The second issue of this magazine that I bought. Release date: August 26th 1992.
In that month, the SNES came out in Germany, so naturally that was the cover story of the issue.
Content
Super Nintendo Release
The issue starts out with an article talking about the Super Nintendo that has been out in japan for 2 years at this point. The initial success of the console (1,5 million units sold in the first few weeks after its release) is mentioned, followed by a section on the hardware specs, highlighting the capabilities of the unit. There are several colored boxed in text areas that talk about specific parts of the console, like the 3D chip, the gamepad or even the upcoming but ultimately never released CD-ROM add-on. Several games are also included in this section – along with a rating if the game was tested in a past issue – like Zelda 3: Link to the Past, Super Soccer or F-Zero among several others (20 games altogether).
News / Previews
The News and Previews section starts out with a 3 pager about news on upcoming games for the Sega consoles. Highlights among these are Streets of Rage 2, Landstalker and World of Illusion. Following this are 2 previews, one for a McDonalds game that was later released under the name “Global Gladiators”, though going by the preview at that time the game was titled “MC Kids”. The second preview was for “The Aquatic Games” a James Pond sports game. Both games were announced to come out on the Mega Drive, with The Aquatic Games set to be released on the Master System at a later date, but that never happened. I guess no one really wanted the game, big surprise there, right?
Special: Game Audio
What follows is a 3-page article that talks about the importance of a good soundtrack (to add to/set the tone of a game) and compares the capabilities of the currently available consoles and handhelds. The advantage of having the capabilities of a CD-ROM for higher quality music is highlighted and a part of the article talks about Dolby Surround systems that allow for a more “realistic” experience. Though these systems cost a pretty penny at the time – the cheapest system mentioned cost 700 bucks at the time. Throughout the article, multiple positive examples for games with great soundtracks are mentioned and at the end there is a list of 20 games with the best music ratings.
More News
The second news segment starts out with a preview for Super Turrican for the Super Nintendo, one of the few titles developed in Germany. The next two pages highlight some upcoming games for Nintendo systems made by European developers, like Super Battletoads, Best of the Best and Bart vs. the Juggernauts. Out of this World and Super Dragon’s Lair appear in separate news articles. The last part of the news closes out with 2 pages for Neo Geo (Andro Dunos & King of the Monsters 2) and PC-Engine (Rayxanber 3, Genocide, The Tower of Druaga, New Adventure Island and Hudson Vol 32) related news each.
Reviews
Each review was split into 3 parts, first was the main review text. Then the reviewer had his own personal text bit with a rating blurb text as a title (ranging from “super” to “help”), some reviews even have 2 reviewer texts. At the end there is the summary box with some data on the game (genre, publisher, features, how many players, suitable for, price) and the rating. There are separate ratings for graphics, music and sound effects besides the overall rating, each in a percentage.
Thunder Force 4 (Mega Drive): Very well-done space shooter, both reviewers went with “super” for their opinion box, the overall rating was 85%
Corporation (Mega Drive): botched sci-fi action rpg, the opinion box was titled “help”. Overall rating: 33%
Gleylancer (Mega Drive): Another high-quality space shooter, though it didn’t quite reach the high rating of Thunder Force 4. One reviewer chose “super”, the other only “good”. Overall rating: 80%
Terminator (Mega Drive): License adaptation of the first movie, not great, as expected. Opinion box title “oh well”, overall rating: 53%
Bart vs. The Space Mutants (Mega Drive): Jump’n’Run based on the Simpsons license, not great. Opinion box title “oh well”, overall rating 47%
Warriors of Rome 2 (Mega Drive): Decent strategy game in a historical setting. Opinion box title “good”, overall rating 67%
Tips & Tricks
An assortment of tips and guides for games, often sent in by readers (there was a chance to win money, too)
Letters to the Editor
Several questions by readers, mainly about current releases, though one letter mentioned some weird handhelds printed in a Spanish magazine that apparently were supposed to be new Game Boy models (most likely just some knock-offs though): “Gamegirl”, “Mega Boy” and “3-Playerboy”. Huh…
Special: Movie / TV Series License Games
The article talks about the popularity of license adaptations and mentions that these often aren’t of a good quality. Ghostbusters is listed as the first adaptation on the Atari VCS. Across around 5 pages (give or take with some advertisements strewn in) quite a few adaptations are mentioned and there’s a separate table listing all adaptations and their rating (as well as a rating for the license, usually the movie used for the game).
More Reviews
Lemmings (Mega Drive): well, I don’t think I need to say much about this puzzle-game. Opinion box title “good”, overall rating 85%
New Zealand Story (Master System): Cute arcade-platformer that was adapted quite well to this system. The two opinion boxes were titled “good” and “super” respectively, the overall rating was 78%
Air Rescue (Master System): An action game about rescuing people, similar to Choplifter, but not as good. Opinion rating “Oh well”, overall rating 40%
Ninja Gaiden (Master System): Action platformer with a well-known title, not one of the best adaptations. Opinion rating “so-so”, overall rating 66%
S.C.I. (Master System): rather bad action racer. Opinion rating “help”, overall rating 22%
Put and Putter (Master System): Mini-Golf… what else can you say. Opinion rating “oh well”, overall rating 51%
Golf Grand Slam (NES): Golf… decent adaptation apparently. Opinion rating “good”, overall rating 67%
Parodius (NES): this shooter had much better adaptations on other systems. Opinion rating: 2x “oh well”, overall rating 44%
Burai Fighter (NES): decent, but very difficult shooter. Opinion rating “so-so”, overall rating 66%
Low G Man (NES): decent action platformer. Opinion rating “good”, overall rating 68%
Tiny Toon Adventures Guide
Put at the end of the NES game reviews segment, this guide covers the level 1-1 to 3-3, with the rest announced to be in the next issue.
More Reviews
Castlevania 2 (Game Boy): Great handheld entry to the series. Opinion rating “super”, overall rating 81%
Altered Space (Game Boy): Opinion rating “so-so”, overall rating 58%
Tom & Jerry (Game Boy): Opinion rating “oh well”, overall rating 52%
Hudson Hawk (Game Boy): Opinion rating “so-so”, overall rating 49%
Boxxle 2 (Game Boy): Opinion rating “super”, overall rating 80%
Soccer-Mania (Game Boy): Opinion rating “oh well”, overall rating 31%
Track & Field (Game Boy): Opinion rating “good”, overall rating 77%
Nemesis 2 (Game Boy): Opinion rating “good”, overall rating 79%
Star Trek (Game Boy): Opinion rating “help”, overall rating 26%
Dinosaurs (Super Nintendo): will be familiar to some people under the name “DinoCity” and from a certain Youtuber. Opinion rating “super”, overall rating 80%
Hook (Super Nintendo): Opinion rating “good”, overall rating 71%
Turtles in Time (Super Nintendo): Opinion ratings “super” & “good”, overall rating 79%
Super Shanghai (Super Nintendo): Opinion rating “super”, overall rating 77%
Arcana (Super Nintendo): Opinion rating “so-so”, overall rating 69%
Super Dunkshot (Super Nintendo): Opinion rating “good”, overall rating 75%
Super Bowling (Super Nintendo): Opinion rating “so-so”, overall rating 58%
Astral Bout (Super Nintendo): Overall rating 36%
Cameltry (Super Nintendo): Opinion rating “so-so”, overall rating 51%
Aerial Assault (Game Gear): Opinion rating “oh well”, overall rating 39%
Spider-Man (Game Gear): Opinion rating “oh well”, overall rating 43%
Super Kick Off (Game Gear): Opinion rating “so-so”, overall rating 55%
Switchblade 2 (Lynx): Opinion rating “so-so”, overall rating 64%
Pinball Jam (Lynx): Opinion rating “good”, overall rating 70%
World Class Soccer (Lynx): Opinion rating “oh well”, overall rating 38%
High-Tech-Corner
This 1-page segment doesn’t really seem to fit in, as the products written about are
- A special “anti-vibration” record player for 2600 bucks
- A large screen TV for 9000 bucks
- A universal remote for 40 bucks
- A Hi-Fi amplifier for 1500 bucks
3 out of the 4 at least can have SOME relation to console gaming as part of the setup (as unlikely as it would be for a parent to pick them up because of this page), but the record player is very out of place… could it be that this was kind of unmarked advertisement?
Preview
The last page previews the next issue, announcing reviews of Super Probotector (better known as Super Contra), Cybernator, Mario Paint, Grand Slam, Chelnov, Ferrari Formula 1, Pirates, Hero Quest and Dynablaster. A preview for the Mega-CD was also mentioned.