S02 ll 74874 4 4 * 4 # W UPER NINTENDO PREViE* !N TNII NINTENDO • SEGA • ATARI • TURBOGRAFX-16 • GENESIS • GAMEBOY • LYNX • ARCADES NUMBER NEW FROM ACCLAIM j|The Next ^eneratidh - of Hand-Held Gaming... ATARI’S LYNX * kJfl VIDEO GAMES GROW UP Finally... the first real role playing game! (Nintendo) Ultima' is a registered trademark ot Richard Garriott. and is licensed by FCI tor play on the Nintendo System* are registered trademarks ot Nintendo ot America Inc. FCI is a trademark ot Fujisankei Communications International. Inc. You paddled your last Pong...you packed up your Pac-Man...you mastered Mario Bros. Now you’re ready for the ultimate challenge! Ultima, the popular PC role playing game, is available for NES players who want to move up to a grown up game. Put together your team of four characters and set out on your quest to conquer the evil Exodus. Fight your way across treacherous terrain with your wits, weapons and skills to save you from the dangers that lay in your path. It’s role playing fantasy at its best! ■ Choose your team from a variety of fantasy characters. ■ 5 year lithium battery saves scores and play positions. ■ Animated graphics and full sound effects add to your excitement. ■ Over 100 hours of game time. Fujisankei Communications International, Inc. 150 East 52 Street. New York. NY 10022 Tel. (800) 255-1431 In NY State (212) 753-8100 Phone Counseling Hotline (312) 968-0425 GET THE HINT! The Ultima Hint Book Get the tips and tricks that can help you complete your quest in this 64 page handbook of Ultima's secrets. Only $8 wherever you buy video games. To order by credit card, call toll- free (800) 422-9001 Ext. 576. FCI© Not Just Kid Stuff GET THE HINT! ULTIMA EXODUS HINT BOOK FCI© Books by phone, have your credit and call toll-free (800) 422-9001 ext. 576 Ultima® is a registered trademark of Richard Garriott; MagMax™ is a trademark of Nihon Bussan Co., Ltd., and both are licensed by FCI for play on the Nintendo Entertainment System®. Nintendo and Nintendo Entertainment System® are registered trademarks of Nintendo of America Inc. Yes, you can save Brittania! All you need is the Ultima Hint Book! This 64 page handbook of hidden secrets lets you in on some of the tips and tricks that can help you complete your quest. Look for the official Ultima Hint Book wherever you buy video games. Or call the number below to order direct. Not Just Kid Stuff IS International. Inc. 150 East 52 Street. New York. NY 10022 Tel. (800) 255 1431 In NY State (212) 753 8100 Phone Counseling Hotline (312) 968 0425 Mail or phone orders only. CONTENTS The New Soft that’s headed this way! Photos of Ninja Gai Den 2 and Dou¬ ble Dragon 2 in this issue! 30 First photos of the Konix 16-Bit Multi-System. The first U.K. game machine uses disks rather than carts! - -V: *.! 46 Ironsword is loaded with action and adventure in a quest against the ele¬ ments! The "Game of the Month"! 70 Atari introduces a color hand-held E€M*$ Review Crew ......................................1C The only video game review column that lets four top notch game players call the shots and tell it like it is! Look for Nintendo reviews of P.O.W., Friday the 13th, and Sega reviews of King’s Quest, and Rastan. EGM also brings you the first critical observations of new 16-Bit and hand-held games including Super Thunder Blade, Legendary Axe, and Super Mario Land! Next Wave ...................................................IS The future has plenty of thrills in store for you and EGM has all of the new games for all the game systems! Check out our previews of new Nintendo, Sega, and TurboGrafx-16 games! Keep your eyes peeled for the first photos of Acclaim’s Double Dragon 2: The Revenge, American Sammy’s Twin Cobra, and our super special preview - Ninja Gai Den 2! 1 C-Bit Caning - English Style.30 First previewed in EGM’s ’89 Buyer’s Guide, the Konix Multi-System is final¬ ly unveiled! Don’t worry - we’ve got the photos of this new machine as well as game screens that show exactly what the system can do! Get the complete scoop as well as secret info on when the Multi-System may make a state-side appearance! Top Secret!.34 We’ve got game tips galore from our in-house gang of video game busters, the U.S. National Video Game Team, as well as from undercover agents like you! Check out the hot stuff on new games like Rastan for Sega, Guardian Legend for Nintendo, and Altered Beast and Thunderforce II for Genesis. We’ve also pieced together SNK’s P.O.W. and Sega’s WonderBoy in Monsterland as part of our special Game Maps series! Atari ard Epyx Team Ip .................................70 The Epyx color hand-held game system now wears the Atari name! How does the color screen and heavy-duty hardware compare to Nintendo’s black and white GameBoy? You’ll get all the facts, including game screens and the first pictures of the unit, in this EGM exclusive! Als© in ttiis Issue: Insert Coin 6 Atari Adventure 58 Interface - Letters 8 Turbo Champ 60 Contest - Win a TurboGrafx 29 Outpost: Genesis 64 International Outlook 32 GameBoy Club 68 Game of the Month 46 Portable Arcade 70 Nintendo Player 50 At the Arcade 75 Sega Masters 54 Top Ten Games 80 12k 'M * j tCAlfti I ii n kSS^b ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY NUMBER 3 Editorial Offices: 1920 Highland Avenue, Suite 300, Lombard, Illinois 60148 A SENDAI PUBLICATION Publisher, Editor Steve Harris Associate Editors David White Edward J. Semrad Nintendo, Sega, Atari TurboGrafx, Genesis, GameBoy Game Reviewers Donn Nauert Jim Allee Ed Semrad Steve Harris Strategy Consultants U.S. National Video Game Team Subscription Manager Sherri Harris Newsstand Managers Harvey Wasserman Steve Keen Retail Sales Manager Steve Fineburg National Advertising Director David Siller 6828 Platt West Hills, CA 91307 (818) 716-0588 Electronic Gaming Monthly is published112 times a year by Sendai Publicity ' ” • ' ' , Gaming Monthly subscription rates tor U.S.: $19.95 • Canada, Mexico: $29.95, and all others by air mail only: $80.00. No com- m ten! in ssra e editors and the publishers welcome, but are not respon¬ sible for unsolicited material. No part of this publication Publications, Inc. All rights reserved AIT materials listed in this magazine are subject to manufacturers change such cl?an - sgistered Trademark of Nintendo of eqa is a Registered Trademark of Sega of ..,_,. .tSfi is a Registered Trademark of Atan Cor¬ poration. Game titles ar J '----- - - •gistered Ti__ „.,J characters ar. of the respective game manufacturers. With the introduction of the new 16-Bit game systems from NEC and Sega, as well as the GameBoy black and white and Atari color hand-helds, many of you may be left wondering, "With all of these great new game sys¬ tems finally out, which one do I choose? Which has the best software sup¬ port? Which has the most to offer me?" Don’t worry, because EGM is here to give you the answers! No matter what system you’re interested in, we’ve got the first word on the latest developments, new games, and secret playing tips. Beginning with this issue, Electronic Gaming Monthly is devoting 100% of its editorial space to video games and related products. Not only will you find new columns that specifically address every game machine on the market (like Turbo Champs, Outpost: Genesis, and GameBoy Club), you’ll also get insightful reviews and previews that are guaranteed to tell it like it is and give you the opinions of top notch players like yourself! We are also expanding our tips and tricks sections to include these new game machines! In our "Top Secret" column you’ll find new tricks, codes, and strategies for the new systems as well as the Nintendo and Sega. We’ve also increased the number of Game Maps in this issue, featuring color strips on P.O.W. for the Nintendo, Wonder Boy in Monster Land for the Sega, Commando for the Atari 7800, Super Mario Land for GameBoy, and Legendary Axe for the TurboGrafx-16! Even though we’ve broadened our editorial focus, you can still turn to EGM for the latest info from the world of video games. We want to make sure our readers are on top of absolutely everything that’s movin’ and shakin’, and to do so we’ve hooked up with some of the most popular gaming mags from around the world! This instant access to gaming news allows us to give you advance word on upcoming games and developments that you won’t find anywhere else! Just turn to page 18 to see what we mean! We’ve got pictures of the long-awaited sequel to Double Dragon called appropriately enough, Dou¬ ble Dragon 2: The Revenge and a super sneak preview of Ninja Gai Den 2! Flip to page 30 and check out the first photos of the Konix 16-Bit Multi- System game machine and find out when this new console may be in the U.S.! And, if that weren’t enough, we also have an exclusive sneak peek at the Atari/Epyx color hand-held game system - including some fantas¬ tic game screens that must be seen to be believed! When you get EGM it doesn’t matter which system you own or plan to own. As long as you like video games we cover it all! Steve Harris Editor P.S. Don’t despair computer gamers! EGM has a special surprise com¬ ing just for you, very soon... 6 BAD DUDES MAKES DOUBLE DR AGON PALE BYCOMPARISON Ask anyone who's played them both in the arcade. Bad Dudes is clearly the game of choice. It's no contest. BAD DUDES has better graphics. Better action. Better playability. From the arcade to the Nintendo to computer formats, you can count on a better game with BAD DUDES. And we're even available on more systems than they are. The joystick play is incredible-fast, smooth and responsive. And the game play and graphics of the home versions are amazingly true to the arcade original. Check it out for yourself. The martial arts excitement of BAD DUDES makes Double Dragon play like a dinosaur. One soon to be extinct. BAD DUDES. From Data East. Now available on Commo¬ dore, IBM,Tandy, Amiga, Atari ST and Apple II personal computers and the Nintendo Entertainment System. C 1938 DATA EAST USA. MC Double Dragon NrtendoiC 19S8 and TM TrtxVewetf. kx. horn ledvos. Japan. Double Dragon AftodeC 1987 TAITO AMERICAN CORPORATION nes, Inc; Amigo ond Commodore i ATA AST 1850 Little Orchard Drive, San Jose, CA 95112 (408) 286-7074 Got a problem? Filled with praise? Open up your mind and be¬ come a star in the pages of Electronic Gaming Monthly! If your letter impresses us enough we’ll put your name in lights (well, ac¬ tually in black ink) for thousands to see! Send your video gaming escapades to us at Sendai Publications, Interface-Letters to the Editor, 1920 Highland Avenue, Suite 300, Lombard, IL 60148. PLEASE, NO MORE NINTENDO! I must say that you people at EGM sure put out a top-notch mag. I would like to know, however, why it seems that EGM is shifting to more of a Nintendo magazine, instead of more or less equal coverage of Sega, Nintendo, and other game systems. In my opinion, Ninten¬ do has enough mags of its own on the market already and I buy EGM be¬ cause I know that it covers all machines. Lastly, why is EGM starting to cover computer software?!? There are very few mags that cater to gamers, and even fewer that are worth talking about. Let the hackers buy their own mags and focus your energy on us, the few, the proud, the video gamers of America! Christian Logan Batty Corporal, US Army Ft. Lewis, WA NEC’s P. C. Engine - the forefather to the TurboGrafx-16 is currently the number one selling system in Japan! (ed. - Wow! Now here’s a letter you won’tfind in Nintendo Power! Seri¬ ously, thanks bunches for the comments Chr¬ istian! It’s you, the gamers, who ultimately make this mag what it is. Without your valu¬ able input, Electronic Gaming just wouldn’t be the same! You do make some interesting observations and most of your pleas for addi¬ tional Sega coverage are already coming true! Turn through the pages of this issue and you’ll find nearly a dozen pages on the Sega Master and Genesis systems, including game reviews, previews, and even special game maps for Super Wonder Boy in Monster Land! True, you will find more Ninten¬ do info, but it’s not because we favor one system over another (we love ’em all), it’s just because of the volume of games and products released for the NES as com¬ pared to the Sega machines. We also love computer software, but beginning with this issue we’ve decided to turn Electronic Gaming into a 100% video game magazine! This means you’ll read even more about the latest developments on all the hottest systems! Don’t worry computer fans, because we’ve got some nifty surprises coming justforyou!) IT’S NO CONTEST! I just received your second issue and have to tell you it looks like dynamite! I love the changes you’ve made in your reviewing format and the game tips and maps were totally rad! I also enjoyed reading about the new game systems. You guys seem to know about every¬ thing before any other magazine - that’s what makes you guys the best! How about some more information on the new Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 game systems? Rob Williams Libertyville, IA (ed. - We’re glad you like our new style, Rob. We’ll continue to develop the magazine one step at a time, making it better with each issue. You can now look forward to reading about the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 in every issue of Electronic Gaming. Regu¬ lar columns devoted exclusively to these two super machines will report on all the latest developments, provide in-depth reviews on new games, and supply the best game tips, tricks, and maps around!) LOOKING FOR GAMEBOY I am writing to ask for more informa¬ tion on Nintendo’s GameBoy system, and the Epyx color hand-held system. What I would really like to know is the release dates for both units. I already have 133 games for the NES and 52 games for the Sega, but I really want to get a hold of these two hand-helds. Linda Chinvington Ventura, CA (ed. - Wait a second. Let me get this straight. You have 133 Nintendo games and 52 Sega games ? I bet you also have an empty wallet or did you hit the jack¬ pot on Wheel of Fortune or something? Anyway, you can turn to page 40 in our second issue for the complete scoop on the GameBoy, including release dates, prices, games, etc. The Epyx portable system is now the Atari portable system, however, with the two companies team¬ ing up to take the GameBoy on head-to- head! Turn to page 70 for details) WHERE’D THE P.C. ENGINE GO? A couple of weeks ago on MTV I saw them talking about the TurboGrafx-16 from NEC. I thought NEC had the P.C. Engine. Can you clear this up? Eddie Ricchi Cambridge, WI (ed. The TurboGrafx-16 and P.C. En¬ gine are one and the same. The system was repackaged and renamed for the U.S.) continued on page 27 STEREO Princess Leilani was kidnapped and taken to Adventure Island in the South Pacific. The island is thick with tropical forest, caves, ocean and mountains. Many dangerous demons and creatures are waiting for you. Are you up for the challenge?! Can you live through Adventure Island to save Princess Leilani? If you think you have played the hardest of all video games, try this one. Each level has a different challenge: the higher the level, the tougher the challenge! Can you beat the monsters?! How many coins can you collect?! Are you ready for the challenge of your game playing career? This is it!!! ©[F Bomberman has been put to work in an underground compound at the center of the Earth. One day he learned that he can become a human by escaping from the center of the Earth and make it to the surface. He can only rely on bombs of his own production for his defense. Will Bomberman ever make it to the surface? In pre-historic times, where ancient dinosaur creatures ruled, the adventures of Dino-Riki began. A courageous young man, Dino-Riki is determined to establish mankind's future in this violent age. Dino-Riki must fight his way through lotus swamps, dark caverns, deep canyons, deserts and giant dinosaur bosses. LICENSED BY NINTENDO FOR PLAY ON THE (Nintendo) ■nnBTRinminT svaram* HUDSON GROUP! Mr HUDSON SOFT' 601 California Street. Suite 2004 San Francisco, CA 94108 For questions, call (415>495-HINT Hudson Soil is a Irademark ol Hudson Soil Co.. Lid HUDSON'S ADVENTURE ISLAND ' . Milons Sacral Casile " BOMBERMAN ' and Advances ol trademarks ol Hudson Soil USA. Inc JOY CARD SSS is a trademark ol Hudson Sol! USA. Inc SANSUI is a Irade mark ol SANSUI ELECTRIC CO LTD Entertainment System * are trademarks of Nintendo of America Inc Dino-Rikt v are registered Nintendo« and Nintendo ELECTRONIC GAMING REVIEW CREW $ T E V E The publisher/editor of Elec¬ tronic Gaming is into the shoot¬ ers and action/adventure titles. Steve has blasted his way through Twin Eagle and P.O.W. for the Nintendo as well as his newest favorite - Ghouls and Ghosts for the Sega Genesis. E D Ed is a big fan of the Sega Master System and RPGs like King's Quest, Montazuma’s Revenge, and Spell Caster. He’s now play¬ ing the 16-Bit systems heavily and is exploring the deepest regions of Dungeon Explorer for the TurboGrafx-16. D 0 N N Donn enjoys all kinds of games ranging from the most action- packed shooters to the most dif¬ ficult RPG entries. He's recently mastered Data East’s Bad Dudes and Blazing Lazersforthe Turbo, and is now working on Twin Eagle from Romstar. J I M A great all-around gamer, Jim has beaten over 200 games for the Nintendo, Sega, and 16-Bit systems. His current favorites are Sega’s Captain Silver, SNK’s P.O.W. and Guerrilla War for the Nintendo, and Super Mario Land for the GameBoy. P.O.W. Type: Action Release: 09/01 Levels of Play: 4 Difficulty: Avg. Friday the 13th Type: Action/Adv Release: Now Levels of Play: Difficulty: Avg. BBfB P.O.W. is SNK’s new arcade-warfare epic, that follows in the footsteps of Double Dra¬ gon. You control a Prisoner of War who must escape the enemy compound, tra¬ verse various hazards, and eliminate the enemy strongholds. All of the action is played out in front of a highly detailed dual-scrolling background. Secret rooms offer additional dangers and power-up weapons that can aid you in your battle! Can you escape the enemy? Jason, that unstoppable killing machine that thrives on teenage bodies, makes his Nintendo debut in this action/adventure contest from UN. As a camp counselor you must protect the little kiddies wandering about while fending off the attacks of old Mr. Hockey Mask himself. Gather up all of the children and make your way out of Camp Crystal Lake before it’s too late - or you may find yourself facing Jason one-on-one! P.O.W. is not an overly complex or diverse game, but it does have great graphics and play. The game would get repetitive if it weren't for the constantly changing environ¬ ments and cast of characters. The lack of a 2-Player option is missed but it doesn't de¬ tract from the superior nature of this game. Friday the 13th could have been an excellent game, with blood spurting and knives slash¬ ing. What we get instead is another boring Goonies II rip-off that is just plain dull The graphics are sub-standard and the whole game is slow and tedious to play. This game could turn even Jason's stomach. Another war game from SNK. Nothing spec¬ tacular here, just a good solid game. Punch and kick lovers will have their hands full with a formidable enemy and challenging end- of-level Bosses. Other than Double Dragon 2, this is the best kung-fu type game this fall. A very poor game that displays little of what an action/adventure game should contain. The action portions of play are sparse, the adventure offers little challenge, and the whole thing is topped off with graphics that are just plain bad. Friday the 13th is not very enjoyable at all. Good translation of the arcade. Has above- average graphics and game play and the dif¬ ficulty is just about right (it stays challenging through all four levels). It’s not hard to pick up but you won’t finish it right away. They’ve got to be kidding. The graphics are sub-par and the game play is average at best. There needs to be more substance for a game like this to succeed. None of the game elements (the action, the quest, etc.) deliver any real punch. P.O.W. has great background graphics and a very addictive play mechanic that is similar to Double Dragon. The game levels do get a bit repetitive, fighting the same enemies over and over again (with an occassional scuba diver thrown in). The end Bosses are also too easy. Friday the 13th’s game play is just awful. The graphics are plain and you don’t need to apply any strategy to beat the game. Just wear down Jason and, in the process, wear yourself down. A real loser. 10 Hoops Type: Sports Release: Now Levels of Play: — Difficulty: Easy The Guardian Legend Type: Action Release: Now Levels of Play: Difficulty: Avg. Stealth ATF Type: Simulator Release: Now Levels of Play: 08 Difficulty: Avg. Hoops is the latest addition to Jaleco's line of sports-related video games. Hoops is, as you probably could guess, a basketball simulation that concentrates more on good arcade-style interaction than statisti¬ cal or true-to-life realism. As opposed to other basketball entries for the NES, Hoops represents ’’blacktop bas¬ ketball" between two players one-on-one or teams going two-on-two. A variety of different characters, each with a host of strengths and weaknesses, help elevate the strategic elements of the game as well. Long ago an alien race sent a vast planet hurtling straight at the Earth. Loaded in¬ side of this renegade world were a cargo of evil alien lifeforms. Deep within the planet there exists a self- destruct mechanism that must be reached before it reaches Earth. To complete this mission, you must travel between the labyrinths below the surface of the planet and warp to deeper mazes via your star ship. It’s up to you to protect the Earth and become the Guardian Legend! Konami’s Top Gun was one of the most successful Nintendo games of all time, and now Activision is hoping to cash in with an airplane combat simulator of their own. While Stealth ATF (for Advanced Tactical Fighter) doesn’t have the hot name, it does offer air-to-air combat action in eight "hot spots" around the world. You must take off, clear the skies, and land before you take too much damage. Get into trouble and go into stealth mode to become invisible to enemy radar. Lock on and fire! 1 like Hoops a lot! It doesn't bog down in a countless number of sub-screens to achieve that "realistic touch", nor does it bother to restrict you to 5 member teams and shot clocks. It’s laid back approach, along with some nice graphic close-ups and other sup¬ porting features, make it highly playable. 1 like Guardian Legend as a shooter that dishes up a little more than blast-em-up booms and bangs. Including some ac¬ tion/adventure elements, even if the second half of the game is slightly average, helps elevate the whole title to a much higher level. A good follow-up for Zanac fans. Stealth ATF is not a bad game, it simply has too many rough edges. The take-off and landing sequences are nice, but the overall game is not very realistic. The ground ter¬ rain looks the same at 500 feet and 50,000 feet and the music is terribly annoying. It’s too bad, this one could have been a winner. This isn’t Double Dribble and it isn’t meant to be. Hoops’ half-court basketball makes for tighter play and strategy becomes more important. The chalk mark score keeping on the playground wall is a nice touch. Dou¬ ble Dribble is still the best, but try Hoops for a new type of basketball. Guardian Legend is a shoot-em-up Blaster Master clone that is only average at best. The verticle scrolling flying sequences add variety to an otherwise non-spectacular game. Nothing real original here, but Zanac fans should enjoy it. For hard-core flyboys only! Contains After Burner-like 360 degree rolls for excitement and a "through the cockpit" view. Not a whole lot of variety through the multiple levels of play, but it’s the best one available now. I like the setting of Hoops - on an asphalt court instead of an arena - and the surround¬ ing graphics are drawn very well. It does be¬ come difficult to tell who has the ball when all the characters are close together, but otherthan that this is a very good basketball game with a nice slam-dunk close-up. While it has good intentions, Guardian Le¬ gend takes a simple theme and draws it out into a repetitive quest with a shooter in be¬ tween. There’s little challenge or substance in these adventure scenes. This one would have been better as a pure shooter (see the Top Secret code in this issue for a code). Stealth doesn’t require you to do much more than keep your plane in the air and shoot. There’s not much strategy and not a lot game play. The only reason to keep going is to see what the different back¬ grounds and landing scenes look like. Hoops just doesn’t have enough variety. You play 30 games of basketball and each one is about as difficult as the next. The graphics are more cartoony and the dunk sequence was done better in Double Drib¬ ble - a game that was out two years ago! Guardian Legend is similar to Zanac but is really two games in one. The maze scenes aren’t hard but they are long. The flying se¬ quences are also easy with all of the difficul¬ ty wrapped up into the Boss confrontations. The game does do a good job of bringing the two separate play themes together. I had a couple of problems with Stealth ATF. The landscape graphics always look the same (so much for simulations) the sounds are not much better than 2600 beeps and whines and the "Stealth" mode hardly af¬ fects the game at all. It does have a barrel roll, but not much else. Good concept that is too repetitive. There are extra sequences and new goals like taking on the enemy control tower and res¬ cuing hostages, but that's not enough var¬ iety to elevate this one above average. I did like this one better than Stealth ATF, but it could have had better graphics and play. The graphics in Thundercade could have been a lot better, but despite their bland na¬ ture this game does have good game play. The action is short-lived, however, and it doesn't take very long to reach the end of the game. A decent translation of the ar¬ cade original. Graphically this game is O.K., but it’s much too easy with the "Power" throws. They enable you to wipe out the opposing team, even on the hardest settings, with very little effort. Although it’s different from the coin¬ op version, the ease of play detracts from its overall appear. Worth looking at, however. Airwolf tries to give something to everyone and, in the process, comes out looking a lit¬ tle bit tired. The first-person/side play me¬ chanics don’t mesh very well - even though there are some nifty transition screens. Air- wolf isn't overly bad, but neither one of the game levels are spectacular. Despite the fact that the graphics in Thun¬ dercade are slightly murkey, I still found the action in this shooter to be above average. There’s a lot of hidden items to discover in Thundercade, which gives the game some of the same overtones that made Super Mario such a hit. Not fantastic, but good. Super Dodge Ball is not exactly your main¬ stream kind of game, but in this case that’s not a negative While the action may seem repetitive at first, the inclusion of special at¬ tack techniques brings a new dimension to the play. SDB has rough graphics and is fairly easy, but it does have some merit. What a disappointment! Level after level of the same exact thing. The advanced levels are much harder than the early ones. The fighting sequences aren’t impressive, nor difficult. Airwolf just goes to show that great names don’t always mean great games. This one's a sleeper - there’s much more than meets the eye. A very good vertically scrolling shooting game. The power-up side-car weapons are hidden, and finding them adds to the challenge of the game. Thundercade moves fast and is loaded with action. Definitely worth a try. CSG Imagesoft has cooked up a sports game that doesn’t have attractive play mechanics or cool arcade-style play or much of anything to boast about. The game suffers from bad flicker, repetitive game play, and a lack of interesting fea¬ tures. This one got boring very quickly, The game opens with some cool still pic¬ tures that explain the story, but there’s not much else to rave about after that. There’s not much depth to play - the game has little action and it’s difficult to control the helicop¬ ter in the side-view stages. Airwolf just didn't hold my interest at all. Thundercade is filled with hidden power- ups and lots to do, but the game just doesn’t deliver a big punch. The game play is very active and the game has a two-player fea¬ ture which is nice, but the graphics are limit¬ ed and it’s sometimes hard to tell who’s shooting at who. O.K., but not awesome. I liked Super Dodge Ball a lot in the arcades and I like it even more for the Nintendo. It's a fun game that unfortunately is a little easy thanks to awesome "Power" throws. The graphics and sounds are decent, but the gameplay makes up for any shortcomings. Super Dodge Ball is different - but good Airwolf Type: Shooter Release: Now Levels of Play: 20 Difficulty: Avg. Thundercade Type: Shooter Release: 08/15 Levels of Play: 4 Difficulty: Avg. Based on the television show of the same name, Airwolf puts you in command of a super-duper copter that's loaded with spe¬ cial abilities and armed to the teeth with all kinds of weapons! You must confront an enemy force in a number of different scenarios including horizontally scrolling levels that pit you against land-based forces as well as first- person head-on attacks against squad¬ rons of war planes. Hop into a super-charged motorcycle and ride behind enemy lines in one of the wildest shoot-em-ups ever! You must guide your motorcycle-riding hero through a variety of hazards and around the superior firepower of the opposing for¬ ces! The action scrolls vertically and con¬ stantly introduces new and different char¬ acters as well as plenty of power-up oppor¬ tunities. Super Dodge Ball reproduces all of the challenge and excitement of the backyard game up to the professional level in a chal¬ lenging contest of skill against some of the nastiest video athletes around. Based on a little-seen Taito coin-op, this American Technos-developed title pro¬ vides multiple options, lots of action, and an interesting ranking system that ele¬ vates good players through the ranks of the Super Dodge Ball leagues. Avery uni¬ que sports entry. 12 King’s Quest Type: Adv./RPG Release: 08/01 Levels of Play: - Difficulty: Hard Do you have what it takes to relieve King Edward from his throne? To prove it you must uncover three magic objects that have been hidden across his kingdom. During your quest to retrieve these three objects (a magic shield, mirror, and chest of gold), you'll encounter strange people and monsters in far-off lands. Use your thinking cap and deduc¬ tive reasoning to figure your way around the obstacles in your path. Remember, poor Edward is waiting... Rastan Type: Action Release: Now Levels of Play: 7 Difficulty: Avg. Grab your trusty battle axe and head into battle! Rastan, based on the arcade favorite, pits you against a vile collection of monsters out to stop you from reaching the lovely Princess who is being held captive in some of the darkest regions of the kingdom. It's your job to stop the Dark Lords of Semia and return the King’s daughter back to her royal chambersl Super Thunder Blade Type: Action Release: 09/01 Levels of Play: 4 Difficulty: Avg. The Thunder Blade attack helicopter is back in this souped up version of the ar¬ cade classic! You take command of a chopper armed to the teeth with guns and rockets. Go into battle over enemy terrain and fight some of the most deadly machines ever dis¬ played in a video game. The action is broken into two different levels with first- person “coming at 'ya“ attacks on enemy cities and overhead battles against Boss vehicles. I’m not a big fan of adventure/RPGs, and King's Quest doesn't do much to change my opinions. There is a bit more interaction required than in similar fare, but solving puzzles will never substitute a good laser and invading alien armies. Rastan is a fine game for the Sega 8-Bit, but it gets difficult to control the lead character in some areas. It offers up plenty of mind¬ less fun, however, and is the best of its kind for the Master System. STBjust isn’t what a 16-Bit game should be. It's not offending, but the graphics, while detailed, don't move in smooth progression from the background to the foreground. The worst thing about STB, however, is how it controls, with poor response that is slow and sluggish and makes the game tedious. Similar to the computer game of the same name. 76 different screens with noun and verb commands selected from a list. Not very difficult for the experienced player, but a fun quest game for the average player. A slightly better-than-average action game. Stabbing anything that moves and timing your jumps carefully is all the strategy you'll need. The not-so-hidden forever continue (see this issue) allows you to polish off this game in one sitting. Genesis promises arcade graphics and STB comes close. In fact, no home machine can do a better job. While better that the 8-Bit, STB is still not perfect. On coming objects increase in size in coarse steps, but detailed shapes add some luster. STB plays well and shows what the Genesis can do. King's Quest is a pretty good all-around game. The quest portion of play is chal¬ lenging enough to keep you occupied and the overall control sequences add some depth to an otherwise straightforward ad¬ venture title. This one won't appeal to shoot-em-up fans, but it will make you think. Rastan has a pretty standard theme that's not expanded much here. The graphics and play are good, but there is some flicker in certain areas that's a bit of a distraction. The best action game available for the Sega. Although the dual level game play is ade¬ quate, the graphics are too choppy and there is an abundance of screen flicker. I thought the 16-Bit processor would have cleared a lot of these problems up, but un- fortuantely STB is plagued by the same drawbacks. A nice change from the typical RPG. The computer doesn’t choose who hits who which opens the door for more action. King’s Quest requires more interaction and creates a game that demands thought plus skill. Good play time with a password func¬ tion that will be used frequently. The game play in Rastan is decent and close to the arcade, but the graphics are too small and detailed for its own good. It’s hard to maneuver in some areas because of the characters' sizes. Awesome graphics! Harder than the arcade or 8-Bit versions of Thunder Blade, but also a lot better. The controls are sluggish, but the graphics more than make up for any minor problems in play. STB makes the 8 Bit Thunder Blade look like a 2600 game! 13 Space Harrier 2 Type: Shooter Release: 9/01 Levels of Play: 13 Difficulty: Avg. Vigilante Type: Shooter Release: 11/01 Levels of Play: 5 Difficulty: Easy Legendary Axe Type: Action/Adv Release: 09/15 Levels of Play: 6 Difficulty: Avg. ^ JL • ■ . • - 'Y T *Y J Back in the Fantasy Zone again! Space Harrier 2 represents one of the first titles available for Sega’s new 16-Bit Gene¬ sis system. Just like in the previous Space Harrier adventures, number two has our jet-pack hero flying over 13 new levels of play, complete with new settings a whole new cast of bad guys. Space Harrier 2 concentrates on show¬ ing off Sega's hardware abilities, with smoothly scrolling beasts attacking from the various alien backgrounds. You’re the Vigilante, out to keep the streets of New York safe for the peaceful and law-abiding. Your turf is a hard place to live, but the gangs have learned respect for your fighting abilities. Now a new gang has come to town and kidnapped your girl! You must combat the various members and Bosses of this rival gang as you work your way through the five different rounds of play. Highly detailed scrolling graphics and plenty of punch-kick action await! In Legendary Axe you become a warrior on a mission to save your love from the vile clutches of an evil cult that intends to sacrafice her to the devil. With your magi¬ cal axe in hand, you set out to rid the land of this menace and rescue poor Rare. In addition to boasting dual scrolling graphics, lots of power-ups, and even some secret rooms, The Legendary Axe also contains several different play techni¬ ques and a varied cast of crazed cult wor¬ shippers. Stand your ground mighty war¬ rior, Flare is depending on you! Space Harrier 2 looks good and plays good but it’s still Space Harrier. There’s 13 more levels of play, but instead of throwing in some new features, Sega has done little more than rewrite the original using the ad¬ vanced graphics and sounds of the Gene¬ sis. Not bad, but it could have been better. While Vigilante is an incredibly faithful trans¬ lation of the arcade original, and probably the best looking game available for the Tur- boGrafx-16, it suffers from being too easy. When you throw in three continues it les¬ sens the challenge even more. With only five levels it’s not hard to beat. The Legendary Axe is one of my favorites! It combines an excellent theme with some of the best graphics and sounds ever seen or heard in a home video game. The execu¬ tion is brilliant, the many power-up options welcome, and the entire game a joy to be¬ hold! Highly recommended! Like Super Thunder Blade, Space Harrier 2 is better than the original and looks great on the Genesis. It also plays well with con¬ siderably less screen flicker that the 8-Bit version. Plenty of action and super stereo sound. Similar to the arcade version - but that isn’t saying a lot. Not a hard kick and punch game and definitely not the NEC’s finest. Great graphics alone does not a good game make. Nothing special, nothing bad...just average. This is how Rastan should have been done. Offering multiple paths, an attack meter that takes time to build, and numerous hid¬ den pitfalls, Axe is not as easy as it appears to be. It’s hard, but fun, and with only 3 con¬ tinues, remains challenging. This should be the first game purchased for your TG-16. Great game! Space Harrier 2 is a good se¬ quel to the original that offers the same type of shoot-em-up thrills with highly detailed 16-Bit graphics. The only negative is that the game is too similar to the first, without enough variety or new features thrown in to make it better. Outstanding nonetheless. This is an outstanding translation of the ar¬ cade version, with great graphics and sounds. The game play is good but with nunchucks and auto-fire you're almost in¬ vincible! Add three continues on top of the easy play and you get a fantastic game that isn’t too hard to beat. One of the best action/adventure games I've ever seen. Great detail in the game charac¬ ters and backgrounds create an excellent setting for numerous encounters that occur with enemy monsters and creatures. Plen¬ ty of variety keeps you on your toes throughout the entire contest. Space Harrier 2 takes off right where the f irst game ended. The graphics are definitely better the second time around, and the backgrounds help compliment the alien settings. The only complaint 1 have is that the game is easier and shorter than the 8- Bit Harrier. A good translation of the arcade title. There’s not much to the game play - it’s the same stuff we’ve been going at since Kung- Fu Master came out. The graphics are great, but the theme hasn’t expanded much beyond its new looks. A great game! Legendary Axe is really Ras¬ tan with better graphics. The game play is good and is supported by highly detailed creatures and tunes that constantly change. There’s a lot of variety and just the right amount of difficulty. Legendary Axe is everything you could want in a game. 14 Super Mario Land Alleyway Baseball Type: Action Release: 08/01 Levels of Play: 12 Difficulty: Avg. MWIOxO? 4AS1 m TIME J»ttO 01 I - I t'M 3 fl Type: Action Release: 08/01 Levels of Play: 32 Difficulty: Avg. Type: Sports Release: 08/01 Levels of Play: — Difficulty: Easy - ^ O Super Mario is back and he’s got a new mission ahead! In this GameBoy rendition of the regular Super Mario Bros, arcade game, Super Mario must resuce the Prin¬ cess Daisy from a whole new cast of nasty characters that include exploding turtles, spear-throwing bees, stone faces, pogo men, upside-down killer plants and more! Don’t worry, because help is on the way! Grab a mushroom to power-up, a flower to fire, and a star to become invincible! And, when you think it’s all over, go to the bonus room and win up to 3 free Marios! Inspired by the classic Break-Out and Arkanoid games, GameBoy gives us Al¬ leyway, a whole new brick-bashing chal¬ lenge that features a multitude of unique play mechanics. Besides deflecting a lone block-busting ball of a wall of bricks, you must also con¬ tend with scrolling tiles, falling tiles, and bonus screens that look just like charac¬ ters from Super Mario Bros.! Progress to higher levels of play and more bricks are added, your paddle is cut in half, and the speed increases. Step up to the plate and dust yourself off for a full nine innings of video baseball! Thanks to the portable GameBoy, you can take the stadium with you. All the sights and sounds of the real game are captured on the GameBoy’s two inch screen. In addition to the pitching, batting, and fielding, you can also play manager and select the line-up from several available teams. You can also change batters and pitchers when necessary. It’s all here in a small but powerful new cart. Even though it’s in B&W and on a 2 inch screen, Super Mario Land is a fantastic game that is, above all, very fun to play. There are loads of things to discover and all new worlds to chart. It’s a bit short (only 12 screens), but there’s enough challenge here to highly recommend this one. Alleyway is perfectly suited for the Game¬ Boy. It’s also a very good game that com¬ bines some new features (like scrolling blocks and bonus rooms) with the original Break-Out theme. Power-ups would have been a nice addition (a la Arkanoid), but as it stands Alleyway is good - but a bit long. GameBoy Baseball, while boasting some nice looks, is a base on balls. It’s not good, but it’s not bad either. Many of the most im¬ portant Baseball elements are missing and the whole thing is way too easy against the computer. The Video-Link mode makes it slightly better, but not tremendously. WOW! Mario's back and now he’s portable! Easily the best GameBoy cart, Super Mario Land should be your first purchase. Pipes, hidden coin rooms, and lUps - they’re all there, just waiting to be discovered. It’s Super Mario Bros, all over again and it’s fan¬ tastic! It’s Breakout or Arkanoid - nothing special and definitely nothing very exciting. Worse than average game play and not worth buy¬ ing. Save your money for the better games which will be coming soon. GameBoy plays a good game of Baseball despite its size. The screen follows the ball (and the action) by scrolling in any direction. The game play and graphics are good and are familiar to anyone who’s played an NES baseball game. It doesn't have a lot of bells and whistles, but it’s good anyway. Like Super Mario Bros, for the NES, Super Mario Land is filled with the same kind of running and jumping action. There are loads of secret things to uncover, and new screens that add to the Super Mario theme. This is the best GameBoy game I’ve seen so far. Alleyway has a good theme that seems to die in mid-bounce. The scrolling bricks are a nice touch, but after playing it a few times you start wondering when it will end. It simply goes on and on. True, the patterns change, but there's not enough variety. A perfect design for the GameBoy, though. GameBoy Baseball is adequate for the sys¬ tem and has some nice graphic features, but is lacking some play mechanics that tar¬ nish its rating. A lack of certain features make this Baseball play like Little League. A great GameBoy game! Excellent scroll¬ ing graphics make Mario Land look and play just like Super Mario Bros. All the bad guys, mushrooms and other features from the original are here, along with new charac¬ ters, 1 Ups, hidden coins, and more! A port¬ able Super Mario Bros.! A portable Arkanoid without the weapons. While it has scrolling boards and bonus boards, there is really nothing special about the game. It’s just another paddle game that's screaming for power-ups or some kind of enhancement. A copy of RBI Baseball for the NES and every bit as good. You can change batters, pitchers, control your fielders, and throw the ball around very easily. GameBoy Baseball also has some nice features like a scrolling stadium and crowd. 15 ENTER AND WIN The Number One Video Tape On How-To-Beat The Greatest Games! Seeing is Believing!!! Now you can learn the secrets of the pros with the Secret Video Game Tricks, Codes, and Strategies video tape from MPI Home Video! Master nearly two dozen of your favorite games including Contra, Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, Double Dragon, and more! Discover the secret power-up tips and spe¬ cial codes that will improve your game almost immediately! All tips are performed by the U.S. National Video Game Team, the world-renown group of professional game players, so you know you’re in good hands! We’ll give away ten copies of Secret Video Game Tricks, Codes, and Strategies Volume One to the ten lucky winners in this special contest open exclusively to readers of Electronic Gaming Monthly! Read the rules to the right for complete in¬ structions on how to enter and send your card in today! Use the Official Entry Card in this Issuel Rules: All entries must be received by September 15, 1989. Sendai Publica¬ tions Inc., and the staff of Electronic Gaming Monthly assume no respon¬ sibility for postal service m is takes or other events beyond our control which could delay or prevent your submission from reaching our offices. No relatives of the EGM staff may participate in this contest. You may enter as often as you wish, but each entry must be sent separately. The ten winners will be chosen at random by judges appointed by Sendai Publications, Inc. Each winner will receive a copy of the Secret Video Game Tricks, Codes, and Strategies Volume One for play on VHS machines only. The decisions of the judges is final. Void where prohibited by law. VIDEO GAME SECRETS VOLUME 2 AVAILABLE SOONII! 16 i Entertain o Acclaim’s DOUBLE DBAGCN 2: THE REVENGE Marian is dead! The evil Shadow Boss and his agents are out to settle the score for the thrashing you gave them in the original blockbuster. After killing Marian, your one and only love, they knew that you’d come after them with everything you’ve got! This time, it won’t be so easy. There are nine levels to fight through and a whole new gang of stronger and smarter thugs to beat. This time, however, you can bring a friend since Double Dragon 2: The Revenge is a two-player cooperative game - just like in the arcades! Double Dragon 2 is also loaded with all-new martial arts moves such as the Cyclone Spin Kick, and Back Kick. With these new techniques you might have a chance against the somersaulting mad men from the Shadow Boss’ evil gang. This game is more than just another kung- fu kick-em-up, however, with strategy playing an important role in your quest to reap revenge! There are now nine new levels of action and suspense, not to men¬ tion the graphically striking intermission sequences which set up the climactic ending of the game (a la Ninja Gai Den). You’ll have to work your way through walls filled with disappearing ledges, where timing is critical, and past conveyor belts and rotating gears that push and pull you in different directions above pits filled with deadly spears. Double Dragon 2 may seem like a nightmare since you’ll often find yourself confronted by gang members who seemingly appear and dis¬ appear at will. You’ll also encounter an illusion of yourself that is equally skilled in the martial arts. And don’t forget the Shadow Boss himself - your toughest opponent and the ultimate warrior! Is this new master of illusions really as strong as he seems? More impor¬ tantly, is Marian really dead or is this another one of the Shadow Boss’ evil tricks? Find out for yourself when Double Dragon 2: The Revenge hits store shelves in late 1989 (or possible early 1990). But be warned: there are three entirely different endings in this game, depending on which of the three skill levels you choose, and it will take a superb player to find out what really has happened to Marian. Watch out for future issues of Electronic Gaming for a complete review on this incredible Double Dragon sequel, including more photos and game maps. H PP WPPIW! ALL NEW CHALLENGES - Double Dragon 2 is filled with surprises and packed with punch and kick action! OUTSTANDING GRAPHICS - Bat¬ tle your way through nine highly detailed game screens! TWO PLAYER COMBO - Now you can play Double Dragon the way it was meant to be played - with a friend! 18 many other joysticks currently on the market, with a base measuring roughly 8" X 6", with a sleek, sloped design and suction cup feet for optimum stability. The joystick graces the left portion of * (Nintendo) True to its name, this joystick offers playing advantages pins a host of other benefits that together made it unlike anything ever seen before when it was released; both in and out of the cades! This attractive unit boasts the s* grey/black/red color tones found cftj NES master unit. Measuring rc*| 9" x 7" x 2", the NES Advantage ->U of the first to claim honors for' eight direction "arcade-style" tions. The joystick exterJ proximately three inches from J favoring the left portion of The metal stem is topped wit^ plastic ball just like the joyst? on most of your coin-op favl Connecting the NES Adv? * the main system is a 6’ cordi at the end to accommoda." tick ports. This though makes it easier for two pec ing between plays to enij of playing with the 4 without having to pu< stick (unless, of course^ simultaneous game Bros, or Ikari Warrij The "A" and "B" to the right of the equally vibrant slightly raised ‘ and are overs Directly above "Turbo" knob with rapid fire A 1-2 t switch, are also inci ing well wi j joystick. ~ tion is' the 1- (MmiwAme SMipaiaSiUQ©; (Beeshu) Here comes the 1^^ ofhigh-controljcj do Entertaining Master Systc the greates^ meshed A ! ! T ! M T TERRUPT THIS MAGAZINE TO BRING THIS IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: THE PEOPLE WHO DEVELOPED MAT MAMA, MAMA CHALLENGE, RENEGADE, DOUBLE DRAGON, WBALL, AND DOUBLE DRAGON II “THE REVENGE: HAVE JUST RELEASED THEIR FIRST MNTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM GAME RIVER CITY RANSOM. FOR A PREVIEW, VISIT YOUR NEAREST NES DEALER. AMERICAN TECHNOS INC WE NOW RETURN YOU TO YOUR MAGAZINE. TWIN COBRA Twin Cobra is an outstanding translation of the coin¬ op mega-hit that represents American Sammy’s first strong entry into the Nintendo Entertainment System sweepstakes. Twin Cobra is more than just another ac¬ tion game, it was the arcade title voted "The Best Shooter of 1988" by the U.S. National Video Game Team! High honors for a game that is destined for the video game Hall-of-Fame! The premise is simple and straightforward: guide an attack chopper into enemy territory and lay waste to everything in sight! But what may first seem like noth¬ ing more than another run-of-the-mill shoot-em-up quickly becomes an intense battle involving a wide array of power- up enhancements, bonus point in¬ centives, and high-tech hardware mean enough to blow similar types of games out of the sky! One of the best features in Twin Cobra are the different weapons that can be collected. Occassion- ally an enemy transport helicopter will appear on the scene to release a special capsule when destroyed. This capsule will slowly shift through four different colors, with each new color representing a different kind of weapon for your attack copter! You can choose between missiles, wide beam, side beam, and machine gun! Different areas require different weapons and learning the best power- ups to use is just part of the challenge in the game! You can also improve your existing ar¬ mament by Grab the Power-Ups to energize your capturing the chopper and increase your weapons! enhancement symbols that are also released whenever an enemy transport is gunned down! Also at your command are special "Bombs" that both protect and destroy. Whenever one of these super¬ weapons is released, a tremendous explosion appears around the blast radius, inflicting incredible damage on the enemy and eliminating any of the missiles that may be heading your way. You must be careful, how¬ ever, since you are only given a limited number of bombs per chopper. Supporting this hard-hitting game play are some of the best arcade-quality graphics ever seen in a Ninten¬ do game! The vertically scrolling playfield floats by smoothly, intro¬ ducing new and more deadly ter¬ rors as you infiltrate the enemy territory. All of the game charac¬ ters are rendered in an equally outstanding fashion, with an abundance of graphic flair and re¬ alistic, arcade-quality, animation. Twin Cobra is a dynamite game that is certain to rip up the Amer¬ ican charts in the same way that it is currently commanding a high profile in the Jap¬ anese game rankings. A perfect blend of high action shooting, risk-incentives, secret bonuses, and spec¬ tacular graphics practically guarantee this title a place in our Top Ten. Keep your eyes tuned to Electronic Gaming for more info on this hot new game, as well as maps and layouts that show all of the firepow¬ er that this title is pack¬ ed with! TC is a hit! Uncover the golden stars - these turn into big points if you get to your ship. 20 (Nintendo^ LICENSED BY NINTENDO® FOR PLAY ON THE (Nintendo} Terrorism has reached new heights. AATOM (Atomic Age Terrorist Organization of Miracali) has constructed its own nuclear power plant, and threat¬ ens the world with atomic terror. The world powers have decided to initiate operation THUNDERCADE to stop AATOM. Equipped with a high-performance combat motorcycle, sidecar can¬ nons, and backed by a precision B-7 bomber, you set out on your dangerous mission. Start in the city streets and continue through bases, woodlands and the fortress before reaching the heavily guarded nuclear power plant. With a hit-miss ratio display at the end of each stage, you can improve your attack efficiency. Have a friend join in and save the world together! Go for the challenge!!! Simultaneous two-player game! Arcade Megahit! Sammy .M Sammy 2421 250th Street, Suite D-104, Torrance, California 90501 Phone: (213) 320-7167 Sammy™ and THUNDERCADE™ are trademarks of American Sammy Corporation. Nintendo and Nintendo Entertainment System' are registered trademarks of Nintendo of America Inc. Sky Shark from Taito Dig Dug 2 from Broderbund - Duck Tales from Capcom - Take to the skies to blow the enemy Dig Dug is back and in big trouble! Guide Scrooge McDuck through away on land and in the air! Help him get off the islands! multiple levels of action! Holy Diver from Irem - Robocop- King’s Knight from Square - A fantastic Castlevania-type game Take justice into your own hands as Part action, part adventure, this loaded with hidden surprises! you become a law-enforcing cyborg! shooter has several unique features! Bad Dudes from Data East - River City Ransom from Technos - Rolling Thunder from Tengen - Take to the streets for gut-punching Another clever Double Dragon rip Become a secret agent, stop a terrorist excitement in this arcade conversion, with text and adventure overtones. organization, and save the girl! SUPER SNEAK PREVIEW... NINJA GAI DEN 2 Set for release in Japan around Christmas time, and due in the U.S. in 1990, Tecmo introduces the fantas¬ tic sequel to the award-winning Nintendo mega-hit! In the second chapter of the Ninja Gai Den story, Ryu must confront an all new cast of creatures while solv¬ ing a puzzling mystery. This game is packed with hid¬ den surprises, special options, and much more! Look for more photos and info in EGM No. 4 next month! 22 THRASH, BASH, AND SMASH THE COMPETITION Team USA is on its way to a Cinderella worm champions, Team Hossia. Only yon siccess story in the Soper Hodge Ball can lead the US. to victory over the Herld Cop Championships, from oot of highly-favored competition, and give them nowhere, this scrappy hooch of rookies the chance to crosh the mighty Soviets, is advancing to the final mod of com¬ petition. Bot, seven powerfol teams still -lor 2 players stand between Team USA and their olti- ■ Molti-dimensional, high-resolotioo mate challenge; the long awaited grodge graphics It ’s coming soon to a city near you. Co-sponsored by CSC Imagesoft Inc and Sony ‘ Corporation of America. licensed fly meeds for Play Os lie Sega’s ULTIMA IV The computer mega-hit is com¬ ing to the Sega Master System this Christmas. Utilizing a full 4 meg of memory, Ultima IV, like its computer cousin, stands to be the most challenging RPG cart ever offered for an American game system. In this quest you must gather the courage and spirit to become an Avatar of Truth. This challenge will prove your worthi¬ ness but you can’t do it alone. Along the way through the many villages and towns, you must gather a party of other brave adventurers and toge¬ ther set out to follow the magi¬ cal path to Avatar. Surprises, puzzles and other challenges are around every turn as your quest takes you through one of the largest mazes ever created! Ultima IV, the latest triumph of Rich¬ ard Garriot (better known as Lord Brit¬ ish), invites you to experience the very best that RPGs have to offer. Sega’s SCRAMBLE SPIRIT Based on the arcade game of the same name, Scramble Spirits takes you off into the skies on an impossible mission. You’ve re¬ ceived orders to blow up an ene¬ my base which is offering strong resistance to allied ground forces. The odds against success are a thousand to one as the enemy mounts a strong defense with tanks, artillery, and heat-seeking missiles. Your weapons are minimal, but at your disposal are a small fleet of bombers, and an unlimited supply of bombs and ammo for your on¬ board machine guns. Scramble Spirits offers constant and in¬ tense aeriel/ground combat ac¬ tion in the great Sega coin-op tradition. Power your way through muliple ene¬ my defenses in this 8-Bit attempt to capture the sleeper coin-op of last year. Sega/Fabtek’s REAR ANGEE Adapted from the Fabtek ar¬ cade game (which was loosely considered to be a sequel to Em¬ pire City 1931), it’s you against the mob. Here’s your chance to clean up the country, one city at a time. Besides eliminating the biggest crime lords in the country, your mission is also a personal vendet¬ ta against the gangsters who have your main squeeze hidden some¬ where in one of the nation’s largest cities. Armed with a machine gun and a bad atti¬ tude, you head down deserted streets and through dark alleys in search of the crime kingpins. It’s constant action as gang¬ sters continually pop out of buildings, from behind barrels, and from seemingly out of now¬ here! From behind your hero's silhouette comes an overwhelming number of gangsters and other vile types. Can you survive their attacks? 24 One great quarterback deserves another. L It’s third down and a long four to the first down that will stop the clock. No time-outs left. The weak side linebacker is lined up inside his defensive end. They’re coming! You check-off the play at the line of scrimmage and call for a quick pass to the tight end. He breaks it for aT.D.I It’s not the SuperBowl, it’s the super new video football game for Nintendo Entertainment Systems, John Elway’s QUARTERBACK.™ So real you see the game like a quarterback does, from the line of scrim¬ mage. You call the plays, you beat the blitz, you make it happen. Named for the quarterback who twice won the AFC Player of the Year Award, this is the game cartridge made for every kid or grownup kid who ever wanted to play the game as well as John Elway. Get it now before time runs out. Remember, you have no time-outs left. Look for John Elway's QUARTERBACK™ wherever you find Tradewest’s other block-buster hit, Double Dragon.™! OUR NAME GUARANTEES A GREAT GAME. TRADEWEST ^ 2400 S. Highway 75, Corsicana, TX 75110 (Ninlendo) n fmhm e TURBOGRAFX-16 NEC’s p-TrPE The arcade sleeper that has found new life on home video game screens is presented in its finest form yet! The TurboGrafx- 16 version of R-Type contains all of the high-intensity shooting and power-up options of the coin-op, along with the most detailed graphics and animation of any home R-Type ever seen! For those of you unfamiliar with the R-Type scenario, the game places you in the middle of an intergalactic invasion! Ruth¬ less forces from the Bydo Em¬ pire will use all the means at their disposal to thwart your ef¬ forts. You must defend the Earth with your special fighter which comes with a number of unique functions and can be enhanced during battle. NEC’S DEEP BLUE Get ready for one of the most intense horizontally scrolling shooters available for the Turbo! Disguised as an Angel Fish, you command a powerful attack sub with one mission: stop the mu¬ tated sea population from taking over the Earth oceans! This is no easy task, even though your ship is equipped with a pow¬ erful pulse laser that can be sup¬ plemented by capturing imple¬ ments left behind by friendly fish. You can even increase the power and duration of your shots for more effective attacks. Each alien fish attack con¬ cludes with a Boss confronta¬ tion that features a cast of huge sea creatures! Pass this chal¬ lenge and you move to higher rounds of play. Namco’s DRAGON SI II HI Adapted from the excellent, yet seldom seen, coin-op quarter- muncher, Dragon Spirit is faith¬ fully translated onto the Turbo- Grafx-16, retaining the same gra¬ phic elements and game play that made the title so much fun to play in the arcades. You step into the shoes of a knight who has been transformed into a powerful fire-breathing dragon! You must guide the dragon around various hazards while eliminating the enemy with your dragon breath and special bomb weapon. During your battle you can hatch the dragon eggs that ap¬ pear to release various power- ups. These capsules can in¬ crease firepower as well as add up to three dragon heads! Stop the Bydo and reclaim the galaxy! The TurboGraJx version of R-Type is the best yet, with outstanding graphics, sounds, and game play! Watch outfor the creatures of the deep! These sea monsters hold incredible challenges that even the most seasoned game player will find hard to over¬ come! Take to the skies and control the des¬ tiny of a Prince who fights for good in the form of a fire-breathing dragon. 26 (Continued from page 8) Send Us Your High Scores! We’re looking for a few good video game players to add to our monthly high score club! Do you have what it takes to beat the best? All you have to do is send us your high scores on an official registration form, along with a photo of the game screen that clearly shows your high score. For more information and FREE registration forms, send a SASE to the U.S. National Video Game Team’s High Score Club, c/o Sendai Publications, 1920 Highland Avenue, Suite 300, Lombard, IL 60148. Turn to page 78 for the latest listing of the Club’s high scores. LOVE THOSE TIPS! Electronic Gaming is an excellent magazine. I liked your new Top Secret section, and the 16-Bit review best in the last issue. I conquered four of the games that were featured in issue num¬ ber two thanks to you! Mike Dunn Kenosha, Wisconsin Without your tips and hints, a lot of people would get frustrated and get rid of what they thought was a bad game. Keep up the good work! Jackie Fields Edgewood, MD (ed. - We’re glad you like our tips! We have a staff of players who tear through each new game that comes along to find the best tricks and codes. Combined with the tips you send in, our Top Secret section has some of the hottest power-ups you can find!) _ WE BUY USED NINTENDO GAMES HIGHEST PRICES PAID! Send For A Price List With A Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope To: u.v.T. f inc. Olympia Plaza Route 22 East Scotch Plains, NJ 07076 ( 201 ) 232-3222 27 I WANT TO PLAY LIKE A PRO!!! Confront the enemy with all the firepower you need - Electronic Gaming Monthly magazine! Use this handy order form to bring EGM right to your doorstep every month! Get the first word on new systems, unreleased carts and software, play¬ ing secrets, and game reviews that tell it like it is...SUBSCRIBE TODAY!!! I want to subscribe to Electronic Gaming Monthly for the low, low price of □ only $19.95 - that's over 50% off the standard newsstand cover price! Order the only magazine that gives you the previews, reviews, contests, and tip booklets you want at this special subscription price! Name___ Age_ Address_ City_ State_ Zip_ Make check or money order for $19.95 payable to: Sendai Publications, 1920 Highland, Suite 300, Lombard, Illinois 60148 Please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery of first issue. lOSSip ...Sega debuts Genesis...Atari gets Epyx hand-held...New Super Famicom release dates... 16-Bit system update Double Dragon 2: The Revenge suit settled...Castlevania for GameBoy...P.C. Engine 2 to be completed this year... ...Oh no! Say it ain’t so! The Sega Master System, after making new overtures to attract third-party licensees, appears to be losing their main third-party contributors, namely Activision and Parker Bros...While we’re on the subject of Sega, Quarter- mann has an all-new appreciation for what their 16-Bit Genesis machine can actually do. Although there isn’t much that can be labeled daring or unique, carts like Ghouls and Ghosts are so good they have to make Nintendo cringe! With third-party titles coming soon, Genesis has the goods to be a great system... ...Just prior to CES Atari worked out a deal to get the Epyx hand-held for an undisclosed number of cookies. This portable game machine (which uses an 8-Bit processor and 16-Bit graphics chip), first discussed in the May EGM, has incredible good looks and some nifty hardware functions like internal scrolling. It remains pricey ($149.95), however, and third-party support is questionable...The Acclaim-American Technos-Tradewest lawsuit over Double Dragon 2 has been settled. Tradewest keeps the original and gets the computer and licensing rights to number 2. All’s well that ends well I suppose...Romstar’s new NES entries will include a new Bowling simulation and the Rally Bike coin-op sleeper from Taito...Naughty, naughty Cap- com! Your Viper game looks good but it bears more than a passing resemblence to a well-known Atari arcade piece called Rolling Thunder! You should be ashamed of yourself!...Mike Yamamoto of American Sammy is a genius! Not only has he snapped up the NES rights to Twin Cobra, he also has Silkworm and Pyros on the way! What a guy! ...Nintendo turned their back on the 16-Bit Super Famicom during the CES and focused all of their attention on the Game- Boy. The Nintendo propaganda machine never looked better than at the 8:00AM press conference that announced the new unit. Nintendo’s mascot, Mario, explained to the audience that 16-Bit systems are not really the wave of the future and that there is no need for their introduction at this time because the NES is powerful enough for today’s game players. Yeah, right! ...The best of the new GameBoy games is Castlevania from Konami...Although Nintendo backed down from their 16-Bit Super Famicom system, Quartermann has it from well-informed sources that the most powerful of all the 16-Bits will be released in Japan either in November, next February, or next July depending on the success of their Dragon Quest IV. Nintendo doesn’t want to take the steam out of their most successful series of RPG titles by unveiling the Super Famicom prematurely... ...The super Namco 16-Bit that my main man and editor of EGM Steve Harris wrote about last issue almost became the P.C. Engine 2! A feud between Namco and Hudson (the designers of the original P.C. Engine and the Japanese Famicom), however, called the deal off. NEC has instead opted for a new 16-Bit of their own which will use many of the same elements found in the original P.C. Engine (TurboGrafx-16), but will have enhanced graphics and sound capabilities... Nintendo’s highly touted Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest) isn’t that special at all. Go play Ultima from FCI and you’ll prati- cally get the same game!...Their Tetris isn’t all that good either. The Tengen version, which is based on the Atari Games coin¬ op, is far superior in execution and options...The Tengen version of Tetris may be hard to find since Nintendo has taken legal action to keep it off the shelves...Is Data East doing the Bat Man coin-op?...Congratulations to Sunsoft dudes and dudettes Joe, Rich, and Wendy who’ve gone off to start their own game company called Pixcel - thanks for the subscription too... ...Quartermann movie reviews - Indy’s last crusade was a good story that had no punch, Star Trek V was a disappointment, (I’ve seen better episodes of "The Next Generation"), Ghostbusters 2 was amusing and had some kick special effects, The Abyss isn’t a Terminator or Aliens but it is very good, and Batman is the best - bring on the SmylexL.In related movie/game news, Bandai has elected not to do Star Trek V as a video game. I don’t blame them - what kind of Star Trek game can you make without space battles and gun fights? I’ve got it! It’s a musical! You get Kirk, Spock, and McCoy to sing "Row, row, row your boat" in unisonL.On a happier note, Bandai WILL be doing the video game version of Dick Tracy. Can’t wait to see Madonna on a Nintendo screen...Activision has the rights to the Abyss,but at this point there are no plans for a game - c’mon guys, if you’ve got it - use it! Well guys and girls, keep out of trouble, say /|\ r* it A rrvrf»rg=|rr\ rvrk a [Nil f\Ii "NO" to drugs, and read your gaming mags. What more couldyouwant out of life?... U 28 ENTER AND WIN! The Incredible TlIRBOGRRFIi© From NEC NEC’s new state-of-the-art super game system will be here soon, but thanks to your pals at Electronic Gaming, you can be one of the first to play this revolution¬ ary new machine - absolutely FREE! Simply fill out the contest reply card and send it to us. One lucky gamer will win a Turbografx 16 and games! Enter today! LAST CHANCE TO ENTER - TIME IS RUNNING OUT Rules: All entries must be received by August 31, 1989. Sendai Publications Inc., or the staff of EGM assume no responsibility for postal service mistakes or other ev or prevent your submission from reaching our offices. No relatives of the EGM staff may participate in this contest. Limit one entry per person please. The selection the delivery of the Turbografx 16 system depend on NEC's production schedules. Void where prohibited by law. Now stop straining your eyes and enter! 16- BIT SYSTEM PREVIEW The first 16-Bit game system developed outside of Japan, the Konix Multi- System captures true 16-Bit gaming in a package that is un¬ conventional yet powerful. Get the full story on this exciting machine and its future here in the U.S. After the July issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly previewed them, and the Summer Consumer Electronics Show introduced them, the video game world has been buzzing about the latest in gaming technology: 16-Bit systems. While the new high-powered game machines unveiled at CES (NEC’s Tur- boGrafx-16 and Sega’s Genesis) cre¬ ated quite a stir, new attention is being focused onto a segment of the console market that is still eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Nintendo 16-Bit Super Famicom and Namco 16-Bit "Super" system. Much of that interest is being directed at the first 16-Bitter develop¬ ed outside of Japan - the Konix Multi- System. The Multisystem (previously code named the "Slipstream") is England’s contribution to the "next generation" game system wars. While their number one weapon may not carry a name as familiar as Nintendo or Sega, the unit that Konix has created seems to have a lot of the power that will be necessary to go up against the big guns. Beyond its lightning fast processor, the Konix Multi-System also has a multitude of additional features that include an in¬ terchangeable controller system that provides physical feedback during play, a simulator chair, and games that work on disk rather than carts. The Multisystem itself is blue and black and has been described in the British gaming press as "a toilet seat with handlebars"! The system em¬ braces the controls as part of the entire package in an effort to provide a more hands-on appeal, giving players more feedback than a typical flat pad. Controls One of the MultiSystem’s most unique features is an interchangeable control¬ ler system that allows you to change the controller as easy as you change the The MultiSystem simulator chair is definitely the unit’s most interest¬ ing add-on, but poor reaction (it moves painfully slow) could kill it. joystick for one game, then switch to a steering wheel, and then reconfigure the joystick into the shape of handle¬ bars for the next. There is also an ar¬ cade-style simulator chair that rocks and rolls to the movements of the system’s joystick. A high price tag makes the chair questionable however. 30 Under the Hood - Looking at the Power Behind the Multisystem... Unlike the Sega Genesis or NEC TurboGrafx-16, which both use the more common 6502 and 68000 pro¬ cessors to power exceptional graph¬ ics and sounds, the Multisystem uses a chip that is more familiar to PCs. The Intel 8086 inside the Multisystem does its job well, however, running along at a zippy 12 MHz (as com¬ pared to the Genesis’ 7.6 MHz and the Turbo’s 6MHz). The 8086 does little of the actual game processing; instead it parcels the work out to other specially designed chip sets. At the heart of the machine are two such chips, one for the graphics and one for the sound. Inside these ASIC (Applicaton Specific Intergrated Cir¬ cuits) chips, the Multisystem games come to life! The graphics chip can produce 9 million pixels per second, enabling the system to theroretically change the screen 87 times per second in high resolution mode. This chip set also makes it possible for the system to draw rectangles, lines, and 3-D vec¬ tor-like graphics in the hardware, making the programmer’s life much more care-free. The machine has a palette of 4,096 colors and several resolution modes, including 512x200. As far as the audio portion of play is concerned, the MultiSystem is equ¬ ally impressive, with a sound chip that Konix compares to the Yamaha DX7 synthesizer (used in some arcade games). It also has the ability to play games in stereo through headphones. The MultiSystem also out guns the competition in the fight for memory with 256K (over the Genesis which comes in with 64K), which can be ex¬ pandable to 1.5 Meg. Games Since more is known about the Multi- System machine itself, as opposed to any of the great game titles that may be near completion, it is hard to get a true feel for what the potential of this system might be. Although many companies have signed on to be part of the Konix game plan, most openly admit that they will have trouble getting any MultiSys¬ tem product out the door by the end of the year. Third-party support is almost ex¬ clusively comprised of computer com¬ panies and development teams at this point, including Electronic Arts, Mir- rorsoft, System 3, Palace, Thalamus, Llamasoft, Logotron, Linel, and big European names like US Gold, Ocean, and Electrocoin. Whether or not these companies can get their hands on big-name arcade tit¬ les (traditionally the life blood of any good game system - and something that’s very difficult to do in Nintendo’s shadow) remains questionable. Sup¬ porting a 16-Bit system with computer games hardly seems like a wise move, but in the U.K., computer soft is definitely the favored medium when it comes to gaming. This appears to be the MultiSystem’s first long bridge to cross. The MultiSystem will have to have a hot game that shows off the sys- The MultiSystem disk drive has con¬ tinual disk access which has been crit- ized by many who see frequent break¬ downs and pirated programs. tern’s abilities with outstanding game play. After all, Super Mario Bros, has helped sell more Nintendo Entertain¬ ment Systems than any other piece of software, and without this same type of support, the MultiSystem will die an ugly death in the face of competing 16- Bit consoles. MultiSystem in the U.S. While Konix has loose plans at this point to attack America and Japan af¬ ter the MultiSystem launch in Europe, a high price tag - around 199 pounds ($350) for the system, two games, a joystick, and a disk drive - and an inade¬ quate library of games could eliminate Konix before they get started. Unless they get started right away, Konix will have a lot of trouble putting a dent in the armor of the big name competition. This steering wheel attachment is just one of the controllers that can be used to modify the system to the game. This driving demo is one of the few screen images that have been projected by the MultiSystem. Future games will hopefully hold more promise. Many thanks to our gaming friends over the ocean at Game Machine magazine in England for additional information and assistance in compiling this article. 31 INTERNATIONAL OIJTLOOT KONAMI MmMMM TM © KONAMI 1988 PLftV SELECT By Edward Semrad A New Legend is Born... Undoubtedly one of the strongest line First previewed in of Nintendo games began three years ago with Gradius from Konami. This intcrgalactic epic went on to become the role model for countless numbers of similar shooters in the years that fol¬ lowed. Based on an arcade quarter-sucker called Nemesis, which was also from Konami, Gradius quickly became the number one space game for the NES. Multiple power-ups, smoothly scroll¬ ing backgrounds, and a relentless enemy told why. Like all blockbusters, Gradius spawn- EGM number 2, the third installment of the Gradius conflict, Gradius II, is by far the best! It has nine new levels of play, more powerful Boss attackers, and huge animated environ¬ ments that are filled with evil, danger, and endless challenge! Take on the Stone Face attackers! firepower, and even adjust which wca- Long gone are the small characters pons you wish to use during one or two- that pestered you in previous Gradius player simultaneous battles! cd a sequel entitled LifcForce (a slight¬ ly different version called Salamander was released in Japan). This souped- up version of Gradius introduced two- player combat and a whole slew of new attackers and Boss invaders. But, un¬ invasions. Gradius II is filled with enor¬ mous Bosses and equally outstanding dual-scrolling landscapes that are bris¬ tling with guns! Many of the Gradius II playfields are so intricate and involved, you’d swear While Konami has not announced the release of Gradius II for anytime in the near future, let’s all keep our fingers crossed and hope that this future clas¬ sic makes its way across the Pacific. It’s a dynamite game that packs in all new known to most, LifcForce was not the you were playing a 16-Bit game! Now sights, sounds, and game play into a last chapter in the Gradius saga. you can control more options, gather theme that is now legendary! GRADIUS II BOSS INVADERS...CAN THEY BE STOPPED?!? The Firebird guards the entrance to the new Gradius empire! ip 003S620 HI SCORE 003562* The Alien Cyclops attacks you ship in several different ways! IP 0045620 HI SCORE 0045620 The Mecha-Skull fires long bursts of high energy that are extremely deadly! IP 0105340 HI SCORE 0105340 The Crystal Ships fires high-powered lasers and uses crystal anns to attack! IP 0163110 HI SCORE 0163110 The space brain will advance using deadly tendrils! Aim for the eye! «P-Q1?31IP_ HI SCORE 0173110 This alien attack ship uses its spinning arms to destroy your fighter! IP 0188410 HI SCORE 0188410 The alien energy sphere is one of the deadliest of the Gradius II invaders! Blast your way through this attacker’s defenses before he blasts you! The alien’s Supreme Commander waitsforyou at the end of your mission! POWER METER SELECT l^T., r T. .• r ..... r «Hu. WEAPON SELECT Prior to going into battle with the Gradius II aliens, you can custom de¬ sign your star fighter to suit any of your needs. You must choose one of four Power Meters that will remain posi¬ tioned at the bottom of the screen for the entire game. While all of the me¬ ters contain Speed Up, Option, and Force Field, you can select Power Me¬ ters that contain different weapons such as Missile, Laser, and Ripple, as well as new power-ups like the Spread Bomb, Tail Gun, Photon Torpedo, 2- Way, and more! This is just one of the many features unique to Gradius II! 33 Tricks-> of the -Trade SPECIAL TIPS, PLAYING TECHNIQUES, STRATEGIES, HIDDEN POWER-UPS, LEVEL SELECTS, AND CONTINUES... GUARDIAN LEGEND N« Atoarrtur* Sesnai To skip the adventure scenes that break up the outer-space shoot- em-ups, type in TGL and spaces for the rest of the positions. Now the game is a straight shooter - you’ll warp from one flying sequ¬ ence to the next! Dan MacArthur RASTAN UnliMrted Continues To do this trick, wait for the words "SEGA MASTER SYS¬ TEM" to appear, then hold but¬ tons one and two down, while pressing the pad down and diagonally to the left. The word Rastan should appear in blue, let¬ ting you know the trick has been MEGA MAN 2 Password Warp To start your battle inside Dr. Wily’s hideout, input this code during the Password screen: A -1, B - 2, B - 4, C -1, C - 5, D-1, D - 3, E - 3, and E - 5. You’ll also be completely powered-up for your final battle against the dead¬ ly Doc! RUSH 'N' ATTACK Supor eiitek This trick won’t improve your score and award 30 free men, but it interest¬ ing and fun to watch. To perform the trick, you must first acquire the bazooka weapon. Second¬ ly, you must proceed to an area with a ladder. Now here’s where some skill and timing is helpful. As you approach the ladder, shoot your bazooka in the air while simultaneously jumping so that you land on the ladder (you should land on the ladder in an up¬ right position). After doing this you should move slowly up and down the ladder, avoiding enemy soldiers, until the man is in the bazooka-firing posi¬ tion. Keep moving up and down until the character begins to change shape. The hero’s head will turn into a large rectangular mess. Then it will turn into a small explosion, big explosion, and finally a pile of numbers. You must have two shots left in the ba¬ zooka for this trick to work. 34 ICE HOCKEV Super Puck This trick is similar to the "no goalies" tip printed in May. This hint will speed the puck up so that it never stops. During the player, speed, and time select screen, hold both the ’A’ and ’B’ buttons on both controllers and press ’Start’ Scott Fletcher Medfield, MA while the buttons are pushed. Now the puck will never stop when you hit it after holding the ’B’ button. Z ) 4 •JL 9 ' a 'Z r 9 1 . % (C, 5 TOP V s KID ICARUS Secret Continue To resume play from the same position and with the same imple¬ ments that you had when your game ended, simply press ’B’, ’A’, ’B’ on controller number one be¬ fore the title screen appears. Carlos Flores Chicago, IL NINJA GAI DEN Super Sound Tart There is a menu screen in Ninja Gai Den that will let you hear all of the different sound effects. When the title screen says “Tecmo Presents 1989” press and hold down and to the left on controller one, then hold the ‘Select’ button and ‘A’ and ‘B’ buttons. Press ‘A’ to start and ‘B’ to stop sounds. KID NIKI Secret t-UP Whenever a Boss is defeated, a scroll will appear. If you hit this scroll with your sword when the first and last digits of your "Time Remaining" counter match, the scroll will turn into a free man! Milton W. Kuo Houston, Texas ADVENTURES OF LINK Experience Booeter This is a helpful trick that will help novice players get some quick ex¬ perience with very little trouble at all! First of all, one of the three games stored on the cartridge must have al¬ ready completed the first adventure and be battling the second quest. For the other Links to receive this free boost, the Link who has already finished the first quest needs to go through one of the palaces. When that Link’s experience begins to go up, after you have set the crystal in the statue’s forehead, press ’Start’ on con¬ troller one, then press ’Up’ and ’A’ at the same time on controller two. The ’Continue’ or ’Save’ option will ap¬ pear. Select the ’Save’, then choose another Link to use. Upon starting his first quest, the other Link’s ex¬ perience will start going up and con¬ tinue to raise many levels! Walter Garey Phoenix, MD 35 THUNDER FORCE II Special Menu Scree* Thunder Force II is filled with a wide variety of challenges that are spread out over multiple levels of play. Unknown to most, however, BASES LOADED N» Ejection* There is a way to keep players from being thrown out in Bases Loaded. If you get hit by a pitch and charge the mound, rapidly press the ’B’ button and continue to push it until the next batter comes to the plate. Now, when you go to look at the lineup, you will not have lost the batter who should have been ejected. Maney Merckle Moxahala, OH there is a special screen built into the game that allows you to adjust the difficulty of the game in a number of different ways. To initiate this trick, press and hold the ’A’, ’B’, and ’C’ buttons while turning the Genesis system on. Keep all three buttons pushed down and press the ’Start’ button when the title screen appears. You will find yourself in a special menu table that allows you to adjust the starting level (1-5), the difficulty (Training - which is played one level at a time, Normal, Hard), and other options that in¬ clude a sound test. BOMBERMAN Passcode Ending To warp straight to the highest levels of Bomberman (stage 50), use this special code and be prepared to see Bomberman’s real identity: FECPMNNMJ66K6IDJABA Sammie Bagley Comanche, Texas ZILLION Invincibility Zillion is a difficult action/adven¬ ture, but with this special tip you can plow through the game without any trouble at all! To become unbeatable, go to room C-3 and get caught in the elevators between floors. After doing this, move your character and touch the laser barrier nearby. When the floor of the elevator falls through and your power meter hits zero, your character will be able to proceed without the fear of getting hit and dying. Ethan Brown West Wilmington, CT This trick is a bit difficult to do, but it changes Ultima completely! First of all, this trick works best when you have no other characters in any of the three registers. Start by erasing all of the registers, clearing all of the names from the character select screen, and then choose the first register and give it a name. You’ll then want to select "Create". Once the "Ready-Made" or "Hand- Made" prompt appears on the screen, select the "Ready-Made" option. Next, select the first four characters, but don’t give them any names (press ’Reset’ in¬ stead). When the "Start/Continue" appears on the screen, choose the "Continue". The four characters will appear and they will have several unusual items (like 99 Sim Swords). As the game begins the three other charac¬ ters will die. When this happens you will find that many things have chang¬ ed, like the addition of Latin for the spell names! You will also be able to use both kinds of spells but only a limited number of times. NOTE: You cannot finish the game with this trick! ULTIMA FuN Power + Japanese and Latin Text 36 Shanghai Secret 6aas Unknown to most, a secret game, similar to Concentration, is built right into every Shanghai cart! To access this special game, press ’Pause’ at least ten times during the title screen. Select ’Game’ at the top of the screen. When the menu appears, choose ’Start Solitaire’. When the next menu is displayed, go to the prompt that lets you load the stored patterns. From the stored patterns sub-screen, move to ’Secret Game’. In this hidden con¬ test, all of the tiles are face down and you must select two tiles that match to remove them from the board. The Guardian Legend Special Sound Tetf To enter a secret sound test mode in The Guardian Legend, hold both ’A’ and ’B’ on controller one and turn on the game! CRIME BUSTERS Same Designer Screen and Power-Up Hold the ’Option’ button down while turning on the power. The screen should remain black. Push the ’Select’ key for half a second, and then release the ’Option’ button. If this is done properly, the title screen will ap¬ pear. Start the game as normally and on the 1-2 player select screen you must next hit the lower-left blue tack that holds the ’Z’ poster up. If this is done correctly, the game will return to the title screen with the names of the designers shown. Start the game again and you will now be able to skip the driving scenes by pressing the space bar. This trick will also affect the game in other ways, like adding brand new characters that you nor¬ mally don’t see. Santa Claus will also appear on every screen now! Look for plenty of other surprises as well! Jim Zalewski Hamtramck, MI Tengen'$ TETRIS Turn Any Block Into Rod Block Tengen’s version of the game Tetris is the best there is (except for the Atari Games coin-op), and with this little trick you could find your Tetris scores soaring! The quickest way to big points is to score a "Tetris" - the elimination of four lines of blocks simultaneously. The only way to rack up a Tetris is to have plenty of bricks already on the screen and, if the computer is nice, a long red block will appear to neatly fit down a one block wide opening. Now you can always be sure of get¬ ting a Tetris with this tip that changes an existing block into a long red brick! When a block is falling, press ’Start’ to pause the game, and then push Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, ’B’, and then ’A’. A long red block will replace the existing block at the top of the screen! ALTERED BEAST Secret Menus In the 16-Bit version of Altered Beast for the Sega Genesis, you can change the game by accessing three different menu screens. In addition to a sound test, you can change your altered shape for each round, select the round, dif¬ ficulty, length of power bar and number of men as well. All tricks must be set up before turning the Genesis on. Hit ’Start’ to enter the secret menu screens. CHANGE YOUR ALTERED EGO: Press the pad Down and to the Left while holding all three buttons. PLAY SELECT MENU: Hold the ’B’ button. ROUND SELECT: Adjust Play Select menu then hold ’A’. SOUND TEST: Press the pad Up and to the Right while holding the ’A’ and ’C’ buttons. WIN A FREE GAME FROM EGMf We want you to play like a winner, and we’re ready to pay! Give us your tips and clues, your secret continues, level selects, power- ups, and codes! If we print your tip, we’ll give you credit in these pages as well as a free game! You can’t lose - get the best tips anywhere and get some great games as well! Send your tips and tricks to: Quartermann c/o Electronic Gaming Monthly 1920 Highland Avenue, Suite 300 Lombard, Illinois 60148 Sends] Publications Is not responsible for the submis¬ sion of similar or Identical tips, and Is not obllcated to award free game Muts to those people who submit Infor- mSBsssamsM 37 P.O.W. is SNK’s latest video game blockbuster! Based on the 1988 arcade mega-hit, Prisoner of War follows a lone warrior on a mission to eliminate the savage dictators who hold an en¬ tire country hostage. You must contend with all kinds of enemy soldiers and weapons as you master your punching, kicking, and shooting skills. We’ll walk you through each intense level of play, and show you exactly what to do to reach the explosive conclusion! This issue deals with the first two levels - be sure to get the next issue for maps to the rest of the game... LEVEL ONE BREAK OUT!!! The first three huts hold special power-ups and even more enemy troops. The first building contains the Brass Knuckles, the second one has Body Armor, and the third hut contains a Life Supplement. BOSS VILLAINS...Can You Face Their Challenge? -jag! Boss One - An attack helicopter hov¬ ers at the end of level one. Enemy troops will appear, some with knives and some carrying grenades. Boss Two - The supply Captain waits with gun and grenades in the ware¬ house. He shoots a 4-shot burst and tosses grenades when you approach. Boss Three -A large enemy Boss waits in the elevator. He rushes from one side of the elevator to the other, inflict¬ ing great damage if you get in his way. STRATEGY GUIDE LIFE POWER-UP FOR GREATER ADVENTURE During your missions you will be invited to enter enemy buildings, trucks, and caves. Inside these spe¬ cial rooms you will discover additional troops waiting. If you defeat all of the bad guys in a room, however, you will be rewarded with Brass Knuckles, Armor, or Life. While the Knuckles don’t noticeably alter the game play, you should ALWAYS fight for the Armor (which deflects enemy gun and knife attacks) and the Life Supplement only when your current health meter is low. Along the way you will also encounter certain enemy characters carrying grenades, knives, and machine guns. If you overpower these foes, they will usually leave their weapons behind! BATTLE ON!!! Be careful when entering the warehouses. Your visibility will be limited and oncoming attackers harder to see. LEVEL TWO LU Z o LU > P.O.W. SUPER TIPS!!! Successfully escaping the enemy stronghold and reaching the allied extraction point requires quick fists, fast feet, and plenty of skill. There are several playing techniques, however, that can help you reach the goal safely! In the first two levels you should familiarize yourself with where to find the Armor power-ups, which provides invaluable shielding from enemy gunfire and throwing knives. When you encounter the scuba divers in the water portion of level two, remember that the enemy will always attack from behind. When you see a diver emerging from the water, immediately turn and punch. You should also work on the jump-kick, which helps in dealing with the mad motorcyclists and the Level Two Boss. GET THE NEXT ISSUE OF EGM FOR THE EXPLOSIVE CONCLUSION TO P.O.W. Armor Knuckles ENEMY ATTACK HELICOPTER The first Boss you will face is a gigantic troop transport chopper that will hover directly over your position. You must punch or kick the grenade-throwing enemy infantry that appears (knife-wielding troops will also appear) from the copter, pick up the grenades they drop, and then return fire with four grenade hits. LEVEL ONE BOSS LEVEL TWO BOSS RESUPPLY GENERAL The level two Boss demands talented hand- to-hand combat. The Resupply General will fire his machine gun whenever you are far¬ away, and will drop grenades at your feet whenever you are near. Stay close to the General, jump-kicking into his face whenever he drops a grenade. When he fires his gun, jump and they will miss. Armor ★ Are You Tired Of Playing The Same Old NINTENDO® Games Or Buy One You Didn’t Like? ★ Tired Of Your Local Toy Store Always Sold Out Of Your Favorite Games ? ★ Tired Of Just Paying Too Much For Games & Accessories? 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TO JOIN OR ORDER ANYTHING IN THIS AD DIAL 1 -800-TOY-CLUB Or Send Check or Money Order To: ULTIMATE GAME CLUB, 1491 Boston Post Rd., Old Saybrook, CT 06475 Docking Bay 20" Holds 20 Nintendo games List Price 25.49 Club Price 22.99 Nintendo Cartridge Organizer List Price 5.99 Club Pr Also holds 18 Sega cartridges & as a. x is Z-Bag Official Nintendo Carry Case Ust Price 29.99 Club Price 24.99 NINTENDO ACCESSORIES Bandai Super Controller 6.99 Bandai Mega Controller 59.99 Camerica Gift Pax 12 Freedom sticksi 129.99 Camerica Freedom Pad 39.99 Camerica Freedom Stick 69.99 Camerica Supersonic Joystick 59.99 Camerica Video Blaster 29.99 Eclectic's Pro Play Home Arcade 249.99 L.±r-j=. WONDER BOY IN MONSTER LAND WONDER BOY IN MONSTER LAND’S INCREDIBLE LEVEL 12 MAZE Wonder Boy in Monster Land is extremely challenging, but none of the previous levels can prepare you for task that you’ll face in the last round of play. You must find your way through this maze of hallways and rooms, without making a wrong turn, before you can confront the evil fire-breath¬ ing dragon that waits for your arrival. These maps will allow you to track your progress and always know which way to turn. Follow the yellow line to reach the dragon’s lair and finish the game! THE ADVENTURE CONTINUES... Once you’ve mastered the dangers of Monster Land, be prepared to defend Wonder Land again in Wonder Boy 3, which continues from the same place this game ends! THE MYSTERY OF THE MAGICAL BELL AND RUBY! As you enter the level 12 maze, you will encounter a shop¬ keeper who offers you a choice of a magic Bell or a magic Ruby. If you choose the Bell, It will be hard to kill the dragons at the end of the round, but you will hear a chime every time you take the right course in the maze. Choose the Ruby in¬ stead and use these maps to plot your path! Now your fight¬ ing ability is increased and the dragons are easier to slay! 1 SSEB. 8W IS) #•<•«* ISI fcO'j&siftjvu =-•" BW «m BO t&sww*.. © (T) © THE MEKA DRAGON’S SURPRISE! When you finally fight your way through the level 12 labyrinth, the Meka dragon has a deadly surprise waiting for you! While you may be prepared to take on the mighty flames of the beast, you will face not one, but TWO monsters who are both intent on stopping Wonder Boy once D and for all! To defeat these nasty creatures, make sure you choose the Ruby at the beginning of the round (if you do not they will be very difficult to destroy). Be sure to avoid their on-coming fire balls and use the sword against the dragons’ head. To destroy the green dragon, you must get in close, jump, and hit his weak spot at least three times. To kill the blue dragon, you must strike his head at least 16 times. Remember, the more powerful your sword and shield, the easier It is to kill the dragons. GOOD PLAY! The U.S. National Video Game Team Traditionally, the most popular home video games are usually adapted from arcade super-hits or have million dol¬ lar names attached to them. Although these games cost the company more, they’re almost always a sure thing, especially if the game has the high profile of a Double Dragon or After Burner. Occassionally a game will appear, however, that is totally unique both in theme and execution. It may borrow from more well-known games, but in¬ stead of copying previous programs, the new game expands on the concept to create a completely original delight. Mega Man 2 is a good example of a game that, on the surface, resembles a dozen other action/adventure bat¬ tles. It isn’t until the game is ex¬ amined closer that it truly shines. One of the most successful original titles to ever debut on the Nintendo Entertainment System was Acclaim’s Wizards and Warriors. Combining play elements from both from different fantasy and action/ad¬ venture titles, Wizards and Warriors masterfully molded the two gaming genres into one outstanding cart. There were always plenty of nasty ene¬ mies to contend with, and a different quest (find the specially colored key) to be solved in each round. For its time, Wizards and Warriors had exceptional graphics, animation, and sounds and it still stands as one of the most challenging games available for the Nintendo. So it didn’t come as much of a surprise when we discovered that Acclaim, together with Rare and Coin-It, the designers of Wizards and Warriors, had developed an all-new se¬ quel to their swords and sorcery epic. AWARD WINNER! Player's Seal or Approval The U.S. /C^ Ar %\ National Video Game Team has endorsed this product in recognition JO of Its — superior play value. 7 y Entitled Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors 2, the follow-up to the ori¬ ginal blockbuster continues the adven¬ tures of Kuros, the brave knight who rescued the kingdom’s kidnapped Princesses in the first game. This time around Kuros must battle more than just monsters - he must take on the four elements of Wind, Water, Fire, and Earth! Each of the game’s four levels are built around these themes and con¬ clude with climatic confrontations with the elements themselves! Before you can battle these super Bos¬ ses, you must first traverse an assort¬ ment of rooms and catacombs. Your quest will not be easy! You must not only collect the treasures and gold to build up your score, you have to find the armor, helmets, and swords that increase your fighting strength. Some of the treasures include magi¬ cal spells that can be used against the enemy and to help find the cor¬ rect way through the game’s enor¬ mous play area. T)\e chance game is an easy way of in¬ creasing your booty - if you’re lucky! LEVEL ONE Each level also contains a special character who helps you along in your adventure. These friends give you various incentives and assist you in locating the objects that you need to complete each round. Ironsword leads up to a confrontation with a group of flying apparations that possess quick moves and powerful abilities. Make it through each of the elements and you’ll find yourself look¬ ing the Big Bosses in the face! You must rely on all of the powers you have collected through the first four levels if you are to succussfully eliminate the threat of the final Boss and return peace to the land once again. In addition to boasting game play that is superior to the original Wizards and Warriors (and even better than many other recent action/adventure games like Simon’s Quest), Ironsword has sev¬ eral supporting features that are equal¬ ly outstanding! The graphics in Kuros’ second outing have been slightly fine- tuned and look even better than before! The background graphics are sharp and defined, with extra attention going into the construction of each level. Ironsword also has new characters, like the Bosses and Friends, that, despite being very large, are well drawn and animated. Even Kuros himself is more detailed! The music and sound effects pack a dandy punch as well! To add atmos¬ phere to the game, the new background LEVEL TWO BOSS FRIEND 47 and expands upon its positive virtues to include brand new features like armor and weapon power-ups, spell casting, passwords and more! All of these fea¬ tures, combined with the enhanced graphics and sounds, make Ironsword one of the most welcome Nintendo En¬ tertainment System games in a long time. Kuros looks better than ever in this terrific follow-up to Wizards and Warriors - a game definitely deserving of the U.S. National Video Game Team’s "Players Seal of Approval"! FRIEND LEVEL THREE music is constantly changing and has an eerie tone that sets the mood for the whole game. Ironsword is rounded out with a status/select sub-screen that gives you instant access to all of the weapons and spells that Kuros has collected. It also maintains scores and passwords in a separate area that doesn’t intrude on the rest of the game. Ironsword: Wizards and Warriors 2 is an excellent sequel that captures the charm and adventure of its predecessor LEVEL FOUR FRIEND Find the spells hidden along the way that will help you in your quest! BOSS 48 BEHIND -SCREENS "Technically, the TurboGrafx-16 and the Sega 16-Bit are exceptional mach¬ ines. Graphics and game play are air- cade quality. What is missing is the library of good software from third- party companies. Capcom has and will continue to sup¬ port GameBoy with our software, but I am not at liberty to mention exact titles. It will be a game that is NOT currently on the market and it will fit the techni¬ cal parameters of the GameBoy sys¬ tem. The Atari hand-held is a nice unit: price and play seem fine. Atari’s Lynx vs. Nintendo’s GameBoy in the retailer and consumer respect, however, leaves Nintendo winning by a landslide." Joe Morici Vice-President Marketing and Sales Capcom, USA Thunder Force II for Sega Genesis "When will we see 32 bit graphics? The point is not the number of bits, but the entertainments value of the system. The biggest component of value in game play is graphics. Why? Because games are about fantasy - about fight¬ ing the good fight, driving the fast car, or rescuing the pretty Princess. The more real the fantasy is, the more enter¬ taining. That’s why we like to see movies in 70mm Dolby THX and not Super 8. What 16-Bit graphics really means is a next generation of game machines with better graphics, better sound, and better game play." Ken Wirt Assistant Vice-President NEC Behind the Screens is a new regular feature to Electronic Gaming Monthly that asks leading industry personalities to provide us with their opinions and in¬ sights into some of the hottest topics and issues facing the video game world This month we’ve collected the thoughts of leading game designers and executives regarding the four new game systems (Sega’s Genesis, NEC’s TurboGrafx-16, Nintendo’s GameBoy, and Atari’s Lynx) planned for release later in the year. Find out how these heros of the video game galaxy feel about the new machines and which ones they’ll be supporting... Alleyway for Nintendo's GameBoy "The 16-Bit game graphics are fantas¬ tic, but I don’t think that they will great¬ ly affect Nintendo’s market share im¬ mediately. Nintendo has built a very strong base, and the demand for new software for the Nintendo system will not change drastically because of the 16-Bit games. FCI is looking forward to continuing to develop innovative software for the units already on the market, including the GameBoy, for the next several years." Liz Hamburg Coordinator FCI Keith Courage for NEC’s Turbografx-16 "I was very impressed with both the TurboGrafx-16 and Genesis. My only reservations about the Genesis is if Sega will be able to make games that are "fun", i.e. better quality play, than what they currently have with their 8- Bit machine. It seems that NEC has more titles. Bandai plans to develop for Game¬ Boy and the titles should be announced soon. The Atari hand-held seems bet¬ ter graphics-wise, but its price point and game play are suspect." Bert Schroeder Product Manager Bandai America "We welcome all new hardware developments because they show the consumer that home video gaming is here to stay and that it will get better and better in the future. The new Sega and NEC machines look promising and we geel GameBoy will be a big smash this fall. The new Atari machine looks great and plays well. We’ll be watching its progress carefully." Emil Heidkamp Vice-President Konami "While the Genesis is capable of great graphics and sounds, they need more games - and great games - to attract market share. "I feel that CD-ROM is the wave of the future -1 hope NEC handles it right with their TurboGrafx-16 machine. I hate the TurboGrafx-16 name! "The hand-helds are interesting, but they won’t replace the TV games. The GameBoy is a great take-it-with-you toy. The Atari hand-held has great color and graphics, but they’ll need to have lots of super games and marketing to beat Nintendo. The battery life is also a problem." Tom Sloper Product Manager Activision 49 NINTENDO PLAYER David White NINTENDO EXPANDS HORIZONS Now that the Nintendo Entertain¬ ment System has penetrated such a high percentage of American homes (one-in-five by the end of the year, ac¬ cording to Nintendo’s estimates), it is now in a position to broaden its hori¬ zons and tap into markets that extend to other areas of gaming and even non¬ gaming functions. Witness the recent partnership between Nintendo and AT&T, who plan to turn the NES into a communications terminal that will allow anyone to purchase stocks, buy airline tickets, and do other "over-the- phone" services. This is just one of the many dir¬ ections the Nintendo will inevitably head (as it has in Japan) in the months and years to come. Besides courting the telephone service, how¬ ever, Nintendo has big plans for the NES. While games will al¬ ways be a big part of the Nintendo bat¬ tle plan, the executive powers-that-be apparently want to sustain the life of the NES by coming up with peripherals that will keep the system fresh and in¬ teresting. Their first offering is the NES Satellite multi-player peripheral. The Satellite, which was designed by Coin-It, enables gamers to enjoy, for the first time, multi-player (we mean 3 and 4 player combo titles) simultane¬ ous games that offer enhanced com¬ petition and additional options. The Satelitte V’Ball tem, while the multi-plug adapter works as a remote and can be placed anywhere in a room up to 20 feet away. A line of specially developed games are being produced that take advan¬ tage of the Satellite and its unique abi¬ lities. Among the first releases already in the work are: Super Off Road - Tradewest’s transla¬ tion of the Leland arcade super-hit is faithful in almost every bouncing, jumping detail - including the four play¬ er racing options! V’Ball - Adapted from the American Technos arcade sleeper, V’Ball chal¬ lenges you to a volleyball tournament against some of the nastiest beach dwellers around. Play Action Football - Standard rules with player-versus-player options. Four player games are a reality thanks to the Sat¬ ellite! Multi-gamer ar¬ cade titles like V’Ball and Super Off Road, as well as Nintendo’s Play Action Football, can now be enjoyed by 4 players simultaneously! 50 FACT-FILE: Manufacturer: Tengen Machine: Nintendo Cart Size: 2 Meg Number of Tracks: 7 Theme: Driver Difficulty: Average Number of Players: lor 2 Available: July, 1989 Steve Ryno RACE FOR YOUR LIFE!!! Straight from the arcade and into your home comes Super Sprint! In the Tengen home version of this coin-op classic, you go up against super-powered drone cars as well as other players (with an optional two-player combo mode) in a race to reach the checkered flag! Seven different tracks, which get progressively more difficult as obstacles are added, must be lapped four times. As long as you stay in the lead you proceed to the next race. Along the way you can retrieve power-up wrenches which can be cashed in for enhanced tractions, speed, acceleration and points. It’s all- out fun from beginning to end, and is guaranteed not to disap¬ point fans of the arcade masterpiece. THE SUPER SPRINT RACE TRACKS Different strategies must be employed to beat the competition in each race. Al¬ ways take advantage of the short cuts that exist in some of the rounds (4 and 5) and be sure to avoid the obstacles that appear in later rounds of play! COMPLETE ALL SEVEN TRACKS AND RACE AGAIN! POWER-UP During each race, two gold wrenches will appear at various locations around the track. By collect¬ ing these items, you can increase the performance of your vehicle by enhancing your traction (for tighter turns), acceleration, speed, and points! 51 FACT-FILE: Manufacturer: Milt-Brad Machine: Nintendo Cart Size: 1 1/2 Meg Number of Levels: 6 Theme: Maze/Reflex Difficulty: Average Number of Players: 1 or 2 Available: Now Steve Ryno Get Set for the Craziest Maze Race Ever! In the Milton Bradley Nintendo ver¬ sion of this Atari Games arcade classic, you must maneuver a marble over, around and through some of the most insane three-dimensional mazes ever created. You must also contend with an odd assortment of equally absurd creatures that range from "steelies" that knock you off course to acid pools to disappearing floors! In your quest for the goal line which rests at the end of each course, you can take advantage of a number of traps and short-cuts that can cut your track time in half. That’s important since you receive a hefty bonus at the end of the game’s sixth level for quick hands! Marble Madness is a good looking translation of the quarter-munching coin-op (masterfully animated and programmed by Rare over in the U.K.) that also captures many of the game’s features like a two-player simultaneous mode. True, some of the secret short¬ cuts and tricks are missing from this version, but the pseudo-3-D visuals, snappy audio, and originality found in Marble Madness greatly outweigh its short-comings. A bit short (there are only six levels), but fun nonetheless! Practice Race - Learn the basics! A straightforward warm-up with no enemies and a single "S“ turn. Use the jump off of the ramp in the last turn to gain additional Aerial Race - Look out for the numerous drops and pitfalls! Use the catapaults to progress to other parts of the course, and work your way to the bottom, avoiding the pistons that can launch you into the air! 52 Beginner Race - At the beginning of this course you’ll encounter your first "steelie". He’ll try to knock you off, but get past him and you’ll face marble munchers who will Silly Race - Everything you know is wrong! This level is plauged by reverse gravity that causes your marble to roll up steep hills with ease! Be sure to squish all the minitures for extra time at the first plateau Intermediate Race - Take it easy as you guide your marble through the maze at the beginning of this round. When you near the goal, enter the wave and you'll be carried to the entrance of the goal! Ultimate Race - A compilation of all the levels! When you reach the end of the Ul¬ timate Race, be sure to maneuver across the disappearing path slowly at the same rate that the blocks appear. FACT-FILE: Manufacturer: Taito Machine: Nintendo Cart Size: 1 1/2 Meg Number of Levels: n/a T heme: Shooter Difficulty: Average-Hard Number of Players: 1 Available: September Steve Harris Blasting its way from the arcades to the Nintendo is Taito’s new high-action aerial shooter, Sky Shark - one of the hottest looking and most challenging Nintendo games to appear in some time! You take to the skies on a mission be¬ hind enemy lines. You must repel an impending invasion of opposing fight¬ ers, tanks, gunboats, carriers, trans¬ ports and more! The enemy is armed to the teeth with more firepower than you can imagine, and it’s all pointed at you ! Unlike some shoot-em-ups, Sky Sharks is loaded with plenty of chal¬ lenge and a variety of options. While blasting away at the enemy armada, set your sights for flying formations that occassionally fill the screen with war¬ planes. Knock these convoys out of the sky for special weapon power-ups that enhance your plane’s performance as well as your score! Blow ’em out of the sky with guns or bombs - the method of destruction is up to you! But wait - the Sky Shark excitement doesn’t stop here! Look for issue num¬ ber four for more info on this great new game. We’ll have the game mapped out and guide you through difficult parts of play. We’ll also print some wicked tips that will have you well on your way to crushing the enemy for good! USE YOUR CLUSTER BOMBS! Whenever things really start to heat up you can resort to your ultimate wea¬ pon: the Cluster Bomb! These super- powered explosives can terminate the bad guys with a touch of a button! Al¬ though they’re limited, you can retri¬ eve new bombs by destroying certain enemy attackers (like freight trains). BATTLE ON SKY SHARK! Make it through the enemy gauntlet of planes, bombers, ships, and tanks and you’ll find yourself coasting in for a perfect three-point landing! Rack up big bonus point for remaining cluster bombs and the take to the air for even greater challenges! BOSS ATTACKERS 53 SEGA M*A*S*T*E*R«S Ed Semrad ARCADE AND RPG ACTION ROUND OUT ’89 Arcade action and role-playing are the two directions which Tonka plans to emphasize during the second half of 1989. Tonka is putting the majority of their bucks behind older coin-ops that en¬ joyed little or no distribution in the U.S. Among these titles are Dead Angle, Scramble Spirit, and the current arcade smash, Golden Axe. Some of the un¬ known commodities looking for a wid¬ er audience on the Sega Master System include the Japanese shoot-em-up im¬ port, Cloud Master, the pirate adven¬ ture, Captain Silver, and the less-than- explosive action contest, Dynamite Dux. For role-playing fans, Tonka is con¬ centrating on several titles this Christ¬ mas, led by none other than Ultima IV! Boasting the largest resident memory of any U.S. cart (4 Meg), Ultima IV will undoubtedly raise the standards of RPG games to all new heights. Expect to see fantastic graphics, an awesome Cloud Master soundtrack, and a challenging quest that will make Phantasy Star seem like child’s play! This hot game will come with a battery back-up so you can save up to five different games! Another title, Spell Caster, will offer similar RPG thrills in a package that combines Nightmare Basketball both action and adventure elements in one game. The long-awaited Wonder Boy 3: The Dragon’s Trap will begin right where Monster Land ended, with plenty of new adventure and lots of surprises! Dynamite Dux Tonka will also be adding Walter Payton Football, Tennis Ace, and Sup¬ er Golf (all with battery back-up or password options for season-long play), as well as the unusual Nightmare Basketball (monsters and demons square off on the court!!!) Wanted Sega’s Questionable Third-Party Support Third-party game support, an area which Sega has desperate¬ ly tried to improve, appears to be faltering. Both Activision (Cy¬ borg Hunter, Bomber Raid, Ram¬ page, and Galaxy Force) and Parker Bros. (Carmen Sandiego, King’s Quest, and Montazuma’s Revenge) have unofficially dis¬ continued involvement with the Sega Master System for a variety of reasons. Absolute Entertain¬ ment, however, is in the process of making final changes to their Sega titles, R.C. Grand Prix and James Bond, for a possible De¬ cember ship date. 54 Experience a New Phantasy... E WARRIORS, and LORD OPINE SWORD are trademarks of Sega of America, Inc.« 1988 Tonka Attack! The galactic tyrant Lassie hurls lightning bolts at you. But your magic blade responds with a blast of blue fire... and your team of adventurers is about to join the battle! Welcome to the worlds of Phantasy Star, Sega’s newest adventure role-playing video game. Phantasy Star is fall of traps and treasures, magic and mon¬ sters, not to mention dungeons and ■■■«|| towers so real you’ll want to wipe the slime from your I boots...and I recoil from dragon fire! Phantasy Star features space travel to eeeeeeef t€ ee«< three worlds, a magician’s dream book of spells, 16- level dungeons, and more monsters that you can cremate with a laser gun! And Phantasy Star also includes a built-in memory so you can save up to five separate adventures! Phantasy Star is just one of eight adventure role-playing video games for the Sega video game system. Look for MIRACLE WARRIORS™ and LORD OF THE SWORD™ coming soon! ▼ 'W Sega’s Phantasy Star The Next Wave in Video Gaming. FACT-FILE: Manufacturer: Sega Machine: Sega Cart Size: 4 Meg Number of Levels: N/A Theme: Adventure/RPG Difficulty: Easy Number of Players: 1 Available: September The action sequences are populated by evil creatures and terrible dangers! This is just one of the many Boss mon¬ sters you must face in your quest! STORY You’re Kane Tensen, a brave fighter who dreams of becoming a great and noble warrior! After joining the Sum¬ mit Temple, where the ancient arts of battle are taught by mystics endowed with strange powers, you’ve learned how to call down the strengths of the gods! With these new powers you can fly, cast lightning bolts, and balls of fire! After many years of training, you final¬ ly attain the rank of Mystic Warrior. Now the attacks have begun. Evil ar¬ mies of humans and nightmarish crea¬ tures have started to plunder the coun¬ tryside. Daikak, the wise leader of Summit Temple is sending you on a nearly impossible mission to rid the world of these creatures and restore order to the land. Are you good enough to become a Spellcaster? PASSWORD SCREEN To continue the quest from the same point that it ended, use the handy passcode that’s displayed at the end of every game. This will return you to bat¬ tle with the same enhancements and at the same location you previously occupied. SUB-SCREENS As you progress through the action and adventure scenes, you’ll uncover a number of offensive and defensive power-ups, as well as spells that can be used in various situations. All of these items can easily be accessed via the option screen. Ed Semrad TEXT SCREENS As you pursue your quest to become the ultimate warrior - a Spellcaster - you must use your powers of intellect and strategy. As you listen to conversa¬ tions, use items that you’ve uncovered along the way, and conjure spells. Solve the puzzles and gather clues from the different people you encounter! 56 FACT-FILE: Manufacturer: Sega Machine: Sega Cart Size: 2 Meg Number of Levels: 12 Theme: Action/Adventure Difficulty: Hard Number of Players: 1 Available: Now V_ _/ Ed Semrad The kingdom of Wonder Land has been taken over by an evil fire-breathing Meka Dragon! Together with an army of demons and mon¬ sters, the dragon rules like a tyrant, turning the once peaceful Wonder Land into a deadly Monster Land! The people, helpless again- WONDER BOV IN MONSTER LAND... Story: Lizard-man - Has fire-breath and nor¬ mal attacking abilities. TRANSFORM! During your journey, Wond¬ er Boy will turn into many differ¬ ent creatures. This happens whenever you beat a Boss and part of spell is removed, and when you enter the "Trans¬ formation Chamber" which lets you alter your shape at will. st the creature’s wrath, have called on you, Wonder Boy, to begin a new quest! But you’ve been cursed during battle and changed into animals! You must return and rid the kingdom of all the evil monsters, while searching for the lair of the dreaded Meka Dragon! The Status Screen keeps Buy weapons, armor, and track of your booty! more from the shopkeeper! SUB-SCREENS During your quest, you must collect money which can be used in the shops to purchase new weapons and more! Use the "Status" screen to keep track of your finds! Mouse-Man - Can fit in small open¬ ings and walk on walls and ceiling! Lion-Man - Another average fighter who wields a sword well. Piranha-Man - This character gets around in water very well! 57 ATARI ADVENTURE Ed Semrad More Games Scheduled for 1989 One of the problems that the Atari 7800 has faced since the very beginning is a lack of quality software with the strong titles and game play of its main rivals - the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System. While superior to the NES in many ways, the 7800 never planted its roots firmly in the high-action arcade titles that helped Nintendo soar to prominence in the latest video game resurgence. Instead, the 7800, as well as Atari’s sister systems - the 2600 and XE - have relied heavily (too heavily) on translations of computer software and bad sports simulations to support the machine. While some of these tit- Tower Toppler), many were not up to par and there was little in the way of standard arcade fare to choose from. All of that’s going to change soon, now that Atari has opened a new soft¬ ware development facility to run in- depen-dantly of their Sunnyvale head¬ quarters. Based in the Chicago area, this group of designers, producers, and programmers plan to deliver video game thrills like we’ve never seen be¬ fore! While the new office will continue to work with development houses across the country to assist in the program¬ ming of new games, Atari will begin ag¬ gressively seeking arcade names and creating better ori¬ ginal game concepts that contain more of the standard game elements (power- ups, Bosses, etc.) that previously were absent from Atari games. The development group appears to be paying off already. In the next months, Atari will be intro¬ ducing an abundance of new arcade-inspir¬ ed titles led by Ikari Warriors, Comman¬ do, Mat Mania, and Xenophobe. A long list of original entries, from the in¬ tense shooter Planet Smashers to an update of their classic Breakout game called Off the Wall should help as well Some of the most promising Atari games on the way include: Radar Lock (2600) - After Burner-style shooter from designer of Solaris that is heavy on guns and missiles and even comes with the 360 barrel roll! Planet Smashers (7800) - Fast-action alien invader saga with mega power- ups, big Boss characters, and lots of shoot, shoot, shoot! Double Dunk (2600) - Two on two bas¬ ketball for the 2600! Double Dunk is one of the best 2600 sports games to ap¬ pear in a long time. Shooting Gallery (2600) - One of the first games to work with the 2600 light gun. Straightforward, but fun. Ikari Warriors (2600, 7800, XE) - Guide your jungle warriors through some of the deadliest video game ter¬ ritory! Based on the arcade mega-hit, Ikari Warriors looks like dynamite! No matter how Atari’s looked in the past, the opening of their new software development building shows that the company is trying to move in the right direction! Landing more coin-op names would help, but for now we’ll have to remain content with the new games on the way. Xenophobe, the multi-player arcade smash from Bally, is coming soon for the 7800and XE. All the alien-bashing ex¬ citement is there, including independant screen views, pow¬ er-ups, and more! The best game ever made for the 7800! 58 MAKE ME A WINNER!!! Please enter my name in the Electronic Gaming Monthly "Watch and Win" give-away! I understand that ten winners will be drawn at random from all of the submissions received and each of these lucky gamers will receive a copy of the SECRET VIDEO GAME TRICKS, CODES, AND STRATEGIES video cassette tape from MPI Home Video! ENTER MY NAME TODAY! Name_Age_ Address City _ State Zip Ru es: All entries must be received by September 15, 1989. Sendai Publications Inc., and the staff of Electronic Gaming Monthly assume no responsibility for postal service mistakes or other events beyond our control which could delay or prevent your submission from reaching our offices. No relatives of the EGM staff may participate in this contest. You may enter as often as you wish, but each entry must be sent separately The ten winners will be chosen at random by ludges appointed by Sendai Publications, Inc. Each winner wi ' “ leo Game Tricks. Codes, and Strategies Volume One for play on VHS copy of the Secret Video Game Tricks. Codes, and Strategies Volume anly. The decisions of the judges is final. Void where prohibited by law. I Place Stamp Here ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY WATCH AND WIN VIDEO GIVE-AWAY!!! c/o SENDAI PUBLICATIONS, INC. 1920 HIGHLAND AVENUE SUITE 300 LOMBARD, IL 60148 A TALE OF TWO COMMANDOS...Nintendo vs. Atari Even though it was released in arcades way back in 1985, Commando is still an all-time favorite of players everywhere, especially at home! The Nintendo version of this all-time classic is made by Capcom, the com¬ pany that developed the game in the ar¬ cades. While similar to the coin-op, the NES version also introduced us to un¬ derground bunkers and secret rooms. The Atari 7800 version of Comman¬ do shares this feature, but enhances the play mechanics even more by throwing in a knife (which enables you to kill the bad guys by walking into them without loss of life) and machine gun (rapid fire action)! All of the intermissions and and four areas are present as well. Produced by John Skruch and devel¬ oped by the programming powerhouse, Sculptured Software, Commando is one of the best games ever made for the 7800. A definite must-have buy for 7800 owners starved for big names! The Atari 7800 Commando shares much in common with its Nintendo counterpart -but is better in many ways! STORY You’re Super Joe - ace army spe¬ cialist in charge of covert opera¬ tions. In what is undoubtedly your most difficult assignment ever, you must infiltrate an enemy com¬ pound and rescue your kidnapped comrades. It’s not going to be easy! Armed only with a machine gun and a sat¬ chel of grenades, you must storm the enemy armies with expert shooting skills and blast past their heavily fortified headquarters! Along the way you must uncover hidden passageways that lead un¬ derground. Here you will find pri¬ soners being guarded by even more ruthless soldiers! Can you escape the enemy’s grasp and return alive? The fate of your countrymen rests in your hands! Go after the enemy com¬ mander when you reach the end of each level for a cool 2,000 bonus points! Save the prisoner from the clutches of the enemy sol¬ diers. Wasting both bad guys awards 1,000points! Look for new options like the knife and a machine gun for rapid-fire play. START Throw grenades to uncov¬ er hidden passages. CLEAR THREE MORE AREAS AND YOUR FIRST MISSION IS OVER! 59 TURBO CHAMP Steve Harris THE TURBOGRAFX-16 CD-ROM First looks at the latest video game technology and the games it plays... When most people think of peripher¬ als they think of joysticks or light guns or 3-D glasses. NEC, however, has something very different in mind with their ultimate in video game add-ons - the TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM (Com¬ pact Disc - Read Only Memory). First and foremost, the CD-ROM greatly enhances game memory, allow¬ ing the main TurboGrafx-16 unit to produce play that is more complex in both graphics and interaction. One CD game can hold the same amount of information stored on over 2,000 regular Turbo-Chip cards and at a cost that is less than a regular card-based game. The CD-ROM unit can also access the disc-based games throughout the course of play. This not only expands the scope of the games, but makes it possible for the machine to perform ad- Fighting Street, the CD-ROM version of Capcom’s Street Fighter, is one of the first releases for this new add-on. 60 ditional abilities like reproducing real music, sound, and even human voices directly off disc. The Turbo¬ Grafx-16 CD also has a special ad¬ apter that plays music from exist¬ ing CDs in addi¬ tion to projecting visual images that are programmed on to the discs! CD-ROM GAMES Although the CD-ROM player and interface (which is needed to plug the unit into the main TurboGrafx-16 sys- Cinemaware’s Defender of the Crown is also rumored to be coming under CD development. tern) will be available shortly after the release of the console, the number of games expected to be released will be slim initially. The first of the batch in¬ cludes Fighting Street (a translation of the popular Capcom coin-op, Street Fighter), Y’s (adventure game that’s previously been available on the 8-Bit Sega), Monster Lair (action/adven¬ ture), and Darius (an underwater shooter with incredible graphics and sounds). Also rumored to be in the works are CD-ROM versions of Cinemaware’s Defender of the Crown (complete with English narration and orchestra music) and the animated coin-op/computer hit, Dragon’s Lair. While other titles are also under con- (Continued on page 73) prepare your nervous system. The higher energy video game system. THE LEGENDARY AXE By Donn Nauert THE GREATEST ACTION/ADVENTURE OF ALL TIME! One of NEC’s first releases for the newTurboGrafx-16 is The Legendary Axe, an action/adventure entry that is absolutely brilliant! Everything about this new game, from the graphics to the sounds to the game play, is ex¬ ceptional in both design and execu¬ tion. Your enemy in Axe is the evil Jagu cult made up of a wide variety of nasty Jagu thugs, monsters, and possessed animals. Using your super weapon, an axe called "Sting", and your ability to jump over obsta¬ cles and dangers of all kinds, you must overcome the Jagu threat and save your main girl. While you may recognize the play mechanics and overall theme of The Legendary Axe, the game breathes new life into this familiar theme with graphics and play that rival the best the arcades have to offer. A definite must-have for all new Turbo owners! JAGU IDOLS AND POWER-UPS Throughout the game you will discover the valuable Jagu idols. Created by the Jagu cult, these miniature statues can be destroy to reveal a number of helpful power-up items and weapon enhancements. In addition to the Crystal Container, the Jagu idols will also reward you free men and other bonuses such as these... WING This power-up enhances the speed of your at¬ tacks. When Gogan is energized with the Wing, he can strike faster and more often! LIFE RECOVER These power balls come in 3 sizes and replenish Gogan's health to differ¬ ent degrees. Large cap¬ sules return 7 units, medium returns three, and small returns one. CRYSTALS The red and blue crystals that are often found in the Jagu idols award bo¬ nus points of 1,000 and 5,000 respectively. Ill Q 02 111 h- >2 LUO mm sKftl GIANT SPIDER When you descend below the surface in the first level, you will encounter an enormous spider that fires poisonous webs at Gogan! To destroy the spider you must strike it repeatedly. Each attack will wear the spider down and chop its legs off one by one - eventually revealing a number of power-ups! START You’re Gogan, the childhood friend of Flare, a young girl who has been sacraficed to the Jagu cult. Armed with your Legendary Axe, "Sting," and the knowledge and powers of over a dozen different forms of martial arts, you’ve set out destroy the Jagu and their masters while saving poor Flare from a fate worse than death! Despite your strength and bravery, this battle will not be easy. The Jagu followers are also well versed in fight¬ ing skills and will even use black mag¬ ic to make the animals turn on you! You will face incredible odds as you journey through six lands of action and adventure. You may even face Jagu himself! Push ahead warrior! This is just one of the many high resolu¬ tion landscapes you will fight upon ' t* tt ll» HUB - J|| IR#9Kw> ■ Wi rapids ♦ k 1 MM « S♦ Ml * -S * 41 In your quest to defeat Jagu and rescue Flare, you will discover certain Jagu idols yield this special weapon en¬ hancement! Once you retrieve the Crystal Container, your attack strength (represented by the colored bar at the top of the screen) will increase by 25%. By storing up this power after every swing of "Sting," you can build up more energy and inflict additional damage. Get the Power Gauge to full and the screen will explode with energy! At the conclusion of each of The Legenedary Axe’s six levels of play, you will encounter one of the Boss guar¬ dians of the Jagu cult. Each of these battles leads up to the climactic confrontation with Jagu himself, the leader of the Jagu cult and the demon who holds Flare hostage. You must fight your way into Jagu’s palace and destroy this monster once and for all! But be care¬ ful, there are even greater surprises waiting those who reach Jagu! Remember that you can continue up to 3 times af¬ ter your first game ends. At the end of the first level of play, you will come face to face with your first Boss attackers: two Grizzly Bears who have been turned into vicious killers by an evil Jagu spell! Since the Bears appear from opposite sides, concentrate your attacks on one Bear at a time. After each hit, the Bears will take a short jump (which you should walk back from), long jump (which can be ducked), then another long jump, followed by two short jumps. OUTPOST: GENESIS Steve Harris GENESIS SIZZLES AT CES!!! A Dozen New 16-Bit Game Titles Debut at Summer Show - Will the Momentum Continue? Blood and Guts -A look at the Genesis brain uncovers two processors: a 68000 to handle the new 16-Bitters, and a Z-80 to play 8-Bit Sega games! Sega of America shocked the video game world during the opening of the Summer Consumer Electronics Show (CES), when their 16-Bit Genesis sys¬ tem was officially unveiled with over 15 different games available! This in¬ stantly put to rest rumors that the unit would not have the software support necessary to carry the 16-Bit heavyweight. Beyond the bright lights and slick PR were an abundance of outstanding tit¬ les. Since NEC was absent from the main show floor, Genesis had the spot¬ light all to itself - and did it shine! In ad¬ dition to performing demonstrations on the new Tele-Genesis modem base¬ ball game, Sega knocked everyone off their feet with more than a dozen games ranging from early Mega Drive Last Battle Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle Altered Beast - The 2-meg action title comes with the Genesis system. games like Space Harrier 2, Super Thunder Blade. Altered Beast (which comes with the system), and Alex Kidd, Sega showed many new games that have never been seen before like Super Hang-On (race a motorcycle around the world), Ram bo 3 (a Commando- style scrolling shooter with intense gra¬ phics), Red Belt (karate kicker from Activision), Forbidden Worlds (two player combo action that is similar to Side Arms), Tommy Lasorda Baseball (great looking and playing baseball cart that tracks the other 26 teams while you play through the season), Soccer, Golf, Hydlide Special (RPG). Last Battle (scrolling kung-fu action). Thunder Force 2 (multi-level horizontal and ver- ticle shooter), Hollo Fighter, and the incredible Ghouls and Ghosts - a game which we would dare label the "Best Home Video Game Ever Made"! i 64 A VIDEOCASSETTE ON: SECKETS-CODES & STRATEGIES For Nintendo* Compatible Games Registeredtrademark of Nintendo Amenca Inc., Neither this tape, nor its packaging are authorized, sponsored, licensed or approved by Nintendo* of Amenca Inc. Or Nmetenao Japan, and these companies are not in any way respohsible for content of the tape or the packaging. To Order Your Video - Call TOLL FREE: 1 - 800 - 338-7710 NO C.O.D. ORDERS PLEASE. Now for the first time on videocassette you can learn the top secrets from the top players. Includes never-before-seen hidden rooms, invincibility tricks, joy-stick maneuvers and more! Demonstrated by the U.S. National Video Game Team. Power-up your game with this new videocassette. Included in this video are tricks to: ★ Double Dragon ★ Iron Tank ★ Simon's Quest ★ Rambo ★ Blaster Master ★ Contra ★ Metal Gear ★ Life Force ★ Plus IS more of your favorite video games featured . #2884 Approx. 60 min. ONLY *19.95 TO ORDER, please send check, money order or credit card (no cash| to: Name _ Address City---State-Zip- Bill my credit card: □ Visa □ Master Charge Account Number-Sutton bate Authorization SignatuTi of Cardholder- Video Cassette Total $_ Shipping & Handling $4.50* _ TOTAL Amount $ ■sstasg Now armed with over a dozen solid games, Sega will begin their assault on the game-playing public this Septem¬ ber with five to ten titles. Another twenty are in development and have planned release dates that could put as many as 30 Genesis carts into stores by the end of the year! While the true number of titles (from both Sega and third-party sources) will more than likely be closer to two dozen, Sega’s ability to deliver more than just a half dozen games makes the entire system much more alluring than a month ago. Now it’s up to Sega to continue to produce games that are of the same ex¬ ceptional quality as the new titles re¬ leased at CES. Since NEC has a vast library of games that are already com¬ pleted for the Japanese P.C. Engine (which could easily be translated onto the TurboGrafx-16), Sega is shifting both its Japanese and American opera¬ tions into overdrive in an effort to con¬ tinue the flow of software on a steady basis. Combined with an aggressive li¬ censing strategy (see accompanying story), the Genesis has been elevated from an outstanding piece of hardware, to a spectacular game machine! Expandibility Genesis can be expanded in several ways. The first add-ons to be available include the Tele-Genesis modem (see story on next page) and the Power Base Converter that allows you to play exist¬ ing 8-Bit Sega carts and cards! This $40.00 adapter plugs into the Genesis cartridge slot on the top of the unit, ac¬ ting as an instant interface between the 8-Bit game and the Z-80 on the main A glimpse of the outstanding - The Genesis version of Ghouls and Ghosts is incredible in every way! It’s a virtual carbon-copy of the coin-op sequel to Ghosts and Goblins and a testament to what this fantastic system can do! Tommy Lasorda Baseball Golf and Soccer Thunder Force II Genesis Third-Pail One mistake that Sega’s determined not to repeat is a lack of third-party game support for their new 16-Bit console. Although the 8-Bit Master System is only now starting to attract outside developers like Activision and Absolute, Sega is taking a much more aggressive stance for the Genesis. At this time there are 20 third-party companies signed on, with many more coming on board very soon according to our sources. The companies that have announced y Game Support... their involvement with Sega and the Mega Drive/Genesis project include arcade names like Capcom, Data East, Taito, Toleco (Sammy), Nam- co, Sunsoft, Sigma, as well as inde¬ pendant developers like Asmik, NCS, Techno Soft, MicroNet, Treco, Dem- pa Publications, Activision, and HBS Co. It must be noted that some com¬ panies (like Capcom on Ghouls and Ghosts and Forgotten Worlds) will only be licensing their games to the system - not marketing them. Falcon will be coming soon for the Genesis from Spectrum Holobyte Phantasy Star 2 computer board. What type of effects this will have on the Sega Master System are questionable, but it’s nice that Sega has considered the legion of loyal fol¬ lowers their 8-Bit unit has attracted. The downward compatibility of the Genesis is really another one of the system’s stronger features - with the adapter it can now play close to 100 games! Future Games Now that the Genesis has shown that it can punch out award-winners (Ghouls and Ghosts got EGM’s award for Best Game of Show at the recent CES), we’ll have to keep a close watch on what the company plans to do for an encore to their CES spectacular. Since most of the games that we were given an advance peek at in our offices have not even been released in Japan yet, it would appear that Sega’s played their entire hand. We have discovered, however, that Sega is rumored to be releasing Genesis versions of their popular coin-op hits Turbo Out- Run, Golden Axe, After Burner, Fantasy Zone 2, and Power Drift (although the last three may not be released in the U.S.). Other hot games, which may be released through third-party sources, in¬ clude Football, Omega Fighter, Atomic Robo-Kid, Cyberball, Phelios, as well as the long-awaited sequel to Sega’s num¬ ber one 8-Bit game - Phantasy Star 2 - a six-meg, battery-back-up extravaganza that brings RPG gaming into the 16-Bit world. With games like these you can’t go wrong and Sega knows it! They’re on course with a system that knows no limits and has the ability play exciting games like we’ve never seen before - except in the arcades of course! TELE-GENESIS The Future of Video Games? One of the Genesis system’s most in¬ teresting attachments being offered with the Genesis unit is without a doubt the Tele-Genesis game modem that was shown for the first time in the last issue of Electronic Gaming. This new device allows you to instantly "link-up" with a friend across town or across the country and play games head-to-head! Here’s how it works: In Tele-Gene¬ sis Baseball (the only title announced for the modem) for instance, you may control the pitcher and have your own view of the action from over the pitch¬ er’s shoulder, while your opponent on the other end of the line takes com¬ mand of the base runners and batter from his perspective behind home plate. Each player maintains control over his team while facing the strat¬ egies and techniques employed by another person instead of the com¬ puter. Sound intense? You bet it is! Al¬ though modem games have been around forever on computer systems and networks, this type of player-to- player interaction has never been available before for a game system. Examining the Unit The Tele-Genesis peripheral is roughly nine inches long and plugs into the nine-pin expansion port on Only the special Tele-Genesis Baseball game will work with the modem system. back of the Genesis system. From the modem there is a cord which is fas¬ tened to a dual line connector which then plugs into the telephone jack. Tele-Genesis Gaming The main question surrounding Tele-Genesis is one of feasibility. We can tell you that the Tele-Genesis peripheral does indeed work, but with a rumored three to four second lag in information transmissions. The prototype unit’s baud rate is 1200, which prohibits large volumes of data from being relayed at a high speed. The other problem with Tele-Gene¬ sis is price. Before you can throw your first pitch on Tele-Genesis Baseball, you must have two Genesis owners who each have the modem attach¬ ment and each have Tele-Genesis Baseball - you’re looking at at least a few hundred dollars, not to mention the long distance bill if your opponent is out of the city. The real future of the Tele-Genesis may be a games network where play¬ ers can call in locally to play games from a master computer. While Sega emphatically denies any such direc¬ tion for the modem, several sources indicate that this may be in the works. As a game machine, the Tele- Genesis just doesn’t pass initial tests. A lack of compatible software nar¬ rows its appeal and state-to-state play seems like little more than a high- priced headache. Other applications may be found for the unit, however, so early impressions may be un¬ favorable - but not completely nega- tive. _ 67 GAMEBOY CLUB mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmammmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm David White NEW GAMES AND SUPPORT FOR GAMEBOY The Summer CES saw the official un¬ veiling of the Nintendo GameBoy Compact Video Game System. After the first photo of the unit was shown in the May issue of Electronic Gaming, interest in the portable cartridge-based game machine has increased. Reac¬ tion to the system at the show was ex¬ tremely enthusiastic to say the least. Although the Atari color hand-held, which was obtained from Epyx just days prior to the show, diverted some of the excitement away from the Game¬ Boy, Nintendo stayed in the spotlight with a list of nearly two dozen Game¬ Boy licensees and some exciting third- party games. Some of the first titles developed after the initial five include Ghostbusters 2 from Activision, Cast- levania, Motocross Maniacs, and Grid iron Gladiators from Ultra, a fantasy- RPG from Square called Saga, an un¬ titled puzzle game from FCI that chal¬ lenges players to move boxes in pat¬ terns, and a game that resembles Kid T is $ = . ....... ..« - m '-.fi Super Mario Land, Tennis, Alleyway, and Baseball are the first releases that will be available for the GameBoy when it debuts in August. Tetris comes with the unit. Kool from Vic Tokai. Other carts include a Pinball game and Shanghai game developed by HAL, Hyper Lode Runner and Karateka by Bandai, Nintendo Golf, Lock-n-Chase from Data East, and a Mickey Mouse game (soon to be available in Japan) from Kemco that follows the same basic plot as their Bugs Bunny NES game. An American release may see the game character slightly modified from a mouse to a rabbit. With this broad line-up of games coming soon, and even more under development, GameBoy is fast becoming a fantastic game machine. While it might not have a color screen or 16-Bit resolution, it does play games (and an abundance of them) very well! HAL’s Pinball and Shanghai 5 & Nintendo’s Golf FCI’sBoxxle Bandai’s Hyper Lode Runner Ultra’s Motocross Maniacs 68 STUDY THESE MAPS TO BEAT THE FIRST WORLD IN SUPER MARIO LAND!!! WORLD 1 Level 1 is the pyramid de¬ sert! Jump for the high door at the goal line! COIN MUSHROOM TUBE COIN COIN 1 UP POWER COIN COIN COIN COIN COIN 69 POCKET APCACE Atari and Epyx join forces to take on GameBoy with a port¬ able system of their own! It has more features, better graphics, and best of all - COLOR Ey ver since Electronic Gaming reported the first information on the top-secret Epyx hand-held game sys¬ tem last year, the video game industry has been buzzing over the possibilities of portable gaming. A cartridge-based game machine that can go anywhere seemed to have definite advantages over the pocket games that used per¬ manently burned LCD displays and could play only one game. Before Epyx could get their system completed and out the door, however, the gaming super-powers at Nintendo stepped in with a hand-held of their own. The Nintendo GameBoy (EGM Vol.l-No.2) blew us away with solid game play in a compact package that includes smooth scrolling, NES-quality sounds, and decent black and white graphics (with variable levels of shad¬ ing) on a dot matrix screen. GameBoy also has other features such as the Video Link, which connects two GameBoys for head to head play, and a standard Nintendo flat pad controller built-in to the unit itself! While all eyes were turned toward Nintendo, however, Epyx quietly fin¬ ished their portable game machine, code-named Handy, and struck up a super-secret deal with Atari Corpora¬ tion to build and distribute the world’s first color hand-held as well as assist in game development. The new Atari- Epyx alliance enables Atari to go head- to-head with GameBoy and show off the next generation of portable gaming today! The Lynx is far superior to GameBoy in many ways. The most noticeable dif¬ ference between the two systems is the delivery of the screen images and game action. While GameBoy uses a 2" black and white LCD screen that has several different levels of shading, the Lynx has a 3 1/2" full color TV-quality monitor that can produce dazzling displays in over 4,000 colors! The Lynx also has a higher level of resolution (the 160x102 screen looks like an Amiga since the screen is much smaller) which allows the system to create highly detailed arcade-quality characters and backgrounds. The graphics chip employed by the system gives the Lynx games the same look and Designed and developed by RJMical, the wizard behind the Amiga computer, the Atari/Epyx portable game machine is more advanced than most full-sized systems! 70 California Games - The Epyx computer classic holds true to form on the LYNX! Packaged with the system, California Games contains all the surfin’ and skatin’ adventures from the original game! feel of the new 16-bit systems! It’s really that good! The Lynx hardware is also far superior to the Gameboy. In fact it’s far superior to just about any 8-Bit game system in existance, including the Nintendo and Sega. Not only can the system duplicate the scrolling features of the GameBoy, it also has scaling and zoom functions that are usually found only in high-tech arcade games (not even the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16 has these abilities)! This means that the Lynx will be able to pro¬ duce exciting first-person perspective games like After Burner and Pole Posi¬ tion, where game characters and back¬ grounds start out small in the background and increase in size as distance is cov¬ ered, with relative ease. Several Lynx games already take advantage of these functions with incredible results! GameBoy boasts of multi-player games that allow players to go head-to- head simultaneously with two systems and two game carts. A special Video Link adapter cord allows the GameBoy to do this. The Atari machine has a similar device called a Corn-Link, but instead of just two gamers, the Lynx can connect an unlimited number of players together and, best of all, needs only one cartridge to fuel all of the systems! The system does this incredible feat by downloading information from the cartridge and stor¬ ing it in the Lynx brain. As the palyr progresses, the machine accesses the game code. In some instances the unit may not be able to handle all of the game levels, so a certain amount of “updating” may be necessary. This is small draw¬ back, however, when you realize that only one person needs to buy a multi¬ player game for everyone to enjoy. That’s pretty generous! The Lynx system itself is black, very sleek in appearance, and larger than the Walkman-shaped GameBoy. The game controls are familiar; a flat pad is located on one side of the machine while two pairs of buttons flank the game screen in the center of the unit. The extra pair of “A” and “B” buttons are part of another one of the Lynx’s interesting features. By activating a special “Flip” mode, you can flip the screen image upside-down, turn the entire system upside-down, and enjoy the games as a leftie! There’s also a sunshield that makes it easier to play with the Lynx outside. The Gameboy suffers from the opposite problem: its display isn’t backlit and thus requires all the light it can get! LYNX GAMES As a game system, the Lynx is extraor¬ dinary, but how many games will it have to play and are they any good? Epyx currently has finished six games for the Lynx that all borrow from familiar themes or recognizeable titles. Among the first games, which will retail for $19.95, are Epyx’s Impossible Mission and California Games (which comes with the system). Monster Demolition, Blue Lightning, Time Quests and Treasure Chests, and The Gates of Zendocon. All Impossible Mission - Take on the criminal droids in this Lynx translation of one of Epyx's all-time favorites. Spectacular scrolling screens and animated sequences make this the best Impossible Mission ever! 71 six have fantastic graphics and play and who off the system’s abilities to their fullest. In Impossible Mission, for exam¬ ple, you can proceed to different levels by walking through doorways which quickly zoom forward as if you’re walking down a hallway. The effect is very well done. Although several big guns have expressed interest in the Lynx future games for the system are a bit more questionable. Both Epyx and Atari are pledging to support the system with inhouse development, but third-party support remains unknown at this point. PRICE With all of the fantastic goodies loaded into the Atari Lynx, the price is much higher than any existing game system. The $149.95 retail price tag (which gets you the Lynx, the Corn-Link, a carrying case, sun shield, power supply, and Cali¬ fornia Games) brings the Lynx close to the same level of the 16-Bit systems that will be released about the same time as the portable machine in September. The Lynx games are around the same price as the GameBoy carts (which list for $24.95). but the higher cost of the main unit may tempt some who want the thrills of hand-held gaming to retreat to the less explosive and lower-priced GameBoy. THE FINAL WORD In addition the price factor, the Lynx must also contend with GameBoy's legion of licensees as well as the highly popular Nintendo name. While there’s no comparison between the stems or their ability to play games (Lynx wins hand down), the real winner will be the machine that plays hot arcade properties and home favorites. In the end you will have the final word whether you want to play a full-color game of original design (there are some negotiations going on for big arcade names on Lynx - but nothing is finalized), or a black and white version of Castlevania or Super Mario. The Gates of Zendocon - Zendocon, our fravorite Lynx game, has great- Gradius-like action and super scroll¬ ing. Lots of options and power-ups, as well as a wide variety of attackers make Zendocon a definite “hit"! Blue Lightning In this After Burner- inspired shooter, you take control of the fastest warplane in the world. You must fly through the enemy defenses to reach specified target areas. A bit repetitive, but there are some nifty ef¬ fects. Rampage - This game can easily be described as "Super Rampage"! You and a friend control ferocious monsters who wreak havoc on a scroll¬ ing city skyline. It’s a borrowed theme, but it looks and plays great! LYNX VS. GAMEBOY Direct head-to-head comparison usually yield the most revealing information about competing products, and the Lynx vs. GameBoy is no different. While each unit has its own strengths and weaknesses, one appears as the better machine while the other looks like it will have better software support. GAMEBOY LYNX PROCESSOR 8-Bit Z-80 8-Bit 65C02 PRICE $89.95/$24.95 Games $149.95/$34.95 Games GAMES 5 plus 20 in development 6 plus ? in development BATTERY LIFE Up to 20 Hours Up to 5 Hours MULTI-PLAYER Up to 2 Players/2 Carts Up to 16 Players/1 Cart COLORS/RESOLUTION 160 x140 4,096/160x102 ^3580 assortment of lo- cations on your way uncovering the Star Gem - a stone of eternal life! 72 sideration, more attention is currently being focused on games compatible with the base unit, at least during TurboGrafx’s initial launch. This type of move is dictated more by numbers, since it often costs as much as $100,000 or more to develop a new video game, and if there are only 10,000 potential customers for a particular piece of soft¬ ware, it becomes difficult to absorb all the costs. Once more CD-ROM adap¬ ters are in the hot little hands of Turbo Champs, the system will undoubtedly attract a wider range of products. LOOKING INTO THE CRYSTAL BALL What does the future hold for the TurboGrafx-16 CD-ROM? Since the games slated for immediate American release don’t really take advantage of what CD-ROM can actually do, it stands as little more than an entirely separate $399 game machine with slightly enhanced abilities. The CD- ROM games are of the same exception¬ al quality as their other Turbo titles, but if NEC could create a line of games that were unique in some way that made the CD-ROM absolutely necessary, then the CD system would definitely be more attractive. As an all-around enhancement to the TurboGrafx-16 system, the CD-ROM peripheral holds tremendous poten¬ tial. Some of the software currently available for the unit in Japan (like No- Ri-Ko, which follows the adventures of a Tiffiny-ish rock star, complete with music and text) is interesting and offer fresh new ways to enjoy video games. Whether or not NEC decides to ex¬ pand the scope of the CD-ROM in this fashion could spell the difference be¬ tween success or failure in the U.S. Invasion Of The Nintendoids They’re here! The official clothing and equipment for serious Nintendo players. Order yours today! Show your allegiance with Nintendo Power Patches. Collect all six. Take cover under this Ninetendo Cap. 5 Designs in Men’s/ Children’s sizes. Arm yourself with Camerica CAC280 Supersonic Joystick with wireless remote. Gear up for the games in this Nintendo Sweatshirt. 73 The Mega Drive/Genesis Powers Up! Hot on the heels of the blockbuster introduction of Sega’s latest and greatest gaming system, Genesis, EGM has discovered that Se¬ ga is developing several peri¬ pherals for their Mega Drive (the Japanese version of the Genesis) which may appear in the U.S. sometime soon! While Sega is focusing their attention on the Tele-Gene¬ sis modem system over here, we have been told by reliable sources that the company is also working on a disk drive (which plugs into the side ex¬ pansion port) and a keyboard that can elevate this grand¬ master of game systems into a full-fledged, and very pow¬ erful, personal computer! In addition to computer thrills, Sega has also devel¬ oped a light pen tablet and software to run a variety of paint programs and other drawing utilities! Although these add-ons are rumored to be very close to finished for the Mega Drive, it is uncertain when we’ll see similar attachments for our Genesis. For a sneak peek at these prototype peripherals, however, just take a glance to the right! First Photos of New Gadgets Increase Genesis- Excitement! Mega Drive Light Tablet P.C. Engine 2 Update - LCD Engine Adapter Coming to U.S.? As interest in the P.C. Engine continues, to sky¬ rocket in Japan (now the number one selling system) and American players ea¬ gerly await the arrival of our version of the system, the TurboGrafx-16, our crack team of undercover fact-finders has discovered that NEC has even bigger plans waiting for video game players. One catch though: we probably won’t see these new advances for at least a year if not more! Pleased with the re¬ sponse they have received to their P.C. Engine in Ja¬ pan (which has sold a mod¬ est 1,500,000 units), NEC have given the go-ahead to a new game system that will The Mega Drive - Genesis ex¬ pansion ports hold many dif¬ ferent possibilities, including modem games, computer upgrades, and more! Want FREE! Nintendo or Sega Cart, or Systems Radio Controlled Cars, Skateboards or Splatball Equip, or Cash Highest Prices Paid for New & Used Cartridges or Systems Available from $14.95 and up. HO/RC HOBBIES, INC. Call 716-244-8321 982 Monroe Avenue • Rochester, New York 14620 employ true 16-Bit technol¬ ogy (the P.C. Engine-Tur- boGrafx-16 use 8-Bit pro¬ cessors and special graph¬ ics chips to achieve their high-resolution visuals). Labeled the P.C. Engine 2 by engineers close to the project, the system will re¬ portedly have a new spec that will blow away the competition. NEC made the move to upgrade their existing system before the release of Nintendo’s awe¬ some Super Famicom. NEC were rumored to be in negotiations at one point to acquire Namco’s sensa¬ tional 16-Bit Super System and call it the P.C. Engine 2, but problems between Namco and Hudson, the designers of the P.C. En¬ gine hardware who have a big stake in the future of any P.C. Engine product, were rumored to killed the deal. Now NEC is working to get a final system completed before the end of the year. While on their way to conquering the 16- Bit systems, NEC has also decided to take on GameBoy, Atari and anyone else with a special LCD screen at¬ tachment for the current P.C. Engine that gives it the ability to become complete¬ ly portable. Details of this device are sketchy, but this type of portability may be difficult to implement with the TurboGrafx-16. Since the P.C. Engine can fit in your hands and the Turbo is the about the same size as a Sega Master System, this type of peripheral may be prohibitive. 74 AT THE ARCADES Atari Games’ ESCAPE FROM THE PLANET OF THE ROBOT MONSTERS Bidding for recognition by the Guin¬ ness Book of World Records for the "Longest Title for an Arcade Game," Atari presents Escape From the Planet of the Robot Monsters (EPROM for short). Don’t get me wrong, this in¬ novative game has merits that extend far beyond the length of its title, not the least of which are its comic book-style graphics and popular science fiction theme. In the game you have been selected as a member of an interplanetary S.W.A.T. team. Your mission: to transport all hostages back to ship, de¬ stroy all robots, rid Planet X of the evil reptilons, and find and rescue Profes¬ sor Sarah Bellum (very clever!) A map at the beginning of the game, and between sectors, charts your pos¬ ition. Viewed diagonally from 45 de¬ grees overhead, the most common sec¬ tor type is the high-tech Robot Fac¬ tories inhabited by a plethora of enemy robots including Cyber Guards armed with a lethal shot and Orbs that will quickly track you down with their sen¬ sors if you stand in one place too long. Here you must touch the human slaves working feverishly at computer termin¬ als to transport them back to the moth¬ ership while fighting your way through several levels of the factor; destroying robots, ducking close shots, and eating food for added strength. You must al¬ so collect the green gems left behind by smoldering robots for increased ray gun power and find bombs that will help when the going gets too tough. The only exit to the sector is via the transporter. Giant Evil Reptilons in¬ habit other sectors and will require some sharp reflexes and accurate shoot¬ ing to destroy. In other areas, you must guide your spaceship through a maze of space canals (which look something like the mazes in Pacmania) to earn an extra life and a chance to choose one of three paths toward your destination. The game play is similar to the Atari classic, Gauntlet. You can choose to simply blast your way through the fac¬ tories or be patient and take a more strategic approach toward attacking the enemies. Two-player simultaneous action is also featured. And again Atari has included the subtle details, such as a clever animations sequence as you slip off the edge of a level in the Robot Factory (you gotta see this one for yourself!) and a Top 40 High Scoreboard. Furthermore, the music and cabinet art, including the uncon¬ ventional shape and size of the title marquee, greatly enhance EPROM’s appeal. The only weaknesses in the game are a map that’s difficult to read and canal mazes that, while graphical¬ ly entertaining, are not particularly challenging. EPROM is a strong alternative to the oh-so-typical punch and kick titles lit¬ tering the arcades and a definite must for Gauntlet fans who were disappoint¬ ed with Xybots. EPROM’s comical na¬ ture should appeal to just about every¬ one, although comic book readers and anyone who thinks "Attack of the Killer Tomatoes" should have won Best Pic¬ ture may find it even more exciting! EPROM reinforces Atari’s creative genius and innovative approach to ar¬ cade game design. Perry Rodger Escape from the Planet of the Robot Monsters is swash¬ buckling fun with great graphics and Gauntlet-style play! 75 THE LEGEND CONTINUES... Earlier in the ’80’s, Williams Electronics struck gold with their innovative and original pinball powerhouse, Black Knight. Now Williams is ready to strike again with the long-awaited sequel to this all-time classic called, ap¬ propriately enough, Black Knight 2000! Designed by Steve Ritchie, the Wizard of Willaims who’s delivered time and again with blockbusters like High Speed and F-14 TomCat, Black Knight 2000 is packed with innova¬ tive features that are guaranteed to challenge beginners and pros alike! Black Knight highlights a special multi-level playfield with two-ball Double Knight’s Challenge and three-ball Multi-Ball action! The main playfield Lightning Wheel controls over 16 dif¬ ferent scoring opportunities and bonus rewards, while the Skyway Ramp takes the ball up, down, and around the multi¬ level playfield, awarding Extra Ball, Hurry Up, and Skyway Bonus when lit. Consecutive U-Turns increase in value to 250,000 points and spelling W-A-R during two-ball play earns skillful players a cool one million points! A new innovation that’s completely unique to Black Knight 2000 is the amazing King’s Ransom! By spelling out the word R-A-N-S-O-M, which appears on the backglass, play-ers have the opportunity - for the first time in the his¬ tory of pinball - to ignite a super special twenty seconds of play in the "Light Everything On The Playfield" mode which deli-vers mega-points! During this time, all major scoring features are activated, including all multipliers, W-A-R lanes, Extra Ball, the upper playfield Drawbridge targets, the Jackpot, and the Skyway Ramp! In addition, the player cannot lose the ball during this Ransom sequence. If the ball drains another one will instantly appear in the plunger The action and excitement doesn’t stop there! BU;, Knight 2000 also introduces a new feature to the world : pinball called "Loop Champ". When a player beats -. number of sonsecutive loops on the upper playfield Extra Ball is awarded and the player can enter his or -v— initials in the game displays in the same manner as the V r- scorers do! Another first for Williams! Supporting the exceptional game play are magnifies backglass and playfield graphics, orchestrated sound t fects with synchronized speech that all add to the atir phere of this outstanding pinball creation! Black Knight was a fantastic game, but Black Knight 2» is even better, with all of the proven play features anc ^ new incentives that are definitely landmark innovation - the world of pinball! Steve Ritchie once again shows tnn: he is the master of the silver ball! Black Knight 2000 is : a ; of his greatest triumphs and, with all of the new goomt: that have been thrown into the game, stands as one of ; most solid and playable pins to appear in some time! Exceptional pinball games are a Williams trademark, -z : Black Knight 2000 only reinforces their position as ir; premiere designer of number one machines. We can c wait to see what Willaims has in store for us, and what n; - innovations Steve Ritchie will unleash on the pinball pur -: with his next creation! (Williams is now offering high-quality Black Knight 200: 7 - Shirts! Look for their ad and order form in this issue r Electronic Gaming Monthly!) 76 POWERHOUSE PINBALL FROM /n/ .,/. Player's Seal of Approval TOP SCOPE CLUB HIGH SCORES Effective June 1,1989 After Burner Sega Jeff Yonan 9,704,000 Fremont, CA Alien Crush TurboGrafx Steve Ryno 75,629,000 Lisle, IL Altered Beast Sega Brian Sanderson 22,900 Chatanooga, TN Altered Beast Genesis Steve Ryno 69,700 Lisle, IL Bad Dudes Nintendo Donn Nauert 277,900 Austin, TX Blazing Lazers TurboGrafx Donn Nauert 13,330,700 Austin, TX Bubble Bobble Nintendo Larry Erickson 1,080,900 Columbia, MO Contra Nintendo Jim Hernandez 6,553,500 Fremont, CA Double Dragon Nintendo Jim Hernandez 128,350 Fremont, CA Double Dragon Sega Matt Gockel 67,800 New Orleans, LA Ghouls and Ghosts Genesis Steve Harris 498,500 Lombard, IL Gyruss Nintendo Larry Erickson 653,240 Columbia, MO Ironsword Nintendo Jim Allee 229,850 Milwaukee, WI Karnov Nintendo Ralph Mendes 534,500 New York, NY Keith Courage TurboGrafx Donn Nauert Finished Austin, TX Legendary Axe TurboGrafx Steve Ryno 598,300 Lisle, IL Marble Madness Nintendo Steve Ryno 76,800 Lisle, IL Mega Man Nintendo Brent Walker 357,200 Austin, TX Mega Man 2 Nintendo Steve Ryno Finished Lisle, IL Missile Defense 3-D Sega Mark Rezapanski 637,000 Seattle, WA Ninja Gai Den Nintendo Jim Allee 681,000 Milwaukee, WI Out Run Sega Danny Lee 54,249,160 San Jose, CA Paperboy Nintendo Mark McCormick 69,000 Hedrick, IA P.O.W. Nintendo Steve Harris 89,900 Lombard, IL Q*Bert Nintendo Mike Nichols 219,820 San Francisco, CA Rampage Nintendo Leslie Ford 81,900 Galveston, TX Rampage Sega Mike Nichols 324,990 San Francisco, CA Robowarrior Nintendo Donn Nauert 701,800 Austin, TX Silkworm Nintendo Donn Nauert 1,386,380 Austin, TX Sky Shark Nintendo Donn Nauert 1,037,560 Austin, TX Space Harrier Sega Bill Day 7,266,990 Des Moines, IA Space Harrier 2 Genesis Steve Ryno 14,301,000 Lisle, IL Spy Hunter Nintendo Mike Dean 147,500 Miami, FL Star Soldier Nintendo Donn Nauert 3,932,600 Austin, TX Twin Cobra Nintendo Donn Nauert 1,335,600 Austin, TX Twin Eagle Nintendo Donn Nauert 805,000 Austin, TX Vigilante Sega Jim Allee 12,900 Milwaukee, WI Vigilante TurboGrafx Steve Ryno 14,500 Lisle, IL Wizards and Warriors Nintendo Jim Killy 639,500 Huntington Beach, CA Zanac Nintendo Jeff Yonan 15,197,360 Fremont, CA For information on how to submit a high score to the U.S. National Video Game Team, send a stamped, self-addressed envelope to: U S. National Video Game Team’s High Score Club, c/o Sen¬ dai Publications, 1920 Highland, Suite 300, Lombard, IL 60148 78 FCI Phone Counseling OTLINE ( 312 ) 968-0425 8 am - 7 pm Central Standard Time • Get the latest tips, scores and info about FCI video games • Find out about new FCI games • Put your name on the FCI mailing list FCI® Fujisankei Communications International, Inc. 150 East 52 Street, NY, NY 10022 Dr. Chaos, Zanac and Lunar Pool are trademarks of Fujisankei Communications International, Inc. Ultima is a trademark of Richard Garriot. MagMax and Seicross are trademarks of Nihon Bussan Co.. Ltd. These games are all licensed for play on the Nintendo Entertainment System? THE BEST OF THE BEST!!! They do it for movies, they do it for music, so now Electronic Gaming is do¬ ing it for games. The following list of video games, computer games, and ar¬ cade games have been compiled by various sources that track the success of games. The ratings are based on player popularity and receipts from lo¬ cations around the country. How many of your favorites are listed below? As of June 1, 1989 NINTENDO VIDEO GAMES 1. Ninja Gai Den (Tecmo) 2. Super Mario Bros. 2 (Nintendo) 3. Ultima (FCI) 4. Operation Wolf (Taito) 5. Adventures of Link (Nintendo) SEGA GAMES 1. Rastan 2. Rampage (Activision) 3. Vigilante 4. Phantasy Star 5. Time Soldiers 6. Simon’s Quest: Castlevania 2 (Konami) 7. Tecmo Bowl (Tecmo) 8. Adventures of Lolo (HAL) 9. Bubble Bobble (Taito) 10. Friday the 13th (LJN Toys) ATARI GAMES 1. Crossbow (7800) 2. Secret Quest (2600) 3. One-on-One Basketball (7800) 4. Desert Falcon (7800) 5. Solaris (2600) ARCADE GAMES 1. Hard Drivin’ (Atari Games) 2. Off Road (Leland) 3. Operation Thunderbolt (Taito) 4. Mechanized Attack (SNK) 5. Arch-Rivals (Bally/Midway) 6. Turbo OutRun (Sega) 7. Strider (Capcom) 8. Narc (Williams) 9. Chase H.Q. (Taito) 10. Final Lap (Atari Games) The Video Game and Computer Game Top Ten ratings were compiled from game distributors, retailers, and players around the country, and are based on total number of units sold. The Arcade Top Ten is based on the earnings opinions of game operators and is reprinted with permission from RePlay magazine - the coin-op industry’s leading trade magazine. 80 DO YOU PlAY VIDEO 6AMES?? To order, send the above form, with a check or money order for $19.95 to: SENDAI PUBLICATIONS, INC. 1920 Highland Ave Suite 300 - Dept. A Lombard, IL 60148 . i-X & Each big issue of ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY is loaded with behind- the-scenes info, previews of un¬ released games, and cart reviews that you can trust! Also get exclusive U.S. National Video Game Team endorse¬ ments, contests, high scores, secret code trading cards, and tip booklets that have all the tricks and strategies you need to amaze your friends and play like a pro on all the newest games! You get all this and more in each full color issue of ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY... THE video game resource! THEN YOU MUST SUBSCRIBE TO ELECTRONIC GAMING MONTHLY * FULL COLOR! * TIP BOOKLETS! * PREVIEWS! * HIGH SCORES! * CODE CARDS! * CONTESTS! * PLUS MUCH, MUCH MORE! I WANT TO PlAY LIKE A PRO! ycOf I want to subscribe to ELECTRONIC 1 GAMING MONTHLY for the low price of $19.95 for a full year (that’s 12 incredible issues for 50% off the cover price). GflfTlE DUER DR. WILY IS DEFEATED! PEACE RETURNS TO MEGA-LAND! 82 LICENSED BY NINTENDO FOR PLAY ON THE (Nintendo^ eriTERTFiinmei-v . . . SVST6m» • , SNK CORPORATION OF AMERICA 246 SOBRANTE WAY SUNNYVALE, CALIFORNIA 94086 CALL (800) PLAY SNK © 1988 SNK CORP. OF AMERICA. NINTENDO AND NINTENDO ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM ARE TRADEMARKS OF NINTENDO OF AMERICA INC. NK KgSgagM $<<5**YQUR COMPETITION ULTIMATE ••supersfiek- Now, get behind the wheel or in th cockpit, 2 auto-fires, slow motion. }WSf0ff Auto-fire, left and right hand play. Jv Joysticks J / are available § / for Entertainment § 3 / Systems by / / Nintendo of / America, Sega of / America, Atari ’ Corporation, and Commodore Business Machines. ULTIMATE' s aj»e rs(iek=^= All the features of our standard Ultimate plus 2 players and NO WIRES ! For Ultimate Arcade Excitement at Home, look for Video Game Accessories by (Nintendo) EDTBTrpinrnEnT Send $2.00 for your Catalog to: 101 Wilton Ave., Dept2 Middlesex, N.J. 08846 • (201) 968-6868 S. OA% Our goal is to try and preserve classic videogame magazines from years gone by before they are lost forever. Thanks goes out to all the people who make this possible. From the original editors and writers, to everyone involved in acquiring and digitizing these magazines. People interested in helping us out, in whatever way possible. 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