• Tag Archives Sega Genesis
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly (August 1997)

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    Source: Electronic Gaming Monthly – Issue Number 97 – August 1997

    In August 1997 the Saturn, PS1 and Nintendo 64 were the newest consoles. EGM was still also covering the Super Nintendo and the Genesis which were nearing their last days. Contents of this issue includes:

    Departments

    • Insert Coin – A look back at the last 9 years of EGM as well as upcoming changes.
    • Press Start – The latest news in the video game world. This month, Sega and Bandai cancel plans for a merger; Sega announces price cuts for the Saturn (as low as $149); Ghost in the Shell comes to DVD; rumors of an upcoming Nintendo 64 game featuring characters Banjo and Kazooie; Singletrac, a formerly PlayStation only developer, announces an agreement to develop games for the Nintendo 64; launch of the 64DD disk drive add-on for the Nintendo 64 is delayed until March 1998 (not that it would ever make it to the U.S.); Tobal 2 U.S. release cancelled; Earthworm Jim 3 announced for the PlayStation, Nintendo 64 and PC; Interact debuts The V3 Racing Wheel; rumors of Resident Evil for the Nintendo 64; and much more.
    • Top 10 – Takin the number one spots this months according to EGM editors… Overall: Air Combat 2; PlayStation: Air Combat 2; Nintendo 64: Star Fox 64; Saturn: Shining The Holy Ark
    • Gaming Gossip – Rumors this month include information about Dural, Sega’s new 64-bit console; Sony’s new dual analog controller coming soon; new games for the PlayStation including Exodus, Messiah, a James Bond game and a new music game; Namco’s new System 33 arcade board which will host a new Ridge Racer game and a new fighting game among other; a new 3D based arcade board from Capcom which will host Street Fighter IV; Rampage for the Nintendo 64; and more.
    • Protos – A look at upcoming but as yet unfinished games including:
        • Aerofighter Assault (Nintendo 64)
        • MK Mythologies: Sub-Zero (PlayStation, Nintendo 64)
        • Resident Evil (Sega Saturn, PlayStation)
        • Dragonball GT (PlayStation<)
        • Youngblood (PlayStation)
        • Reboot (PlayStation)
        • Clock Tower (PlayStation)
        • Felony 11-79 (PlayStation)
        • Beast Wars (PlayStation)
        • Deathtrap Dungeon (PlayStation)
        • Violent Seed (PlayStation)
        • Freakin’ Fast (PlayStation)
        • Ghost in the Shell (PlayStation)
        • Bravo Air Race (PlayStation)
    • Review Crew – Reviews of the following games:
      • Air Combat 2 – This air combat game for the PlayStation gets EGM’s Game of the Month.
      • Shining The Holy Ark – A must have Saturn owners that are RPG fans.
      • Machine Hunter – A scrolling shooter for the PlayStation that fans of Loaded would probably enjoy.
      • Lethal Enforcers 1 & 2 – An arcade accurate translation of an older light gun shooter for the PlayStation. Graphics have not been updated though and it gets old fast.
      • Xevious 3D – A nifty 3D update of an arcade classic for the PlayStation. I prefer the original though.
      • Raystorm – A solid vertical shooter for the PlayStation.
      • Poy Poy – A simply but fun multiplayer action game for the PlayStation.
    • Trick of the Trade – A code that gives you everything you need in Turok: Dinosaur Hunter; how to enable stage select and expert mode in Buster Brothers Collection; hidden cars in Peak Performance; a variety of cheat for Triple Play 98 and Bug Too!; level select and “cheat kill” in Wing Commander IV; free play, invincibility and more in War Gods; easy mode for Brahma Force; a variety of cheat codes for Descent Maximum; a cheat menu for Independence Day; Invincibility in Doom; a cheat menu in Die Hard Trilogy; and much more!
    • Team EGM – Featuring various sports games including Madden NFL ’98 for the PlayStation, Multi Racing Championship for the Nintendo 64, NCAA Football ’98 for the PlayStation, NHL Powerplay ’98 for the PlayStation, Top Gear Rally for the Nintendo 64 and more.
    • Interface – Letters from readers about Nintendo’s Project Atlantis, rent to own PlayStations, Japanese Saturn games, The City of Lost Children, Final Fantasy VII, the 64DD, and more.

    Win Big!

    • Star Fox 64 – All you had to do for this contest was send in a postcard. Prizes included a Nintendo 64, Star Fox 64, Rumble Paks, Nintendo 64 controllers, and more.

    Special Features

    • Peacetime Programmers – The relationship between defense company simulators and the latest games.
    • Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi – A Star Wars fighting game for the PlayStation. It sounded like such a cool idea but the execution was lacking. As fighting games go, it turned out to be pretty lousy.
    • Psygnosis – Featuring the latest games from this developer: G-Police is a pretty good Blade Runner-esque 3D action game; Colony Wars is another solid game featuring Wing Commander like space combat; Formula 1 ’97 is a sequel to their previous Formula 1 game; Overboard is described here as a cross between Gauntlet and Micro Machines; Psybadek is a free roaming 3D adventure game; Rascal is another such game that falls roughly into the same category; finally we have Shadow Master, a first-person 3D shooter in which you pilot a ship through enclosed areas (reminds me at least in concept of Descent).
    • Polygonal Pinup – A biography of Laura Croft.
    • The Year of the Show – An overview of all the video game related shows around the world throughout the year.

    Next Wave

    • Dungeons & Dragons Collection (Saturn) – Includes both Tower of Doom and Storm Over Mystaria. These were originally arcade games and play like a cross between Final Fight and Golden Axe.
    • Sky Target (Saturn) – Ported from Sega’s Model 2 arcade hardware, this game is a bit reminiscent of After Burner II.
    • MDK (PlayStation) – A goofy and violent 3D 3rd person shooter that was originally developed for the PC. MDK was long rumored to stand for “Murder, Death, Kill”.
    • Machine Hunter (PlayStation) – A one or two-player top down action shooter.
    • Poy Poy (PlayStation) – A sort of 3D Bomberman.
    • Resident Evil Director’s Cut – Because you can never have too much Resident Evil…
    • Street Fighter 2 Collection (PlayStation) – A nice collection for Street Fighter II fans including Super Street Fighter II, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, and Street Fighter Alpha 2 Gold.
    • Lethal Enforcers 1 & 2 (PlayStation) – These lightgun classics are reviewed elsewhere for the Saturn.
    • One (PlayStation) – This 3D action game explores what happens if you wake up full of rage with a metal gun where your arm used to be…
    • Jersey Devil (PlayStation) – A 3D cartoon adventure but the name reminds me of the X-Files episode.

  • Review: Popful Mail (Sega CD)

    Review of Popful Mail by Working Designs for the Sega CD from the May 1995 issue of Sega Visions.

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    Source: Sega Visions – May 1995

    Popful Mail is another action RPG by Working Designs, the same company that released the Lunar and Vay games, among others. The Sega CD didn’t have a huge number of games and many of them are FMV crap but if you were a fan of the Working Designs’ action RPGs then it was a must have system, at least until Working Designs started developing these games for the PlayStation a few years later. Working Designs did a great job of exploiting the strengths of the Sega CD (massive storage for the time) to create lengthy RPGs with a good amount of nicely done animated sequences and voice acting.

    I never got the impression that the oddly named Popful Mail was as good as the Lunar series but it is still a great game and it is a hard (expensive) game to come by today for the Sega CD. Above is a short review of the game from the May 1995 issue of Sega Visions and as you can see, it is all positive.

    Popful Mail was also released on the Super Famicom, PC Engine CD and Windows platform but these were Japan only releases with no English translation. If you wanted the English version, the Sega CD was and remains the only way to get it.





  • Dynamite Headdy (Sega Genesis)

    It seems like you could always count on Treasure to provide a quality game. Dynamite Headdy released in 1994 for the Sega Genesis is no exception to that rule. Written by some of the same team that worked on Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy on its surface appeared to be just another side scrolling platform game of the type that was so common in that era. In a way it was, but it happened to be a spectacular example of that genre.

    In Dynamite Headdy you take the role of a puppet named Headdy who uses his head as his primary weapon. Not just A head though, there are actually many heads that each act as their own sort of power-up. There are quite a few of these power ups including ones that give invincibility, increase speed, restore health, give you a halo of spinning fireballs and there are even heads to find that will take you to bonus levels among other things. His head can be thrown as a weapon, used as a grappling hook, and a for a variety of other fun and interesting things.

    As a puppet, I suppose that it should be obvious that your goal would be to rid the world of an evil puppet master (who has the creative name of Dark Demon). This puppet master has created an army of evil minion puppets so as you can imagine, this can make for a pretty creepy vibe. The bosses are also pretty creepy on a much larger scale.

    The graphics are outstanding and there are tons tons of things going on in the background. In fact, watching what is going on in the background tell a whole story itself but paying too much attention might detract from your game play a bit :). Likewise, the game play, sound and music are all top notch as well. You would have a hard time finding a bad review of this game. Some might argue that the game wasn’t prompted or marketed well enough by Sega or it would have done better in sales. That’s probably true but how do you promote a game in which you play a puppet that throws his head around? Maybe if it had been more horror themed instead of a combination of cutesy and creepy…but then it would lose its unique feel.

    Though the Genesis version if probably the best version and the best known, Dynamite Headdy was also released for the Game Gear and Sega Master System. While those version might lose a little in terms of graphics, they are still solid. But if you are going to give it a try you might as well try the best version which is for the Genesis. And if you are a Treasure fan, a Sega fan or just a gaming fan in general, this is one you should definitely try if you haven’t already. If you don’t have a Genesis there are a few more modern re-releases that might be an option, including a release on the Wii via the Virtual Console, as part of Sonic’s Ultimate Genesis Collection on the Xbox 360 and PS3, as part of Sega Genesis Classics, via the Nintendo Switch Online Expansion Pack service and via Steam..