Retro Gamer Issue 112 - Feedback Thread

[joedick]

- Rarest PAL games lists The Punisher, which isn't that rare considering I bought one not so long ago for £28.

While I can't speak to whether or not The Punisher is rare, rarity and value don't always correlate.

[jdanddiet]

Does it really say that about the sports games on the MD? That's bad, and disappointing. Leaving aside FIFA, what about the John Madden, Hockey and Golf games? All iconic and important games on the machine I'd say.

I suppose that's the difference between "collectors" and those that play the games though.

[Mayhem]

I suppose that's the difference between "collectors" and those that play the games though.

This, in a way. When you're collecting, you get to realise that there's an awful lot of sports games on some systems...

[mlucifersam]

Good feature on 'Special FX'. I remember when I started at Ocean that Paul Finnegan and Jof were in the process of setting it up. They hadn't left Ocean but were just about to. Also nice 'Making Of Rex' feature too. I bought this back in the day and remember playing it in my lunch break downstairs at Ocean. It was the last new Spectrum game I ever bought I think, moving on to the Atari ST.

Don't think much of the cover.

[nakamura]

Yes and it has a number of errors including:

- Saying the EA sports games were an infection on the system when they were one of the biggest reasons the MD sold so well. Precisely why, in the US especially, the MD/Genesis was known as the "sports console" and thus became the first console to really appeal to casual gamer male adults, way before the PS1.

I have to say that is very poor. The EA Sports titles were often fantastic on the MD.

[jdanddiet]

Well as I mentioned, it is written from a collector's standpoint, but nonetheless suggest the games are some sort of disease and not worthy which is a mite strong language for them imo, especially, as the DC suggested, they formed a very solid foundation for the console.

[Megamixer]

- Rarest PAL games lists The Punisher, which isn't that rare considering I bought one not so long ago for £28.

Perhaps you got lucky then as I think it sells for £100+ on ebay easily. I can see two manual-less copies that have sold for £100 each on BIN in the completed listings section but there might be something fishy there since both appear to the same copy and possibly fake. I do agree though that it's more a case of this game being expensive rather than rare.

- Top Import Games lists Golden Axe 3, which is widely considered to be crap

Personally it's my favourite in the series! More characters, branching paths and all that...I just always go back to this one above the others. I have it twice on compilations and also own an original Japanese copy. Revenge of Death Adder in the arcade is better than all of them though (though that has nothing to do with this article of course).

[Gabe]

I'd love to be a fly on the wall of a sales meeting about this one. Typically, 'number' covers tend to sell very well in tech mags and also many consumer mags (hence why there are so many '50 blah blah blah' covers), and it'd be interesting to discover if this is also true for RG. As it is, I rather liked the Civ cover in the letters page. Looking forward to reading that article later, too—and hoping one day someone will do a touchscreen port of Civ II to the iPad.

That's interesting, because I was wondering why we didn't have a singular game or series headlining the mag (nor next month); whilst I know it isn't the case, the first thing I genuinely thought when I saw the cover (and then the preview showing the 'Boss Rush' article as the headliner) was "Have they run out of games to write about then?"

In fairness, I've never liked list features because they are usually disjointed, have no flow and are just a collection of unrelated statements/opinions. At least there is a common theme linking the box-outs in the 'Power-ups' feature, but it's still a strange thing to make the cover.

[kiwimike]

Yes and it has a number of errors including:

- Saying the EA sports games were an infection on the system when they were one of the biggest reasons the MD sold so well. Precisely why, in the US especially, the MD/Genesis was known as the "sports console" and thus became the first console to really appeal to casual gamer male adults, way before the PS1.

I have to say that is very poor. The EA Sports titles were often fantastic on the MD.

I must admit that does sound strange. EA games on the MD were absolutely top notch, and I know many, many fans of them. Even us colonials who prefer rugby, soccer, cricket really got into the Maddens, NHL etc. Personal preference is personal preference of course...but that is a very controversial angle to take.

[kiwimike]

Awesome cover, awesome issue!!

After the borefest that was the previous issue its good to see Retro Gamer back on top form.

The cover is ace (and both other covers also looked good which is unusual as there is always one shocker, normally the one chosen!)

The best power up article is great and with Dead Space, Julian Gollop, Sid Meier, Eye Of The Beholder 2, Jordan Mencher, its a very, very strong issue.

Also nice to see Iain Lee and Paul Davies back.

Not sure why we keep having to have a picture of somebody on the front cover but the issue is so good that it doesn't really matter.

Next month also looks good with the Boss Rush, Amiga, Micro Machines etc.

Fingers crossed the mag carries on in this rich vein of form and doesn't slump back to the form of the last issue.

Different strokes for different folks. Feature for feature, I prefer the previous issue line up

[Fishsta]

I'm sure Hitman Halstep will disagree...

...but I had to titter at him being called "Gitman Halstep" on the letters page.

You've been outed, you git!

[markopoloman]

Mine arrived yesterday and although the cover isn't in my top 100, it's not THAT bad.

Content wise - not really interested in power-ups but I'm sure it'll be an interesting read!

So far I've read 'Making of REX' - very good making of, and 'special FX' - excellent stuff

Next to read - Civ & chaos.....

oh, next month looks full of good

[merman]

I enjoyed the power ups feature, the design worked really well and the developer input made it more than just a list. Great interviews with Sid Meier and Jordan Mechner, and the Chaos piece has whetted my appetite for Chaos Reborn.

[Timothy Lumsden]

I think it's one of the those marmite covers - but intrigue that Craig said list covers sell more

Jordan Mechner - this seems a familiar article - something very similar in GamesTM maybe a few months back?

[BenderRodriguez]

Hi,

New guy here, I've been reading R G from time to time always enjoying it, so missus (ekhm... Santa) got me a year subscription for Christmas, yay!

My inner geek noticed couple of things in latest issue. First is that Holy Hand Granade mentioned in power-ups doesn't work like regular grenade, it is much more powerful than grenade in every game in the series it appears in.

I also liked the interview with Sid Meier, he made some of my favourite games. However while Civ and Tycoons are discussed in detail but there's not a single mention of Colonization anywhere. It was a really good game at the time, had good scores in the reviews and surely I can't be the only one who played it much more than original Civ? It wasn't as well known back when it was released so perhaps you could mention it in one of your next issues, Colonization deserves a place in every retro games fan collection.

All the best and keep up with great work!