Best retro magazines

The retro computing and gaming scene is currently thriving. No doubt this is partially fuelled by forty something parents having a bit more time as the kids get older and a bit more money as we reach peak career earnings (according to the stats anyway :/ )

We have seen mini and full size retro machines for Atari, Commodore, ZX Spectrum and a raft of others that have added vitality to the retro scene alongside the well established emulators and retro gaming oriented operating systems and FPGA systems like Mister. Not to mention the actual burgeoning scene for actual old hardware and various new hardware upgrades and LOTS of new software and games that run on all these old systems. The indie website itch.io comes in for particular mention as a fabulous retro goldmine.

In addition, there has been a resurgence of magazines in recent years in both physical and digital formats despite the loss in many areas of the country of newsagents that stock a decent range of magazines.

As such, I thought it would be a good idea to list and promote some of my favourites.

Freeze 64 is an excellent A5 fanzine produce by Vinny Mainolfi. You call follow him at @FREEZE64UK. Each issue contains news, cough “reviews”, interviews with developers old and new and features on games. In addition Vinny provides cheats and pokes to assist with extra lives and boosts to help you finish that game. Julian Rignall (of ZZAP! fame) provides a regular column which has recently changed from ZZAP Back to Crapp Back, now focussing on some of the worst games reviewed in ZZAP 64.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoy Freeze 64. The cover art is always excellent and inspiring, the editorial is engaging and it is always great to get a physical magazine in your hand these days as I find I am much more likely to read it. And it is good to take the eyes off the screens once in a while, especially since I work in IT all day.

There is the occassional PDF version available, but in general Freeze 64 is physical only.

ZZAP Amiga & ZZAP 64

Fusion Retro Books is staffed by veterans of the 8 bit and 16 bit magazines of the 1980’s and 1990’s. As well as producing books and physical releases of some games they have revived many of the old magazines you will be familiar with – ZZAP 64, ZZAP Amiga, CRASH as well as some new magazines – Fusion, Amitix CPC and one for the Spectrum Next. These are all available as physical editions of digital PDFs. The physical editions come in A5 up to about 60 pages in an issue. There are yearly hardback annuals which collate much of the best parts of each throughout the year.

ZZAP Amiga contains a healthy dose of new and old. Reviews of old games to trigger waves of nostalgia sit alongside reviews and interviews on new and upcoming games. The famous ZZAP Sizzler logo, again stirring a wave of nostalgia, is awarded to those that make the grade. Alongside the news section and book section there is a demo scene section authored by Judge Drokk and a regular column on programming.

The Commodore 64 edition follows similar lines and this one has particular nostalgia for myself as I used to trundle down to the newsagents in the rural fishing village of Kirkcudbright in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland to get my monthly edition (costing £1) with a cassette tape stuck to the front with my pocket money..they had £1 notes in them days :/ (think i have one squireled away in a jar somewhere).

Amiga Addict is a (relatively) new Amiga magazine now on issue 33 that is the only full sized magazine akin to Amiga format or CU Amiga that can also be found stocked in some newsagents such as WH Smith. There is a sister publication called Pixel Addict that takes in a wider gamut of retro tech and tech culture in general.

There are sections on news, the demo scene and coding as well as a dedicated CD32 corner. In addition there are interviews and game reviews and a monthly downloadable cover disk.

Amiga Future is a German magazine that has been around for a very, very long time and is currently on issue 177. It is a full size magazine which is available in both English and German and can also be ordered with a physical covermount CD.

This would be the most technical magazine with lots of news on new and self build hardware projects and extensive coverage of Power PC, Amiga OS 4 and Morph OS as wellas AROS.

There is the odd little quirky translation from German to English but a great mag nonetheless.

Other Retro Magazines:

• Komoda and Amiga Plus is an English language magazine from Poland
• Retro Gamer Magazine which covers multiple platforms and is usually available in newsagents
• Amiga Magazine Rack – holds archives / scans of many old Amiga magazines as well as indexes
• Internet Archive – Commodore archive includes old editions of amiga Format, CU Amiga, ZZAP etc
• Retro Magazine
• APoV – Amiga Point of View
• Brew Otaku – Homebrew gaming magazine
• CD32 Scene
• Debug Magazine
• Retro Fromat and Eightbit Magazine
• Kilobyte Magazine is a fanzine for 8 bit enthusiasts
• Lotek 64 is a magazine and blog covering software and hardware from yesteryear.
• Old School Gamer is a multi platform magazine from the USA
• Reset 64 Magazine is dedicated to the C64
• Skrolli computer culture magazine from finland
• The MagPi magazine for Raspberry Pi
• HackSpace
• Wireframe Magazine – Internet Archive
• Linux Format including a section on Raspberry Pi
• SFX Magazine – all things Sci-Fi and Fantasy. Films, TV, Books, Comics, Games.
• Infinity Magazine – Sci-Fi
• Ami Tech Gazette by Amiga artist Eric Schwarz