𝐅𝐔𝐍𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐙𝐈𝐍𝐄 No. 5

In space, no one can hear you dream. From the farthest flung reaches of the stars to the deepest recesses of the mind, FUNLAND NO 05 has gathered all the cosmic energy into one convenient zine!



Miss the playful design and discovery of magazines like EGM, Nintendo Power and Famitsu? Want to fling your eyes into pages of previews, reviews, profiles, essays and art about the wildest new game things? To you, I say: Welcome to FUNLAND. 

Instead of merely being an exercise in nostalgia or aesthetics, FUNLAND blends sensibilities of olde with coverage that better reflects our modern tone, scope and politics. A queering of GamePro (in short). A zine that seeks to explore the exciting fringes of games and adjacent culture.

Individual issues can be purchased right here on Itch. If you'd like to save a few bucks and pick up additional perks, consider becoming a subscriber on our Patreon!

IN THIS ISSUE:

• YOSHIRO KIMURA has spent his career filling the gaming world with with wonders like MOON: REMIX RPG ADVENTURE and DANDY DUNGEON. With his long awaited STRAY CHILDREN, we ask if growing up has changed him and if games are an inherently lonely pursuit.
• LUKE VINCENT has transformed his uncanny Salt Lake City surroundings into alien architecture. After puzzling 3DS players with AUTOMATON LUNG, he returns to his space oddity in AUTOMATON HEART. We discuss the origins of his mysterious, but not so far off world.
• KAITLIN TREMBLAY is trying to keep her own feet planted in our great, wild cosmos. We discuss AMBROSIA SKY, whale fall, megastructures and continuing to live in a universe of death.
• GIANNIS MILONOGIANNIS has spent the better part of the decade trying to create his first game. The cyberpunk cartoonist has finally discovered his vessel in BIRDCAGE. We talk with him and BARRY TOPPING about shmups and respecting a genre that demands the same of its players.
• DOGS UNDERSTAND wants the world to see what he sees in RPG Maker 2003. With his surrealist homage, GOBBLE FANTASY 2003, he's hoping to unleash beauty, MIDIs and candy to whoever will listen.
• For this month's FUNLAND Guide to Leaving the House, we visit Denmark to sit in on 3D cartoon dog and pianist MR WOOFMANTIC's intimate evening of gaming and jazz.
• Plus reviews from Grace Benfell, Khee Hoon Chan, Astrid Rose and Graham Sigurdson!

Cover by Alexander Laird. Funlad (our goblin mascot) designed by Olea Kim. FUNLAND logo by Rodrigo Bravo. FUNLAND is a proud part of the Superculture Network, a collective of critical gaming coverage such as Bullet Points Monthly, Heterotopias, the BAD END podcast and more!