When is a good time to look back at a year? When it’s almost over? When it’s completely over? Or when it’s a long time ago? Difficult to tell. I guess it’s save to say that looking back at the previous year when the following year is just about half way done, is not the most opportune moment. But that’s exactly the case with the Retro Annual 2021 which arrived in the mail today. It was a long time coming and feels a bit like an afterthought.

That’s not to say that it isn’t enjoyable to read about good games that have been released recently. Especially if they are games that you haven’t heard about before. And that’s exactly what part of this annual is about for me. It covers games for all major retro computer platforms, some of which I don’t follow as closely as the Commodore 64 and Amiga. The ZX Spectrum for instance, or the Amstrad CPC.

And it has one thing going for it over Zzap!64: It’s in glorious A4 format. That’s much better than the puny A5.