It's surprising what you discover if you take a little time to look around as we did with our videogame magazine collection. It's also even more surprising if you happen to come across a rather rare dummy issue of a Dreamcast Magazine. And we don't mean the issue zero or preview issues that are floating around the web in a pretty poorly scanned fashion. We're talking about the blueprint of a magazine that would come away with the official Sega Dreamcast magazine licence. This was a fascinating discovery and we felt compelled to learn more, so who better to ask than Mark Higham, the editor-in-chief and the man who was brought in to produce the Official Dreamcast Magazine for Dennis Publishing.

To kick-start this new column of features we thought it would be best to go back to where it all started. Everything has a beginning and videogaming magazines are no different. No matter where you are from, you will bound to have read, or at least heard of, Computer & Video Games magazine or its many aliases (C+VG, C&VG, CVG...). C+VG was launched in the middle of October 1981 (cover dated November 1981) by publishing company EMAP and is generally considered among videogaming magazine historians as the world's very first magazine - by a mere couple of weeks, granted - to be totally dedicated to videogaming..

Sooner or later all good things come to an end. And sadly this week we bid farewell to the Back in Time features which we have enjoyed bringing to you over the past two and a half years.
As Mean Machines was split up this month, we got two new magazines in it's place: Nintendo Magazine System and Mean Machine Sega. The first review from MMS is Atomic Runner, while in NMS we look at Elite for the NES.
Next up is Putty on the Amiga which can be found in The One issue 49. And finally we take a look at Turtles IV which can be found in issue 36 of Zero.

Mid-summer is one of those times of the year where the arrival of a new video game magazine was quite an event. While not many exciting things happened during summer vacations when gaming was concerned, the magazines that came out during the time gave usa peek into the upcoming whirlwind of releases in the run-up to Christmas. Keeping this in mind, we jump into the August edition if out monthly Back-in-Time feature.
The first game we look at is Crazy Cars III on the Amiga. Next up is Turbo the Tortoise for the Amstrad CPC.
Moving on to Sega Power 33 with Taz Mania for the Mega Drive. And last but not least we look towards N-Force issue 2 with Pilotwings for the Super Nintendo.

As we are catching up after a hectic couple of months, we back at the video game magazine releases of June 1992 with the latest issue of Back in Time.
As always, we take a look at a wide array of magazines, but also select four articles and make them available on the site.
The first of which is Chuck Rock on the Master System from Mean Machines issue 21. Next up we take a look at Wizards and Warriors III for the NES from Game Zone issue 8.
From here we look at the CPC version of Lemmings which you will find in CPC Attack issue 1.
And finally, we take a look at Sensible Soccer for the Amiga, which can be found in The One issue 45.

A bit late with our April feature of Back-in-Time due to Neil moving and having limited internet access for a while. So while we try to get back into the groove let's look at the four highlighted articles from this months Back-in-Time feature.
The first one being D/Generation for the PC which is found in ACE issue 55. The second review jumps to CVG issue 125 and looks at Soccer Brawl for the Neo Geo.
Next up we take a look at the ZX Spectrum game Danny Duster's Dirty Deeds which you will find in Crash issue 98.
Finally we look at Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego for the Mega Drive, which can be found in Sega Force Issue 4.
To read about not only these games but the complete selection of featured magazines this month, don't forget to click the link to the full feature below.

Back for another healty dose of nostalgia with the February special of Back-in-Time.
And we start of with a bang as wel take a look at Monkey Island 2 for the Amiga in this issue of Ace. For our second highlighted article we look at another major sequel, this time it's Creatures II on the C64 in Zzap!64. Mean Machines takes a look at a Mega Drive classic with their review on Desert Strike, and our final review for this month is for Special Forces on the Amiga, which featured in The One for Amiga. So sit back, relax and enjoy your nostalgic trip back to February 1992...

Time sure flies. So fast in fact that it's already time for our December feature of Back in Time.
We begin with a look at the Amiga version of Robocop 3, which strays quite far from the expected run and gun side-scrolling gameplay. Our second Amiga game is First Samurai, which was later ported to the SNES as well.
Then we look at how well Smash TV was adapted to the Commodore 64 from the arcade.
And finally we look at the NES version of Maniac Mansion, and see how it stacks up to the previous versions, with or without a microwaved hamster.
To read about not only these games but the complete selection of featured magazines this month, don't forget to click the link to the full feature below.

The start of a new month always mean that we take the opportunity to look back in time exactly 20 years, and see which magazines were just hitting the shelves.
This time, we take you back to October 1991 and focus on four articles from a variety of magazines.
Our first selection is a review for Marvel Land on the Mega Drive and can be found in Raze 12.
Following on its heels is Ganbare Goemon for the Super Famicom, which you'll find in CVG issue 119. next up we have the top-down shooter for the Amiga: Alien Breed, which features in The One issue 37.
The final highlight for this week is Speedball 2 for the Commodore 64 which can be found in Zzap!64 issue 78.
To read about not only these games but the complete selection of featured magazines this month, don't forget to click the link to the full feature below.

August has come and gone, which means it's time for our September feature of Back-in-Time. We take a look at the magazines that were released exactly 10 years ago and have selected four articles to give you a little taste of these fine publications.
The first one is a review for UN Squadron on the SNES and can be found in Mean Machines 12.
Our second review is for the NES game Bart vs The Spacemutants which can be found in Raze 11. From here we move on to one of the famous strategy games of years gone by: Mega Lo Mania, this version being for the Amiga.
For our final selection we have chosen the C64 game Terminator 2 which can be found in YC issue 83.
To read about not only these games but the complete selection of featured magazines this month, don't forget to click the link to the full feature below.

While we are taking a much needed breather on the magazine restoration and preservation front, our Back in Time feature keeps on trucking. This month is July 1991 as we see a big push towards 16-bit consoles, starting with the original Sonic the Hedgehog on the Mega Drive.
From here we zoom towards the Commodore 64 with the arcade adventure game Exile. Sticking with arcade style action we jump into Shadow Dancer for the Amstrad CPC, which is an actual port of the arcade game unlike the Mega Drive version.
Our last article for this month takes a closer look at Warzone on the Amiga. A game that took it inspiration clearly from Capcom's Commando.
To read about not only these games but the complete selection of featured magazines this month, don't forget to click the link to the full feature below.

Whenever a new month comes around, that means we will take a trip back in time to exactly 20 years ago, so prepare to enter May 1991 with the latest Back-in-Time feature.
The first game we focus on is the RPG Hero Quest for the Amiga, quickly followed by the arcade adventure gameExile, also on the Amiga.
From there we take a look at a licenced game which is actually brilliant for a change, namely Total Recall on the Amstrad CPC. The final game we put under the spotlight is the classic Lemmings for the Atari ST.
To read about not only these games but the complete selection of featured magazines this month, don't forget to click the link to the full feature below.

Once again we jump into our videogaming time machine to go 'Back in Time' twenty years to reminisce about the classic videogaming magazines at that time. It was a time of 8-bits and 16-bits, consoles and computers all vying for the gamers' affections. These magazines and games themselves are truly timeless classics. This was a time when C+VG, Mean Machines, Zzap!64, Your Sinclair, Amstrad Action and Amiga Format reigned supreme. A time when Super Mario World made its triumphant appearance on the Super Famicom, Switchblade and North & South surpassed all expectations on the 8-bits and Turrican 2 was still leaving its mark on the home micros. This is March 1991...

Following the recent redesign, the most relevant or interesting magazines from each format from this month have been chosen to focus on (i.e. one magazine from multi-format, C64, Spectrum, etc.). To accompany the main article, four online articles have been chosen from these selected magazines. This month the chosen articles are ACE's review of Rise of the Dragon for the PC, Zzap!64's review of Last Ninja III on the C64, Amstrad Action's review of North And South for the Amstrad CPC and CU Amiga's review of Gods for the Amiga. Sit back, relax and enjoy your nostalgic trip back to March 1991...

We continue our 'Back in Time' monthly feature where we look back at the classic video gaming magazines twenty years ago this month. This month it's January 1991 when Amiga gamers were held 'Captive' with Tony Crowther's latest Amiga release, Navy Seals infiltrated the C64 in cartridge form, the Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles impressed with its colourful Speccy version and John Madden began his domination of Football games on the Mega Drive...

From the magazines featured in the article, we have chosen four reviews to read online: the 'C&VG Hit!' review of John Madden Football on the Mega Drive, Your Sinclair's 'Megagame' review of Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles on the Spectrum, Zzap!64's sizzling review of Navy Seals on C64 cartridge and Amiga Action's review of Captive on the Amiga.

Today we take a look at one of the most infuential players in the history of the UK video game magazine sector.
We celebrate their rich past, from the start up till the sad end.
With this feature we would like to give a bit more insight into a publisher that is very dear to our hearts as we grew up with many of their magazines as well as the incredible talent that put them all together.

"Three brand new magazines were launched, arcade hit Ivan 'Iron Man' Stewart's Super Off Road raced all over the major computer formats, the Commodore 64 re-launched in console form and Wonderland proved a wonderful hit..." That was October 1990 and this is 'Back in Time', our monthly feature where we look back at the classic video gaming magazines twenty years ago this month.
As usual, the feature comes with a selection of articles that were chosen from four of the magazines covered and are available to read online:
Commodore Format's feature on the C64GS, Amstrad Computer User's feature on the new range of Amstrad Plus machines, CU Amiga's review of Wonderland on the Amiga and The One's review of Powermonger on the Amiga.

Smash TV crashed into the arcades, Kick Off 2 kicked the other soccer games in to touch, Midnight Resistance impressed all and Italy 1990 topped the All Formats Top 20 Chart..." That was August 1990 and this is 'Back in Time' where we look at the classic video gaming magazines twenty years ago this month. To accompany our biggest edition of 'Back in Time' yet, with 20 magazine titles covered, we selected a handful of online articles from the magazines: Amiga Action's review of Kick Off II, The Games Machine's review of Venus The Flytrap (Amiga), Computer & Video Game's review of Smash TV (Arcade) and YC's review of Murder (C64).

Slightly later than usual this time, but we are now able to present our June 1990 edition of our monthly feature 'Back in Time', where we look back at the classic video gaming magazines twenty years ago this month.
Once again, we have expanded the site with new sections for C64 features and PC/Mac reviews. We have chosen four online articles to compliment the main article itself, including C&VG's review of Operation Wolf on the Master System, ACE's review of Ultima VI on PC, Zzap!64 Amiga's making of... diary on the C64 game Creatures and Amiga Format's review of F-29 Retaliator on the Amiga. To read the 'Back in Time' article, as well as the online material, follow the link below, and enjoy.

Not willing to be kept down for too long, even though we are still dealing with technical issues beyond our control, our very own Neil sprung into action and saved the day.
We are extremely proud to present you with our second Back-in-Time feature, which focuses on a large variety of magazines that came out back in May 1990.
This second edition expands the site ones again with several new sections. The first one being the Commodore 64 review section, followed closely by the C64 interview section.
But to do the scope of this feature justice, you'll have to click the link below and see for yourself!

Today is a very special day for us here at out-of-print archive.
Something that will have a big effect on the site in the coming months and which we would like to share with our readers as well, so you can see a a glimpse of what we have in store for you in the future.
We want to express our utmost gratitude to Richard from the Netherlands, who was so kind to donate his collection of 350+ classic video game magazines to our preservation project.