Here is the new issue of Revival, ready to accompany you during the long winter evenings. Many, indeed many, news announced or already there as evidenced by an interminable "In Brief" feature. Up to the point that it is very difficult to be comprehensive, and to be sufficiently responsive to order all these games as quickly as possible to be able to chronic them as soon as possible in Revival. Since in addition some titles are in very limited quantities, you must admit that being the champion of homebrew video gaming requires a constant search, exhausting but always exciting!
The high homebrew activity of the last months inevitably brings a lot of testing. Note that the Jaguar is getting a little healthier with the controversial MadBodies but above all with all the development related to the activities of the Team Jagware joined recently by Reboot with a promising shoot'em up. And in the interview "du jour" you will find Richard Ciervo, Mr. Rotary Tempest 2000 on Jaguar. Dux on Dreamcast was released over the past few months and we will present it in detail in our next issue. Ghost 'N Zombies is a real UFO on Colecovision and its author should not stop there. Finally, let's not forget Juno First, a small gem of programming on the Atari 2600.
Exerion 2 was also recently discovered on Nintendo NES, so we wanted to compile a detailed portrait of this underestimated title based on the original arcade version, and addressing its unofficial sequel Exerizer.
Revival 41 will come with the spring (let's bet on May) and will, be assured, chock full of good things that only homebrew development can bring to us, gamers, simple hobbyists, enthusiasts or collectors or all that at once. We can already announce Dux, Ghosblaster, Mean Santa, 3D Sector-X and much more!
Revival has still only one goal: be the voice of homebrew development, without abandoning however the strong relationship with retrogaming and video games collection.
And our aim will not change soon as the news continue to arrive by waves on a wide range of systems with, as a peak, the game Wind and Water: puzzle battle for Dreamcast and two choice compilations for the Atari Lynx portable system.
In two completely different ways, these games show different aspects of the homebrew scene. On the Dreamcast, one is trying to be as close as possible to commercial games of the Sega era, both in terms of packaging and intrinsic quality of the game. And if the first homebrew attempts, by The Goat Store, were nice, a company like Red Spot Games makes huge efforts to show that such projects can be economically viable, a unique fact in the homebrew scene, tending to be usually more confidential. And the next Dux (by Hucast.net) on this machine should only confirm that. But Yastuna vol.1 for Lynx is completely the opposite. Here the game is free to be downloaded, duplicated and placed on cartridge! Fadest, the author, insists that it should be respected, and it is… to his credit.
From our point of view, these two facets of homebrew are both as respectable and connect on the fact that the homebrew scene is vibrant, made of people wanting to create games, discuss, exchange, push the limits of the console, have fun. Then, what harm can be there to want to make a living from it and/or to make the largest number benefit from it, without making limited edition? One thing is sure: a freeware with such quality on Lynx and a near-commercial game with an unbeatable price on Dreamcast, we ask for more every day!
Revival 39 is not limited to these two major productions, reviews a maximum of new games and takes the liberty do a round-up on the news about the 8-bit Sega consoles that some Korean adapters should make you want to discover. And a small interview, almost ritual now, about a newcomer on the Colecovision homebrew scene: Collector Vision.
And we hope you appreciate the extra magazine, 8 pages dedicated for the amazing Adventurevision.
On the content side, it's once again a lot of news, tests, reports, interviews as well as a large feature: "All in the box!". It assesses the packaging aspect of homebrew games on all consoles.
Besides, the Nes console (Famicom) is in full expansion and the Colecovision is well revived. Both are at the top of the news these latest months. But the others are not forgotten for all that: the great Vectrexians is at last available, the 3DO treats itself with a two-title compilation, the Atari 2600 continues between discovered prototypes and actual homebrew news, etc.
All this is a testimony that ReviVal continues, in a nearly metronomic fashion, to offers to you all the news of homebrew video games. And, believe us, it is a permanent quest: being on the look-out for new developments, interviewing programmers, testing each game from A to Z and extracting its essence (i.e., the maximum of information and anecdotes related to this game), offering summary features, etc. In short, having content as eclectic as possible. We hope you'll enjoy again the 38th issue of ReVival, and we'll meet again for the issue 39, coming with a small additional secret booklet! You won't be disappointed!
And you're right! And the 37th issue of the never-ending ReVival saga will not tell you otherwise!
It's once again a flood, with the tests of a maximum of games on Atari 2600, 7800, Colecovision, Nintendo Nes, Nec PcEngine (Turbografx-16), SegaSaturn, Vectrex, Videopac, Sega Mark-III. In addition, we offer you a history of an uncommon Tabletop named Colorvision, and an interview of Martijn Wenting, one of the more active developers on Vectrex currently. And the interview of the Packrat Video Games company, made during the CGE2k7, and that we couldn't insert in the previous issue, because we were running out of space.
And we have our work cut out, given the nearly industrial quantity of new arrivals these last weeks. A real treat!
All the team and myself wish you a nice reading with us.
However, the rest is not to be sneezed at, with its usual dose of tests around an AtariVox on Atari 2600 feature, as well as the latest games released on machines such as the Dreamcast and NeoGeo CD.
In addition, on the oldies and collector items front, we start to draw your attention on the Japanese version of the Master System, and its close cousin the Sega Mark III. Notably because these games were released only there, and they use a rotary kind of paddle. You will be surprised by the quality and playability of the titles using this device!
Issue 36 will be published in the spring, because there are numerous things we couldn't fit in this issue. It's always like that with ReVival, and you must be used to it by now! We would already have made the magazine monthly, if only days were more than 24 hours!
And yet, if there was only the Atari 2600, that wouldn't really be a problem. But other machines have no intention to allow the Atari to beat them. Vectrex, Colecovision, Videopac and Dreamcast all agreed to compete with new titles, some of which were thought to be lost (Vectrexians, for instance).
You'll understand we already know a large part of the contents of the next issue. And that until then, some new games will have been released. That's endless, and that's why it's so exhilarating to make each issue.
You do not imagine a single moment that, while you sprawl, reading this issue 34 with delight, others are slaving away, ruining their thumbs on theirs pads, bruised and exhausted, hoping to see the end of these fiendish games, and to be able to relate all that in details like no one else. No, you don't give a dam. And, finally, you're right, since all that matters to you is the pleasure of reading ReVival!
A good read to all of you. And a big thank you to all participants in this issue!
A quarterly (?) in France , this is the first English version and it deals with the all the consoles that came before...
In this issue
Last Hope - NG Development Team, exclusive interview
Vectrex Goes Color: Spikes Circus, Star Fury
Arcade@Home
Atari 2600, 3DO, Dreamcast, Master System, Sega CD, PC-FX
Jaguar features - Catnip Cable, Project Apocalypse, GORF Classic, Fight For Life:Beta
Thanks to Dider Briel for translation from French into English
Total Carnage on the Jaguar
Defender of The Crown on Intellivision, first images
Vectrex, Super Nintendo, Colecovision, PC-FX
Dreamcast - Cool hereers, Radirgy
Jaguar - Bomb Squad, Total Carnage
Cuttle Cart 2, the Atari 7800 is not cut short
Exclusive test of Duranik's bonus cartridge for the Atari Lynx
Chaos Control - Sega Saturn
4-Tris - Intellivision
Colecovision, Master System, Amstrad GX 4000, Vectrex and VCS 2600
More on Jaguar Development and 1st part on Atari VCS2600 programming
Kit BJL on Jaguar,
Home consoles tests - Sky Jaguar on Intellivision, Vecaves / Spikes Spree / Yasi on Vectrex, Gain Ground SX on Super CD Rom 2, Freefall on Nuon, I Cyborg on Vectrex
Tivipad Classic Arcade Flipper
Dreamcast
Portable consoles - Sorobangu on WOnderswan Colour, Loopz on Lynx, Elena / Eelectronica / C-Dogs on GP32, Neo Poke Kun on NeoGeo Pocket Colour
Interview with Johaness Graf of Duranik
