LOADING

Ifirst experienced Super Mario Bros on a NES

NINTENDO’S RETRO GEMS

Faith Johnson on the remakes, remasters and reimagined games that were shown at the latest Nintendo Direct

I should CoCo

Stop the search and call off the dogs.

First steps

I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it in

Sarah Roberts Art

Meet the artist who makes stunning real-life pixel art with tiny plastic beads

THE LATEST NEWS FROM MARCH 2007

MARCH 2007 – The next-gen battle finally commences

Enduro

GRUELLING, BUT SATISFYING

THE MAGIC OF MARIOTHE MAGIC OF MARIO

FROM HIS INTRODUCTION AS JUMPMAN IN DONKEY KONG TO THE RECENTLY RELEASED SUPER MARIO WONDER, NINTENDO’S ICONIC SUPERSTAR HAS BEEN DELIGHTING GAMERS FOR GENERATIONS. VETERANS FROM ACROSS THE INDUSTRY REVEAL WHY MARIO HAS LOST NONE OF HIS APPEAL

CAPTIVATING CHARACTER

IF YOU’RE GOING TO CHOOSE A CHARACTER AS THE FACE OF YOUR COMPANY, YOU’D BETTER MAKE SURE HE IS APPEALING AS POSSIBLE. SHIGERU MIYAMOTO’S DESIGN HAS PROVEN TIMELESS, PROVIDING NINTENDO WITH A FACE THAT HAS SURVIVED DECADES IN THE PUBLIC CONSCIOUSNESS

DIVINE DESIGN

MARIO COULD HAVE ALL THE APPEAL AS A CHARACTER, BUT WITHOUT ENGAGING WORLDS TO EXPLORE HE WOULDN’T BE MUCH OF A VIDEOGAME STAR. THANKFULLY, NINTENDO HAS ENSURED THAT IMAGINATIVE LEVEL DESIGN IS SOMETHING THAT THE PLUMBER HAS NEVER HAD TO DO WITHOUT

MARVELLUS MECHANICS

FROM HIS DONKEY KONG COIN-OP DEBUT TO THE LONG-RUNNING SUPER MARIO SERIES, MARIO HAS BEEN DEFINED BY HIS RESPONSIVE CONTROLS AND ECLECTIC ABILITIES. CHRIS SUTHERLAND HELPS TO EXPLAIN WHY MARIO’S MECHANICS ARE SUBLIME

SUBLIME SOUNDS

NOBODY SHOULD OVERLOOK THE IMPORTANCE OF AUDIO IN THE MARIO SERIES AS IT’S ASSOCIATED WITH SOME OF THE MOST MEMORABLE GAME AUDIO OF ALL TIME, FROM UNFORGETTABLE UTTERANCES TO MUSIC THAT LINGERS IN YOUR BRAIN LONG AFTER THE CONSOLE IS TURNED OFF

VITAL VERSATILITY

MARIO’S PLATFORM GAMES ARE THE CORE OF THE SERIES, BUT THE STAR HAS DONE EVERYTHING FROM RACING HIS RIVALS TO THROWING FISTS WITH ICONS LIKE SONIC AND PAC-MAN. THAT ADAPTABILITY HAS HELPED TO ENSURE THAT THE PLUMBER’S NEXT OUTING IS NEVER FAR AWAY

Super Columns

A KICK IN THE JEWELS

A TRIBUTE TO FIRST STAR SOFTWARE

FROM ITS INCEPTION IN 1982 UNTIL ITS CLOSURE IN 2018, FIRST STAR SOFTWARE WAS A BYWORD FOR INNOVATION. COFOUNDER RICHARD SPITALNY REVISITS THE FIRM’S BOULDER DASH AND SPY VS SPY SERIES, AND REVEALS HIDDEN GEMS

Gates Of Zendocon

LOTS OF LEVELS, LOTS OF BOREDOM

Psychic Force

NOTHING TO GET JUMPY OVER

Ridge Racer V

POLE POSITION CURSE

Soulcalibur IV

FEEL THE FARCE

Control Panel

» PLATFORM: Vectrex » YEAR: 1982 » COST: £25 (launch), £240+ (today, boxed), £80+ (today, unboxed)

THE MAKING OF GOLF

IT WAS AMONG THE FIRST FEW GOLF VIDEOGAMES EVER MADE. AND DUE TO THE HUGE POPULARITY OF THE ATARI 2600, IT WAS AVAILABLE TO A WIDER AUDIENCE THAN ANYTHING BEFORE IT. MIKE LORENZEN DESCRIBES HOW HE TEED UP A CLASSIC WORDS BY GRAHAM PEMBREY

SUPER STAR WARS

A graphically enhanced version of Super Star Wars was on its way to MS-DOS PCs, but never reached its target. Why wasn’t the Force with the developers?

THE MAKING OF THE LOST PATROL

JUNE 1965: A US HELICOPTER CRASHES IN THE REMOTE CENTRAL HIGHLANDS OF VIETNAM LEAVING ONLY SEVEN SURVIVORS. NOW THEY NEED TO FIND THEIR WAY ACROSS 58 MILES OF WILDERNESS THAT’S ALIVE WITH BOOBY TRAPS AND ENEMY SOLDIERS. RETRO GAMER TRACKS DOWN THE STORY BEHIND THE GAME THAT CONFRONTED THE HORRORS OF WAR

THE LONG WALK

WAR IS HELL – 1,000 SQUARE MILES OF HELL

ULTIMATE GUIDE TINYTOON

DURING THE NINETIES, IT SEEMED LIKE EVERY CUTE CHARACTER HOPPED INTO A PLATFORM GAME. POPULAR CARTOONS PROVIDED A RICH SOURCE OF INSPIRATION FOR DEVELOPERS LOOKING TO LEAP ONTO THE NEXT BIG THING AND IN 1993, THE TINY TOONS SPRANG INTO ACTION WITH AN EXCELLENT MEGA DRIVE PLATFORMER

Super A’Can

» MANUFACTURER: Funtech » YEAR: 1995 » COST: $299 (launch), £320+ (today, boxed), £160+ (today, unboxed)

MORTAL KOMBAT

THE RETRO GAMER GUIDE TO…

MINORTY REPORT

INTERESTING GAMES YOU'VE NEVER PLAYED

FINISHING MOVES

The opportunity to finish a fight in spectacular fashion is the whole point of starting one, whether you’re sticking it to the CPU or humiliating a friend. Here are some time-tested techniques ranging from the stylish and painful to the utterly bizarre…

KATMARI DAMACY

THE GENIUS OF DESIGNER KEITA TAKAHASHI SHINES IN 2004’S KATAMARI DAMACY, ONE OF MANY DELIGHTFULLY LEFT-FIELD JAPANESE RELEASES FOR THE PLAYSTATION 2. NAMCO WOULD GO ON TO CHURN OUT SEQUEL AFTER SEQUEL, BUT TAKAHASHI’S JOYOUSLY UPBEAT ORIGINAL REMAINS UNBEATABLE

CLIVE TOWNSEND

His name is one that will resonate with most ZX Spectrum fans in particular. Creator of the wonderful Saboteur games, Retro Gamer chats ninjas, rising robots, cataclysmic power cuts and more with Somerset’s most famous Speccy programmer

Mortal Kombat 1

BLOODY GOOD

Evercade: Sunsoft Collection 1

» System: Evercade series (tested) » Buy it for: £17.99 » Buy it from: Online, retail

WO DLAND FOLK

Other C64 projects by The Wild Wood’s team

WOODS GONE WILD

Artist and designer John Henderson – with a large programming team – is developing the gorgeous-looking C64 game Wild Wood

NEW GAMES NEEDED

Our new email address is waiting for all your homebrew news, previews and more: retrogamer@futurenet.com

NEWS BYTES

UNDER 4MHZ

Under 4MHz produced several recent multiformat puzzle titles and has more games in development

SAM’S JOURNEY

NEW GAMES NEEDED

Our new email address is waiting for all your homebrew news, previews and more: retrogamer@futurenet.com

PROCESSING

Andy Vaisey howls at the moon with the C64 game Chill3r, inspired by a Mastertronic classic

MARIO MEMORIES

The Retro Gamer team revisit the games of Nintendo’s iconic superstar

ME MORIES OF MARIO

Readers look back at their favourite games

COMPILATION CRAZY

Collections of games within a collection of games

BARGAIN HUNT

Your guide to the rising world of retro prices

DAYS OF PLAY

Martyn Carroll recalls his first magazine roles

THE PS2 IN PRINT

Readers recall their favourite PS2 magazines

MAIL BAG

HAVE YOUR SAY… SEND US A LETTER OR MAKE YOURSELF HEARD ON SOCIAL MEDIA – TWITTER.COM/RETROGAMER_MAG

Your say

What’s your favourite Mario moment?

END GAME

AXELAY » Konami’s Axelay is arguably one