Special thanks to Muse-Hunter for pointing this magazine out to me, thereby encouraging me to look for it, and also making a scan of the front cover. Today I FINALLY found it, in a train station. Only 3 copies left. Also let me take this moment to say how much more diverse the French magazine market is compared to the British. I have found at least 4 different magazines dedicated solely to Anime and Manga, and I have found at least 2 different magazines which seem to be dedicated to Japanese pop culture (anime, manga, music, films, toys, clothes, videogames, etc), the kind of all round mags that Japanophiles such as those on NTSC-uk would no doubt love. Hell, they even have a dedicated RPG and Adventure magazine! (this might not be games related, I never bothered looking inside it)
I was only interested in their newest magazine though, ?Retro Game?, which came out about 3 months ago. Sadly issue 1 is sold out, and I only managed to get issue 2. So if you want details on the first, ask Muse-Hunter (you lucky scoundrel, I wanted that for the Metal Gear history article promised on the cover! Feel free to PM me with scans of that section, should you feel the need
)
Some facts:
Title: Retro Game
Published by: Japan Culture Press
Price: 5.90 Euro (aprox ?4.05) ? But it?s only 5 Euro if you buy one direct from them
Pages: 116 (but it's still quite thick)
No. of Ads: I only spotted 8 pages with ads, and that includes the subscription page, and a further two affiliated with the publisher, self advertising their other mags/ventures.
Issues per year: 6 issues per year, so one every two months.
A years subscription (6 issues) costs: 35 Euro (aprox ?24)
From what I can tell, there aren?t many freelancers, it seems to be mainly a core set of permanent staff (8 in total? They each have their own pixelated caricatures and section at the back). Which is a real pity, since I had been hoping I might be able to offer my services to them. Then again, I am not fluent in French.
Haven?t read much, but thought I?d post some initial impressions.
The opening cover shows the affiliated Retro Game shop, which sells all kinds of import games, like RSG, Crows the Battle, Neo Geo cartridges, SFC etc. They also do a nice line in gaming almanacs, like the Famicom 1983-1994, and what looks like a MD encyclopaedia called ?Megadrive Taisen? for 59 Euro (I?m not sure, they didn?t have book descriptions, just prices and pictures). They also do DVDs, OSTs, guide books, and other stuff.
I assume the magazine is subsidised by the profits made from this shop they run. Hence the low price.
The magazine is divided into 6 main, broad sections:
Retrogaming (aprox 12 pages) ? Covers interesting news, recent releases and compilations, and also a large interview.
Arcade (aprox 12 pages) ? Arcade games, entire series, famous games, company examinations, and I think makings of as well.
Console (aprox 28 pages) ? Mainly the same as above, except about consoles. HEAVY Japan bias.
Micro (aprox 10 pages) ? Yup, home computers. They?ve divided the mag into sections, for each kind of taste. Very heavy American and Japan bias here, especially post 8-bit systems. In fact, the only Speccy/C64/Amstrad coverage was of Karnov and its many ports. They seemed to focus on the Amstrad version for this bit. Otherwise nearly nothing for the 8-bit micros.
Evolution (4 pages) ? The evolution of the tennis genre. Dunno why this is classified as a separate section in the contents page, but it is.
Game Museum (25 pages) ? Incredibly in-depth and comprehensive hardware coverage, encyclopaedic in its range of information. This month they cover the Master System and Game Gear. From what I can tell, this is actually taken from a larger Encyclopaedia they?re doing, called ?Game Museum? which is advertised in the mag (5 Euro for volume 1, which has the SNES on the cover). Looks like this might be a section taken from the GM mag/book. Not sure, haven?t seen GM yet in the stores, but I will be ordering it.
Misc: Throughout the mag they also have miscellaneous single page sections.
Like Retroprojector which looks at a series of games mags from way back when, including Famitsu #169, Banzai #6, MegaForce #2, etc.
Abuse, which looks at three examples of Japanese cover art butchered by the USA (hoho! He even makes a joke about how Americans always draw woman with huge muscles, calling it ?Valis syndrome?).
Retro Trivia which is a bloody awesome page, covering 5 unusual bits of info, including a Manga based on the original Zelda, Koichi Sugiyama and the orchestral soundtrack to Dragon Quest, a USA gameshow, Satoshi Tajiri, and a piece on Space War.
Retro Word search?. Fun if you?re bored I guess.
Game Over, where near the back of the mag they detail the full ending to a single game.
Freetalk, which is where all the staff have their say on a subject.
In Depth Content
I hope you guys appreciate me taking the time to detail all the articles contained within.
* Opening section takes a look at collectors, museums and conventions, while showcasing some of the most awe-inspiring images I?ve ever seen. Literally entire warehouses filled wall to wall with games of every description. Also details some cool markets and websites, with comments by various people. I think it could be a different theme/subject each issue. I have only have one, so can't comment.
* Round up of the latest compilations, like Sonic Rush, Bubble Bobble Revolution, and the King of Fighters collection coming out in Japan this February. Plenty of Sega Ages coverage. 4 pages in total.
* Technically part of the last section, they dedicate a full page to the French shooter ?Drill? on the Dreamcast.
* Exclusive interview with Philippe Ulrich (Dune, Captain Blood, Lost Eden (aka Dinotopia))
* Full history of Irem. 4 pages, from Moon patrol in 1982 to Bumpy Trot in 2005.
* 2 pages on Bad Dudes
* 2 pages on Pole Position
* 2 pages Operation Wolf
* 2 pages Super Sidekicks
* 2 pages Omega Fighter
* History of the Aleste shooter games. 6 pages, with amazing artwork shots.
* History of the Castlevania series. 10 pages consisting of, plenty of original artwork, lots of trivia boxes and obscure bits of info, an abundance of screenshots, for every title. Little section on games that they reference, and others games that reference it. A page on the genesis of the Dracula myth, films, books, legends (The odyssey by Homer) etc. A page dedicated to the music, and also a page featuring full release list, and canonical in-game timeline.
* 6 Pages on the Mario Kart series
* 2 pages on Circus Lito for the Japanese PCE. They bought it sealed of Amazon JP, and cover it in depth. They sure love their Japanese retro!
* 2 pages Smurfs on the Atari 2600. It took them just over a minute to complete, plus they rate it etc.
* 2 pages on ?Japan?s Console Millionaires?, which looks at the years 1983-1989, detailing the console titles which sold over a million in Japan. Really cool section actually, and quite an interesting way to do list pages. A few you?d expect, and a few you wouldn?t. Why the hell would Hattori Kun sell 1.5 mill in 1986? That game was crap! Anyway, it?s a nice way to see the trends in Japan?s gaming climate over the years.
* 2 pages on ?The Adventures of Little Ralph?. I notice they chose to go with the Japanese cover art despite it having a US release. Reading the first page (took a while in French! Why didn?t I pay attention at school?!), they clearly love their 2D games, and give them some praise.
* Mini Micro Guide, 2 pages on the Japanese X68000.
* 2 pages 7th Guest
* 2 pages Captain Blood
* 1 pages Pirates! (circa 1987)
* 1 pages on Lucasarts and SCUMM
* 2 pages Day of the Tentacle
* 2 pages Karnov
* 4 pages evolution of Tennis
* 1 page, ending of Gaiares on the MD
* 12 pages fully comprehensive look at the Master System
* 8 pages look at the GameGear same as above.
Both seem to focus mainly on the Japanese market, for example covering all the models prior to the black MS model. Lots of figures about the Japanese launches, and licensing details. Photographs also of the American founder (David Rosen) and Japanese co-founder (Nakayama) of Sega, and also the inventor of the MS (Hideki Sato).
Despite the amounts of pages dedicated to these, I?d guess there?s only 400 words per page. The information covers A LOT of ground, including the incredibly rare unreleased rewritable MS cards (MyCards) and Card Catcher, with photos (MyCard was curtailed by the early arrival of the FDS). Mainly the articles are taken up with plenty of high quality photographs of some really unusual stuff. Many are from Japan, and include hardware, flyers, leaflets, ads, boxart, etc. Many might have been especially commissioned, such as complete sets of games opened out, and some of the rarities. Row of game screenshots along the bottom. Plenty of boxouts too, with extra info. As mentioned earlier, I think these sections are actually part of a separate encyclopaedia that the publisher is working on, and they just re-use it here. I don?t think you?ll find a more comprehensive or detailed coverage of hardware. Really nicely done, top layout, lots of info, and just the way I like it, no blank space on the page thanks to plenty of beautiful and fascinating images. Edge this is not!
They even officially list their sources! They include the Sega Consumer History book (By Enterbrain and Famistu, 2002, Japan), and a French book detailing the history of games (1997, Ichbiah).
This section finished off with 4 pages, covering 28 separate games for the MS and GG. Each game boxout features the title, publisher, genre, year of release, cover art, three separate in-game screens (including title), and a full paragraph detailing the game. They cheated a little though, since some games have one screen for the GG version, and one for the MS version, even though they were often different (Ninja Gaiden being a case in point). They do acknowledge this in the text though.
OVERALL
Overall, I really like it. Plenty of screenshots/photos, plenty of colour, and plenty of Japanese coverage (with a healthy nod to American computer adventures). Which is exactly what I like.
The overall design is also excellent, and reminds me a lot of the American magazine GameFan, which I used to read religiously at one point. Interestingly, this is the sister mag of another French publication, which also goes by the name GameFan. I haven?t read this yet, though flicking through it in the stores it looks rather good with plenty of import coverage.
The main problem though, is that I?m nowhere near fluent in French, and so any subtlety of the language is lost on me. I mainly come for the cool images (with captions), the facts and figures, and the boxouts which are more easily digested. This isn?t French literature, so if you paid attention at school you can probably stumble through picking up the important facts. But hey, I?m the kind of guy who buys Famitsu when I can, just for the photos, so it?s not like I even care!
Awesome mag, reckon I?ll have to subscribe now.
I was only interested in their newest magazine though, ?Retro Game?, which came out about 3 months ago. Sadly issue 1 is sold out, and I only managed to get issue 2. So if you want details on the first, ask Muse-Hunter (you lucky scoundrel, I wanted that for the Metal Gear history article promised on the cover! Feel free to PM me with scans of that section, should you feel the need
)Some facts:
Title: Retro Game
Published by: Japan Culture Press
Price: 5.90 Euro (aprox ?4.05) ? But it?s only 5 Euro if you buy one direct from them
Pages: 116 (but it's still quite thick)
No. of Ads: I only spotted 8 pages with ads, and that includes the subscription page, and a further two affiliated with the publisher, self advertising their other mags/ventures.
Issues per year: 6 issues per year, so one every two months.
A years subscription (6 issues) costs: 35 Euro (aprox ?24)
From what I can tell, there aren?t many freelancers, it seems to be mainly a core set of permanent staff (8 in total? They each have their own pixelated caricatures and section at the back). Which is a real pity, since I had been hoping I might be able to offer my services to them. Then again, I am not fluent in French.
Haven?t read much, but thought I?d post some initial impressions.
The opening cover shows the affiliated Retro Game shop, which sells all kinds of import games, like RSG, Crows the Battle, Neo Geo cartridges, SFC etc. They also do a nice line in gaming almanacs, like the Famicom 1983-1994, and what looks like a MD encyclopaedia called ?Megadrive Taisen? for 59 Euro (I?m not sure, they didn?t have book descriptions, just prices and pictures). They also do DVDs, OSTs, guide books, and other stuff.
I assume the magazine is subsidised by the profits made from this shop they run. Hence the low price.
The magazine is divided into 6 main, broad sections:
Retrogaming (aprox 12 pages) ? Covers interesting news, recent releases and compilations, and also a large interview.
Arcade (aprox 12 pages) ? Arcade games, entire series, famous games, company examinations, and I think makings of as well.
Console (aprox 28 pages) ? Mainly the same as above, except about consoles. HEAVY Japan bias.
Micro (aprox 10 pages) ? Yup, home computers. They?ve divided the mag into sections, for each kind of taste. Very heavy American and Japan bias here, especially post 8-bit systems. In fact, the only Speccy/C64/Amstrad coverage was of Karnov and its many ports. They seemed to focus on the Amstrad version for this bit. Otherwise nearly nothing for the 8-bit micros.
Evolution (4 pages) ? The evolution of the tennis genre. Dunno why this is classified as a separate section in the contents page, but it is.
Game Museum (25 pages) ? Incredibly in-depth and comprehensive hardware coverage, encyclopaedic in its range of information. This month they cover the Master System and Game Gear. From what I can tell, this is actually taken from a larger Encyclopaedia they?re doing, called ?Game Museum? which is advertised in the mag (5 Euro for volume 1, which has the SNES on the cover). Looks like this might be a section taken from the GM mag/book. Not sure, haven?t seen GM yet in the stores, but I will be ordering it.
Misc: Throughout the mag they also have miscellaneous single page sections.
Like Retroprojector which looks at a series of games mags from way back when, including Famitsu #169, Banzai #6, MegaForce #2, etc.
Abuse, which looks at three examples of Japanese cover art butchered by the USA (hoho! He even makes a joke about how Americans always draw woman with huge muscles, calling it ?Valis syndrome?).
Retro Trivia which is a bloody awesome page, covering 5 unusual bits of info, including a Manga based on the original Zelda, Koichi Sugiyama and the orchestral soundtrack to Dragon Quest, a USA gameshow, Satoshi Tajiri, and a piece on Space War.
Retro Word search?. Fun if you?re bored I guess.
Game Over, where near the back of the mag they detail the full ending to a single game.
Freetalk, which is where all the staff have their say on a subject.
In Depth Content
I hope you guys appreciate me taking the time to detail all the articles contained within.
* Opening section takes a look at collectors, museums and conventions, while showcasing some of the most awe-inspiring images I?ve ever seen. Literally entire warehouses filled wall to wall with games of every description. Also details some cool markets and websites, with comments by various people. I think it could be a different theme/subject each issue. I have only have one, so can't comment.
* Round up of the latest compilations, like Sonic Rush, Bubble Bobble Revolution, and the King of Fighters collection coming out in Japan this February. Plenty of Sega Ages coverage. 4 pages in total.
* Technically part of the last section, they dedicate a full page to the French shooter ?Drill? on the Dreamcast.
* Exclusive interview with Philippe Ulrich (Dune, Captain Blood, Lost Eden (aka Dinotopia))
* Full history of Irem. 4 pages, from Moon patrol in 1982 to Bumpy Trot in 2005.
* 2 pages on Bad Dudes
* 2 pages on Pole Position
* 2 pages Operation Wolf
* 2 pages Super Sidekicks
* 2 pages Omega Fighter
* History of the Aleste shooter games. 6 pages, with amazing artwork shots.
* History of the Castlevania series. 10 pages consisting of, plenty of original artwork, lots of trivia boxes and obscure bits of info, an abundance of screenshots, for every title. Little section on games that they reference, and others games that reference it. A page on the genesis of the Dracula myth, films, books, legends (The odyssey by Homer) etc. A page dedicated to the music, and also a page featuring full release list, and canonical in-game timeline.
* 6 Pages on the Mario Kart series
* 2 pages on Circus Lito for the Japanese PCE. They bought it sealed of Amazon JP, and cover it in depth. They sure love their Japanese retro!
* 2 pages Smurfs on the Atari 2600. It took them just over a minute to complete, plus they rate it etc.
* 2 pages on ?Japan?s Console Millionaires?, which looks at the years 1983-1989, detailing the console titles which sold over a million in Japan. Really cool section actually, and quite an interesting way to do list pages. A few you?d expect, and a few you wouldn?t. Why the hell would Hattori Kun sell 1.5 mill in 1986? That game was crap! Anyway, it?s a nice way to see the trends in Japan?s gaming climate over the years.
* 2 pages on ?The Adventures of Little Ralph?. I notice they chose to go with the Japanese cover art despite it having a US release. Reading the first page (took a while in French! Why didn?t I pay attention at school?!), they clearly love their 2D games, and give them some praise.
* Mini Micro Guide, 2 pages on the Japanese X68000.
* 2 pages 7th Guest
* 2 pages Captain Blood
* 1 pages Pirates! (circa 1987)
* 1 pages on Lucasarts and SCUMM
* 2 pages Day of the Tentacle
* 2 pages Karnov
* 4 pages evolution of Tennis
* 1 page, ending of Gaiares on the MD
* 12 pages fully comprehensive look at the Master System
* 8 pages look at the GameGear same as above.
Both seem to focus mainly on the Japanese market, for example covering all the models prior to the black MS model. Lots of figures about the Japanese launches, and licensing details. Photographs also of the American founder (David Rosen) and Japanese co-founder (Nakayama) of Sega, and also the inventor of the MS (Hideki Sato).
Despite the amounts of pages dedicated to these, I?d guess there?s only 400 words per page. The information covers A LOT of ground, including the incredibly rare unreleased rewritable MS cards (MyCards) and Card Catcher, with photos (MyCard was curtailed by the early arrival of the FDS). Mainly the articles are taken up with plenty of high quality photographs of some really unusual stuff. Many are from Japan, and include hardware, flyers, leaflets, ads, boxart, etc. Many might have been especially commissioned, such as complete sets of games opened out, and some of the rarities. Row of game screenshots along the bottom. Plenty of boxouts too, with extra info. As mentioned earlier, I think these sections are actually part of a separate encyclopaedia that the publisher is working on, and they just re-use it here. I don?t think you?ll find a more comprehensive or detailed coverage of hardware. Really nicely done, top layout, lots of info, and just the way I like it, no blank space on the page thanks to plenty of beautiful and fascinating images. Edge this is not!
They even officially list their sources! They include the Sega Consumer History book (By Enterbrain and Famistu, 2002, Japan), and a French book detailing the history of games (1997, Ichbiah).
This section finished off with 4 pages, covering 28 separate games for the MS and GG. Each game boxout features the title, publisher, genre, year of release, cover art, three separate in-game screens (including title), and a full paragraph detailing the game. They cheated a little though, since some games have one screen for the GG version, and one for the MS version, even though they were often different (Ninja Gaiden being a case in point). They do acknowledge this in the text though.
OVERALL
Overall, I really like it. Plenty of screenshots/photos, plenty of colour, and plenty of Japanese coverage (with a healthy nod to American computer adventures). Which is exactly what I like.
The overall design is also excellent, and reminds me a lot of the American magazine GameFan, which I used to read religiously at one point. Interestingly, this is the sister mag of another French publication, which also goes by the name GameFan. I haven?t read this yet, though flicking through it in the stores it looks rather good with plenty of import coverage.
The main problem though, is that I?m nowhere near fluent in French, and so any subtlety of the language is lost on me. I mainly come for the cool images (with captions), the facts and figures, and the boxouts which are more easily digested. This isn?t French literature, so if you paid attention at school you can probably stumble through picking up the important facts. But hey, I?m the kind of guy who buys Famitsu when I can, just for the photos, so it?s not like I even care!
Awesome mag, reckon I?ll have to subscribe now.
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