Retro Gamer Issue 118

[jdanddiet]

Like the Minority Report Kieren. Especially the bit about 3D Missile Command.
It has inspired me to re-double my efforts in getting Darran to let me do a PC one 

[Rogue Trooper]

O.K then started reading said issue.

So glad they went with the Flashback cover the other 2 NES inspired covers (why did both alternatives have to relate to NES? 1, yes, but plenty of well known light gun games other than Duck Hunt....)


DJ's opening piece, something a little vague-talks of 'Amazing Exclusives' he's broken, but does'nt detail just which he feels were amazing, the John Romero guest Ed. issue was for myself something of a novelty issue, nice but had no real impact per say on the issue in question and again Darran talks of goals being reached, done all he wanted, but he did this on the feedback thread on RG for issue 75, so when he talks of not being done, setting new goals etc, i honestly have to question why we've not seen anything to back this up in the 40+ issues since issue 75......

Ian Lee Column-Again, seriousily a page devoted to Ian talking about...nothing, wow tape cases with reference to modern issues (PS3 update times) that's the best a 'celb' can call apon for a column?...cannot wait for his future:waiting for kettle to boil whilst loading an A8 game from tape and reference time taken for 360 dashboard to DL and update.....

Paul Davies Column:well he appears to be writing for either Gamestm or EDGE here as it's all about Next Gen console plans and U-turns...so again question why he's choosen to write for a Retro publication...


Not sure if i'll read the making of Cheq.Flag, not a racing fan, nor was i a Speccy owner.

Minority Report-Nice to see the Jaguar getting coverage, good selection of games and should help open the eyes of the masses who think they know of the '5 good games' system has to offer.Great to see a piece in RG showing what a system could offer rather than glossing over things.


Flight Of Amazon Queen:Not my bag, so think i'll skip.

Nes A celebration.Should'nt that read: Yet another celebration and if your from UK, you might as well not read as it won't reflect your version of history?.I say that as early line: 'For many players it represents their 1st ever taste of videogaming'-sigh, it's like the arcades, ZX81, 2600, Game and Watch, countless LCD hand helds, Speccy, C64, Amstra, entire A8 Micro range, MS, schools having the BBC Micro etc etc never happened, ever (and here's a mere footnote on how it struggled in Europe).

Bayonetta a Future Classic, hmnn, curious choice, no mention of PS3 version being patched or more importantly fact it was'nt done by same team as 360 version, instead given to an internal team at Sega to do, something the 360 developer since said was there 'biggest failure'-i.e they should have done both versions themselves.

Want to savour the Mastertronic article later, along with the Flashback piece.

Love as always The Unconverted.

Top 25 MD games, sorry, but things like this just scream filler to me and by 'readers Choice' i assume this equates to 'Forum choice' this being the very readership the head of RG magazine says makes up less than 1% of readership? so interesting choice of phrase, still suppose it sounds better than:The less than 1% choice' (only time marketing want to promote under 1% is when it's low fat).

Defender Of Crown-Yet to read.

Dino Crisis:had 1st 2 PS1 games-vastly over-rated and article is honest about the god awful 3rd game (very poor Xbox Exclusive at the time) so not sure how it can be described as a 'Classic Triassic Trilogy, when only 1st 2 games are any good, 3rd is an utter turd) and i dunno, here, but is it just me, but these pages devoted to other games featuring similar things, which we see in the Dino Crisis, Flashback, Ch.Flag, Defender Of The Crown etc articles-Nice if done well, but starting to appear like:Short on material, need to beef up page count.

Not yet read Paul Norman piece.

Retrorated:Just 1 reviewer these days?

[Rogue Trooper]

Mastertronic piece was superb, only gripe:

Could we not have had some A8 screens in there as well as other formats Mastertronic games came out on? great as the C64/Speccy/C64 shots were, would have welcomed some from other formats.

[jdanddiet]

I didn't have time. It took me two nights to get 3 poxy MSX shots 

But I'm expanding my emulator knowledge all the time so that in the future I can get better coverage.

Glad you liked it RT!

[jdanddiet]

I wouldn't worry, I've got two speccy/c4 articles over next two issues, and many more under development...and you've still got people like Mart Carroll and Andrew Fisher who are dedicated computer gaming as well.

I am looking to do more Megadrive stuff though. And PC. Just to annoy the Laird. 

[Rogue Trooper]

I wouldn't worry, I've got two speccy/c4 articles over next two issues, and many more under development...and you've still got people like Mart Carroll and Andrew Fisher who are dedicated computer gaming as well.

I am looking to do more Megadrive stuff though. And PC. Just to annoy the Laird. 

And it's great to be able to 'talk' directly to the article writers on here, if i went via more 'official magazine channels' i'm sure i'd get a horde of cackling hens descend en mass, saying you cannot say this, that or the other.

:-)

[Rogue Trooper]

Not sure about the context of the information in the article, but technically the arcade Operation Wolf was NOT a light gun game. The base of the gun has two potentiometers that measure horizontal and vertical movement. There's no interaction with the screen. Most arcade games that have their guns mounted on the cabinet track the gun's position for the targeting cursor.

Yet gun itself has a circuit board with a photocell on it.


Seen on various arcade message boards people saying the guns light sensor PCB is prone to failure as it's a combination of  poor solder on the joints and the gun vibrating.so is it a hybrid light gun game? i.e uses both means to track position?


Also on 1 arcade machine message board, chap was asking if 'complete' gun he'd bought off Ebay really was complete as it looked as if bits were missing, chap logged in saying he was the parts manager for Tatio (1987-1996) and no, gun was not complete, it was missing the lens from the barrel, but he could get matey boy said lens.

So if it's not a 'Light Gun' why would it need a lens and photocell?

Who's right? Gamestm or RG?

[jdanddiet]

No wonder I'm confused!

[TL]

With regards to the NES piece:

I actually read this earlier on and it wasn't biased at all really. It clearly mentioned that the NES was not a success in the UK or Europe and that it was spanked in these regions by the Master System. It also mentions that it was technically inferior to its competition, which it was. It also doesn't make the usual mistake of blaming the crash on Atari, it just mentions they were part of it.

I am no fan of the NES so this article was not massively interesting to me but I can't say that it was fanboyish or factually inaccurate.

[TL]

Obviously.

The article was meant to be a celebration of the NES not a critique or a retro inspection so it's understandable that it's written the way it is.

Also the Seal Of Quality statement was a bit silly given that the NES is home to many of the worst video games ever made (as AVGN has proved)

[tomwaits]

Not sure about the context of the information in the article, but technically the arcade Operation Wolf was NOT a light gun game. The base of the gun has two potentiometers that measure horizontal and vertical movement. There's no interaction with the screen. Most arcade games that have their guns mounted on the cabinet track the gun's position for the targeting cursor.

Yet gun itself has a circuit board with a photocell on it.


Seen on various arcade message boards people saying the guns light sensor PCB is prone to failure as it's a combination of  poor solder on the joints and the gun vibrating.so is it a hybrid light gun game? i.e uses both means to track position?


Also on 1 arcade machine message board, chap was asking if 'complete' gun he'd bought off Ebay really was complete as it looked as if bits were missing, chap logged in saying he was the parts manager for Tatio (1987-1996) and no, gun was not complete, it was missing the lens from the barrel, but he could get matey boy said lens.

So if it's not a 'Light Gun' why would it need a lens and photocell?

Who's right? Gamestm or RG?

Just checked a scanned Operation Wolf arcade manual and it shows an optic sensor board and no positional wiring from the gun. Just a light gun. But, klov.com specifies that the game used a positional light gun.

EDIT: From random internet comments, it looks like my initial post (and klov... and Gamestm) is wrong. The sequels were positional guns but Operation Wolf cabs always used a mounted light gun.

[Rogue Trooper]

Not sure about the context of the information in the article, but technically the arcade Operation Wolf was NOT a light gun game. The base of the gun has two potentiometers that measure horizontal and vertical movement. There's no interaction with the screen. Most arcade games that have their guns mounted on the cabinet track the gun's position for the targeting cursor.

Yet gun itself has a circuit board with a photocell on it.


Seen on various arcade message boards people saying the guns light sensor PCB is prone to failure as it's a combination of  poor solder on the joints and the gun vibrating.so is it a hybrid light gun game? i.e uses both means to track position?


Also on 1 arcade machine message board, chap was asking if 'complete' gun he'd bought off Ebay really was complete as it looked as if bits were missing, chap logged in saying he was the parts manager for Tatio (1987-1996) and no, gun was not complete, it was missing the lens from the barrel, but he could get matey boy said lens.

So if it's not a 'Light Gun' why would it need a lens and photocell?

Who's right? Gamestm or RG?

Oops... just checked and I have a scanned Operation Wolf arcade manual that shows an optic sensor board and it's definitely a light gun. But, klov.com specifies that the game used a positional light gun. Maybe there were two versions of the cab?

Very possible.Maybe 1 version was cheaper to produce and more realiable? (seems a lot of Op.Wolf cabinet owners have run into big issues with gun not working etc).Did sound like the 'Light Gun version' used a metod where only small square flashed, rather than entire screen.

[Shadowrunner]

Just read your article. As usual a great read, good job 

[jdanddiet]

All it takes is for people to come forward who have the knowledge. RG has a very small editorial staff and they can't know about every machine and it's much better anyway for this stuff to be written for someone who has real passionate knowledge.

We have the Laird now. Just be thankful