Sega Force and the UK Console Press Shift

In the UK, the early 1990s were a turning point for gaming magazines, and Sega Force arrived right in the middle of that shift. TimeExtension has looked back at the magazine’s 1992 launch, a console project from Zzap!64 and Crash creators Roger Kean and Oli Frey.

Originally planned within the Newsfield stable, Sega Force later moved to Europress after its 1991 acquisition of Newsfield. It was then published under the new Europress Impact banner, with the first issue landing at the start of 1992 and carrying a familiar editorial feel into Sega coverage.

Oli Frey’s artwork gave the magazine a strong identity from the start. His cover style brought in a Japanese influence, with inspiration drawn from Katsuhiro Otomo’s Akira, while the interior pages used anime-style characters tied to the games being covered.

The article also notes that some of Frey’s illustrations carried a violent and sexual tone, which may have raised eyebrows with parents. That bold presentation shows how Kean and Frey tried to carry the energy of the microcomputer press into the console market, even if the tone was sharper than many 1980s magazine covers.

The Sega Force launch also fed into a wider Europress Impact expansion. N-Force, aimed at Nintendo consoles, arrived in July 1992, followed by Amiga Force later that year. After 19 issues, Sega Force was split into Sega Force Mega and Sega Master Force, while SNES Force spun off from N-Force and the original N-Force continued with NES coverage until its cancellation in 1993.

Eventually, the wider Impact Magazines line closed after the publisher went into administration. For readers in the UK, it remains a neat example of how the people behind Zzap!64 and Crash adapted their style for the console era. For more RetroShell coverage, see our News tag.