• Tag Archives Super Nintendo

  • Young Merlin (Super NES, 1994)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/702502698646372352/videogameads-young-merlin-virgin-super-nes-1994

    Young Merlin is a game that was developed by Westwood Studios and published by Virgin Games in 1994 for the Super Nintendo. The game could best be described as an action RPG and was in fact compared to Zelda in some reviews. Despite this, it never gained near the popularity of Zelda or many other similar games.

    The plot of Young Merlin revolves, of course, around a young Merlin whose role you play. In an attempt to save a drowning woman, you (as Merlin) get sucked into a fantasy world. Apparently, the girl you were trying to rescue was also sucked into this world and kidnapped by a Shadow King. Now it is your job to rescue her from an even more difficult situation.

    Much like Zelda: A Link to the Past, you journey around this virtual world from an overhead view in an action style game. There are many enemies to fight, spells to gather, puzzles to solve and inhabitants to interact with among other things. One interesting unique aspect of the game is that conversations are handled with icons vs. text. Also, games are saved via password instead of battery which is good for those trying to play this on an original Super Nintendo with a 25 year old cartridge.

    Young Merlin got mostly positive reviews with very few exceptions. The biggest complaints seem to be that the game was too easy and could be repetitive with all of the backtracking you had to do. I’m not sure what the sales numbers were but it does not seem to have been all that popular. Possibly based on the name it was perceived to be more of a kids game. However, it is a decent action RPG if you like games in the style of Zelda even if it may not be quite as good or as challenging as some other options.

    If you do want to give it a try, finding an original cartridge or resorting to emulation would appear to be your only options. Young Merlin was only released on the Super Nintendo and has not appeared in any subsequent compilations or re-releases. There also do not appear to be any sequels.


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  • Super Street Fighter II (Super NES)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment


    https://darth-azrael.tumblr.com/post/701778197227929600

    In my mind, Street Fighter II was the last really hugely popular arcade game. Sales numbers would seem to back that up as Street Fighter II was behind only Space Invaders and Pac-Man in terms of number of machines sold. Mortal Kombat and Mortal Kombat II are also high on the list but by comparison, the original Street Fighter II sold 60,000 machines (Street Fighter II Championship Edition sold even more at 140,000 machines). By comparison, the Mortal Kombat machines only sold in the range of 20,000 to 30,000 units. See https://electronics.howstuffworks.com/the-25-best-selling-arcade-games-of-all-time.htm for more sales info.

    Being one of the most popular arcade games, it was also one of the most anticipated home conversions of all time. This was in the 16-bit era of home gaming so home systems were significantly less capably than arcade machines at the time. It was all about how close to arcade perfect you could get but there were always some sacrifices. Graphics quality, sound quality, and sometimes game play were all at least somewhat below arcade standards.

    Nintendo managed to get the first home conversion on the Super Nintendo system. The Super Nintendo had better graphics hardware than the Genesis but it also had a slower CPU. Many early games on the Super NES suffered from problems with slow-down when a lot was going on on-screen at the same time. As programmers became more familiar with the hardware, this became less of an issue over time.

    As arcade version for the Super NES go, Street Fighter II was quite good. It wasn’t perfect but no arcade conversions at the time were. The slow-down issue did occur but it was relatively minor and didn’t impact game play much. Background animations were also reduced among other slight changes. As far as home conversions go, it was about as good as you could get. There was a Genesis port that came along a little later and it was ALMOST as good but didn’t quite match the graphics quality and control of the Super NES version. The PC Engine also had an impressive port of the later Championship Edition but it was really too late for the U.S. market and the TurboGrafx-16 was pretty much dead here by that time and this game never saw a U.S. release. I’m not sure what licensing issues may have existed but if they had decided to release a Turbo Duo bundle in the U.S. at that time that included this game they probably could have sold a ton of units and extended the life of that system.

    One challenge with the home conversion of Street Fighter II and its sequels was the controller. The arcade version used a joystick and two rows of three buttons. The Super Nintendo controller actually had enough buttons though they weren’t really arranged in the ideal way for this game. Other systems didn’t even have enough buttons. Needless to say, this spawned an entire market in various six button controllers.

    While not arcade perfect, this arcade conversion was probably the most impressive there had been up to that point. Even to the casual player today, this version is perfectly fine to play instead of the arcade version. Of course, these days you can emulate the arcade version or play arcade perfect conversions on newer systems. It’s still worthwhile to check out the Super NES version or even the other conversions at the time to see how impressive they were considering the hardware they were running on.


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  • GamePro (December 1997)

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    Source: GamePro – December 1997

    While I always preferred Electronic Gaming Monthly, GamePro was almost as popular though it seemed to be aimed at a slightly younger audience. At about 250 pages, the December 1997 issue had to be pretty much at its peak. It includes:

    Features

    • Star Wars: The Masters of Teras Kasi – An exclusive, hands-on look at this new Star Wars themed fighting game.
    • GamePro’s Holiday Shopper’s Guide – A list of the best games, peripherals and other gaming items for the holiday season according to GamePro.
    • Metal Gear Solid! – Metal Gear Solid was the first Metal Gear game since the NES days and also transitioned the series to 3D. It came out in 1998 but was set in 2005.

    Spotlight On!

    • Messiah: Rising Shiny – A visit to Shiny Entertainment to look at the upcoming Messiah for the PlayStation and PC.
    • SEAL Squad 2040: A Special Force To Be Reckoned With – A preview of SEAL Squad 2040 for the PlayStation, described here as Wave Race 64 with guns.
    • WCW Nitro: Of Kingpins and Pin Kings – A talk with Diamond Dallas Page, the Giant, Curt Hennig, Kevin Nash and Scott Hall about WCW Nitro and games in general.

    SWATPro Strategy Section

    • Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter – A detailed strategy guide for this classic arcade fighter, featuring basic strategies, special movies, and more.
    • Star Fox 64 – A strategy guide for Star Fox 64 on the Nintendo 64 featuring secret areas, alternate skill routes, how to defeat the bosses and much more.
    • The Fighter’s Edge: Street Fighter EX Plus – Combos and strategies for Street fighter EX Plus for the PlayStation.
    • How to Master Madden – Strategy guide for Madden football for the PlayStation and Nintendo 64.
    • Final Fantasy VII – Part 3 of a massive Final Fantasy VII strategy guide.

    ProReviews

    • PC GamePro – Reviews of Jedi Knight, Hexen II, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, Dark Reign, Total Annihilation, Take No Prisoners, Half-Life, and Wing Commander: Prophecy.
    • Nintendo 64 – Reviews of Diddy Kong Racing, WCW vs. NWO World Tour, Duke Nukem 64, San Francisco Rush, Bomberman 64, and Extreme G.
    • PlayStation – Reviews of MDK, Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero, Resident Evil Director’s Cut, Moto Racer, Test Drive 4, Shipwreckers, Marvel Super Heroes, Dragon Ball GT Final Bout, Jet Moto 2, Pandemonium 2, Red Asphalt, Vs., Frogger, Rampage, Mass Destruction, and Reel Fishing.
    • Saturn – Reviews of Duke Nukem 3D, Resident Evil, Last Bronx, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Mega Man X4, Bust-A-Move 3, and Ten Pin Alley.
    • Sports Pages – Reviews of NBA Live ’98 (PlayStation), Wayne Gretzky’s 3D Hockey ’98 (Nintendo 64), NHL Face Off ’98 (PlayStation), NFL Quarterback Club ’98 (Nintendo 64), Cool Boarders 2 (PlayStation), and Formula 1 Championship Edition (PlayStation). Previews of NCAA Football GameBreaker ’98 (PlayStation), NBA Shoot Out ’98 (PlayStation), Tennis Arena (PlayStation), NHL All-Star Hockey ’98 (Saturn), and Sega Touring Car Championship (Saturn).
    • Role-Player’s Realm – Previews of Tactics Ogre (PlayStation) and Quest 64 (Nintendo 64).

    Departments

    • Head-2-Head – Video games, violence and ESRB ratings.
    • Buyers Beware – OEM vs. 3rd party RF adapters for the Nintendo 64, missing animation in Saturn version of Mortal Kombat Trilogy, and Rumble Pak battery life.
    • ProNews – Microsoft and Sega in 128-bit console discussions (this would become the Dreamcast), Blasto for Nintendo 64 delayed until early ’98, console game sales exceed PC game sales, and much more.
    • NetPro – A look at Saturn’s NetLink and the games that support it.
    • Overseas Prospects – Capcom, Square, Sega, Konami, Namco and others reveal their game lineups for 1998 at the 1997 Tokyo Game Show. Plus, highlights of the European Computer Trade Show (ECTS) in London.
    • Sneak Previews – Early looks at Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown (PlayStation), F-Zero 64 (Nintendo 64), Quake (Saturn), Cardinal Syn (PlayStation), Burning Rangers (Saturn), Crime Killers (PlayStation), Yoshi’s Story (Nintendo 64), Command & Conquer: Red Alert (PlayStation), Auto Destruct (PlayStation), Sonic R (Saturn), Enemy Zero (Saturn), Need for Speed V-Rally (PlayStation), Powerboat Racing (PlayStation), Pitfall 3D: Beyond the Jungle (PlayStation), Rascal (PlayStation), Lode Runner (PlayStation), Monster Rancher (PlayStation), Arcade’s Greatest Hits: The Midway Collection 2 (PlayStation), Riven: The Sequel to Myst (PlayStation), and Forsaken (Nintendo 64, PlayStation).
    • Hot at the Arcades – A look at some of the latest arcade games, including Mortal Kombat 4, The Lost World, and Street Fighter III: 2nd Impact.

    …and more!


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