Retro Gamer Issue 109 Official Feedback

[merman]

Thoroughly enjoyed Martyn's piece on Ultimate, and Graeme once again served up a great From The Archives piece. Kirby and Contra pieces worked well, and I felt the Half Life/Black Mesa piece was cleverly presented and well written.

[martyg]

My copy arrived in the post today and from a cursory glance at all its articles it would appear to be an absolutely cracking issue . Feelings of nausea from witnessing pages 80-85 excepted!

... FWIW, anyone wanting to check out that version, head over to AtariAge.

I'm not sure linking to a website which illegally hosts that and other videogame ROMs is particularly well advised on this forum.

As far as Atari's ROM's, they have permission. Anything that Atari has wanted taken down has been complied with. Same goes for any of the newer games AA produces that might infringe on Atari properties, such as with Castle Crisis.

[jdanddiet]

Thoroughly enjoyed Martyn's piece on Ultimate, and Graeme once again served up a great From The Archives piece. Kirby and Contra pieces worked well, and I felt the Half Life/Black Mesa piece was cleverly presented and well written.

Thanks Andrew, must say it was quite painful choosing all those c64 games for the six of the best boxout - unfortunately cascade's speccy output simply wasn't as good!

[retrosofer]

Great issue this month, lots in there to read this month for me.
I have just read through the mode 7 peice, although i did enjoy it somewhat as i remember owning and playing through Wings 2 (though i think the original Amiga outing is better imo) and Super Soccer, i cant help but feel alittle disappointed that it wasn't an article feature. Its just that after the big arguments erupted in the now infamous Made 7 thread, i was kind of anticipating an article with maybe some input from certain programers or someone in the know, who had worked on SNES titles and or Mode 7 games back in the day. Thought after all the brew-haha there would be an article explaining about it with input from those with technical knowlege about it, whether that was ever in the pipeline for the Mode 7 peice or not, would have been good to read either way after everthing erupted.

[SirClive]

Looks like a good ish. Really like the way the Ultimate piece has been done. And for once, I approve of the cover (except for the crappy bit bottom left where the trans-am terrain has been left with a straight edge - would have been easy to neaten that up).

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

Great issue this month, lots in there to read this month for me.
I have just read through the mode 7 peice, although i did enjoy it somewhat as i remember owning and playing through Wings 2 (though i think the original Amiga outing is better imo) and Super Soccer, i cant help but feel alittle disappointed that it wasn't an article feature. Its just that after the big arguments erupted in the now infamous Made 7 thread, i was kind of anticipating an article with maybe some input from certain programers or someone in the know, who had worked on SNES titles and or Mode 7 games back in the day. Thought after all the brew-haha there would be an article explaining about it with input from those with technical knowlege about it, whether that was ever in the pipeline for the Mode 7 peice or not, would have been good to read either way after everthing erupted.

The majority of good mode 7 was done by japanese developers. They tend to be pretty difficult to talk to. Arguably one of the best western versions of Mode7 is Super Turrican. Again, Manfred Trenz simply refuses to speak to the press any more. Ultimately, there's so much confusion about what Mode 7 is (it's constantly contradicted on numerous websites etc) that the only way to do a definitive piece is to speak to the creators themselves, and quite frankly there's more chance of me becoming the next Santa Claus than that happening.

I think I did mention in the thread what we were planning.

[retrosofer]

Great issue this month, lots in there to read this month for me.
I have just read through the mode 7 peice, although i did enjoy it somewhat as i remember owning and playing through Wings 2 (though i think the original Amiga outing is better imo) and Super Soccer, i cant help but feel alittle disappointed that it wasn't an article feature. Its just that after the big arguments erupted in the now infamous Made 7 thread, i was kind of anticipating an article with maybe some input from certain programers or someone in the know, who had worked on SNES titles and or Mode 7 games back in the day. Thought after all the brew-haha there would be an article explaining about it with input from those with technical knowlege about it, whether that was ever in the pipeline for the Mode 7 peice or not, would have been good to read either way after everthing erupted.

The majority of good mode 7 was done by japanese developers. They tend to be pretty difficult to talk to. Arguably one of the best western versions of Mode7 is Super Turrican. Again, Manfred Trenz simply refuses to speak to the press any more. Ultimately, there's so much confusion about what Mode 7 is (it's constantly contradicted on numerous websites etc) that the only way to do a definitive piece is to speak to the creators themselves, and quite frankly there's more chance of me becoming the next Santa Claus than that happening.

I think I did mention in the thread what we were planning.

Fair enough dude, its a shame some developers/coders etc are so reclusive and refuse to speak about the games they made in the past, maybe one day you guys will get the chance though hopefully.
Yeah i wasn't sure if an article thing was ever intended for this feature or not as the Mode 7 thread kicked off and i just thought afterwards an article on it would explain a few things, was still a really good feature though as it was, even though i thought there would be more.
I must say i'm looking forward to reading the Ultimate feature, i remember playing TransAM in the early 90s, still own it, great game.

[theantmeister]

I took one look at the cover and my heart sank. I'm so sick of reading about Speccy games I never played and even more sick of reading about bloody Ultimate. Couldn't we have got a Contra cover? Even the Kirby cover would have been a refreshing change.

Anyway, the content more than makes up for the cover. It is just a pity it is hidden behind a garish purple/red/black cover. I'll read the Ultimate article anyway, but guys, seriously, can we lay off this topic for a few issues? Please?

[Antiriad2097]

We obviously need more Spectrum coverage or you'd know that's magenta, not purple

[theantmeister]

We obviously need more Spectrum coverage or you'd know that's magenta, not purple

Hehe. To me, magenta is, and always will be, a lovely shade of orange. Well, it was on my PC XT's monochrome monitor.

[markopoloman]

Hmmmm mine has yet to arrive

[Darran@Retro Gamer]

I took one look at the cover and my heart sank. I'm so sick of reading about Speccy games I never played and even more sick of reading about bloody Ultimate. Couldn't we have got a Contra cover? Even the Kirby cover would have been a refreshing change.

Anyway, the content more than makes up for the cover. It is just a pity it is hidden behind a garish purple/red/black cover. I'll read the Ultimate article anyway, but guys, seriously, can we lay off this topic for a few issues? Please?

We've done about 7 features on ultimate, one of the most important 8-bit developers in nearly as many years. I don't know what your issue is.

It's like a music magazine being moaned at for regularly covering the beatles.

[theantmeister]

I took one look at the cover and my heart sank. I'm so sick of reading about Speccy games I never played and even more sick of reading about bloody Ultimate. Couldn't we have got a Contra cover? Even the Kirby cover would have been a refreshing change.

Anyway, the content more than makes up for the cover. It is just a pity it is hidden behind a garish purple/red/black cover. I'll read the Ultimate article anyway, but guys, seriously, can we lay off this topic for a few issues? Please?

We've done about 7 features on ultimate, one of the most important 8-bit developers in nearly as many years. I don't know what your issue is.

It's like a music magazine being moaned at for regularly covering the beatles.

I dunno, it just seems like so much more to me, perhaps it was a combination of the Mire Mare, Rare and 30th anniversary Spectrum articles. Just getting tired of reading about it. I get that you guys love this stuff, but as a "foreign" reader, I don't get much out of reading about them. Also, as others pointed out, the last few Ultimate articles haven't really contained any new information - if I'm learning nothing new and I have no nostalgic attachment to it, what can I possibly get out of it?

In any case I'll reserve judgement until I have actually read the article.

[DreamcastRIP]

I totally agreed with Darran's editor's column whereby he stated "This month's cover is one of my favourites for a very long time."

[theantmeister]

I totally agreed with Darran's editor's column whereby he stated "This month's cover is one of my favourites for a very long time."

Meh, I find i aesthetically displeasing and I don't have any sentimental attachment to the games featured so, whatever. It's the content that counts and it looks like this issue won't disappoint!

On a side note, I haven't ever played an Ultimate game. I also hate most of Rare's back catalogue, so I guess I'm not the person that cover was designed for.