Well here it is, finally. Four months of intensive game playing, research, reviewing, typing and design have resulted in the first issue of this new HTML-based discmag - RGCD Issue #01!
Unfortunately (and mainly due to the insane amount of work that went into designing the HTML code and layout templates for both the website and magazine), this issue has come out a full two months later than originally planned - so there's a good chance that you'll already be playing the majority of the games featured. However, as RGCD is a multi-platform retro-games discmag there are almost certainly still a handful of titles that you haven't heard of before. This issue contains reviews of recent top quality releases for the C64, Atari XE/XL, NEC TurboGrafx/PC Engine, Atari ST(E)/Mega ST(E) (and Falcon), Game Boy Advance, VIC-20, Direct-to-TV and (of course) the everyday desktop PC that you are probably reading this on.
Highlights of Issue #01 include in-depth developer interviews with the programmers behind the excellent Typhoon 2001 and Thrust Extreme (Thorsten Kuphaldt and Wiebo de Wit respectively), previews of Crownland and Sub Hunter (two awesome forthcoming 8-bit projects) and even an exclusive PC remake of an Atari ST classic. Every game featured in the magazine is also included archived on disc (along with any necessary emulation software), making RGCD your one-stop retro-gaming resource.
Contents
Featured Game
- Typhoon 2001 (PC)
Retro Reviews
- Counter Clockwise (PC)
- Darkside Adventures (PC)
- DragonWing (VIC-20)
- Greenrunner (C64)
- Grid Assault (PC)
- Head-On (Atari XE/XL)
- Logic3 Gamespower 50 (DTV)
- Lunar Blitz (VIC-20)
- Nova (PC)
- Nuclear Waste Dump (Atari STE)
- Pocket UFO (Pocket PC)
- Poker Square (Atari STE)
- Qwak (GBA)
- Scorpions 2.0 (Atari XE/XL)
- Thrust Xtreme (PC)
- Znax (Atari STE)
- Zoo Mania (C64)
Extras
- Cortex Command Preview (PC)
- Crownland Preview (Atari XE/XL)
- D-Bug Atari Falcon/Mega ST(E) Fixes
- G-Force Preview (PC)
- Micro Machines Preview (Atari STE)
- Saucelifter Preview (PC)
- Sub Hunter Preview (C64)
- Tongueman's Logic Demo (PC Engine)
Emulators
- AtariWin800 Plus 4.0 (PC)
- Magic Engine (PC)
- Steem (PC)
- Visual Boy Advance 1.72 (PC)
- Win Vice 1.20 (PC)
Typhoon 2001 [PC]
http://typhoon.kuto.de/
Reviewed By J. Monkman
Typhoon 2001 is the definitive PC remake of Jeff Minter's Atari Jaguar classic Tempest 2000. For those of you unfamiliar with the game on which Typhoon 2K1 was based, Tempest 2000 was the Atari's highest selling 64-bit title (often referred to as 'the only reason to buy a Jaguar') and was itself a remake of the Atari arcade game of the same name, minus the 2K suffix.
As with the original game, Typhoon 2K1 is an instantly accessible and highly playable arcade shoot 'em up. The player controls a claw-shaped craft on the outer rim of a three-dimensional vector web and must shoot all the enemy 'flippers' that appear on the base of the web and advance towards the player. If a flipper succeeds in reaching the top it will continue to chase the claw around the rim, contact resulting in death and the player having to start the level again.
Tempest is very simple to learn but challenging to master, and even now (some 25+ years after the original release) you'll be hard pushed to find a more intense arcade experience. Jeff Minter succeeded in giving the coin-up original a 1990's face-lift for the Atari Jaguar without detrimentally affecting the vital game-play, and thanks to Thorsten Kuphaldt you can now play a further enhanced version of the game in superior high resolution graphics on your desktop PC...
