JOHN SZCZEPANIAK
ON THE EARLY DAYS AT IMAGINE
WHAT WAS IT LIKE BEING PART OF THE RETRO GAMER REVIVAL?
Bittersweet. I’d lost money when Live Publishing folded. Once I was staff I realised that in-house writers mainly handle the back-end bits, while freelancers do the cool features. Myself and freelancer Ashley Day joined Imagine Publishing at the same time and flat-shared; he’d always hide the trash bags!
WHAT FEATURE ARE YOU MOST PROUD OF?
In The Chair With Dale Desharone from RG 31. He had a long career in games, making classics like Below The Root on the C64. Later he developed Faces Of Evil and Wand Of Gamelon for CDI – people criticise them, but I love those Zelda games. No one had ever thought to ask him how they were made. It doesn’t matter what you think of them, their creation is a fascinating story! Shortly afterwards he passed away.
I made it my goal to champion his legacy, which ultimately led to a fan remake and now Arzette. I contacted his wife and donated my audio recordings and emails – he’d spoken warmly of his family and I wanted them to have his words. His son personally thanked me. Dale, may you rest in peace – I tried my best.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE ANECDOTE FROM YOUR TIME ON THE MAG?
Darran was away so I decided to come in stoned and do very little work. As a result the Shinobi III column in RG 33 was written whilst utterly baked! I also have fond memories of attending a PR party and Big Boy Barry from Gamesmaster, who did PR, bought us all unlimited drinks. Hanging out with Stefan Mcgarry from Sega was also fun.
WHAT WAS YOUR FAVOURITE COVER?
I’m going to cheat with freelancing covers – since my articles were the covers! Metal Slug from RG 98, and Pilotwings from RG 229. During my tenure in-house, Falcoon from SNK painted us a special cover, but management sadly rejected it.