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WELCOME TO THE
One of the great things about working on a magazine like
Retro Gamer is that there are always new stories to cover and new
tales to tell. Retro gaming has never been as popular as it is today
and we’ve been there every step of the way to cover some of the
greatest games of all time, from Pac-Man and Turrican, to Sonic
The Hedgehog and iconic systems like the Nintendo 64, to modern
classics like Resident Evil 4 and Prince Of Persia: The Sands Of Time.
As contemporary consoles become old, they feed the retro
community and give us even more games to become nostalgic over.
As a result, the magazine now covers a large number of eras from the
Eighties when gaming was still in its infancy, to the mid-Noughties
when consoles like the PlayStation 2 and Xbox were in their prime.
Our latest annual covers some of the best games and systems from
this era. So what are you waiting for? Put the kettle on, put your feet
up and enjoy the very best articles from the last year of the mag.
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Retro Gamer Annual Volume 8 (GAB4061)
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Part of the
bookazine series
v
THE
ULTIMATE
GUIDE TO
CLASSIC
VIDEOGAMING
CONTENTS
8 BACK TO THE NINETIES 66 30 YEARS OF SONIC
THE HEDGEHOG
Violet Berlin, Louis Castle and Paul Glancey
are just some of the videogame veterans Takashi Iizuka guides us through three decades
who walk us through one of gaming’s most of Sega’s popular mascot and examines every
exciting decades facet of Sonic, from his character design to the
22 CAPCOM: franchise’s music
AN ARCADE LEGACY 78 A TRIBUTE
88
TO TREASURE
Alex Trowers, Nic Makin, Paul Davies and more
explain why Capcom’s excellent games allowed We celebrate the Japanese developer’s
it to dominate the arcades incredible output by looking at every one of
32 ULTIMATE GUIDE: its games, with additional insider info from
Treasure’s president Masato Maegawa
MANIC MINER
Everything you need to know about the 8-bit
classic, from its best home conversions to the
32
many classic games it would inspire
38 MAME & WATCH
We speak to the passionate developers who
have painstakingly ensured that every title in
Nintendo’s Game & Watch range has been
preserved for all time
46 THE HISTORY
OF R-TYPE
38
Kazuma Kujo takes us behind the scenes of
Irem’s iconic arcade shoot-’em-up and reveals
how the series has evolved with R-Type Final 2
56 THE HISTORY OF
TURRICAN
We chat to Factor 5’s cofounder Julian Eggebrecht
about the developer’s magnificent run-and-gun
46 56
series and what’s planned for the future
6 | RETRO GAMER ANNUAL
90 THE EVOLUTION OF
THE KING OF FIGHTERS
Yasuyuki Oda and Eisuke Ogura breakdown
SNK’s classic fighting series, examining its
bosses, characters and the incoming The King
Of Fighters XV
78
104 INSIDE THE
NINTENDO 64
Our latest technical deep dive looks at
Nintendo’s 64-bit powerhouse and speaks to
the many talented developers that pushed the
system to its limits
114 STAR WARS: AN
ALTERNATIVE GALAXY 90 124
FAR, FAR AWAY
A host of Jedi Masters reveal how they used
popular videogames like Dark Forces and Knights Of
The Old Republic to expand the Star Wars universe
124 CRITICAL MASS: THE
STORY OF THE PS2
David Reeves, David Perry, Keita Takahashi
104
and Mark Cerny are just a few of the gaming
legends that chatted to us about the best-selling
games console of all time
134 THE STORY OF
PRINCE OF PERSIA:
THE SANDS OF TIME
Jordan Mechner and Patrice Désilets reveal how
Ubisoft rebooted the classic 8-bit platformer for
114 134
a new generation of gamers
RETRO GAMER ANNUAL | 7
8 | RETRO GAMER ANNUAL
rom the earliest days of the as part of an arcade arms race between
coin-op market to today’s world Sega and Namco, and by the middle of the
of blazing fast SSDs and ray- decade in home consoles too as electronics
tracing, there has always been giants like Panasonic and Sony saw an
someone ready to tell you that opportunity in the market.
their game, their hardware, is the next big It’s fair to say that the Nineties was when
thing. Videogames are always evolving, after gaming became a big business, and some
all. But for those of us who lived through the will lament that. With the decline of the
Nineties, it’s hard to deny that everything home-computer scene, we lost the open
just seemed to move that little bit quicker, as platforms and bedroom-coding scene that
the decade brought about possibly the most produced so many quirky, innovative games
astonishing changes in gaming history. and developers. But the arrival of the money
Across the world, the console market men was by no means exclusively negative
became the focus of the gaming industry. – as team sizes ballooned and development
Sega and Nintendo clashed with their 16- budgets soared, players were treated to
bit machines, creating a fierce rivalry that games of previously unimaginable scale and
brought out the best in both manufacturers ambition. Just ask anyone who experienced
and made console development more first-hand the realism of Virtua Fighter’s
attractive for third parties. Meanwhile, animations, the sheer joy of movement
the handheld market that emerged in the in Super Mario 64 or the cinematic flair of
final months of the Eighties truly took off, Final Fantasy VII – it seemed as though new
allowing gamers to take their hobby out on ground was constantly being broken.
the road in a meaningful way. The arcades Of course, success inevitably means
experienced a renaissance too, thanks to mainstream attention, and not all of it
Street Fighter II’s competitive revolution and was positive. But while some sought to
the fighting game boom that followed. create controversy over the violence in
The middle of the decade was also Mortal Kombat and Doom, we also saw
characterised by the race to succeed our hobby consistently represented on
traditional graphical technologies. For a TV. With seemingly unassailable titans like
time it looked as though the large capacity Commodore and Ocean ceasing to be, and
of CD-ROMs had convinced the industry new experiences like rhythm action games
that interactive video was the way forward, rising to prominence, the Nineties was a
and Virtuality was extremely keen to sell its tumultuous time for sure. But anyone who
pods as the future of arcade gaming. But lived through the decade will very likely
the true leap forward was the development remember how exciting everything seemed
of 3D graphics hardware that was fast at the time, and will hopefully relive some of
enough to handle action games, initially those thrills over the following pages.
RETRO GAMER ANNUAL | 9
1990 1990 1990 1990
Sega’s first handheld console didn’t Giving the ageing CPC 464 a hardware Faced with credible competition, SNK’s powerhouse console was a dream
boast loads of exclusive classics, but it refresh, Amstrad attempted to take on the Nintendo created an astonishingly capable come true for those who demanded arcade
was a good way to play popular games on console market. It quickly sank without console and provided it with countless perfection. Though high prices meant it
the go. It sold millions of units, but was a trace, having arrived just as the 16-bit classic games. This truly legendary wasn’t a mainstream product, the hardcore
distant second to the Game Boy. consoles started to dominate. machine lasted much of the decade. sustained it for years.
1992 1992 1993 1993
This handheld tried to emulate the The next generation Amiga was a This console version of the classic Commodore’s last roll of the dice was
success of the Game Boy with its low welcome step up over the original chip Japanese computer had great hardware, an attempt to challenge the console
price and modest hardware, but the set and hosted some fantastic games, but cost quite a lot and ended up losing market. It was too late to make a
software library lacked both the quality but the rise of the IBM compatible PC the backing of Fujitsu’s management difference – after just seven months on
and big names of Nintendo’s console. unfortunately sealed its fate. before it could really gain traction. sale, its manufacturer went bankrupt.
1994 1994 1994 1994
Bandai’s console used a CD-ROM This Mega Drive upgrade module was Sega’s real 32-bit machine was great Sony’s debut hardware redefined console
and boasted some impressive anime supposed to keep players from buying at 2D and had some amazing arcade gaming. Though it initially impressed with
licensed games, almost all of which were 3DOs and Jaguars. Instead, it confused conversions, but was hard to develop conversions of hit 3D arcade games, more
edutainment focused with a bit of FMV. consumers who knew the Saturn was for and handled 3D oddly. Though pretty cinematic original games and a cool image
As you can imagine, it wasn’t great. coming, and damaged Sega’s brand. popular in Japan, it flopped internationally. sold it to over 100 million.
1996 1996 1997 1998
Apple and Bandai teamed up to create A late arrival and the decision to stick Tiger Electronics scored versions of For the first time ever, a handheld
this console – another CD-ROM format with cartridges meant that the N64 would some major games for this handheld console offered both colour graphics and
with some lofty multimedia goals. Much never catch Sony, but raw 3D power and thanks to its licensing prowess, but weak reasonable battery life, allowing Nintendo
of its library consists of non-game and revolutionary game designs ensured it a hardware and a truly dreadful display have to extend the life of its old tech and
edutainment software. permanent place in gamers’ hearts. ensured that it lives in infamy. continue its handheld dominance.
10 | RETRO GAMER ANNUAL
