RIDING THE RETRO WAVE
David Crookes looks back over 20 years writing for Retro Gamer
Iowe a huge debt of gratitude to Martyn Carroll, the first editor of this marvellous magazine. In 2004, I’d spotted a small news item in the British journalism trade magazine, Press Gazette, heralding the first issue of Retro Gamer and I immediately approached Martyn with an idea: an article about Dizzy.
I’d freelanced as a writer before, for Amstrad Action and Amiga Format, both in my teenage years. From memory, it had taken about 12 months of pestering (and, believe me, pestering is the right word) in order for AA’S editor Dave Golder to cave in and give me an opportunity. When approaching Martyn, I didn’t have the energy for such a pursuit again and decided it would be ‘one approach, one rejection’ and that would be that.
To my great surprise, Martyn replied almost immediately. He wanted the piece and reckoned it would be a great idea to contact Philip and Andrew Oliver for their views on this most eggs-cellent series. Was that possible? Would those gods of gaming respond? As it happened, yes, it was possible and yes, they would respond – to the point that they spent ages answering questions and they even sent over a hand-drawn map of Fantasy World Dizzy.
That map was both a blessing and a curse. We were both operating in the days when the internet didn’t cope too well with humongous files and, while I was somehow able to receive the map, getting it over to Martyn at the
Live Publishing offices proved to be rather challenging. Eventually, I found a way and, I discovered much later that it was very nearly printed as a gatefold spread where the map would have spread across four pages. Costs scuppered such thoughts, it’s sad to say.
Still, something clicked. I really enjoyed writing that article and seeing it in print in issue two.
The Olivers’ enthusiasm had been infectious and Martyn’s friendly approach made the entire process an utter joy. Desperate to rekindle my love of my childhood computers and consoles and with feelings of nostalgia waving over me, I realised there was lots of life left in these old systems and many stories that desperately needed to be told. As such, when Martyn asked me if I’d write something for issue four, I jumped at the opportunity. I wrote about the Amstrad CPC.
Retro Gamer has been an important part of my life ever since.
After Martyn left as editor following the collapse of
Live Publishing, I’ve been forever grateful to Darran for continuing to commission and publish my work. This splendid magazine also led to many more opportunities for me. After tentatively approaching Martin Mathers, editor of games™, with an article idea I ended up penning a fair few pieces for that publication too. Retro Gamer had not only awoken my desire to delve into gaming’s
history, it deepened my passion for games as a whole.
In some ways, it was a perfect storm. The videogame magazine industry was in great shape at the time with publishers willing to experiment and enter new markets as and when new platforms emerged. I was enthused and on a mission to get my name into as many magazines as possible.
I went on to write for 360, X360, PSU3, and GO>PLAY. I became the news editor for the Nintendo mag, n-revolution, and contributed to every issue of Total PC Gaming
while also writing lots of its free cover-mounted books. I indulged my passion for technology and I branched out, writing about space, science, sci-fi, gadgets, history, sport and travel.
Had it not been for Retro Gamer, I wouldn’t have achieved a personal ambition to edit a magazine dedicated to the Amstrad Cpc.(amstrad Addict,
shameless plug). So thank you Martyn, thank you Darran and thank you to every reader who has ever bought this magazine and every writer who has kept it so fresh, so fun and so compelling every month. If I’m around when Retro Gamer turns 40, then I sincerely hope I’m still a little part of it.
Retro Gamer awoke my desire to delve into gaming’s history DAVID CROOKES