The GamePro Recaps have hit issue 50 for September of 1993. Our cover story is Mortal Kombat, the latest fighting game (as of this issue) to rock the arcades. The cover art though, isn’t so hot, but that’s to be expected.
Letters: We get a letter discussing improvements to game endings. Or, at least getting it something better than “Congratulations, You Won.” We also have a small string of letters discussing violence in games, and they generally agree is that some games are too violent for parents and they’re disappointed with Sega instituting a rating system because it would promote censorship. We also get questions about what systems might be getting what cheat devices.
Cutting Edge: We have a new wave of modems for consoles so we give them a run-down. Ultimately though, I wouldn’t want to do multi-player over dial-up after having been spoiled by high-speed internet connections.
Hot at the Arcades: We have a move-list for Saturday Night Slam Masters.
Genesis Coverage: Jurassic Park gets a review, and the reviewer mentions that the game reminds them favorably of Flashback in every respect, and gets 5s for Graphics & Fun Factor, a 4.5 for Sound and a 4 for Control. There’s also Rocket Knight Adventures from Konami, which gets a 4.5 for Graphics and 4s for everything else. There’s also a review of Spider-Man & X-Men in Arcade’s Revenge, which gets 4.5s for Graphics & Sound, and 5s for Control & Fun Factor. Oddly, from the information they give, the boss priorities are odd. The final boss is, naturally, deathtrap master Arcade in a giant robot, but the other bosses are characters from dramatically higher tiers. By higher tiers I mean guys like Apocalypse and Carnage – enemies who can (and have) supported their own games. Juggernaught works a little better, as he tends to be on, well, the muscle level like Rhino. Still, it’s like making a Batman game, have the lower-level bosses be The Joker, Two-Face, Bane and Killer Croc, with the final boss and mastermind being The Cluemaster. If the first words out of your mouth after reading that is “Who is the Cluemaster?” then you’ve got the general idea why Arcade being the final boss is a bad idea.
We also have a review of The Simpsons: Bart’s Nightmare which doesn’t score well. The game gets a 2.5 for Control, gets a 3 for Fun Factor, a 3.5 for Sound but a 4.5 for Graphics. There’s also a review of the semi-RTS General Chaos, which gets 4s across the board. We’ve also got Sid Meiers awesome game Pirates Gold!, which gets 4.5s for Control & Fun Factor, and 4s for Graphics & Sound. There’s also Chuck Rock 2: Son of Chuck which gets 3.5s for Sound & Fun Factor, and 4s for Graphics & Control. We’ve got Ranger X, a mecha shump from Sega, which gets a 3.5 for Control, 4s for Sound & Fun Factor, and a 4.5 for Graphics. There’s also the flight-sim F-15 Strike Eagle II
which gets a 5 for Fun Factor and 4s for everything else. Also, as you’d expect from the cover of this issue, we get a review of the Genesis version of Mortal Kombat. The game gets 4s for Sound & Control, a 4.5 for Graphics & a 5 for Fun Factor. The game also has limited continues, as opposed to unlimited continues on the SNES version, so if you care when you’re hunting down copies of Mortal Kombat 1, now you know.
Sega CD Coverage: There’s a review of Robo Aleste from Tengen, a top-down Mecha shump. The game gets a 4 for Graphics, 4.5s for Fun Factor & Control, and a 5 for Sound (which isn’t surprising as this is a CD-ROM game, after all). There’s also a preview of JVC’s helicopter sim AH-3 Firehawk.
SNES Coverage: Activision has the shump Biometal (remember when companies in the US made shumps). The game gets 5s for Fun Factor and Sound, a 4 for Control, and a 4.5 for Graphics. We also have our featured review of Mortal Kombat which does not get perfect 5s, like I thought. Specifically, the controls aren’t as responsive as they would prefer. Specifically it gets a 3.5 for Control, a 4.5 for Sound, and 5s for Graphics & Fun Factor. Moving on, we have a review of Wing Commander: The Secret Missions, which gets 4s across the board, and also toned down the difficulty a bit from the original. There’s also Sunsoft’s port of SNK’s fighting game World Heroes, which gets a 3.5 for Sound, 4 for Control, 4.5 for Graphics, and a 5 for Fun Factor. Super Bomberman has come from the Turbographix to the SNES, and it gets a 3.5 for Sound, 4s for Graphics & Control, and a 5 for Fun Factor.
There’s also a port of Super Baseball 2020 from the Neo-Geo, which gets 3.5s for Sound & Control, and 4s for Fun Factor & Graphics. Cool Spot has come out on the SNES, and gets a 4.5 for Sound, 4s for Control & Graphics, and a 5 for Fun Factor. Blizzard’s Rock & Roll Racing gets a 5 for Sound (and with it it’s heavy metal soundtrack), a 3.5 for Control, and 4s for Graphics & Fun Factor. There’s also a preview of Mega Man X
NES Coverage: The NES manages to hold on with Kirby’s Adventure, which gets 5s across the board. There’s also a Jurassic Park top-down action game, which gets a 3.5 for Sound, and 4s in everything else.
Neo-Geo Coverage: There’s a review of World Heroes 2 (appropriate since the SNES port of the previous installment in the series is getting a review this issue). The game gets 5s across the board.
Overseas ProSpects: We have a review of the PC Engine version of Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, which unfortunately doesn’t get a US release. They do review it though, and give it 5s across the board.
Game Boy Coverage: Not to be left out, the Game Boy is also getting a port of Mortal Kombat. Considering it’s taking a 6 button game and moving it to a 2 button controller, it’s not surprising that it gets a 2.5 for Sound, a 2 for Control, and 3s for Graphics & Fun Factor. We have a review of the Game Boy version of Jurassic Park, which also doesn’t do very well – it gets a 2.5 for Sound, and 3.5s for everything else. Ocean’s Lethal Weapon game fares better, getting a 4.5 for Sound and 4s for everything else. Ocean’s Addams Family game doesn’t do as well, getting a 2 for Sound, a 3 for Control, and 3.5s for Graphics & Fun Factor.
Game Gear Coverage: Anything the Game Boy can do, the Game Gear thinks it can do better. Thus is the case with the Game Gear version of Mortal Kombat, which gets a 3 for Sound, a 3.5 for Control, and 5s for Graphics & Fun Factor. There’s a review of the licenced game for Tom & Jerry: The Movie, the abomination which gave Tom dialog. The game gets 4.5s for Graphics & Sound, a 5 for Control, and a 2.5 for Fun Factor due to the easy difficulty.
The Sporst Page: EA has Bill Walsh College Football for the Genesis, which unfortuantely doesn’t have a NCAA licence, so they had to change the names of some of the names of the teams. The game gets a 4.5 for Graphics, 4 for Sound and 5s for Fun Factor & Control. There’s also an intervie with Bill Walsh. There’s also a review of Konami’s NFL Football for the SNES. The game has some problems with trying to be too flashy, and thus making it too difficult to keep track of things. GamePro gives it a 4.5 for Graphics, a 5 for Sound, and 3s for Control & Fun Factor. Acclaim has the more arcadey Super High Impact Football, which also gets 3s for Control & Fun Factor, a 4.5 for Grpahics and a 5 for Sound. We also get a brief run-down of the upcoming hockey titles.
Short Pro-Shots: Of note this issue is Gauntlet 4 and Blades of Vengence for the Genesis. The SNES has Super Mario All Stars, and the NES has Rescue Rangers 2 and Mega Man 6.
GameBuster: This issue it’s Street Fighter II Turbo. Now, we don’t get all the endings, but we get information on what bonuses you get to what endings at what difficulties, including the game giving you the full credits at higher difficulty settings. Oh, and by full credits, I mean they give the real names of the staff. Now, supposedly, in Turbo (not Super Street Fighter II Turbo) if you beat the game at the highest difficulty, without losing a round, you see something special. Now, it’s not Akuma/Gouki – he appears in Super Street Fighter II Turbo. So, I don’t know what it is.
ProNews: So, I’m going to change this up a bit – covering the stories that I didn’t see in EGM instead of the articles that I already saw. Apple is working on an Interactive TV system, called EZTV. The National Association of Electronic Gaming Enthusiasts has dissolved, and from the ashes has risen (thanks to some fanzine editors), The Gaming Enthusiasts of America. That group is also apparently no more. Camerica has also closed its doors (you’d think it’d be making enough money from the US release of the Game Genie).
Tomorrow I’ll have another movie review for you (or maybe it will be a TV series review) – stay tuned!
