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  • VideoGames & Computer Entertainment (February 1991)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: VideoGames & Computer Entertainment – February 1991

    VideoGames & Computer Entertainment was my favorite gaming magazine in the late 1980s to early 1990s. EGM was great then too but this one was my favorite. It was sort of the spiritual successor to the original Electronic Games as it had many of the same people involved though Electronic Games itself would make a return for a little while. The February 1991 issue of VG&CE includes:

    Features

    • Hot Circuits: The Arcade Museum – “Hot Circuits, A Video Arcade” was a traveling arcade museum created by the American Museum of the Moving Image in New York City. It included arcade machines dating back to 1971 all of which were playable by patrons.
    • Looking for the Light: A Player’s Guide to Final Fantasy, Part II – The second part of a strategy guide for Final Fantasy on the NES. Spoilers included.
    • VG&CE’s Best Games of 1990 – Winners and runners up in several categories as determined by the editors of VG&CE. Phantasy Star II for the Genesis won game of the year, Bonk’s Adventure for the TurboGrafx-16 won action game of the year, Whip Rush for the Sega Genesis won best science-fiction video games, Devil’s Crush won best simulation video game (as a pinball simulation), Herzog Zwei (Genesis) and Military Madness (TurboGrafx-16) tied for best military-strategy video game, It Came From the Desert won best computer game, Prince of Persia won best computer action game, Battles of Napoleon won best computer military-strategy game, and there are a number of other categories as well as honorable mentions in each category.

    • Super Glove Ball, Part I – The first part of a strategy guide to Super Glove Ball, a game designed for the Power Glove.
    • Giving Crime the Boot – A feature on crime related games. Some of the titles covered include The Punisher, Search for the King, Police Quest, The Colonel’s Bequest, Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, Clue: Master Detective, David Wolf: Secret Agent, Countdown, Rise of the Dragon, and more.

    Reviews

    • Video-Game Reviews – Reviews of Bart Simpson vs. the Space Mutants (NES), Battle Squadron (Sega Genesis), The Punisher (NES), Shadow Dancer (Sega Genesis), Galaxy 5000 (NES), Princess Tomato in the Salad Kingdom (NES), Krazy Kreatures (NES), Burning Force (Sega Genesis), Ultima: Quest of the Avatar (NES), Arrow Flash (Sega Genesis), and Pac-Mania (NES).

    • Computer-Game Reviews – Reviews of Wing Commander (DOS, Amiga), Spot (Commodore 64, DOS), Ishido (Amiga, DOS, Macintosh), It Came From the Desert II (Amiga), Altered Destiny (Amiga, DOS), Anarchy (Amiga, Atari ST), Unreal (Amiga), Stunt Driver (DOS), and Stormovik (DOS).
    • Computer-Game Strategies – Brief strategy guides for Brainblaster (Amiga, Atari ST, DOS) and Turbo Out Run (Amiga, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS).

    Departments

    • Editor’s Letter – Andy Eddy talks about his experience with an Activision event to promote F-14 Tomcat.
    • Reader Mail – Readers write in about alternate uses for the Game Boy and Atari Lynx, the used game market, Tecmo Bowl for the NES, Pit Fighter, and more.
    • Crash & Boom – A comic featuring taunting turtles.
    • Tip Sheet – Tips for Alien Syndrome on the Sega Master System, Snake’s Revenge on the NES, and Ninja Spirit on the TurboGrafx-16.
    • News Bits – Accolade sponsors golf course design contest for Jack Nicklaus’ Unlimited Golf; retailers increasingly carrying 16-bit systems and software; Commodore’s CDTV; Commodore reduces price of Amiga; new arcade game from Williams (Hit the Ice); and much more.
    • Easter Egg Hunt – Tips and tricks for Klax (TurboGrafx-16), Loopz (NES), Gilligan’s Island (NES), Super Star Soldier (TurboGrafx-16), Gargoyle’s Quest (Game Boy), Narc (NES), Devil’s Crush (TurboGrafx-16), Mondu’s Fight Palace (Genesis), and Chip’s Challenge (Lynx).
    • Fandango – Reviews of recent fanzines including Porta-Play #1 (covering the Game Boy and Lynx), Genesis Masters #2 (covering the Sega Genesis), Dan-Man’s Game Review #3 (covering the Sega Genesis), and The Subersive Sprite #5.
    • Destination Arcadia – A report from the 1990 Amusement & Music Operators Association (AMOA) Expo. New games shown include Mad Dog McCree (American Laser Games), Bio-Ship Paladin (American Sammy), Double Dragon 3 (American Technos), Race Drivin’ (Atari), Pushman (American Sammy), Pit Fighter (Atari), Shuuz (Atari), Carrier Airwing (Capcom), Magic Sword (Capcom), The Adventures of Edward Randy (Data East), The Simpsons (Data East), Blood Brothers (Irem), Hammerin’ Harry (Irem), Cisco Heat (Jaleco), Earth Defense Force (Jaleco), Escape Kids (Konami), Over Drive (Konami), Punkshot (Konami), and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Konami).
    • Inside Gaming – A look at the year past, including the awards process for the awards in this issue, and a look into the next year with predictions.
    • Game Doctor – Questions answered about the TurboGrafx-16’s technical capabilities, the future of NES software, Nintendo’s upcoming 16-bit system, state of the art PC games, programming video games, and more.

    …and more!


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  • ToeJam & Earl (Sega Genesis)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/705371872570769408

    “ToeJam and Earl” was developed by Jonson Voorsanger Productions and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis in 1991. Words such as “quirky” and “offbeat” are often used to describe it. In any case, this action adventure games is certainly unique and if you were looking for something a little different than the typical action/platform games common at the time then this would certainly fit the bill.

    The main characters of the game who serve as your avatars are two funky aliens from the planet Funkotron. As you may have guessed, their names are ToeJam and Earl. They have crash landed on Earth and you may control either ToeJam or Earl (or both in a two-player game) as they search for the missing pieces of their spaceship so that they may return home.

    Though it may not initially strike you as such, this game could be considered an example of a roguelike game. It was heavily influenced by the 1980 adventure game, Rogue. Those influences include things like random level and item generation.

    While ToeJam an Earl may have been influenced by Rogue, it certainly adds its own unique flavor. It was quite a unique game for the time it was released. The game is played from a 3/4 perspective and the random level generation means that it never looks quite the same. These levels are portrayed as sort of floating islands of Earth in space. To reach the next level, you must find an elevator to take you there. Not only are the graphics unique but they are quite good as well. The same can be said of the music with the soundtrack being as “funky” as the rest of the game.

    Gameplay revolves around exploration and item collection. The ultimate goal is to find the ten pieces of the ship and return home. Standing in your way are various hostile “Earthlings” such as giant hamsters, aggressive packs of nerds, chickens armed with tomatoes, and even Bogeymen. As you can probably tell, there is an emphasis on humor with this game. There are also a few characters that will help you along the way and you can also defend yourself by throwing tomatoes or by other equally absurd means.

    While this game gets mostly very good reviews there was the occasional complaint. For instance, the game emphasizes exploration in such a way that the pace can be slow. However, whether that is a bad thing or not depends more on personal preference. At times, ToeJam and Earl can also be relatively difficult.

    ToeJam and Earl was successful during its time but not quite as successful as many other big titles on the Genesis. There have been a couple of sequels. The first was ToeJam & Earl in Panic on Funkotron. However, in part because of pressure from Sega, it abandoned the style of the original game and was more of a generic platformer. It still received good reviews and was still a commercial success but somewhat disappointing to fans of the original. Another sequel was planned for the Dreamcast but was not released. A beta version found its way onto the internet in 2013. There was a ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth released on the Xbox in 2002 which returned more to the original style but received mixed reviews and garnered poor sales. Finally, there was ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove which was released in 2019. However, this was more of an enhanced remake of the original than a sequel.

    There’s a good chance that you missed the original ToeJam & Earl if you had a Genesis back in the day. If so, you should remedy that and find a way to play this one. The original is still probably the best. I don’t know of any re-releases so you would have to track down an original cartridge or make do with emulation. However, it is well worth it.


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  • Advanced Computer Entertainment (January 1992)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer & Video Game Magazines – ACE (Advanced Computer Entertainment) – Issue Number 52 – January 1992

    ACE, which stands for Advanced Computer Entertainment was a gaming magazine published in the U.K. in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It covered both computers and consoles. Computer coverage in 1992 included the Amiga, Atari ST, and PC. The January 1992 issue includes:

    Columns

    • Games News – Spiderman’s 30th anniversary celebrated with a new arcade game and an upcoming movie from Sony’s Columbia Pictures; B17 Flying Fortress from Microprose coming soon; Gremlin producing sequel to Utopia; Sega starts bundling Sonic with the Megadrive; Japanese gamers camp out for Zelda III; expansion for Wing Commander II coming from Origin; Electronic Arts to release editor for Populous; Namco introduces Starblade to arcades; Bart Simpson, Terminator 2 and WWF Superstars coming to the Game Boy; and more.
    • Tech News – Spectrum Holobyte and W Industries (makers of the Virtuality arcade system) join forces to develop virtual reality games.
    • Letters – Letters from readers about the short length of some games, recent changes in ACE, the CDTV, rising software prices, big game boxes with little in them, and more.
    • In the Works – Previews of games that are in progress including Cyber Fight from Electronic Arts, ATAC from Microprose, and Apocalypse from Mirrorsoft (sort of an updated Choplifter).
    • Previews – Previews of soon to be released games including Bodycount from Strangeways, KGB from Virgin Games, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis from Lucasfilm, Populous from Bullfrog, John Madden’s Football (the first!) from Electronic Arts, Fire and Ice from Image Works, and Special Forces from Microprose.
    • Console Section – Reviews of Super E.D.F for the Super Famicom, Mega Man for the Game Boy, Super R.C. Pro-Am for the Game Boy (one of my favorite racing games though not necessarily the Game Boy version), Pac-Mania for the Megadrive, QuackShot for the Megadrive, Factory Panic for the Game Gear, and Woody Pop for the Game Gear.
    • Next Month – Coming in the next issue: the ACE Awards (plus the usual reviews, previews and more).
    • Reviews Directory – 30 pages of brief reviews for tons of games.

    Reviews

    • Another World – An arcade adventure game for the Amiga (version being reviewed), Atari ST and PC (DOS) that is reminiscent of Prince of Persia.
    • Epic – A 3D space shooter for the Atari ST, Amiga, and PC (DOS). Compared here to Wing Commander.
    • Populous II – Sequel to the classic Electronic Arts real-time strategy game for the Amiga, Atari ST, and PC (DOS).
    • Wolfchild – An arcade side-scrolling run and gun type game with a sci-fi theme for the Amiga and Atari ST.
    • Eye of the Beholder 2 – Sequel to the classic D&D RPG from SSI for the PC (reviewed here) and Amiga.
    • The First Samurai – An arcade martial arts themed adventure game for the Amiga (reviewed here), Atari ST, and PC (DOS).

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Amiga Arcade Atari ST Computer Arcana DOS Game Boy Retro Games Sega Genesis Super Nintendo (SNES) 📎and tagged