Retro Gamer

DARRAN JONES Playing it on Oculus Quest 2 and realising just how well it had been adapted for the new medium by Armature Studio. Expertise: Juggling a gorgeous wife, two beautiful daughters and an award-winning magazine, all under one roof! Currently playing: The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild Favourite game of all time: Strider ANDY SALTER The bit where you’re in the underground, get knocked out and when you come round the Doctor tells you who you really are… oh wait, that’s STALKER: SOC Expertise: Modding games, no ‘vanilla’ versions for me, thanks! Currently modding: STALKER: Anomaly GAMMA Favourite game of all time: Rome: Total War although I guess it’s the Remastered edition now. GRAEME MASON Those creepy credits where you realise the Ganado were once normal people. Expertise: Adjusting the tape…

Few games have excited me as much as Resident Evil 4. I can still recall when games™ received early info about the game, revealing all the changes being made to Capcom’s popular series and no one quite believing what they were reading. When I finally saw the game being demoed, my gob was well and truly smacked and I lifted up the GameCube to check no tomfoolery was afoot. I ordered myself a US copy, booked some time off and found myself mesmerised by the sheer scope, pace and variety Resident Evil 4 offered. Based on the games that followed, from Gears Of War to Dead Space, I wasn’t the only person stunned by Capcom’s ambitious makeover of its popular series. So to celebrate the release of its remake, we’ve…

There’s no denying the buzz that accompanies a Nintendo Direct – the company has nailed the formula for making them more than just video presentations, with big surprises and sudden releases that allow players to feel like part of an event. That’s exactly what happened with the company’s most recent outing, which had a feast of major announcements for fans of classic games. The biggest of the lot was undoubtedly the fact that Metroid Prime Remastered, a highly anticipated update of the classic first-person adventure, wasn’t just being formally announced for the first time but would be available to buy immediately. You can check out our review of the reworked GameCube classic on page 96. Kirby’s Return To Dream Land Deluxe is also available now, with Nintendo highlighting the addition…

We are saddened to learn that games-industry veteran Steve Riding passed away unexpectedly in February. Steve cofounded English Software in the early Eighties, working on games such as Airstrike for the Atari 8-bit computers, and briefly worked at Imagine Software before moving to MC Lothlorien where he worked on games such as Legions Of Death and Nevermind. Steve is best-known for his time at Psygnosis, where he rose to the position of director of external development over a decade at the company, earning credits on games such as Mickey Mania, Toy Story and Formula 1 along the way. He later worked for Traveller’s Tales, and was most recently the CEO of the VR-focussed studio Unexpected Developments. Sarah and Martyn Chudley, who worked at Formula 1 developer Bizarre Creations, paid tribute…

I have written in the past about how in my middle school if you wanted to use the computers at lunchtime, you had to book it. At the beginning of the week, a piece of paper would be slapped on the door of the computer room and everyone would rush there at the start of breaktime on Monday to get their name up there. Boom. You had access to the BBC Model B. I’d forgotten that there was an alternative for those who were too slow to get their names on that sacred parchment. Right down at the other end of the school, at the edge of the dining room and almost directly outside the headmaster’s office, was the school’s OTHER computer. The Acorn Electron was a tiny, weird little…

I’m hooked on a couple of games at the minute which are only available on the Apple Arcade. Yes, I’m one of those people locked into the Apple ecosystem – and we can debate the pros and cons of that some other time. However, I am a big fan of the Apple Arcade subscription service. It’s only a fiver a month, and all of the games available under the Apple Arcade banner are accessible. And some of those games are very, very good. The first of the two that are currently consuming my life is Squiggle Drop. It’s kind of a cross between WarioWare and Scribblenauts; you’re presented with a series of rapid-fire challenges, and must doodle a shape on the screen that will complete the puzzle. The other is…