Features
Jaz Rignall joins USGamer
19 Mar, 2013 - It's been revealed today that Julian 'Jazza' Rignall has joined Gamer Network (home of excellent websites such as Eurogamer.net, VG247, Rock Paper Shotgun and Nintendo Life) as the Editorial Director of USGamer. Read More
Movie Review: The Wizard (1989)
13 Feb, 2013 - In a world where everyone seems to have an opinion and they're all too happy to force it upon others, it's worth remembering that when judging something (be it a book, film or videogame) it all depends on your connection with that particular piece ... Read More
Sir Patrick Moore, Astronomer And GamesMaster, Dies Aged 89
09 Dec, 2012 - Legendary British astronomer and broadcaster Sir Patrick Moore has died, aged 89, according to his close friends. According to a statement he "passed away peacefully at 12.25pm this afternoon", in Selsey, West Sussex. Read More
Mean Machines Archive On Instagram
16 Nov, 2012 - If you follow us on Twitter or like us on Facebook, you'll have no doubt seen us blurting out a seemingly never-ending stream of little square images before your very eyes. Read More
25 years of the PC Engine
30 Oct, 2012 - In the late 80s and 90s, when the term 'arcade perfect' was used with abandon, the PC Engine quickly acquired an almost mythical status. In both magazines and in the corners of playgrounds, there were whispers that this Japanese wonder console ... Read More
Turning Back the Clock - Play Expo 2012 Report
17 Oct, 2012 - It was upon arriving at Eccles train station, ready for Play Expo and briskly navigating a muggy mist lurking over the Manchester Ship Canal, when we contemplated if the UK's weather had decided to skip autumn altogether and engulf us in this ... Read More
Julian Rignall: The Definitive Interview
08 Oct, 2012 - Mention the name Julian Rignall to any gamer over the age of 30 and you're likely to get a pretty animated and enthusiastic reaction. The man is a living legend to anyone with an appreciation of games journalism during the late '80s and early ... Read More
Mean Machines SEGA - Mega-CD VHS Promo
05 Sep, 2012 - Here's a blast from the past! Issue one of Mean Machines SEGA, came with a cover-mounted VHS cassette featuring all the cool stuff with SEGA were going to release in upcoming months on the Mega-CD. Read More
Mean Machines to Return?
19 Jul, 2012 - In what could be the biggest piece of news since records began, Julian Rignall has confirmed that his is looking to resurrect the legendary Mean Machines brand. Read More
Streets of Rage Gets Real
19 Jul, 2012 - If you like Streets of Rage and have 23 minutes to spare, grab some popcorn and make yourself comfortable. Some ambitious fans have brought the series to life with the magic of street fighting, fireworks and YouTube. Read More
Jaz Interviewed for Bedrooms to Billions Documentary
16 Jun, 2012 - Remember the days when bedroom coders were treated like celebrities and entire software houses were founded off the back of one successful Spectrum game? If the answer is yes, then you may want to point your browser in the direction of From Bedrooms ... Read More
Akai Katana review
19 May, 2012 - It seems almost compulsory for reviews of Cave titles to begin with some oblique reference to the 'bullet hell' shooters and how the company has done so much to popularise this niche genre; given that Cave's fame is such that even casual iOS ... Read More
Sine Mora review
31 Mar, 2012 - If you told us that a new standard in 2D shooters would be set by a game produced as a collaboration between developers in Hungary and Japan, we'd probably scoff at your prediction and get back to playing Hellfire on the trusty Mega Drive. However, ... Read More
Julian Rignall Launches New Video Games Blog
25 Jan, 2012 - As some of you may be aware (and those who aren't can blame our hideously out-dated staff bio section), Julian Rignall recently took over as the big cheese at popular US magazine (and of course website) GamePro. Rignall had massive plans for the ... Read More
SNK Revives Neo Geo Pocket
25 Jan, 2012 - Retro fans will be delighted to hear that some images of a new Neo Geo handheld console by SNK have been leaked Read More
Turning Back the Clock - Replay Expo 2011 Report
03 Dec, 2011 - Time flies! The follow up to the successful Replay Expo had arrived and it was time to see what was in store this time around. The venue remained the same, Norbreck Castle - Blackpool, and whilst it's not the most cultural of areas there's no ... Read More
Shinobi returns for another slice of revenge on 3DS
14 Nov, 2011 - If you're a fan of the Shinobi series, you might be interested to know that SEGA have brought back Shinobi for the Nintendo 3DS. There are lots of tributes to the Mega Drive classics Revenge of Shinobi and Shinobi III littered throughout the game. ... Read More
DoDonPachi Resurrection Hits 360
11 Nov, 2011 - Bullet hell. The term may sound positively painful, but it describes what is arguably the zenith of the shoot 'em up genre; a seemingly unstoppable wall of projectiles that requires the player to not only navigate their way to safety, but also ... Read More
Replay Expo 2011 illuminating Blackpool in November
02 Sep, 2011 - The annual Replay Expo has become a highlight of the gaming year for many retro enthusiasts: featuring plenty of classic and obscure games from Nintendo, SEGA, Atari and more, it's a gamer's dream. Read More
Sonic the Hedgehog is 20 Years Old Today!
23 Jun, 2011 - On 23rd June 1991, SEGA released Sonic the Hedgehog in Europe and America and changed the world forever. The now-iconic hero captured the imagination of millions around the world, igniting the Nintendo vs. SEGA battle for console supremacy. Read More
Moon Diver Review
19 Apr, 2011 - Originally titled Necromachina, the anticipation for the release of Moon Diver grew steadily until its PSN launch on 30th March 2011, largely because its feelplus development team included Kouichi Yotsui, who many retro gamers deem to be a legend ... Read More
Retro Revival - A Celebration of DLC Gaming
05 Apr, 2011 - Recently our massive Alex Kidd ears pricked up and tuned into the news that Kouichi Yotsui was working with the feelplus team to create a title with gameplay which looked pant-wettingly similar to the classic Strider. Read More
Deathsmiles Deluxe Review
17 Feb, 2011 - Nobody quite does zany like the Japanese, and Deathsmiles is proof of this fact. What other nation could dream up a shooting game set in ethereal parallel dimension where teenage girls with magical familiar assistants float around dishing out all ... Read More
Neo Geo AES Modding
16 Feb, 2011 - Back in the days when getting the latest issue of Mean Machines was a monthly event worthy of religious fervour, the mere motion of owning SNK's Neo Geo console was enough to elicit feverish stammering from your humble narrator. Read More
Geekprints Shirts Will Rock Your Wardrobe
21 Dec, 2010 - As any self-respecting gamer will tell you, there once was a time when publicly showing your love of gaming was very much frowned upon - especially in terms of clothing. I have rather upsetting memories of getting a significant amount of abuse for ... Read More
Arcade Nano Mini MegaDrive Review
17 Nov, 2010 - If you were to borrow Doc Brown's Delorean, jump back to 1990 and gleefully inform your pre-pubescent self that one day in the not-so-distant future it would be possible to carry around a Sega Mega Drive in your pocket, then chances are you'd be ... Read More
Turning Back the Clock - R3PLAY 2010 Report
14 Nov, 2010 - The UK retro gaming scene seems to be getting bigger and bigger as each year passes, and thanks to magazines like Retro Gamer and websites like our very own Mean Machines Archive, there's a real community out there who dedicated time to keeping ... Read More
Sonic 4: Episode I - Would The Mean Machines Crew Approve?
19 Oct, 2010 - The good news is that you can swill out any unsavoury taste of 3D Sonic with a can of Asahi 'SegaSonic', because 2D Sonic 4: Episode I is a Born Again Blisterin' ...blisteringly fast, that is. Read More
A Speedy Spin Through Sonic's Coverage in Mean Machines
18 Oct, 2010 - With the buzz and excitement around Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode I spinning its way through Splash Hill Zones everywhere, The Mean Machines Archive thought it would be apt to rekindle the context of the first feverish moments when we encountered a ... Read More
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - How Does it Compare to Past Classics?
07 Oct, 2010 - Konami's Castlevania is one of those franchises which has so far stubbornly refused to make a smooth transition to the realm of 3D. Established in the days of the 8-bit NES, the vampire-slaying series has a reputation for precise action, ... Read More
Games Lounge - National Media Museum, Bradford
05 Oct, 2010 - Back in the early 90s aside from enjoying Mean Machines magazine and playing on 16-bit consoles it was always a treat to get some hands-on time with arcade machines whenever the chance arose Read More
Jaz Chats Away on @GAMER Podcast
29 Sep, 2010 - It has only been ten days since The Mean Machines Archive reported that 'Jazza's New Magazine', @GAMER, is now available in US Best Buy stores Read More
@GAMER - Jazza's New Magazine
19 Sep, 2010 - As many of your will probably already know (although not if you've been using our badly out of date staff biogs as a guide), Julian Rignall now works at Future Publishing's American arm. He's there to do what he unquestionably does best - launch ... Read More
Genki Game Pack Madness
16 Sep, 2010 - These are tough financial times indeed but thankfully our good friends at Genki have a few recession-busting game packs on offer to save a Yen or two and get your new retro gaming collection off to a flier. Read More
Mean Yob's ramblings - Issues 17 to 20
22 Jul, 2010 - Back in May 2010, The Mean Machines Archive began to chronicle the frantic rants and sage like replies of the enigmatic Mean Machines mascot, Mean Yob. We continue this journey backwards through Mean Machines' back issues, to record his answers ... Read More
Hardware Review: Everdrive
18 Jul, 2010 - Emulation has been with us now for quite some time and for budding retro enthusiasts represents the ideal way of getting in touch the wide and varied history of the video game industry. However, there's simply no substitute for experience games on ... Read More
Interview: Console Passion
30 Jun, 2010 - One of the video game industry's most annoying practices is region lock-outs. We may live in a global village but as far as most console manufacturers are concerned we should be segregated and entirely separate. It's an annoying occurrence, ... Read More
Jaz has caught the Twitter bug
25 May, 2010 - One of the reasons that Mean Machines is so fondly remembered by retro gamers, is because at its heart it had a staff base who did not shy away from expressing their personal viewpoints. They voiced their gripes honestly and clearly articulated ... Read More
Mean Yob's ramblings - Issues 21 to 24
24 May, 2010 - Mean Yob's letter page became a regular feature in later issues of Mean Machines. It was the place where adolescent 13 year olds (such as myself) could write in to the magazine with questions with as much integrity as the average YouTube comment ... Read More
Out of Print Archive Scans Mean Machines
26 Apr, 2010 - Those of you who happen to frequent our brilliant forum will be aware of Meppi and his commendable efforts to preserve the history of video game magazines. He's been scanning in copies of Official Sega Saturn Magazine and Maximum for ages, and has ... Read More
Twitter Tomfoolery
05 Apr, 2010 - If you're a savvy net user then chances are you'll already be aware of the social networking site Twitter, which allows people to bore each other with the tiniest details of their empty and soulless lives - and in 140 characters or less! Proving ... Read More
Genki Video Games Interview - The Return!
26 Mar, 2010 - We catch up with our good friends at Genki Video Games to find out what the company has been up to in '09 and what its plans are for 2010... Read More
Nintendo Magazine System Scanned
19 Mar, 2010 - Our good friends over at the Out of Print Archive have gotten in touch to inform us that issue 4 of Nintendo Magazine System - which is one of the magazines which the original Mean Machines split into (the other being Mean Machines Sega, of course) ... Read More
Maverick Magazines Vault is Opened
12 Mar, 2010 - Long-time fans of the site who happen to visit our forums on a regular basis will already know Meppi. He's the guy who scans in old magazines - mainly stuff like EMAP's Maximum and Sega Saturn Magazine (both of which were edited by Mean Machines' ... Read More
The Genki Video Games Interview
25 Sep, 2009 - As long-term fans of the site will be aware, we\'ve got a pretty close relationship going on with the excellent Genki Video Games online store. These chaps provide us with everything we need to feed our worrying retro gaming addiction and after ... Read More
Angus Swan Leaves EMAP
15 Sep, 2009 - September 11th may be remembered for being a day of sorrow thanks to the terrible attacks on the Twin Towers, but this year it was given an additional layer of sadness as it marked the end of an era for Mean Machines. Angus Swan - who joined the Read More
Rich Gets To Grips With Natal
26 Aug, 2009 - As you may already be aware, former EMAP legend Richard Leadbetter (also known as the Phonebox fiend during his time with Mean Machines magazine) now runs Digital Foundry, a company that specialises in HD video capture for the video game industry. Read More
Sega Gives Us More Retro Love
19 May, 2009 - As well as throwing its considerable weight behind retail-based retro collections, Sega has also been giving fans of downloadable games a treat recently. Not only has the company announced that it will be bringing more Mega Drive-related games to ... Read More
Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection Review
02 Mar, 2009 - In case you hadn't noticed, retro gaming is big business these days. Companies are quite literally falling over themselves to repackage titles from their back catalogue and shove them onto the marketplace in order to make a little bit of easy money Read More
Meet Genki Video Games!
30 Sep, 2008 - Tell us a little bit about the company. What can our readers find if they visit your store? GenkiVideoGames.com was founded to bring more exposure to the delightful Japanese exclusive titles that don't make it to the West. In a global world influ Read More
Retro Playtest - Dynamite Duke
01 May, 2008 - In the first of what will hopefully become a regular feature, we sample the delights of one of the most underrated Operation Wolf clones ever produced - Dynamite Duke for the Megadrive. Read More
Gary Harrod's Videogame Tees!
20 Dec, 2007 - Those of you with sharp memories will recall that former Mean Machines Art Editor Gary Harrod dabbled in the production of some rather cool videogame related T Shirts not so long ago. Well, he's now back with some more news designs and most ... Read More
Mean Machines Sega - Saturn Sampler
10 Nov, 2007 - One of our faithful readers known as Jon came across a nice suprise in a box in his loft recently! A Mean Machines Sega "Saturn Sampler" Audio CD. It was free with Issue 39 of MMS. In true geek fashion he promised to rip the audio CD to MP3 format Read More
Rad's 31st - Two Years Late
09 Oct, 2007 - We like to think we do our research here at the Mean Machines Archive. Whilst chatting aimlessly about rubbish on Googlechat the other day, me and Daz hit upon the current fate of everyone's favourite 'jammy bastard' Radion Automatic. What is he ... Read More
Gary Harrod's Blog Now Online
31 Aug, 2007 - Mean Machines designer Gary Harrod has recently started his own blog - called Gary's Gossip - in which the MMA gets a mention! Gary says he'll be putting information online relating to the time he spent spent at EMAP over the next few months, so Read More
Rad reviews Spiderman 3!
11 May, 2007 - After months of inactivity the Mean Machines Archive Forum is now packed to the rafters with ex-EMAP staffers from all parts of the globe (including Australia). We posted about Tom's side-splitting contribution yesterday, and today we bring you yet ... Read More
Mean Machines Forum Staff Love-In
10 May, 2007 - We love bringing people together here at The Mean Machines Archive. It makes us feel good about ourselves. But when those people happen to be ex-EMAP employees that haven't seen each other in many a year, it's even more special. Tom Guise - forme Read More
Gary Harrod T-Shirts for Sale!
13 Feb, 2007 - Mean Machines designer Sir Gary of Harrod has contributed a range of retro gaming designs to Teefly.com. Here's what the great man has to say: "I did the Berzerk, Cherry, Pow, Robotron and Special Knob images. Got stuff for Elevator Action, Gorf, ... Read More
Retro Gamer Feature - 'The Leftovers'
13 Oct, 2006 - Readers of the quite frankly excellent Retro Gamer magazine will no doubt be aware that issue 31 is carrying a rather spiffing Mean Machines feature written by my good self. The feature contains new and exclusive comments from such fine upstanding Read More
Jazza's Secret Code
18 Jul, 2006 - Everyone who considers themselves a fan of Mean Machines would most likely say that they've read every issue from cover to cover. But how many of you have really done that? I'm sure every 'fan' in the true, fanatical definition of the word has ... Read More
Medlantic Hi-Tech, Market Bosworth
26 Apr, 2006 - In these days of identikit air-conditioned GAME stores, it's hard to believe that the traditional independent games retailers ever existed. With the overpowering smell of body odor and the rather haphazard approach to stock control Read More
Double Dragon Megadrive Blooper
20 Feb, 2006 - The mean machines Q&A section could at times be quite brutal (that's leaving Mean Yob's comments aside for now!) This feature is dedicated to a classic response from good old Jazza Rignall. In Issue 7 of our beloved gaming magazine my best mate a Read More
Contempary Magazines
13 Feb, 2006 - Mean Machines started the ball rolling for a rush of console-related publications. Here's a brief selection of some of the better ones, and some of the more recent magazines that Mean Machines staff members went on to produce. Read More
T-Shirts for Sale!
06 Feb, 2006 - Flicking through some old issues of MM and CVG, I've noticed that Julian Rignall seems to have an addiction to promoting cheap crap t-shirts. For example, check the first photo on the right - a Megatech offering (no doubt to help his old mate ... Read More
KC's Consoles, Loughborough
31 Jan, 2006 - Now, this won't mean anything to those of you based outside the midlands, but in the early 90's there was a console store in Loughborough, Leicestershire that was my Mecca. It was called KC's Consoles and Computer Magic and to this day it ... Read More
The GamesMaster Connection
24 Jan, 2006 - GamesMaster, eh? Remember that? Shit, wasn't it? But then it was the only videogames programme on TV worth watching, so you ended up tuning in anyway, didn't you? Of course you did. The only other option at the time was Bad Influence, and that ... Read More
The Sega Mastermix 90
17 Jan, 2006 - On the front of issue 2 of Mean Machines there was a free tape. Not just any old tape, but the Sega Mastermix 90! What is this amazing thing I hear you cry? Well, it was a promotion run by Sega Europe's distributors, Virgin. They decided to run a ... Read More
Mean Machines Memories
10 Jan, 2006 - Before the wasteland of Ebay's sniper filled gaming arena and back when every local chippy had a Street Fighter machine with at least 2 buttons pummelled into the fascia, Saturday afternoon wrestling was the norm, Read More