The Def Tribute to ZZzap!64 by Iain
After the great success of the fan created Zzap!64 issue 107, another issue was in the planning stage, hopefully to be released for Zzap's 20th birthday in April 2005. Unfortunately interest was starting to wane amongst the head organisers due to work commitments and the still fresh nightmares of all the work involved in trying to get issue 107 done. It was starting to look like nothing special would be done for Zzap's birthday, until Rob (aka Mr. Zzapback) let it be known that he had plans for a Def Tribute to Zzap!64, based around redesigning some classic reviews and updating them with fresh Zzapback style comments. He had been planning it for a year and spent over 6 months working on it, doing all designing, organising and most of the editing himself, with a plan to release it for the birthday. As if all this was not enough, he then announced that he had made a deal with Retro gamer for them to publish a printed version with the next issue of their magazine. This was an impressive feat, allowing people to get their hands on a printed version for a lot less money than it had cost for issue 107, the only downside was that it would delay the release of the magazine to beyond Zzap's birthday, but it was worth it. ### DOWNLOAD There are 3 versions of the magazine available to download depending on your requirements. Click on a file to open it in your browser (if you have the Acrobat plugin installed) or right click a file to download it to your harddisk. A low res version for online viewing (12,907 KB) A medium res version for high quality printing (30,777 KB) A high res version (63,641KB) for people with £1000+ printers will be able soon, once more bandwidth is available These files will take a while to download so have patience. The Def Tribute to Zzap!64 was released with Retro Gamer issue 18 on the 7th of July 2005 and all rejoiced (well apart from a couple of people who complained that there were no new reviews in the magazine, thereby failing to grasp the concept of a Tribute issue somewhat!). The only downside was that the Tribute was only available to subscribers and those who purchased their copies in a W.H. Smith newsagent, but Retro Gamer allowed people to order the Def Tribute separately on their website for the bargain price of £1.99 or £2.99, depending on where you lived. Unfortunately, issue 18 of Retro Gamer was the magazine's swan song as surprisingly the magazine's publishing house went into administration a couple of weeks later. We were very lucky to get the Def Tribute included when we did. But enough about the background, what's in the magazine you scream? Well, five games are given the zzapback treatment with the original full reviews also present and the odd fact and interview thrown in for good measure. There is some rare artwork from Oli Frey, an interview with Jon Hare, Mort the Scan King and me, a feature on under and over rated games, stories and information on Zzap from old staff members and much more! It is a classic mix of old and new and nicely polished off with an editorial from Roger Kean. There is a total of 64 pages of zzaptasic stuff. Due to fact that Retro Gamer had spent a lot of money printing The Def Guide to Zzap!64 and obviously because they wanted to increase magazine sales, the Def Tribute was not available to download until September, but the wait is over, so get downloading now and bask again in the glory that is Zzap!64 but first raise a glass to Mr. Zzapback for making it all possible and putting a crazy amount of work into it for all to enjoy. Other Related Photos A few links related to the magazine ZzapBack Def Tribute Forum Press Release RetroGamer

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