'Back
in Time' is a monthly feature where we look back at the classic video
gaming magazines twenty years ago this month. This month it is March
1991 when Super Marioland amazed all who played the Super Famicom
launch title, Rise of the Dragon rose impressively onto the PC gaming
scene, North and South showed that 8-bit games were still alive and
well, and Gods turned up to start collecting its run of accolades...
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The
front cover of C+VG
issue 112 looked slightly different this month, and in the
‘Ed First’ column, editor Paul Glancey confirmed
the new look C+VG.
The recently introduced art editor Jon Billington had splashed his
creative design over the magazine. Despite the re-design, which
included a new higher benchmark target for games receiving the
‘CVG Hit’ accolade, there were no fewer than nine
titles achieving the lofty status.
Stepping up to take the first new look ‘CVG Hit’
was the import review of Final Fight
on the Super Famicom. Richard Leadbetter and Robert Swan were both
impressed with Nintendo’s conversion of the hit arcade game,
given it 92%. “”Super Famicom Final Fight
is just as good as its arcade parent,” remarked Richard
Leadbetter, “the graphics, sound and playability are almost
identical to the coin-op and really show what the [Super] Famicom can
do.”
Other games getting the ‘CVG Hit’ stamp were Bomber Man
(PC Engine, 93%), Son of Dracula
(PC Engine, 93%), Turrican 2
(Amiga, 94%), Creatures
(C64, 90%), Summer Camp
(Amiga, 85%) and Mad Dog McCree
(Arcade, 90%).
One of the highest rated games in recent CVG
history was given to Super Mario
World,
which was rated a massive 96%. The Super Famicom title was praised by
Paul Glancey, who concluded that “with its amazing graphics
and mindblowing sound, Mario IV
is a stunning game…”
A couple of classic Rare games were covered in this issue with Solar Jetman: Hunt for
the Golden Warship and Snake,
Rattle 'n' Roll
both getting ‘CVG Hit’ accolades with 94%
and 95% respectively. Solar Jetman
is “simply one of the best NES cartridges I’ve had
the pleasure to play this year,” declared Richard Leadbetter.
As for the latter game, Rich mentioned that “with playability
that knocks the many Megadrive (sic) games into oblivion, Snake, Rattle and Roll
is simply superlative in every respect.”
Topping the individual format charts this month were RoboCop II
(Amiga), Lotus
Esprit Turbo Challenge (Atari
ST), Teenage
Mutant Hero Turtles (C64), Teenage
Mutant Hero
Turtles (NES), Golden Axe
(Master System), Teenage Mutant Hero
Turtles (Spectrum), OutRun
(PC Engine), Mickey Mouse Castle of
Illusion (Mega Drive), Teenage
Mutant Hero
Turtles (Amstrad CPC).
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As the editorial masthead in ACE
issue 42 revealed, Jim Douglas had been promoted to editor as Steve
Cooke moved on. In the Insanity USA features, ACE
reported back from the CES in Chicago, with highlights such as Wing Commander
and Ultima
VII. The ACE
Guide to the Greatest Games of All Time, part 2 looked at original
games, shoot-‘em-ups, simulations, sports simulations,
strategy games and turkeys.
The featured cover review this month was Rise of the Dragon
on PC, which was rated 850. “Apart from the longevity
question, Rise
of the Dragon is an excellent
game,” explained Jim Douglas. “It’s fun
to play, easy to get into and it also has some genuine pace, a factor
that sets it above most adventures on the market.”
Team
Suzuki was only one of two
games to receive an ACE Trailblazer rating of 900 or more, with the
motorcycle racer just making the mark with 900. Jim Douglas stated
“for anyone with more than a passing interest in either
motorbikes or what can be done with a decent polygon system, Team Suzuki
is an essential purchase.”
With the recent release of the Super Famicom in Japan, it was ACE’s
turn to get their hands on Super
Marioland,
the machine’s pack-in game. Gary Liddon gave the
game 910 and observed that “it’s blatantly obvious
how much love and pride has been spent of the development of what is
undeniably the state-of-the-art in entertainment software… Super Marioland
rates as just about the best reason in the world for going out and
getting yourself a Super Famicom.”
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Back to the Future III
dominated Your
Sinclair issue 63, with the
Speccy conversion of the time travel movie on the cover, as well as a
playable demo on the 6-pack covertape and the main review, which got an
overall 82 rating. Other offerings on the covertape included full games
of Dun
Darach, Earth Shaker,
Biggles
and a demo of Switchblade.
Topping the Speccy charts this month was Teenage Mutant Hero
Turtles with Robocop II
and Golden
Axe close behind. There was
change in the YS
ranks as Andy Ide replaced Matt Bielby as editor and James Leach
arrived across the corridor from Amstrad
Action
to take the position of Games Editor.
Crap Games Corner returned once again to bring the best in crap games.
Pick of the bunch was The Chain
by W Heap, which was an incredibly rock hard shoot-‘em-up.
Despite its difficulty, it still managed 76. The other pick was Golf
by Darren Jones which was praised as being one of the better crap games
submitted. Despite the praise, the game was given 34 –
perhaps the ratings were mixed up.
Switchblade,
Gremlin’s platform arcade adventure, was first up to get the
YS Megagame treatment with 92. “Gremlin have triumphed
again,” proclaimed Andy Ide. “If you’re
looking for a really, really big (big! Big!) game then Switchblade
will more than happily light your candle.”
The American Civil War was the subject in Infogrames’ North & South
strategy game. Linda Barker gave the game 90 and stated that
“it’s not just the gameplay that makes the game so
spanky – the graphics are excellent! It’s full of
nice little touches too.”
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Zzap!64
issue 71 and it was Megatape time again with four complete games given
away: 3D
Lunattack, Draconus,
Ocean
Conqueror, and Zybex.
Also taking its fare share of the front cover space was the Zzap!
Test’s main review of Super
Monaco Grand Prix.
Both the Amiga and C64 versions were given a sizzling review by the Zzap!
Team, getting 91% and 90% respectively. Stuart Wynne commented that
“both conversions offer pole position racing action and US
Gold’s decision to quadruple the number of tracks means
there’s plenty of lastability.”
The final outing of System 3’s classic ninja adventure
concluded with Last Ninja III.
While the cartridge only game was tentatively received by the crew, it
still managed to come away with a Sizzler rating of 93%. Robin Hogg
commented that “the New York theme of [Last Ninja]
II
made it the best of the series, but [Last
Ninja]
III
is a classy product in its own right and bound to [be] a massive
success.”
Getting a Zzap!
Gold Medal this month was The Bitmap Brothers’ classic Amiga
futuristic brawler Speedball 2.
Phil King declared that the 96% rated game “must be the
greatest ‘futuresport’ game ever, almost as good as
footy!”, while Stuart Wynne commented that it was
“without doubt the best two-player game since Kick Off II,
packed with violence and speed this can’t fail to be a
hit.”
With the C64 version of Turrican 2
receiving a Gold Medal rating of 96% the previous issue, hopes were
high for an improved Amiga version. Despite having 16-bit enhancements
including colourful backdrops, incidental music, sampled speech and
praise from both Robin Hogg and Stuart Wynne, the Amiga version fell
just short of the C64 benchmark rating with 93%.
The highlight in The Think Tank adventure section was Elvira: Mistress of the
Dark, which was given a
Sizzler with 90%. Crash’s Nick Roberts guest reviewed the
Accolade game and proclaimed that “Elvira
is a must for all fantasy adventure fans. A blood-curdling, all-action
game that will have you totally perplexed and enjoying every minute of
it.”
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Amstrad
Action issue 66’s
news pages reported that the new range of Amstrad Plus computers and
the GX4000 console prices were being slashed heavily following
a disappointing performance at the recent Christmas sales. As is that
wasn’t enough problems for the new machines, there was news
that cartridge games for the computer range were limited
with very few on sale. News of a permanent covertape to be
introduced the following issue, following high demand from readers.
The Games Busters article looked at common tips for specific genre of
games from Shoot-‘em-ups, to Simulators and Platform games to
adventures, as well as the popular methods of cheating including
passwords, key presses, multiface and pokes. Meanwhile, the full price
charts showed that Teenage Mutant
Hero
Turtles was again dominating
the top spot with Dizzy
Collection and Hollywood collection in second and third place.
Supercars
from Gremlin was first up for the Action Test and the first review from
Frank O'Connor, who gave the game an 87% and an ‘AA
Rave’ accolade. “Gremlin has again come up with a
cracker,” commented Frank. “Inevitably, comparisons
will be drawn between this and Supersprint,
but Supercars
is a great game in its own right, with a great variety of options and
an even larger selection of tracks. It’ll be a very long time
before you tyre of this one.”
Ocean’s RoboCop 2
cartridge game fared well in Frank O'Connor’s 94%
‘Console Stunner’ review. “On first
appearances alone, you could be forgiven for mistaking this for a good
ST title,” declared Frank, “and the music, sound
effects and depth of play would do little to change your
mind.”
The CPC version of North and South
made it into the Action Test, with James Leach awarding the strategy
game 91%. The game “has a style which is rarely seen in a
wargame,” explains James, “but then North and South
isn’t just a strategy simulation. It is also an arcade game,
and alo a battlefield tactical movement game. In short, it is a great
mix of all these elements, with a touch of Gallic humour thrown in as
well.”
Pinball
Magic rounded off the awards
given out this month with 80%. James Leach mentioned that the Loriciel
game “is an excellent implementation of a game which
isn’t perhaps a natural choice for converting to home
computer. It’s addictive and exciting, but also maddening and
frustrating.” |
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This month’s issue of CU
Amiga featured the complete
game Human
Killing Machine on
the coverdisk. US Gold’s multi-stage beat-‘em-up,
which was touted as the unofficial sequel to the company’s
own conversion of Street Fighter.
Taking lead review and featured on the front cover was The Bitmap
Brothers’ classic arcade platformer Gods
which achieved CU Super Star status with 93%. Dan Slingsby commented
that “the game itself plays like a dream. It’s not
just a shoot ‘em up – there are lots of intriguing
puzzles to solve, platforms to explore and objects to
discover… It deserves to be an almighty smash
hit.”
Space adventure Cybercon III
from US Gold was also basking in the glory of CU Super Star status with
93%. “One of the most sophisticated 3D adventures
you’re ever likely to see,” stated Kati Hamza,
“hours of involved exploration, blasting and problem solving
with the tense one-on-one confrontation between you and the Annihilator
to give it that extra edge. If you’re after the definitive 3D
experience, this is where to find it.”
Elsewhere, Microprose’s Railroad
Tycoon
racked up a 91% rating and a CU Screen Star. Mark Patterson stated that
the train management simulator was “a dull sounding idea
converted into an amazing game.” The Amiga conversion of
Sega’s arcade hit Super Monaco
Grand Prix
also fared well, finishing with 85%. “An extremely close and
playable conversion,” wrote Steve Merrett, “easily
the best car game to grace the Amiga.” Although Virgin
Games’ Viz
was rated 86% (within the range of CU Screen Star status), the game did
not receive an accolade. Whether this was due to an oversight on the
design process, the game was nevertheless praised as Steve Merrett
mentioned that he had “doubts about Viz
as a computer game, but this is good, adult fun contained in what is a
simple and playable game.”
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