Issue two of the multi-format retro magazine has finally been released and I received my copy a few days ago. Just to confuse things slightly this magazine is actually named Retrokomp Issue 1. That’s because the first issue was in fact numbered ‘0’. This is a slightly odd numbering convention that can be found on their other magazines such as Amiga User too.
Retrokomp Issue 1 Cover
This issue is packed with even more Commodore content that the previous one and arrives with a hefty count of 76 thick glossy pages.
A welcome bias towards Commodore in this issues contents
As I mentioned in my look at the very first issue, this is definitely a magazine aimed at the more serious user. There’s a big emphasis on productivity and creative software rather than gaming. This is no bad thing though as there are plenty of magazines offering gaming news and reviews now. That’s not to say the Retrokomp doesn’t dabble with games though. This issue has the first part of really interesting series of articles delving into MicroProse F-19 Stealth Fighter, possibly their finest flight simulation ever in my opinion.
F-19 Stealth Fighter on the C64
Rocket Smash EX Review
Of course there’s no shortage of interesting articles to expand your retro computing knowledge either. I particularly enjoyed the LHArchie GUI guide that shows how to install a GUI for the previously shell only LHA archive utility.
LHArchie GUI
Other stand-out articles for me were the Ray-tracing and Brilliance articles for the Amiga.
Amiga Ray-tracing
Everyone remembers Deluxe Paint on the Amiga but who remembers Brilliance?
A quick run-down of the Commodore-centric articles in Retrokomp Issue 1:
- F-19 Stealth Fighter
- Data compression methods on the PET
- Truths and myths about the Commodore 64
- Rocket Smash EX Review
- Black Box cartridge: Assembler support
- My personal games set for Plus/4
- Raytracing on the Amia 500 with 1MB RAM
- Amiga Vision
- (True) Brilliance: 24-bit on Amiga chipset
- Get to know AmigaOS: programs and processes
- PowerPC software tips
- LHArchie GUI
Plus/4 Gaming
If you’ve never come across Retrokomp magazine before you might like to read through my preview of the first issue here.
Alternatively if you’d like to purchase a copy of Retrokomp Issue 1 for yourself then visit the publishers website here and show your support.
