Retro Gamer Download

0 views

Skip to first unread message

Octavia Leithoff

unread,

Aug 3, 2024, 4:22:55 PM8/3/24

to mulcourespmo

Retro Gamer is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, Retro Gamer soon became a monthly. In 2005, a general decline in gaming and computer magazine readership led to the closure of its publishers, Live Publishing,[1] and the rights to the magazine were later purchased by Imagine Publishing.[2] It was taken over by Future plc on 21 October 2016, following Future's acquisition of Imagine Publishing.

The first 18 issues of the magazine came with a coverdisk. It usually contained freeware remakes of retro video games and emulators, but also videos and free commercial PC software such as The Games Factory and The Elder Scrolls: Arena. Some issues had themed CDs containing the entire back catalogue of a publisher, such as Durell, Llamasoft and Gremlin Graphics.

On 27 September 2005, the magazine's original publishing company, Live Publishing, went into bankruptcy.[1] The magazine's official online forums described the magazine as "finished" shortly before issue #19 was due for release. However, rights to Retro Gamer were purchased by Imagine Publishing in October 2005 and the magazine was re-launched on 8 December 2005.[2]

Retro Survival is a commercial CD retro games magazine put together by the freelance writers of Retro Gamer when Live Publishing collapsed. The CD was published in November 2005 and contains articles that would have appeared in Issue 19 of Retro Gamer, as well as several extras including a foreword by celebrity games journalist Mr Biffo.

It also includes interviews with leading 80s and 90s programmers, such as David Crane, Matthew Smith and Archer Maclean. Regular columns also feature such as Back to the 80s and 90s, Desert Island Disks (what games would a gaming celebrity take to a desert island) and From the Archives (a profile of a particular game developer or publisher).

March 2010 (issue 75) saw John Romero collaborating with Retro Gamer, taking on the role of 'Guest Editor', taking charge of the magazine's editorial and splashing his own unique style to a number of his favorite articles and subjects throughout the magazine.[4]

The magazine celebrated its 200th issue in October 2019 and as of March 2023, the staff consists of Editor Darran Jones, Production Editor Tim Empey, Features Editor Nick Thorpe and Art Editor Andy Salter.

I don't think I'd have any interest in subscribing/getting every issue, though. Given the subject, there's not much news to cover, and it's kinda self indulgent I guess, given if you're into old games you probably aren't gonna learn that much new from reading them either.

I get it confused with "Old School Gamer Magazine." I got the digital subscription when they did their recent kickstarter. I can't say I've really used it at all. I have read a few issues in print over the years, but never maintained a subscription. I think I just have spent so much time around retro-gaming that there's not much they can tell me. Plus there's so much specialized content on Youtube; how can they hope to compete with that?

Well, I'm talking about a different magazine here, but if you don't like bad details in your Youtube channels, then I wouldn't recommend Old School Gamer Magazine. When I have read it, I've found mistakes like typos and grammar problems. It looks nice but at least the old issues had a lot of little details off. Maybe they have improved?

They started carrying it again, or just some stores? A couple near me haven't had them in at least a year or two, maybe more, whenever that big NeoGeo issue went out took me months of finding random other issues before/after to where I got pissed and bought it online.

That's stupid. Like do they not understand that retro will include newer consoles like Classic Rock stations from 20 years ago play different music than the same Classic Rock station of today? Retro Gaming isn't a fix selection of consoles. That shit should expand with every new console that is released.

They're a Euro centric magazine, so not only is it a lot of pre NES stuff, but it primarily gears toward 8 bit computers rather than home consoles. Still, I've enjoyed every issue I've read. It's well written, well researched, and generally top quality. It also covers a wide spread of time, as some issues focus as late as the PS2 era. So I recommend it, especially if you have an interest in games of all eras.

I had a similar experience with Nintendo Power, where they more or less stopped having much, if any NES content in the magazine 2-3 years before the system actually wound down, at which point I just didn't renew my subscription, as I just didn't have the interest in the SNES (and for the most part, still don't, blasphemy or not). Can't blame you at all. If there's not a well balanced variety, it's really not doing a good job of appealing to everyone who's interested in the "retro" category.

Great magazine...BUT... That but, they have their lips firmly pushed first and foremost on the ass of euro-computers, they get the most coverage, the most appreciation, and the most leniency on how so called great they were/are which really, they largely just weren't, but given the market at the time it's what was easiest to put up with. I strongly considered buying the magazine as a sub for years, but too much garbage coverage ignoring large chunks of the more globally cared for stuff (NES, Master, TG/PCE, IBM PC compatible, etc) doesn't inspire wanting to drop like $10/issue. That's why I liked when BN carried the things, I could walk in, browse the contents, and choose to snap it up or not.

The thing is, they do cover that stuff, but being that it's a UK magazine, who's primary audience as a print magazine would be domestic, it makes perfect sense that they'd focus on what was popular domestically. I have an issue that is almost fully devoted to the TurboGrafx, for example. I wouldn't suggest someone who wants specific things to become a subscriber, but I would absolutely suggest combing through back issues, as most issues have an overarching focus that could be of interest.

And honestly, I really dig the focus on systems that weren't popular here, like the Speccy or the BBC Micro. Why? Because that's an area where I don't know all that much, so reading about it is actually informative to me. I find I'm less interested in an NES feature since there really isn't anything they can put in there that I don't have at least some prior knowledge of, which makes reading it kinda blah.

Oh no I get that, totally, I just wish it was a bit more balanced because in europe depending on the nation the NES or Sega device of the time were top dog for dedicated gaming off some random euro-pc. That's why I never subbed. I'd love to have that NEC issue. I've got the Neo-Geo one which had the bagged in second mini magazine for it, and then that arcade only one i pointed out as it's a fantastic almost book of sorts.