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retro gamer*

COMMODORE • SEGA • NINTENDO • ATARI • SINCLAIR • ARCADE

VOLUME TWOISSUE THREE

Super
Mario!
The N64 classic slams onto the DS

Star
Wars
X-Wing versus Dark Forces

MSX
AppealThe machine with a million faces

Kick OffMania
Dino Dini’s footy classic

V2
03

Retro Gamer 15$12.99 USA$13.99 Can

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Page 3<EDITORIAL>
Editor =Martyn Carroll (martyn@livepublishing.co.uk)
Deputy Editor =Aaron Birch(aaron.birch@livepublishing.co.uk)
Art Editor =Craig Chubb
Sub Editor =Rachel White
Contributors =Simon Brew + Richard BurtonDavid Crookes + Jonti Davies
Ashley Day + Paul Drury
Andrew Fisher + Frank Gasking
Craig Lewis + Per Arne Sandvik
John Szczepaniak+ Dan Whitehead
Chris Wild + The Boy Warde<PUBLISHING & ADVERTISING>
Operations Manager =Debbie MaddenGroup Sales Manager =Linda Henry
Advertising Sales =Danny Bowler
Accounts Manager =Karen Battrick
Circulation Manager =Steve Hobbs
Marketing Manager =Iain "Chopper" Anderson
Editorial Director =Wayne Williams
Publisher =Robin Wilkinson

hello
W

elcome once again
to the hallowed
halls of Retro
Gamer, and Volume
Two Issue Three ofthe best retro magazine around.
It’s been a busy month andwe’ve been hard at work
<SMALL PRINT>
cramming in even more features,
Distributed bynews and reviews.
Comag, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middlesex
UB7 7QE, England. Tel: 01895 444055. We’ve also been keenly
Fax: 01895 433602
following activity on the RG
No part of this magazine may be reproduced orforum, and have noticed that astored in any form whatsoever without the prior
numLtd.
ber oThef readers disagree withwritten consent of Live Publishing Int
views expressed herein are not necessarily
our covetherage of modern PC andopinion of the Publishers.
console titles. While we take theLive Publishing Int Ltd
points raised onboard, we also
Europa House

believe that it’s important tocover today’s retro releases, be it
a commercial remake, sequel orcompilation. Of course, we willdraw the line at some games, andyou won’t find reviews of any of
Sonic the Hedgehog’s new 3D
adventures for example. But, new
2D versions that contain the same
retro gameplay will very likely
make it onto our pages. But, that
said, if we find somethinginteresting, then we think you will
too, so why not allow us toindulge you?
Right, on with the show. This
month we uncover the mysteries

Adlington Park
Macclesfield, Cheshire
SK10 4NP, UK
Tel: 01625 855000
Fax: 01625 855071
ISSN: 1742-3155<LIABILITY>

Subscription prices

Whilst every care has beentaken in the production of this magazine, the
UK: £71.88 (12 issues)
publishers cannot be held responsible for theEurope: £77.00 (12 issues)
accuracy of the information contained herein.

Rest or world: £83.00 (12 issues)
Retro Gamer, ISSN number 1742 3155,
is published monthly (twelve times
per year) by Live Publishing at 1320
Route 9, Champlain, N.Y. 12919 for
US$123 per year. Periodicals postage
paid at Champlain, NY. POSTMASTER:
Send address changes to Retro Gamer
c/o Express Mag, P.O. Box 2769,
Plattsburgh, NY 12901-1329.

q

3q

of the MSX computer range, delve
into the history of Delta 4,
developer of many fine adventure
games, and complete our journeys
through the Star Wars and Star
Control universes. We also launch
a number of new regular features,and we’re especially keen to hear
what you think of these additions
to the magazine. Personal contact
details are over on the left, or
you may prefer to post feedbackon our busy forum.
Enjoy the magazine!

martyn carroll
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Page 4>Content v2.03
Japan Happy Play Noise p24

MSX Appeal p28

Our man in Japan takes a look at SNK’slegendary home console formats

Ashley Day looks at the creation of the firstgaming standard

Delta 4-Eva p48

Mobile Arcade p54

Chris Wild talks to Fergus McNeill, the man
behind Delta-4 Software

David Crookes discovers the joys of mobile
phone gaming

Next Level Gaming p66

Abandonware: Gone but not Forgotten p72

Andrew Fisher looks at the enhanced games
available for the Commodore 128

Aaron Birch delves into the controversial worldof abandonware, and asks “Is it legal?”q

4q

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Page 5>Regulars
Retro News p06
Two pages of the latest retro news

Back to the Eighties p08
A look back at what was happening in thegaming world 20 years ago this month

The History of Star Wars Videogames p42

Retro Rated p12

Dan Whitehead completes his tour of the Star
Wars gaming universe

Retro Gamer reviews the latest commercial
game releases

Retro Revival p20
A look at The Elder Scrolls RPG series

Desert Island Disks p36
Paul Drury talks to Atari Lynx/Jaguar
programmer Eric Ginner

Killer Apps p82
The 16-bit footy classic that was Kick Off...

Games That Weren’t p84
Frank Gasking takes a stroll through thegaming graveyard

Control & Conquer p58
John Szczepaniak talks to Star Control creators,
Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford

Strange Games p86
Crazy product placement in videogames...

Retro Scene p90
The latest news from the retro scene, plus
our Screenplay 2005 festival reportHigh Score p94
This month we talk to David Palmer, holderof the Star Wars Tournament world record

Retro Auction Watch p99
Richard Burton keeps his eye on eBay

Retro Forum p102

Global Gaming

p78

Reader feedback and Web forum posts

John Szczepaniak scours the globe in search of
thriving arcade, console and computer scenes

Retro Coverdisc p106
The contents of this month’s cover CD

Endgame p114
Another issue draws to a closeq

5q

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Gunstars Reloaded
The definitive side-scrolling shooter returns
After reviving many classic
properties already, Sega looks set
to continue the trend with theresurrection of Gunstar Heroes. It’s
been revealed that Sega hasrecently registered the title‘Gunstar Super Heroes’ as atrademark, making a huge hintthat the epic and much admired
Treasure blaster is due to make areturn to our screens.
The original game first
appeared on the Mega Drive in1993 and was an instant hit.
Pushing the Mega Drive to its
limits, the game made usuallysmug SNES owners look on ingreen-eyed jealousy as the gameperformed more technical trickery
and jiggery pokery than people
thought possible on the Sega’s
little black box. Frantic action andan army of massive bosses
populated this side-scrollingshooter, and the two player co-op
was just bliss. Treasure made thebest possible impact on thegaming world, with Gunstar
Heroes perfectly demonstrating theteam’s talent for creating mindblowing blasters, and arguably it’s
the best game on the Mega Drive.
Quite what the new release will
have in store isn’t known as Sega
has yet to comment on the news.
Will it be a sequel to the original?
Will it be a remake of the original
game, or will it be a totallydifferent game with full 3Dgraphics like the recent Altered
Beast update (let’s hope not eh?)It’s also not clear which platformthe game will appear on, but westrongly suspect it will be ahandheld release for the GBA oreven the DS. Rest assured, assoon as we get more information,
you’ll know about it.

Sonic Overshadowed
Rival to take up the mantle
Following on from our story lastmonth about Sega’s online Sonic
survey, it does seem, for the time
being at least, that Sonic will be
stepping out of the limelight. At arecent gaming event, Sega
officially announced that the next
Sonic game will not star the blue
spiky one, but will instead place
one of his rivals, Shadow theHedgehog, at the helm.
The new game, currently titled

Shadow the Hedgehog,
will be a 3D platformer thattakes place in a very Sonic-esqueworld, complete with theusual roller-coaster courses
and loop-de-loops. But,
don’t expect this to be
Sonic with different clothes, oh
no. Shadow has some new tricks
up his sleeve, most noticeably a
bloody great gun! Yes, Shadow’s
packing some serious heat on hisqadventure, meaningthat bopping foeson the head is athing of the past. Quite
how much this will change
the core Sonic formula isn’t really

6qapparent at the moment, butfrom the footage we’ve seen,
we’re expecting more gameplay
along the lines of Sonic
Adventure, only with munitions
and a much darker attitude.
The big question still remains
though – where’s Sonic?

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Page 7                                             REGULAR | RETRO NEWSJet Set Go!
Important happenings in the retro world

Capcom Classics Confirmed
Retro collections spark serious head scratching
After announcing a new classics
compilation in February, Capcom
has finally revealed that it will
release two retro bundles –volume 1 will feature 1942, 1943,
1943 Gaiden, while volume 2 willbring together Ghosts n’ Goblins,
Ghouls n’ Ghosts and Super
Ghouls n’ Ghosts. Both packs willappear on the, er, PlayStation 1.
Sounds mildly interesting,
except that Capcom has alreadyreleased these packs for the
PlayStation and Saturn in 1998.
Back then they were known as
Capcom Generations and there were
five volumes in total. Volumes 1
and 2 were identical to the recently
announced bundles, while volumes
3, 4 and 5 contained other classic
Capcom titles including Commando,
Gunsmoke and, of course, Street
Fighter II. All five volumes werereleased separately in Japan, while
the first four were bundled together
and released in Europe as a single

PlayStation pack simply entitledCapcom Generations (in case you’re
wondering, the fifth volume wasreleased separately over here as
Street Fighter Collection 2).
So why is Capcom releasingthese titles again? Well, it’sanybody’s guess, although it
seems to have something to dowith a new strategy guide that will
come bundled with each collection.
It’s unlikely that either volume will
be released outside Japan,
however, but at least this means
we may be blessed with a new,fully-fledged Capcom collection
somewhere down the line.

Back in Retro Gamer issue 12 we hinted thatthe next Miner Willy game for mobile
phones might just be a Mario Kart styleracer. To tell you the truth, we knew fullwell that this was the case, but our hands
were tied until the deal had been done.
Well, said deal has been done, and Jet Set
Karting will be appearing on mobile phones
towards the end of the year. Details are alittle thin on the ground at present, but wegather you’ll be able to choose one ofseveral characters from the game besides
Willy, and the tracks will all be basedaround locations in Willy’s mansion. We
should know more in the next couple ofmonths. In the meantime, this early
development screenshot should provide ataster as to what you can expect.

Play Again
Retro focus shifts tomobile phones

Super Final Punch-Out!!
Veteran heavyweight appears on Fight Night bill

A deal has been struck thatcombines EA’s new Fight Nightgame with one of Nintendo’s mostMiner Willy takes tothe tracks

appearances.
Owners of the
GameCubeversion of NBA Street V3 canunlock a special all-star teamfeaturing none other than Mario,
Luigi, and Princess Peach!
Although, we’re not sure exactly
how ‘street’ Princess Peach will be,
but it’s gotta be worth the asking
price to see her slam dunking itwith the best of them.

popular old skool classics.
Fight Night Round II on the
GameCube is set to give fans adose of retro pugilistic action
thanks to the inclusion of theSuper Nintendo hit, Super PunchOut!! This gem, which can be
unlocked within the title, will only
be available in the GameCube
version of the game. But, that’s
not all, as EA and Nintendo havecome up with even more cameoq

7q

UK software publisher Play It hasannounced its move into the mobile gaming
market recently with its new Play It Mobile
label. The label will feature titles specificallydesigned for phones. Amongst the first waveof releases will be retro classics James Pond
II: Robocod, Strikers 1945 and the everpopular International Karate (how thecontrols lend themselves to mobile handsets
remains to be seen however).
Meanwhile, Play It’s new Last Ninja
game for PS2 and Xbox seems to have
dropped out of sight, with Internet rumours
suggesting that the two year project has
been cancelled. Also AWOL is the original
Last Ninja trilogy which was due to appear
on consoles towards the end of last year.
Hopefully we’ll have some more optimistic
Ninja news in the coming months.

RETRO15 Back to the 80s:RETRO15 Back to the 80s

Retro Gamer turns
the clock backexactly 20 years toApril 1985 – amonth for newcomputers, dying
software houses
and April Showers

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Page 8A

mstrad revealed its
brand newcomputer to theworld this month.
The CPC 664 wasbasically a 464 with tweaked
Locomotive Basic and the
addition of a built-in 3in disk
drive rather than the standard
tape deck. The system would
come complete with a choice ofcolour or monochrome monitor
and would set you back £449 forthe colour version or £339 forthe green screen model. The
machine was generally wellreceived by the computing press,
yet it would be discontinued
before the year was out andreplaced by the 6128, a modelwith twice the memory.
Meanwhile at the Hanover Fairin Germany, home of one of thebiggest electronics and computer
shows of the year, Atari andCommodore were showing off
their own brand new machines
which were making their debutson the European computer
market. Atari demonstrated its
highly anticipated Atari 520ST
and Commodore revealed two
versions of its new Commodore
128 machine. Release

dates for all the machines still
remained in limbo – late summer
was the best guess. Although not
publicly shown at the fair,
Commodore also revealed that it
hoped to have its next project,
the Amiga, ready for sale in the
UK by the end of the year…
Continuing with the Commodore
theme, a new magazine from
Newfield Publications made its first
appearance on the newsstand at
the end of the month. The May
edition of Zzap! 64 had a terrificwelcome from Commodore
gamesters and quickly built anarmy-like following. There will
be more on Zzap’s first issue
next month.
Of course, being April it
wouldn’t be right if at least oneof the computer magazines didn’t
attempt to dupe us with a belting
April Fool’s Day prank. The best

Steer well clear
With the Soft Aid charity
compilation riding high in thesoftware charts, withapproximately 40,000 copies of it
being sold since its release the>C5 Clive
The transport of the future, theSinclair C5, hit the news for all
the wrong reasons after it was
revealed a faulty part had tobe replaced in the vehicle. Up
to 3,000 C5s were affected.
Sales figures for the C5
since its release on January
10th revealed that 5,000 units
had been sold, mostly by mailorder direct from the Hoover
factory in Merthyr Tydfyl. OK,
so the C5 may have been
produced at Hoover – yep, thesame Hoover that makes
vacuum cleaners and washingmachines – and it did little inpersuading you it was safe,

Atari finally enteredthe 16-bit market with its
eagerly awaited ST computerqof the bunch came from Your
Spectrum with a teaser for Jet Set
Willy fans. In issue 13 YS revealed
to the Willy mad world that it
had discovered the existence of asecret location. The room,
entitled April Showers, could only
be activated by typing in a shortprogram listed in the magazine.
In reality this program was the
new room itself but it still
hoodwinked many readers. This
new 61st room was
reprogrammed to appear over The
Beach and has become a niceaddition to JSW folklore.

8q

particularly when confronted
with an articulated lorry
belching exhaust fumes in yourface. It’s also fair to say thatyou were unlikely to ever pull
anything in one except formaybe your hamstring. But if
there’s a finer plasticized,
pedal-driven/electric-powered
tricycle on the roads, we have
yet to see it…

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Page 9REGULAR | BACK TO THE EIGHTIES“Don’t buy this!” pleaded
Firebird, but lots of stupid
people actually did just that
previous month, budget game
masters Firebird decided it wastime to release a compilation of
its own.
Although it’s fairly usual tofind games compilations paddedout with the occasional dud or
sub-standard game, Firebird
planned to go all out and be ascompletely and utterly rubbish as
it possibly could be. The
infamous Don’t Buy This was aselection of shockingly pitiful
gaming offerings for theSpectrum. The programmers
behind the dross were even kept
anonymous such was theshocking work of these mediocre
programming makeweights. The
role call of despair featured suchblighted offerings as Weasel Willy,
Race Ace, Fruit Machine, Fido, andas if the first wasn’t bad enough,Fido 2.
With the release date of thecompilation set for April 1st, themajority of people dismissed thewhole thing as one big April

Fool’s Day stunt. It came as a bitof a shock then when it appearedin the shops, priced at £2.50 aspart of Firebird’s cheapo Silver
Range. Not only did it label itself
as “Five of the worst games
ever”, but it inexplicably sold by
the shed load.
Was this a case of bluff anddouble bluff with a garnish of
genius marketing? Or was it just
us curious gamers wanting to see
if the whole thing was stuff andnonsense and actually as bad as
Firebird had made out? Whatever
the reasoning was behind it, Don’t
Buy This sold extremely well.
Firebird continued to be
newsworthy with theannouncement that it was torelease Acornsoft’s Elite on the
Commodore 64. After originallyobtaining the rights to all 8-bit
versions of Elite via an auction,
Firebird pursued Acornsoft for useof the Elite trademarks. With thatagreed, Firebird confirmed that
the C64 version of Elite would
appear within a month or two,with the Amstrad CPC and ZX
Spectrum versions making abelated autumnal appearance.

>Games watch
Adventure International released Gremlins in this month. Based on
the popular film featuring a furry little Mogwai called Gizmo andthe world’s fastest Stannah Stairlift, the graphic adventure wasreleased for a multitude of formats and allowed gamers to
microwave and liquidise Gremlins freely without guilt. Hurrah!
Computer & Video Games magazine featured two great
offerings for the Commodore 64 in its review pages. Impossible
Mission (Epyx/US Gold) was the star of the show with an overall
10/10 rating. The C&VG staff also reviewed Staff Of Karnath(Ultimate), giving it Star Game status although it only scored 8/10.
It was a busy month for C64 owners, with a multitude of US
Gold releases for their system including Bounty Bob Strikes Back,
Congo Bongo and Grog’s Revenge, while simulation freaks were
given the chance blow stuff up in Theatre Europe (PSS).
Crash magazine carried reviews of The Dukes Of Hazzard(Elite), sadly without any mention of Daisy Duke’s frayed denim
shorts. The Speccy bible also looked at Sam Stoat Safebreaker(Gremlin), The Tripods (Red Shift), Raid Over Moscow (US Gold)and Pud Pud (Ocean). Alien 8 (Ultimate) was also finally reviewed
and received a superbly high 95% and a Crash Smash award. Welldone Robbie Robot!

The Quick and the dead
Also in this month, Quicksilva
announced that it would be shifting
its operation to London from its
home in Southampton. It would
now be sharing premises with its
parent company, Argus Press
Software. Although Argus pointed
out that the move was more forconvenience than anything else, it
seemed like the beginning of theend for Quicksilva, one of thelongest running and mostsuccessful software houses. With
the added news that all Quicksilva

another big software house as
Bug Byte, another old timer,
confirmed that it had become
insolvent and would be liquidated.
And that was April 1985.

staff had been made redundant, it
certainly seemed the end wascoming for one of the pioneers of
8-bit gaming.
There was also bad news for>Top Five Charts (April 1985)
Commodore 64

Spectrum

Amstrad CPC

BBC Micro

1

1

1

1

2
3
4
5

Soft Aid(Quicksilva)
Chiller(Firebird)
BMX Racers(Mastertronic)
Booty(Firebird)
Airwolf(Elite)2345Soft Aid(Quicksilva)
Booty(Firebird)
Raid Over Moscow(US Gold)
Bruce Lee
(US Gold)
Daley Thompson’s Decathlon(Ocean)

2
3
4
5

q

9q

Sorcery(Virgin)
Ghostbusters(Activision)
Fighter Pilot(Digital Integration)
Jet Set Willy(Software Projects)
Flight Path 737(Anirog)2
3
4
5

Football Manager(Addictive Games)
Mr EE(Micropower)
Castle Quest(Micropower)
Challenger(Mastertronic)
Scrabble(Leisure Genius)

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Game Monthof theYour mission, should you choose to except it, is to play Impossible
Mission, one of the finest C64 games of all time…

S

een the movie
Wargames, but
unlike cheeky-facedcomputer hacker
Matthew Broderick,
don’t fancy starting a game ofglobal thermonuclear war? Does
the soundtrack to Mission
Impossible make you want to
don a beige mac, tinted
sunglasses and communicate incode? If so, your dreams havejust come true – well, some ofthem anyway.
The almost legal-eagle
enticing Impossible Mission casts
you not as Ethan Hunt, but as a
top secret spy who’s on a mission
to save the world from Professor
Elvin Atombender (and with aname like that, it’s no surprise hebecame an crazed mastermind
hell-bent on world domination).
He’s up to no good, using his
villainous skills to hack into
national security computer
systems. Should he gain total
control, who knows what the evil
megalomaniac would do next?
So, with a freshly-ironed shirt,pressed action slacks and ahandy secret agent computer, yousneak into Atombender’s secretbase to uncover his plans andinfiltrate his computer system,
hopefully stopping his plansdead. But, don’t forget about his
automated security systems!
Okay, so the plot is right outof a Saturday morning cartoon,
but that’s not important. What’s
important is that Epyx, andcreator Dennis Caswell, crafted agame that was head andshoulders above almost every
other title out there at the time.
Impossible Mission is a gamethat works on many different
levels, the foundations of which
are action platforming. As thespy, you have to navigate thesecret base, somersaulting overfoes and gaps, and using lifts toreach other areas. You also haveto avoid Atombender’s army ofrobots, as well as surviving his
deviously constructed chambers.
While progressing through thelabyrinthine complex you need tosearch desks, bookcases andtables to find clues to
Atombender’s secret code. You
can also use computers to hackinto the base security system,
shutting down patrol robots andresetting lifts, and there are evenpuzzles which must be solved togain useful items.
But that’s not all. No spy
worth his salt would leave home
without a cutting edge toy ortwo, and this is no exception.
Your own computer system canbe used to collect together thepieces of the final code, and you
can also use it to contact your
HQ and map your route throughthe base.
Not only is the gamecompletely innovative andsurprisingly complex, but it
features some truly impressive
character animation. Your spy
runs fluidly and somersaults likea gymnastics pro (well, this is an
Epyx game). Not only that, but
the game also changes every
time you play it – with rooms andobjects moving to random
positions. There’s also some
excellent speech thrown in forgood measure.
Simply put, Impossible Mission
is a game that was far ahead ofits time, and one that simply
needs to be experienced by every
self-respecting gamer. Awesome
stuff, and a bona fide classic.

>You only play twice
Having braved the perils ofAtombender’s secret base, oursuper spy returned for one
more adventure. Impossible
Mission II once again featured
the mad professor, only thistime his complex was divided
into towers, and you had eight
hours to stop him fromdestroying the world.
Once again the gamefeatured stunning animationand complex gameplay.
Instead of finding the secretcode, this time you had to findparts of a musical tune. IM2
also featured improved
psudeo-3D visuals, and you
could now find weapons withwhich you could fight backagainst those pesky robots.

Developer: Epyx
Format:C64

Price:£8.99

Players:

One

SCORE:

9/10

q

10 q

Many consider the sequel tobe inferior to the original, butthere’s no denying that it was
still an excellent game in its
own right.

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Page 12

Rated
Retro

Welcome to the Retro Gamer reviews section. Read on to discover theteam’s opinion on the latest commercial releases...

p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p p

AtariFlashbackRelive Atari’s golden age of gaming with this Mini-Me-sizedincarnation of the 7800 ProSystem console
Developer: Atari p Format: N/A p Price: £29.99 p Players: One-Two

Adventure

Air Sea Battleq

It had to happen eventually.
After sitting back and watching thelikes of Radica and Jakks Pacificunleash all manner of classic
games on new TV plug ‘n’ playgadgets, with others such as Sega
and Namco licensing out theirproperties and reaping the rewards,
Atari has decided to enter the frayon its own. And what an entrance!
Here we have the AtariFlashback, a miniature sized Atari
7800, complete with two mini
ProLine controllers. Inside theconsole lurks 20 of Atari’s original
games for both the 2600 and
7800 systems (15 titles for theformer and five for the latter, tobe exact). As you’d expect, classics
such as Battlezone, Adventure,
Centipede, Breakout and Asteroids
are all included. You even get the

chance to play Saboteur, an Atarigame written by the famed
programmer Howard Scott
Warshaw that was never officiallyreleased (although it has since
been leaked onto the Net).
For Atari enthusiasts, this surely
sounds like the best thing ever,
and we’ve no doubt that fans will
lap up the collection of games onoffer. After plugging the unit into
your TV and powering it up, you
can select any of the available
games from the main menu,
providing quick and easy access to
20 old favourites. But, and this issaid with a very heavy heart, it’shere where things start to go
south, in a very big way.

Asteroids (7800)

Battlezone

12 q

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REGULAR | RETRO RATED

SolarisSprintmaster

Warlords

Yar’s Revenge

Down and out
The first thing you’ll notice is the
sluggishness of the controllers.
They react very… slowly… tocommands, with even menu
selections being unresponsive andslow. Then, when you do get intoa game proper, the overall level ofcontrol isn’t great. Now we knowthat Atari’s controllers have neverbeen anything particularly special,
but they’re surely better than this!
Not only is the control sluggish,
but the actual controllers are very
poorly made, in both construction
quality and in design. Because of
the small and thin shape, it’s notlong before your hands will start
to seize up and ache, thanks to

Breakout

Sky Diver

Saboteurthe unnatural way you need tohold the joysticks. And thejoysticks feel so light you’ll bescared you’ll break them with any
form of assertive gameplay(thankfully, there are no Track &Field style games, or you’ddefinitely be left with a broken
peripheral – ouch!)Okay, so the controllers aren’t
great, but it’s the games that areimportant, right? Well, yes, but
that’s also a bit of a problem.
Although there are many classic
titles on offer here, the selection
only encompasses Atari’s own backcatalogue. This means that old
favourites like Pitfall, River Raid,
Frogger, Space Invaders and PacMan are not included. This is a big
downside to the Flashback, andAtari really should have taken timeto secure some of the more fondly
remember titles.
While on the subject of thegames, it’s sad that only five 7800
games have been included,
especially when the whole unit has
been mocked up to look likeminiature 7800. The 2600 reallyhas been milked dry over theyears, and there have been otherTV game releases catering for the
more successful unit, so surely thiswould have been a fantastic
opportunity to focus exclusively on
the comparatively powerful
ProSystem. A collection of all ofAtari’s 7800 games would have
fitted the bill perfectly, making thisa truly unique device that could
stand on its own two feet.

fail to bring back the memories,
and for this alone the Flashback
deserves some praise. Plus, all of
the games included are replicatedperfectly, retaining all the charmand appeal of the originals. Saying
that, some titles such as Warlords
have been redone slightly, withchanges to accommodate the unit’s
lack of four-player support.
It’s just a crying shame morequality and not quantity went into
the Flashback’s development. If so,
we would have had a far better
unit. It may be a better idea forfans who own a PC or modern
console to invest in a copy of Atari
Anthology, which not only features
a whopping 62 2600 titles, butalso 18 of Atari’s greatest arcade
hits. And as you can pick thiscollection up for around a tenner,
you’re laughing. Nice try Atari, butbetter luck next time.
Rating: pppppppppp

Fond memories
But, having said all that, we can’t
really bring ourselves to hate theFlashback. Sitting down in front of
the TV with almost perfect
reproductions of Battlezone,
Asteroids and Adventure doesn’t

Canyon Bomber

Millipede

Haunted House>Mix ‘n’ match
As you’ve no doubt read in ourreview, we’re none too happy
with the Flachback’s controllers.
However, as the unit actuallyboasts the original 9-pin
sockets from the 7800, we
thought a way around the
problem would be to use theoriginal 7800’s joysticks. When
plugged in, the controllers do
work, but the inputs are notcorrectly mapped, with thejoystick pausing the game andthe fire button doing nothing.
The chance to use your own oldsticks would have been a bit ofa bonus, and we’re sure that
hardcore tech heads out there
will be able to rewire the inputs
to support this, but for the restof us, we’re stuck with theFlashback’s own sticks. Shame.

Centipede (7800)q

Planet Smashers (7800)

13 q

Gravitar

Food Fight (7800)

Desert Falcon (7800)

Crystal Castles

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Super Mario
64 DS
Mario’s landmark 3D adventure resurrected as a DS
launch title. How could it possibly fail?
Developer: Nintendo p Format: Nintendo DS p Price: £29.99 p Players: One-FourNintendo seems to have been
struggling with Mario recently.
Super Mario Sunshine was full ofgreat ideas, but never reallystruck a chord with the fans who
longed for the true sequel to
Super Mario 64, whilst thetentatively-titled Super Mario 128
has remained out of the public
eye for two hardware generations.
In the meantime Nintendo has
failed to placate its fervent
followers by refusing to create abrand new 2D Mario platformer
for the Game Boy Advance. You
have to ask the question – isNintendo capable of bettering theoft-cited ‘best game ever made’?
Its reliance on Mario 64 to sailthem through the DS launchschedule suggests that perhaps it
isn’t. Super Mario 64 DS then,provokes contradictory emotions:it’s disappointing that theinnovative handheld has notlaunched with an original Mario
game, but on the other hand
it is quite exciting to be able
to play the game thatchanged everything
anywhere you like. Mario
64’s influence on the modern
gaming scene has been sostrong that it is difficult to judge
it as a retro game. The complete
control of Mario’s every hop, leap,
crawl, sprint, back flip, tip-toe,climb, swim, fly and slide has so
far gone unrivalled by not only
Nintendo themselves but every
modern videogame developer
since. This leaves Mario 64
feeling as fresh as it did in 1996
with only its graphics and soundrevealing its true age.
As suggested, it’s the control
that made Mario 64 such a
revolution in the first place so it’ssad to see that it is control thatmakes the DS conversion a slight
disappointment. The problem isthat neither of the DS’s input
methods suits the style of thenine-year-old platform game. The
stubborn D-pad is so unsuitablefor 3D movement that its use
should be made a crime whereas
the thumb strap (a flat stylus thatsits under the thumb) affords
much more freedom of movementqbut is a little
inaccurate becauseof the touch screen’s
lack of a definite
stopping point.
Neither method feels as naturalor responsive as the N64’s
analogue stick and, although they
are adequate enough to get you
through the game, there are a
few advanced techniques andtricks that are almost impossibleon the handheld set-up: a factthat will frustrate many N64
aficionados.

Mario all-stars
Control issues aside, the DS
improves on Mario 64 in every
possible way. The new levels
range from simple landscapes(like the tropical island where
Mario must catch a vulture to get
the star) to the complex three

14 q

dimensional playgrounds thathave been the highlight of Mario’s
3D adventures. The additional
characters meanwhile, add awhole new dimension to the
gameplay. Apart from inflating
himself and floating around,
Mario’s moves are much the sameas in the classic N64 version andthe other three characters havetheir own moves that allow themto traverse the old levels in new
ways. Luigi can jump higher, run
on water and walk through walls;
Yoshi can swallow enemies,
breathe fire and lob eggs; andWario can break immovable
objects and turn to metal.
The very beginning of thegame opens with the player
attempting to defeat the firstboss with Yoshi, whose uniqueabilities force the player todiscover new ways of defeating
an enemy that they would
otherwise have been familiar
enough with to trounce easily.
This trend continues throughout;the fire flower power-up for
example will bestow a different
ability depending on who collects
it. This essentially means that

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REGULAR | RETRO RATED>Super Mario 128?

many levels can be played in four
different ways, couple this withthe thirty extra power stars andyou have a game whose longevity
far exceeds that of the original.
The other consequence is that ofadded value for those who know
the original inside and out: nolevel is 100% identical to its
original counterpart and gives the
Mario 64 veteran a sense of
discovery that is absent fromother re-releases of this kind.

The port is bolstered further
still by the addition of new minigames and a multiplayer mode.
The former are collected bycatching yellow rabbits
throughout the main adventure
and make full use of the DS’s
touch screen. Some are pointless
distractions while the others are
the type of simple, score-attack
games that will see you losing
hours without realising. Most
importantly, each one shows off

the DS’s potential in an
appropriate manner. Sadly thesame cannot be said about themultiplayer mode. Although it
admirably allows four players to
Wi-Fi link together, the wholegame is over in a matter of
seconds and takes the form of abattle mode that doesn’t reallysuit the Mario 64 style of play. A
co-operative mode would havesurely been much more
appropriate and engaging.
The DS’ slight technologicalsuperiority over the N64 has beenused to sharpen up the originalgraphics and hammer out a few
of the kinks: the textures forexample are notably improved
and suffer from none of theblurriness that infamously
plagued many N64 games.
Although purists may argue thatthe visuals should stay the sameas the original, in this case theywould be wrong; this is what
Mario 64 would have looked likeall along if the N64 was capableof presenting it properly.
Nintendo has also rather cannily
rendered the brand new levels
and locations in a similar style tothe standard ones; making themindistinguishable from thegenuine article. If you have neverplayed Mario 64 before (younutter) then you really won’t beable to tell which are the oldlevels and which are new.

Link to the pastMusic has an uncanny ability to
provoke nostalgia in people:
when you hear a song you
haven’t heard in years and yourmind back flips to the time when
it was most popular it can create
a feeling of comfort unlike anyother. Videogame music is no

q

15 q

As far back as 1999, Shigeru
Miyamoto was talking about asequel to Super Mario 64, andonce said: “For over a year
now at my desk, a prototype
program of Luigi and Mario
has been running on mymonitor. We’ve been thinking
about the game, and it may
be something that could workon a completely new gamesystem”. That sequel nevermaterialised, so it is possiblethat the new system he refers
to is the DS and that many of
the ideas he had for a sequelfound their way into Super
Mario 64 DS. That may not be
the case though and it is also
possible that the gameevolved into the as yet
unreleased Super Mario 128,
which may or may not be a
Revolution launch title. Our
breath is bated…

different, so it’s fantastic that
Nintendo has gotten the sound in
Mario 64 DS just right. Every
classic Koji Kondo track isreproduced perfectly and plays
remarkably well through the DS’stiny stereo speakers. As soon as
the steel drums kick in on thetitle screen you’ll be instantly
transported to a time when 3Dgraphics were exciting, when
Sega still made games consoles
and when Electronic Arts didn’t
own everyone under the sun.
There’s something magic aboutthat and it certainly helps thatthose original tunes were all
exceptional tracks to begin with.
In fact everything about Mario
64 was exceptional to begin withand that is the greatest
achievement of Mario 64 DS: theentire game plus extras has beensqueezed onto a tiny game cardand can be enjoyed anywhere in
the entire world. With this rerelease Nintendo has taken an
already excellent game and,despite the lack of an analogue
stick, has enhanced the package
for both veterans andnewcomers alike. This is the way
all retro re-releases should be
done: with respect for theoriginal artefact and with enoughnew features to make itsurprising for those who were
there the first time.
Rating: pppppppppp

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Ridge
Racer DS

>Six packFor the first time in a Ridge
Racer game, up to six players
can race against each otherat the same time. This is all
thanks to the DS’s wirelessmultiplayer capabilities, andbest of all, only one copy of
the game is required (theother players simply
download track data fromthe host). In our opinion,
these multiplayer races are
the key to the game’s longterm appeal.

Namco’s flagship racing series powerslides onto the DS, goinghead to head with its opposite number on the Sony PSP
Developer: Namco p Format: Nintendo DS p Price: £29.99 p Players: One-Six

It’s something of a surprise that
Nintendo should want a title like
Ridge Racer among its DS launchline-up. After all, the series has
been shrewdly used by Sony toshowcase the graphicalcapabilities of all its consoles todate (including the PSP, but moreon that later). Nintendo has neverboasted about the DS’s capacity
for pushing polygons or crunchingnumbers. No, the DS is all about
touch and feel and control. So
what’s a flashy-pants racer likethis doing here?
If we were sceptical, we’dsuggest it was chosen because
every console must launch with atleast one racing game in its lineup, and Ridge Racer was an easy
option from a porting point ofview. After all, the DS seems
perfectly capable of running N64

titles, and Ridge Racer DS isessentially a port of Ridge Racer64, a worthy update to the longrunning series that was originallyreleased in 2000. If you’re
unfamiliar with RR64, the gamebasically takes the tracks from theoriginal Ridge Racer and its
sequel, Ridge Racer Revolution,
throws in a brand new track, andpresents you with a simple 20race Grand Prix mode. As you win
races, new track variations areunlocked and faster cars can becompeted for. In each successive
race, the AI cars become more andmore competitive (and later ondamn right aggressive), so despite
the limited number of tracks andlack of customisable options, theGP mode is surprisingly
demanding. You certainly won’t
race through the game in a day.
Unlike Mario 64 DS, which isvery much an enhanced version of
the original game, Namco has
merely rolled the old motor out of
the garage with barely a lick of new
paint. The game is essentially thesame, with changes seemingly
enforced to support the DS’s dual
screen display and touch screen
control method. The racing action
takes place in the top screen while
the lower screen displays raceq

information (the course map, laptimes etc.) and features a laughably
large steering wheel. When using
the D-pad, the wheel is there purely
for show, but it’s possible toactually turn it using either the
stylus or wrist strap. It sounds a bit
mad and indeed it is – we gave
both alternative control methods
our best shot but we were soontapping our way around each trackusing the D-pad. Call us old
fashioned – we really don’t mind.

Slide away
Control changes aside, everything
pretty much remains the same.
And when you consider that RR64
kept true to the original’s roots,
this is a fine thing if you’re a fanof arcade racers. In fact, it’s thatlong since we’ve played a Ridge
Racer game that we’d forgotten
how much fun is to be had taking
corners at breakneck speeds withyour car 90 degrees to the racing
line, tires squealing, viewpoint
spinning, followed by the sweet
speed boost you receive for
performing the perfect
powerslide. It’s also amazing how

16 q

the familiarity of each track
comes flooding back, and if
you’ve played the earlier arcadeor PlayStation games for any
length or time, you’ll instinctively
know how to approach every
corner – when to ease off, whento open up. The track design
really is spot on, making for
perhaps the perfect arcade racer.
And the lack of tedious cartweaking options is a welcome
breath of fresh air.
But we end where we begin,with Ridge Racer on Sony’s
consoles. We’ve had theopportunity to play Ridge Raceron the PSP, and it’s infinitely
better that the DS effort. Rather
than a straight port, it’s almost
like a Ridge Racer greatest hits
package, with every incarnationof the game included. It really
does leave RRDS standing on thestarting grid, and makes you
wonder why Namco didn’t lavish
the same amount of care andattention on this version. Let’shope that this is not the shapeof things to come in thehandheld market.
Rating: pppppppppp

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REGULAR | RETRO RATEDPuyo
Pop FeverThe latest game in the long running Puyo Puyo series hits
the GameBoy Advance, and it’s feverish!
Developer: Sega p Format: GBA p Price: £24.99 p Players: One-Four

If you’re not familiar with theseries, Puyo Puyo is a Japanesepuzzler along the same lines asColumns and Tetris. Most western
gamers will have seen that gamealready without knowing it, under
the guise of Dr Robotnik’s Mean
Bean Machine, which was simply
a westernised version of theoriginal Puyo Puyo.
The game concept is simple –drop the various coloured beans
into your play area and try toform groups of four or more toeliminate them. Groups can bestraight lines, blocks or moreelaborate configurations, asbeans of the same colour stick
together when they touch. The
real skill here though is thecreation of chains, setting up
multiple groups of colours, sothat they are all eliminated one
by one in a domino-like effect.
When you clear beans from yourscreen, colourless beans are
dropped on your opponent, fillingup their area. The first person tohave their area completely filledwith beans loses.
Puyo Puyo is simple retro
puzzling at its very best, and over
the years has seen a number of
instalments, including the mostrecent Puyo Pop Fever on theDreamcast, PS2 and Xbox. Here
we have the latest GBA version of
the game, and you know what?
It’s great!
Puzzle games like this are oneof the GBA’s strengths, and thisconversion of the console title ishandled very well indeed.
Graphically everything is here,with all the characters and eventhe 3D-looking beans andpsychedelic ‘Fever’ mode effects
making an appearance. Obviously,
all of these are scaled down, but
the reproduction is almost perfect.
The audio is passable, with themain theme tune bouncing alongin the background, and much of
the character speech samples arein there.

Fever pitch
The key to any puzzle game is in
the playability, and thankfully
Puyo Pop Fever on the GBA has
more than enough to offer. All of
the game modes are present andcorrect, including the Story Mode,
Free Game, Endless Mode (justkeep on going to get a highscore) and, of course, Fever Mode.

q>Bean feast

This is where the game gets its
name, and in all modes, if you
successfully hold off youropponents’ counter attacks (byeliminating beans when there arecolourless ones ready to fall onyou), you’ll enter Fever Mode. Hereyou get a preset chain of beans,and you simply need to place one
bean in the right place to cause
total havoc with your foe’s stack.
The game also makes full useof the GBA’s link-up ability, andyou can play the game with up
to four players, which as withany puzzler, is where the gamecomes into its own. And withyou and your mates throwing
beans around like there’s notomorrow, Puyo Pop Fever
becomes one of the mostenjoyable puzzlers around.
While the game isn’t going to
win any awards for originality or
innovation, there’s no denyingthat it’s an addictive game and
the GBA is the perfect platform
for such a title. Those long train
journeys will just fly by if you
fire this up.
Rating: pppppppppp

17 q

Puyo Puyo wasn’t always
such a well known title andwas originally released byCompile in 1991 for theMSX2. It was then followed
by a special version for the
Famicom Disk System, called
Puyo Puyo Disk Drive. The
characters starring in thegame were from Madou
Monogatari, an RPG also
created by Compile. However,Puyo Puyo didn’t make it big
until it appeared in thearcades in 1992. Adding astory mode to theproceedings, players could
now battle throughincreasingly difficult foes,
and could also challenge
their mates with the twoplayer mode.
Over the years the gamehas been released in many
forms on systems including
the SNES, Mega Drive,
GameGear, GameBoy, PC,
PlayStation, Xbox and Mac.
However, many western ports
don’t bear the title Puyo
Puyo, and instead use morefamiliar western names, withsuch titles as Dr Robotnik’s
Mean Bean Machine, Kirby’s
Avalanche and Candy Crisis.
Puyo Pop Fever was also thelast game Sega released forthe Dreamcast.

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p

Mutant Storm>X-Mutant

Take your optic nerves for a spin in this hectic disco
inferno blaster. Groovy baby!
Developer: Pom Pom p Format: PC/Mac p Price: £4.99 p Players: One-Two

Last month we reviewed Space
Tripper, the Uridium-inspired
blaster from Pom Pom games.
Ditching the usual attempts tomake bold leaps forward ingaming technology, with Space
Tripper Pom Pom focused onpure gameplay, and the results
were excellent.
Well, now we’ve got anotheroffering from Pom Pom, rereleased under the Sold Out
budget range. Mutant Storm is
an arcade blaster that once morerelies on unadulterated arcade
action. Perhaps the best way todescribe the game would be to
imagine the classic shooter
Smash TV crossed with arcade
favourite Robotron, with a little
dash of Tempest 2000 thrown infor good measure. It makes for atasty mixture that’s perfect for
snacking on.
Starting off the game, youchoose your ship and colour,and then dive off into 89
increasingly difficult enemy
waves. Each level takes place ina sealed area, and enemies
beam in from all angles.
Controlling the ship is one of
Mutant Storm’s greatest qualities.
Using a combination of keyboard
and mouse, you move the shiparound the game zones at a very
fast pace. The keyboard moves
the ship and the mouse controls
the aiming reticule (if you’ve
played the freeware gem Abuse
you’ll know how this works).
After a few goes the control
system becomes second nature,
although a good level ofambidextrous skill is needed.
In each level you’ll come upqagainst masses of varied
enemies. Some foes simply
wander around the arena,
whereas some will actively makea beeline for you, determined tosmash you into atoms. Many
enemies are small and attack inwaves, while other foes weigh in
at much larger sizes, and someare even invincible, functioning
as immovable obstacles. As you
combat wave after wave of alien
nasties, you’ll can acquire more
powerful weapons and defensive
measures, and you can also rely
on your limited number of smart
bombs to get out of thosehairy moments.

It’s full of stars…
Mutant Storm’s visuals are
impressive – in a retro kind ofway. Every level is like a
psychedelic explosion, and as you
move around the arena, it tips
and rotates in response, creating
an eye-numbing display ofcolours and pyrotechnics.
Simplicity is the key factor
here. There’s almost nothing to
the gameplay except moving andshooting. For any other game thismay very well be a downfall, but
for Mutant Storm, this suits
things perfectly. Levels start offeasy enough, but quickly become
fast and frantic battles forsurvival, and getting all they way
through to the 89th level will
require some seriously ninja

18 q

As well as doing the rounds
on PC and Mac, Mutant Storm
has also found its way onto
Microsoft’s Xbox. However,
you’ll not find the game inany shops, as it’s only
available via the new Xbox
Live Arcade service.
This service, currently only
available in the US, is a new
idea to bolster the alreadysuccessful online aspect of theXbox, and through it you candownload full games to yourconsole’s hard disk for a small
price. You can then play thesegames just like any other, andMutant Storm is just one of
the games available on theservice. Other games alreadyavailable include retro classics
like Galaga, Pole Position, DigDug, Ms Pac-Man andDefender.
At the moment, there are
no plans to bring the service
over to the Europe. But with somany retro classics available,
let’s hope that it eventuallyfinds its way to our shores.

skills. If you want a game that
doesn’t tax the brain, but gives
your trigger finger and reflexes amajor workout, then you should
definitely grab this. Oh, and it’s
only a fiver…
Rating: pppppppppp

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Retro Gamer journeys back to the beginning of the epic Elder Scrollssaga, one of the most popular RPG series ever madeT

he Elder Scrolls
series will befamiliar to most ofyou, if not byexperience, then atleast by name. The franchise has
now been going for 10 years, andthe most recent relea se – Elder
Scrolls III: Morrowind – won awhole slew of awards. The series
has become synonymous withhuge sprawling worlds, total
player freedom and epic quests
that can take years to fully
explore. All ingredients that the
hardcore RPG fanbase lust for,and ingredients that developer
Bethesda Softworks has delivered
every time.

Arena (1994)

with the actual game world. This
world was called Tamriel, andwas actually a creation of the
D&D playing Bethesda staff which
was used in their own weekly
pen and paper D&D campaigns.
With the ga me’s alreadyfleshed out world in place, it
wasn’t long before the tea mstarte d to a dd more and morefunctions. The y wanted toa ctual ly walk a round their own
cities a nd provi nces, and to bea bl e to actually enter dung eons.
T he re sult was a ful l-bl own RPG,
complete wi th heavy role playing
e lements. This wa s goi ng to bemuch more than a simpl egladia toria l comba t game.
Taking inspiration from thecurre nt gre ats, such as Ultima
Underworl d a nd the i mpressive

Legends of Valour, Are na wa s
eventually turned into anenormous free roa ming firstperson RPG, and was one of thefirst ga mes to truly bring the pen
and paper D&D complexity to thesmall screen.
The story revolve s around ara ther unscrupulous man by thename of Ja ga r Tha rn. Tharn is thebattlemage to the Emperor of
Tamriel, Uriel Se ptim. But,
wa nting a bsolute power, hebetrays the emperor by using anancie nt arte fact cal led the Staffof Chaos. T he Emperor is thenimprisoned in another dime nsion.
You and a nothe r of theEmperor’s a llies di scover Tharn’splot, and are found out by him.
Your associa te is killed and you
are lock ed up in the Imperia l

The whole thing kicked off in1994 with the first Elder Scrolls
release – Arena. However, thisdebut title would ultimatley turnout to be a radically different
game from the original concept.
The first plans of Arena were of amedieval style gladiator game,hence the name, and in it you’dcontrol a group of tough as nails
fighters who’d travel the world
looking for trouble. You’d fight ina series of cities, becoming thechampion in each tournament.
However, this plan quickly
changed after the team came up

q

20 q

dungeons. Thanks to the ghostof your former friend, you esca pe
to your home province a ndembark on a quest to stop theevil tyrant. So begins a mindnumbi ngly huge adventure.
In Arena you had to wander
the entire world of Tamriel andfind all eight pieces of the Staff of
Chaos. During your quest you’d
explore all types of terrain, ranging
from idyllic forests and meadows,
to wastelands, dungeons andcities. The control system madethe first-person viewpoint work
very well, not relying on complex
button presses or combinations.
The gameplay was fast and fluid,
and as the whole world was sorichly detailed, you couldn’t
help but be sucked into themassive quest.

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Daggerfall (1996)
Bethesda began to create thesecond chapter, Daggerfall, as
soon as work on Arena wasfinished. For the sequel, changes
would be made…
The team believed that having
the entire world of Tamriel in thegame didn’t give them the feelthey wanted. Although it washuge and free roaming, it all felt
a little generic, and some critics
even claimed that the world was
too big, and daunted many
would-be players. This lead toBethesda’s decision to ditch
Tamriel as the game world, andinstead the team decided tofocus on the separate provinces.
Daggerfall would be the firstgame to feature this, andalthough the province ofMorrowind and the city ofMournhold were originally slated
to be the main locations in thegame, things were moved aroundand the sequel instead took
place in the provinces of HighRock and Hammerfell, revolving
around the city of Daggerfall. But,
it wasn’t just the locations thatchanged. Ditching the simplistic
advancement system seen in
Arena (you gained points bysimply killing things), Daggerfall
introduced the Elder Scrolls
staple of character advancementthat rewarded you based on theactions you performed. The gamealso broke new ground from atechnical point of view. Whereas
Arena used a similar engine toDoom, in which the world was in
actuality a 2D creation made tolook 3D, Daggerfall used the
XnGine engine. This was gaming’s
first ever true 3D engine, andenabled Bethesda to produce atruly three dimensional world.
The story of Daggerfall once
again invo lves the Emperor, whosends you to Daggerfall in orderto free the soul of King Lysandus,
who haunts the city. You also
have to track down a letter fromthe Emperor, which should havebeen delivered to the daughter ofthe Blades, a secret sect ofknights who work for theEmperor and do his dirty work.
Eventually you end up in a quest
to restore a giant golem to life,and have to deal with several
factions, per forming many quests
and missions along the way.
D epending on the decisi ons
you mak e, D aggerfall prese nts
you wi th multi pl e routes throughthe game, and six differnt
endi ngs. So, you could feasibly
play the massive adventure
through six times, with e ach
experience being totally different.

Obl ivion in whi ch the B attlespire(a sort of elite tra ining base) isfound. The inhabita nts of thebase have all been killed, andnow the e vil D aedra race
populate the halls. N eedless tosay, your quest is to find out
what has happened, and to sa ve
the Battlespire from destruction.
Only when the worl d is saved
can you return to Tamriel.

Redguard (1998)
Daggerfall, this instalment of theseries was planned as an
expansion pack for the second
chapter. But, with Morr owind
offering huge challenges due toits size, the later game was put
on hold and the teamconcentrated on Battlespire andRedguard. More work was put
into the two games andBattlespire, which was originallyplanned as a simple dungeonbased combat game, transformed
into a full blown adventure,complete with speech, a deep
story and RPG elements. It wasalso the only Elder Scrolls gameto feature a multiplaye r mode,with gamers being able to fighteach other, deathmatch-style.
The bi za rre story ofBattlespi re cast you as an agent
sent into the cha otic rea lm ofBattlespire (1997)
Da ggerfal l ha d the i mpa ct tha t
Be thesda so dearly wa nted. The
public were now sucked i nto the
Elde r Scroll s worl d, and could n’t
get enough. So, rea lising thehigh de mand, Be thesda sta rted
work on three p roje cts at thesame ti me . Work on B attl esp ire ,Redgua rd and Morrowind
bega n, with the fi rst title toarrive bei ng Ba ttle spi re , the fulltitle of which wa s An Elder
Scrolls Le ge nd: B attl esp ire .
Originally called Dungeon of

q

21 q

Although it was developed at thesame time as Battlespire,
Redguard was a totally different
kettle of fish, and replaced the
deep RPG roots of its
predecessors with a much morecommercial approach.
The game was titled The Elder
Scrolls Adventures: Redguard, andRG15 Retro revival.qxd:RG15 Retro revival.qxd

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was a straightforward action
adventure in which you had tofight enemies, converse with allies
and solve puzzles. It borrowed
ideas from many of the greats ofthe time, including Tomb Raider,
Ultima and even Prince of Persia.
The game also functioned as avehicle that enabled the team to
fully push the XnGine engine tosee what it was capable of. The
game took place in and aroundthe town of Stros M’kai, andpushed the engine to its limits. As
well as the radical departure of
the game style, this was also thefirst Elder Scrolls in which you
didn’t create your own character.
Instead you controlled the
Redguard hero, Cyrus.
The story of Redguard sees
Cyrus searching for his sister. But,
as soon as he approaches the
town of Stros M’kai, he’s engulfed
in a much larger conflict involving
the Redguard rebellion. Cyrus
e nds up at odds with the Empire
and is thrown into a trap-ridden
dungeon (which is where thePrince of Persia references makethemselves clear). Over the courseof the game you have to venture
through a wide range of locations,
jumping, swinging and fighting
your way to victory.

Morrowind (2002)
After the release of Redguard, itwould be another four years untilfans would see a new instalmentof the Elder Scrolls series, but the
wait would be more than worth it.
Morrowind was the first official
sequel since Daggerfall, having theElder Scrolls III moniker, and wasin development over the course of
six long years.
Morrowind was originally titled
Tribunal, and was set in
Summerset Isle. A redesignchanged this however, and thegame was moved to the Dark
Elves’ homeland of Morrowind. The
game would encompass the entire
province of Morrowind, and would
detail all five houses of the Dark
Elves. Many other in-depthfeatures were also planned, suchas the destruction of cites andentire armies marching through theworld, but due to technicallimitations, this was not to be. The
project was put on hold in 1997.
Eventually, in late 1998, after
the completion of Redguard, theteam came back to Morrowind withrenewed vigour. Realising how
much 3D graphics and technology

had advanced, they set out toreturn The Elder Scrolls to theforefront of modern gaming. Using
the experience gained from
Redguard, Morrowind was toned
down to encompass the island of
Vvardenfell, but the entire world
was constructed by hand. This
would produce a world far inadvance of Arena and Daggerfall(where the worlds were created byrandom mathematical code), butwould take a staggering 100 manyears to accomplish. To achieve thislofty goal, Bethesda tripled its staff
and spent a whole year developing
the TES Construction Kit, thebuilding block program that would
create the world of Morrowind.
The final article was an RPG so
epic in proportion that it simply
defied belief. Not only was theworld huge, but it looked amazing,right down to the smallest detail,and the journey was completely
free roaming, being littered with
100s of side quests. Your character
had an unparalleled development
system, and the whole thing was
like having a second life. There
were also two expansion packs forthe game – Tribunal (whichbrought in some of the content
originally planned, but later
dropped), and Bloodmoon.
Morrowind also introduced both
first- and third-person views, aswell as a dynamic weath er system.
The story of Morrowind is as
deep and as complex as the gameitself. Starting off as an unknown,
you arrive on the island of
Vvardenfell, sent on a mission by
the Emperor to fulfil an ancientprophecy. The prophecy tells of aonce powerful hero of the Dunmer(Dark Elves), known as Nerevar. It
is believed that you are thereincarnation of this hero, and you
must uncover the full truth behindthe prophecy, and must saveMorrowind from the immortal
Dagoth Ur. Along the way you’llquncover all sorts of plot twists, andwill have to brave many dangers.
The quest is truly huge, and many
players have put in over 100 hoursof play time, and have still to see
everything the game has to offer.

Oblivion (2005)
This brings us to the present day,and the upcoming title in the
Elder Scrolls series – Oblivion.
Work started on the title in 2002,
and Bethesda is keen to once
again deliver the most in-depth
and impressive RPG experienceever. Like Morrowind, and all theother Elder Scrolls before it,
Oblivion will again give the player
total freedom to explore the worldand quests at their own pace. Thistime, the action will take place inTamriel’s capital province Cyrodiil,the seat of the Emperor. Yourmission will be to find the heir tot he now empty throne, as theprevious Emperor was killed by anassassin. With the Emperor gone,
the gates of Oblivion (which is the
Elder Scrolls’ version of Hell) open
and all manner of demonic
creatures and beasts now roam
the lands, attacking towns andvillages. You’re the last hope forthe people.
Oblivion is already looking
like a superb sequel. With

22 qamazing levels of detail andcomplexity, Bethesda is cra fting
an RPG world which will no
doubt swallow you whole andnever spit you out. As well as theeye-melting visuals, Oblivion willfeature a new radical AI systemcalled Radiant AI. This will
bestow all NPCs (Non-Playable
Characters) with their own minds
and thoughts, and people will go
about their own business doing
what they want. So, rather thansimply milling around a set area,
not doing anything in partic ular,
people will go to eat, attend
church, shop, talk and even fight.
Oblivion will also feature a fully
spoken script, rather then the
text-heavy Morrowind approach.
And there you have it –10 years of The Elder Scrolls. And
with the quality that Bethesda
has delivered so far, and thepromise of Oblivion, let’s hopethat there’s another 10 years
to come. eUntitled-1 1

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Page 24 sa
man in Japan, take
r
ou
s,
ie
av
rd
D
i
nt
ck
Jo
is month,reviews the ro ha
s,
at
rm
fo
e
ol
Welcome back! Thnscou the insidendary home
look at SNK’s lege-up that is Viewpoint, and gives yo
Neo-Geo shoot-em2. Itadakimasu!
scoop on Starfox>Format focus: Neo-Geo/Neo-Geo CD
We get to grips with the hardcore fraternity’s format of choice to find out why SNK isgoing nowhere quickThe Neo-Geo MVS
arcade format isstill in circulation.
In Japan,particularly, many
original MVS machines remain
in game centers. Likewise, thehome console versions of SNK’scelebrated format are graced
with new releases even today.
With a catalogue of great 2D
games and several versions of
the console hardware available,
it’s time to journey to the heartof the Neo-Geo labyrinth.
The first game console SNK
released was the AES. The Neo-

Geo AES is a cartridge system
which basically plays identicalversions of the MVS carts
released to arcade operators.
The major plus points fromowning an AES are zero loading
times, superb joysticks(possibly the best proper sticks
outside of the arcades) and aslab of console hardware thatlooks as powerful today as it
did back in the early 90s. The
downside is expense. You canpick up the console for about£100 here, but while games
start at around £10, the really
important titles cannot beq

Big in Japan… The Neo-Geo CD (left), and the dual-speed Neo-Geo CDZ
obtained for less than £100.
The Neo-Geo CD systems –and, crucially, its games – arefar more reasonably priced. The
original front-loading NGCD
goes for around Y6,000 (£30)

24 q

while its immediate successor
is a snip at just Y3,000 (£15).
The problem with thesesystems is a lack of drive
speed. Loading times for someCD games are longer than aRG15 Japan happy.qxd:RG15 Japan happy.qxd

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Page 25                                       REGULAR | JAPAN HAPPY PLAY NOISE

and even in Japan they’realmost impossible to find.
Of course, beat-em-ups are
the dominant species. The KingOf Fighters series is a fans’favourite, though which version
is best will never be resolved.
In the dark and legendary worldof Samurai Shodown, too,
there’s a wealth of choice.
Outside of those prevailinggenres, there are some hidden
gems. The Super Sidekicks
series gives Konami’s Super
Famicom soccer games a good
run for their money (check out
Sidekicks 3 for the best action);
Neo Turf Masters is a classicallydesigned arcade golf sim; andWindjammers is an early title
which proved that volleyball, if
given an explosive edge, could
be as addictive as Tetris.
Speaking of which, an arcadeperfect version of Puzzle Bobble
is well worth having around.
The Neo-Geo consoles are agreat collection of 2Dvideogame champions. Just
avoid the snail-slow original CD
hardware and you’ll find that an
unusually high proportion ofgames on the Neo-Geo format
are worthy of your time. None
more so, in fact, thanViewpoint…>>>>Shoot-em-up stars on the Neo-Geo. Clockwise from top: Metal Slug 2,
Blazing Star, Pulstar and Shock Troopers
minute between stages. If
you’re not the tolerant typethen don’t bother.
By far the best Neo-Geo CD
option is the CDZ. This
upgraded version of the NGCD
hardware is not only sleeker
than the two previous attempts,
but it’s also considerably
quicker. Loading times are
generally half as long on the
CDZ as they are on the singlespeed drives of the original
Neo-Geo CD hardware. The
premium to pay for thesebenefits isn’t too steep: thegoing rate for a CDZ is Y14,000(about £70).
Whether you choose an AES,
NGCD or CDZ, the SNK
controllers are all fantastic. The
heavyweight joysticks of the
AES perfectly replicate the feelof playing MVS titles in thearcade. The original CD
controller is a joypad that uses
a microswitched thumbpad
similar to that used later on the
Neo-Geo Pocket. And there’s

also a CD/CDZ-compatible
arcade stick built by SNK which,although smaller and lighter
than the AES stick, isnevertheless excellent for thetypes of game available on SNK
formats – namely, beat-em-ups
and shoot-em-ups.

Neoclassical games
Nazca Corp’s Metal Slug games
are prime examples of 2D NeoGeo action. They display some
excellent hand-drawn graphics,
and underneath their stylish
and impressive visual craft lies
a simple concept, brilliantly
executed: it’s just shoot or be
shot at. Saurus-developed
Shock Troopers and its sequel
2nd Squad are similarly manic
platform shooters, and are both
highly recommended. In a more
traditional shoot-em-up guise,
Pulstar and Blazing Star leadthe way with their formidable
gameplay and graphics. Both ofthese titles are rare, however,

q

>100%
unofficial!
The original Famicom’s
enduring popularity has
created a niche market for
Gametech, a Japanesecompany whose products are
manufactured in China. The
bizarrely named NeoFami isGametech’s latest creation. For
all intents and purposes, it’s a
Famicom clone in a horrible
blocky shell. The system is being bundled with two equally ugly
controllers and sold across Japan at a low, low price of Y3,900 (£20).
That compares favourably with the Y7,000 or more that a used but
genuine Famicom costs today.
Strangely, the NeoFami has been on the shelves of Japanesegame stores for some time now. Even in Kyoto, right on Nintendo’s
doorstep, there are plenty of shops stocking the iffy hardware. We’resurprised that the Big N hasn’t yet bullied Little Gametech out oftown. Still, Gametech is used to playing audacious games such as
this – the last Gametech product we tested was the Terebi De
Advance, which preceded Nintendo’s own GB Player hardware andessentially did the same job (bringing GBA games to the TV). We’ll
investigate dodgy goods, which are usually associated with parts ofAsia other than Japan, in a future issue.

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>Daihitto!
Award>InsideNintendo

This month’s ‘big hit’ honours go to thebest isometric shoot-em-up you’ll everplay: Viewpoint by Sammy

An ex-Nintendo employee tells us abouta few things. This month: the unreleased
Starfox 2 for the Super Famicom

The Neo-Geo formats are principally home grounds for horizontal
and vertical 2D games, but there are some notable exceptions to
the rule. Viewpoint, of 1992 vintage, is the best of the non-2D lot.
The game is played from an isometric perspective with solidly
constructed enemies and environments made from vector-based
polygons, which give the impression of a fully 3D production. In a
Zaxxon kind of way, there’s a diagonal grid to fly around. In reality,
though, Viewpoint plays not too dissimilarly to a standard 2D shootem-up. The forward momentum that carries your ship through eachstage can be slowed down by pulling back on the joystick and,
when it’s necessary, you can speed up by pushing forwards.
Because of the isometric nature of the game, enemy wave
patterns are very obvious. Often they are symmetrical, which makes
it possible to clear two simultaneous waves from one central
position. Learning where to pitch your craft is vital and, when donewell, immensely satisfying. It’s a battle of wits, not just bullets. The
tactical bent extends to checkpoints and blocked passages, where alever/switch/handle must be shot repeatedly in order to open theway for progress – accurate shooting opens the door to later areasof the given stage.
Your craft is armed with a typical charge shot (a la R-Type) anda trio of bombs. Bomb shots, though limited in number, are deadly
effective. The best one, a blazing firewall, spans the width ofViewpoint’s play area and spreads across the whole field of play,
wiping out everything on the screen.
It’s clear from the off that Viewpoint is a high quality production.
The visuals are sharp and bold, and the game’s unusual enemies
are animated impressively. The soundtrack to this title is also a
cause for Neo celebration – it’s a strangely epic blend ofdowntempo funk, upbeat techno, James Brown samples and, um,
Bontempi.
Another aspect that sets Viewpoint apart from most of its kin is
its difficulty level: this is a very tough game, by anyone’s
standards. Unlike last month’s shoot-em-up of choice (Macross:
Scrambled Valkyrie), Viewpoint runs on a one-hit-dead policy which
exacts punishment for even the tiniest show of poor play. The result
is a compelling blast with all the right ingredients. On either AES or
CD format, this is one of the finest Neo-Geo shoot ‘em ups to own.

Our contact worked at Nintendo’s Kyoto headquarters in the Super
Famicom glory days. We asked him about Starfox 2, which he worked
on until its (near) completion. So, how good would it have been?
“It was kind of like the Starfox that’s coming out for the GameCube,
Starfox Assault. You had a lot of free-roaming exploration and had towork out what to do, and the levels were really short. There wasn’t justthe Arwing: there was a walker and a little hovering thing, and you
could switch between them. That was a main point, because the maps
were a lot smaller than in Starfox and they were square; they required
you to do stuff in an arena.
“There were hundreds of those little stages, and they were selected
randomly as you played through a strategy map. You had the enemy
forces coming down, and had to play battles with them on planets.”
So, why didn’t the game get released? “It worked quite well,” ourfriend continues, “but for Nintendo it wasn’t enough like the original
Starfox. The designers really went off on a tangent. The new FX Chip it
used allowed for a lot more textures and things.”
For the curious among you, the final beta version of Starfox 2 hassince been leaked onto the Web and its fully playable using the latest
www.zsnes.com).
version of the ZSNES emulator (w

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Page 28 ,
Since its launch in 2001, Microsoft s
Xbox has been a huge success in the
UK and USA, but is still struggling tosurvive in Japan. 20 years ago theexact opposite was true as Microsoft
had a hand in creating the range ofMSX home computers, which were very
popular in Japan, but struggled in the
UK and were completely unavailable in
the US. Ashley Day looks back at thecreation of the first gaming standard

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Page 29                                        FEATURE:HARDWARE | MSX APPEALT

he MSX standard
was invented by
Kazuhiko Nishi ofJapan’s ASCII
Corporation as an
attempt to realise a single format
across all home computers. Just
as VHS had become a single
format for home video, Nishi
proposed that multiple
manufacturers would be able todevelop and sell their own MSX
machines as long as theyremained compatible with allexisting software and peripherals.
ASCII designed the hardware,
which was originally made from
off-the-shelf components such as
the Zilog Z80A processor running
at 3.58MHz, General Instruments’
AY-3-8910 sound chip and theTexas Instruments V9918 graphics
chip, plus between 8Kb and
64Kb of memory. As such theinternal architecture was very
similar, if not identical to its
contemporaries – theColecovision and the Spectrum.
Microsoft programmed the MSX
BASIC language, and it is fromthis that the machine allegedly
gets its name.
When the MSX was releasedin Europe in 1984, Microsoft
claimed that MSX stood forMicroSoft eXtended basic andthat the abbreviation signified
the cross-compatibility of thevarious machines on the market.
When Microsoft dropped support
for the machine in 1988 however,they quickly denied any
association between themselves
and the MSX name. The namingof the machine was contradictedfurther in a Japanese businessmagazine in 1997, wherein Nishi
claimed that he wanted to callthe machine NSX (meaning Nishi
Sony X, with the X being anyother manufacturer that
supported the machine), but thename was already being used by
Honda. Nishi, later still, claimed
that MSX stood for Machineswith Software eXchangeability.
Debate over the meaning of thename continues to this day,though it is mostly irrelevant.

Open range
What set the MSX apart fromother microcomputers of the time
was that while the machines were
fully compatible with the MSX
standard, each one was different
enough to suit users’ needs. Over70 different manufacturers

developed their own MSX
machines with individual quirks
and features, most of these wereJapanese but there were also
MSXs made in other parts ofAsia, Europe and South America.
The wide variety of machines
meant an almost unlimited choice
was available to the MSX buyer
but better still, anyone whocollects MSX hardware in thepresent could spend the rest of
their future trying to obtain acomplete set.
The MSX’s Western andEastern heritage meant that itsoon became home to a uniquely
wide variety of games. The best
British games, such as Head Over
Heels and Chuckie Egg wereavailable on tape whilst top
quality Japanese arcade hits like
Bubble Bobble and Gradius weregenerally released on cartridge.
The machine represented the bestof both worlds for UK gamers –as even though Japanese games
had been converted to the C64
and Spectrum, the MSX versions
had no loading times, looked
closer to the arcade originals andfeatured many of the levels thatwere missing from other versions.
Many models of the MSX had
two cartridge slots built into
them. These were originallyintended to house permanent
expansions (such as thePanasonic FMPAC, which was aplug in sound synthesiser
cartridge), but as the MSX
matured, developers found otheruses for the two cartridge slots.
The most innovative of these was
Konami’s method of using two
games at once: if a user inserted
two Konami game cartridges into
the MSX at once then something
special would sometimes happen.
Plug in both Gradius and Twinbee
for example and you could play
Gradius with the Twinbee ship
and collect bells as power-ups
instead of the regular pods.
Similarly, If a player lost all theirhealth in Yie Ar Kung-Fu 2 thenthey would usually just fall overand die, but if they had the firstgame plugged in a character
would appear at the last secondand revive the player with arefreshing cup of tea.

The Cannon V-8. Released in Japan in
1983, this is a typical example of anearly MSX model

The Sony HB-F1XD. An MSX2 modelwith a built-in 3.5in, 720Kb floppy
disk drive

The Sanjo Wavy 35J. A laterMSX2+ machine with a host ofadditional features

Times two
Two years after the MSX waslaunched, ASCII developed theMSX2 standard. Like the MSX
before it, all versions of the

The Panasonic FS-A1ST. One of thevery few Turbo R models that weresold exclusively in Japan

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Page 30 >Chan-tastic!
These title screens to Pony Canyon’s Project A and Project A2 show
the massive difference in power between the MSX and MSX2.
Project A was released on tape for the MSX and features largely
monochrome graphics with no shading whatsoever. Project A2 wasreleased on cartridge for the MSX2 and features a dynamic logowith multiple colours and basic shading. The title screen also
shows off just how well the MSX2 could handle digitised images
and is easily comparable to early Amiga and Atari ST examples.

Of the few dedicated MSX2+ games available, Konami’s F-1 Spirit: 3DSpecial is easily the bestmachine were compatible witheach-other and also had to be
backwards compatible with theoriginal MSX. All MSX2s had
between 64Kb and 256Kb ofRAM, had MSX BASIC 2.0 or 2.1
built-in, and included a batterybacked clock. Most MSX2s also
had a built-in 3.5in floppy disk
drive. For gamers this was a big
improvement over the first as
the disk format meant bigger
and longer games could beplayed, whilst the increased
MSX palette of 512 colours
meant that graphics were a lot
more detailed.
The MSX2 was poorly
supported in the west, so mostof the games came from theJapanese developers, but thisdoes not mean there were a lackof quality titles to play.
This was the period when thebest MSX games were released as
the likes of Konami, Compile andTaito continued to churn out
fantastic games such as Metal
Gear, Vampire Killer, Aleste andRastan Saga. These titles really
showed off what the MSX2 wascapable of and are among some

q

30 q

of the best games of the 1980s.
By 1988 most MSX users were
expecting the MSX3 to beannounced, but it was never tohappen. Instead Microsoft
dropped all support for themachine and ASCII took fullcontrol. The decision was madeto follow the MSX2 with theMSX2+, which was only available
in Japan and was only ever madeby Sony, Panasonic and Sanyo.
The main improvements over theMSX2 were the inclusion of abuilt in 9 channel FM synthesiser
known as MSX Music, the ability
to display still images in roughly
19,000 colours and the additionof three new screen modes. Oneof these screen modes fixed the
problem of jerky scrolling in MSX
games and produced an
impressively smooth-scrolling
effect in compatible titles. All
machines also featured two
sliding dials, one changed the
speed of the hardware whilst theother (known as Rensha Turbo)
was an autofire feature withvariable frequencies. A blessing
to importers was that the MSX2+
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Page 31                                          FEATURE:HARDWARE | MSX APPEAL>Konami
Antiques
Collecting and playing original MSX games can be an expensive
and time-consuming hobby; cartridges fetch very high prices at
auction and if you are lucky enough to find a disk game, you
would be even luckier to find one that is still in working condition.
For the cash-strapped retro gamer, Konami Antiques MSX Collection
is a quick and easy way to play many of the MSX’s early classics
without having to spend weeks trading with strangers in othercountries. Released in three volumes for the Japanese PlayStation,and one ‘Ultra Pack’ for the Japanese Saturn, the Antiques MSX
Collection features 30 of Konami’s MSX cartridge games.
The collection undoubtedly has a few titles that you would neverwant to play, like the sports games that have not aged very well,
but there are also a handful of classics on the disc that would sit
nicely in anyone’s collection whether they are into the MSX or not.
Konami’s classic shooters, Twinbee, Parodius, Salamander and thefirst three Gradius games are all included, as are Antarctic Adventure
and its wonderful sequel Penguin Adventure. These are all excellent
games and their age does nothing to betray their flawless
playability, even if Gradius is still inhumanly difficult.
As an MSX retrospective the collection does suffer because of
the lack of titles from any other developer and as they are all
MSX1 titles, the likes of Metal Gear and Vampire Killer are nowhere
to be seen. Konami, however, was probably the MSX’s most prolificdeveloper so the wealth of choice on offer in the collection reallymakes up for these flaws and the disc is well worth buying forboth Konami and MSX fans.

The future of MSX? A chip-based MSX1 with the capability to playboth original cartridges and legally downloaded software
required no modification to run
on UK television sets. There
were very few dedicated MSX2+
games released that were worth
playing, as most developers
instead chose to add special
features to their MSX2 games ifthey were played on a 2+. Space
Manbow, for example, featured
super-smooth scrolling andsuffered from none of thejerkiness that had plagued
Gradius and Salamander.

Turbo power
As the gaming world moved into
the 90s, computers were
becoming less fashionable andmany of the previous supportersof the MSX had moved on to
Sega and Nintendo’s games
consoles, whilst the likes of Sonyand Philips were keen to develop
their own consoles. Several MSX
manufacturers also decided tostop supporting the format
because the vast number ofvariations on offer meant thatthey were only earning money fora small percentage of the total
MSX sales. Despite this,Panasonic solely supported thefinal version of the MSX. The MSX
Turbo R was little more than a 28
MHz, 16-bit update of the MSX2+
and although it was desirable tocomputing enthusiasts, there
were very few Turbo R specificgames made, and none of which
are worth mentioning.
The Turbo R sold favourably inJapan but could never realisticallycompete with the expanding PC
market or with the Mega Drive
and Super Famicom. Manycomputer programs were released
but the lack of games meantthat people soon lost interest in
the MSX.
The machine has lived on
through its enthusiasts and many
homebrew games are available
via the Internet. New games canbe downloaded for free for playon emulators and many sites
allow their games to be
downloaded in WAV format andaudibly copied onto a cassettetape so that they can be playedon a real MSX.
Meanwhile, ASCII and the MSX
Association are busy preparing
for the MSX revival. The MSX
Association and Bazix (their
European representative) areplanning on redistributing old
MSX games for the first time in
English via www.woomb.net,
whilst ASCII has developed an
MSX that will fit on one single
chip. Aside from the late 80s
there has never been a better
time to be an MSX fan.

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Page 32 >Eight great games
Although these are not necessarily the best games for the MSX, they are the mostdesirable. Many are included because of their exclusivity to the MSX or the way theytake advantage of the machine’s unique capabilities. Where applicable, we’ve
included a guide to what you’d expect to pay from the privilege of owning them

Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
MSX2, cartridge, 1990
While NES gamers had to put up with Snake’s Revenge, featuring a Solid Snake in
an incredibly un-stealthy orange jump suit, MSX2 owners were treated to the realdeal. Officially produced by Hideo Kojima, Metal Gear 2 featured many improvements
over the original, including guards that can move their heads to look in different
directions whilst they patrol and can hear Snake knock on walls. The game evenfeatures a danger meter based on whether the guards are alerted to your presence ornot. This is as close as anyone can get to playing Metal Gear Solid in 2D (and yesthat does include Metal Gear Solid on the GameBoy Color). What’s more – the gamelooks and sounds fantastic for an 8-bit title, all thanks to the power of the MSX2.
Since Metal Gear 2 was only released on the MSX in Japan it is a reasonably rare
game, with prices ranging from £100-170 depending on the condition.

SD Snatcher
MSX2, disk, 1990
The SD stands for Super Deformed, a Japanese art style used to make adults look
like children. Think tiny bodies and big heads and you’re on the right track. SD
Snatcher is a cute RPG remake of Hideo Kojima’s cyber-punk adventure Snatcher.
While the story is identical, the gameplay and graphics are completely different. The
battle system took the lightgun sections of the original and transferred them to thejoypad. Using the cursor, from a first-person view, you could aim at different parts ofthe enemy, shoot their hands to disarm them or go for head shots for instant kills.
The game was released on three disks and came with Konami’s SCC cartridge toenhance the in-game music. Finding a copy of the game with all of these elements
intact is now extremely difficult, especially as many SD Snatcher owners may havealready sold their much sought after SCC cartridge separately. Expect to pay over £100.

Space Manbow
MSX2/2+, cartridge, 1990
This is the only shooter that Konami developed for the MSX2 and has never beenreleased on any other format, so the only way you’re going to play this is with an
original cartridge and a real MSX2. For an MSX game Space Manbow looks
absolutely beautiful. Every sprite is packed with colour and detail, and when thegame is played on an MSX2+ the screen scrolls with the sort of smoothness you
would expect from the Super Famicom. The original version of Space Manbow camewith a manga that introduced the ‘story’ of the game. Finding a copy of Manbow withthe manga intact will set you back a good £120. If you just want to play the gamethough you should be able to find an unboxed copy for around the £40 mark.
Incidentally, if you haven’t already bought Gradius V then you should do, not least
because Space Manbow inspired many of its scenarios and enemies.

Jet Set Willy
MSX1, cartridge and BeeCard, 1985
Any fool can brave the cold on a Sunday morning and pick up a copy ofJet Set Willy for about 10 pence, but if you want to be truly elite about
retro collecting then tracking down a British classic on an obscureJapanese format might just be for you. Hudson (of Bomberman fame)introduced Matthew Smith’s platform game to the Japanese public by way
of both cartridge and BeeCard – a slim ROM-card that needed a special
adapter to fit into the MSX. By 1985 the Japanese were already playing
Super Mario Bros so they probably laughed at Jet Set Willy and its
complete lack of background images or scrolling levels, so you should be
able to relieve some Japanese gamers of their ‘unwanted gift’ for about
http://auctions.yahoo.co.jp).
£30 on Yahoo-Japan (h

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R-TypeMSX1/2, cartridge, 1988
If you ever wanted to play R-Type on an 8-bit system
there were a wealth of different versions available, yet
few could match the arcade version for control andvisuals. The PC Engine version was very good but
famously came on two separate and individually
released hu-cards. The MSX version fit onto one 3Mbit
ROM cartridge and although it resembled a Spectrum
game on the MSX, if played on an MSX2 it lookedabsolutely superb. This is hardly an essential purchasethese days as the PlayStation port (part of the R-Types
collection) is near flawless and fairly easy to find, but
the MSX version is still an interesting item. At roughly£60 a pop though, R-Type on the MSX is for Irem
completists only.

Penguin Adventure
MSX1, cartridge, 1986
Anyone who’s ever played the insane shoot-em-up Parodius
may have wondered just where Konami got its inexplicableobsession with penguins. The penguin is called Pentarou andoriginally appeared in Antarctic Adventure. Penguin Adventure is
the sequel to that game and is arguably the most charming andplayable game to be released on the MSX. The player must
guide Pentarou across the entire continent of Antarctica in order
to find a golden apple that will cure his rather ill girlfriend,
Penko Hime (Princess Penguin). Penguin Adventure can actually
be found very easily and shouldn’t cost more than £20. Every
MSX collector should get this game as it is packed full of
everything that makes gaming a worthwhile hobby: challenge andfun. Konami fans may also be interested in this, as it was thefirst game that Hideo Kojima worked on as Assistant Director.

HerzogMSX2, disk, 1988
This is a prequel to the Mega Drive sleeper hit
Herzog Zwei. As the game features a fighter
plane that transforms into a giant robot and wasmade by Tecno Soft you would be forgiven forthinking that Herzog is a scrolling shoot-em-up.
Well it is, and it isn’t. Herzog is actually a realtime strategy that pre-empted Dune II by a good
five years. The idea is to destroy the enemy base
before the enemy destroyed you, with units ofenemies being deployed and commanded in the
typical RTS way. The unique twist of Herzog isthat as well as commanding your troops you actually take part in the battles by controlling the aforementioned fighter plane. The plane is unable
to damage any of the bases but can be used to break the enemy’s defence or stop units from getting too close to the player’s base. Like Penguin
Adventure this is another MSX title that should be in everyone’s collection, despite the £70+ price tag.

Dungeons & Dragons
MSX Turbo R, CD-ROM, 2004
The Turbo R never had any games worth playing
during its lifetime, so it has been left to thehomebrew scene to create something that
resembles fun. Brazil’s Slotman released
Dungeons & Dragons just as this article wasbeing written and although few people have yet
to play the game it does look to be worth
picking up. The game is actually based on the
1980s cartoon of the same name and featureshigh quality digitised images from the show toform the game’s cutscenes and opening movie. Taking the form of an RPG (of course), the player takes command of one of the main characters andmust converse with allies and battle monsters. It looks to be a fairly typical RPG, but is very well presented and will be welcomed by any gamestarved Turbo R owner. If you are one of the unlikely few who are planning on attending a Brazilian computer fair this year then be sure to pick up
Dungeons & Dragons. If not then eBay is a more realistic option.

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>MSX curios
With well over 100 variations of the hardware made available in the last 22 years,
the MSX is an ideal computer for retro enthusiasts to collect. Here are just five thatare worth keeping an eye out for…

Zemmix Super Victory CPC-61

Sakhr AX-330

This is an MSX2 games console that was developed by Daewoo-Korea.
It had one cartridge slot, just one joystick connector and a connection
for a separate keyboard that turns the Zemmix into a fully
programmable MSX. Although the Zemmix (meaning “It’s fun” in
Korean) is an officially licensed MSX
compatible computer, it does play many
hacked games on pirated cartridges.

The AX-330 is a very special machine. It was the very first homecomputer to be made available to Saudi Arabia in 1985 and is also aunique MSX. Originally developed by Yamaha and modified by Al
Alamiah (Saudi Arabia’s biggest consumer electronics firm), this MSX1
includes 64Kb of RAM and actually has a Sega Mega Drive built onto
the main board! The cartridge slot on the right plays MSX games andthe slot on the left
plays Mega Drive
games. The AX330 also has acalendar, a paintprogramme andan English/
Arabic text
editor built
into thesystem.

Sony HitBit-11

Panasonic FS-A1WXThis is an MSX1 with 64Kb of RAM. It is internally identical to Sony’s
very first MSX except for an in-built Japanese-English word processor.
It is highly desirable because of its attractive casing that is designed
to resemble an American high-school blazer.

Easily the gamers’ choice when it comes to the MSX. It has 256Kb ofRAM, includes a 3.5in floppy disk drive and an FM-PAC, and is MSX2+
compatible. If there’s any commercial game you need to play this will
run it. The FS-A1WX
is relatively easy tofind and shouldbe the first stop
for those looking
to start an MSX
collection. These
usually go forabout £30 inJapan. They’ll
cost a little morethan that in
the UK –around £50.

One Chip MSX
The MSX revival is in full swing now that ASCII hasannounced the development of what many are
calling the MSX3. In reality it is just an MSX1 on asingle chip but it does have some very special
features. The prototype One Chip MSX contains
32Mb of SD RAM, 1Mb of SRAM, Flash ROM, an SD
card slot, two cartridge slots, two MSX joystickports, two USB ports, a PS/2 port, VGA and SVHS
video outputs and a stereo audio-connector. The
inclusion of two cartridge slots means that when
the final product arrives in March it will be fullycompatible with all original games, while the SD
card slots allow users to store and play thoselegally downloaded games that are too hard to findon cartridge or disk. ASCII has also confirmed that
the One Chip MSX will be expandable to an MSX2
at a later date.

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Desert Island

Disks
Welcome back to our lonely isle. This month Paul Drury whiles
away the day with Eric Ginner, high scoring hero and Atari
Lynx/Jaguar programmerIt’s probably themost enduring
image from thegolden age ofarcades. It’s
November 9th, 1982 and a groupof the finest videogame players in
the world gather together,accompanied by the cabinets thathave played host to their
extraordinary feats of skill andendurance. A row of cheerleaders
adds some pizzazz and the wholeiconic spectacle is captured forinclusion in America’s prestigious
LIFE magazine. One face in thecrowd, smiling sheepishly at theback behind a Ms. Pac-Man
machine, recalls the day thelittle town of Ottumwa, Iowa,
became the unlikely capital of thegaming world.
“The whole event wasqorganised by Walter Day and Twin
Galaxies, which at that point I
think was mostly just him,” recalls
Walter Ginner. “He invited most if
not all of the players, mainly arecord holder in each of the gamesin the magazine picture. Most of
the major players were there and I
don’t remember anyone specificbeing left out, though I’m surethere were many more worthy of
being there. The picture was taken
really early in the morning and it
was freezing cold, especially for anative Californian like myself. I
think it was intended to be like awhole town event with as muchhoopla as possible, which I guess
explains the cheerleaders. It wasquite the event, considering that
Twin Galaxies was one small
arcade in a small town. Yeah, it issort of a fun claim to fame,especially with people who didn’tknow the game scene. A magazine
picture has a lot more impact thantelling someone you scored amillion points on some gamethey’ve never heard of.”

Gaming heritage
Games have always been a big
part of Eric’s life. Born in 1962 inMountain View, California, thestate which has been his homeever since, it began with Pong in
the front room, before moving on
to pinball in the Time Zone

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arcade nearby, a place he’dspend so much time that hebecame friends with theemployees and indulged in muchfree after hours play. He did
dabble with a little programmingon an Atari 800, but nothingcame close to a complete game.
“Games were certainly mynumber one hobby, but I neversaw any career in it. Sure, I
wanted to make a living playing
games but it was nothing morethan a joke at the time, sort of likesaying I wanted to win thelottery… it would be great but notvery realistic. I wasn’t inspired to
get into making games, I justwanted to play them at that time.”
And play them he did.
Golfland, which boasted over ahundred arcade cabinets and, yes,a miniature golf course for when
the cacophony of bleeps andbloops became overwhelming, waslike a second home to Eric.
“The first arcade game that
hooked me was Asteroids. I liked
the chaotic feel of trying to survive
in the middle of everything and I
remember it being so cool to get
to put my initials in for the highscore list.
“It got to the point where I
could play as long as I wanted.
Lots of people could do thateventually and it became a race
every day to see who could stopat 99,990 to get their initials on

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The famous LIFE magazine ‘Video Game V.I.P.s’ photograph. That’s Ericon the back row, in the middle, betwixt two bearded fellows
the high score list. I don’t think I
played a single game more than acouple hours until one time at abowling alley. A friend and I
alternated playing to see how long
we could go and started building
up lots of extra ships. When there
were so many extra ships savedthat they were almost going off
the screen, my friend played while
I ran home to get a camera andcame back and took pictures. I still
have them around here
somewhere I think…”
As Eric digs out the snap, I ask
about strategies. Was he a‘lurker’? “Nah, my playing method
was just the standard blast
everything as quickly as possible.

I never used the lurking method
until I found out about it fromother players. After that I would
just use it when messing around.
It was easy enough to get 99,990
points just playing normally and atthat point the game was prettymuch done for me since I wasn’t
into doing the marathon games.
Somehow in this area the two
spaceships became referred to as
Beaver (the little ship) and Wally(the big ship). I don’t remember
how that started though…”

Leaderboard
As well as sharing strategies andinventing a bizarre name for thatqmean little spaceship thatfrequently ended the games of us
mere mortals (I’ve got my own
theory as to its origin…), the highscore culture was beginning totake shape amongst expert
players. Boards went up in
arcades listing the current
records, but these would be
restricted to that particular venue.
Eric and friends would
occasionally travel further field tocompare scores in other arcades,
and this local rivalry soon grew tointerstate proportions, as seen in
the California versus North
Carolina tournament, held in
August 1982. Eric represented hishome state admirably, clocking a

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cool 111,000,000 on Robotron
after an exhausting 30 hours play.
He could have continued, but asthat set a new world record at thetime, he stopped and explainsthat there was a kind of etiquette
amongst champion players, whichmeant they usually ended theirgames voluntarily after beating
the current top score. This meant
records often changed hands,
keeping the scene vibrant as well
as allowing players to resume
normal sleep patterns.
“I’m definitely most associatedwith Centipede because of
winning the national contest in
1981. The contest took place inChicago and two friends and I
won free entries for it, but still
had to pay for our trip there andall expenses. This was supposed
to be a huge nationwide contest,
but turned out to be a huge
failure for the company running it.
In the days before the contest we
practised on the many Centipede
machines they had in theconvention centre or whatever theplace was. They were all modified
so each game would end after
exactly three minutes and we had
to pay for each game so we went
through a lot of quarters. There
were some mini contests where I
won a little cash, which helped
out. I vaguely remember 50,000
as being a good scoring goal fora three minute game.
“In the contest there were, I
think, about a 100 people. We
went head to head with thewinner advancing. In the finals, I
ended up playing against one of
my friends who was only 14 or
15 at the time. The final gamewas not close at all and I won
the prize which was supposed to
be a Ford EXP car. Turns out thatduring the contest, the company

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The photograph Eric took of Asteroids, with the extra ships literally
running off the screen…
running it skipped town or wentbankrupt or something. Basicallythey bailed out and there wassome doubt whether anyone
would get any prizes. Atari camethrough and gave me a chequefor a bit over $12,000 instead of
the car, so everything workedout great.”
A tidy sum for a teenager andsuddenly the dream of making aliving from playing games didn’t
seem quite so fanciful. Eric also
cashed in on his Centipede skills
by producing strategy guides

and contributing to an article
for Joystik magazine detailing
his complicated mushroomarranging method.
“After that I wrote anadvanced strategy article forevery issue for around a year or
so on games like Tempest, DigDug, Crystal Castles and Ms. PacMan. I loved doing these articles
and the pay was extremely good.
The magazine was very cool
looking and well done. That was
the only magazine I worked on
but I did a bunch of other game

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related projects. I worked withsome people doing a videogame
TV show where I would interview
people in arcades about games,
but that one never went
anywhere, and I was on someTV show that had a contest
on Millipede.
“I was also part of avideogame professional tour thatwas called something like the‘Videogame Circus’. The idea wasto have a group of videogame
experts travel around to different
cities and fill a big convention
hall with games. People pay
admission and get free gameplay, beat the expert contests,
expert demos and things likethat. The first one was in Boston
and was a total failure. The
attendance was so bad that thewhole thing shut down after a
few days and the whole tour
was cancelled.”
The dream was starting tofade, but fortunately for Eric, Ataricame to the rescue again andrecognised his gaming skills
could be put to good use.

High scorer for hire
“I started out as a tester for Atariin 1983,” remembers Eric. “Abunch of young arcade experts
were hired as contractors to test

became a full employee.”
It can’t have been easy foranyone involved to reproduce
Atari coin-op classics accurately
on those ancient platforms, but
Eric is proud of what wasachieved. “Most of the games
were pretty good but yeah, they
were extremely limited by what
could be accomplished on those‘primitive’ computers. The C64
games tended to be the best
since it was the most gamefriendly hardware and the IBM PC
version of Robotron was
surprisingly good. The Apple IIgames all looked and sounded
terrible though.”Things were going well for
Eric, but not so for Atari. Only
two months after joining as afull-time employee, the company
was sold and the Tramielbrothers took charge.
“It all seemed to happen very
quickly and I think it was lessthan a week from the time weknew that it was coming until it
actually happened. Up until then,things had been going normallyfor the most part. It was wellknown that Atari had been losing
tons of money for quite awhile,
but business continued as usualand even things like building a
new headquarters were still being
planned. We were kind of“I’m definitely most associated with
Centipede because of winning thenational contest in 1981. Atari gave mea cheque for $12,000…”

Eric joined Joystik magazine in January 1983, and contributed playing
guides to the popular arcade games of the dayq

arcade games being converted toseveral home computers such as
the VIC-20, C64, IBM PC, AppleII, and TI-99. This was for the
Atarisoft label and was totally
separate from the Atari coin-op
and VCS people. We did
Centipede, Robotron, Defender,
Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Dig Dug
and plenty more. We had all thereal arcade games there andwould play the computerversions and report bugs andmajor differences between thearcade and computer versions.
All the programming was doneby outside companies so we
didn’t have much contact withthem other than with project
managers for each game. It was
like a real job with pay andeverything, but we were
contractors instead of employees,
though after several months I

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separated from the larger parts ofthe company so it was hard toknow exactly what was going on.
“After the sale, they went througheach area and decided what
people to keep. In my building, I
think there were maybe 100
people and less than 10 ended
up staying, and I was one ofthem. There was a lot of chaoswith all those people leaving at
once, and people trying to takestuff with them when they left.
For most employees it was very
sudden and they were told toleave that same day. I remembera few days of going to work in a
giant building with only a handfulof people left in it and we just
waited around to find out what
we were supposed to do next. It
was much the same for all areasof the company. Instead of letting
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Ms. Pac-Man and Shanghai were written to test the water, and bothgames were quickly picked up by Ataripicked a few people to keep andeveryone else was gone. A lot of
people with many years at Atari
were let go and there were somevery large severance packages
given out. I think Atari had
something like 10,000 employees
and the total number of people
staying with the new Atari wasunder 200. I might be off on thenumbers, but 1,000s of people
were laid off.”
Eric survived the cull and waspretty certain of the root cause.
“The company was just way too
big and couldn’t support itself.
There were lots of manager types,
lots of people doing very specificjobs that could have beencombined. The company was
mostly living on reputation andnot progressing to making new
and improved products. The
Tramiels had kind of a ruthless,hardcore, all-business reputationand that was right on target. I
think the goal was to repeat thesuccess of the C64 and makeAtari something like IBM or Apple.
It was a totally new company
really, only the name was thesame, and I think it was mostly
on the right track. The products

were generally good and ofcourse it was a far more efficientcompany than the old one. The
eventual failure was because themarketing of the products waspoor and way too limited.”

Go your own way
Perhaps sensing that with the new
management team, no one wasindispensable, Eric took the boldstep of moving up from tester toprogrammer and with colleague
and friend Jerome Strach, they

produced two games for the Lynx
handheld system in their own
time, Ms. Pac-man and Shanghai.
Both games were officiallyreleased and impressed thebosses enough for the pair to go
on and produced three more titles– Batman Returns, Chequered Flagand Rampart, the latter two
supporting the innovative link-up
feature of Atari’s ill-fatedchallenger to the GameBoy. Ericputs down its failure to high price,lack of third party support andpoor marketing. It seems Atarilearned little from the experienceand repeated the same mistakeswith their next big project, theJaguar console.
“I’d say people were
somewhere between confident
and over-confident when the
Jaguar was getting started. It was
supposed to be a super powerful
3D game system but turned out
to be not that good at 3Dgraphics, at least in the
beginning. It had the sameproblems as the Lynx – major
game developers were notmaking games for it. After it was
launched there were very few
games available and even thoseweren’t very good. As always it
was marketed badly so it neverreally had a chance.”
Eric produced one of the launchtitles for the new console, sticking
to his 2D roots when others were
struggling, mostly unsuccessfully,
with real time 3D rendering. He
recalls with a grimace the difficult
development process.
“It started with my ideas for aside scrolling shoot-em-up game,
but the trouble started when too
many people got their hands on
it. One thing Atari wanted to do
was have sort of a company
mascot character like Mario or
Sonic the Hedgehog and that’s

Trevor McFur, not one of gaming history’s most memorable characters…

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how the Trevor McFur character
got into the game and it turned
into Trevor McFur in the Crescent
Galaxy. When it got closer torelease time, I didn’t really haveany control of the design, so it
was mostly just putting finishing
touches on the content that wasthere so it could be wrapped up
and sold. What’s missing is all thedetailed gameplay elements,
secret areas and items, advanced
weapons, things like that. It’s
basically the outline of the game I
wanted to make but missing a lotof content. My game design style
was kind of a problem too. I don’t
believe in making a detailed gamedesign plan long before the gameis finished. I believe that’s mostly
a waste of time as a game willusually turn out very different
from the early design, so I preferto do things on the fly. This was
not a very popular methodthough. So the game was verymuch unfinished and generally notvery good. It definitely qualifies as
the game I’m least proud of andsomewhat embarrassed about. I
was disappointed that myopportunity to do an original
game kind of fell apart.”
Eric spent a few more months
working on Club Drive and then,after a decade with the company,
he decided to move on. Before weleave the Jaguar behind, I can’t
resist asking him about Atari’s
most famous UK programmer.
“Jeff Minter is an Atarilegend,” he enthuses. “I met him
a few times briefly when hecame to the company to show off
his latest endeavours. The guy
was in a league by himself andcould make the Jaguar do things
that even the hardware designers
didn’t know were possible.
Whenever someone was curious
about what the Jaguar was

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capable of, someone would pullout one of his fancy demo
programs that he whipped up in
like an hour and amaze
everyone. I think it’s widelyagreed that Tempest 2000 and
Defender 2000 were by far thebest Jaguar games. I neverplayed them other than someearly demos but even those werevery impressive. He didn’t
actually work at Atari when I was
there – he was always working
at his home and would just visit
the company once in awhile.”

Gubble trouble
Eric continued to work in thegames industry, joining
Bitmasters, a company set up by
two other former Atari employees,
Franz Lanzinger and Dave O’Riva,
and perhaps best remembered for
producing Primal Rage. Eric
worked on NCAA Final FourBasketball, also for the SNES
(after learning to program theconsole by knocking out aversion of Pong), and Pool
Champion for the PC. He thenfollowed Franz to Actual
Entertainment, where wasreunited with his old gaming

buddy, Mark Robichek, theFrogger and Moon Patrol world
record holder featured in lastmonth’s Retro Gamer. The fruitsof their collaboration are Gubble
and Gubble 2, which Eric
describes as a mixture of PacMan and Crystal Castles.
“It was the best job I ever had
by far. I spent most of my freetime on the games because I
enjoyed working on them somuch. The most people we had at
one point was five, so we had to
do pretty much everything
involved with making a game. I
was making development tools,
doing phone tech support, gamedesign and testing as well as
programming. The difference waswe were doing a game the way
we wanted instead of making one
for someone else. I guess they
could be considered successful.
We created and sold two original,
entirely self-funded games andmade decent money, but notenough to continue making
games. This pretty muchconvinced me that a small
company is fighting a losing
battle against the major
productions that a lot of games
are now. We did everything we

Demos of both Gubble and its sequel are available fordownload from www.actualentertainment.com
wanted to do, but it was hard to
get people to jump from liking
the game to paying us lots ofmoney for it.”
So, Eric left the games
industry, worked for Cradle
Technologies on custom
programming for its processor
before retiring at the grand old
age of 40. But though games nolonger provide his employment,
they still occupy a huge part ofhis time. In fact, you could say
his life has been rather circular.
He now shares his house withfive arcade cabinets – Xevious,
Crystal Castles, Cloak and Dagger,
Frenzy and Joust – and along withwatching baseball and playing
poker with Asteroids programmer,
Ed Logg, he can usually be foundheavily engrossed in Everquest 2.
“I’m happily single andcurrently spend most of my time
playing computer games. For me
it couldn’t be better, but I leadwhat most people would consider
a boring life.”
No, Eric. It’s called a charmed
life.

>Eric Ginner’s Desert Island Disks
Robotron 2084
Arcade, Williams, 1982
The sheer amount of stuff on the screen was amazing for the time. It justseemed impossible to survive against all those enemies coming at you but
it was so satisfying mowing them down. Loved the dual joystick controls
and all the firepower. The greed element of trying to collect the little people
wandering around was something I liked in a lot of games. I played it forsomething like 30 hours straight in a contest once which was the only time
I did a marathon session like that. I saved up hundreds of extra lives so it
was possible to eat or run to the restroom without losing the game. I
remember, though, after many hours, losing so many lives that I got down
to only two left but held on and built them back up again.

DefenderArcade, Williams, 1980
It’s similar to Robotron in that it’s just a lot of mayhem and destruction. I
remember the first time I saw it thinking how can anyone play that with all
those buttons? Of course it just took some getting used to but even harderthan using all the controls was finding a machine where all the controls
were actually in working condition. I wonder how long they would hold out
on the island. It felt like you had a lot more control over your ship than inmost games though.
Coolest thing about the game? Floating around at the beginning of a wave
waiting for all the pods to gather… then boom! – smart bomb at just the righttime followed by the massive explosions and frame-rate slowdown.

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Page 41                                          REGULAR | DESERT ISLAND DISKS

Missile Command
Arcade, Atari, 1980
This is the first game I remember that had real colours and not just vector graphics. Thathuge trackball was pretty wild at the time. I remember trying to optimise points by using
as few shots as possible and hitting the branching lines with one shot. As it got harder I
would spread a wave of clouds across at the start of each wave then use individual shotsafter that. The hard part was hitting those smart diamonds. They could pull off somecrazy moves dancing around clouds and struggling to avoid them. It was so annoying to
make the wave of clouds and then see the wave start off with diamonds instead of lasers
and the clouds all get wasted. Eventually a good strategy was to just protect one city andsurvive on the bonus cities every 10,000 points. As an extra bonus, Missile Command
makes a great light source. Some of those background colours are blinding.

Tempest

Mario Bros.

Arcade, Atari, 1980
I liked the feature that allowed
you to work your way up to highlevels and start new games
there. It was a nice change fromother games in that you could
attempt to beat your high score
without taking hours to do it. It
has possibly some of the mostfrustrating ways to die of any
game. Those annoying pulsars
zapping you from way down
inside the grid. Those crazyfuseballs popping up at just thewrong time. The invisible gridlevels were a big surprise andwould always draw a crowd.

Arcade, Nintendo, 1983
I really liked the two player co-operative mode. The single player
mode was fun also but I don’t know exactly why. It’s a pretty
simple game withnothing really special
about it. I think it was
the challenge ofalways seeing a few
seconds ahead andavoiding potentialtraps. The two player
mode is twice as goodand it has the added
fun of Mario and Luigi
bumping each otheraround and jumping
off of each other.

Blazing Lazers

Solitaire

TurboGrafx-16, Hudson Soft, 1989
This is my obscure representative for scrolling third-person
shooting games. It was on the TurboGrafx-16 and had all theclassic shooter
elements such as
wild backgroundgraphics, rocking
music, lots ofpower-ups, thegradual build up
from a weak little
ship to a super
powerful machine.
This was always thestyle of game I
wanted to do for myfirst original game.

PC, Microsoft
Yes it’s boring and simple but that’s the point. It’s good to have agame around that you can just play for a few minutes andaccomplish
something. It has
unlimited replay
value since every
game is random. It
also has the mostimportant qualitythat I think any
game can have,
which is that when
you finish a game
you feel like you
could do better if
you played again.

Everquest
PC, Verdant Interactive, 1999
The most amazing combination of really good game design and really terrible gamedesign. I played it for years and the reason was the ability to play with friends. Backin the old days my friends and I would just show up at the arcade after work or
school and meet up to play games. Logging into the game was somewhat like that –friends would log in and gather up to do things. It was all about impressing otherpeople with your items and accomplishments. How can a game be successful when it
forces players to spend most of their time waiting around doing nothing? Just one of amile long list of bad things about it and yet it’s probably my favourite game ever.
Is there DSL on the island? Because I don’t think I could build a satellite dish out ofcoconuts and bamboo.

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Last month we followed the ups and downs of Star Wars gaming as it grew out of the
8-bit home computer market and rode the wave of console gaming into the mid-90s.
In this final chapter Dan Whitehead picks up the story as the home PC went frombeing a fancy-pants calculator and started to make its mark as a games machine,
right up to the release of the Star Wars prequel movies…
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Page 43                         FEATURE:SOFTWARE | THE HISTORY OF STAR WARS VIDEOGAMES

W

hile the Star Wars
platform games
had been making
waves on the NES
and SNES, thesoftware division of George
Lucas’ empire, LucasArts, hadbeen making something of aname for itself on the PC with
games outside of the realms of
Jedi and droids.
The late 80s and early 90s
saw such classic adventures as
Maniac Mansion, Zak McKraken
and, of course, the start of theMonkey Island franchise. The
other Lucas cashcow, Indiana
Jones, had also been successfullytranslated into the old point-andclick genre, with an adventure
based on The Last Crusade andalso a whole new Indy escapade
entitled The Fate of Atlantis, so it
was only a matter of time before
the company treated the rapidly
growing audience of PC gamers
to some Star Wars action.

X marks the spot
Despite being known for its
adventure games on the platform,
LucasArts’ first PC offering was,in many ways, a throwback to
Atari’s original 1983 arcade
machine, only now boasting
polygon graphics and beefed up
from a simple shooter into afully-fledged flight simulation. XWing was the self-explanatory
title, and it hit the shelves in1993 to much excitement. With
the console concentration on
platform leaping and baddie
blasting, the bygone thrill ofpiloting Star Wars vessels hadgone unexplored for several
years. With the advance in PC
graphics, hopping into the
cockpit of that iconic fighter wasa tantalising proposition.
No mere 3D shoot-em-up, XWing’s joystick and keyboard
combo required plenty of practice
to master, while the ELS system(Engines, Lasers, Shields) allowed
gamers to share their ship’s
power between those three vitalareas. In retrospect, the game
was a fairly linear affair and theflat polygons from the original
release are pretty ugly. Later rereleases would spruce up thelooks with some great gourad
shading effects. The PC hard
drive also allowed LucasArts tobuild on the original game withexpansion packs, and within ayear X-Wing addicts could pickup two such add-ons, B-Wingand Imperial Pursuit, helping toextend the rather limited coregame and build a somewhat
rabid fanbase.
Flushed by the speedy
success of this foray into PC
gaming, a sequel followed in
1994. TIE Fighter flipped thewhole thing on its head and, forthe first time, allowed players tofight on the side of Darth Vader
and the Empire. Gameplay wasmuch the same as X-Wing, thequick turnaround not reallyallowing room for massive
overhaul of the game engine.
Even so, there were some
improvements that addressed
problems with the dogfighting in
the previous title. A quick-key
shortcut allowed you to
automatically match the speed ofan enemy, so you could
concentrate on actually fighting
them rather than chasing them,while a tractor beam weapon
could be used to stop craft flying
away. As with X-Wing, two
expansion packs – Defender ofthe Empire and Enemies of the
Empire – followed in the same
year. Between the two games,
and the brace of add-on
missions, Star Wars had hit the
PC in fine form.

A certain point of view
Of course, 1994 also saw therelease of a PC game the effectsof which we’re still feeling in2005 – a charming little tale ofdemons and space marines called
Doom. Though the first-person
shooter genre had been aroundin various forms for many years,
and truly came into its own with
Wolfenstein 3D, few would argue
that Doom didn’t cement the FPS
genre into the dominant force weknow today. Naturally, LucasArts
was quick to realise the sales
potential of this hot new genre,
and just how excited Star Warsfans would be to blast
Stormtroopers in glorious firstperson perspective.
Dark Forces debuted on the
PC in 1995, and quite apart frombeing a great shooter, it remains
notable for many reasons. From atechnical standpoint, Dark Forces
managed to take the Doom
blueprint and make some
improvements which helped to
evolve the FPS genre. For one
thing, the blasting action wastempered with a sense ofq

strategy and even outright puzzle
sections. The environments weremore immersive, with fog effects
and revolving holograms in the
background, and the level design
was complex. Players could also
look up and down, opening up
the gameplay from the forwardfacing maze chases of Doom.
But within LucasArts, Dark
Forces represented an evengreater shift in direction – it was
the first game to tell a new Star
Wars story outside of the official
movie chronology. Previous titles
had always followed the eventsof the classic trilogy, stretchingcertain events and taking someartistic liberties, but always
within the guidelines of what
George Lucas had put on-screen.
With the inclusion of a new
Imperial threat – the Dark
Troopers – and an all-new story
that slotted in between A New
Hope and The Empire Strikes
back, this was the first time
gamers had been allowed to
explore outside the mainstream
Star Wars narrative.

Expanding horizons
The Expanded Universe, as itcame to be known, was the namegiven to all the comics, novels
and other spin-offs that

43 q

The first X-Wing title blasted
onto the PC in 1993, andadd-on packs and sequels
quickly followed
contributed stories to the Star
Wars saga once the movies left
the cinema. Though theirrelationship to the official movie
continuity has always been
dubious, there’s no denying that
it was this steady stream of newStar Wars content that kept the
fanbase alert and interested
during the early-to-mid 90s.
In 1996, LucasArts decided toexperiment with the Expanded
Universe a little to see if they
could engineer an event withwhich to drum up publicity forthe forthcoming Special Edition

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Page 44 >Rebel scum
In 1995 the Star Wars
template was applied toanother popular game style,this time the FMV-driven
space shooting of Wing
Commander. Rebel Assault
was the game – released on
PC, Mega-CD and the doomed
3DO console – and it boasted
actual footage from themovies! Gasp! Of course, thismeant the game was CD-ROM
only (and thus very posh)and had to stream all the
gameplay straight from theCD. Despite the digitised
movie scenes, the game itself
was cripplingly linear andlittle more than a shooting
gallery. A sequel appeared
the following year, with morevaried gameplay and aunique selling point – thefirst new and official Star
Wars footage to be shot since
Return of the Jedi. The gamestill wasn’t up to muchthough, as between Dark
Forces and X-Wing fans could
already get the same thrills
from far better games.

re-releases of the original movie
trilogy. What they came up with
was Shadows of the Empire. Not
only would this be a videogame,
there were Shadows of the
Empire action figures, a comic
book, a novel – even asoundtrack CD!
The story followed a new Star
Wars hero, mercenary Dash
Rendar, whose story intersectedwith those of Han Solo and Luke
Skywalker. Despite being
technically neutral in the war
against the Empire, Rendar foundhimself siding with the Rebellion
and was involved in the battle on
Hoth. Helping in the search for
Han Solo after the events of
Empire Strikes Back, he was thenasked by Princess Leia toinvestigate a conspiracy tomurder Luke by the sinister
Prince Xizor of the Black Sun
crime syndicate. Of course, allthis took place in between themovies and was never mentioned
on-screen.
The Shadows of the Empire
game continued the Lucas bias
towards Nintendo, appearing asan N64 exclusive – though a PC
version was also released. While
titles like X-Wing and Dark Forces
had taken a genre and dressed it
up in Star Wars clothing,
Shadows was a patchwork ofdifferent gamestyles designed toappeal to as many people aspossible, quite fitting given themarketing driven genesis of
the concept.
It opened with, predictably
enough, the battle on Hothagainst the AT-ATs. This snowy
skirmish was clearly a fanfavourite when it came togaming, and its inclusion in
Shadows as the first level can beseen as a rather cynical attempt
to get the fans hooked with aneasy hit from the start. The gamethen shifted to third-person viewfor sections in which Rendar
tracked the bounty hunters IG-88
and Boba Fett on the trail of Han
Solo, before leading him into
conflict against the villainous
Prince Xizor. As Star Wars stories
go, it was passable enough –though the events sat awkwardly
in the middle of two movies
that didn’t mention them at all –but the game itself was ofdubious value.
By trying to cover so many
game genres – flying, exploring,shooting, racing – the game fell
short and never really came
together as a cohesive whole.
Plagued by clumsy camera
angles, the on-foot sections could
be played in third or first person
perspective, but it was no Dark
Forces. Equally, the flying
sections weren’t up to thestandard of X-Wing. The additionof pointless features such as an
overhead camera, or a ‘movie’
camera that cut to different
viewpoints during play suggeststhat LucasArts was moreinterested in something that
could act as a surrogate movieqthan in creating a game that wasworth playing.
The Shadows of the Empire‘multimedia project’ certainly
attracted a lot of interest, bothfrom fans and the media, but
Dash Rendar didn’t really makemuch of an impact on the
franchise in the long term.
Where the experiment did havean impact was in showing
LucasArts that there was amarket for Star Wars games thatextrapolated unseen events fromthe movies, and from this pointon almost every new game
would ignore the movie
storylines in favour of playing in
the Expanded Universe.

Return of the
Dark Forces
The criticism levelled at Shadowsof the Empire seemed to find its
mark, as 1997 found LucasArts
returning to familiar, but fruitful,territory with sequels to its twobiggest successes.
Jedi Knight was the follow-up
to Dark Forces, and it took thetechnical advances in PC
technology over the intervening
two years and turned in yet
another superb shooter with yet
more innovations in the genre.
For the first time, you could use a

44 qlightsaber in a first-person game,
putting gamers up close andpersonal in a series of startlingduels. This game saw anothernew character added to the Star
Wars canon, Kyle Katarn, the firstin what would be a long line ofhitherto unmentioned Jedi lurking
in the background of the movies.
The FPS was now a firmly
established genre, with Quake
moving things into the realms offull 3D and building on Doom’s
tentative online and network play

Since the release of the original,
Dark Forces has gone fromstrength to strength, with theexcellent fourth game, Jedi
Academy, appearing on PC andXbox last year

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Page 45                         FEATURE:SOFTWARE | THE HISTORY OF STAR WARS VIDEOGAMES>The best retro
Star Wars gameswith a dedicated multiplayer
system. Jedi Knight was nodifferent, and multiplayer
lightsaber action across theInternet was at last a reality.
The other big Star Wars
release of 1997 also used theInternet to distinguish itself fromthe pack – though the result
wasn’t quite as popular as Jedi
Knight’s winning formula. X-Wing
vs TIE Fighter was the game, andby combining its two hugely
successful space combat sims
with the lure of online
dogfighting, LucaAarts should’ve
been onto a winner. Neither XWing nor TIE Fighter had
included any sort of multiplayer
options, so there was a readymade audience of die hard fans
who had honed their skills
against computer controlled
enemies and were champing at
the bit to test themselves against
their peers. Sadly, the game was
not well received by these fans
who had waited several years forthe chance to blast their friends.
For one, the single player
missions were disappointingly
short, had no narrative andq

X-Wing vs TIE Fighter (PC)
But only with the Balanceof Power expansion pack.
Deep space dogfighting?
On that new-fangled Internet?
Yes please!

Super Empire Strikes
Back (SNES)The Star Wars platform game
perfected, with a fine blend ofMode 7 graphics, fast-paced
exploration and frantic blasting.

Rogue Squadron (N64)
As good as vehicular action
gets for console gamers. Plus,
the best version of theobligatory Hoth battle. Ever.

Dark Forces(PC)
Technically, Jedi Knight issuperior, but that’s also toosimilar to today’s FPS games
to scratch that retro itch.

Finally – the chance to introduce
your lightsaber to those pesky
Imperial droids
seemed to have been bolted onas an afterthought. With Internet
access still not widespread, thismade those uninterested in – orincapable of – online play lessthan happy. Unfortunately evenfor those who did have therequired kit, the online play was
far from great. The difference inpower and ability between
various craft meant that fights
could be painfully one-sided if

Star Wars (Arcade)Because it’s the daddy of themall. Because it’s retro arcade
greatness personified. But
mostly because it’s just an
awesome game.

matches weren’t handicapped
to give every player afighting chance.
The lack of 3D card support,
and somewhat choppy online playthat required the visuals to be
stripped bare for maximum speed,
also added to the general air ofdissatisfaction that surrounded thelaunch. Most fans were able to
make the best of it, and withlowered expectations the basic
melee battles could be fun.

45 q

Thankfully, 1998 saw the nowobligatory expansion pack,
Balance of Power, and thisaddressed almost all of the
problems that players had
suffered in the original release.
Despite the sour taste from having
to make another purchase in orderto get the game they wanted, thefan community soon accepted thatblowing your friend’s TIE Fighter
to atoms with a proton torpedo
was worth the wait.

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X-Wing vs TIE Fighter lured
players with the promiseof massive online
multiplayer battles

A New Beginning
By now, Star Wars fans had
witnessed the Special Editionsof the original trilogy, thrilled
at the chance to see them again
on the big screen – andscreamed bloody murder at
the changes wrought on theirchildhood classics.
It was also common
knowledge that a whole new
trilogy was in the works, and that

we would finally get to see how
Obi Wan muffed everything up
and let Anakin Skywalker turninto the galaxy’s most lethal
asthmatic. Naturally, the LucasArts
games nozzle was juiced up andready to start pumping out Star
Wars product into our faces at
every possible turn.
Returning to the consolemarket, 1998 saw the release of
one of the best Star Wars games
and also one of the worst.
Rogue Squadron for the N64 wasyet another title that took
peripheral characters and eventsfrom the movies and followed
them off into all-new stories.
Based around an elite group ofRebellion pilots led by Wedge
Antilles, one of Luke’s X-Wingpilot buddies (played in themovies by Ewan McGregor’s
uncle, Dennis Lawson), theRogue Squadron concept had
already been established inspin-off novels and comics. The
game once again foundLucasArts going back to theHoth battle for easy thrills, butwith a focus on arcade aerial
combat you won’t have heard
fans complaining too much.
Outside of the PC sim titles,

Rogue Squadron is still the bestof the Star Wars vehicle games
and the franchise is still goingstrong today on the GameCube.
But with every silver lining
there must come a dirty great
cloud, and in this case it came in
the grey oblong shape of the
PlayStation. With the N64
struggling to make an
impression, Star Wars games
began to appear on otherformats, with Sony’s hip games
machine top of the list. First
came PlayStation ports of Dark
Forces and Rebel Assault 2, thencame the first exclusive Star
Wars PlayStation entry. And it
was bad. Really bad.
By now, the Star Wars brand
had been applied to pretty much
every popular genre possible.
Every genre except one. The
beat-em-up. The advent of the
32-bit consoles had seen thefighting game go through a
seismic shift not unlike the onethat rippled through the PCshooter genre with Doom.
Tekken, Virtua Fighter, Toshinden– polygon pugilism was all therage. And so the world was madeto suffer Masters of Teras Kasi.
Based around a Jedi martial
art invented for the occasion, thisrushed fighter tossed a grab bagof Star Wars characters into oneon-one combat with little thought

The final few Star Wars games of the 1990s. From left to right: the good, the bad and the damn right ugly

q

46 q

or care for remaining faithful tothe films. Thus Han Solo andChewie fought to the death,
Darth Vader duelled with a
Tusken Raider and fans wept
silent tears of horror at the stiff
animation, uninspired fightmechanics and the unpleasantsmell of a franchise being
milked. It was a smell theywould soon grow tired of.

The beginning of
the end
The Phantom Menace was now
hurtling towards Star Wars
fandom like a rancor monster
with piles, and feverish
excitement was the order of theday. LucasArts produced two
more PC titles based on theclassic trilogy before clearing thedecks for the prequel onslaught.
Star Wars: Supremacy was yet
another successful genre
dressed up in Jedi robes – thistime the resource-harvesting
strategy of Command & Conquer.
Playing as either Empire orRebellion, and set just after thedestruction of the first Death
Star, players had to muster theirforces to control planets whiledriving the enemy back into
deep space. The first game totake a step back from visceralaction, Supremacy (released as

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Page 47                           FEATURE:SOFTWARE | THE HISTORY OF STAR WARS VIDEOGAMES>The worst retro
Star Wars games
Return of the Jedi
(Arcade)A sloppy Zaxxon clone marredby shonky controls and ahorrible camera angle. And
Ewoks. Not even Virtual Billy
Dee can save it.

The X-Wing series ended
on the high, with themostly excellent AllianceRebellion outside the UK) once
again found a game that tried toape a popular existing franchise,
but came up woefully short incomparison. Poor pacing meantthat gamers needed superhumanreflexes to cope with the delugeof information windows cluttering
the screen, and the ugly
graphics didn’t do much toentice strategy fans to stickaround. LucasArts would attempt
strategy again in 2000 with
Force Commander, which
swapped spaceships for groundtroops, but was, if anything,even worse to play.
Far better was X-Wing
Alliance, a welcome return toserious simulator territory and agame that dared to expand on
previous games withoutstumbling along the way.
Bolstered by one of the beststories to grace a Star Wars
game, you starred as a young
pilot with no allegiance to either
Rebellion or Empire. Indeed, yourmain priority was to keep thefamily business afloat. Of course,

destiny soon comes calling andyou find yourself drawn into thewar against the Imperial forces,
culminating in an impressive final
set of missions during the attackon the second Death Star above
Endor. With a compelling story,
genuine drama, 50 single player
missions and a solid multiplayerskirmish mode, Alliance provided
a fitting end to the beloved XWing series.
The year 1999 was, as we allknow, when Star Wars both
exploded and imploded all at
once. Episode I hit cinemas, andleft legions of fans struggling tocope with the conflicting highs
and lows of finally getting a newStar Wars movie and realisingthat the magic had dimmed over
the years. The Star Wars gaming
scene was similarly confused.
Lucas, remembering all too
well the delay in getting
merchandise on the shelves backin 1977, swamped the shelveswith an endless array of Star
Wars tat, much of it aimed at
pre-schoolers. This also led tosuch strange sights as theeducational Star Wars CD-ROM
package, Pit Droids on the PC
and Macintosh, and other quirky
niche offerings, such as the
Zelda-esque Yoda Stories‘desktop adventure’ for the PC.
The official game version of
the long-awaited movie formed asuitably frustrating companion
piece to the film. The Phantom
Menace, released on PC andPlayStation, was little more thana top-down maze game which
followed the plot of the film witha seemingly endless number ofbattle droids to hack throughwith your lightsaber. As you
could simply stand still andautomatically deflect their blasterq

Masters of Teras Kasi
(PlayStation)
A truly grim beat-em-up inwhich Darth Vader minces likea pixie, while Han and Chewie
punch each other. Rock bottom.

Star Wars Jedi Arena(Atari 2600)
Pointless deflection game with
only passing relevance to theStar Wars saga. A shameful
cash-in from Parker Brothers.
Super Return of the Jedi (SNES)
Not entirely awful, but the
weakest of the SNES series
and a cluttered mess ofbrainless twitch-gaming
nonsense.

fire back at them without
touching a single button, thegreatest challenge was to yourpatience – the vast featurelesslevels and poorly designed
jumping sections proving more
deadly than any Sith conspiracy.
And this, sadly, is where ourstory must end. 1999 brings us
neatly to the start of the newStar Wars trilogy and, in a
wonderful piece of temporal
kismet, the beginning of thecurrent generation of gamingwith the launch of the
PlayStation 2 in 2000.
That’s almost 20 years of Star
Wars related gaming we’ve spedthrough in just three issues, two
decades that left fans both
ecstatic and agonising at the way
their beloved galaxy was treated.
It’s not changed much, has it?
Maybe we’ll be back in 2025,
older and wiser, for a look backat how Revenge of the Sith faredin the land of games. Until then,live long and prosper.
No, wait. May the Force bewith you! That’s the one. e

47 q

The Phantom Menace(PlayStation)
As deflated as the movie, theonly challenge in this blandand characterless maze gamewas making pixel-perfect leaps.

The future of Star Wars
videogames? Revenge of theSith is due out in May, on justabout every platform you canswing a lightsaber at

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Delta 4 was responsible for some of the funniest adventure games ever written, withtitles like Bored of the Rings and the Boggit raising smiles long before LucasArts got
in on the act. Chris Wild picks up the adventure trail and sets off in search of the man
behind Delta 4, Fergus McNeill…

W

hen you think backto the early 1980s,
the so-called
golden age ofcomputer games,
there is one thing that strikes
home above all else; that anyone
who wanted to (and had theconviction to do it, not tomention a small amount of talent)
could release and sell a game. Of
those who did, some evenmanaged to be successful andforge a name for themselves,
something that rarely happens forindividuals nowadays.
One su ch person was Fergus
McNeill and his development
team, Delta 4. From its humble
beginnings, selling home-taped
games with photocopied inlays atcomputer fairs, to releasing thefirst licensed product of Terry
Pratchett’s Discworld series, Delta
4 seemed to be on the verge ofglobal success, a meteoric rise to
the top of interaction fiction
confirmed with the release of thecritically acclaimed adventure, The
Big Sleaze, in 1987. This wasfollowed by the launch of its
serious label, Abstract Concepts,
along with the dsytopian
adventure Mindfighter, and acollaboration with fellow
adventurers Level 9. But then,something went wrong and Delta
4 disappeared like a 1920’s
explorer lost in an Aztec temple…
To find out exactly what
happened, we’ve spoke at length
to the Fergus McNeil, and here, ina style we’re su re he’dappreciate, is the rise and fall ofDelta 4.

interesting than saying that mydad came up with the name toend an argument.”> VERBOSE
In 1984, inspired by the likes of
The Hobbit and Colossal
Adventure, Fergus sat down andwrote his first adventure,
Sherwood Forest, in Spectrum
BASIC. At 14, when most maleteens should be at school
studying girls, Fergus beganselling his games via mail orderthrough Micro Adventure
magazine.

The man behind the Delta 4
myth, Fergus McNeill> LOAD DELTA 4
You stand in the middle of an
Aztec temple. There are no exits.
You can see a bottle of Vodka
and some old Marillion gatefold
LPs. A tall man in a jester’s outfit
approaches…
> EXAMINE DELTA 4
Fergus says: “Delta 4 came about
entirely by accident. I’d been
dabbling in the dark arts ofbedroom game development forsome time, when I was struck
with the idea of selling my wares
via mail order and decided I
needed a name for the whole
undertaking. The name is actuallya constant cause ofembarrassment for me. I’ve taken
to telling wild stories about how I
was shipwrecked on the Nile
Delta on the 4th of August whe n
the name came to me in a dream.
I think there could be somemileage in this, possibly even amovie, and it’s much moreqparticularly innocent, at least notfor long. Judith Child was mylong-term collaborator. She acted
as a sounding-board for thenumerous daft ideas that evolved,
assisted with the overall
development, and organised
everything. She also attacked
disrespectful journalists, anapproach which probably
contributed to our frequently highreview scores.
“Andrew ‘Spud’ Sprunt was
our staff photographer andgeneral drinking companion for
the regular late-night inspiration-“The Quill was a godsend. Developing
the early works using Spectrum BASIC
was about as much fun as being
punched in the face”
Fergus says: “I remember
playing The Hobbit – Thorin
singing about gold, the palebulbous eyes, climbing into
barrels, the sense of tension
going north from Dale towards
the Lonely Mountain – and I
wanted to make games like that.
Somehow, I never quite managed
it, but I did turn out a few
adventures that raised a smile.”> INVENTORY
Fergus says: “The Delta 4 Posse(as such things were known in
the 80s) emerged from a clique offriends at school. Under normal
circumstances, I should probably
change names to protect theinnocent. However, nobody
involved in Delta 4 was

48 q

gathering trips to the golf course.
Colin Buckett was one of those
programmers who could get a
BBC Model B to do anything,even if he had to take it apart tomake it do it. When he wasn’t
taking things apart (which he didmost of the time), he helped withconvers ion work and generally
thrashed us at Elite. Jason
Somerville worked on various
projects and also assisted with
the nightmare of conversions in
the early days – a process which
involved manually retyping
everything from the Spectrum
version of the Quill into the
Amstrad or C64 version of the
Quill. No wonder we drank a lot!
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Following its successful debut as a mail order title (left), CRL picked
up Bored and released the game on its Silversoft label
talented fellow who designed mostof the cover art for our original
mail-order titles), Andy ‘Zippy’
Routledge (who co-designed anddeveloped The Smirking Horror),and Stephanie Stranger (whoworked with me on the Bizarre
Wars design for Level 9).”> EXAMINE BORED OF THE RINGS
While studying at Swanmore
Secondary School, Judith slipped
Fergus a copy of Harvard

Lampoon’s Bored of the Rings.
Fergus began to read the parody
novel and nearly had the bookconfiscated for laughing out loudin class…
Fergus says: “We thought itwould be great fun to adapt the
Bored Of The Rings book andtried to contact the rights holders(a bold move for two teenagers
still at school). However, after
numerous phone calls all leading
to dead ends we rashly decidedq

FEATURE:PROFILE | DELTA 4-EVA

to write our own parody instead.
Some people may say our choiceof title was somewhat unoriginal
but everything else about it was
all our own work.”
Bored of the Ri ngs wa s
Delta 4’s break through product.
As with all the previous games it
was rele ased ma il order. One of
the magazines commented thatby giving the ga me a good
review, De lta 4’s home
publishing department would beunable to keep up wi th demand,and thus appea red to revie w itless favourably. Howe ver thega me buying publi c wereundeterred and bought i t in theirthousands regardl ess, with the
net result bei ng that Delta 4’s
home publishing department was
unable to keep up wi th demand…
The success brought i t to theattention of CRL Managing
Dire ctor Cle ment Chambers, who
signed De lta 4 to his affilia telabel Silversoft and the gamewas re-launched. In fact thega me woul d be la unche d ye tagain under the CRL label sometime late r.
Fergus says: “There wereseveral versions of Bored Of The
Rings but they weren’t hugely
different. However, we were asked
to do an extended edition aimed,
I seem to recall, at that diskbased Spectrum machine. It was
to be called B-B-Bored Of The
Remix and we got some way intodevelopment. It was neverfinished but, being anenvironmentally friendly sort ofperson (well, I’ve nothing ag ainst
the environment), I recycled someof those ideas years later in
Kingdom O’ Magic.”> EXAMINE COLOUR OF MAGIC
Bored of the Rings was followedby Robin of Sherlock, a parody of

49 q>Class of ‘86
1986 was a fine year for
Delta 4, with the Boggit and
The Colour of Magic earning
great reviews from thespecialist press. Looking backat the year’s adventure
games, Crash magazine (#36)
heaped praise on Level 9.
Kind words were also
reserved for Fergus: “Theother big name of 1986 wasundoubtedly Fergus McNeillof Delta 4 who mined quite adifferent seam. Humour wasalways an area which themedium of adventuring could
develop to its full, and Delta
4 were not slow in spotting
this simple fact. The Quill, foronce, provided a usefulvehicle to express a budding
comic talent. Delta 4 hadalways secured a loyal
following among adventure
freaks, but this year saw theoutfit’s rise to fame and chart
respectability epitomised by
the tremendous amount ofinterest in The Boggit, agame which successfully
lampoons the Melbourne
House classic.”

both Robin Hood and Sherlock
Holmes, and The Boggit, anotherTolkien takeoff. In 1986, Delta 4
momentarily stopped the spoofs
and released The Colour of Magic,
based on the first of Terry
Pratchet’s Discworld novels.
Fergus says: “Ah yes,
Discworld. The whole incident
came about as a result of myselfish tendency to buy people
presents that appeal to me,
regardless of their personal
tastes. In this case, the recipient
was my arch-nemesis from O-

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profile. Many bedroom
programmers were inspired by thestory of Fergus the 16-year-old
game developer, and pursued acareer in programming, finding
their feet with adventures written
using Gilsoft’s utility.
Fergus says: “The Quill was agodsend. Developing the earlyworks using Spectrum BASIC wasabout as much fun as being
punched in the face. The problem
was that you spent all of yourtime programming locations rather

The first and arguably the bestof all the games based on Terry
Pratchet’s Discworld novels
Level English class, Catherine. I
was browsing in my local
bookshop and my eye fell on the
Josh Kirby artwork for The Colour
Of Magic. By very good fortune,
Catherine enjoyed the book andrecommended that I read it, which
I did.
“Some time later, when I wasin discussions with Piranha about
doing a project with them,somebody asked me what license
I would like to work on if one
could be secure d. I immediately
suggested The Colour of Magic
and, after a respectable period,
Terry Pratchett was picking me up
from Bristol Templemeads andwhisking me away to meet his
carnivorous plant collection. We
got on rather well, especiallywhen he suggested ‘The Pub That
Time Forgot’ for lunch. But that’s
another story…”> GET QUILLDelta 4 was an early adopter ofGilsoft’s adventure writing system
The Quill, and became arguably
the biggest contributor to its

helpful guys, and the fact that
good reviews for Delta 4 games
highlighted what a fantastic tool
The Quill was. Lots of authoring
utilities claimed to be suitable fordeveloping commercial games,
but The Quill had actually done it
for real.”
The relationship continued forseveral years, with Gilsoft later
developing a whole newadventure system for Abstract
Concepts (Delta 4’s serious
adventure label). Called SWAN
(System Without A Name), thiswas essentially a super-charged
reworking of Gilsoft’s PAW(Professional Adventure Writer)
and was designed to be theengine for all future titles.

editor with water pistols, not tomention covering Chris in silly
string at a ZX Microfair. He later
explained that this was thereason he continually referred tome as ‘a bit of a cult’ in his
Gremlin column, hoping that one
day a typesetting error would
avenge him…
“ Crash were a strange lot
though. I got on fine with someof the Newsfield staff writers,
especially the guys from Amtix,
but Derek Brewster (adventure
reviewer for Crash) just refused tobe amused. I had no problem
with this – comedy is a subjective
thing after all – but I did breathea sigh of relief when The Big
Sleaze finally made him smile.”> READ PRESS
From very early on, Fergus
recognised that courting thepress was a major contributory
factor to good game sales. Quest
for the Holy Joystick was a spoofof the software industry andfeatured many popular gaming
magazines of the time. Before
long, Delta 4 had a good (ifsomewhat unusual) relationshipwith most of the 8-bit press.

> EXPLAIN BEASTENDERS
Shortly after the release of The
Big Sleaze, Your Sinclair reported
that Delta 4 was working on‘Beastenders’, a spoof of the BBC
soap.
Fergus says: “I had spent along day at a show drinking
intoxicants, and a journalist began“Crash were a strange lot… Derek
Brewster just refused to be amused”
than writing them and, while I
coul d program BASIC pretty well,
the whole creative process wasrather stifled. Gosh, that last bitsounded a bit pretentious…
Suffice to say, The Quill madeeverything more structured andspeeded up the development
process enormously.”> SAY GILSOFT
Fergus says: “I can’t be certain
how the relationship with Gilsoft
started, but I think we first met at
a ZX Microfair. The relationship,
which I must stress was always
platonic, developed as a result ofme asking them for new features
all the time.”
After the first couple of small
releases (and a relentless barrageof demands for extra
functionality), Gilsoft began totake notice of how Fergus wasusing its authoring system, andstarted to make modifications toit especially for Delta 4 games.
Fergus says: “I think it was a
combination of Tim Gilberts andhis crew being genuinely niceq

Fergus says: “Tony Bridgefrom Popular Computing Weekly
started it all by giving us our firstserious coverage. A chancemeeting at a Microfair led to afirst ‘proper’ review and after thatthings just snowballed. Chris
Bourne and the guys at Sinclair
User were fantastic, despite thefact that we stormed their offices
at EMAP Towers and soaked the

50 q

The Boggit, or ‘Bored Too’ as it
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asking me questions… you know
how these rumours can start.
Honestly, it was never a serious
concept, as I couldn’t bear having
to do the research! As a rule I
only parody subject-matter that I
really like.”> FIND LEVEL 9
Fergus says: “The adventureindustry was, in those days, small
and cosy enough for everyone toknow everyone else. I always got
on reasonably well with Level 9’s
Mike and Pete Austin – they were
technically amazing and, if they
weren’t such nice guys, I’m surethey could have gone on todevelop some sort of giant robots
that would have enslaved us all
to their eternal dominion.
However, I digress. We’d beenchatting about doing a game
together, but we never seemed
able to agree on an idea until
Bizarre Wars (A Star Wars parody)came along. We did a fair bit ofpreliminary design work but,without a firm deal from a

The Big Sleaze was Delta 4’s
first departure from the fantasy
genre, yet it proved even more
successful that the earlier hits

FEATURE:PROFILE | DELTA 4-EVA

publisher, the game never reallygathered any momentum, which isa pity as I think Level 9technology and Delta 4 comedy
would have been a pretty
righteous combination.”> DISCUSS ABSTRACT CONCEPTS
Fergus says: “I’d always wanted
to do serious stuff as well as
comedy. In fact, I tried to find out
about working on a Lord Of The
Rings game long before I released
Bored , but I wasn’t speaking to
the right people at that point. In
any event, there were things I
wanted to experiment with andthe Mindfighter storyline (which
my wife Anna had been writing
when we first met) seemed an
ideal setting. I wish I’d had theopportunity to continue withthose titles, because we werereally finding our feet with thatfirst release. The work we were
doing on the subsequent titles
was real ly very exciting.”> HIT DELTA 4 WITH AXE
Fergus says: “A series of
unfortunate events befell Delta 4.
After The Big Sleaze, the plan was
to do some work on the Abstract
Concepts titles then go back to
the humorous material withanother Delta 4 title. However,
Abstract Concepts was one of anumber of affiliate labels that
didn’t survive the restructuring of
Activision, our publisher. There
were a few attempts to resurrect
it all but the planets never quitealigned in that auspicious way.”> EXAMINE UNRELEASED GAMES
Fergus says: “There were
essentially four unreleased
projects, each taken to a different
stage of development. The only
one that was actually completed

The first and only gamereleased on the Abstract
Concepts label came completewith a poster and 160-page
scene-setting novel
was The Smirking Horror, ahumorous look at Psycho, A
Nightmare On Elm Street, Friday
the 13th, The Hitcher, House, andall those other great 80s horror
films. It was developed using
SWAN, and it was really rather
good fun. Prior to that, I’dobviously been designing Bizarre
Wars, but that project never quite
got off the ground.
“For Abstract Concepts, we
had two further games planned.
The first one, Parisian Knights,
was a period piece about
continental espionage, set
between the two world wars. We
actually showed a demo of thisat a show and I remember that it
had some really stunning visuals– all sketches and watercolours
scanned in – but it was nevercompleted. Lastly, there wasGoodnight Cruel World, a
futuristic conspiracy story that
had a strong Philip K Dick vibe
running through it.”
>MAKE LORD OF THE RINGS
Fergus says: “I thought the
chance of working on a Lord Of
The Rings game had disappeared
forever after Melbourne House
released its version. However,years later, I discovered that thebook rights might possibly beavailable. I went across to meet
Tolkien Enterprises in Berkley
and, over the period of somemonths we progressed thenegotiations to a pretty advanced
stage. Design work was wellunderway and we had developed
technology to die for – a stunninggraphic adventure system that

q

51 q

would have completely eclipsed
later market-leading titles such as
Blade Runner. Sadly, the company
I was at didn’t share my appetite
for the project until after it
became clear what a huge license
it was and, by that time, theopportunity had gone.”> EXAMINE KINGDOM O’ MAGIC
Following the death of Delta 4,
Fergus joined On-LineEntertainment and worked onsome of the very first CD-ROM
titles for the PC and Amiga CDTV.
In 1992, he set up theSouthampton development studiofor SCi, where he later developed
Kingdom O’ Magic, a graphic
adventure that parodied thepillars of the fantasy genre. There
was a definite sense of deja vu
hanging in the air…
Fergus says: “Kingdom O’
Magic was a Delta 4 title ineverything but name. I love thatgame so much, and I still can’t
believe we got away with doing
what we did in it! As always,
there were plenty of things I’dhave approached differently on
the project, but it did have sometruly sublime moments in it. You
can’t go wrong with John Sessions

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>Delta 4 Softography
Although not a Delta 4 game,
Kingdom O’ Magic is swathed in
Fergus’ trademark humour
doing the voice of your main
character, Paul Darrow (Avonfrom Blake’s 7) discussing a
bizarre farmyard love-triangle,
and an army of orcs who allsound like James Mason. SCi
recently gave me permission torelease the recording script which
can be downloaded from www.
delta4.co.uk if anyone feels
so inclined.”> READ BOOK
Fergus’ website is also the homeof Star Drawers, his new novel
that’s available for download in
PDF format.
Fergus says: “It’s terribly
annoying when you work on-andoff for years writing a novel andthen, just when you knuckle down
and finish it, two other similar
ones come along and wreck yourchances of being published… but
yes, I’ve now completed Star
Drawers. It’s very much Delta 4 instyle, being a parody of thatoriginal great sci-fi movie. The
transition from interactive to
traditional fiction was challenging
but I’m pleased with the results.
I’ve also got an amusing shortstory appearing in The Chap
Magazine and, hopefully, these willbe the first of several such forages
into more traditional writing.”

TITLE
Sherwood Forest
The Dragonstar Trilogy
Galaxias
Quest for the Holy Joystick
Return of the Holy Joystick
Bored of the Rings
Robin of Sherlock
The Boggit
The Colour of Magic
Murder Off Miami
The Big Sleaze
Mindfighter

YEAR
1984
1985
1985
1985
1985
1985
1985
1986
1986
1987
1987
1988

> CONTINUE ADVENTURE
Fergus says: “I really miss the
traditional adventure genre ofgames, especially if you read‘interactive fiction’ for ‘adventure’.
Interactive fiction is an art-form
waiting to happen, it’s just lost its
way temporarily. As long as
people read books, and find thatdeeper level of empathy andinvolvement that isn’t possible infilm, interactive fiction has
immense potential. The challenge
is to find a way of delivering andmarketing it. I would love to be apart of making that happen.”> DISCUSS AI
Fe rgus says: “I do te nd to rant
on about AI and I thi nk it’s fairto say that it’s all Level 9’s fa ult.
Mike a nd Pete Austin we reshowing me an upcoming versionof A-Code and what it could do.
One thing that really caught myimagination was the idea ofcharacter AI that coul d
dynamically interpret high-level
instructions (such as GET

For lots more Delta 4 information (plus the Star Drawers PDF novel),visit Fergus’ website at www.delta4.co.uk

q

PUBLISHER
Delta 4
Delta 4
Delta 4 Software
Delta 4
Delta 4
Delta 4
Silversoft
CRL
PiranhaCRL
PiranhaActivision

FORMAT
Spectrum
Spectrum
Spectrum
Spectrum
Spectrum
Spectrum/C64/CPC/BBC
Spectrum/CPC
Spectrum/CPC
Spectrum/C64/CPC
Spectrum/C64/CPC
Spectrum/C64/CPC
Spectrum/C64/CPC/PCW/PC/Amiga/ST

SWORD) i nto a se ries o f lower
level instructi ons about moving
to where the sword was, using
the keys i n your pocket to
unlock a ny locked doors along
the way, and then getting thesword. Yes, it avoided all thete di ous error me ssa ges – ‘I
can’t go that way, the door islocked’ – but more importantly
it meant tha t characte rs could
be give n high-level goals
which could dynami ca lly guidetheir behavi our.
To my knowledge, nobody hastaken this much further, which israther a pity. Black & White hadsome fantastic neural-style AI but,aside from that, character
intelligence doesn’t seem to have
evolved much since the 1980s –staggering when you think how
other aspects of the medium have
improved so dramatically.”> EXAMINE INDUSTRY
Fergus says: “There’s cause forconcern in today’s games
industry, but equally there’s a lot
to like across many different
genres. I love action titles like
Unreal Tournament 2004 andstrategy stuff like Medieval Total
War. However, the thing thatencourages me most about thegames industry is the recent
Grand Theft Auto titles. I love theidea of a robust, convincing
environment used as a backdrop
to a non-linear game. We needmore games like this, but
unfortunately titles of this quality
are few and far b etween.
“Clearly, there are too many
games on the market at the
moment, but I think theincreasing cost of development

52 q

will
start
to

reduce the number of titles
produced. Hopefully the original,
great ideas will still find their way
through.”> REVIVE DELTA 4
Fergus says: “I don’t know that
Delta 4 could make a comeback
now. However, I would like to do
more interactive fiction, and thechances are that at least one
project would involve a parody ofsomething. I guess I’ll just need
to wait and see.”
Following the release of
Kingdom O’ Magic andCarmageddon for SCi, Fergus
joined Smoking Gun Productions
were he now works on the ClubManager football titles.
Fergus says: “By day I am amild-mannered softwaredeveloper, working on ClubManager, but football can be acruel mistress, especially when
you follow Partick Thistle andSouthampton. I’m also involved
with several side projects that will
hopefully develop into something
exciting over the coming months.”> DROP ALL EXCEPTFAVOURITE GAME
Fergus says: “Decisions,decisions! If I had to pick just one
game at gunpoint, I’d choose two:
The Boggit (which everybody
apart from Crash magazine
seemed to find funny) and The
Big Sleaze (my first good review
from Crash – perhaps I shouldhave adopted a Chandler-esquestyle sooner!). However, if I
thought you were actually goingto shoot me, I’d crack and tell
you that The Boggit was always
my favourite.” eRG15 Delta4Eva.qxd:RG15 Delta4Eva.qxd

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q

53 q

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Page 54 >MobileArcadeRetro gaming is undergoing something of a renaissance, whatwith plug-n-play joysticks being released almost monthly and anabundance of downloads available online. But what if you want
to play games on the go and don’t want the expense of thelatest handhelds? Well, that mobile phone sitting in your pocket
could be the answer, as David Crookes discoversFor many gaming
fans, Jon Hare is avideogaming
legend. In the 90s
he was the man
behind the beautiful game thatwas Sensible Soccer, and there’s
very little he doesn’t know aboutprogramming games with an
instant pick-up-and-play factor.
But now this key industry figure isturning his attention away fromproducing games for computersand consoles, and is instead
concentrating his efforts into
mobile gaming. And, we’re nottalking Sony’s PSP or Nintendo’s
DS here. For Mr Hare’s Tower
Studios, which he runs with John
Phillips and Mike Montgomery
from The Bitmap Brothers, isrecreating some of the best known
retro software for mobile phones.

Jon Hare (right, pictured at the
recent Retrovision event) has
resurrected the classic Sensible
Soccer for mobile phones

q

54 q

The first offering from theTower stable is, unsurprisingly,
Sensible Soccer, and within a few
months the 16-bit combat classic
Cannon Fodder will follow. Bothgame are being publis hed by Kuji
Wireless, and these titles are justthe tip of the iceberg when it
comes to producing games forphones. There are many more on
the way…

Talking business
Mobile phone gaming grew fromvery humble beginnings, withvery simple games like Snakeoften built into early handsets. The
industry has moved on in leaps
and bounds since then, with more
complex and innovative titles
appearing. Retro gamers can now
indulge in a quick blast of Princeof Persia anywhere they go, withall the great gameplay andgraphics of the original classic.
There are also great titles fromSuper Breakout and Worms to
Manic Miner and Frogger available
for the platform. Best of all, mostof these titles are in the old school
Spectrum and C64 budget pricerange of around £2.50 to £5.
This new found love of older
games has sparked a sense of
appreciation for older licences.
Simon Dean, head of O2 Games,
said: “Retro Games are extremely
popular. Classics such as Sensible
Soccer offer timeless fun and are
enjoyed by everyone. They crossgenres from action to puzzle andoffer something to suit all tastes.
By combining retro classics with amodern platform, such as themobile phone, mobile gaming is
opening up to a whole newaudience and is reviving thenostalgia for old time favourites.
But although the retro games
available on O2 Active remaintrue to their originals, some havea modern twist. Sensible Soccer
3G features player celebrations,bookings, injuries and the originalSensible Soccer ‘Hero’ music
video and crowd sound effects. It
brings these great games into the
21st Century and makes themeven more appealing to themodern consumer.”
Despite this, mobile ga ming iscurrently just a small part of the£7.9 billion PC and console gamebusiness, worth about £1 billion
across the globe. However,indications suggest it is set forhuge growth this year.
In terms of the mobile phone

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Page 55                                         FEATURE:PROFILE | MOBILE ARCADE>Palm & Pocket PC

Tetris, Pac-Man and Pitfall – just some of the classic retro games that are proving popular on mobile handsets
industry, gaming is seen as a key
driving force to help grow newrevenues. Acording to Nikesh
Patel, a games analyst at
Strategic Analytics, retro games
are one of the key ingredients for
future mobile videogaming
success: “Retro games are simple
to play, people know how to playthem and there is familiarity.
Early downloadable mobile games
were quite complex and overelaborate, and many publishers in
the indu stry have now realisedthat simplicity is key. Games like
Tetris and Space Invaders seemto do well.”Patel forecasts that the market
for downloadable games will beworth around £4 billion worldwide
by 2009 and that the UK will be at
the forefront. “The UK is an
important market for mobile phonegames because, on average, UK
users spend higher levels on thesame content then their European
counterparts. The UK market isalso relatively data savvy, withhigh levels of text usage.”supremely playable and inventive
games. It was the game developer
equivalent of The Beatles in the
16-bit era. Like great music, great
gameplay never goes out offashion.” Pramesh Chauhan,business development manager at
Kuju, continued: “Both Sensible
Soccer and Cannon Fodder are
real classics. In particular,
Sensible Soccer completely
rev olutionised football games
when it was first released on the
Amiga and Atari ST. We’reconvinced it will do the same on
mobile phones.”
And more good news – further
games from the Sensible/Bitmap
stable could be on their way. Jon
Hare said: “The deal we havesigned with Kuju gives us theunique opportunity to re-vamp
some of our classic old games fora younger audience and let ourcreative juices flow. After a ll theseyears we are still as ambitious
and passionate as ever.”Britsoft

Retro games are perfect formobile phones and there are twomain reasons for this. A lot of oldgames were devised to beinstantly playable – and to be justas quickly put away. For gamingon the go, when a Sensible Soccer
session could easily be interrupted
by an important phone call, suchan approach to games is a major
plus. And secondly, when you
look down the list of available
games from some of the leading
mobile content providers, it’s retro
properties that jump out at you.
This isn’t mere speculation either.

For retro gamers, this meansquite a lot. For a start, heavy
British involvement means many
retro UK titles look likely to beconverted to mobile phones on aregular basis. And this has
already begun with theaforementioned deal to bringSensible Soccer and Cannon
Fodder to Java enabled mobilephones. Kevin Holloway,
managing director of K uju
Wireless, said: “Sensible Software
was highly regarded for creating

Perfect fitq

The ELSPA Chart for January 2005
had Tetris, Pac-Man and Pitfall inthe top 10. The rest of the chart
had some other recognisable
names such as Colin McRae Rally,
Connect 4 and Monopoly, provingthat not only are people going forconcepts that are instantly
apparent, but are also heading forrecognisable brands.
Ben Taylor, who specialises incontent provision for Vodafone,
said: “Retro games come into
their own on mobiles because ofbrand recognition. When welaunched Vodafone Live two years
ago, we did so with 30 games,
the majority of which were retro
releases like Galaxian, and we didthat because people knew them.
It’s the same with Tomb Raider
and Worms – two games which
are popular on mobiles because
they are great, and people areaware of them. It’s certainly thecase that retro games are hugely
popular. They are great to play on
mobile phones mainly because
they’re easy to pick up anddifficult to master.

Arcade legends
Namco and Atari were among thefirst to wake up to mobile retro
gaming. Two years ago, Motorolaand iFone struck a deal toprovide consumers with a numberof original Atari games popular in
the late 70s and early 80s. Atari’s
all-time greats including Pong,
Centipede, Breakout andAsteroids were ported over tomobiles following a year ofnegotiations during which
Manchester-based iFone secured

55 q

Retro gaming on the go is
not exclusive to mobile
phones. The PlayStation
Portable and Nintendo DS
may well be on the verge ofwrapping up the handheld
market, but for those whohave a Palm-operated PDA ora Pocket PC to hand, there
are a wealth of retro gaming
options available. And, ofcourse, they’re a damn sight
more interesting than using
the PDA for storing telephone
numbers and scheduling
meetings.
For a start, Rick
Dangerous has made anappearance on Palm in agreat port. Rick was the
Indiana Jones of computer
games well before Lara Croft
came on the scene, and thislatest incarnation has him
once again being chased byboulders and trying to avoid
traps. You can find it atwww.freeware pa lm.com/
games/rickda ngerous.shtml.

Atari games are also well
represented. Users of both
Palm and Pocket PCs candownload versions ofAsteroids, Breakout,
Centipede, Missile Commandand Pong fromwww.handango.com. And,
Namco has ported Pac-Man,
Ms. Pac-Man, Galaxian and
Mappy over to Palm. They’reavailable fromwww.palm.namcogames.com.
Aside from ports andremakes, you can also
emulate the machines of days
gone by. Emulators areavailable for the Atari 2600
(PocketVCS), NES(PocketNES),Commodore 64(PocketC64) and Spectrum(Pocketclive). Pocketgamer
www.pocketgamer.org/games(w/emulators/inde x.shtml) is agood place to start looking.

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Disengage

Compatibility is a pressing
issue, with games like Pac-Man
having to be designed for manydifferent devices
a deal with Infogrames, owners of
the Atari name.
It was felt that 20- to 30somethings who remembered thegames from the times they wereon Atari’s original coin-op
machines would be attracted.
As the big guns continue tosit up and take notice, ELSPA
launched its mobile gaming
charts last April. It is based upon
the sales figures for Java
downloads, supplied initially by
the four key mobile operators –O2, Orange, T-Mobile andVodafone. It is estimated thatthey currently command
approximately 80% of the mobile
games download market.
Michael Rawlinson, deputy
director general of ELSPA,
commented: “The mobile games
chart is a natural extension of
ELSPA’s existing chart range. We
are pleased to recognise mobile
gaming as an established and evergrowing sector of the games
industry, and are confident thechart will prove beneficial for boththe industry and consumers alike.”

The mobile gaming market may
be booming, but there iscurrently a problem withcompatibility – not all games playon all phones and the
manufacturers, operators andgame publishers are working hard
to find an industry standard. It’s
becoming much more of an issue
since experts say there are
actually more mobile gamers thanconsole owners.
Vodafone’s Ben Taylor said:“The industry is working on
standardising a gaming platform.
It obviously takes the good willof manufacturers and gameproducers but we’re confident it
will happen.”
The introduction of 3G phones
will move retro gaming to a newlevel this year. Namco’s Ridge
Racer is being launched by
Vodafone later this year. It
promises to be a faithful
replication of the original arcade
racer, albeit with o nly one car torace against and a reduction inpolygons. It paves the way for aphone version of Tekken,
although for the time being,
Namco has been building on its
Pac-Man franchise with offerings
such as Pac-Man Pinball and PacMan Bowling.
Ben Taylor concluded: “Gamesare now second only to ringtones for mobile game content.
And we’re seeing the take-up of
the 3G service which promises
better 3D graphics a nd thecapacity for more levels. Retrogames will benefit from this.
Most of them are rewritten fromscratch and I think we’ll see 3D
mobile versions of games like
Dizzy in the future.”
Whatever the prediction
though, it all adds up to one
thing: The future’s certainly
bright… the future’s retro. e>The hard cell
Kuju Wireless is one of the leading mobile phone
software houses specialising in old skool titles formobile phones. Retro Gamer spoke with managing
director Kevin Holloway, fresh from his trip to Cannes
for the 3GSM World Congress, a mobile trade fair.
Re tro Gamer : H ow w as 3GSM?
Kevin H ollow ay: Great thanks!
Sensible Soccer was very wellreceived, even in a hall half
filled with porn!
RG: Kuj u ap pea rs to b esometh ing of a spe ci ali st in
ret ro g aming for mobi les . Whyis tha t?
KH: Well, retro games are very
popular especially if the nameis still well known, which iswhy games such as Sensible
Soccer generate so much
excitement. I am constantly on
the lookout for brandopportunities, including retro
games. One advantage I haveis that I’ve been in games formore than 20 years so I know
a lot of people in the industry.
RG: One of the re sults of tha t
se arc h ha s b ee n a de al wi th
Tow er St ud ios , whi ch include speop le who b eca me w ellknown for mak ing q ua lit ygames for t he Amig a,
including Se ns ib le Soc cer andCa nnon Fodde r. Are any mo re
Ami ga-i nspi re d ga me s d ue ?
KH: I don’t think the Amiga inparticular is being targeted asa source – but hey, there weresome great games for it. I
think the era that the Amiga
belongs to in general is agreat source of inspiration.
Mind you, that might just be
old age – nostalgia talking…
RG: Is mobi le g aming a
luc rat ive busi ne ss ?

KH : For network operators it’s
still a small, but growing,
revenue generator. But there
are plenty of portals in Europe
whose main line of business isselling content.
RG: Wha t h ave be en the mostpo pul ar games for y ou so fa r?
KH : They would have to be
Lotus Challenge: City Racing
and Sensible Soccer. I got
loads of emails asking forrelease dates when weannounced the Sensible Soccer
and Cannon Fodder deal. We
also get a few emails withfeedback on the games, but as
we don’t sell directly most
feedback goes to our channel
partners and gets summarisedback to us…
RG: So w ill you b e go ing
th rough t he bac k c ata logues toch ur n o ut any old ga me s you
ca n get your hands on?
KH : Not at all. Kuju willcontinue to push quality overquantity. I think the emphasison brand recognition willcontinue, but I hope theaverage quality of games will
improve as brand owners learn
who the quality publishers
are. Mobile games have amuch larger and wider
potential target audience thanconsoles – after all who do
you know that doesn’t own amobile? Community or
multiplayer gaming willprobably prevail as
connectivity is an integral partof the technology.

Another name from the past… Kuju’s Lotus Challenge
is one of its most popular downloads

Nokia’s N-Gage may not have set the world on fire,
but a bigger and better version 2.0 is on its way

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Mobile reviews
There are 100s of retro game ports available
for mobile phones. As a taster, here are fourthat are worthy of both your time and money
Prince Of Persia
Gameloft
The original game, which was ported to pretty much every gaming
platform under the sun, always looked a dream and played like it too.
The only real difference between the original game and the mobile
version is the story, which has changed ever so slightly. In theoriginal, the Sultan had nipped off to fight for his country, only for theGrand Vizier to decide to proclaim himself ruler. The Vizier thendecided he wanted to marry the Sultan’s daughter – only you, as the
Prince, actually kinda liked her yourself. For your lusty thoughts you
get chucked in prison and have one hour to agree to the marriage.
The best response? To escape and rescue the Princess from her futurehusband. The mobile phone version sees the Vizier on a kidnap spree
again, only this time targeting the Sultan’s three wives. To stay in thegood books of your ruler, you’ve must rescue them all.
But what about the game itself? Well, it’s the usual arcade-actionadventure, with dozens of platforms and ladders and lots ofswordplay. The palace is riddled with booby traps to stop you in yourquest and the puzzle element will keep you playing this to the end.
The action comes thick and fast, and the game loses absolutely
nothing on the mobile (except for a slightly fiddly control method). If
anything, the graphics are better than the original game.
Rating: pppppppppp

Sensible Soccer
Tower Studios
Sensible Soccer was without doubt the most refreshing and playable
representation of our national sport when it was released more thana decade ago. If there was ever a game which proved that gameplay
was far more important than graphics then this was it. With its topdown view and instinctive control system, it became an instantclassic on 16-bit systems. And the good news is that Sensi
translates well to mobile phones, retaining the simple controls andgreat gameplay which made the original an essential app.
It’s something of a cut-down version however. The mobile gamegives you the option of playing a one-off friendly, a cup tournament
or a series of league games, picking one of 50 football teams – farless than the 16-bit original. And the tiny players so beloved of
Sensi are even smaller. But both were to be expected. What is more
surprising is the fact that the team you pick does not appear to havea bearing on the side’s performance on the pitch. The computer
opponents often have simple-to-spot movement patterns too.
Bad points aside, the beautiful game itself is lovingly reproduced.
Running at angles is as easy as running up and down and from left
to right. Passing is fluid and the difficulty level in scoring is justright. There’s also the ability to pick up where you left off if you
need to use the phone for something else. A worthy purchase.
Rating: pppppppppp

Pac-ManBreakout
iFone
We have a bat, a ball and a loadof bricks – combine them andyou’ve got one of the simplest andearliest games. Breakout has been
copied, converted and ripped off amillion or more times, but it’s stillfrighteningly addictive.
The aim of the game needs
little explanation – demolish rowsof bricks using the bouncing ball,ensuring it stays on screen by
moving the paddle left and right.
The points rack up by destroying bricks in the shortest time possible,
the nerves notch up a gear when a second ball is released, and thesense of relief is apparent when you don’t drop a single ball and are
rewarded with an extra life. Graphics are basic as you’d expect, but
it’s a pretty faithful conversion and certainly worth a shot.
Rating: pppppppppp

q

Namco
The yellow, circular superstar had his first glorious outing in 1980.
And in doing so, Pac-Man really brought videogaming to the masses
with an identifiable, strong character who went on to star innumerous sequels, spin-offs, remakes, and even a board game.
Gamers were completely addicted to the coin-op and it was surely
one of the reasons why the Namco arcade stick sold so well recently.
It was also one of the first games made available on mobiles and it
rides high in the top 10 to this day.
Chances are you’ve already downloaded this game but if not, you
won’t be disappointed. Everything you loved about the coin-op is
faithfully recreated in small form and you can even snap up thesequels, including Ms. Pac-Man. It’s the perfect game for mobiles –simple to control and an absolute joy to play.
Rating: pppppppppp

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Page 66

Next Level Gaming: 

The C64 was
one of the mostpopular gaming platformsof all time, with 1,000s ofgames available over its long anddistinguished life. But how did its bigger
brother fare on the gaming front? Andrew
Fisher looks at the games available for the
Commodore 128

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Page 67                                    FEATURE:SOFTWARE | NEXT LEVEL GAMING

L

aunched in 1985,
the Commodore
128 had a split
personality. Insidewere two different
processors – a MOS 8502 and a
Zilog Z80A. The 8502 gave it thepower to be two different
machines – the all-new
Commodore 128 and the classic
Commodore 64. The native C128
mode introduced 128Kb ofmemory (expandable to a
staggering 640Kb), enhanced
BASIC 7.0 and 80-column RGB
output. C64 mode, meanwhile,
was compatible with the vast
majority of original C64 softwareand hardware, and could be
easily accessed by typing ‘GO64’(or holding down the Commodore
key and pressing the Resetbutton). Finally, the Z80A
processor was fully compatible
with CP/M 3.0, opening up
access to a huge library ofbusiness software.
But who the hell wanted
business software when the C128
ran twice as fast as the C64, haddouble the amount of memory(including additional Video RAM
which could also be used as
temporary memory), and featured
extra graphic modes? Surely there
was potential there for someserious gaming action…

Prepare for launch
The C128 launched in the UK at£269, while another £179 would
buy you the new 1571 disk drive.
This was a double-sided drive,
giving up to 330Kb on a 5.25in
floppy disk. The drive could readthe Commodore GCR (Group Cycle
Recording) format and the MFM(Modified Frequency Modulation)format used by CP/M. With theright commands it could use‘burst’ mode, which was designed
to load and save data faster.
There were plenty of games
available for the machine, but
this was mainly because it was
backwards compatible with theC64. If you picked up many game
titles you would see themlabelled as being for the
Commodore 64/128. In otherwords, the software ran in C64
mode only. Over 95% of C64
games were compatible with the
new machine, but there was onlya small number of commercial

games that were 128-only.
As with the Spectrum 128, oneof the first companies to pledge
support to the new machine wasbudget label Mastertronic, which
released enhanced versions of The
Last V8 and Kikstart. Both wereavailable on disk format for £4.99.
The C128 version of The Last
V8 added an additional level at
the start of the game andfeatured different sound samples.
On the extra preliminary level you
had to collect fuel rods dottedaround the screen, before tacklingthe main mission and drivingback to your base. Additions
aside, the awful control methodfrom the C64 original was not
tweaked, meaning that Rob
Hubbard’s great soundtrack
remained the only thing worth
recommending.
Shaun Southern’s enhanced
version of Kikstart was a muchbetter effort, with new courses
and obstacles. Three practicetracks were initially loaded intomemory, and three sets of eighttracks were on the disk – giving a

q

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Page 68 >Elite 128

total of 27 different courses,
compared to the original’s rather
meagre eight. The new version
also included smoother scrolling,
more variety in the course
hazards, and a table which
recorded your best track times.
Overall, the C128 version(confusingly titled Kikstart 2, andnot to be confused with the true
sequel that later appeared on theC64) is better than the original
budget classic. But if you were a
proud C128 owner, new tracks
and a few tweaks weren’t going
to impress your mocking mates.
What was needed was a C128
game that was a clear cut above
the C64 original.

Shock horror!
In one of the most bizarre
licensing deals ever, CRL released
a game based on Richard
O’Brien’s The Rocky Horror PictureShow in 1985. Separate versions
were released for the C64 andthe C128, with the former
seemingly ported straight fromthe dodgy Spectrum version. The

One of the best-known games of all time has been ported(unofficially) to the C128. Elite 128 by Ullrich von Bassewitz is anunofficial version that actually runs on the C128 in C64 mode, butwith smoother graphics. This is thanks to a clever technique calledvertical blanking which unlocks the speed of the faster processor.
On the C64, you can shut off the screen to gain processor speed.
By timing when the raster (which draws the screen) is in the upperor lower border and blanking the screen briefly, the processor
speeds up and faster calculations can be done without disturbing
the actual display area. On a standard C64, the speed increase isminimal, but on the C128 in C64 mode, the speed is ramped up by

Although not advertised on the
packaging, Alleykat (top) and
Morpheus from Graftgold
benefited from the extra powerof the C128
C128 version, however, featured
completely reworked graphics
with more detailed characters andmore colourful backgrounds.
There were even a couple of new
locations – one outside themansion and the other down inthe dungeon. The zany gameplay
was pretty much the same
however, with you trying to
rescue your other half while
avoiding a mutant, motorbikeriding Meatloaf, among otherbizarre hazards.
CRL also released C64 andC128 versions of Stratton, a
massive maze game with somenicely drawn graphics. On the

For more information on Elite 128, visit www.gb64.com/
oldsite/gameofweek/elite/Elite128.txt
about 40%! The author has also added SuperCPU support, and isplanning to introduce new gameplay features, including bounty
hunting side missions and a new ‘hidden’ galaxy to explore.
The driving game Test Drive II also uses vertical blanking todisplay its filled 3D graphics, so again this receives a speed boost
when run on the C128. In a similar style, the flight simulation
games Stealth Mission (by Sublogic) and Project Stealth Fighter (byMicroprose) feature improved graphic speed and smoothness when
run on the C128. Commodore Disk User magazine even published apatch for Flight Simulator II from Sublogic, which was written
before the C128 was available. The patch allows you to switch
between normal and fast mode, which gives an increase of
between 20% and 25% in the frame rate.
C128 the playing area was larger
with more variety in the graphics,
and the difficulty level was
slightly easier. It was still rather
repetitive though.

Spot the difference. That’s the C64 version of Rocky Horror on the left,
and the much better-looking C128 update on the right

q

68 q

A C128 version of Anco’s Thai
Boxing was also available, agame best remembered for theplayers’ faces which graduallybecame more bloodied andRG15 NLG Commodore.qxd:RG15 NLG Commodore.qxd

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Page 69                                    FEATURE:SOFTWARE | NEXT LEVEL GAMING>Homebrewing

Thai Boxing was available for
the C128, but the changes wereminimalbruised as the fight progressed.
Aside from the addition ofanimated spectators, however, theC128 version brought nothing
new to the battle.
Some C64 games wereactually enhanced when runningon a C128, thanks to the faster
8502 processor. The classic
racing/shooting game Alleykat byAndrew Braybrook had morebullets onscreen, and more
‘segments’ to the deadly
Katerkillar enemy. One ofAndrew’s later games, Morpheus,
also used the extra processor
speed to generate more enemies.
Another commercial game

worthy of note is Ultima V:
Warriors of Destiny, released by
Origin in 1988. The enhanced
C128 game featured atmosphericmusic during play, a feature thatwas sorely lacking from thestandard C64 version. In
addition, thanks to the larger
RAM, more data could be stored
in memory, reducing thefrequency of disk loading (which
was quicker anyway, thanks tothe speedy 1571 drive working inburst mode).
The hardware capabilities ofthe machine leant themselves
well to interactive fiction, or text
adventures as they were known
back in the 1980s. Infocom
released several titles exclusively
for the C128 as part of its
Interactive Fiction Plus range(adventures designed formachines with at least 128Kb of
RAM and an 80-column display.)
The titles included A Mind Forever
Voyaging, Trinity, Bureaucracy and
Beyond Zork. All were text only
affairs except Beyond Zork, which
introduced a colour display andbasic on-screen map. Uniquely,
the compass directions were
mapped onto the machine’s
numeric keypad, making

Infocom released dozens of adventures for the C64,
but a small handful would only run on the C128q

Commercial games may have been thin on the ground, but theC128 was home to a lot of homebrew titles, many of them versionsof card or board games. The bulletin board systems in America –
CompuServe, Genie and QuantumLink (forerunner of AOL) – carried
many good games.
Tetris128 Chris Batchelor is a shareware version of the classic
puzzle game that runs in 80-column mode. You can choose thegame speed and number of lines required to get to the next level,
as well as the width of the ‘well’ that the pieces fall into. A lack of
speed and in-game music let it down.
Other titles of interest include Ultimate Risk, a one-player, 80column version of the board game that has decent artificial
intelligence. Airport128 gives you the chance to be an air traffic
controller, dealing with bad weather and up to 20 planes trying toland or take-off, while Solitaire128 has some nicely drawn cards
in 80-column mode and mouse control.
The UK magazine Commodore Disk User also published
Commodore 128 games. One clever title was War at Sea, a uniqueversion of Battleships by Paul Traynor. This required two screens –one 40-column (or television screen) and one 80-column, to givethe two players their own view of the action.

This homebrew version of Tetris made good use of the C128’s
80-column display
navigation quicker and easier. You
could also map common
commands to the function keys.

End of the line
So that was pretty much it on
the C128 gaming front. Not thatit really mattered, as the C128’s
future as any kind of viable
platform was looking shaky. Less
than six months after thelaunch, along came the Amiga
1000 and the C128 looked
seriously under-powered.
Nonetheless, the hardware
was re-launched twice. First came
the C128D (the D standing for
Desktop), with a built-in disk
drive, metal case and separate
keyboard. This was followed by
the C128DCR, a cost-reduced
model which replaced the metalcase with a cheaper, plastic
alternative. Both of these PC-stylemodels quadrupled the internal

69 qVideo RAM from 16Kb to 64Kb,
allowing for higher-resolution
graphics, but no games took
advantage of this fact.
There was plenty of serious
application software available for
the C128 – including a popularversion of GEOS (a graphicaloperating system based on the
Macintosh interface) – but as agames platform it never made areal breakthrough. It could beargued that the C128 was neverintended as a games machine,
but the same could be said about
the C64, which was initiallyushered in as a serious
alternative to the VIC-20. It’s
probably wiser to say that when
it came to games, the C128 wasstuck in a supply and demandrut, with the lack of dedicatedtitles failing to attract the legionsof C64 owners, which in turn led
to a lack of future gamedevelopment. e

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Page 72 >Abandonware:

Gone but not
Forgotten...

What happens to old games when they die? Aaron Birch delves into the world ofabandonware – a world full of classic gaming history, and a world also full of legal
controversy. Is abandonware legal? Or is firing up that downloaded copy of Wing
Commander more likely to send to straight to jail without passing go? We find out,
once and for all…

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R

emember that classic
shooter you played
as a youngster? Backthen it was state of
the art, andalthough technology has advanced
rapidly over time, far surpassingthat crusty old title, you’ll neverforget how good it was, and you’d
give anything to play it one moretime. Sadly though, the game is nolonger for sale, and the owners of
the title are long gone, succumbing
to bankruptcy or a corporatebuyout many moons ago. So what’s
the solution? Well, you could searchcharity shops, car boot sales or
eBay for that elusive title. Or you
could download it for free from anabandonware website…
Abandonware is a term thatmany people will find familiar, but
it’s also a term that most don’t fully
understand, not knowing exactly
what it is, or indeed, if it’s entirely
above board. Is it safe to download
these games? Are you breaking thelaw? Will the local constabulary bust
down your door? With so manyquestions, and no real straightanswers, we decided to find out
from the people in the know. But
first, what exactly is abandonware?

Lost and foundThe actual term abandonware is
obviously coined from abandoned
software, but sadly, its meaning

isn’t so clear cut. Depending on
where you look on the Internet,
you’ll find all sorts of differing
descriptions. The most popular
description of abandonware issoftware that has long beenforgotten by the original creator,
or a game that has been left inretail limbo due to the closure of
a company. Because of this, titles
are left unsupported and can nolonger be tracked down in shops
or online to buy, such is the badstate of play. Over time, manykeen gamers have grown tired ofthis situation and made thegames in question freely available
via the wonderful worldwide Web.
These games (which are mostly
classic DOS titles, although manyother formats do surface), arethen snapped up by online
gaming fans through a huge
number of abandonware websites.
The first abandonware sites
appeared online around 1996-7 andquickly spawned a massive
collection of online archives, many
offering general downloads, andothers specialising in specific genres
or titles. Finally, gamers looking forold classics could get hold of theonce unobtainable gems and playthem again. Applications like
DOSBox and SloMo became
essential tools for getting retro
games working on new PCs, and all
the time, more and more titles
appeared online, making for atreasure trove of gaming history.
But, although abandonware
remained largely unknown for awhile, meaning that the
distribution of the classic titles
was untouched and unnoticed, it
wasn’t long before the ‘warez’
scene encroached onabandonware, and thingschanged. Many so-calledabandonware sites began to offer
increasingly more dubious
downloads, and it wasn’t long
before the unwritten rules of only
hosting games that were nolonger supported or sold went outof the window. Now sites started
to offer commercially available
titles, and games that were still
actively supported by the originalIP (Intellectual Property) holder
were available illegally. Soon thelines between abandonware andwarez were blurred to such a
degree that it was inevitable theauthorities would step in – andthat’s exactly what happened.
Many abandonware sites were
instantly closed down, and manyothers were forced to change theirapproach. The whole abandonware
area became a legal minefield,
and websites began to rethinktheir strategy for distributing old
games. Many sites stopped
hosting a large range of titles, andothers even began to post links toofficial online resellers of games,
giving people the chance to buy
them once more.

Taking sides

Several commercial games have been made freely available to the
public by their copyright holders. These include Rockstar’s Grand
Theft Auto (top), Revolution’s Beneath a Steel Sky and Sierra’s Tribesq

The argument still rages on about
abandonware, and both sides
strongly enforce their own views.
Those who support abandonware
claim that distributing these oldgames is not illegal or an assault
on the original copyright holders,
but is instead a much needed
service to the gaming public – aservice which the IP owner isn’t
willing to provide. Due to the low
profit margins involved, mostcompanies discontinue support
for old titles, leaving fans alone
in the dark, so to speak. If their
original copy dies, they have nochance of a replacement, and assuch, can no longer play theirfavourite classics. Abandonware
gives people the chance to grab
hold of these titles again, andthere’s really no harm in it.
On the flipside, many software
publishers don’t want theirproperty distributed freely. And,
with the recent resurgence in

73 q>Elitism
One of the more famousarguments over freely
available classic titles doesn’t
actually involve the generalpublic, but instead thedevelopers themselves. The
ever popular space trading
sim Elite can be freely
downloaded from the Web,but this wasn’t always to theliking of one of its co-creators.
Ian Bell and David Braben
have been at odds for sometime now regarding royalty
disputes over the third gamein the series, Frontier: First
Encounters. This sparked a bitof a ruckus that kicked off
royally in 1999. Lawsuits werefilled, press releases fromboth parties were issued andthe whole thing was madevery public indeed. Morespecifically, while Ian Belldeemed that Elite should bemade freely available foranyone’s use (it can befound on his website http://
www.iancgbell.clara.net/elite),
Braben disputed this, andoriginally insisted that it mustnot be made available fornothing. Bell’s website waseven closed down following
legal action. The situation
later eased a little and Bell’s
website was restored. Brabenalso released a publicstatement saying he had no
problems with the game
being made available,
although he points out that
the Elite IP still belongs to
Bell and himself.

Elite creators, David Braben(left) and Ian Bellcommercial retro releases, this iseven more important to many
companies, who are more likely
than ever to raid their backcatalogues for titles to re-releaseon newer platforms such as the
GameBoy Advance. Then there’s
those plug ‘n’ play consoles ofcourse, and PC/console retro

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compilations, digital TV games,
mobile phone games. The list
goes on and on.
What the future has in store
for abandonware is not entirely
clear. Although many companies
do actively launch attacks onsites offering its property for
download, it’s still a fairly rareoccurrence. Most companies
simply don’t want to spend thetime and effort in digging up thedirt for a handful of old titles
that aren’t making money anyway,
and some companies have even
granted their own titles
abandonware status. But one
thing is certain, abandonware will
not go away without a fight, andlike warez and MP3 file sharing,it’s going to be around for a longtime to come.

>ELSPA interview
later date, although some may
wish to release previous editionsof games as a marketing ploy,but only for personal use. Other
than the 50-year limit on
copyright, the age of a game is
not an issue.
RG: It ’s also often pe rcei ve d thata game can be free ly dis tributed
once the owne r of the proper ty
goe s out of business or cease s
trading. Aga in, i s this true ?

>Find the source
Another element that can add confusion to the abandonware debate isOpen Source software or source code. Open Source software is basically
software that has been released and freely distributed for other people
to use and develop. Perhaps the most famous Open Source software isLinux, which is a full operating system that has been worked on bymasses of people, and has spawned numerous versions.
In abandonware terms, open source is a little different. For example,
id Software released the source code for Doom and Quake, and people
can freely developer their own games, ports or updates using it.
However, you cannot re-distribute any of the original game files, so you
must develop your own content and assets, or ask the end users to buy
the original versions. The source code is literally the lines of code that
go into making the game, and nothing more.

ELSPA (Entertainment andLeisure Software Publishers
Association) was founded in
1989 and immediately acted as avoice for the UK computer games
industry. From a starting
membership of 12 companies,
ELSPA now represents almost
100 different clients, including allof the major software publishers
in the UK. As well as promoting
its members, and making surethey are well known in theindustry, ELSPA is a key player in
enforcing anti-piracy laws andresolving copyright disputes. We
spoke to John Hillier, a
representative of ELSPA andmanager of the association’s‘Anti-Piracy Unit’, about thethorny issue of abandonware.
Retro Gamer: Ma ny di ffere nt
definitions of a bandonware areofte n ba ndie d about. Wha t is
ELSPA’s offici al des cripti on?
John Hilli er: ELSPA defines
abandonware as software whichis still available, but on whichfurther support and development
has been deliberately
discontinued.
RG: Is i t true that ga mes can beclass ed as abandonwa re wh enthey rea ch a ce rtain age ?
JH : No, as some companies may
wish to release ‘old’ games at a

id Software has publicly released the sourcecode for several of its first-person shooters

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JH: In order for any software tobe freely distributed, thepermission of the copyrightholder must be acquired,regardless of the age of the
product or the status of theoriginal IP owner. Often when acompany ceases trading, therights to the intellectual property
are sold on. The copyright within
any software is still maintainedby the IP owner, regardless of
their status, and therefore agame can never be free unlessthe copyright owner clearlystates that this is the case. In
the majority of cases, someone,
somewhere usually owns the
copyright, whether or not they
do anything with it.
RG: What i s the curre nt pe nalty
for maki ng ille gal aba ndonw areavailab le for othe rs to
download?
JH: If the software is madeavailable for free, then it isclassed as a civil tort in the eyesof the law. This would be amatter for the individual IP
owners to take action on, rather
than ELSPA as a tradeassociation. If the illegal
software is being sold, then
ELSPA is involved as the trader
is committing a criminal offence
under the Trade Marks Act 1994
and the Copyright, Designs &Patents Act 1988, both of whichcarry a maximum sentence of 10
years imprisonment andunlimited fine.

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RG: Is there any form of pe nalty
for people downloa ding a nd
usi ng aba ndonw are for the ir
ow n use?
JH: Again, this is a civil matter. It
would be up to the IP holders to
enforce any civil action as theysee fit.
RG: The re a re manya bandonwar e we bsite s thatc la im to be legi timate, a biding

by the law . B ut i s ther e rea lly
such a thi ng?
JH : If the copyright holder has
given permission for theirsoftware to be made freely
available, then yes. However,such circumstances must bebacked up by written approval
from all the relevant copyrightholders. It is doubtful that thesites involved would be able tosubstantiate this in respect of allgames offered.

investigated accordingly.

RG: Does E LSPA a ctively poli ceabandonwa re?

RG: The b ottom line. Shouldpe ople avoid a band on ware ?

JH: ELSPA reacts to any
infringement of ELSPA members
IP rights. ELSPA treats any saleof pirated goods very seriously,
and if a trader is selling such
software (regardless of gamestatus) he is committing acriminal offence, and will be

JH: Consumers should not
download so calledabandonware unless they can beabsolutely certain that therelevant copyright holders havegiven their express permission
for such downloads to takeplace. >>>>

Abandonware sites

Here are just a few abandonware sites
for you to peruse. Of course, you
download files at your own risk…

Home of the Underdogs

The Abandonware Ring

www.the-underdogs.org
Considered by many to be the single greatest resource forabandonware, the long-running Underdogs site has perhaps thelargest collection of abandonware titles on the Net. But, there’s much
more to the site than just games. There are also reviews, manuals,
music rips, developer histories, and even an online store where small
companies can sell their own games.

www.abandonwarering.com
If you’re not sure what game you’re looking for, or want to findsome new abandonware sites, then this is where you’ll want to be.
The Abandonware Ring is home to a long list of abandonware
sites. Each site is rated, plus there’s information on how many
titles it has, and what types of game they are (such as RPG,
action and so on).

BH Legend

Liberated Gameswww.bhlegend.com
BH Legend is another popular abandonware site that contains
a large collection of games for download. It also covers a
range of formats, including PC, Amiga, Commodore 64 andSpectrum. Each game is accompanied by a review and several
screenshots, and there’s also pointers on how to run sometitles using emulators.

http://liberatedgames.org
Although the legality of many abandonware games may be disputed,
this site hosts only games that have been officially released to the
public by their IP holders. You’ll find full versions of games fordownload, as well as source code releases. There’s also a licence areathat contains all of the applicable legal information, and a useful forum
for community members.

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Page 76 >Abandonware top 10
We’ve had a good old root through the reams of abandonware sites in order to find themost sought-after downloads. So, in no particular order…

Elite

Alone In the Dark

It had to be in the top 10
really, didn’t it? It’s nosurprise to see that
legions of followers arestill downloading thisclassic space adventureon all formats. Elite isjust pure class, no matter
which way you look at it. The mixture of space combat, trading andexploration was so ahead of its time back in 1984, and it was
responsible for many a wasted youth, as people sat down to try andwork out where the best trade routes were, where to find the bestcargo etc. And taking the huge universe into consideration, this was
no mean feat! The game did spawn sequels, but it’s the original thatpeople love, and the core gameplay of Elite has had a huge impact
on gaming throughout the years.

Released in 1992, Alone in the Dark began the survival horror ballrolling long before Resident Evil arrived on the scene. As either
Emily Hartwood or Edward Carnby, you had to wander around a
creepy old mansion, attempting to solve the mystery of Jeremy
Hartwood’s death. But, this was no normal murder mystery, and it
wasn’t long before things went awry, with pant-wetting scares
aplenty. The mix of 3D polygonal characters and pre-renderedbackgrounds – somethingthat would be very popular
for a long time – wassuperb, enhancing the wholeoppressive feel of the game,and providing a truly scaryadventure. A game every
self-respecting horror fan
should experience.

Another World
Also called Out of This World by our American cousins,
Delphine’s breakaway masterpiece didn’t fail to impress
when it arrived in 1991, and continues to do so to thisday. As Lester, a rather casual-looking nuclear
physicist, you were teleported to a strange alien world
following a failed atom smashing experiment. This newworld was ravaged by slavery and war, with an evil
race ruling over the population. It wasn’t long before
you met up with a friendly inhabitant (‘Buddy’) andhad to escape your decidedly worrying predicament. To
this day, Another World’s visuals are impressive tobehold, and the basic characters are beautifully
animated. The gameplay is hard as nails, but always
varied and fun. Another World also had a sequel called
Heart of the Alien, which was available on the MegaCD and put you in control of Buddy.

Blood

Speedball 2: Brutal Deluxe

Blood is a first person
shooter of the Doom/Duke
3D era. But, rather than the
hellish sacrilegious natureof id’s title, or the
Hollywood action heroics ofDuke, Blood was all
rednecks and zombies. As
Caleb, you had to slaughter your way through an endless army of freaks
and weirdos, using shotguns, flare guns, spray cans, voodoo dolls,
dynamite and anything else you could get your hands on (even a rusty
pitchfork for that true yokel touch). The graphics were okay, although not
up to the standard of Duke, and the single player campaign was
dripping with gore and visceral combat. The multiplayer mode is thegame’s best feature though, and it’s a right old riot if you get somefriends on a network, thanks mainly to the creative weapons on offer.

One of the Bitmap Brothers’ greatest successes, the original
Speedball fused together football, basketball, rugby and sci-fi
madness to produce an ultra fast action sport that was as addictive
as it was violent. No rules, no holds barred, just plain oldaggression. Speedball II: Brutal Deluxe took the game even further,
introducing some basic management options, player transfers, amuch more detailed arena and properly implemented player skills
and positions. It was still fast, addictive and even more enjoyablethan ever. And you know
what? It still is. So successful
is the game, that it’sappeared on modern systems(although not to the greatestof receptions), and people on
the abandonware trail can’t
get enough of it.

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Dune II: The Buildingof a Dynasty

Lemmings
Despite being released foralmost every single
computer known to
mankind, Psygnosis’
rodent-laden puzzler is stilla huge favourite amongst
abandonware fans. Whowould have thought thatindirectly controlling anarmy of suicidal critters
could be so much fun? With tight time limits and the ever-present
risk of losing your fluffy chums to a 100 foot drop, you had to use aseries of skills to guide the green-haired herd to the goal, robbing
them of their inherent urge to top themselves. What started as aneasy puzzle title quickly became a hellishly tricky head-pecker that
kept you coming back for just one more try. And even though themain characters were a mere handful of pixels, the animation was
excellent, and your little friends really did have a personality.

Long before the RTS antics of Command and Conquer, Westwood
released this gem based on Frank Herbert’s sci-fi universe, and thestrategy game would never be the same again. Dune II was theforerunner of all major RTS titles you’d care to mention. Harvesting‘spice’ and building bases was the key to the game, with theultimate aim being to decimate your enemy in a series of glorious
real-time skirmishes. The fact that it had Dune tagged onto it wasn’t
actually all thatimportant, as the same
game with no major
licence would have still
been great. But, therecognisable andexpansive Dune universe
helped make the gameeven more memorable.

Space Quest IV
Space Quest is hugely popular to this day,and the series spanned a total of six
episodes, each starring the hapless space
cadet Roger Wilco – Space Janitor, andwould be starship captain. The series
involved players in all sorts of weird andwonderful adventures, and episode four
appears to be one of your all time
favourites. The story sees Roger assaulted ina bar by time travelling hoods in the employof his old nemesis, Sludge Vohaul. However,Roger escapes to the future (to the time ofSpace Quest XII to be exact), and begins atime travelling adventure to stop Vohaul
once and for all. The Space Quest series
was always about the characters, and Roger
is a great central role. He’s stupid, cowardly
and most of all, witty.

The Secret of Monkey Island

Wing Commander

Okay, this is a tricky one.
Although listed andrequested on many
abandonware sites, most
do not host the gameitself and only include
links to buy it.
Nonetheless, we had toinclude GuybrushThreepwood’s first run-inwith the evil pirate LeChuck, an adventure that easily goes down inhistory as one of the greatest games of all time. You’ll find it hard tofind a title with such well designed and realised adventure elements,
and you certainly won’t find a game with a better sense of humour.
The story is excellent, the characters are impeccably designed andthe whole thing just oozes quality. Monkey Island was not LucasArts’
first adventure, but it was surely its best (Guybrush’s lateradventures included).

Before the series turned into an elongated cutscene ‘starring’ Mark
Hamill, Wing Commander was a much more focused and appealing
game, and it’s the original title that appeals most to abandonware
aficionados. Joining the war against the cat-like Kilrathi, you had
to prove yourself as a new fighter pilot. This meant flying various
sorties against the Kilrathi, as well as escorting allies andnavigating troublesome asteroid fields. One of the best things
about Wing Commander was the fact that you were rarely alone,
and often flew missions with a wingman on your side. Add to thatthe excellent visuals,
in-between mission
dialog, and some
impressive intro andlaunch movies, andit’s no wonder thegame was a smash
hit when it was
released in 1990.

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Page 78 >GlobalGamingGames players, unless they belong to theelitist importing crowd, seldom look pasttheir own doorstep at the gaming world
beyond. The truth is that the international
history of gaming is far more exciting
than many realise. Even in countries thathave endured eras of political strife, war
and economic sanctions, you can find richgaming histories that are now in dangerof being forgotten thanks to greater
globalisation. Each month, Retro Gamer
will scour the globe in search of thriving
arcade, console and home computerscenes, proving along the way that theold adage of “necessity being the motherof all invention” is true beyond doubt.
This month, John Szczepaniak visits
Russia to interview some comrades andbring you the real story from behind theiron curtainFor most in theWest, Russian
gaming begins andends with
Pajitnov’s classic,
Tetris. This is perhaps unfair, sincedigging a little deeper reveals aworld so vast as to dwarf Tetris
entirely – not because of any
single game that betters it, butrather the sheer volume of
Russian games products.
What makes Russia especiallyinteresting is that its gaming
climate was tempered by a
combination of the politicalclimate of the early 80s, and theaverage person’s lack of spending
power. This resulted in a blend of

unusual home grown creations,and also a thriving black market
of bootlegged items, based on
foreign products from places as
far away as Taiwan and the UK.
Apart from the obvious
problems of documenting such an
unimaginably vast grey area –little if any recorded information
exists on these things, but for
example, there are hundreds ofclones of the Famicom system
alone – there is the added
problem that the Russian games
scene has changed dramaticallyevery few years.
Early arcades did exist, but
often they were located in remoteareas, and featured a mixture ofq‘submarine battle’style games that usedmodel ships, ball bearings
and light sensitive targets, aswell as more conventional arcade
games. Some of these arcade
machines were entirely domestic
creations – mostly genericshooting and racing games.
Others were copies of Western
games with a Russian twist, suchas a Pitfall clone that had the
sprites replaced by Russian folk
tale characters. Graphically thesegames were of a low quality, andtheir overall design was years
behind Japanese games. It was
not until much later (and eventhen, only in amusement parks
and big cities) that the big arcade
boom started, riding on the backof games like Street Fighter II.
Home console gaming also
proliferated. Thanks to the lackof official market support andthe extortionate prices oflegitimate items, bootleg
systems and software abounded.
In Russia, as in most Eastern
European countries at the time,

78 q>Regional facts

Name: Russia
Population: 143.2 Million(2005 estimation)
Official language: Russian
Approximate climate:-25.C to +30.C (dependingon location)
Time zones: 11 time zones
from GMT+2 to GMT+12
TV type: SECAM 50Hz
Voltage: 220V
Currency: Ruble

One of many models of thefamous Dendy Famicomclone. The variations
are nearly endless…

there were special shops thatsold many imported products
and these traded strictly indollars, which of course put
legitimate gaming goods beyond
reach of the average player.
Unsurprisingly, clone systems
abounded – particularly Famicomclones. The most popular‘Famiclone’ series came from
Dendy, whose name would
become synonymous withgaming. Most cartridges included
multiple games, and many games
still had the original Japanesetext, because they were simply
Asian hack jobs.

Cloning Sir Clive
Home computers were even more
popular than consoles. Due tofactors such as high cost andRG15 Global gaming.qxd:RG15 Global gaming.qxd

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The universally known Tetris, a Western icon for Russian games
difficulty in manufacturing,Russian citizens went throughvarious different and incompatiblemodels of computer before finallysettling on the Sinclair Spectrum
as a sort of standard. Electronicengineers who had access tooriginals soon set about working
on various clone models. It’s
rumoured that the Soviet Union
produced more Spectrum clones
than the rest of the worldcombined. That’s not surprisingwhen you consider the originalSpectrum’s cost in relation to theaverage monthly wage. To buy an
original, most citizens would have
had to save for several years.
The most popular of the first
generation clones was thePentagon 128, while the Scorpion
256 and Kay 1024 models hadlarge followings later on.
Approximately 80% of all
Spectrum clones came with a
Betadisk disk interface(developed by Technology
Research Ltd) already built in.
These ran TR-DOS software andproved far more popular thantape-based interfaces.
The Pentagon 128 wasbasically a hand made computerthat came in many forms. It’s not
unusual to find Pentagons in PC
tower cases with a standard
keyboard and SVGA monitor,
while at other times they would
be little more than a collection of
circuit boards and wires.
Spectrum culture across
Eastern Europe in general
was huge. There wereseveral Spectrum magazinesand like elsewhere, there werealso multi-format magazines (andlater many Russian websites)
dedicated to gaming. Someinteresting home grown games

were also developed. Today thescene is still big, with someamazing new software being
made by groups such as ‘nwww.nDiscovery Development’ (wdiscovery.narod.ru).

Console passion
Today the PC scene dominates
over consoles, with incredibly
cheap pirated software available
to buy from street kiosks andpermanent booths, even in places
such as metro-stations. To
combat piracy, companies started
trying to sell their games cheaply,
with companies such as 1C doing
professional localisations andthen releasing different tailoredversions at a low price.
That isn’t to say that Russian
consoles began and ended with
Dendy systems. Despite a far
higher price, Japanese Mega
Drives became very popularamong teens and were seen as a
status symbol – despite most of
the available games being
Japanese. The arrival of the 16-bit
consoles also brought about aninteresting new phenomenon in
the arcades. For people who

The handmade, home build Pentagon 128 in one of its many guises
couldn’t afford a Mega Drive or
SNES, there were arcades withcheaply constructed cabinets
containing these machines,
available on a pay-per-minutebasis. These machines were often
found in supermarkets too, andalways attracted a crowd ofpeople. The Bare Knuckle series
was very popular among pay-perminute gamers, as was Contra.
But this was a short-lived
phenomenon, and after about
two years these machines started
to disappear – most likely due toconditions improving and people
being able to afford the systems
themselves.
The PlayStation brought aboutfurther great changes in the
Russian gaming scene. While thissystem was very expensive, thegames in comparison were
extremely cheap. PS
games were easy tocopy, so again
market stalls
and kiosks
hadplentyJust some of the many unofficial Spectrum
clones that flooded the Russian market

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to sell. Street vendors werealways well stocked with all thenewest games, at prices ordinary
people could afford.
Russian pirates would oftentranslate text-heavy PS games
into Russian, but since those whotranslated them had little
understanding of English andeven less of Japanese, the results
were very hit and miss. These
localisation attempts renderedsome games unplayable, withnotable failures including Final
Fantasy Tactics, Civilisation 2 andeven Arc the Lad on PS2.
Thanks to the difficulty inmaking copies of games, systems
like the N64 and Saturn neverhad much success in Russia.
Meanwhile, handheld gaming wasnever particularly popular, though
in the early days you could
occasionally find various Game &Watch clones.

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A selection of unofficial, locally manufactured Game & Watch titles
Smimova, a Russian gamer, told
us: “I am really amazed at what avast loanword vocabulary kids
who play games in Russia
actually have. It’s mostly D&D
and RPG stuff – quest, mage,paladin, weapon names, and soon. The Russian language, ofcourse, has words for all of those
things, since we also have a
wealth of heroic myths fromfeudal times to match the
Arthurian canon of the Englishspeaking world. Just anotherexample of cultural dominance…”

Gaming fellowship
Imagine playing Japanese Mega Drive games like Bare Knuckle
and Contra in an arcade where you paid by the minute

Stuff of legend
There were few if any console
games developed locally, in stark
contrast to the home computers,on which most native gamedevelopers concentrated theirefforts. Home grown games often
worked with traditional Russianfolk lore and were very culturespecific, blending in references
and jokes that wouldn’t makemuch sense to a foreigner, so
these titles were never released
outside the country.
Like many countries aroundthe world, Russia has a rich arrayof legends and folk tales (manyderived from Slavic heritage andtradition) from which to draw
inspiration for its games. One
good example is KonekGorbunok, the tale around which
the aforementioned Pitfall clone
was built. The story contains
many exotic elements including
the daughter of the moon and abeached whale called ChewdoYoudo. There are lots of otherfine examples of local legends
being used in Russian games.

Russia’s cultural backgroundalso influences the language ofits games. The Russian word for
folktale is ‘skazka’ (meaning
simply ‘story’), while the word for
RPG is ‘Rpgeshka’, a fusion of thetwo. But even though Russians
have their own words for manysuch things, there is also a vastand borrowed vocabulary, muchas the Japanese have takenwords from other countries andmade them their own. Aleksei

What makes the history of
Russian gaming so exciting is notjust the freedom offered by thelack of a regulated market, oreven the fact that the Russians
simply picked and chose only thebest bits of international gaming
and made these their own – forus, it’s the atmosphere andalmost exotic nature of Russia’s
gaming scene. Getting toexperience games in the harshpolitical and economic climate of
the 1980s and 90s was
something out of the ordinary,

making everyone who took partfeel special. There was a genuine
feeling of camaraderie amongst
gamers.
The story of Russian gaming
also goes to show that ordinary
citizens in this part of the world
were interested in the exact samethings as ordinary people
elsewhere – the benefits ofcomputer technology and theinnate joy of gaming.
We’ve tasted just a small sliceof the Russian gaming pie here,
but hopefully we’ve sparked yourinterest in foreign gaming history.
Join us next month, when Retro
Gamer treks to another part of
the globe to uncover further
hidden retro truths. eSpecial thanks go to Sergei
Servianov (of www.gamersquarter.
com) for his invaluableassistance. Thanks also to Fabien
Delpierre and Aleksei Smimova
for additional help. If there is acountry that you would likeexamined, or you have aninteresting story to tell about anyother global gaming region, send
us an email to: globalgaming@
retrogamer.net.

Today, modern Russian-developed PC games such as Cossacks are being released in the West

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Page 82 >Sensible all-stars

Football games before the arrival of Kick
Off followed a loose, yet still restrictive,
set of rules. The action was viewed froman overhead or isometric perspective, thepace was generally slow and the ballpretty much always stuck to the player’sfoot. Kick Off changed all of that. What’smore, it also served as a magnet for
many to the 16-bit formats of the timeT

he Commodore
Amiga and Atari
ST wereundoubtedly big
jumps forwardfrom the 8-bit formats. Yet
progress came at a cost, andboth companies were expecting
users who had been shellingout £150 maximum for 8-bit
machines to stump up closer to£300-400. And given that it wasgames that primarily sold thelikes of the Spectrum and C64
to the masses, it was notablethat there were no must-havetitles on either format in theearly days.
Sure, there were somegames that looked jawdroppingly wonderful incomparison to the otherformats. Games such as Weird
Dreams, Rocket Ranger and“It looks rubbish!”, your mates would mock. But few would still criticise Kick Off after prolonged play

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When the relationship between
Anco and Dino Dini soured,neither managed anywhere
near the peaks of their glory
days again. Both the former’s
Kick Off 3 and the latter’s Goal!
were pale imitations of what
had gone before.
Instead, the mantle passed
to Sensible Software, whose
Sensible Soccer was to be thelast great overhead-perspective
football game. With both thisand the immense Sensible
World Of Soccer, Sensible
made a barefaced illegal
approach and snared Kick Off
players looking to take their
game forward, and lured awhole new legion of fans too. It
was no killer app, however,arriving at a time when theuserbase for both the ST and
the Amiga was substantial
anyway (although it no doubt
converted some). Yet had it
arrived a few years earlier, it
could well have been…

Shadow of the Beast all looked
the business in the allimportant shop windows. But
none of them had the longterm, mass market appeal thatwas going to be needed toshift boxes.
Enter stage left Dino Dini,
and an until-then unspectacular,
yet established, software house,Anco. Dini had put together afootball game that played
differently to everything else it
was up against. He realisedthat visually you could makecompromises, and that it was
the gameplay that would sell
the game – word of mouth, if
you will. The irony of course isthat over time, many companies
have fallen into the trap ofmaking games that were
earmarked as killer apps lookdevilishly wonderful, yet were

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>Little kicks

Following the success of the original Kick Off, sequels andspin-offs flooded forth

ultimately bereft of decent longterm gameplay. Kick Off simply
turned the formula on its head.

Super subWhen Kick Off arrived, thegaming press understandably
heaped pretty much every
accolade going onto it. Herewas the football game that
didn’t follow the hard and fastrules, that genuinely rewarded
practice, and that – crucially –in multi-player mode remains tothis day one of the mostdownright addictive pieces ofsoftware ever created.
The spectacular factor in
Kick Off’s success though was
the aforementioned word of
mouth. Anco wasn’t a big
company, and its advertisingbudget had limits. But such
was the impact of the gamethat it built its reputation
guerilla-style, and stayed in thebest-seller charts on apermanent basis until its sequelcame along.
Yet it had another effect.
Whilst clearly not singlehandedly responsible for the
16-bit boom, it’s hard to thinkof a game that added more
fuel to the tank than Kick Off.
Both the ST and the Amiga
formats were the ones to truly
benefit – the PC version neverreally topped the table in thesame way – and it wasn’t

uncommon to see bothmachines being sold at thesame time as Anco’s title.
The inevitable sequelarguably added to the impact,
mopping up still more users
who hadn’t at that stage
migrated to the 16-bit
platforms. Even the hybrid ofKick Off and a management
engine, Player Manager, sold by
the bucket load and made its
contribution. Yet strangely, on
every other format that the Kick
Off franchise reached, it failed
to light the touch paper inquite the same way. The 8-bit
versions fell because, frankly,
they were crap. The console
versions – Super Kick Off,anyone? – never found theirfoothold either. With Kick Off 2,
the franchise and its effect oncomputer sales peaked, andwhilst you could happily argue
that the Amiga and ST would
have succeeded without Dino
Dini, you could also happily
debate the fact that had it notbeen for Kick Off, it would have
all taken that little bit longer.

An underdog story
What makes Kick Off a rarecommodity in this series,
incidentally, is that it was anentirely unplanned killer app.
Last month, for instance, we
looked at Tetris, a title that
Nintendo battled through the“Such was the impact of the gamethat it built its reputation guerillastyle, and stayed in the best-seller
charts on a permanent basis until its
sequel came along”qAnco was clearly keen to cash inon the success of Kick Off, andthe first fruits of this were theExtra Time add-on pack and the
management hybrid Player
Manager. The former actually
added very little to the game, aformula that Anco followed foreach add-on pack it ultimately
released for its football games.
Player Manager, despite having a
relatively crude management gametacked on, actually worked very
well. But looking back, it was Kick
Off 2 that the franchise, thepublisher and Dino Dini himself
are best remembered for. Even
though a dedicated hardcore arestill vocal in their dislike for thegame, the overwhelming majority
lapped it right up and arguably
the sequel itself became a killer
app as well.
Sadly, over time Anco ran the
Kick Off franchise into the ground,with the low point being theembarrassing Kick Off 96, a gamethat was blatantly unplayable andregarded as one of the worst
football titles ever created. Dini
didn’t write the official Kick Off 3,
instead taking what was intended as the code for the game to
Virgin Interactive, who published it as Goal! Yet the magic wasgone, Goal! failed to bring back the Kick Off glory days, andSensible Soccer was left to clean up.
courts to get hold of as itappreciated its importance in thepossible success of the
GameBoy. And look at, forinstance, Halo on the Xbox, atitle that Microsoft pumped
millions into, because it ringfenced the title as its killer app
a long time before it made theshelf of your local gaming
emporium. The closest the 16-bit
formats got to anything of thatilk was when Gremlin offered
Commodore exclusivity on theZool character, with the intentionof putting him up against Sonicand Mario.
Kick Off, however, justhappened. It was a surprise, andworked so well precisely for thatreason. There was no cynicism,no big name tie-ins, no brandnames littered throughout thegame and barely a few print
adverts to support its launch.
And yet, in a victory for the
power of the consumer, it

83 q

Dino Dini – “the godfather of thefootball game” – is currently
working on an as-yet unnamed
football game for DC Studios

deservedly cleaned up in a way
you find hard to visualisehappening again in today’s
modern marketplace. That it
shifted a few machines in theprocess was simply a very
welcome side effect. e

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Page 84 games that weren’ t

In the first of aregular series offeatures, Frank
Gasking takes astroll through thegaming graveyard,
digging up titles
that were
supposedly lost
forever. But werethese games
worth grievingfor? Or were you
lucky to be sparedfrom them?

Flood 2

Bullfrog, 1992, ST/Amiga/PC/SNES/Mega driveWith groundbreaking speech
effects throughout, Flood proved
to be a huge hit on the ST/Amiga
back in 1990, and so it wasinevitable that a sequel would
follow. This time the main
character, Quiffy, would also makean appearance on 16-bit consoles.
Developed by ex-Ocean coder
Paul Hughes with graphics byMark R Jones, Flood 2 promised
more of the same, with amultitude of additional features.
Paul and Mark wanted to recreate
the feel and playability of classic
games they loved as teenagers.
The idea was to mix “great
graphics” with “old school”
playability. Games such as
Starquake, Dynamite Dan andWizards Lair were just some of
their many inspirations.
Designs emerged featuring
various pick-ups and intriguingideas such as ‘The Vacuum
Cleaner of Ole Ole Kumquat’,brought on by two cherubs who
would then suck you up anddeposit you on a higher level.
There was also a ‘pumpkin mask’that Quiffy would pick up and use
as a smart bomb, shouting “Boo!”at baddies and scaring them todeath. Even a bar of soap was toact as an invincibility pick-up,
covering Quiffy in soap bubbles
to make him unrecognizable toenemies. These were just few ofthe many crazy ideas planned.
Flood 2 started life on the ST,
showing off a decent pre-shift
scroll and loads of sprites runningaround. However, due to the“wonderful wisdom of themarketing”, it was decided that
the ST market was dying, so thegame was moved to the Amiga
and PC. In the end, developmentof all versions ceased when Pauland Mark refused to move inhouse to continue the project.
Development had been ongoingfor a full six months and yet theplug was pulled just days before
the contract was to be signed.
Paul created a few early test
demos which showed lots ofpromise, and described the gameby saying: “It was as playable as
any collect-em-up scrolling
platform game of the early 90s!”
ST and Amiga versions were fully
playable; PC almost playable andconsole versions were only inplanning stages.
Fortunately, all of Mark’s
design sketches survived, and canbe found on this month’s
coverdisc. Paul will be digging
out what remains of the demo
very soon, so who knows, maybe
you will be able to see thispromising sequel for yourself?

q

Much of Flood II was designed on paper,
including character designs and level layouts

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Scooby Dooin the Castle
MysteryMoto-X
Software Creations, 1994, SNES

Elite, 1986, Spectrum/Amstrad/C64
Dragon’s Lair was a technicalmarvel in the 80s with its
impressive (albeit, slightly
unplayable) Laserdisc technology.
Elite jumped on the bandwagon
with its licence of the popularHanna Barbera cartoon.
Originally beginning as a text
adventure, Scooby Doo grew toinclude extra features,transforming itself into an 8-bit
laserdisc-style game. The gamewas set around Shaggy’s aunt’s
castle, with all sorts of ghostly
goings on. All the popularcharacters were present, with their
job to try and solve mysterious occurrences at the castle.
Various adverts and previews were shown in magazines, depicting
a very impressive game. It was unlike anything seen before on any
8-bit. You were invited to direct the action yourself, and not be
restricted as in other games.
The game would feature eight action sequences, separated bydescriptive scenes where the main characters would interact. Action
sequences focused on Scooby and Shaggy searching the castle
through different viewpoints. The breakaway to descriptive scenes
would give hints and tips to aid your mystery solving. All soundeffects were synchronised with the action, creating the perfect illusionof watching an interactive cartoon. Each new game would present
new problems and obstacles, creating a fresh experience each time.
It was never going to be easy trying to cram this game into thelimited memory. Accurate animations and scenes were created, andthe poor programmers had the hefty (and eventually impossible) taskof squeezing it all in.
Elite’s Steve Wilcox told us: “My brother Richard, Andy Williams
and Jon Harrison actually developed a significant amount of Scooby
Doo and what they did was breathtaking for the time – it was like a
succession of interactive cutscenes, if that’s not a contraction interms. Sadly, as with many a grand plan, they found that they’d
devoted so many resources to the creation of the first few scenes that
it would have been a very, very short game. At this point, withpressure on us from Hanna Barbera to deliver the game, Gargoyle
Games was brought in on the act and it quickly created the gamethat was eventually released.”
Sadly, Gargoyle’s Scooby Doo was a simple platform affair. All thatnow exists of the original concept are a few scans that appeared in a
Crash magazine preview and a full page teaser advert.

As you’ll soon discover, there aremany times when games were fullycompleted, but strangely neverallowed out of the doors. Moto-X
was one such casualty that wascompleted and then surprisingly
trashed! Often you’d expect this to happen when a game is particularly
poor, but as far as can be seen, there doesn’t seem to be too muchwrong here…
Moto-X was developed for Nintendo by Software Creations’ Steve
Ruddy (of Bubble Bobble C64 fame), with a hand from the Pickford
brothers. The development process lasted over a period of eight months
and was one of the first titles developed by Steve at the new US-based
Software Creations studio.
The game is best described as an update of Nintendo’s Excitebike on
the NES and was actually the second incarnation of the game. An earlier
version was canned back in 1992/93, which was to be a mix ofExcitebike and Powerdrift (an interesting combination). Steve used someof the older game’s routines to create a much-improved title, and withthe gameplay more focused.
According to Steve, Moto-X (although playable) lacked depth. The
game was made up of three skill levels, each of which had fivedifferent tracks and a bonus level to get through. The shortage of depth
was down to the distinct lack of variety between the levels. As the
SNES was home to such fine titles as Super Mario Kart and Donkey
Kong Country, Moto-X was distinctively unimpressive. However, things
were improved with some superb heavy metal tunes by audio masters
Tim and Geoff Follin.
So with a fully complete game and full approval by Nintendo, thegame was ready to go; but the publishers weren’t so keen. TrimarkInteractive suddenly caught cold feet in the console games market,
deciding that ‘interactive movie’ games were the future. Its interest driftedaway from consoles and the game’s release was cancelled as a result.
Steve still has the game on a prototype cartridge, but cannot release
it due to legal ties with Nintendo. However, you can check out some
exclusive video of the game on this month’s coverdisc (thanks to Steve)to see what you are all missing…

Lunar Jetman
In last month’s magazine,Frank lifted the lid on the C64
version of Lunar Jetman, agame that no-one knew
existed until it was found in
Martin Galway’s disk
collection. To see this long
lost preview in action, be sure
to view the video footage on
this month’s coverdisc.

Scooby Doo in the Castle Mystery – “The first evercomputer cartoon!” – was sadly not to be

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Page 86

Per Arne Sandvik continues his trek through the weird and wonderful, stopping off
this month to consider the product plugs that have crept into games over the years

Product placement isa funny thing. Not‘ha-ha’ funny, butmore a ‘that’s
mildly intriguing’
funny. On one hand, having logos
and products crammed into theframe while you’re trying to enjoy
a film can really be distracting.
On the other, real brands givestories an elevated sense ofrealism as opposed to makebelieve ones like Mr. Triceps or
Before Nine Mints.
Product placement in film andtelevision has received a lot of
attention from the media andacademics, but when it comes tovideo games, talk has beensomewhat limited up until
recently. This despite the factthat brand plugs in games is an

This game is brought to you by the following
tried and trusted sponsors…

q

exponentially growing
phenomenon. Titles like Tony
Hawk, True Crime: Streets of LA,
The Sims Online and Splinter Cell
include a plethora of
trademarked products, and it will
not stop there.
But this is no new thing as
retro gamers have been exposed
to product endorsements foryears, with just about every
sports game containing
advertisements for other titles
from the developer or consumer
products. Maniac Mansion isclaimed to be the first game towalk this route, featuring thePepsi Cola brand (it was
originally Coke, but thetrademark couldn’t be cleared intime). In Teenage Mutant Ninja
Turtles II, evil foot soldiers tried
to squash you into turtle stew
with giant Pizza Hut billboards(in the US, the cartridge evencame with a coupon for a
personalised pan pizza). Gremlin’s
Zool, meanwhile, was famously
sponsored by Chupa Chups,
while the UK versions of James
Pond II: Robocod opened with ablatant Penguin commercial. And
who could forget the ice coldbottles of Bud you slid down thebar in the original version of
Midway’s Tapper?

86 q>Clumsy Colin
One of the first software
publishers to jump under thecovers with a convenience food
manufacturer was Mastertronic,
whose Action Biker gamefeatured Clumsy Colin, cartoon
star of the KP Skips
commercials. However, Action
Biker was a generic racing
game which lazily had the KP
branding added later. Of
course, the fact that Action
Biker would be on sale innewsagents and garage
forecourts alongside KP’s crispy
corn fried snack certainly didn’t
affect sales of the game…

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REGULAR | STRANGE GAMESThe European version of Biker Mice from Mars
was overloaded with Snickers branding

Squirrel turd
Few games have exceeded theEuropean version of Biker Micefrom Mars when it comes toviolently hammering a brand into
young minds. The somewhat
decent SNES racer, based on the
cartoon that tried oh so hard tobe the next Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles, had Snickers bars
everywhere. In fact, ‘everywhere’
doesn’t quite cover it. Theremight quite possibly be ahigher percentage of Snickers inthis game than there is in a
Snickers bar.
First of all, there are billboards
and banners promoting the
chocolate wherever you turn yourmotorcycle, hovercraft or
roadworthy mutant insect,including the outer space track
and the one in the sewer.
Secondly, Snickers replace thenitro power-up of the original
version of the game. Thirdly, Last
Chance, the bike shop run by Not
April O’Neill (she has a blue
jumpsuit instead of a yellow one,so she’s obviously a completely
different character) offers Snickers
bars (at $2,500 a pop) instead ofarmour plating. How chocolate
and peanuts can replace sheetsof steel to defend you against
crazy space rays is hard tounderstand, but this game takes
place in a world only intelligible
to Douglas Adams, and he’sdead. Fourthly, the winner of eachrace stands up, candy bar in
hand, and declares that “Evenwinners need something tosatisfy their hunger.” In one
particularly bizarre example,
doctor Karbunkle menacingly
displays a syringe filled with
dubious content in his other fist.
Exactly what kind of hunger are
we talking about here, doctor?
Curiously, Snickers is
produced by the same
corporation that provides us with
Mars bars. One has to wonder
which member of their marketing
department decided Snickers was
the one to be featured in Biker
Mice from Mars.

Super-size me
Games featuring products is one
thing. Games forged around a
product is another altogether.
Unsurprisingly, practically every
example of this phenomenon
revolves around consumableproducts. After all, food and drink
has been a central element since
the dawn of video gaming. PacMan was about eating, and savethe occasional coins and crystals,
fruits have been the central pickup elements in games. Too weak
to break bricks? Eat a mushroom.
Low on lives? Collect a hundredbananas. About to collapse afterfighting off hordes of mohawked
street punks? Smash an oil drum
open and eat the hamburger that
falls out. If it’s good enough formayor Haggar, it’s good enoughfor you.
You’ve probably played someof the games that fall into the‘advertisement disguised as aplatformer’ category. Cool Spotwas released for 16-bit machines
and is nothing but one big 7UP
commercial. Spot himself is either
a part of the logo, or a bottle
cap, or both. In addition, there
are at least three McDonald’s
games, and in at least one ofthem Ronald himself embarks ona wacky adventure instead ofsending a couple of kids to put
their lives on the line like heusually does. There were also
titles based on the mascots from
Wimpy, Domino’s Pizzas, California
Raisins and Kool-Aid. And thesearen’t the only games createdsolely to promote a brand.

Want mayo on that?
What’s a bit surprising is thatmost examples in this category
are pretty decent games, if a bit
conventional. ‘Conventional’ ishowever not a word you’d want
to use when it comes to
Motokochan No Wonder Kitchen
for the SNES. Most productcentred games try to at least
throw a flimsy storyline into themix. Ronald McDonald is out tosearch for treasure and Cool Spot
has to rescue his friends who
were all kidnapped for noreason. Not the case in Wonder
Kitchen. This game is about
eating mayonnaise, period.
Ajinomoto mayonnaise, that is.
Accept no substitutes.
Well, the game isn’t only
about eating mayonnaise. First,
you have to read grocery lists
and find the ingredients needed
to cook the dishes required tofinish the game. This is one of
the few games to support the
SNES mouse, so you collect these

Cool Spot was released to promote 7UP, yet the soda branding wasstrangely missing from the European version of the game (right)

q

87 q

ingredients by clicking around on
the screen until you’ve foundthem all. Perhaps there’s a headof cabbage in one of the cannons
on the pirate ship? Perhaps amerry group of leprechauns will
pop out of the fridge and dancea merry leprechaun dance before
turning into potatoes? Clickaround and you’ll find out.
When you’ve collected
everything you need, you travel
to a magical island where you’ll
find a kitchen. Here, yourobjective is to combine theingredients in the right order (aprocess made somewhat
complicated by the JapaneseEnglish language barrier) to
make a delicious meal such as
fish-filled tomatoes withmayonnaise, pineapple fruit
salad with mayonnaise orvegetable omelette withmayonnaise. The latter dish evenopens a mini-game where you
can tap into your creative side.
Unwrap your bottle of Ajinomoto
mayonnaise and hum along to
the following fanfare, and thenproceed to decorate youromelette with a smiley face, atwirl, a yolky rendition of daVinci’s The Last Supper, or
whatever you see fit.
The mayo madness doesn’tstop there, however. Between
meals you are treated to facts
about the product, such as how
mayonnaise originated in France(a story which inexplicably
involves hats), how Ajinomoto is
the leading brand in its area, or
how the combination ofingredients in mayonnaise cancure you if you have a viral
infection. For reasons unknown,
the vira from Dr. Mario make acameo in this last presentation.
So, is this sort ofadvertisement something to beshunned or embraced? Probably
a bit of both. The Dole logos inSuper Monkey Ball don’t make ita lesser game, and in many
‘real-world’ games like Grand
Theft Auto, actual products caninfuse the world with a genuine
metropolitan feel. There are
however some areas where mostof us would like to be sparedfrom this sort of exposure, but
the titles where it really counts
are relatively safe. After all, thedevil will be investing in double
insulation before a major fastfood chain opens shop on
Zebes or in Hyrule. McMoblin
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Page 90 

Retro
All the latest news fromthe retro scene, brought
to you by the Retro
Gamer news hounds

Pac-Man enters
the Dragon
Still in the early development
stages, Colin atwww.collywobbles.net isdeveloping a Pac-Man clone
called Wobman for the Dragon 32
with the added possibility of it
also being compatible with theTandy CoCo II.
The title will be displayed inmonochrome as it will use themachine’s high resolution mode,
but despite this hiccup, it’sotherwise shaping up very nicely
and looks very close to theoriginal pill-popping hit. The kindfolk at Cronosoft are considering
releasing the game once finished,
and are also putting the finishing
touches to the CPC game Iron
Sphere, which will also appear on
the Spectrum. Iron Sphere, by SJM
Remakes, is a traditional 2D
puzzler and will feature some solid
visuals and addictive gameplay.
Another interesting

Scene
memory available. From what
we’ve seen it’s certainly looking
good. For more information about
these and other new games for
old formats, hop along towww.cronosoft.co.uk.

information, visit
www.armory.com/~spectre/cwi
where you can also find out
about other Computer Workshop
software.

Jaguar homebrew
Retro anime

Iron Sphere is just one of several
releases due out shortly fromthe Cronosoft campdevelopment for the CPC from the
Cronosoft camp is a port of Fun
Park. Originally written for the
16Kb Speccy, the CPC version is
expected to include additionalfeatures thanks to the extra

It may be monochrome, but the Dragon’s version
of Pac-Man is shaping up very well indeed

Cameron Kaiser, of Computer
Workshop, is currently working on
a new title called Geotrope for
the Commodore 64. The game
will be a first person adventure
influenced by popular anime
flicks, and will feature many
puzzles mixed in with impressive
cutscenes and animation. It might
not look like the bee’s knees atfirst glance, but the graphics
engine is one of the mostadvanced a C64 can handle
without any extra expansions oradditional power.
The game will be available asshareware for emulators, with anadditional small cost for the real
media version. For more

Not to miss out on homebrew
development, fans of Atari’s
pseudo 64-bit beast will soon beable to enjoy a great port of theclassic Snakes. Announced on
www.atariage.com, Lars Hennig is
working at full pelt to finish thisgame, called JagWorm, but is also
asking enthusiasts to help withthe project. If you are interested
in finding out more about thispromising title, or you can offer
help in its development, headover to www.starcatdev.de/jagworm/info.html.
In addition, there is anothergood-looking game for the Jaguar
currently pending completion.
Based on the popular board
game, Reversi is a logical strategy
game in which the player ispitted against the computer totake control of the board by
capturing a line of the opponent’s
colour. When there is no more
space left on the board, theplayer who has the most of theircolour left is the winner. For more

Considering the Commodore 64 is running at a basic
1Mhz, these visuals are very impressive

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Commodore on tour

Classic gaming comes to the
Atari Jaguar, thanks to the evergrowing homebrew scene
information visit http://home.
t-online.de/home/Matthias.Domin/jaguar_reversi.htm.

C64 innovators Protovision wowed everyone with the UK launch ofboth Tanks 3000 and Metal Dust at the Commodore Scene ‘gettogether’ 2005, which was held on the 19th and 20th of March. Tanks
3000 drew particular attention, as it allows up to four people to play
simultaneously (thanks to Protovision’s own special multiplayer
adapter). For those of you who have missed news about this title, it’splayed across 10 different battlefields with six power-ups to collectand dangerous mines to avoid. It will be readily available fromwww.protovision-online.com by the time you read this.
As the game was demonstrated, it was suggested to C16
enthusiast Chris Snowden (of www.commodore16.com) that
Protovision’s four-player adapter may be compatible with the C16/+4,
and if so, such software could then be created (or even ported) tothis under-rated Commodore platform. Something might well be in
the pipeline, so watch this space!
Also at the meeting, Jason Kelk launched and demonstrated manyof his own games and other productions by Cosine Designs, including
Astro Nell (VIC-20), Reaxion (Plus/4) and Lunar Blitz (VIC-20 and C16).
Reaxion and Astro Nell were particular highlights of the day –especially the latter, which stunned everyone by running in just theunexpanded 3.5Kb memory of the VIC-20. Jason went on todemonstrate some of his unfinished work from years gone by, andhad the latest version of Pinball Dreams for the C64 to hand(currently being ported by the guys at http://interstyles.nl). All went
down well with the attendees, who were all hungry to see more newsoftware for Commodore machines.
For those keen to see more Commodore developments, there isanother Commodore Scene meeting planned for later in the year. Thisis likely to happen between mid-June and early-July. The plan for the
next event is to have one day as a dedicated programming workshop
across all Commodore platforms in addition to the usual gamelaunches and chat (don’t forget the booze!) If you are interested inattending, please contact commodorescene@btopenworld.com, or see
www.commodorescene.org.uk.

The game will be based on
the MSX version of the scrapper,
but will feature graphics takenfrom the NES incarnation. The
32Kb ColecoVision release will
come boxed, complete with smart
looking manual.
To find out more about thisexciting release, visit
www.opcodegames.com, or check
eBay for the first official sale of
http://cgi.ebay.com/
the game (hws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=
8177834595).

Yie Ar CV
If you’re a ColecoVision fan andare looking for some hardcore
kung-fu action, then your boat
may well and truly be in. Eduardo
Mello of Opcode Games (whopreviously published Space
Invaders Collection and Sky
Jaguar for the ColecoVision) has
announced that the latest title toemerge from his classics stable isnone other than Yie Ar Kung Fu,
the excellent forerunner to hits
such as International Karate andStreet Fighter.

Tanks 3000 wowed punters at the recent
Commodore Scene meeting

Relive the classic martial arts fight fest on the ColecoVision

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Page 92 >Screenplay

2005

Paul Drury provides a behind-the-scenes
look at the recent Screenplay festival, held
in Nottingham over two days in February

yapping toy dogs and crawling
through a cardboard box
labyrinth in search of the egg
boxes which would add up to
my final score.
The whole thing played out
as an affectionate tribute tovideogame cliches and children’s
TV – being confronted by agrinning Tony Hart asking if I
had any ‘art’ for his gallery
before he would let me lookdown his U-bend is an image
that I will take to the grave –but set in an environment ofdark hallways, stark whitewalls and hidden passages
behind drapes, which wasoddly unsettling.

Game onI

can hear the
bear’s muted roarecho ominously
along the corridor,
so I cast aside theremote control car I’ve been
vainly using to try and collect
golden egg boxes and stumble
towards the final exit. Naturally,
my way is blocked by a dancing
nine-foot high joystick. There’s ahorrible panic, as I desperately
fumble in my pack for the one
thing that can save me – acopy of Daley Thompson’s
Decathlon, a game guaranteed todestroy joysticks of any size. I
brandish it triumphantly, like avampire-slaying priest with hissilver cross. The peripheral wilts
and I’m free to escape from
Reactor Towers…
All this would have beenpretty leftfield for a videogame,
but as a live action experience, it
explores new depths ofsurrealism. Ghouls and GHAOS
was staged by art collective
Reactor as part of this year’s
Screenplay festival and involved
the player being greeted as‘Linksy’ by their guide, ‘Spickle’– a self proclaimed hologram,
wrapped in silver foil, wearing a
Robin Hood hat and holding alarge cardboard recreation ofProfessor Yaffle from Bagpuss.
After donning a cumbersome
cardboard and cellophane
helmet, I was led through thestreets to a disused building anddeposited in a maze of rooms
and corridors, containing various
challenges, from spud gun
fights, bursting balloons on myback whilst surrounded byq

Funny, unique and physicallyexhausting, the 45 minute ‘game’
fitted in comfortably with afestival that prides itself on

Let ‘Spickle’ take you by thehand and lead you through thestreets on Nottingham
celebrating game culture in all its
diverse guises. Now in its fifth
year, the Nottingham based
event, held over the last weekend
in February at the city’s Broadway
Cinema, certainly has much thatis ‘now’. The first European
Machinima screening (films
created using game engines)featured Voldo from Soul Calibur
dancing to Nelly’s ‘Hot In Herre’and philosophising Master Chiefs.
The cinema hosted a big screen
games tournament with the likes
of Burnout 3 and Halo 2,
masterfully compered by TV

Stay off the sidewalk – there’s a game of Pavement Pong in progress…

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Shoot-em-ups were available
to play on a variety ofclassic machinespresenters Darren and Jamie from
Gamezville (who’ll you’ll bedisappointed to know werecharming, approachable andactually really into games).
Elsewhere, you could join in
debates on topics as varied as‘Gender and Game Culture’ to‘The Soundtrack to your Game’,
where Suddi Raval, a veteran ofgame audio, explained in graphic
detail how he creates bulletsound effects by beating slabs ofmeat with a hammer. The
squeamish might have preferred
to listen to presentations from adesigner of innovative MMORPG‘Second Life’, hear about the ‘Ere
Be Dragons’ project which utilises
your heart rate rather than a
joypad, or just marvel at musicalbattling GameBoys at the opening
club night, ‘Attract Mode’.
But a festival that recognises
gaming is evolving also knows
where it came from, and theretro content was considerable.
Perhaps most visible was the‘Pavement Pong’ projection,

created by Chris Evanswww.wewilldestroyyou.com),(w
whose previous projects haveincluded both a live action
version of Space Invaders andsecretly filming players’ facial
contortions as they battle on
Taito’s classic. Here, willing
participants could play the
daddy of videogames bycontrolling the bats with theirfeet, though the movement
detection set-up worked best if
you were wearing white socks.
As Nottingham is a fashionconscious city, many resorted to
strapping white plastic bags overtheir shoes and dancing up anddown into the early hours, whichcaused many passing drunks tostare quizzically at their cans ofSpecial Brew.
‘Endless Fire’ was just as
enlightening, as visual artist Tom
Betts traced the evolution of theshoot-em-up, cleverly highlighting
how the genre has retained its
core simplicity, whilst embracing
gameplay innovation and visualexperimentation. Upstairs, anexhibition of shoot-em-ups, from
Jetpac and Uridium, through toThunderforce IV and Tempest
2000, right up to Rez, Ikaruga
and Gradius V, reminded all why
the genre has been so enduring.
Between blasting, you could
admire the marvellous ‘Capcom
Cross-Stitch’, a display of Street
Fighter characters rendered in
intricate needlework. Retro Gamerhopes to find out more about thisremarkable fusing of old and newcrafts and the artist behind it,
Faye Lampshire, in a future issue.
Gamers could continue toenjoy some old school delights
in the retro arcade housed in theHigh score hero Gary Whelan attempts to top his Galaxian world recordq

REGULAR | RETRO SCENEPaul Drury in conversation with guest of honour, Mr Matthew Smithfoyer of the cinema. Three MAME
cabs hosting forty games apiece
kept everyone happy, and thanks
to the persuasive powers of thedashing Jonathan Thompson of
www.retroarcade.co.uk, atabletop machine now has apermanent home in the
Broadway’s bar (hurrah!), but thehighlights were a Defender cab
on freeplay and a Star Wars
cockpit, a poignant reminder of
why 31 million with just six
shields is, like, really good (see‘High Score’ article this issue).
No world record on Star Wars
then, but the arcade did welcome
Galaxian world champion Gary
Whelan. He didn’t break his own
record, though it was still a joy
to witness his showboating,which topped 100,000 on his firstattempt. And he was being
mercilessly heckled throughout
for blaming the joystick – it’s apoor workman…

Mr Smith
It wasn’t all about playing mind.
The game-making workshops
were equally inspiring, as kids
queued up to take their firsttentative steps into game design.
I couldn’t help getting dewyeyed, wondering whether afuture genius might be in theroom, only to notice Matthew
Smith seeing if he could bag aplace. Maybe that Spectrum
game he’s working on will get
finished after all.
Ah, Matthew Smith.
Throughout the weekend, he wasconstantly being thanked bypeople, grateful for theirchildhood games of Jet Set
Willy, a few blaming him for
failing their O-Levels and some,

93 q

racked with timeless guilt, evenattempted to pay him the 30p
royalty they cheated him out ofby playing a pirated copy.
Matthew too got all emotional
when he was asked to sign
the Broadway’s ‘Wall of Fame’
and was immortalised next toone of his all-time heroes –Norman Wisdom.
I’m fully aware of themoratorium on talk of all things
Matthew in these pages, so I’ll
keep it brief (the full interview we
conducted has been transcribedby www.redkeyreddoor.com andshould be archived atwww.screenplay.org.uk). Trivia
fans may be interested to know
this was the first time he had
actually seen the end of JSW – itwas shown on the cinema screen
as he spoke – and the fish andsword that appear on completionof Manic Miner was his attempt
to create ‘a little gaming folklore’,
hence the religious imagery. Oh,
and fans of ‘Hello’ magazine
might want to know he is an
impeccable house guest and evenbought my kids some sweets. Ok,
they had pictures of marijuanaleaves on them, but even so…
The Sunday evening
concluded with the hardest
games quiz ever (a ‘Spot theBall’ question on Pong istough…), DJs Vastik Root andBury and Disinter spinninggame-inspired electronica, andexcited talk of next year, but as I
left the cinema, snow was fallingon the Pavement Pong projection
outside, each flake became
beautifully pixelated, and it was
all about the moment. e
Special thanks to Jon Jordan andChris Evans for the photos.

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1UP

HIGH SCORE

THE STORIES BEHIND THE SCORESAs Star Wars fever builds in the run-up to Episode III, Paul
Drury speaks to David Palmer, holder of the all-time high score
on Atari’s original Star Wars coin-opN

ow let’s be clear
about this. A Star
Wars score of
31,660,614 is goingto turn heads. After
five hours of destroying countless
Death Stars, David Palmer
achieved this mammoth points
haul back on July 31st 1986 aspart of a Twin Galaxies
Tournament, which had the added
frisson of any world records
being entered into the Guinness
Book. Hugely impressive – andthen you realise the score wasmade under ‘tournament’ settings,
which means no bonus shield
after each successful trench
assault – just those six shields
you start with. And that’s it.
It’s been described as one of
the top ten arcade performances
ever, but David remains quietly
modest. “Well, it’s certainly
generated more talk than any
other, I guess. There’s been a lotof controversy, because for awhile it wasn’t recognised as the
top score for Tournament setting
on Twin Galaxies Scoreboard, assome people were telling Walter
Day [the ‘Scorelord’ at TG] it

q

94 q

Star Wars record holder David
Palmer. When he’s not playing
Star Wars he likes to bullseye
womp rats in his T-16
wasn’t possible and must havebeen on an incorrect setting.
Often guys who can’t get a score
say it’s impossible, but that’s
only because they can’t get it.
“But things were verified in
the end. Walter contacted me ayear ago and we sorted it out.
It’s funny, because I neverthought I’d be getting so muchrecognition 20 years later. Until I
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Phase 1 – TIE Fighter dogfightPhase 2 – Death Star
surface attack

Phase 3 – Death Star trench run

interest, and the controversy
swirling around my Star Wars
record, I thought everyone had
forgotten about the Guinness
Book scores, and that I’d neveragain hear anything about them.”
The doubt over the validity ofthe score seems odd, as it wasachieved at an official
tournament with recognised
witnesses, and David wascertainly not a stranger to these
events.
“I played Star Wars in thetournaments of three years. In
the first in 1984, I failed, in that I

didn’t get the high score. Part of
the reason for this was that I
had to drive four hours to get to
the nearest participating arcade,and was tired when I got there
and had less than one day toplay [NB: the tournament washeld over a three-day period].
Fortunately, in the next two
years, there were local arcades
participating around 30 miles
away from my home – The Game
Room in 1985 and Bally’s
Aladdin’s Castle in 1986, both in
the Sacramento, California area.
In the 1985 tournament, I got thehigh score for Star Wars of 15
million, and the next year I got
31 million.
“Did I expect to beat my own
record? Well, yeah, but I was
surprised how far I got. My basic
goal was to beat my previous
year’s score by a few million,
maybe getting something over 20
million. Based on the practicescores I was getting, where I
would play till I took one hit,
then extrapolate to what I
thought I could get on six
shields, I was only expecting to
get into the 20 million bracket.
So I definitely excelled myselfthat day, although I figure thatan even higher score is possible.
With enough practice, andenough rolls of the dice, I
figure I might have eventually
hit 40 or even 50 million with six
shields. However, I also thinkthat is probably about thelimit to what is possible – oncein a while, taking a hit in the‘trench’ sequence appears to
be unavoidable.”dollars. It wasn’t cheap. I
probably spent $300 on Star
Wars. And that’s in quarters.”
There’s certainly no substitutefor time and money, but David
did produce a strategy guide forStar Wars, which sadly never got
printed. However, one guide that
did make it to print was for the
UK’s favourite retro game, as
voted for by you…
“There was this contest in
the States on a British computer
game called Elite to see who
could make it to ‘elite’ status
first. I won it, so they asked me
to do a strategy guide, which
got published by thisPennsylvanian company called
Cheatsheet Products. It soldabout 2,000 copies, mainly here
in the States, I think. Hey, I’ll
send you a copy…”
And we at Retro Gamer will
share it, we assure him. David’s
love of Elite fits in logically withhis preferred genre of game –which explains why during the1985 tournament he also notchedup high scores on Empire Strikes
Back, Battlezone, Firefox, Red
Baron and Star Rider.
“My speciality is first-person
games – games that put yourperspective in the driver’s seat or
cockpit, rather than the more

>What a pieceof junkIf David Palmer wants a Star
Wars machine for his homethen he’s going to have to
pay for the privilege. The
original sit-down model isgenerally thought to be worth
between £1,500 and £2,000,
although we’ve spoken to acollector who sold one for anamazing £5,500! The stand-up
model is less desirable, butwill still set you back the best
part of £1,000. Of course, now
is obviously not the time tobuy anything Star Wars
related, with prices driven up
by the current popularity ofthe series. Wait until the
Episode III excitement abates
and prices will soon be backdown to normal.

common arrangement invideogames where you’re looking
down at your player. I’minterested in simulations, and in
the sort of skills that are
involved in driving or piloting
real-world vehicles, whether it’srace cars or tanks or jet fightersor whatever.”And he does think his Star
Wars skills, despite ruling for two
decades, will soon be matched.
“There is currently a guy wholives just 100 miles from where I
live now – Brandon Erickson ofPortland, Oregon – who is trying
to beat my six shield high score.
And I definitely think that he has
the ability to do it. He has a highscore of over 20 million on six
shields, and the highest scorehe’s gotten before taking a first
hit is 13 million, which is actuallyhigher than I ever did. So now
I’m thinking I may have to getback in practice in order todefend my title! I haven’t played
it in almost 20 years, but figure I
could get back in shape with afew months of play.
Unfortunately, there’s no local
Star Wars machine I can play inan arcade, so I am consideringbuying one for my home, if I canfind a deal that’s affordable.”
We wonder if he did get amachine at home, would he everattempt to regain the overall Star
Wars world record on factory
setting – which awards bonus
shields – held by Robert
Mruczek, which currently stands
at just over 300 million?
“Well, I can play thatindefinitely, but my top score is
155 million, when I just quit. I’m
not the best at Marathon games.
After 20 hours, I’m wasted.” e

Use the Force?
Whilst Star Wars has no obvious
tricks or cheats, and using the‘Force’ is not really relevant in
tournament setting, can he passon any tips to aspiring players?
“Yeah, three – practice,practice, practice. When I wastrying to master a videogame, I’dspend hundreds and hundreds ofqDavid Palmer tops Twin Galaxies’ Star Wars tournament top 10,
although Brandon Erickson is closing in fast

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Imagine this for a second. Boxes and boxes of brand new 8-bit games, shrink-wrapped
and ready for sale, still in storage since the mid-80s. Imagine being invited to view
these boxes, and to open them up for the first time in 20 years to see what pristinegames were packed inside. Imagine it? We were there!

L

ike a lot of articles
that appear in Retro
Gamer, this one
began with a
speculative email.
When compiling last month’s Retro
Auction Watch, Richard Burton
emailed the seller of an incrediblylarge retro lot. Remember the one?
50,000 games in a single auction,(although the figure was actuallycloser to 70,000)? Well, it turned
out that the seller was Mike
Fairhurst of www.ukretro.co.uk –visitors to last summer’s Classic
Gaming Expo UK may remember
the UK Retro stall in the foyer ofFairfield Hall. More importantly,
Mike revealed that he had an
additional 150,000 new retro
games in storage! Best of all,many of the boxes were stillsealed. Mike himself had no idea
what was in these boxes, so when
he invited us to have a root
through them, we jumped at thethis chance.
You’ll be thinking the samething as us by this point. How did
Mike acquire this mammoth retro
stash? Simply really – he bought itin an eBay auction two years ago.
The original seller needed to shift
over a quarter of a million games

Our first glance inside the container. The stock on the left and right had beensorted, but the boxes at the back hadn’t been touched until we arrivedqfrom a warehouse in Morecambe,
and Mike was the lucky bidder.
Obviously this was not a hugecollection of individual games – it
was unsold stock from thebooming 8-bit days. Boxes werebranded with the publishers’
names – Ocean, Software Projects,

Mastertronic and the like – andeach box would contain 100s ofcopies of the same game. So in a
Software Projects box there might
be 200 shrink-wrapped copies of
Jet Set Willy for the Spectrum. In a
Mastertronic box there might be
500 copies of Kikstart for the
Commodore 64, still sealed intheir blister packs.
Mike hired a seven tonne truck
to pick up the stock from
Morecambe and bring it back to
his North Wales base. It took two

UK Retro’s Mike Fairhurst, seen here with just a small
portion of his immense retro gaming stockpile

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A vast collection of Atari 2600 PAL cartridge games. All of the titles
were still shrink-wrappedjourneys and still there wasn’t
enough room to pack in all thegames – he had to leave 5,000
games in the car park outside thewarehouse! But then what
difference does 5,000 make when
you’ve got over 250,000, right?
The stock was packed into a
series of lock-up containers andhe’s been chipping away at it eversince, selling individual games on
his UK Retro site and shiftinglarger quantities on eBay. Half ofthe stock has now gone, butthere’s still 150,000 games looking
for a good home. And as we
mentioned, it was anyone’s guess
as to what titles remained…

Opening the vault
This article’s title may be a little
overdramatic, but it really was aventure into the unknown. Mike
opened the container door andsunlight flooded in, revealing a

FEATURE:PROFILE | TOMB RAIDER

wall of boxes packed from thewooden floor to the metal roof.
Dust hung heavy in the air and a
few cobwebs had to be brushedaside as we entered.
The boxes were stacked eightfoot high by eight foot wide, andMike guessed that the back wallof the container was a good 20
foot away. That’s over 1,200 cubicfeet of preserved retro goodness!
Camera in hand, we took a few
snaps of the undisturbed scene
before getting stuck in. One byone, the boxes were carried out of
the container and carefully
opened. The first batch of boxes
contained PAL Atari 2600 games –titles like Centipede, Defender andMissile Command. Cartridge games
were in the minority though, as
the next 100 or so boxes all
contained 8-bit tape games. There
was lots of unsold Software
Projects stock – Manic Miner and
Jet Set Willy on a huge variety offormats – and many Oceanbranded boxes, containing games
like Hunchback II for the C64 and
The Great Escape for theSpectrum. Melbourne House titles
were popular too, with boxes of
The Lord of the Rings adventure
game (with the bundled paperback
book, of course) and War in
Middle Earth.
However, the most popular
publisher in evidence was
Mastertronic. Many boxes were
blazoned with the memorable
Mastertronic logo (and the rather
ironic strap line, “The Fastest
Moving Software”), and they
contained 1,000s of budget
titles, many still in their blister
packs and some even with Toys
R’ Us barcodes attached.
Mastertronic’s decision to support
the MSX in the UK looked like an
expensive mistake, as there were

Boxes of Melbourne House’s
Tolkien games, all for the
Amstrad CPC
piles and piles of unsold stock
for the format.
While there were many
Mastertronic games, just about
every other 8-bit publisher was
represented. There were titles from
Atari, Imagine, Elite, Bug-Byte, US
Gold, A&F Software, New
Generation Software, Virgin
Software, Firebird and many, many
more. There were some 16-bit
titles too, with games for theAmiga, Atari ST and PC. It really
was like an Aladdin’s cave, andbecause you often didn’t knowwhat was inside each box,
opening the 101st box was just as
exciting as opening the very first.

Buried treasure
The afternoon whizzed past andwe eventually had as stop due topoor light. The rear of the

Software Projects’ boxes overflowing with copies of Jet Set Willy 2 for the MSX and Dragon’s Lair for the Spectrum

q

97 q

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While 95% of the stock was for 8-bit machines, there
were a few boxes packed with 16-bit titles
container was now visible, butthere were many boxes still
stacked up on the right-hand side.
It then dawned on use that we’d
only opened perhaps half of theboxes. What other treasures were
yet to be discovered? Mike
remembers boxes full of Ultimate
software when he originallyloaded the lorry, including one
with copies of Cyberrun spillingout, but we were unable to findthem again. Maybe another time…
Mike’s plan is to searchthrough the rest of the stock andsell it through his website, withoccasional lots appearing on eBay
UK (his User ID is fairziff). If you’relooking for original shrink-wrapped
titles, many of them rare, yourfirst port of call should be
www.ukretro.co.uk. e

Shrinkwrapped games from a various Liverpudlian publishers
including Bug-Byte, Software Projects and Imagine

100s of copies of Hunchback II for the C64, and a smallbox of BBC Micro games from A&F Software

Win! Win! Win 100 retro games!
Mike kindly provided us with a box packed with games (mainly fromMastertronic), all still sealed in their original blister packs. The titles
are for a wide variety of 8-bit formats, and here are just some of thetitles that are included:● Knight Tyme (Spectrum)● Trailblazer (Commodore 64)● Stormbringer (MSX)● BMX Racers (Commodore 16)● Joe Blade II (Amstrad)● The Last V8 (Commodore 64)● Tutti Fruiti (Commodore 16)● Impossible Mission (Spectrum)● Countdown to Meltdown (Commodore 64)● Beach Head (Amstrad)

To be in with a chance of bagging all 100 games (or one of 20
runners-up prizes of a single title), simply answer this question:

Mastertronic’s £2.99 label was called MAD.
What did MAD stand for?
To enter, either fill in the online competition form at
www.retrogamer.net, or send your answer on a postcard to: 100
Games Competition, Retro Gamer, Live Publishing, Europa House,
Adlington Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire, SK10 4NP, UK. Closing date
Friday 27th May 2005. Editor’s decision is final. Competition open to
UK residents only.

q

98 q

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Richard Burton takes another sideways glance at some of the online auctions that have
twinkled through the myriad of cheap tat like a two carat diamond stuck in a cowpat

I

f you’re an ownerof the Amiga CD32
console and havean intensehankering for somerare gaming fodder then sit tightmy friends, as you’ve picked agood month to wander aroundthe vast untamed plains of eBay.
Not one, but two highly prized
gaming offerings were available to
add to your retro gamingcollection this month.
First up is an auction
proclaiming to have the rarest
Amiga CD32 game ever released.
The rare game in question was
Super Street Fighter II Turbo, andthe auction was listed in theotherwise MSX-strewn backwoodsof eBay Netherlands. Produced by
Capcom and Gametek, andreleased in 1995, SSFII Turbo is
considered by collectors to be oneof the hardest games to find on
the system, and one of the rarest
Street Fighter games full stop. The
final price tag certainly matchedstill doing the do), combined withthe a 3D sound system producedby synthesiser experts Roland, it
provided some of the best ingame musical accompaniment andsound effects heard in a game up
to that point. And if that wasn’t
enough to get your glow-stickthrobbing there’s also the fact thatthe legendary programming teamof the Bitmap Brothers was
responsible for the coding. A
gaming great and a collectablerolled into one.
So, game playing pop-pickers,
for the privilege of having acracking shooter as well as a
nostalgic dance soundtrack toboot, you would have to delve
your hand in your copiously
filled pockets and dog out £340.
Damn impressive.

up to the auction description witha remarkable final winning bid ofjust over £278.
OK, so it might be consideredrare and would most definitely
require a public wealth warning
to be declared on your bankbalance should you want to shellout for a copy of it. But steppingout from the shadows arrives a
new challenger to the title ofrarest and most expensive Amiga
CD32 game. Ladies andGentlemen, please doff your cap
for the new undisputed Amiga
CD32 champion of the world…
Xenon 2: Megablast.
Widely regarded to be one of
the best shoot-em-ups for theCD32, the one enormous
advantage (depending on yourmusical tastes) it has over virtually
every other game is the real music
soundtrack it has pumping away
throughout the game. Featuring
several 80s dance/house musicartists such as Bomb The Bass, SExpress and Betty Boo (no doubt

Retro stash
The largest and most jawdropping, eye-popping, droolencrusted auction to be seen for aconsiderable time must be theone listed by eBay seller Fairziff,
retro games dealer extraordinaire.
Fairziff runs the www.ukretro.co.uk
website which sells mostly new
and unused games for most 8-bit
systems. With an enormous
amount of back stock, and lock-up
space at a premium, he felt it wastime to start thinning out hiscollection somewhat…
The resulting lot is the stuff ofdreams to games players andretro hoarders alike. The auction
listing estimated that there wereapproximately 50,000 games up
for sale in this one colossal
gaming mountain, although thiswas considered to be very
conservative and the actual figure
was likely to be nearer the 70,000

The rarest game for the CD32. Maybe not, but it still commands a highprice when put under the virtual hammer

q

99 q

How much retro can you handle?
There were up to 70,000 gamesin the lot, and many of themwere still shrink-swapped
mark as, and quite
understandably, an exact stock
take hadn’t taken place.
Amongst this humungous
offering were full boxes of Jet Set
Willy in Software Projects shippingcases, piles of Mastertronic and
Hit Squad titles, sealed cases of
Melbourne House and Ocean
games, just about anything you
would want to begin a collection
or enough stock to potentiallystart-up a retro business.
So what price for such agargantuan lot? Well, with this sortof auction opportunity appearing
once in a blue moon the bidding
was strangely controlled up untilthe very last few minutes when it
kicked off big time. The mad andfrenetic buyers all jumped in at
the same time causing a massive
price hike of £2,000 in the last
four minutes alone. When time ran
out and the dust finally settled
the final bid price came to rest at
an extremely nice £3,600.
Granted, that does indeed
sound a lot of money to spend ona few old games but when you
take into account what could be
potentially 70,000 pieces ofsoftware, you’re looking at a very
reasonable average of just fivepence a game. The postage costs
might be a tad pricey however. e

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http://David Crookes searches the
Web for Amstrad CPC
resources and bumps into
Malc Jennings, webmasterof CPC Zone

Retroa fte r the 8-bit computer market
die d. Why di d you set it up?

CPC Zone is easily one of thebest Amstrad sites on the Web. It
looks great, the content isregularly updated, there’s a lively
forum, and it attracts some of
the best names associated with
the CPC scene.
With masses of information to
trawl through, its success ishardly surprising. There are indepth, unbiased reviews of
virtually every game ever released
for the CPC, along withscreenshots, box art, music
downloads, mobile phone
wallpapers and masses of cheats.
Best of all, game information iseasily accessible via the site’s‘Gamebase’ section. Simply typein the name of a game and the
database instantly returns results.
There are currently over 2,000
games in the database, so you
can be 99% sure that the title
you’re looking for is included.
We dragged ourselves awayfrom the site to chat to its
creator, Malc Jennings…
Retro Ga mer: CPC Zone began
life i n the Summe r of 2001, ye ars

Malc Jennings: The Amstrad CPC
464 was my first ever homecomputer and I’ve always have asoft spot for it. I think most of
us feel the same way about thefirst machine we ever owned. But
after giving away my 464 to mycousin and then watching him
give it to some girl up the street,
I always wanted to play thoseold classics again. The only wayof doing that was via emulation.
I searched Google for CPC sites
and noticed that only three orfour of the results had actually
been updated recently – the restof them had been sitting there
for years without any major
updates. The retro-kid inside me
came to the surface and I spent
the next few weeks designing
CPC Zone.
RG: What were you hoping thesite would become?
MJ: From day one I was looking
for things that had not previously
been available in the CPC
community, such as classic
gaming scans, commercial
materials, advertisements anddownloads other than the games
themselves. I had a good lookaround communities designed forother systems such as the ZX
Spectrum and Commodore 64.
Those sections which had neverbeen covered or simply
overlooked in the CPC community
were quickly added to CPC Zone.
The site really couldn’t openwith just a handful of pages anda news section. I knew that if
this was going to make any
impact at all then I was going toqLooking for information on an old CPC game? Malc’s Gamebase
provides quick and easy access to 1,000s of titles
have to offer something thatwould keep bringing visitors
back. So we initially launchedwith a reviews section thatcovered around 50-60 titles, andhaving scanned a large amountof cassette inlays that I had
bought via eBay, we also
uploaded around 80 scans.
RG: How has CPC Zone evolved
si nce its launch?
MJ: The site has moved awayfrom static HTML pages and CGI
scripts to a new design written
entirely in PHP. This makes
updating the site much easierthan before and has allowed us
to add the many new sections
and features you see on the site
today. We also have some great
members and contributors who
have provided content. Everyone
who has contributed to the site
has his or her name in our

100 qcredits section in the form of ahigh-score table.
RG: Di d you feel the CPC was
be ing under-represented on the
Web with much of the focus on
the Spectrum and C64?
MJ: There are lots of great
websites out there for othermachines – World of Spectrum
for the Sinclair and Lemon64 for
the Commodore 64, to name justtwo. People seem to forget the
Amstrad when they talk about
the old classics. I created CPC
Zone in an attempt to bring theAmstrad to people’s attention
and say that this piece of kit waseasily on the same level as otherhardware. I certainly never
expected the site to become as
big as it is today.
RG: What a re the site’s
strengths?

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MJ: The main strength for me
personally would be the CPC
Gamebase. A version of this isalready on the site, but amassively improved version issitting on my server at homewith more than 3,000 entries
without any duplication.
Our cover archives are also
very special to me, because they
now contain over 1,000 uniqueentries and are being constantly
updated. A lot of that content isincredibly rare, at least in an
online format. Our news sectionis also incredibly active and is
updated on a frequent basis –knowing the emulator developers
and other webmasters on a
personal level has certainly
helped us to keep that page as
up to date as possible.
RG: … and any we aknesses?
MJ: Our review section could
seriously do with more content,
although we currently hostaround 600 reviews.
RG: Te ll us more aboutGamebase.
MJ: Gamebase is basically the
CPC gaming version of the IMDB

website. It runs from a huge
database containing just about
every single Amstrad CPC gameever released. Each game thenhas its own specific page
containing the game title, year of
release, genre, publishers,
programmers, musicians,
graphics team, production team,
number of players, controls,cover artwork, cheats, reviews,
reader ratings, screenshots,promotional material,
documentation, and acomparison between otherformats with screenshots of theSpectrum, C64 and CPC versions
side by side.
RG: Phew! Wha t’s the aim?
MJ: The overall aim is to giveevery single CPC title a page on
the Internet and allow people todiscover more about that gamethey once played back in 1987,
or that musician that wrote themusic for Back To The Future, orthe artist that created theloading screens for Robocop, or
the software team that broughtthat game to you in the firstplace. This has taken around
six months of development time
so far.

RG: How much time do you
spend maintaining the site?
MJ: I spend the occasional houror two maintaining CPC Zone.
Having said that, I have spentover 10 hours per day creating
new content for the site. The
Gamebase project alone has
occupied a very large amountof my free time and been thecause of many red eyes in themorning.
RG: D o you get a l ot of help?
MJ: I have a voluntary news teamthat help out with posting theoccasional snippet of news thatmight otherwise be missed. They
also moderate our forums andissue warnings when people stepover the very faint boundaries
that we have in place. So thathelps me relax more.
RG: D oes the site make money?
MJ: No, CPC Zone is non-profit
and is maintained as a hobby
more than anything else. Any
money that we spend, sadly
comes out of my back pocket.
I’ve noticed that sites such as
Lemon 64 have a shop that

REGULAR | HTTP://RETRO
allows you to purchase coffeemugs and t-shirts with the sitelogo and game sprites on them.
It’s something that I would
definitely be interested in looking
at, providing the demand fromour visitors was there.
RG: What can Retro Gamerreaders do to help with the site?
MJ: Mainly visit the site, enjoy it,join our forums and meet otherex-CPC owners. If anyone has any
Amstrad games which are notlisted in our cover archives thenplease do contact us and scanthem. I also need to find more
Amstrad developers or softwarehouses from that generation to
boost our interview archive.
RG: What site updates a re you
looking to introduce i n the
future?
MJ: More downloadable items arein the pipeline, including skins
for the Xbox port of the CPC
emulator Arnold. However, themain update for me in the future
is to launch Gamebase 2.
CPC Zone is l ocated atwww.amstradcpc.com.

Recommended Amstrad CPC sites
CPC Game Reviews

The Amstrad CPC
Games Resource

www.cpcgamereviews.com
If you’re looking for CPC
reviews then this site isbrilliant. It features 100s ofreviews, all of which are wellwritten and comprehensive.
They come complete withscreenshots, and new reviews
are added regularly. All credit
to the webmaster, Nicholas Campbell.

http://tacgr.emuunlim.com
So you own a game on tapeor disk but you want toemulate it on your PC…
There’s no better place for
Amstrad CPC game downloads
than this. The site has many
100s of commercial games toplay and enjoy, plus more recently released homebrew titles.

CPC Scene

CPC Oxygenwww.cpcscene.com
Very much a niche, specialist
site which offers downloads
of non-commercial stuff.
There are demos, music andgames to download with thesite’s authors encouraging
uploading of new apps too.
Not a site for the casual retro
gamer, but nevertheless worthwhile for CPC fans.

http://cpcoxygen.digi-alt.net
It’s not the most regular of
CPC online magazines but thenext issue is always something
to look forward to. The
magazine offers well-written
articles and great insights into
the Amstrad scene. Worth alook. The site is also home toa growing archive of Amstrad Action covers.

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The

Retro Forum
Have your say… Send us a letter or make yourself heard on the forum
you adjust the top of the front
cover so that it includes the term
Acorn as well. I understand thatthe BBC Micro, Atom, RISCPC,Electron and Archimedes will notfeature as often as other moregaming-dominated systems, but
the word Acorn on the front
cover would at least reassure methat the Acorn systems will havesome coverage in the future. It
makes a big difference, at least
to this reader.
Alicia, via email

Awww, nuts!
I’ve just seen the cover of Retro
Gamer issue 14 (the Atari
7800/Street Fighter II one). I likethe magazine and have bought
most of the previous 13 issues(and bought two issues ofnumber three).
I have a concern about the
dropping of the word ‘Acorn’ fromthe front of the magazine overthe past two issues. Please could

RG: Thanks for the input Alicia,
and we’re sorry if we caused you
any concern. The main reasonsfor the small change on the coveris strictly down to the magazine’s
appeal, and has no bearing on
Acorn coverage inside. Quite
simply, the Acorn brand isn’t asrecognised in some regions( Retro Gamer is distributed
worldwide). We have no plans tochange the cover, but don’t
panic, as this doesn’t mean that
we’re going to ignore yourfavourite systems. In fact, wemay be planning a feature on
the Acorn Archimedes in thenear future.

Most haunted
Hi guys. I have wrote to you
before but I understand you mustget 100s of emails each monthand you can only print so many.
I’m writing really for two reasons– firstly, to congratulate you on
the new and improved magazine.
I have subscribed to yourmagazine since issue four, and I
love every bit of it, from it being
dropped through my letterbox toreading it from cover to coverand playing the coverdisc. Pleasekeep up the good work.
I also wanted to bring to yourattention this little gem I foundon eBay: http://cgi.ebay.com/
ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&catego
ry=62054&item=8176591365&rd=
1&ssPageName=WDVW. While it
looks like a normal NES, theseller claims it is haunted by theprevious owner who had passed
away before he bought it froma thrift shop! I was totallyamazed by this machine andespecially the questions asked bypotential buyers.
While the seller would only
ship within the US I would loveto know if he is telling the truth.
I would love to hear your viewson this.
Dominic, via email
RG: Jinkie s! Thanks for yourlette r D ominic, a nd the he ads up
on the supernatural Nintend o.
We’ve had a look at the auction
and a gre e, it does soundhttp://from.the.retro.forums
This month on the forums we asked you what classic games you would like to see remade on theNintendo DS and the Sony PSP. Here’s what you had to say…
ID: <Retrology>

technology of Nintendo’s new
handheld it could be a ‘touchand click’ adventure.

I would jump out my chair andhead to the software shop if
Future Wars was remade forNintendo’s DS system. I played
Future Wars on my Amiga
years ago and I have not felt thesame atmosphere from a gamesince. Class from start tofinish (great end sequence too
and with the touch screen

ID: <Officer Dibble>
I’m bit of a puzzle game fan, withmany hours spent on Kula World,
Devil Dice, Nobody Can Stop Mr
Domino and Kurushi Final Mental
Block. If I had to choose just one
then it’d have to be Kula World.

q

102 q

So many days, weeks andmonths have been spent on thatclassic and it would suit the PSP
down to the ground.
As for the DS it would have to
be Rocket Robot On Wheels,
which probably sold no morethan a dozen copies when it was
released on the N64. It was asuperb gem of a game anddeserves to be appreciated bymore gamers.

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Page 103 REGULAR | FORUMCONTACT US

email:

fascinating, a lthough try a s wemight, we couldn’t qui te ma ke
out that fa ce one pote ntia l buy erfound in the photo! Look at it
this wa y though – c laim you
have a ha unte d NES for sale andi t goe s for $225, whereas aspirit-free , se cond-hand NES
would go for a fra cti on of thata mount. Someone’s defi ni te ly
l aughing, and they’re proba bly ofthis world…

Save Our Software!
Over the past day or so I haveused a transfer cable and a copyof Star Commander to back up
my Commodore 64 disks to my
PC to safeguard their future. I
was shocked to discover just how
fragile the data had become on
the decaying media, some ofwhich are now beyond salvation.
Luckily, the rare and one-off stuff
was transferred without trouble
and copied to CD-ROMs as amatter of priority.
My conclusion is this – if you
have old disks at home which
are rare or beloved then please,please look into the possibilitiesof PC archiving as soon as you
can. Look on eBay for transfer
equipment or be damned! It isso easy to say you’ll leave it for
next month, but a month is all ittakes for a half-gone disk to becompletely shot. PC games areeasy to back-up, just fit asecond-hand 5.25in floppy drive.
A C64 parallel-serial cable canbe cheaply made by following
simple instructions found on
many hobby websites.
Doubtless BBC Micro or
Spectrum data transfer isequally simple.
Michael Braisher, via email
RG: We echo your plea Michael.
Magnetic media, although once
touted as a lifetime data storage
solution, much as CDs and DVDs
are today, is far from perfect, andis in fact, a very fragile and risky
way of storing data. Your letterhas prompted us to look into themethods of backing-up old
media, and we’ll hopefully have a
article on the subject soon.

Splash!
Just a quick email to say that if
you put your head under the waterin the bath, and then press certain
parts of your ears you cancreate Speccy andCommodore sounding
noises. Greatmagazine, too.
Mark, via
email

G-Force
I just got a copy of issue 14 andI’ve read an email regarding thePhillips G7000 (Magnavox
Odyssey 2). I’m glad I’m not the
only person who had one. My
mother thought it would bebetter than the Atari VCS because
it had a keyboard. It was my firstvideogame system back in ‘79/80.
An article covering this consoleis well overdue, especially since it
was the follow up to the
Magnavox Odyssey, the first evercartridge-based videogame
console. Didn’t Magnavox sue Atarifor using cartridges on the VCS? It
was also the first (and only?)
programmable videogame system.
You could design your own mazesin Munchkin (a superior Pac-Man
clone) and, with the Computer
Programmer cartridge, actually
write very simple programs. It
would be great to see thisoverlooked system covered in yourmagazine very soon.
Andrew Wilkinson, via email
RG: Yep, it looks as though theG7000 has got its fans, andwe’ve had a fair few emails on
the subject since last month.
The G7000 is indeed an
obscure system, with many
people totally unaware of its
existence. As advocates of all

ID: <Knight if NI>

ID: <kaptain_von>

ID: <king monkey>

I think the point-and-click adventure
games would be great. The games I
would like to see are Maniac
Mansion, Monkey Island, Simon the
Sorcerer and Full Throttle.

If a decent conversion of Turok:
Rage Wars was released for the
DS I would be very happy. OK, it
was not as good as Goldeneye
but it had bot support whichmeant you could play andpractice deathmatches without
the need for three mates to bepresent. Yet with wirelesssupport you have the ability tolink up with other players
when you wanted to. As for thePSP, a handheld version of the
puzzle game Ballistic would be
ideal for whiling away time on
trains, as I found it horribly
addictive and puzzle games
seem to work remarkably wellon handhelds.

For the DS it would have to
be a remake of N64 Goldeneye.
The multiplayer using wi-fi
would be fantastic, especiallywith more than four players,
and trying to figure out who
you are playing against in a
public place would add an extra

q

103 q

feedback@
retrogamer.net

snailmail:
Retro Gamer
Live Publishing
Europa House
Adlington Park
Macclesfield
SK10 4NP

things retro, we’d like to change
this, so rest assured, we’ll
hopefully be covering this great
little system in a future issue.

Fist of theNorthStar
I need some help finding thevalue of an old computer that I
rescued from a skip behind aelement to the game. Fingers
crossed then.

ID: <Pottyboy>
I would love to see Another
World and its sequel, Heart Of
The Alien (which was neverreleased in Europe) in one
collection, the Phantasmagoria
series, the Wing
Commander games, Stunt
Car Racer, Half-Life,
Unreal (the first of thewell known FPS series),
all the Alien Breeds
and Superfrog… all on
the PSP!
Not even considering aDS. The PSP looks andsounds well cool even if

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factory due
to be demolished,
as I cannot really findmuch information on the Net
about it. So, I was wondering if
you could help me. It is a
NorthStar Advantage from around
1981, and it is the model that has
had one of its 5.25in drives
replaced with a 5Mb hard disk.
And, it also has ‘Pacific Scientific’logos on the front of it.
Chris Freeman, via email
RG: We think we’ve tracked down
the system you have. NorthStar(originally called Kentucky Fried
Computer, oddly enough)produced the NorthStar system as
an alternative to the IBM PC. A
large, clunky, terminal-stylesystem, it boasted a highresolution display (640x240), a
Z80 CPU running at 3.5Mhz, 64Kb
of RAM (expandable to 256Kb),
32Kb VRAM, built-in sound andtwo drive bays which could holdthe battery life doesn’t last longenough for some (it will lastlong enough for me!).

ID: <jwdvd>
I would love to see Blast Corps
on the DS. You could control thevehicles using the touch pad andview the carrier on the top
screen. Also Pilotwings
would be good – twoviews at once, and again
having the ability tocontrol the crafts using
the pad would beamazing. I also can’t wait
to play a Zelda game on
the DS – imagine being
able to switch weapons
without pausing the gameeither 5.25in floppy
drives, or 5-20Mb harddisks. The units originallysold for around $4,000!
Sadly though, it’s notreally worth muchnowadays. A quick check on
eBay revealed an Advantage
recently sold for £31.20. Ah well,it’s still an impressive piece ofcomputing history.

DIY arcade
Spurred on by your excellent
feature on building your own
arcade cabinet, I finally decided
to attempt my own project.
Unfortunately I do not have thespace to house a full size arcade
cabinet and did not havesufficient funds to build a decent
cocktail cabinet. I therefore
settled on a custom built arcadestyle control panel.
My goal was to build thecontrols in a similar
configuration to the classic
Williams games of the early 80s
as these were the games I
enjoyed most whilst growing up.
After many different designs andprospective ideas I decided that
it would be ideal if I could build
a hybrid controller compatible
with the Sony PlayStation
console as I already owned theand being able to see the map at
the same time as playing. That’s
gonna be fantastic.
As for the PSP, nothing really
jumps out at me in the way ofinnovation. I’m looking forward
to a Street Fighter II game thatuses all six fire buttons and thePSP’s massive screen. Other
conversions that would be good

Williams Arcade Classics andMidway Collection 2 discs which
included all the games I wanted
to play. A point to note is thatboth these PSX discs include
functions to assign key
configurations for each gameacross both one and two player
controller ports, as well as a key
combination to gain access tothe original arcade cabinet
operator menus, thus making thewhole experience just likeowning the original arcade
cabinets and configuring theexcellent Robotron to use thetwo sticks as in the arcades.
It’s also worth mentioningthat the newer release of
Midway Arcade Treasures for thePS2 is NOT compatible withdigital controllers and key
configuration is not included. I
am not sure that the operator
menu access is intact either. Thisis a crying shame as in myopinion the only way to relivethese original games is via
arcade ‘digital’ controls. I also
wanted to use the controller forother digital controller

compatible PSX games, which
include the many importshooters I have collected over
the years. Using an IPAC
interface for the PC would havemade it easy to connect to a PC
and use MAME to relive those
old games, but this was
unsuitable for a PSX.
Then I remembered that I had
bought a Twin Arcade Stick madeby Skream for the PSX many
years back. This was a monstersized two-player controller thatwas buried somewhere in theloft. Once I had dismantled the
Skream stick I found that theinternals could be disassembled
and reused for my project.
The Skream stick used pretty
poor quality components andthese would be junked in favourof brand new sticks and buttons
from Ultimarc. However the two
PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards)
inside were just what I needed tointerface the new components to
the PSX.
My Father and I set about
cutting out a mock top panel
made from stiff cardboard andwould be Grand Theft Auto,
Extreme G, Resident Evil (realtime, none of this turn-based
Metal Gear Acid crap),
Destruction Derby and a greatversion 0f ISS Pro.

the PSP, I would have to choose
either the original PlayStation
version of Tomb Raider (notthe variety of rubbish sequels)
or Jumping Flash, the only gameI know of where you are incontrol of a giant mechanicalrabbit. Brilliant!

ID: <hadoken>
I’d love to see a version of Mario
Kart that surpasses the SNES
original. Let’s hope the new one
cuts the mustard.

ID: <The Analog Kid>
If I had to choose one N64 gamefor the DS it would have to be
Pilotwings. If there is any
justice in the world, Nintendo will
be planning it right now! As for

q

104 q

ID: <Kuang>
I’d still like to see a decent
handheld version of Stunt Car
Racer – the similar title on the
Tapwave Zodiac really doesn’t cut
it. Hopefully the venerable Mr
Crammond will consider this if
the mooted sequel ever surfaces.
I’m still surprised that nobody
seems to be considering a
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Page 105 Star Letter
Want to grab yourself a quality piece of retrogaming merchandise? Each month we’ll select ourfavourite letter – one that makes us smile or think– and the winner can select one of ourretro-themed t-shirts for free…

G.Ladd tidings
I would just like to thank Retro
Gamer for the excellent Big In
Japan article. I just returned fromholiday in Japan and if it wasn’t
for your great feature I would
have never ventured from theneon streets of Tokyo. But thanks

to your intrepid reporting I
caught the Bullet Train down
to Osaka and all the greattreasures I uncovered with yourhelp more than covered themassive ticket price (£120 return
if you’re wondering!).
My most treasured item out of
all the many rarities I bought

mounted the new buttons andsticks to ascertain the necessary
spacing and measurements. Next
we built a box from MDF andpainted it, connecting the top
panel with a piano hinge to holdup the panel when servicing thewiring or components. The
overlay and labels are the most
unsuccessful parts of the build
and in hindsight I would havedone them differently. The chrome
effect contact paper used as anoverlay reacted a bit with the
MDF paint and generated somebubbles that were impossible toremove. However, once under a
Perspex top plate they are justabout passable. The silver tapedymo labels are purely functionaland not particularly aestheticallypleasing but they do at least help
decipher what button does what.
Finally, the top panel was finishedwith some plastic edging to tidy
it all up.
I now have an arcade-stylecontrol panel that enables me toplay my favourite games with the
buttons in the correctorientation, which is something I
have been after for years.
Currently I am building newversions of the controller forfriends who are also keen to get
the original arcade experience
without the expense andimpracticability of owning thethe multiplayer abilities of the
DS. In fact, a lot of games fromthat era could do with areworking – maybe a multiplayercompilation would be in order?

ID: <readboy>

that day must be the mint
condition copy of Metal Gear 2:
Solid Snake for the MSX that I
spotted in a cabinet in Super
Potato 7. Mine for the bargain
basement price of £50! A close
second would be the Mega Drive
Modem, boxed, complete and in
perfect shape and only £5! Not
to mention several very rare
Mega-CD games including
Fahrenheit which was half theprice of the copy I’d seen in theTokyo branch. With so many
great finds my only problem now
is trying to find somewhere to
put them all!
Gareth Ladd, via email
RG: That’s quite a colle ction of
bargains you’ve la nded there!
We’re ple ased to see that Jonti
Davies’ article has hel ped you
track down some Ja panese

actual arcade machine. Theselater revisions are going to use
authentic control panel overlays
and IPAC interfaces for use witha PC and MAME. They will look
10 times better and be a great
deal smaller than the PSX
prototype but hey, you’ve got tostart somewhere, right?
Tony Redpath, via email
RG: That’s some sterling work
you’ve done there Tony – great
job! Playing classic arcade games
from the likes of Midway on
authentic controllers is the best
way to relive a misspent youth,
and with your custom built arcade
controller, we’re sure that you’re

REGULAR | FORUM

barga ins, and i t’s stories l ike
this that make a ll the hardslog we put into the magazine
seem worthwhil e.
While it certainly won’t cover
your Japa nese tra vel e xpenses,
have a Retro Gamer t-shirt on us.

in arcade heaven. And, if this is
your first try at building you own
controller, then we can’t wait tosee your upcoming efforts.

Second hand Zelda
Last week I bought Zelda: A Link
To The Past (SNES) from a little
second hand shop in Chorley. Can
you ask ‘Scot’ and ‘Idiot’ if I candelete their saved games andstart again. Thanks very much.
Rich, via email
RG: Er, Scot and Idiot, can Rich
please delete your save games so
he can start again? Cheers.

gameplay and huge injection of
humour. It was multiplayer so linkplay would be great for seeing off
those pesky aliens. Also C64
Paradroid on the DS. You could
have action at the top and themap at the bottom to show where
those elevator shafts are. You could
also use the touch pad for the
upgrade/transfer part of the game.

I’d like to see a conversion ofSega Saturn’s Panzer Dragoon for
the DS. It’s a great 3D shooter,atmospheric with a certain
artistic style and moodysoundtrack. The DS’s touch
screen would be perfect fortargeting and maybe a voice
option for firing.

ID: <Sack>

ID: <benaffleckiscool>
I’d like to see a version of
Sensible Soccer where, on yourown DS, you would always beshooting up the screen. Failingthat, Micro Machines games arealways fun for a bit of amultiplayer session.

q

ID: <retro-planet.com>
I’d have to go with a port ofZombies Ate My Neighbours fromthe SNES, just for the originality of

105 q

I got my DS yesterday with theintention of homebrewing on it. A
friend of mine asked for Chaos –a wireless multiplayer version
with the game layout on the top
screen and your menus on thetouch screen. That’s so logical I’dnever even thought of that!

RETRO15 Coverdisc:RETRO15 Coverdisc

15/9/06

Retro
This month’s programpacked coverdisc
contains over 100
emulators for your PC,
making it the biggest
and best emulator disc
ever! Just about every
format is catered for,from the Oric Atmos to
the Sinclair ZX80. You’ll
never need to search
the Web for an
emulator again!

15:57

Page 106

Coverdisc
step

1

step

3

Place the coverdisc into your CD/DVD drive
and it should start automatically. If not, selectRun from the Start menu and enter
D:\browser.exe (assuming that D: is the letterof your CD/DVD drive). When the browser
appears, click OK to accept the declaration.

Many emulators are stored in zipped archives,
so you might need an archive manager like
WinZip, which is under the Utilities browser
tab. Extract all the files from the archive using
the Extract feature and place them in an
empty folder, then run the executable file.

Problem solving

step

2

step

4

Some of the emulators are provided as
executable files and these will run or installstraight from the disc. If a setup wizard
appears, simply follow the onscreen prompts
and then wait while the files are copied toyour hard drive.

If you’re looking for a particular emulator, click
the Search button and enter a keyword. The
browser program will search the disc andplace all the relevant results under the left
most browser tab. They can now be accessed
directly from here.

Coverdisc helpline

01625
855051techsupport@livepublishing.co.uk

If you’re having a problem with a particular program on our coverdisc, pleaseview the help file in the program for assistance. You might also consider
visiting the website of the program author for further help. Otherwise, email
techsupport@livepublishing.co.uk.
If you are having problems with the CD, first check that it is not dirty or
scratched. CDs can be cleaned by holding them under the cold water tap andgently rubbing the silver side with a tissue. Dry it carefully with another tissue.
If the disc still doesn’t work, then it may be faulty. Faulty discs should be
returned to Retro Gamer, Live Publishing International Ltd, Europa House,
Adlington Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire, UK, SK10 4NP. We will replace all
genuinely faulty discs.

q(Monday-Friday 10am-4pm)
Helpline for coverdisc problems only

DISCLAIMER
Some of the programs on the Retro Gamer disc interact with your PC on afundamental level. We strongly advise you back up your personal data before using
the disc. Due to the way the Retro Gamer disc is compiled, Retro Gamer, Live
Publishing International Limited and/or any associated company and/or individual
cannot take responsibility for damage to your PC or otherwise arising from use of thecoverdisc. You use the programs on the disc at your own risk.

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REGULAR | COVERDISC

WinVICE(Commodore 8-bit emulator)

WinUAE(Amiga emulator)

Spectaculator(Spectrum emulator)

Steem(Atari ST emulator)

Acorn Emulators
Emulator Name
ArchieBeebEm
B-EM
ElectrEm
Elkulator
Model BRed Squirrel

File Namearchie9.zip
BeebEm14.zip
b-em061w.zip
ElectrEm_b9b_Windows.zip
elk03w.zip
modelb-dx8.zip
RedSquirrel0.6.zip

File Size
131Kb
664Kb
545Kb
352Kb
458Kb
1,670Kb
258Kb

SystemWindows (all)Windows (all)DOS
Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Type
FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareDescription
An excellent Archimedes emulator that sadly hasnít been updated for a while
The best BBC Micro emulator available. Also emulates the Master 128
A fast, DOS-based BBC Model A/B emulator
Emulate the Acorn Electron on your Windows system
A faithful Acorn emulator that is regularly updated
This easy to use emulator will run just about every BBC game available
A strange name, but an excellent Acorn Archimedes emulator

172Kb
426Kb
375Kb
278Kb
1,016Kb

Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreeware

A CPC emulator that’s ideal for users with low-spec machines
Run the entire CPC range with this fully-featured emulator
An excellent Amstrad emulator that runs all CPC games
A CPC emulator that’s much better than it may sound!
One of our favourite CPC emulators. Compatible with many games

414Kb
199Kb
1,776Kb
494Kb
6,973Kb
7,675Kb
5,930Kb
1,546Kb

Windows (all)Windows (all)Win 2000/XP
Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreeware

A Capcom Play System emulator with support for the Neo-Geo
Emulate the CPS1 machines so you can play many Capcom classics
Emulate laserdisc games on your PC. A suitable laserdisc player is required!
A Capcom arcade emulator that is regularly updated
The original Windows command line version of MAME. Latest version
An unofficial version of MAME with several enhanced features
The original, and best, arcade emulator. Windows GUI version
A recommended alternative to MAME. Includes support for 100s of classic games

503Kb
111Kb
595Kb
184Kb
358Kb
210Kb
1,578Kb
226Kb
841Kb
396Kb
303Kb
360Kb
651Kb
186Kb

Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)DOS
DOS
Windows (all)Windows (all)FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreeware

A Windows alternative to the popular Atari800win emulator
Emulate the Atari 800 and other Atari 8-bit models
The one and only Lynx emulator. ROM file required
The first available Jaguar emulator
The only Windows-based Atari 5200 emulator
An ST emulator which runs fine on older PCs
An emulator for the Atari VCS. Includes full documentation
The first Jaguar emulator to play commercial games
This impressive emulator runs all of the standard ST software
The best 2600 emulator available
The only Atari 7800 emulator available. ROM files required
The first 5200 emulator. Only runs in DOS mode
A popular Atari ST emulator for Windows
The Windows version of a very capable 2600 emulator

7,070Kb
465Kb
476Kb
386Kb
210Kb
989Kb
266Kb
1,200Kb
3,663Kb
223Kb

Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Shareware
FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareUse Akiko to emulate the Amiga CDTV and CD32 consoles on your PC
One of the newer C16/plus4 emulators. Still some work to be done
A powerful alternative to the popular WinVICE emulator
A dedicated C64 emulator. Compatible with a huge selection of games
A very good C16/plus4 emulator. Easy to use and supports many games
A dedicated Commodore VIC-20 emulator for Windows
A recommended alternative to the WinUAE emulator.
The latest version of the best Amiga emulator. Amiga Kikstart ROM required
The ultimate 8-bit Commodore emulator
Stands for Yet Another Plus 4 Emulator. Highly recommended

1,125Kb
195Kb
943Kb
619Kb

Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)FreewareFreewareFreewareFreeware

A very easy to use emulator that supports the complete MSX range
Another faithful emulator from Nocash
Excellent MSX emulator that supports all of the different models
A new MSX emulator for Windows with lots of advanced features

Amstrad Emulators
Arnimedes
ArnoldCaprice32
CoPaCabana
WinApe32

arnie10.ZIP
arnold27012002.zip
cap32_361.exe
CoPaCabana0.5.zip
WinAPE_20A5b.zip

Arcade Emulators
Calice32
CallusDAPHNE
KawaksMAME
MAME Plus!
MAME32Raine

Calice-0.5.4-update.zip
cls042w.zip
daphne-0.99.6-win32.zip
winkawaks147a.zip
mame094b.zip
mameplus-0.91-bin.exe
Mame32v.94_Binary.exe
rainew-0.42.4.zip

Atari Emulators
Atari++
atari++_win_1.40.zip
Atari800win
atari800win_2.6c.zip
Handy
handy090.zip
Jagulator
jagulator-151-win9x.zip
Jum52
jum52_Win060.zip
PaCifiST
pcst048.zip
PCAEwinpcaewin.zip
Project Tempest
PTv0.5.zip
Steemsteem_v3_2.zip
StellaXstellax-1.1.3a-win32.zip
v7800
v7800r12.zip
Virtual Super System vss82.zip
WinSTonwinston_v5.zipz2 6
Z26V213X.ZIP

Commodore Emulators
Akiko
Artifex
CCS64
Frodo
Minus4w
Pfau Zeh
WinFellow
WinUAEWinVICEYAPE

AkikoFull_Setup.exe
Artifex029.zip
CCS64 V3.0 Beta 1.4.zip
frodov41.zip
minus4w.zip
wpfauzeh02.zip
winfellow_alpha_v043.zip
InstallWinUAE0992.exe
WinVICE-1.16.zip
yape061.zip

MSX Emulators
NLMSX
NOMSX
ParaMSXRedMSXNLMSX.zip
nomsx4f.zip
paraMSX042.zip
redmsx11.zip

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(BBC Micro emulator)

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Caprice32(Amstrad CPC emulator)

ParaMSX(MSX emulator)

Gens(Mega Drive emulator)

Nintendo Emulators
1964
1964_099.exe
Blade64
Blade64_WIP5.zip
Boycott Advance ba-028.zip
fwNES
fwnes302.zip
Jnes
jnes_0_5_3.exe
Nemu64
nemu08.zip
Nesticlenestc042.zip
Project64
pj64_1_4.exe
RockNESrnes310.zip
Snes9x
snes9x-1.43-win32.zip
UltraHLE
ultrahle_v1_0.zip
Virtual-E
virtuale.zip
VisualBoy Advance VisualBoyAdvance-1.7.2.zip
ZSNES
zsnesw142.zip

1,458Kb
285Kb
636Kb
867Kb
416Kb
4,740Kb
192Kb
887Kb
384Kb
773Kb
172Kb
210Kb
598Kb
625Kb

Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreeware

A Nintendo 64 emulator with support for many commercial games
An N64 emulator with support for lots of software
A very good GameBoy Advance emulator for your PC
Claims to support more mappers than any other NES emulator
A small, simple-to-use NES emulator. Highly recommended
One of the best N64 emulators available. This is the final version
The first ever NES emulator. There are better alternatives now
An excellent N64 emulator compatible with many commercial games
A very good NES emulator with support for many mappers
The best SNES emulator available. Plays every game tested
For sentimental sake only – the world’s first, and most infamous, N64 emulator
One of the few Nintendo Virtual Boy emulators
Without doubt the best GBA emulator available. Don’t ignore it!
A very impressive SNES emulator. Includes full support for Super FX games

300Kb
118Kb
1,038Kb
381Kb
313Kb
606Kb
290Kb

Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareA Sega Mega Drive emulator with Mega-CD and 32X support
A combined Master System/Game Gear emulator for Windows
A multi-format emulator that includes support for several systems
Perhaps the best Mega Drive emulator available
An early Mega Drive emulator that faithfully runs many games
Considered to be the best Master System/Game Gear emulator around
One of the newer Mega Drive emulators. Supports the 32X add-on

121Kb
188Kb
2,709Kb
106Kb
182Kb
2,724Kb
783Kb
246Kb
1,049Kb
1,800Kb

Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)DOS
Windows (all)Windows (all)FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareShareware
FreewareFreewareShareware
Freeware

A fast, accurate ZX80/81 emulator for Windows
A fully-featured Sinclair QL emulator for Windows PCs
An excellent Spectrum emulator
A unique emulator that lets you display Spectrum games in 256 colours!
Another Spectrum emulator with support for several file formats
The most advanced Spectrum emulator available
Emulates all Spectrum models and supports many hardware features
A simple, DOS-based ZX80/81 emulator
An early but faithful Spectrum emulator
Use this fine emulator to run 100% of Spectrum games

Ace32
ace32.zip
46Kb
AqEmu
AqEmu.zip
37Kb
Bleem
demo-v1_4.zip
242Kb
CD-ICE
CD-ice.zip
168Kb
Cygne
cygne21a-win.zip
98Kb
DVE
dve20.exe
3,090Kb
ePSXe
epsxe160.zip
280Kb
Euphoric
SETUPEX.EXE
1,174Kb
EX68
EX68.zip
585Kb
FPSE
FPSE_009bin.zip
438Kb
FreeDO
freedo_1_6_2.zip
1,704Kb
Hu6280
jak_189.zip
94Kb
Kolekokoleko_vos.zip
625Kb
Magic Engine
me100-english-pr9.zip
1,220Kb
MESS
mess094b.zip
10,683Kb
NeoCD
ngcd080b.zip
507Kb
NeoPocottneopocott-038b.zip
137Kb
NeoPop
NeoPop-0.71-Win32-1.06b.zip 108Kb
Nostalgia
nostalgia.zip
712Kb
PC-Dragon II
pcd202a.zip
206Kb
ScummVM
scummvm-0.7.0-win32.exe
1,467Kb
T3
t3-100.zip
77Kb
Virtual ColecoVision vcol211a.zip
157Kb
WinX68
WinX68.zip
152Kb

DOS
Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Windows (all)Win 9x/Me
Windows (all)Win 9x/Me
Windows (all)Windows (all)FreewareFreeware
Demo
FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareShareware
FreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreewareFreeware

Emulate the Jupiter ACE on your Windows PC
The one and only Mattel Aquarius emulator
The infamous Bleem emulator. Requires original PlayStation CD-ROMs
The only CDi emulator available. Doesn’t play commercial games
A working Wonderswan emulator, complete with PD game for testing purposes
Play vector-based games with this unique MB Vectrex emulator
The best free PlayStation emulator. ROM files required
Emulate the Oric-1, the Atmos and the Telestrat
Emulate the rare Japanese console on your Windows PC
A freeware PlayStation emulator. ROM files required
The one and only 3DO emulator
The only free PC Engine emulator available for Windows
A fast, new ColecoVision emulator for your Windows PC
The best PC Engine emulator available, although it costs money to register
The latest version of MESS (Multiple Emulator Super System)
The first Neo-Geo CD emulator available
A NeoGeo Pocket Color emulator for Windows
A portable, open-source Neo-Geo Pocket Color emulator
Run Intellivision games on your Windows PC
Dragon emulator from the same author as T3
Stand-alone version of the open source adventure game emulator
A multi-tasking Dragon and Tandy CoCo II emulator. Requires ROM file
Emulate the ColecoVision console on your Windows system
An very accurate Sharp X6800 emulator. Compatible with many games

Sega Emulators
AGES
Dega
FreezeSMS
Gens
Kgen
Meka
Retrodrive

ages030a.zip
dega112.zip
freezesmsv46.exe
wgens211.zip
kgen9804.zip
mekaw068win.zip
retroDrive4.zip

Sinclair Emulators
NOZX81QLAY
RealSpectrum
Spec256
SpecEmu
Spectaculator
SPIN
Xtender2
Z80
ZX32

zx81.zip
qlayw090.zip
RealSpectrum.zip
Sp256v12.zip
specemu23.zip
Spectaculator625.exe
SPIN041.zip
XT2B13.zip
z80-400.zip
zx32.exe

Misc Emulators

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>>>Endgame<<<nd level.
to the end of the 42
door
Quiffy has made it
al
fin
the
gh
ou
step thr
All he has to do isliterally.
end of the tunnel –There’s light at the
ins the dra
Quiffy quickly climb

ome by asurface, he’s overc
Having reached the what’s that noise?
But
sense of freedom.

ve cartime to see a massi
Quiffy turns just inen body
gre
le
litt
his
on
tyre bearing down

Spare a thought for poor Quiffy, theportly amphibious star of Bullfrog’s
Flood. Having worked his way througha dingy underground world, he finally
emerges through a storm drain. Only
for the unthinkable to happen…

over thesplattering Quiffy all
The car whizzes by,see here
to
ng
thi
no
re’s
the
w–
road. Move along noq

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