• Tag Archives SNES

  • Super Play (February 1993)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Computer & Video Game Magazines – Super Play – Issue Number 4 – February 1993


    Super Play is a magazine dedicated to the Super Nintendo that was published in the U.K. The February 1993 issue includes:

    Super Express

    • Gamesmaster Live! Show Report – December saw the second of this year’s computer and video game shows, this one sponsored by the chart-topping TV series. Super Play went along…
    • Game of the Year – While you vote for the Golden bees, we thought we’d tell you what we would have gone for…
    • Only In Japan – Weird goings on from the other side of the globe.
    • Live From Hell City – At last! Super Play’s Japanese correspondent arrives, with a massive four-page guide to Tokyo. Plus, news on all the hot new Japanese games…
    • Books – Jonathan Davies looks at two new games books.
    • Super Mario Kart Challenge – So, who is the best Mario Kart player in the Super Play office? The people deserve to know…!
    • Super Nintendo Adapter Test – What’s the best universal adapter to buy to allow your UK Super NES to run foreign games?
    • Super Play Hot List – Our favorite new games of the past few months.
    • Anime World – Helen McCarthy looks at three Japanese animation series which would make great Super NES games.
    • International Charts – Super Play brings you the best selling games from America and Japan, as well as two UK charts.
    • Super Play Interview – David Darling of CodeMasters, creators of the Game Genie, talks to Matt Bielby.

    Special Feature

    • Special F/X Chips – What your Super Nintendo is capable of doing will increase dramatically over the next year – without you having to buy any extra hardware. The reason, of course, is the arrival of Argonaut’s new Super F/X chip, Nintendo’s DSP chip, and other new cartridge-mounted ways of increasing the power of your Super Nintendo. But how do they work? What can they do? What will teh games be like that run them? And how much will they cost?

    Super Player’s Guides

    • Another World – The complete solution (half anyway) to one of teh most gorgeous-looking SNES games yet.
    • Actraiser – We take this bizarre – yet brilliant – slash-’em-up-cum-god-sim to pieces.

    Regulars

    • Superstore – The page full of special offers you just can’t refuse. Buy these essential Super Nintendo accessories at unbeatable prices.
    • Mode 7 – Hints and tips for top games including more Mario Kart tips, Phalanx and Turtles IV, plus Ask Ade and some brilliant new Street Fighter II cheats.
    • Gamefreak – Our very own gamefreak, Jason Brookes, with more answers to your SNES technical problems and game release queries.
    • Play Back – The bit you write, with letter on everything from the Street Fighter II to whether the Mega Drive is swiping our best games. Plus! Compo winners!
    • Supermarket – Want to buy or sell something? (Something SNES related, that is.) You’ve come to the right place.
    • What Cart? – Over 140 (140!) reviews of old Super Nintendo games available in this country (though you’ll have to hunt a bit to find some of them!). You won’t find most of this information anywhere else…
    • Subscriptions – Your last chance to take advantage of our fabulous Akira offer!
    • Datebook – Your complete guide to new games on release in this country, America and Japan. Want to know when a new game is coming out? Look here first!
    • Next Month – The secrets of our March issue revealed!
    • Cartography – All those specialist Super Nintendo terms that’ve been confusing you – explained!

    Game Reviews

    • Import Reviews

      • Brass Boss – First of this month’s Street Fighter II wannabes.
      • Cacoma Knight – Modern Qix-lookalike hits the Super NES.
      • Chuck Rock – Good enough for Super Nintendo?
      • Death Valley Rally – ‘Mbeep! Mbeep!’ Road Runner is on page.
      • Fatal Fury – Hot from the Neo Geo comes another SF II clone.
      • Gunforce – Bored of Super Probtector? Then try this.
      • Human Grand Prix – Weirdo controls, but a great driving game!
      • North Star Ken 6 – Our third SF II rival lines up for its shot at the title.
      • Power Athlete – Yes, it’s another Street Fighter II lookalike!
      • Road Riot 4WD – Buggy games make for ace driving fun. Usually.
      • Skulljagger – Platforms, pirates and hack-’em-up action ahoy!
      • Super NBA Basketball – Great end-to-end action in ace new sports sim.
      • Super Star Wars – Great film, even better platform game!
      • Volleyball Twin – The ‘Melon Girls’take on the ‘Coconuts’!

    • UK Reviews

      • Another World – Brilliant animation, but…
      • Axelay – Best blaster yet?
      • Desert Strike – At last on Super NES!
      • Drakkhen – Role playing heaven?
      • John Madden ’93 – Bigger, better, faster?
      • NHLPA Hockey – As quick as they come!
      • Pitfighter – Oh dear…
      • Super Basketball – Brilliant 3D court action!
      • Super Mark Kart – Our fave of the year!
      • Super Off Road – Super Sprint with trucks!

    …and more!


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

  • Nintendo Power (December 1993)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Nintendo Power – Issue Number 55 – December 1993



    I was never a huge fan of Nintendo Power but there’s no doubt it was a great way to see what games were coming around for Nintendo systems. In 1993 it was primarily the Super Nintendo being covered but there was also Game Boy and NES coverage as well. The December 1993 issue includes:

    Super NES

    • Disney’s Aladdin
    • NHL Stanley Cup
    • Clay Fighter
    • Daffy Duck: The Marvin Missions
    • Battle Cars
    • Super Scope Roundup

    Game Boy

    • Tom & Jerry: Frantic Antics
    • Mega Man IV

    NES

    • Mega Man VI
    • Tetris 2

    Tips From The Pros

    • Nester’s Adventures
    • Classified Information
    • Counselors’ Corner

    The Info Zone

    • Raya Systems
    • Next Issue

    Video Updates

    • Now Playing
    • Pak Watch

    Comics

    • Star Fox

    Player’s Forum

    • Player’s Pulse
    • Power Player’s Challenge
    • Player’s Poll Contest
    • Top 20

    …and more!


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

  • The Nintendo Play Station

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/648201417459482624/caterpie-in-the-early-90s-nintendo-decided


    No, that’s not a typo. Ultimately, it was really Nintendo that was responsible for the Sony PlayStation being created. Back in the 16-bit era, when the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis were the dominant systems, Sega created a CD add-on peripheral pretty early in the life of the Genesis. Nintendo threatened their own CD add-on but it never saw the light of day. Nintendo partnered with Sony and Phillips at different times (starting with Sony in 1988) to develop this CD add-on but I guess they were never happy the results because the idea was ultimately shelved. Sony, a little upset at having put significant work into a system that wasn’t going to get released (dubbed the Nintendo Play Station), decided to go it alone and release their own standalone system. That would be the Sony PlayStation.

    Sony had legitimate reasons to be upset. They announced the PlayStation (Super Nintendo/CD-ROM combo device) at the June 1991 CES. The following day, Nintendo announced its partnership with Phillips. On the other hand, Nintendo was upset by Sony’s attempt at wrangling software licensing away from Nintendo by using a special CD-ROM format that was exclusively owned by Sony. Prototypes continued to be developed and Nintendo and Sony tried to work out their differences through 1992 when Nintendo and Sony reached a deal in which Sony could release SNES compatible hardware. However, the following year, Sony dropped development of the Super Nintendo CD-ROM and devoted its efforts to its own standalone PlayStation.

    At the time, I regularly bought issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly and it seemed like every couple of months they had some new news item or preview of the latest iteration of this supposed CD-ROM add-on. One issue went so far as to publish the “final” specs. I had a Super Nintendo and was very interested in this magical super gaming device that was supposed to cost less than $200 and add additional superpowers to the Super Nintendo. I really wanted one.

    In June 1992, EGM offered a “First Look” at the new Super Nintendo CD-ROM with schematic. In included impressive features such as a 21 MHz “SCCP” co-processor (lightning fast for a game system at the time…the SNES CPU clocked in at 3.58 MHz) and a total of 8 Megabits of additional RAM (the SNES had 1 MBit). That’s an addition 1 Megabyte which was pretty impressive for the time. Best of all, this wonder machine was supposed to clock in at under $200.

    In the November 1992 issue of EGM, there was a news blurb about how Nintendo was abandoning their current design in favor of a new CD-ROM add-on that would have a 32-bit co-processor and that it could be in production as early as August 1993. This was a little confusing in that later specs quoted the same speed for the co-processor.

    Finally, in the March 1993 issue of EGM, what were supposedly the “production” specs of the CD-ROM add-on were published. Specs included the following:

    • Main Memory
      • D-RAM: 8 Mbits
      • PS-RAM: 1 Mbit
    • Supplemental Memory
      • D-RAM: 4 Mbits
    • System ROM: 2 Mbits
    • Co-Processor (SCCP)
      • Type: 32-Bit RISC
      • Clock Speed: 21.477 MHz
      • Cache: 8 Kbit
    • CD-ROM Decoder (HANDS)
      • Type: 65C02
      • Clock Speed: 4.295 MHz
    • CD-ROM Drive
      • Standard Access Time: 0.7 Sec.
      • Max. Access Time: 1.4 Sec.
      • Data Output Speed (Norm): 150 KBytes/sec
      • Data Output Speed (2x): 300 KBytes/sec

    It would also feature a caddy system where the CD-ROMs would be encased in a caddy to help prevent damage. These specs look quite similar to what had been published months before but with some more detail. But as we all know, this never saw the light of day.

    Finally, in the March 1993 issue of EGM, what were supposedly the “production” specs of the CD-ROM add-on were published. Specs included the following:

    • Main Memory
      • D-RAM: 8 Mbits
      • PS-RAM: 1 Mbit
    • Supplemental Memory
      • D-RAM: 4 Mbits
    • System ROM: 2 Mbits
    • Co-Processor (SCCP)
      • Type: 32-Bit RISC
      • Clock Speed: 21.477 MHz
      • Cache: 8 Kbit
    • CD-ROM Decoder (HANDS)
      • Type: 65C02
      • Clock Speed: 4.295 MHz
    • CD-ROM Drive
      • Standard Access Time: 0.7 Sec.
      • Max. Access Time: 1.4 Sec.
      • Data Output Speed (Norm): 150 KBytes/sec
      • Data Output Speed (2x): 300 KBytes/sec

    It would also feature a caddy system where the CD-ROMs would be encased in a caddy to help prevent damage. These specs look quite similar to what had been published months before but with some more detail. But as we all know, this never saw the light of day.


    📂This entry was posted in PlayStation Super Nintendo (SNES) 📎and tagged