''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became a monthly. In 2005, a general decline in gaming and computer magazine readership led to the closure of its publishers, Live Publishing, and the rights to the magazine were later purchased by

Imagine Publishing Imagine Publishing was a UK-based magazine publisher, which published a number of video games, computing, creative and lifestyle magazines. The company was acquired by Future plc on 21 October 2016. History It was founded on 14 May 2005 wi ...

. It was taken over by

Future plc Future plc is a British publishing company. It was started in 1985 by Chris Anderson (entrepreneur), Chris Anderson. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History 1985–2012 The company was ...

on 21 October 2016, following Future's acquisition of Imagine Publishing.

History

The first 18 issues of the magazine came with a coverdisk. It usually contained freeware remakes of retro

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s and

emulators In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use perip ...

, but also

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

s and free commercial PC software such as '' The Games Factory'' and '' The Elder Scrolls: Arena''. Some issues had themed CDs containing the entire back catalogue of a publisher, such as Durell, Llamasoft and Gremlin Graphics. On 27 September 2005, the magazine's original publishing company, Live Publishing, went into bankruptcy. The magazine's official online forums described the magazine as "finished" shortly before issue #19 was due for release. However, rights to ''Retro Gamer'' were purchased by Imagine Publishing in October 2005 and the magazine was re-launched on 8 December 2005. ''Retro Survival'' is a commercial CD retro games magazine put together by the freelance writers of ''Retro Gamer'' when Live Publishing collapsed. The CD was published in November 2005 and contains articles that would have appeared in Issue 19 of ''Retro Gamer'', as well as several extras including a foreword by celebrity games journalist Mr Biffo. In June 2004, a tribute to ''

Zzap!64 ''Zzap!64'' is a computer games magazine covering games for computers manufactured by Commodore International, especially the Commodore 64 (C64). It was published in the UK by Newsfield Publications Ltd and later by Europress Impact. The magazi ...

'' was included, "The DEF Tribute to ''Zzap!64''", celebrating the 20th anniversary of the

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

focused magazine. It also includes interviews with leading 80s and 90s programmers, such as David Crane, Matthew Smith and

Archer Maclean Archer Donald Maclean (28 January 1962 – 17 December 2022) was a British video game programmer. He was the author of '' Dropzone'' which he developed for the Atari 8-bit computers and was ported to other systems. Maclean also developed the Com ...

. Regular columns also feature such as Back to the 80s and 90s, Desert Island Disks (what games would a gaming celebrity take to a desert island) and From the Archives (a profile of a particular game developer or publisher). The 'Making Of's' is a recurring feature in which well-known developers are interviewed about the creation and design process behind their games. Classic titles covered in past issues have included '' Breakout'' (

Steve Wozniak Stephen Gary Wozniak (; born August 11, 1950), also known by his nickname Woz, is an American technology entrepreneur, electrical engineer, computer programmer, philanthropist, and inventor. In 1976, he co-founded Apple Inc., Apple Computer with ...

), '' Dungeon Master'' ( Doug Bell), ''

Smash TV ''Smash TV'' is a 1990 arcade video game created by Eugene Jarvis and Mark Turmell for Williams Electronics Games. It is a twin-stick shooter in the same vein as 1982's '' Robotron: 2084'', which was co-created by Jarvis. The Super Nintendo Ent ...

'' (

Eugene Jarvis Eugene Peyton Jarvis is an American game designer and video game programmer, known for producing pinball machines for Williams Electronics and video games for Atari. Most notable among his works are the seminal arcade video games '' Defender'' ...

), '' Starfox'' (

Jez San Jeremy Elliott "Jez" San OBE (born 29 March 1966) is an English game programmer and entrepreneur who founded Argonaut Software as a teenager in the 1980s. He is best known for the 1986 Atari ST game ''Starglider'' and helping to design the Su ...

), ''

Rescue on Fractalus! ''Rescue On Fractalus!'' is a space combat simulator video game created by Lucasfilm Games. It was originally released in 1985 for the Atari 8-bit computers and Atari 5200 console, then ported to the Apple II, ZX Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, T ...

'' ( David Fox/Charlie Kellner), ''

Prince of Persia ''Prince of Persia'' is a video game franchise created by Jordan Mechner. It is centered around a series of action-adventure games focused on various incarnations of the eponymous Prince, set in ancient and medieval Persia. The first two ga ...

'' (

Jordan Mechner Jordan Mechner (born June 4, 1964) is an American video game designer, author, screenwriter, filmmaker, and former video game programmer. A major figure in the development of cinematic video games and a pioneer in video game animation, he began ...

), '' Berzerk'' (Alan McNeil), ''

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' is a Science fiction comedy, comedy science fiction franchise created by Douglas Adams. Originally a The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (radio series), radio sitcom broadcast over two series on BBC ...

'' ( Steve Meretzky), ''

Crystal Castles Crystal Castles was a Canadian electronic music group formed in 2006 in Toronto, Ontario, by songwriter-producer Ethan Kath and singer-songwriter Alice Glass. Crystal Castles was known for their chaotic live shows and lo-fi music, lo-fi melanc ...

'' (Franz X. Lanzinger), ''

Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...

'' (

Alexey Pajitnov Alexey Leonidovich Pajitnov (born April 16, 1955) is a Russian-American computer engineer and video game designer. He is best known for creating, designing, and developing ''Tetris'' in 1985 while working at the Dorodnitsyn Computing Centre un ...

), '' Sheep in Space'' (

Jeff Minter Jeff Minter (born 22 April 1962) is an English video game designer and programmer who often goes by the name Yak. He is the founder of software house Llamasoft and has created dozens of games during his career, which began in 1981 with games ...

) ''

Out Run (also stylized as ''OutRun'') is an arcade driving video game released by Sega in September 1986. It is known for its pioneering hardware and graphics, nonlinear gameplay, a selectable soundtrack with music composed by Hiroshi Kawaguchi, and ...

'' (

Yu Suzuki is a Japanese game designer, producer, programmer, and engineer, who headed Sega's AM2 team for 18 years. Considered one of the first auteurs of video games, he has been responsible for a number of Sega's arcade hits, including three-dimensi ...

) and '' Splat!'' (Ian Andrew). Issue 48 (February 2008) contained an exclusive interview with ''

Manic Miner ''Manic Miner'' is a platform game written for the ZX Spectrum by Matthew Smith (games programmer), Matthew Smith. It was published by Bug-Byte in 1983, then later the same year by Software Projects. The first game in the ''Miner Willy'' series ...

'' creator Matthew Smith, written by freelancer Paul Drury after a visit to Smith's family home in Liverpool. March 2010 (issue 75) saw

John Romero Alfonso John Romero (born October 28, 1967) is an American video game developer. He co-founded id Software and designed their early games, including ''Wolfenstein 3D'' (1992), ''Doom (1993 video game), Doom'' (1993), ''Doom II'' (1994), ''Hexen ...

collaborating with ''Retro Gamer'', taking on the role of 'Guest Editor', taking charge of the magazine's editorial and splashing his own unique style to a number of his favorite articles and subjects throughout the magazine. The magazine celebrated its 200th issue in October 2019 and as of March 2023, the staff consists of Editor Darran Jones, Production Editor Tim Empey, Features Editor Nick Thorpe and Art Editor Andy Salter. The magazine posts its own issue preview videos on its YouTube channel, featuring editor Darran Jones and Production Editor Drew Sleep as hosts.

Digital version

Three DVDs with 25 to 30 issues each have been released over the years: * ''Retro Gamer eMag Load 1'' (containing issues #1 to #30) * ''Retro Gamer eMag Load 2'' (containing issues #31 to #55) * ''Retro Gamer eMag Load 3'' (containing issues #56 to #80) ''Retro Gamer'' is now available as an iOS app and can be downloaded onto iPhone and iPad.

Awards

''Retro Gamer'' won Best Magazine at the 2010 Games Media Awards.

References

External links

Official website

* Archived Retro Gamer Magazines (issues #1 to #11) on the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

{{Video Game Critics Future plc 2004 establishments in the United Kingdom Magazines established in 2004 Monthly magazines published in the United Kingdom Video game magazines published in the United Kingdom