Back in Christmas 1991, the Sega Mega Drive had just enjoyed its first full year on sale in the United Kingdom and was fast becoming the country's most popular game console.
Publisher EMAP – which had multi-format magazines such as Computer & Video Games and Mean Machines under its belt – noticed this shift in the market and launched MegaTech, which was one of the first Western publications to devote itself entirely to a single console.
Helmed by former C&VG and Mean Machines staffer Paul Glancey (who would later work on the Burnout series, and the awesome Split/Second) and written by Mark Patterson, Ed "Radion Automatic" Lawrence, Julian "Jaz" Rignall and Richard "Digital Foundry" Leadbetter, issue one of MegaTech offered a very different look to other EMAP mags. The futuristic text and eye-catching skull logo gave the air of a more mature publication – as did the clean, uniform style.
John Madden '92 was the cover star and was awarded a very respectable 95% – quite the score, considering that American Football was relatively obscure in the United Kingdom at the time. Quackshot didn't do quite as well, managing an 82% score, while The Immortal clocked up a 93% rating – it's still one of the most fun RPG-style action-adventures on the console if you ask us. The sublime Devil Crash MD also scored 93%.
MegaTech would expand its remit to include the Mega CD, and its second issue devoted a sizeable number of pages to the ill-fated add-on. The publication would run until 1995, by which point, EMAP had sold it to rival Maverick Magazines due to the fact that it had Mean Machines Sega and Sega Magazine in circulation (having too many Sega mags didn't put off Maverick, who, in addition to MegaTech, also published Mega Sega Mega Drive Advanced Gaming, showing just how large the Mega Drive market was in the UK at this point).
Do you have any fond memories of MegaTech? Share them in the comment section below.