter. 

Dark Corners began life in that most 

Nineties of phenomenon, the internet 

chat room. Within the group known 

as alt.horror.cthulhu, Andrew Brazier of 

Headfirst Productions, known primarily 

for Simon The Sorcerer 3D, posed the 

question: what would you want to see 

in a videogame of Call Of Cthulhu? The 

response from mythos fans was varied, 

but it would help shape the game into 

an accurate and fear-laden take on the 

famous horror writer. “Back then it was 

the easiest way to get in touch with 

dedicated fans,” recalls Andrew, “And 

I learned very quickly that mythos had 

a large and passionate following. I got a 

lot of good suggestions regarding what 

should or shouldn’t be in the game, and 

even some suggesting the very idea of 

a Lovecraft videogame was sacrilege.” 

The challenge, Andrew continues, was 

to “make something that would interest 

Cthulhu fans, and also attract a new 

audience, plus ensuring the final game 

was actually fun to play”. Headfirst’s 

director, Mike Woodroffe negotiated 

a licence with Chaosium, owner of 

the Call Of Cthulhu RPG, giving the 

development team an influx of resources 

and updated source material. Extracting 

themes from Lovecraft’s own work was 

necessary but problematic. “He never 

used one word when 50 would do!” 

laughs Andrew. “So one of the main 

jobs as far as the story was concerned, 

was condensing key events down into 

something that would make an exciting 

narrative.” Lovecraft’s story, The Shadow 

Over Innsmouth, was the work that 

» [PC] Jack’s mission takes him to the ancient city of Y’ha-nthlei, deep below the Devil’s Reef 

88 | RETRO GAMER

THE MAKING OF: CALL OF CTHULHU: DARK CORNERS OF THE EARTH 

» [PC] Jack 

works at 

this desk 

in an early 

cutscene. 

How We Made 

Hotel Hell 

We talk to designer Ed Kay and the others involved 

with Dark Corners’ infamous escape scene 

“[The challenge] was to make something 

that would interest Cthulhu fans, and 

also attract a new audience” 

Andrew Brazier 

Dark Corners was to be most closely 

based on. “The main reasons were the 

cool spooky setting, and that it gave us 

a tangible enemy type in the hybrids 

[grotesque half men/fish breeds] and 

Deep Ones.” As Andrew observes, 

many Lovecraft stories contain creatures 

beyond comprehension, making tense 

reading, but an unhelpful basis for visual 

interpretation, despite the author’s efforts 

at describing the ‘indescribable’. 

Innsmouth itself was an 

inspired choice for the majority 

of the game’s setting; dark, 

foreboding, and full of hostile 

residents, the town’s background in 

mythos made it a perfect location. 

“The driving force behind the game 

was initially [Headfirst Creative Director] 

Simon Woodroffe,” explains Andrew. 

“He set out the original design and plans 

for what we were trying to achieve. 

When development started, I was 

involved with design and technical art – 

there were a number of problems that 

needed solving, most notable how we 

were going to deal with lighting in order 

to create the atmosphere we wanted.” 

Also working at Headfirst was 

designer Chris Gray. “I’d played plenty 

of role-playing games, and knew that 

Lovecraft was a pioneering author,” 

recalls Chris, “but hadn’t read the books. 

That said, I quickly became a fan, partly 

out of necessity, but mostly because 

the mythos is such a rich universe.” 

Buoyed by ideas from the chat group, 

the template was a HUD-less stealth 

shooter complete with a sanity system 

and story-based structure. “I remember 

brainstorming meetings where those key 

concepts were established,” continues 

Chris, “and the focus put on story, rather 

than shooting. It just felt like a natural 

direction to take the game.” Coming 

on board at this point was programmer 

Gareth Clarke, sold on the concept 

enough to choose Headfirst over other 

employment options. “It was such a 

unique game design that it became the 

game I wanted to work on,” he reveals. 

“It was a bit of a gamble because, apart 

from Simon The Sorcerer, there wasn’t 

a lot of people that had heard of them.” 

The same year (2000), the game’s first 

publisher, Ravensburger, was secured 

and there followed a protracted period of 

negotiations as first it, then subsequent 

publisher Fishtank pulled out of the 

project. “It was an absolute nightmare, as 

always when you’re mid-development,” 

Ed Kay: I can’t take all the credit 

for the idea, but when I came on 

board it had already gone through 

several iterations. I was given a 

partially broken, messily coded, 

fairly unfun level and had to get 

it finished, quickly. We could 

only have six enemies active at 

once and they are teleported 

around. We faked other stuff, 

too, unowned yelling voices, 

gunshots with no shooter, and so 

on. The whole level is smoke and 

mirrors. I think the build up to it 

is amazing, since it’s previously 

about the atmosphere and the 

player isn’t under any real threat. 

Then suddenly, you’re awake in 

the middle of the night and it goes 

from ‘take your time and explore’ 

to ‘run for your sodding life’! 

Gareth Clarke: We wanted to 

terrify people and give them the 

sense that this wasn’t like other 

games – to feel the pressure. 

Thing is, if you turn off the sound, 

recalls Gareth painfully. “We were 

pushed towards the concept of a ‘vertical 

slice’ – creating a full set of functionality 

for a limited portion of the game, the 

demo.” Until this point, Headfirst had 

been developing Dark Corners using the 

Netimmerse engine and an early version 

of the Havoc physics engine. Then called 

Telekinesys, in-game physics were 

a relatively new concept at the time. 

“They were doing some impressive stuff 

and needed a team to create demos 

to show off the technology,” explains 

Andrew. Headfirst created a small 

section of a Cthulhu-themed game that 

demonstrated the fluid dynamics and 

ragdoll physics. A subsequent display at 

GDC in 2000 ensured the game received 

a lot of press, but there were drawbacks, 

as Gareth explains: “We were finding 

all sorts of issues with Havoc at the 

it’s not actually that hard. The 

voices, and music, got players 

stressed and panicky. It has an 

element of Simon Says about 

it but I really loved it, and the 

pressure it put you under. It was 

very clever. 

Chris Gray: We knew that was 

going to be challenging to put 

together, especially as running 

away is such an unusual concept 

for players. Of all the sequences 

in the game it probably went 

through the most hands, and in all 

honesty, we were never entirely 

happy with it. However, I think it’s 

a highly original chapter, and if 

you can forgive the frustrations, 

it’s a wonderfully terrifying 

experience to play. 

Ed Kay: Honestly, looking back, 

it was way too hard! With a little 

more experience and time, we’d 

have playtested it more and 

pulled the difficulty a bit. 

RETRO GAMER | 89

time – no negativity towards it, but it 

was in its infancy and we just couldn’t 

get it to do what we needed it to.” It 

was a similar story with the Netimmerse 

game engine. “It wasn’t robust in terms 

of a game engine, unless you were 

running at 60 frames a second,” says 

Gareth, and when publisher Bethesda 

signed the game in 2003, and shifted the 

focus from PC to Xbox, it was clear the 

two middlewares would not be suitable. 

“By today’s standards, 60 frames would 

be fine but on the original Xbox and PCs 

of the time you were looking at 30.” 

With a new publisher on board, but 

the extra challenge of in-house game 

and physics engines, development of 

Dark Corners began to slow with the 

increased workload on the small team. 

The first design and ideas had been 

scribbled down in 1999; now, in late 

2003, Headfirst’s exciting vision of the 

world of Lovecraft was as far away as 

» [PC] The mystery of Innsmouth begins… 

ever. The team split into two as Simon 

Woodroffe focused on other projects, 

with Chris Gray assuming design and 

other responsibilities on Dark Corners. “It 

was my job to revise and edit the game 

to something shorter – the original plan 

had been 40 hours – and then add in 

all the detail and dialogue coordination 

with the rest of the design team.” The 

team spent swathes of time ensuring 

the player felt suitably unwelcome in 

the poisoned town of Innsmouth, its 

inhabitants pausing to stare at Jack or 

confronting him directly with a rough, 

gargled warning. The sound design 

was intrinsic, too, with certain effects 

containing a specific radius so they 

would fade ghostlike as the player 

approached, or random crying behind 

doors and cellar windows that would 

reveal disturbing scenes if spied through. 

Two key elements in fostering the 

atmosphere of Dark Corners were the 

Developer 

Highlights 

SIMON THE 

SORCERER 3D 

SYSTEM: PC 

YEAR: 2002 

DEADLANDS 

SYSTEM: PC 

YEAR: UNRELEASED 

CALL OF CTHULHU: 

DESTINY’S END 

SYSTEM: PC, 

PLAYSTATION 2, XBOX 

YEAR: UNRELEASED 

HUD-less display and sanity meter. “The 

lack of a HUD came from the importance 

of immersing the player and making sure 

there were fewer distractions reminding 

you it was a videogame,” Chris recalls. 

“This fed naturally into the sanity system; 

anything we planned on doing visually 

just felt like it was never going to be as 

effective if you had a bunch of elements 

on the screen.” Dark Corners’ sanity 

worked in the background, quietly logging 

instances of terror against periods of 

reassuring calm. “It was a resource, 

just like any other health resource,” 

tells Gareth. “There were field-of-vision 

influences, so if you looked directly at 

a corpse it would degrade your sanity 

more effectively than if it was in your 

periphery.” Should the player let Jack 

Walters encounter too many horrors, 

the screen would blur, Jack would see 

visions and mumble to himself. Persist 

in the behaviour and the character 

would take his own life, either by gun, 

or strangulation – a somewhat intense 

occurrence. “You were supposed to 

be able to manage the sanity,” explains 

Gareth, “as we wanted players to 

Deining Moments 

Dagon Attacks 

■ Aboard the ship Urania, Jack and the crew must 

fend off a clutch of deep ones as they approach, Devil’s 

Reef. Pounding the deck, their boss Dagon surfaces 

and Jack must avoid his attacks in between letting 

off shots from the ship’s deck cannon. Clever effects 

give the impression of the boat moving, despite it not 

actually going anywhere throughout the level. 

Attack Of The Fishmen 

■ Unarmed and alone, Jack is cornered in his dingy 

Innsmouth hotel room by a gang of tainted locals. 

Dark Corners’ infamously frustrating scene is unlikely 

to be one you’re going to complete first time, requiring 

practice and timing to elude the fishmen. But it’s an 

exhilarating and intense experience nonetheless. 

The Death Of Ramona Waite 

■ Having been pointed in the direction of Thomas 

Waite in order to solve the mystery of Brian 

Burnham’s disappearance, the hero accidentally 

releases a horrible creature resident in the attic of the 

Waite household – Mrs Waite herself, who proceeds 

to slaughter her own daughter as she escapes into the 

streets. Thomas Waite himself later commits suicide 

with the guilt – nice going, Jack. 

90 | RETRO GAMER

THE MAKING OF: CALL OF CTHULHU: DARK CORNERS OF THE EARTH 

“We proudly went to the nearest major 

videogame store the week of release and 

they didn’t have any copies” 

Chris Gray 

experience it, but not so much that it 

ends the game.” 

With the switch of 

publisher, the Xbox 

became the primary 

platform with PC and 

PlayStation 2 versions to follow, the 

former lead version relegated to 

console-port status, as Bethesda 

also pressed Headfirst for a 

PlayStation 2 version. “We said, 

‘No chance,’” grimaces Gareth, “so 

they outsourced it. I recall an awkward 

conversation when the other developer 

phoned up and asked us questions on 

its feasibility. They’d tried everything, 

but it was clear it would never happen. 

It had half the memory again of the 

Xbox, so the tech was just hopelessly 

compromised.” With the change from 

PC to Xbox, the game had already 

undergone many sacrifices, notably the 

removal of Jack’s arms and optimisation 

of the game’s ambitious levels. 

Dark Corners Of The Earth was finally 

released in 2005. Bethesda, delighted by 

the runaway success of the third Elder 

Scrolls chapter, Morrowind, had already 

shifted focus to promoting its sequel. 

“We proudly went to the nearest major 

videogame store the week of release,” 

recalls Chris painfully, “and they didn’t 

have any copies. They hadn’t even heard 

of it. That hurt given how much personal 

time we’d sacrificed.” Even had Dark 

Corners been a runaway success, it was 

too late for Headfirst, crippled by the 

elongated development. “The PC version 

very nearly didn’t happen,” says Gareth, 

“as I was practically the only person left 

in the building, and hadn’t been paid for 

months. But we couldn’t stand it not 

coming out after years of work.” 

Ultimately, despite poor sales, and 

mixed reviews, Dark Corners remains 

a game its team are very proud of 12 

years later. “The production values 

and polish may not have been great,” 

says Chris, “but it was a labour of love 

for us, and there were a lot of original 

ideas on display – maybe too many. 

In a medium where journalists are 

screaming out for originality, it would 

have been nice to receive a bit more 

credit for trying something different.” 

Gareth, who left for Midlands 

developer Eurocom after Headfirst 

collapsed, says, “It’s without shadow 

of a doubt my favourite game I’ve 

worked on, because of the way the 

team gelled together and the original 

nature of it. No other game has had its 

longevity; every year I see it in lists of 

‘top ten games no one ever played’ or 

‘great games for Halloween’. It’s a bit 

of a curiosity, and in some respects I 

prefer that it was a commercial failure, 

yet a cult success, because it shaped my 

enthusiasm for the industry.” 

Bored of relentless shooting and socalled 

vulnerable heroes, tooled up to the 

max with automatic rifles and shotguns? 

Why not jump into the fragile skin of 

investigator Jack Walters and attempt to 

uncover the horrible secret of the town 

of Innsmouth? Just beware of your own 

mind, dear reader, should it recoil in terror 

at glimpsing those insidious, pervading, 

dark corners of the earth. 

The Prisoner Of Yith 

■ Dark Corners wastes little time in establishing its 

horrors. In the basement of the dilapidated manor 

house of the game’s intro, there’s a truly sickening 

and bizarre sight. A poor victim, pinned to the wall, is 

being kept alive despite having all his major organs 

removed and stored in tanks around the room. This, 

and subsequent events of the intro conspire to put 

Jack into Arkham Asylum for several years. 

Too Much Fear Will Kill You 

■ Like much of Dark Corners’ interactivity, there’s no 

onscreen bar or statistic to help the player keep track 

of Jack’s sanity. Visual cues, visions and his incoherent 

babbling are the clues you have, and ignore them at your 

peril. Eventually, overcome by his fears, Jack will take his 

own life by shooting himself or, as in this picture, strangling 

the life from his body with his own bare hands. Crikey. 

An Unspeakable Horror 

■ Having saved J Edgar, Jack encounters the first of 

several large Cthulhu creatures in the bug-eyed, slimy 

Shoggoth. It cannot be harmed directly and besides, 

staring at the monstrosity for too long will destroy 

Jack’s sanity. Only by manipulating the valves and 

pipes around it can the Shoggoth be destroyed, but 

escape is temporary – its liquefied remains chase the 

investigator through the refinery’s corridors. Eek.

modern games you’ll still be playing in years to come 

» Featured System: PC 

» Year: 2016 

» Developer: Playdead 

» Key People: 

Arnt Jenson (director), 

Jeppe Carlson 

(design), Martin Stig 

Andersen (audio) 

» Composer Martin 

Stig Anderson routed 

Inside’s audio through a 

real human skull to help 

achieve the sound he 

wanted for the game. 

» Playdead’s cofounder 

Dino Christian Patti left 

shortly after Inside’s 

release and founded 

new studio Jumpship. 

64. 

Explore the clever, 

creative, and 

expertly crated 

puzzle platformer, 

built on its spiritual 

predecessor, and 

uncover why it 

deserves its 

classic status. 

Paul Walker-Emig 

takes you 

inside… Inside 

InsIdE 

ThE Background 

Before Inside, there was Limbo. Known for its 

distinctive silhouette-like art style, some memorable 

arachnophobia-inducing moments, and its 

open-ended storytelling, it is a well-crafted puzzle 

platformer that received plenty of praise. Enough to 

ensure that there would be interest in whatever was 

to come next from the studio that created it. 

The genesis for what would become Inside was a 

piece of concept art that depicted what we will only 

describe, to avoid spoilers, as ‘the thing’, created by 

Playdead artist Morten Bramsen. If you’ve played 

the game, you know what we’re talking about. That 

piece of art ended up being the reference point for the 

entire game’s visual style, the gravitational core for 

its structure, the revelatory pivot for the themes with 

which it plays. 

Working back from that, Playdead managed to 

create a game with a rare artistic precision. The team 

knew where it was going, it knew what it wanted 

to achieve, and it tuned everything with that specific 

destination in mind. 

» [PC] Inside is beautiful in its own twisted way. 

ThE gamE 

Inside starts in the same way as its spiritual 

predecessor. You take control of a young boy in a 

forest, without being given any context for where 

you are or what you are doing. You simply do what 

anyone would do with a controller in your hand and a 

character on a 2D plane on the screen in front of you. 

You move right. 

You never hear a word of dialogue uttered in 

Inside, nor see a line of explanatory text appear on 

screen. Yet, almost instantly, the game starts telling 

you its story. You can spot the uneasiness in the 

boy’s movements, hear the anxiety in his breathing. 

You know that all is not well. Soon, you find yourself 

running from masked men trying to hunt you down as 

you’re introduced to a dystopian world that’s defined 

by the crumbling architecture you move through, 

the people you see marching in unison below you 

and the puzzles you must solve to progress. Inside 

is masterful in the way it paints a picture of its world 

using only the language of games. It is the floorboards 

that break under your step, the terror you feel as 

92 | RETRO GAMER

FUTURE CLASSIC: INSIDE 

» [PC] Inside excels in creating haunting visuals that stay with 

you long after the credits roll. 

» [PC] It’s easy to understand why this scene was used in early trailers. 

You want to know what they are looking at! 

You’re always encountering something 

new, something interesting 

» [PC] The boy in Inside has a 

vulnerability that’s reminiscent of Limbo. 

a hand reaches for your ankle as you pull yourself 

up from the water’s edge, the mind-controlling 

technology you use to manipulate braindead slaves 

slumped in cages that draw the contours of this dark 

world and offer an insight into the grotesquery and 

injustice that underpins it. 

The way that Inside musters every element 

with military discipline – sound, animation, visuals, 

mechanics, pacing, and so on – to achieve its ends 

doesn’t just apply to its storytelling. Every moment 

in this game is meticulously crafted. We think of 

the rabid barks of attack dogs bearing down on the 

young boy as he runs to safety. You hear his breathing 

quicken with exertion and fear as the snapping jaws 

come closer. Inevitably, you leap to safety at the last 

possible second, the game poised in such a way as 

to squeeze every last possible ounce of tension out of 

the encounter. 

This is a game that makes the case for the value 

of design in a world where procedural generation is 

in fashion. It always has you in the palm of its hand, 

always has you where it wants, and does so without 

feeling contrived. Perhaps you’re uncomfortable with 

the idea that your experience is in the iron grip of a 

designer in a medium where your freedom is what 

makes it unique? Well, if you’ve finished the game, 

you’ll know that that’s kind of the point. 

When it comes to the game’s puzzles, there are no 

duds. In part that’s because Inside respects your time. 

If an idea is repeated in any way, that’s only because 

there’s another layer to it that’s worth exploring or a 

way that it can be twisted to give it a new dimension. 

That means there’s no fat to trim. You’re always 

encountering something new, something interesting, 

something surprising, or shocking, or scary. There are 

few games that couldn’t learn from it in that respect. 

WHY IT’S A FUTURE CLASSIC 

The best games leave you thinking about them 

when you’re done and Inside certainly falls into that 

category. You’ll think about the ending. You’ll think 

about the journey. You’ll think about what it all means 

and what Inside has to say about games. 

It’s far from the first attempt to reflect on control 

and agency through games – BioShock delivered 

its “Would You Kindly” moment all the way back in 

2007, for example. However, it’s arguable that no 

game has been as successful in holding up a mirror 

and playing with that theme, thanks to the way that 

Inside uses the language of games as its sole means 

of communicating with the player. 

Even if that aspect of the game holds no interest 

for you, Inside still deserves its place in the canon 

of videogame classics. It deserves it for the brilliant 

puzzles, the clever ideas, the beautiful animation, 

the incredible sound design, and the way those 

elements are threaded together with supreme 

artistry and skill. 

We’re not sure we’d ever call a game perfect, 

but Inside is very close. 

STAY IN LINE 

This section where you have 

to follow the movements 

of shuffling slaves to hide in 

plain site is one of the most 

memorable. It shines with 

significance at the end. 

LOOKING BACK 

There are lots of Limbo 

parallels to spot in Inside 

but the most obvious is 

the cameo of the mindcontrolling 

glow worm that’s 

attached to this pig. 

UNDERWATER 

EXPLORATION 

Inside knows how to create 

tension and the game’s 

terrifying underwater 

sections are some of the 

best examples of that. 

POETRY IN 

MOTION 

The animation in this game 

is fantastic. Not just because 

it feels realistic, but because 

subtle movements show you 

how characters are feeling. 

CORNFIELD 

There are a number of 

hidden secrets to discover 

in Inside. Once you’ve found 

them all, you’ll want to return 

to this cornfield… 

RETRO GAMER | 93

FIRST JOB 

Ride operator at a 

T h e m e Pa r k 

CURRENT JOB 

Principal Engineer at 

Activision 

FAVOURITE FILM 

To Catch A Thief 

FAVOURITE ALBUM 

45s and Under - Squeeze 

FAVOURITE BOOK: 

ZX Spectrum manual 

FIRST COMPUTER/CONSOLE 

ZX81 

FAVOURITE COMPUTER/CONSOLE 

ZX Spectrum 

BEST GAMING ACHIEVEMENT 

Nuclear Countdown 

BESTSELLING PRODUCT: 

Gex 3 

BEST HOLIDAY 

I have to give a nod to 

my friends the Greasy 

Joe Gang: Malta 1990. 

WHO YOU WANT TO BE STRANDED WITH 

My girlfriend Sandi. 

Check out her vintage 

shop 23skidoovintage.com! 


172-068105103032068117103 

SEX 

M 

NAME 

DATE OF BIRTH 

18/12/70 

BIOGRAPHY 


PLACE OF BIRTH 

Sutton, 

Ashfield 

Adrian began coding Spectrum games at school 

before moving to the US in the Nineties to work 

on 3DO and PlayStation titles. He still codes for 

modern consoles. 


What cherished games would you take to the island? 

He has gone from coding Spectrum 

games in his bedroom to working 

on the biggest franchise in the 

world. He tells Paul Drury about 

answering Uncle Sam’s call 

Adrian’s bedroom 

coding set up in 1991, 

just before he moved to 

the USA. 

Dear readers, we have an exclusive; 

before we maroon our latest 

castaway, he has agreed to leave 

behind an unreleased Spectrum game 

in our safe keeping and it involves 

assembling a plane to escape from an island – how apt. 

“I tried to get Cloud Hopper published in Your Sinclair 

magazine but they turned it down because it 

went over the memory limits they had set,” 

explains coder Adrian Longland, once of British 

shores but now settled in the USA. “It would 

have taken up a lot of pages and taken ages to 

type in all the machine code and, to be honest, 

it had missed it’s time. If I came out in the early 

days of Cookie and Ah Diddums, it might have 

held its own. I made it ridiculously hard, too, but 

I’ve made some tweaks only yesterday…” 

Three decades later and Adrian is still tinkering 

with his Spectrum. Cloud Hopper (imagine 

Jetpac with more clouds and extra features, such 

as lifts and a wind factor to cope with) is now considerably 

more fun and forgiving, and you can download the full game 

from the excellent gamesthatwerent.com. 

He sensibly toned down the difficulty for his next effort, 

Nuclear Countdown, which did get an official release through 

Atlantis as a budget title. An isometric adventure involving a 

well-wired robot tasked with defusing warheads, it featured 

much block-shoving, problem-solving and traversing 

precarious moving platforms. Would it be fair to say you 

were somewhat in thrall to Ultimate Play The Game’s 

offerings like Knight Lore and Alien 8, Adrian? 

“Look at my list of desert island games and you’ll see 

the admiration I have for those guys,” he laughs. “They 

Trivia 

Adrian studied Computer 

Science at sixth form 

college in Beeston, 

just on the outskirts of 

Nottingham, and coded 

his first Spectrum games 

there – quite apt, as the 

town is where the Spectrum 

Vega is now manufactured. 

were always pushing the envelope. I’d preorder their games 

and would phone them up every day to see if they had sent it 

out yet! I was a fan. Still am.” 

Coding after school and at weekends, Adrian spent over 

a year creating Nuclear Countdown, meticulously designing 

each room with a custom level editor he had written and 

getting to grips with the isometric perspective through a slightly 

cumbersome combination of three screen buffers. “The 

graphics and animation for the walking robots are my proudest 

part,” he grins. “I’m not an artist or animator and I admire those 

guys so much but that one character and animation I think are 

worthy of what a true artist and animator would have done.” 

The game can hold its robot head high in terms of its 

visuals and some of the puzzles can be fiendish, requiring 

lateral thinking and finger-mangling dexterity. It was generally 

well received by the gaming press of the day, with Crash! 

praising it as “a great little budget game” in issue 38, though it 

commented that the bargain price of £1.99, it was rather short. 

“Yes, I should have made more screens,” 

acknowledges Adrian, “particularly given the 

amount of work it was to write the level editor. I 

should have planned it all out on graph paper… 

but it was my baby and I was really happy 

Nuclear Countdown got published. Then a few 

weeks after I’d said yes to Atlantis, Mastertronic 

replied saying they wanted it! I’ve always 

regretted not holding out for a bigger publisher.” 

Nevertheless, the game pocketed Adrian 

£400 and he left his Nottinghamshire home 

for Southampton University to study Electronic 

Engineering, dreaming of making arcade 

hardware. He returned with a third-class degree and spent 

the next year pottering around on a government-sponsored 

Enterprise Allowance Scheme, trying to make Amiga games 

without much success. Fortunately, he spotted an advert for 

Psygnosis which was producing games for the FM Towns 

Marty console, one of the first machines to utilise CD-ROM 

technology. “They wanted someone to port their game 

Microcosm to the 3DO which was just about to be released. 

They saw I’d done Speccy games and had a degree, even if it 

was a crappy one, so I went up to join them in Liverpool. I was 

lucky [to get the job] and it was a real turning point in my life.” 

This early experience of working with the kind of CD 

technology which was about to revolutionise gaming 

RETRO GAMER | 95

Cloud Hopper was Adrian’s 

unreleased debut and a pretty 

decent game it is. 

“Crystal Dynamics 

seemed like Ultimate 

in the Spectrum days, 

like, ‘Wow, how are 

they doing that?’” 


Praise 

for Adrian 

Here’s what Retro Gamer has to say 

about Adrian Longland’s work… 

Darran Jones 

While I’ve not played many of 

the older games that Adrian has 

worked on, I did play a hell of a lot 

of Samurai Shodown on the 3DO 

when it first came out. It’s also nice to see that 

he’s a big fan of Rare’s output as well, and that 

we both share a love for the rather excellent 

Banjo-Kazooie. 

Paul Drury 

It was great to hear how a fellow 

Nottingham boy crossed the 

pond and got involved with the 

emerging CD-based consoles that 

would change gaming forever. And though he 

now has a Californian twang from living there 

for 25 years, his homeland vowels did return 

after an hour of talking to me. 

in the Nineties thanks to the PlayStation proved hugely 

beneficial for Adrian. After a year at Psygnosis, working on 

Microcosm and then the FMV on-rails shooter Novastorm 

with the team that would go on to create WipEout, he spotted 

an advert in Edge magazine asking for British coders to head 

Stateside to work on 3DO games for Crystal Dynamics. 

Relocating to California must have been quite an adventure for 

a Nottinghamshire lad in his early twenties, Adrian? 

“Oh yeah. I’d been reading up on Crystal Dynamics and they 

had done games like Crash and Burn, Total Eclipse and The 

Horde. They kind of seemed like Ultimate had in the Spectrum 

days, like, ‘Wow, how are they doing that!?’ The place sounded 

amazing and I just knew I had to work there… though I’ve got 

red hair and fair skin so there was no beach for me!” 

Hired to work on Off-World Interceptor, Adrian was first 

asked to help complete the port of Samurai Shodown from the 

Neo-Geo to the 3DO, which having grown up wishing he could 

work on arcade hardware was pretty damn close to his dream 

job. The project also involved working with Max Behensky and 

Stephanie Mott, the team behind Atari’s seminal Hard Drivin’ 

game, and he learned a lot about 3D technology from these 

pioneers, knowledge he could bring to Off-World Interceptor 

when he returned to his original brief. Though the game is a 

pretty speedy racer, placing you in the driving seat of a heavily 

armed moon buggy-turned-super truck, it is most memorable 

for some especially cheesy FMV scenes. 

“When we got the video footage back, it was so bad that 

we thought, ‘What can we do to save this?” giggles Adrian. 

“There was this American TV show called Mystery Science 

Theatre, which takes an old movie and has these silhouetted 

heads talking over it, making fun of how terrible it is. Someone 

suggested we went with that same style for Off-World 

Interceptor and pretend it was meant to be a spoof!” 

Clever thinking from Crystal Dynamics who also wisely 

assigned Adrian to focus on Sony’s new PlayStation, which 

increasingly looked like it was the machine to back in the 

crowded mid-Nineties console market. He contributed to 

projects both in-house and externally developed, providing 

tools and technical advice to such titles as 1996’s Blood Omen: 

Legacy of Kain, and landed the lead programmer role on 

Gex: Enter the Gecko. Was he made to wade through the 

original platformer before taking the sharp-tongued lizard into 

the third dimension, we wonder? 

“No, it was never a requirement,” he assures us. “It 

actually started as a 2D game and after three months we 

had a prototype with Gex jumping around and using this 

hover mechanic. Then E3 came along and suddenly it was, 

‘Okay, Crash Bandicoot shows you can do 3D graphics on the 

PlayStation and Mario 64 has this open world… let’s put those 

two together for Gex!” 

Videogames can often be unintentionally 

hilarious but consciously trying to make 

a ‘funny’ game is a difficult act to pull off. 

When stand-up comedian Dana Gould agreed to 

provide the voice of Gex, we wonder if Adrian felt hopeful or 

concerned? “I liked what we were trying to do and I like games 

with a sense of humour,” he says. “It can give a game a certain 

charm, like the quips in Banjo-Kazooie. With Gex, though, it 

was hard to see where the humour fell. We had all these lines 

from Dana Gould, thousands of them, and we had to take out 

hundreds because we didn’t want to offend this famous person 

or risk getting sued by this company… we scratched out about 

half! It would have been way funnier if we’d just left them all in. 

There were definitely some tumbleweed moments. 

Nonetheless, Adrian remains very proud of Enter The Gecko, 

and stuck with the green protagonist for Gex 3: Deep Cover 

Gecko, released in 1999. “Generally with a sequel you’re 

constrained because people have certain expectations but I 

liked working on this one,” says Adrian. “We had the engine, 

1985 

1987 1994 1995 

Timeline 

CLOUD HOPPER 

■ YEAR: 1985 

■ FORMAT: ZX Spectrum 

Adrian’s first completed game 

was an interesting homage to 

Jetpac. Unreleased at the time, 

you can now download it from 

gamesthatwerent.com. 

NUCLEAR COUNTDOWN 

■ YEAR: 1987 

■ FORMAT: ZX Spectrum 

This clever isometric adventure 

starring an intrepid robot 

tasked with diffusing warheads 

against the clock was Adrian’s 

first published game. 

SAMURAI SHODOWN 

■ YEAR: 1994 

■ FORMAT: 3DO 

Adrian’s first job when he 

arrived Stateside was to 

convert this beat-’em-up 

from the Neo-Geo to the 

newly-released 3DO. 

OFF-WORLD INTERCEPTOR 

■ YEAR: 1995 

■ FORMAT: 3DO 

A solid enough racer-turnedshooter, 

this is probably best 

remembered for the ‘so bad 

they’re good’ cutscenes. 

Very much of its time. 

96 | RETRO GAMER

That’s me 

in the 

corner 

Given Adrian has gone from bedroom 

coding, to working in small teams 

to being part of huge modern 

development studios, we wondered 

how he felt about the journey. “The 

pressure is different,” he muses. 

“With Gex, there was maybe two 

programmers so if you were off, it 

mattered. Now, I’m one of a hundred 

programmers. I like to think that I’m 

important but I know if I dropped dead 

tomorrow, the game’s still going to 

be on the shelves. Look at the credits 

list [of a modern game] and it has 

thousands of people on, like a movie, 

but actually you’re [part of] a small 

team, say an animator, a designer, a 

programmer and an artist, focussing 

on one particular thing. You can still 

look at these huge games, pick out a 

feature and say, ‘I did that!’” 

the technology and the tools – all the things that take so 

much time – so it was about having more fun with the 

content. Every day you’d come in and the designers would 

have a new level or a new boss and you’d be like, ‘Let me 

play that!’ It was never a chore.” 

The Gex engine Adrian helped tune also formed the basis 

for the excellent Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, released the 

same year, and as the new millennium dawned, he was putting 

down firm roots in the USA, marrying a Californian native and 

starting a family. And what could be more Stars and Stripes 

than his next project, Walt Disney World Quest: Magical Racing 

Tour, which featured Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and, erm, 

The Chipmunks. “That project actually started as a Gex game,” 

explains Adrian. “We were merrily making a kart racing game 

thinking it would be set in the Gex universe. When we heard 

we had the Disney licence and it was going to feature all these 

really recognisable characters, I thought that was exciting. As a 

programmer, you’re just trying to get the feel of the racing right, 

the way you go round corners… it really doesn’t matter what 

character is in the kart!” 

Whilst there was no shortage of titles following in Mario 

Kart’s slipstream, Magical Tour Racing is a decent enough 

clone, and we do enjoy seeing Barbie pushing out in front. It 

was to be Adrian’s last published game at Crystal Dynamics, 

however. As the company began the transition from PlayStation 

to PS2 development, he decided to take the opportunity to 

set up a studio of his own. With fellow Gex programmer 

Daniel Chan, they founded Heroes and Giants and hoped 

Longland on Longland 

Adrian picks his three favourite projects 

■ SAMURAI 

SHODOWN 

This was a fun port to do. 

Crystal Dynamics was crazy at 

the time. Working with legends, 

plus free massages daily and 

free food: sushi for lunch! 

■ GEX: ENTER 

THE GECKO 

This was a blast: working 

with 3D and the excitement 

of working on an original title, 

as I’d been doing ports since 

Nuclear Countdown. 

■ AFRO SAMURAI 

We got some of the Gex band 

from Crystal back together, 

including the incredible Gregg 

Tavares. David Robinson, 

the producer, did a great 

job making that happen. 

» Adrian in the early Nineties next to a Cray-1 supercomputer 

from the Seventies. We’ve come a long way. 

Off World Interceptor: 

racing and blasting far 

from home. 

1998 

2000 2004 2009 

GEX: ENTER THE GECKO 

■ YEAR:1998 

■ FORMAT: PlayStation 

There was a stampede 

of anthropomorphic 3D 

platformers following in Crash 

Bandicoot ’s wake but Gex had 

some decent ideas of its own. 

WALT DISNEY WORLD QUEST 

■ YEAR: 2000 

■ FORMAT: PlayStation 

Adrian’s final game at Crystal 

Dynamics was this surprisingly 

good Mario Kart clone, with 

tracks based on rides from the 

famous theme parks. 

HAMSTAR GOLF 

■ YEAR: 2004 

■ FORMAT: Mobile 

A real oddity, this Japan-only 

phone game features the 

cute titular rodent negotiating 

crazy-ish courses. An 

above-par obscurity. 

AFRO SAMURAI 

■ YEAR: 2009 

■ FORMAT: PS3/360 

An unlikely melding of 

ancient Japanese tradition 

with hip-hop beats and 

banter. Stylish swordplay but 

rather lacking in substance. 

RETRO GAMER | 97

v 

Readers’ 

Questions 

Merman: As a programmer, 

how much input did you have 

into game design? 

It’s very much a collaborative 

process. The designer has an 

idea of what they want and the 

programmer has an idea of what 

you can do. So you try something 

and the designer will give you 

feedback, like, ‘I wanted it to be 

more like this,’ and you’ll say, ‘Well, 

I could do it like this?’ With Speccy 

games, it was just a programmer 

and an artist, if you were lucky. 

Designers are a modern invention. 

It very much depends on the 

people you’re working with and 

the dynamic in the team. Only this 

week, I was brainstorming with the 

designer and I really felt I had some 

part in the design… but they had 

the vision of what they wanted. So 

my answer is, ‘Some’! 

Paranoid Marvin: What was the 

thinking behind getting Leslie 

Phillips involved in Gex 3D and did 

you get to meet him? 

No, I didn’t meet him. He has that 

campy style and I’ve always been a 

fan. I was excited he was involved 

but when I heard him delivering 

some of the lines, I wasn’t sure 

it made sense. He was rereading 

the lines Dana Gould had said and 

adding a few of his own. To me, 

they could have made a better 

choice even though I love him as 

an actor. 

Merman: Which other games 

influenced Nuclear Countdown? 

Highway Encounter and Knight Lore 

as well for that isometric look. 

Merman: Did you ever crash your 

development hardware? 

Yes, every day! We get errors 

and crashes all the time. If he 

means have I ever destroyed the 

devkit, that is pretty hard to do 

in software. I think there was an 

Apple machine you could overheat 

if you turned the fan off, but usually 

if you’re a software developer, 

you can just turn the machine 

off and on again. Now, with 

hardware development, you can fry 

capacitators and get smoke! 

to emulate the success of Naughty Dog, 

which also began as a two-man start up. “The 

reality was harsh,” sighs Adrian. “We had lots 

of experience with coding and gameplay but we 

soon realised that was only a fraction of what was 

needed. We made a 3D engine and had demos 

with characters running around but we never got 

to the point where a publisher could put money in. 

We needed a business person, a go-getter, who 

knew how to get us a deal.” 

As the pair’s savings decreased, it 

ended up doing contract work for 

publishers like EA and their old bosses at 

Crystal Dynamics, which kept the company 

going but prevented them pushing ahead with their own 

ideas for original IP. They did manage to produce Hamstar 

Golf for the Japanese mobile phone market but it’s far more 

likely you’ve played their GameCube conversion of From 

Russia With Love, a pretty varied Bond game which mixes 

driving, shooting and fisticuffs and includes a jet pack section, 

which we hope brought back pleasant memories of Adrian’s 

unreleased debut Cloud Hopper. “You know I can’t remember 

that bit,” he laughs. “If you’re porting a game, you’re so 

focussed on making sure that everything works with the code, 

you don’t always play the game through.” 

After calling time on their independent venture, Adrian got 

a job at Activision and joined the team working on X-Men: The 

Official Game, working on code optimisation, before getting 

involved with the interesting cultural mash-up that was Afro 

Samurai. With a distinctive art style and swords as big as the 

hairstyles, the game does offer some impressive slicing and 

Trivia 

The Gex engine Adrian 

helped develop was used 

for the Tomb Raider games 

when the franchise landed 

at Crystal Dynamics. He’s 

rather proud that some 

of his code made it into 

Lara’s games right up 

to the Xbox 360 era. 

“The video footage for 

Off-World Interceptor 

was so bad someone 

suggested we should 

pretend it was a spoof” 


dicing, all to a jaunty hip-hop beat, but the action 

can get a little repetitive and the early flush of 

good ideas dry up as the story trudges onward. 

“A magazine summed that game up pretty well,” 

says Adrian. “They said it did the hard things 

really well but failed to get some of the basics 

right. Like, the slicing mechanic with the sword is 

great and super fun but a lot of the levels aren’t 

designed to take advantage of that. We did a 

lot with a small team and we had people like 

Gregg Tavares, who did the work of ten people, 

but when you compare it with other games in the 

genre, it doesn’t really stand up.” 

Adrian is named ‘Longhold’ on the credits for Afro Samurai, 

hopefully an indication of the rushed nature of its development 

rather than the studio’s inability to spell. After a brief spell 

at EA working on the excellent Dead Space, he joined 

Sledgehammer in 2009 and suddenly Adrian found himself 

aboard the Call Of Duty juggernaut. The downside of being part 

of the biggest franchises in videogaming history is that he is 

not allowed to talk about his role –“The most nerve wracking 

[thing about my job is] talking to someone like you, making sure 

I don’t say anything I’m not supposed to!” he admits – so we 

diplomatically don’t mention the war and instead find out about 

his current projects away from the office. 

Having accumulated four Atari 2600 consoles, Adrian has 

built an interface board to play custom ROMs and is keen to 

code on the ancient hardware. “I’ve always wanted to write 

an Atari 2600 game,” he smiles. “Trying to make something 

fun to play in such a limited amount [of memory] and with 

only a few objects is a real challenge but games like River Raid 

show it can be done. I’ve also just bought a Timex 1000, the 

US version of the ZX81, and I want to do proper 

hi-res graphics on that. I’ve always wanted to 

know how they did stuff like that back then. It’s 

like unfinished business.” 

He might be a Californian now but you’ll 

never take the Sinclair out of the boy. 

Special thanks to Lawrence ‘Little Boy Blue’ 

Kirk, Adrian’s step brother and Game Boy 

musician, for the introduction. 


Adrian joined the Gex gang for 

Enter the Gecko.


Desert Island Disks 

The games that Adrian simply 

couldn’t live without 

01 

01 Lunar Jetman (ZX SpEcTRuM) 

Jetpac was my favourite early Spectrum game and Lunar 

Jetman added to the basic gameplay but allowed you 

to play in so many different ways. The ability to use the 

teleporter or the gun or the bomb in so many different 

ways makes the game so open ended. The tension with 

the missile coming at the base and making one last effort 

to lose a life by flying into it: intense! 

02 Banjo-Kazooie (n64) 

All the 3D platform gaming fun of Mario 64, but so much 

prettier. The texturing and animation are a pleasure. The 

British humour makes it a blast that holds up to this day. 

Having spent time trying to program Gex’s controls and 

camera to this level, I appreciate the artistry here. The 

camera is seldom in the way. That’s hard to do. 

03 Donkey Kong 64 (n64) 

The different Kong abilities and replayability make this 

one easy to keep coming back to. The bonus games are 

infuriatingly difficult, but so addictive. Another 3D platformer? 

Yep, they are my favourite. 

04 Donkey Kong Country (SnES) 

I have the theme song in my head, and want to shout out 

the monkey sounds just thinking about this one. I love the 

Rare Donkey Kong universe. When this came out, those 

graphics were a marvel. Silicon Graphics rendered! Again, 

Rare took Nintendo style platform gameplay but made it so 

much prettier and somehow even more fun. 

05 Knight Lore (ZX SpEcTRuM) 

All the Ulimate games on the Spectrum were amazing. 

When I first saw this, I thought it was impossible. 

How are they doing that? This was one game that the 

Commodore 64, although better in many ways, just 

couldn’t do – and that certainly helped in the Speccy vs C64 

playground battle. Just to be clear, the C64 was perfectly 

capable, just too cool to do a game like this. Google videos 

on the colourised remakes. The game is very much alive. 

06 Pac-Man (ARcADE) 

The arcade was what the Speccy games aspired to and this 

is my all-time favourite classic. So easy to start playing but 

it quickly gets difficult. It seems most 8-bit consoles were 

judged, and sometimes suffered, based on the quality of 

their Pac-Man ports. This was the gold standard. 

07 Donkey Kong (ARcADE) 

Still fun but incredibly challenging. It spawned the Mario 

universe; I’ll say no more. 

08 Quazatron (ZX SpEcTRuM) 

The two-channel music on the title screen still has me 

baffled. The robot grapple puzzles were the best part… that 

could have been the game all by itself. 

02 03 04 

05 06 

07 08 

RETRO GAMER | 99

Jet Set Radio 

TRAGICALLY HIP 


» DREAMCAST » SMILEBIT » 2000 

Flash back to November 2000, a time when 

most gamers were wetting their knickers 

about being able to play prettier renditions of 

Tekken and Ridge Racer on the PS2. Not me, 

though. I was too cool for that – I was head over 

heels in love with Jet Set Radio. Sega’s rollerblading graffiti game 

looked cool, sounded awesome and had an original concept. It was 

also quite obviously going to be a sales flop. 

I should have seen it coming, really, the signs were all there: 

there was the fact that it didn’t look like anything else, and wasn’t 

easily pigeonholed into an existing genre. Even without those 

factors, it should have been impossible to ignore my cousin’s 

complaint, “But the tricks aren’t even real.” The general public 

didn’t want highly stylised teenage vandalism games, they wanted 

staple concepts like fighting and racing with photorealistic graphics. 

As a heavily invested gamer, I wanted something different to the 

norm, but the norm doesn’t spring up out of nowhere. 

Two months later Sega announced its withdrawal from the 

hardware business and I shook my head. “This wouldn’t have 

happened if people had bought nice original games like Jet Set 

Radio instead of tarted-up rehashes,” I naively and snobbishly 

condemned. There was a lot more to the Dreamcast’s failure than 

that, of course, but to this day there’s that horrible hipster part of 

me that can’t help but think of Jet Set Radio as a brilliant game, 

which only failed because of other people’s poor taste.

RETRORATED 

>> Does Sonic 

Mania live up 

to the hype? 

You’ll discover 

the answer 

shortly. It’s 

otherwise a 

quiet month, 

with a look 

at Andy 

Remic’s new 

documentary 

about the 

Spectrum and 

Namco’s latest 

Switch retro 

compilation 

PICKS OF 

THE MONTH 

DREW 

Sonic Mania 

It’s been near-on 20 

years but Sonic fans can 

breathe easy, he’s legit 

again… well, for now. 

Sonic Mania 

INFORMATION 

» Featured SyStem: 

PS4 

» alSo on: 

XboX one, Switch, Pc 

» releaSed: out now 

» Price: £15.99 

» PubliSher: Sega 

» develoPer: 

chriStian whitehead/ 

headcannon gameS/ 

PagodaweSt gameS 

» PlayerS: 1-2 

» [PS4] The tiny Sonic from 

Sonic CD returns, and this time 

even gets to fight a boss. 

It’s always nice to 

see game developers 

embracing the creativity 

of their fans. Nintendo’s 

Super Mario Maker 

was a great example 

of what could be achieved by doing 

so – by providing the level design 

tools previously only available to ROM 

modders, it made a bunch of money 

and a YouTube phenomenon. Of 

course, the problem was that your play 

experience was dependent on the skill 

of the designer, so things could be a bit 

uneven. Sega has decided to utilise the 

talent of fans for Sonic Mania, but it has 

taken a different approach by simply 

hiring the cream of the crop to lead a 

development team. 

In many ways, the remix culture of 

ROM modders and fangame creators 

is the perfect fit for Sonic Mania, as the 

» [PS4] Fans of Wing Fortress Zone will be pleased to know that a plane-based stage is included. 

How fASt IS A fAN-pRopelleD HeDgeHog? 

majority of the game’s 12 zones are 

heavily reworked stages from the classic 

16-bit Sonic games. The changes can 

be quite large – Green Hill Zone gains 

a network of ziplines and a cavernous 

background and Oil Ocean Zone gains 

submarines to explore. The remaining 

four are brand new, and range from the 

film-inspired Studiopolis Zone to the 

Wild West-themed Mirage Saloon Zone. 

Each stage is large and packed with 

enemies and obstacles, with plenty of 

scope for exploration – and you’ll need 

to look around if you’re trying to find 

the giant rings which allow you to enter 

the Special Zone. If you just want to go 

fast, that’s fine too, but as in the classic 

games you’ll have to earn your fast 

times with practice. 

You can play as Sonic and Tails, either 

of them individually or Knuckles, and all 

of them have their characteristic abilities 

– Tails can swim and fly, while Knuckles 

can glide, climb and access exclusive 

routes by smashing through walls. Sonic 

BRIEF HISTORY 

» Sega has been actively trying 

to court older Sonic fans since 

2010’s Sonic The Hedgehog 4: 

Episode I, with mixed results. 

Sonic Mania is the latest attempt 

to do so, with long-term Sonic 

fans Christian Whitehead and 

Headcannon Games at the 

helm following their acclaimed 

mobile remasters of the Mega 

Drive originals. 

NICK 

Sonic Mania 

Puyo Puyo Tetris was a 

hard habit to shake, but you 

can see above that Sonic 

Mania’s totally different! 

» [PS4] It’s the 

return of the ‘Blue 

Spheres’ game, 

which is just as 

irritatingly tough as 

you remember. 

102 | RETRO GAMER

REVIEWS: SONIC MANIA 

WHY NOT TRY 

▼ SOMETHING OLD 

SONIC JAM (Saturn) 

▼ SOMETHING NEW 

FREEDOM PLANET (Pc) 

» [PS4] The Hard-Boiled Heavies are recurring bosses 

in Mania, attacking both individually and as a group. 

has a new move, the Drop Dash, 

which is pulled off by pressing and 

holding the jump button during a jump. 

When Sonic lands, he’ll gain a burst of 

acceleration and roll off in the direction 

he’s facing. It should be very useful in 

the Time Attack mode, but will require 

practice to deploy effectively. 

The best thing about Sonic Mania is 

that it addresses one of the weakest 

aspects of the original games – the boss 

fights. The new ones in Sonic Mania are 

exciting but more importantly, they’re 

inventive. Without wishing to spoil too 

much, the new Studiopolis Zone has 

one in which you have to watch the TV 

weather report in the background to 

know what Robotnik’s next attack will 

be. Others have you battling in a lift, 

limiting your jump height, or fighting as 

a miniaturised Sonic. These can put up 

a real fight – we’re pretty good at Sonic 

games, but some of the tougher bosses 

(especially Oil Ocean Zone’s main boss) 

made the possibility of a Game Over 

screen worryingly real. 

Visually, the game has been designed 

as if it were for the Saturn, rather than 

the Mega Drive. Though the stages 

have been cribbed from a variety of 

games, it’s clear that work has gone into 

bringing the various art styles together. 

Sprites have fantastic animation, with 

more frames than the Mega Drive 

originals, and the colours on screen are 

far beyond what the 16-bit machine 

could have displayed. In limited cases, 

low-polygon 3D models are even used 

to spice things up a bit, but these are 

mostly reserved for the game’s 

brand-new Special Zone. 

» [PS4] Knuckles takes one of Green Hill Zone’s new zip 

lines through an enormous cavern. 

In the Special Zone, you’ll chase an 

emerald-carrying UFO while collecting 

blue spheres to speed up and rings 

to extend your time limit, but avoiding 

hazards such as bottomless pits and 

spiked balls. Sonic’s handling here 

definitely requires some getting used 

to and getting all seven emeralds will 

test your skills as a result. The ‘Blue 

Spheres’ bonus stages also returns 

from Sonic 3 & Knuckles. There are 32 

of these, and completing them unlocks 

additional bonuses such as techniques 

from older games. 

Heavily invested Sonic fans will be 

pleased to know that the game is full 

of awesome nods to the history of 

the series – scrapped enemies finally 

get their day in the sun, long-forgotten 

characters show up in the most 

unexpected places, and at least one 

spin-off forms a key part of the game. 

Even the Master System and Game 

Gear Sonic games, which tend not to 

get a whole lot of love since they were 

developed outside of Sega, get their 

own references. 

The ‘greatest hits’ approach to Sonic 

Mania’s content serves the game very 

well – it reminds you just how good 

those original games were, with the 

changes ensuring that you’re not just 

retreading old ground. It also highlights 

the quality of the brand-new content, as 

it fits right in with the classic stages and 

concepts. In fact, the weakest areas of 

the game seem to be those rare points 

where too few changes have been 

made to the classic stages. Maybe 

that’s just familiarity talking, mind. 

If you’re a big Sonic fan, this game 

has been developed for you by people 

like you, so you’ll love it. For others, 

it’s a great platformer filled with action, 

secrets and gorgeous sprite work, and 

comes highly recommended. 

In a nutshell 

Thanks to an understanding of what 

made the 16-bit games so good, the 

Mania team has created an excellent 

platform game which delivers new 

thrills and nostalgic comfort. 

>> Score 92% 

RETRO GAMER | 103

RETRO ROUNDUP 

we look at the latest retro-related releases 

PICK OF THE MONTH 

Memoirs Of A Spectrum 

» Cost: £10 (digital) £20 (DVD) £25 (Blu-Ray) 

Addict » Buy it from: www.remicmedia.com/speccyaddict 

Like many Kickstarter projects, Andy 

Remic’s love letter to the ZX Spectrum 

has been a long time coming. We’d argue, 

though, that for many of the film’s backers it’s 

been well worth the wait as it gives a charming 

insight into why so many people love Sir Clive 

Sinclair’s 8-bit micro. 

If you’re looking for an in-depth history 

lesson on the ZX Spectrum then Memoirs will 

leave you disappointed. While there’s a small 

segment about the machine’s origins in the first 

chapter (all of the chapters have title cards that 

‘boot up’ like a Speccy loading screen) Memoirs 

is more interested in talking to the people who 

worked on the games, from publishers, like 

Andrew Hewson, to well-regarded developers 

like Jim Bagley and the Oliver twins. A large 

variety of topics are covered, from favourite 

games and magazines to discussions on piracy 

and the issues coders faced working on the 

machine, but the answers are never dull to 

listen to, even when they are topics that we’ve 

seen discussed many times in the past. 

It helps that Andy has interviewed a 

number of developers who are either 

extremely engaging or wonderfully frank, 

with Simon Butler’s no-nonsense approach 

to questions like piracy being exceptionally 

honest and entertaining. It lacks the 

professionalism of similar documentaries, but 

there’s a heart and personality to Memoirs, 

which is missing from its many peers. This 

passion is perhaps best summed up in the 

re-enactments, which show a young Andy 

opening his first Spectrum and snuggling up 

in bed to read the latest issue 

of Crash magazine. There are snippets of 

school kids sharing the latest games at 

school, too, which are bound to get the 

nostalgia juices flowing. 

Memoirs Of A Spectrum Addict is a 

little rough around the edges, but like the 

Spectrum itself, it just adds to its charm. 

It’s a delightful labour of love that won’t 

necessarily enlighten you, but will fill you with 

a warm Ready Brek-like glow. 

» There’s a great range of developers, including Steve Wetherill. Memoirs Of A 

Spectrum Addict does a great job of covering all bases. 

» They take a while to transition, but the start of each chapter is always worth the wait. 

» [Switch] Galaga ’88 is an excellent exclusion, making the inclusion of 

Galaga feel like a wasted game slot. 

Namco Museum 

» System: Switch » Cost: £29.99 » Buy it from: Switch eShop 

The Namco Museum series has been running 

since 1995 and in that time the company behind 

Pac-Man, Galaga and Dig Dug has revisited 

nearly 40 of its classic arcade games across six 

volumes. It’s a pity, then, that so few of them 

appear on this latest compendium for the Switch. 

The included arcade games are Pac-Man, Galaga, 

Dig Dug, The Tower Of Druaga, Sky Kid, Rolling 

Thunder, Galaga ’88, Splatterhouse, Rolling 

Thunder 2 and Tank Force. Additionally, there’s a 

new version of the excellent Pac-Man Vs, which 

now features a new three-player option for those 

that don’t have access to a second Switch. It’s 

a decent library of games, particularly as Rolling 

Thunder 2, Splatterhouse and Tank Force have 

never appeared in earlier Museum collections 

from the company, but it’s not very diverse, when 

it comes to the genres it represents. 

Fortunately, while the lack of games is 

something of a disappointment, the emulation 

throughout is excellent, allowing you to make 

countless tweaks to the display and sound, 

including adjusting the intensity of scanlines or 

even altering the reverb length. It’s even possible 

to switch your Switch (ho-ho) 90 degrees to 

make better use of the vertical games but Namco 

didn’t switch the controls in this option, meaning 

you have to use a detached Joycon, which is, 

frankly, rubbish. It’s the only sour point we have 

though, with the emulation being every bit as 

good as the slick presentation. 

We’re also guessing that Namco is a big fan 

of Rare Replay, as Namco Museum also features 

a challenge on each of its games that range 

from rescuing a set amount of ships in Galaga to 

defeating a boss in Splatterhouse in under five 

minutes. They’re a nice addition to the series, 

adding that little bit of extra longevity. 

The jewel of the crown is the excellent 

rendition of Pac-Man Vs that has been included. 

While you can only play as the ghosts on one 

Switch, it’s still tremendous fun. The price tag 

feels a little steep for the small amount of similar 

games that are available, but there’s no denying 

that Namco Museum is a decent product. 

>> Score 69% 

104 | RETRO GAMER

THE ULTIMATE 

COLLECTOR’S GUIDE TO 

THE PLAYSTATION 

ONSALE 

NOW 

From the makers of Retro Gamer 

comes the PlayStation Book, 

celebrating over 20 years of the 

console that truly brought gaming 

to the masses 

Find out how the PlayStation 

changed gaming 

Discover 20 great games you’ve 

never played 

Go behind the scenes of your 

favourite games 

Ordering is easy. Go online 

or get it from selected 

supermarkets & newsagents 

www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk

Gamers 

Brewing since 2005 

» [Windows] Taking to the skies in search of 

enemy planes to shoot down. 

» [Web] It’s a race against time in Super 

Aspen… time and that huge snowball. 

GOING BACK IN TIME 

The topic of the RemakeJam this 

year was simple, but it allowed for a 

wide range of games. Coders 

were challenged to remake their own 

first game using all of the design and 

programming skills that they had 

picked up since it was written, so 

how that affects the releases varies 

greatly in part because some of the 

programmers who entered the game 

jam had been going for less time than 

other homebrew veterans. 

In the case of shoot-’em-up Spitfire 

Scramble, for example, only the 

basics of the original game design 

remain – that first version is still 

playable online via Flash – and the 

mission now is to defend a factory 

from airborne attackers. GalAttack is 

another shooter, but this time based 

on the arcade classic Galaxian and 

the developer claims to be too old to 

remember which was his first game, 

so this is from somewhere in his 

first ten. Sticking with action games, 

Project Home is influenced by bullet 

hell shooters, except that the player 

is given a sword while their enemies 

get to let fly with the projectiles, so 

strategy is as important as reflexes. 

There are more puzzle-oriented 

games to choose from as well: 

Gravityball DX is a simple, but effective, 

platform-based challenge where 

any horizontal movement of the ball 

causes it to leap into the air even if it 

was already in the middle of a jump. 

Lady Luck’s Due doesn’t rely on action, 

instead offering a version of Blackjack 

with a backstory revolving around a 

gambler trying to escape from limbo, 

or at least unlock a free play mode – it’s 

» [Web] Fighting against gravity, avoiding spikes and trying to get to the portal. 

also one of the few entries to have a 

price tag – while word games are the 

order of the day in Big Bot’s Crossword 

Adventure where the titular robot must 

solve word puzzles that will get the 

factory up and running. 

It has to be noted that some of the 

titles are a little what we like to call 

‘out there’ as well. Attack Of The Killer 

Vegetables ’98 is another shoot-’em-up 

where the veggies are trying to take 

over the world, the Last Rectangle just 

wants its tea so it must find everything 

that’s required. Void Feeders is 

described by its programmers as 

a “mood piece” in its current state 

because they ran out of time. All of 

the 64 entries can be found at Itch.io 

behind Kikstart.eu/remake-jam-2017 

and there should be something for 

most gamers to enjoy there. 

106 | RETRO GAMER

NEW GAMES NEEDED 

If you have a homebrew project you would like to see featured then 

please contact us at: darran.jones@futurenet.com 

» [Amstrad CPC] 

Time for some 

bullet hell with 

Dragon Attack. 

DEVELOPING 

FOR THE CPC 

Last year’s CPCRetroDev competition was 

responsible for the release of over 30 new 

games for the Amstrad CPC, including titles like 

isometric adventure Hire Hare, the colourful, Wild 

West-themed Outlaws and Dragon Attack, a very 

busy bullet hell-style shoot-‘em-up. 

The 2017 iteration of the competition is now 

under way behind Kikstart.eu/cpc-retro-dev-2017 

and we’re hoping for great things after the 

previous years. There’s a significant prize pool 

available to Amstrad coders who fancy the 

challenge too, with the deadline being on the last 

day of October 2017. 

There’s a significant 

prize pool available to 

Amstrad coders 

EVEN MORE 

COMPETITION 

Another regular competition is the C64-based 

contest run by Forum64. The last instalment 

was rather quiet with just a couple of strategy 

games, but in 2015 there was an impressive crop 

of releases and the winner was the superb Caren 

And The Tangled Tentacles, a Lucasfilm 

Games-style point-and-click adventure. 

This time publishers Protovision is involved in 

running things as well – Kikstart.eu/f64pgc-2017 

goes to the page on its website – and the deadline 

is the end of April 2018. This competition always 

has a theme, and this time it’s ‘sports games’. 

» [C64] Caren’s 

adventure gets off 

to a noisy start; her 

phone is ringing. 

Graham Richards likes recently created 8-bit games 

so much that he acts as a publisher for new titles at 

MonumentMicrogames.com – we got him to stop the 

production line long enough for a quick chat 

Where did the idea of 

Monument Microgames 

come from? 

It actually stems back to late 

in 1991. I guess that everyone 

on the planet has at some 

point, dreamed of running a ZX 

Spectrum software house, and 

this is where my dream started. 

Inspired by Zenobi Software, I 

got together with a friend and 

we started penning out ideas 

for games and doing some 

BASIC programming. Under 

the name of Lycanthrope 

Software, we sent off some of 

the results to Crash magazine, 

who were kind enough to put 

us out of our misery. 

Four months later, when 

the Spectrum was nearing the 

end of its commercial life, I had 

accumulated lots of duplicate 

software and I was adamant 

to set up some sort of 8-bit 

related sideline, and so, going 

it alone this time, ‘Monument 

Classical Computer Gaming’ 

was born. From word of 

mouth, to taking out ads in a 

fanzine, MCCG kept me busy 

for quite a few years until all the 

doubles had been sold. Things 

all went quiet on the gaming 

front for a while and, although 

I never stopped playing, I felt 

sure that I’d got the selling bug 

out of my system. 

Then 2003 happened. I was 

certain that someone out there 

had to be publishing Spectrum 

games. So I picked up the 

latest copy of Micro Mart, 

thumbed through, and there 

was the answer: Cronosoft. I 

started collecting right away, 

and following the release of 

Higgledy Piggeldy I got fairly 

chatty with the owner, Simon 

Ullyatt. Before long I was 

helping out, drawing covers, 

duplicating tapes, designing 

the labels and headhunting 

programmers. That did it, the 

old fires and aspirations had 

been rekindled. It became 

apparent that there was far 

more software being made 

than Simon could handle, so in 

2012 I asked his permission to 

dust off Monument and start 

publishing. Being the wonderful 

chap he is, he was full of 

encouragement. 

And which platforms are 

you publishing for? 

Initially the ZX Spectrum, 

though I’ve always said that 

we’ll cater for anything. We 

now have ZX81 and Spectrum 

Next games on the cards, 

plus a couple for the CPC on 

the horizon. Recently we put 

a Commodore PET game 

on our website, courtesy of 

Donkeysoft. That was fun! 

What kind of feedback have 

you received? 

It’s been encouraging. The 

feedback that has made me 

» [ZX Spectrum] If run-and-gun action is you’re style, how about this? 

smile, is 

Monument 

being 

described as the, 

‘big-budget’ homebrew house. 

We’ve also received a couple 

of harsh reviews, but for some 

sick reason I love reading those 

as well. On the plus side, even 

the bad reviews acknowledge 

our dedication to putting 

together a quality package. 

And we’re still gaining new 

followers. It’s nice to find so 

many lovely people, passionate 

about new Spectrum games. 

Are there any new titles in 

the works? 

Oh yes. There are a few 

luminaries of yesteryear that 

are involved in upcoming 

releases, and I can’t wait to 

show you the results. 

And finally, how can 

developers contact you 

about their game? 

Feel free to tap us up on 

Facebook, or email us at 

microgames2000 

@yahoo.co.uk. 

Graham 

Richards 

RETRO GAMER | 107

The Atari ST’s Alien Blockade 

is a version of Qix where the 

objective is to draw lines across 

the playfield, boxing in a collection 

of bouncing lines until a certain 

percentage of the space is 

removed. Areas are closed off 

using the trail left behind by the 

player’s craft as it moves around, 

but a life will be lost should 

anything touch an incomplete line 

or the enemies hit the craft. 

There’s a time limit which 

needs to be watched and the 

difficulty goes up as the space 

is reduced as well so the player 

has plenty to deal with even 

before the line-tracing enemies 

start to appear. There are only 

two background images but 

artistic Atari ST owners with 

some knowledge of the machine 

can add more to customise their 

game. Head on over to 

Kikstart.eu/alien-blockade-st. 

» [BBC] Just warming up before the real challenge begins… 

TRAILBLAZER 

» foRMat: BBC MICro » DevelopeR: Darren Coles » DownloaD: KIKstart.eu/traIlBlazer-BBC » pRice: free 

» [Atari ST] I wonder what this is going to be 

when it’s finished? 

» [Atari ST] There’s an enemy chasing around 

the playfield to worry about now. 

» [BBC Micro] Pete probably needs to get the council in for 

those pesky potholes. 

» [BBC Micro] Some of the level names are 

less-than-subtle hints. 

Taking control of a football as it 

blazes a trail over tracks of brightly 

coloured tiles which seem to 

hover in space sounds fun, but it’s 

certainly not easy – this is a race 

against the clock which requires 

lightning-fast reactions and skill. 

Some of the tiles do more than merely 

allow the ball to roll across them as 

well. Purple and red will speed up and 

slow down the ball respectively, green 

makes it jump, and cyan reverses the 

controls, so keeping these in mind is 

essential to completing the stages. 

Having the controls messed 

with wouldn’t be a problem if there 

weren’t any hazards, of course, and 

in this case they’re the holes in the 

track which must either be navigated 

around or leapt over. Although there’s 

a limited stock of jumps available to 

use, this is where knowledge of the 

tiles comes in handy because missing 

the green ‘bounce’ tile while hurtling 

towards a hole will usually see the 

ball flying off the edge and plunging 

downwards into the abyss, wasting 

precious seconds. 

Developed by Mr Chip software 

over 30 years ago, Trailblazer has been 

converted to a raft of systems and 

seen several clones as well, including 

the likes of Sphere Of Destiny and 

its sequel on the BBC Micro. But 

this is an actual conversion of the 

original that is based on the one 

Gremlin released for the Spectrum 

and employing similar programming 

tricks to those used on some of the 

other platforms in order to produce a 

smooth moving game. 

Getting through each stage will 

require some learning of its map – all of 

the later ones need some very precise 

navigation – so there’s a practice mode 

included where the timer and jump 

counter are disabled and specific levels 

can be played repeatedly as required 

before taking them on in arcade mode. 

It’s both addictive and frustrating in 

equal measure, getting through a tricky 

stage feels good but one slip can lead 

to a series of time consuming errors 

that in turn end the current run. 

>> score 91% 

108 | RETRO GAMER

Don’t forget to follow us online for all the latest retro updates 

retroGameruK @retroGamer_Mag darran.jones@futurenet.com 

QUASARIUS 

» foRMat: CoMMoDore aMIGa 

» DevelopeR: ralIza software » pRice: free 

» DownloaD: KIKstart.eu/quasarIus-aMIGa 

» [Amiga] The boss isn’t taking any prisoners or sparing the bullets. 

Quasarius is a shoot-’em-up which 

borrows a few ideas from legendary 

classic coin-ops, like Space Invaders 

and Galaxian. There are three types of 

stage to blast through, these are a wave of 

aliens, followed by a boss battle and finally 

there’s a high-speed flight through space to 

the next combat zone. 

There is a lot of replay value from the 

game’s randomness, with the bullet 

patterns for the boss and the starting 

patterns for the waves being selected from 

a number of options. Everything gets more 

difficult with each pass, too, with nasties 

becoming more trigger happy and deadly 

asteroids starting to appear during the 

space flight. 

There are tokens to pick up for bonuses 

but there’s a lot to concentrate on besides 

them pilots need to be vigilant even on the 

very earliest stages, otherwise their limited 

stock of lives will soon be depleted. 

>> score 84% 

ROBOPROBE/48 

» foRMat: sInClaIr speCtruM » DevelopeR: stephen nIChol 

» DownloaD: KIKstart.eu/roBoproBe-speC » pRice: free 

Repair droids get all the 

nasty jobs and the star 

of Roboprobe/48 is no 

exception. The space station 

it’s aboard has been sabotaged 

and set on a collision course 

with the planet Zircliv 48. To 

make matters worse, the 

controls have been disabled 

and every other drone aboard 

was reprogrammed to be 

hazardous. These can be shot, 

but ammunition is limited so 

it’s better to manoeuvre around 

rather than blasting them. 

STRANDED 

There are 55 objects dotted 

around station AZ-101-D1 

which when gathered can 

be used together in order to 

fix the controls and prevent 

the impending collision, but 

contact with the enemies will 

drain much-needed power 

and running out leaves both 

the station and planet Zircliv 

without any hope. Finding the 

recharge points to keep the 

droid running is a sensible idea, 

as is picking up ammo dropped 

by shot enemies. 

In Legend Of The Lost Catacombs 

for the VIC 20, the legendary 

hero Victor has broken an ancient 

and powerful gemstone into six 

pieces to prevent the Demon 

lord Darkwon using its power to 

conquer the world. Victor guards 

these fragments, but a replacement 

is needed, so a novice monk has 

been trained and must find all the 

pieces to step into that role. Follow 

Kikstart.eu/catacombs-vic. 

It’s a work in progress at the 

moment, but Caves Of Zargon is 

a flip screen action game for the 

Atari 2600 which is like a simplified 

version of Thrust. The player’s 

vehicle must ascend through 

the caves, avoiding collisions 

with the walls and replenishing 

its limited fuel supply along the 

way. The playable preview can 

be downloaded: Kikstart.eu/ 

zargon-2600 will take you there. 

» foRMat: CoMMoDore 64 » DevelopeR: lInus ‘lft’ ÅKesson » DownloaD: KIKstart.eu/stranDeD-C64 » pRice: free 

Running out of petrol in the middle of nowhere 

is a problem, and for some reason the service 

station that you’ve coasted into doesn’t take 

cash. Instead, customers have to be a registered 

Card ‘O Fortune holder, but arranging that in a 

backwater town that seems to work on a barter 

system is going to be tough. It really doesn’t 

help that some of the people aren’t exactly 

friendly towards strangers, either. 

All of the interaction is handled with a pointerbased 

system, with the cursor keys cycling 

through areas of interest in each screen, number 

keys selecting one of five actions and return 

executing the chosen command. Stranded was 

originally written in 1999 by a then 17-year-old 

Lft for the TI-83 which explains the lowresolution 

graphics, but underneath that chunky 

exterior is a point and click style adventure with 

an unusual setting and quirky puzzles. 

» [ZX Spectrum] Letting loose 

with the bullets and hoping 

for a top up. 

» [ZX Spectrum] Weaving 

carefully through a room full 

of potentially fatal robots. 

>> score 83% 

>> score 88% 

» [C64] Well, well. What do we have here then? Oh, it’s a hole. 

RETRO GAMER | 109

HAVE YOUR SAY… SEND US A LETTER OR MAKE YOURSELF 

HEARD ON THE ONLINE FORUM – WWW.RETROGAMER.NET 

WIN! 

Every month, 

one lucky 

writer-in will 

receive a 

spanking copy 

of either our 

NES/Master 

System or 

SNES/Mega 

Drive 

books 

BEAT 

THE TEAM 

GALAGA ’88 

Since we’ve done a PC Engine 

cover, we chose one of the 

console’s many excellent arcade 

conversions to compete on. It has 

proven to be a constant source of 

distraction, too… 

NICK 457,280 

“Remember, you can get your 

blue warp tokens by shooting 

down merged enemies. The game gets 

harder with each warp but if you can 

survive, you’ll score far more points.” 

DREW 360,450 

“I knew challenging Nick would 

be futile, so I experimented with 

accuracy instead. I got this score with a 

80.4 per cent hit rate. Not bad!” 

SAM 275,750 

“I found a useful strategy here 

was to watch what Nick did 

and then do that. Also, the tried-and-tested 

method of trolling Darran during his runs 

seemed to yield positive results.” 

DARRAN 215,410 

“Okay, I’m simply not young 

enough any more. My hands 

aren’t what they used to be in my shmup 

heyday. I gave up in the first few moments.” 

» [PC Engine]Only 

one of our in-house 

team can claim 

to speak a bit of 

Japanese, and even 

that’s a stretch. If 

you’re fluent in 

the language, 

and can string a 

sentence together, 

get in touch! 

STAR LETTER 

FOREVER CONFUSED 

Hi chaps, 

Is it just me that is completely 

baffled by Sega? They go and 

whip up loads of attention for this 

new Sega Forever thing, and the 

idea sounds amazing (I mean, who 

doesn’t want free retro games?) but 

then they go and ruin it with poor 

emulation. I’d love to have a version 

of Altered Beast to play on the train 

to work, but they’ve made such a 

pig’s ear of running the game that it 

just isn’t fun. 

This is just like with those terrible 

Mega Drive clone consoles that 

come out every year – how do they 

keep getting licensed? Surely the 

NES Mini must have made Sega 

realise that if they did a better job 

with these machines, they’d make a 

lot more money from them. But no, 

this company has an amazing back 

IT’S A DATE 

Hi RG, 

I feel like other readers are going to 

laugh at me for asking this, but it 

needs to be asked: isn’t it about 

time you guys covered the dating 

simulator genre? 

I know it’s for ‘freaks’ and ‘weirdos’ 

but these games have started to filter 

through to the West, even if it’s mostly 

because of less serious games like 

Hatoful Boyfriend and Dream Daddy. 

But in Japan, games like Tokimeki 

Memorial, Sentimental Graffiti and 

LovePlus were big hits, and the 

genre’s mechanics have been 

catalogue and somehow constantly 

finds ways to undermine it. 

Of course, they also have 

those brilliant 3D Classics games 

on the 3DS, so they must know 

what decent emulation looks like. 

Why won’t Sega insist on the 

same kind of quality in their other 

retro releases? 

Will Huggett 

You’re not the only one that’s 

confused, Will. The company 

seemed to have better 

optimised emulation years ago 

with its early iOS releases, and 

we can’t understand why the 

Sega Forever releases are so 

broken now. 

Although it’s probable that 

different people are signing off 

on different projects, we’re not 

adopted by games such as Sakura 

Taisen and Persona. 

There’s also a lot of interesting 

history to the genre if you’re willing 

to uncover it – for example, SNK 

produced a line of dating sims featuring 

its female characters, a man once 

married his virtual girlfriend, and 

Konami crowdfunded production of 

Tokimeki Memorial 3 way before the 

likes of Kickstarter got going. 

So what do you say? Do I have a 

point, or am I crazy? 

Anon 

We reckon you do have a point, 

mystery reader. While it’s not 

the most mainstream of genres 

and its fans can be considered 

somewhat eccentric, it’s not 

something we’d be against 

covering in principle. However, 

we don’t feel like we could do the 

genre justice right now. 

The problem is that many 

of the important games in the 

genre require stronger Japanese 

language skills than we possess, 

so we’re completely unfamiliar 

sure why there’s no consistent 

quality standard. It shouldn’t 

be hard for Sega to get hold of 

a Mega Drive, compare the real 

deal to the emulation and make 

sure that they match up – and 

that’s what it’s going to need 

to do if retro enthusiasts are 

going to get on board with Sega 

Forever or the hardware clones. 

» [iOS] The iOS version of Altered Beast chugs, and it 

really shouldn’t considering the hardware it’s running on. 

with them. We’d be failing our 

readers if we couldn’t explain the 

appeal of the games from our 

own experience. Fear not, though 

– when somebody comes along 

with the correct expertise, we’ll 

give this much-maligned genre 

some fair coverage. 

BUT IS IT RETRO? 

Oi, you lot, 

Stop it. You know very well what I 

mean, too – you put a PlayStation 2 

game on the cover, as if that’s 

somehow retro. I could just about 

tolerate seeing the likes of Black and 

Halo covered in the magazine, but 

now you’re parading Final Fantasy XII 

as if that’s the sort of game this 

magazine should be about? Come on, 

these are just modern games with 

worse graphics and Final Fantasy XII 

was released basically yesterday. 

If you’re moving away from the 

classic gaming stuff towards this, I 

might be forced to reconsider 

buying the magazine. Please don’t 

make me do that. 

Alan Greeves 

110 | RETRO GAMER

Don’t forget to follow us online for all the latest retro updates 

RetroGamerUK 

@RetroGamer_Mag 

Retro Gamer Magazine 

@RetroGamerMag 

We’ll always have a place for the 

8-bit and 16-bit formats in the 

magazine, but retro gaming is not 

a fixed, unchanging thing. The PS2 

is 17 years old, the most popular 

console ever, and home to many 

great games. The people who 

spent their teenage years on the 

machine are adults now, and we’d 

be doing them a disservice if we 

didn’t cover it. 

seekingvirtue 

I love reading about the 

ingenuity and seeing all the 

homebrews. Diverse and solitary 

colours is something I never 

get over. Everything for me is 

emulation based, though I am 

hoping to get my hands on a 

Spectrum Next. 

paranoid marvin 

Great to see that so many Speccy 

programmers from back in the 

day are still loving the machine 

35 years on. Hopefully we’ll see 

many of them creating games for 

the Spectrum Next. 

fredghostmaster 

I mostly play Spectrum 

games on a DS these days. A 

Spectrum in your pocket, who 

knew that day would come all 

those years ago! 

CONTACT US 

Snail Mail: Retro Gamer, 

Future Publishing, Richmond House, 

33 Richmond Hill, Bournemouth, 

Dorset, BH2 6EZ 

Email: darran.jones@futurenet.com 

ALL A DREAM 

It was great to see Retro Gamer 

mention Phantasy Star Online 

for Dreamcast’s community servers 

in a recent issue. This inspired 

me to look into getting myself 

a Dreamcast after over-looking the 

console originally, and to get the thing 

back online after a decade of the 

official servers being down. I have 

never been happier. 

I have connected with a long-lost 

community in Phantasy Star Online, 

where I have found UK and USA 

players more than willing to assist a 

‘n00b’ to level up and have enjoyed 

fragging sessions in another timeless 

classic, Quake III Arena. It seems the 

From the forum 

Every month, Retro Gamer asks a question 

on the forum and prints the best replies. 

This month we wanted to know… 

How do you enjoy the 

Spectrum today? 

retro gaming community has gone to 

great lengths to keep this community 

alive, albeit, a small one. So let’s make 

it grow, together. 

So here is my call to arms to a 

lost generation of online gamers, 

get yourselves a DreamPi (a great 

alternative to the lesser-supported 

and very expensive broadband 

adapter), virtually any Pi will do to act 

as a Wi-Fi adapter for your DC, get 

your Dreamcast back online and join 

us, whether it be for the first time, or 

returning to the DC. Let’s make this 

community grow, let’s have epic 

online experiences with this 

underrated system with some 

quality online games. 

Readers can find an excellent 

guide on YouTube on the 

DreamcasticChannel channel and a 

wealth of resources on 

dreamcastlive.net. The parts are 

inexpensive, I got mine online for less 

than £50 and access is free. 

Do something really special, get your 

Dreamcast back online! 

Mike Brown 

You heard the man – give it a go! 

Big Shoes 

I still love the Spectrum, I have 

a nice collection of games, 

probably about 60, mostly the 

ones I had as a kid. I have a few 

Spectrums in my collection, a 

ZX81, 48k (rubber key) and a 

128k +2b. I mainly use the 48k as 

this was the one I had when I was 

young so has the most nostalgic 

memories for me. 

kiwimike 

Dare I mention the Vega+ ?! I 

was looking forward to seeing 

it emerge, but it’s looking 

more unlikely as time passes. 

Otherwise, emulator is the 

only way I can remember the 

Spectrum. Or mag screenshots 

stvd 

My Spectrum usage is still 

regular via emulation. My PSP 

has Fuse-PSP and the 

original Xbox has both Fuse and 

DidntXSpectrum. Both are great, 

but I do still prefer to play using 

the keyboard so its via ZXspin on 

my laptop or Spectaculator on 

my desktop. 

DRS 

I enjoy my Spectrum every 

morning as it sits just above 

the loo – a zombie-fleshed 48K 

model signed by Matthew Smith 

and Rick Dickinson – and always 

puts a smile on my face. 

PostieDoc 

I have a mint-condition Spectrum 

+3 with a DivMMC slotted in the 

DISCUSSED THIS MONTH 

DS XS 

“Don’t let me buy any games,” declares Darran. 

Ten minutes later, he’s off to Bournemouth’s CeX. 

“Don’t buy any games,” we all remind him. He 

comes back with a DS game and a DSi XL. We 

can’t remember the last time a day passed without 

a DS game arriving in the post. 

» [Dreamcast] Phantasy Star Online is sure to strike a 

chord with most Dreamcast owners. 

back, near enough every game 

ready to play. I just prefer playing 

on the original hardware, there is 

something magical about it. 

malczx 

I travel back to my beloved 

Spectrum days using different 

types of emulation – GameBase 

on my Windows laptop, then 

the Recreated Bluetooth ZX 

Spectrum on my tablet, and 

finally for that really portable 

option ZXDS on my 

Nintendo DS XL! 

Future Publishing Limited 

Richmond House, 33 Richmond Hill 

Bournemouth, Dorset, BH2 6EZ 

Editorial 

Editor Darran ‘Earthworm Jim enthusiast’ Jones 

darran.jones@futurenet.com 

% 01202 586237 

Production Editor Drew ‘Sparkster supporter’ Sleep 

Senior Staff Writer Nick ‘Sonic spinner’ Thorpe 

Designer Sam ‘Croc convert’ Ribbits 

Group Editor In Chief Tony Mott 

Senior Art Editor Warren Brown 

Photographer James Sheppard 

Contributors 

Adam Barnes, Mike Bevan, Martyn Carroll, Paul Drury, Kieren 

Hawken, Kim Justice, Jason Kelk, Graeme Mason, Rory Milne, 

Paul Rose, Paul Walker-Emig 

Advertising 

Media packs are available on request 

Commercial Director Clare Dove 

clare.dove@futurenet.com 

Advertising Director Andrew Church 

andrew.church@futurenet.com 

Account Director Kevin Stoddart 

kevin.stoddart@futurenet.com 

International 

Retro Gamer is available for licensing. Contact the International 

department to discuss partnership opportunities 

International Licensing Director Matt Ellis 

matt.ellis@futurenet.com 

Print Subscriptions & Back Issues 

Email enquiries retrogamer@servicehelpline.co.uk 

UK orderline & enquiries 844 848 8412 

Overseas order line and enquiries +44 1795 592 872 

Online orders & enquiries www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk 

Head of subscriptions Sharon Todd 

Circulation 

Circulation Director Darren Pearce 

01202 586200 

Production 

Head of Production US & UK Mark Constance 

Production Project Manager Clare Scott 

Advertising Production Manager Joanne Crosby 

Digital Editions Controller Jason Hudson 

Production Controller Vivienne Calvert 

Management 

Creative Director Aaron Asadi 

Art & Design Director Ross Andrews 

Printed by 

Printed by Wyndham Bicester, Granville Way, Bicester, OX26 4QZ 

Distributed by 

Marketforce, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU 

0203 787 9060 www.marketforce.co.uk 

We are committed to only using magazine paper which is derived 

from responsibly managed, certiied forestry and chlorine-free 

manufacture. The paper in this magazine was sourced and 

produced from sustainable managed forests, conforming to strict 

environmental and socioeconomic standards. The manufacturing 

paper mill holds full FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certiication 

and accreditation 

Disclaimer 

All contents © 2017 Future Publishing Limited or published under 

licence. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be used, 

stored, transmitted or reproduced in any way without the prior written 

permission of the publisher. Future Publishing Limited (company number 

2008885) is registered in England and Wales. Registered ofice: Quay 

House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All information contained in this 

publication is for information only and is, as far as we are aware, correct 

at the time of going to press. Future cannot accept any responsibility for 

errors or inaccuracies in such information. You are advised to contact 

manufacturers and retailers directly with regard to the price of products/ 

services referred to in this publication. Apps and websites mentioned 

in this publication are not under our control. We are not responsible for 

their contents or any other changes or updates to them. This magazine 

is fully independent and not afiliated in any way with the companies 

mentioned herein. 

If you submit material to us, you warrant that you own the material and/ 

or have the necessary rights/permissions to supply the material and 

you automatically grant Future and its licensees a licence to publish 

your submission in whole or in part in any/all issues and/or editions 

of publications, in any format published worldwide and on associated 

websites, social media channels and associated products. Any material 

you submit is sent at your own risk and, although every care is taken, 

neither Future nor its employees, agents, subcontractors or licensees 

shall be liable for loss or damage. We assume all unsolicited material 

is for publication unless otherwise stated, and reserve the right to edit, 

amend, adapt all submissions. 

ISSN 1742-3155

THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO ALL YOUR 

CHILDHOOD FAVOURITES 

Whether it’s Star Wars, SuperTed, Sesame Street or Smurfs, The Ultimate 

Retro Collection is a celebration of the movies, music and toys that 

defi ned so many childhoods around the world. 

ON SALE 

NOW 

Get it from WHSmiths in the UK & 

Barnes & Noble in the US

Load 173 

ON SALE 5 OCTOBER 2017 

Everything you 

need to know about 

Saurus’ incredible 

Neo-Geo blaster 

The History Of Chuck Rock, Laser 

Squad, 25 Years Of The CD-i, Emerald 

Isle, Gyruss, Kirby And The Amazing 

Mirror, Great Expectations: Videogame 

Adaptations Of Classic Books, 

Sierra Online, Satellaview, Whatever 

Happend To: Resident Evil (GBC), 

Atari 800 XL, Rasputin, ZeeWolf

STAR PARODIER 

» With three successful HuCard entries in the 

Star Soldier series, PC Engine fans must have 

been eagerly anticipating what Hudson Sot would 

do with the Super CD-ROM format – and we’re 

guessing that few would have expected Star 

Parodier, a cute-’em-up that was to Star Soldier 

what Parodius is to Gradius. Still, it turned out to 

be a fantastic game in its own right, so let’s spoil 

it and skip to the end… 

01 02 03 

» We’re not really sure what your mission 

is in Star Parodier, really. You just shoot a 

bunch of stuf and then shoot some more. 

Regardless, with the inal boss destroyed 

your mission – whatever exactly that 

entailed – is complete at last. 

04 

» Here are our heroes. The Paro Ceaser 

has come from Star Soldier, which makes 

sense. Bomberman has come from, 

well… Bomberman. Then there’s a 

PC Engine, which shoots HuCards and 

CDs. They’re all of home post-mission. 

05 

» And this is home, apparently – a 

gigantic lippin’ Supergrafx, which is the 

sort of thing you’d really expect Hudson 

to be less proud of given that the gaming 

market thoroughly rejected the console. 

This one’s even got lights and stuf. 

» As they approach the Supergrafx our heroes are greeted by 

other ships, including the PC Engine Shuttle (again with the failed 

hardware?) and a selection of men who utilise bombs. They 

playfully frolic, now that they’ve inished doing whatever it was 

they were meant to have done. Something about shooting? 

» With a complete disregard for sense, Bomberman decides to 

cut loose and try wakeboarding on the back of Star Ceaser. It’d 

go just as well without the board, given that there’s no water or 

indeed gravity here, but Bomberman doesn’t care. He’s bored 

with your silly concept of physics, okay? 

114 | RETRO GAMER

100% 

FOR SUPER NINTENDO PLAYERS 

BACK! FOR 

ONE FINAL 

MISSION 

INDEPENDENT SUPER NINTENDO MAGAZINE 

ISSUE 

48 

OCTOBER 2017 

STAR 

FOX 2 

FOX McCLOUD FINALLY 

RETURNS TO THE SNES! 

Has the wait been worth it? 

NEW 

REVIEWS 

OF SNES 

CLASSICS! 

Contra III 

EarthBound 

Final Fantasy III 

Secret Of Mana 

Super Mario Kart 

Super Mario World 

Super Metroid 

Yoshi’s Island 

And more… 

SNES MINI 

HANDS-ON TEST 

INSIDE 

WIN ORIGINAL WIL OVERTON ART, A SNES MINI CONSOLE AND MORE! 

SUPER EXPRESS ● ANIME WORLD ● IMPORT REVIEWS ● WHAT CART?

October 2017 Issue 48 

Editorial & Advertising Offices: 

Super Play, Future PLC, Quay House, 

The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. 

Tel: 01225 442244 

TEXANS 

Editor: Tony Mott 

Senior art editor: Woz Brown 

Production editor: Ian Evenden 

Cover artist: Wil Overton 

PYRAMINTS 

Advertising director: Andy Church 

Commercial director: Clare Dove 

Account director: Kevin Stoddart 

TOFFOS 

Managing director: Zillah Byng-Thorne 

Creative director: Aaron Asadi 

Art & Design director: Ross Andrews 

Editorial 

Jason Brookes 

Jonathan Davies 

Matt Elliott 

Mark Green 

Darran Jones 

Keza MacDonald 

Helen McCarthy 

Damien McFerran 

Zy Nicholson 

Jeremy Parish 

Chris Schilling 

Nick Thorpe 

TREETS 

Neko Jr artwork 

Wil Overton 

Additional layout 

Alvin Weetman 

Rebecca Shaw 

Photography 

Olly Curtis 

Production 

Vivienne Calvert 

Mark Constance 

Next issue on sale: 

That’s a good one! Uh, let’s say 

sometime in 2042 (if we’re still alive). 

1 

Super Play has been resurrected from 

the home of Edge, GamesMaster, games, 

Official PlayStation Magazine, Official 

Xbox Magazine, PC Gamer and, of course, 

the balloon-poppingly fine Retro Gamer. 

SUBSCRIPTIONS For fairly obvious 

reasons, you can no longer get Super Play 

delivered each month. For some hugely 

scrumptious alternatives, see p50. 

I’m not really the sort of person 

to pre-order things on the 

Internet, but when Nintendo 

announced the Classic Mini: SNES 

I buckled like a white plastic chair 

at a You’ve Been Framed barbecue. 

Scrabbling to Amazon, I made my 

reservation. Ten minutes later, I was 

there again, having decided to order 

another one to give as a Christmas 

gift, only to be rejected because the 

entire allocation had been hoovered 

up in a flash. Who knew that 

everyone loves this console as much 

as I do? Not Nintendo, presumably. 

I’d played games on consoles 

since their very early days, but 

hardware such as the NES and 

Master System felt like dress 

rehearsals for the SNES. I’d enjoyed 

Mega Drive games such as Thunder 

Force III and The Revenge Of Shinobi 

well enough, but I connected with 

Super Metroid, A Link To The Past 

and Super Mario World on a different, 

deeper level. And then there was 

SUPER PLAY EDITORIAL 

FROM THE 

BIG CHAIR 

Our full contents listing starts just over the page 

Street Fighter II Turbo and Yoshi’s 

Island and… well, if you were there, 

you know what I’m on about. 

I really liked Super Play, too, and 

not only because the subscription 

deal offered readers a copy of Akira. 

(On VHS! Hey, this was 1992.) I liked 

it so much, in fact, that one day I 

called the magazine’s editor to ask 

about possible job openings. (Thank 

goodness this was in the days before 

he could have easily ignored an email 

from me.) And so it was that I joined 

the team. I had very little idea about 

what I was doing, but I wasn’t short 

on enthusiasm – which came in pretty 

handy given the apparently neverending 

stream of crappy Japanese 

imports no one else wanted to review. 

Back then, I got away with it 

because I was among a group of 

very patient and 

extremely talented 

folk, and in 

resurrecting 

Super Play for 

this one-off special edition I thought 

it’d be sensible to follow the same 

approach. So I got in touch with 

former Super Play staff Jason Brookes, 

Jonathan Davies, Zy Nicholson and 

Wil Overton to invite them back 

aboard, along with longtime Nintendo 

experts including Mark Green, 

Damien McFerran, Jeremy Parish 

and Chris Schilling. The plan, in part: 

let’s re-review 20 of the Mini-bound 

SNES games in the direct glare of 

2017, over 20 years on. That all of 

them were so enthusiastic about the 

idea tells us a good deal about what 

this amazing little console represents. 

Tony Mott 

Editor 

SUPER EXPRESS 

3 

Super Play is an independent publication and 

the views expressed within are not necessarily 

those of Nintendo or its agents. ‘Nintendo’ and 

‘Nintendo Classic Mini: Super Nintendo 

Entertainment System’ are trademarks of 

Nintendo Co Ltd. All rights reserved. 

Do not call Super Play on Thursdays, and 

certainly not between the hours of 2pm and 

6pm! NEVER call for SNES Mini stock advice! 

Actually, look, please don’t call at all, because 

once this issue’s complete we won’t be here, 

just like Consumer Recreation Services from 

out of the Michael Douglas movie The Game. 

But you can contact Nintendo’s customer 

support, whose number is 

+44 (0)345 60 50 247. 

Thank you, E and K, for your help, 

and C for pressing the button. 

Printed in the UK by Southernprint Ltd, 

Poole, Dorset. 

All material © Future Publishing 2017 

ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

4 

OCTOBER 2017 ISSUE 48 

REGULARS 

SUPER EXPRESS 

A news section? For a console that’s nearly 27 

years old? Look, you received this copy of Super 

Play with Retro Gamer. Don’t ask silly questions. 

FAN HUNTER 

Slap on your Mario dungarees, prepare your postal 

orders, and allow Chris Schilling to be your guide 

through the world of Nintendo-focused fanzines. 

ANIME WORLD 

Helen McCarthy returns to Super Play and peers 

beyond the pulsating tentacles as she recalls the 

rise of the UK anime scene in the early 1990s. 

UK REVIEWS 

Twenty of the 21 games headed to the SNES Mini 

reassessed. Some hold up. Others… not as much. 

Are some even better than we originally thought? 

COMPETITION 

Some amazing SNES-related stuff. That you can 

win. If you’re really lucky. Actually, you don’t even 

need to be lucky, if only five people send entries in. 

IMPORT REVIEWS 

Reviewed: the five games SFC Mini owners will get 

instead of EarthBound, Kirby’s Dream Course, SFII 

Turbo, Super Castlevania IV and Super Punch-Out!! 

Which games did Nintendo unjustly ignore for the 

SNES Mini line-up? We’ve had a lash at compiling 

a list. Feel free to add yours in biro in the margins. 

SUBSCRIPTIONS 

We can’t offer you a shiny new Super Play sub with 

a free copy of Akira on Blu-ray, but we do have an 

amazing offer for some other great mags. Not bad. 

p50 

WHAT CART? 

6 

11 

16 

18 

45 

46 

48 

50 

CONT 

HANDS-ON 

SNES 

MINI 

We put Nintendo’s new 

hardware through its 

paces – and discover how it 

greases the wheels when facing up 

to even the toughest SNES challenges. 

p8 

UK & IMPORT GAME REVIEWS 

index 

CONTRA III: THE ALIEN WARS ..........18 

DONKEY KONG COUNTRY .................19 

EARTHBOUND .................................20 

FINAL FANTASY III ...........................22 

F-ZERO ...........................................24 

KIRBY’S DREAM COURSE ................25 

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: 

A LINK TO THE PAST ........................26 

KIRBY SUPER STAR .........................28 

MEGA MAN X ..................................29 

SECRET OF MANA ...........................30 

STAR FOX .......................................32 

STREET FIGHTER II TURBO ..............33 

SUPER MARIO WORLD .....................34 

p6 

A SUPER 

HISTORY 

Jason Brookes, who was behind the scenes for 

the launch of Super Play in 1992, chronicles the 

beginnings of the SNES story, and explains the 

ingredients of the very magazine in your hands. 

SUPER CASTLEVANIA IV ..................36 

SUPER GHOULS’N GHOSTS ..............37 

SUPER MARIO WORLD 2: 

YOSHI’S ISLAND ..............................38 

SUPER MARIO KART ........................40 

SUPER MARIO RPG: 

LEGEND OF THE SEVEN STARS ........41 

SUPER METROID .............................42 

SUPER PUNCH-OUT!! ......................44 

FIRE EMBLEM: MYSTERY 

OF THE EMBLEM .............................46 

GANBARE GOEMON: 

YUKIHIME KYUSHUTSU EMAKI ........46 

PANEL DE PON ................................47 

SUPER FORMATION SOCCER ...........47 

SUPER STREET FIGHTER II: 

THE NEW CHALLENGERS .................47 

P

ENTS 

ISSUE 

STAR 

48 

OCTOBER 

2017 

p12 

FOX 2 

No review for McCloud’s 

return? Blame the choke 

hold of an NDA. Here’s 

the next best thing. 

5 

p30 

p14 

Dylan Cuthbert 

INTERVIEW 

If we can’t get too deep 

into the nitty-gritty of how 

Star Fox 2 plays out, we can 

at least get the inside story 

from one of its developers. 

Look, here he is right now. 

SECRET 

OF MANA 

Once more into Square’s verdant 

action RPG, with its unique threeplayer 

support. If, er, you can work 

out how to use this unique feature 

on the two-controllers-only SNES 

Mini, by all means let us know. 

SUPER 

METROID 

Jeremy Parish returns to the planet Zebes to dig 

below the surface of one of the most critically 

acclaimed SNES games of them all. With series 

fans awaiting the arrival of Switch tour de force 

Metroid Prime 4, can this resolutely 2D action 

adventure still cut the mustard? (Spoiler: OH YES.) 

p42 

ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

SUPER EXPRESS 

SUPER 

NEWS NETWORK SUPER NINTENDO MINI NEWS NETWORK SUPER 

6 

SUPER PLAY 

PROFILES 

This month, we’re finishing some sentences. 

Tony Mott 

Jonathan Davies 

Jason Brookes 

Zy Nicholson 

Wil Overton 

This picture: “Is how I’d appear 

on a Virtual Boy, according to the 

excellent Retro Specs photo app.” 

Since the old Super Play days, 

I have: “Helped to make a lot 

of videogame magazines. Hey, 

let’s hear it for all those trees.” 

The best SNES game is: “The 

best 2D Mario game – SMW.” 

This picture: “Is how I look 

nowadays, apparently.” 


I have: “Mainly been preoccupied 

with the old Super Play days. 

It’s been difficult to move on.” 

The best SNES game is: “A Link 

To The Past, the epic template 

for every Zelda game since.” 

This picture: “Is Wil’s cute 

‘Gamefreak’ caricature of me 

from Super Play’s early days.” 


I have: “Edited Edge (the early 

years) and lived in California, 

writing for Japanese magazines.” 

The best SNES game is: 

“Hmmm... Super Mario Kart?” 

This picture: “Suggests I am 

Cactuar – elusive and bristly.” 


I have: “You’ve lost me – the mag 

closed? Then where’s the copy 

I’ve been filing been going for 

20 years? You moved office?” 

The best SNES game is: “If it’s 

Friday, then A Link To The Past.” 

This picture: “Is the best I can 

do nowadays – and it isn’t even 

my final form. I know!” 


I have: “Drawn many silly 

pictures for many people 

silly enough to ask me.” 

The best SNES game is: “FFVI. 

Especially the opera bit.” 

NINTENDO 

REWINDS 

THE CLOCK 

A repackaged 

SNES just in time 

for the return of 

Super Play? Now 

that’s what you 

call convenient. 

When we took early delivery 

of SNES Mini hardware 

from Nintendo, we were 

expecting it to function in much the 

same way as last year’s NES-based 

predecessor. And sure enough, upon 

powering it up we were greeted with 

a familiar user interface, with a 

horizontal arrangement of 21 SNES 

game boxes that can be scrolled 

through against a pixelly SNES as the 

backdrop. However, in poking around 

with the console’s Suspend Point 

feature – allowing you to save your 

game at any time, just as with the 

NES version – we noticed a new 

option: Rewind. “That’s nice,” we 

thought. “It saves video clips, just 

like modern consoles.” But these 

aren’t video clips: rather, the console 

is saving your gameplay, and you can 

jump into a sequence to pick it up 

again at any point. The prospect of 

saving progress wherever we like 

had already given us new hope in the 

face of returning to the diamond-hard 

Super Ghouls’n Ghosts, but this is a 

game-changer on another level. 

The downside is that you can 

only access the Rewind feature from 

the home screen, which means 

reaching for the console’s Reset 

button. And this is potentially farther 

away than it was with the NES Mini 

given that, at about 5ft, SNES Mini 

controller cables are longer than the 

3ft ‘8-bit’ versions. On the plus side, 

the hardware is packaged with two 

controllers this time around, a fine 

consideration given the presence of 

Super Mario Kart and Street Fighter II 

Turbo, which obviously gain a vital 

extra dimension when you’re playing 

next to a fellow human begging to be 

crushed into fine dust repeatedly.

EXPRESS 

NINTENDO MINI NEWS NETWORK SUPER NINTENDO MINI 

SUPER EXPRESS 

Below: The user interface follows the format used by the 

NES Mini, right down to display modes, offering ‘Pixel 

Perfect’ (square pixels), ‘4:3’ (pictured below centre – 

the best option, in our opinion) and ‘CRT Filter’ (bottom). 

7 

Main: Build quality on the 

new console is as sturdy 

as expected. Note: one of 

these buttons does not do 

anything, no mattter how 

many times you press it. 

Can you guess which? 

Crucially, the controller is based 

on the Wii Super NES Classic Controller 

(a Club Nintendo limited edition, once 

upon a time), which is modelled on the 

original hardware and is about as 

faithful as these things get. Twentyseven 

years on, the design sits as 

comfortably in the hands as ever, its 

D-pad and buttons as winningly precise 

as they need to be in the face of 

something like Contra III, which hands 

out kickings as ruthlessly as it always 

has, thanks to what feels like perfect 

emulation (right down to slowdown 

when the action heats up), as is the 

case across all of the 21 games on offer. 

LET’S SEE THOSE PIXELS 

If what’s in your hands feels timeless, 

it’s not quite so straightforward up there 

on the screen. Running the hardware on 

a modern LCD display via its HDMI 

video output leaves no hiding place for 

anything that was designed with the 

bleeding glow of phosphor-based CRT 

screens in mind. The anti-aliasing used 

in some games’ typography, for example, 

feels messy when exposed like this, 

while the Ape logo at the beginning of 

EarthBound simply looks like a splodge. 

Meanwhile, Donkey Kong Country’s 

famed ‘ACM’ visuals lose some of their 

lustre in this format, while Secret Of 

Mana’s forest-scene intro, once so aweinspiring, 

is a bit of a smudgy mess. At 

times you’ll swear that these aren’t the 

graphics that dazzled you all those years 

ago, but of course they are, just viewed 

through a different lens. A ‘CRT Filter’ 

display option smooths things out and 

emulates scanlines, but if you’re the sort 

of person who uses such modes, you’ll 

yearn for a variety of treatments rather 

than the sole method on offer here. 

Younger players may find some of 

these games’ UI foibles a little weird, 

too. There is no way, for instance, of 

remapping Super Metroid’s controls from 

within the game itself, requiring a reset 

back to the title screen. But this has 

nothing to do with the SNES Mini 

hardware, and it’s not too difficult to 

digest in the context of something as 

majestic as Yoshio Sakamoto’s classic. 

And it’s to be expected. The SNES 

Mini sees us travelling back in time to 

a momentous period in videogames’ 

evolution. That each individual stop 

along the way allows us to rewind time 

within it, again and again, is a highfivingly 

appropriate bonus. 

Ultimately, the console feels like 

the sweet spot between the NES Mini, 

which was a fun diversion but with too 

few games capable of holding your 

attention for long, and the rumoured N64 

edition, whose controllers would surely 

make it more expensive, and whose 

visuals might, in a weird way, feel more 

dated than those on display in this 16-bit 

emulation. Given that, for £70, you’re 

getting a fat helping of All-Time Hall Of 

Famers alongside plenty of games that 

simply put a big smile on your face, 

it’s impossible not to recommend. 

Inset: Video output is 

handled by HDMI, and 

the console is powered via 

the supplied Micro USB 

cable, which can be simply 

fed into your TV (so long 

as it has a USB port, 

obviously). As with the NES 

Mini, a dedicated power 

adaptor is not included. 

Above left: The ‘tongue’ 

that must be flicked out in 

order to insert controllers 

is the one design aspect 

that feels a little off. Best 

keep it in when you’re not 

playing, to maintain that 

authentic SNES aesthetic. 

Above centre left: The 

amount of action you’re 

allowed to skip through 

with the Rewind feature 

depends on how long 

you’ve been playing a 

game. The timer seems to 

allow for up to an hour’s 

worth of stored play, but 

we haven’t pushed it near 

to that during our time 

with the hardware so far. 

ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

SUPER EXPRESS 

8 

THE MACHINE 

AND THE 

MAGAZINE 

One of Super Play’s launch team looks at the birth of 

a new type of videogame console – and the creation 

of a magazine dedicated to celebrating it. By Jason Brookes 


P 

Super Famicom, Super Nintendo, 

Super Play: the superlative was 

massively overused, but perhaps 

deservedly so. Nintendo’s 16-bit console 

was super. It was almost perfect. 

Amazingly, it’s 25 years since Super 

Play was launched and it’s so gratifying 

that, like the console, the magazine is 

still fondly remembered by readers. The 

launch of the SFC/SNES was clearly a 

special and unique time for the gaming 

world, and its profound impact on game 

design and innovation can still be felt 

today – many key game designers citing 

the console and its games as having 

been catalysts for their own creativity. 

But the seeds of 16-bit success didn’t 

sprout from nowhere. They evolved from 

the NES/Famicom – a machine that 

ultimately muscled its way into swathes 

of Japanese, American and (to a lesser 

extent) European households during the 

1980s. The NES quickly became the 

backbone of the 8-bit console era – 

bridging the primordial years of home 

‘edutainment’ computers and early 

consoles, to the parting shots of more 

advanced 8-bit gaming tech later on. 

It was simple, functional and 

ubiquitous, thriving on a growing 

library of abundant, occasionally 

outstanding software from Nintendo’s 

Kyoto in-house teams, and from talented 

developers locked into restrictive 

licensing agreements. This throttling of 

the competition enabled Nintendo to 

own an astonishing two thirds of the 

US console market within two years of 

the late-’85 NES launch. In Japan it 

acquired an even bigger share, where, 

by the middle of 1985, close to four 

million Famicom units had shifted in 

the two years since its debut. 

But by the second half of the decade, 

as powerful 16-bit graphics were 

infiltrating worldwide arcades and 

revolutionising home computer gaming, 

an expiry date for 8-bit console gaming 

loomed on the horizon. The inevitable 

leap to 16-bit would be a decision not 

taken lightly by Nintendo, though. 

Closely guarding its core business – 

an installed base of 8-bit machines 

which would eventually reach a 

staggering 61 million units – the company 

deliberately held off announcing the 

Super Famicom’s development in Japan 

until November 1988. By then, NEC had 

already sold close to a million of its tiny 

but formidable PC Engines in just a year, 

delivering a machine boasting nearpixel-perfect 

conversions of modern 

arcade machines such as R-Type and 

Galaga ’88. Meanwhile, Sega’s 16-bit 

Mega Drive had also just arrived in 

Japan with its own ambitions. Both NEC 

and Sega succeeded in attracting stellar 

support from key arcade developers 

previously tied to Nintendo. 

Ironically, though, tougher new 

competition from its rivals likely spurred 

the Kyoto old master to pitch things 

exactly right as it refined 

prototypes of its worldbeating 

console. It 

announced the 16-bit 

Nintendo would include 

a revolutionary joypad 

design with four – instead 

of the NES’s two – main 

gameplay buttons, but also 

twin shoulder buttons to boot. 

Both were features that would become 

standardised on future consoles. 

Top left: The original 

PAL SNES console with its 

new, condensed brother. 

Inset: Early artist 

impressions of what 

Nintendo’s 16-bit console 

would look like. Yikes. 

Above: Area 88, Gradius III 

and Final Fight – early SFC 

releases that reflected the 

expectations of the early 

’90s, bringing coin-op 

action into the home.

Left: Just two games 

arrived with the Super 

Famicom when it launched 

on 21 November 1990: the 

mighty Super Mario World 

and the futuristically styled 

Mode 7 showcase Z-Fero. 

SUPER EXPRESS 

It also revealed the machine would 

be powered by an array of custom 

processing units enabling big sprites, 

powerful scrolling capabilities and 

crystal-clear eight-channel stereo sound 

– the latter courtesy of a Sony-designed 

chip. Eight-bit colour layering would 

create sophisticated lighting and 

translucency effects, and its 

masterstroke – ultra-smooth background 

rotation and zooming via its lauded 

Mode 7 – was admirably showcased by 

early versions of F-Zero and Pilotwings. 

It’s arguable that the inclusion of a 

critically underpowered 3.58MHz CPU 

(initially chosen as a way to possibly 

retain backwards compatibility with the 

Famicom) was the only suspect move 

in the whole plan. Worryingly for 

players, it caused early sprite-based 

shooters to chug embarrassingly – 

before programmers gradually figured 

out the console’s nuances. 

In the lead-up to launch, Nintendo 

woefully underestimated demand, 

and 1.2 million pre-orders 

remained unfulfilled for months 

Closer to launch, as more details 

were revealed, it became clear that 

everything from the new machine’s 

sleek industrial design, to the colourful 

game packaging, to the inner hardware 

itself seemed utterly on point. This, 

combined with Nintendo’s existing 

market share, worldwide infrastructure, 

and relatively technically friendly 

developer tools, naturally made the new 

format a shoe-in for existing developers 

such as JRPG heavy hitters Square and 

Enix, as well as arcade giants Konami, 

Namco, Taito and Capcom. 

And so, on 21 November 1990 – 

exactly two years to the day from its 

initial announcement – a modest 

300,000 Super Famicoms were shipped 

out in a Yakuza-thwarting overnight 

delivery mission dubbed ‘Operation 

Midnight Shipping’. Huge fleets of 

trucks drove through the night from 

Nintendo’s Kyoto warehouse delivering 

the machine and its only two available 

games (Super Mario World and F-Zero) 

to key stores over Japan. 

Within a few weeks, just prior to 

Christmas, a wave of strong supporting 

software arrived in the form of Actraiser, 

Gradius III, Final Fight and Pilotwings. 

But a glitch remained: in the lead-up 

to launch, Nintendo had woefully 

underestimated demand for its new 

machine, and 1.2 million pre-orders 

remained unfulfilled for months. However, 

by spring, supply problems had been 

rectified, and the company had already 

shifted an impressive two million units. 

Back in the UK (and Europe), where 

16-bit computer gaming had been on a 

roll since the late ’80s, the official UK 

console market 

was – certainly 

in contrast to the 

US and Japan – 

a depressing 

backwater 

suffering hugely 

delayed releases 

and puny 

selections of 

software. It was under such conditions 

that a proliferation of underground 

import gaming stores sprung up from 

1988 onwards (initially selling mostly 

Japanese PC Engines and Mega Drives) 

to a more impassioned breed of player. 

IMPORT ARMY 

Unofficial ‘grey’-imported Super 

Famicoms started to trickle into the UK 

within a month or so of the hardware’s 

Japanese launch. This was propelled by 

a strong UK pound against the Japanese 

yen and fairly quickly early adopters 

were able pick up a 60Hz, full-screen 

RGB SCART-converted console for 

around £250–300 including a game 

(in Japan, the ¥25,000 price tag of the 

machine with just one controller had 

equated to roughly just £100). 

The UK import scene continued to 

flourish – particularly after the American 

Super Nintendo launch in August 1991. 

US machines were similarly cheap to 

import, and had the advantage of not 

needing a cartridge adaptor to play 

Japanese games. Eagerly awaited 

American (English-language) versions 

of top Japanese games arrived to keep 

players entranced, such as Super 

Castlevania IV, Super Ghouls’n Ghosts, 

Legend Of The Mystical Ninja and of 

course the feather in Nintendo’s cap, 

The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The 

Past. The only real issue with the 

American machine? It required you 

to stomach a bizarre, boxy, purplebuttoned 

redesign. 

By the time the official UK launch 

finally rolled around in spring ’92, 

it’s hard to estimate how many 

imported consoles and games 

were already being played here, 

but it was considerable, and 

naturally became a factor in Super 

Play’s Japan-leaning and globally 

aware approach. Unfortunately, 

the PAL technical limitations of the 

UK machine only compounded the 

import issue for Nintendo UK, 

elevating the status of foreign 

machines further. At least Nintendo 

UK/Europe had the good sense to 

retain the Japanese machine’s 

perfectly realised design. 

Despite the inevitable drawbacks 

with the UK machine (admittedly, um, 

not helped by Super Play moaning about 

it), the differences were obviously 

mostly apparent when comparing 

systems side by side. Besides, the 

average consumer didn’t want to 

deal with buying weird adaptors or 

expensive SCART TVs – for most people, 

the UK console was still an amazing 

machine with a great future ahead of it. 

Above: Nintendo Of 

America designer Lance 

Barr came up with a new 

design for the US version 

of the SNES, which 

launched 23 August 1991. 

More angular, with purple 

accents? Flippin’ heck. 

Left: The expansion port on 

the base of the SNES was 

included with various 

add-ons in mind. A CD 

module was cancelled, but 

the Satellaview modem 

made it to the Japanese 

market, allowing players 

to download software. 

9 

ISSUE 48 OCTOBER 2017 

P

SUPER EXPRESS 

10 


P 

Above: Wil Overton created 

the art for every cover in Super 

Play’s original 47-issue run, 

painting the earlier examples 

by hand and using digital tools 

to add backgrounds and other 

details. And now you can own 

the original art used as the 

basis for issue 25! (See p45.) 

PLAY TIME 

No matter what territory you were 

playing one in, there were just so many 

original and cool ideas packed into the 

16-bit Nintendo and its software that it 

infused a sense of wonder, excitement – 

and happiness – into gaming life that is 

still felt to this day. Launching Super 

Play was a place for us to express all this 

– a monthly meet-up for a passionate, 

devoted readership that would feel 

proud to own such a landmark machine, 

and be excited every month for what 

was to come next. 

Personally speaking, it was a dream 

come true for a Super Nintendo nut like 

me to be part of the launch. Super Play’s 

parent company, Future Publishing, was 

in those days headed up by founder and 

visionary entrepreneur Chris Anderson 

(who now owns and runs the TED 

Conference in California), and was 

full of passionate young hobbyists, 

writers and designers launching 

magazines in all sorts of fields. Most of 

all, there was an overwhelming sense 

of fun and friendship at the company 

that really blurred the lines between 

people’s day jobs and their social lives. 

Having about ten pubs on our doorstep 

didn’t hurt much, either. 

The production cycle of the first 

issue of Super Play began in a tiny, 

top-floor office during a stiflingly hot 

summer in 1992, under the direction of 

Matt Bielby, former launch editor of 

Amiga Power and Your Sinclair. Matt 

loved magazines of all kinds and was 

full of fresh ideas to make Super Play 

feel more like a club than a magazine. 

He was also a closet anime fan as well 

as a game player. His old mate Jonathan 

Davies was simply a great writer to 

have on board, as well as a long-time 

freelance contributor to many of Future’s 

successful videogame magazines. 

Personally, I was crazy about Japan 

and import gaming, and an avid reader 

of videogame mags over the years. I 

remember really wanting Super Play to 

be the kind of magazine I would have 

been excited to buy – warm, friendly 

and funny, but laser-focused on the 

coolest Super Nintendo happenings. 

I helped refine our Super Express 

news section with its monthly lists of 

international game charts and release 

dates, as well as first glimpses of hot 

new games – often shamelessly scanned 

out of Japanese magazines (and typically 

on the magazine’s deadline, to the 

annoyance of the art staff, Tracey and 

Jez). In between two-player games of 

Mario Kart or Rampart with Jonathan 

I’d be updating What Cart?, our 

exhaustive international catalogue of 

games, or the Game Freak Q&A pages, 

which unleashed my inner nerd to run 

rampant responding to reader questions 

about SCART, 60Hz and anything 

concerning ‘frames per second’. 

A smart move by Matt was hunting 

down a talented cover artist in the form 

of Wil Overton (who, naturally enough, 

is the artist behind this issue’s cover, 

too). Combined with our cool, futuristic 

logo by Jez Bridgeman (partly ripped off, 

I think, from Newtype anime magazine), 

the covers, perhaps more than any other 

aspect of the mag, helped define the 

unique tone of Super Play from the 

outset. Every month, when a large, flat 

art package was delivered to the office, 

we all excitedly crowded around the 

table to see what treat Wil had cooked 

up for the new issue. 

Super Play was a monthly 

meet-up for a passionate, 

devoted readership that 

would feel proud to own 

such a landmark machine 

After months of writing reviews of 

hot (and not so hot) new games, and 

articles about game music, JRPGs and 

exciting SNES CD-ROM accessories that 

would never happen, I reluctantly left 

Super Play after just nine or ten issues 

to join the team launching Edge. But 

thankfully a succession of great writing 

and editing talents such as Zy Nicholson, 

Tony Mott, James Leach and Alison 

Harper continued to keep the Super Play 

flame alive for almost another 40 issues. 

I still get a warm, nostalgic glow 

when I see the magazine’s early covers – 

or indeed the console’s quirky black logo 

with its primary colour blobs (Sony 

Trinitron, anyone?). And, given a 

chance, preferably over a pint, I will 

happily wax lyrical about the music in 

Secret Of Mana, the calming ambience 

of Pilotwings, and the brilliant fun we 

had playing inter-office Street Fighter 

II and Super Mario Kart challenges. 

Those were indeed super days. 

Above: It didn’t take long 

for the Super Nintendo 

game library to grow in 

ambition beyond arcade 

conversions. Final Fantasy 

IV (released in the US as 

FFII) and a fine version of 

SimCity both arrived on 

Japanese shelves in 1991.

MERCHANDISE OF THE MONTH 

SUPER CASTLEVANIA IV 

VINYL SOUNDTRACK 

Publisher: Mondotees.com Price: $30 

We’ve been looking forward to this ever since Mondo 

announced plans to team up with Konami to release 

some of its classic game soundtracks on vinyl. Now it’s 

here – and it delivers. Before we get too gushy, though, 

let’s look at the artwork chosen for the double-disc set’s 

sleeve. While JenoLab’s art isn’t bad – and the gatefold 

sleeve opens out to reveal a fine rendering of the game’s 

world – it lacks the impact of Paul Mann’s amazing sleeve 

art for Mondo’s Contra III release, and does little to 

capture the atmosphere of the game. What’s particularly 

odd is that better art is used on the LPs’ central labels. 

Fortunately, the work of composers Masanori Adachi 

and Taro Kudo has rarely sounded better. Suitably bassy 

where it needs to be and structured to constantly show 

off the soundtrack’s excellent use of stereo, Mondo has 

created a fantastic set – on 180-gram vinyl in a choice of 

finishes – that showcases the 29 remastered tracks to 

great effect. As magnificent as the game it’s based upon. 

BOOK 

Do we have room to mention The Unofficial 

SNES/Super Famicom: A Visual Compendium? 

Just. From www.bitmapbooks.co.uk, it’s due in 

December, so possibly one for the old Santa list. 

SUPER EXPRESS 

11 

YOU’LL FIND NO FINER FANZINES 

By Chris Schilling 

Super Play is back, but only for a month. Once it melts into the ether again, to be spoken of only in doleful folk song 

and expletive-laced forum threads, you might consider the following packages of Nintendo-related words instead. 

SWITCH PLAYER HYPER PLAY RPG NINTENDO FORCE 

Entirely focused on Nintendo’s newest 

console, the 60-page Switch Player can be 

read online, or for a mere $6 you can get 

a print version delivered to your doorstep. 

Issue #5 includes an extensive reaction to 

E3 (including responses from Actual 

Journos) with a clutch of hands-on 

previews and observations besides. 

There’s a fun developer interview with 

The Dangerous Kitchen, creator of riotous 

four-player party game De Mambo, while 

a detailed appraisal of ARMS heads up a 

substantial review section. Opinions come 

from a host of well-picked contributors: 

Serebii’s Joe Merrick talks about all things 

Pokémon, while Darren Kerwin, community 

manager at Metroid fansite Shinesparkers, 

speculates about what we can expect from 

Metroid Prime 4. Finally, there’s a piece on 

that awkward moment when Nintendo 

retires the feature that inspired your 

community name, as Streetpass UK 

becomes Nintendo Players UK. 

You can cast your eyes over Switch Player for free at 

issuu.com/switchplayer, while UK readers can pay 

$6 to the magazine’s Patreon – www.patreon.com/ 

switchplayer – to get a print version delivered. 

Now this is a proper fanzine, covering “all 

retro RPGs and any-bit Nintendo” – a Venn 

diagram that’s probably just one circle. 

Issue one features a mildly controversial 

Xenoblade Chronicles review (“flirts with 

greatness, but never quite seals the deal”), 

a laudably thorough guide to reproduction 

boxes, manuals and maps, and an 

entertaining piece on “the ultimate retro 

arcade experience” at Barcade Brooklyn. 

Issue two, meanwhile, features a delightful 

full-colour Secret Of Mana 2 cover (by Wil 

Overton, no less), alongside an apparently 

“small” review of Super Mario RPG, which 

at five pages of solid text is anything but. 

A detailed appraisal of Terranigma restates 

the team’s commitment, explaining that 

they replay games in their entirety before 

committing opinion to paper. Sure, you’ll 

find online fanzines with better production 

values, but press your nose to these pages 

and you can almost smell the blood, 

sweat and passion invested throughout. 

You can grab individual issues of HyperPlay RPG, as 

well as discount bundles and an Art Of RPGs special 

issue, from www.hyperplayrpg.com. The team will 

ship overseas, too, so it’s not just for UK readers. 

This is a slick, smartly designed and 

expensive-feeling mag – as you’d hope 

with an issue budget of $16k. The theme 

of its post-E3 issue #29 is ‘surprise’, with 

a feature taking a look at Nintendo’s most 

unexpected announcements, from Pit’s 

revival in Kid Icarus: Uprising right up to 

Odyssey’s T-Rex reveal. It’s clearly editorin-chief 

Lucas M Thomas’ baby, and he gets 

the lion’s share of the editorial, but he’s 

also corralled a fine group of Nintendocentric 

bloggers and enthusiast writers. 

A piece on the forthcoming Classic Game 

Selection is noteworthy for the excellent 

‘NESFlix’ pun, which is slightly spoiled 

by an elaborate explanation of the joke. 

Elsewhere, comic strips and retro features 

sit alongside reports on BitSummit in 

Japan, while the Collector’s Corner page 

comes from the man who holds the world 

record for the largest hoard of Nintendo 

memorabilia. Now there’s someone 

who knows what he’s talking about. 

Issues and bundles of Nintendo Force can be purchased 

at www.nintendoforcemagazine.com. Digital issues 

are naturally the cheapest option; as a US-based mag, 

it costs $15.99 to have a print edition shipped to the UK. 

ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

SUPER EXPRESS 

STAR FOX 2 

Ambitious and unusual, the long-awaited sequel is 

almost ready for launch. Time for a preview flight… 

12 

Visually, Star Fox 2 is heavier on textures 

than the original game, but its frame rate 

can still judder like it’s about to conk out. 


Star Fox 2 hasn’t just been delayed – it’s 

been comatose. Twenty-two years later 

than planned, the game is waking to 

meet five different children in an unfamiliar 

world. Like the branching routes in the 

original, this feels like an illicit glimpse at a 

path Nintendo never took; Sliding Doors with 

a human-like fox replacing Gwyneth Paltrow. 

It’s a strange game, short and subdued, 

and lacking the opening thrust of the original. 

Andross is back, Corneria is in danger. Instead 

of thundering down a tunnel to a Koji Kondo 

soundtrack, however, you’re met with a realtime 

tactical map and strict choices. Do you 

take out the ballistic missiles headed for your 

home planet? Or do you push forward and 

infiltrate the carriers launching waves of 

aircraft? The answer is ‘both, eventually’, 

but the initial decision is a bit intimidating. 

You can take on faster enemy units in firstperson 

dogfights, which see you destroying 

missiles or scrapping with pilots from the Star 

Wolf squadron, or push on to invade static 

targets. You can almost feel the game straining 

at the edges as it struggles to provide nonlinear 

3D environments that can be traversed 

in your transforming Arwings. The walker 

is a surprise – the controls are smart, and 

firepower feels meatier than the Arwing’s 

flimsy blaster. It almost makes things too 

simple – if you’re patient enough to waddle 

through a level, it removes the danger of 

barrel rolling into the scenery. 

The choice and variety impress, then, but 

just as you begin to understand Star Fox 2, it 

ends. A shame, because once the systems 

begin to work in unison, there’s a satisfying 

rhythm to its strategy. The brevity means that 

it suffers from comparisons to both the first 

title and the 3D games that followed, but 

it encourages replaying, to see how the war 

pans out according to different decisions. 

There are more nourishing games in the 

SNES Mini line-up, but as a piece of Nintendo 

history, Star Fox 2 is fascinating in its own 

right. And there’s something noble about a 

creaky, grand old Nintendo series getting one 

last run. Its real moment may have passed, 

but let’s be thankful that 

we get to play it at all. 

P 

Evil simian emperor Andross throws all sorts of hazards into the path of your Arwing, but Star Fox 2 isn’t especially 

difficult once you adjust to its foibles. If you can sail through the first game, you won’t hit too many barriers here.

WING CHUM 

Anthropomorphised wingmen are a staple of the original Star Fox, and the 

sequel takes things a step further. At the outset, you choose two pilots to 

help you save Corneria, swapping between them as necessary once the action 

begins. It’s a second chance if your shields take a hammering and you can’t 

get back to the mothership to recharge – or if you come a cropper. 

Fox 

The Ryu of furry pilots, Fox is the 

default choice but you don’t have 

to pick him. Choose Slippy as your 

main man instead, and pretend 

you’re playing Star Frog. 

Falco 

The second-best pilot in the team, 

and still the most arrogant, Falco is 

best remembered for complaining 

whenever you saved him from 

enemy fighters in the first game. 

Left: Xxxxxx 

xxxxxxx xxxxxxxx 

xxxxxxxxxxxx 


xxxxxxxxx xxxxxx 

xxxxx xxxxxx xxxx 

Below: xxxx 



xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx 

xxxxxxxx 


xxxxxxxx xxxxxxx 

xxxxxxxx 


xxxxxxxx xxxx 

Transforming from Arwing to walker sees the controls adapt accordingly: now, rather 

than performing barrel rolls, L and R rotate your stompy attack unit. In the absence 

of the full analogue control we’re used to nowadays, it’s an effective compromise. 

SUPER EXPRESS 

13 

FLIGHT ENTERTAINMENT 

Peppy 

The chipper bunny from Star Fox 

returns, teaming up with Slippy to 

form Team We’ll Never Get Picked. 

His defence stats are great, but his 

face has ‘victim’ written all over it. 

Slippy 

Slippy pilots a defensive version of 

the Arwing, great for soaking up all 

the damage from constantly having 

enemies on your tail. Except that 

Slippy doesn’t have a tail, obviously. 

The walker isn’t the only alternative mode of transport: now you don’t 

even need to take the original Arwing into battle if you’re not in the mood. 

Arwing (piloted by Fox and Falco) 

The standard Arwing, used by both Falco and Fox. It’s almost exactly the 

same as in the first game and comes with moderate defensive capabilities 

plus three nova bombs, which will one-shot almost any enemy you fight. 

Miyu 

Miyu is a tomboyish Lynx who 

flies a faster, lighter version of 

the standard Arwing. Pick her and 

she blows a kiss, which is a) a bit 

weird, and b) not very tomboyish. 

Fay 

At first glance you’d think that Fay 

was a sheep, not a dog, and you’d be 

almost right. A white sheep was seen 

in early screenshots of Star Fox 2 – 

Fay replaced her later on. 

Arwing Interceptor (Fay and Miyu) 

This faster, lighter version is flown by Fay and Miyu, and comes with twin 

blasters along with the special ability to use a barrier for defence. It’s a pretty 

flimsy ride, though, with the weakest shield of any of the three craft options. 

ISSUE 48 

Defense-Class Arwing (Slippy and Peppy) 

The Arwing equivalent of a flying wardrobe, this Defence-Class is the slowest 

choice, but makes up for it by being particularly hardy. The Heart ability 

recharges your already-big shield, saving you a trip back to the mothership. 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

INTERVIEW 

SUPER PLAY 

DYLAN CUTHBERT, Q-GAMES 

Interview 

14 


P 

Above: Today, Dylan Cuthbert runs Kyoto’s Q-Games, 

creator of titles including the splendid PixelJunk series. 

GETTING TECHNICAL 

WITH THE LEAD 

PROGRAMMER 

OF THE SEQUEL 

WE THOUGHT 

WE’D NEVER SEE 

Stationed at Nintendo’s Kyoto HQ in the 

early ’90s, Dylan Cuthbert was at the heart 

of the company’s move into 3D games. 

Having worked on innovative wireframe-3D 

Game Boy title X, released exclusively in 

Japan in 1992, and then the original Star 

Fox, which arrived on the SNES the 

following year, he moved on to the sequel – 

this issue’s cover game. However, faced 

with the impending arrival of dedicated 3D 

hardware in the form of Sony’s PlayStation, 

and chewing over the strategy for its own 

new console, the N64, Nintendo chose to 

shelve the 16-bit project. Now, 22 years on 

from the game’s completion, Star Fox 2 is 

ready to see the light of day, and Cuthbert is 

here to tell us the story behind its creation. 

Let’s start with the original Star Fox: what 

sort of technical issues did you run into? 

The main technical limitation was only being 

able to draw in the format for background 

characters, and not the sprite format. The Super 

FX chip fixed that with an extra mapping mode, 

although we ended up not using it in the end, 

and it was used in Yoshi’s Island. The other 

limitation was the transfer limit for getting data 

into video memory. On Star Fox it took three 

vblanks [vertical blanking intervals] – 20 frames 

per second – and on Star Fox 2 I squeezed it to 

two vblanks with some extra-precise timings. 

Of course, the draw rate wasn’t that high 

anyway, so it never really got a chance to run 

at 30fps, but at least the possibility was there! 

How did you feel about producing a 3D 

polygon-based SNES game at that stage, 

knowing that the Nintendo 64 was just 

around the corner? 

Well, at the point of Star Fox 2 [starting 

development] there was still no news regarding 

the N64, or even the PlayStation for that matter. 

The N64 ended up launching a long time after 

my work on Star Fox 2 finished. Nintendo had 

only started doing experiments using Silicon 

Graphics workstations – not with final N64 

hardware – about a year before we finished up. 

The console seemed a long way away. 

What we all didn’t realise was that the 

PlayStation was going to launch at the end of 

1994, and that shook everything up and created 

massive ripples in the industry. 

Though it was originally due in 1995, the final version 

of Star Fox 2 is dated 1996, the year of the N64’s arrival.

What did the Super FX2 chip offer over the 

original hardware? 

It ran at twice the speed and, as I say, it could 

render into the internal sprite format 

automatically, which was very useful for games 

that used the FX Chip in a hybrid kind of 

fashion. The original FX chip was meant to run 

at 21MHz, too, but because of some problems in 

the silicon they dropped it to half, and saved 

features for the next iteration. 

We also added the ability to clip polygons 

along arbitrary planes, and I used this to create 

a fake Z-buffer on some of the stages – in a lava 

stage, for example, platforms sink in smoothly, 

without any flickering. It’s a simple trick and 

obvious now but back then it was cutting-edge. 

What were the biggest technical challenges 

with Star Fox 2? 

Creating simple physics and decent collision 

detection for the platforming parts of the game. 

3D platforming wasn’t a thing at that time, and 

we faced all of the problems that later games 

would encounter, such as: how do we control 

the camera well? And the SNES controller didn’t 

have analogue sticks, which was quite limiting 

for 3D character controls. In one of the arenas 

there’s a big rotating tower with multiple 

platforms and you can jump between them, 

with momentum preserved. At the time I don’t 

think any other game was doing that kind of 

thing, that ‘3D Mario’ kind of play – we just did 

it with a transforming Arwing instead of a 

chubby Italian. 

INTERVIEW 

15 

Did the semi-real-time aspects of the game 

cause any technical issues? 

No, they were purely gameplay and regular 

solvable problems. We created over 100 

different arenas that are randomly selected 

from for each mission you play, so each time 

you play again you get a different experience 

and different problems to solve. 

What did you do to try to preserve a 

consistent frame rate? 

I reworked the parallel nature of the engine 

completely for Star Fox 2, making sure that 

whatever could run in parallel with the FX Chip 

was running in parallel. The FX chip took hold 

of the ROM bus when it ran, but had no direct 

access to the RAM bus, so transferring code into 

RAM and working there was very efficient and 

wouldn’t get blocked, which basically gave me 

a dual-core CPU. 

Looking back, which technical achievement 

were you happiest with? 

We ran out of DOS memory during 

development because our assembler tools 

weren’t really built for such a large project. 

So in the middle of development, and with a 

very rudimentary – but quickly supplemented – 

knowledge of C, I wrote a linker in two weeks 

using Borland C that meant we could compile 

all our modules separately and combine 

them automatically in a final pass. I still don’t 

know how I managed to pull that off, two 

to three months from finishing the game. 

Apart from that, I’m quite proud of the path 

language because it helped fill out the game 

tremendously while taking a huge load of grunt 

work away from us [the programmers]. It let us 

focus on creating the more complex bosses and 

gave us the time to concentrate on making them 

interesting. The results speak for themselves, 

I think. I can’t remember how many bosses 

Top: Star Fox 2’s Super FX2 chip makes it easier to blend 

bitmap data with polygons to layer in explosion effects. 

there are – I think it might be about 15? 

They’re all starkly different to each other too. 

In terms of straining the hardware, how 

taxing was the planned two-player mode? 

Well, the screen area was smaller but still, 

rendering two sets of everything was just a 

bit too taxing, really. We could get basic 

dogfights running and they were fun, but the 

screen was so small for each player, and we 

couldn’t really fill out the graphics enough to 

make it truly interesting, so we concentrated 

on the one-player side of the game and 

dropped the two-player. 

Some of the bosses are huge – how did 

you create them? 

We had an ‘alien strategy’ macro language 

for machine code and a ‘paths’ scripted 

language with a byte interpreter for simpler 

stuff. The strategy macro language built 

upon years of Argonaut’s internal engines 

and gave us huge flexibility for creating 

very complex bosses without worrying too 

much about crashing the entire system or 

screwing up one line of assembly – it basically 

hid the machine code and relied on a set of 

internal rules for safety. I created the paths 

language on top of that to enable [Katsuya] 

Eguchi and [Yoichi] Yamada, the two Nintendoside 

directors on the game, to create most of 

the enemies and simple interactions by 

themselves, which really reduced the 

programmers’ workload and also gave 

[Eguchi and Yamada] a lot of freedom in 

terms of creativity at the same time. 

Looking back at what we did, it was 

very similar to MIT’s Scratch! Just 20 years 

earlier, obviously, and on the SNES. 

ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

Above: The 1988 Akira movie is set in the dystopian, cyberpunk-themed Neo-Tokyo of 2019, 

which gives us just over a year to become psychic and lay waste to the Japanese capital. 

Helen McCarthy looks at the 

roots of the British anime 

scene, and selects some 

vintage titles worth a rewatch 

ANIMEPronounced ’ah-nee-may’ 

SUPER EXPRESS 

16 

ORIGIN STORIES 

WORLD 


P 

Above: AD Police Files is a spin-off from Bubblegum Crisis 

and acts as a prequel. Only three episodes were made. 

Right: Sailor Moon is a franchise serialised across 18 

manga volumes; it now spans movies, games and more. 

The early 1990s: a tech desert by modern 

standards. No cheap broadband. Phones 

are huge. But there’s one terrific piece 

of kit you can get – a videogame console. And 

in November 1992 Super Nintendo fans found a 

new addiction when Super Play hit newsagents’ 

counters across the UK. 

The magazine was a hit, not just because of 

its SNES coverage but because it acknowledged 

the origins of the SNES in Japanese pop 

culture and gave readers a framework for 

understanding the media-spanning Japanese 

entertainment business. Right from issue one, 

anime was part of that. I wrote about anime in 

Super Play for three years and enjoyed every 

minute of it, but anime hit the UK before Super 

Play was a twinkle in Future Publishing’s eye. 

In 1990, Japanese movie Akira was 

making waves worldwide. US distributor 

Streamline Pictures picked up the US cinema 

licence in 1989. The movie’s explosive action, 

kinetic editing, contemporary themes and 

edgy script attracted attention because it 

was a cartoon, usually reserved for children. 

Arthouse powerhouse ICA Projects 

gave Akira its UK theatrical release on

SUPER EXPRESS 

Above: Ghost In The Shell, known as Mobile Armoured Riot Police in Japan, tells the story of the 

counter-cyberterrorist Public Security Section 9, led by protagonist Major Motoko Kusanagi. 

25 January 1991, but the British anime 

underground had already seen it. Akira was on 

the National Science Fiction Convention’s first 

ever anime programme in April 1990, along 

with another 34 hours of Japanese animation. 

So what else was around in Britain between 

1990 and 1996, and how did early fans get their 

anime fix? To begin with, it was a mix of getting 

videotapes from contacts in the US, Japan and 

Europe, and handing over piles of cash to 

Japanese dealers for import tapes and 

magazines. In 1991, spurred by Akira’s 

success, British companies began to 

release anime. Leading the 

pack was Island World 

Communications, which 

bought the UK rights to 

Akira late in 1991, then 

morphed into Manga 

Entertainment in 1993. 

Most titles were aimed at 

teenage boys and students, viewed 

as anime’s main market, and they were a mixed 

bag. Akira was the most expensive anime of its 

day, its technical accomplishments far beyond 

the TV and direct-to-video animation that made 

up most UK releases. Take Fist Of The North 

Star, Britain’s follow-up release to Akira. A 

major franchise in Japan, its post-apocalyptic 

setting and constant combat echoed George 

Miller’s 1979 movie Mad Max. Its stylised script 

and fighting style might appeal to console game 

fans, but its limited animation looked oldfashioned 

alongside Akira’s. It wasn’t just a 

matter of age or technology: UK-released 

science-fiction epics such as Big Wars, made 

for cinema in 1993, lacked Akira’s spark. 

Bubblegum Crisis (1987), released in the UK 

in 1992, was much more in tune with the British 

fanbase: four hot females with hi-tech body 

armour, a punky singer with a great motorbike, 

and a driving rock score. The Knight Sabers 

fought monsters in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo, 

and for a while they were pin-ups for a legion 

of British fanboys. The spin-off series AD Police 

(1990) was dubbed for UK release in 1994. 

Note the timelag between Japanese and 

British release – almost unbelievable now. 

Being an anime fan back then was a waiting 

game, prolonged by corporate negotiations 

and financial difficulties as the new market 

fluctuated. We could see these shows in 

magazines but not buy them on VHS. Many 

titles fans craved from the late ’80s, including 

Goku: Midnight Eye and Black Magic M66, 

Note the timelag 

between releases – almost 

unbelievable now. 

didn’t get UK releases for years. Cyberpunk 

criminal epic Cyber City Oedo 808, released in 

Japan in 1990, finally made it to the UK in 1995. 

Anime aimed at a broader audience did 

even worse, despite being known and 

celebrated by UK fans. Ghost Sweeper Mikami, 

a 1993 TV series steeped in greed and gloss, 

didn’t get here until 2004. Nadia: The Secret Of 

Blue Water, made by top studio Gainax in 1990, 

got a US release in 2001 but no UK release until 

2015. Sailor Moon, the 1992 TV show that finally 

opened up anime for preteen and teenage girls, 

didn’t get a UK release until 1999. 

Even acclaimed genius Hayao 

Miyazaki wasn’t seen on UK 

video, although 1989’s 

Castle In The Sky showed 

up unheralded on daytime 

TV in the early ’90s. 

Those of us who could 

scrape the money together 

bought multi-region equipment to 

get our fix from the US and Japan. But some 

gems made it onto British screens. 1991’s Roujin 

Z, based on a story by Akira’s creator, hit Britain 

in 1994, breaking out of the teenage male niche: 

a funny, clever, poignant story about 

weaponising medical technology and old age. 

Then Manga Entertainment put its money into 

a 1995 co-production: Ghost In The Shell. 

Now, anime is established enough to be 

licensed by Hollywood – though it all comes 

down to quality. In every artform, for every 

gem, there’s a pile of dross. The UK anime 

market of the ’90s was new, exciting and 

naïve. Yes, it was fun – but I wouldn’t trade 

my fast broadband and 

wide choice of titles for 

a ticket back in time. 

P 

HOW TO 

WATCH ’90s 

ANIME TODAY 

Buying ’90s anime is easy online, where you can find 

all the titles mentioned here, though not necessarily 

on Blu-ray. To stream them, you may have to 

hunt across several subscription services. 

Akira, Ghost In The Shell, Castle In The Sky and 

Roujin Z are all currently available in the UK 

through the big online retailers. Nadia: The Secret 

Of Blue Water recently had a spiffy new Blu-ray 

release and is easily found on DVD. Sailor Moon is 

also easy to find in chunky box sets on UK or US 

DVD, as are Black Magic M-66, Bubblegum Crisis, 

AD Police, Ghost Sweeper Mikami and Cyber City 

Oedo 808 (UK version). 

Fist Of The North Star is available as a US 

import online (and, if you’re hooked on the retro 

fight style and have deep pockets, so is the TV 

version). Big Wars and the US version of Cyber City 

Oedo 808 can also be found on US DVD online. I 

drew a British blank everywhere but eBay on Goku: 

Midnight Eye DVDs, but you 

can still find them in smaller 

US webstores, although 

imports carry the usual 

shipping costs and can lead 

to arbitrary, and sometimes 

hefty, customs charges. 

17 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

CONTRA III 

THE ALIEN WARS 

18 

Tooled up and sporting vintage special 

forces bandanas, can Jimbo and Sully 

save the world from alien oblivion? 

Two-player mode’s heroes look bewilderingly 

similar. At times the stuff you have to do to 

survive seems incredible. But it’s true! 

UK Release 

Game: Contra III: The Alien Wars 

Publisher: Konami 

Developer: In-house 

Genre: Scrolling shoot-’em-up 

Release: November 1992 

Players: 1–2 simultaneously 

ROM size: 8 Mbit 

Left: The alien invasion is forecast to happen 

in 2636 – a date that’s getting perilously close. 

GOOD, BAD OR UGLY? 

I always knew they 

were only kidding 

when they said 

they were closing 

Super Play forever. 

And actually, the 

break has given me 

plenty of time to try to master this, one of 

the most challenging SNES games. Yet 

even after 25 years of practice, Contra III 

keeps getting the better of me. The pop-up 

gun turrets still catch me by surprise, and 

the Level Four boss (the one you tackle 

while hanging in mid-air from exploding 

missiles) seems borderline preposterous. 

Even after all this time, the controls 

respond instantly, letting you duck, leap 

and swing from the scenery to avoid the 

relentless onslaught. Success is always 

attainable, but only through sheer hard 

work, mastering the skill of ducking 

under a bullet and then somersaulting 

over the head of the guy who fired it while 

dispatching him with a downward-aimed 

volley. The dazzlingly imaginative bosses 

demand analysis followed by exploitation 

of their weaknesses. There’s no relying on 

luck here: this is all down to you. 

Contra III was an early example of a 

genre that continues to evolve to this day, 

and inspired the likes of Gunstar Heroes, 

Metal Slug and, more recently, a host of 

indie tributes from Mercenary Kings to 

Broforce. Konami’s SNES run-and-gunner 

stills shines today, and feels just about 

as fresh, tightly designed and expertly 

polished as the day I first played it. The 

two-player mode was even a hit with the 

Mini Davieses (the other thing I’ve been 

working on during Super Play’s temporary 

absence), who normally turn up their 

noses at anything that wasn’t released 

within the past five minutes. 

● Jonathan Davies 


Above: Bosses are 

gigantic, relentless 

and super-tough 

to defeat – just 

like in real life. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

■ You’ve got two weapon slots to store 

power-ups. X switches between them, 

and holding L and R together gives 

you go-crazy dual-wield mode – a bit 

random but worth a punt in tight spots. 

■ This is an example of a Konami game 

that doesn’t respond to the Konami Code, 

and only imported Japanese versions 

support cheat modes, including Down, 

Down+Right, Right, Start on the title 

screen to unlock 30 precious lives. 

GRAPHICS SOUND GAMEPLAY 

82% 86% 89% 

GAMELIFE 

81% 

OVERALL 

89% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: If you can master this, 

you can achieve anything. 

Uncompromising, inventive and 

an essential part of the SNES’s 

generous library of action games. 

P 

As well as running 

and jumping, your 

character can 

clamber up walls. 

If you die, you lose the weapon that’s 

currently selected, so keep those guided 

missiles in reserve for boss battles. 

ORIGINAL SCORE SP2 90%

DONKEY 

KONG 

COUNTRY 

UK Release 

Game: Donkey Kong Country 

Publisher: Nintendo 

Developer: Rare 

Genre: Platform 


Players: 1–2 


Diddy and uncle Donkey Kong control 

differently and have different moves 

– there’s even pass-the-pad multi-player. 

UK REVIEW 

This was once one of the prettiest 

games in the world, but should 

we give a monkey’s nowadays? 

MODE 7 TIPS 

■ There is a brilliant urban legend that 

Cranky Kong is the original Donkey Kong 

– that is, the one that fought Mario. We 

want to believe it. Evidence for this theory 

comes from the title sequence, which 

shows Cranky playing the original DK 

music on a gramophone. 

■ To start a game with 50 lives, head to 

the File Select screen, select Erase Game 

– it should flash – then press B, A, Right, 

Right, A, Left. Now choose a game. 

Cranky Kong lives in a cabin and will 

give advice when asked. In later games 

he’ll charge for this, but here it’s free. 

19 

Above: It’s a bit 

odd the animals 

are confined to 

crates when they 

aren’t helping DK. 

Left: There are 

secrets to be found 

in every single level. 


The second-bestselling 

SNES game of 

all time was the work 

not of Nintendo, but 

one of its closest 

and most-missed 

partners, Rareware, 

which in 1994 was right at the start of its 

Nintendo-backed golden age. Rare added 

a menagerie of monkey mates to the Kong 

family (Diddy, Cranky, Funky and Candy), 

conjuring up a verdant island and some 

amazing 3D-looking sprites using Silicon 

Graphics rendering technology. 

Actually playing Donkey Kong Country 

again in 2017, however, raises the blood 

pressure to uncomfortable levels. Here 

are some of its sins: minecart levels 

(controversial opinion: minecart levels have 

NEVER been good), save points that force 

you to replay long streaks of difficult levels 

if you run out of lives, objects that disappear 

as soon as they go off-screen, and enemies 

with unpredictable movement patterns. In 

its favour are inventive gimmicks (such as 

traffic-light barrels that freeze enemies in 

place), lots of fun hidden bonus rooms, 

entertaining animal companions, and 

animations that still raise a smile. 

And it’s pretty, though not as mindblowingly 

so as it appeared in 1994. Those 

big 3D-like sprites, detailed backdrops and 

fancy lighting effects make it difficult to see 

what’s happening sometimes, and it can be 

tough to judge exactly whether you’re going 

to land on an enemy’s head or a few pixels 

off. Like plenty of tough platformers, there’s 

a measure of trial and error to its challenge, 

but here, when you’re tempted to snap the 

controller in frustration, it’s the kind of 

irritating that leaves you wanting to 

conquer it rather than give up. Still, it’s a 

good thing SNES controllers are durable. 

It doesn’t actually take very long to 

beat: 40 levels fly by pretty quickly, even 

when you’re forced to backtrack to stockpile 

extra lives for a particularly annoying level. 

Five minutes after we’d turned it off in a 

huff, it was inviting us back in. 

● Keza MacDonald 


90% 88% 75% 

GAMELIFE 

60% 

OVERALL 

77% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: Donkey Kong Country is 

a classic example of style over 

substance, but it’s still fun enough 

to justify a place in the Mini line-up. 

ORIGINAL SCORE SP27 90% 

ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

EARTHBOUND 

Is this off-the-wall adventure from Ape and HAL still the Mother of all JRPGs? 

UK Release 

20 

Game: EarthBound 


Developer: Ape/HAL 

Laboratory 

Genre: RPG 

Release: N/A 

Players: 1 


Above: Battles may be sparsely 

animated, but the woozily 

hypnotic backgrounds 

help convey the sense 

of an alien presence. 

Above: Dungeon Man – a man that is also a 

dungeon – will briefly join your party once 

you’ve completed his dungeon. Which is also 

him, naturally. Look, it’s a weird game, OK? 

Left: Spend a while in 

Dusty Dunes Desert, 

and you might catch 

sunstroke, gradually 

lowering your HP the 

longer you stay outside. 



P 

If you never owned a 

Wii U, this might be 

the first opportunity 

you’ve had to play 

Shigesato Itoi’s 

barmy RPG in Europe. 

A flop in the US, 

EarthBound never officially crossed over 

to these shores, and while its rarity 

contributed to its near-mythic status, the 

game’s enduring brilliance is the main 

reason it’s so fondly remembered. 

At first you might wonder what all the 

fuss is about, since so many subsequent 

RPGs have nicked its best ideas. On the 

face of things its story, too, is fairly 

conventional rite-of-passage/save-theworld 

fare. But you’ll quickly sense 

something a little off-key about EarthBound, 

from its outsider view of present-day (or 

rather, two decades old) Americana, which 

feels like an affectionate tribute as much as 

a satire, to its oddball magical-realist tone. 

It’s set in a world that somehow feels 

identifiable and otherworldly all at once, 

skilfully contrasting the alien with the 

mundane. Protagonist Ness can catch a 

cold and get homesick if he doesn’t call 

home often enough. He can order a pizza, 

which will be delivered wherever he is 

in the world within three minutes. He’ll 

munch burgers to gain health and he 

attacks enemies with baseball bats, 

yo-yos and slingshots. But the creatures 

he faces are anything but normal, ranging 

from Titanic Ants to Urban Zombies and 

Struttin’ Evil Mushrooms. 

Its turn-based combat is of its time – 

in other words, fairly simplistic – but it 

rattles along at a fair clip. Though random 

misses still prove frustrating, at least you 

have a chance to avoid your party being 

wiped out as your HP meter doesn’t 

instantly drain, meaning you can recover 

from what might otherwise have been a 

fatal blow by defeating your attacker or 

using a health top-up. And grinding is 

much simpler than usual, since catching 

up to a low-level enemy instantly gives you 

the XP you’d have gained from an easy win. 

A superb localisation brings Itoi’s 

writing to life, capturing a blend of 

melancholy, humour and gentle whimsy 

that proves irresistible. It’s a game that 

reminds you that, however many aliens, 

mutants and weirdos you face, there’s 

nothing quite so strange and frightening 

as growing up. 

● Chris Schilling 


80% 87% 89% 

GAMELIFE 

88% 

OVERALL 

89% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: Much more than the sum 

of its modest parts, EarthBound 

has that sprinkling of magic the 

best Nintendo games possess. 


Left: Your journey 

will eventually take 

you to a fight 

between the rocks 

of Stonehenge, in 

the best and most 

surprising use of 

the Wiltshire 

monument since 

Spinal ¨ Tap. 

Below: Hospitals 

can revive 

unconscious 

characters – 

assuming you 

can afford the 

doctor’s fees. 

UK REVIEW 

21 

Above: It’s worth talking to everyone and 

everything, just for the incidental dialogue. 

THE FAMILY NESS 

Silent protagonist Ness, a 13-yearold 

psychic baseball fan who’s asked 

to save the world after a meteorite 

strike. Susceptible to colds and 

homesickness, he’s a relatable hero. 

Rescued by Ness from a cult, Paula 

is less timid in the English version 

than in the Japanese release. She 

wields a mean frying pan, while 

her Psi skills put Ness to shame. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

A smartly dressed nerd, Jeff joins 

Ness’s band after he rescues them 

from zombies. With no Psi powers, 

his ability to spy on enemies and 

pinpoint weaknesses is valuable. 

No sniggering! Prince Poo is 

EarthBound royalty. He joins as the 

fourth playable character once he’s 

finished his training, bringing his 

own bespoke gear with him. 

ISSUE 48 

A spineless neighbour who cajoles 

Ness into helping find his brother, 

Pokey is briefly playable, though his 

combat moves range from playing 

dead to using Ness as a shield. 

Jeff’s dad, a brilliant scientist 

who helps Ness and friends with 

inventions including the Phase 

Distorters that let the party travel 

through space and time. 

The Night Pendant is an incredibly handy item, since 

it absorbs Flash attacks which can cause the target 

to burst into uncontrollable tears, preventing them 

from acting in battle. It is, however, one of the more 

difficult items to find. It’s inside a box in Moonside 

– once you’re there, you need to head towards the 

hospital and approach the man wandering around 

outside. Talk to him and he’ll warp you next to a 

present box which contains the pendant. It’s best 

given to Ness, since he’s your main damage dealer. 

To reach Moonside, you need to ‘check’ the bottles on 

the back wall next to the bar in the café. It’s an illusion 

rather than a real place, with incoherent citizens. 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

22 

FINAL 

FANTASY III 

Which Final Fantasy is the best? To discuss that, 

UK Release 

we’ll be in that bunker, wearing heavy armour. 

Game: Final Fantasy III 

(released as FFVI in Japan) 

Publisher: Square 


Genre: RPG 

Release: N/A 

Players: 1 


Locke the thief steals 

from monsters. Feral 

Gau learns from 

them. Setzer the 

Gambler rolls dice 

for random effects. 

Edgar favours power 

tools. It’s not a tough 

game, but combat 

offers far more 

choice than hitting 

Attack every round. 

MOOGLES ALL THE WAY DOWN 


P 

Each Final Fantasy stands largely alone, 

connected by themes, elements and 

mascots rather than a shared universe. 

While some aspects (such as the Active 

Time Battle system) have been honed 

over time, every title attempts to mark 

itself apart through innovation. 

Cid When only a deus ex technica can 

save the day, you need the recurring 

figure of an eccentric engineer and 

inventor. Hi, Cid! Though perhaps an 

ethics committee should investigate 

this Cid for the dubious live-subject 

experiments that fried Kefka’s brain. 

Chocobos A flightless avian steed, 

caught and tamed from the wild. It is 

the beast of burden in a world where 

horses are either myths – jivens, a 

nonicorn! – or capricious demonic 

foes (as on Earth). Hire a Chocobo 

from town stables for fast travel. 

Avatars The greatest powers are 

drawn from a pantheist grab-bag of 

collectable titans and demiurges in 

which garuda and ifrit jostle with 

dragons and Norse gods. Equip 

Espers to micro-manage levelling 

gains, or invoke your avatar in battle. 

Elemental combat Take the idea of 

a fire bonus versus ice creatures, 

throw in buffs and status effects, 

then keep layering on the esoteric 

tricks – attacking zombies with cures, 

ricocheting spells off shields, or using 

an enemy’s attack magic to restore you. 

Cactuar First introduced here, this 

needling little succulent is infuriatingly 

evasive but usually surrenders 

something worthwhile when caught. 

At this point we should probably admit to 

owning an official Cactuar plushie. Yes, 

at our age. Yes, you can still buy them. 

Moogles Another mascot of the series, 

a Moogle is available to recruit in the 

unusually conversant form of Mog. 

Though untranslatable, the meaning of 

its cute “Kupo!” call seems unlikely to 

contain foul oaths or negative criticism. 

“Kupopo!” is another matter. 

Magical tech FF’s fusion of magic and 

technology tackles Cartesian dualism 

by hypothesising consciousness as an 

inherent quality of matter subject to 

scientific laws. Or we could be reading 

too much into a fantasy excuse for 

power armour and soul crystals.

MODE 7 TIPS 

The useful Gogo – a mime, not a dancer – can only be recruited 

by deliberately losing a fight and getting yourself gobbled up… 

UK REVIEW 

To recruit Gogo in the World of Ruin, 

first fly your nifty airship to Triangle 

Island (you can work that one out for 

yourself – all the clues are there). 

Explore the island in search of a Zone 

Eater. Yes, it hungers for your zones! 

Don’t fight, just defend until everyone 

has been swallowed whole. 

23 

You’ll be intestinally conveyed to 

Gogo’s subterranean colon-y. Escape 

by using the masked mimic’s ability 

to copy what you do to the switches. 

One more tip: on getting Mog, inspect 

the spot where he stood to find the 

Moogle Charm. This prevents random 

monster battles. Just drink that in. 

Top right: The playwithin-a-play 

opera 

sequence reveals a 

clever game that 

doesn’t take itself 

too seriously. 

Right: Villain Kefka: so 

very cuckoo you could 

get home to find him 

in your kid’s high chair, 

demanding a spoon 

train of puréed banana. 


By 1994 the SNES 

had become familiar 

architecture to 

Square, which duly 

pushed the machine 

to new audio-visual 

heights for its 

flagship RPG series and rival to Dragon 

Quest. Digitisation enabled sumptuous 

backdrops, while careful compression 

ambitiously captured an entire soundtrack. 

Nobuo Uematsu’s extraordinary cinematic 

score remains a meisterwerk of the 

orchestral chiptune, and by granting every 

location a mood and every character 

a leitmotif, the music becomes another 

narrator in this consummate assembly. 

It’s a sure sign of a title intrinsically 

matched to its platform that subsequent 

remakes have fallen short. We’ve long held 

reservations about the original’s sassy US 

translation, so a more faithful GBA 

localisation seemed welcome; sadly, the 

handheld port messed up the music. The 

PlayStation release pleasingly added a dash 

button but suffered disc loading times and 

ill-advised cutscene FMV. And proving 

that less is more, the SNES sprite designs 

are still astonishingly expressive while 

capturing the fey, feathery flourishes of 

Yoshitaka Amano’s ethereal concept art. 

While not well scripted, the story is 

hugely enjoyable and contains a couple of 

touchingly poignant scenes that might take 

you unawares. In the freeform third act you 

will keenly chase up the backstories of your 

ensemble cast, before tackling a flamboyant 

antagonist so villainous that he actually 

possesses a “muwahaha” sample. 

It remains jarring that you’re constantly 

plunged into random combat while trying 

to explore. Where EarthBound (p20) and 

subsequent titles devised more elegant 

encounters, this is a crude 8-bit hangover, 

and there comes a moment of eagerness to 

progress when a last-straw ambush of 

swirly Mode 7 to a bellicose riff will have 

you dropping the controller and declaring, 

“Enough!” But at least there’s no shortage 

of FAQs to tell you where next if you forget. 

So, is it better than FFVII? In several 

ways, yes. Might we now have preferred 

Chrono Trigger in its place? Oof, possibly. 

Besides, do you see a Dragon Quest game 

on the SNES Mini? Yes, we are actually 

running away now. Fire in the hole! 

● Zy Nicholson 


94% 95% 89% 

GAMELIFE 

90% 

OVERALL 

92% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: FFIII (or VI) is still widely 

regarded as the best in the series; 

and to this day, the SNES still 

boasts the finest version available. 

Tie weights around your gaming 

weekend and sink into its depths. 


ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

24 


P 

MODE 7 TIPS 

■ Your power shield protects your 

fragile craft – guard it carefully and you 

can deliberately sacrifice it to cut a 

corner by smashing through a wall, or 

catapult off an impossible turn to get 

ahead of a rival. 

■ Completing any league in Expert 

class will unlock the Master class. 

■ Get a speed boost from the start by 

hitting the accelerator between the third 

countdown beep and the GO!!! signal. 

Intentionally bouncing off a corner is 

better than accidentally bouncing off 

it five times in a row. Usually. 

UK Release 

Game: F-Zero 



Genre: Racing 

Release: April 1992 

Players: 1 

ROM size: 4Mbit 

F-Zero’s jumps are long, floaty, and only 

63% guaranteed to end in broken bones. 

F-ZERO 

The Fast And The Furiously Ping-Ponging Off 

The Tracksides Before Bursting Into Flames. 

Without scenery to speak of, track identity is all about 

colour combo. Blue plus purple equals White Land I. 


Nintendo’s 

26th-century F-Zero 

has all the carnage 

of modern racing 

and more. Although 

not much more, 

because – bless it 

– it’s a lean experience. Just 15 short 

tracks, four hovering vehicles (the default 

piloted by part-time bounty hunter 

Captain Falcon), and that’s it. It wasn’t 

much more than a snazzy SNES tech demo 

even back at the system’s launch. 

Still, the pace of it. Hit a speed boost 

in the top-of-the-line Fire Stingray, and 

F-Zero can still knot your stomach with 

how fast the twists and turns tear 

towards you. Which isn’t bad for tracks 

that are simply a 2D carpet of pixels, 

skewed and spun around you by the 

SNES’s clever Mode 7 graphics scaling 

and rotating ability. 

It’s married to a responsiveness 

that’s pure Nintendo, the shoulder button 

allowing you to jink dinkily around the 

Tetronimo-shape bends. And, aptly, 

F-Zero is good at showing you the 

future: the perspective and pancake-flat 

track mean you have a clear view far 

ahead, aiding subtle snaking runs around 

mines and past rivals, collisions with both 

of which will deplete your energy bar. The 

control finesse was a revelation in 1990, 

and it’s still hypnotic now. 

It’s testament to the feel of F-Zero 

that track names such as Mute City and 

Big Blue still have a sci-fi planetary 

magic about them, even when there’s 

barely a pixel of real scenery to speak 

of. The AI’s brand of magic isn’t quite as 

welcome, with rival racers blazing past 

suddenly when by rights they should be 

a lap behind. At least they remind you 

that anything less than white-knuckled 

perfection will not be tolerated in F-Zero’s 

brutal future. 

But even with practice, ricocheting 

wildly off walls like microwave popcorn is 

a constant in F-Zero, and your tolerance 

for it will dictate whether you get as far as 

the secret fourth ‘Master’ difficulty. Might 

be better to take up something easier 

instead – like bounty hunting. 

● Mark Green 


74% 71% 76% 

GAMELIFE 

62% 

OVERALL 

75% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: The great granddaddy 

of supersonic space-age racers 

still has a thing or two to teach 

young upstarts. A slick test of 

your eye-to-finger synapses. 


KIRBY’S 

DREAM COURSE 

Despite a few rough patches, you’ll mostly 

have a ball with this strange sporting hybrid. 

UK Release 

Game: Kirby’s Dream Course 


Developer: HAL Laboratory/ 

Nintendo EAD 

Genre: Fantasy sports 

Release: August 1995 



UK REVIEW 

25 

MODE 7 TIPS 

Left: Long falls 

can cause you 

to bounce too 

far from the 

hole. Equip a 

parasol to control 

your descent. 

Inset: 

The Freeze 

ability is a doubleedged 

sword – the 

momentum can slide 

you past the hole. 

Too many shots 

can lose you a life. 

Stay under par for 

more wiggle room 

on the next hole. 

■ Applying the right spin is 

vital on lofted shots. A bit 

of back lets you hit airborne 

enemies and return to safe 

ground; apply plenty of top 

to skim across water. 

■ Getting a hole in one 

may seem impossible but 

it nets you an extra life, 

so it’s worth trying for. 

Don’t forget you can add 

side spin to groundstrokes, 

too, when a straight shot 

to the hole is blocked. 


Kirby’s natural 

roundness makes 

Masahiro Sakurai’s 

malleable mascot the 

perfect fit for sports 

games. But Dream 

Course can’t quite 

decide which sport it is. It’s ostensibly a 

golf game, yet it was titled Kirby Bowl in 

Japan – perhaps for the way you roll over 

opponents en route to the hole. Then again, 

in the way you’re invited to smash poor 

Kirby off walls and pull off clever trickshots, 

it can often feel like you’re playing billiards. 

It might sound a bit of a mess, but this 

unusual fusion is surprisingly cohesive. 

If you’ve come to expect a lightweight 

challenge from Kirby games, be warned: 

behind that cute exterior lies a heart of flint. 

Holes are littered with bumps, ramps, water 

and sand traps – there’s no taking a drop 

here; you’re forced to play from wherever 

Kirby lies. Land in the drink, and it might 

take you several shots just to get out. With 

spiked hazards and barrier-free sections that 

can send you plummeting off the edge, it’s 

crazy golf in every sense. 

Still, the enemies prove helpful. Some 

you merely need to flatten, but others 

transfer abilities, per Kirby tradition – and 

they can be triggered while he’s still in 

motion. Pick up a parasol and you can float 

down to the hole; the Stone ability lets you 

stop a wayward shot on a dime; plough 

through a snowman and you’ll be able to 

freeze water, sliding safely across to the 

other side. The order in which you defeat 

them is key, too: the last enemy alive 

becomes the hole, so you’ll often find 

multiple ways to tackle individual courses. 

It’s maybe a little too exacting: the 

difference between a birdie and a triplebogey 

can be a single notch on the 

spin-o-meter, and losing a life can leave you 

shy of the ability you need for an under-par 

score on the following hole. No classic, then, 

but an absorbing little curio that’s worth 

revisiting – even if there are plenty of better 

games with which to busy yourself first. 



76% 72% 75% 

GAMELIFE 

80% 

OVERALL 

74% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: Finicky challenges take 

the shine off an inventive oddity, 

meaning Kirby’s twist on golf 

doesn’t quite play like a dream. 


ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

THE LEGEND 

OF ZELDA 

A LINK TO THE PAST 

26 

Link’s triumphant third outing deserves its classic 

status, and still has a surprise or two in store. 

Link lifts the Master Sword for the 

first time, and an icon is born. Shame 

the pink hair didn’t stay, mind. 

UK Release 

Game: The Legend Of 

Zelda: A Link To The Past 


Developer: Nintendo EAD 

Genre: Action RPG 


Players: 1 


Below: This wonderfully eerie 

mist effect adds to the ethereal 

ambience of the Lost Woods. 

MODE 7 TIPS 


P 

Above: A classic Zelda moment: 

Nintendo’s designers know exactly 

how to tease your curiosity. 

Left: It’s worth seeking out extra hearts 

for the enemy-stuffed later dungeons. 

It’s easy to underestimate just how useful 

the Pegasus shoes and hookshot can be, 

particularly in combat situations. Dashing 

into enemies is often a valid tactic – 

as well as a handy escape strategy 

when things are getting hairy. The 

hookshot, meanwhile, can easily 

stun opponents, or grapple objects 

if you need to close a gap – or, by 

contrast, put some distance between 

you and a boss when you’re low on 

health. And while it’s extended, 

projectiles won’t harm you. 

Even armoured enemies aren’t immune to the hookshot, though 

you should probably avoid sprinting at anything carrying a sword.

UNLOCK TURTLE ROCK 

First, get the Quake Medallion. 

Throw an item between the ring of 

stones at the Lake Of Ill Omen and 

the catfish gives you the medallion. 

Back in Hyrule, pull out your flute. 

Get the kindly duck to fly you over to 

Death Mountain. Once there, climb 

up the long ladder towards the west 

side and work your way back around 

to the entrance of the Tower of Hera. 

UK REVIEW 

27 

Keep heading east – using your 

hammer to whack down the posts 

– until you reach this point. Lift 

the large rock and move onto the 

ledge with the three stakes. 

Hammer all three into the floor, 

starting from the right and moving 

anticlockwise. Once the left one is 

down, a portal will appear. Go inside 

to be whisked to the Dark World. 

Left: Link’s fight 

with Ganon can’t 

quite match what’s 

gone before, but 

the closing scenes 

more than 

compensate. 

Now you’re right where you need to 

be. Stand on the edge of the roof 

with the sigil beneath your feet and 

use the medallion. The turtle’s mouth 

will open, revealing a set of steps… 

Inside, use the Cane of Somaria to 

trigger the moving platforms, and 

don’t forget the Magic Cape can be 

used to avoid hazards. Use the fire 

and ice rods for the dungeon boss. 


Ocarina Of Time 

might be the Zelda 

that’s topped the 

most best-ever lists, 

but in many ways its 

16-bit predecessor is 

the more important 

game. It’s easy to forget just how radical 

it was, but many of the ideas it introduced 

– from heart pieces to the hookshot, the 

Master Sword to spin attacks, to the notion 

of two interconnected worlds – were so 

good they quickly became part of the series 

fabric. It’s hardly an exaggeration to say 

this is where Link’s story really began; 

where the legend that would be retold 

and revisited in the decades to follow 

first started to properly take shape. 

It’s a vital historical document, then, 

but more importantly it’s still a brilliant 

game. We’ve explored technically much 

larger versions of Hyrule in terms of real 

estate, but it still feels huge. Dense and 

intricate, it doesn’t waste a single tile 

of screen. Dungeons are layered and 

labyrinthine, looping up and around so 

you don’t realise you’re being nudged 

down a linear path, or giving you room to 

explore without the sticking points that 

come with being truly lost. It pulls off the 

remarkable feat of making you aware of 3D 

space within a two-dimensional world: after 

following a circuitous route, it suddenly 

dawns that you’re now looking down on a 

room you visited several minutes ago. Or 

you might drop through the floor onto a 

lower level to get to an otherwise 

unreachable treasure chest. 

Yes, some of its ideas have been dulled 

slightly by familiarity, its best bits working 

so well that Nintendo was naturally keen to 

reuse them several times over. But it’s still 

capable of surprising you. You’ll likely have 

forgotten its mischievous streak. Take the 

moment you’re asked to pull a lever “over 

there” and you realise there’s two to choose 

from; pick the wrong one and a cascade of 

snakes drops down from above. Or when 

you’re encouraged to speak to the locals, 

and the first villager immediately alerts the 

castle’s soldiers. And how about the fake 

Master Swords, gear-snatching thieves and 

maze-dwelling monkeys? In other words, 

it’s everything you remember it being, and 

so much more: play it again for a stirring 

reminder of a truly timeless adventure. 



85% 90% 92% 

GAMELIFE 

91% 

OVERALL 

92% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: A legend by name and 

reputation, A Link To The Past 

boasts two unforgettable 

worlds with clever puzzles 

and memorable encounters 

at every turn. Magnificent. 


ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

28 

KIRBY 

SUPER STAR 

No need to Kirb your enthusiasm for this 

charming compendium, which packs in the fun. 

The Beam ability has decent range and can 

hit several enemies within a single arc. 

Right: You have just five 

Maximum Tomatoes to 

get through the arena, so 

save them until you’re 

desperate for a top-up. 

Inset: Some helpers are 

more adept than others, 

but occasionally you’re 

left with no choice but 

to wade in with a brolly. 

UK Release 

Game: Kirby Super Star 


Developer: HAL Laboratory 

Genre: Compilation 

Release: March 1996 




You can trace the 

generosity of the 

Smash Bros games 

back here, Kirby’s 

eighth game in four 

years. Masahiro 

Sakurai has never 

been one to stint on ideas, and while you 

could complain about the size of the 

servings here – unlike Kirby, some of the 

games are a little on the slender side – 

you’re not left wanting for variety. Sakurai 

has served up a veritable buffet of Kirby: 

a couple of appetisers, a clutch of slightly 

meatier main courses, and the occasional 

amuse-bouche for good measure. 

Most are built around its hero’s Copy 

ability, where you ingest enemies to 

absorb their powers to use as weapons. 

These range from beam lasers to swords, 

hammers to bombs – and more outlandish 

abilities such as Mike, which essentially 

lets you sing enemies to death. You can 

also spend an existing ability to call 

in an AI helper, giving you access 

to two potentially very different 

skills at once, which helps when 

it comes to the many boss fights. 

The most substantial of 

these games is The Great Cave 

Offensive, which sees Kirby 

collect as many treasures as he 

can (some of which, as with 

Smash Bros, nod towards other 

Nintendo games). With large levels, 

multiple routes and sparse save points, 

it’s also the most challenging game of the 

whole package. Milky Way Wishes is 

similarly hefty, with one key difference: 

Kirby doesn’t consume enemies, but 

collects permanent abilities. 

Other modes offer slight variations on 

your typical Kirby platformer, but then 

there’s the exhilarating Gourmet Race 

– where Kirby and Dedede sprint to collect 

the most food, set to one of the most 

memorable themes of the 16-bit era – as 

well as an arena battle mode and a pair of 

two-player mini-games. Super Star is 

unlikely to convert those immune to its 

hero’s charms, and a 2008 DS remake 

threw in a clutch of extras that make it 

the definitive version, but this compilation 

captures the essence of Kirby. 


MODE 7 TIPS 

■ It may not be in the spirit of fair play, 

but you can bring an AI helper into arena 

battles. Just choose one ability, conjure 

an ally, then pick another before diving in. 

■ If you fancy being invincible for a 

level, input Right, Right, Right, Left, 

Left, Left, A, B, A, B, A, B at the 

beginning of the stage. 

■ Very rarely, the Stone power will 

transform you into a statue of Samus 

or Mario. Which is always nice, no? 

Above: Megaton 

Punch invites you 

and a CPU or 

human rival to 

thump a stone 

with such force it 

cracks the surface 

of a planet. 



80% 86% 82% 

GAMELIFE 

80% 

OVERALL 

82% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: An enjoyably diverse 

showcase for an ever-versatile 

mascot, Super Star gives Kirby 

the perfect stage to strut his stuff. 

P 

Having an AI helper also gives you another 

ability to choose from if your current one 

isn’t helping against the boss in question. 


UK Release 

Game: Mega Man X 

Publisher: Capcom 


Genre: Platform shooter 

Release: May 1994 

Players: 1 


UK REVIEW 

Left: X faces some blasts from Mega Man’s 

past, such as pickaxe-chucking Picket Men. 

MEGA MAN X 

29 

Mega Man’s formula, expanded and 

perfected onto a new generation of 

hardware – for both console and hero. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

X’s prologue stage opens the door for a more 

involved narrative than in previous Mega Man 

games while giving a glimpse of the larger 

world (civilian vehicles fleeing in panic). 

You can attempt the levels in any order, 

and the game uses a password system 

to save progress, but some combinations 

of numbers have different effects. The 

most powerful is 8441 2176 4423, which 

unlocks all upgrades and hearts, and 

defeats all bosses. But where’s the fun 

in that? For more of a challenge try 

6485 1146 2321, which unlocks the 

upgrades but leaves the bosses alive. 

A welcome change of pace at the time, 

newly introduced characters such as Zero 

and Sigma would eventually become 

overused. Nice while it lasted, though. 


X’s wall-jump slows the 

game’s pace slightly. 

Mega Man fans got 

an early taste of the 

fatigue that comes 

from annualised 

franchise sequels 

way back in the 

8-bit days, long 

before Assassin’s Creed and Call of Duty 

made a business model of yearly iteration. 

Thankfully, the series’ SNES debut gave 

things a much-needed overhaul, delivering 

on the promise of “super” sequels inherent 

in the console’s name. Mega Man X didn’t 

simply spruce up the platform adventures of 

Capcom’s robot hero with fancier graphics 

and sound; it rebuilt the franchise. In 

comparison to the woefully predictable 

Mega Man 6 (which showed up on the NES 

at around the same time), Mega Man X felt 

almost like an entirely new concept. 

The overhaul began with Mega Man 

himself. Like the console that powered him, 

Mega Man X (X for short) was a whole new 

machine. As roboticist Dr Light’s ultimate 

invention, X possessed boundless capacity 

for power, self-awareness, and good (or evil). 

In gameplay terms, he could still swipe his 

defeated foes’ powers for his own use, but 

he could also upgrade himself with better 

armour, dash boots, even Ryu’s Shoryuken. 

He also came equipped with a wall-jump 

right out of the shrink-wrap. 

After a brief prologue, X can pick his 

path through the game from a menu of eight 

different stages, and Capcom crammed 

those worlds with secrets and surprises. 

Gone were the themed robots with names 

ending in ‘-man’, replaced by ‘maverick’ 

robots in a variety of shapes and sizes. 

Every weapon power-up interacts with 

enemies and environments in unexpected 

ways. Even the order in which you complete 

the stages can affect later ones. 

Poor X had a tendency to feel like a 

secondary character in his later games 

thanks to the enormous popularity of his pal 

Zero, who debuts (and – spoilers! – dies) in 

this game. Happily, though, the series’ plot 

hadn’t ballooned into a baroque mess with 

this first entry, and everything here revolves 

around X coming into his own as 

a hero for the first time. It’s a dozen 

stages of intense, fat-free, run-and-gun 

action that embody the best ideas the Mega 

Man franchise has to offer. 

● Jeremy Parish 


84% 80% 89% 

GAMELIFE 

82% 

OVERALL 

89% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: A high-water mark for 

2D platform shooting, taking full 

advantage of the choose-yourown-route 

Mega Man style. 


ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

30 

SECRET 

OF MANA 

It’s dangerous to go alone! Take a friend (or two) along 

through Squaresoft’s sprawling multi-player action RPG. 

UK Release 

Game: Secret of Mana 

Publisher: Squaresoft 


Genre: Action RPG 




Enemies love to use skills that 

take one character temporarily 

out of the action, forcing their 

comrades to lend a hand (or at 

least take up the slack). 

Below: Good news for this undead 

hipster demigod: ’90s-style neongreen 

topknots are very in again. 

MODE 7 TIPS 


P 

Above: Enemies immune to one character’s attack 

emphasise the need for teamwork among players. 

Left: Mana’s characters and monsters alike 

possess ample personality, although sometimes 

that personality amounts to “utterly revolting”. 

Though Mana makes an admirable effort to shake 

up RPG dogma by throwing out turn-based combat 

and incorporating cooperative play, it is ultimately 

a vintage role-playing game – and that means lots 

of grinding for stats. More than usual: Mana gives 

your party eight distinct, permanent weapons and 

eight categories of both offensive and defensive 

spells. Each of these need to be levelled up – per 

character, in the case of weapons. You’ll want to 

find enemy-packed places near inns to buff your 

skills – that way, you can get into a cycle of 

seeking out combat to use up your magic points, 

then a sleep to recharge, then repeat… 

The real secret of Mana is… lots of grinding for every single weapon 

or spell. Worth it when you’re hugely powerful, but time-consuming.

WORLD OF MANA 

Mana’s central theme is the conflict 

between technology and nature, 

with the Mana Tree representing the 

power of life and the artificial Mana 

Fortress powering the bad guys. 

Before you gain the ability to fly 

around at will on dragon-back, 

Mana forces you to rely on a rather 

less encouraging mode of travel: 

being fired from a cannon. 

UK REVIEW 

31 

As a sequel to Final Fantasy 

Adventure, Mana wastes no time in 

establishing familiar faces, such as 

rabites. Adorable! But they have the 

word ‘bite’ right there in their name. 

Mana’s world becomes increasingly 

strange the farther you travel into it 

– from forests where the seasons 

change every few feet, to this bizarre 

desert dotted with fallen stars. 

Right around the time Rudolph the 

reindeer conscripts you to rescue 

Santa Claus, you begin to wonder 

if maybe Mana’s world might be 

our own ruined future. 

The underground passage leading to 

the imperial capital is zombie-filled. 

The music doesn’t ape Thriller, but 

that doesn’t keep the undead from 

performing some slick dance moves. 

Top: What kind of 

SNES RPG would 

it be if it didn’t 

show off some 

Mode 7 effects 

from time to time? 

Left: Mana’s plot 

revolves around 

the world-shaping 

power of a 

magical tree. 


If you’ve ever 

witnessed an 

argument about 

whether or not The 

Legend Of Zelda is 

an action RPG, you’ve 

witnessed true 

semantic hell in person. Now, Secret Of 

Mana – there’s an indisputable action RPG. 

A sequel to Final Fantasy Adventure, the 

weird yet wonderful Game Boy Zelda/Final 

Fantasy hybrid, Mana feels far more like its 

own creature. You can’t swing a dead rabite 

here without hitting an RPG system or two: 

the heroes level up weapons and spells 

while battling an ancient superweapon. 

You don’t get more RPG than that. 

Yet even as it leans into its role-playing 

heritage, Mana thoughtfully integrates 

action-game aspirations as well. You cast 

spells by bringing up a menu, yes, but a 

truly successful mage needs to master the 

timing that allows spell commands to be 

stacked in real time. Your party can wield 

any of the eight weapons you acquire, most 

of which have useful effects such as cutting 

down thick weeds, but attacks require you 

to pause after each strike to restore your 

stamina, effectively turning Mana’s realtime 

combat into turn-based action. 

Mana exceeds the mundane boundaries 

of the classic RPG by embracing its 

cooperative multi-player element. Once 

you’ve assembled the hero’s three-member 

party, the remainder of the quest can be 

played by three people. Mana features 

several brilliant design choices that help 

compensate for what could have become 

multi-player chaos. The ‘ring menu’ system 

means quick, intuitive command prompts 

that minimise disruption when using spells 

or items. Each player controls a separate 

character, each of whom has a clearly 

defined combat role: the Boy is the bruiser, 

the Girl the support mage, and the Sprite is 

best at dishing out elemental damage. 

Sure, Mana’s level-up mechanics lend 

themselves to toilsome grinding, and its 

chaotic development process (Square 

originally intended it to be a SNES CD-ROM 

game) resulted in a glitchy, sometimes 

broken game. But when you journey 

alongside two friends through Mana’s lush, 

green world, accompanied by one of the 

finest game soundtracks ever created, it’s 

hard to nitpick the little things. 



81% 95% 80% 

GAMELIFE 

92% 

OVERALL 

87% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: A sometimes messy yet 

engrossing adventure, Secret Of 

Mana is enjoyable on your own, 

but the teamwork and cooperation 

in multi-player transform it into a 

unique, memorable experience. 


ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

32 


P 

STAR 

FOX 

The only thing Fox McCloud and co can’t rescue 

is the framerate in this Super FX powerhouse. 

Some of the visuals, such as the combinations of 

background images and looming 3D structures, are still 

impressive and contrast with bare outer-space levels. 

Clever colour-palette switches 

create convincing new worlds. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

■ When you see groups of five asteroids 

on Level 1-2, shoot the red asteroids 

and fly through the gaps. Then blast the 

smiling face. Secret Black Hole level! 

You’re welcome. 

■ Another secret area is accessible from 

Level 3, again from the asteroids. Destroy 

the second big space rock, then ram into 

the bird-like thing that appears. Beware, 

though: once you’re in the alternate 

dimension, there is no escape. 

It’s amazing how many enemies 

have slipped into the tortuous vortex 

of the Black Hole. Clumsy beggars. 

UK Release 

Game: Star Fox 


Developer: Argonaut/Nintendo 

Genre: 3D shoot-’em-up 

Release: February 1993 

Players: 1 


Above: Right from the off, Star Fox is all 

cinematic sci-fi attitude. No wonder the 

series is a 24-year fan favourite. 

Left: A wireframe Arwing means you’ve grabbed 

a shield. Useful against angry sea monsters. 


A reverby voice 

drawls “Good 

luck!” at the start 

of every mission 

– but today, it 

feels almost like a 

warning. Star Fox 

is still good, in its own distinct ways. But 

it’s a challenge to enjoy it as starry eyed 

players did back in 1993. 

It still glows with the imagination and 

love that blossomed from Nintendo and 

Argonaut’s partnership. Fox McCloud and 

his anime crew are irresistible, and the 13 

planets and zones are a kaleidoscope of 

chunky polygonal creativity. 

The Super FX chip in Star Fox’s 

cartridge might have lent the SNES extra 

power, but it was overworked. Even if 

your eyes can cope with the wobbly 

polygons and creaking framerate, your 

fingers probably can’t. Aiming your lasers 

isn’t easy when the action is being 

delivered almost as a series of postcards. 

Reacting in time to dodge asteroids 

and enemies is often impossible – and 

through the syrup of sluggish shapes 

you’ll often accidentally blast fellow pilots 

Slippy, Peppy and Falco. Or rescue them 

without trying, which somehow feels 

worse (despite the adorable “Mind your 

own business, Fox!” from perpetual 

grump Falco). 

Following all three map paths to 

tyrannical astro ape Andross is still 

rewarding, and Star Fox tries its best to 

avoid repetitiveness – bosses get bigger, 

bolder and more baffling, culminating in 

Fortuna’s bonkers two-headed dragon 

popping out Yoshi eggs. Meanwhile, Koji 

Kondo’s timeless soundtrack gives every 

level a cinematic flair, even if the tunes 

stray rather close to the composer’s own 

Zelda melodies. 

With its younger, never-officiallyreleased 

offspring Star Fox 2 finally 

emerging from the shadows, the original 

Star Fox is looking a little sheepish now. 

Yes, there’s probably a fox/sheep joke in 

there somewhere, but I’m too lazy to think 

of it. (You’re fired, and so on – Ed.) 

● Mark Green 


64% 88% 70% 

GAMELIFE 

77% 

OVERALL 

73% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: A bit jerky and 

unresponsive for today’s tastes, 

but still a boisterous barrel roll 

across the galaxy, with atmosphere 

and adventure in spades. 


UK Release 

Game: Street Fighter II 

Turbo: Hyper Fighting 



Genre: Fighting 

Release: October 1993 


ROM size: 2.5Mbit 

UK REVIEW 

Above: Dhalsim 

really wants you 

to stay away. 

Above right: Arcade 

mode’s bonus 

stages are 

present and 

correct. 

FIGHTERII 

STREET 

33 

Is Capcom’s smash hit still the 

greatest fighting game on the planet? 

It won’t take Fei Long to find out. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

TURBO 

Mirror matches weren’t possible in previous 

iterations. Ken only exists because Capcom 

wanted to let both players ‘be’ Ryu. 

The Grand Master bosses 

are intimidating, but can be 

cheesed. Balrog is hopeless 

against sweeps, while Vega’s 

walldives lose to jump-back 

kicks. You’ll beat Sagat by 

inching forward and 

attacking low. And while 

M Bison is terrifying, he’s 

clueless if you’re aggressive. 

Boss names are different in 

Japan, so they’re generically 

known as Boxer, Claw, 

Dictator and, er, Sagat. 


Even for a series so 

heavily iterated as 

Street Fighter II, this 

takes some beating. 

Released into arcades 

just nine months after 

SFII: Champion 

Edition, Turbo’s only real point of difference 

is an optional faster playing speed. 

There are no new playable characters 

– those would be introduced in the next 

instalment, Super SFII – and only a handful 

of adjustments to existing ones. Ryu and 

Ken can Hurricane Kick in the air; Chun-Li 

gets her fireball and an airborne Spinning 

Bird Kick, which is ludicrous even in the 

context of a series with such a profound lack 

of interest in the laws of physics. Speaking 

of which, Dhalsim gets his teleport here, too. 

At the time, this was a worthwhile 

release on the SNES. The console never got 

a home conversion of Champion Edition, 

which made the four SFII bosses playable 

for the first time and enabled ‘mirror’ 

matches, in which both players could choose 

the same character. The adjustable speed, 

meanwhile, gave PAL players a means of 

offsetting the 50Hz conversion’s miserable 

drop in tempo. Today, it is merely a curio 

from an era before Ken’s fierce-punch 

Shoryuken set enemies on fire. Before 

fighting games thought about disguising 

how blatantly they were reading your 

inputs. Before Super combos, parries, 

comeback mechanics and frame-perfect 

combo timings turned what was once a 

truly mass-market phenomenon into a 

hardcore (though brilliant) niche. 

It’s pleasant enough – it is Street Fighter, 

after all – and at least the SNES Mini version 

is a US ROM, running at 60Hz. If all you’re 

after is a trip down memory lane, then this 

will see you just fine. Yet if the real test of 

games of this era is seeing how well they 

hold up today, prepare to be disappointed. 

Unlike several of the other games that come 

installed on Nintendo’s dinky delight, SFIIT 

has been surpassed again and again, most 

often at the hands of its own maker. 

● Nathan Brown 


82% 75% 80% 

GAMELIFE 

76% 

OVERALL 

78% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: What was once considered 

one of the best games on the SNES 

is showing its age these days. Still 

iconic, but no longer a classic. 


ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

SUPER 

MARIO WORLD 

There may be a mind-boggling 96 exits, 

but you won’t want to leave this world. 

UK Release 

34 

Several enemy types 

made their debut 

in World, including 

the irritatingly 

invulnerable Fuzzies. 

Game: Super Mario World 




Release: April 1992 


ROM size: 0.5 Mbit 

FASTEST FINISH 


P 

You can conquer the game with no more 

than 11 exits unlocked. First, you’ll 

need to finish all of Yoshi’s Island. 

Then, in Donut Plains 1, grab a cape 

and fly to the top right to find a keyhole. 

In Star World 1, spin-jump through the 

rightmost blocks to reach a keyhole. On 

the next stage, feed the baby blue Yoshi 

until it’s full-size, then swim below the 

green pipe to another keyhole. 

This will take you to Donut Secret 1, 

where you need to carry a P-Switch to 

a row of blocks with a ?-Block at the 

end. Hit the Switch to reach the block, 

which holds a key to the nearby hole. 

By comparison, Star World 3 is a little 

trickier, but if you can defeat Lakitu by 

throwing a block, you can rise through 

the gap at the top of the screen. Bear 

left to reach yet another keyhole. 

Here, at the Donut Secret House, you’ll 

need to bring a P-Switch in the second 

area to a central door. Blocks appear, 

so stand on the central one and hit the 

block above to release a beanstalk. 

Take a blue Yoshi into Star World 4. 

Eat a shell and fly right, spitting it out 

before it gets swallowed. Beneath the 

stone blocks you’ll find a keyhole. We 

needn’t tell you where the key lies. 

Reach the door at the top before the 

P-Switch timer runs out and you’ll 

fight a Big Boo by picking up blocks 

and hurling them up. Hit it three times, 

and you’ll be able to access Star Road. 

Now you can stroll down to the warp 

star, which will take you right to the 

door of Bowser’s Castle. Defeat Mario’s 

arch-nemesis and you’ve completed 

the game within just 11 exits.

MODE 7 TIPS 

The summery hues of the world map can be replaced by more autumnal 

tones. To make the change, you’ll need to finish the Special World 

stages, which you can access via the secret exit of Star World 5. You’ll 

need to have visited the four Switch Palaces first. Bring either a cape 

or – preferably – a blue Yoshi (which can be easily obtained from Star 

World 2) with you, and at the top-right of the level you’ll find a keyhole. 

This will unlock the path to a warp to the Special World. 

UK REVIEW 

35 

Go back into previously completed levels, and you’ll also 

see that the appearance of certain enemies has changed. 

Top right: Yoshi’s 

tongue can reach 

enemies through 

blocks to gobble them 

up. It’s also useful for 

ferrying items around. 

Right: Swarms of 

disappearing Boo 

Buddies make for 

a fraught swim 

through the Sunken 

Ghost Ship. 


Mario’s vacation in 

Dinosaur Land was 

a break from the 

Mushroom Kingdom 

in more ways than 

one. It’s certainly a 

departure in terms of 

looks: anyone with a copy of Super Mario 

Maker can quickly trace a visual lineage 

from the original through SMB3 to the New 

Super Mario Bros aesthetic, with the 

plumber’s exhilarating SNES adventure 

feeling like the odd game out. It’s typified 

by its hero’s amusingly squat pre-Super 

Mushroom form: it’s still recognisably 

Mario, but there’s something a little 

different about him. 

Many game connoisseurs have 

SMB3 pegged as the plumber’s finest sidescroller, 

but World pushes its influential 

predecessor’s ideas that much further. Take 

its world map, which has arguably never 

been bettered, even by Nintendo. It’s a 

wondrous, intricate network of paths, 

hidden exits, keyholes – worlds within 

worlds, even. It’s absolutely stuffed with 

secrets, many of which demand a keen eye 

and creative play to reach, and as you find 

them and new routes and locations are 

revealed, it gives what is essentially a 

stage-select screen a tangible sense of place. 

The names help: rather than Worlds 1-1 and 

3-2, you find yourself exploring Chocolate 

Island, Donut Plains and Vanilla Dome. By 

the end, you feel less like you’ve finished a 

series of loosely connected obstacle courses, 

and more like you’ve completed a journey. 

Meanwhile, the stages themselves are 

some of Mario’s finest. Tezuka, Miyamoto 

and company concoct some fiendish 

designs, from the perplexing puzzle boxes of 

the Ghost Houses to the tricksy challenges 

of the Special World. Levels stretch higher 

and farther, gaps grow wider and enemies 

and hazards more plentiful – but you do 

have some help to overcome even the 

toughest tests. There’s Yoshi, of course, 

always so much more than a quicker way 

to get around, alongside perhaps Mario’s 

greatest power-up, the Cape Feather. It 

might feel a bit like cheating, but then the 

art of flight takes some skill to master, from 

finding room to accelerate for take-off to 

pushing the D-pad rhythmically to stay 

airborne. Swooping below the gate on 

Cheese Bridge to reach yet another secret 

exit is just one unforgettable moment 

among many in a game that suggests 

Mario should take a holiday more often. 



86% 91% 93% 

GAMELIFE 

91% 

OVERALL 

93% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: Super Mario World carries 

platform games to thrilling heights 

where the process of unearthing 

new stages is every bit as 

enjoyable as completing them. 

Still unassailably brilliant. 


ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

SUPER 

CASTLEVANIA 

36 


Unleashed in Japan 

on Hallowe’en 1991, 

Akumajo Dorakyura 

(literally Devil’s 

Castle Dracula) was 

essentially a major 

overhaul of the 

original NES game, and one of the last 

linear vampire hunts. 

Reflecting its arcade-influenced times, 

this fourth edition is still pure hack ’n’ 

slash. Notably, the new, multi-directional 

capability of our hero’s whip/chain grafts 

a much more satisfying, powerful range 

of attacks (including a projectile block) 

onto the series’ simplistic core, while its 

secondary purpose, as a grappling hook 

for crossing gaps, liberates levels from 

tight constraints. The introduction of 

crouching, plus mid-air direction changes, 

further loosens up the controls. 

Visually and technically, Castlevania 

IV was still relatively early days for 

Konami’s 16-bit muscle, but there are still 

memorable sections and set-pieces. Flat 

early levels are transcended by multiparallax 

backdrops, and the unforgettable, 

if gimmicky, rotating Mode 7 levels still 

compel gritted jaws to slacken. 

Where this sequel raises the wooden 

stakes is in its astonishing soundtrack 

– a cinematic symphony of organs, drums, 

swirling strings, jazzy piano, double bass 

and psychedelic synth arrangements. As a 

chiptune soundtrack it’s arguably never 

been bettered, even 26 years on. 

Castlevania IV boldly sets the stage 

for what 16-bit console action games 

should aspire to be. For overall challenge, 

depth and scope it has been eclipsed by a 

newer generation, but its punchy arcade 

action and surreal atmospherics are like 

nails in the coffin of the 8-bit era. 

The ghoulish platformer 

that helped define the 

early days of the SNES. 

Borrowing a great idea from Super Mario 

World, it’s possible to use gates to flip your 

way into fenced-off areas in the background. 

IV 

UK Release 

Game: Super Castlevania IV 

Publisher: Konami 


Genre: Action platform 

Release: October 1991 

Players: 1 


● Jason Brookes 


P 


85% 96% 88% 

GAMELIFE 

80% 

OVERALL 

88% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: A spine-tingling hack 

’n’ slash epic combining perhaps 

the most rewarding Castlevania 

combat system with groundbreaking 

music and visuals. 


MODE 7 TIPS 

■ Our hero’s whip (which quickly 

upgrades to an iron chain) can be used 

in ingenious ways as players get full 

directional control of it for the first time 

in a Castlevania game. A useful strategy 

is killing off enemies by simply by 

letting the limp weapon hang in their 

path from above. 

■ Beating the game once unlocks a 

‘hard’ mode in which the castle contains 

more enemies, each with more health. 

Right: Our musclebound hero, er, Simon, 

descends down an inner tower keep, asking 

you to think about making attacks from above. 

Main: Stage 6 

ratchets up the 

difficulty courtesy 

of some hounds 

of hell that refuse 

to die. Three 

levels of parallax 

scrolling shine 

beautifully here.

UK Release 

Game: Super Ghouls ’n Ghosts 



Genre: Platform action 

Release: December 1992 

Players: 1 


UK REVIEW 

Far left: This is Level 1. Get used to it 

because you’ll be seeing it extremely often. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

■ In a rare act of leniency, after taking 

a hit Arthur is allowed to fight on briefly 

(geddit?) in his pants – your cue to find 

new armour. Bronze armour beefs up his 

weapons, while gold gives 

him a shield and magic 

powers. Anything’s 

better than pants. 

■ When picking 

up the key at the 

end of the level, 

try pressing Up. 

37 

Beating the game unlocks the even harder 

‘professional’ difficulty. Good luck with that. 

SUPER 

If there’s one place where you don’t want 

to be stripped down to just your boxer 

shorts, it’s this frozen level. Brrrr. 

GHOULS ’N 

GHOSTS 

After 


25 years, this ultratough 

platformer still has 

us tearing out our hair. 

The reopening of the 

Super Play office has 

also reopened some 

old debates. Super 

Ghouls ’n Ghosts, 

for example: is 

it “annoyingly 

unforgiving” and “frustrating to play”? 

Or a finely polished platforming gem for 

players who relish a challenge? 

It’s still harrowingly difficult, that’s for 

sure, not least because of its strangely 

primitive jump system. Once Arthur leaves 

the ground you can’t steer him, so misjudge 

things and you’re left sailing helplessly to 

your doom. It’s more 1980s Spectrum than 

1990s SNES, and takes some serious getting 

used to. That, combined with the need for 

pixel-perfect dodging of respawning 

baddies, and the femtoseconds you’re 

generally given to react to collapsing 

platforms and other unexpected twists, 

means that to make progress you’ll need to 

play each level over and over, mastering 

every inch of it and dying thousands of 

times (assuming you’re not using the SNES 

Mini’s Rewind jiggery-pokery, naturally). 

On the plus side, the armour upgrade 

process works nicely, with Arthur’s top-ofthe-range 

gold outfit giving him magic 

powers and a shield. The jumping isn’t quite 

as crude as I made out earlier: a second stab 

of the button mid-leap lets you jump farther 

or even change direction, an important 

technique to master. While the graphics 

seem nothing special at first, they really 

grow on you – level two is particularly 

lovely, with its haunted shipwreck rolling 

among the waves. And while it’s tricky, 

it’s generally fair: a genuine test of skill. 

Maybe don’t make Super Ghouls ’n 

Ghosts the first game you try when you 

power up your new SNES Mini. Hone your 

old-school platforming skills on Mega Man 

X or Contra III, and save this until you’re at 

the very top of your game. 

● Jonathan Davies 


82% 80% 76% 

GAMELIFE 

80% 

OVERALL 

78% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: The SNES equivalent of 

a well-known yeasty spread, this 

will delight expert gamers but 

reduce most others to tears. 


ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

YOSHI’S 

ISLAND 

Living proof that classic game design isn’t 

just for dinosaurs – though it certainly can be. 

38 

UK Release 

Game: Super Mario 

World 2: Yoshi’s Island 




Release: January 1996 

Players: 1 


Everything looks so cheerful! Even the 

hills are smiling… which belies the fact 

that the difficulty can be totally crushing. 



P 

The Super FX2 add-on 

chip was developed 

to give the humble 

SNES enough juice to 

produce 3D polygonal 

graphics. So it’s 

ironic that the best 

and most innovative application of the tech 

appeared in the most defiantly 2D game 

Nintendo has ever made. 

Yoshi’s Island does include a few 

desultory 3D effects throughout, but you 

might not even notice them, so subtly 

have they been integrated into the 

game’s hand-drawn cartoon world. From 

start to finish, Yoshi’s Island emphasises 

a spectacular nursery-school graphical 

style. Heavy black outlines and messy 

scrawls of colour make for a game that 

gives the impression a toddler’s wall 

graffiti has somehow come to life. 

It’s a fitting look, considering that Mario 

appears as a mere tyke here. Although 

Nintendo’s moustached main man gets a 

few moments to himself (wherein he dashes 

about as a super-powered baby), Yoshi’s 

Island really amounts to the most 

extraordinary escort mission ever. Players 

control Yoshi (a whole tribe of Yoshis, in 

fact) escorting an infant Mario back to his 

parents in Nintendo’s final statement for 

the 16-bit era. 

Really, it’s less a statement than a 

deliberate middle finger to the trends and 

expectations of mid-’90s 2D platformers. 

Sonic’s Blast Processing means platformers 

gotta go fast? Here’s a methodically paced 

game in which carefully lining up projectiles 

and sniffing out secrets rules the day. 

Donkey Kong Country’s fake-3D prerendering 

is the hot look for games? Here’s 

an entire world that looks to have been 

scribbled in markers and crayons. 

Underneath its quirky graphics, Yoshi’s 

Island offers a fascinating, inventive take 

on the Mario concept. It makes clever use 

of the Super FX2 chip, scaling, stretching, 

spinning and distorting everything in sight 

to create never-before-seen challenges and 

game scenarios. The action’s methodical 

pace helps you appreciate how vibrant and 

alive the world feels. Created at the dawn of 

3D gaming, Yoshi’s Island proves that the 

classic approach still had plenty of life. Its 

wobbly, secret-laden world is every bit as 

engrossing now as it was 21 years ago. 



92% 80% 92% 

GAMELIFE 

89% 

OVERALL 

93% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: Eleven years after 

Super Mario Bros defined the 2D 

platformer, Yoshi’s Island proved 

cutting-edge tech could open new 

horizons for ‘dated’ genres. The 

result holds up brilliantly today. 


As the first game to use the new Super FX2 chip, you might 

have expected a lot more 3D. But Yoshi’s Island used the 

add-on’s power for pumping out screen-filling sprites… 

Nintendo originally 

experimented with 

pre-rendered CGI 

graphics, but quickly 

decided to go a different 

direction. The few relics 

of these experiments, 

seen primarily in story 

sequences, suggest 

that our eyeballs 

dodged a bullet. 

With the boys 

reunited at last, Baby 

Mario and his little 

brother allow us to 

bear witness to a sight 

unseen anywhere else 

in the Mario universe: 

actual tangible proof 

that these two 

characters have 

real, live parents. 

SPRITE AND SHADE 

Instead of slick 

computer renderings, 

Yoshi’s Island has been 

scrawled with childish 

strokes. The superficial 

crudity of the graphics 

belies their visual 

sophistication, though: 

just look at the pro-level 

lighting and shading on 

those distant hills! 

Left: Yoshi’s Island 

puts surprising 

spins on old 

standards. Like, 

who even knew 

that Wigglers 

have a lifecycle 

and moult into 

butterflies?! 

Below: Magikoopa 

from Super Mario 

World graduate to 

a leading role. The 

primary villain is 

Kamek, clearly the 

most ambitious 

of his species. 

UK REVIEW 

39 

Bosses always take 

the form of normal 

enemies inflated to 

brobdingnagian 

proportions, each with 

its own surprising twist 

– such as Raphael the 

Raven, who has his very 

own planetoid (more 

than a decade before 

Super Mario Galaxy). 

The advanced Super 

FX2 chip – developed by 

UK company Argonaut 

– barely gets to do any 

3D maths. Instead, 

it’s given to more 

surprising applications, 

like the drunken screen 

wobble inflicted by 

floating puffballs in 

‘Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy’. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

If Donkey Kong Country standardised the idea of exhaustive itemcollecting 

in platformers, Yoshi’s Island proved acquisition can be 

good for something besides scratching obsessive-compulsive urges. 

Acquiring five flowers, 30 stars and 20 red coins in every level of a 

world will unlock entire new stages – each containing expert-level 

challenges to test the skills of even the most confident player. 

ISSUE 48 

Sometimes, super-sized 

enemies aren’t bosses, 

merely reasons to 

panic. The giant Chain 

Chomps, which pursue 

Yoshi relentlessly 

through hazardpacked 

courses, will 

likely make players 

rue the very concept 

of the Super FX. 

Yoshi’s Island eases the burden of collecting with subtle 

cues, such as a faint colour cast on the hidden red coins. 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

SUPER 

MARIO KART 

40 

Does Nintendo’s pioneering arcade racer stand 

up to modern scrutiny, or spin off into oblivion? 

UK Release 

Game: Super Mario Kart 



Genre: Racing 

Release: August 1992 


ROM size: 0.5 Mbit 

Right: Circuits are much shorter and snappier than 

in later entries, leading to more lapping of stragglers. 

The feather is easily one of the most useful 

items, and essential for the best shortcuts. There 

are also plenty of corner-cutting opportunities, 

as long as you’ve got a mushroom to hand. 


It seemed a 

preposterous 

idea at the time. 

The platforming 

plumber in a kart 

racer? Of course, 

it turned out to be 

one of Nintendo’s smartest decisions. 

The original is still considered in some 

quarters to be the connoisseur’s choice, 

stripped down to its essentials, and not 

without reason. Sure, you miss the razzledazzle 

of the latest edition, but SMK is an 

arcade racer in which you need to take 

your foot off the gas from time to time, 

where you can’t rely on drifts and corner 

turbos to get by. Its tracks are narrow 

enough for almighty scrums on corners, 

and a banana in the middle causes panic 

rather being easily swerved past. 

In other respects, it’s showing its age. 

Dare we say it’s not much to look at these 

days, particularly the murky Choco Island 

stages? And the view that it’s a fairer 

game than the mayhem of more recent 

entries is proved rose-tinted by rubberbanding 

and item-spamming CPU racers. 

A few track designs are decidedly creaky, 

too, the ice blocks strewn across Vanilla 

Lake a particularly pointless irritant. 

Others, however, are all-time greats. 

The dreaded right-angles of the Bowser 

Castle tracks make them as tough as they 

are unforgettable. The barrier-free Ghost 

Valley tracks are the ultimate whiteknuckle 

time-trial courses, imposing in 

theme and design. And the beautiful 

Donut Plains 3, a track surely designed 

around that genre-defining hop-and-drift, 

is still a dazzler, justly revived for Wii U 

and Switch. A quarter-century on, it may 

no longer be the best, but it certainly 

remains a super Mario Kart. 



Above: The map 

on the lower half 

of the screen 

is a huge help, 

and a reminder 

of Nintendo’s 

affection for two 

separate displays. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

■ Looking to make things tougher? Hold Y 

and press A when choosing your character 

and they’ll shrink as if they’d gobbled a 

poison mushroom. Give other racers a 

wide berth to avoid being squashed. 

■ If winning gold in the Mushroom, Flower 

and Star cups is too much work, go to 

Time Trial or 2P Match Race, put the 

cursor on Mushroom Cup and press Left, 

Right, Left, Right, Left, Left, Right, Right, 

A to unlock the Special Cup. 


70% 85% 88% 

GAMELIFE 

84% 

OVERALL 

87% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: Compact, lean and 

ultra-satisfying, the original’s 

highlights are a match for any 

of its successors. And there’s not 

a blue shell in sight. 

P 

If you’re finding it too tough in shrunken 

form, picking up another poison 

mushroom will return you to normal size. 


UK Release 

Game: Super Mario RPG: 

Legend Of The Seven Stars 


Developer: Square 

Genre: RPG 

Release: N/A 

Players: 1 


UK REVIEW 

Inset: There’s something almost claymation- 

SUPER 

like about the game’s visual style. Every 

character and enemy is cute and squat. 

MARIO RPG 

A collaboration between Square and Nintendo resulted 

in one of the most charismatic games on the SNES. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

Super Mario RPG begins the 

way most Mario games end: 

with a face-off against Bowser. 

41 

■ Adding to Super Mario RPG’s dreamlike 

qualities are the extraordinarily wellhidden 

secrets squirreled away in its 

world. There’s a casino, a hidden 

superboss, even a Space Invaders 

mini-game starring a beetle. 

■ The Mushroom Boy’s shop is glitched. 

He’s supposed to only accept hard-won 

forest mushrooms, but you can get them 

from the Mole Lady next door instead. 

The most famous secret, a hidden boss 

named Culex, is a kind of demonic parody 

of Final Fantasy bosses – the battle music 

even comes from Final Fantasy IV. 


For many, this will 

be among the most 

exciting games in the 

SNES Mini collection, 

since Super Mario 

RPG wasn’t officially 

released in Europe 

the first time around. As a result, British 

children reading or hearing about it in the 

’90s could never be 100% sure that it wasn’t 

completely made-up. A Square-made RPG 

starring the eccentric Mario cast? In which 

Mario actually fights with Bowser? Really? 

There is still a subversive, almost 

dreamlike feel to Super Mario RPG, which 

fleshes out the abstract Mushroom Kingdom 

into a still-beautiful isometric JRPG world of 

Yoshis, Toads, Moles and sentient clouds. It 

is the funniest of any of the Mario games, 

bar perhaps Thousand Year Door. Bowser 

is reduced to a raving blowhard as his 

minions desert him; mute Mario relies on 

wild facial expressions, hand gestures and 

impersonations to communicate in a world 

of verbose NPCs; and guilt-ridden Goombas 

live out their lives in a town inhabited 

exclusively by reformed monsters. Unlike 

some other RPGs of its time, it’s also snappy 

and fun to play, thanks to a battle system 

that melds turn-based combat with more 

traditional Mario-esque action. It gives 

every fight (even the super-easy ones) a 

frisson of excitement, as you try to time 

your attacks to earn an extra swing of 

Mario’s hammer or smack of Princess 

Toadstool’s glove. 

Also brilliant: there are no random 

battles. Exploring isn’t a teeth-gritting 

chore, which is great because there is so 

much to discover. The cute dialogue and 

abundant platformy secrets reward the 

smart and curious player. Super Mario RPG 

is legendary for its esoteric secrets, which 

are thankfully a lot easier to track down in 

the age of YouTube. 

What’s really appealing about Super 

Mario RPG, though, is the amount of 

amusing scenarios and random minigames 

and in-jokes and cameos it scatters before 

you: anyone with any love for Mario 

will find so much here to savour. Square 

approached Mario’s first RPG with abundant 

creativity and good humour, and the 

collaboration with Nintendo is evident in 

its absolute mastery of the SNES hardware. 

● Keza McDonald 


82% 86% 80% 

GAMELIFE 

79% 

OVERALL 

80% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: The Mushroom Kingdom 

approached with wry wit and a 

fresh eye. There’s almost nothing 

to dislike about this mash-up. 


ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

SUPER 

METROID 

42 

Exploratory platforming refined to perfection in 

a sequel truly deserving of the ‘super’ appellation. 

UK Release 

Game: Super Metroid 



Genre: Action adventure 

Release: July 1994 

Players: 1 


Above: The game carries 

over plenty of imagery 

from previous entries 

in Nintendo’s series. 

You had to activate two statues by killing 

bosses in order to complete Metroid; Super 

Metroid confronts you with four early on. 



P 

Some games manage 

to be greater than 

the sum of their 

parts. Consider Super 

Metroid. It isn’t the 

best-looking 16-bit 

game. It doesn’t have 

the best music. The controls feel a little too 

floaty for their own good. The game’s few 

difficult combat encounters become easy 

once you figure out the secret to cheesing 

them. Yet somehow this imperfect collection 

of attributes has had a far greater influence 

on games and game creators than anything 

else that was released on the SNES. 

Super Metroid excels through the 

brilliance with which its disparate pieces 

hang together. Director Yoshio Sakamoto’s 

magnum opus offers an incredible study in 

structure, and in the importance of details. 

Super Metroid remains memorable (and 

wholly imitable) more than two decades 

after its debut for the flawless way in which 

it marries an exploratory trip through a 

meticulously arranged underground 

labyrinth to the sort of thoughtful minor 

details that would win Kojima’s games 

such devotion a generation or two later. 

The game oozes with brooding 

atmosphere, something 16-bit games 

don’t often do well. The muted analogue 

sampling that defined the Super NES’s 

audio capabilities gets a workout here, 

playing out with eerie sounds and ominous 

refrains that simply wouldn’t have worked 

with more traditional chiptunes. It’s a 

dark, lonely game full of ghosts, where the 

threat of marauding space pirates never 

seems quite so unnerving as the constant 

sensation that heroine Samus Aran isn’t 

quite so alone as she seems. 

Samus’ quest takes her through the 

ruins of the NES game (left in a sorry state 

by the time bomb she herself triggered at 

the end of the first Metroid) and far beyond. 

Mother Brain’s old lair offers plenty of new 

ground to explore, including a series of 

submerged caverns and a wrecked starship 

whose flickering screens suggest it was the 

accidental cause of planet Zebes’ metroid 

infestation – another of the series’ many 

nods to Alien. All of these things are good 

and interesting, but ultimately Super 

Metroid’s greatest gift to us all comes from 

its intricate, interlocking world design, 

which turns out to be equally engrossing 

when transplanted into indie brawlers like 

Gaucamelee or grim RPGs like Dark Souls. 



82% 90% 94% 

GAMELIFE 

90% 

OVERALL 

94% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: A haunting adventure 

that takes hold and will not let go, 

Super Metroid still stands tall as 

one of gaming’s landmark titles. 


A TALE IN SILENCE 

One of Super Metroid’s greatest 

accomplishments is to tell a 

complete story with very few 

words. Once you make it through 

the introductory text scroll (which 

mostly recaps the first two games), 

it’s all pantomime from there on. 

Left: Clever boss 

designs force 

you to change 

tactics throughout 

the adventure. 

Below: While the 

Space Jump 

power eventually 

makes it obsolete, 

Samus’ grappling 

hook still comes 

in handy… 

UK REVIEW 

43 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

1. The first few minutes of the 

game take place in an isolated 

space colony where scientists 

hope to learn more about the 

baby metroid Samus 

recovered in Metroid II. 

2. The interior of the colony 

shows off the game’s silent 

narrative at its best. This is 

the third time players see 

this room – it shows up on 

the title screen, where the 

researchers lay dead and a 

central platform holds the 

baby metroid. Now, the 

metroid is absent, setting 

the plot into motion. 

3. Once you reach planet 

Zebes, you retrace your steps 

through familiar locations 

from the original Metroid. 

This time, however, you don’t 

encounter any enemies within 

the ruins. Instead, eerie 

surveillance devices trace 

Samus’ every step, building 

an intense sensation of dread. 

4. While you don’t meet 

metroids until the end of the 

game, you encounter little 

hints of the space pirates’ 

ambitions for the baby 

throughout the game. These 

weak, simplistic metroid 

clones – moctroids – pose 

little real threat, but can 

certainly freak out 

experienced Metroid fans. 

5. Some players may have 

been disappointed to find that 

the end of Super Metroid 

played out largely the same 

as the original game, all the 

way down to Mother Brain’s 

chamber full of tubes and 

rings of fire. But the point 

was to soften them up for 

(warning: spoilers ahead)… 

6. …the big twist, which 

begins with Mother Brain 

showing off her new combat 

gear and ends with an 

intense climax that brings 

the story full circle and 

results in Samus essentially 

turning into a tiny armoured 

god of destruction. 

ARAN AGAIN (NATURALLY) 

While Super Metroid spends most of its running 

time doing its own thing, the ghosts of its 

predecessors are never too far away. The 

game deliberately builds off Samus’s first 

two adventures, sometimes to create 

texture, sometimes to knock players off 

their feet. The main game begins with a 

reverse trip through the escape shaft from 

the NES finale, which takes you past the 

shattered remains of Mother Brain’s lair. On the other hand, 

your rematch with Kraid finds the dopey little lizard rebuilt 

into a multi-screen titan… 

A shared setting with Metroid II sees elements return, 

such as the Spring Ball, while the NES game’s nastiest 

gimmicks, such as trick floors, show up unchanged. 

ISSUE 48 OCTOBER 2017 

P

UK REVIEW 

SUPER 

PUNCH-OUT!! 

44 


P 

Nintendo’s belated arcade 

port delivers a one-two punch 

of character and challenge. 

The graceful pirouette before Bear Hugger (right) collapses is 

one of many brilliant animations. Once you’ve learned to read 

an opponent, you can finish a match off within half a minute. 

MODE 7 TIPS 

■ You can KO Piston Hurricane in less 

than ten seconds: simply hit him with 

consecutive lefts to the face, then a 

super-punch to the gut when he’s stunned. 

Release a second super-punch when he 

rises, and he’s done for. 

■ If you’ve won the Minor, Major and 

World circuits four-nil, you can unlock 

the Special Circuit. 

■ Mash the buttons while your rival’s 

down and you’ll recover some stamina. 

Like many Super Punch-Out!! opponents, 

Piston Hurricane presents a stern test 

until you figure out his weaknesses. 

Left: It’s not exactly Queensbury rules, as 

Dragon Chan’s kung-fu approach illustrates. 

UK Release 

Game: Super Punch-Out!! 


Developer: Nintendo IRD 

Genre: Fighting 

Release: January 1995 

Players: 1 



To think we 

complain about 

delays of mere 

weeks. After the 

success of arcade 

Punch-Out!!, 

Nintendo rushed 

out a sequel in less than a year. It was 

in rather less of a hurry to bring it to 

consoles. Punch-Out!! reached the NES 

in a mere three years; SNES players 

had to wait a full decade for Super 

Punch-Out!! to arrive. 

Like many SNES games, it’s about 

refinement rather than reinvention. 

You face a cavalcade of cartoon 

stereotypes that would be outrageous 

if they weren’t so absurd, and the fun’s 

in figuring out how to read their fighting 

styles before giving them a faceful of 

glove. Land enough successive shots and 

you’ll build up your Super meter, letting 

you launch winding gut punches, meaty 

uppercuts and left-right-left flurries to 

leave your adversaries in a daze. 

Opponents hit hard enough that a 

single mistimed duck can be enough to 

send you sprawling to the canvas. And 

they’re as likely to put you off with their 

facial expressions as their dodges and 

feints: just try not to laugh at Bald Bull’s 

surprised response to taking one in the 

breadbasket. But with sharp reflexes and 

a keen eye for recognising tells, you’ll 

eventually conquer all four circuits 

– at which point the challenge shifts to 

knocking your opponent out in the fastest 

possible time, and bouts are measured in 

seconds, not minutes. Its spirit lives on in 

the behind-the-fighter perspective and 

larger-than-life characters of ARMS – other 

SNES hits may have aged better, but this 

is still thumpingly good fun. 



83% 66% 79% 

GAMELIFE 

82% 

OVERALL 

78% 

SCORE: 

VERDICT: Cartoonish looks belie a 

tough test of reflexes and pattern 

recognition in an entertaining 

brawler that comfortably KOs 

its arcade inspiration. 


WIN WIN WIN! 

SOME OF THE FINEST SNES-RELATED STUFF 

THE GALAXY HAS EVER SEEN! 

COMPETITION 

45 

A CLASSIC MINI: SNES 

You know how sometimes you look at 

a puppy or even a small child and it’s so 

cute that you have a weird animalistic 

impulse to just pick it up and bite it? 

You’ll get that when you pick this thing 

up for the first time. It also plays 

some extremely fine games, 

as you well know. 

A CONTRA III: THE 

ALIEN WARS VINYL LP 

From the master curators at mondotees.com, this is a 

glorious celebration of one of Konami’s most stirring game 

soundtracks. It’s worth $25 and will look great on your shelf 

whether you’re a hardcore game-music collector or you 

smell faintly of damp and are really into Jethro Tull. 

A McCLOUD’S ARWING 

ACADEMY T-SHIRT 

What other T-shirt could we pick for an 

issue with the hero at the centre of Star Fox 

on the cover? This one comes from our pals at 

www.gamerprint.co.uk, and is worth £20. 

It’s available in small, medium, large, XL and 

XXL, but let’s get into that if you win it, eh? 

AN ORIGINAL, SIGNED 

PIECE OF WIL OVERTON ART 

Hand-painted on celluloid by Super Play’s very own 

illustrator extraordinaire, this artwork was once used as the 

basis for the cover of issue 25, marking the UK release of 

Secret Of Mana. And now you can own it! Put it in a frame 

and stick it on your wall (or eBay – we don’t mind). 

HOW TO ENTER 

A SUPER FAMICOM: THE 

BOX ART COLLECTION BOOK 

We didn’t just import SFC games from Japan 

to get them ahead of their official UK release; 

we also did it because of their unique cover 

artwork. This sumptuous 276-page celebration 

of the form from www.bitmapbooks.co.uk is 

worth £24.99, and rarely fails to make us giddy. 

To enter, answer this question correctly: 

Which Nintendo designer was responsible for the creation of the Game & Watch series? 

Email your answer to superplaycompo@gmail.com 

On the closing date, 5 October 2017, all correct responses will enter a draw, and winners will be selected at random, each picking up 

one of the five prizes on this page, also selected at random. Winners will be notified, much less randomly, by email. Good luck! 

Terms and conditions: By entering this Competition you are agreeing to receive details of future offers from Future Publishing Ltd. The closing date is 5 October 2017. By taking part in a 

Competition, you agree to be bound by the Competition Rules, which are summarised below but can be viewed in full at www.futureplc.com/competition-rules. Late or incomplete entries will be 

disqualiied. Proof of posting (if relevant) shall not be deemed proof of delivery. Entries must be submitted by an individual (not via any agency or similar) and, unless otherwise stated, are limited 

to one per household. The Company reserves the right in its sole discretion to substitute any prize with cash or a prize of comparable value. Unless otherwise stated, the Competition is open to all 

GB residents of 18 years and over, except employees of Future Publishing and any party involved in the competition or their households. By entering a Competition you give permission to use your 

name, likeness and personal information in connection with the Competition and for promotional purposes. All entries will become the property of the Company upon receipt and will not be returned. 

You warrant that the Competition entry is entirely your own work and not copied or adapted from any other source. If you are a winner, you may have to provide additional information. Details 

of winners will be available on request within three months of the closing date. If you are a winner, receipt by you of any prize is conditional upon you complying with (amongst other things) the 

Competition Rules. You acknowledge and agree that neither the Company nor any associated third parties shall have any liability to you in connection with your use and/or possession of your prize. 

ISSUE 48 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

IMPORT REVIEWS 

IMPORT 

By Damien McFerran 

REVIEWS 

FIRE EMBLEM: 

Mystery Of The Emblem 

GANBARE GOEMON: 

Yukihime Kyushutsu Emaki 

46 

INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS 1994 

KONAMI 1991 


If you’re an 

especially 

devoted Nintendo 

collector, you may 

be hankering after 

Nintendo’s Mini 

hardware in its 

Japanese format. 

Just for you, 

we’ve rounded 

up the five 

games exclusive 

to the Super 

Famicom edition. 

Fire Emblem may be a household 

name in the west today, but back 

in the early 1990s it was almost 

unknown – the first entry to be 

officially localised outside Japan was 

on the Game Boy Advance in 2003. 

Mystery Of The Emblem marked the 

debut of the franchise on the Super 

Famicom, with the previous two 

instalments being Famicom releases 

from 1990 (Shadow Dragon And The 

Blade Of Light) and 1992 (Gaiden) 

respectively. This 16-bit release 

actually serves as a remake of the 

earliest title; the first portion of the 

game retells the original game’s 

storyline while the second is a 

chronological sequel. Following Marth’s 

victory, his old ally Hardin becomes 

king of the now-peaceful Archanea, 

but his unchecked military expansion 

causes friction between the two 

erstwhile friends, and Marth must 

choose to ride into battle. Following the 

reduced strategic focus seen in Fire 

Emblem Gaiden – a title from 1992 

which divides fans of the series even 

to this day – Mystery Of The Emblem 

marked a return to the more traditional 

gameplay seen in the first game. Units 

are moved around a grid-based map, 

with combat taking place in short 

animated sequences which show blows 

being exchanged between fighters. 

Experience points are dished out for 

success in battle, and characters can 

change classes when they attain a 

certain level. Regarded as one of the 

best entries in the entire series, 

Mystery Of The Emblem is a fine 

addition to the Super Famicom Mini 

software line-up. 

SCORE 

90% 

Known in the west as The Legend 

Of The Mystical Ninja, Ganbare 

Goemon: Yukihime Kyushutsu 

Emaki is yet another example of 

Konami’s willingness to experiment 

with traditional gaming concepts. 

The game is divided into two sections: 

in towns, you can buy items, gather 

information and play mini-games 

(level one of Gradius is included, for 

example), while the side-scrolling 

platforming levels feature a host of 

enemies and boss characters to take 

down. Fusing these two styles together 

keeps things fresh, and despite being a 

very early Super Famicom release, it’s 

blessed with gorgeous visuals and 

some nice Mode 7 effects. Goemon’s 

simultaneous two-player mode is also 

a little different from the norm: one 

player can ride on the shoulders of the 

other, the uppermost character dishing 

out attacks while the other controls 

movement. Upgradable attacks give 

the game an RPG feel, and there are 

different weapons and items to obtain 

during your quest. Despite the 

unanimous critical acclaim it received 

from the western gaming press upon 

release, Ganbare Goemon is the only 

Super Famicom instalment in the series 

to see a release outside of its native 

Japan; its equally superb sequels were 

never localised for western launch, 

making this perhaps the most 

internationally renowned entry. While 

subsequent games undoubtedly refined 

and improved the core mechanics, 

Ganbare Goemon: Yukihime Kyushutsu 

Emaki remains a solid-gold classic, and 

is reason enough to consider importing 

a Super Famicom Mini from Japan. 

SCORE 

91% 

P 

Above: As with the western versions, Nintendo 

has riffed on its original packaging for the Super 

Famicom Mini. Mmm, exotic console boxes…

PANEL 

DE PON 

INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS 1995 

This 1995 puzzle title from Fire 

Emblem studio Intelligent 

Systems may not be especially 

familiar to western SNES fans, but they 

will almost certainly recognise its 

localised title of Tetris Attack. That 

version stripped out all of the cute 

fairies seen in the Japanese original 

and replaced them with characters 

from the Super Mario universe. Despite 

the presence of ‘Tetris’ in the title, the 

game actually has nothing to do with 

Alexey Pajitnov’s seminal line-clearing 

classic. Instead, the objective is to 

remove a series of coloured blocks 

by matching them in horizontal or 

vertical lines of three or more. The 

catch is that you’re limited to switching 

blocks two at a time, and you can move 

them only horizontally. Panel De Pon 

showcases a Story Mode which guides 

the player through the game’s plot, 

while Endless Mode tasks you with 

staying alive for as long as possible as 

the screen fills with blocks. A Timed 

Mode sets a two-minute limit in which 

you have to rack up as many points as 

possible, while Stage Clear mode gives 

you a set line to drop the level of blocks 

down to. Finally, a Puzzle Mode 

presents you with a screen packed with 

blocks, asking you to remove them all 

within a certain number of moves. 

Panel De Pon’s gameplay would later 

be combined with Pokémon characters 

for games on the Game Boy Color and 

N64, but it has since gained its own 

identity in the west, where it is now 

known as Puzzle League. The SNES 

landscape is hardly short of puzzle 

games, but this is one of the most 

accomplished examples. 

SCORE 

91% 

SUPER FORMATION 

SOCCER 

HUMAN 1991 

It’s easy to see why Super Formation 

Soccer made such an impact when it 

launched on the Super Famicom 

way back in 1991; the sport of football 

was really beginning to catch on in 

Japan thanks to an explosion of interest 

in the domestic J-League, and the 

game’s unique visuals – which use 

Mode 7 to create the impression of 

perspective on the smoothly scaling 

pitch – ensured it was comfortably the 

most visually alluring soccer game of 

its time. However, like so many early 

Japanese-made representations of the 

world’s favourite sport, Super 

Formation Soccer stumbles when it 

comes to the essentials. The ball pings 

around the pitch like a hyperactive 

bumble bee, rarely spending any time 

on the deck. Keeping possession feels 

like something of a chore thanks to the 

rather crude passing mechanics, and 

the pretty Mode 7 visuals mean that 

when you’re playing down the pitch 

you can’t actually see your own 

players, making it almost impossible to 

stroke the ball around confidently and 

make best use of your teammates. It’s 

often more sensible to simply dribble 

the ball from one end of the pitch to the 

other and score, since trying to involve 

other players almost always ends in 

intercepted passes or a tiresome game 

of long-ball ping-pong. Renamed Super 

Soccer and released alongside the 

SNES in the west, this title may have 

nostalgic value but there are much 

better football games on Nintendo’s 

16-bit console – we’d rather have seen 

International Superstar Soccer Deluxe / 

Jikkyou World Soccer 2: Fighting 

Eleven make the Mini cut instead. 

SCORE 

54% 

SUPER STREET 

FIGHTER II: 

The New Challengers 

CAPCOM 1994 

While European and North 

American SNES Classic Mini 

owners get Street Fighter II 

Turbo: Hyper Fighting, in Japan the 

Super Famicom Mini is shipping with 

the next title in the series, Super Street 

Fighter II. On the surface this might 

seem like a clear win, but there are 

some points to consider here. Super 

Street Fighter II on Nintendo’s home 

console isn’t capable of hitting the 

insane speeds witnessed in Street 

Fighter II Turbo – that would have to 

wait until Super Street Fighter II Turbo, 

which launched in arcades soon 

afterwards – and it lacks the super 

specials from that title, as well as 

additional character Akuma (Gouki 

in Japan). That version was never 

released on the SNES, and as a result 

fans of the franchise often feel torn 

between these two editions. While 

Super Street Fighter II is a bit slower 

than its direct forerunner, it’s still faster 

than the original arcade version thanks 

to various speed settings which can be 

selected from the title screen. It’s also 

a much more handsome title than 

Street Fighter II Turbo – the new 

backgrounds are incredible, and the 

multiple colour options for each fighter 

give the game a brighter, more eyecatching 

look. New modes include 

Group Battle and Time Challenge, 

and the epic eight-player Tournament 

mode from the arcade version also 

makes the cut. Both games fall short 

when judged against modern entries in 

the series, but Super Street Fighter II 

looks and sounds great, and having 

those four extra characters makes a 

considerable difference. 

SCORE 

85% 

IMPORT REVIEWS ISSUE 48 OCTOBER 2017 

47 

P

WHAT CART? 

SNES MINI 

II FANTASY 

EDITION 

Which 16-bit hits slipped down the back of Nintendo’s 

sofa when it was compiling the SNES Mini line-up? 

In an ideal world, Nintendo will be inspired by the hunger for its newest retro 

console and make a SNES Mini MkII, populating it with this list of 21 titles. 

However, since our existence plays out on an orb advancing towards nuclear 

oblivion at terrifying, face-contorting velocity, please use this merely as a guide 

more great SNES games you should play if you missed them the first time. 

48 

WHAT CART? 

ACTRAISER 

A/ST 

Quintet, 1990 SP2 90% 

When a developer combines two gameplay styles 

the results are often less than satisfying, but 

ActRaiser is proof that it’s possible. Actionplatforming 

mixes with Populous-style segments 

in which you help your worshippers to thrive. 

Yuzo Koshiro’s soundtrack is the cherry on top. 

WHAT CART?to some 

A 

CYBERNATOR 

Konami, 1992 SP5 91% 

Japan’s preoccupation with massive robots has 

resulted in some fine videogames, with Cybernator 

(known in its homeland as Assault Suits Valken) 

one of the most notable. The main sprite feels 

heavy and powerful, and despite its sluggish 

nature the game is consistently thrilling. 

S 

A 

AXELAY 

Konami, 1992 SP2 85% 

One of the best shooters on the SNES, Axelay is 

Konami at the height of its 16-bit powers. Not 

only is it a technical showcase for the developer 

– who could forget that rolling horizon and 

abundance of Mode 7? – but it boasts amazing 

music and tight, engaging gameplay to boot. 

DEMON’S CREST 

Capcom, 1994 SP27 80% 

A side-story in Capcom’s Ghosts’n Goblins series, 

Demon’s Crest (or Blazon) places you in the role of 

Firebrand, an enemy from G’nG and the star of the 

Gargoyle’s Quest sub-series on the Game Boy and 

NES. Great visuals and interesting RPG elements 

are in abundance – this is vintage Capcom. 

R 

P 

CHRONO TRIGGER 

Square, 1995 SP37 90% 

One of the finest JRPGs in existence, Chrono 

Trigger has all the hallmarks of a Square classic, 

but goes the extra mile with an epic time-travelling 

storyline. Created by a dream team of Hironobu 

Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy), Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest) 

and Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball), this is a stunner. 

DONKEY KONG COUNTRY 3 

Rare, 1996 

N/A 

Released too late to gain the attention it deserved, 

Donkey Kong Country 3 is perhaps the most robust 

entry in the series, bringing with it a larger, less 

linear world map and refined SGI-rendered visuals. 

This is a fine – if somewhat under-appreciated – 

swansong for the series on the SNES. 


P 

KEY 

PZ Puzzle 

F Fighting 

S Shoot-’em-up 

P Platform 

ST Strategy 

SP Sport 

SB Scrolling Beat-’em-up 

A Action 

R 

RPG 

AR Action RPG 

RA Racing 

P 

DOREMI FANTASY 

Hudson Soft, 1996 

N/A 

A sequel of sorts to much-loved NES title Milon’s 

Secret Castle, DoReMi Fantasy was released 

exclusively in Japan towards the end of the Super 

Famicom’s life. A cute platform adventure with a 

musical theme, it tasks Milon with finding a series 

of magical instruments in order to save his friend. 

PZ 

KIRBY’S AVALANCHE 

HAL Laboratory, 1995 SP33 91% 

Despite the inclusion of everyone’s favourite pink 

ball of air, this is in actual fact the western release 

of Super Puyo Puyo, the Compile puzzler whose 

objective is to link up like-hued blobs and rain on 

your opponent’s efforts. Two-player matches make 

this one of the best puzzle titles on the SNES. 

SP 

NBA JAM: TE 

Acclaim, 1994 SP30 90% 

While it boasts official teams and players from 

the early-’90s NBA league, this sports title 

doesn’t take itself too seriously. Players can 

leap many feet into the air for dunks, and when 

they’re on a roll they can shoot flaming basketballs 

for additional impact. Boomshakalaka, indeed.

1 


“The scenario is 

compelling, and it’s 

surprisingly friendly.” SP34 

TOP TOP XXXXX STRATEGY XXXXX 

ST 

Ogre Battle: 

March Of The Black Queen 

Quest, 1993 SP34 80% 

An ancestor of acclaimed 1997 

PlayStation release Final Fantasy 

Tactics, Ogre Battle mixes real-time 

tactics with RPG-style character 

development and progression set in 

a medieval fantasy world. Fact: the 

unique title is inspired by two songs 

from the rock band Queen, both 

from the 1974 album Queen II. 

SP 

PILOTWINGS 

Nintendo, 1990 SP1 92% 

Alongside F-Zero, Pilotwings was the game that 

truly sold the possibilities of Mode 7. It’s hard to 

imagine it being as effective without those rotating 

and scaling landscapes, and the game makes a 

welcome change from the hordes of platformers, 

racers, RPGs and action titles in the SNES library. 

S 

R-TYPE III 

Irem, 1993 SP16 83% 

The SNES wasn’t inundated with shooters like the 

Mega Drive and PC Engine, but what it lacks in 

quantity it makes up for in quality – as R-Type III 

comprehensively proves. This console-exclusive 

release harnesses Mode 7 for some eye-catching 

effects, but there are plenty of fresh ideas as well. 

WHAT CART? 

49 

SUPER BOMBERMAN 3 

A/PZ 

Hudson Soft, 1995 SP37 89% 

AR 

SHADOWRUN 

Beam Software, 1993 SP10 85% 

F 

STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 2 

Capcom, 1996 

N/A 

Hudson Soft would release five 

mainline Bomberman games on 

Nintendo’s 16-bit system, and 

while all of them are worth a 

look, this is a definite highpoint. 

After the gimmicky additions of 

previous titles, SB3 scales things 

back for a more streamlined and 

enjoyable experience, with a 

surprisingly excellent soundtrack. 

Based on the popular tabletop game of the same 

name, Shadowrun mixes the world of Blade 

Runner with RPG tropes such as magic and 

monsters. Blessed with an engaging storyline, 

challenging combat system and a massive, 

believable game world, this is a cult classic. 

The last Street Fighter title to reach the SNES, 

Alpha 2 is a stunning technical achievement. 

Compared to newer console versions it’s a scaleddown 

affair, but the gameplay has survived intact. 

All of the characters are present and correct, 

replete with their killer moves and specials. 

AR 

TERRANIGMA 

Quintet, 1996 

N/A 

Only released in Japan and 

Europe, this action RPG is 

something of a hidden gem. Like 

fellow Quintet titles ActRaiser 

and Illusion Of Gaia, Terranigma 

has a strong thematic focus 

on creation, evolution and 

resurrection, and is often hailed 

as the zenith of Quintet’s work 

on Nintendo’s 16-bit console. 

P 

SUPER MARIO ALL-STARS 

Nintendo, 1993 SP11 96% 

We’re cheating a bit here as this is a collection of 

touched-up NES classics rather than a wholly 

original SNES title, but All-Stars remains eminently 

desirable as it features lovingly enhanced versions 

of Super Mario Bros, Super Mario Bros 2, Super 

Mario Bros 3 and the made-for-Japan Lost Levels. 

1 

SP 

SUPER TENNIS 

Tonkin House, 1991 SP1 92% 

While more technically impressive tennis games 

have been released, this remains one of the finest 

virtual representations of the sport. Among the first 

to offer multiple shot types – each mapped to a 

face button – Super Tennis has an addictive solo 

career mode, but with two players it really shines. 


TOP COWPOKERY 

ISSUE 48 

SB 

TMNT: TURTLES IN TIME 

Konami, 1992 SP2 84% 

Turtles In Time was released at the height of 

TMNT stardom, and, like the iconic 1989 coin-op 

original, places our half-shelled heroes in a 

Final Fight-style scrolling beat-’em-up. Colourful 

visuals, excellent audio and exciting gameplay 

have ensured that this remains a fan favourite. 

RA 

UNIRACERS 

DMA Design, 1994 SP29 85% 

Also known as Unirally, this unique racer might 

look rather basic in static screenshots, but in 

motion it’s blisteringly swift. The stunt-based 

gameplay and two-player split-screen mode 

make for an absorbing and challenging title which 

has no real point of comparison on the SNES. 

“It’s an arcade-style 

game with no pretensions 

to be anything else.” SP24 

S 

Wild Guns 

Natsume, 1996 SP24 87% 

Set in a Wild West where massive, 

gun-toting robots rub shoulders 

with irritable, square-jawed 

cowboys, Natsume’s superb intothe-screen 

shooter has some of the 

best graphics on the console, but 

it’s the deliciously hectic two-player 

co-op gameplay that really makes 

this an essential experience. 

OCTOBER 2017 

P

SUBSCRIBE! 

TRY 3 ISSUES 

FOR JUST £1! 

Make massive savings, get delivery to your 

door – and help Neko Jr get cleaned up… 

Reader, we have some sad news. Longtime Super 

Play mascot Neko used up the remainder of his 

nine lives in 2004, thanks to a rewiring project, 

some soggy paws, and 240 volts of alternating current. 

On the plus side, the family name lives on today through 

Neko Jr. And he’s just as, er, enthusiastic as his dad when 

it comes to engaging with our experiments. Right now, 

we’re throwing him into the ceaselessly punishing arenas 

of Splatoon 2. Over and over and over. As you can 

imagine, fur doesn’t play very nicely with ink (much 

SUBSCRIBER BENEFITS 

● Never miss an issue 

13 issues per year, and you’ll 

be sure to receive every one. 

● Delivered to your door 

Free delivery of every issue, 

straight into your letterbox. 

● Get the biggest savings 

Receive incredible magazines 

for less by ordering direct. 

Call the order hotline now: 

0844 848 8412 

ORDER SECURELY ONLINE 

like electricity, in fact). So here’s the deal. Subscribe to 

one of our sister magazines at just £1 for the first three 

issues, and we’ll allow Junior here to hit the showers. 

All of these mags are renowned for their in-depth 

Nintendo content, and at this price there’s never been 

a better opportunity to sign up. Remember: as well as 

joining an exclusive club, 

you’ll be helping 

an animal 

in need… 

www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/gaming17 

Terms and conditions This offer entitles new UK Direct Debit subscribers to receive their first 3 issues for £1. After these issues, standard subscription 

pricing will apply – please see online for details. Savings are compared to buying full-priced print issues. You will receive 13 issues in a year. You can 

write to us or call us to cancel your subscription within 14 days of purchase. Payment is non-refundable after the 14-day cancellation period unless 

exceptional circumstances apply. Your statutory rights are not affected. Prices correct at point of print and subject to change. Full details of the 

Direct Debit guarantee are available upon request. For full terms and conditions please visit bit.ly/magtandc. Offer ends 31 October 2017.

9000 

9021

magazine

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?