Retro Replay Volume 1 | Magazine Review
The makers of the Retro video game magazine, have recently released what they are calling “Retro Replay Volume 1” video game magazine. This is a special collectors edition with over 200 pages. If you are not familiar with Retro video game magazine, it was founded by Mike Kennedy of retro VGS / Coleco Chameleon infamy according to his Linkedin page, he is also the president. Pretty much everyone knows what a disaster that turned out to be. However, this is not a super nes wrapped in an atari jaguar shell, allegedly. This is something entirely different. This is a magazine. I really, really want to believe that he wasn’t trying to rip everyone off, that he just didn’t have a working prototype in time, but anyhow, this is a special collectors edition of the popular magazine that has been out now for two years. It is styled differently than a typical magazine, more of a reader’s digest style and size. In fact, that is exactly what Mike Kennedy stated in an email to the initial purchasers, that a retailer wanted to buy a large quantity, so in order to reduce costs, they went with the digest size. He states it still has the same quantity of information, just in more of a book like size.
The magazine really does remind me of a readers digest magazine, roughly the same size. It has really nice artwork, includes a thick stock wrap-around cover with illustrations by Thor Thorvaldson. It’s loaded with tons of articles covering a wide spectrum of retro gaming topics. There is an article on the upcoming book by Tim Lapetino, “The Art of Atari”. There are articles covering Mule, Bomberman, Batman Arkham Asylum, the gameboy, NES remix, a couple on pinball, some arcade classics, resident evil, and even one covering Halo – Combat Evolved. If I had to criticize the digest, I would say there are a few font size and consistency issues on this first volume. For example in the article covering Mule, the font size is really SMALL, but at least it’s black text with a white background. In an article titled “Spirits of the competition” on page 42, the font is super small and the contrast between the font and the background image makes it really tough to read certain parts. There are a few other examples of this problem in the digest. As for font consistency issues, pages 108-109 provide a good example. It might just be a physical printing issue, but on page 109, the font is super small and darker than on page 108. It’s kind of weird. Having said that, there are many articles in the issue that look and read just fine. After purchasing, the company sent out a hyperlink for a FREE download of the PDF version of the magazine. I know this sort of defeats the purpose of having a physical magazine in your hands to digest, but it is a nice option if you’re having problems reading the printed version. It’s also a nice option if you’re a crazy collector who wants to keep the original copy in pristine condition.
Overall, I really do like this first special edition, retro replay volume one. There are at least 10 interviews with gaming legends like David Crane, Keith Robinson, Richard Garriott, Ed Fries, Cliff Bleszinski among others. There are nearly 30 different article retrospectives and over 30 special feature columns, making this, in my opinion, a bargain at $12.99. It can be purchased on
Again for $12.99 for a physical copy or you can opt for the digital download for $8.99.
Youtube Original Post Date: 08/11/2016
