D & D NES-STYLE…WIZARDRY: PROVING GROUNDS OF THE MAD OVERLORD

By Mark Michel As a life-long gamer dating back to the 70s, I have had the fortune of watching the gaming industry and culture grow for over 4 decades. I’ve watched home gaming grow from the simplistic Pong-type games to the near-terabyte sized games. I have played fighters, puzzle games and strategic games, but one […]

Mario Brothers: The Beginning – Atari 2600

By Mark Michel One of the most iconic video game characters in the past forty years can be identified by one name – Mario. That joyful robust little plumber we’ve all come to know, and love has been giving gamers lots of wonderful memories since he came onto the gaming scene in 1981 – when […]

GRYZOR – ZX SPECTRUM

In the late 80’s there was nothing better than watching violent action films starring Arnie. Especially when you were 7 or 8 years old. Scenes where Arnie emptied a machine gun into bad guys looked cool and it was fun to run around the playground emulating this, complete with sound effects. It was clean, healthy […]

Trantor: The Last Stormtrooper – ZX Spectrum

We begin with a lone ship piercing through the night sky, it descends with accuracy into a narrow canyon. The red wall of rock rise slowly as the ship makes its journey to the unknown depths below. The radar dish rotates rapidly, searching for a signal and eventually the ship reaches a landing platform. The […]

Cauldron : C64 Review

In the early days of the C64, decent arcade adventures were few and far between. Then Cauldron came along with it’s combination of platforming and shoot -em up mechanics. It also featured a heavy adventuring flavour as well bringing a unique and spooky narrative to the expanding C64 library. There’s evil abound! In the form […]

Retron 77 – Bringing Atari 2600 into the 21st Century

by Mark Michel As a video game collector, I’m always on the lookout for new acquisitions for my extensive collection. While I am largely an Xbox gamer nowadays, I still enjoy playing games from my youth; especially my beloved Atari 2600. The Atari was a fantastic 8-bit system that had a plethora of titles to […]

Sonic the Hedgehog : Master System Review

The Master System is sometimes overlooked in the Retro gaming world. Most American gamers had purchased the NES and that was their first foray into the 8-bit arena. I however had opted for the sleek, black beauty that was the Master System. It heralded a new era for me as a gamer, moving away (temporarily) […]

Combat School : Commodore 64 Review

Genre: Action / Arcade Publisher: Ocean Software Combat School for the C64 was an incredible conversion of Konami’s arcade smash hit. This is the chance to see if you would get through the tough physical and mental discipline needed to become an elite soldier. It’s a unique premise, in an era which was generally all […]

UCHI MATA – Judo Champ : ZX Spectrum

Uchi Mata or Inner Thigh Throw‘ as its otherwise known is an ambitious attempt to bring the martial art of Judo to the ZX Spectrum. A judo simulator is an ambitious and original idea and fits in with the wacky nature of the Spectrum’s game library. This takes the form of a Judo contest, where […]

Horace Goes Skiing – ZX Spectrum Review

Genre: Arcade / Action Release: 1982 Publisher: Sinclair Research Ltd I’ve always wondered what exactly Horace was. An icon of the 8-bit microcomputing era Horace became utterly iconic but his torso was baffling, were those holes supposed to be eyes? Whatever he was meant to be he was the Spectrum’s hero. Throughout his adventures he […]