RETRO:BYTES Lite #1

2.3 MB·English

by  retro-bytes-lite-1

//GREE //CONT
TINGS ENTS
May I warmly welcome you to RETRO:BITS
RETRO:BYTES Lite, a snippet of
the forth-coming magazine Pages 5-6
E RETRO:BYTES. In this small edition,
M Get the latest news from the weird world of retro,
O I hope to give you a flavour of the
LC bigger magazine due to launch soon. from Mario’s birthday to the world’s first action-
E
W R:Bwill be your regular guide to all things packed Bingo game.
E : retro, whether you play, collect, emulate or
T
LI compute. We want to bring you the most well- RETRO:PLAY
ES informed and up-to-date features, news, reviews
YT and previews in a well-designed and easy to read Pages 7-8
B
O : mpraogfitaezeinr,e b. uWt eo udto onf’ tt hdeo ltohvise othuat to wf ea awlli llh taove for Some of the latest home-brew titles for the ZX
R Spectrum and Commodore 64 are put to the test.
T the subject matter. Retro games, computers and
E
R consoles are something that we all grew up with, Get the official verdict here!
and many of us yearn for the good old days of
RETRO:REPLAY
pure game-play encaptulated in pixels, beeps and
original music. But, as well as looking back on the
Pages 9-10
good times, R:Bwill take a regular trip to the retro
tip in our RETRO:RUBBISH section too, and, for Our hapless reviewers are forced to replay two
the first issue, we’ve dug up at those movie tie-ins
Sega Japanese shooters, the poor souls. Read
for 8-bit computers and consoles.
their findings here
What we want to achieve is a regular
publication that encourages the community that
RETRO:SPENDS
has amassed (thanks to the Internet, numerous
fanzines and a certain magazine called Retro
Pages 11-12
Gamer*) to participate in R:B. Regular features of
the magazine will include the RETRO:ARTsection, Looking forward to the pending festive season,
in which we’re asking all budding binary artists to
we ask three of the R:Bteam to give us their
send in their work to us so that we may show it to
Christmas wish list.
our readers. Collectors may show off their prized
items in our RETRO:RAREsection (which, for the
RETRO:FEATURE
first issue, will include a PAL TurboGrafx 16 and an
obscure 2.8In Commodore disk drive), or get
Pages 14-17
technical advice from our experts in RETRO:TECH.
All in all, we want to give you the magazine We speak to Cinemaware’s illustrious founder
that you want, so why not get in touch via email or Bob Jacob about the life and times of his great
through our forums? My email address is printed in
software company.
the credits panel at the bottom of this page.
We’re keen to point out what retro is really all RETRO:PREPLAY
about – fun. We want to enjoy ourselves in the
production of R:B, and we hope that this
Page 18
translates well in this electronic version and the
eventual printed one. Right, I’m off to give F-Zero Looking forward, we preview some of the hottest
some stick! homebrew titles currently in development.
//CREDITS
Managing Editor: Public Relations: reproduced in any form without full
Shaun Bebbington Retro Bytes PR written consent from Alten8 Ltd and
[email protected] [email protected] Retro Bytes. All views herein are not
necessarily that of Alten8 Ltd or
Art: Advertising Sales: Retro Bytes.
Mat Mabe & Chris Chandler Paul Andrews Alten8 Ltd, PO BOX 4252,
[email protected] Dunstable, Bedfordshire, LU6 2WQ,
Sub Editor: United Kingdom.
Michelle Sawyer Published by: Every care has been taken in the
Alten8 Ltd. www.alten8.com production of RETRO:BYTES Lite,
Contributors: however the publisher can not be
Spanner, Craig Grannell, Mike © 2005 Retro Bytes and Alten8 Ltd held responsible for the accuracy of
Davies, Bob Bailey, David Bailey No part of this magazine may be information held herein.
004
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Happy Birthday Mario! T
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the world, and is featured in over 40 games Baseball (GC), Mario Power Tennis (GBA) and T
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so far, mostly appearing on Nintendo Dancing Stage: Mario Mix (GC). There was R
machines, except for a brief spell during the also a new double game cartridge released
mid-80s when Ocean (of all companies) had a for the GBA (which coincided with the launch
deal with Nintendo to port several of its of the Micro) which included Dr Mario and
games for the UK market. Anyway, back to Puzzle League.
the point. Mario celebrated his 20th Birthday Other Nintendo news is that the new
this September just gone, as one might snazzy GameBoy Micro will be given a classic
expect, Nintendo is marking this with a string NES look, though from the renders it also has
of new games for the GameBoy Advance, a hint of the Game and Watch titles from
GameCube and DS, apparently showing off all yesteryear too. More information about
of his talents as a good, well-rounded citizen Nintendo's European operations can be found
of the binary world. at www.nintendo-europe.com
Retro Gamer Returns
Earlier this year, I heard some news that I for December 8th 2005, continuing where
thought I'd never hear; that was one of Live the magazine had left off and once again
Publishing's few flag-ship titles. Retro becoming a focus-point for the whole of the
Gamer, had closed leaving its long-suffering retro community to rally behind.
editor Martyn Carroll and his able deputy Imagine have drafted in Darran Jones,
Aaron Birch out of a job. But there were former gamesTM 'Retro' editor, to oversee
whispers that another publisher had bought RG's rebirth, and although we've not seen
the title from Live and were planning to re- any plans for the re-launch (content wise),
launch the mag, with the most likely we're looking forward to seeing this great
suspects being either the long established title back where it should be: on the shelves
Future Publishing or new kids on the block at newsagents nationwide, and at a paltry
Imagine Publishing. Finally, the rumours sum of £4.99. Keep an eye on
stopped when the latter, Imagine, www.imagine-publishing.co.ukfor
announced it was to re-launch Retro Gamer more information.
The Survival Instinct
One of the other parts of the Retro hindsight, not the best plan,
Gamer story was that its merry especially as Imagine Publishing
band of freelancers were were rumoured to have offered the
unfortunately unpaid for their hard group around the £5,000 mark to
work, and thus leaving some quite buy all unpublished works from
substantially out of pocket. them, they nonetheless continued
However, they quickly came up with it and are now offering the CD
with a brave and cunning plan to at just £5 per copy. RS will be
effectively make their losses back - available by the time that you read
that was to withdraw the rights for this, and is best thought of as
Live Publishing to use their work, partly a tribute to RG, and also the
and compile it into a spanky CD issue 19 that never was. For
and sell it online called Retro further information, check out
Survival. Although this was, with www.retrosurvival.co.uk. 005
C64 DTV II
Plug n' Play TV games are becoming opened up the device to a whole
increasingly popular. They're easy to hobbyist market than no other such
store, usually include classic games gadget did.
(except for the Intellivision, Tetris and Until recently, the C64DTV has
'official' Space Invaders variants), and only been available in its original
also make brilliant Chrimbo and NTSC form, with no official PAL
birthday presents, and although the version available. Thankfully, this has
C64DTV wasn't the first such device changed and there's a ready-hacked
to enter this market, it brought new version (which allows the use of a
S standards which other manufacturers PS/2 keyboard and a real
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E have copied; those are that the DTV Commodore disk drive) available from
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To my mind, there isn't a single action, arcade Jonathan Cauldwell, who is now (according to
or platform game that includes any ideas or the World of Spectrum website) the second
concepts from the wacky and wild world of most active programmer ever, after the Shaw
Bingo. But that's about to change thanks to Brothers. We've been play-testing it here for
the pending release from budget software review for a couple of weeks now, and we
house Cronosoft. The game in question is love it! The game will be available on real-
Loco Bingo for the ZX Spectrum, and there's media for Speccy users worldwide through
an exclusive demo on the R:Bwebsite for Cronosoft's website at
your favourite Speccy emulator. www.cronosoft.co.uk, and as an emulator
Loco Bingo is from Speccy enthusiast image from www.download-trader.com.
Slim Jim
Protovision have one or two new games for due for release in mid-2006.
the C64 lined up, including the excellent Other future developments from the
looking puzzler-come-platformer The software label will include a rather nice looking
Adventures of Jim Slim in Dragonland. The Worms clone called Grubz and the immersive
game was due to be released some years strategy game Advanced Space Battle. More
ago, and although technically impressive it details about these developments can be
unfortunately became one of the many found at www.protovision-online.de, and for
"Games that weren't" for the C64. Thankfully, those people who speak German, there's a
the guys at PTV are currently putting the preview site at
finishing touches to the production, and it's www.protovision-previews.de.
Pac Champ
To celebrate Pac Man’s silver determine the ultimate finalists. No
jubilee, Namco recently held a pan- penalty shoot-outs were allowed,
European Pac-Man Tournament nor were they required as the UK
2005 in its London office at Namco and the Netherlands went head to
Station, County Hall, London on head to determine the European
Friday 18th of November. After initial Champion.
qualification rounds which allowed After battling it out for five
players around Europe to upload minutes of intense chomping action,
their best scores via the home i- Fazli Kandemir eventually beat our
mode network, representatives from own intrepid Phil Sheriff by some
five countries were put through to 6,000 points, and was declared the
the grand final, being from Greece, winner. And for his troubles (and
France, the Netherlands, the UK obvious love of the popular pill
and Germany. munching character), Kandemir was
During the first stage of the awarded a plush-looking trophy and
final, Germany made an early exit, a special 25th anniversary edition
leaving the Netherlands to fight it Pac-Man Arcade machine,
out against France and the UK presented by Namco's Executive
006 pitted squarely against Greece Director, Masaji Okubo.
Looking for new games for your aged computer? Look no further,
as R:B Litereviews the latest releases.
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Game: Turbomania Programmer: Jonathan Cauldwell LIT
Format: ZX Spectrum Web link: www.fortunecite.com/egghead6/ S
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Going way back some 23 years, to cover every inch of each raceway to quickly thanks to its simple rules: hit another ET
the 16K ZX Speccy was on the progress to the next level in his search to car or run out of fuel and loose a life, run R
Christmas list of many eager get back home. As the game plays, a into a speed camera and the track will reset,
beavers wanting their first taste of limited supply of fuel drains and at certain refuel whenever possible and collect flags
computing - for educational purposes, of points various power-ups will appear to help and trophies to increase one’s score. The
course. Nothing to do with the fact that new or hinder the player’s progression. A mini- level may be re-organised according to how
and exciting games could be played on the game appears between levels that, if many flags have been collected, which may
machine. 16K however soon became complete, will either add to one’s score or prove helpful if in a tight corner.
defunct as games became bigger and give an extra life. Add to this mix the mini-games that I
better. So, I was rather surprised when I Turbomania is Cauldwell’s way of saying was on about and it’s not hard to see why
found that Turbomania worked on all thank-you to the Speccy community for its Cauldwell is such a well-respected
varieties of Sir Clive’s binary beast regardless support, and what a way to say it. This has programmer. What we have here is variety
“If you’re even mildly curious about what home-
brew software could have to offer, Turbomania is
definitely worth a few hours of your time.”
of memory. Like the old saying goes, “it isn’t to be the best 16K game I’ve ever played, and playability with the polish of what could
the size...” and it could of easily stood shoulder-to- have easily been a commercial release circa.
Our intrepid hero Tim Wrangle (the six- shoulder with any classic Ultimate release, 1984. If you’re even mildly curious about
times Formula Retro champion) has even Jet Pac. Graphically, this it’s fairly what home-brew software could have to
mysteriously vanished through space and simple, and the sound effects do a offer, Turbomania is definitely worth a few
time to a parallel universe in which he is reasonable job, but where it shines is in pure hours of your time.
trapped in a simple computer game. Screen game-play. Movements are fluid and each OVERALL: 86%
after screen awaits him, with the task being level is action packed, drawing the player in
007
Tank combat can be fun
Game: Tanks 3000 Developer: Protovision
Format: Commodore 64 Web link: www.protovision-online.de
Release date: TBA Reviewed by: Mike
Price: £TBA
Other quotes from
the ‘Iron Lady’
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“I always cheer up immensely if an
attack is particularly wounding
because I think, well, if they attack landmines strewn around that should be
one personally, it means they have avoided, and items to collect which will
not a single political argument left” either boost your arsenal or affect the
Thatcher greets you with “You may have to
opponents play in some way. It can be a
“It pays to know the enemy - not fight a battle more than once to win”. After
race to collect the power-up on screen at
least because at some time you may a short interlude, an options menu appears,
first, though obliterating the opposition is
have the opportunity to turn him into and through this one may alter and tweak
more important and fun. The last surviving
a friend”
virtually everything within the game, from
tank on-screen is the winner, and the
number of mines per level to the control
scores are updated showing the number of
In the beginning, there was the Atari method of the missiles. Once all options are victories for each player. And so on to the
set (and all players happy), battle may
2600 classic Combat. In which, two next battle, until all players decide to end
commence.
tanks would prepare fro battle, the task the game.
Tanks has been designed with four
being to out-maneuver the on-screen Tanks plays very well, with great
people in mind, but how so? With a four-
foe and send a fatal projectile to obliterate accompanying music and compulsive
player adapter, that’s how. Plug this nifty
him (or her) to its death. This was one of game-play (suited ideally for four players).
the earliest games released for the device (also available from Protovision) into What lets it down slightly is in its graphics.
aforementioned technology, and like so the user port on any C64 or 128 and four Though the back-drops are very good, it
simultaneous players may battle it out. But
“To set the tone of the game, a quote from the old
battle-axe Margaret Thatcher greets you”
many other titles for the 2600, the it’s important to point out that there is no can take a couple of games to see the
competitive spirit of the game (allowing two artificial intelligence programmed into the land-mines and power-ups, and the main
players) compelled many and made it an game, so the minimum number of people sprites are a little on the small side.
instant and revered classic. required to play Tanks is two. Otherwise, it’s a recommended and
Tanks 3000 pays homage to this great The game consists of 10 well-designed welcomed addition to Protovision’s four-
game, but adding further elements over the battlefields (and one hidden ‘Easter egg’), player range.
basic concept. To set the tone of play, a each with its own attributes that can either OVERALL: 78%
quote from the old battle-axe Margaret help or hinder the play. Within these are
008
Shoot-em-ups are great, aren’t they? They usually allow the player
to single-handedly destroy entire intergalactic empires which is
probably the most fun that one can have with any computer or S
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Developer: Taito TR
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Reviewed by: Bob
Layer Section, also known as Ray
Force or Galactic Attack in the
west, is the first and best of the
Ray Trilogy. The game-play takes
place on two planes, (or layers – hence the
name), a conventional one, where enemies
are disposed of with your main weapon
and a lower level (or layer), and a “There’s no technical 3D jiggery-pokery
background layer filled with ground based
here, just very, very well drawn 2D sprites,
and flying enemies at a lower altitude to the
main one. Flying enemies will often arrive
making full use of the Saturn’s sprite
on screen at this lower level and then rise
up to the player’s altitude in order to do shifting, rotating, and scaling abilities”
their best to deliver swift plasma based
death. This is where one’s layer attack
comes in; when used properly many On the visual side there’s no technical picking a bit here. Secondly there’s not that
adversaries can be sent to the ground in 3D jiggery-pokery here, just very, very well much long term hold to this game as the
flames long before they even get a chance drawn 2D sprites, making full use of the scoring system is not as deep as say the
to fire a shot. It’s this feature that sets this Saturn’s sprite shifting, rotating, and scaling Donpachi games or Radiant Silvergun to
game apart from the standard shooter abilities with only some occasional keep players coming back to beat his or
formula and the lock on style secondary blockiness in sight. Special mention should her previous best.
attack has been copied but never really go to the multiple scrolling backgrounds for That said, this is the perfect game for
bettered since. looking generally ace and depicting level by newcomers to the genre (or hardware), it’s
Whereas the lack of the staple weaponry level a seamless decent from outer space cheap, it can be had for less than a tenner
common in other shoot-em-ups, such as to the centre of the earth very well. if you are lucky, easy to find, not overly
screen clearing bomb, means that bullet So far so good right? An original difficult, and even got a PAL release as
patterns may become frustrating, good game-play mechanic with some well Galactic Attack! So what are you waiting
enemy placement, firing patterns, and pacing, designed and very pretty levels. for? Scour the usual sources to get your
means any player deaths are always the Unfortunately it’s not all good news. Firstly copy now!
player’s fault for being rubbish, and nothing the music isn’t up to the high quality of the
more than practice couldn’t sort out, thus rest of the game; its not bad by any OVERALL: 82%
making the game very fair and a joy to play. means, it’s just not that special and I’m nit
TATE or Yoko?
The games reviewed here are both vertical scrolling shooters, a genre where most games are designed to be played on a
vertically orientated (or TATE) arcade monitor. Before the advent of the Saturn the majority of TATE games had to be either
squashed down or have their levels and enemy attack patterns changed to fit onto you normal horizontal home TV. But with the
extra space provided by the CD medium of the Saturn, a TATE mode could be included as well as the consoleised “Yoko” mode.
Should the player be brave enough to heft their TV onto its side for TATE mode they could expect a game much closer to the
arcade original. Apart from having such great blasters in the first place, this is another reason why the Saturn is the king of
shoot-em-ups!
009
Blue Sky, Crimson Earth
Game: Soukyugurentai
Format:Sega Saturn
Developer: Raizing
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Reviewed by: Dave
“Dark and foreboding, the music is very
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One for the more seasoned called as when the fire button is held extra depth it gives the game, while others
shooter veteran, down a targeting web emanates from the hate the fact it seems to punish the player
Soukyugurentai is scarily player’s craft, locking onto enemies that for doing well. Personally, I think once
difficult, with the feeling of pass threw it. Each of the ships has two controlling the rank system is mastered, it
sitting an exam paper for which no shapes of web (changed by pressing the makes a fine addition to the game.
revision has been done; that’s to say it’s C button). When the fire button is Graphically the game really shines,
very intimidating and there aren’t any released, different types of shot, ranging and is one of the best (if not the best)
clues to what any of it means. The game, from weak lasers that can lock onto many looking sprite-based productions on the
as one might expect, is all in Japanese, enemies, to powerful flame shots that can system. At times there are huge
but don’t let that detract from this fine only gain a few locks, are thrown out. numbers of enemies shots and
production – it’s easy to navigate the After a short time, the player (or players) explosions on screen, with the Saturn
menu (there are translations on the will be relying mostly on the web attack being pushed to its limits. The sound
Internet), though even with translations, since this is generally more powerful and effects are also good but it’s the music
the difficulty to new players is very high, linked to scoring (the more locks, the that is the star of the show. Dark and
and the tone of the game in general is higher the score). Locks also affect the foreboding, it is very movie-like, and fits
very serious. type of bomb released so the player is the tone of the game perfectly.
Soukyugurentai (or Souky) was able to use bombs in defence (clears As well as the arcade mode there is
originally and arcade game designed for screen with no locks) and offence (causes also a very useful score attack/practice
the STV arcade board (this is essentially a high damage to targeted baddies). mode for perfecting technique, and a very
Saturn with a bit more ram) meaning that As mentioned before the difficulty can good selection of options, making this a
the Saturn conversion is almost arcade be very daunting for new players, mainly nice well-rounded package. It’s difficult for
perfect. Unusually for a vertical shooter, it because the game leads the player to me not to recommend this game since
was designed for the arcades in ‘Yoko’ destroy everything and collect as many we here love it so much. However the
mode rather than TATE (see box out), power-ups as possible. This kind of play ranking system, the difficulty, and the
which means that it really was a close will quickly lead to the game over screen general seriousness of the game may not
arcade experience that could be had at though - a product of its arcade roots, as appeal to everyone, but since its price on
home! So, how does it play? the number and speed of bullets fired by online auction sites have plummeted in
There are three ships available for enemies depends upon the difficulty rank the past year to around £30, less if you’re
selection that have three main weapons, a system. Rank can be raised by collecting lucky, all shooter fans should at least
normal forward shot that can be increased power-ups too quickly, and by destroying consider this one.
in power by collecting power-ups, a web every enemy on a level, and can only be
attack, and a limited supply of bombs. decreased by dying. This system is a love OVERALL: 91%
The innovation here is the web attack, so it or hate it thing, some players love the
0010