Issue #02 of RGCD is here at last, complete with a larger development team, more features and reviews than before and compiled in half the time of our debut release! The stats speak for themselves; 27,000 words, 27 reviews, 6 extra features and over 170MB of game files included on disc!
Compiling Issue #02 has involved a lot of work - even though the HTML templates were all in place following the launch of RGCD, it still took considerable effort to get started after the mammoth amount of labour, sweat and tears that went into the first release. However, the feedback we've received has been amazing, and I have to admit that I am personally astonished by how popular RGCD has become since its conception (with well over 150GB downloaded to date and thousands of unique site visits/sessions). It was this feedback combined with the enthusiasm of the new RGCD team members that really motivated me to get Issue #02 underway, and I'd like to sincerely thank Dudley, Ruari O'Toole, SirClive, T.M.R and Travis Fahs for all their hard work.
So what's in the mag then? Well, a far more balanced selection of featured platforms for a start - with reviews of new releases for the Amstrad CPC, Atari 8-Bit, Commodore 64, GBA, PC/Mac, Sega Master System *and* Sinclair Spectrum. We've also managed to arrange developer interviews with Weekend Gamer TV's Opa-Opa, Richard Bayliss of The New Dimension and the undisputed saviour of the commercial 8-Bit gaming world, Simon Ullyatt from Cronosoft. Then of course there's the featured review of Motocross Challenge GBA, complete with an exclusive interview with the development team behind the game!
Aside from the above, highlights of Issue #02 include previews of top work-in-progress projects Force Majeure and Brickout 95% (from Monokey and Prollcoder respectively) as well as reviews of accolade-worthy PC titles such as the awesome Streets Of Rage Remake from Bomber Games (RGCD's highest scoring game to date), Smayd's eye-popping Veck SE and formerly-shareware Defender homage Alien Abduction. Add to this already impressive line-up the dozen or so new releases for a variety of retro-platforms (including write-ups of several Cronosoft releases) and it's hard to argue the fact that RGCD #02 is a massive improvement over our debut release.
With the next issue planned for release at Retro North in late August (see www.retronorth.co.uk for details), work has already started on compiling RGCD #03. We've confirmed attendance at the event and will be hosting a RGCD stall complete with a variety of gaming platforms - so if you can make it, feel free to come over and have a chat with myself and some of the other team members on the day.
Hopefully we'll see you there...
Contents
Featured Game
- Motocross Challenge (GBA)
Retro Reviews
- Alien Abduction (PC)
- Bomb Chase '07 (C64)
- Bomberman C64 (C64)
- Bubble Dizzy (GBA)
- Cannon Bubble (Spectrum)
- CarVup (GBA)
- Chocolate Castle (PC)
- Echoes (PC)
- Farmer Jack In Harvest Havoc (Spectrum)
- Goldrunner (GBA)
- Groops! (Amstrad)
- Guxt (PC)
- Izzy Wizzy (Spectrum)
- Kunkun & Kokokun (SMS)
- La Mulana (PC)
- Mind Blast (Atari XE/XL)
- mini01 (PC)
- Pulse Blade (PC)
- Q Game (C64)
- rhacp (PC)
- Square Pit 64 (C64)
- Stranded (Spectrum)
- S.O.R. Remake (PC)
- Stronghold (Spectrum)
- X-It Again (PC)
- Veck SE (PC)
Extras
- Brickout 95% (C64)
- D-Bug Atari Falcon/Mega ST(E) Fix Update
- Eliminator Preview (GBA)
- Force Majeure Preview (PC)
- The Underside Preview (PC)
- Weekend Gamer TV (AVI)
Emulators
- AtariWin800 Plus 4.0 (PC)
- Klive 1.1 (PC)
- Meka 0.71 (PC)
- Visual Boy Advance 1.72 (PC)
- WinAPE 2.0 Alpha 12 (PC)
- Win Vice 1.21 (PC)
Motocross Challenge [GBA]
http://www.dhggames.com/
Reviewed By Dudley
Generally our mission here at RGCD towers is to bring you the best in retro homebrew, but this month's featured game is a departure from the norm. It's not retro; it's a newly produced game from an original design document. Also, whilst it bears a resemblance to several old games it's certainly not a remake of anything you've ever seen before. That said, neither is it strictly homebrew; instead the game was developed by a commercial developer who had a contract with a publisher.
So why are we so interested? It's because we love a story and this game has a good one. Motocross Challenge has been in development for three years now by relatively small indie developer DHG. In 2006 they signed the game to what they describe on their website as "a very big and international publisher that shall remain unnamed". After a further six months of solid work, the game was finally completed in February 2007 - yet while it was in final testing the publisher decided that the GBA market wouldn't support enough sales of a non-licensed game to make releasing it worthwhile. The project was thereafter cancelled, despite just needing to be written to a cartridge, stuck in a box and shipped to the shops...
