• Tag Archives Nintendo 64

  • GamePro (February 1997)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: GamePro – February 1997

    Along with Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro was one of the most popular gaming magazines for a long time. In 1997 is was primarily covering the Nintendo 64, PlayStation, and Sega Saturn and was also still covering the Super NES, Sega Genesis and Neo Geo. It also had a little PC and arcade coverage. The February 1997 issue includes:

    Cover Story

    • Killer Instinct Gold – A preview of ths $80 cart for the Nintendo 64 and is basically a combination of Killer Instinct and Killer Instinct 2.

    Special Features

    • Resident Evil 2: The Horror Continues – The first sequel to the immensely popular survival horror game on the PlayStation.
    • Have Gun Game, Will Travel – A somewhat humorous light gun game that combines both first person and side-scrolling sections. It can be played with one or two players.

    SWATPro Strategy Section

    • Mortal Kombat Trilogy – A strategy guide for Mortal Kombat Trilogy on the PlayStation and Nintendo 64. As the name suggests, this game is really a combination of the first three Mortal Kombat games.
    • The Fighter’s Edge: Virtua Fighter 3 – A complete move list for all characters and how to counterattack in Virtual Fighter 3 in the arcade.
    • Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey – A strategy guide for this arcade hockey game featuring various secrets and cheats.
    • Madden ’97 – A strategy guide for this early Madden game on the PlayStation.
    • SWATPro – Codes and various tips for Twisted Metal 2 (PlayStation), Tomb Raider (PlayStation, Saturn), Mortal Kombat Trilogy (Nintendo 64), and lots of other games.

    ProReviews

    • PC GamePro – Reviews of Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Duke Nukem 3D Plutonium PAK, SkyNET, and MDK.
    • Nintendo 64 – Reviews of Killer Instinct Gold, and Cruis’n USA.
    • PlayStation – Reviews of Tomb Raider, Dark Forces, Ten Pin Alley, Power Slave, PitBall, Burning Road, Robotron X, Hardcore 4×4, The King of Fighters ’95, Dare Devil Derby, Starwinder, Iron and Blood, Samurai Showdown III, Tempest, Machine Head, and Tunnel B1.
    • Saturn – Reviews of Bug Too!, Crusader, Virtua Cop 2, Area 51, Virtual On Cyber Troopers, Batman Forever: The Arcade Game, Spot Goes to Hollywood, and Crime Wave.
    • Super NES – Reviews of Street Fighter Alpha 2, Prince of Persia 2, Incantation, and War 3010: The Revolution.
    • Genesis – A reviews of Williams Arcade’s Greatest Hits.
    • Sports Pages – Reviews of NFL GameDay ’97 (PlayStation), NBA Hang Time (Nintendo 64), Andretti Racing (Saturn), Daytona USA Championship Circuit Edition (Saturn), NBA In The Zone 2 (PlayStation), NFL ’97 (Saturn), NHL ’97 (Saturn), NBA Hangtime (Genesis), NBA Shoot Out ’97 (PlayStation), FIFA Soccer ’97 (Nintendo 64),
    • Role-Player’s Realm – Reviews of Dragon Force (PlayStation), Warhammer: Shadow of the Horned Rat (PlayStation), and Persona (PlayStation).

    Departments

    • Head-2-Head: Letter from the GamePros – Discussion about 3DO’s upcoming new M2 system.
    • The Mail – Letters from readers about 3DO, secret codes for Twisted Metal 2, Tecmo’s Deception, and more.
    • Art Attack – Reader submitted artwork.
    • Buyers Beware – Modifying your PlayStation to play Japanese games, Nintendo 64 controller problems, Xband support, and more.
    • ProNews – N64 and PSX game releases delayed, including Shadows of the Empire, Curis’n USA, Tetrisphere, Turok, Mission Impossible, and others; Virtual Boy discontinued; and more.
    • NetPro – How to play online games via TEN.
    • Overseas Prospects – A look at Sony PlayStation Expo ’96 in Chiba, Japan. Some new games shown include Final Fantasy VII, Puzzle Fighter, Rockman (Mega Man) 8, Ace Combat 2, Soul Edge, and more.
    • Sneak Previews – Previews of upcoming games including Spider (PlayStation), City of Lost Children (PlayStation), WCW vs. The World (PlayStation), League of Pain (PlayStation), Carmageddon (PlayStation, DOS), Rush Hour (PlayStation), Peak Performance (PlayStation), and Test Drive: Off-Road (PlayStation DOS, Windows 95).
    • Hot at the Arcades – A look at Mace: The Dark Age, a 3D fighting game from Atari Games.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • NFL Blitz (Nintendo 64)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The field used to be a bit more varied when it came to football video games. These days, it seems like Madden is the only thing anybody plays. NFL Blitz is another series of football games that was first introduced as an arcade game in 1997. It was also ported to a few home platforms, including the Nintendo 64, the following year.

    NFL Blitz was definitely more of an arcade style game vs. being a strict simulation of the game. For instance, there were only seven players per side instead of eleven and each player could typically perform a number of rolls. It wasn’t unusual, for instance, for a wide receiver to also pass the ball. There are no timeouts (though the clock stops after every play) and extra points are automatic but can be randomly missed on occasion. Also, a lot of things that would be penalties in a real NFL game are not penalties in NFL Blitz. Late hits, pass interference, and things that would normally be considered unsportsmanlike conduct are all just fine in this game.

    These differences mostly serve to create a more fast paced and exciting game. This would have been especially important in an arcade setting where a true simulation would just take too long. Those that are dead set on a more accurate simulation of the game might not find this one satisfying but it is still a fun football-like game.

    NFL Blitz was a popular game on the Nintendo 64. Despite the liberties taken with realism (or maybe because of them) it is still a blast to play. Back in the day, most football games took quite a few liberties. Street Sports Football, Tecmo Bowl, and Cyberball are a few of my favorites that come to mind. None of them approached the realism of a modern day Madden (and most didn’t try). It never stopped them from being fun.

    Like Madden, NFL Blitz was a series of games of which this was only the first. In addition to the Nintendo 64, the first game was also available on the PlayStation, Windows, and Game Boy Color. I think that the Nintendo 64 version was the most popular though. Perhaps because fewer football games were available on that system. It also tended to get higher review scores that the PlayStation and Windows versions though they all seem to have been well regarded. NFL Blitz 2000 and NFL Blitz 2001 were sequels that were also released on the Nintendo 64. There were also later sequels but these were released on newer systems.

    If you are a fan of football video games then this one is worth checking out even if you prefer your games with a bit more realism. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any re-releases so you’ll have to track down an original version for the system of your choice or make do with emulation. I suspect that the use of NFL licenses means that this game will never be re-released.

    Screenshots above are all from the Nintendo 64 version of the game.


    📂This entry was posted in Nintendo 64 Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Computer And Video Games (September 1995)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer And Video Games – Issue Number 166 – September 1995

    Computer and Video Games was published in the U.K. and was perhaps the longest running video game magazine. By 1995 it had already been around well over a decade and was only about two-thirds of the way through its publishing life. The September 1995 issue includes:

    Regulars

    • Editorial – Saturn vs. PlayStation, the rising price of games, and more.
    • Connected – Nintendo releases Yoshi’s Island for the Super NES, Sony prepares for PlayStation launch in the U.K., Electronic Arts and Origin developing interactive movie called The Darkening, Mindscape starts work on the first sports sim project for the Ultra 64, Virtuality’s Zone Hunter to be ported to Atari’s Jaguar, Atari releases JagLink which allows you to link up two Jaguars for head to head gaming, and more!
    • In the Bag – Letters from readers about multiplayer games, value of the Sega Saturn, Japanese games, and more.
    • Help – Questions answered about the Atari Jaguar, Discworld, Doom versions, the Neptune, and more.
    • Cheatmode – Various cheats for Mortal Kombat 3, Ace Combat, Toh Shin Den, Rise of the Triad, Mario’s Picross, Hoverstrike, Clockwork Knight, Daytona USA, Panzer Dragoon, Virtua Fighter, and more.
    • Challenge – Competitions featuring Need for Speed and International Superstar Soccer.
    • Charts – The top games in various categories. Taking the top spot overall this month is Star Trek TNG: A Final Unity for PC CD-ROM.
    • Next Month – Next month’s issue will include coverage of Destruction Derby, the PlayStation launch (in the U.K.), Killer Instinct, Comix Zone, and more.

    Reviews

    • Ace Combat (PlayStation) – A Persian Gulf themed combat flight sim for the PlayStation.
    • Shin Shinobi Den (Saturn) – A Japanese import that would eventually be released as Shinobi Legions in North America and Shinobi X in Europe.
    • Ultimate Doom (PC CD-ROM) – The original Doom with some extra levels and better networking support. Would have been a better deal if Doom II were included as well.
    • Zhadnost (3DO) – A weird looking game show / puzzle game.
    • Action Soccer (PC CD-ROM) – A decent soccer game for the 3DO.
    • Terminal Velocity (PC) – An early 3D shoot-em-up. It gets a good review here but I barely remember it.
    • Wipeout (PlayStation) – A futuristic racing game for the PlayStation. I wanted to like this more than F-Zero but honestly I thought F-Zero was more fun.
    • Primal Rage (Mega Drive/SNES) – A beat-em-up featuring dinosaurs.
    • Donkey Kong Land (Game Boy) – A platform game from Rare featuring the well known villain.
    • Gloom (Amiga) – A Doom clone for the Amiga. Too little too late really.
    • A surprise – A preview of Batman Forever for the Super NES and Mega Drive…not sure why it is a “surprise”.

    Previews

    • Fade to Black (PC CD-ROM) – A sequel to Flashback.
    • Syndicate Wars (PlayStation) – A cyberpunk themed action RPG.
    • Theme Park (Saturn) – The classic theme park simulator for Sega’s latest console.
    • Magic Carpet 2 (PC CD-ROM) – Fly on a magic carpet while combatting enemies.
    • Actua Golf (PlayStation) – A golf game for the PS1.
    • Loaded (PlayStation) – An over the top 3D shoot-em-up for the PlayStation.
    • Jaguar Round-up – A look at upcoming Atari Jaguar games including Defender 2000, Breakout 2000, Battlemorph, Black Ice/White Noise, and Varuna’s Forces.
    • Daedalus Encounter (3DO) – An FMV sci-fi adventure game starring Tia Carrere.
    • Rayman (PlayStation) – What would be one of the best 2D platform games for the PlayStation.
    • Need For Speed (PC CD-ROM) – Classic racing game that first showed up on the 3DO.
    • Captain Quazar (3DO) – A humorous action game somewhat like Earthworm Jim.
    • Phantom (Mega Drive) – A platform game for the Mega Drive / Genesis based on a cartoon of the same name.
    • Doom (SNES) – Most ports of Doom were so much worse than the original PC version. This one is no exception.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Computer Arcana Retro Games 📎and tagged