• Tag Archives Game Gear

  • GamePro (October 1993)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    gamepro_issue_051_october_1993_001

    Source: GamePro – Issue Number 51 – October 1993

    There were tons of video game magazines from the late 1980s through the late 1990s. GamePro wasn’t my favorite (I preferred EGM and VG&CE) but there is no doubt that it was one of the most popular. The October 1993 issue includes the following:

    • Letters from the GamePros – The GamePro editors explain their rating system.
    • The Mail – Letters from readers with comments and questions on video game violence, playing NES games on the SNES, taking the Turbo Duo on the road, converting Japanese RPGs, obtaining back issues, choosing games to create strategy guides for, baseball games, and more.
    • Cutting Edge – A detailed look at the upcoming Atari Jaguar, including some of the first games. It’s a shame Atari didn’t put more effort into games development and courting 3rd party developers. This could have been a great system.
    • Special Feature: Hot at the Arcades – Part 2 of a Slam Masters Strategy Guide, an arcade wrestling game from Capcom that plays a bit like Street Fighter II.
    • Role-Player’s Realm – Hints and strategies for RPGs including Shining Force for the Genesis, The Seventh Saga for the Super NES, Final Fantasy Legend III for the Game Boy, and Defenders of Oasis for the Game Gear.
    • Special Feature: 3D0 Games – A look at some of the first 3DO games including Battlechess, Crash ‘ Burn, Intelliplay Football, Mad Dog McCree, Oceans Below, Out of This World, San Diego Zoo, Total Eclipse, and Star Trek: The Next Generation.
    • Cover Feature: Super Street Fighter II – It seemed like there were endless variations of Street Fighter II. Street Fighter II: The New Challengers was released after Turbo Street Fighter II Champion Edition and its main changes include four new fighters plus new and improved moves for existing characters.
    • Special Feature: Disney’s Aladdin – Aladdin was near the pinnacle of 2D gaming on 16-bit systems in terms of graphics, animation, sound and music. This is a preview of Aladdin on the Genesis.
    • Special Feature: Star Wars – A look at recent and upcoming Star Wars games, including Super Empire Strikes Back (SNES), Rebel Assault (Sega CD), and Star Wars (Game Gear). Plus, a behind the scenes look at the making of some of these games.

    • ProReviews
      • Genesis – Reviews of Aero the Acro-Bat, Haunting Starring Polterguy, Dashin’ Desperadoes, Dinosaurs for Hire, Gauntlet IV, The Adventures of B.O.B.; Plus previews of Street Fighter II Special Champion Edition, Robocop Vs. Terminator, Robocop III, Pink Panther: Pink Goes to Hollywood, and Sonic Spinball
      • Sega CD – Reviews of AH-3 Thunderstrike and Spider-Man vs. Kingpin plus a preview of Stellar-Fire
      • SNES – Reviews of Terminator 2: Judgement Day, SimAnt, Legend, Battle Cars, Super Aquatic Games, Incredible Crash Dummies, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego, Mr. Nuts; Plus previews of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighter, ActRaiser 2, Captain America and the Avengers, and Cliffhanger
      • Nintendo – Reviews of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Mario is Missing!
      • Neo Geo – A strategy guide for Samurai Showdown
      • Game Boy– Reviews of DuckTales 2, Ring Rage, Lemmings, Tumble Pop, and WWF: King of the Ring
      • Game Gear – Reviews of WWF Steel Cage Challenge, Strider 2, Cave Dude, and Off the Wall
      • Lynx – Review of Gordo 106

    • Overseas ProSpects – A look at Jim Powers for the Super NES and Genesis.
    • The Sports Page – Reviews and previews of sorts games including NHL Hockey ’94 (Genesis and SNES), Legends of the Ring (Genesis and SNES), Riddick Bowe Boxing (SNES), Evander Holyfield (Game Gear), Madden NFL ’94 (Genesis and SNES), Football Fury (SNES), Top Gear 2 (SNES), and Nigel Mansell’s World Championship Racing (Genesis, NES, Game Boy). Plus news about upcoming sports releases.
    • GamePro Lab Report – A look at the Dual Turbo wireless controllers for the SNES and Genesis, the Naki Pro Control Pad for the Genesis, and more.
    • Short ProShots – Brief looks at Formula 1 World Championship (Genesis), Prince of Persia (Genesis), Pit-Fighter II (Genesis), WWF Royal Rumble (Genesis), Super Baseball 2020 (Genesis), Dune II (Genesis), Wizzy ‘n’ Lizzy (Genesis), Puggsy (Genesis), Incredible Hulk (Genesis), Bubba ‘n’ Sticks (Genesis), Microcosm (Sega CD), EA Sports Soccer (Genesis), The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (Genesis), F-1 Pole Position (SNES), Lester the Unlikely (SNES), NBA Showdown (SNES), Redline: F-1 Racer (SNES), Super Battletank 2 (SNES), Turn and Burn (SNES), Super Putty (SNES), Super Off Road: The Baja (SNES), Kirby’s Pinball Land (Game Boy), John Madden Duo CD Football (Duo), James Pond II (Game Gear), and more.
    • S.W.A.T.Pro – Hints, tips, codes and passwords for Alien 3 (Super NES), Mario is Missing! (SNES), Time Gal (Sega CD), Spy vs. Spy (Game Boy), Muhammad Ali’s Heavyweight Boxing (Genesis), The Lost Vikings (SNES), Side Arms (Duo), WWF Royal Rumble (SNES), Panic Restaurant (NES), Green Dog (Genesis), Mutant League Football (Genesis), R.B.I. BAseball (Genesis), Bomberman ’93 (Duo), Gates of Thunder (Duo), Mousetrap Hotel (Game Boy), Cotton (Duo), and more.
    • GameBusters: X-Men (Genesis) – A more detailed strategy guide for X-Men on the Genesis.
    • ProNews – AT&T acquires Sierra Network, new SNES bundle featuring Super Mario All-Stars for $149, a new handheld video game featuring barcodes, Double Dragon: The Movie coming soon, Pitfall Harry: The Mayan Adventure delayed, and more.

    …and more!


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  • Electronic Gaming Monthly – Issue Number 69 – April 1995

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    electronic_gaming_monthly_069_-_1995_apr_001

    Source: Electronic Gaming Monthly – Issue Number 69 – April 1995

    I think the mid 1990s had more video game systems actively marketed than any other time in history. Electronic Gaming Monthly was covering at least the following systems: Super NES, Genesis, 32X, Sega CD, 3D0, Saturn, PlayStation, Jaguar, CDi, Neo Geo, Game Boy and Game Gear.

    The April 1995 issue of EGM includes the following:

    Departments

    • Insert Coin – Lamenting the failures of the 3DO. It failed because since the hardware was a licensed “standard”, hardware manufacturers had no direct revenue from games and could not price their machines below cost as companies like Nintendo, Sony and Sega did since they made money via game game licensing and publishing games.
    • Interface: Letters to the Editor – Subjects of letters this month include choosing the best game system, the Atari Jaguar, import games, XBand, SNK, Mortal Kombat 3, the Sega Saturn in Hong Kong, EGM on CD-ROM, Mortal Kombat 2 on the PC, and more.
    • Press Start – In the (gaming) news this month: Sega Channel holds first contest; Mortal Kombat Arena Show; Nintendo (Super Famicom) gaming via satellite in Japan; official launch of Sony Online; Gex hits the 3DO; Earthworm Jim cartoon in the works; and more.
    • Review Crew
      • Sega CD
        • Earthworm Jim – An excellent platform gaming featuring a humorous worm.
        • Fatal Fury: Special – A solid translation of the arcade fighting game.
        • Lords of Thunder – A very good shooter but already old by this time. Much better on the TurboGrafx-16.
        • RDF: Rapid Deployment Force – A pretty mediocre tank sim with too much reliance on FMV.
      • Super NES
        • Metal Warriors – A solid shooter from Konami.
        • True Lies – A pretty solid action/shooter, especially given that it is a movie license.
      • Genesis
        • Phantasy Star IV – A must have RPG.
      • 32X
        • Brutal: Unleashed – A uniquely themed but average-ish fighting game.
        • Metal Head – An average (at best) Mech sim.
      • 3DO
        • Need for Speed – An excellent driving sim.
      • Jaguar
        • Syndicate – The best console version of this game.
        • Theme Park – Fun but difficult theme park sim.
      • CD-I
        • Lemmings – A good translation but very dated by this point.
      • Game Gear
        • Stargate – A not so great puzzle game based on the movie.
    • EGM Top Ten Lists – Topping the list this month is Sonic 3 for the Genesis, Donkey Kong Country for the Super NES, Sonic & Knuckles for the Genesis, Final Fantasy III for the Super NES, Super Metroid for the Super NES, NBA Jam for the Super NES, and Mega Man X for the Super NES.
    • Gaming Gossip – News and rumors, including: Silicon Graphics Onyx Reality Engine based development kits for the N64 cost $250,000; Kill Instinct 2 in work for Ultra 64; PlayStation 2 in work; possible Earthworm Jim based arcade and/or pinball game in work; and more.
    • Arcade Action – A look at new and upcoming arcade games, including Fatal Fury 3, Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers’ Revenge plus games shown at the 1995 AOU Amusement Expo in Japan including Rail Chase 2, Red Zone, Cyberbots, Virtua Striker, Cyber Cycles, Elevator Action Returns, and Attack of the Zolgear.
    • International Outlook – Games coming soon in Japan include Astal (Saturn), YuYu Hakusho Final (Super Famicom), Taihoman (Super Famicom), Alien Soldier (Mega Drive), Crossed Swords II (Neo Geo CD), Deadluss (Saturn), and Super Robot War 2G (Game Boy). Also, a detailed look and Chrono Trigger.
    • Next Wave – Previews of upcoming games including Primal Rage (Super NES), Rayman (32X), Kingdom (3DO), NFL Quarterback Club (32X), Lunar: Eternal Blue (Sega CD), Pitfall (32X), Rage Rally (Jaguar), Donkey Kong Land (Game Boy), Alone in the Dark 2 (32X), Cyberia (3DO), BlakckThorne (32X), Hell (3DO), Theme Park (Genesis), Slam ‘N Jam (3DO), Descent (32X), Primal Rage (Game Gear), Solar Eclipse (Saturn), Dragons of the Square Table (Saturn), Rise of the Robots (3DO), 3-D Baseball ’95 (Saturn), Primal Rage (Game Boy), and more.
    • Tricks of the Trade – Tips and Tricks for Mega Man X2 (Super NES), Kirby’s Avalanche (Super NES), Brutal (Super NES), Super Punch-Out (Super NES), Wario Blast (Game Boy), Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (Super NES), Super Return of the Jedi (Super NES), Burning Soldier (3DO), Clayfighter 2: Judgement Clay (Super NES), Space Harrier (32X), Space Harrier (32X), NBA Jam: Tournament Edition (Super NES/Genesis), Earthworm Jim (Genesis), and lots more.
    • Team EGM – A look at some of the promotions for the launch of the Sega Channel and some of the games supported. The Sega Channel was a cable service through which Genesis games could be downloaded and hints and tips accessed. Plus a detailed look at various sports games including Roller hockey ’95 (Super NES), NBA Hangtime ’95 (Sega CD), Toughman Boxing (32X), and more.

    Fact-Files

    • Super NES – Previews of Spider-Man, Warlock, Wing Commander II, Syndicate, Izzy’s Quest for the Olympic Rings, Oscar, and Whizz.
    • Genesis – Previews of Knuckles Chaotix, Stargate, No Escape, and Spider-Man.
    • 32X – Preview of Brutal Unleashed: Above the Claw.
    • Sega CD – Preview of RDF: Global Conflict.
    • Game Boy – Preview of Monster Max.
    • Game Gear – Preview of Stargate.

    Features

    • The MK III Kountdown Kontinues! – A look at the latest Mortal Kombat arcade sequel, including the story, some of the secrets and possible control changes (including maybe an extra button!). Also, a brief look at the cast of 14 characters.
    • Street Fighter Legends – Yet another sequel (or I guess it is technically a prequel) to Street Fighter II that is not Street Fighter III. Street Fighter Legends (formerly to be named Street Fighter Zero) is to be based on the classic Fighting Street.
    • Are You Ready for the PlayStation 2 – Despite the fact that the PlayStation has not even been released yet, there is already talk of the PlayStation 2 with an original plan to release in in 1997. Then they were going to release the PlayStation 3 in 2003 which was meant to last until 2011. While they ended up being somewhat off on those dates, by the time the PS4 rolled around it was late 2013 so they were reasonably close.

    …and more!


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  • Electronic Gaming Monthly (January 1997)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    electronic_gaming_monthly_090_-_1997_jan_001

    Source: Electronic Gaming Monthly – Issue number 90 – January 1997

    Electronic Gaming Monthly was probably the best video games magazine of the late 1990s. It covered all the available systems in the U.S. and was also covered imports and rumors about upcoming systems and games. Some of the systems covered in 1997 include the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, Super NES, Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, Neo Geo, and 3DO.

    The January 1997 issue includes:

    Departments

    • Insert Coin – A look back 20 years to the introduction of Pong and Star Wars to today when a new wave of Star Wars games is coming along, including Shadows of the Empire for the N64.
    • Press Start – News this month includes the introduction of the Dual-Analog pad for the PlayStation, more M2 cancellations and doubts about its future, a new PlayStation model, possible future networked N64 games, Sega expands its online presence, Super Mario Kart R will become first four player N64 game, Arcade Shark N64 joystick introduced, and much more.
    • Gaming Gossip – News and rumors including: Midway making Quake for the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation and Joust 3D for the N64; Mortal Kombat 4 coming soon; San Francisco Rush coming to the Nintendo 64; Lode Runner coming for the Nintendo 64; Sega develops arcade games with M2 board including Jurassic Park: The Lost World; and much more.
    • Next Wave Protos – A sneak peek at games in early development, including Spider (PlayStation), Command & Conquer (PlayStation), Oddworld (PlayStation), Carmageddon (PlayStation), HED (Nintendo 64), Sentient (PlayStation), Dynasty Warriors (PlayStation), Mission Impossible (Nintendo 64), Rocket Jockey (PlayStation), ID4 (PlayStation), WCW (PlayStation), XS (PlayStation), SWIV (PlayStation), Brahma Force: Assault on Beltlogger 9 (PlayStation), Rush Hour (PlayStation), Ark of Time (PlayStation), and more.

    • Review Crew
      • Dragon Force (Saturn) – A fantasy based military sim.
      • Sonic 3D Blast (Saturn) – A port of the Genesis version with improved graphics.
      • Bug Too! (Saturn) – A pseudo-3D side-scrolling platform game; Virtual On (Saturn), Sega’s fighting mech game ported from the arcade to the Saturn
      • Toshinden Ura (Saturn) – One of the worst versions of Toshinden.
      • Virtua Cop 2 (Saturn) – A good port of the arcade light gun shooter.
      • Batman Forever (Saturn) – A mediocre game based on a mediocre Batman movie.
      • Adventures of Lomax (PlayStation) – A 2D side-scroller featuring Lemmings.
      • Robotron X (PlayStation) – Basically, the classic Robotron unnecessarily “upgraded” to 3D.
      • Suikoden (PlayStation) – A large and pretty solid fantasy RPG.
      • Tunnel B1 (PlayStation) – An action game in which you must race against the clock. Looks and game play are somewhat reminiscent of Wipeout.
      • King’s Field 2 (PlayStation) – First person RPG.
      • Project X2 (PlayStation) – A difficult 2D horizontal shooter.
      • Tempest X (PlayStation) – A nice update of Tempest and it includes the original.
      • Tobal No. 1 (PlayStation) – A somewhat underrated (for the time) 3D fighter.
      • Twisted Metal 2 (PlayStation) – A pretty good sequel to the original and the game to have at the time if you like vehicular combat games.
      • Dragonheart (PlayStation) – A 3D hack and slash game based on the movie that garners comparisons to Skeleton Warrior. Average at best.
      • Samurai Showdown 4 (Neo Geo) – Another 2D fighting game classic on the Neo Geo.
      • Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Super NES) – The newst street fighter game on the SNES seems to have the worst game play and control.
      • Maui Mallard (Super NES) – A pretty good 2D side-scroller for the SNES.
    • Tricks of the Trade – The trick of the month is for Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 and gives you access to a secret menu that provides a variety of options (including enabling playable bosses). There are also tons of other tips and tricks for Twisted Metal 2 (PlayStation), Project Overkill (PlayStation), Die Hard Trilogy (PlayStation), Namco Museum Vol 2 (PlayStation), Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 (Super NES), Tobal No. 1 (PlayStation), Waverace 64 (Nintendo 64), NHL Powerplay ’96 (Saturn), Tomb Raider (PlayStation), Street Fighter Alpha 2 (Saturn), Motor Toon Grand Prix (PlayStation), Star Gladiator (PlayStation), Triple Play ’97 (PlayStation), Super Mario 64 (Nintendo 64), Time Commando (PlayStation), Battle Arena Toshinden Ura (Saturn), Wipeout XL (PlayStation), Pilotwings 64 (Nintendo 64), Gun Griffon (Saturn), Gunship (PlayStation), Machine Head (PlayStation), Loaded (Saturn), and more.
    • Special Features
      • Cover Story: Mechwarrior 2 – A detailed overview of Activision’s classic mech combat sim game. I played the PC version but never tried the console versions.
      • PlayStation Expo ’96-’97 – A semi-annual event held in Chiba, Japan. The highlights of this show were the five new arcade conversions released by Namco including Soul Blade, Time Crisis, Ace Combat 2, Namco Museum Vol 5, and Rage Racer.
      • Retrogaming – It’s a little disconcerting to read a retrogaming article from a magazine that is itself now retro. This article takes a look at some of the many compilations available at the time including Namco Museum Volumes 1-4, IREM Arcade Classics, Thunder Force Gold Pack, Gradius Deluxe Pack, Arcade’s Greatest Hits as well as some standalone re-releases like Outrun, Asteroids, Afterburner II, Paperboy, Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, and Pac-Man as well as some modern updates to classic games. The article also asks “Will the PlayStation become a dinosaur in the years to come?…will the Super NES one day become an archaic system?”
      • MDK – A sneak peek at this third-person, 3D shooter that was attracting a lot of attention at the time.
    • Team EGM – Previews and reviews of sports games. Previews: FIFA ’97, Big Bass World Championship, Open Ice, Space Jam, and Grand Slam Baseball. Reviews: Hardcore 4×4, Jet Moto, 2 Extreme, In The Zone 2, Street Racer, NBA Hang Time, NBA Jam Extreme, and Motor Toon Grand Prix. Plus an interview with Cedric Ceballos whom I think was playing for the Phoenix Suns at the time.
    • Interface – The letter of the month deals with Nintendo’s botched launch of the Nintendo 64. Basically, there weren’t enough units produced to match pre-orders and on top of that they prioritized bigger outlets like Wal-Mart over smaller specialty gaming stores so that they got them earlier. Also, letters about PC vs. console gaming, the cost of “modern” consoles vs. the Atari 2600 when it was new, upcoming Saturn releases, complaints about the review format in the magazine, and more.

          Features

          • Shoshinkai – A look at Nintendo’s annual trade show. Some highlights include a look at upcoming games for the Nintendo 64 such as Blast Corps, Star Fox 64, Golden Eye, Mission Impossible, Yoshi’s Island 2, and Mario Kart 64 among others. There was also a look at the 64 DD disk drive for the Nintendo 64 but that was never released outside of Japan.
          • Mortal Kombat Trilogy – Which version is better, the PlayStation version of the Nintendo 64 version? There are trade-offs of course. The PlayStation version has 7 more characters and CD quality sound but also more loading time. The Nintendo 64 version on the other hand offers a 3 on 3 game mode that the PlayStation version doesn’t have. Three out of four EGM staff picked the PlayStation version as the best.
          • Final Fantasy VII Update – An update on the continued development of the much anticipated 7th installment of the Final Fantasy series. This was actually the only Final Fantasy I ever spent significant time playing.

          Next Wave

          • Saturn – Previews of recent or soon to be released Saturn games including Scud (80% complete), Virtual On (100% complete), Spot Goes to Hollywood (100% complete), and Heir of Zendor (95% Complete).
          • PlayStation – Previews of recent and soon to be released PlayStation games including Batman Forever, Psychic Force (85% complete), Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat (95% complete), Persona (100% complete), Final Fantasy VII (25% complete), Discworld 2 (60% complete), League of Pain (90% complete), Project X2 (95% complete), Re-Loaded (90% complete), K-1 (75% complete), and Allied General (100% complete).
          • Neo Geo – Previews of recent or soon to be released Neo Geo games. The only one this month is Samurai Showdown (100% complete).

          …and more!


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