I’ve had a few readers asking why I haven’t been posting up any new Atari Lynx games at the moment. Don’t worry, I haven’t given up on Atari’s wonderful handheld – recent additions to the collection include Ishido: The Way of Stones and Lynx Casino. It’s just that I currently don’t have access to a Paypal account – it’s a long boring story that involves my card running out, being unable to add a new one, not being able to speak to a human being at their call centre and lots of swearing when all I got was an automated voice – and therefore not being able to buy anything new.

eBay users almost predominantly use Paypal now, so I’ve missed out on some absolute bargains over the last few weeks, which has annoyed me greatly. Granted, I could simply set up a new account, but I don’t see why I should have to. Normal service should resume soon, but in the meantime here’s a pack shot of my latest collection additions. Enjoy.

This is a solid little board game that’s eaten up a fair amount of my time. So much so in fact that I forgot to enter the Rampart high score competition at Atari Age.

I’ve never really seen the point in gambling games when you can’t physically win anything. Not one of my better Lynx purchases.

Another month and another fantastic Retro Gamer cover for you to all gawp at. It’s a bumper packed issue this month, so sit down and be amazed by the sheer amount of content we’ve been able to cram into everyone’s favourite retro magazine.

Ready For Remake: Ant Attack

Sandy White looks back at the creation of his 8-bit isometric classic and reveals the sequel that nearly came to be.

The Classic Game: Planescape: Torment

It’s widely regarded as one of the greatest D&D games of all time. Discover what makes Torment is a classic. 

The Making of… Defender

Defender blew our minds when it blasted onto arcade machines in 1980. Creator, Eugene Jarvis explains why.

Retroinspection: Game & Watch

The simple idea that became a global phenomenon and sired the Game Boy and DS. Meet the Game & Watch.

Developer Lookback: Shiny (Part 1)

You can’t really talk about Shiny Entertainment without discussing David Perry, so the first part of our lookback charts his early beginnings…

The Making of… Soul Calibur

In an exclusive new interview, Namco reveals how it converted its huge arcade hit to Sega’s Dreamcast and redefined the concept of the coin-op conversion.

The Making of… Night Shift

 Mike Bevan goes behind the scenes of the biggest toy factory to ever feature in a computer game.

Conversion Capers: Chase H.Q.

Ex-Ocean staffer, Bill Harbison reveals the difficulties of cramming Taito’s coin-op in the Speccy and Amstrad.

The Making of… 4D Sports Drivin’

Atari’s Hard Drivin’ may have been the best, but 4D Sports Drivin’ remains a great addition to the genre.

And much, much more including: S.T.U.N. Runner, 1942: Joint Strike, Robo-Squash, Toki, Atic Atac, Marble Madness II, Super Mario World, Commando, Jammin’ 

Irritating Stick’s box art badness is legendary. Its artwork basically comprises of three things 1) the word ‘irritating’ 2) the word ‘stick’, and 3) a first person picture of a Gundam Robot waving a baton around. The game is based on Japanese game show that asks contestants to pull a stick through a metal maze without letting that stick become irritated – very similar to those carnival games thingies you see at…um…carnivals.  The box art clearly states that this game is for ‘everyone’, but don’t be fooled by these words. That label should really read ‘this game is for human beings who waste time originating pointless groups like ‘bring back Big Break’ on social networking sites.     

Ignition has recently announced that The King of Fighters ’98: Ultimate Match is swiftly heading to the US of A.

Okay, so it’s not been officially announced here, but considering Ignition’s track record it’s only a matter of time before it does turn up, so you may as well start getting excited.Easily one of the best games in the lengthy series, it’s priced at a very generous $19.99 (read £19.99 for the UK) and boasts a staggering 64 fighters to choose from – nine of which are exclusive to this new PS2 version. Worry not though for the original NEO-GEO version of the game will also be available as well, meaning that both newcomers and old hands of the franchise should be happy.

Still, as great as this news pleases us (’98 is up there with ’96 as far as we’re concerned) it does make us wonder when we’ll finally get to play the version of Garou: Mark of the Wolves that has been available in Japan for ages now. Please make it happen Ignition.

Terry gets given a headache courtesy of Shermie.

We’ll give you two reasons why we love playing as Mai…

I’m sure a few readers have already seen the following picture, but I was looking through some old files and stumbled across it again.

Anyway, this is what happens when an overweight man in his mid-thirties looks like when he goes to his Christmas Party as a videogame character. I should also point out that everyone else at the do was wearing Tuxedos and elaborate dresses.

Yes I know it’s a lazy blog post but Stuart is off on holiday and I’ve been a bit busy playing with my new iTou… sorry, working on the magazine.

Regular readers of Retro Gamer will be fully aware of my love for shoot-’em-ups and may even know about my passion for Thunder Force III (easily the best part of the series). So imagine my delight when I saw the first screenshots on the official website and saw many of III’s bosses beautifully recreated for the new game.

It’s highly unlikely that this superb looking shooter is ever going to get a release in the UK, so your best bet is to do what I’ve just done and invest in a chipped PS2. That way you can enjoy loads of classic shooters and compilations, including the excellent Sega Ages range, several Capcom and Taito compilations and still by cheap budget releases like Gradius V and R-Type Final that do get released here.

Anyway, back to the awesome looking Thunder Force IV. Take it away Sega.

Here’s one of the bosses from Thunder Force III. I’m getting excited just looking at it…

And here’s one from Thunder Force V. Imagine if the entire game is just a remake of the first five. How cool would that be?

Another Thunder Force III boss, although the jungle level he was once in now seems to have disappeared.

Thunder Force IV was originally due to appear on the Dreamcast but was canned. This is proof that there is justice in the world.

Zelda’s Adventure is an atrociously bad game. In fact, it’s so bad that if anybody asks us what that peculiar top-down Zelda game thing was on the Philips CDi we’ll simply answer with ’a cancelled Russian pilot for the ITV television show Knightmare’. 

Here is the voyeuristic advert for the show; a remarkable picture of an open window with some sinister incandescent light thrown in for good measure. Uninspired stuff!     

Exhibit A) A great television show 

Exhibit B) A naff videogame

As many are no doubt aware, Retro Gamer now has an amazing website in the form of http://www.retrogamer.net/

As well as uploading classic game profiles and getting quick and easy access to our excellent blog and forum, it’s also possible to browse eBay in search of those desirable retro goodies we all love buying. All you need to do is head on over to Buyer’s Guide section and use the scroll down menus to choose a manufacturer and system, once you’ve done that the magic of the Internet will make the current 20 available items on eBay appear for your perusal. I’ve already been using it during work to check out new Lynx games to add to my collection (don’t tell the boss) so be sure to check it out whenever you fancy some new retro treats.

Here’s a quick guide to how it all works.

“Hmmm, I wonder if there’s any Atari Lynx stuff worth buying…”

Success!!! Oh, and I’ve already put a bid on that cool Ms Pac-Man pin, so everyone stay away from it or else…

The collection is going rather well at the moment, with most of my goods coming from eBay. I have discovered a few goodies from sites like videogameimports.com and retro-games.net, so if you’re thinking of starting a collection yourself it definately pays to look around.Anyway, here’s a collection of my latest goodies. Notice the lovely Lynx carry case that nows goes into work each day with me (much to the amusement of writers on our other mags).

Rampart cost me £9, but it’s a truly impressive conversion that features a great multiplayer mode and some nice little cutscenes between battles. Pit Fighter is pretty good on the Lynx, but still rather flawed, but you can’t really complain for £4 (although I’m sure many have).

Joust is an excellent conversion (see my profile on www.retrogamer.net) while Batman Returns is a truly awful fighter that sucks away your will to live. Chip’s Challenge on the other hand is superb, and is still one of the Lynx’s best puzzlers.