Retro Gamer No. 226

DARRAN JONES Nintendo is never likely to happen, but I’m confident a PC Engine or Konami collection is perfectly possible going forward. Expertise: Juggling a gorgeous wife, two beautiful girls and an award-winning magazine, all under one roof Currently playing: Shantae Favourite game of all time: Strider TIM EMPEY I don’t want to sound like a shill as I did work for Capcom for a bit (I was paid in Bison Dollars), but yeah, get some Capcom classics on there. Expertise: Finishing Game Pass games before they leave the service Currently playing: Wasteland 3 Favourite game of all time: God Hand NICK THORPE Just imagine a Taito arcade cartridge. Bubble Bobble, Rastan, The New Zealand Story, Elevator Action Returns, Space Invaders ’95… excuse me, I need a lie down. Expertise: Owning five Master Systems and a Mark III Currently playing: Super Monkey Ball…

The original Evercade launched in early 2020 and proved a nice distraction in a very difficult year. It certainly wasn’t perfect, due to oversights like the lack of a 1:1 display, missing multiplayer capabilities and the sometimes strange selection of available games, but it’s hard to argue with the handheld’s solid build, excellent d-pad and extremely cheap selection of curated cartridges. In short we really like it. We’re delighted then to not only deliver an early hands-on look at the incoming Evercade VS, but also an in-depth feature that looks at the creation of the new machine and how it plans to solve many of the minor niggles that let the original handheld down. We’ve even been able to look at some of the new arcade-based cartridges that will be out…

SINCLAIR EXECUTIVE The world’s first pocket calculator was released by Sinclair Radionics in 1972 and adverts suggested it was the same thickness as a cigarette pack. (“One must always bear a packet of cigarettes in mind as the ideal size,” a Sinclair executive told the Financial Times, perhaps also nodding to Sir Clive Sinclair’s 40-a-day-habit.) MICROVISION MTV-1 In 1977, two years after the Black Watch almost bankrupted the company, Sinclair showed off a tiny two-inch CRT television that had been ten years in the making. Outputting in black and white, it operated on the UHF and VHF bands, allowing it to be used across the world. Initially popular, interest soon waned. ZX SPECTRUM Having launched the affordable home computers, the ZX80 and ZX81, Sinclair further improved with the ZX Spectrum, a now iconic machine which…

Sir Clive Sinclair barely needs an introduction. Not in a magazine such as this nor, dare we say, even in the wider world. Many people could talk about at least one of the many products the eccentric entrepreneur oversaw. “He was the classic British inventor,” says Graeme Devine who is best known for developing the interactive CD-ROM bestseller The 7th Guest. “He saw a need and invented it whether it was time to invent it or not.” Sir Clive sadly passed away on 16 September this year but his legacy lives deep in many a memory. To one of his three children, Belinda Sinclair, he was “a rather amazing person” who was “so clever” and “always interested in everything”. To the chief executive of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, his ZX80 was the…

AMSTRAD Amstrad bought the rights to Sinclair’s inventions in 1986 and re-engineered the ZX Spectrum 128 into the tape-based ZX Spectrum +2 and 3-inch disk ZX Spectrum +3. But Amstrad’s former group technology consultant Roland Perry tells us, “Building something better than the Spectrum was an important influence on the CPC range. We also depended on software houses porting games from the Spectrum to our platform.” ULTIMATE PLAY THE GAME Founded in 1982 by Tim and Chris Stamper, Ultimate Play The Game (now Rare) made its debut with the iconic shooter Jetpac in May 1983 for the 16K ZX Spectrum, selling 300,000 copies. The developer became a firm favourite among Spectrum gamers releasing Lunar Jetman, Atic Atac, the Sabreman series and the isometric-viewed Knight Lore among many others. Four titles were released on…

Who is Iain Lee? Iain Lee is a freelance broadcaster who loves gaming, particularly retro gaming. Join him as he hosts a phone-in show and plays games at www.twitch.tv/iainlee and also check out www.patreon.com/iainandKatherine “There is one machine that spans the ages. The tuppenny shove” A cautionary tale dear reader. I have been lucky enough to visit several theme parks this summer. No, I have not won the pools or got a job, I know someone who works in that world, and they blagged us some free tickets and queue jumpers. I’m not a ride fan, so I sent my eldest off and me and my nine-year-old hit the arcades. And here’s where that warning comes in. Arcades are now not arcades. They are completely different beasts. The aim is no longer to go…