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Iain Mew

@superchartisland.com
1.1K followers 792 following 2.1K posts

Writing a British history of popular video games one UK sales chart #1 at a time. Now in 1988. Also into pop music and writing on The Singles Jukebox. He/him. www.superchartisland.com

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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 7h
I got round to playing The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time and I really liked it. Its a bit of a greatest hits of the most meta puzzle bits from various other games I love, and works better together than I would have guessed
youtu.be
The Remake of the End of the Greatest RPG of All Time | Release Date Trailer
YouTube video by BSM Productions HD
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
Thanks! I will be writing about RoboCop relatively soon as it was #1 for 69% of 1989. Looking forward to learning more about it!
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
I recently tried to hold a conversation in a cafe while this was playing and it was a real struggle youtu.be/A4JWkW0oROg
youtu.be
I Got The... (2006 Remaster)
YouTube video by Labi Siffre - Topic
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
Sorry, I replied before seeing the follow-up!
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
He's a distant relative and in one of his videos
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
www.superchartisland.com/target-renegade
Mike Lamb talked about the pride he took in squeezing as much as they could from the hardware and it’s not hard to see how Target: Renegade offered the happy chance to refine some elements of the original game. He had been forced to give every character sprite the same legs in Renegade for memory reasons, and Target: Renegade’s women in skirts and heels are surely there in part to best demonstrate that the compromise was no longer necessary.

[Screenshot: Target: Renegade (Imagine, 1988, ZX Spectrum)] 

Movement still works on a flip-screen basis rather than scrolling horizontally (“it would have slowed the game down a lot to scroll instead of flipping. It didn’t make much difference to the gameplay” said Lamb). There is, though, a wonderful touch in the first level where each time you take a lift down a floor it’s shown by the entire screen scrolling up and reappearing at the bottom, a visual technique I also loved in Final Fantasy VII.
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
KPop Demon Hunters was a weird edge case on that where the rule made a difference but there were still more than three songs from the soundtrack at the same time. Twice's version of Takedown was a hit but Huntr/x's probably more popular version was excluded until popping up at #67 six months later
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
I like it, it sounds like Coldplay
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
Rain on Me, Sweet Melody and Raindance are all ones I was going to suggest too. Plus Anti-Hero
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
After Ocean's conversion of Technos beat-'em-up Renegade, its arcade successor Double Dragon became a huge hit... and Ocean missed out on the licence. So in true Ocean fashion, they invented their own Renegade sequel instead. New post on Target: Renegade: www.superchartisland.com/target-renegade
superchartisland.com
Target: Renegade – “The skin-heads, the Beastie Boys, the bouncers”
Yoshihisa Kishimoto and Technos set some key standards in early beat-’em-ups with 熱血硬派くにおくん, Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun or, as it was known in the West, Renegade. Having launched Kunio-kun as the main…
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Sasha's Retrobytes 🏳️‍⚧️ @sharkabytes.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The art of photoplay and capturing game screenshots in the 80s. Game mags had various ways of taking screenshot, from hooded cones to block light to early hardware capture devices. Sometimes though, you just had to have a friend hold up the TV at *just* the right angle. 📖: Your Sinclair, Dec '87
A photo of a page from the issue with a black and white printed image of two young writers invited onto the YS offices. One of them is holding up a longish lens film camera and pointing it at a screen while the other holds up a small crt at an angle with a game on it
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Critical Distance | Where’s all the good writing about games? @critdistance.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
This week: Ace Combat, Resident Evil, Sonic CD, and lots more: critical-distance.com/2026/09/27/s...
critical-distance.com
September 27th
Welcome back readers. As we move into the back quarter of the year, it’s time for us to start thinking about our annual Year In Videogames Blogging recap. This is always a major undertaking, …
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 28/09/2026
After Ocean's conversion of Technos beat-'em-up Renegade, its arcade successor Double Dragon became a huge hit... and Ocean missed out on the licence. So in true Ocean fashion, they invented their own Renegade sequel instead. New post on Target: Renegade: www.superchartisland.com/target-renegade
superchartisland.com
Target: Renegade – “The skin-heads, the Beastie Boys, the bouncers”
Yoshihisa Kishimoto and Technos set some key standards in early beat-’em-ups with 熱血硬派くにおくん, Nekketsu Kōha Kunio-kun or, as it was known in the West, Renegade. Having launched Kunio-kun as the main…
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 27/09/2026
Have you heard Sono Kangeki to Kiroku's album? That's another good recent Japanese indie one youtu.be/A0YuF0dA6CY
youtu.be
その感激と記録 - ruri [Music Video]
YouTube video by その感激と記録
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 26/09/2026
I am also enjoying the Haku。 album a lot
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Brian Damage @brian-damage.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Ah, Valhalla... I played that once. Just once. Here's a rather good write-up and history: (much more interesting than the game ever was, sadly): superchartisland.com/valhalla/
superchartisland.com
Valhalla – “You are in an icy waste in Hell”
One popular repeating story in games history is that of technical advances powering improved experiences. Being able to do more technically allows you to make better games, the idea goes. Often, it…
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Matty @zagrebista.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
Saw something in a nostalgia-bait FB post about Gauntlet and this is an excuse to go off on my pet theory which is Gauntlet is a rare game that primarily and arguably ONLY works as a coin-eating arcade game:
Four player Gauntlet machine replica
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 26/09/2026
Looked it up because of Lisa's new entry on the list. The picture starts to change as soon as you go up to 200 million kworb.net/youtube/mile...
kworb.net
YouTube Milestones - Fastest to each 100 million milestone
A website that collects and analyzes music data from around the world. All of the charts, sales and streams, constantly updated.
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 26/09/2026
The entire top ten of the music videos to get to 100 million views fastest is songs by just two groups (+ a member of one of them)
Fastest to...
100 million (in days):

BTS (방탄소년단) 'Butter' Official MV 0.9	
BTS (방탄소년단) 'Dynamite' Official MV 1.0
BLACKPINK - 'How You Like That' M/V
1.4	
BLACKPINK - ‘Pink Venom’ M/V
1.4
BTS (방탄소년단) '작은 것들을 위한 시 (Boy With Luv) (feat. Halsey)' Official MV
1.6	
BLACKPINK - 'Ice Cream (with Selena Gomez)' M/V
1.7
LISA - SaWaDiKa (Official Music Video)
1.9
LISA - 'LALISA' M/V
2.0
BTS (방탄소년단) 'Permission to Dance' Official MV
2.1	
BTS (방탄소년단) 'Life Goes On' Official MV
2.1
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barleybap @barleybap.bsky.social · 21/01/2026
"Dreamcast", a haiku Each day he rises. Asks me, "Is it still launch day?" "Yes," I lie. "Always."
My Dreamcast asking me to set the date, and showing the Japanese launch date of 27th of November 1998.
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 25/09/2026
This piece was pretty much me trying to balance explaining the appeal of those parts of FIFA with also explaining, equally from personal experience, why the way EA runs them is evil www.superchartisland.com/fifa-18
Playing FUT also allowed for developing your own style. First of all in the chance for your team to play in any kit you could find a card of, which for me mostly meant the incredible pink away kit of Colombia’s Tigres FC. More importantly, though, in the personnel of your club, a combination of random luck and careful planning. I ended up with a team with special shiny versions of Olivier Giroud and André-Pierre Gignac up front, two big French dudes who were not the quickest but both had a hell of a shot and unstoppable strength. I would pretty much bulldoze my way through opponents with a combination of quick passes between them and just shrugging off all but the most perfect tackles. Winning was fun, and even more so against clearly much more expensively assembled teams with Messi and Ronaldo and Aubameyang.

When I say expensively assembled, I mean in terms of FIFA coins and, probably, real money. When it came to new players, as with the football stickers, you had to open selections of random virtual cards and hope for the best. And FIFA 18 had a lot of players who were not the ones you wanted, so you would have to open a lot of packs. You could slowly get them by earning FIFA coins through playing matches. Or you could buy them with your actual currency. This has proved lucrative enough for EA that FUT makes up almost a third of its business, and for EA to decide to hide how much money it is making from FUT.
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 25/09/2026
EA Sports FC 27 is out today. To commemorate, here is a previously unpublished piece about my compulsive relationship with FIFA 18's Ultimate Team mechanics, and why I'm glad I stopped playing www.superchartisland.com/fifa-18
superchartisland.com
FIFA 18 and why I stopped playing FIFA games
I wrote this article for GameTripper in 2022, but it didn’t end up being published. I have made a few minor edits but have left largely as-was. It…
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 25/09/2026
EA Sports FC 27 is out today. To commemorate, here is a previously unpublished piece about my compulsive relationship with FIFA 18's Ultimate Team mechanics, and why I'm glad I stopped playing www.superchartisland.com/fifa-18
superchartisland.com
FIFA 18 and why I stopped playing FIFA games
I wrote this article for GameTripper in 2022, but it didn’t end up being published. I have made a few minor edits but have left largely as-was. It…
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abadidea @0xabad1dea.infosec.exchange.ap.brid.gy · 24/09/2026
Postmortem of a little community hobby wiki struggling to survive an extinction-event-tier DDOS purely because they banned one guy for using Claude on the wiki blog.xkeeper.net/the-cutting-room-f…
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 24/09/2026
This week, my post was on the history of the game Steve Davis Snooker. Featuring David Attenborough, Chas & Dave, Steve Davis and his liking for Galaxian and Holly Herndon, and the fourth different company I've covered to start out with a Frogger clone www.superchartisland.com/steve-davis-snooker
superchartisland.com
Steve Davis Snooker – “Colour wanted”
In 1969, the controller of BBC Two, one David Attenborough, had a bit of an issue. He had a few colour cameras, and a desire to put something unique on his channel that would maximise the use of th…
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 24/09/2026
This week, my post was on the history of the game Steve Davis Snooker. Featuring David Attenborough, Chas & Dave, Steve Davis and his liking for Galaxian and Holly Herndon, and the fourth different company I've covered to start out with a Frogger clone www.superchartisland.com/steve-davis-snooker
superchartisland.com
Steve Davis Snooker – “Colour wanted”
In 1969, the controller of BBC Two, one David Attenborough, had a bit of an issue. He had a few colour cameras, and a desire to put something unique on his channel that would maximise the use of th…
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Kimimi🏳️‍🌈🏳️‍⚧️ @kimimithegameeatingshemonster.com · 22/09/2026
This is one of those infinitely recyclable posts now, isn't it? :/
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 22/09/2026
I think the context of the contest (being favourites and then the underdog having a song with unexpected energy) set One True Voice up for that reaction and relatively little of it was down to the quality of the song
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Chain Bear F1 @chainbear.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Oh hi I made another video if you like a bit of nostalgia and me making occasional visual jokes youtu.be/eFuMRW-H344
youtu.be
How F1 keeps you informed through the race
YouTube video by Chain Bear
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Warren Pilkington @zawtowers.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Back in the 1980s, Steve Davis was the leading snooker player (understatement) so it was inveitable a licenced game would appear. It had huge chart success across multiple formats, and @superchartisland.com takes up the story of the original CDS release and its Blue Ribbon budget label re-release.
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 21/09/2026
In 1980s Britain, snooker was enjoying a boom that began with colour TV. Several saw the Spectrum as a similar opportunity. CDS & Mike Lamb made a great game and brought in a world champion too, with lasting results. New post on Steve Davis Snooker: superchartisland.com/steve-davis-snooker
superchartisland.com
Steve Davis Snooker – “Colour wanted”
In 1969, the controller of BBC Two, one David Attenborough, had a bit of an issue. He had a few colour cameras, and a desire to put something unique on his channel that would maximise the use of th…
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🕹️ Davey Sloan 👾 @sloanysoft.itch.io · 21/09/2026
Interesting.
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jasha @jasha.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Nice little article. Always had a soft spot for the game.
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 21/09/2026
That was definitely my favourite bit of new info from researching this post too
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Chris Chapman @savestate.site · 21/09/2026
Learning that Steve Davis is big into modular synths (and going down that YouTube rabbit hole) has made me more delighted than at any time since I learned that Rod Stewart was big into model trains.
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Sham Mountebank @shammountebank.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
This was a great game to play with my dad and brother. The only downside, we were playing on a black and white television. We got surprisingly good at distinguishing the various shades of grey.
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Critical Distance | Where’s all the good writing about games? @critdistance.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
This week: Trails, Control, aesthetic experiences, and the International Phonetic Alphabet: critical-distance.com/2026/09/20/s...
critical-distance.com
September 20th
Welcome back readers. I’m going to keep opening our issues with mini Patreon updates for the next little bit, because as I’ve been talking about recently, we need a bit more wiggle room…
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L Break Into Program @breakintoprogram.co.uk · 21/09/2026
Mike Lamb did a cracking job converting snooker to the 8-bits and it held its own even after later more elaborate versions of the game were released on 16-bit machines, like Jimmy White's Snooker, designed & written by Archer Maclean. Iain's article below adds some context to the game's history.
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 21/09/2026
Thanks for reading! And haha I had forgotten that little story until you mentioned it
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 21/09/2026
In 1980s Britain, snooker was enjoying a boom that began with colour TV. Several saw the Spectrum as a similar opportunity. CDS & Mike Lamb made a great game and brought in a world champion too, with lasting results. New post on Steve Davis Snooker: superchartisland.com/steve-davis-snooker
superchartisland.com
Steve Davis Snooker – “Colour wanted”
In 1969, the controller of BBC Two, one David Attenborough, had a bit of an issue. He had a few colour cameras, and a desire to put something unique on his channel that would maximise the use of th…
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Skyehoppers @skyehoppers.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
🌱 New Video 🌼 We are made to love Pikmin, of course, and then also made to get them slaughtered for our profit. Is that not odd? Not strange for the soul? Join me for a thorough analysis of Pikmin 2, a game with a strange angle on our relationship with money and with nature. youtu.be/ZB_ZbkwvuY4
youtu.be
The Crushing Weight of Pikmin 2
YouTube video by Skyehoppers
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Tom Ewing @tomewing.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Narnia books as Isekai Manga
1. My Sweet Tooth Made Me The Villainess’ Slave
2. In Another World, The Dwarves Picked Me To Lead The Revolution
3. All At Sea With My Level 0 Sailing Skills
4. On A Mission In Another World And I Can’t Remember The Cheat Codes
5. That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Horse
6. Help! My Uncle’s In Love With The Demon Queen!
7. Reincarnated In Another World Just As The Game’s Ending
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 18/09/2026
"The first casualty of marketing is good taste" ICYMI, this week I wrote about the making of Platoon the game, and the disgusted response it got from some British critics: www.superchartisland.com/platoon
superchartisland.com
Platoon – “The first casualty of war”
Does this game-of-the-movie capture the coolest parts of the film? Was its development time (probably around three months) long enough to create a competent computer game? Are the graphics and soun…
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 18/09/2026
"The first casualty of marketing is good taste" ICYMI, this week I wrote about the making of Platoon the game, and the disgusted response it got from some British critics: www.superchartisland.com/platoon
superchartisland.com
Platoon – “The first casualty of war”
Does this game-of-the-movie capture the coolest parts of the film? Was its development time (probably around three months) long enough to create a competent computer game? Are the graphics and soun…
0116
Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 17/09/2026
Same!!
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 17/09/2026
Sounds right! I was thinking it isn't much of a slap in the face when I agree with it
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 17/09/2026
I keep trying to work this out in other British accents, but I don't think the first vowel in stereo and Mario would be the same. It isn't in my southeastern accent (Or is that the point? That how I say them sounds like it rhymes to a listener with merry/marry merge)
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 15/09/2026
I've only found vague reference to remakes so... there might be?
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Iain Mew @superchartisland.com · 15/09/2026
As the last RT reminds me, I do enjoy whenever I get to break out the ZX81 screenshots. So I was pleased to read of 3D Monster Maze's influence on the first-person tunnels section of Platoon
A screenshot from 3D Monster Maze for ZX81. In a first person view of a maze, an oncoming Tyrannosaurus Rex loomsA screenshot from Platoon for Commodore 64. In a first person view of a maze of tunnels, a man with a knife looms
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Rhys Jones @rhys.newydd.net · 15/09/2026
Wow, so, 3D Monster Maze on the ZX81: not only a top seller and a progenitor of survival horror, but a direct influence on one of the most contentious of 8-bit games. Brilliant read 👇
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