gamesTM retro section, have your say

[Halo]

How about detailing the evolution of a game genre from the early VCS titles all the way to a recent Xbox version? You could do it family tree style, like you do the evolution of a games series.

[localboy]

Love the mag as well, wonderful feel with the font on the letters page

Could you cover the Atari800XL I think I was the only person to own one. 5 1/4 floppys disks, cassettes and carteridges, Trackballs, Drawing pads and pens, printers excellent stuff.

Another timeless example of defending the underdog. (revisiting old playground arguemnts could be fun)

Could you look at the first speech in games mine was "180" on the spectrum OMG!

Little things please little boys section,
like the 128k version of outrun loading the next stage into memory then being able to play the music cassette while driving (eat that 48kers)
You said Target Renegade was better on Spectrum that Commerdore why
I would like to see side by side screen shot comparisons.
Posters in lockers in MGS2,
MK final moves
typing rude words into text adventures
in game jokes
EASTER EGGS ie QuakeII dev room

Articles on 'not actual in game footage' (See EA harry potter) screenshots the highs and lows The loading screen was often used as a screen shot ?

More on the rare console addons 64DD, SegaCD (especially the star wars game or was that the 32X) Sfamicom network.

Would also like to see MAME playable games that I might have missed

Love the adverts of the old games. Espcially the arcades never seen those befor ('buy in option' cool) could you get the arcade warehouse to put a approx cost/price on the bottom of the add.

I find the whole retro section makes me want to play older games again it great , keep up the good work

Tony

[Strider]

Thanks very much for the kind words, Keith's been working really hard to take the section in a new direction and I hope to build on this in the coming months.

I appreaciate everything that's been said so far and it's quite interesting to see how much everyone has in common with myself. Many of your suggestions have already been implemeneted for the next issue and I hope this to continue.

Retro gamer has upped the ante considerably over the last few months, and while its only me working on the gamestm section (as oppossed to a whole magazine crew on retro gamer) I aim to make it as good as I possibly can.

[Londonner]

I don't know who MD is or what he does for a living, but his post about the top 5 consoles for the elite is one of the most insightful and funniest pieces on gaming i have ever read. The guy clearly has knowledge and talent, and I would love to see him with a regular column where he just rants about retro games or machines, with a particular focus each month.

It could be called 'Ask MD' where people contribute their opinions, and he shoots them down. Some people have already mentioned re-enacting playground arguments which I'd find extremely amusing! Some banter is always good fun!

EDIT: I'm not an MD fanboi as I don't know the guy, but his posts (cutting, authoritative and to the point) always cack me up!

[Robster]

Feature on Jap Super Famicom/Famicom will do it for me. Box art and rare/obscure games.

Anything JAP that we cant get over here which is ten times better that the US/UK version(if that makes sense).

I know its common ground but its what does it for me Im afraid.

Oh and keep the retro ads. Their great.



Box art Box art Box art.

In depth guide to collecting Retro stuff when in Japan. Nice wee trip for you Strider. and would make a hell of a good article.


Oh and feature on books about collecting on various consoles. Any literature on collecting like the famicom book on ebay that gives a rundown on every famicom game released in japan with pics etc etc.

[MD]

Thanks Londonner the copy of Magical Chase is in the post.

[buster_broon]

I'm not an MD fanboi as I don't know the guy, but his posts (cutting, authoritative and to the point) always cack me up!

yeah he always CACKS me up as well

as for the playground fight its just because he is the petulant child who things he has everything and doesnt

[Magnakai]

Anyone any idea what game that is? I love rope physics

Umi Hara. I wouldn't tell you to go search on a SNES rom site. That'd be plain terrible of me. It would.
In any case, it's excellent

On topic, haven't read the last few issues, but I'd really appreciate a feature on the early 90s shareware market. Things like Commander Keen, Jill Of The Jungle, Castle Of The Winds, Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure... I'm not gonna start listing them, as there were too many great platformers from back then!
Or maybe the Sierra/Lucasarts early adventure game market... stuff like Kings Quest, Zak McCracken, Manhunter, Gold Rush... the slightly forgotten stuff's more intresting.
Anyway, yay!

[Sketcz]

Feature on Jap Super Famicom/Famicom will do it for me. Box art and rare/obscure games.
Anything JAP that we cant get over here which is ten times better that the US/UK version(if that makes sense).
I know its common ground but its what does it for me Im afraid.
Oh and keep the retro ads. Their great.
Box art Box art Box art.
In depth guide to collecting Retro stuff when in Japan. Nice wee trip for you Strider. and would make a hell of a good article.
Oh and feature on books about collecting on various consoles. Any literature on collecting like the famicom book on ebay that gives a rundown on every famicom game released in japan with pics etc etc.

The man speaks sense!
How about a purely Japan-centric issue of the retro section?

[Robster]

Otaku,

I knew you would back me up mate.

[DCharlie]

How about an Ura-issue, where us lot get to bitch about what SUCKS about the Japanese gaming scene/life in Japan/etc etc?

we could dig out games where the Japanese version is WORSE than the western version - i'm thinking about the cover of Ghost Recon on the PS2 right now! It's a horrible, felt-tip style drawing... i mean, seriously, it's hideous.

A great feature would be on obscure games. I mean, i've spent a fair bit of time here and come across stuff that is more than a bit "WTF??" - i'm not talking about Ore no Ryori or Tondemo Crisis or anything like that - i'm talking about real weird stuf (and almost universally STINKERS) that just boggle the mind (Jungle Park, Topolo, Holy Umbrella, etc etc...)

Or interviews with insane fanboys at this end - i have a friend out here who refuses to buy a PS2. He wanted to play Monster Hunter, but would not buy a machine so he has borrowed one of my spares rather than buy the machine. He's a hardcore Sega/Xbot. Japanese. Kind of weird.

Anyways, just a though.

[robrymond]

A classic game from each retro console every month, so each has it's own dedicated page.

I am liking the retro section though. Drop the classified's and it'll be even better. And ask the Ed if you can expand it a little

Those review pages to me seem really long.

[Sketcz]

How about an Ura-issue, where us lot get to bitch about what SUCKS about the Japanese gaming scene/life in Japan/etc etc?

Great idea, but I think Strider is looking to make the retro section longer than merely a page and a half.

[Brats]

With regards to Mayhem's comments on the NGPC article, I totally agree with you. Unfortunately, we're not able to delve into machines as much as we'd like and it's difficult to get a huge amount of coverage on just two pages.

I think there is an answer. As many have already said, lose the classified ads and in their place expand tyhe console of the month section. I've always enjoyed what there was to read of these, but often they were just a mere toe dip and in the case of important machines like the PCE it seemed a bit unfair to allow it such a small space.

BTW Apogee were just a shareware distributor originally started by Scott Miller. Commander Keen was an id game (they're first game that they wrote together aside from those at Softdisk). Most early Apogee games were id games. The final game they released by id was Doom. As time went by, they started to being in their own programmers. When Tom Hall was booted out of id, he went to Apogee and wrote Rise of the Triad for them.

Later, Ken Silverman sent through some games for Apogee to distribute as shareware. They didn't like the games, but they liked the engines and they employed Silverman who wrote the Build engine. Apogee changed names to 3D realms and released Duke Nukem 3D.