Handhelds

[lubidog]

I love retro gamer, but for me Crash is the best gaming magazine there was, and you really should get an issue one. They do come up very rarely. I bought my second one of ebay a few years ago, before all the nostalgia really kicked in. Then found a battered copy at home!

Crash had an aura about it. You were part of a club reading crash, and Lloyd Mangram (who, I'm sure you know didn't exist!) was your older best mate. Also, cos of the playground piracy, you were sure you would be able to play all the best games somehow! Even Elite with that horrible lenslock (I bought a mint copy of Elite with the lenslock recently, and couldn't play it once-couldn't read the codes!!!)

Retro Gamer is very very good imo, just lacks the personalities of the authors. But I read it cover to cover, every article.

 

[Gren]

Hehe, thanks Lubidog - I'm now looking out for an issue 1..........might take a while tho...

You're right about the vibe though - back in '84-'85 I could not wait for new copies of Crash! when I was a kid - I remember going to WHSmiths regularly waiting for the latest issues! (I couldn't afford a subscription!)
My bruv was lucky - he got a subscription in '84 after he got his speccy (12 months after me though!). I've now got his mags - including a mint issue 19 complete with Unclear User, and it's Wassocks!

I remember getting my 16k speccy at Chrimbo '83 - 'cos there were no 48k machines left! Then I went out and bought my 1st ever computer game - 3D Deatchchase by Micromega / Mervyn Estcourt - hence the Avator! (What a game!)
(Not my first videogame tho - 'cos I'd bought 3 or 4 2600 games in the previous couple of years). Thankfully I got a Speccy 32k chip upgrade in spring 1984 (my Dad really smahed it home on the speccy mainborad! - much to my horror!) - and then finally I could run Manic Miner, Ant Attack and Lunar Jetman etc......

Definitely you really felt special with Crash back then! LMLWD - and Derek Brewster's Adventure Column - makes me wanna dig out my existing mags!

Nothing since those days has beaten that feeling - including all the latest consoles, the closet being the early Amiga days - followed by Doom on the PC

 

[lubidog]

I was exactly the same! Got the 16k speccy in 83, right at the beginning (well, had to wait a bit as they were hard to get hold of!) I remember waiting the whole summer for it, going to Cornwall on holiday carrying the magazine adverts for it!

Then it came, and it was great! The feeling of "what can this thing do" was wonderful, and the sense of awe and wonder will never be recovered by me!

then, after the wonders of Horace goes skiing had worn down it lay idle for a bit, until we bought.... 3D DEATH CHASE!!!!! Probably, one of the finest games ever, and one that gets a lot of playtime on my GP32. Why did we pick that game? Hadn't read any reviews, just picked it up in WH Smiths. That was a wonderful game.

Then came all the pirating of games in the Playground swapping fest! And the Hobbit (my Dad came home with it one day. It cost him £15!!!! But he will ever have my love for this act!)

And the joy of the new issue of Crash. There would be a rumour that Crash was out, and we would run into town during lunch break to see if it was there. It's thanks to Crash that I spend a small fortune on Mags every month. But none has that same feeling as Crash, the Artwork (oliver Frey!), feel of the paper...ah! Wonderful times. And nothing can come close. But some times I see a screen shot of a speccy game, or read an old crash, and a glimpse of happier gaming times pierces this 3D gloom! But it's just so far out of reach!

Ah the Speccy, best. machine. ever!

 

[Gren]

Wow!
I had no idea what games to buy as a kid in early '84 - I remember post-Christmas having to choose between 3D Luna Crabs and 3D Death Chase (both by Micromega) and going home struggling to load the latter (only bought 'cos of Return of the Jedi!) off tape - my crappy Dixons tape deck had azimuth aligmnent problems, and my bruv's Philips tape deck had no problems!
And the Philips tape deck came to the rescue, again - loading games with no problems......
I got Jetpac and Tranzam as a double-pack starter pressie with the 16K speccy. God - I wish I'd kept all those games! Great times!
Incredible early days!

But after that I had a mate who got all the copies of the latest games! Thinking back I reckon I would never seen any games at all were it not for piracy....

And now - I berate ppl for copying the latest movies and albums.......hmmmmmmmI feel old!

 

[psj3809]

Exactly we're all hypocrites, theres 'do gooders' moaning at people for copying albums and films, album sales are at an all time high so the piracy isnt exactly killing that is it ? I always go on about people speeding in cars, doesnt bother me but its hypocritical when that person next is moaning at someone for copying cd's or films. Your both breaking the law, at least the person not driving fast isnt gonna kill anyone potentially.

Reminds me of that scene in the film Trainspotting, Begsbie is in the pub slating the others for taking drugs saying 'that sh*t will kill you', then you see him smoking away (potentially giving others lung cancer) and swigging pints of beer, hypocrite !!! So drugs will kill you but moron and beer wont ?

But back then in the early 80's MANY companies went bust because of piracy so we're all to blame. Nowadays you dont hear often of ID Software or other companies going bust because of copies do you ? NOT saying its right at all but what winds me up are hypocrites.

You copied a ton of games in the 80's , a lot of companies went bust from that era (only a few survived) and now heres you 20 years later moaning at people for pirating dvd's or music cd's ?! Double standards !!!

Yes copying music or copying films is bad but many many other things are much worse. I never copy music from my favourite bands, always buy the original, i do download some mp3's but if i find an album to be so great (Eg Kasabian i loved) i then buy the album. Music companies are now making a lot of money from selling the songs online. Thankfully album prices have also gone down, paying 5 quid more than they do in the US for albums was a crime, we still pay so much more for everything over here (Eg a car compared to Europe, music etc), i mean why on Apple Germany i think it is a tune costs 60p, but in Apple UK a tunes 99p ??? Why should we get charged 40% more ? Just a con.

 

[psj3809]

And the joy of the new issue of Crash. There would be a rumour that Crash was out, and we would run into town during lunch break to see if it was there. It's thanks to Crash that I spend a small fortune on Mags every month. But none has that same feeling as Crash, the Artwork (oliver Frey!), feel of the paper...ah! Wonderful times. And nothing can come close. But some times I see a screen shot of a speccy game, or read an old crash, and a glimpse of happier gaming times pierces this 3D gloom! But it's just so far out of reach!

Ah the Speccy, best. machine. ever!

​

That golden era was simply amazing. I remember when i saw a Speccy for the first time, amazing simple games but then when i realised that you could buy different games on tape it was like WOW !

Then of course being there during the Speccy boom was just amazing, going to WHSmiths to look at all the computer mags, going to Dixons or HMV to look at the latest games and sometimes to test them. Then going to the chemist to go through the 1.99 bargain range they then offered

Going to Olympia to some of the shows to see the games etc. Getting a C90 from your mate with the best games on it. Looking in the back of Crash for next months preview. Finding a poke for a favourite game so you can complete it.

The world was endless back then, amazing years, no worries or stress really !!! Swapping games with mates at school, getting a new joystick etc. Just amazing wasnt it !!!

To me the Speccy games are still brilliant, because of emulators i now try other machines and like a fair few C64 , must admit i'm bored of the old Speccy vs C64 war which still rages !! We're never gonna change each others minds so why bother !

But when i discovered http://www.worldofspectrum.org and its forum, its downloadable games (not illegal by the way), its tipshop with all the pokes etc, game reviews with scans from Your Sinclair and Crash and many other things at that site it was amazing, i was reborn again to the Speccy !

Great great years

 

[lubidog]

Sinclair themselves went under. When people say that the psx was a success cos of all the pirated games tha makes me laugh.

But it still doesn't make piracy ok, and now as an adult who still loves games, I feel duty bound to buy games and support the industry.

But those days tuning the heads of my tape player with a tiny screwdriver, praying that the game would load. Now they load in a split second on the gp32...

Amazing!

 

[psj3809]

Sinclair themselves went under. When people say that the psx was a success cos of all the pirated games tha makes me laugh.

But it still doesn't make piracy ok, and now as an adult who still loves games, I feel duty bound to buy games and support the industry.

But those days tuning the heads of my tape player with a tiny screwdriver, praying that the game would load. Now they load in a split second on the gp32...

Amazing!

​

I do get your point, obviously we all earn a bit more money than in the 80's when i got 50p a week pocket money and would take me weeks to save up for a game.

Half Life II, Doom III, Medal of Honor, i never go to any warez sites to get these, yeah i do have the odd mp3 but if anything it helps me evaluate a cd or band and then if i love it i get it.

But on the other hand i dont like being a hypocrite, we were all 'pirates' back in the day so because of that i'm not gonna lecture someone nowadays, for all we know they could be a 12 year old getting a few quid pocket money a week so i dont blame them for copying stuff. Its not right but i dont want to be a hypocrite.

But again its hypocritical. Heres people moaning about piracy, albums and movies and all of us have roms on our memory cards !!! A fair few companies, eg Ultimate, Capcom, Codemasters have banned their games from being distributed. So if any of us play Knight Lore or Commando then thats illegal. I bet Gren has a memory card full of illegal roms, double standards !!! I mean anyone who has a GP32 must surely use it for the emulators , i'm sure we've all tried MAME on the GP32. Again those roms arent legal, dont wish to get into a rom argument here (i have plenty) but i do get wound up people giving out advice about movies/songs when they have a diskful of illegal roms !!!

But great point though, back then trying to get some game to work and waiting 4 mins for it to load, now we have 300 Speccy games on a memory card, a few clicks and the games loaded.

What annoys me are some retro companies trying to jump back on the bandwagon. Odin Graphics (Nodes of Yesod etc) have now banned their games from being available and so have a few others. Its like we've 'created a monster'.

If it wasnt for us these 20 year old roms would be worth nothing, because of the retro 'revolution' then these companies see they can make some money and are now restricting the games. Yeah its their games they can do what they want but if it wasnt for us they wouldnt give a monkeys about a handful of people playing the games. Difficult argument but i dont think its fair because of us and retro games suddenly Nintendo and others are making a lot of money by re-releasing old retro titles.

 

[lubidog]

I agree with all of this. When i read the devvers being interviewed in Retro gamer, they are normally delighted that people still play their games. So come on, Ultimate, let us download your games from world of spectrum...

 

[psj3809]

I mean you can get their games from other sites but yeah its a pity they restrict their games.

They 100% belong to them of course and they can do with it what they want but if it wasnt for us these roms were worthless 10 or so years ago, a small group of people on the net probably downloaded and played them but no one was bothered.

Now retros all the rage and companies can see that they could make something from them. Like you say theyre delighted people still play the games but its a pity they cant be freely distributed.

Saying that i think 95% of games on our memory cards arent freely distributed. I wouldnt imagine Nintendo saying any of our GB roms or NES roms are free, specially when they now sell a lot of these on compilations (only because we made retro popular again ! see we've created a monster !)

Should be give and take, not take take take. Eg ban their games, then release them because we made them popular again on cd compilations (sigh) !

 

[lubidog]

Crash mag going soon

Quite cheap with an hour to go!!!!

 

[psj3809]

31 pounds is a good price ! Sold mine last week for 45.

Anyway for all you retro fans, this months edition of Retro Gamer has a 64 page tribute to Zzap64 !!!! Only available from WH Smiths and for subscribers i heard.

Should be excellent

 

[lubidog]

31 pounds is a good price ! Sold mine last week for 45.

Anyway for all you retro fans, this months edition of Retro Gamer has a 64 page tribute to Zzap64 !!!! Only available from WH Smiths and for subscribers i heard.

Should be excellent

​

Yes, but it's not out yet, is it? Cos I'm leaving Germany to spend the summer in Blighty, and I don't want to miss it and have it sitting here all summer (look folks, the flat's empty..!).

But that'll be great!

 

[Gren]

Crash mag going soon

Quite cheap with an hour to go!!!!

​

Was away 'til last night, and forgot to check Ebay on Sunday like I should be doing. Doh!
Thanks for the spot though.....will keep my eyes peeled.

 

[psj3809]

31 pounds is a good price ! Sold mine last week for 45.

Anyway for all you retro fans, this months edition of Retro Gamer has a 64 page tribute to Zzap64 !!!! Only available from WH Smiths and for subscribers i heard.

Should be excellent

​

Yes, but it's not out yet, is it? Cos I'm leaving Germany to spend the summer in Blighty, and I don't want to miss it and have it sitting here all summer (look folks, the flat's empty..!).

But that'll be great!

​

No its not out until first week of July, should be great.

You should become a member at the Retro Gamer forum...

http://livepublishing.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x...331&f=121104174

Very good forum it is, lots of retro fans obviously, a moderator as well so you wont have some silly 16 year old tw*t making out hes the hardman either.

 

[lubidog]

31 pounds is a good price ! Sold mine last week for 45.

Anyway for all you retro fans, this months edition of Retro Gamer has a 64 page tribute to Zzap64 !!!! Only available from WH Smiths and for subscribers i heard.

Should be excellent

​

Yes, but it's not out yet, is it? Cos I'm leaving Germany to spend the summer in Blighty, and I don't want to miss it and have it sitting here all summer (look folks, the flat's empty..!).

But that'll be great!

​

No its not out until first week of July, should be great.

You should become a member at the Retro Gamer forum...

http://livepublishing.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x...331&f=121104174

Very good forum it is, lots of retro fans obviously, a moderator as well so you wont have some silly 16 year old tw*t making out hes the hardman either.

​

Already there! Just don't post much, but enjoy reading. You are right, there are some good discussions there, not ruined by Kids.

Really, Retro Gamer for me just gets better and better. I wasn't sure with the 'new' look, but it has settled down excellently. Every issue I read from cover to cover-every page. There are holes in my gaming knowledge, and I love reading about systems I never had, and of course those I did have (Skool Daze, brilliant!). Any foreigners here who have never heard of the mag, I import it and enjoy free postage.

The second best gaming magazine ever, nuff said. And I have an issue one