Sega Retro 2023 magazine wish list

Here's a question nobody asks: Sega Retro is massive, and always needs help from the public (aka you), but what exactly does Sega Retro need help with? What is missing from the wiki, that could be specifically targeted in a "community drive" like the days of old? What does the wiki actually want?

Well.. EVERYTHING, but I thought it might be interesting to highlight a few key areas to see, if this time next year, they had been addressed. "Wiki Bingo", except not bingo. Can you, or the internet as a whole, fill in these gaps before next Christmas? Will there be a prize if you win? (probably not)


Below is a 2023 magazine "wish list" for Sega Retro. Obviously there are many, many more gaps to fill (like the many missing issues of Harmony), including gaps we don't know exist yet, but holidays, bit of fun, etc.. These are also magazines which I think might actually be feasible to scan over the next twelve months, aren't stupidly rare, and are (hopefully) affordable. Magazines are a primary source of information for Sega Retro - it's why we make a big fuss when interesting ones show up.


#5: Dreamzone


We currently have scans of about half(??) of every Dreamcast-specific magazine ever published. I've singled out this one because, as an unofficial (French) Dreamcast mag, it is almost certainly going to be covering topics that others aren't. We've got a few independent Dreamcast magazines already, and the trends suggest that, as the official magazines usually get the scoop on the big projects you've heard of, the unofficial mags have to go further afield, reporting on lower-budget projects - the sort that often don't materialise as finished products.

Many French developers only spoke to the French press, and the big multi-platform publications were far too interested in the PlayStation 2 to give Dreamcast projects air time. I think there's potential for a lot of unfinished (and possibly unknown) Dreamcast games to be documented in these pages. Or the same tat as all the other mags - who knows!


#4: Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming



This is (I think) pretty much the only Mega Drive-specific magazine from the UK that we don't have a full set of scans for. We have some, but barely anything from 1993/1994/1995. I have no idea if there's much value here - Maverick Magazines were infamous for running their publications into the ground, and Mega Drive Advanced Gaming was the butt of many jokes for the quality of their games coverage, but it would be nice to see this, rather than just take Digitiser's word for it.

#3: Game Informer



Game Informer is still running, so we won't get a full set, but it's historically been one of the biggest US gaming publications, yet scans are thin on the ground. There are licensing issues at play - GI might still be selling older copies, in which case, fair enough, but it's still a big omission, and it would be good to at least know there was an archived set of original scans somewhere.

The first batch of issues have little more than novelty value, but once it matures into a recognisable video game magazine, it's going to have scoops not seen elsewhere.

#2: Beep!



Beep! MegaDrive is an invaluable resource - Beep! is the publication that pre-dated it. Admittedly this might end up being more useful for NEC Retro than Sega Retro, but we know this is where news of the Sega Mega Drive was first printed, along with keyboards and floppy disk drives and whatever else. It's less focused on Nintendo than the likes of Famitsu/Famicom Tsuushin - I think it could prove useful.

#1: GamesMaster (magazine)



This is a big omission in terms of UK multi-format gaming mags, and while probably not the best publication out there, again, it's a gap to fill. Sega Retro also cares because we have 200+ ratings to verify, which we can't do without scans.

But as with all of these, it's another source for pricing and release dates, and another opportunity to get a glimpse of unfinished (or unreleased) games.


Also worth noting: scanning is one half of the process, reading is the second half, and will become increasingly more important as time goes on. That is to say, information from these scans need copy-editing onto the wiki, especially for non-English publications.


That's just magazines that come to mind - again there will be hundreds of others from all over the world that don't have wiki representation, and yes we want those too. As for other wiki tasks, we've got loads - here's a start, but visiting Special:Random works too. You're bound to find something that could be better.

 

I think I know the one.


It won't last though - there are literally hundreds of GamesMasters on ebay right now. It's not a rare publication.

I'd do it myself if I had the equipment. And the time. And I didn't do a bazillion other things.