Time for the weekly "Raise up your fellow Youtubers" thread: #1: bsky.app/profile/yest...

Crash (Oct 1990) - U.N. Squadron advert. Also Gunrunner READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-81/Crash_81_Oct_1990#page/n01/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Crash (Oct 1986) - Lernon Esperanto review READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-33/Crash_33_Oct_1986#page/n112/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Manic Miner didn't have anything to say about the miners' strike. Ian Stewart and Pete Harrap had an idea: what if it did? New post on the history of the resultant Monty Mole games, and how Monty made it to both the BBC news and the Famicom Disk System: www.superchartisland.com/monty-on-the-run

All-Time Greats crashonline.org.uk/57/great.htm “Raffaele Cecco’s second hit game soon rose to star status on the Spectrum. Everyone still asks ‘How does Raf manage to get so many colours of the Spectrum and still produce a totally fantastically addictive game?’”

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

Chance discovery of the day: the titles to Magic Micro Mission, as described by CRASH in their interview with Dave Beeson, can be seen on YouTube. www.crashonline.org.uk/23/tv.htm www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yBp...

It's likely my OCD, but that 'News' logo always triggered me... Each letter has an arrow and also corresponds to one of the points on a compass (North, South, East, and West), but only N and S are pointing in the right direction! 😡 Also, who remembers being taught "Never Eat Shredded Wheat"? 😆

Chordon Bleu crashonline.org.uk/45/niche.htm “All in all, Compuchord offers well over a thousand chords displayed in a very easy-to-understand fashion. I’m surprised it hasn’t been done before; if it has, it didn’t get into this column or any other that I can recall.”

News crashonline.org.uk/57/news.htm “Remember The Great Giana Sisters, which we gave a CRASH Smash in Issue 55? Well, if you’ve been scouring the streets for it, stop! It seems that Rainbow Arts are having a bit of trouble with Nintendo.”

Stuart Hughes On the Cover www.crashonline.org.uk/20/oncover.htm

Crash (Oct 1984) - Astronomer, Whodunnit and Whodunnit? reviews READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-09/Crash_09_Oct_1984#page/n91/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

All booked now for the #RetroComputerFestival2025 at @computinghistory.org.uk on November 15th and 16th. Just need to prepare now lol. Good opportunity for a roadtrip with @kevedwardsretro.bsky.social. Might see you there? www.computinghistory.org.uk/det/74558/Re...

Crash charts for Oct 1988 READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-57/Crash_57_Oct_1988#page/n110/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Crash 1983 Catalogue READ: https://archive.org/stream/NH2021_crash_1983_1.pdf/page/n01/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Public Domain Magazine, the bible of free software for Amiga, ST and PC has never been scanned. Until now! We look at its complex coverdisk, how you got free software when the internet was only 3 months old and what connects this show and the magazine within a magazine. youtu.be/85sDuKq37JA

Anyone else having problems with archive.org?

Seem to remember Crash getting a general bee in its bonnet about a lack of "originality" in games around this time. Stuff being marked down because "we've seen it before" etc

Crash (Oct 1985) - Holografix - 3D Imagery READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-21/Crash_21_Oct_1985#page/n35/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Issue 57 contents crashonline.org.uk/57/

Crash (Oct 1989) - Moving Target, Gregory Loses His Clock, Strider, Protector, Shinobi, Cobra Force and Panther reviews READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-69/Crash_69_Oct_1989#page/n46/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Crash (Oct 1985) - Merely Mangram READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-21/Crash_21_Oct_1985#page/n15/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

That's for Monty on the Run? How were people supposed to know?

Crash (Oct 1990) - Guardian II: Revenge of the Mutants and Night Breed reviews. Also Kick Off 2 full-page ad READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-81/Crash_81_Oct_1990#page/n43/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

It's taken me 35 years and five ZX Spectrums to complete The Hobbit. Feels like a bigger deal than buying my house or having my family. I kept this quest secret for so long, I can only mention it here. Now I'm finally in a comfy tunnel-like hall, feeling like I've won at life.

Have you ever wanted to load arbitrary Microdrive files using machine code, but Sinclair’s hook codes let you down? Well: want no longer and behold: SHADOWLOAD! #zxSpectrum #microdrive #interface1 #asm #z80

50 Indie Games that Changed the World Not a classification of the ‘best ’indie games of all time, but a look into how 50 boundary-pushing indie games changed the world in ways both big & small. Buy here: www.bitmapbooks.com/collections/... #bitmapbooks #books #retrogaming #gaming #booksky

Issue 21 crashonline.org.uk/21/ “... the cover could be referring to any number of games, or no game at all, but it’s a fascinating insight into an illustrator’s mind, showing that without some subject to hang the design on in the first place it’s hard to get going at all.” (CRASH History)

Crash (Oct 1984) - Backpackers Guide to the Universe preview READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-09/Crash_09_Oct_1984#page/n25/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Crash (Oct 1986) - Zzzz review READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-33/Crash_33_Oct_1986#page/n93/mode/2up #zxspectrum #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

Mira compilers crashonline.org.uk/45/tips.htm “Consider the number of students and programming enthusiasts with Spectrums — Mira Software could be on to a winner if their compilers are up to scratch.”

Issue 33 contents crashonline.org.uk/33/

The CRASH History crashonline.org.uk/45/history1.... “Each month’s supplement consists of 12 CRASH covers, presented as they were originally printed... backed by a short article written by Lloyd Mangram, detailing events in the month of the cover.”

In July 1984, Imagine Software went bankrupt and collapsed. Just over a year later, its name appeared at the top of the UK charts for the first time with Hyper Sports. New post on that story and how Ocean ended up with dual Daley Thompson's Decathlon sequels: www.superchartisland.com/hyper-sports

Time for the weekly raising up of other cool people: Number 1: bsky.app/profile/blog...

crashonline.org.uk/21/editrl.htm “We don’t believe that tape to tape copiers are exactly moral products, and won’t carry advertising for them. But microdrive transfer utilities are a completely different bucket of bytes as far as we are concerned.”

Design Design here, predicting the current AI fixation in this article from 40 years ago. The game they're talking about is 2112AD, I should perhaps give it another look. "And so the country is taken over by a collection of jumped up pocket calculators."

Crash (Oct 1985) - Rockford's Riot + Boulder Dash advert READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-21/Crash_21_Oct_1985#page/n82/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Crash (Oct 1985) - Schizofrenia advert READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-21/Crash_21_Oct_1985#page/n78/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Crash (Oct 1989) - Iron Lord and Mr. Heli reviews. Also Myth: History in the Making advert READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-69/Crash_69_Oct_1989#page/n43/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Design Design part 2 crashonline.org.uk/21/desdes2.htm “Simon went off in a fit of depression, complaining gloomily that there was no way he could get Forbidden Planet’s graphics to match Dark Star’s 50 frames per second, if we all kept insisting on having animated clouds in the sky.”

Crash (Oct 1986) - HardBall!, Thingy and the Doodahs, Imagine Software Ltd, Now Games 3, Denton Designs, Mastertronic Ltd, Gauntlet, Orbix the Terrorball, Ole, Toro, Firebird Software Ltd, Ocean Software Ltd and (1/2) #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Crash (Oct 1985) - The Dam Busters and Halley's Comet reviews READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-21/Crash_21_Oct_1985#page/n14/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Seb's Place has a video looking at times when CRASH changed its mind (or just couldn't decide) on a review score youtu.be/Pd_e0V2XS9E?...

We've passed 4000 magazines in our digital library! Every issue is cataloged and text-searchable, so it's easier than ever to do historical research with game magazines archive.gamehistory.org/folder/9a193... Here's a few recent highlights... 🧵

Crash (Oct 1986) - Zythum review. Also Zythum full-page ad READ: https://archive.org/stream/crash-magazine-33/Crash_33_Oct_1986#page/n37/mode/2up #zxspectrum #retrogaming

Way of the Exploding Fist crashonline.org.uk/21/fist.htm “It has a stunning 18 moves that can be performed with astonishing speed and accuracy... It can take quite some time to get used to all the available moves, and I found the two player mode best for practice before tackling the computer.”

The Express Gang crashonline.org.uk/21/storage.htm “In this issue of CRASH Franco Frey begins a survey of the Spectrum fast storage market which will include such mundane things as the Sinclair Microdrive right up to systems which make the Spectrum appear to be an add-on.”

I've updated my #Lemmings History article a little, just minor points and some rewording of some parts. We're now on revision 14! lemmings.info/lemmings-gam...