About

Welcome to Just Games Retro, a home for reviews of classic console and computer games. These reviews are not usually “retrospectives” in the tradition sense. This isn’t simply us blabbing pretentiously about our favorite classics. In many ways, this is a work of exploration – looking at unplayed or unfamiliar older games from a perspective balanced between how it stood up on release, and if it’s still worth your time today.  You’re invited to come along, and hopefully, get something out of our process of discovering, playing, and reporting.

Here’s the highlights of how JGR does business:

We Update When We Can

Unfortunately, this isn’t the gig that pays the bills.  We try to put out reviews as often as we can, but please don’t expect daily (or even weekly) content updates.  Because of this, we strongly encourage you to follow us on Twitter, sign up to the RSS feed, or subscribe to our email updates to get alerted when new content is up. For our part, we will only post notices of new reviews – not what Becky said about David at the party last night OMG!!! #thatslut

We Use the Full Review Score Range

We love games of all kinds and eras at JGR, and we’re going to be a little more lenient and open-minded about them than more modern-focused perspectives might be. If you turn your nose and immediately walk away from 8-bit graphics, you’re in the wrong place. (“Retro” in the site name was a clue.)

That said, we do use the full range of scores, and intend for them to be taken that way.  A 3-star game is meant to be seen as average.  We can find enjoyment in even a 2-star game, but your mileage may noticeably vary.  A 1/2 star review is the only score intended to convey a game with absolutely no redeeming qualities, and as such, is rare.

We Finish Every Game Before We Review It

Part of why it takes so long to get new content up, and part of why you don’t see a lot of RPGs on the site.  At least you can’t say we’re not thorough.

We Serve No Ads

None.  Turn off your ad-blocker and see.  We appreciate your visit, and respect it enough to not try to milk pocket change off of it.  We’re here to serve you; not the other way around.

Likewise, we ask that you not bother sending requests for ad space or referrals. We don’t do it, and such emails will not be returned.

We Host No Warez/Abandonware

What it says. There are plenty of places to find and download games, and you don’t need us to help you with that.  We’re simply here to point out games you might not have heard of that you might find worth seeking out.

We (Usually) Review A Game Separately For Each System

You’ll note that each review will list, or be attached to, only one system (the system it’s reviewed for) despite being released on multiple systems.  DOS games were frequently available on the Amiga or Atari ST, for example.  Even though ports may be *similar*, we do not write “catch-all” reviews meant to cover the game as it exists on all systems.  For one, there are often graphical, auditory, or gameplay differences, and we cover those in the individual reviews.  For two, it gives another reviewer a chance to comment on the same game, if it’s already been reviewed.