April 2016 – RETRO GAMESMASTER

WWF Superstars

29th April 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by: Technos Japan Corp. Developed by: Technos Japan Corp. Released: 1989 Also for: Nothing! Overview: As young lads in the late 80s we all loved American wrestling, especially the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) i.e. the one with Hulk Hogan in it. WWF Superstars brought the WWF licence into the arcades in 1989, much to the excitement of fans. Although there were some fairly good wrestling games on various formats (e.g. Championship Wrestling, Rock’n Wrestle), the only WWF licensed games were MicroLeague Wrestling (an obscure turn-based strategy game for the Commodore 64,…

BroForce

27th April 201624th April 2016 Peter Ward

Broforce – A Manly Game for Manly Men, or Women. Every now and then a game comes out that stands above the rest. Broforce is that game. It’s got a retro feel, it’s exciting, Original and very tongue in cheek, and extremely manly (just like myself). Broforce is a side-scrolling run-and-gun platform game developed by Free Lives. Development began in April 2012 as a Ludum Dare game jam entry, entitled “Rambros” and it won first prize for being the most fun, development then continued and it eventually got a final…

4D Boxing

26th April 201624th May 2021 Peter Ward

Published by Mindscape International Ltd. Developed by Distinctive Software, Inc. Released 1991 Platforms Amiga, DOS, FM Towns, Macintosh, PC-98 Released in 1991 4D Boxing was an excellent sports simulation that was revolutionary for its use of Polygon graphics which at the time really turned heads. The graphics were remarkable with very accurately modelled fighters who moved in a very realistic manner, the sound effects were really good (especially the sound when one of the boxers were knocked down) and the overall presentation was really impressive. The aim of the game…

Magic Pockets

15th April 201624th May 2021 Peter Ward

Published by Renegade Software Developed by Bitmap Brothers, The Released 1991 Platforms Acorn 32-bit, Amiga, Atari ST, DOS Released in late 1991 for a variety of machines including the Amiga 500 Magic Pockets was a really fun 2d Platform game developed by the Bitmap Brothers. You control a young man named “The Bitmap Kid” who owns a magic pair of trousers with an unlimited amount of space in the pockets. In these pockets “the Bitmap Kid” keeps all his toys and some assorted creatures, sadly one day these creatures decide to run away…

Ridge Racer 5

14th April 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by Namco Hometek Inc. Developed by Namco Limited Released Oct 26, 2000 Also For Arcade Released in late 2000 Ridge Racer 5 was a launch title for the Sony Playstation 2 console in Europe and whilst this game is not as fondly remembered as the earlier games it still has much to enjoy. Firstly the graphics are excellent, big chunky cars and very colourful environments and the action moves along at breakneck speed. The soundtrack is also high quality with very catchy tunes and I am glad to…

Rise of the Robots

8th April 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by Acclaim Entertainment, Inc. Developed by Instinct Design, Mirage Technologies (Multimedia) Ltd. Released Dec, 1994 Also For 3DO, Amiga, Amiga CD32, CD-i, DOS, Game Gear, Genesis Released in late 1994 for the Super Nintendo and a variety of other formats Rise of the Robots was a one on one beat em up that combined fantastic visuals with truly abysmal gameplay and controls. The graphics are amazing mixing pre rendered 3D sprites with a cyberpunk style artwork, all of the fighters look and animate very well and the backgrounds are…

4D Driving

7th April 201624th May 2021 Peter Ward

Published by Mindscape International Ltd. Developed by Distinctive Software, Inc. Released Jan, 1992 Also For DOS, FM Towns, PC-98 Released in 1992 for the Commodore Amiga 500 4D Driving is a conversion of a classic arcade driving game called Stunts, and for the most part it is a very good one. Firstly the good points, the graphics are superb this was the first driving game I ever played on a home format that had proper polygons and a 3d engine. The sound effects and music are also excellent (indeed this…

California Games

5th April 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Published by: U.S. Gold Developer: Epyx Released: 1987 Also for: Amiga, Amstrad CPC, Apple II, Apple IIGS, Atari 2600, Atari Lynx, Atari ST, MS-DOS, MSX, NES, Sega Megadrive / Genesis, Sega Master System, ZX Spectrum, Virtual Console Overview: Epyx took us to the Golden State for this instalment of the Games series, keeping the same blend of stunning visuals, immersive atmosphere and slick feedback we had come to expect as well as the slight wackiness of the events found in World Games. If you’re not familiar with the series, there are six very different sporting events and each is represented by…

Theme Park

4th April 201624th May 2021 Peter Ward

Published by Acid Software Developed by Bullfrog Productions, Ltd. Released 1994 Also For 3DO, Amiga CD32, DOS, FM Towns, Genesis, Jaguar, Macintosh,Nintendo DS, PC-98, PlayStation, PlayStation 3, PSP, PS Vita, SEGA CD, SEGA Saturn, SNES, Windows Released in 1994 Theme Park was a Resource Management game where you attempt to run a successful Amusement park. This game was released on many formats including Super Nintendo, Megadrive and even the Atari Jaguar but it is this version on the Amiga which I prefer (mainly due to the ability to use a Mouse and Keyboard).…

Retro Arcade At Home Part 1

3rd April 20168th April 2022 Peter Ward

Written by Scott Moyer Remember a time in your life when you felt like you were meant to be there. You truly embrace the moment. For me that was playing Video games at an arcade. Was it the lights the low bit rate audio, well whatever it was the arcades had me hooked. I always found myself saving up money to have it taking by space invader Pac-Man and so on. Now in this world of Next gen gaming , which is great don’t get me wrong. Just does not…