THE RETROBATES
DARRAN JONES
It’s probably Head Over Heels.
I’ve always enjoyed isometric
games, but Head Over Heels
blew me away.
Expertise:
Juggling a gorgeous wife, two
beautiful girls and an
award-winning magazine
Currently playing:
Panzer Dragoon Saga
Favourite game of all time:
StriderLOADING...
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE
OCEAN SOFTWARE GAME?
Y
oshi’s Island was one of the last
games I experienced for my
Super Nintendo. I was desperately
trying to resist the lure of Sega’s
Saturn and used some birthday money to buy
the Japanese release of the game. I wasn’t
disappointed, and almost immediately fell in
love with it. The actual platforming was as
good as anything I’d experienced in a Mario
game, while the new mechanics like Yoshi’s
ability to lob eggs and having to recapture
Baby Mario ensured Nintendo’s new game
felt notably different to anything it had
released before. It was the art style of Yoshi’s
Island that I really fell for though and it remains
as beautiful to look at today as it did in 1995.
Yoshi’s Island proved to me that 16-bit games
still had the capability to astound and amaze
and that the 3D bandwagon simply wasn’t
worth jumping on.
It’s a fantastic honour then to feature an
exclusive interview with Takashi Tezuka and
Shigefumi Hino, two of the directors who
made Yoshi’s Island a reality. Even after all
this time I’m always fascinated to hear stories
about the games I loved as a youngster and
it’s a pleasure to share them here. And don’t
worry, if you’re not a fan of Nintendo’s lovable
dinosaur there’s plenty more in this issue to
sink your teeth into.
Enjoy the magazine!NICK THORPE
The GX4000 wasn’t great
hardware, but Ocean did good
work with it. Pang’s great but
has better versions elsewhere,
so my pick of the bunch is
Navy Seals.
Expertise:
Owning five Master Systems
(I sold two)
Currently playing:
DiRT: Showdown
Favourite game of all time:
Sonic The HedgehogADAM BARNES
Though I’ve a soft spot for
The Flintstones SNES game,
I’d probably have to point
to RoboCop 3 as being my
favourite. I remember renting
on a weekly basis, even after I
had finished it.
Expertise:
Being pretentious about coffee
Currently playing:
Slay The Spire
Favourite game of all time:
Baldur’s GateRORY MILNE
Head Over Heels – specifically
the CPC 464 version for its
extra colours. It just holds up
so well in terms of gameplay
and visuals.
Expertise:
The game that I’m writing about
at the time of writing
Currently playing:
Paradroid
Favourite game of all time:
TempestWWF WrestleMania is a
fun foray into the world of
wrestling, featuring some of
the mechanics that would later
become hallmarks of the genre.
Expertise:
Juggling obscure games, words
and guitar and seeing where
it all lands
Currently playing:
Yakuza 0
Favourite game of all time:
The Secret Of Monkey IslandWOZ BROWN
Being a Speccy owner in the
late Eighties means it’s a toss
up between RoboCop and
Batman: The Movie for me.
Murphy’s law wins this time.
Expertise:
Running for connecting trains
Currently playing:
Tetris 9 9
Favourite game of all time:
The Legend of Zelda:
Ocarina of TimeDREW SLEEP
Man, it’s not my type of game at
all, but you can’t help but admire
Bernie Drummond and Jon
Ritman’s work on Batman.
Expertise:
Team Retro Gamer’s
resident GM
Currently playing:
Final Fantasy IX
Favourite game of all time:
Final Fantasy VIIIPAUL DRURY
I remember being very
impressed by Ocean’s first
arcade port, Hunchback – and
I like the Manchester link
between the two.
Expertise:
Hacking Atari 2600 carts
Currently playing:
Escape The Gloomer
Favourite game of all time:
Sheep In SpaceHARETH AL BUSTANI
Even though I was rubbish at
it, I still have fond memories of
Ocean’s Amstrad CPC port of
Chase HQ.
Expertise:
Pretentious indie games
Currently playing:
Apex Legends
Favourite game of all time:
Metal Gear SolidPAUL WALKEREMIG