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2023-02-26
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RGCD CARTRIDGE RANGE
Review by Andrew Fisher
James Monkman (Heavy Stylus) is a fan
of retro gaming, & decided to set up
his own retro gaming fanzine,
dedicated to homebrew games, remakes
and new titles for old machines. He
called it RGCD & has so far published
five issues, which can be downloaded
from the website or purchased on CD.
Each issue has reviews and features on
new homebrew, and includes download
links or the actual games and
emulators themselves.
Among the C64 games getting coverage
in the magazine have been Sub Hunter,
Greenrunner and Joe Gunn. Issue 5 even
has the RGCD C64 game charts.
But as well as the CD magazine, James
has been selling games through the
website. It started with a small run
of GBA games, and has now expanded to
include a range of cartridge games for
the Commodore 64.
There have been four released so far,
with more planned for the near future.
Here are some short reviews of each
game, and an added bonus is that all
four titles are compatible with the
C64GS (Games System).
KIK START C16 by Cosine
The first release came in two forms
the limited edition, in a large red
plastic case, and the more standard
cardboard box as used on the other
games. I was one of the first to
order, so I got hold of the limited
edition. In case you were unaware,
this is actually a radically different
game to the split-screen racing action
of the C64 Kik Start games.
Instead, it is based on an old arcade
game where the player has to jump
obstacles and collect balloons. It's
a great game on the C16, and the
conversion does it justice with added
music and retaining the original's
playability.
INVASIVE ACTION by Backward
Engineering
This is also by TMR, a Centipede clone
that soon gets tough. It is actually
based on a game called 'Invasive
Action' from Cascade's Cassette 50.
But probably the most interesting
thing about this one is that the
cartridge has an LED in it & so when
it is plugged in and switched on, it
glows!
BLOCK FRENZY by Backward Engineering
Yet another game from TMR, this one
based on a Flash game that was doing
the rounds a couple of years ago. The
player controls a red square trapped
between electric walls. Moving around
the screen are blue blocks that must
be avoided. And that's it, the longer
you play, the more you score.
GEIR STRAUMES MINIGAME COMPETITION
COLLECTION
Packed onto the 16K cartridge are four
different mini-games, created by Geir
for competitions between 2002 & 2005.
Each game comes with a little
laminated instruction card, which is
a nice touch. Sub Destroyer has your
ship at the top of the screen,
dropping mines to destroy the passing
submarines. With only a limited
number of mines per level/ship,
accuracy is important. Diamond Maze
sees your happy face avoiding the
enemies and collecting the 3 diamonds
to open the exit to the next level.
(Amusingly, I played this once and
opened the exit and one of the enemies
ran out!) Bellringer has four
horizontally scrolling levels filled
with enemy
knights that drain your energy. At the
end of the level you have to ring the
right combination of bells to open
the exit. Bellringer II turns the
action vertically, adding bags of gold
to collect. Once again there are
knights to avoid, & the bell-ringing
puzzle at the end. All four games on
this cartridge are well put together
but offer limited amounts of fun. It's
one you can come back to every now &
then.
CONCLUSION
So, it is great to see new cartridge
games being released, and I am looking
forward to seeing more in the future.
Keep an eye on:
www.rgcd.co.uk
for more news.
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