The GamePro recaps continue with issue 48, for July of 1993. This issue’s pretty short, only 156 pages long, and our cover story is Jurassic Park. Oh, and the cover art is still bad, though this issue’s had some of the better covers in a while.

Editorial: We’re not totally re-iterating the table of contents this time. This issue we get a discussion of licenced games and how wonderful they are. Just wait a few years, you’ll (hopefully) change your tune.

Letters: We get demands for the mail section getting an expansion. We also get complaints about cheap AI, and we get questions about the use of “Final” in the titles of game series with lots of sequels (referring to Final Fight, not Final Fantasy, as people like to be snarky about now).

The Cutting Edge: We get a preview of the Sega Channel, as well as rumors about the Stellaview in Japan. We also get a preview of the 3DO, and some of the upcoming launch titles.

Hot at the Arcades: We’ve got a couple of car simulators from Namco – Driver’s Eyes Formula 1 Simulator and Lucky & Wild (a combination driving & light gun game).

Featured Review – Battletoads: We have a review of Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. The game gets a 5 for Graphics, a 4.5 for Fun Factor, and 4s for Sound & Control. From the sounds of things, most of the refinements are to the graphics, not to the control. It doesn’t say if both players can hurt each other though.

Ecco The Dolphin Strategy Guide – Part 3: We get coverage to the end of the game.

Jurassic Park Feature: We get some notes on the making of the Sega CD and Genesis games, as well as some brief screen shots of the NES and Game Boy versions, and some stills from the movie. Oh, and we get a preview of the Tiger Interactive LCD. Really? Why do we need a preview of a Tiger Interactive LCD game?

Mortal Kombat Feature: We get previews of all the upcoming home console versions of Mortal Kombat. Why isn’t this story on the cover, considering that we’ve got not only screen shots but also move lists?

Genesis Coverage: We have a review of Splatterhouse 3 for the Genesis – which is surprisingly appropriate for this week’s recap considering that it’s Halloween next week. It looks like the game brings in a bit of non-linearity, in that there are multiple paths you can take to the boss on each level. It’s also adding some Street Fighter-style The game gets a 4.5 for Fun Factor and 5s for Graphics, Sound, & Control. Next is Jungle Strike. The game gets a 4.5 for Sound and 5s for Graphics, Control & Fun Factor. There’s also Toys, which is licenced from the movie. It also gets gets 3.5s for Sound & Control and 4s for Graphics & Fun Factor. It’s also apparently pretty challenging – and by Challenging I mean “Nintendo Hard” but on the Genesis. There’s also a preview of Strider Returns from U.S. Gold. Notice that it’s not from Capcom. There’s also a preview of Rocket Knight Adventures (a series that is getting a revival on WiiWare).

Sega CD Coverage: We have a review of the adventure game Rise of the Dragon, which gets a 5 for Sound, a 4.5 for Fun Factor, and 4s for Graphics & Control. There’s also Final Fight CD, which ads Guy and similtanious multi-player, which gets a 4 for Sound, and 4.5s for Graphics, Control & Fun Factor. There’s also the Dragon’s Lair style adventure game Time Gal, which gets a 5 for Fun Factor, a 4 for Sound, and 4.5s for Graphics & Control.

Super Star Wars Guide (Part 2): We get a guide for the game from the Cantina through the end of the game.

SNES Coverage: Speaking of Final Fight we get a review of Final Fight 2, which gets a a 3.5 for Sound, 4 for Fun Factor, and 4.5s for Graphics & Control. There’s also a review of Alien 3. The game gets a 4.5 for Sound, and 5s for Graphics, Control & Fun Factor. There’s also a review of Dungeon Master, a Wizardry-style dungeon crawler. The game gets a 2 for Sound, a 3 for Graphics and 3.5s for Control & Fun Factor. They do complain about the control on screen lagging from input on the controller, but from what I recall it’s not real-time, it’s turn based, so that’s not as big a deal. Though they do reccomend playing Final Fantasy II instead of this. Jaleco has the fighting game Tuff Enuff, which gets 3.5s for Sound & Control and 4s for Graphics & Fun Factor, but they don’t go clearly into why. Jaleco also has a regular brawler titled, appropriately enough, Brawl Brothers. The game gets 4s for Fun Factor and Sound, and 4.5s for Graphics & Control. There’s also a preview of Clay Fighter.

NES Coverage: We have a review of Mighty Final Fight, the Super Deformed sibling of Final Fight. That’s not ment to be insulting – thats the technical term for that sort of character design. Okay, fine, if you like you can call them “Chibi”. Unfortunatly, they don’t like it as much as the games with the normal versions of the characters – it gets 3s for Graphics & Sound and 4s for Fun Factor & Control, though they don’t rag too much on the character design.

Neo-Geo Coverage: We have a preview of World Heroes 2 and no reviews.

TurboDuo Coverage: Bonk is back in Bonk 3. The game gets a 4 for Sound and 4.5s for everything else. There’s also Sherlock Holmes, Consulting Detective 2. The game gets a 5 for Sound, 4.5s for Graphics & Fun Factor and a 3.5 for Control. They do complain about replay value, though.

Upcoming Street Fighter II Versions Feature: We get a look at Street Fighter II Turbo for the SNES, and Street Fighter II Champion Edition for the Genesis (which has gotten delayed), as well as the PC Engine version, which doesn’t get ported to the US.

The Sports Page: We start off with Tennis, specifically Jimmy Connors Tennis for the NES. The game gets a 3 for it’s repetitive soundtrack, but 4s for everything else. The Genesis (mis-labeled as the SNES) has Davis Cup World Tour Tennis, which gets 3.5s for Graphics & Sound, a 4 for Control and a 4.5 for Fun Factor. Accolade also has Summer Challenge for the Genesis, which is a track & field game. The game gets 4s for Graphics & Sound and a 3.5 for Fun Factor, but a 2.5 for Control. There’s also a review of the arcade version of NBA Jam, which gets 5s across the board (and I believe this is their first review of the arcade version of a game which they gave a score to). There’s also an interview with Shaq!

Game Boy Coverage: We have a review of Avenging Spirit from Jaleco – an action game where you play as a ghost. The game gets a 3.5 for Sound, a 4 for Control, and 4.5s for Fun Factor & Graphics.

Game Gear Coverage: There’s a review of the Game Gear version of Streets of Rage, which – unlike the NES version of Final Fight, isn’t Chibi-fied. The game gets a 4 for sound and 4.5s for everything else.

Short ProShots: Of note this issue is Spider-Man/X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge and Zombies Ate my Neighbors for the Genesis, Ecco the Dolphin CD for the Sega CD. There’s also Super Empire Strikes Back and Art of Fighting for the SNES, as well as Rescue Rangers II for the NES, which I’d never heard of before.

ProNews: We get a small still of the Mario live action movie – but the still has just about everything that’s wrong with the movie. Oh, and Activison is back from the dead, and is doing a CD adventure game based on Zork. Toys ‘r Us has stopped carrying the Lynx, and Atari is scaling down support for the system. Finally, Accolade and Sega have settled, with Accolade becoming a licenced Sega publisher.

That wraps up this week’s GamePro. Tomorrow I’m going to have another review – this time of a miniseries from the BBC.