That's all we wanted:
A print fanzine. About retrogames, especially RPGs on all platforms. Ideally with plenty of Nintendo love thrown in.
Something tangible to hold, something to enjoy away from a bright screen at the end of the day. The warm glow of nostalgia, of a childhood enthralled by Super Play and fanzines like Role Call, rediscovered.
We searched. Oh, how we searched. High and low.
Through the valleys, deep in the forests, atop the blasted peaks of the internet.
Like Locke returning to Narshe in search of Ragnarok. But without his success.
No fanzine enthusing about the glory days of SNES RPGs (now thrillingly revived and extended thanks to incredible fan translations) nor the wondrous world of retrogaming since the 1990s. Certainly none in print (Ragnarok sword); precious few on the internet (Ragnarok esper).
How had it come to this? Whither the legacy of Super Play? Even the print giants of Emap and Future Publishing had felt the icy winds of change. Late last year Nintendo Official Magazine slammed shut its doors one last time, following Nintendo Gamer into the abyss. Across the pond, Nintendo Power no more.
But in the darkness, a flame rekindled....
Why not create the fanzine we were looking for?
HyperPlay RPG. A new hope.
Here's what you can expect every issue:
- RPG reviews – from SNES to Xbox and plenty in-between, including rare JRPGs never released in the West
- Videogame reviews – Beyond RPGs, including
- Book reviews – '1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die'
'The Top 100 Videogames'; and more
- Other reviews – Where can you drink the world's best beers and play incredible retrogames for pennies?; Goemon VHS review; all manner of peripherals reviewed; and who knows what else?
- Essays – in depth retrospectives of games like FFIV and other weighty treatises like 'Finest Fantasy: A Misspent Youth in Japan'
- Magazine/Fanzine retrospectives – Super Play (natch), N64 Magazine, ONM, GamesTM, Arcade, Role Call (Rachel Ryan's), heck even CVG and Total may get a look in
- eBayWatch – How to improve your retro collection and find hidden gems on the cheap with some secret, easy-to-follow tips, PLUS updates of what's hot in retrogaming on the World's Biggest Auction Site (TM)
- How To..... guides – such as, 'How to Complete Your SNES Collection'; 'How to Visit the World's Only Videogame District'; 'How To Fix a SNES'; 'How to Change a Save Game Battery'..
- Competitions – some pretty cool stuff here, we're not going to lie: original retrogames (e.g. SNES, Super Famicom, NES carts., boxed PS1 games etc); hard-to-find issues of Super Play; very rare Final Fantasy merchandise that cannot be found anywhere else; sold-out bookazines; Weekly Famitsu special editions; and, yes, that Goemon VHS..
- Reader offers – discount codes for reproduction games; books on anime and other Japanese youth culture; suscriber-only copies of magazines...
- Guest contributions – all original reader articles welcome!
- Letters page – let HyperPlay RPG have it at [email protected]
- And, just maybe, the occasional appearance of everyone's favourite crazy-haired artist and 90s' Nintendo journalist cult hero, the inimitable … ….... [Redacted. You'll just have to wait and see! - Ed]
Be warned, young grasshopper: Xbox360/One and PS3/4 games will not feature. Not for a while anyway. And if you're looking for FPS reviews and beat-em-up fun and games, you won't find them here.
What you will find is a mag that can't be found anywhere else: informative, entertaining, off-beat insights into the best that retro RPGs and Nintendo have to offer. To be held and, yes, sniffed in your trembling hands. Who knows, these issues themselves may one day become collector's items...
HyperPlay RPG, then.
As Binder in The Ascent Of Rum Doodle would have it, “Will it go?”
Well, that's up to you. We have kept the cost of the fanzine to you, dear reader, as low as we possibly can. Now we need you to do your bit: to spread, no, shout the good word of HyperPlay RPG everywhere you possibly can.
So go forth on your quest, and make sure you tell/Tweet/post to your friends and followers (and internet forums) about HyperPlay RPG.
Together we can find our joy in this brave new world of ours.
Kincl
Editor
HyperPlay RPG
