Maximum magazine - A gift from the gods

[Savage Cabbage]

You'd think with a bad back I would have time to sit down and play some of those games I never get round to. Turns out it is more fun eating my own legs than trying to lean forward and engage myself with Gran Turismo Prologue.

So I'm left to lay flat, instead, and ponder that which is the games magazine. I have TONS you understand. All formats all generations.

Which brings me to a certain magazine of shortlived greatness - MAXIMUM

Born in later 90's it lasted but a few short months but left behind a legacy (not the Subaru estate) that is unmatched to this day. Think of a cross between EGM, EDGE (in the days it rocked), and 'gamestm' - then times it by a billion and you can begin to see the wonder that was this publication.

So why is it no longer with us? Well, that takes a bit more digging, but the answer actually lay in the quality. The brighter you burn...

This was the ultimate multiformat magazine ever produced. CVG was missing the target by a continent and EDGE - well EDGE is EDGE like HOVIS is bread. It focused on THE best titles of the time covering the editorial as vital to the game as the game itself. These guys finished games and it was evident in the screenshots - no level one shots in these pages. They got you endgame captions.

Every aspect of the magazine was painstakingly created from the cover art to the individual screenshots. You can see the colour correction in the transition from RGB to CMYK was handled lovingly - Sonic was 'blue' blue and not purple. The edges of characters were shaved pixel perfect. The artwork sourced was of the highest standard I have ever seen in a magazine. There were double spread screenshots of Gungriffon for crying out loud! Nothing looked rushed. There was just no junk in these pages. I'm talking 180 pages of sheer sex. Well, gamesex. And not like the pornadverts I so HATE in magazines today! No 1-800-burstinmyeartartline that plagues our magazine backpages these days... But I digress, for the acheivement of MAXIMUM was done by a team of no more than three or four! (no doubt the reason the magazine couldn't sustain output to quality input.) You would wait for an issue for weeks over deadline - but it didn't matter. You knew it was like an indicator to something grand coming. Alas that doesn't factor as good business sense.

Issue 1 sold well, but for some reason 2 and 3 did nothing. I think i bought the only copies that sold in my designated store that the mag was shipped to.

Then came the Soul Blade cover. Now anyone who is a skunk above a mongoose in games will remember when they stood around the shop monitor and gasped (yes) at the intro to that beauty. I don't think it has been beaten to this day. Well MAXIMUM had that game on the cover before most people knew that the PlayStation even existed, I kid you not. But again, the issue did not shift units equal to EDGE or even CVG which was not shifting big numbers at all.

For issue 5 they went to town on the Tekken arcade and the sales jumped. Sadly, it was already too late. One key player had to accept facts and moved onto Official Nintendo and the publisher just wasn't providing the vital aid. Though to be far they do have to see the moneyline (but i can't forgive them). The others moved on to try their fortunes in the US. It was over. The final issue said it all when they awarded Super Mario 64 a score of 6 out of 5. Yes.

But I have only fond memories of the magazine. It gave me the wonderful Panzer Dragoon Zwei and made me lust for and complete Gungriffon on the Saturn (far superior to the PS2 version). The demented Loaded and Project Overkill. Guardian Heroes, Final Fantasy, Illusion of Time, Front Mission, Chrono, the Shining series, Vagrant, SNK anything, Silent Hill, Gunstar, Raiden Project, Einhander, Detana Twinbee Delux, Thunderforce V, Silvergun, NiGHTs, SEGA, Namco, Treasure, Japan oh kick me in the crutch fantastic!.

Maximum, I salute you.