Official feedback thread for issue 19

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

I thought the mag was for retro gamers everywhere, not your personal street fighter III 3rd tripe bandwagon

C'mon Koopa. It's the future, the Fight for the Future!! Jump on!!

It's about 6 years old now SFIII:3S

Six years old and still as fresh as the day it was conceived

[C16]

Hi,

A outstanding issue. The mag was good read and I couldnt put it down till I read it from cover to cover. It was really good to see the C16 mentioned on a couple of occasions As alot of mags seem to be scared to mention it.

The article with Shaun Southern and Andrew Morris to be excellent. I could go into every part of the mag, will give you a big thumbs up.

Also looking forward to the article on the GP2X next month

Regards,

Chris

[LeeT]

Okay (with apologies for the length) its time for the revival of my review of the latest issue:

Radar – A lot better than the old news section. Though I wonder if there will be enough news to fill five pages every month? The diary is slightly similar to the one in Games TM, though it’s still a nice touch.

America Free Retro – Not bad though a lot of the subject matter (retro compilations) isn’t particularly American orientated. I’ll be interested to see things from the USA perspective though.

Archer – Very funny! I’ve read interviews with him before and his humour didn’t come through, but this is very promising.

Global Gaming – I think this would have benefited from a few more pages as it seems a bit rushed. Interesting to read that Australia had its own computers (from DSE).

Back To The Eighties – Another regular that needs an extra page or two. I do like the addition of the ‘This Month in Crash and ZZAP’ extras. Nice to see the Top 5 for the main 8-bit machines too.

RetroRevival – Nice choice of games and lovely page and a bit screenshots. I never liked this section in the old RG but glad that it’s been given a remix and some scattered pages.

Classic Game (Dizzy) – I think this would have benefited from concentrating on the whole Dizzy series as four pages for just the first game is a bit much (plus Treasure Island Dizzy is arguably the best game in the series). Still, not a bad feature.

Boss Rush – Dare I say its similar to another Games TM regular? Nice though!

Cheap As Chips – I’ve always had a soft spot for the Wonderboy series, so this was nice to see. Might be an idea to incorporate this into the price guide near the back?

Company profile – Excellent! Amsoft made some terrible games (especially the free ones with the CPC_ but this was a terrific read. Would have been nice to see a softography but an unmissable article.

Magic Moments – That’s about 542 mentions of THAT game in the issue!

Retrospection – The main story about the history was a bit rushed (maybe needed another page or so) but it was nice to see the nice spread given to the games. Another ‘better than the old RG’ feature.

Classic Game (Super Metroid) – Funnily enough, I have never played this. I’ll be switching on the Xbox later to investigate!

Whatever Happened To – This seems to be a replacement for the GTW column and I don’t think it works as well, to be honest. Bring back Frank Gasking!

Complete Low down – Another series of games that never interested me…until now! A very interesting feature. Gonna hunt the games down!

Full of Eastern Promise – A better way of presenting the unknown games than the old RG. Looks like this will become a favourite of mine.

Classic Game (STS) – I’m not really a fan of point and click adventures, but this game looks lovely. That’s another game I’ve gotta get hold of!

Developer Look back – Excellent! Shaun Southern produced some of my favourite C64 games (including the often forgotten ‘Hero of the Golden Talisman’). A great read!

Perfect Dark – I wasn’t that interested, to be honest. I can appreciate that the new 360 game is coming out, so it ties in with that.

Desert Island Disks – Excellent! I’m so pleased this has returned and who better than the Pickfords. I hope we will see a full softography in the next issue. Very funny!

Retro Rated – Good to see all the compilations rounded up in one place. I do hope that any old game with a tenuous retro link won’t be included (which happened in the old RG).

Retro Scene – Better presented this time around. Nice layout for the reviews and the same quality writing.

Bargain Hunt – Nice comprehensive price guide to most systems under the sun. I do hope it won’t be repeated in the same format every issue, though.

[LeeT]

(looks like the forum won't allow big posts, so...)


Overall – What a magazine! Whilst the old RG was a very good mag, this takes it to a whole new level. The design work should be commended, as it looks like a proper contemporary games magazine. The layouts are a hell of a lot better and make me want to read the articles that I probably would have passed on. A few of the regulars could do with given an extra page or two (maybe lose one RetroRevival?). I am astounded at the quality of the mag, especially given the ‘tighter than Tom Jones leather trousers’ deadline. All I can say is that any retro fan who doesn’t buy this needs their head looking at. If the first issue from Imagine is this good, what is it going to be like a year down the line? Well done to Darran, Markie and the team of trusted contributors. You have done us proud!

[RonnieT]

Received the new mag last week as in the post, delighted when I saw the endvelope on the doormat - knew Retro Gamer was back.

Excellent mag, and many posts previous to this have covered all the positives I have to say. Not that I'm adding a huge negative, but...

Reading the profiles of all the writers did highlight a small concern for me - their areas of experise seem to cover everything from the 8 bit era onwards... and my greatest interest lies in classic coin-ups. Now, before I'm flamed to death, I'm delighted Archer is writing a column, as a better qualified arcade expert would be hard to find.

But a column is only a page, and I hope that the (excellent) writing throughout will remember when all those 8-bit titles came from! No writer listed an arcade game as their all time classic, nor did those who expressed an area of expertise said "arcade". It's just little things which worry me slightly that the "true" beginnings of retro gaming are not fully represented - in the Amstrad article, no mention was made that "Roland goes Digging / Squre Bashing" appear to be (I was a Spectrum kid, so have never actually played them!) versions of Space Panic and Q*Bert.

Hopefully, this is just me being paranoid;) My favourite sections of the "old" Retro Gamer focused on arcade machines - interviews with programmers, or even Archer's Missile Command renovation were great.

I'm hoping that they won't be lost.

Other than that, a vast improvement, will take my next two free copies then subcribe once more immiediately;)

[Ash]

I'm sure Darran knows a fair bit about arcade games and don't forget that the freelance team will be slightly different on each issue depending on what articles are needed. I'm sure there'll be some great arcade content to come.

Besides, there was more than one page dedicated to arcades in RG19 - Off the top of my head there was Strider and R-Type.

[LeeT]

Also arcade games have been covered (briefly) in old issues of RG and I think Martyn (who is still working for RG) did a piece on how to construct a cabinet. So I wouldn't worry too much!

[CraigGrannell]

No writer listed an arcade game as their all time classic, nor did those who expressed an area of expertise said "arcade".

I think that's probably down to space more than anything, or people just forgetting to mention it. I'm sure plenty of the mag's writers have experience with arcade games (I have a piece in the next issue, and while I wouldn't consider myself a de-facto expert on arcade games by any means, I've played on plenty, and my first gaming experience was Space Invaders.)

As for the favourite game thing, I suspect that's down to having a single choice. If I had to choose a favourite game to date, I doubt it'd be a coin-op, but if I had a top ten, there'd be at least two or three coin-ops in there.

[andy vaisey]

...but if I had a top ten, there'd be at least two or three coin-ops in there.

I wonder how many people would choose Outrun?

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Reading the profiles of all the writers did highlight a small concern for me - their areas of experise seem to cover everything from the 8 bit era onwards... and my greatest interest lies in classic coin-ups. Now, before I'm flamed to death, I'm delighted Archer is writing a column, as a better qualified arcade expert would be hard to find.

Sharp-eyed readers may have noticed that I didn't have a column on the front page (after all, I did get a bigger picture and an editorial )

DO NOT WORRY ABOUT ARCADE COVERAGE
I bunked off school as often as I could to play in the local arcades (Poole's old town market was a particular haunt) and will definately be continuing with the coin op coverage.

Please remember though that space is limited and a balance obviously has to be made. So we can't always give as much coverage to a certain machine as we'd like. Still, Archer is more than happy to help out with features, and I know a little bit myself (along with several others on the team), so we will be covering your beloved arcades

[CraigGrannell]

I wonder how many people would choose Outrun?

Not me. I can't say that these days I'm a huge fan of that game (although some other retro racers would definitely be in with a shot). Now, OutRun 2 on the other hand...

[CraigGrannell]

I bunked off school as often as I could to play in the local arcades (Poole's old town market was a particular haunt) and will definately be continuing with the coin op coverage.

Assuming your old headmaster doesn't read this and then drag you back to school to write five million lines, based on your above confession.

"Darran will be away from the mag for a few issues while he reacquaints himself with chalk, blackboards, squeaky noises and mind-numbing repetition."

[andy vaisey]

"Darran will be away from the mag for a few issues while he reacquaints himself with chalk, blackboards, squeaky noises and mind-numbing repetition."

Woah! Bring on the pipe and slippers! No chalk and blackboards in my classroom. I use a laptop powered interactive whiteboard. Unless of course we are talking retro...

[DRS]

Hey, its not only ace to have the mag back, its heart warming to have a feedback thread for each issue - lovely stuff... and LeeT, though i've never met you (i don't think?), as a contributor, your thorough feedback post was actually one of the highlights of my month... so good to have that back too. And glad you liked the Pickfords piece. I actually wasn't planning to do a full softography as part of Desert Island Disks, mainly because i don't always castaway folk who HAVE a back catalogue, but in this instance, there's a comprehensive one on their site www.zee-3.com

Oh and i hope to contribute to the coverage of classic coin-ops from issue 21 onwards.

What a great issue all round. Well done to the editorial team and some excellent production values as well as learned content. And i have to get all mushy and say my favourite bit was getting Martyn to write the lead piece. Lovely from him and lovely from Darran to make it happen. And goodnight.

Paul @;]

[martin_lovick]

Nice to see RG finally back on the shelves

I think the change in style of presentation really works, also the exntensive coverage of classics is great stuff!

keep it going!