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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    • Heretic – The first third party game to use the Doom engine was Raven’s Heretic, which has since been superseded by the excellent Hexen.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!


    📂This entry was posted in Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Nintendo Magazine System – Issue Number 8

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer & Video Game Magazines – Nintendo Magazine System – Issue Number 8

    Nintendo Magazine System was published in several countries and was the official Nintendo magazine in at least some of them. This particular one was published in Britain. Issue number 8 includes:

    Features

    • Cover Story – A cross between Alien Syndrome and countless space-bound horror films, Operation Logic Bomb blasts its way here for an exclusive NMS review. With loads to shoot, and loads of weaponry with which to do so, how does it fare?
    • Exhaust Heat II – Just when you thought racing games couldn’t get any faster, here come Seta with a game so fast it leaves scorch marks on your screen! Forget F-Zero, forget Exhaust Heat. The latest and greatest race game is for your Super NES – and we give it the full Mansell treatment…
    • NMS Goes To The Movies

      • – Lights, camera – and ACTION! With the likes of Batman Returns, Cool World and Lethal Weapon reviewed this very issue, we decided to lump them all together in a special section! So, buy yourself a large bucket of popcorn, irritate people by getting out of your seat and moving along the aisle every five minutes, and keep rustling a jumbo bag of salt and vinegar crisps whenever possible…

    Regulars

    • News – Big Arnie returns for another bout of Nintendo mayhem as Sony sign up the rights to his new movie, The Last Action Hero! Meanwhile Sylvester Stallone is set to hit the Super NES in a game based on his new film, Cliffhanger. Cripes! There’s all this and lots, lots more as we scour the world for all the tidbits of gossip you want to read.
    • Seal’s Mailbag – Arf, arf! Reeking of fish and suitably bewhiskered, SEAL returns for another bout of letter answering. However, if you really want to get on his good side, send him tins of sardines with your letter – it’s almost certain to get in then. Oh, and chocolate. He really likes chocolate. And crisps. And Toffee…
    • NHS: Nintendo Help System – Like Florence Nightingale did to countless soldiers all those years back, NMS cools the fevered brows of you struggling players out there. This month, Prince Of Persia and Alfred Chicken are dissected by our hand-picked team of butchers…sorry surgeons, and their innermost secret removed and placed in specimen jars for your delectation. All this and Small Tips, too. Blimey!
    • Will You Ever? – After revealing in our own, inimitable way the end of Axelay last month, this time we reveal what happens at the end of Super Mario World! That’s right, after the Mario has leapt on to Bowser for the very last time, and all that Mode 7-type related malarkey with the spiky one zooming in and out of the screen has gone, this is what happens…
    • High Scores – Is your sad fizzog featured within these hallowed pages? No, then get playing your fave game, attain a marvelous score, send us a dippy picture, and then wait for us to mock you in the next issue – all in harmless fun, of course.
    • Charts – Rockadoodledoo, Pop Pickers, it’s charteroony time! As well as the official Super NES, NES, and Game Boy charts, there’s the all-important NMS team chart where we scrap amongst ourselves just to get our favorite titles in there. Ah, so that explains why Kirby keeps making all those comebacks…
    • Blagman – Another new idea, and rather a daft one if we do say so ourselves. Blagman is King Scrap, without a doubt. If there is an industry freebie, this Robin Hood of the software industry is there to pinch it and distribute it amongst the needy and greedy. This month, Acclaim’s offices have been stripped bare of all manner of goodies, as the masked wonder offers a massive selection of poached freebies. If you want one, get writing…
    • Index – Ah, the Game Boy, How do we love thee? Let us count the ways. What a beautiful little device. So beautiful in fact that we have acquired the services of the lovely Sarah Ewing, EMAP beauty expert and Game Boy fan to deliver THE ultimate in looks tips and Game Boy info. What’s more, every Game Boy title under the sun is listed for your delectation. There’s never been anything quite like it, which is probably just as well…

    Super NES Reviews

    • Exhaust Heat II
    • Tuff E Nuff
    • Super James Pond
    • Outlander
    • Batman Returns
    • Cool World
    • The Terminator
    • Operation Logic Bomb
    • Shanghai II

    NES Reviews

    • Pugsly’s Scavenger Hunt
    • Lethal Weapon
    • James Pond II: Robocod
    • Mr Gimmick

    Game Boy Reviews

    • Universal Soldier
    • Lethal Weapon

    Previews

    • Alien 3
    • Terminator II
    • Striker
    • Biometal
    • Crash Dummies

    Tips

    • Small Tips
    • Prince of Persia
    • Alfred Chicken

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Game Boy Nintendo (NES) Retro Games Super Nintendo (SNES) 📎and tagged

  • Platoon (NES)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Electronic Game Player – September 1988


    Platoon was released in 1987 for the Commodore 64 and various other computer platforms including the Amiga and Atari. Slightly later, it was ported to the NES by Sunsoft. It is based on the 1986 Oliver Stone movie of the same name. As a licensed game, this one is actually pretty decent (at least on some platforms) which is unusual. This is an action game though it doesn’t really fit into one genre as it has different stages which play like different games. This sort of multi-format game used to be more common and in that sense it reminds me a bit of older games like Beach-Head.

    The movie follows a squad of five soldiers during the Vietnam war. The game has four distinct stages that generally follow the movie. Each of these stages is almost like a completely separate game though each one is a progression in the same story line.

    The first stage plays like a fairly typical side-scrolling action game. In addition to enemies on the ground, you will face obstacles like booby traps and air strikes. Each stage has one or more goals and in this stage you must destroy a bridge and find a village in which you must locate various items.

    The second stage plays somewhat like a first-person shooter. In this stage you navigate a network of tunnels in order to find flares and a compass. Of course there are enemies to battle here as well. After all, it wouldn’t be much of an FPS without things to shoot.

    Once you escape the tunnels, you take cover in a bunker for the third stage where you must use the items you located in the previous stage. You have a limited number of flares which must be used to locate attacking enemies before they can shoot you. This part plays somewhat like a light gun shooter similar to Operation Wolf, only using the game pad instead. Afterwards, you have to use the compass you found to navigate to a position safe from an incoming airstrike. To add to the challenge, you have a limited amount of time in which to do this.

    In the final stage, you navigate through the jungle in a 3rd person point of view while continuing to battle enemies. At the end, you’ll face Sergeant Barnes who is hiding in his own bunker. This stage is relatively simple but that doesn’t mean easy. You have to kill Barnes by successfully landing five grenades in his bunker.

    Licensed games are almost always abysmal. Compared to that benchmark, Platoon is an excellent game. However, the computer releases seemed to have been much better than the port Sunsoft did for the NES. While the computer versions have some quite excellent reviews, most reviews for the NES version complain about the difficulty and endless mazes. Platoon hasn’t been re-released as far as I know so you will have to track down an original or use emulation to play it. Screen shots above are from the NES version. The NES version will have among the best graphics but for playability I would recommend the Commodore 64 or Amiga versions.

    The ad above is from the September 1988 issue of Electronic Game Player.


    📂This entry was posted in Nintendo (NES) Retro Games 📎and tagged