Retro Gamer Issue 104

[The Laird]

I also dislike the jaguar pad, it's bloody horrible. I do love tempest 2000 though.

I dislike the SNES pad, it's bloody horrible. I do love Axelay though.

Each to their own eh, at least I know what the extra buttons do.

[AmigaJay]

I also dislike the jaguar pad, it's bloody horrible. I do love tempest 2000 though.

I dislike the SNES pad, it's bloody horrible. I do love Axelay 2000 though.

I dislike Bodyform pads, their bloody horrible literally, I do love Always Ultra though.

[kiwimike]

Looks a great issue, espec looking forward to the Skooldaze & Vectrex features. Any issue with Vectrex is fine by me!

[DreamcastRIP]

Any issue with Vectrex is fine by me!

Definitely!

A magazine named Retro Gamer with the "OLD!" banding across the top-left of its front cover just feels more right to me when seeing the likes of Pong on the cover, an extensive feature on Vectrex, a feature on the Kick Off series, the 'Back to School Daze' feature, the Contact Sam Cruise feature, the I, Ball article, the Lords of Chaos feature and the Electric Dreams article.

Proper retro, if you will.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Proper retro to you if you will

We're just keeping you happy until we hit you with the one-two punch of the Xbox retro inspection and the making of gears of war 3

[Stainy]

Wow! this was fast!!

right.. it`s got issues!! regarding the Kick Off article..

and there`s me thinking Stuart Campbell was all knowing when it came to Kick Off..

I`ll add to this as I start reading the article.. this stuck out like a sore thumb!

1: Kick Off COllection ( Spectrum, Amiga? ) He states that the only version he ever found was for the Spectrum..
What a numpty ! I have this for the Amiga, ST, C64, Spectrum and Amstrad

2:

You bought the same game five times and I'M a numpty?

I'm a collector..

[Stainy]

Was really looking forward to reading the Kick Off feature, until I realised who'd written it... I always enjoy Stu's articles, but what is the point of devoting 8 pages of the mag to a game he's always disliked?

Some of the criticism is fair, especially of the later games in the series, but to say that Kick Off 2 is 'essentially the same game' as Kick Off 1 is like saying that Pro Evo is essentially the same as Matchday II.

Yep..some bizarre thinking going on there.. Or maybe not..

[mlucifersam]

I must say, when I pulled my copy out of the plastic envelope, it's the first time I've ever gone "Ugh!" when I saw the cover. It's ghastly. I have no complaints about any of the past covers really. This is, in my opinion, the worse one yet. Looking at the 2 that didn't make it, I'd say both of those are nicer than the one you went with.

I skipped the football game article (I'd rather watch slugs racing than spend time doing anything related to football) and the Tekken article too (football and fighting games, my 2 least favourite genres).

On the plus side, loved the Skool Daze article. It's amazing how much info you can write about 2 games and it still remain interesting. The Electric Dreams article is great too. The making of I'Ball is a good read. The Nick Jones interview provided some interesting facts too.

[DreamcastRIP]

Proper retro to you if you will

We're just keeping you happy until we hit you with the one-two punch of the Xbox retro inspection and the making of gears of war 3

Joking aside your comment has kinda given me an idea for what might possibly make for an interesting future article or, indeed, a series of articles.

Working title: 'Retro Inspirations'.

Summary: A series of articles focusing on various game genres in turn and how the games of yesteryear have influenced the games of more recent times. It could include a focus on specific gameplay elements as well as interviews with games devs discussing how the likes of Doom, Elite, Lemmings, et al influenced their game design choices.

I don't know if that has legs or not... just trying to be constructive.

[merman]

I have loose disks for the C64 labelled Kick Off Collection (proper printed labels with the Kick Off logo), so there is a bit more evidence that it existed for that format.

As for "Stuart should not have written it.", isn't he more likely to notice any improvements given he is so critical of it? It also made for a more humorous take on the material. Too much praise can come off as being too dry, so here was an article that told it like it is.

[DreamcastRIP]

... so here was an article that told it like it is.

Or to put that another way, 'An article written by a Sensible Soccer nut on a mission to slate his favoured series' main competitor'.

That said, I did quite enjoy the article as a whole... before the brown nosing sycophants pile in to attack me for 'daring' to post anything but vacuous praise of anything RG does.

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Proper retro to you if you will

We're just keeping you happy until we hit you with the one-two punch of the Xbox retro inspection and the making of gears of war 3

Joking aside your comment has kinda given me an idea for what might possibly make for an interesting future article or, indeed, a series of articles.

Woking title: 'Retro Inspirations'.

Summary: A series of articles focusing on various game genres in turn and how the games of yesteryear have influenced the games of more recent times. It could include a focus on specific gameplay elements as well as interviews with games devs discussing how the likes of Doom, Elite, Lemmings, et al influenced their game design choices.

I don't know if that has legs or not... just trying to be constructive.

Not at all. We had a massive brainstorm the other day with various other mags, and that was one of the things that came up. Maybe you'd focus on a new big budget game, and then look at all its inspiration.

[DreamcastRIP]

Proper retro to you if you will

We're just keeping you happy until we hit you with the one-two punch of the Xbox retro inspection and the making of gears of war 3

Joking aside your comment has kinda given me an idea for what might possibly make for an interesting future article or, indeed, a series of articles.

Woking title: 'Retro Inspirations'.

Summary: A series of articles focusing on various game genres in turn and how the games of yesteryear have influenced the games of more recent times. It could include a focus on specific gameplay elements as well as interviews with games devs discussing how the likes of Doom, Elite, Lemmings, et al influenced their game design choices.

I don't know if that has legs or not... just trying to be constructive.

Not at all. We had a massive brainstorm the other day with various other mags, and that was one of the things that came up. Maybe you'd focus on a new big budget game, and then look at all its inspiration.

Either that or maybe two or three new/recent major big budget releases. For example, how 'x' feature in CoD:MW3 can be traced back to Doom, how 'y' feature in Battlefield 3 can be traced back to Quake, etc...

One 'downside' I already envisage though would be the potential negative reaction from some readers (possibly including myself!) as it'd necessitate further current-gen coverage in the mag in addition to the existing game reviews section at the back of the mag'. I suspect a feature of this nature would therefore be better suited to Games TM rather than RG.

Saying that, perhaps if RG were to attempt it then instead of focusing on current-gen games it could focus on games from the DC/PS2/GameCube/Xbox era. I appreciate that some will still see this as 'too modern/not retro' but at least it'd be a healthy compromise. Just my two cents...

[AmigaJay]

Proper retro to you if you will

We're just keeping you happy until we hit you with the one-two punch of the Xbox retro inspection and the making of gears of war 3

Well you missed the 10 year Xbox anniversary in March, at least you covered the GameCube this issue

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Well you missed the 10 year Xbox anniversary in March, at least you covered the GameCube this issue

I can do that as well.
The fact is we tread carefully around last gen because so many forumites are sooooo precious about stuff. Particularly if it's not computer related.
In this case we just thought frick it, and did it anyway. Maybe we should start doing that a lot more in the future...