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  • GamePro (November 1997)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    GamePro and Electronic Gaming Monthly were really the two biggest video game magazines throughout the 1990s and into the early 2000s. I preferred EGM myself but picked up an occasional issue of GamePro. The November 1997 issue of GamePro includes:

    Features

    • Tomb Raider II – A preview of this 3D adventure game sequel for the PlayStation that, at the time, was one of the most eagerly anticipated sequels.
    • Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi – This Star Wars fighting game wasn’t really one of the best in the Star Wars franchise.

    SwatPro Strategy Section

    • Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee PlayStation ProStrategy Guide – A stragegy guide for this PlayStation classic strategy/platform game. This was an awesome atmospheric game but it got pretty hard as you progressed.
    • Vampire Savior Arcade ProStrategy Guide – A strategy guide for this arcade horror based fighting game.
    • The Fighter’s Edge Street Fighter EX Plus (PlayStation) – Part 1 of a two-part strategy guide for the latest Street Fighter game on the PlayStation. There were many.
    • Final Fantasy VII PlayStation ProStrategy Guide, Part II – The second in a three part series for one of the most iconic Final Fantasy games.

    ProReviews

    • PC GamePro – Reviews of Shadow Warrior, Fallout (the original!), Lose Your Marbles, XCar, Hexen II, Daikatana, King’s Quest: Mask of Eternity, Earthsiege 3, Take No Prisoners, and Prey.
    • Nintendo 64 – Reviews of Mace: The Dark Age, Top Gear Rally, Clayfighter 63 1/3, Wheel of Fortune, and Jeopardy!.
    • PlayStation – Reviews of Nightmare Creatures, Colony Wars, Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha, Nuclear Strike, G Police, Mega Man X4, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos, Steel Reign, Parappa the Rappa, Bushido Blade, Maximum, Ghost in the Shell, Tecmo Stackers, and Golden Nugget.
    • Saturn – Reviews of Marvel Super Heroes, Sonic Jam, Sega Ages, and Sky Target.
    • Sports Pages – Reviews of Madden 64 (Nintendo 64), NHL ’98 (PlayStation), NASCAR ’98 (PlayStation), Madden NFL ’98 (Saturn), PGA Tour ’98 (PlayStation), Jimmy Johnson’s VR Football ’98 (PlayStation), Bottom of the 9th ’97 (PlayStation), NHL Breakaway ’98 (PlayStation), NFL Quarterback Club ’98 (Nintendo 64), NBA Live ’98 (PlayStation / preview), NHL Face Off ’08 (PlayStation / preview), CART World Series (PlayStation / preview), NCAA GameBreaker ’98 (PlayStation / preview), NBA In The Zone ’98 (Nintendo 64, PlayStation / previews), and FIFA: Road to World Cup ’98 (Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Saturn / previews).
    • Role-Player’s Realm – A detailed look at Final Fantasy VII.

    Departments

    • The Mail – Letters from readers about family gaming, game endings, Saturn support, and more.
    • Buyers Beware – Readers warn about Dark Rift (Nintendo 64), used video games, and more.
    • ProNews – An animated MDK show, Diddy Kong Racing announced, Banjo-Kazooie Delayed, patent disputes, Jeff Gordon video games, and more.
    • NetPro – A look at Aliens Online.
    • Overseas Prospects – A look at new releases in Japan including F-Zero 64 (Nintendo 64), Tobal (arcade), and a re-release of Wave Race 64 (Nintendo 64).
    • The Cutting Edge – A look at Sega’s next generation hardware, what would eventually become the Dreamcast.
    • Sneak Preview – Previews of Resident Evil 2 (PlayStation), Diddy Kong Racing (Nintendo 64), MDK (PlayStation), Critical Depth (PlayStation), WCW Nitro (PlayStation), WCW vs. NWO: World Tour (Nintendo 64), Test Drive 4 (PlayStation), Moto Racer (PlayStation), Bomber 64 (Nintendo 64), Courier Crisis (PlayStation), Ray Tracers (PlayStation), Mega Man Neo (PlayStation), Extreme-G (Nintendo 64), Shipwreckers (PlayStation), Jet Moto 2 (PlayStation), Intelligent Qube (PlayStation), Point Blank (PlayStation), Pac-Man Ghost Zone (PlayStation), THN MotorSports Hardcore 2, AeroFighters Assault (Nintendo 64), Shadow Master (PlayStation), Deathtrap Dungeon (PlayStation), Rampage World Tour (PlayStation), and Mischief Makers (Nintendo 64).
    • Hot in the Arcades – A look at some of the latest arcade games including Armageddon from Acclaim and Vampire Savior from Capcom.

    …and more!


    Computer Arcana DOS Nintendo 64 PlayStation Retro Games Sega Saturn 📎and tagged

  • Official Sega Saturn Magazine (January 1998)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Unfortunately, the Saturn had a relatively short commercial life as did the few magazines dedicated to it. This was the official Sega Saturn magazine in the U.K. The January 1998 issue includes:

    Features

    • House of the Dead – An early look at this classic horror themed gun game from Sega.
    • Astra Superstars – An early look at this 2D fighting game from Sunsoft.
    • Steep Slope Sliders – A detailed look at this snowboarding game from Sega.
    • X-Men vs Street Fighter – A detailed look at this classic 2D fighter from Capcom. Outside of the original Street Fighter II, this might be my favorite Capcom 2D fighter.
    • The Lost World: AM3! – An interview with the AM3 team about the making of Jurassic Park: The Lost World.

    Previews

    • Rampage World Tour – An early look at this arcade conversion which is a sequel/remake of the classic Rampage.
    • Pro Wrestling Featuring Virtua – A preview of this wrestling game available only in Japan.
    • Layer Section 2 – A preview of this shooter that goes under the name of Raystorm in the U.S. However, the Saturn version never ended up being released in the U.S. though it was on other platforms.
    • Zero Divide – An early look at this robot fighting game.
    • NHL ’98 – This was the sequel to NHL All-Star Hockey and was actually a rebranded version of NHL Powerplay 98 which Virgin had decided not to release so Sega did instead.
    • NBA Action ’98 – Sega’s basketball game.

    Reviews

    • Steep Slope Slider – A snowboarding game from Sega.
    • Maximum Force – A light gun game from Midway that gets compared to Virtua Cop here.
    • NASCAR ’98 – You wouldn’t think racing around in circles would be much fun but I actually had a lot of fun with the original NASCAR Racing on my PC with some marathon racing sessions with my college roommate.

    Regulars

    • News – Sega to release 4MB RAM expansion for the Saturn to be bundled with X-Men vs. Street Fighter; Winter Wonderland (sequel to Decathlete) nearing completion; D2 being developed exclusively for the Saturn; and more.
    • Virtua Writer – Letters from readers regarding the Sony Playstation, NTSC/PAL switches, Sega of Europe; and more.
    • Q+A – Questions answered about Sega’s new console, the cost of an NTSC/PAL switch, ThunderForce V, and more.
    • On the CD – Demos on the cover CD this month include Steep Slope Sliders, Sega Worldwide Soccer ’98, Enemy Zero, Panzer Dragoon Saga, Sonic R, NBA Action ’98, The Lost World, and Sega Touring Car Championship.
    • Coin-Operated – Part one of the complete Lost World guide.
    • Out Now – A brief look at recently released games including Sonic R, Sega Touring Car Championship, Quake, The Lost World, Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Croc, Formula Karts, Trash It, and more.
    • And Finally… – Capcom’s Sakura.

    Playing Tips

    • Small Tips – Tips for Mortal Kombat Trilogy, Quake, Duke Nukem 3D, Dragon Force, and The Lost World.
    • Quake: Secrets Out, Part 1 – Part one of a guide to Quake’s secrets.
    • Sonic R: Mega Guide! – A detailed players guide for Sonic R.
    • Marvel Super Heroes, Part 2 – The second part of a detailed players guide for Capcom’s Marvel Super Heroes.
    • Duke Nukem 3D, Part 2 – The second part of a detailed guide to Duke Nukem 3D. I don’t know that I’ve ever played the Saturn version but the PC version is a classic.

    …and more!


    Retro Games Sega Saturn 📎and tagged

  • NBA Jam Extreme (1996)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: GamePro – January 1997

    NBA Jam Extreme was first an arcade game that was released in December 1996 with home versions for the PlayStation, Saturn and Windows 95 coming about a year later. As you can probably tell from the name, this is a basketball game and it is based on the 1996-97 NBA season. This was not the first game in the NBA Jam series but it was the first created by Acclaim. Previous NBA Jam games had been developed by Midway and then ported to home systems by Acclaim. I guess this was because of legal wrangling with the name because Midway also continued releasing basketball games with NBA Hangtime. Graphically, NBA Hangtime resembled previous NBA Jam games than NBA Jam Extreme did.

    The last basketball game I spent significant time playing was One-on-One on the Commodore 64. That game featured Larry Bird and Dr. J. playing half court basketball. While the graphics were simplistic and game play a bit slow, it still managed a lot of depth and subtlety and was a blast to play. As far as the NBA Jam series, to me it seemed to peak with NBA Jam: Tournament Edition which was also an arcade game and was ported to a whole bunch of home systems.

    However, NBA Jam Extreme did add a variety of new things. The most obvious was that it was the first game in the series to feature 3D graphics. Meanwhile, NBA hangtime maintained the 2D graphics of its NBA Jam predecessor. Other changes included an expanded roster featuring a total of more than 160 NBA players, an “extreme” button which was essentially an enhanced turbo button that was found in previous iterations of the game, and other game play changes.

    NBA Jam Extreme received mixed reviews. The graphics were solid and there were a lot of new features but as an early 3D game, it had early 3D game problems. Most notably with the camera angle being something less than desirable. The game also had a slower pace and the home versions suffered from long load times. NBA Hangtime was generally considered to have better game play. However, if you are an NBA fan and someone who like video game basketball, this wasn’t a game you would want to miss. The game is of similar quality on whichever platform you choose, however the PlayStation version probably edges out the other versions as the best home conversion.

    This isn’t a game you will find a re-release for and because of licensing concerns it’s extremely unlikely you ever would. That leaves tracking down an original or using emulation if you want to give this game a try. There have been a number of sequels including NBA Jam 99 (Nintendo 64, Game Boy Color), NBA Jam 2000 (Nintendo 64), NBA Jam 2001 (Game Boy Color), NBA Jam (2003 for the PS2 and Xbox), NBA Jam (2010 for Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360) and finally NBA Jam: On Fire Edition (PS3, Xbox 360) in 2011. After that, the series seems to have died out.


    Arcade PlayStation Retro Games Sega Saturn 📎and tagged