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.

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.

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…

While the Xbox360 community looks forward to the incoming release of Banjo and Kazooie’s third adventure, we’re patiently awaiting the opportunity to revisit the original N64 hit.

Don’t get us wrong, we’re still mega excited (are we too old to say that?) about the bear and bird’s third outing, but there’s something about their original adventure that makes us feel all warm and gooey inside.

We’ve always maintained that the original Banjo was the best platformer on the N64 (yes, even better than the excellent Super Mario 64) so we can’t wait for the release of this new high-def version, if only so everyone else realises what we already know. Gahhuh!

Wow. It’s like we’ve never been away from the dynamic duo.

Crikey! Has it really been a month since the last excellent edition of Retro Gamer appeared? It certainly has been and if you thought last month’s issue was amazing, wait until you see what we’ve been able to cram into the magazine this month. Honestly, we really do spoil you sometimes.

Running the Gauntlet: Due for release on Nintendo’s DS we take a look back at Gauntlet’s rich legacy to find out who really shot that food.

The Making of… Beneath a Steel Sky: Revolution Software’s Charles Cecil looks back at one of the company’s greatest Amiga release.

The Big Interview… Hideo Kojima: The creator of Metal Gear takes time out of his busy schedule to talk to us about his hectic and prestigious career.

Ultimate Exclusive!: No one knew who made Ultimate’s C64 games. Until now! Martyn Carroll delivers an amazing 8-bit exclusive.

The Complete History – Castlevania: With the season of the witch approaching, Retro Gamer takes a look at Konami’s long-running Castlevania franchise and hopes some remembered the garlic.

The Making of… Super Pipeline I & II: The boys from Taskset reveal how a simple dripping tap spurred them on to create one of their most successful franchises, the excellent Super Pipeline.

The Making of… Rampage: Retro Gamer does the monster mash with Rampage’s developer and finds out why it nearly didn’t happen.

Retroinspection – Commodore 16: It may not have been as powerful as the C64, but the Commodore 16 still had plenty of great games.

The Making of… Samba De Amigo: With Samba recently hitting Nintendo’s Wii, we look back at the creation of the original rhythm-action.

And much, much more including, Reader Revival, Gauntlet DS, Super Robin Hood, Terrormolinos, Mr Heli, X-Men, Shiny Entertainment, Skyblazer

We get a surprising amount of mail here at Retro Gamer, but never had we had something as comprehensive as this. In fact, we can’t work out whether to be flattered or scared by William Swords’s lengthy love song to Retro Gamer.

You can decide for yourself as we’ll be putting up the entire letter over the next few days.

The dripping title suggest this could be a scary ride…

Points are immediately lost here due to me being the only person who is not properly in focus. Poor show!

Notice how our initials make up the Retro Gamer ethos. And how the first person is the current editor and the last the previous editor, Martyn Carroll. This is clever stuff.

So many classic characters together, but where’s Miner Willy? Expect people to start moaning about the lack of 8-bit coverage very soon.

Are you still reading? It’s going to get much better. Honest.

If only all of our readers put in this month effort whenever they sent in letters.

Tune in tomorrow for another six pages.

We’re great believers of the freebie at Retro Gamer, so the news that the incoming Xbox Live update of N64 classic Banjo Kazooie would be free if you pre-order Banjo Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts was bound to get our attention.

As well as getting the classic platformer for absolutely nothing, you’ll also be able to play it nearly two weeks ahead of its official street date, which makes it even more of a bargain. For more information about this amazing offer simply head along to Rare’s official website at www.rareware.com/company/news.html