I wrote about the Casio Loopy – a strange 90s console that was marketed towards girls and included a built-in sticker printer – for Eurogamer last year. But I find it such a fascinating and weird machine that I was itching for a chance to do something more in depth. Luckily, the editor of Retro Gamer agreed that it warranted a deep dive – hence the appearance of my six-page feature on the Loopy in issue 193.

I am hugely indebted to Casio’s PR team for their help with this one. They spent weeks tracking down people who had worked on the Loopy some 25 years ago, as well as arranging video interviews. I think the designers were very bemused to have some guy picking their brains about a console that, to all intents and purposes, was a massive flop and quickly forgotten by the rest of the world. But they revealed some fascinating insights about the Loopy’s development.

For a start, they provided the tech specs on the console, which as far as I’m aware is the first time they’ve ever been made public. They further revealed that the Loopy was a result of an internal push for innovative products at Casio, which also resulted in the development of the world’s first consumer digital camera. And at one point, the Loopy was going to be a handheld.

Big thanks to Frazer Rhodes (@frazer_HX), too, a collector who was incredibly knowledgeable about the Loopy and also just a very fun person to chat to. His pristine Neo Geo AES collection can be seen in Bitmap Books’ Neo Geo: A Visual History. And Frazer himself can be seen in the Loopy article, proudly clutching his mint Casio console.

If you want to read the article, unfortunately it’s only available in print – if you can’t find the issue in the shops or you’re not in the UK, you can order it online here. Enjoy!

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