35 years ago, I was playing the best NES shooter I'd seen so far. Life Force (AKA Salamander) was an excellent adaptation of Konami's seminal coin-op and packed a pretty stiff challenge for arcade fans. Quality stuff!

35 years ago I was playing Forgotten Worlds on Mega Drive. It was yet another fine arcade conversion, this time of Capcom's 1988 coin-op shooter. It was missing two of the arcade machine's original nine levels, but was nevertheless very fun to play and looked fabulous.

Ya'll knew this was coming. Japanese vs. Euro box art. Both feature the same picture, but the Japanese version integrates its larger logo across a full bleed picture, while the Euro version sticks the logo in a flugly grid that is far less aesthetically pleasing.

40 years ago, Commodore began selling Amiga Euro dev systems for today's equivalent of £5,300 each. Oy! Meanwhile, wideboy Alan Sugar was avin' it large with a record £20m profit, while also stating CD-ROMS "are not the sort of future Amstrad is concerned about at the moment."😆

35 years ago, Quickjoy joysticks were basically Quickshot joysticks. Renown for their uncanny ability to spontaneously fall apart if you closed the door too hard, or accidentally left the window open when a gentle breeze was blowing. 🤣

Just finished this. Really, really, really fun build, with lots of cool ah-ha moments when you realize what the particular part you're working on actually is, or you see how certain components go together. Amazing detail too. An absolute must-have for LEGO fans who like games.

40 years ago, Paradroid was on ZZAP!'s cover. We rated this amazing game 97%. Other top reviews: Little Computer People Discovery Kit (97%), Epyx' epic multisports sim Winter Games (94%), Wizard's Lair (89%), Hacker (87%), and Infocom's stellar Starcross text adventure (94%).

Btw, this was the official Paradroid game art. Doesn't quite have the dark, gritty atmosphere of Oli Frey's magazine cover art, which I always thought represented the game far more effectively.

40 years ago, I was really enjoying Little Computer People on C64, a progenitor to the Sims and other modern cosy-style games. Just really innovative and great fun. We somehow managed to kill our LCP due to a review version bug which, after a call with David Crane, was fixed!

35 years ago, I was playing (and thoroughly enjoying) an import copy of Mega Drive Rainbow Islands. As I said in my review, this was yet another stellar coin-op port and yet another game that made Sega's new 16-bit system THE console to have. Just brilliant stuff!

35 years ago I was playing Mega Drive Rambo III, which was a highly entertaining fest o' death and destruction. Excellent graphics, top choons, and entertaining gameplay made this import title both fun to play and also a great way to show off your system.

40 years ago, British Telecom bought Beyond Software, a deal that seemingly had few benefits, with Beyond disappearing as a brand very quickly. Commodore and Acorn were losing shedloads of money, and Domark released the utterly shite Friday the 13th. And man, it really was shite.

35 years ago, I wrote this interesting progenitor retro gaming piece where I waxed lyrical about the Vectrex and recommended people pick one up since used ones cost around £30 at that point. Thirty effing quid FFS. Lol. I should have bought every one I could find... 🤣

While Mega Drive Twinkle Tail may have sounded like a "real wet simpering pansy of a game," it was anything but. It was instead a challenging, fun-to-play shooter that featured entertaining and original bosses, and excellent audiovisuals. Bit of a hidden gem in my book.

35 years ago, I was playing Populous on Mega Drive, which both hugely fun and also a very refreshing change from the machine's usual arcade fare. I have no idea how well it sold. Probably a bit too weird and nebulous for the average gaming kid of the era, but it was brilliant!

40 years ago, I was playing one of the all-time Commodore 64 greats. Entering a series of ships filled with robots on a mission to either hack or destroy them all was fantastic fun. Top-tier arcade action plus a superb hacking mini puzzle game made Paradroid an absolute classic.

35 years ago, with the Mega Drive now launched, distributor Virgin-Mastertronic had two lines of business. Their 16-bit console was their most exciting offering, but they still had plenty of tricks up their sleeves for the SMS. This is its new game lineup approaching Xmas 1990.

This 40-year-old review gives good insight into the psyche of a C64 player back then. Despite being beloved now, we felt this "old" game (about 18 months, if that) was an outdated concept. The fact that it looked like a Spectrum title and was full-priced was the final insult! 🤣