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RETRO
IISSSUUEE 339955 |COMPUTER SHOPPER|JJANNUUARRYY 2002211
been printed professionally,but real lifeand a
dayjob means the fanzine has not been as
regular as he would have liked of late.
Issue 26, however,isheralding anew layout
and adisk packed with software,including two
re-releases of past commercial games, anew
game and two utilities.
“It’ll be the start of aregular schedule,and
I’m aiming forthree issues ayear,” Piggot says.
Finding material should be easy,he
reckons: “There’s awealth of stories and
information forhistorical articles that hasn’t
been covered anywhere else over the years,
and putting in the time to trace people for
interviews, anecdotes and old software can
be very rewarding.”
He prefers the power of print because it
makes it easier forpeople to keep track of
developments forthis 30-year-old machine.
“The expanse of the internet means
different developers will writeabout their
projects on their own personal platform of
Nintendo releases, andReset 64(reset64-
magazine.itch.io)caters forusers of the
Commodore 64, just likeZzap!64.
And they’re not alone.Vinny Mainolfi has
been publishingFREEZE64(freeze64.com)
forthe past five years, printing the first 10
issues at home until the circulation topped
150, at which stage he outsourced the work
to aprint company in Northern Ireland.
“I chose the Commodore 64 because it’s a
computer Igrew up with and still use every
day,”hesays. “I’m fixated and fascinated by it,
andthere’s not aday that goes by where I
haven’t learned something new or there isn’t
anew game release to check out.”
Mainolfi had long wanted to produce a
printed fanzine and, like Wilkins, he was a
massive fanofZzap!64.“Iknew there was a
still aplace in people’shearts foracurrent-day
printed fanzine,but Ihad to learn many of the
elements that sit alongside producing one: my
writing style,marketing, budgeting and an
understanding of print –theyall came
together,” he says.
Indeed, there’s an element of fanzine
editors learning ‘on the job’(Wilkins designed
amagazine in 2005 using Microsoft
Publisher,but he uses Adobe InDesign
today). Passion often sees them through
the tough learning curve.
choice,whether their website, blog, social
media or arandom computer forum, and it
can be abig task to keep up,” Piggot explains.
“Being able to condense it all intothe
magazine to give as much coverage of what’s
going on is an indispensable service.”
FREEZING TIME
Such niche publications are certainly striking
achord,and editors are being sufficiently
supported. Agood number have taken to
Kickstarter,such asEight Bit(www.
eightbitmagazine.com)andRetro Format(www.
retro-format.com), while others have steadily
built up over the years, among themAmiga
Future(www.amigafuture.de), which is now up
to issue 146 and includes aCDedition.
Still theykeep coming:Mega Visions
is the only independent printed mag dedicated
to Sega consoles (www.patreon.com/
megavisions),Ninty Fresh(nintyfresh.net)
covers retro as well as up-to-date
“HAVINGAMAGAZINETOREADFROM
COVERTOCOVERHASALWAYSBEEN
RATHERMAGICAL,ANDTHATFEELING
HASSTAYEDWITHME”
⬆SAMRevivalis thego-to source of information forthe SAM Coupé ⬆FREEZE64is awonderful resource forfans of theCommodore 64
