• Tag Archives Neo Geo

  • Maximum – Issue Number 1 – 1995

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer & Video Game Magazines – Maximum – Issue Number 1 – 1995

    Maximum covered what at the time were “next generation” systems, including the Sega Saturn, PlayStation, 3DO, Neo Geo, and PC among other systems. Maximum was published in the U.K. but was very similar to Next Generation which was published in the U.S. In fact they were sister magazines and shared some content. The premiere issue of Maximum from 1995 includes:

    Extended Play

    • Wipeout – The cover story this month includes coverage of Wipeout, a futuristic racer for the PlayStation. I remember really wanting this game and did eventually get the PC version. My PC at the time (a 486 DX2/66) met the minimum requirements but really wasn’t fast enough to run it smoothly. I was a bit disappointed with this game. While it was graphically impressive and did a great job of presenting the illusion of speed, I thought games like F-Zero were more fun.
    • Tekken 2 – 3D fighters were all the rage (I STILL prefer 2D) and Tekken 2 was the latest arcade fighter from Namco. Tekken was a PlayStation franchise too so it would find its way there soon.
    • Kabuki Klash – Neo Geo’s latest arcade fighter at the time. They had tons of 2D fighters and while some were better than others, I don’t know that any of them were bad. This one is anime themed. The great thing about the Neo Geo of course is that an arcade version automatically meant a home version…if you had the money.
    • Air Combat – An early air combat simulator for the PlayStation. This was really as much an arcade game as a simulator resembling games like Space Harrier to some degree. I guess it could be thought of as a simplified simulator.
    • Street Fighter Alpha – “The best Street Fighter Yet” claims Maximum. I don’t know if that’s true or not but if you love fighting games you’ll probably love this one. It included additional characters from the original Street Fighter as well as Final Fight.
    • Virtua Fighter – The first in Sega’s 3D fighting series now available for the Saturn. 32-bit systems could get very close to arcade perfection which was a big deal at the time.
    • Fade To Black – A sequel to Flashback, this adventure game for the PC (DOS) transitions the series to 3D while still managing to keep a similar graphical style.
    • Clockwork Knight 2 – A cult classic pseudo-3D platformer for the Sega Saturn. Maximum felt this was a big improvement over the original.
    • Screamer – Maximum describes this as a cross between Ridge Racer and Daytona USA and it certainly resembles those game. They seem pretty excited about it but I don’t even remember this one so I can’t imagine it was as good as what it was imitating.
    • Bug! – A decent 3D platform game for the Sega Saturn. I don’t know that it lived up to the hype that Sega gave it but it is a pretty good game for Saturn owners.
    • King of Fighter ’95 – Classic Neo Geo fighting game and really a must for 2D fighting game fans.

    Maximum Close-Up

    • Daytona USA – A full guide to this racer for the Sega Saturn.
    • Panzer Dragoon – Another cult classic for the Saturn. This was one of the best 3D shooters around at the time. This article provides a guide, codes, cheats, hidden items and more.

    Maximum Regulars

    • New Games… Places… Events – News coverage of Virtua Fighter 3, Sega Saturn criticism, Virtua Fighter 2, Capcom’s fighting game competition, X-Men on the Sega Saturn, a new Battle Arena Toshinden, King’s Field 2 for the PlayStation, Virtua Cop 2 for the Saturn, Sega Rally Championship, Yoshi’s Island and much more.
    • Reviews – The reviews section this month includes reviews of the following games:
      • Virtua Fighter (Sega Saturn)
      • Panzer Dragoon (Sega Saturn)
      • Daytona USA (Sega Saturn)
      • Bug! (Sega Saturn)
      • Wipeout (PlayStation)
      • Ridge Racer (PlayStation)
      • Battle Arena Toshinden (PlayStation)
      • Rapid Reload (PlayStation)
      • Jumping Flash (PlayStation)
      • Kileak The Blood (PlayStation)
      • King of Fighter ’95 (Neo Geo CD)
      • Kabuki Klash (Neo Geo CD)
      • Savage Reign (Neo Geo CD)
      • Space Hulk (3DO)
      • Daedalus Encounter (3DO)
      • Kingdom: The Far Reaches (3DO)
      • Mechwarrior 2 (PC-CDROM)
      • …and more!
    • Correspondence Required – This would be the letters from readers section but since this is the first issue, there are none yet. Instead we just have a request for letters…

    …and even more!


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  • Fatal Fury Special (Sega CD)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/662817718636101632/oldgamemags-diehard-gamefan-april-1995

    Fatal Fury Special is a 2D fighting game that was released for both the home and arcade versions of the Neo Geo hardware in 1993. The original Fatal Fury was perhaps the earliest competitor to Street Fighter II though it was actually developed at the same time by the original creator of the first Street Fighter game. Fatal Fury Special was the third game in the series though not really a true sequel.

    To make an analogy, Fatal Fury Special is to Fatal Fury 2 what Street Fighter II Turbo is to Street Fighter II. It’s an enhancement more than a sequel. There are also parallels in the sense that one of the changes made to Fatal Fury Special was to speed up the game play. In addition to speeding up the game play, Fatal Fury Special tweaked the play mechanics allowing combo attacks among other things. Also, the characters that were only computer controlled in Fatal Fury 2 could now be selectable by the player.

    Fatal Fury 2 was well received by both players and critics and was quite popular. In addition to the original Neo Geo versions, it was also ported to a variety of other systems including the Super Nintendo, Sega CD (a review of which appears at the top of this post), Game Gear and PC Engine/TurboGrafx-16. These ports received more mixed reviews but were generally positive. The main criticisms typically had to do with graphics and sound compromises that had to be made on less powerful hardware. At the time, Neo Geo hardware was certainly expensive but nothing else gave you true arcade power in your home.

    There would continue to be Fatal Fury games released throughout the rest of the decade for the Neo Geo. In addition, the inclusion of a hidden character from Art of Fighting in Fatal Fury Special was the inspiration for the King of Fighters game series. Most fans of 2D fighting games are probably already well familiar with the Neo Geo and the various fighting games available for it. If not, then this game, along with most of the other Fatal Fury games, are definitely ones you should try. While other ports are ok, you probably want to stick to the Neo Geo version or an emulation of it (there was one available via Xbox Live Arcade for example).

    Screen shots above are from the Sega CD version of the game.


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  • Maximum: The Video Game Magazine – Issue Number 4 – 1996

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Maximum – Issue Number 4 – 1996

    You can think of Maximum as Next Generation’s sister magazine in the U.K. Much of the content of Next Generation came from Maximum and the magazines were very similar. Next Generation was one of my favorite magazines though I wasn’t really aware of Maximum until much later and being in the U.S., I was unlikely to ever see it anyway. Maximum targeted an older demographic than GamePro or even EGM. Issue Number 4 of Maximum from 1996 includes:

    Maxiumum Extended Play

    • Soul Edge – The cover game of Maximum issue #4 is a true showcase of arcade fighting titles, based on the PlayStation technology System 11 board. Soul Edge is graphically breathtaking, and features a technical level to the gameplay that’s quite outstanding.
    • Space Hulk – A firm hit on the 3DO, Electronic Arts have been busy bringing their top-rated game onto the PC CD-ROM, Saturn and PlayStation systems. In this triple-format Extended Play, Maximum brings forth huge amounts of info on this involving game.
    • Heretic – The first third party game to use the Doom engine was Raven’s Heretic, which has since been superseded by the excellent Hexen. However, the first game never received a general review and the boys at GT Interactive have just put out the latest version with extra levels. Maximum investigates..
    • Real Bout Fatal Fury – Some have been saying that the latest Fatal Furty is (get this) better than Street Fighter Alpha! Is this true, or is Real Bout just another outing for Geese Howard and a pair of outrageous trousers? Perhaps both, maybe neither. Full details later on.
    • Guardian Heroes – When Treasure produce a new video game, true game fanatics tend to sit up and take notice – especially when the game is on as powerful a system as Sega Saturn. True to form, Treasure have performed miracles with this game.
    • Street Fighter Alpha – First revealed in Maxiumum issue #3, Capcom have handed in a truly arcade-perfect conversion of their monster arcade game which Virgin are handling in Europe. We’eve already covered the coin-op, so this Extended Play covers the art of Street Fighting, from throwing your very first punch to pulling off incredible 19 hit Super Combo finishes.
    • Magic Carpet – Bullfrog scored a bit of an own-goal with their last action game translation to the super consoles. Yes, although Hi-Octane was a bit poor, the conversions of Magic Carpet are absolutely spot-on, and for any Saturn or PlayStation owner, it should be considered an essential purchase.
    • Virtua Fighter 2 – The final part of our unrivaled Virtua Fighter 2 coverage gives our valued readership an in-depth examination of the combination system in the game. Hugely damaging multi-hit strikes are revealed, along with basic techniques on improving your play.

    Maximum Close Up

    • Virtua Cop – Now that the game is a couple of months old, Maximum is pleased to announce the full range of hidden options found in this excellent blasting game.
    • X-Men: Children of the Atom – Well, many apologies for the lack of Magneto action, but this single page of mutant mayhem should clue you in to the true power of the unstoppable Juggernaut!
    • Battle Arena Toshinden 2 – Well, to be frank we think this game is pretty bad – however, it seems to have attracted its own legion of fans on PlayStation and in the arcades, so we reveal all of the boss-related secrets.
    • Doom – The third and final installment of Maximum’s coverage reveals the five secret levels in Doom, including the celebrated “Club Doom”.

    Maximum Regulars

    • New Games…Places…Events… – Well, Maximum’s coverage of the places and events is probably a bit lacking this month, since we’eve been enslaved to Lord EMAP and super-glued to our desks to meet an impossible deadline. Again. Still, the coverage of hot games remains pretty decent regardless, with Saturn WipeOut, Formula One and of course PlayStation Tekken 2 taking pride of place in the Maximum line-up. Also worth checking out are the first pictures of Street Fighter Alpha 2 along with Virtua Fighter Kids and more on the Sonic Fighting Game.
    • Maximum Response – After finally being swayed by popular opinion, Maximum unveils its first letters page. For intelligent debate on gaming in general plus a slagging off for Killer Instinct 2, look no further.
    • Reviews – Despite the lean times in terms of software, Maximum retains its enormous 23 page reviewing section where we tell you in plain English whether selected software is worth buying or not. No useless “ratings” and suchlike here – just our informed opinions on the latest wares.
    • Next Edition – For full details on the forthcoming Namco Special Edition of Maximum, it could well be worth your while checking out this page. It’s going to be big…

    …and more!


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