The UKFF Retro Gaming Thread

[RedTwoster]

46 minutes ago, Ironic Indie Lad said:

Gaming definitely felt more special to me then because I knew most of the games I was interested in were out of reach for me. I used to get CVG and Official Nintendo Magazine at the time and I spent hours just poring over the games I wanted. Its different when you really covet something but you know you would need to wait until birthday or Christmas. You also need to make agonising choices when you know you can only get one game and that's it for months. I can remember having a policy where I wouldnt buy an N64 game unless it got at least 9/10 in ONM.

We don't talk enough about older video game magazines in this thread! I used to love Amiga Format back in the day - mainly for the cover disk, which would occasionally have full games on it. 

ONM is another one I really liked - I actually picked up a pile of Wii-era magazines from a local charity shop recently and they were fun to revisit - particularly when you see games being hyped as the next big thing that I'd completely forgotten about. 

Not so much a gaming magazine - but when I was a child I used to love Fleetway's Sonic the Comic. I really wish I'd kept my collection, as they seem to sell for a fortune online these days. I imagine my mum tossed them in the recycling at some point, or gave them to a charity shop. 

[Jazzy G]

I read Zzap, Commodore Format and CU Amiga when I was a kid, then when I got a console I read GamesMaster. When I had a PS2 I would read PSW because it seemed to have the same kind of off-kilter sense of humour I liked. The most recent magazines I read were GamesTM and Retro Gamer. Retro Gamer is still a cracking read. 

[RedTwoster]

5 minutes ago, Jazzy G said:

The most recent magazines I read were GamesTM and Retro Gamer. Retro Gamer is still a cracking read. 

Me too, I was gutted when GamesTM stopped publishing. Retro Gamer is still excellent, although it's bizarre to see games that were released (and reviewed!) during the magazine's run being featured again as retro releases. Fair play to the magazine for its longevity, but it makes me feel old!

[Ironic Indie Lad]

I loved a gaming mag.

CVG and ONM were the only ones I bought on a regular basis but I would read other ones in Supermarkets while my mum did the shopping. Usually some square who worked in Presto or Safeway (glory days by Bruce Springsteen playing softly in the background now as the Nostalgia reaches new heights) would eventually say "are you going to buy that?" and I would blurt out something like "I am thinking about it!"

In hindsight its amazing how influential these magazines were on my tastes and opinions. I remember thinking there was no way I could justify getting Mission Impossible on the N64 as it got good but not great reviews. I cant be buying an 8/10 game when there are 9 and 10s I dont own! I am not made of money. To this day I have still never even played that game.

I vividly remember a huge feature in ONM about how enormous Pokémon was going to be when it launched in the UK and it really whipped me into a frenzy. I got Blue for my birthday and, having just checked the launch date, I would have had to wait around 2 months. A lifetime at a young age. I probably hadn't bought a Game Boy game in 2 or 3 years at that point.

[BomberPat]

Sega Power was the first gaming magazine I remember reading regularly. I still remember them giving Cutthroat Island for the Mega Drive something like 12/100, with the review "come back Waterworld, all is forgiven".

From there - PS World, PC Gamer, Official Playstation Magazine, N-Gamer, PC Gaming World, probably a few others I'm forgetting, because I've always been a bit of a magazine nerd. I sometimes pick up Retro Gamer now if I've got a flight or a long train journey, depending what features are in it, but I bought it monthly for a long time.

Demo discs were an absolute game-changer for me. There's PS1 games I probably never actually played, but still fondly remember because I'd have played the demo to death, some games I only know as demos.

 

Sonic The Comic was great fun, and I read practically every issue for years. There's a Sonic The Comic podcast, and whenever they post cover art for the next issue/episode, I'm always amazed how well I remember it, as I probably went years without thinking about that comic once.

When I was a kid I was friends with these two brothers, whose Mum was American, so they would spend a few weeks every summer in the US, and one time they came back with American Sonic comics. I hated them, because I couldn't get my head around there being contradictory "lore", that it wasn't just a set-in-stone "this is what Sonic is, this is how it works". That they had completely different stories really confused me! 

[Jazzy G]

I picked up a few issues of CVG when I was younger. I remember one with either a preview or review of the first Turtles arcade game. It's where I first discovered the magic of the PC Engine as well, which has held me in its thrall ever since. 

[DavidB6937]

Retro Gamer is the only magazine I still subscribe to and read today. Well, apart from the TV guide sometimes because I got fed up of trying to work out what was on where and missing stuff half the time. But both I've picked up digitally on Black Friday sales for dirt cheap.

[Lorne Malvo]

There's not much that hits me in that nostalgia sweet spot but talk of gaming magazines definitely does.

Playstation Max was the first one I owned, with Gex on the cover. It was a sister magazine to the Official Playstation Magazine but aimed at younger gamers, and had the vivid bright colour scheme to suit. I bought that monthly for a few months until I upgraded to the Official mag with its demo disks.

I didn't really have any loyalty with PS2 magazines, it often seemed there was a new one out every month and I'd switch around until eventually I settled on the Official mag again. I remember them giving Pro Evo 5 a glowing review and having a few agonising months of waiting for my birthday.

When I got a 360 I switched to GamesMaster which I bought on and off until it shut up shop, I'd often buy it even during the periods where I wasn't gaming much.

Even recently when I bought the original Xbox, I also got my hands on a job lot of old Official Xbox magazines. They were fine - very of their time, with that early 00s laddish humour in every article. 

It's a shame that most of the mags have since came to the end of their lifespan, and an even bigger shame that of the golden generation the one that seems to have survived is Edge, which everytime I have read it has been an utterly depressing joyless experience.

Edited September 5 by Lorne Malvo

[RedTwoster]

2 hours ago, Lorne Malvo said:

It's a shame that most of the mags have since came to the end of their lifespan, and an even bigger shame that of the golden generation the one that seems to have survived is Edge, which everytime I have read it has been an utterly depressing joyless experience.

Yeah, I feel similarly. There's no fun to be had from Edge. I always thought that Games TM did the exact same thing, but better - while I wouldn't wish death upon any magazine, it's a shame that they both ended up owned by the same company, and that one was discontinued. 

[JLM]

I still have a massive stack  of issues of Gamesmaster from the 90s in my garage. Can’t bring myself to chuck them.
 

I remember a Gamesmaster review of Dragonheart: Fire and Steel for the Saturn wherein the reviewer’s disdain was so palpable it has stuck with me to this day.
 

“Playing as sir Bowen, you hack and slash your way across a variety of levels in order to… to win the bloody speedboat, who cares, this is awful.” 

Really caught me off guard. 
 

Also remember a review of an F-Zero/Wipeout type game that ran at a silky smooth 60fps but had awful controls and the reviewer said “it moves like an absolute bastard but sadly handles like an absolute bastard.” Love that. 

[RedTwoster]

I'd never heard of it until I picked up a bundle on eBay including every edition (except issue two, weirdly) but Total Control magazine was a fantastic read that deserved to do much better than it did. Only 11 issues were ever published between 1998 and 1999, and it was designed, I think, to compete with Edge. Except it was less boring, it took more of a Games TM approach to its articles, and as a result it's a lot more fun to read. There are a few sellers trying to flog the magazine off at a ridiculously high price right now given that it's relatively rare - I managed to pick up my bundle of 10 for just over £20, inclusive of postage, so I guess I got lucky. 

[TildeGuy~!]

Absolute long shot but…

I remember going to Earls Court with some school friends (would have either been 2001 or 2002) for the PlayStation Experience(basically tons of consoles and TV’s where you could play all the new PS2 games coming soon) and being interviewed by a magazine asking for my opinion on some of the new games(I remember being hyped for the new Pro Evo and Onimusha 2)then a few months later someone came up to me at School telling me my interview was on a demo disc that came with said magazine. 

I have completely forgotten what the magazine was called but I’m pretty sure it was an unofficial PlayStation Mag, anyone have the smallest idea of what it could be?

Edited September 5 by TildeGuy~!

[RedTwoster]

10 minutes ago, TildeGuy~! said:

I have completely forgotten what the magazine was called but I’m pretty sure it was an unofficial PlayStation Mag, anyone have the smallest idea of what it could be?

Unfortunately not - but it might be worth skimming this list, perhaps something will ring a bell: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_magazines

[FLips]

Bought myself a Mega Drive II today. Deeeep trouble.

[SuperBacon]

Thought some of you might like this about the Def Jam fighting game.

https://www.theguardian.com/games/article/2024/sep/02/def-jam-fight-for-ny-at-20