Monday, April 17, 2023

The Video Game Magazine Round-Up | JULY 1991

Video Games & Computer Entertainment | Issue 30

Hello gamers,

welcome to the first iteration of the new segment on this blog, called "The Video Game Magazine Round-Up". This is the July 1991 round-up.

As explained in this post, the idea behind this is to supplement our journey through video game history by looking at retro game magazines and looking at news topics of the time, interesting reviews of video games, columns, controversies, new tech releases and anything else of interest that any given magazine may write an article about. I could explain more, but you'll understand what this is about as you go through this post, which I hope you enjoy doing.

The magazines that will take part in this month's "VGM Round-Up" are

You can read each magazine in full using the links provided. We will start this month's round up by taking a look at the Computer Gaming World first.

COMPUTER GAMING WORLD | ISSUE 84

  • TAKING A PEEK: In the starting segment that takes a look at upcoming games from various publishers, one game catches the eye and immediately tells you that this an early 90's magazine you're reading. I'll just add the direct quote here because I can't describe it any better. "In the latest installment of Brad Stallion's adventures in the "Big Thruster", Dr. Dildo has penetrated the Sex Olympics." Yes, this is indeed Computer Gaming World that we're reading, a magazine with airtight coverage on computer gaming. This game/series is courtesy of publisher Free Spirit Software. "Amiga Joker" and "Datormagazin" (source: lemonamiga.com) have given the game an average rating of 14%. Other games that get a quick peak are Konami's 'Theme Park Mystery', Paragon Software's 'The Amazing Spider-Man' and Capstone's 'Trump Castle II'.
  • REVIEWS: This issue reviews Infogrames' 'Continuum', Event Horizon's 'DarkSpyre', Platinumware's Lexi-Cross (published by Interplay) and Origin's Wing Commander: The Secret Mission 1 & 2.
    • Continuum: This is called a "new approach to flight sims', though flight sim might give you the wrong idea, as it is rather a 3D game using vector graphics where you control a "Mobile" that bounces up and down and has to be maneuvered from one platform to another. It sports a Moby Score of 7.3 (#8,857 of 155K) and, from a quick glance, has music much more groovy than it has any right to have.
    • DarkSpyre: DarkSpyre is a 3-D isometric dungeon crawling RPG. CRPGAddict has a great gameplay showcase for the game, which he compares to 1987's Dungeon Master.
    • Lexi-Cross: A futuristically styled TV quiz show game that resembles Wheel of Fortune with a much more complex twist. The game is played on a 10 x 15 matrix of blank tiles, and puzzles are of four themes: common theme, literal, puzzle word and missing word. Players take turns buying vowels, exposing tiles and attempting to ultimately solve the puzzle. It has a Moby Score of 7.4 (#6,951 of 155K).
    • The Secret Missions & The Secret Missions 2: Crusade IBM: These expansion packs for the widely beloved Wing Commander, $29.95 each, get a lengthy review here, though it is ultimately described as 'MOTS' (more of the same), which, considering Wing Commander is rated as the #1 game by the readers later in the magazine, is certainly not a bad thing.
  • SNEAK PREVIEW: The game that receives a sneak preview in this issue of CGW is upcoming RPG The Magic Candle II, sequel to The Magical Candle, CGW's Fantasy RPG GOTY for 1989. As will likely be common for these round-ups, the best spot for reviews on these old-school RPGs is CRPGAddict, who has played through this game and given his conclusive thoughts here. The game is praised in this preview for having a lot of depth in its conversational elements.
  • There is a OPPONENTS WANTED category here where 'modem gamers' can reach out to others to play them in online games, whether that is to meet face-to-face or using BBS (bulletin-board-system) services. One group "invites you to call the Wizard's Tower BBS" to find opponents. It's fascinating to see how far things have come in such a short time.
  • An article discussing VIRTUAL REALITY looks at W Industry's VR systems, which come in two forms: stand-up (which allows one to walk around their room) and sit-down (where you are seated in a "console bath-chair"). For the stand-up system, you can use additional tools like a VR glove and a joystick. There is a video showcasing what was shown at the Wembley Conference Center at the time.
  • CGW released a list of TOP 100 GAMES rated on by their readers. 'Wing Commander' takes the #1 spot with a rating of 10.69, and finishing up the Top 5 are 'Railroad Tycoon' (10.61), 'Warlords' (10.43), 'Red Baron' (10.41) and 'Their Finest Hour' (10.36). A Hall of Fame is shown as well, which has games that don't find themselves in the Top 100, which turns this into a confusing list. The Hall of Fame games include 'Bard's Tale I', 'Ultima III & IV' and 'Wizardry', among others.
  • An interesting Behind The Scenes look at COMPUTER GAME ANIMATION and how Dynamix seeks to improve upon it. The article looks at the success of the 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs' movie and gives high credit to the characterization in the personalities of the dwarfs by caricaturing their faces/expressions, the life-like action and atmospheric backgrounds. Dynamix looks to implement a similar approach for its upcoming game 'The Adventures of Willy Beamish'. 
ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY | ISSUE 24

  • The REVIEW CREW covers many games in this month's issue: LJN's 'Bill & Ted', Acclaim's 'Smash TV', Ultra's 'Basewars', Natsume's 'S.C.A.T', Konami's 'Bill Elliot's Nascar Challenge', NEC's 'J.B. Harold', Treco's 'Street Smart', Sega's 'Sonic the Hedgehog' & '688 Attack Sub', Ocean's 'Navy Seals', Tradewest's 'Sneaky Snakes' & 'High Speed', Atari's 'Warbirds' and 'Ninja Gaiden'.
    • Bill & Ted: A relative rarity on EGM reviews, Bill & Ted receives a 3 by two of the four crew members. Words like "un-triumphant" and "un-excellent" are used to describe this Adventure/RPG where the time continuum is disrupted and historical figures placed in wrong time lines.
    • Sonic the Hedgehog: Sega's new answer to Super Mario is Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic is incredibly fast and needs to stop Dr. Eggman in his debut adventure. It receives 9's across the board, signaling a successful character creation for Sega. 
    • Ninja Gaiden: This is an Atari Lynx port of the 1988 Arcade game. The game released in 1990, though the NA release appears to be in July 1991. It's a Action / beat 'em up game that is very different to the NES trilogy that would finish around the same time. It received 8's across the board.
  • Here comes this issues GAMING GOSSIP courtesy of 'Quartermann'. 
    • As suspected, Sega drop the price of the Genesis to combat Nintendo's introduction of the SNES, and actually adds Sonic the Hedgehog to every purchase as well. 
    • Meanwhile, Nintendo will put Super Mario World in each SNES box as well. Nintendo has also announced the SNES for the West and its technical capabilities. A 16 bit chip, Sony sound board, cosmetic changes to the controller shell and a first line-up of games such as Super Mario World, Pilotwings and F-Zero are announced.
    • In Atari news, don't expect any new revolutionary product to come from them in the near future, though there appear to be a wide number of games in development for the Lynx. This does raise questions of whether Atari is scaling back a bit however.
    • NEC lower TurboGrafx ($149 to $99.99) and CD-ROM ($399 to $299) prices. Later this fall, NEC will also include a CD+G (Compact Disc plus Graphics) music sampler disk with their CD-ROM unit, which will give visual images whilst listening to music, like still frames of the singers.
  • The SNES Times feature looks at upcoming SNES titles, which includes Konami's 'Castlevania 4' releasing in December 1991 (NA times), Capcom's 'Super Ghouls and Ghosts' releasing in November 1991 (successor of the infamous Ghouls 'n Ghouls from 1985) and Hudson's 'Super Adventure Island' releasing in Q1 1992 (a platforming game I promptly added to the TGBProject Spreadsheet)
  • This is followed by a great article on HUDSON SOFT, the mega-corporation from Japan with an American-sounding name that is known for having published lots and lots of games for Japanese game systems. It explains their rise to fame with the release of 'Lode Runner', a game released for the NES in 1984, and becoming a sought-after game publisher from then on. It is a rather lenghty article covering Hudson Soft's involvement in NEC's PC Engine and then swaying away from Hudson Soft to talk about cultural similarities and dissimilarities as it pertains to Japanese and American gamers. The article later ties Hudson Soft back in by suggesting that they do the heavy lifting in requesting appropriate changes to the games before NA release and explains how this process plays out. Definitely worth a read. (pages 74-80)
GAMEPRO | ISSUE 24

  • In THE MAIL, which includes reader's letters, an interesting letter is included by Jeremy Wise, who says that games at this time often feel so similar to each other. He mentions 'StarTropics' and 'Battletoads' as two of the few games that feel positively different, two games that TGBProject has reviewed favorably as well. It's in the (last) name. Derek North agrees and suggest adding more depth to characters.
  • A feature on GAME GENIE is next, which is a 'line of video game cheat cartridges', which lets the player do things in games that are unintended by their original developers. Game Genie actually got sued by Nintendo earlier, but won and was able to continue to be sold.
  • There are many GAME REVIEWS in this edition of GamePro. The most positive reviews are for Accolade's 'Hardball!' (Sega Genesis), Sunsoft's 'Batman' (Genesis), Renovation's 'Valis III' (Genesis), Sega's Alien Storm (Genesis), Disney's Tale Spin (TurboGrafx-16), American Sammy's 'Ninja Taro' (Game Boy) and Capcom's 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' (Game Boy).
VIDEO GAMES & COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT | ISSUE 30 

  • In the EDITORIAL, Andy Eddy talks about noticing a starting change in the current generation of video games from similarly designed 'scroll-boss' games (move vertically/horizontally, fight boss at the end of progressively more difficult levels) to a much more diverse approach to video game design thanks to the emergence of new competitors (EA is mentioned), 16-bit technology and Japenese software companies turning to American game-manufacturers for added inspiration.
  • In the Nay section of this issue's YEA OR NAY news reports, disappointment is expressed about the FTC's decision to allow Nintendo to buy themselves out of a price-fixing suit, where Nintendo was investigated for forcing retailers to not discount the NES by threatening with slower deliveries otherwise. Nintendo will basically have to give out five million $5 coupons, which in turn will result in more business for Nintendo, which is what the article is disappointed about as well.
  • In other NEWS BITS, Nintendo won an injunction against Atari to halt further marketing and distribution due to copyright infringment in their production of unauthorized NES cartridges. Video game software sales have risen in 1990 by 13.1% to $355.5 million compared to 1989 ($314.4 million). The agreed-on merger between Sierra and Brøderbund has been terminated due to disagreements. The Top 10 Video Games for February 1991 were announced by the Software Publishers Association (in terms of sales), with Konami's 'T.M.N.T.' first, Acclaim's 'The Simpsons' second and Nintendo's 'Super Mario Land' third. Awards were given out in the Computer Game Developers Conference, with Lucasfilm's 'The Secret of Monkey Island' winning Best Game Play, the game's producer Greg Hammond winning Best Producer and Origin's 'Wing Commander' winning Best Technical Achievement in a Computer Game.
  • VIDEO GAME REVIEWS for this month include EA's 'King's Bounty' (Genesis, 29/40), Konami's 'Bill Elliott's NASCAR Challenge' (NES, 29/40), EA's 'Centurion' (Genesis, 29/40), Sega's '688 Attack Sub' (Genesis, 26/40), Tradewest's High Speed (NES, 31/40), NEC's 'J.B. Harold Murder Club' (TurboGrafx-16, 35/40), Razorsoft's 'Stormlord' (Genesis, 32/40) and Parker Brothers' 'Monopoly' (NES, 35/40).
  • The A.C.M.E (American Coin Machine Exposition) this year took place in Las Vegas. Arcade games showcased were, among others, American Technos' 'WrestleFest', Atari's 'Batman - The Caped Crusader', Capcom's 'Street Fighter II', Konami's 'The Simpsons' and Williams' 'The Machine: Bride of Pin Bot'. 
  • COMPUTER GAME REVIEWS for this month include Game Arts' 'Zeliard' (IBM PC, 30/40), Data East MVP Sports' 'The Dream Team: 3 on 3 Challenge' (Commodore 64/IBM PC, 23/40), Virgin Mastertronic's 'Wonderland' (Amiga/Atari ST/IBM PC, 32/40), EA's 'Hard Nova' (IBM PC, 35/40), Dynamix's 'Red Baron' (IBM PC, 36/40), which becomes the best reviewed game of the issue, a WWI flight-sim, and Draconian's 'Full Metal Planet' (26/40).
  • Arnie Katz has a feature on the GIANTS OF ELECTRONIC GAMING, which features many different major contributors to video gaming over the past decade, include Nolan Bushnell, who is known for his flair for promotion, presentation and marketing, Jack Tramiel, who deserves recognition for transforming computer gaming to a growing hobby due to his efforts on the Commodore 64, Barry Friedman, a pioneer in multisystem-publishing, Jim Levy, who helped usher in the age of third-party publishing, Roberta Williams, who brought interactive story-telling to a new level of sophistication with the King's Quest series and many more, like Don Mattrick, Bruce Artwick and of course, Sid Meier.

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