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Retro Gamer Magazine - Issue 277

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In this issue

The Making Of: World Series Baseball
Find out how a small development team crammed an entire baseball pitch into various 8-bit computers

Covermount Corner:ST Format #30
This month James Konik plays demos of Populous 2 and Baby Jo

The Making Of:Star Wars: Episode 1 -
The Phantom Menace Find out how tight time limits and little studio access helped shape this digital take on George
Lucas’ first prequel film

Back To The Noughties
It’s April 2009 and Nick is on another exciting mission in gaming’s past

A SNESATIONAL PORT

Randal Linden on revisiting his astonishing SNES port of Doom and making it even better

3 mins

Green Yamo and me

grew up with the usual suburban trappings of the Eighties: rusty dirt bikes, questionably engineered tree forts and summer adventures that ended in the ER so often everyone knew our names. And then we had him.

3 mins

Simple games for simple people

I am a very simple man with very simple tastes. I like strong coffee in the morning, shed loads of cats and lots of naps.

2 mins

Shooting sacred cows

I'll tell you what you don't get anymore: truly bad games. I'm mostly talking about major releases here, not indie experiments.

2 mins

Kevin Toms

From the Speccy to Steam, the original Football Manager kicks off again

3 mins

LEGACY OF KAIN SOUL REAVER 1 & 2 REMASTERED

After lying dormant since 2003, the vampire Raziel has arisen thanks to brand-new remasters from Aspyr.

2 mins

THE LATEST NEWS FROM APRIL 2009

Resident Evil 5 took the fight against bioweapons to Africa, and it was easily the biggest console game going in April.

3 mins

25 YEARS OF EPIC BATTLES TOTAL WAR

THE FIRST TOTAL WAR GAME WAS THE BREAKOUT HIT THAT CREATIVE ASSEMBLY NEEDED TO FREE ITSELF FROM ITS WORK-FOR-HIRE SITUATIONSHIP WITH ELECTRONIC ARTS. SINCE THEN THE SERIES HAS GONE FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH, COVERING EVERYTHING FROM THE ROMAN EMPIRE AND THE NAPOLEONIC WARS TO SKAVEN AND UNDEAD LORDS

1 mins

THE MAKING OF WORLD SERIES BASEBALL

AIMED AT AN AUDIENCE OF GAMERS MORE USED TO FOOTBALL, CRICKET AND RUGBY, WORLD SERIES BASEBALL NEVERTHELESS STEPPED UP TO THE PLATE AND HIT A HOME RUN WITH A FUN ARCADE GAME THAT INITIALLY FRUSTRATED BUT HAD PLAYERS STRIKING OUT FOR MORE

6 mins

Power Drift

A TRULY IMPOSSIBLE PORT

1 mins

THE MAKING OF THE CHAOS ENGINE 2

ALTHOUGH ITS SALES WERE DECIMATED BY THE DISCONTINUATION OF THE AMIGA, THE CHAOS ENGINE 2 SERVED AS A WORTHY SWAN SONG FOR THE 16-BIT SYSTEM. THE BITMAP BROTHERS FOUNDER MIKE MONTGOMERY RECALLS HOW THE STUDIO CREATED ITS INVENTIVE SEQUEL

6 mins

ST FORMAT #30

THIS MONTH IN DECEMBER 1991

2 mins

JUSTIN LEEPER

American gaming publications don't get any bigger than Game Informer, and Justin Leeper was there at the turn of the millennium as its online ambitions grew and print circulation soared. Together, we look back at his career in games media, and how it led to a development career that has seen him work with wrestling stars, Hideo Kojima and even Transformers

10+ mins

ALESTE

VISITING A JAPANESE GAME CENTER IS ALWAYS A GOOD IDEA. NOT ONLY FOR THE CLASSICS, BUT ALSO FOR MODERN RELEASES LIKE M2'S SENXIN ALESTE – A GAME THAT FEELS LIKE A WONDERFUL HYBRID OF CLASSIC ALESTE AND CAVE-STYLE BULLET HELL SHOOTING!

3 mins

ULTIMATE GUIDE MORTAL

THIRTY YEARS AGO, MIDWAY LOOKED TO MAINTAIN ITS GRIP ON THE ARCADE FIGHTING GENRE WITH THE RELEASE OF MORTAL KOMBAT 3. BUT COULD LIGHTNING REALLY STRIKE THRICE? JOIN US AS WE REVISIT THE FINAL ACT OF THE SERIES' 2D HEYDAY. PREPARE FOR KOMBAT...

8 mins

THE HISTORY OF HERETIC

AS THE DUST SETTLED ON MARS, ID TURNED ITS ATTENTION TO A NEW MAGNIFICENT ENGINE. MEANWHILE, CAPITALISING ON THE SUCCESS OF DOOM WAS PARAMOUNT - OVER TO DUNGEONS & DRAGONS FANS, RAVEN SOFTWARE

10+ mins

Virtual Boy Wario Land

CAVE STORY

1 mins

THE MAKING OF STAR WARS EPISODE I THE PHANTOM MENACE

THE FIRST PREQUEL FILM REMAINS A MIXED BAG: THERE'S THE POD RACE AND DUEL OF THE FATES, BUT IT ALSO INTRODUCES JAR JAR BINKS. SO HOW DOES THE OFFICIAL GAME FOR THE FILM COMPARE?

6 mins

METROPOLIS STREET RACER

BIZARRE CREATIONS' RACING GAME LAUNCHED IN THE YEAR 2000 WITH A SOUNDTRACK OF FLAVOURFUL RADIO STATIONS, ROARING ENGINES AND PHENOMENAL MUSIC. WE TALK WITH COMPOSER RICHARD JACQUES ABOUT HOW HE BROUGHT THE SOUNDS OF THE CITY TO LIFE

4 mins

THE MAKING OF BULLY

ORIGINALLY RELEASED AS CANIS CANEM EDIT, BULLY TELLS A STORY OF AUTHORITY, ORDER AND DEFIANCE. BEHIND THE SCENES, SIMILAR TENSIONS WERE PLAYING OUT BETWEEN THE INTENSELY DEMANDING ROCKSTAR GAMES HEADQUARTERS IN NEW YORK AND THEIR OVERWORKED DEVELOPMENT TEAM IN VANCOUVER, WHO WERE PUSHED TO BREAKING POINT

10+ mins

Stonekeep

FIRST IMPRESSIONS COUNT

1 mins

Shinobi: Art Of Vengeance

JOE MUSASHI'S LATEST ADVENTURE IS HIS BEST YET

3 mins

DREAMCAST DESIRES

Megan Potter's KallistiOS first emerged around 2001 and is widely used by Dreamcast developers, supporting C and C++. \"It's an entire homebrew SDK - complete with toolchains, examples, documentation, tools, and more,\" Falco Girgis tells us. \"It is incredibly approachable and easy to work with, with its standard library support and functioning as a complete mini operating system and kernel.\"

2 mins

HORROR HAUL

Survival horror games, and Resident Evil titles in particular, are a big focus for Hollie's impressive games collection

1 mins

RAPID RELOAD

It's not Halloween, but Axel and Ruka still have to fight off the Pumpkin Heads in this early PlayStation run-and-gun. It's a clear tribute to a Mega Drive classic - does it live up to its inspiration, and can it justify the hefty price tag it now commands?

3 mins

PHOTO MODE

Delving through the family album has rekindled fond memories for Nick

3 mins

Read all Stories from Retro Gamer

Retro Gamer Magazine Description:

Publisher: Future

Category: Puzzle_Gaming

Language: English

Frequency: Monthly

The world’s best guide to classic gaming, Retro Gamer is the only magazine in the UK that’s fully dedicated to the halcyon days of classic gaming. If you’ve ever fondly blasted away at the Bydo Empire in R-Type, swung Bowser by the tail in Super Mario 64, or navigated all 20 levels of Matthew Smith’s Manic Miner, then this is the magazine for you. Created by a dedicated team of experts, Retro Gamer’s mission is to deliver constantly engaging and passionately written articles that cover a wide range of subjects. We offer our readership in-depth looks at classic games and franchises, behind-the-scenes glimpses of the software houses from yesteryear, and one-on-one exclusive interviews with industry veterans such as Archer Maclean and Hideo Kojima. Stylish, entertaining and beautifully presented, Retro Gamer is the ultimate guide to videogaming’s rich and diverse history.