CRASH Magazine - ZX Spectrum - Computing History

CRASH Magazine - ZX Spectrum

 

Crash was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair ZX Spectrum computer. It primarily focused on games. It was published from 1984 to 1991 by Newsfield Publications Ltd until their liquidation, and then until 1992 by Europress.

The magazine was launched to cater for the booming Spectrum games market. It was immediately popular owing to its no nonsense approach to reviews, if a game was bad, there would be no holding back, regardless of advertising revenue. 

Written largely in the town of Ludlow by a close knit team of young writers, the witty style throughout was very appealing to the teenage Spectrum Users, who did not like the stuffiness of other publications, and the artwork was striking in the stands of the Newsagents, though occasionally controversial with some rather graphic, or risque images, created by Oliver Frey.

By 1986 it had become the biggest-selling British computer magazine with over 100,000 copies sold monthly, but struggled in the early years of the 1990s as releases slowed, and content began to dry up, covertapes made up of demos and full games still kept sales respectable, but by May 1992, the magazine was absorbed into Sinclair User, just two issues short of it's 100th issue.

Crash Magazine 1984

Crash Magazine 1985

Crash Magazine 1986

Crash Magazine 1987

Crash Magazine 1988

Crash Magazine 1989

Crash Magazine 1990

Crash Magazine 1991

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