So, previously, one of my Quality Control picks was one of Capcom’s Disney licensed games for the NES – Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers. This week, we’re going with one of their SNES licensed games, featuring Disney’s biggest mascot, Mickey Mouse. Read more
We’re moving on to Nintendo Power’s 6th year, with our cover story for this issue being Mickey’s Magical Quest from Capcom. There’s letters about Mario Paint, but not much of note. Also, from the Table of Contents, we have a significant note – the SNES games have been moved to the front of the magazine, with the NES games being moved to the back. It’s doesn’t seem like much, but it’s a really big shift. Read more
So, after filling a few holes in my recaps of EGM, we now continue forward again with issue 121 for August of 1998. Our cover story is most of the upcoming Resident Evil games for the PlayStation and other systems. Our Editorial column this issue is about the upcoming torrent of Dreamcast titles, as well as wishing John Ricciardi well in his new job of Editor in Chief at Expert Gamer, EGM’s companion strategy magazine. I’ve been somewhat considering doing EGM2/Expert Gamer for my next recap column after I get caught up with EGM, though recapping Die Hard Game Fan is also tempting as well. Also, now amongst EGM’s contributing writers are James “Milkman” Mielke, Tom Ham of Newsweek and the Washington Post (who still writes for the post), and Gary Mollohan. Read more
Awhile back I played and reviewed (somewhere else – I can’t find the precise review) 50 Cent: Bulletproof. The game was the first game featuring rapper 50 Cent. It wasn’t a good game, but it wasn’t absolute crap either. It was just incredibly mediocre. However, it sold incredibly well. So, I wasn’t surprised when the game got a sequel, but I wasn’t particularly expecting quality in any form, so I just ignored the game. However, then I started hearing murmurings from game journalists whose opinions I trust about action shooters. I was hearing things about how this also was not a bad game. To the contrary, the word was that it was actually kind of good. So, I added the game to my GameFly queue, and now I finally got it, and beat it – which means it’s time for me to give my opinion on it. Read more
Now, while I did not beat this game, I did get considerably further than I could with Super Star Wars.
In a series of levels each designed to be their own Wile E. Coyote & Road Runner Cartoon, you, controlling the Road Runner, dash through the stages trying to reach the finish line of each stage. Read more
We continue on to the last issue of Nintendo Power for 1992, and the cover game for this issue is Road Runner’s Death Valley Rally. The letters column for this issue has nothing of interest.
So, this is more of a brawler than a Ninja Gaiden style action-platformer. Oddly enough, we get maps of the whole game. It’s kind of odd – you really don’t need maps for brawlers. Boss strategies, certainly and maybe specific notes for levels, but not maps. Maps are considerably more useful for platformers. Read more
This week, once again, we’re filling another gap in my archive of EGM recaps, with issue #42 for January of 1993. Our cover story for this issue is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyper-stone Heist for the Genesis. Our editorial column for this issue relates to CD Rom systems. In particular, Sega’s got the Sega CD, and while it doesn’t have a lot of great software, at least they have software. Nintendo’s CD system is still promises in the ether, yet they’re still attacking Sega’s system in press releases. Well, Nintendo of America is anyway – I haven’t finished reading Game Over, but thus far, Nintendo of America is the one that most often seems full of bull. Read more
I’m sorry, but I have to admit that I wasn’t able to get past the first level of this one. The game sends a never-ending string of enemies at you in the first level, and I wasn’t particularly able to figure out a pattern for the first boss, so I wasn’t able to get past it – at least not within my self assigned deadline. This is not a game I would have been happy to spend money on. Pass on this game unless you don’t have any problems regularly running into a brick wall.
No, seriously – if you’re looking for a run-and-gun (as that’s all this game really is), hunt down a SNK or Metal Slug collection instead. If you want a Star Wars game, pick up one of the Jedi Knight games, or Republic Commando, or Knights of the Old Republic. There are much better Star Wars games out there.
We’re continuing with our Nintendo Power Recaps, with issue 42 for November of 1992. Our cover story for this issue is Super Star Wars for the SNES.
The first major cave man platformer has come out for the NES, and the art on this preview fails anatomy pretty badly. We get maps of the first 4 levels of the game, as well as notes for fighting the various bosses.
This is, essentially, a Track & Field game with a River City Ransom skin. We have Hammer Throw Golf, Water Slaughter (a swimming event, where both competitors can fight underwater if they so choose, and they do choose), Skyline Scramble (pole vault between the roofs of buildings), and Judo (straight-up fight). Read more
This week we’re going back to fill another gap in my archive. Specifically, issue 41 for December of 1992. Our cover story for this issue is Road Rash 2 from EA. For those unfamiliar with the series, Road Rash is a motorcycle combat racing game series. Our editorial column from this issue is from Ed Semrad, hyping the changes to EGM. Basically, the magazine is now bigger and better. No information about whether it’s more badass.
In the letters column we get several letters about whether or not there is a boss code for standard Street Fighter II. Capcom says there isn’t, but Capcom also says that there isn’t a character vs. same color character code either, and they’re running that code this issue. That said, I don’t see why you’d want to both be playing characters of the same color, because then it’d be harder to tell which character is yours. We also have a letter hoping for more Star Wars games, and another letter from a reader who figured out, entirely on his own, why the names for Vega, Balrog, and M. Bison were switched around in the American version of Street Fighter II, and he wants to check to see if he was right (he was). Read more
Moving on with the Nintendo Power Recaps, we have issue 41 for October of 1992. Our cover game for this issue is Super Mario Kart, which would go on to spring a very long series of cart racers (and, if you really think about it, also bringing about the Wipeout series). This issue’s letters are all on the topic of how readers got the money for their NES (aside from, you know, asking your parents).
Master Higgins is back. We don’t get complete maps of each area, but we get maps of at least half the levels in the first two areas, as well as strategies for beating the final boss (which is part of the important part, as well as notes on Stage 3 through Stage 8. Read more
My original intention for my next EGM recap was to do a recap of issue #117, but my copy of that issue was incomplete. So, I’m moving on to issue #120. Our cover story for this issue is WWF Attitude, and it’s autographed by Stone Cold Steve Austin even. Now, while this is EGM’s 12th year, they’re calling this their 10th anniversary issue. That doesn’t quite make any sense with me, but I’ll leave that aside.
Our editorial column for this issue reflects on another of the string of school shootings the nation was contending with in 1998 and 1999, and the worst of the shootings at that – the school shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado. On the one hand, while this was the worst of all the school shootings, to my knowledge any school shootings after that point either didn’t get any media attention, or they didn’t happen. However, this shooting, being the biggest, and because the shooters listened to heavy metal music and developed custom levels for Doom, brought the anti-video game hysteria to a pitch above that caused by the Night Trap hysteria, and wouldn’t be seen again until the Hot Coffee controversy. Thanks to some poorly informed and in poor taste remarks from Littleton’s sheriff that were jumped upon by the New York Times Magazine, it even threatened to resurrect the anti-D&D hysteria, that had died when Patricia Pulling had been discredited. Read more
When I was recapping issues of Nintendo Power prior to the release of the SNES, I did a Quality Control review of Willow for the NES, a game which took the action RPG elements of the Legend of Zelda, and combined them with a level & EXP system, like the Y’s games. I thought it was pretty decent. Now that Nintendo Power has brought us to the 16-bit generation, and presented a 16-bit Zelda-alike, I figure it’s time to revisit the genre to see how it’s progressed in this generation. Read more
We continue on with the Nintendo Power recaps with issue #40, for September of 1992. The cover game for this issue is Felix the Cat for the NES. I find it interesting that so soon after the launch of the SNES, we still haven’t gotten many SNES games on the cover of the magazine. Most of our letters this issue are about where you’d like to take your Game Boy.
We also get complete maps of the first 3 stages, as well as power-up notes and notes on stages 4 through 6.
Jordan Mechner’s classic acrobatic game has come out on the NES. For those unfamiliar with the game, are the unnamed prince. You have one hour to rescue the Princess from the evil grand Vizier before he either forces her to marry him or kills her. We get maps of levels 4 through 14 and the end of the game. Read more
Before going further ahead in my EGM Recaps, I’m going to fill another gap in my archive – the gap for issue #110 for September of 1998. Our cover story for this issue is Metal Gear Solid for the PlayStation. The cover art isn’t too bad in my opinion.
The editorial column for this issue is by John Davidson, and addresses the semi-maturing of games, in terms of the sexuality of characters, though not necessarily the maturity of the stories or the character designs. Well, there are some ways to go until we reach some of the more mature stories we have now, in terms of Mass Effect and Dragon Age (particularly their treatment of GLBT characters), but the game industry has to get the Moral Majority to a point that you can show two men kissing in Dragon Age without having congressional hearings. Read more
Normally, for my Quality Control picks, I don’t like to pick sequels to stuff I haven’t played. For Casino Kid 2, I decided to make an exception, as from a storyline standpoint, I’m not missing anything. Plus, as I’ve been playing a few Texas Hold ‘Em Poker games, recently, so I’d like to see what a NES gambling game is like.
The Premise:
Casino Kid, the protagonist of the last game, has beaten all the best gamblers in the United States. However, the world remains. Now he must travel the globe, beating some of the best gamblers on Earth at the Roulette wheel, at Blackjack, and at Poker, before facing the King of Gambling at all three games. Read more
On to issue #113 of Electronic Gaming Monthly for December of 1998. Yeah, that’s another gap in my archive, but that’s okay. Our cover story for this issue is The Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time for the N64, which is still one of the best regarded Zelda games of all time, on par with Link to the Past. As a note, the masthead for this issue now includes James “Milkman” Mielke, Ryan MacDonald, and Mark MacDonald.
Our editorial from John Davidson for this issue is on some of the spectacular games they’ve gotten to play at EGM recently. Aside from Zelda, they’ve also gotten to play more of Metal Gear Solid, and they’ve gotten to play Virtua Fighter 3 on the Dreamcast. Read more
For this week’s Quality Control, I’m going with my second “also ran” from the the pages of Nintendo Power – the Technosoft shump Thunder Spirits. The game is the third game in the Thunder Force franchise, and the only game in the series to get released on the SNES.
The Premise
The forces of the Galactic Federation are not faring well in their century long war with the ORN empire. The Empire has installed cloaking devices on 5 their planets that harbor major bases to shield them from Federation forces, and they’ve designed a special defensive system called Cerebus to keep major fleets from searching for them. The Federation’s only hope is the new LEO-03 “Styx” starfighter, which is small enough to slip through Cerebus’s defenses, but has enough firepower to destroy the Cerebus system and the cloaking devices. Read more
On with the Nintendo Power recaps. We’re on to issue 38 for July of 1992. Our cover story for this issue is Street Fighter II for the SNES. I will not be doing a Quality Control for that game unless everything else stinks, because it’s Street Fighter, we all know it’s good. We’ve actually got some decent cover art this time, with Guile hitting a high kick. The letters for this issue are general slice-of-life stuff. Read more
We have another gap in the EGM archives, which takes us forward almost a year, to issue #107 for June of 1998. Our cover story for this issue is Turok 2, and this issue also gives us some very nice cover art, in my opinion. Our editorial column for this issue is from John Davidson, who is now EIC for GamePro, which he has significantly re-formed. The editorial column is, as columns often are, about the shape of things to come. The Game Boy Color has been announced, and Sony has introduced some new technology to allow developers to push the PlayStation hardware even further then they had previously.
So in the several issue gap lay 1997’s April issue, and it’s April Fool’s Day joke, which was one of the most legendary jokes in EGM since the Sheng Long cheat – the All Bonds cheat. For those who are unfamiliar, the cheat was a fake cheat that let you, unlocked a series of skins for Goldeneye 007 for every single prior official James Bond – Connery, Lazenby, Moore, and Dalton. This issue has a series of responses to the “cheat” both positive and negative. Read more
So, a while back I played, and reviewed, the first major rhythm game to be based around a particular rock band – Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. I reviewed it almost a year ago, and I didn’t think it was all bad. Well, this year I’ve picked up Harmonix’s take on the concept. With the game I reviewed a year ago, Neversoft took the Guitar Hero series, took some of Aerosmith’s hit tracks and put some relevant tracks by other artists around it. Harmonix’s philosophy of game design has a fundamentally different style. Instead, they’re picking some of the best of the best of the band they’re building their game around with DLC for other songs by that band. The band in question? The Beatles. Read more
The problem with picking RPGs for Quality Control picks is I often don’t have the time I need to give it the consideration it deserves. Normally, when I’m reviewing a platformer or some other, more traditional game, I’m able to beat the game in an emulator in a day – or at least get far enough in the game that I can get a pretty good feel for the game. Not so with most RPGs – so I basically had to play this game over a weekend (though you can’t tell, because I wrote this in advance). Read more
We’re continuing on to Nintendo Power #37 for June of 1992. Our cover story is Lemmings. No, not the lead singer and bassist of Motorhead, that’s Lemmy – I meant Lemmings. Clean out your ears. The call for letters this issue were for feedback about the changes in the magazine. The responses are generally favorable, though we do get a complaint about the George Column, saying that it’s wasted space that could used be for more strategy guides, adding “I don’t care about two guys opinions on video games”. I hate to bust your bubble mate, but that’s the future of games journalism. The same guy also complains about the comics too. Another letter complains about all the coverage the SNES is coverage – again, I hate to burst your bubble but despite what Nintendo was saying several CES events ago, 16-bit is not a fad. Read more
We continue on with Electronic Gaming Monthly #98 for September of 1997. No, I still don’t have issue number #100 – I wish I did. Our cover story for this issue is Tomb Raider 2, and they’re playing up the game’s sex appeal pretty heavily. Right inside the cover we have a gorgeous two-page spread advertisement for Final Fantasy VII, of the big cutscene with Sephiroth removing the Jenova statue. While the graphics haven’t aged incredibly well, I still think it looks nice. It’s also one of the few two-page advertisements to heavily and prominently feature an actual screen-shot at that large of a scale.
Our editorial column this issue relates to the fairly heavy coverage that EGM has had of the Tomb Raider games. People are writing to complain because they think they’re, well, under-sexed. However, what Editorial Director Joe Funk brings up is that Lara Croft is one of the first really major video game franchise to feature a female protagonist. Yes, there was Final Fantasy VI – but to be frank that was more of an ensemble piece. I also wouldn’t consider the Valis series for this either, as it’s not a major franchise – as much as I wish it was. Read more