Welcome to the Party Pal!
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We’ve just finished all of the work on issue 3, which we’re all very excited about, and as I type this, somewhere else in the UK a giant printing press is working it’s mechanical magic, and then before we know it Tim’s house will be full of copies of the magazine, ready to be shipped to you.
Work has already begun planning out issue 4, and Tim, Sam, Simon, Alex, Steve, and I are currently shifting our focus away from the year that was 1992, and looking to “the future” in the form of 1993.
So, while we’re between magazines I thought I’d turn my hand to putting together a blog to introduce myself properly, as I wasn’t part of the team initially, and I came onboard towards the end of the creation of issue 2.
My introduction to Sega Mania came one day back in July when I was scrolling through Twitter and happened upon a Tweet by one of the retro gamers, which made me stop and pay attention. In their hand was a brand new 90s Sega magazine. That was all I needed to know before I’d decided to order a copy of issue 1 of Sega Mania.
When I was a kid growing up in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, I used to love gaming magazines. Couldn’t get enough of them, I’d read them cover to cover, then go back to the beginning and read them again. There was something captivating about seeing screenshots of games that weren’t available to buy yet. My first ever games system was a Sinclair Spectrum +2 for my eighth birthday, and the first ever game I loaded from a cassette on it was called Colin the Cleaner. Games magazines at the time came with cassettes taped to the front, which had games and demos that you could play on your ‘Speccy’, so Sinclair User, quickly became my magazine of choice.
Fast forward to Christmas of 1991, and my younger brother and I were treated to a Sega Mega Drive with Fantasia, and my brother and I got to choose one game each so I went for Golden Axe, and he opted for Wrestle War. Again I couldn’t get enough of games magazines, and throughout the 90s I would get my Sega fix from CVG, Mean Machine (which would become Mean Machine Sega), and GamesMaster (which I still bought most months until it ended in late 2018).
So, when I saw there was a brand new, physical, Sega magazine, I was all in. (Hats off to Tim, Sam, and Simon, what a great, original, idea and I’m so glad they came up with it). When the copy dropped through the letter box I couldn’t wait to dive in, and I was swept away on a wave of nostalgia immediately. When I reached the end I came to a page which said “Help wanted”. When I saw the lads were recruiting for writers to join the team, I sent an email to see if I could get involved.
I’ve done some writing in the past, never about video games, but I’ve had a number of books published on the subject of the paranormal and local history, and I’ve spend a lot of time gaming over the last three and a bit decades, so I figured I might be of use.
A few hours later Tim got back to me, we had a chat and I was welcomed aboard. My first review was Super Kick Off on the Game Gear, and as soon as I started writing I knew that I was going to love this new adventure.
I’m excited for you to read what we have put together for issue 3 (our best yet) and there’s a fantastic competition, so make sure you enter, and I look forward to writing for you for many more issues to come.