Ben (Nas) Bickle

It was a snowy December, it was 1993, I was 6 years old, and it was Christmas. Like every 6 year old boy at the time I was having more fun building a fortress out of cardboard boxes than with the gifts within. Until I came across Pandora's Box, if you will. What was inside? Well, it was a Nintendo GameBoy! Yes, my first gaming experience started with the monochrome brick than was no more "portable" than the phones of the time. Accompanying, the console was none other than The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. I was blown away.

Fast forward almost 20 years and I find myself within the midst of HD gaming. All of the looks, none of the charm. I enjoy the occasional next-gen title, but I'm firmly a retro gamer. My interest in Web Design and the games of a bygone era lead me to create this website as a tribute and to get more people to try classic games!

Webmaster

James (Jimmy) Langstone

I'am a 3D Modelling and Animation' graduate from the University of Derby, meaning I pretty much eat, sleep and breathe video games! I go way back with gaming, right from my first console 'The Acorn'. Yup, tape was the future back then. I have pretty much been hooked since that moment and don't think I will ever stop. I do enjoy modern gaming, but I lose count of the hours and money I spend on my retro collections. One of the best games I have ever played is Syndicate on the Amiga, and definately marks for me a time that has long since past us by.

For me, the website is a way to help gamers of today look back on titles that they either missed, or simply have no knowledge of.

Producer

Tim (Timbo) Cameron

Now in my 6th year of University (Yawn) I’m finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel so hopefully you might see some more reviews from for our up and coming website! It may be odd coming from a History scholar but gaming is still close to my heart at the age of 24. All the classics ranging from the Crash Bandicoot series (Only the Naughty Dog games obviously), Metal Gear, Final Fantasy and Vagrant Story have all graced my screen over the last 15 years.

My most recent addiction would probably be Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, with my dual-wielding rogue ripping up the Thief’s Guild and Dark Brotherhood. My love for Naughty Dog has resurfaced with Uncharted 3:Drake’s Deception being pretty stellar and The Last Of Us looks amazing also. Having said that I’m still in the process of finishing my umpteenth play through of Dragon Quest VIII!

Editor

About Us

Welcome to Retro Review UK! Retro Review started in 2009 when myself (Ben) and Jimmy started our usual discussions about Retro video-games of a bygone era. We realised that between us, we had a great deal of nerdy knowledge about the retro games of our youth. It took a while to get off the ground, but in the summer of 2010 our first ever review was created - Breath of Fire III!

Towards the end of June we discussed our reviewing idea with fellow-enthusiast Tim. With Tim's impeccable english and journalistic flair, he was no doubt the right choice for Editor and major contributor to the site. Thus, the trio was formed.

As under-graduates at the time, the three of us went our seperate ways at the turn of September for the start of a new semester. The website ground to almost a complete stop, and no progress was made for several months. Was it a pipe dream?

As spring 2011 came around, I found myself searching for an idea to use for my dissertation proposal for my degree in Web Design. Do you see where this is going? Oh yeah, there was that retro website! I fired up the code and totally rewrote it.

Shortly after, I realised that the project wasn't suitable for a dissertation, so it once again became the personal project it started out as. The team got back together and started working at the site - we wanted around 50 reviews before it went live online.

The site may be small now, but we have big ambitions. With your help we can make this a considerable retro reviewing website with hundreds, if not thousands of games with dedicated reviews. Can we do them all? Help us by Submitting a Review today! Our aim is to get more people into retro video games and share the discussion of these timeless classics (and abominations).