eugenius…

No apologies, but we’re taking a one-off trip to Fanboy Land, this week.

Eugene Jarvis is flesh, blood and farts like the rest of us, but in our world, he’s more than a little bit special.

Today’s twitchy young whelps are dodging and jinking through their formative years in Jap-shooter Bullet Hell. Us Rodents were weaned on Robotron, Defender, Stargate… Manic, compulsive, utterly dynamic games that savage your senses and leave you reeling and gibbering for more.

Great art should be more than a means of killing a little time by experiencing something pretty and interesting. It should be otherworldly and moving and – yep – a little bit magical.

Eugene Jarvis is a great artist because he had the maverick vision to do astounding, head-spinning things with such basic raw materials, and his games aren’t designed to be admired (for their sterile but technically excellent textures or revolutionary graphics engine or whadevva). They’re designed to be PLAYED – conquered, sworn at, sweated over, loved, hated, physically pummelled…

And now he’s back – with a new company, Raw Thrills, and a new arcade game, Target: Terror, which, as you might guess, is more than a tad controversial…

If you don’t know who Eugene Jarvis is, read this and weep.

If you do, then I hope you’ll join in as, with Robotron-rickety elbows and Defender-defective finger joints… Huge Euge, we salute you.

arcadia?

That Eugene Jarvis-flavoured original videogaming spirit in full…

On squirrels and sparkles. All-New Eugene Jarvis Interview. SICKBOY

Shooting the shit with 'Huge Euge'. JEFF ‘YAK’ MINTER

Cruis’n USA – proper racing – not driving. REV. STUART CAMPBELL

Defender – the highs, the highers, the seaside humiliations. XSTREME

Euge's Smart Bomb - the original and still the best. Jedburgh

Blaster – one of Euge’s more… lateral moments. It’s ace, says FUSEBALL

Stargate – Defender 2, or what Defender was always meant to be? GRAVY

One more time? A repeat for our award-winning Robotron review SICKBOY

One man’s lunatic challenge – to write a version of Robotron on the Neo Geo Pocket Colour – in a week. AHCHAY

Eugenius wallpapers, get 'em while they're hot. KOWORLD

And, of course - the T-Shirt. Limited stocks, available now. KOWORLD

The last human family. The survival of the species in your hands.

All finished. Hope that was good for ya. Remember – protect that Mikey.

Next Week: Why magazines are stupid and THUG is actually great, an English gamer in America, and the guy who popped the Game Genie out of its bottle.

The original rodent, February 6th 2004

top ten…

Top Ten Gaming Ailments, by MAMEMEISTER, AND FRIENDS

10. Manic Depressive Miner
9. Gran Tourette's 2
8. Afterheartburner
7. Chronic the Hedgehog
6. Super Junkie Ball
5. Hyperventelating Sports
4. Paranoid
3. Malaria 51
2. Tom Clancy's Sphincter Smells
1. The Outruns

last week's issue:

The joy of joystick gags. SHOB

“It’s the only way to live…” More Dragon’s Tales from a driven ELY

Chasing the Dragon, twenty years on. BOG

Thwack. Fuck. Thwack. Shit. Thwack. Harder! Mario Golf. SICKBOY

Games can be shocking things. If you try hard enough. SICKBOY

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