2 Likes
Man, this took me so far down the memory lane…
I’ve never played Rise of the Robots, but I vividly remembered seeing screenshots and combat stills from this game. The only place I could have seen them in were the old computer magazines, so I’ve checked my archive, and there they were.
Back in 1993 my parents bought our first computer - an IBM PC. It was stolen from us in a house burglary several months later - together with the rest of our valuables - never to be recovered, leaving us without a computer for many years to come.
Nevertheless, soon after our parents bought it, my dad took me on a trip to a computer market in the capital city nearby. If you’re wondering what a computer market is, it was exactly what is sounds like - a makeshift farmers market, but with computer hardware, software and magazines instead of produce. Back in those days it was the primary place of contemporary computer-related exchange in Poland.
I was only eight years old; could barely find my way in Norton Commander - just enough to launch Prince of Persia and die shortly after. Still, among those magazines and their covers I’ve found wonders never seen before: monsters, heroes, robots, fantastic creatures. I was fascinated so, that my dad allowed me to pick one.
And I did - Secret Service, issue #8. This was my first ever computer game magazine, and even though it wasn’t the one directly related to Rise of the Robots, it was a very important one, as will soon become apparent.
So, going to the one on topic - my second game magazine ever. I don't remember how exactly did I acquired it, but it was during the time where there was no PC in our household and no way for me to play computer games. I'm guessing it must have been the cool logo that drew me in, and the longing for the lost world of computer games that urged me get it. Or something like that...
And here it is, the review of Rise of the Robots from Secret Service issue #20:
I won't give you the translation, but suffice to say that it's full of praise, half-truths (as shown in the YouTube video) and compliments that would make a young developer blush. Plus, an equally fitting final score: 100% for visuals, 90% for audio and 85% for (untranslatable) gaming experience fidelity.
Also - note the price of the game: 240 PLN
The price of the magazine was 2,30 PLN - a 100x difference.
The average monthly salary in 1995 was 700 PLN (gross) - a third of it for a game.
1995’s 2,30 PLN is an equivalent of ~14 PLN today (3,60 USD).
1995’s 240 PLN for RotR is an equivalent of ~1460 PLN today (375 USD).
By the way, here’s CD Projekt’s ad from the same issue:
Yes, the same CD Projekt which recently graced you with Cyberbug. Back then they were just a software distributor. The ad presents a list of all the titles they had on offer. The company was named CD Projekt, because it was literally a project of reselling software published on CDs.
The prices of those games average around 100 PLN - equivalent to ~609 PLN today (156 USD).
Anyway… below are the covers of those two issues of Secret Service. Handpicked by myself. The only two that stood out through the entire decade-long history of the magazine’s publishing:
Secret Service #8 (Dec 1993) and Secret Service #20 (Jan 1995)
Which makes me believe that - even though I was just a little boy - I already knew there were great wonders to be found
behind those MASSIVE TITS :V
5 Likes
Hey, thanks for sharing your past with us, and a bit of trivia too.
In my case, I can’t say much about Rise of the Robots other than I rented the cart with frequency to my Sega Genesis, and I remember never getting past through Crusher, the third robot. However I kinda liked from it for some reason. Probably because of the graphics.
But then I also rented a lot another bad game: Batman Forever. Go figure.
In my case, my favorite gaming magazine was SuperGamePower, which allowed me to know about a lot of games, even those I’d never own including PC games. These mags were literally my childhood, and I still own a few of them.
Below are some covers:
Some cool covers
Back then these magazines were pretty cheap (R$ 4,00, which would cost $0,76 cents nowadays), and mostly of the games I rented were also equally cheap (Unfortunately I don’t remember the prices well. I think they went around R$2,00 ~ R$ 5,00).
From those days mostly of the stuff I own are from Nintendo: A Game Boy Color, a GB Advanced and a Nintendo 64 with some carts here and there.
4 Likes
Hey, by any chance, did you manage to archive it onto archive.org or any place like that? It would be interesting to have this stored there for archival’s sake.
3 Likes
It was actually collected there through the years - every single issue and some extras.
3 Likes
4 Likes
Maybe it’s time to give SS 2 a new try.
5 Likes
3 Likes
3 Likes
chiptunes <3
I love how the demoscene comes up with those ever-limiting compo categories. 64k, 4k, bricks.
3 Likes
3 Likes
I’ve always wondered what Sonic’s pov would look like. Now I know and no thanks. It has a motion sickness warning and a lot of the comments suffered. I didn’t get it but all the spinning for every jump was distracting. It reminded me of a racing game + roller coaster which was kind of exciting.
5 Likes
So much nostalgia in one video. Guild Wars is probably my favorite online RPG of all time.
Few months ago i was looking all over youtube for content about original Guild Wars to “reconnect” ,in a way ,with all those great memories i had about playing it.
By the way dont mind the name of the video. It’s just a name of a series this youtuber does. Guild Wars is pretty top notch.
2 Likes
The only reason why I bought Yakuza Zero.
2 Likes
2 Likes
2 Likes
Carbot animated LOD opening cinematic with some subtle alterations.
1 Like
This is so accurate it’s scary. Down to the class, mentor role, etc. So good. lol
2 Likes