Fabulous news everybody (I’ve always wanted to start a post with a quote from Futurama)

You’ve been asking for it for some time now, but I’m delighted to reveal that our second eMag is now available to order from the Imagine eShop.Covering 25 fantastic issues (31-55 in case you were wondering) it’s available for a platry £19.99 and features some truly amazing content.

We’ve also included another great set of freebies, including brand new desktop designs, the second edition of gamesTM’s Retro bookazine (originally available for £9.99) as well as Retro Gamer cover options that never made it through the rigorous process all our covers go through.

All in all this is the perfect gift for friends and loved ones and a great alternative to lugging a massive bundle of magazines around.

Order it now from

http://www.imagineshop.co.uk/item_show.php?itemID=1045&action=maglist

I know it’s been a while since I posted any goodies for Atari’s underrated console, but Christmas shopping and my addiction to Blu-Rays has put my collection on temporary hold.

Anyhoo, when I saw this little beauty I just had to pick it up and I’m now on an obsessive mission to collect as many Atari pin badges as possible. Haphazardly released with Lynx games, they’re truly funky little trinkets that look absolutely awesome on my coat (well I assume they will once I get my hands on a few more).

I picked up this Shanghai one for the bargain price of £1.50, and am desperately searching for more. If you happen to have any lying around then give me a holler.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever.

After a strenuous Tournament in Japan that lasted several grueling days, a hamster named Chippy has just been crowned the king of Virtua Fighter 5.

Despite not uttering a single word, Chippy demolished his opponents through a mixture of intimidation, genuine skill – he favours the powerful techniques of Akira – and gnawing through the joystick wires of potential risky competitors.

Hopefully we’ll get some quotes from Chippy’s agent/owner tomorrow

Genuinely talented hamster or a slow day on the Retro Gamer blog? You decide.

While the world and his dog are currently enjoying Banjo and Kazooie’s third outing, I’ve found myself absolutely loving the original, which has recently been released on Xbox Live Arcade. 

While there are a few issues with the emulation – a few sections, particularly when Banjo is swimming, suffer from horrendous slowdown – this is otherwise perfect. Indeed, it begs the question, why on earth hasn’t Microsoft allowed Rare to release more of its back catalogue on Live Arcade?

After all, aside from Nintendo, only Rare themselves came close to creating essential N64 titles, and while some of them – Donkey Kong 64, Diddy Kong Racing – still belong to Nintendo, there’s still plenty of other titles that we’d love to see resurface. Where is Jet Force Gemini? Where is Blast Corps? Where is Perfect Dark? It seems bizarre that Microsoft spends a small fortune on the popular British developer and doesn’t actually allow them to do what they do best; create highly innovative and genuinely great games.

Granted, the likes of both Viva Pinata, Kameo and Banjo Kazooie 3 are a massive return to form, but I don’t want to see them creating (admittedly good avatars) I want them to be able to do what they’ve always done and the release of Banjo Kazooie makes me want it even more.

Beautifully structured, full of genuinely engaging characters and extremely tough in places, this is easily one of the best games currently available on Microsoft’s service, and when you consider some of the past titles we’ve rated over the years, that’s high praise indeed.

Rare has already revealed that Banjo Tooie will be arriving sometime next year, let’s hope some of its other classics aren’t too far behind.

If you live or happen to be around the Exeter area this Friday, please take the time to drop in and say ‘hi’ to RG reader Shaun Meldon, who’s doing a wonderful thing for Children and Need this year. ‘What’s he doing?’ you’re probably asking. A sponsored head wax? Perhaps a sponsored line dance? Nope, nothing that predictable. He’s actually letting members of the public play on his impressive collection of classic arcade games. That’s right, he’s putting them all on freeplay, including his highly sought after sit-down Star Wars arcade machine, and is simply asking for donations in return for providing hours of nostalgic entertainment. if you’re interested in attending you can find out more details by contacting Shaun on 07726 332871.

Nice one Shaun, and good luck for Friday. Make sure you get in touch to let us know how much money you raised for charity.      

When we first heard about Sega’s brand new compilation that would feature 40 classic Mega Drive games, our first thought was… well we can’t say but it rhymed with “trucking amazing.”After all, who wouldn’t get excited about a new compilation for the PS3 and Xbox 360 that featured the likes of Streets of Rage 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and the mighty Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle?*But then the first screens appeared and we became scared, very scared.Sega in its infinite wisdom has released shots where all the lovely pixels had been smoothed out; suitable for the latest high-definition TVs but totally offensive to our old eyes. The end result is a selection of screenshots that don’t do these classic games justice.Luckily, there is an option in-game to turn this annoying feature off, so our blood pressure has returned to normal.Add in the fact that numerous interviews, arcade and Master System games will be unlocked and that the coding is being handled by those geniuses at Backbone Entertainment, and the Sega Ultimate Collection could well become the best compilation of all time.*Stuart forced me at gunpoint to name that last one

High-Definition awfulness

Pixel perfection.

Trainers and videogames have a long history together. Notable footwear within videogames include Toki’s blue sneakers, Sonic’s red and white Topman winklepickers and NBA Jam’s many generic court shoes, to name just a few. but what about when the shoe is on the other foot, what about videogame-themed trainers?

Well, surprisingly enough, this list is also quite full. More recent examples of videogame-themed footwear have included the fresh Adidas ZX range, the ugly looking Gears of War skate shoe and these tastefully themed Air Max Classic from Nike, which somehow manage to make the colours gunship grey and pillar-box red work well together again. Note the little nods to the NES D-pad and the ‘Select’ and ‘Start’ button references, and the laces, which ought to have been thick black leads we reckon. 

Apparently, the visible bubble of air trapped in the sole is a neat homage to the ridiculous amount of cartridge-blowing everyone had to suffer to actually get the machine to pick up the bloody games.

When one of the writers of X360 went out to Japan recently guess what they found in the local gaming shop?

That’s right, standing loud and proud and protected from the environment in a nice plastic bag was the Gauntlet issue of everyone’s favourite retro magazine. It looked so nice and shiny it brought tears to our eyes.

If you’ve discovered the magazine in a country you were visiting, send us a picture and we’ll be sure to put it up on the blog.

And people say they can never find the magazine…