My 1992 Game review database

Back in the early 90s I was a young kid with plans to take on the world. 

I had a Mega Drive fanzine I was selling for $1 a pop. An ABN which allowed me to buy games wholesale and run a small mail order business. Also, an agreement with the local video store which gave me free rental of any game I wanted (in exchange I would help them pick which games they should buy).

I was going to build a video game focused media and retail empire. 

Part of my research was buying video game magazines, and I picked up as many as I could get my hands on. Looking back at my magazine archive, 1992-93 seems to be the peak of my obsession.

It’s also when I took it upon myself to compile a handwritten database of game reviews. Which, fine, whatever.

The weird part is I also decided to add my own review scores - whether I had played the games or not. And in 80% of cases I definitely hadn’t. Which meant my views were derived entirely from other reviews and the ads I saw in the magazines.

You can view my madness in the images below. I created 5 pages of these. To save us all time I’ve only uploaded 2. But you get the idea. It’s a testament to the the sort of ignorance and chutzpah that only cocaine (and/or) youth allows for.

PS. The pink highlights indicate games I own. The blue highlights are games I planned to buy…