Megalextoria

Game Player’s, January 1991

Game Player’s covered every game system out at the time including handhelds and computers and also had individual guide’s for specific systems. I’m not sure but I suspect there was a lot of reuse of material. The January 1991 issue of Game Player’s includes:

• The Editor’s View – Predictions about what the next year of gaming will bring. The NES, Genesis, Game Boy, Commodore’s CDTV, Atari Lynx and others are discussed.

• The Tip Sheet – Tips for Zelda II (NES), King’s Quest IV (PC), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES), Pacland (TurboGrafx-16), Alex Kidd in High-Tech World (Sega Master System).

• Player’s World – An overview of the Game Gear, Sega’s color portable that had recently gone on sale in Japan. The price was about $150 compared to the $89 for the Game Boy, $189 for the Lynx and $249 for the Turbo Express.

• Nintendo News – Nintendo recently announced that game makers could produce their own cartridges as opposed to Nintendo making them all. Theoretically, this would make for potentially cheaper games and a wider variety of cartridge colors and designs. Also, the new head mounted light gun device is announced for the NES.

• Game Boy Players – A detailed review of A Boy and his Blob.

• Arcade Action – Race Drivin’, the sequel to Hard Drivin’ is featured here. An awesome game for its time but the frame rates are so very low by modern standards.

• PC Players – Reviews of Buck Rogers: Countdown to Doomsday and The Lord of the Rings. I never played it but Countdown to Doomsday used the same game system as the Gold Box AD&D games only with a sci-fi theme.

• Sega Players – Reviews of Hard Drivin’, Burning Force and Ishido for the Sega Genesis. Other upcoming games include Aero Blasters, Cross Fire, Junction, Bimini Run, Ka-ge-ki, Dando, Beanball Benny, Berling Wall, RBI Baseball 2 and Task Force Harrier.

• Amiga Players – The future still looked pretty good for the Amiga in early 1991 but that would soon change. The review here is for Wings, a World War I themed game that looks a bit like an updated Blue Max.

• Turbo Players – A review of Legendary Axe II for the TurboGrafx-16.

• Atari Safari – Why not Atari Players? I have no idea. There are reviews in this section for RoadBlasters and Paperboy for the Atari Lynx.

• Nintendo Game of the Month: The California Raisins: The Grape Escape – A detailed look at California Raisins for the NES by Capcom. I’m not sure it rises to the level of being a game of the month…

• Sega Genesis Game of the Month: Sword of Vermilion – While there’s nothing too terribly original here, Sword of Vermilion was a pretty decent RPG for the Genesis.

• Computer Game of the Month – The first in a long series of great space combat games. I preferred the X-Wing series myself but there’s no doubt this was a great series. Origin made some outstanding games (including the Ultima series of course).

• Game Reviews
  • Tombs and Treasures – A sort of action/puzzle/rpg that turned out to be a pretty decent game for the NES.
  • John Madden Football – The legendary football franchise began here. This review is for the Genesis version but it was also available for PCs.
  • Solar Jetman – I remember buying this game on clearance for the NES. Given how little known it seems to be this has to be one of the most underrated games for that system.
  • Super Star Soldier – An arcade quality vertical shooter of the type the TurboGrafx-16 seemed to excel at.
  • The Silver Surfer – A shooter featuring Marvel’s Silver Surfer for the NES.
  • Spirit of Excalibur – An action strategy game for PCs (DOS) that was very pretty but somewhat confusing. It was worth it for those patient enough however.
  • Frankenstein – Effectively a side-scrolling shooter. Seems an odd choice for Frankenstein and the game was average at best.
  • Dirty Harry – A side-scrolling beat-em-up with a pretty old and odd license choice even for the time. Like most licenses, this one is pretty bad.

• Game News & Previews – Upcoming games include Bandit Kings of Ancient China for the NES (the first to use the MMC-5 chip); Microsoft’s Flight Simulator Aircraft and Scenery Designer; Circus Caper for the NES; Jack Nicklaus Turbo Golf in both TurboChip and CD form; Klashball for the NES; Ishido and Nobunaga’s Ambition for the Amiga; the first announced Commodore CDTV titles including Airwave Adventure, Defender of the Crown, Classic Board Games, Many Roads to Murder, Murder Anyone? Excalibure, Space Quest III, Pacmania, Xenon II, Falcon and Sim City among several others; and finally a preview of Roller Derby Games for the NES.

…and more!