SUPER CHALLENGE

Hi Retro Gamer,

When I was nine, I began religiously purchasing N64 Magazine. My friends and I would discuss our feelings on the scores in the playground every month – the general feeling in Year 6 was that WCW/NWO Revenge was underrated, for what it’s worth.

One thing I distinctly remember was the leaderboard page, and particularly the Mario Kart 64 championship that was held – the play by play of the in-person final in the office was sensational, and I distinctly recall the suspense of whether the months-long frontrunner (with his photo-only evidence of 1’02”68) would manage to produce the requisite video evidence in time to qualify for a final spot. It was good fun to keep track of, and inspired some very heated attempts among my circle of friends (unfortunately we failed to break the top 100).

As speedrunning has moved online – and largely become a solitary pursuit done under home conditions with no fixed end date – would Retro Gamer be open to running a similar contest for the readership in the future? I can’t hope to compete against teenagers on Youtube putting in ten-hour shifts on Tetris or Punchout!! for example, but I would love to know where I ranked among the readership with a deadline.

I also attach a photo for your amusement of the worst piece from my retro game collection – my sealed, graded copy of Russell Grant’s Astrology for the Nintendo DS.

Best regards,

John Tucker, Caerphilly, Wales

Thanks for writing in, John. Funnily enough we used to run a high-score competition in Mailbag years ago, but it never really received much interest from readers. It would be a lot harder to run a similar contest now as we all work from home, but we’ll certainly talk it over.