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  • VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (June 1990)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    VideoGames & Computer Entertainment was my favorite video game magazine of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Some of the key people responsible for the original Electronic Games magazine were involved with VG&CE. It eventually evolved into Tips & Tricks which wasn’t really my cup of tea. The June 1990 issue of VG&CE includes:

    Features

    • Total Recall: Acclaim Brings Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Film Role to Video-Game Screens – A detailed look at this NES game based on the movie of the same name. Like most licensed games, this one wasn’t great though I suppose it was better than some. It definitely has the nostalgia factor going for it.
    • Behind the Scenes at the Nintendo World Championships in Dallas – The Nintendo World Championship had to be just about the height of the NES era. It was sort of a case of life imitating art as The Wizard had just been released in theaters the year before.
    • Batman Strategy Guide, Part I – The first part of a detailed strategy guide for Batman: The Video Game for the NES. While licensed games are pretty poor the vast majority of the time, this one bucks the trend and was actually a solid game. The game and the movie are probably still my Batman favorites.
    • In Search of the Evil Place: A Player’s Guide to Faxanadu, Part 2 – The second part of a detailed strategy guide for this classic NES adventure game.
    • Computer Country Club – An overview of available golf and tennis games. Some of the golf games looked at here include Accolade’s Mean 18, Hole-In-One (miniature golf), Mini-Putt, World Tour Golf, World Class Leaderboard, Jack Nicklaus’ Greatest 18 Holes of Major Championship Golf, Table Tennis Simulation, Serve & Volley, and others.
    • Computer-Game Strategies – Brief strategy guides for Double Dragon II (Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC), Populous (Amiga, IBM PC), and Space Harrier (Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, IBM PC).

    Reviews

    • Video-Game Reviews – Reviews of Heroes of the Lance (NES) – (while I loved the Gold Box series of D&D games, I thought this action oriented game was pretty terrible), Astyanax (NES) – (I actually didn’t care for this one much though it got good reviews), Ninja Gaiden II (NES), Starship Hector (NES), Super C (NES), Pat Riley’s Slammin’ Jammin’ Basketball (Sega Genesis), Neutopia (TurboGrafx-16), Slap Shot (Sega Master System), and Ghostbusters (Sega Genesis).
    • Computer-Game Reviews – Reviews of Tank (Spectrum Holobyte for the IBM PC), Hoyle’s Book of Games (Sierra On-Line for the IBM PC), License to Kill (Domark/Broderbund for the Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC, and Commodore 64), Sword of the Samurai (Microprose for the IBM PC), The Third Courier (Accolade for the IBM PC), Space Rogue (by Origin for the Apple II, Commodore 64, and IBM PC – I always wanted this one), It Came From the Desert (by Cinemaware for the Amiga, Atari ST, IBM PC), Sands of Fire (by Three-sixty Software for the IBM PC and Macintosh), and Trivial Pursuit (by Parker Brothers for the IBM PC).

    Departments

    • Editor’s Letter – Andy Eddy discusses games based on movies and celebrities in video games.
    • Reader Mail – The letters from readers this month are mostly about Nintendo’s business practices and then current anti-trust issues.
    • Tip Sheet – The inaugural edition of this column includes tips and basic strategies for Kung-Fu Heroes by Culture Brain for the NES.
    • News Bits – Joe Montana signs deal with Sega, new add-on for A-10 Tank Killer, Defender of the Crown creator developing Centurion: Defender of Rome, Atari opens up direct phone line for orders of Atari Lynx and Portfolio products, new newsletter for Amiga gamers, Commodore to market games machine based on Amiga 500, and much more.
    • Easter Egg Hunt – Hidden features and secrets in Double Dragon II (NES), Golden Axe (Genesis), Revenge of Shinobi (Genesis), and Fighting Street (TurboGrafx-16).
    • Destination Arcadia – A look at new games shown at the 1990 Acme Show in Chicago including DJ Boy from American Sammy, WWF Superstars from Technos, Klax from Atari, AmeriDarts from Ameri Corporation, Four Trax from Atari, Badlands from Atari, Metal Hawk from R. H. Belam, Capcom Bowling from Capcom, Buster Bros. from Capcom, Mercs from Capcom, Final Fight from Capcom, Vapor Trail from Data East, Too Crude – Double Dragon from Data East, Rai Den from Irem, Dragon Breed from Irem, R-Type II from Irem, Toki from Irem, Aliens from Konami, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles from Konami, Off Road from Leland, Trog from Bally/Midway, PlayChoice from Nintendo, Fire Shark from Romstar, Beast Busters from SNK, Neo-Geo System from SNK, Line of Fire from Sega, M.V.P. from Sega, Cadash from Taito, and lots more.
    • Inside Gaming – A look at who might win the upcoming video game battle between Nintendo, Sega, and NEC.
    • Game Doctor – Questions answered about music on the SMS, the NES expansion port, the TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM add-on, transferring files between an Apple II and IBM PC, and more.

    …and more!


    Amiga Apple ][ Atari ST Commodore 64 Computer Arcana DOS Nintendo (NES) Retro Games Sega Genesis Sega Master System TurboGrafx-16 📎and tagged

  • Amiga Force (January/February 1993)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Amiga Force is a gaming magazine for the Amiga that was pubished in the U.K. in the 1990s. I don’t remember there being any gaming specific magazines for the Amiga in the U.S. (though magazines like Computer Gaming World did cover the Amiga). Issue number 2 of Amiga Force from January/February 1993 includes:

    • Read All About It! – News and new products including the Supervision portable game system, the Turbo Touch 360, Deluxe Paint IV and Deluxe Video III from Electronic Arts, and much more.
    • Krusty’s Super Funhouse – Review of this Simpson’s platform game featuring Krusty the Clown.
    • Winner Takes All – A contest in which you can win all games published by Kixx.
    • Just Around The Corner – Previews of upcoming games including Lemmings 2: Tribes, Walker, Bill’s Tomato Game, Lethal Weapon, Street Fighter II, Arabian Nights, and Creatures.

    • Budget Bargains – Reviews of budget games including Prince of Persia, Alien Breed, Santa’s Christmas Capers, International Tennis, Hudson Hawk, Gem’X, Trivial Pursuit, Dizzy: Prince of Yolkfolk, and P.P. Hammer and his Pneumatic Weapon.
    • Force Nine Mail – Reader mail, mostly about the first issue.
    • The Tips – Tips and tricks for tons of games including Shadow of the Beast III, Dizzy: Prince of Yolkfolk, Ween, Zool, and many more.
    • Beat ‘Em At Their Own Game! – Compete in this Sensible Soccer competition.

    • Rich Pickings – Reviews of some of the latest games including Shadoworlds, Assassin, Sensible Soccer, Road Rash, Tearaway Thomas, Sabre Team, Cytron, Pinball Fantasies, Locomotion, KGB, Nigel Mansell’s World Championship, Ween, Rampart, and The Grandslam Collection.
    • Cut-Out ‘N’ Cheat – Cheat cards designed to be cut out and kept with the games they pertain to.
    • Going Public – A look at some of the latest public domain games including Microbes, PIII (a Pac-Man clone), and more.

    …and more!


    Amiga Computer Arcana Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • The Australian Commodore Review (October 1986)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Australian Commodore Review was a magazine published in Australia that covered Commodore computers, including the Commodore 64 and Amiga. The October 1986 issue includes:

    Features – Utilities

    • Utilities – Useful utilities to use when programming, including things such a Pet Emulator, DOS Wedge, SIDMON, Graphics Master, and more.
    • Which Utility – A guide to utilities and their prices. Some items listed here include Final Cartridge, Fast Load, Vorpal Utility Kit, and more.
    • Freeze Frame Mark III – A review of this cartridge the primary purpose of which is to capture the contents of memory and save it to disk.
    • Quickdisc+ II – The stock Commodore 64 disk drive was notoriously slow but there were many solutions to this, including a variety of cartridges that would speed up loading (and other operations) by 5-10x. I’m most familiar with Fast Load and Warp Speed but this is another.
    • Dolphin DOS – In addition to cartridges, there were also various DOS replacements for Commodore 64 disk drives that involved replacing the ROMs. The most famous of which is probably JiffyDOS but Dolphin Dos is another These not only sped up loading but also added additional functionality.
    • Capture Cartridge – There were many other devices similar to the Freeze Frame Mark III cartridge mentioned above. While they had various functions, more often than not though, I’m pretty sure they were used to pirate games.
    • The Printer Connection – Compatibility issues with the Commodore 128 and using a printer with multiple computers.

    Software Reviews

    • Out-Think – This was outlining software that was written for CP/M and could run in the Commodore 64’s CP/M mode.

    Book Reviews

    • C-128 Programmers Reference Guide – If you were serious about programming on the Commodore 128 then this was a must have book.

    Regular Appearances

    • Amiga Software Overview – A brief look at some of the software available for the Amiga in the categories of business, graphics, sound, and video.
    • Beginners Guide to the Amiga – A introductory guide to the Amiga published by Compute!.
    • Amiga Programmers Guide – Getting started with programming on the Amiga.
    • Ram Ramblings – A brief look at new products including Print Shop Library Disk One, and Adventure Notepad.
    • Adventurer’s Realm – A map of Zork including the items that appear at each location.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about printers and a calendar bug.
    • Titanic – A game in which you must bring the Titanic back to the surface.
    • Leader Board – The classic golf game from Access.
    • Now Games – A brief look at new games including Lords of Midnight, Pyjamarama, and Tales of the Arabian Nights.
    • Critical Mass – This game was known as Power in the U.S. The goal was to disable a power station on an asteroid that has been taken over by aliens in your trusty hovercraft.
    • World’s Greatest Football Game – A football game from Epyx. Not sure it was the world’s greatest but it was decent for its time.

    …and more!


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