• Tag Archives Nintendo 64
  • GamePro (March 1997)

    GamePro, March 1997.

    Cover of the March 1997 issue of GamePro

    Along with Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro was one of the most popular gaming magazines of the 1990s. Personally, I preferred the slightly less popular VideoGames & Computer Entertainment and later, Next Generation but they were all great. At the time, there really wasn’t any other way to learn about up and coming gaming stuff. Today’s instant gratification is great and all but there is something to be said for anticipation. The March 1997 issue of GamePro includes:

    Special Features

    • Cover Feature: Doom 64 – A story on Doom for the Nintendo 64. This Doom game was not really a port but a sequel. The graphics were redone, the levels are different and new weapons were added among other things. Still, to me nothing beat Doom and Doom 2 on the PC and this game came out at a time when every system was getting ports of the PC version (none of which were as good).
    • GamePro Readers’ Choice Awards – No awards in this issue but a list of games for readers to vote for. Best 32-Bit or 64-Bit Game had 6 categories including Best Action/Adventure Game, Best Fighting Game, Best First-Person Shooter, Best Racing Game, Best Sports Game and Best Vehicle Shooter. Best 16-Bit Games had only two categories, Best Action/Adventure Game and Best Sports Game. Then there were categories covering any system including Best Role-Playing Game, Worst Game, Best system, and a ‘Which Death Angered You Most?’ question referring to systems killed in 1996. there were a bunch.
    • Nintendo 64 – A whole special section on the Nintendo 64
      • 1997: The Year of the ’64? – This is an overview of all of the recent and upcoming Nintendo 64 game releases with release dates, games in the development in the U.S. and games in development in Japan.
      • The 64DD Gets Real – Except it never really did, at least in the U.S. The 64DD was a strange hybrid disk drive for the Nintendo 64. It accepted special cartridges that contained some kind of magnetic disk that had a 64 MB capacity of which 32 MB was rewriteable. It was a little larger than a 3.5″ floppy disk. This ended up never being released in the U.S. More than 60 games were originally announced for the 64DD. Nearly all of them were either cancelled, released on cartridge, or ported to another system instead. Things were far more optimistic when this article was written.
      • Nintendo 64: An Expert’s View – An interview with Shigeru Miyamoto about the Nintendo 64. He was the creator of some of Nintendo’s most famous games including Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda among many others.
    Table of Contents from the March 1997 issue of GamePro

    SWATPro Strategy Section

    • Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire Nintendo 64 ProStrategy Guide – If you were a Nintendo fan and a Star Wars fan then this was a game you wanted. This was a strategy guide to help you get through it.
    • Game Enhancers – A bunch of codes for the Game Shark and Game Genie. These were devices that plugged into the cartridge port of a game system and acted as a pass-through. You could enter codes that would change game functionality like different colors, invulnerability, more lives, etc. If you are familiar with the Commodore 64 then it would be the equivalent to entering a POKE command that changed the value at a memory location.
    • The King of Fighters ’95 (PlayStation) – A guide for The King of Fighters ’95 that includes special moves for all of the characters among other tips.
    • SWATPro – GamePro’s tips and tricks section. Games featured this month include Mortal Kombat Trilogy for the Nintendo 64, Killer Instinct Gold and Pandemonium though there are plenty more.

    ProReviews

    • PC GamePro – Reviews of Diablo, Blood, Shadow Warrior, Ecstatica 2, and Rebellion.
    • PlayStation – Reviews of Soul Blade, Spider, Tigershark, Codename: Tenka, Hexen, Carnage Heart, Super Puzzle fighter II Turbo, Nanotek Warrior, Batman Forever, Space Jam, Crusader: No Remorse, Command & Conquer, Rebel Assault II, Psychic Force, Namco Museum Volume 3, and Williams Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1.
    • Saturn – Reviews of Black Dawn, Command & Conquer, and Hexen.
    • Super NES – Review of Maui Mallard in Cold Shadow (a $60 game!) and some re-releases.
    • Sports Pages – An article on NHL’98 plus reviews of NHL Open Ice (PlayStation), NBA Hang Time (Super NES), NBA Jam Extreme (PlayStation), Cool Boarders (PlayStation), VR Soccer’ 97 (Saturn), VR Golf ’97 (Saturn), PGA Tour ’97 (Saturn), Grand Slam (PlayStation), and College Football USA ’97 (Super NES). Also included are previews of Rally Cross (PlayStation) and NCAA Basketball Final Four ’97 (PlayStation, PC CD).
    • Role-Player’s Realm – Reviews of Dark Savior (Saturn), Pacific Theater of Operations II (Saturn), and Chronicles of the Sword (PlayStation).
    Table of Contents from the March 1997 issue of GamePro (continued)

    Departments

    • Head-2-Head: Letter from the GamePros – This month’s editorial compares video game commercials trashing the other guy to negative political campaigning.
    • The Mail – Readers comment upon the system wars and Time Killers.
    • Art Attack – Mortal Kombat, Looney Tunes and other artwork from readers.
    • Buyers Beware – Questions answered about the dangers of leaving a PlayStation plugged in, Mortal Kombat 3 freezing, sound problems with Power Move Pro Wresting and problems with Populous on the Genesis.
    • ProNews – News about system sales for the PlayStation, Saturn and Nintendo 64 and more about Congress trying to censor video games, and more.
    • NetPro – An article about online gaming services, focusing on Mplayer, a service through which you could play against others in games like Quake, Command & Conquer, MechWarrior 2 and plenty more.
    • GamePro Labs – A special on the 64DD, see the Nintendo 64 section above.
    • Overseas Prospects – An interview with Shigeru Miyamoto, see the Nintendo 64 section above.
    • Sneak Previews – A look ahead to future releases including Doom 64 (Nintendo 64), Nightmare Creatures (PlayStation), Need for Speed II (PlayStation, Win 95), War Gods (PlayStation), Crypt Killer (PlayStation), Barb Wire (PlayStation, Saturn, Win 95, DOS, Mac), Propaganda (PlayStation), Sentient (PlayStation), Swagman (PlayStation, Saturn), Wing Commander IV (PlayStation), Crow: City of Angels (PlayStation), Independence Day (PlayStation, Saturn, PC CD), The Incredible Hulk (PlayStation, Saturn), Brahma Force: Assault on Beltlogger 9 (PlayStation), Battlestations (PlayStation), Soviet Strike (Saturn), Rebel Moon Rising (PlayStation), and Thunder Truck Rally (PlayStation).
    • PC GamePro – See ProReviews section above.
    • Hot at the Arcades – Features popular new arcade games including Cruis’n World and Samurai Showdown IV.

    …and more!