• Tag Archives SNES

  • Super Play (November 1993)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Super Play – Issue Number 13 – November 1993

    Super Play is a magazine that was dedicated to the Super Nintendo and published in the U.K. This is another thing we didn’t have much of in the U.S. Magazines dedicated to a specific gaming system weren’t all that common until the PlayStation came along, at least if you exclude Nintendo and Sega official publications and even those typically covered multiple systems. Other than a short-lived EGM spin-off, I don’t think we had any magazines dedicated to the Super Nintendo. The November 1993 issue of Super Play includes:

    Features

    • Third-party politics – An article on the relationship between Nintendo and third-part developers. Because of what Nintendo charges developers for carts, taxes, etc., they were not making money on 60 pound carts. This was exacerbated by the fact that Nintendo restricted developers from releasing games on multiple systems. This is what pushed some companies like Electronic Arts to develop for the Genesis.
    • The Super Mario Collection – Part two of a player’s guide for Super Mario Collection. This part covers Super Mario Bros. 2 (The Lost Levels) and Super Mario USA.
    • Kick It!: Super Play’s Soccer Special – Reviews and previews of various soccer games on the Super NES. Games covered include Sensible Soccer, Empire Soccer, Pele, World Soccer, High School Soccer, EA Soccer, Super J-League Soccer, World Cup Striker, Virtual Soccer, and Prime Goal.
    • Top Gear 2 vs. Lamborghini American Challenge – Reviews and a comparison of these two games. Both were similar style games that are played from a similar perspective as Outrun.
    • Mario & Wario – In this game, you must place blocks in front of Mario using the Mouse so that he does not plummet to his death. He has a bucket over his head so he cannot see. I guess you could say that this game is a distant cousin to something like Lemmings.
    • Aero the Acrobat – A platform game that features a bat as the protagonist.
    • Super Putty – A platform game for all ages that puts you in the role of a ball of super putty.
    • Goof Troop – An action adventure game played from an overhead perspective. Most of Capcom’s Disney licenses were pretty good and this one is no exception though it is a bit on the easy side. However, it is also targeted towards a younger audience.
    • Jurassic Park – A game based on the movie of the same name. Most games based on movies aren’t that good. In fact, most are complete garbage. However, there is the occasional exception and this is one of them.

    Regulars

    • Gamefreak – Questions answered from readers about 16-bit versions of Metroid and Zelda, Romancing Saga from Square Soft, Blaster Master, the possibility of an uncensored Mortal Kombat, technical specs of the SNES, game release dates, and more.
    • Mode 7 – Tips, tricks, passwords and cheats for various games including Final Fight 2, Powermonger, Super Turrican, Yoshi’s Cookie, Super Mario World, Starwing, Street Fighter II, Super Fire Pro Wrestling 2, Super Probotector, Prince of Persia, Desert Strike, Rival Turf, Super Family Tennis, Super Formation Soccer, Street Fighter II Turbo, WWF Royal Rumble, and more.
    • Playback – Letters from readers about Home Improvement, Japanese vs. U.S. ads, plus envelope art and more.
    • What Cart? – Short reviews of 320 Super Nintendo games.
    • Supermarket – Readers offer Super NES hardware and software for sale.
    • Next Month – Coverage of Japanese games, troubleshooting the SNES, tons of reviews, and more.

    Plus reviews of Arcus Odyssey, Captain America, Championship Pool, Evo, Incredible Crash Test Dummies, Might & Magic II, Mr. Nutz, Prime Goal, Super F1 Cirucs 2, Super Slap Shot, and Wing Commander and much more!


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

  • Tips & Tricks (Spring 1994)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: Tips & Tricks – Spring 1994 

    I suppose the Tips & Tricks was the closest thing to a successor to VideoGames & Computer Entertainment that there was. Many of the same people were involved. However, while VG&CE was my favorite magazine while it was still around, I don’t think I ever bought an issue of Tips & Trick. While I sometimes enjoyed that type of content, my main interest was in news and reviews type stuff. This is the premiere issue of Tips & Tricks from Spring 1994 and it includes:

    Strategy

    • General Chaos – A squad based overhead action game from Electronic Arts for the Sega Genesis.
    • Double Switch – A full motion video game from Sega for the Sega CD that is along the lines of Night Trap.
    • Mortal Komba – Mortal Kombat debuts on home systems for the Super NES, Genesis, Game Boy and Game Gear. This guide helps with all of them.
    • Mortal Kombat II – Some tips and tricks for the Mortal Kombat II arcade game.
    • Clay Fighter – A guide to this more humorous fighting game.
    • Raiden – Atari Jaguar version of this classic vertical shooter.

    Departments

    • Power Up! – An introduction to a brand new magazine along with a glossary of terms including tip, trick, easter egg, bug, combo, and boss.
    • Readers’ Tips – Tips from readers for Clay Fighter (Super NES) and Street Fighter II Turbo (SNES).

    Tips

    • Genesis Tips – Tips for Battletoads/Double Dragon, Micro Machines, Pink Goes to Hollywood, Flash Back, Mortal Kombat, Aladdin, Sunset Riders, Jungle Strike, Shinobi III, and Ecco the Dolphin.
    • Sega CD Tips – Tips for Stellar-Fire, Double Switch, Microcosm, The Terminator, and Sonic CD.
    • Super NES Tips – Tips for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Tournament Fighters, Battletoads / Double Dragon, Super Nova, Pink Goes to Hollywood, Battlemaniacs, Cacoma Knight, Tom & Jerry, Super Street Fighter II Turbo, WWF Royal Rumble, and Taz-Mania.
    • Jaguar Tips – Tips for Trevor McFur in the Crescent Galaxy.
    • NES Tips – Tips for Battletoads / Double Dragon and Batman Returns.
    • Game Gear Tips – Tips for Super Monaco GP II and Lemmings.
    • Game Boy Tips – Tips for Mortal Kombat.
    • Game Genie Tips – Entering codes in a Game Genie accomplished much the same sort of thing as using POKEs in 8-bit computer games did. Basically you were hacking parameters of the game.
    • Pro Action Replay Tips – Much the same as the Game Genie but just with a different code scheme.

    …and more!


    📂This entry was posted in Retro Games 📎and tagged

  • Pac-Attack (Super Nintendo)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: GameFan – Volume 2, Issue 2 – January 1994

    While Pac-Man was originally famous for maze games starting in 1980 (eat the dots, flee the ghosts), there have been numerous Pac-Man games over the years in a variety of other genres. Pac-Attack, released in 1993 is one such game and fits into the puzzle game genre. Pac-Attack has the distinction of being the first Pac-Man game released exclusively for home systems.

    Pac-Attack was initially released for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis late in 1993. In 1994 versions were released for the Game Boy and Game Gear. In 1995, a version for the Philips CD-i in 1995. both the Sega Genesis and Super NES versions have been re-released as unlockable content in other games and/or as part of various compilations over the years. The Genesis version seems to get slightly better reviews but the Genesis and Super NES versions are very similar. While this was technically the first Pac-Man game released exclusively on home systems, it was based on another game called Cosmo Gang the Puzzle which was released in arcades.

    This game is similar to games like Tetris and Columns in that you must clear blocks that fall from the top of the screen. The unique twist with Pac-Attack is that sometimes ghosts will fall instead of blocks. To clear ghosts you must guide special Pac-Man pieces to fall on them. Pac-Man will eat any ghosts in his path with the direction he is facing determining the path he will take. There is also a two-player mode in which clearing blocks will cause extra blocks to fall on your opponent.

    If you like puzzle games, then you will probably enjoy this one. However, it was criticized as having less depth and less replayability than some other similar puzzle games at the time. It was frequently compared to Tetris, Dr. Mario and Dr. Robotnik’s Mean Bean Machine among others and Pac-Attack did not come out on top. Still, reviews were more positive than negative and it’s worth giving a try.

    If you do want to give this one a try, you can of course track down an original or use emulation. There are also several re-releases that you could consider. In 1998 there was a Japan only release of the Genesis version along with a remake as part of Namco Anthology 2. The Genesis version was also available as an unlockable bonus in Namco Museum for the PS2, Xbox, and GameCube in 2001. The remake that was released in Namco Anthology 2 also showed up as an unlockable bonus in Pac =-Man World 2 for the GameCube, PS2, Xbox, GBA, and Windows in 2002. The Genesis version was once again re-released as Pac-Man Museum collection released in 2014 for the Xbox 360, PS3 and PC. Most recently, the Super NES version was re-released as part of Pac-Man Museum + for the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC which was released in 2022.

    The screen shots and ad above are all for the Super NES version of the game.


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