Wikia

Amstrad Action
	;
Launch Editor	Peter Connor
Company	Future Publishing
ISSN	0954-8068
First Date	October 1985
Final Date	June 1995
Total Issues	117

Amstrad Action was a monthly magazine, published in the United Kingdom, which catered to owners of home computers from the Amstrad CPC range and later the GX4000 console. It was the first magazine published by Chris Anderson's Future Publishing, which, with a varied line-up of computing and non-computing related titles, has since become one of the foremost magazine publishers in the UK.

The publication, often abbreviated to AA by staff and readers, had the longest lifetime of any Amstrad magazine, running from October 1985 until June 1995 and produced 117 issues in total. The magazine was still being published long after the CPC had ceased production and games were no longer available in the shops.

HistoryEdit

Amstrad Action was the first magazine to be published by Future Publishing, a company set up by Chris Anderson (ex-Personal Computer Games and Zzap!64 editor). Launch Editor, Peter Connor, also an ex-Personal Computer Games staff member, shared the writing duties with the only other staff writer, Bob Wade. Bob, another ex-Personal Computer Games/Zzap!64, was given the title 'Software Editor' and would review the vast majority of the games featured, with Peter given a second opinion. Trevor Gilham, Art Editor, would complete the four man team.

Issue 1 dated October 1985 was released in September 1985 with the cover price of £1; 1 pence for every one of the 100 pages. It took the new publication a few issues to find its readers, but with the help of a bumper 116 page Christmas 1985 issue with a cover mounted tape, the circulation figures grew rapidly.

In October 1986 Amstrad Action split into three separate publications. AA still catered for the CPC range, while 8000 Plus and PC Plus focused on the Amstrad PCW and PC range respectively.

In 1991, AA finally gave in to reader's pleas to have a permanent cover tape. An announcement was made, in AA66, that the following issue would, not only contain a cover tape, but contain more colour and be printed on different paper. Review pages were also slightly re-designed.

Features and editorial styleEdit

AA covered both 'games' and 'serious' side of the CPC, maintaining a 50/50 coverage throughout its run. The editorial coverage was always seen as being one of the three main areas; there was the games (or leisure), serious (programming, business software etc.), and the regulars. Features would come and go, but there was long-running features including 'Amscene', 'Forum', 'Action Test', and 'Cheat Mode'.

Amscene

The latest CPC news regarding all things in the Amstrad world. Later included the games charts and games preview pages.

Reaction

The readers letters were answered in the Reaction section, where numerous arguments and, usually good natured, humour was found. Later during AAs run the standout letter of the month was highlighted and given the star prize award of £25.00. The technical problems page 'Problem Attic' started out in the Reaction pages in the early years before getting its own space. "If your CPC's in danger, if you need help, then you can contact the AA team."

Action Test

The review approach included a main write up, a second opinion box, a good news / bad news comparison list and the percentages. Percentages were given to Graphics, Sonics, Grab Factor, Staying Power and an overall AA Rating. High rated games of 80% and above were given an 'AA Rave' accolade, while the highest rated game of the month received the 'Mastergame' award. This review style continued well into the early 1990s when the award accolades were scrapped. As budget games became more prominent during the CPC's life AA covered this growing market by including budget reviews in the 'Budget Bonanza' and later 'Action Replay' sections.

The Pilgrim

Interactive fiction was covered by "The Pilgrim", then "Balrog" and "The Examiner". The Pilgrim format included the latest adventure game reviews. 'Clue Sniffing With The Pilgrim' included adventure clues and tips. 'Pilgrim Post' was the letters column for adventure game topics. 'Adventure News' detailed the latest happenings in the world of adventure games.

Forum

The Forum carried on from the Problem Attic column where the resident Technical Editor answered reader's hardware or software problems and queries. As space in the magazine became restrictive other features like 'Helpline' and 'Ask Alex' were merged into the new 'Techy Forum'.

Type-In

One long running feature of AA was the Type-In section. This included utility, games and demo type-ins sent in by the readers. This involved typing the program code into the computer then running it. This itself split the readership over whether the programs should be put on the covertape instead. Over a six month period this is what happened, until this practice (and ultimately the Type-Ins section) was abandoned due to space restrictions.

Helpline

The Helpline page was where eager Amstrad readers would offer contact details help fellow readers having problems. The page was later merged with Technical Forum.

Cheat Mode

The tips pages included game pokes, tips, cheats and maps all contributed by the readers.

Afterthought

Initially called Rear View, the back page was where all the loose ends were closed off, like competition winner results and last minute happenings.

Features

As activity in the Amstrad world declined, the editorial staff, and editorial content, was constantly being reduced and the magazine adopted an increasingly eccentric style, with one edition in particular featuring an eight-page script for a Christmas pantomime. Later on, a double spread review for the 2nd Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles game was split between the review itself and bizarre transcribed interview between Rod Lawton and Adam Peters (pretending to be one of the turtles). Peters would usually try and promote his band in some way (he featured on the cover of 'music orientated' issue and had one of his techno-MIDI band's songs on the covertape). The magazine is also notable for pioneering the kind of responses - sometimes dry, sometimes surreal, usually humorous and mildly rude - to readers' letters of a form now seen throughout UK gaming magazine culture. These characteristics, for many readers, added to AA's charm.

Cover TapesEdit

Chris Anderson using his previous success of covermounted cassette tapes with Personal Computer Games included one with the Christmas special issue of 1985. This included two unreleased games from Ocean Software; Kung Fu and Number 1. But the covermount cassette tape was only an occurrence on the Christmas and AA birthday issues, not becoming a regular feature until AA67 in 1991, mainly due to requests from many readers. Cover-cassettes featured game demos, applications, software utilities and, in some instances, complete games. Due to the low quality of the cassettes used many Amstrad owners found them to be unreliable, something which was commonly reflected in the letters pages. One solution to fixing the unreliable tapes as posted to the letters section was to unwind the tape and put a warm iron on it! Later, a utility was released on the covertape to convert the contents to the proprietary 3" disk.

Dizzy, AA Special Edition

Codemasters produced a Dizzy game specially for the AA birthday covertape in October 1988. This 'Special Edition' included different rooms and objects to explore.

Action Pack #1

AA67, dated April 1990, came with the first of the permanent cover tapes called Action Pack #1, along with a new cover price of £2.20. A playable demo of Ocean Software's Total Recall and complete games Hydrofool and Codemasters' Dizzy were included on the tape.

How To Cause A Complete Controversy

Action Pack #2 caused some controversy among the readers as one of the featured games How To Be A Complete Bastard featured mild swearing, plus the game's quest was to be violent and obnoxious throughout a house party.

Stormlord Censored

December 1993 AA99's Serious Action cover tape included the complete Stormlord game, albeit a censored version. With the self-censoring of the Hewson game it seemed that AA was trying to avoid similar controversy that followed AA68's Action Pack #2.

Best Game Ever On Covertape

Voted the best game on the CPC, Firebird's Elite was the complete game given away with the 100th issue's Serious Action cover tape.

AA Games AccoladesEdit

Initially only the best rated game of the month earned an AA Mastergame accolade, but from issue 57 this was changed to all games that received a 90% or higher rating. Games receiving 80-90% were awarded an AA Rave. Publishers of CPC games such as Activision, Ocean Software and Infogrames proudly mounted these awards on their packaging to promote their games to potential customers. The first game to receive a 'Mastergame' award was Melbourne House's The Way of the Exploding Fist, gaining an impressive 94% AA Rating. Issue 38 was the first issue not to award any game the Mastergame accolade. Apparently there were no games worthy of the award that month. The lowest rated Mastergame was Target Renegade, from Imagine Software, receiving a 86% overall rating. Quite why it was awarded a Mastergame was not explained and remains a mystery.

Laser Squad, by Blade Software, which has been mentioned many times as being an AA staff favourite, is awarded the Mastergame accolade, in AA49, with a 91% rating. March 1990 and the mysterious lost Mastergame that would be Chase HQ. The Ocean arcade game conversion received a score of 90%, coupled with being the highest rated game this issue. This would normally justify the Mastergame accolade, however the game only got an AA Rave accolade and no explanation or corrections were made since. June 1990 was the first issue to award the Mastergame accolade to more than one game; E-Motion by US Gold and Turrican by Rainbow Arts received ratings of 92% and 90% respectively. November 1990 and Rick Dangerous 2 received the highest rating so far. The MicroStyle game gained a MasterGame award and an AA Rating of 97%.

Psygnosis' Lemmings and Ocean Software's The Addams Family were the last games to receive a Mastergame accolade in July 1992's AA82; receiving 97% and 90% respectively. Following issues dispensed with AA Rave and Mastergame accolades. Lemmings joins Rick Dangerous 2 as gaining the highest AA rating given during its publication. March 1993's issue 90 featured the first highest rated game not to receive an AA accolade. Nigel Mansell's World Championship received an overall rating of 93%, but no accolade of either Rave or Mastergame. The long standing AA signature accolade had been discarded.

Street Fighter 2Edit

At the height of its popularity, Street Fighter II was released on the 16-bit computers by US Gold. However, in early press releases, the firm had stated that it would also be releasing 8-bit versions of the game on all platforms. Eventually, however, only the Commodore 64 and ZX Spectrum versions of the game were released. AAcovered the saga for many months. AA90 and Street Fighter II was mentioned in the Next Month column. Street Fighter IIeven featured on the front of AA95 and included inside was a 'story so far' write up.&nbsp Street Fighter II was promised to be completed and ready for review in AA100. News announced in AA100 that the long awaited Street Fighter II had been abandoned. According to U.S. Gold there were no plans to release a CPC version and that any previous release date given was a clerical error.

Editorial staffEdit

Memorable staff included Publisher Chris Anderson, Bob Wade, Richard Monteiro, Steve Carey, Rod Lawton, Trenton Webb, James Leach, Frank O'Connor and Adam Waring. Later editorial staff included Linda Barker, Dave Golder, Tim Norris and Simon Forrester.

EditorsEdit

Peter Connor, Oct 1985 - May 1986
Matt Nicholson, Jun 1986 - Nov 1986
Jim Nagel, Dec 1986 - Jan 1987
Bob Wade, Feb 1987 - Jul 1988
Steve Carey, Aug 1988 - Nov 1989
Rod Lawton, Dec 1989 - Feb 1993
Linda Barker, Mar 1993
Tim Norris, Apr 1993 - Aug 1993
Dave Golder, Sep 1993 - Oct 1994
Tim Norris, Nov 1994
Karen Levell, Dec 1994 - Jun 1995

Other staff membersEdit

Bob Wade (Software Editor) Oct 1985 - Jan 1987
Richard Monteiro (Technical Editor) Dec 1986 - May 1988
Gary Barrett (Staff Writer) Oct 1987 - Feb 1989
Pat McDonald (Technical Editor) Jun 1988 - Oct 1989
Trenton Webb (Games Editor) Mar 1989 - Aug 1990
Adam Waring (Reviews Editor) Nov 1989 - Aug 1992
James Leach (Staff Writer) Sep 1990 - Jan 1991
Frank O'Connor (Staff Writer) Feb 1991 - Sep 1991
Adam Peters (Staff Writer) Oct 1991 - Jan 1993
Simon Forrester (Staff Writer) Feb 1993 - Jul 1994
Clur Hodgson (Staff Writer) Jan 1994 - Apr 1994

StatsEdit

Circulation FiguresEdit

Year	Jan-Jun	Jul-Dec
1987	N/A	34,555
1988	35,095	38,457
1989	35,189	35,064
1990	30,156	31,228
1991	35,159	37,120
1992	35,298	27,090
1993	21,832	15,168

Games ReviewsEdit

Issue	Games Reviewed	Average Score	Highest Score	Highest scoring game	Lowest Score	Lowest scoring game
1	19	76%	94%	Way of the Exploding Fist	24%	Fu-Kung in Las Vegas
2	38	71%	95%	Highway Encounter	33%	Munch-It / Climb-It
3	26	74%	95%	Marsport	22%	Tomb of Kuslak
4	26	72%	92%	Yie Ar Kung-Fu	27%	Renegade (Kuma)
33	14	57%	93%	Nebulus	15%	Fruit Machine Simulator
34	15	64%	92%	Dark Side, Time and Magik	39%	Gee Bee Air Rally
35	10	64%	86%	Target; Renegade	42%	The Fury
36	14	61%	90%	The Bard's Tale	28%	Psycho Pigs U.X.B.
37	12	68%	92%	Heroes of the Lance	39%	Bionic Commando
62	7	71%	97%	Rick Dangerous 2	30%	County Cricket
63	9	67%	86%	Kick Off 2	32%	Soccer Director
64	10	64%	94%	Switchblade	40%	Cup Football
65	10	69%	93%	Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge	40%	Trevor Brooking's World Cup Glory, Badlands
66	12	76%	94%	RoboCop 2	56%	STUN Runner
67	11	79%	89%	10 Pack (compilation)	59%	Helter Skelter

Other InfoEdit

Issue	Cover Date	Release Date	Pages	Price	Editor
1	October 1985	September 1985	100	£1.00	Peter Connor
2	November 1985	10th October 1985	108	£1.00	Peter Connor
3	December 1985	7th November 1985	108	£1.00	Peter Connor
4	Christmas 1985	12th December 1985	116	£1.50	Peter Connor
5	February 1986	9th January 1986	100	£1.00	Peter Connor
6	March 1986	February 1986	116	£1.00	Peter Connor
7	April 1986	March 1986	124	£1.00	Peter Connor
8	May 1986	April 1986	116	£1.50	Peter Connor
9	June 1986	May 1986	116	£1.00	Matt Nicholson
10	July 1986	June 1986	108	£1.00	Matt Nicholson
11	August 1986	July 1986	100	£1.00	Matt Nicholson
12	September 1986	August 1986	92	£1.00	Matt Nicholson
13	October 1986	September 1986	84	£1.00	Matt Nicholson
14	November 1986	October 1986	100	£1.00	Matt Nicholson
15	December 1986	November 1986	116	£1.00	Jim Nagel
16	January 1987	December 1986	116	£1.50	Jim Nagel
17	February 1987	January 1987	100	£1.00	Bob Wade
18	March 1987	February 1987	84	£1.00	Bob Wade
19	April 1987	March 1987	92	£1.00	Bob Wade
20	May 1987	April 1987	90	£1.00	Bob Wade
21	June 1987	May 1987	92	£1.25	Bob Wade
22	July 1987	June 1987	92	£1.25	Bob Wade
23	August 1987	July 1987	76	£1.25	Bob Wade
24	September 1987	August 1987	68	£1.25	Bob Wade
25	October 1987	September 1987	76	£1.25	Bob Wade
26	November 1987	October 1987	84	£1.25	Bob Wade
27	December 1987	November 1987	92	£1.25	Bob Wade
28	January 1988	December 1987	100	£1.50	Bob Wade
29	February 1988	January 1988	84	£1.25	Bob Wade
30	March 1988	February 1988	84	£1.25	Bob Wade
31	April 1988	March 1988	84	£1.25	Bob Wade
32	May 1988	April 1988	84	£1.25	Bob Wade
33	June 1988	May 1988	76	£1.25	Bob Wade
34	July 1988	June 1988	76	£1.25	Bob Wade
35	August 1988	July 1988	76	£1.25	Steve Carey
36	September 1988	August 1988	76	£1.25	Steve Carey
37	October 1988	September 1988	76	£1.50	Steve Carey
38	November 1988	October 1988	84	£1.25	Steve Carey
39	December 1988	November 1988	92	£1.25	Steve Carey
40	January 1989	December 1988	92	£1.50	Steve Carey
41	February 1989	January 1989	76	£1.25	Steve Carey
42	March 1989	February 1989	76	£1.25	Steve Carey
43	April 1989	March 1989	76	£1.25	Steve Carey
44	May 1989	April 1989	76	£1.25	Steve Carey
45	June 1989	May 1989	76	£1.25	Steve Carey
46	July 1989	June 1989	84	£1.45	Steve Carey
47	August 1989	July 1989	84	£1.45	Steve Carey
48	September 1989	August 1989	84	£1.45	Steve Carey
49	October 1989	September 1989	100	£1.95	Steve Carey
50	November 1989	October 1989	92	£1.45	Steve Carey
51	December 1989	November 1989	100	£1.45	Rod Lawton
52	January 1990	December 1989	116	£1.95	Rod Lawton
53	February 1990	January 1990	92	£1.45	Rod Lawton
54	March 1990	February 1990	84	£1.45	Rod Lawton
55	April 1990	March 1990	84	£1.45	Rod Lawton
56	May 1990	April 1990	92	£1.45	Rod Lawton
57	June 1990	May 1990	92	£1.45	Rod Lawton
58	July 1990	June 1990	92	£1.45	Rod Lawton
59	August 1990	July 1990	84	£1.45	Rod Lawton
60	September 1990	August 1990	91	£1.45	Rod Lawton
61	October 1990	September 1990	100	£1.95	Rod Lawton
62	November 1990	October 1990	92	£1.60	Rod Lawton
63	December 1990	November 1990	100	£1.60	Rod Lawton
64	January 1991	December 1990	100	£1.95	Rod Lawton
65	February 1991	January 1991	92	£1.60	Rod Lawton
66	March 1991	February 1991	92	£1.60	Rod Lawton
67	April 1991	March 1991	92	£2.20	Rod Lawton
68	May 1991	April 1991	92	£2.20	Rod Lawton
69	June 1991	May 1991	76	£2.20	Rod Lawton
70	July 1991	June 1991	68	£2.20	Rod Lawton
71	August 1991	July 1991	68	£2.20	Rod Lawton
72	September 1991	August 1991	68	£2.20	Rod Lawton
73	October 1991	September 1991	74	£2.50	Rod Lawton
74	November 1991	October 1991	68	£2.50	Rod Lawton
75	December 1991	November 1991	76	£2.50	Rod Lawton
76	January 1992	December 1991	76	£2.50	Rod Lawton
77	February 1992	January 1992	68	£2.50	Rod Lawton
78	March 1992	February 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
79	April 1992	March 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
80	May 1992	April 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
81	June 1992	May 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
82	July 1992	June 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
83	August 1992	July 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
84	September 1992	August 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
85	October 1992	September 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
86	November 1992	October 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
87	December 1992	November 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
88	January 1993	December 1992	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
89	February 1993	January 1993	60	£2.50	Rod Lawton
90	March 1993	February 1993	60	£2.50	Linda Barker
91	April 1993	March 1993	68	£2.95	Tim Norris
92	May 1993	April 1993	60	£2.95	Tim Norris
93	June 1993	May 1993	60	£2.95	Tim Norris
94	July 1993	June 1993	60	£2.95	Tim Norris
95	August 1993	July 1993	60	£2.95	Tim Norris
96	September 1993	August 1993	60	£2.95	Dave Golder
97	October 1993	September 1993	60	£2.95	Dave Golder
98	November 1993	October 1993	60	£2.95	Dave Golder
99	December 1993	November 1993	60	£2.95	Dave Golder
100	January 1994	December 1993	60	£2.95	Dave Golder
101	February 1994	January 1994	60	£2.95	Dave Golder
102	March 1994	February 1994	60	£2.95	Dave Golder
103	April 1994	March 1994	52	£2.95	Dave Golder
104	May 1994	April 1994	52	£2.95	Dave Golder
105	June 1994	May 1994	52	£2.95	Dave Golder
106	July 1994	June 1994	36	£2.95	Dave Golder
107	August 1994	July 1994	36	£2.95	Dave Golder
108	September 1994	August 1994	36	£2.95	Dave Golder
109	October 1994	September 1994	36	£2.95	Dave Golder
110	November 1994	October 1994	24	£2.95	Tim Norris
111	December 1994	November 1994	24	£2.95	Karen Levell
112	January 1995	December 1994	24	£2.95	Karen Levell
113	February 1995	January 1995	24	£2.95	Karen Levell
114	March 1995	February 1995	24	£2.95	Karen Levell
115	April 1995	March 1995	24	£2.99	Karen Levell
116	May 1995	April 1995	24	£2.99	Karen Levell
117	June 1995	May 1995	24	£3.25	Karen Levell

Issue IndexEdit

**Amstrad Action** Index
Date	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
1985										1	2	3
1986	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15
1987	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27
1988	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39
1989	40	41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50	51
1990	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60	61	62	63
1991	64	65	66	67	68	69	70	71	72	73	74	75
1992	76	77	78	79	80	81	82	83	84	85	86	87
1993	88	89	90	91	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99
1994	100	101	102	103	104	105	106	107	108	109	110	111
1995	112	113	114	115	116	117