Issue 62 did one of their 'The Definitive' series articles for the Metal Slug franchise. It was pretty awful with the highlight being the writer filling the Metal Slug 3 section full of personal ranting about how he thought the game sucked and was the worst in the series.
Ah, I vaguely remember this. Stu Campbell is well known for being pretty antagonistic and quite the character, so I can't say his aggressive response surprises me at all. I don't know enough about the series to side with one view over the other so I'm not sure who has valid points and who doesn't, but I hope you've dipped into RG since as it's a great magazine and I don't think Stu has been a regular contributor in years.
Will keep an eye out for the PC Engine/Super Play double pack at the newsagents this week.
Does Retro Gamer count? Does digital form of magazine count? Because I appreciate my complete collection of 171 issues of RG
Your scans are a bit large lol.
Anyway, late 80s/early 90s era UK magazines were fantastic.
I still have the complete set of Super Play, all of Davies era CVG, Maximum, a lot of Official Sega Saturn Magazine, Mean Machine Sega, N64 mag & NGC mag.
And a few odds and ends - the tips mags like Super Gamer and so forth - I have one with complete mappings of the Sonic 3 levels which was priceless for those hard-to-find super rings, and I also keep the uber-goofy late issues of TOTAL!, when they had guys like Danny Wallace there. And issue one of the ill fated Mean Machines Playstation.
Retrogamer will be a future one I will keep for the fantastic features and so forth.
Basically I just keep stuff I would want to reread at some point. Even edge isn't worth rereading apart from the olders ones with the biffo columns really.
As for my favourites:
Official Sega Saturn Magazine - Best "official" mag ever. Really well written, enthisastic coverage . Once had disc one of Panzer Dragoon Saga free with one of the issues.
Super Play - This got me into JRPGS. I'd played a few on the NES, but SP had some fantastic import coverage on the genre, so really got me into importing games from other regions too. Didn't even have a clue how to do it before Super Play.
Maximum - This didn't run long (Was a "next-gen" focused magazine that came out at the beginning of the 32bit era). The layout was incredible, whoever did the graphic design for it was great.
CVG - Before Paul Davies was editor, CVG was an average magazine. After Paul Davies was editior, CVG was an awful magazine. But WHILE Paul Davies was editor, CVG was the best video games magazine there has every been. He assemebled his own team, and totally changed the look of the magazine. It had fantastic writing, a pull out section with coverage on arcade games (printed on special paper that was designed to give a cheap "fanzine" look but was more expensive then the main magazine!), and brought in an out of 5 system, arguing that out of 100 was pointless.
Good thread, I love looking at old game magazines.
I just have to add to those that loved the Official UK Saturn magazine. Even when the system was struggling for new releases it was still a good read as they filled the gap be going super in depth on the releases they had left to cover and by also including good import and arcade coverage as well. If anything they covered arcade goings on better then the multi format mags I read at the time.
This issue was especially appreciated as it got me to play Panzer Dragoon Saga at a time when RPGs were not a genre I paid much attention to and also it meant I actually rushed out to buy the thing long before it started to be in short supply and expensive.
I bet you're kicking yourself when I tell you that a while age you could buy the whole digital RetroGamer back catalogue for something like €60 or so on their app.
They are locked into the app like all the other issues.
Not paying staff, harassing staff, etc. There are some really lengthy threads with first-hand accounts of working at GameFan on a couple other forums.
I finished up the fully restorated digital version of the very first issue (nr.54) a couple of weeks ago.This was the first video game magazine I ever bought. I remember the specific issue so clearly because I spent the day making sure my grandad didn't see the word 'ass' on the cover.
(Not my photo, and the best quality I can find sadly)
I stuck with NOM until the end. It rebranded eventually, with a new writing team and a new 'mature' look. It was a far cry from the juvenile silliness of Tim Street, Dean Scott and Mike Jackson (not that one), and I stopped buying it.
I wonder what the NOM lot went on to do.
