What is this game? Ancient Mariner (Systems Architects). Previewed in C&VG #71 but no entry on HOL or @gamesthatwerent.com . But looks quite developed and ambitious. No hits on @mobygames.com for Systems Architects either. Looks cool though #amiga #Atari #retrogames

Probably my fav @kimjustice.bsky.social vid for a while. So interesting to read about the rivalries, first between Amiga Power & Team17 and then, even more interestingly, betweem AP and Amiga Format. I read both avidly & never realised the depth of animosity www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km_2...

So cool that mags back in the day would commission actual comic artists to draw artwork for their pages, like this awesome Glenn Fabry piece accompanying the Slaine preview in C&VG October 1987. #retro #retromags #retrogaming

Why was it quite normal to charge £1 more for the C64 (tape) version of a game than the Spectrum version in the mid 80s? Seems a bit pointless but it was pretty standard. #retro #c64 #zxspectrum

The October '87 C&VG news section has what I guess is the first news of a Robocop game? No mention of Data East license & says won't be out til late next year. Long development time for an 8-bit game & not sure if the very low-res digitised image is a still from the film or v early game concept.

First new delivery to Fort Mogmar for a while, 6 so far uncollected issues of C&VG from 87, 88 + 89. Plus two doubles to add to the swaps pile (not in pic). The late 80s C&VG era of my collection is getting quite full now. #retro #retromags #C&VG

Last year, I paid tribute to computer artist Avril Harrison, one of the artists who pioneered the use of the Commodore Amiga in a then-new field of artistry. Yesterday, I learned that she passed away in 2019 at the age of 61. I've polished up the article and added a bit more to it.

Oh! I think I finally found one that @gamesthatwerent.com hasn't got yet! Did this Archimedes port of Hard Drivin' ever exist beyond this brief mention? Could have been pretty awesome at the time! "Four times faster than any other format". #retrogaming #retro #oldmags

My copy of The Games Machine #23 October 89 has this little unopened "Are You A Winner?" package taped to the front. 1. Why didnt the original owner open it? 2. Should I? Or preserve it? #retrogaming #oldmags #retro

Sinclair User Oct 1989: Power Drift programmer notes, Galaxy Force preview. READ: https://archive.org/stream/sinclair-user-magazine-091/SinclairUser_091_Oct_1989#page/n00/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

I also wrote a lil' piece about the piracy scene between the 80s and 90s in Europe, delving into several interesting experiences such as the Twilight CDs from the Netherlands genesistemple.com/the-european...

NEW VIDEO! The Arcade Treasures of 1982, featuring some truly outstanding titles; Mr. Do, Frenzy, Nibbler, and a trio of European games including Bagman and Blue Print. Enjoy and please share :) www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkPl...

I am going to Japan today! First time. I want to look at retro game stuff obvs and I know Akihabara is the place to go but beyond that I have no idea. Where would you be heading if you were going to Japan today and you wanted to look at cool #retrogaming stuff? #retro #help

Chill adventure game locations that I enjoyed hanging out in despite getting very frustrated with the puzzles #2. But where am I? #retro #adventuregames #amiga

CFA has helped a couple of yz episodes so I just paid for August. Anyone got September?

TGM #25 and I think this is the first solid sign that the Konix project is not going to end well. A shame because it would have been great if it had been released, but with hindsight it was very different to the products that would go on to dominate the console market.

I 'member back in the old internet days (MP3 era) there was a collection of remixes of well-known Amiga game sound tracks doing the rounds. Some of them were really good, I remember it had remixes of Shadow Of The Beast and a lot of classic Amiga game tracks. Does anyone remember what it was called?

Wanted to compare how the title screen looked on Amiga/CRT vs DosBox/monitor. But for some reason @bsky.app adds scan lines to the Amiga screen that aren't there in my original picture.

Infocom's Adventure was an interesting one. Mixing RPG elements, a party and branching choices. I like it, but was it a disappointment at the time? Promised sequels never emerged. This seems to be the only coverage it got in UK games press, a deserved 87% in TGM#20.

Came across this advert for a game I'd never heard of, The Search For Sharla, and doesn't show up on @mobygames.com. Of course as always @gamesthatwerent.com has it covered: www.gamesthatwerent.com/gtw64/search...

What was the last commercially-released text adventure? If there was such a thing? Not really talking about modern interactive fiction which I know there is loads of, but stuff released for classic machines when IF was a viable mainstream(ish) genre.

Wow gamers were a lot more tolerant and progressive back in the 80s. This one whose letter is printed in TGM#24 even has a coloured friend he calls Chalky!

A small screenshot on the cover and a mention in the SAM Centre of 'Days of Sorcery' - the huge adventure by Nigel Kettlewell for the SAM Coupe. DoS features on the coverdisk with issue 14 of SAM Revival magazine -> www.samcoupe.com/samrevival.htm #samcoupe #textadventuregames #interactivefiction

Jumping back to 1988 to look at Ace #10 which I didn't go through properly yet. The difference between 88/89 demonstrates why I find this such a good period in gaming history. In 12 months it goes from 8-bit home micros & text adventures to excitement for 16-bit consoles, CD-ROM & online gaming

I just wanted to ask ChatGPT to draw one classic adventure scene as a realistic image. I was sure that whatever came out was going to be shit and not interesting. However it came out so creepy and weirdly homoerotic that I think I might have to carry on with a few more.

Pete Cook won the Edit Ace For A Day competition in 1988 and got a job as a game designer at Elite Systems. From there he went on to have a pretty great career: www.mobygames.com/person/17814...

switch 2

People probably looked at images like this back in the day, in the same way we look at AI art now. Digitised pics restricted by the power of the computer processing/displaying them, & manipulated with sw to create new kinds of images. This comes from a mag-in-a-mag in TGM#23 focusing on (cont)

What are the chances of being able to walk into a shop and buy a Switch 2 today? #switch #switch2 #nintendo

Here's a chill location I enjoyed exploring while recently playing a classic adventure for the first time. Anyone know what game it is? #retrogaming #dos #amiga

After a few months of mostly average review scores for games that have largely been forgotten, October 89's batch of releases up their game in tgm#23. Shadow Of The Beast (Amiga) 96% Xenon 2 (Amiga) 96% Strider (Amiga) 94% archive.org/details/The_...

Anyone want to show off their esoteric 80s UK tech industry knowledge by taking on this Mel Croucher trivia quiz? (Apologies for the poor image quality but should be legible depending on your screen I guess)

What were the Codies talking about here in TGM#23? The CD unit seems the obvious choice but as noted has been done already. Can't think of anything else that fits the bill though!

@deanswain.bsky.social & @chrisoreganuk.bsky.social are joined by Paul from www.pixeljockey.co.uk to discuss the Magic Knight Kickstarter, plus Dean & Chris talk OutRun, Flashback & Oblivion! traffic.libsyn.com/secure/retro... #zxspectrum #outrun #arcade1up #arcade #sinclair #retrogaming

Nice 2-page review of Shadow Of The Beast in TGM#23. The game that really made people take notice of the Amiga, which so far mainly got ports from the less powerful but more popular ST. If you didn't buy mags you probably first saw it in this shop demo www.youtube.com/watch?v=OC8o...

ACE Jun 1991: Whole issue view

I don't remember this game at all which is unusual for an Amiga game of its vintage. Chariots Of Wrath sounds interesting, blending different game genres like platforming and break-out.

The New Zealand Story scoops top score in TGM#22. The Amiga version is highlighted and was (in my eyes at least, for the time) a flawless port. Along with Rainbow Islands, Ghouls n Ghosts, Silkworm, and probably others I forget, it made the Amiga feel like a great home for arcade ports at the time.

I knew it would be a risk making a dedicated video on ASTERIX and yep, the numbers are in and they are very VERY LOW lol | Thankfully, the feedback has been 100% positive and I loved making this one. if you liked the video please share so more ASTERIX fans get to see it :) youtu.be/eAQAGqC9yII

This Bullfrog interview from TGM#22 mentions 3 upcoming games: Obvious assumption is Game A and Game B are Powermonger and Flood (which changed a lot from this original description). Very ltd details about C but I'd say Bob/Higher Function (previewed in Amiga Power #2) which later became Syndicate?

Knight Force (ad taken from TGM#22) looks awesome and just the sort of game that would have got UK gamers excited about upgrading from a Speccy or C64 to an Amiga or ST. Reviews are very mediocre though. Worth a play to check out the graphics?

One of my fav ever text adventures gets cruelly underscored in TGM#7. I came to this as a trilogy rather than 3 original releases and the scale of it blew my tiny mind.

Early feature on Bullfrog, where the company is still apparently keeping up the appearance of a database company (Taurus) that happens to make a few games. We now know this was a lie in order to get business sw contracts from Commodore (as per @retrogamermag.bsky.social #17 interview with Pete M).

Sinclair User (Jun 1987) - Express Raider review READ: https://archive.org/stream/sinclair-user-magazine-063/SinclairUser_063_Jun_1987#page/n71/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

The Games Machine Jun 1989: TGM redesigns itself to appeal to a younger market - coincidentally when publishers Newsfield were having financial difficulties. Feature analyzing why very few newspapers cover (1/2) #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Been playing the #Amiga version of Silkworm and totally agree with this vid, it's an amazing port. I had it on my A500 but it was a bit old by then so I overlooked it in favour of more sophisticated games.But it's very playable and technically it's A++ #retrogaming www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWfl...

Hang on why does NEC (UK) Ltd even exist at this point? Solely so it can place this ad? TGm#22 #pcengine #retrogaming

Where Time Stood Still was a very intriguing game. Presented very much like an early stab at an interactive movie type format. I've always found it a bit fiddly though and not had the patience to get past the first few screens. Worth persevering with?

Atari quietly released an upgraded Atari ST called the STE in 1989. Never had an ST so don't know what the impact of it was. Commodore did a similar thing in 1991 with the launch o the A500+ but to me that seemed fairly pointless because 99% (guess) of games ignored it, being either no (continued..)

TGM #22 Certainly a bold choice for Cheetah to bundle a racing game, pinball sim, Green Beret clone and a flight sim with its Defender light gun for the ZX Spectrum.