Top Secret (magazine)

Infobox Magazine
title = Top Secret


image_size =
image_caption =
editor = Marcin Borkowski
editor_title =
previous_editor = Marcin Przasnyski
staff_writer =
frequency = Bi-monthly (until 1993?); later monthly
circulation =
category = Video game magazines
company =
publisher =
firstdate = October 1990
country = Flag|Poland
based =
language = Polish
issn = 0867-8480
finaldate = October 1996
finalnumber =

Top Secret was a Polish video game magazine, published from 1990 to 1996 by the Bajtek publishing house. The magazine quickly gained a cult following, and is still fondly remembered as one of the most memorable magazines in Poland.

= History =

Early years

The first issue appeared in late 1990, the editor-in-chief being Marcin "Martinez" Przasnyski. The magazine had been very different from e.g. American video game magazines, due to the situation in Poland at the time. Software piracy was blooming due to the bad economic situation and the lack of appriopate law regulations. Buying a computer game legally was almost impossible, so people were forced to buy them from pirates. Those games rarely contained a manual, and the knowledge of English was scarce among Polish people. Therefore, in its earliest years, Top Secret contained hardly any reviews. Instead, it published game guides, walkthroughs, manuals, maps and sometimes just general descriptions of the game. It was therefore very helpful for an aspiring gamer. Top Secret was the first magazine of its kind in Poland, and readers - unfamiliar with such publications - often apparently mistook it for a mail-order catalog and kept sending requests for games, computers or joystick to the magazine, despite the editing team's explanations.