Crash Magazine

Crash magazine was one of the most popular monthly magazines available covering the best 8-bits money could buy - Sinclair ZX Spectrum and it's games.

Read and remembered by many it is a rich part of the history of the ZX Spectrum.

Like thousands of us Spectrum gamers, I read every Newsfield magazine every month, with Crash being my favourite by far.

But my story is a little different from most.

Let's have a look back at one of the most important video gaming magazines of the 8-bit era.

The magazine was published from 1984 until it's unfortunate demise in 1992. Games for the ZX Spectrum effectively ceased to be released in 1993 - so it is no surprise that the magazine ended up defunct.

The first issue was published in February of 1984 (when I turned twelve - I feel old!) and some of the notable games reviewed were 3D Ant Attack, Lunar Jetman and 3D Deathchase. 3D Deathchase ended up being the 'game of the month'.

A few issues in (around issue five I think) and the game of the month moniker was dropped in favour of a 'Crash Smash' rating. Games that excelled were given a Smash (Generally scoring 90% or more in an overall rating) which eventually became a badge of honour that software houses craved. If a game was rated as a 'Crash Smash' - good sales were almost guaranteed.

Newsfield published the magazine (along with magazine for other retro computers such as the dedicated Commodore 64 magazine ZZAP 64 and Amstrad-tastic Amtix!).

Founded by Roger Kean, Franco Frey and illustrator Oliver Frey in 1983. Newsfield was based in 'sleepy' Ludlow in Shropshire, England.

With the snappy editing of Kean and the superb artistry of Frey - this and all the other Newsfield publications soon became popular, with Crash, ZZap64 and Amtix! amongst the most read magazines for their respective machines.

I was so lucky when it came to the magazine - and even any of the other Newsfield publications.

Newsfield magazines were printed in my home town before being sent out for distribution. My dad (bless him) worked for the Royal Mail and had to go to the printers every week on a mail run. The print manager and my dad got on well so he used to give my dad a freshly printed copy of at first Crash, then each of the Newsfield prints.

At the very least I would have my brand new and pristine copy it a good ten days before it hit the newsagents shelves. Sometimes, depending on which day my dad was at the printers I would get a copy 'hot off the press' from the first batch printed. There were definately a few instances where I was the first person in the whole of the UK to read the brand new copy of Crash, or ZZap etc. How lucky I was.

Break times at school were never the same again as a group of us huddled round a copy of our favourite magazine, getting a heads up on which games were worth getting hold of. Whilst mere mortals had to wait for more than a week to see if the latest game from Ocean or Elite was any good, we already knew the score. Good times.

Over the years I built up an almost complete collection of Newsfield publications - my magazine rack was bursting at the seams. Let's just say I was a tad miffed when my dear mum decided to throw the whole lot away...

As the magazine became more and more popular, software companies realised the influence it held over paying gamers.

If you recieved a good score for a game in the magazine then generally more people would go and buy it. Anything over an 80% rating was considered an essential purchase - and if your game hit the magical 90% (or over) mark (or 9/10 in the adventure section of the mag) and recieved the coveted 'Crash Smash' award then you were onto a winner.

Sometimes the cassette cover sleeve would have the 'Crash Smash' logo printed on it so you just knew that the game on the tape was quality.

Some notable titles that were smashed include:

• Driller - recieved a whopping overall score of 97%
• Technician Ted - recieved a whopping overall score of 96%
• Winter Games - recieved a superb overall score of 93%
• Mikie - the excellent arcade conversion of the Konami game recieved a fantastic overall score of 93%
• Commando - the excellent arcade conversion of the CapCom game recieved a whopping overall score of 94%
• Way of the Exploding Fist - the first proper beat em up game on the ZX Spectrum (I'm not including Bug Bytes Kung Fu as it was far too limited) recieved an overall score of 92%

All of these games were big hits on the ZX Spectrum and sold well.

Anyone who read the magazine will remember 'mailbag correspondent' Lloyd Mangram.

Much of the editorial content (such as game previews and responses to readers' letters) was credited to Lloyd.

Lloyd was of course a fictional character, with all of the articles written by members of the editorial team.

Mangram was sometimes humorously depicted in the magazine as a sketch of a man wearing a paper bag (complete with eye-holes) over his head.

Lloyd Mangram's editorial articles made frequent references to his ancient 'Hermes Typewriter' which was probably something else 'made up' by the editorial staff. It was a pretty good excuse to roll out if any articles were delayed within the magazine!

Many retro gamers and specifically Spectrum gamers remember Crash magazine with fondness.

This era was the time when desktop arcade games such as Astro Wars, Tomy Sky Attack and Astro Blaster were on the wane and the 8-bit home computer was on the rise. You needed to know what was worth you hard saved pocket money and what wasn't.

Even now games that were hit games (smash status) that stand out in the memory. Forums on places like World of Spectrum still debate the games that received the rating, those famous theme tunes and the best in AY Music.

Other sites that re-review classic Spectrum titles such as Spectrum Games and Funny Games make reference to Crash Smashes from time to time.

Crash magazine ceased to exist in 1993 when the 8-bit to 16-bit transition was pretty much complete and now exists online with many of the features from each issue included. All the 'Crash Smashes' are there along with other highly rated classic games. Re-live those Crash memories at Crash online.