April Edition Live Magazine - April 2014 Issue. | Page 32

“..I SPENT MANY
HOURS PAST BEDTIME
UNDER THE COVERS,
ENJOYING AND
EXPLOITING THE
MARVEL OF BACKLIT
SCREENS.
This was a tricky one for me, I have so many fond
memories across many platforms and games
that it’s hard to pick a favourite. An honourable
mention has to go to Crystal Mines and the Atari
Lynx, with which I spent many hours past bedtime under the covers, enjoying and exploiting
the marvel of backlit screens. Of course, text
adventures like Zork also hold a special place
in my heart, but when you’re talking All Time Favourites I really have to go back to the game and
console that started it all for me.
Obviously, the awesome 16-Bit power of the
Sega Megadrive is what changed my life forever
and put me on the path of gaming. My brother
and I were gifted a second hand Megadrive by
one of our cousins, along with what seemed like
about 100 games but was probably only about
10, in around 1994. There were some real gems
in this selection, like the impossible Another
World and the original Mortal Kombat (which I
was technically not allowed to play, but helped
myself to anyway). Sonic was there, too, as well
as Bubsy and Ecco the Dolphin, but the retro
classic that got me hooked forever was Golden
Axe. You could be an Amazon, and there were
these great dragon-chicken mount things you
could ride around.
They may not be cornerstones of retro gaming,
lauded worldwide as the turning points in an era,
but Golden Axe and the Mega Drive will always
be what got me into gaming, and that’s what
makes them my all time favourites.

MEGAHAN COLES:

WWW.XXPGAMES.COM.AU

“What’s your favourite retro
game or console?”
Industry Comment..

“..LOADED UP A GAME
CALLED BACK TO
REALITY AND IT BLEW
MY MIND..”
It was 1984, my parents brought home an Atari
2600 with pack in games Space Invaders and
Air Sea Battle and oh boy, did I love that console! A few years later I went to a friends house
to play their Atari 2600 when I saw a computer
set up underneath his lounge room TV - It was
a Commodore 64. He turned it on and loaded
up a game called Back to Reality and it blew my
mind, from then on I knew this was the game
system that I was waiting for. Soon after my parents graced me with a C64 with disk drive and
the rest is history.
When my friends were arguing with each other
about which was the better system out of the
Sega Master System or Nintendo Entertainment
System, I was sitting back playing my awesome
C64. With the awesome game line up it had from
Shmups, Arcade, Platform and driving games, I
was never bored. I find most games still hold up
today namely The Last Ninja Series, Myth, Turrican series, Creatures 2, Hammerfist, Monty
on the Run and special mention to Shinobi - the
greatest 8bit port in my opinion.

Visually, some games would make Amiga owners contemplate how the C64 could even accomplish graphics so close to 16bit, and The
Last Ninja 3 is a prime example. But what stands
out for me about the C64 is its sound chip. The
“Sidchip” as it was called had the most amazing sound and most developers exploited it to its
limits. Games with the best soundtracks include
Commando, Monty on the Run, Cybernoid, IK+,
X-Out, among many others (there’s just too
many to mention).
Now in my adult years I play and collect various
consoles like the PC Engine, Sega Megadrive,
SNES and current gen but what is still set up
amongst my consoles is my very first C64, and
my love for it is as strong as ever.

DARREN (DAZ) BORG:

WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/RETRODOMINATION