Now reading...

Video Game Collector #8

Anyone who calls him or herself a classic gamer (or a video game fan in general) and hasn’t checked out Video Game Collector magazine needs to get with the proverbial program. Issue #8 is fresh on the stands, and inside you’ll find the following features: a MegaMan series retrospective; a piece on video game toys (action figures, Mario collectibles, etc.), an interview with Rob “Demon Attack” Fulop; an Atari 5200/7800 photo checklist; reviews of God of War II (PS2), Dead Rising (Xbox 360), Tank Command (Atari 7800), and other games; an article about collecting promotional items; and more.

The highlight of issue #8 is Jim Leonard’s “Pushing Consoles—Harder!”, which is about games, such as Freeway for the Atari 2600 (lots of onscreen items, no flickering) and Donkey Kong Country for the Super NES (amazing, pre-rendered graphics), that squeeze about as much out of their respective consoles as possible. The lowlight is a humor piece/advice column called “Ask a 16-bit Boss,” which tried hard, but failed to tickle my funny bone.

A big selling point of VGC is its price guide, which offers prices for Cartridge-Only and Complete-in-Box games for every popular system, old and new. Obscure consoles, such as the RCA Studio II and the Fairchild Channel F, aren’t included, but the checklist/price guide is very useful for gamers looking to add to (or sell) their more mainstream collections.

Published by Shawn Paul Jones and edited by Chris Cavanaugh (of All Game Guide and Classic Gamer Magazine fame), Video Game Collector is a slick, full color publication that deserves attention and strong sales. For ordering information, click on the following link: http://www.vgcollector.com/