Retro Gamer No. 228

DARRAN JONES It’s Micro Machines: Turbo Tournament 96 for me. I’m still laughing to myself over my last sponge duel with the team. Expertise: Juggling a gorgeous wife, two beautiful daughters and an award-winning magazine, all under one roof! Currently playing: Jurassic Park: The Game Favourite game of all time: Strider ANDY SALTER The first Micro Machines game for the Mega Drive. Never been a huge fan of racing games but it felt more like a party game. Expertise: Modding games, no ‘vanilla’ versions for me, thanks! Currently playing: M&B2: Bannerlord… Modded of course Favourite game of all time: Rome: Total War HARETH AL BUSTANI It’s got to be Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament. A fantastic sequel and great fun to play. Expertise: Juggling obscure games, words and guitar and seeing where it all lands Currently Playing: Chivalry 2 Favourite game of all time:…

Long before lockdown was a thing, members of the team would visit my house and we’d have gaming sessions in my shed. The focus would always be on multiplayer games and Micro Machines, specifically Micro Machines: Turbo Tournament 96, would get played. Those sessions would end in chaos and sometimes arguments, but they were always fun. After all, while Micro Machines was a laugh when playing by yourself, it was always elevated when played with mates. It’s a delight then, to not only feature the series on our cover, but to chat with the developers who have been involved with the franchise since it made its debut in 1991. If top-down racers aren’t your thing there’s plenty more to enjoy in our last issue of 2021. Howell Ivy chats to us…

It’s a good time to be a fan of GamesMaster. If you were one of the millions of gamers captivated by the original run from 1992 to 1998, you’re probably already aware of presenter Dominik Diamond’s forthcoming book about the show. But now GamesMaster is back, with a brand-new look and a whole new set of presenters, including Trevor McDonald who succeeds the late Patrick Moore as the GamesMaster. On the ground, duties are handled by Rab Florence of Consolevania and VideoGaiden fame, award-winning esports host Frankie Ward and the Instagram comedian Ty Logan. Upon welcoming viewers to the studio, Rab describes the revival as an “attempt to destroy the nostalgic memories of middle-aged men”. Ironically that displays a reverence for the original format – you could easily imagine former host…

The long-awaited Analogue Pocket has finally got a shipping date, with the first units due to go out on 13 December 2021. The unit is an FPGA-based handheld that plays Game Boy, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance games, as well as a variety of others via separately available adapters. We’ve got one, so look for a review next issue. The first Evercade VS units have also started to arrive with eager gamers, with buyers of the Founders Edition first in line. However, not all units are expected to ship in 2021, with American players set to wait until 2022 for their systems.…

In recent times, the retro gaming community has lost some phenomenally talented people. Game designer Bernie Drummond, Imagine Software cofounder David Lawson, PR veteran Jonathan Fargher and prominent ZX Spectrum enthusiast Darren Pearcy have all sadly passed away. Yet their lives and work will be long remembered. Bernie Drummond was the artist behind a string of classic 8-bit games including Batman, Head Over Heels and Match Day II. He deliberately failed his art CSE, believing formal tuition to be a waste of time. But, by doing things his own way, he developed a style of isometric 3D that improved graphically on previous attempts, most notably Ultimate’s Knight Lore. Before working on Batman in 1986, Bernie had never even seen a computer game. His early inspiration had been the American comic-book artist Neal…

While we knew that next year’s A500 Mini would feature 25 games, not all of them were announced. Although we’re still currently waiting for the last three Amiga games to be added, the 22 currently revealed games suggest a good mix of genres, with recent reveals including Qwak, Lost Patrol, Super Cars II and Titus The Fox. These join classics such as Alien Breed, Worms: The Director’s Cut, Another World, Simon The Sorcerer, Speedball 2, The Chaos Engine and Pinball Dreams. Expect more news on the system in upcoming issues.…