The latest Retro Gamer outlines how pub breaks led to Micro Machines’ best levels

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Plus, a look at how Psychonauts started life as a Full Throttle fever-dream

Retro Gamer
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Issue 228 of Retro Gamer is on sale now and features a look back at the evolution of Codemasters’ Micro Machines franchise. 

Andrew Graham, Paul Perrott, Colin Nicholls, Joel Beardshaw, Mark Neesam and Steve Holley are just a few members who have been involved with the classic series since it launched on the NES in 1991. Originally starting off life as a top-down dune buggy game by Andrew Graham, the game evolved when Galoob’s Micro Machines licence was attached to it and Paul Perrott was brought in to create the games graphics. The two-man team worked in a portakabin at the back of a farmhouse in freezing weather conditions. “We used to play the game, and whoever lost had to brace the weather, go to the farmhouse and bring back coffees!,” laughs Perrott.

Micro Machines proved to be an incredibly popular multiplayer game with the miniature vehicles racing on all sorts of crazy locations, including baths and back gardens. “The level designs were just whatever we thought of down the pub,” admits Perrott. “I literally suggested the pool-table level as we were playing pool there.”

In addition to covering the hit original, our feature looks at all the later games in the series, including Micro Machines 2, Micro Machines Military and the more recent Micro Machines: World Series. It’s an essential read for anyone that has enjoyed the series.

More highlights of issue 228 include an interview with Tim Schafer about the Psychonauts series, a look at the many videogames released to tie-in with Frank Herbert’s Dune and a look at the controversial arcade game Chiller and Doctor Who And The Mines Of Terror. We also have exhaustive Ultimate Guides on Streets Of Rage 3, Beach-Head and Ridge Racer Revolution and discover how Electronic Arts turned Peter Jackson’s The Two Towers into a classic hack-and-slash game.

Issue 228 of Retro Gamer is on sale now. You can buy it from Magazinesdirect.com or subscribe.

Retro Gamer Team
Retro Gamer Team

Retro Gamer is the world's biggest - and longest-running - magazine dedicated to classic games, from ZX Spectrum, to NES and PlayStation. Relaunched in 2005, Retro Gamer has become respected within the industry as the authoritative word on classic gaming, thanks to its passionate and knowledgeable writers, with in-depth interviews of numerous acclaimed veterans, including Shigeru Miyamoto, Yu Suzuki, Peter Molyneux and Trip Hawkins.