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COVER STORY _ _ _ _ __
14 DUKE NUKEM 3D
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BIG IN JAPAN _ _ __
58 ELEVATOR ACTION RETURNS An all-new section in SSM, where we highlight awesome games available in Far East which really deserve an official release. This month, the follow-up to one oflhe most fondly remem· bered coin·opsofyesteryear-Elevator Action!
You can expect nothing more than rumours arid speculation from those that purport to be oor opposition. With our exclusive SATURN shots of Duke, plus full-on interview with Lobotomy Software, yoo'd better ready yourself for what is guaranteed to be one of the greatest SalUrn gamesoft997!
FEATURES _ _ _ __
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TOURING CAR CODERS QUIZZED!
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A SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE inquisition of out· standingproportionS,oorJapanEditor, Warren Harrod,visitsttle newly established AM Annex and talks to the man behind Sega Rally. Manxnandofcourse,SegaTouring Car, Tetsuya Mizuguchi!
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In what has now been confirmed as the last Bullfrog title to hit the Saturn (so, no Dungeon Keeper then),Syndicate Wars is comingaloogvery, very nicely indeed. Once again, check OUI the first Saturn shots of the game along with an in·depth Chat with Bullfrog's ZZKJ. veteran programmer behind Ihisepic.
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52 THE ART OF STAR WARS Hey, just fora few pages this issue we totally forget atJout the Saturn and immerseoorseivesinlheWOflderful
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SHOWCASES _ _ __
COIN · OPERATED - - - - - 34 MANX TT SUPERBIKE 82 RED EARTH The very first Capcom arcade game to use the new CPS·111 board has finally hit the arcades ... and SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE has the full st~, plus exclusive screenshots (of course). So... is Red Earth any good? Does the concept warrant the new technology? Find oot nowl
s..g.Saturn.M<g~f"'."._~.'.Mo"e,
Last month we promised the very best in Manx n coverage! Get the full lowdown on this most awailed ofSega SalUrn titles rig/lt here. irlCluding full options and course breakdownsl And don't forget, you can get a fiver off this game by nicking to the review!
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42 MASS DESTRUCTION It's a game about tanks and destroying things in what can only be described as·spectacular fashion". Harkening back to an age where videogameswere about skill and racking up an enormous score, Mass Destruction is well worth the showcase we have awarded it!
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SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE USE
DO IDOLBY SURROUND I TO TEST AU SOFTWARE 04 SI IA AIIIHIIMAIAIIII!
UK £33.00 AIrmail Europe £46.00 Ainnaillone 1 £73.00 Eire £46.00. Thesa rates include postage aJId packing.
SUBSCRIPTION / BACK ISSUES ENQUIRIES Sega SalUm Subscriptions, Sovereign Park, Leicester LE87 4PA. LEt6 9EF. POOne (01858) 435350
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PREVIEWS _ _ _ __
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SKYTARGET INDEPENDENCE DAY CRYPT KILLER RETURN FIRE REVIEWS _ _ _ __
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MANX TT SUPERBIKE AREA 51 INCREDIBLE HULK NORSE BY NORSEWEST IRON MAN I X-O MANOWAR MASS DESTRUCTION SPOT GOES TO HOLLYWOOD MEGAMAN X3 REGULARS _ _ _ __
06 30 32 41 76 96 98
NEWS VIRTUA WRITER Q+A SUBSCRIPTIONS TIPS OUT NOW NEXT MONTH TIPS SPECIALS - - - DIE HARD TRILOGY DARK SAVIOR TOMB RAIDER CONCLUSION II~ "'IIIII~ ~, ~
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:r:IEW S
goes behind the scenes of what is go ing to be one of 1997's hottestga mes ... on any hom e console. The news Isn't too shabby ei the r, and features-wise, you can't get much better than an in -depth interview with Tetsuya Mizuguch i - the creator of 5ega ~ally, Man~ IT (also in this issue) and Sega Touring Car Championship. If you th ink this is good,well you ain't see n nothing yet . Ifallofour plans come tofruition,youc an e~pect some frarlkly amazirlg stuff.. , comirlg soon. In the meantime. I"m going to give you my personal guarantee that 5EGA SATURN MAGAZINE will continue to be your finest vid eogame read each arid e very mOrlth,Notorllythat, but I also reckon that we 'll easily beirlg able to provide you with the cheapest demo discs ... and they'll all be of the HIGHEST quality. Oh yes Rlch.rdLlldb.Utr, Ed itor
RESIDENT EVIL:
FIRST SATURN SHOTS Satgnl Resldlnt bllpromiMI to Includl fu, far more thal 1.IPlil,Y5tatloRoriginal. MoredetallllntbenextilSllI ofSECASATURNIUClZINÂŁt
n these pages, you'll find the first Saturn shots of Resident Evil. There's only three of them, but rest assured that they ar e the only SATURN shots of th e game that Capcom of Japan have released to the press. Any others you might have seen are merely PlayStalion shots. How do we Imow thisl Well. Capcom of Japan held a special press confe rence for the Resident Evil sertes in Japan on February 17. where they dlS cussed the Saturn version of their seminal classic. along with their plans for Resident Evil20nthePlayStation The programmer of the Saturn version was on hand to teU the vast assemblage of journalists about his work and he was most enthusiastic indeed about their achievements to date. The screens hots show a game that is virtually identi cal to the PlayStation ongi na1. a fact that he was extremely proud of But it gets better Afte r the original Sony game was complete, the developers al Capcorn came up with the idea of prodUCing a enhanced ve rsion of the game internally dubbed BioHalard Dash (BioHaza rd is the Japanese monike r fo r Res identEvil) This version of the game would feature many small tweaks to the gameplay along wi th changes to the plol of the original game WeU. despite Ihe Dash edition never reaching the shelves. Capcomheldontothe ideas and they are all induded in the forth coming Saturn verSion of the gamel $0, yes. yes. yes and yes - the Salum version will be superior to the PlayStationgame One downer concerns the release of the game Despite the fact thatarlverts have appeared 1Il the Japanese press. Resident Evil has been put back until the summer Now that could mean anythlllg fTom June to Seplember. but knowing Capcom's release strategies. that probably means doserto Septemberl As for the resl of the press conference. Capcom stated that PiayStationResidenl Evli 2has been taken back right to the beginning of ItS development cycle The entire plot and setting is being completely changed and REfs release has slipped from spring to Wlnter '97! Rumours persist that the sequel is also being converted to Saturn. Thele was noofficial confirmation of this at the press confer ence.probablybecauseofthehugedelay the PJaystation version has encountered _ ,"",,""""_ However. the poSSibility remains likely
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QUAKE: EXCLUSIVE NEWS SENSATION! R
ffently, Se!!a of America finally got around to announcins that it had licensed three major products from CiT mltractM. Abe's Oddysee was revn.)" last month, Duke Nukem)D U exclusively unVl!il~ in thb
islue. Now details have finally emergt'd regarding Quake, possibly the most I!Xciting g;unl!' of the bunch.
Although therc has been no offICIal conflrmatlon from any dlVLSlon ofSega yel,itwould appear that tobotomy Software have bten handed theconverston work. with the convelsion tobe handed in hterally weeks aftel the learn have completed Duke Nukem 3D (see the Commg Soon startmg on page 14) We: had some mkling that Lobotomy mIght be c,urymg out the translatIon. hence the mcluslon of some Quake-bast'd questIOns In the
Duke mterview this issue· and they do mentLon that
they are currently in the process of producing anoth· el3DSaturngame As fal back as issue '113. SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE has ~n pressing "the powers that be- that Lobotomy are Just about the only team in the world capable of prodUCing an exceUent Quake convelSlon. The fact that Sega of Amenca has realised thIS is great news for Saturn fans. especLally when Lt be<:omes evldenlthat the prevIous team handUng Saturn Quake were encountering severe speed and frame rate difficulties with theconver· sion. When it comes to 3D corridor games, no-one knows the Saturn's capabdlties better than Lobotomy Expect to s~ the first ~ of screenshots EXClUSIVElY In a
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SSM IN NEW DEMO DISC FRENZY!!! we" saa
Next issue in SATURN MAGAZINE be bringing you an amazing cove .... mounted CO that other magames could only dream of. Rather than boot out a one level demo CO every month of a single game and charge an extortionate amount of money for it, we've waited patiently for a bumper crop of games to feahre on one of our best cover-mounted COs to date. SEGA RASH VOLUME #4 feabres ttree excelent playable demos of some of Saga's latest releases and a vast amount of FMV footage featuring some of the hottest titles around. Take a look what's in 5tOl'8-
PLAYABL£ L£VElS SOIIC 3D BUST After waiting for what seems an elernity, the long awaited debut of Sonic on the Saturn is an enhanced version of the Mega Drive hit Sonic 3D Fhcky's
Island Adding an !sometrictwist to the previous Sonic fonnula and with anall new style of sameplay, it may well not be the SOniclitle that Saturn owners wanted but a fine game nevertheless. One of the highlights is the Sonic 2 stylespedal stages featurins a Iight-sourced polygon SOnic runn!ng through the tube sections collecting rings These parts were actually coded by the Sontc Team hOpefully an indication of what's to come later in the year WHAT YOU Gnl Th. whol. of th. tint
Originally produced by AMI In the arcades using Sega's ST-V "TItan" software, the Saturn conversion is pixel perfect In similar vein to Streets of Rage,it'sascroUing3 D beat'emup where the player uses the familiar punch and kick combos to defeat the hordes of bad guys who have kidnappedthePresident'sdaughterAU manner of weapons from a broom to a rocket launcher can be used as you wander around from one scene to another in an attempt to thwart the enemy It makes anexceUent break from your average beat 'em up and It'S franklyexcellent l
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YI!1\JAI.OO Back by popular publicdemand,Sega's one-on-onerobotblasterfeatures some of the best 3D graphics and involving gameplay ever wItnessed on the Saturn, Technically outstanding Wlth two split screen set ups for some awesome two-player battles, we liked It so much it received a massIve 93"Though a little confusing at first wIth a complex control system, once you've discovered the various tactia and strategiesnbecomesamazinglycom pelhnglfyoudon'townitalready, this playable demo should convince you to buy It this instantl
As if three playable demos weren't enough to keep you occupled,Sega Flash 4 features a huge amount of full-motion video demos tool (cool!
~sa Flash volume #4 appears on next month', edition of SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE, price £4,50, Unfortunately. the CD Is not available on ISl ufi of the masulne , old ouU!d., of the United Klnsdom,
D8 SEGASATURHMAGAZIHE
Send IllJOU1'lOIJ IenpmnilldyolllXlUld be IIIefttioned in Utis 5IIId but ...,.rgnt'PK' next IIIOIItIt! pme for your \I"oUbIe! How IoveIyl Send'.... to READER CIWIlS. S£G4SATUIIN IUGAZINE. PIllOllYCOURT,30-32F.lIIRINGOOHLlNE.lOllDOll.EClR3AU,TJanaonth'sruderc:lwt_mGelwl
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~rlSrWr\OIIwho_'PIII~IIII!IItOqSorietStriewNc:hIsn'ClUlJlthelinlecl'lll'UC!
iWINID~'-ON-VIDEo!-i : FIVE COPIES OF INDEPENDENCE DAY UP FOR GRABS I PLUS AVE COPIES OF THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL!
GRAB SOME RADICAL AIR After the deluge of skiing and snow boarding games that have re<:ently invaded our arcades, it was only natural that this craze would filter down to the super con· soles.ZaplSnowBoa rdingTrixisthefirsttoappearontheSaturnandallowsplay. ers to catch some "rad air'" or "mad aerials",dude There are two distinct playmg modes featured In the game The first is the race mode which allows you to race one-on-one With another baggy clothed boarder down the side of a slippery mountam on a glorified plank of wood nskmg life and limb to become the snow boardmg champion_ Three different courses are available to race on and WIth a choke of three different boarders each WIth vary ing speed and cornering abilities,The second mode IS the tricks section. where you career down a straight slope WIth all manner of jumps and ramps allOWIng you to peliorm various snow boarding trickery Points are awarded for each trick you pull off and can be entered m the high score table for you to come back toand be at Comparisons will no doubt be made with the PlayStation title Cool Boarders and as such ZAPI Snow Boarding Trix looks as though it could well surpass it. with better movement in the boarders, better clipping and more heedom on the courses too Although already available in Japan, as of yet It IS undecided as towh ether this will receive an offiCIal UK release. Hopefully more news on thiS soon
If this warrants/llGl't Itllntlon...
'10 SEGASATUflNMAGAZINE
.., We'II'tltk ltlnth.Bi8inJlpilllllUl ~'lI\I.
You've watched the mOVie, you've played the game now win the video! Yes Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment are offering five lucky winners a chance to get their mitts on a copy of Independence Day, the 1996 box office smash that's selling even faster than the latest Issue of SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE (only just mmd) 1D4 features some of the most amazing special effects ever seen, IS THX digitally remastered and is available to buy in both Fullscreen (£IS·99) and Widescreen (£16·99) As if that wasn't enough Fox are also also giving away five copies of the classic 1950'S sCi·fi film ,The Day the Earth Stood StiU to complete your coUectlon of alien invasion-type flicks To wm a copy of both videos just answer this blain-draining question
ID4 star Jeft Goldblum is due to st ar in which prehistoric movie sequel this summer? If you think you know the answer se nd your entries to the usual addren and mark them KLAATU, BAllADA, NIKTOI Coned answers will be drawn
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SNK SEGA SENSATION #1:
METAL SLUG! SNK continue in their endeavours to bring their finest Neo Gee arcade wares to the Sega Saturn. Their latest announcement concerns Metal Slu!! - their popular side-scrollins shooting game (for one or two players), released on Neo Geo in the summer of last yea r Metal Slug is one of the most playable, t'njoyable shoot 'em ups released last year It combines elements of Contra and Gunstar Heroes and adds in a very healthy {some misht say a bit sick actuaUy) senseofhu mom.l! also happens to contain some awesome power-up weaponry and plenty of boss-
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from some of the shots on these pages.Thert'seems\obeabltofagap between Japanese and European SNK releases (like try ten years-ifwe're lucky),sowecan'tbesureastowhen this game wHl appear on this side of the world." lfatalJ. But rest assured, we will be investigating. In the meantime,herearesomelovelyscreenshots to enjoy
SNK SEGA SENSATION #2:
KING OF
FIGHTERS '96 SNK have released a new King of Fighters game in Japan. Kmg of Fighters '96 actually comes in three different formats. The first. CD only, has long loading times and reduced animation. Ifs worth coughing up the extra for the RAM cart rendition of the game, which boosts the Saturn's internal memory by 33%, thus enabling every frame of animation from the coin'opto be induded. The final version of the game is the ROM cart edition, which reduces loading time (it's all automatically on the cart) ThiS maybe faster, but it only works with KoF '96 The good thing about gettmg the RAM edition is that the cart works With other games, notably Real Bout Fatal Fury and Capcom's forthcoming CyberBots. But stm, onto the game proper The good news is that King of Fighters '96 is much, much moreofa sequel than '95 was. The Jast version was great. but it only had a few new moves and characters. Not so this latest edition, which features all路new graphics and radically different moves lists for the established ch aracters.The SNK tradit ion of awesome quality backgrounds and superior music is also continued in this fine game Of course, us European garners ale still waiting for an official reJease of KoF '95 WeU it would appear that Sony have signed up some kind of lock-out agreement for Europe, meaning that the inferiorn on-cart Play5tation version will appear some months ahead of the Saturn game. SSM's advice to Sega would be, forget about '95 and get '96insteadl
12 SEGASATURNMAGAlINE
lOBOTOMY INTERVIEWED! DUKE NUKEM PLANS REVEALED! In a world exclusive, Lobotomy Software kindly agreed to be interviewed by SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE and revealed the full extent of their incredible plans for the Saturn version of Duke Nukem 3D! Read on, and prepare to get most excited indeed... Interview by RICH LEADBETTER SSM SII,,, our"" Int.rvIe., how ha. LobotOfl'l),chanltd1AttJ'OU",lnlthe sam. CON I •• m for Dukl N"k_ or hn, JOY txpan6Hl LOBOTOMY The company hasn't cllangedsignificantly,butweare applyinsmoreresourcestoDuketllan we lIaveon any project we've done in the past, It's very important the same is done on time and of tile lIiSllest quality possible, Sasically lIalftlle com· pany is working on Duke and theotller lIalfisworkingonanotllerprojed,
sw Wh.t ' ''10'1' t ltoil,hh on the pc; ..nlon of Duk. Nuu m )D1 LOBOTOMY We we.e developing hhumed PC at the urnI' timt' Duke was in development, so we are very famitiar with the 8uild engi ne and how
SSMAre you worIllnl on_than _project at thktlmtl lOBOTOMY We are doins several pro· jects, in that we are still putting the finishins touclles on tile PSX version of bhum ed, workins on Duke. stilrting pre·productiononanoriginill lobotomy game, and beginning production on another 3D Saturn title,
andlotsoftricks.hhumedonlhe olherhand is more of an adion adventure that has a very different, and wethink,beUerfeel.Ove.all, Dukeisa very cool and fun game
SSMWh.tdMlyouthlnk ...... you _,. COfIfronte4 whh IM bI$kof brinpnlthe lame CMltothe Satum? LOBOTOMY Can tile system lIandle tile complexities of tile game and can we do iljustke? We mulled tllis over for quite some time before we were confi· dentwecoulddoa killer Duke game on tile Satum. Once we reaclled tllat point ofconfidence,itwasanopportunity~
couldn't pass up. Our ultimate inten, tion is to be tile first console version of Duke, and also tile best playing and best looking version available
SSM How did Lobotomy come arourtd tolettlnllheaulp-ml L06OTOMY Anotller company lIad been contracted to port Duke to Saturn, but tile system just couldn't lIandle a direct port of tile Build engine and still lIave an adequa te frame rate, When Exhumed was released for Saturn, we demonstratedanengineandgamesys· tem tllat could run circles around other lD cOHidorgames, Wllen Sega realized we lIad experiencewitll Build,and lIad a fast lD engine, we be<ame tile devel· operofcllolce, luckily we lIad resources becoming available at tile same time,
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whilf' still being very fast. Duke was designed with the intent of pure action
SSMlnthe",llnl.rYIew, lI,. Dr,ha.achlftetltkHttdtheponlbllltyof aNllmprovecl dJlUlmk IIlhtlnl· WIII.nyofthh,urfac.ift OIIk.N"kemJDl LOBOTOMY The speed of tile ensine is faster, but th e complexity of the same ismucll lIigller. Ultima tely, it will probably be a wasll and the same will be similar in speed to hhumed,As stated in an earlier queslion, the light· ingisin many ways improved over tile lightinsinExllumed,MostofitisJust how the environment reacts to the use of cast lighls and dynamic lishting, and the Duke setting, it will look drilmaticallydifferentflomtllehhumedlight. ins, even thouSIl tile te<lIoology behind it is b.1skallythesame,
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SSM There _bilk of." bflumed MqueLArethoHpla"l_hoIcI __ ' LOIIOTOMY We are still talkins about doinganbhumedsequel,butitwill likelybeanall·newadventure,rather thana rehashed version with different levels and a few new monsters, SSM Are you 1Hl"1 the bflumed "'p... torunOllk.N"k..... JDl LOIIOTOMY We are indeed usins the bhumedengine, It's a provellte<hnol· ogyand performs very well. In order to handle the 1arse expanses of open space In Duke, we had to modify the ensine considerably to maintain the frame rate. We ended up implementing iI"mip" level system sothat the numberofpolysonscontainedona wall are reduced as you setfartller away from it, Visually you can' t really tellthedifference,especiallywhendls tracted by monsters tryinsto kill youl We also enhanced the IiShtinS capabili. ties of the engine and added support for the blood splatters on the wall and Vilriousothertritks in Duke,
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wtIich_'t"""""'I'(Du':._ LOIIOTOMY Yes all the coollightinS and effects in Exhumed wiU be present in Duke, but in a different way, So far the effects we have implemented are really cool. I tllink It will blowa lot of people away, This Is one area where Saturn Duke will be superior to PC Duke,
LOBOTOMY There is iI limited amount of memory available on the Silturn and we afe findinscreative ways to exploit all of the memory available. With hhumed PC, using the BuildenSine, we went crazy using all kind of art, because the sraphics cache system worked very well. We don't have that luxury on the cosoles, but thus far we have been able to deal with it effe<tively.
SSM Are JOY plannl"I_IMorporRI", all oftM leftkoftM 11<.-' WRI then! IN allJ compromhnl L06OTOMY At this point there aren't any plans to stlap any levels, However, many of them are beins massaged so as to maximize the same experience ffomleveltolevel SSMDoJCHI havetlMloptloft10 ImjH'O¥Oonltloorlllnall'(l·m. . . J01I_flUTeafltDolI"', ptmapd LOIIOTOMY We are doing a port which by definition is as close tothe original as possible. It hasn't been decided if we will offer any setleu not originally in
SSM.llhtat thh_lftetIt.....at .. tlMl ,tal' of tM play .Hh tlMl cO"""ktn f_tM 11< to IIMI Sah""lWhat have you achlevN __ .NI.hal·1 n..t_ tMIIII' LOBOTOMY We are currently workins overallofthelevels,oneattime,and putting in all the weapons ilnd mon· sters, We will deal with all the interactive tricks last. It'S actually fun to play right now and we've only been aclive!ycoding for a little over a montll SSMAl:thtsamttfmottlatStp..-altcl that they halt sIptd .. 0uIu ~ they .... ~that~-.w'"
headlnJfortheSatllmatlltlldlthe_ tIrM. n..blt:quntlon...."."..hasldn( Ittht-e; h, CMthernachlne .....
. . a proper conwrMon' LOBOTOMY Quake is a veryte<hoolog;cal· Iydemandinsgame. From what ~ know, Sesa has sreat coofidence it can bedOO!'
on tile Saturn, and tlley should know. SSM W!tfI both 1 _ due 10 apptar whhlnll'MllttMof_nothor, doft thk lne_ tlte pm",re _ your DukI
N"k_-'" LOBOTOMY We have seen the work that lIas been done on Quake for Saturn, and we are confident our engine is superior, That lessens some pressure, and havins the engine technology in hand lets us concentrate on the same 55MBurinll" ... lrtdtMpoor ....11ty of Satum DoonI aM tM_lUIhIre of
tiIe"""'''''''', doyoufHI...,.".,. _Iol,nno'nt.atachnolop''''.....,. ..,.In.ctwa",.of tile c_pttItlonlDo P"I"""",thatthtfehMJlhlnftIH YOUWlcououtoftileSllwm1 LOBOTOMY No not really. There isn't much pressure todo morewilh our technolosytllan we are doing with Duke,rm sure more can be coaxed out of the Saturn, but fOf us it will take p.o gressivelymo.etimealldefforttodoso
ss-. 0bv\0u$IJ. Duke Nuk.", h an .aprfy . . .ft.dtftl.arulftca,,_Iy.,. JOOd_that LoItototny are on the jolt. h then! UlJf:hlnl utn you'd lib toltft_readeftabout tile of
,bt.
)'OIIf~lhat_hawR'l
.1"'adJ~
SSM'nttml$of ... uttJ-p&ayeractfvftles, what are you plannlnl to do In thh ,.,arO W1Yt mooIoI win tilere 1Nl lOIlOTOMY This is something that is
LOIIOTOMY There will be a 101 of hype about this same, ilnd it's all truel Seriously,inmanywaysthlsgamewill rival the PC version, We areconcentratingonmilkingDukefuntoplayand exploiting the te<hnologywe have available to support that goal. If you like Exhumed,you'lI love Duke on the Saturn, If you hilven't checked out
~lundecided,Thereilreprosandcons
bhumed~t,youshould(shameless
for multi.player support and we are going over all of those issues right now, Obviously Netlink support would be very populilr amons Netlinkowners,
pluS). Thus far, nobody has been disap· pointed,
the~version
SEGASAlUR NMAGAZINE 17
1~I:I1:IIIJII~III
ISKY TARGET Alter a recent trip to Sega HO to test their latest wares, one 01 the biggest surprises (of which there were plenty) was the first playable Saturn version of Sega's Model 1coin-op Sky Target. Want to know more? Read on ...
2 L
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I SEGA
SHO O TING
HUGE BOSSES Taking a lea! out of Panze r Dragoon's book,if such a thing existed, Sky Target has huge endof-level bosses making your fighter plane look pretty puny In comparison. Destroying these Is not an ea.sy ta.sk and It', m ade w orse by the fact that there's a Ume l1mit,adding a serue of urgenr:yto your aerlal a ntics. SerloU5ly, these enormous great bosses really are worth looking oulfor in Sky Tlllgel.
I!I
o doubt milny of you will be wondering
what SkyT;ug et is, not that itt il kes muchworkingout. lt'Silninto-th e-
scree n atria l combat gam e in similar ve in tothe clauicsprile scaler coin-opAfterburn er an d was f int revealed at the JAM MA show in Japan atth e back e nd Of199Sto iI warm we lcome. In keepingwilhSegil's trilditionofconvertlngtheir Mod el zco in,opS, a5atufnversionsee medmt re ly il formality. Or so we thollght. However,ilshasbeenthecasewithafewof Sega'scoin-ops of late, notably Man)t TT and also the Sega Ages games, the conversion work isn'l actually being caHied out bySegathemselves. It'S beinS done instead by the team responsible for Ihe E{(o the Dolphin game\ on the Megadriye. Only now. 18 months after the relea\e of the arcade game are we beginning to seethe fruits of their labour. S~y Target ha\you piloting a state-of-the arl fighter plane Ihrough enemy lerriloryon a mis\ion 10 dest roy a stolen top se<ret protolype fighter. What this means ingameplayterms i\ blast the liyingdaylights oul of anything thal moves using your machine gun. homing mis\ile\ and 8alhn bombs. Ifs that sim· pie. There a re various enemies for you toencounler whkh differ according tothe level you are on. Though most of the timeyou'l! be fending off hordes of enemy fighte' planes. on some of the levels there's ground assaull vehicles to destroy, enemy buildings and destroyershipstoo.Destroyingthemise~e(Utedina
similar kind of way to Afterburner. using you. lock on sight 10 target them before le tting rip with a couple of missilesandblowingthemoutofthes~ies.The re·s
alsoaVuicancannonloolouseasback·up.
Yet another top
.fyou don't II1lnl8' 10 blnt the Ut lllY 'planes with Y1Iur missiles, 1r"J.lo lak. ran8lwilh)'Olf t ran·s on-lINrdunnOI. 22 SEI>A SATURNMIIGAlINE
I~.m
tike &lhriMlrnlt,tlM mal. WIIjMI.S 11 your dlspot.Il 11"'1 IIomlng mlsslllslndu.nnofts.
Once you've defealed the enemy fighter planes on each level. you then come face to face with the end of level bosswhkh is usually a heavily armoured and well fortified pla ne ofgigantk proporlions. This part is made especially difficull by the small time limilyou are allocated with which to destroy it . As is t he case with most games nowadays, you are given a choice offou, differenl views f,om which toviewthefranlk actionf.om.There'slhefullscreen tip of the nose cone view, the fly by the seat of your panlscockpilview,thestanda.dchaseyiewanda slightly further back view. Vou also have a choice of fou. di fferenl fighter planes to pilot each of which differintermsofmanoeuy,abili ty.There·stheF-14 Tomcal feat ured in Af\e rburner and the Tom Cruise filmof w hichitwas a shamelesscash in, t hef-1S, Ihe f. r6 stunt fighter plane and the Frenchstrate· Sic fishier Rafale M. Quite why they didn· t call it
notch Sega arcade.game .hits the Saturn! Sky Target IS looking cool with super-smooth 3D update!
out al clo"-
Hert·s a pod rumple of onl orlhl pf1,anluu Ind-of-lev.1 boSSIS. Typiu.IIJ)'Ou 11tH 10 missile thl .ell out of key polnls 01 U:e spper Stf1lCtMrt berOrt the Ume runs out.
Sega's classic Afterburner gets the Nineties treatment in Sky Ta~t! . Classic gameplay benefits from awesome 3D visuals! the F-'7 is beyond me . Although Sky Target expan ded upon the original pre mise of Afterb urne r a nd utltised the awesome power of the Model 2 board, for some reason it was now here near as popular. This probably explains the targe delay between the arca de release and the Saturn versiOll and whySega a ren't doing the converslonthemselves. But what about the Saturn version? Well although at a very early slage in development with on ly a couple of levels playableit looks very promising indeed, Obviously the resolution is lower than the a,cade original as isthe frame rate , Butl t all appears to run very smoothly at the momen t with no notieuble slowdown even when the screen Is full of enemy bogies (I think thafsthe phrase). However t he action was a bit sedated on the early version we played and not the in your face, adrenaUnepumpingactlonthatwe'dlike.Butlikelnid,it
Is still very urly in development. Of the four fighter planes t hat were In the arcade game only one of them hn been programmed in and handles quite well with the others being present on the select screen. tikewise only the chne view is available at the moment, but rest nsured thal the olherlh ree will mah Iheil way Into Ihe final version skyTarget appears 10 be 01'1 KhedUIe for a summer reiease.Wllh tkemainproblemthatthepfog~m路
mers are facing right now being how lomakea~ther5hallowarcadeexpe颅
r!enee into a 1.15lmg con!.Ole game Obviously this will arise IhroughSalurn spe<ific fealures, such astke Ranking Mode, The sma rt money however will be on
MORE F-ING PLANES Improving on the orlgill.al Afterbwner formu la there ue four different fighter planes for you to cl\oose from. Each of them h andle quite differently, though only one of them i, playable at this early stage In development. There 's the ' -14 Tomcat, the ' -15, the "16 .tun! fighter and the lafale M.
extraplanes,differentweaponsandmaybeext~
levels. Who knows? One thing's for sure is Ihat we're going to be following Ilow Sky Target progres5eSVI:'I}' closelylM'r the coming months unlll its releise,
SEGASATUIINMAIlUI NE 23
IINDEPENDENCE DAY Bewarned, aliensare about to invade Saturn! Yes, the question of whether or not we're alone in the universe may about to be answered. Fox Interactive and Electronic Arts prepare to unleash the game of the video of the movie of the decade ...
2
! fOX
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IT BA
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I SHQQI'E M UP
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INTERACTIVE
'MARCH
m
"doubted,Ythe rnostcomme,(lill llysu(cessfulfilmof'g6, lndepende,'t(eDayhn been hail ed by m ilny as belngbl88er
th a.,Slar W.rs. Yu h,rlgh l. ID4'sbru th· Iilkingspeclill effedsm ilyhave helped make Ita must-see summer movie but one d lmenslonOlI ch OlrOlC tenOlnd a sievt- li ke plot ale hald lyUkely to usulp Gtolge Lucu's epic space IllIOJy flom Its numbel one spot. StiU , fol sheer enterta inment vOIlue , this everyday lale of 'Us vs Them ' can't bt btaten. Whtlher Il's t he nail-b iting terror of watch inI utfat elfeslrlal InvOl ders turn 01.11 cities Into rubble or the OIdtenOlllnpumping uciteme nt u we ~whup ET 's usl~ Independence OOly would sum 10 hOlve It 01 11. As with anymegabucksmovielicenceitwulnevitable thele would be 01 console gOlme bOlSed on the film 's more ution -pOlckedS(enes. Afterthe su((ess ofbothAllen Tlilogy and Die Hald TlilolY It should tome OIS no SUI ' pri~lhentolurnlhal Foxlnt elut lve a rebusy
putting the fin ish ing touch es to th e SOI tu , n veu lon of Independence Day. S<:h-tdultdfolfeleastonMa"hl~,bothlhe
Oesp!I" "WJI'Ip.IuoI Jlitella, lkrihllllll hIHptH.1ICt Ol)' I .... II..IIy. lotlMtt. rtll •• t.I •.
CINEFANTASTlOUE As Fox Interactive have acct ss to th e o riginal lOurce material the co nsole ver.lons of Independence Day will future a healthy chunk of digitised movie footage. The Intro itstlf seems to last forever and there art slralegieally placed d ips between earn stage. Of cou rse Ihe Saturn', video playback capabilities Ill! hudly legendary but ID,,', reduced window should rHuJI in fO m!! high quality FMV.
SaturnandPIOIyStatlonvtfSionsofl04wefeollglnally to alrivt to comcide with the movie's home vldto launch.Howevtl,elCtliidevelopmenttimehiis bt'tn taken to InWle th.Jt the finished pfoduct is worthy of such a hlghpfofile licence.Withiifilmthat hiisgfossed ovelS6SomillionwOfldwldeboth Twentieth Century Fox and dlstflbutOf ElmfOnic AftS afe obviously keen to malntainthe quality of 104 fesaldless offOf mat Although it's nevel fevtaled in the game, it would seem plii)lefS take on the W,ll SmIth foie as ii hotshot us Airforce pilot intent on stoppingtheilllien invillsiononceillndfolillll Althoughthegillmeconuins
ch.Jlienging Itvtls, the b.JSic S(enillriofemillins much Ihesillmeilsyoulmissioninvolvtsflyingiivilfietyof ail(l;iIf't (both man-made and extlatellestrialj into enemy held lelfitory. PliII)leu ille lequiltd 10 gUIde IheifcraftOVtlaMI0Iling30IandMaptusingstit-ofthe·pantsflymgtosurvivtlasef·blastingalienattack. efsand take out shleldgenelilllols located on the hull of the mile wide mothelship hovtling ovtrhead. These devices ilre usually well p'otected byalmoured gun emplacementsand as such mayrequile multiple hits btfole the mothelship is disabled. If plilyt'lsfailtol.Jkeoutlhetargel within a set time limit , the alien crafi releilsesil lethal energy beilm, decim ating the surrounding il rea and tOilsting the locills. Obstillcles are provided by wilyof}D scenery, such as buildings and lock formations, and playelSwiflofit'n find them selVts suctessfullydodging a pUlsuins fot only 10 smash into a WfOII-placed canyon wall. Each craft is equipptd with such stilte·of·the-art weaponry OIS chaingunsilndhtal-Sttkingmissilesillllnoughsup· plies are limited so kttpantyepteltdforiconsscilt1l
Cash'in alert! Independence Day lands on Sega Saturn! It's apseudo-flight sim blaster with actual footage from the film!
_,..It _
Spnl;", of wltlU, or tM .fore" ll ioMdtllfnll. lllIl!lin!E!cel. ,..!
24 SlGASATURN MAGAlIHE
11 ill jJ f. 14'i. ~I
DE PLANE BOSS, DE PLANE! Based on
scenes from the movie this ~ame giv.es you the opportunitl. to IIy plenty of aircraft including the crashed aten saucer!
ter~throuBhOtJtra,hlf'~LSlandardlnstrumenla·
lion indudes a fad,H, altImeter and
~apon$
menu
even from mrnilrswhen l.auncht'd In one pla~f modco.1D4 may resemble a latter day Afterburner but the game's two-player head·to-
whilst your fighter is alsoequ,pped with iI missile Ioc:k detection system and personill force shield
head option ..dds a whole new element to what mily
Completion of later suges allows a{(ess to irnprovtd
appear to be a str.J'ghtforward shOOI.'ern·up, Utilising
airoaftSl,lchaslheshapelyformofahigh-techstCillth
a split-scrttnapproach,playtrsstltcl ontofltnaircraft and attempl 10 dtfeal tilch olher in aerial dog· fightswithlhelostrfa"nganl,mlimtlydemistallhe hands of a superior pllOI AlthoughSliUunfinlshtdatththmeoflhiswrit· ing. 104 seems to have tnough actIon and mut\i-play· e,mayhemtodothefilm·shccncejusti(cevenifs.omt hbtrtits have bl':l':n taktn w,th the plot Saturn owners
figh ter and,u lUmately, an alien scou t craft. Ourlng minions pla~fS can ~I~I a variety of viewpoints Includingtheobligatoryln-cOC:kpitopl,onuwell.u externill views from behind, from your w'ngman and
"'. ~
U)......al't
-
t. nrt.It~I ...
-
Inltlallyp layers ilreonly granttd accHstoone standard aircraft , a n F-16. Successful complet!onof each slageaddsmorevehlcleltoyoUl roster. Com plete the gune and you can then tackle any stage whilst flying any craft. Eadt fighter has various c.apabilitiH such a. the ability 10 carry a heavier payload or enhanced. manoeuvnbUlty.
. -~
MetU.t . T......••
k.d-t,-II..d •• wtI.
SHlASATURNltAGAZl NE 25
ICRYPT KILLER Who says there'stoo much violence in videogames? Well it's certainly not Konami, as they're about to release their violent arcade shoot 'em up Crypt Killer. _
h::ON,"1I
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_
' ilLOOJJ..li.LiA1tE
_
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C!nllintr UJ III arudt ptrfKt, bItt ,.. lrudt Iu't petfect. Tak. 1i00i: lllk Potl •• ","I Ht"- ,Idll" It is.
I
twuilmost.yurthillthose who forlt~doutfortheVirtu .. (op'lnd gun p3OChge~towlitfof;lny"'~re sup
port for t~ XCtssory. Although Cop was in excellent lill'M with llot of repl')' value, like most
»Iurn owners I yelrned for I new shooting glme with whichlcOtJlduRmyp.leblueplstol.Thenoutof nowhere, s.eYe1Oi1 of t hem 'OI me .Ionsa! thl!' Slml! Ilml/,
ilmonist them the amnlng Vlrtu;l! Cop 2. This ~ms Ioet to continue this yelr with more gun totting gam~ In t~ pipeline. ~ttheproblemwiththHeglmells
(ltn) IN III din,nlt""", ut .euul.... flWl tN ...,. tMlil.I""I_ipt)'tII ar,..r.w.1 Mf'III'iMapIIWUct.
TWO CAN PLAY THIS GAME As in the coln·op, Crypt Killer has a slmultane· ou, two· player mode which Is good fun If you h.ve two JUns but it's a bit crap If one player is using a pad. The screen dots get rathe r co nfus· Ing at times though when there's two gun. bl•• tlng away .t once built does mike cam· pleUl'Ig the game slightly easier. Recommel'lded fo r ol'le of those afte r dosing time drunkel'l vldeogamHsessions.
28 Sf.nASATURHMAGAZINE
tne
In the lrudes, is thillt with uception ofllM! Sq:. cl;Jssks. most of them iue olp.1 wouldn't wutl!' SOP on
them In the 'fade. tIl!'\'I!:, mind handing OYer forty quid fOf I s.tu.n version. Well Kon .. ml are hoping to rrvene this l,endwiththei,IoottstreleOlse,l con-..mlon of the lradeshoot 'em up Crypt Kitter, TO lit' honest, mostfirst·person perspediveshoot ·em ups don't d,ffer att that much and Crypt Kitleris no e~ception. Stlckingtothe t riedandtestedgameplay
of the many before it you simply blast everything that enters your fleld of vision. Shallow maybe. but fun neverthe'ess, To IhiseffeCl you are fully armed wltha handgunandsi~shells.whichwhendep'etedcanbe
reloaded by shootingolllSide of the SCreen (where have we seen Ihal IIt'forel).ln addltlonYOIi carry sev· eral bombswhjch when Ii~ have the effect of clear·
11 ill it ilA II'iA ~'I
Sticking to the tried
and tested gameplay of t~e many before it you simply tilast everythmg that enters your field of vision.
until you ge t gunned down li.e iI stin~in8 pig Some powtr-upscontain extra lives too, which ilreeSsen· tial fo r completing Ihe game. However il'S not gllngsttrsyou're fending off on this CKcasion, but hordes ofgilrlsh mulants attempting to sap your soul of Its will to IIvC'. Orsomcthlng like that. TherC'afc shed loads of skeletons hurling rjbs ilt you, a gargantuan amoun t of gargoyles, decomposing zombies, the sevcn-hnded Hydfil. the nuisance of the Nemesis and the snilkC' ridden Medun. Thert ale six dilrk and eerie worlds for you to wilnderaroundinhilbitt'dbythtundudandwltha large bosscha';lcter al the end waiting to Ihw;lrtYOUI
MULTIPLE ROUTES In a . lmllar way to Virtua Cop a, Crypt Kill e r feature , mu ltiple routes In an att e mpt to Bet a way from the linear type of Bameplay, Th is effectively doubles t he size of the Bame a nd there '. aheady . Ix levels in the re . To accen your ch ost n route midw ay through the level, you must shoot away the chain. that lock theentranct.
progrenlhfoughtothenextl~I.Eilchofth~eleY1:ls
are selKlable al Ihevery beginning allowing you to complete them in any order you want. In slmllarfash. 10nloV(l,l(onaml have sought to avoid the linear gameplay of most first·person shoot 'em ups by In(or poratlng multiple routes into the gameplay This muns there are loads of different ways to (omplele the game adding 10 the games lastability somewhat.
Whel her(rypll(illercanrepealthesuccessofthe OIrcadeversionremalnstobeseen Although arcade perfectinthegrOlphksstakes. thesprite·ba~ene.
mies look very pixilated and ugly up close. But possibly the biggest problem is that Ihe main OIppeal of the arcade game was the pump action shotgun which was used 10 blast the enemies With. SOmehow using the VirtUii Gun just doesn't quite feel the SOlme,thaugh it's infinitely better than the stOlndard pold. The two-player mooe of the arcOlde hn made Its way in tothe Sa t urn Y1:fsionwhith makes it sllghlly easier but at times con· fusing as you've little idea asto who has killed what . Over the past few months we've seen t he likes of (haos (ontrol, Mighty Hits. Die Hard Trilogy and Area 51 all utilising the virtua gun. Whether (rypt I(illercan compele is uncertain at Ihe moment as Ws not fin· Ished. Rest assured that such OInswerswill be forthcoming in a future inue ofSSM.
SEGASATURNIrIAGAlIME 71
IRETURN FIRE Over the last few days we've been working up a sweat by having some furious tanking sessions in the SSM office with the unexpected arrival of this month's second tank related game Return Fire, Prepareyourself for battle,
-... 2
e, Oestr(ly t~'tDw'rudretrie"ftth. nlltowlft th·l·me.
'1~1
There are four vehicles at your disposal each of e turnFI. e isthe sequ eltothe cla nl c Amlga ga me f l,epower a nd fi . st which are interchangeabledul ins Ihe coulseofthe appe a.ed on the 300 some time ago. In game, The key to su"ess isselcctlng the right vehifacl , lflrulh be known itwason e oflhe clefor the right task. So fore~ampleyou could use few games actu ally worth purchulngon the ill· thetankto blast through the I'nemydefences fal ed console. It was also. eleased onlhe beforechansinl! !O the jeep to retrieve the flag as PlayShtionlulyurto il warmres pons e and it's the only vehicle that can carry it Possibly the bi!st feature of l1eturn now Ihe inevitable Satufn conversion is nea.tocomplelion. .,., fire though is the superb two-player The basic idea ofl1etu.n Fi.eis ~ mode which retains the same flag simple enough. Infiltrate the enemy capluringgameplayofthesingle· base and capture thei r flag causing • ~ player mode. However you soon become preoccupied witha\temptas much death and destruction as you can along the way. Simple. Well .... ing to thwart your opponent's efforts e •... no, not quite. Vou see each enemy . , base is heavily fortified with various gun tUllets and enemysoldle.s which so.ts of cheap tactics, such as hiding you. makes bus ting th.ough a difficult task indeed. own flag way out at sea so you. opponent Once in you have to locate the flag which is con· can't get it o. laying mines all a.ound you. oppo· cealed in one of the enemy towe.s. Then finally you nent's base. The music is also ex<ellent. I neve. need to ret.ieve theflag and take it back to you. thought I'd ever find myself saying that classical unde.g.ound bunke.wlthout being blown to music Iscool,but in this instance it is. Theva.ious pieces. 8elleve me. it's not as easy as it sounds classical tunes add immensely to the tension and atmosphe.eandfitperfectlywiththestyleof game
R
f ........ W!' -• •\,
~ yo:~i~~s~a~ii.~~.7h~Se~i~~sf~!ybt:C:I:O
RACE TO THE FLAG Return Fire Is regarded by many, myself Induded as one of the greatesl two·player gamu ever. It's sort of a race 10 find the opponents flag before he finds you n. This glvu rise 10 some awesome head 10 head bat·
f
J.
t.ans:;r:O~~h:;:;~·:r:e~::s~~;~I~;:;ii:~!~;~:odif.
fe.ence tothe gameplay. However in the unfinished version we have the frame rate Is quite sluggish espe· cially in two·player mode and nowhele neal the stan· dalds set by Mass Destruction. Hopefully this will
.
The two- player option I1 ueellent and takes
tI,. form of. v. rtlcal split SCretR.
28SEGlSATURNMAG.lZINE
Hoorl~!
EVERY MoNTHI
ONLY
62.95
Every month we like to change, or improve, something about SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE. Since virtually the entire mag has changed .inee Rich took over, it's about time we tamed our collective gan to the letters page (which hasn't). So here we have it with the all new Virtua Writer page l Let's have some entertaining debate right here by sending in your missives to: V1RTUA WRITER, SEGA SATURN MAGAZIHE, )7-J9 Millharbour, Isle of Dogs, London, E14 9TX. The most thought-provoking or enter taining missive gets a superb limited edition Virlua Fighter 3 book not available in Europel
ILECTRONICS BOunQUll THI GOOD, THI BAD AJIl) THI UGlY I'vejust read the lettersconcefning stores such as HMV, Comet and Came etc, pe. suad,ns people to buy PlayStations Instead of Satufns, I also e~pe.i, enced this in my lout HMV in B.omley, When I werll intobuyaSalufn, VF2 ~nd Sesa R.. lly {only because you get a free padjl ..skedthe ..ssistant .. fewques, lionsaboutlheSatufn,Hethen st.. rted going on .. boul how Tekken w ..s better than VF1 and Ridge Race.w.. s bette.th.. nSeg .. Rally I p.omptly laughed and left the sto.e As I w..s walking down the high street I de<ided logo into Ele<t.onics Boutiqlle .. nd ;iSked the same questions to the assistant as I did .. t HMV One of them had a PlaySt.. tion and s.. id the main.eason he got it w ..s because of bette.graphics and majo. game releases a few weeks earlier, The other assistant who owned .. S.. tll.n told me how fantasticSega Rally and VFl we.e {and let me try) ilndtold me about future releases sllch asWipEolll. Loaded {whkh I own and 1(000) .. nd Euro'96,lde<id, edtopurchilsemySatllfnwilhVF1 .. ndR .. llyw,th which they gilve me iI free copy of SSM ilnd MMS which I slill buy now Soove'illI I recommend EBas thesloretobllySaturnsandg .. mesfrom .. slhey .. re unbiased,cofrect and helpful Tht mls81l/(lls,Nunhtlld
f ; ::d":~::a~a~k~:;: ;:~:t~:r:7:~h~u:llln_ trary,Like thifolle .., LEE
I'm an ilvid Saturn fan ilnd think your magazine is Ihe best in the world, I have two poinh to make, Fi.stly I'm fed lip wllh people slagging off the Satllrn, I bought my Satll.n in NOIIember bec.. use I couldn't wait till ChrislmiS, so I went shopping to buy a SiIIturn game When I went Into Ele<tronks Boutique I couldn't believe my eyes, There was two little shelves in the COfner whkh hildSilturngamesilnd the rest of the shop was PCilnd PlayStationgames, The SiIIlurn games Ihey had were old ones whiCh cameollt w,th the Satll.n In'99S To top it off the blokes at Ihecollnler were telling people that the Silturn had no good games and so Ihey should get the PlayStation. So they're saying lhal Nishts,Vfl, Fighters MegaMI~, Man~ TT, Soviet Strike, Oaytona CCE and Sonic 30 are crapl I don't think so, My second point is IlhinkyOll should brins Ollt more demo discs so people can playlhe Saturn's great games, PrJu/Jolly,Cou/sdon
And 14 the controveny ralH on, at l ome
~ lenrth. To addre.. yom fint point Paul,
the thinl that rtaU, H&lH me it that thele peo. pie &le allowed to vote. God help UI clime May 3O StGA:.A TURNId.l.(;AIINf
time, Milybi! you Ihould aet tOlelher with Themb and have a fiaM about 11, AI for your leeond point, we're working on It al thb very
RICH IS lIT SHOCKJR I'vesotacoupleoflhingslw.intto~offmyt'ts.oby' InOixonstheothe'daylwasloo~ingattheSatlllll
games with my f"end Roxanne when I saw a couple looking around .. t computen Anyway a wo~n
r----- --- ------- --- r--- ---------"1
BOOK WINNER
somc DOOIII After ludrngtwo lette.s in issue #14 and 1J,6 my b'ilin startedtic~ingoverw'lh
1 :,, :,, :
L____
ideasforanewg.. meAfter --T m;myholllSofnon·stop Ihinking it suddenly hit me, why create new characters and plot when the best ones ale star. ingus;ntheface.Hereismysame It'stalled "Sonic Doom". It takes everyone's favourite bllle hedsehogand puts him In MobillS hell with a shotgun, Like Ooom you can blow YOllr enemies : away In iI pile of blood only Ihls Ume the bad : guysareculeliltlebunnies,squirrelsand t pigeons with milchine gllns You can blow their heads off and watch their cute little guts spew outaUove,thefloo •. On the other levelsYOll have 10 leg il after O. Robolni<k down iI corridor and shoot him up his fal ass With a BfC 9000. Wouldn't it be g,eat if afte. illI th,s t,me Sonic gets to parUClpale in some mindlessv,olence. You cOllld even throw In a few plums Mork Bnwick, Rugby ~
1 pow _uy of the ernllea referencHlo
gjIP plwns that plague owletten paae, LEE
assistantcamellptolhem and s.. id"c .. n I helpyoulThey said Ihey were looking for a console andYOll'U never suess whilt they re<ommended,theSatllrn, yes I couldn't believe il,Shesaid t hat the Saturn had the most vil,ied and strong line upand IistedVirtua fighter 3,X-Men vs Strttl Fighter, Sonic Fighlers and Quake. One thing Ihat sets methough is them stu· pidgibbonswhofilncywomengamecharaClers Look boys.ulm down, they're only fictillolls charac· ters. I mean,l think HalO f,om Gu .. rdi .. n Heroes is a hunk blllhe'.,; not reill so I don't gow.iting into sega mags telling them Ihilt I 60. Oh and Oilylona CCE wasn'tlhat b.ld. Oh and print my lette.this time
1 tDuroBDi!es,Ches!etjield :, , PS I Ihink R,ch is FIT! {Ahhough I haven't seen his :, body, so if he could appea. nilkedpe.haps1) , : .§ :::.a~r:~i~:I~II~~e:a::=:~n~~tt J
He would neverlUlder any drcumstancHlower hb standards tlllUch demeaninl and degrading levels, nDt for any amolUlt of money, But I've lot IOme Pol&loldl U you want them, LEE Ab lite .., and jUlt what exactly do you ule them for, Leel RICH
OH GOD, NOT DIGITl$D AGAIN Iwasfljckingth roughtheTeletextpagestheother dily and found a computer sames section {OlgIUse.j, After .uding a few pages I miMle a shcding discovery. StuartCampbell (ooeof thewriters) referred to the wonderful bl.. ck bo~ thal is the SiltUIll as "Homble Seg.. 'sdiabolic.. 1Saturn". He also said that Worldwide Soccer '97was "ludkrousIyOYe.-.ated", Howeve. he did not just say Ihilt. oh no. He then started Iillking about PlilyStat,on games, "'The loomy f1-, "the !>flltill Tekken 1-, "the blasty Die Hard Trilogy". Oon't get ~ wrong. these ale .. Upretty good g.. mes .. nd I have played lhem k»d~ But how about "the dreamy NiCiHTS", or "the ultim .. te Fighten MegaMi~", eh? He said nothing about these g.. mes and Ihey'reten times betterlhan anything the PS could do. Anyway, I have vowed never to read O,sit isel asain, ha halOh,bytheway,c .. n anyone out there set a cheat to work Orl Cuardian Heroes? LllllrieHllrriott, Brighton ~ And 10 the Dlgltiler backlash bi!linl, The gjIP letterl haft bi!en pUinI in on thilloplt, some lugaestina Dilitise% should be renamed to " The Unofficial PlayStaUon Malame". lust bta~ in mind the old anecdote, "you let what you pay fol"",LEE
As Clint Eastwood. said in the lamentable Dead Pool movie, ~ opinions ue Ulte auholes. Everyone'.,ot one". But the d.iJtinction between opinion and informed opinion b mde deu by Mr Campbell'. various comment.. I.lCH
VIHUA PIGHTU; J O:N
PlAYSTAnOlf?n nAIl, RIGHT DUISSM I wa s really loo king forward to th is year wha t WIth games like Virtua Fighte r), Fight e.s MegaM I., Die Ha.d A.cild e, Man. n , Marve l Su pe r He roes and X· Men vs St.eet Fighte ., I.eallythoughtthatth isyea. theSilturn would be king of the consoles and at last get the .espe<t that It truly dese rves, But I've just .ead something wh ic h Is a bitd lstu.bing, I fi.st uw it on Digitise. bUI the n we all know what they'.e like w I didn't pay mu ch not ice unt il a few days late . whe nlsawitlnamagaz ine, lt sald lh althe PlayStation now out sold the Saturn In Japa n and sirn:e J.ipanwa s theontypla ce whe .e lheSalu. n .uled il now mea nt that it was in se. ious t.ouble, I1 !>aid Ihat becauseSega had losl millions a nd millions of dol la rs in Jap<ln due to Ihe Salurn Ihat th is yea. wouldboethela stfo.theSaturn Itsa idthal instead of.eleaslnga new conwle
PlayStaUon it wouldn't surprise me bKauM they'n had some big ,ames out re<:entJy which inmtably SIlls more machines. But when Se,a'. nut bl, wan of uade,amu come OUI it will doubtJeuly swing baclr. in the SatW'l\'S favow. TUt'. the nature of the Industry. The .ullflUon that the PlayStation could hancUe VFJ Is ludl· crous. Compared. to VF2, VFJ h .. ev1!n more eom· plex)D baclr.glounu and fi,hleIl and mllUoru of polygons it would be an impouibUlly. Not that Sega would even try. LE!
BRIEI'J.Y... oe.. SSM, I think you should hilve mOle demos As well;iS YOUI fantilstrc mag I also buy CVG and they also uldltencoufagespeople to buy mOlegilmesI boughltheJanrssuewlthFlash32ndlhilvercally ccnsidered buyrngTomb Raldtr after playrng the demo PhlllIpO'Reilly
:~;;:Un!:::eu~:: ;;;~:l~:~:t~a~;t~':u~~.
With the hi·rel, mulliple playfieldl and luch and .ueh, VF2 on Saturn would be impossible to replleale on PlaySlalion, So, a. for VFJ app..dft, on PlayStalion.., well whoever wrote Ihat iI dearly betraying a 5I!vere lack of Journalistic compe-
." It'l that , Imple,8etterwe stick toour awesome quality than produce one game demos of old tlllel. RICH
UDDlID WITH DAMJI PLAYSTAnOHS
Saturn vefSlons 1 adO!~ yoU! mag and thmlt you bI!ottersctthtrecordstrillght In myoplnlon.Scgil Power arc sprcadmg 8ulkrap tan of Stourbrldge, West Midlands.
Du.rSSM, In Sega Power they hrnt you have
.~ewed
P1i1yStatlonvef510nsofgamesclalmrngth~iIU
la mw.itingloyou aboul you ••es ponse to Vl rtuat On, I have played il and Ihink It's .ubblsh,The Dest p<lrt aboot it is theg.aph ics, It moves too qu ick ly and you can'l s« whilt you'.e doing Why the hell did it
. ~~:f~=~I=t~v:~~:~~~ a rmew of Olympic Games which new. came oul on Saturn but wa$ rmn¥ed. In SSM before I took O¥er as ed.itor. Eldos lnter.llctiveru.ve explained Sega Power's tuor to them - we did nvlew the Salurn nnion (although one 01 two multlplayeraspecls wl!re mlssing) but !Idosjust dldn'l release 11. henee the misundentandlnl. 1\'1 as Ilmple as that, We would nfWr review PS code - !tUlt would be about as honest as printing PS IholJ of Resident Evil scanned from a Jap mag and nyinl they'le Saturn ones. D'ohl RICH
SothePlayStat lon'sbttt eT placcd toccnverta!Ca~ gameslsltlConv~rtwhicha!Ca dtgames
exactly?
TheonlyonesPlayStatlonget sa reNamcop.~
t
:~::I:d~=c~n~~;;~~~~~e~~:~.~~a inno Namco's gun game soon to bt convened to P1aySlatlOn 8ltlillelsn'tn1UsSilturnowners alleiu2y have two of the btst gun games ever
it woutd just make gilmes fo.lhe othe l conwleslike theN intendo64i1ndthe PlaySlation_lnfact It sa id that you shouldn'l be surpflsed if a VlrtUil Fighter game ca me out on thePlilySlat lon la te rth ls yeil', 1I ~ns~ idlh~t itcou ldbeV F 3 bec ause the
PlayS lationcould handl e iI first rat econve.sion with· out paying out fo.a 3D ca.t.idge hke you'd have to fo. the Salurn . So come on and tell the trutll. Whal Ihe he ll isgoingonllsthlsyca.Sega'sswan songorlsl ll e above just a pack of lies sp.ead by Sega's SCilred competitors. Wemustknow Pttt rWrlght, OO ..t r .I!h 11 w ..n't by any chanee a PI.yStalion mag ~ azineyou lead thil in w .. Itl Not having the salel fl,wH at hand I couldn't lay whIdl console 11 5I!Uln, more In Japan, But if It Is the
gela93% rat ing I just needed to gel th at off my chest . I would li ke 10 ildd why Ihe hell don 't Sega pull the ir finge ls oul ilnd get some ildve.lsgo ing luy th isbeciluse the a 'ei!whic h l live in iS liddled wllhdilmnP lilySt iltionS ilndthey wiUnot listento me abou l lheSaturn _They th ink Ridge Racel Revolut ion is better than Se ga Ra lly. Aren 't they stupid? Jonathan M'lfshall, Birmlngh"m
::us~::::al;i~~~!r. :~r,::::;~:,a
.. rea.lbt that u.inl the boo.t button in conjunclion with youl various weapon. producing many diffelent effecb, which In turn leads 10 many new sbatelles. Which I thought I'd e.-plainedeulier, The game ilawesomt and move, Into stralospheric territories of excellence when you play it in two·player mode. Hence me marking It up to 114" the followinlllJue. RICH Viriual On deserved every percent of ill 1C0re al I think most Satum owne., will testlfy.l,ul· gltt you go back and play it lome more and don't bother us again. And yes they are very Itupldindeed., Ut
Onc l~sl questIOn. do the FIghllng VIpers stand a
In flghtcrs MegaMrx ilgamst the V,rtua Flghte,swltha!lthellnewmoves l WlWam Curie" Surrey.
ch.an~
M
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As for the Vlpen - in VF mode they lel caned.. In FV mode, their power makes up for a laell oftKh· nl'lut. Bullf any Vipel thinks he an take down AkiI2, he'l got anothel thing coming. RICH
oe.. S5M, You asked whilt we thought of Daytona CCE BaslCillly~Rowl il nd(lssue.16)lstalkrngoutof
hlsbottom.{He thtntakts~onporntbypornl
ands aysOaytonaCCElsgood-Rlch]'OVerall, puI11 on HARD. keep put of the Daytona cal (It's miles tooeasyJ,playArcadeandp repa refo.a.aceanda halftothefmlshhne-90%,nowwherehavelseen that bcfort>1 Don'l worry boys, you were fight TJ Bennett, Bedfordshire
~;::~;'~I~~~~;: ~~!..7:'=;;~~
M of 5atulftgamH, lt'l dearlyofa good '1uaUty. But ~l\XlTflrm.lyputs Segabaellontraell. lfyou
wUluC\lse the pun. RICH
______________________________ .J
The monthly excursion into O+A territory has come around once again, so it's time for the greatest criminal mind on the planet (with assists from Sega's Mark Maslowicz) to use the smallest portion of his vast. inventive genius to look at your letters and answer some of them. Oh by the way, please don't start your letters with "I've written ten times and you've never printed a letter". The reason your letters haven't been printed is because they are boring and if you can't get it right in ten attempts, it's just not worth the bother! Write to O+A, SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE, 37-39 Millharbour, London E14 9TX. ITlEIIICI~llnI1tL
4 Ate any of the Nameo games
I'~e
IMgt Racer or TeHen
com,n8out~
.lotofqu6hom;abouI8amlK~ausermant:Wly
S I was In WH Sm,th and ~aw an advert for N~ for S~ In one of the mags ;lnd ,\ ~atd that ,t was corn,"!!
re<ru't~ female Saturn fan Its the boys who know most abovllhe g,lmmg world. so please answer thne MMS
6 When IS Ihe "nk-up uble com,ng oul
Hello g,eatest Satufn milgon tile face of the Earth' i have
and eve; .. re toodilmn stubborn to punt"
l~na8e
B,.fs
out on PlaySlat,on only IS 11 (OlTlIngout 00 Soituml ~ilUse I1 would b<!'gl~allo use I1 on DOor Doom Is I1 worlh gtn.ngfrom
, lamlh,nk,ngofgett'ngTombR"derformyb" t hday Has It got th~opllon togo In tOlilril'S house In III l I hilVC' ~een Exhumed for flS ,n D,xons Is It WOflt. g~t tlng,flownftl'enT"logyl 1 Do you I,"~ my games collectoonll hilve ~ga Rill,>,. VortuaFlghter ~.A"enT"Iogy,DaytonilUSAilndVlClory
"""
4ShouldlgetF.ghtersMegaM'Kbearng,nmondl illrtildyhilveVh' S What 's the pIlInt mating Doom lint Upl The hnk-up
quenes.sormwr'trn8tO)OJmsteadto~'f)")uareJ ... st
,nNdastheml I,What,sth.atFMVyoukeepsay,ngIWhat"s,tSlilndfOfI
(ablewon't~nbeoutonEurope'
lHasVuSuzuktsaldanyth'n8aboutt~Vf3Ch,pl
James NI(holl"Sw;ndon.
jlflgctVFlw,lItheK'dsc<ht,onbewor\hgC1MSIWhyl
Does I1 ha~ ~xlra~ or ~om~l hlngl 4 W.lllhe 8-Unlv COS be on sale In Ihe shopsl Please say ~I PI~.se oh please oh pl~astl
5 ~ause I haven'l got ~a's address I'll have 10 ,~k you g~ Ih,s Why dldn'l ~a make SIIN1S of hgc JD ln~t~.Jd of Ott Hard ""cade) W.II there be a future r~~ase) Aft~r
6
W.lllh~r~
n'l UCU5~ Ih~ poor quallly of the game l!self.). DDz if a p<>$slbilltY. 4. No, lt's not likely. Anyway, Sega have games to better Nlmco In nudy every genre. s. Whe.~!ave you bHn, min i it'. bHn out for months. 6. DD doesn't use It Iny way, but no it'. not worth get, ting until more "mn use It.
be iI Tomb Raider 2'
llllll11
7W-hydon'tyou~readefssendYOUSOfTleartWOfkyou
cooJdpllnt AftefaIlYOUilfethedom.nant~am.g lets tease the PlaySlatl()fl wllh some a.P S Whydoyou sound so bo<edwh~n .eplyong to Q+AI Get a 9 Is II true thal the Saturn un play audloCOSI And whill would happen ,f I put a Satu.n CD ,nlo iln iludlO CD pI.ye.l Rhoda Villegu, CatfCHd. ... Never let It be said that S5M lets dawn the t",nage fUif in 0 ... bel"",,,- coUtdhre reader' shipll, FMV stancb for fuU·motlon Yid_ Basically-it', the movie Ryle bit, as opposed to the game pl.y bltl. z. NOpe. 1-1I's cule. with $erne extras, but basic VFz II th e better same. 4. I'm ahaid n OI. S. There may well bt. hlurn Streeh of Rage game be fore too long (but th en.glln t he.e rnlght not be). 6 . YUl nd It Ihould be out lite October. 7. Hey I' m not Il opping Iny one. '. I'm not bored It all. In flct, I find thb tllk.., txdUng I Ihlnk I'm lolnl to hive to Ihoot mpelfl\l. Jusl put the CD in .nd It will pllY 11, AI for pllyint Sllurn COs on your hi·fl, you'UJu.11heazthe CD lunn.
IISmCTIOIIIIII'fFlT1SHIST OeIlSSM. Th.s IS t~e fourlt.
Dta.SSM, WI"ch game should I buy next) Tomb Ral~', f'ghtlng Vipers or shouJd I wa.1 unl,l, decenl new game comes OUII l When are Fighters MegaMI~ and VfJ comong oul and which WIll be the bette, of Ihe Iwo gam~s? 1 Are the.~ so,ng to be i1ny sequels to Tomb R.. ,der, seg.. Rally ilnd SW-WS 97) If.o, when iI.e they coming oull 4 Wh,ch,sthebestra"nSSilmefortheSaturn l 1.
~_
Is W.pEOUI1097 oom,ns out for the Salurn ilnd 'f ,t 'S. 's 'I worth buy,ngl Ch.;, P'offitt, Stoke on T.ent.
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V,rtu F,plu 1 ud Mall " S.perB,q ate tWll el#My awaIted Se3a Si.1.,.. rtl!alt$ O~ In.
tit; ~~'.:~-:)R:e~~~:::.2~~=a:~: bebett~rbyvlrtu.ofltbeing.lat"releilStfrompro
lett~r
I t.a~ wrotten to your milg ilnd
!,I bought Dewucllon Of:orbyabollt a wee k ilgo and
grammen who'Ye learned ItIlI mOre toding tHh' nlqU.H. ). Tomb Ila.Ide r )'ft, Rally undecided, 5WWS)'ft. 4. Sqa l.ally Championship, althoulh ManJI TT Is look·
whenllookatthePS~rsionthebuHdongsdon·tpopup.
ing a~ls·Ynltwill, butnontw'lasto whenJw:tyet .
you'venolpun t~ilny_SOpleilsepronlt ~,sone
4# I: '::t tr:a7:h~~:;t~::;:yh,of~;:I;~::;:~.'n l
chlllnl dec:lslon. z. Exhumed for hS Is I bu"ln , Alien TrUogy-doesn 't complu. ). Whit kind of que I, lion Is thbl1l If you muSI know, I think you shou.1d get rid of Alien Trilogy and Victory GOl l and get NIGHTS .nd SWWS 91lnunedlately. 4. If you like f1ghtlnllamu, yn. S. U mOre lamel come oul thlt uUlhelink·upcable, I darellY It will IppelJ.
NIGHTS IS FmIH' INIlIIKI Deilr SSM_ hilve Just bought N>GHTS and you lot we.e r'ght. ,n f"88,n' ilmill.ng' However, I hilve iI few queues ilnd.syou th,nkyou·.ethe'milsters' see ,fyou Ciln iI"Swe, them , I hilve he •• d from mates i1t SChool who s.y the,e IS. debug mode for N,CHTS Isth.stfue.ond,fsowhat.s,t/ l AI,O, 'n Ihe gilm~ th~re 's somelh,ng to do w>lh A l,fe I hilve looked on the milnuill ilnd It SOIY' bugge.all ilbout.t Tellmebefor~lgoandhilngmyselfordrown lee Somelhlng, Boul nemoulh.
the.e·sfogontheCilyHeatslageilnd,t'sfull·screen Why ;s t~,sd,ffer~ntonlh~Saturn~rs'onl
IIGTlIIIKHISIIElPlIIITtI
~ Inyourrtv,ewyouonlyment'on~dfivetriICk'.but
when you rl'IO\'e up i1d'V1SO(lnth~ triICks(h'ng~ Don'l you Ih'nk thIs adds more lastablloty.o the overilll milrk Shoul(lSo upl 3 Is 002 (om>ng out on the Sat u.n ,n the near fulur~ ~ilustDDIS .. cet
32 SEGASATURII MMlAZIII£
Oeilr5SM, Ihil~w"tten'ntomagill'n~sbeforeilndnoth.ngh'"
beenpflnted Iwouldbeso~,ppy,fyoup'lnlthlslet ter thill I w.lIgo out .. nd buy Doom! Wel I wouldn't go t hat fil'
4# ~,I::I~:: t::::':::o::!~~ ::~I:::rOtfhteh~K version. It W. I In pre· productlon .. erslonl of the glme. 2. A·Ufe concern. III the lIIt1e Ip rlttl lhat occupy the levels. They mu.tlte Ind evolve the more youpllY It , Ind you c.n pl.y I pl.. ol.1 role Inth.t
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I~~~~~~
TITSUYA MIlUGUoa The AM3 R&D department is very big With maybe around 100 staff. Because of this, there are a wide variety of excellent staff, each with their own distinctive colour. At that time it was very good but it became a httletoo big so [talked to the general manager, Mr Oguchi and Mr H Suzukiaboutcreattnganewdepartmenl.Eventndevelop· ment it's good to have various flavours, so all things considered, rather than the AM I, 1, 3, why not have a separate team heading in a slightly different direction? The result was the new AM Annex. Even though there's no number attached we thought why not let's give this area a try and so we Thus. we separated. [think this was a very positive for Sega because with this the real width of Sega's power could be realised. It's tme that Sega Rally and Manx IT were quite successful but well. that was then. And certainly there are a fair number of people herein the team that have experience of Sega Rally. However. for AM Annex that was just one flavour. With time the other flavours of the staff will continue to grow bigger. [think that's the reasonl
u... AM Anaa composed. of just s.p aan, ... M.ut..I: Tt munlMln or IlU J01l ncnaJt _ mem.llus _bu J01l Mt ap Oa. _dWUioal TM Ifs not composed of just Sega Rally and Manx IT members. we r~ruited new members as well.
ISM If;
SSIl WlaeqllU Oa... aIWlIlI!mMri come heml PHm oubid.t
you all wodtUuU.t4aallJor40yo" __pUleu' TM Being AM Annex doesn't mean that we're especially independent. What AM Annex is doing Is very similar to the other AM I, 1, 3 divisions so we do exchange various Information and programs between us. After all. we're all part of Sega and thus cooperate and help each other. Maybe here we can't do something but elsewhere they can so we exchange ideas. Abo. in regard to something, ~we think this but what do you think?" This kind of mutual consultation exists amongst us
set tosetbu ... 4iKws tb... U ...? TM At the manager level they would do this but for the average peTson then just on a normal everyday basis you meet people around and discuss things. All in all,there is a lot of interchange. SSIl Do the AM I . . . . oftu
an taba to mak. _ tbal 4iffuul AM 4iriDcnu U1lD't -Ildnf: _ 1IUJ' simllu projoKb? TM There aren't any particular measures. Rather, for the staff here. their skills and ideas are different for each of them, so even if they all created a car game they would all be different. I take great care with this area. There Is a large number of those here, both the designers and the programmers, who like cars so creating car games is really great. However, if the staff want to create something different then we would all work together to complete it in that form. That's how we consider it. In addition, it goes without saying that the producers, me and others at this level also have things we'd like to do. From these areas there is a skillful mix. $$M What - . u e I I
SSM U tada llUIl bOWl sollUtlUac alto,,1 the otIlu I. . . .• projoM:b Ua.a J "-'1 nlppoM!.but .. m1lCb of. problam ill tbeH'
~_ _~~_ _ _~~~~
various places. Forexample,Mr Taniguchi[AssistantProduceratAM Annex) came from a separate section ofSega altogether. These kind of people are here
artUb.,
TM Each respective idea has originality I think. For example, in AM2 there are a lot of programmers so for Virtua Fighter and other games with that kind of movement system etcthere are a lot of people who like doing that sort of thing. The result is realism. That's become the key word
SSIl " - " " ill AMb.au; la tuau of
propaamen, proo4-.n., TM We're still small. Really, about just one team's worth but we're continually groWing. At the moment there's a staff of around 16. rd like us to grow quickly so that we could be able todo two or three tities at the same time.
$SIll
AMban pm.. MIm 10
eoJlCubate oana1Utlc ~ta· tloas ofmolonportt... Will W. Oaune coatialllwitbmhanpm'" TM Yes it will. It's not everything but it's one of the core areas that we focus on. This concept exp,esses the cha,acte r of the staff here in this team
$SIll Jrf_ J01l an _ladapeaUat u AM Aaan, _ut ill you rtlatioa-
aldp witb Oae otbar AM 4iriDcnul Do SECASATURNMACA.Z1NE 47
TM ~ctrtainlyplanlodothat. ~'te
steadily progressing lowards doing that. However. if you look at the motorsports then ifs the area of motorsportsrealltynolthe motorsports it~lf that has become the core. Forenmplt,for marine motorsports ifs marine reality and for flying motorsports ifs flying reality. Whatever It is we'U always choose to pursuereallty SSMWhatdoBtheteamdowh_aot ~tiq
Witk Sep TotriqClr Qu,IOIlSkl"MrMll.,.,ul IIMCltou.ptlf'ttill .... rltrl till IlMIriq can INIttllq II'IIIMItill nutnck.
.w.opm..l
SSM What sort of udttaace Y01l neein in. the Toariq Cut. . . .? TM This lime. firstly, we received the help of Mr Naold Hallori. He 's a prt\ty famous drtver who has driven In Formula Japan and Touring Car etc. DunnS the final stages offine·tunlng he came In and test drove Touring Car. He gave us advice on the various asptcts of the game. In addition to that, at the time we hired the race circuit the C·, Race Team gave us various advice as weLL
timetorechar~one'sbatteritsls
tJl.y an ... real W •. Wlut kid of Ual tIi4 J01I haft to do to pt
essentia! so just aboul tverybody dots it.
tUN ltkkan la the,lUU? TM That was Mr Tanlguchi's most troublesome area. It wasn't so much difficuJt. more like time consuming. In a fairly short period of time we had to meet a lot of people and set numerous approvals etcetera. I myself went to Europe and the United States around three times and Mr Taniguchl also went once. In practice, we were chtding whether the designs were okay and whether or not their appearance In Ihls kind of game was a probltm. However, that doesn't mean that we especially set out to create an rrc (International Touring Car Champi:mship) game. This time Sega wanted to promote a touring race, so in order to do that, we did a presentation for each car milker. At that lime we told them that we didn't particularly want to do an ITC game. We wanted to do sega's Touring Car Championship so we asked them to give us their appravaJ and join us. We basically .sked them to put in the cars that they would like to put In. however. of COUlSt we made requests. The result being the four can In the game now There are 3 rrc machines and Toyota. Fundamentally. it took a lot of time for Mr Taniguchi had to set appravaJforeveryslngleoneofthe stidl:ers,Mobil.Castrolttcttera.It was hard 8Oln8-
SSM Haft AM Aaau .... '-pr..... or iaqh"-..., aay partinalu .eonlopmu.t t . . . oa the ucaU "ho_foaMbl TM I think that everybody's ideas are different but, penonally, I like Sonic. Sonic was an incredible creation. The core staff, Mr Yu)1 Nab and Mr Naoto O,ihima have an amazing enthusiasm for Sonic. They love him. SSMWlI".d.i.yoaltttll.U.a'Of s.,. Toariq Cu ChunploJUhipl
Thl dllll~cll'll SIP cabl~lt. Uon with t~1 ~.tdw.rl wl.. ofStpbtlrpriM., UI4.
48SEGASATUANIOOAlINE
we were still making Manx n, there was a single video and a magazine In my desk. When I watched the DIM (German Touring Car Championship) video for the first time It had an Incredible impact. That was the first time I had the concept of making a game of it. When I saw the Inside of the can they Iooktd just like Fl Grand Prtx.lncrtdlblel The race was full of carscrashinglntoeachother. The competition looked so straight forward and unreserved. Also, all the countries are different so it ha.s a nationalistic battle atmosphere to it. However, al that lime, nobody !mew anything about TourinS Car. Even now there aren't many people who know about it. Anyway, with that significance, it was in my drawer alllhal time. I thought It was verytnteresting. Then, In exactly sprinS last year we got around to talkinS about havinS a go at Touring Car. So, in the beslnnlnslt was through seeing the video and the magulnethal It caught my interest
lWI..
ti.
TM Everyoneisdifferent.Thereare games players amongst us. people who play sports and there are people who like travelling. The inStant a big game projtct has betn completed it's common for almost everyone to want to go on vacation. In addition, a lot of peoplt go onatriplothinkaboutthenextprojtct. Ofttn.severalpeopltwillgotogtther. It's what we call1cxation hwltlng. This
TM About two years ago. at the time
• rltlllrll.IUof«lll.borl-
ISM WIlat)dadttfl~& J01IaU.ertall,wMaJ01lnart. . oato.theproj«U TM All the staH watched videos and read magazines and books about Touring Car any number of times. They also went to $et real Touring Car races.. There were a lot of staff who rode as pas~n~rs In the Touring Cars and all the main programmers were drtven around some ohht circuits by championship drivers. On top of that, we also hired a circuit for the day and borrowed some pro-race team cars. We then drove around oursetves! We drove around the circuits with our helmets on many times. We did a fair amount of various things. In addition, the designers went location hunting. They took their cameras 10 places In Germany and Finland etc and saw various views from the circuits and lols of town landscapes and scenery.
OM What of HHUda & J01I_dertalle wile. yoa nart.. oat oathe projecU TM It's as I said before but TOuring Car Is a nationalistic battle. It has that feeling to it. I wanted to create a Same where all the people of the world could enjoy playing as one. On the other hand. Sega Rally Is very IndMdualistlc where your own skill can shine throush-
ISM Oace apJ.a, all of the.,....,uup IticJqn ue .. exactly u
OM 0 ..." Wo:..... a.ally, Maaa
n ....... ToarlaICU CIlamplolUlUp _1lU _ _ to haft pe.t•• poplllarlty la Jar.,. thu. la Jlpa.. W01ll. Y01l ap.. wttll uu.? U so, it uu. a •• m..rat. corpotat.plaA? TM Yes. I'd agree with that opinion. This was a deliberate plan through· out. This story soes back to the time ofSega Rally but at that time the car racing g.me Oaytona was a big hit, especially In the USA-It was also a hit In Europe and Japan. If you look al the globOll market then you have
Asia which includes Japan and also Australia, America with both North and South America and Europe , along with Africa. You can divide it into three. In Europe there aren't many games that will definitely be WC'1l re«'~ so In the case of Sega Rally it was our aim. in particular, to make a game that would be a big hit there. After all. everyone knows that Europe is a large market. Other than that, Manx IT was another game that was well received in Europe Wecertilinlyconsideredthb.
SSM Dill UW haft
&Ill, effKt oa Ul.e IlHlp of the PII,..'
TM I can't Silly I'm too aware of any European Influences. iltthough
in actuality a lot of the landscape and scenery that appears is very Europeiln isn't itlln actual fact Europe was the origin of motors ports. However, one of the courses In Sega Rally was from America, Yosemlte Park. At that time I WC'nt to America so I know a little about Yoscmite Park. Thus, it's not completely European. We thought a little about America as well.
&Ill,
S$II Dill the leam pt to rac. wiUl. ofth. Towiat: Canl TM We didn't actually participate In any real Touring Car races.
hOWC'ver,WC'dld drive thetourlns cars. We also went sevetal \imes 10 see the races. Three or four times I Ihlnk.
SSMHow nalUtk an the ...... can compuN 10 the rMl thbIcl TM Thai's tricky but, well, the fundamental areas are not inconect. The fundamental areas are real. However,ln order that It's easy 10 driveforeveryoneWC'·vectangeditaUtt\e. That's~ausethereal
ars ate so difficult ttat probably no-one could drive them. We devised it sothilt ilS milny people il5 possible could feel the iltmosphere of the real touring cars. Thus WC' made It fairly mIld.
SSMHowlilffla&ltbitto . . . . . lla.w-.the ......
it. Everyone Is ensnilred. Because of this I think it's a game you Ciln keep playing for a Ions lime
WIaaIJd.allofllnipproc. . b .... to ",t the co_ ....,. tOJIItlm:, TM ThIs Is done by our director. Ml Sa.SillkJ, who created all the course maps.. However, both the the tar engine and the COUl"se5 are essential so if the engine danges so does the course and vice vetSlil. Thus it's very difficult to get the gilme'S realism and playo.bility balance just right. That means trymg to mm it a ~Fun to Drive" game. In ordel to make It fun you need to have interestingcoUI"SeS. ThaI's another tough area. ThIs time we had very Uttle time to do this but usually you create the coursn over ilnd over agilin. You then test them and chanSe them. lest them and chan~. agilin ilnd again, making the courses more and more Interesting. Thilt'S the actual process. Sometimes you need to make the course a Uttle more difficult and sometimes you need to make them a little more simple. S$.II
SSM K_ euy wu Ul.e Model a "board. to . . . .be. Jt came to the ~lWhatanlblJh. .rUuaJUl._ab_l TM That's nol reilUy for me 10 say. You should ilSk the programmers that question. However. we didn't h.ilve any problems using the Model 2 board. Although the edges to the can are illittle rough, [ would have liked them smoother, this doesn't hilveany reliltlon 10 the game's playabilityor how enjoyable It Is. Overall, I think thilt the Model 2 Is an extremely good board. With tegilrds to WC'aknesses It doesn't really have ilny limitations. but. it h.ilsa iotof strengths. If only beause It can do real time games alone, it's iI Sleal bo.ard,
.ut~..Iic:ilJ""I"'I.n, ...1"'I
IlIIhys 10 MUlSS
.It~
pN.lik. Sep RaIly, WI.. n udtlll_StpTHriIIt CarCWIpiolllllp, Tilt "~ic:In.tl"1lc' desips"
spoIIIOtSlIipll"'llnlwH cloHly 01 tM rtall~iq.
Sep JouriqCar.m l_. Wodel 2 boanl to unlleRt arrlcl,andAWARaulllV. planl loconUnul •• lqtbls IlchlHllol1l.wtl1 .. t.1 ~Iwlf Iltlbll,bld Wod, IS boanlllthllldVlrtuFlptlr3 udScIldRICI.
...u.. ... ~l TM This Is difficult beausc It's il theme that could So on for eternl· ty.lf it becomes too realistic then plilying the game becomes loo difficult ilnd it 10ses its appeal. On the other hand,lf it's too eilliY 10 play then there's the possibility thilt playing I1 will soon become unsalisfyins. Just how difficult to make It Is a very complex problem. It's difficult ead! and very time you make iI gilme, but with out f;ill you have loget'.hebalanceofreallsmand playo.bility right.
$$M la 0 . . . to ao thb bow 110 10••et pJ.-.,.r feeAackl TM For the average player we do location tests.
SSM What ldall of fMIINck au 10. pn TM As you'd expect we sot a lot of opinions saying it was a little difficult. In the end Touring Cilr Wil5 a difficult game. However, WC' dedded Ihilt this time we wanted 10 make this type of Silme. The game Is il touch on the hard side but it couldn't be helped. Because ofthis,lt might be a little hard for the beginner and Iheaverage player but If you enjoy ItJust on« you won't be able to stop playing
SSMAlIofJ01l% . . . . . uftRl'port· . . JIl1lltiple pia,.... Do yoa altu
&Ill,
ofU.ep.meIock~u..
multiple adlJiaP-p1.e,.r aod... fa oNulo lI~t. . tlseupuk.c.l TM Well. if you take a slngle·plilyer
game and try to force It Into a multiplayer gilme then It won't be interesting. likewise, il mulU·plilyer game made into aslngle·player game. This is il major change to the game's concept. If in the beginning youwanl the game game 10 have a multi·playe r concept then you should dlscard the single·plilytr and devote youlself to the multipJayer.The opposite Is also true, so It depends on the game concept. As for Touring Car. we wanted to make the SEGASATURNIoIAGAllNE 48
typeofrategaml:'whl:'re!:'Vl:'ryonl:' ctlUld enjoy battling togethe r, so naturally, from the very beginning it WoI.S our concl:'pt to have It multi·player,
iIIr iIIizuguchl labs I lest drivton SepTouringClr ChampionshlpllSega'sR&D hladquarlersin Jlpan,
HM httJ.m1 ea.m, can is mucl!. mon important ill TOlLthlI Car tlla.a ilis la ..,s.p. Rally. What.fforu: haft J'01Ilo•• to la produd:alloo4 utiHdallatelllp.c.IOf the ....m' can la Se. . TOlLthlI C.r? TM Allthl:'Alwas done by asinSle prosramml:'r, Mr Yamamoto. Whl:'n It comes down to it. thl:'spl:'l:'dofthl:' cars is very fast isn't iU You rl:'allydo have the sensaUon of racinS away. outron· nins the other cars. It's a sreat feeHns To gel the balance risht so you can enjoy Ihis kind of racins battle is very difficult. If you are always I:'ntangll:'d in baltles with cars that are deliberately fiShtinSaSainst you then it soon becomes annoyins, Of course the car battles must be fun, but fo r all thoSl:' who want to break frel:' and drive away then the enemy cars can be be too tenacious so we have to USI:' our discretion and make allowances for that area. If nol, then thl:' skillful players willlncreasinsly advance ahead while the poor players will coIJl:'spondinsly be
. :;;;fT-,iiI....~.
::e~::;!r:~;:~~~~:~ !:h::~ happen? For the programmers this area is troublesome I think
SSM Wl!.ea you want to the TOlLthlI Car rac" did you IN a lot of nri01U dririJlltactict1 TM Yes. we saw them. As you'd I:'xpect we always saw the tactics where you kel:'pinghiltins)'OUropponent'scar. 1 think becauSl:' of this it became more and more interesting
BalallCingrellismwinfunis when cNllllnS vidtogamulikllhls.
I ~aNl llSk
Lalest rYmours Him ta Indicatt t_at tht uulltnt Virlual On CS Itam wilt bring t~t CIMI Tauriq Coar from WIMI1210 SatUfll. upecl first picluftllOOn!
SSM How _1Il.tI. you compar. the AI olth•••• m, (Aft' tactin to a nu pusoa', tactict? TM Of course the driving tactics of real people are incredible. It's !:'Verybody's aim 10 be able to have AI as good as a real person but 10 create a game where thl:' enemy cars are almost life·like would take a lot oftime. It"s not a simple matter.
SSM la oth.r ..c. lam" u......m, can always ...m 10 lollow the _ . cl.ririD1 pattem ....t iJI Tollrilll Car u..., ... warioWl dririnltactict4o.'tth.,1 TM If you makl:' the e nemies too strong. il was thesaml:' forwhl:'n we did Manx TT. then in tight spots you'd always end up entangll:'<!. battling the enemies. You get the feeling that the game is playing with youl lf that sort ofthing happens then you don't know whether the you are gelting beltl:' r or worse. J really think thafs a tough area. When it comes to the balante ofthl:' AI in Touring Car there are still a few probll:'ms but in regard to thl:' car fights I'm sure we did a fairly good job of getting il right. Howeve r, it's a pity for thl:' average and beginnerplafl:'rs who get stuck behind. If you don't get bette r Ihen il can lose its interest
Sega definitely has a good balancl:' of Ihe two
HM .bcad. teelulolOJJ"'mlI to bec:0JIUI outllattd qllidleJ: tlla.a ho.... tKlmolOJJ. Do you tIdnk _ haft _ the full Umib of
1:"
the MocW J'CN"I .owthal Modal J hu urindl TM The Model 2 can still do grl:'at games. Of course the Model 3 has a higher capability for handling graphics but the Model21s still alive. On thl:' other hand, there misht !:'Ven be some areas whl:'rl:' thl:' Model 2isbettersoitdoesn'tmeanforce rtainthatallthegamesaregoing to be Model 3 from now on. The Model 2 really is a good board.
HM Do you pla:a 10 co.tiaue wiu.. Modalalor the time"i.:aJ or are you iJlYHtiptial u.. ••ew Modal J board1 TM Of course. Sega will continul:' using the Model 2. 1 think that maybe we'lI USl:' both of thl:'m. SSM TKlmolop hu ope..... up aewl.JU" · to.....pJe. without Modal I there woRld ha........a _ JD tip.tI.aJ lam... What futun do you tIdnk th'" is for •• w pm" COIlC.,u wiu.. ..... mo" a6flJlctd tKlmolop nlcl!. .. Mod.I,1 TM I think there are new genres. If so then they might nol be games, I don't really Jrnow. Jfifs intereslingand enjOy<lble then you cancreatejust ahout anything can't you? You could conside r all SC!rts of things . Not just video games in particular but maybe carnival games for exampll:'. Thl:' rl:' arl:' various possibilities SSM ca:a you deKribe yow: relatiollllUp wiu.. AM4. who produce yow: arcad. cabi:aets1 What kiad of dHip prOC"' 40 you ha... wh •• dtfip.i:alth.m1 TM We have a very strong relationship with AM4. Without AM.! we couldn't produce gaml:'s.likewiSl:', without software there wouldn't be any games. Thl:'refore, we realty have to mutually support each other. Ifs a good relationship. From thiS, all sorts of ideas spring forth. This time lefs choose a big SCIl:'en, lel's go for these speakers etc. We're always bouncing ideas off each othe r. In thl:' end we'll fix and idea anthl:' n we'U start from there. In actual practice. during development there's a lot of give and take but the producer will in outline choose a something and finally in the I:'nd the producl:'r will make thl:' decision and request AM.! to build it. It's a kind of husband and wifl:' relationship. SSM Do you ..mttimet ha.,. &rJ1lIIl••111 TM Yes, we do. Fairly often.
SSM At what poml iJI u.. ••am.'. d...lopm.ut 40 you coasL:ier u... d"ip of u... cabiJI.d
SSM Sesa', arcad. pm" iJI I •••nl ...m to" far Jaor. popular tlla.a ill almp.titors. Wl!., do J'01I tIdnk this b?lI it fu.fI dOWJl to nI,.rtor tKlmolop, Of it ..m.thi:a.....l TM If you compare 5ega's arcadl:' games to other arcade games then there are a lot of Sega games that are more realistic. Thafs probably oneaspectof5ega. reality. Ofcourse. in Sega there are various levels but the averaSe person really aims to be an e ntertainer Maybe thafs onl:' part ofthl:' brain behind 5ega and thus 5ega's character. Certainly, I think that 5ega has e)(cellent technology but you can't make a good game with just technology. If you don't haVI:' a good idea as well as the technology then ifs just not possible. SO S[CASATURNMAGAZI NE
The munl-plaJ~r angle real" cam~s tu the fore In the Touring Cat tWIn tJpe
TM We decide somewhere along the way About midway through
the process we first inform them of the image we have and then we make various prototypes. Then, while all this is going on, at some point wel1 settle on a design. ISM DMt th, caltl.aet u.. aal.af1u. .c. o. tlui , . ." TM Yes. it probably does. ThaI's why you develop with the game
and cabinet as a single conce'pt.lfthe produce'rs don't conSider the cabinet's image horn the very beginning then no matter how well the design process goes you won't be able to come up with one that's really good. The cabinet is very Important. SSM With. SOp blly aad MaIUI TT, you _rll ......1}' b:rd J..aj. . . to tb, .._d ,floct. ,xtq_tly .uth,adc. WN.t Md you ,0 Uu-oup with " , . Tou.rill, tu to FOiuc, tb, ..... _UDd poNiltltl
,10("_
,et
TM This time It was due 10 the development of the MPEG
,~iiii~;;;;::';S=~::.-~~~::~~
board. Up to now we'vethat had 15tobuilt use computer programschips to extract sound material Into the computer but we've dtsc:arded that. Instead, we can take the sound record· ed at a studio, enter it onto the M,PEG board and play it. Thus, we've been able to have outside musicians perform for us. That's a big factor for one. We really wanted todo that. SSJI_ H_ import. .t b th, _ dl
u... flaiaJatd c.ltla,t wll,.U co." to
TM It doesn't make any sense having great sound coming out of
speakers you can't hear. It goes WlthOUt saying that in ordtr to have tht music etce'tera heard as dearly as possible you need to crtate a good sound system. In addition. the cabinet's design will iJso have to change accordingly. This time we wanted to try placing the speakers like such, so the design of the chair had to be changed. However, if it has to change too much thtn it becomes a problem. There's the cost to think about as well. All In all. you have to consider the balance of this area very carefully. ISM TIle mdc I.a Sea. Toul.a. tu dMt nud out · did. l.paIl", 1tuul '_Id th, tracks for JOul
po,
In the first place. we got In contact with a high level studio. AVEX TRAX who gave us songs from Belgium, Italy and also Japan. As for the Trance' Techno songs, they we rt from four lapanese musicians who participated with us. We didn't use any popular bands. The Belgium and Italian musicians are fairly well known but the others are just young musicians, popular with the younger fans. who wanted to go on to do techno. Wt held some auditions at various places but we didn't have much time so It was only in lapan. By considering tht future prospects of the various musicians we auditioned we finally ended up picking these four peoplt. from now on we're going to rega rd the mUSiC as very Important so. thinking about the future. we'd like to discover and raise new talent more and more. Up to now the music has been clrc:uiating around just the dubs and Ols. We'd like to use thl" wider field of games as well TM
SUI What puticuluu...... w you ...... l.a ...... fin the mukl TM Our first image was a good drum·bass. By drum,bass.1 mean it's got a unique rhythm but the sound of the drums and bass need to be
simplt so that it's right for playing the game. At the time when we were thinking about mUSiC that could htlp the player conce'ntl1lte on the game, we really wanted to have that kind of music. However. after talking to the director and others we came to the opinion that this alone was a Unle too dreary so we Included the songs as well In addition, we choose It so that everyone could select their own favourite tune whilst driving. That's the way It all camt about.
ISM Do you tlI.I.ak that ".u.ticallJ, tlui.-ut}' of .wc &ad ....... ,fleet. C&JlM impr...... bo u.. fuhU"tllor lll&IIl,lt, collld fonll. of JUno_d _ _ d wodt la th. uca4..l TM Yes I do. You have to keep Improvlngl for tht cunent arcade games, I think that tht one think that is lagging behind is the sound. I'm convinced that sound has a major Influence' on people. Therefore, I personally think that I'd llkt to $Cl" people enjoying more games with higher quality sound where both the device and the contents have been brought closer together. Thus, if surround sound was available I'd probably use it, if)O sound was available I'd probably use that also. If it's good and makes better sound then I'd really like to make an effort touse it.
U,
TMkiHfIf.ttalliDIto Htall _iIItQ rtHtf'td art~ (IiIon) .. tISqa .part rn.it.rMII.
TOIrilllCar iltM lltut . oltlrSpOl1 to ctmt to t.. arud.. COOrltsyof AM
lX(lnio•• llto diff.rt~t typt. of lportIOllt"Unll. N' . IIOGI.
SSM Do pulu.YI U, ........ for YOIll" lam la IalJlarldl TM If you have acce'ss to the Touring Cat homepage you can enter
your own time and then you can participate In a World Wide Time Attack Competitlonl By all means. please JOin Is. Also. please look forward to our next game as well.
TOURING CAR ON THE INTERNET
http://www.sega.co.jp/segalarcade/touring/ All eomputer-e-qulpped Saturn owners art probably WtU awart of the brilllant web presence sep of lapan havt buih up (addre$$:http-.I'--~Jp~How/:vu, AM Annohavtrecent.
Iystt up a Sqpa TowingCarChampioR$hlpart. of the site, whkh is dedic3ted as much lathe sport as it Is tothe videopme. Seriow.Iy, this is ont of the best pme-bued sites wt'w seen c:overin&t!YUY single aspect of the game along with \15ft' InttractiOn aIona the lines of the Time Attack compttition Ms Mlzuguehi mentions In the Inltnn-. Thtrt'l ft<I!n 50ffit low-resolution versionsofthe
Touring car rendered artwork you an use as wallpaper on your PC (orMac,1fyouhavt.~suchasDecor~
SSM WN.t kUtd of b:rdwu, b th.., o. tb, Model a board for all audio? ~ th.., b , l1m.It.tio.. youlla... to d..l .tllll
thia,.
TM Certainly it's got limitations. For example, it's limited to having so and so many minutes of music entered on the board depending on the quality level. However, we we re luckily just In time because we were able to use the MPEG board which is the new hardware used for the audio. this Is the fi rst time we've used It.
SEGASATURIlMAGAlINE 51
Twenty year ago a motion picture event occurred that would forever change the way movies are made. Star Wars not only revolutionised the art of fUm making but also influenced the lives of millions. With LucaslUm preparing to release Special Editions of the Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, SEGA SATURJI MAGAZINE once again journeys to that galaxy far, far away... HEN STAR WARS FIRST BlASTED ITS way onto cinema SCltt M In euly Im,f~could haVi! prwctedjust how enduring or phenomenal George Lucas' visionary space opel'll would be. lndetdeven Lucashimsl!ifwas slttpticaJ that hls )'l!us of hard work, studio confrontations ilJId financiaJ h.assles would pay off at all_ Fortunately for him (and us) Star Wus became ilJI unprecedented success, spawning two sequels ilJId, thanks to s.ome foresight on Lutu' part, a we;Uth of cash-generating merchandise, Now, twl!nty)'l!us on, LU(asFilm are rereieasIng the Stu Wars trilogy as ~Iebl'lltory SpecW Editions containIng all-new footage, computer generated visuaJ effects and a digitally remastered s.oundtrack. Fans of the origina1 films willget theopportunftytosee
W
thtirfavouriteflick:sasthey'ven~rseenthtmbefore
and a new-generation of movie goers will be ableto experitnce theTrilogy as it was meilJlt to be seen.
MAKING MOVIES In 1993, with the twentieth anmversary of Star Wars a mere four years away, George lucas decided to begin work on restoring and rereleasing his cJassic sci路fiTrilogy The original idea was simply to release the movies at two week intervals so audie nces famil路 iar With the video versions of the films would be able to see them on the biS screen once asain, However, there were many visual effects that Lucas was unhappy With and scenes that had been shot In 1976 but removed before the final cut was assembled Tuming to the visual effects house that he himself hadformedintheearlySeventies,Lucassetlndustnal Ught and Magic (iLM) the task of restoring his masterpiece to its former glory as well as bring the series bang up to date wIth state路of-the-art special effeas, The challenge was not only to seamlessly blend twenty year old footage w\th previousiy unseen digital creations but also to fully realise Lucas' onginal vision. Ukewise the Trilogy would now also benefit from a full THX digItal soundtracL "This was my ulterior motIve." says Lucas of his decision to brins the films up to today's visual and aural standards, "There were vanous things with which I was never satisfied speciaieffects shots that were neverreallyfinished,andsceneslwasunableto inc1udeduetoalackofmoneyandtime"
INTO THE DIGITAl REAlM The ILM team, under the watchful eye of Producer l1ick McCaUum and senior Visual Effects Superv\sor 52 SE(lASATURNMA(l.12INE
Dennis Muren, set about producing character and vehicle sketches for mclusion m the Special EditIons while the original film itself. locked ina subterraneanvault m Kansas, was bting restored bya skilled optical team However, the origmal negative was m such a pool state that the entire film had to be carefully cleaned frame by frame then digitally scanned before a fmal print could btmade
Three years of hard but enjoyable work bya team of filmmakers and restorers has yielded the definitive versions of Star Wa rs, The Empire Strikes Back and l1eturn of the ledi. "1 wanted to preserve the Trilogy so that It would contmueto be a viable piece of entertainment into the 21st century," Lucas says, Ltt'stake a look at what's new and improved
IUU'lliJ. ~1 The Empire Strikes Back (Released Apriln)
StuWau (Released March 21) The majority of 1l,M's work can be seen In Star Wars Unleashed across the UK on March 21. the digilally remastered rereleasc IS not only an attempt lopresent Lucas' magnum opus as he oflginally Intendtd it to bt seen but also acts asa showcascfor some of the groundblleakmg visual effects te<hniques due to be utilised In the forthcoming Star Wars prequeJ IIIl ogy All In all there alc roughly four and il half mm utesOfextfii footage for fans to ogle over,conslsttng of both new CG (Computer Generated) footage and previously unseen matertal. In 1976 Lucas shot a scene where labba the Huttde<:ides to pay a
AlthoughlucasFllm tsstlllkeepmgquiel regarding the changes that have been made to Empire, the movIe has stIli re<:eived a SIgnIficant VIsual makeover WIth new CG footage of Cloud CIty and more shots of Luke's encounter WIth the Vicious Wampa m liS icy lall In theongmal sequence, a bat tered Luke hangs from the ceilmg ofa frozen cave before he frees himself In tIme to face the razor sharp claws of Hoth's premier carnivore lLM re<:ent ly re-shot the scene (usmg a costumed actor) glVmg the audience more insight into the savagery of this lumbenng beast. The legendary Snowspeeder battle has also been c1eaned upwllh visible matte lines removed and nigghng mistakes corrected. The Falcon's approach to Cloud CLty has been beefed up With CG shots followmg the ship as It weaves Its way through towers and cIty blocks !nacontroverslal move, ILM has replaced many of conceptual artlstl1alph McQuame's glorIOUS matte paintings WIth rendered backgrounds Many of the hve-actwn Cloud CIty coflldor scenes now feature huge wm dowsprovidmgatantalisingghmpseofBespin's c10ud sky below l1egardlessofwhatyoumayhave read elsewhere, Yoda WIll NOT be a CG creation
surprise visit on Han So)o at Doci:ing Bay 94
In the original scene Jabba was portrayed by Declan Mulholland,although Lucas Intended to
remove the portly actol with a stop motion creatIOn When time and money ran out the scene wn dropped. WIth the advent of dIgItal technology ILM has been able to remsert this scene and seamlessly blend footage of a young Hamson Ford interactmg wIth a CG Jabba The HanlJabba relatIOnshIp was important to Lucas and incJudmg it in the Special Edition release was a major achievement "I really wanted to put that back in there: heexplams, "because It was relevant to what happens to Han al Iheendofthe movie and in The Empire Strikes Back and l1eturn of the Jedl I wanted to be able to connect the first hIm WIth the next two, the way It was meant to be " You'U also recognise the feared bounty hunter Boba Fell hovering near the obese gangster actIng as a bodyguard and silent wItness to Han"s smoothbargalningskills Audiences also need to keep a watchful eye when Luke's Lilndspeeder makes its entrance mto Mos EIsley as IIM has added scunymg womp rats, loading drotdS,l1ontos {huge, lumbering beasts based on the CG brontosaurus models used In Jurassic Park) and increased the activlty In the now thnving spaceport. Sharp-eyed fans wj[J even be able to spot Dash l1endar'sOutrlder (the stock light freighter he uses in the N64 ShadOW'SoftheEmpiregame)asLtblasl5into the sky In the final Death Star battle, all motion controlled models have been replaced with CG craft capable of pertormmg previously Lmposslble zero G manoeuvres SUiASATURNIIAGAlINE 53
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54 SEGASATURIIMACAZIIIE
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Iv U"'il)iJII STAR WARS TIMELlNE Over the put few ,aus tact•• Um has attampta. to form. a cohesive coa.tuud.., fOI it. Stu: Wan 'Ilni'..ern, with all ...anll contained withiD.. Ht time ham •. Althollgh the
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.dually .at oyel lolU' • orlPnaJ ollly StuWanmoviuwara years, Gaol,. taca,' cr••tion ha••lIlca .pawne•• mountain of comic book. and novab fur· thar azuichiD, the tim.l... •blll,t. of loocl vanus evil.
•
Dark Horse Comic
• •
Movie Novel
SHOOTING STARS
pdncell Lela
Luke Skywa.lker
HanSolo
Head of state and leader of the New Repubhc,Leia 5tH! resembles the feisty young women who risked all for the Rebelhon_ Now mother to three young ledl and coping with her own Force powers, she con· stilntly bilttles against overwhelmIng odds to mam· tam the freedom and peace she helped brmg 10 the galaxy Lelil has coped With bemg both iI political and assassms target over the years ahhough the kid· nilppmgofherchlldrenhilsrecentlymadeheltilke a backseat m the New Republic's affairs
Now a fully f1~ged ledi Master. Luke has begun tak· ing steps to reestablish theledi KnIghts hunted and
Still a scoundrel after all these years, Han Solo IS now Princess Lela's husband and father tothelr three children lacen, lalna and Anakin. Captam of the Millennium Falcon {co-piloted by his faithful Wooklecompamon Chewbacca) Solo often yearns for his carefree younger days bul has certamly had his fare share of adventure over the past few years facmg the remnants of the Empire and even return mg to his homeworld of Corelha 10 face hIs own identicaltwm
A constant thorn in Han Solo's side, the most fear~ Bounty Hunter m the galaxy actually survived bemg digested by the Sarlaccplt in Return of the Jedi.As the only person to ever outWIt him Felt burns Wilh vengeance for Solo and has attempted to capture or kill the Corelban on many occasions Clad m weapon· covered Mandalonan battle armour, Boba Felt knows that he and Solo are fated to meet again
Th. 19S, ,.1•••• of Timothy Z.hn', Hat:r to the Impire Boyal w&. naU, the catalYlt that ranawad lntuest in the Star Wall '&C&. Si:a.ce than than ha. 'b"D. •• t •••, ,baam of B.oyeb, comics uulliteratU'& _ddlnl to tha •• tablbhacl Star Wau Did you. kllOw that Hu Ulcl t.ia an now married wilh thr •• kid. or that the Imperor Dnal really iJe. at the aattle of ladorl Tholllbt not. Han', a quick look what .t who', who ud what J0u. .hou.ld know ...
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1:LIl~duringtherejgnofEmperorPalpatme
EstabUshing an academy on the fourth moon of Yavm(usedasaRebelbasemStarWars)Lukehas f;!ced many challenges including rogue students lossofhlsForce·b<isedablllllesandtheresurre('llon of the Emperor h.m~lf HIS time IS spent between finding and tramlng new 1~1 and teachmg Leia and her children how to use thell newfound talents
Boba Felt
IU#:UII:I* ~1
Thelmperor Wait a second theEmptror1 Yep,thetvllPalpatme survived his apparent demIst on board the Death Star II by proJectmg his lIfefofce across the galaxy
and Into a new done body Returning from !:>tyond theglavt, Palpatmedealt many iI crushmg blow to the Tt<ently eslabh5h~ New Republic untIl hIs final
defeat 011 the hands of Luke Skywa!ker Whilst atlemptmg to posses the body of u!La's son. Anakm. The EmptIo! was dnven from thIS plane forevtr and the galaxy was free once mOle
Grand Aclmhal nuawn Jntroduct'd In TImothy Zahn's novels. Thrawn was responSible fOI temporanly reumting the EmpIre's shattered forcl"s and,usLng hIS natural leadershIp and strategy s!alls,ntarly managed tOhnng the New Repubhc to lIS knees. WIth the aid of the insaneledIMaster.JorusCBoath,theblu('·skmned Thrawn used cloned Stormt roopers and a fleet of los t starships to bnng the galaxy under his rule
However. his own lies and an unshakeable behef m hlSabllltiesprovedtobehlsundomg
years heanng Palpatme's VOlt(" commandmg her to hll Skywalkel In a light sabre banle with an evil clone of Luke, Mara was finally freed of her burden.
Jorus C'Boath When Thrawn began hiS campaign of terror, he en!isted the abihtles ofJorusC'Boath,a Jedi Master once thought long dead It was soon revealed that C'Boath was m fact an Imperfect clone and hiS men· tal health and Dark Side Force abllltles soon drew him Into conflict With luke Skywalker On the dlS· tant planet of Way land, C'Boath fought a bloody bat· lIe against Luke bUI was eventually kil1ed by SWIft actions of Mara Jade
Jacen • Jaina Solo TWins born to Pnncess Lela Organ Solo and Han SO!o, Jacen and Jama have inhel1led the Force from both thell mother and Uncle Luke Although still in thell formatIVe years, both children havt had ad'len· lures of their own and often get mto mOle trouble than they can handle. Another child. Anakm, has recently been born
Admhal Daala MuaJade Unknown to all but a handful, Mara Jade was m actuilhty the Empero(s Hand. a highly skilled operatIVe charged With undertakmg miSSions detmed too dangerous fOI convenuonilllmpenal forces. MilIa was at Jabba's palace when LukeartLVed but failed to kill him After the fall of the Empire she spent
Charged by Grand MoffTarkm himself WIth oversee· ing the development of the Oeath Star. Daala spent years at a hidden Impenal weapons research centre called Maw Cluster Unaware that the Empire had fallen she has lecently struck at the New Repubhc time and !lme again. Her last miSSion saw her allied with Thrawn's former First OffICf'r, Captain Pella eon
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Three different agents can be chosen to take on the Elevator Actio n Returns misdon â&#x20AC;˘. Tht ftmaltagent, Edie Burret, is dearly a good bet to 10 for. Although laclting a tad In po_r, she's rtlatively fast and paw a BenUa M91f tht most powerful gun in the gamt. Two mtn art on offer, the first being Xart Bndfleld, a very athletic somersaulting typt,who's stronger than tht girl, more agile, but paclting â&#x20AC;˘ con.lderably IHS powtrful GIOC-18. The final character Is the slowest but the most entertalning _JadtheTaffl A verltablegiantofa man, he Idlls men Just by chuglng tluough them. Hi. Desert Eagle Is the second mort powerful gun In th e game. All characters have two differfilt StylH ofattaclt.. At lon g range they use their guru on their opponents. Close-in they favour smaddng 'em over tht head with the butts of thtlr guns1
IMANX TT SUPERBIKE Therangeof amazin9 Se9a arcadeconversions continues apace with the release of ManxTT Superbike, the pseudo-sequel to the the brilliant Se9a Rally Championship! But can it surpass the wonders of Rally?
IthoughtherehlYe~endoubtSillbout
A
Ihe'luill ityoftheSatu.nMamlTTcon· \lenlon, potentl'")' the game's bii8est
ploblemwuknownbefo,etheconversion work even Hgunl The question oftastabi1ity has been floaling ifound for monlhs now ... afterilll, 11(lde MInx TT h;u only the two diffeltnt.uing cou,ses,uopposedtoOilytonil'sthreeandltally's ond no mattelwha t is on-screen. What Is Impressive Isthesheerimoun t ofJOpokerygolngdownon. S(leen.The TTcoulse in particulal is a triumph of design, successfully transplanting across Just about every piece of detail from the arcadeorlginill ICross onto the Silturn, b,H iI few zebra Closslngs.The beginner's lil.ey course illw hiS its moments, but even the arcade version wu Iilcking In detililcom· pilredto the trilcksin RallYilndOaytonil. All of the gripes we hitd with Oaytona CCE in terms offluidity,detililandpop·upareputtorntwiththis
four. Just how Ciln StBiI rnillke iI two' ll'iick game a
truly lastablll! videogilme worth forty five qllld1 Well , I'll rome to UIlI,t lattl. first ofillll,we'U dui wlth the nitlygritty. In
,··Iood ........ tbtllleSjletdol'tlMlrud.pllllwbtt. IlICctllfullytrulftmdUNI1lfrGllllrhodeI2IoSal.r• .
tt.msofiilppeillilnCt and movement, I very much doubtthitinyoneisgolngtohiveminycom· pl~ints with M~n. TT Superbike There's i lowering of rewlution ind frime rite flom the ~rc~de vel' sion, but the ovefil1 look Is ipplo.,mite to Sega Ril1y'S qUility. The fluldlty of the update is most implessive, running rock solid at joflames pe' sec·
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RUN DOWN LIKE ASTINKING PIG What is also very good indeed about Manx TT is that the CPU riders are just as vulnerabl e to the dangers of the course as you are. So unlike the invincible pace opposition of previous racers, it's now possible to see your foes come flying off their bikes ... just ready for you to run over theml
Ma oxTTcoove~loo . !'mootgoiogtosaythatthepop-up
is com pletely el immatecl, but il is much improved over the aotics io DCCE, whk h can ooly be good ~ews. The gra phics,allhough impressive, are oot the best bitof thegame· 0 0 sir! As with Sega Rally before it, it's theq LJa lityof thecootrol method that really makes this ga mesoeojoyabletoplay. Allhispoio t ldohavelosay that a NiGHTS cootrol pad really makes Maox TT that much more precise· the bikes are reallyflickable, but the respoose you get from Ihe aoalogue pad makes it possible to cootrol t he exteot of your leaoiog iotothe va riouscomers, so you cao choose for suddeo lurcheso. subtle t ums a rouod the mo.e fo.giviogcome.$ So Maox TT.eally is ao eojoyable road racer, bu t what of the lastabifity? The bottom lioe isthal the.e is oolytwo tracks. aod the first. Ihe laxey begiooe.'slrackdoeso't have aoy come.s that cao be describedastaxiog· i!'s the oppositioo (which is p.ettytough) tha t gives this sta ge aoy kiod of challeoge. The TT course is far, far superior longe r than anyoflheSega Rally hac ks, demaod· iog aod e xci t iog . Thiogs are improved wilh the Reve rse Mi rror reoditioos of the Iracks. Eotirely differe ot drivi o g lioes a re requi red to master these
imag ioalioo,suchas oight rid iog or wet·weather coodiliom, fa iling thal a new track {perhaps a gues l a ppearaoce track from aoother gam e ). but alasitwasooltobe Just about the ooiyirritatingaspectsofMaoxTT arethemusicafldlhepreseotation.Thelatterisjust dull · way disappoioting after the huge amount ofselec· tables in Rally and DCCe.Asfor the music · arghhh!It's ,evolting beyQnd belief. but you can tum it down. Ifs just a shame that some all-new tracks we ren't put together. The souod effects are okay though. although the bassy rumble from the arcade is missed. Attheeodoftheday,there'slittle pointdeoyiog that Mao x TT is a dassyvideogame. What quibbles youmighthaveaboutthesouodaodpreseotatioo cao't disguise the fact that this is just g.eat fuo to play and does a g.eatjob of .ec.eatingthe coio·op.
Waintalnlnl spted with adept tIIMIerin, and staying on the raein,linlis thlkey to IUCCesS.
The Intelllaenu ot' theCPU opposition makn Wanx TT a conItut battle agalnlt other ride" ... well II the COU",.
R J C H lE A D BET T E R
SEGA SATURHMAGAZtHE 61
IAREA 51 Fans of theX-Files, Dark Skies and American Government conspiracy theory related programmes in general rejoice, because GT are about to releasethe arcade hit Area 51 to enable you to reenact your deviant alien murdering fantasies in the comfort of your own home.
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F
orthou~pl e unacquajntedwi t hth e
X-Files, you may well be wondering what Ihl!heIlAfu51is. We llit'silseduded plilct! situated inthe Nevada desert in Ame riu wh ere strange occurrences are afoot. As to
what exadlythese are nobody can sayfo. sure, but the re are basica lly two t heories o n th e subject. First ly, t hat Area SI is the top secret (despite being we ll publicise d) area which th t US government use s for test路 Ing their futu ristic fighter craft and weaponry. Interesting as t his maybe, lt would ma ke fora preUy d ull game, so GT are amongst thosewho'iubsCllbetoth esecond theo-
ry. That being, that t he US government has in its possession alien spacectaft recovered from th e scenes of incide nts such as Roswell and are test flying t hem. Not only th at but it is claimed Ih ey have actual aliens with in A.ea 51, dea d and alive, It Is t his that is the subJect matterofGT 's
au lully,all}'thillliR day- &lo eolourtls a s.p!itewhlehcal'" du tl'1lyed. So that Includes tholl yellltW drums.
FENCING PROBLEMS The graphits of Are a 51 are of the FMV variety with s prites overlaid making the game appe ar very s mooth Indeed. The trade off has
been with the size of the playing scrun Which h as been reduc ed considerably and with a fence placed around the In een to dts路
62 S[ OASATURNMAGAl INE
hours all contact h as been losl. Fea ring alien world domi nation, the powe rs I hal be decide to send in STAAR, a n elite pa ramilitary unit cleve rly disguised as mo l or mech a nics. You are one of t hese boiler suit clad men. Your mission should you choose to accept il,isto infiltrate t he alien ridden base and seek out Are a 51'snuciearselfdestruct system capable of mass alien anni h ila tion, It's just anol her ordinary dayfo.thesecralyguys
latest.elease , theaptlytitled Area51 _
If you haven't seen it in the arca des, Area SI isafi.st-person perspective shoot 'em up in similar vein to Sega's Vi.tu a Cop se.ies, As
A downed ,,'ien space uah has bee n recovered and taken to the top-se"et base where within
such,ithasthedistinctionofbeinllthelalestinan evergrowingnumbe.ofgamesto utilisetheVirtua
Area 51 is an adequate rendjtion of the arcade ~ri~inal although the size of the FMV wmdow is alittle on the small side ...
IN THE LINE OF FIRE As mentioned earlier, you are not alone in your quest to find the self destruct system as you're accompanied by other members of your STAAR turn. They tend to get thems elves in the line of fire but must not be shot as it results In you losing a life, just like shooting a hostage in the Cop games. Unlike the enemy ali ens however, they're not sprite based and are In fact real life actors willlngto sacrifice their artistic integrlty toum a little cash.
Gun. As in most first- person pe rspective shoot 'em ups, Area 51 has you follo wing a prede termined route inside and around the Area 51 compleK. The rein you'll discover hoards of screaming aliens wh ooughttobegunneddownina violent fashion with points being awarded for each kill. Extra points can be ea rned by shooting consecu tlve t argets wi t hout missing, known as streaks and areenential for rackingup ah ighsco re.lnaddi路 t ion, much of the background sce nery is dest ruct ible, whic h when shot reveals sec.et weapons and powe.路u pswi t hin. not to me ntion secret rooms. The inclusion ofa cowboy mode is most welco me too. whe reby those people with two guns can play with them simul taneously. But then I always did th at anyway.
targets being deverly ove.laid sprilesas in the arcade version. In fact visually il would appear that Tantalus have done a very good job indeed of recreating the arcade game. The one notableeKception to this being the relatively small playing screen fea l uring some rathe. large borde.s which Tantalus have attemp ted to disguise by sticking a mesh fence to the screen. Admittedly when you first play the game it does quite a good job offoolingyou into thi nkingthat it's full screen, but nowyou've read this the illusion will be shattered and you'll notice straight away. Sorry. However, graphically Area SI is a bit on Iheropey side wit h the sprite characten lacking in animation and not blendi ng particularly well with the FMV. The edensive use offuU-motion video also giVi'syou the impression tha t you're watching an extended in tro rather than playing a violent shoot 'em up. Although quite tough with plenlyofon-sc reen mayhemensuing, the game ilself.emains fairly short and lading t he depth of it"s Cop counterpart. Area SI isthe kind of game you can put on fora ten minute blast and enjOy. but asa longte.m inVi'stmentit falls shor1 of the ma rk. With thee Kception of the Cop games. Area 51 isthe i>estofa bad bunch
SEGASATURMMAGUI ME 63
INCREDIBLE HULK Marvel characters gaintheir superpowers by either a) being bitten by a radioactive animal or b) being exposed to lethal gamma radiation. The Hulk falls into the latter category. but the developers of this game deserve to be subjected to both. IEIDOS
1£39 99 IW ALK
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HIT
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'mIlOt801ng to ~veitforthefinal oom
I
ment. I'm going to tell you right nowthat
The Incredible Hulk by Eldos Interactiw Is without a doubt the WOI1t S3tum gall'M!' "VI! ever had the misfortune to play ever. Ever. And I had
SMASH IT UP COlUidering that thll! Hulk is onl! of the most pow-
erfulclIaractersin the~lunMlW, it's bit of swpriH that he comes across as somtthing of a wilting violet in the game. Delia.te glass panels po5e no obstaclrs to his big gr~n fists, but illIything harder than that and it's chaffed knuckles time. Punch a waJJ. and all that happens Is that pathetic polygon hagments come flying off. Locked doors remain so unW switches are activatiI
to review Doom. I'll go into just why it's so b.ld laleron, but for now here's a cursory gtanct at the plot. The Hulk blahblah capturfll yaddayaddaPantheon rhllbarbblah t aken to sec:ret hideawayyaddayaddayadda bad guys crash intotheirownbase blahrhllbarbblahHlllk esuptS yadda yadda fight his way out. It's just as well you weren't expecting an epk, sweeping cross-oYer type storytine In wh lch, after much agony and introspection , Bannerfinally comes to t erms with his irreversible tondi · tion and then gets angry and smashes the place up. By now you w ill have glance d at the final scores and concluded that I enjoyed playing the Hulk about asmuch as I would relish the prospect ofgar· glingnapalm. But just how was it possible for devel · ope rs Attention to Detail (sniggerl to come up with such iI stinke r? Well let"stake a look ...
some other character, but the Hulk is the Hulk for gawd's uk e. Why can't hejust smash through doors and d imb uplift shafts? Becilusethenthere would~nopointtothegameatall.Onceagain
we are faced with a Marve l lice nse which comple t eIy ignores the abilities of the character. ~l The graphics stink. The 3D envi ronment is boring and jerky, and the draw distance is appalling. Vou can'tseemorethanafew'f~t"into t hesc'eenat a ny
one time. Punch any pa rt of the scenery. and dodgy looking polygon f,agments fly off. looking extremely stupid. The animation on the Hul k sprite is abysmal and the 'attention to detail' is shocking. Jump (if you could call itthatl next to a wall and t he Hulk·s shad · ow moves halfway up Ih e wall as we ll. The enemy sprites are dull. and e.tremely blocky to boot.
ed, and the feeble robot enemiH talct three or fout hits to dlspo$f of. This all stems from a complete lack of Imagination on the developer's part; a Mass DHtruction-styIe game in which the Hulk well and ttuly srn.a.shes would have lnfinjtely preferab~.
And probably 11. lot better.
n e landllU"II 'ftry,wery l borton del.tll.
64 5[0.1. SATU R~
MAGAlI~ E
SIDE STORY Marvel'sgamma-spawned behemoth makes a most notorious appearance in what is one of the most spectacularly aWful games ever 3) TheSDund slinh.The music is appalling 'filWk' and the effects art' fubbish too,but they end up being the best part of the game so don"deserve anin·depthmolesting. 4) The gameplay stinh. Vourcontrol over the limping Hulk sprite is vague. and it's often hard to tell when:! you are in relation tothe bad guys. Speaking of which, puny robot spriles seem 10 be able to dish out more damage than the all-powerful Hulk, which is preposter. ous. Airbome enemies are nigh-on impossible to hit, and Ihe profusion of mines and laser turrets mtan Ihat Ihe Hul k is in for a toasling. Even on the easy setting, if you last more t han tell minutes you're doing well. This plalPlly wrong, as in the comics the Hulk has immeasur· a blest fengthandcanleapuptothr~miles
SornethinB to bear in mind for the seqt.tel,perhapsl 5) The re is no lonBterm playability. Or mt.tch Inthe short term ei t her. One BO on The In(redible Ht.tlkand JOt.t'lIfeel likeyot.t·ve lost all fa ith invideoga mes. Pl ay :
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itformorethantenmin utesandyou'reeitherquite mad ora games reviewer. I qt.talify on both (ounts, and I couldn't stand it much lonBer tha n that. So The Irl(redible Ht.tlk is not qt.!ite a triple A release then. It's another one of those games whkh the publisher has quiettyslipped into the shops hoping they'll sell with a few ads and no reviews. I"m not tryinB to be funny or dever by giving it such a lowmark,the simple fact is that I cannot adequatelyde\l:ribejust how bad it is. I can't imagine for a second that the develope rs looked at what t hey had and thought 'yeah, that 's Brea t. let"s release it now'. rm surprised that Eidos had the audacily to even release it, and I doubt Ihat Marvel will beoverjO)'l'd with t he end product either. The simple fact is that The Incredible Hulk Is absolutely awful. It 's an emba rrassment to Eidos. to t he developers, to Marvel, and to the Sat urn in general.
There have bee n a long line of Marvel games on the Sega syste ms, from the original Spide r-Man games on Master System;rnd Megadrive through to the current Capcom arcade conversions such as X-Me n: Chlldrenofthe Atom;rnd the upcoming Marvel Super Heroes. Most Malvel games also have a re putation for being rubbish, witness Hulk;rnd the Captain America gamn on the Megadrive for enmpln . Here at SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE we 'd like to 11ft a con· version of the four player X·Men scrolling beat 'em up that was knocking around the uudes a few years a go. 11 w as a top laugh;rnd the saturn could no doubt handle a spot-on conversion , how about it Konami US?
\
SfGA SATUR~ MAGAZI NE 65
ILOST VIKINGS 2: NORSE BY Interplay'slatest offering is another victory for gameplay over graphics with enough puzzles to keep even Carol Vorderman occupied for a while, though I could think of better ways to keep her occupied. !INTERPLAY
1,44
99
! PLATfORM
PUZZlER
I
THE ANSWER IS IN THE QUESTION ConvenienUy pl.cM lU'ound the first few purl" ue tome panels with I queltlon mark 1080 on them. When activated. I IpHCh bubble pops up whkh hintt It how to OVII:J«Im e the problem.t hand by d\owing you I certatn move that one of the vildnSI pes'fIU. Whillt you may think W. detracb from the fun of fOlving puule., they are made Icuee after the tint level leaving all the elaborate and complex puzlle. for you to tort out on yow own.
nterpilY lHm to have
found a niche In Ihe milr· ket with their liltHt relnse Viklngl 2: NOfle by NOlleWes!. Hot only d~ It h;;lve the dhtinction of hilvlng one of the worst Utles of ilny con·
lIgllln. Whilst voy~ging home from fOfeign 11Inds, Olllf theSlout, ErklheSwift lInd8111eogthe Fie"ellre plucked from their long bollt by 11 mysteriousteleporter be~mjustastheywe,einspittingdislance
of home. Our three unlikely herOf!s re-eme,geon
s.olegamebutit'sillsotheonlygamelcanthlnkof
bollrdthesp~cecrllftofthetyillllientyrant,Tomllter,
with Vikings as the main charilcters.Thls shouldn't
who hlls a pllinful and bloody demise lIwaitingthem. However,llIrgelylls 11 tesult ofte<hnitlll difficulties, the Vikings mllnagetoescllpe his tyil clutches lInd
come as too much of a surprise as Vikl"" were not nictpeople. Ala'gfpfoportlonoflhelrllmewulaken upwith .... plng,plll~glng , wearlnglethalheadgearand belching. Bellm Software who progrllmmed Vikings 1 were obviously lIwllre of the unlquenen of th llg~ me lIndsawfittof!)lploltlttothefullandas s uchhll~ madeVikingslthe deflnltl~Viklnggamebywhlchall
others shall bejudged. Notthllt I'm predlctlns a whole Wll~ of Viking clonn In the ne~r future. Theellgle·eyed among you may re<ognlse this as the sequel 10 the ~ry popular Meglldri~ and Super NEShit,lostVikings. Wellguesswhllt, they'relost
gainsomespecjlllweapons. 8utbefo,etheyha~
chance 10 leturn to the land of blonde hair ~nd blue eyes our herOf!s 1I,e whisked off once mo,e loa mys· terlous world somewh ere wilhin the confines of spllce.ln t,iguing The game itself Is a platforme, whieh incorporates a large ilmount of puzzle·solving. ElIchofthe Vikings has their own special abilities and wellpons which, when combined enables them 10 ~rcome all manner of obslllcin. One Viking alone ClInnot com· plete anyofthe puules so it bt<omes a mlltle, of leamwo,k utilising the sttong points of each Viking to compensate fo,the deficiencies of the othets. Asthe playe' you 1I,e in cont,oI of 1111 th,ee Vikings and must switch bllck and forth between them selecting the one whose ability best suits thelask. Ho_, Ifilny of the bearded bunch should pe,ish and ucend to the grutlongboiltintheskytheneffecti~lyit'sgame
Tlallwort la _.tlallf 1" art to be ucce",IIII.ViklIllS2.J.lI1't1Bt.. blr~at .
68 SlGASATURNMAGAlINE
'It.'!tJf ::.H' ::.~~ • .
NORSEWEST
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extracha ract e rshavebeenthrownin~longtheway
who are playable once they've been rescued. Like theVikingstheytooh~vetheirown special abilities suchasFangtheWolfwhohasrazor-sh~rpclawsto
attack his foes and Scorch the
Dr~gon
who breaths
fireontohis~ttackers.Tobeperfectlyhonestl'mnot
platforms and guarded by hideouscrealures. The
a great fan of puzzle games and not having played Lost Vikings before I had no ide~wh~ttoe)tpect However, after pl aying Vikings 2 for the best part ofa weekend I was pleasantly surprised with what I found. Vikings 2is an incrediblyfungameto play with a novel t wist on the normal platform formula by placing you in control of three characters simultane· ously instead of just one. This adds a whole strategy elementtothe proceedings making this a thinking mans (or womens forlhat matter) platform e•. The di f· ficully level oflhevasl amount ofpuules is just right. You slart off by being told how 10 ovefcomethe first fewpuzzlesandwithwhichcharacter,theneachpuz· zle that follows is an elaborate and comple)t variation onlhese.Coupledwilhthecoolsoundeffects anda good dose of humour, usually via the voice·overs,
ingredienhlhemselvesarenotdiffkulttofind,how-
Vikingszh~saveryca rtoontypeoffeeltoit remind
everthey a reusuallyattheolherendofatfi<kypuz. zle. Once they hilvebeen ret.ieved it's simply a maUer
inl! me somewhat of the Earthworm Jim series. The in·game music deserves a mention too as ifs not your average platformer musk and is pretty cool if you're into all that techno sluff. The bottom line is that Vikings z is eKcellent fodder for platform/puzzle enthuslasts.withplentyoflastability.
over as illI Vikings
are needed to complete the game.
The tilsk that awaits our th .ee heroes is to seek out the va,ious ing.ed ients needed by the localwi l ch to make a short range teieportation speli to eventual· Iy get them home. As it's only short range though
theyean only be telf'ported tothl:' ne xt level, whefl~ again they must find more ingredient s hidden on the
of taking them to the witches cauld.on so she can work her magic. The p.oblem for our troublesome trio Is thal the witch hasn't quite got 10 grips wilh her
spells and has a nasty habit of losing Vikings in the teleportation p.ocess. Normally ou r heroes would be stuffed without the help of each othe. but thankfully
IotIlptriod, ofU me witlHlut till need for
LOST VIKINGS,.. AGAIN! After their aciventures in the 16-bit original, the sequel picks up with our triumphant trio making their way home on thel! Vllrlnglong boal. But the evil alien Tomater has other more , W,ler plans foz them and teleports them onto his space craft. A punch-up later and our heroes ue l eleported to a strange world, where once again they're lost. Who said lightnlng doe,n't strike tw:Ice. Just checlt out the intra for furtherdetalls.
ol18I~ . T~al 'l lIalHlJ.
SEGAUTURNMAGAlINE 87
1~liJilj"NI
IIRON MAN'"/X-O MANOWAR Sickof playing X·Men? Tired of waiting for Marvel Super Heroes to emerge? Well cheer up, because Acclaim's latest super hero license may be iust what you're looking for. Then again ... I ACClAUI
1£44. 99
IP LAT FOR"" SHOO TER
ManOWif in Hnvy Metal la give it its full title.
Programmed by the very um e people
respon~ible
for
the rec:e nt Billman effort, they're obviously hoping to
redeem the mselvls with their latest relu se, a side· x· o Muowart(lmesface tofaee'llilhoRlofthl IJieftlwhlch hasthtabililytorirtbolts of . l.ctritityfNlmitl fingerlipl.
sCfolling platform shoot 'e m up no less. Featuring the
two metal titans for the first time In a game ever, it is daimed to be the ultimate in super hero power and realism. Hmm ... We' ll st'e. Thegameitselfrequiresourtwohe,oesto p.og.ess through the viI,ious levels ca<ryingout the rnission objectives outiined
ThepyrottchRICllrtrtt.erUnlpectacullrtoUJthelull.
SURFACE TO AIR BATTLES The one improvement th a t can be seen in the Iron Man game ove r the rece nt Batman BarnI' is that the action takes place on severa l pla tform li, This is achiev ed via th e boost move tha t bollt of the two sup e r heroes possess which sets th e m in flight for a limited period of time allowing th em to reach the hiBher lev els. Eventually though th e boost run s out requiring our hero es to sit on the , idelines for a whil e until their
priortothestartofe~ch
level. Oon't worry too much ~bout this though because they have absolutely no bearing on the gameplay at all. Vou simply walk or run from left to
right killingallsortsofevilwrongdoerswho have the misfortune to get in your way. At the end of each level you'll come face to face with a nasty boss character who attempts to draw to an end your super heroic life.Attimes,thesearequitetritky tokill,especially whenalimelimitis imposed upon the proceedings. As the player you are given the choice to play as either of the two main characters, Iron Man or X·Q Manowar. Each of them differ in terms of super powersand abilities butovelall are p.ettyevenlymatched They both have a variety of weapons, usually of the ray beam variety which can be upgraded considerably throughOllt the COllfse of the game. This is done by collfrtingthe power·ups discilrded by the bad guys when they are killed. 80th characters also feature a boost move. which sets them in flight for a short peri· od of time via their rocket boots. Th is bewmes useful forreachingthevillains thata,ehidingonsomeof
Battle as either Iron Man or X-O Manowar through the cosmic carnage to prevent the imminent apocalyptic meltdown,
:~ I ~ 1_I BB SEGASATURHMAGUIHE
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LASER POWER Each of the w eapons that either Iron Man or x o Manowa r ca nies can be fully upgraded by collecting the powe r-ups that a re left behind by the dead villains. So for I!xample If you collect the right power-up your normal pulst lase r can become a bi-directional homin g laser. This Is in addition to your EMP Device which fires a huge beam from yOUl chest.
If Acclaim have a quality control
department, all those in it should be very ashamed of themselves
t he higher platforms and dodging the ones that
aren't. However
indudingthj~ h asobviouslybeen
at
the saCflficeofbeingablelowal~intoandoutofthe
screen making the gam e play even more linear. A twopla~ r optionhasalsobee nincludedwhichadds
somewhattothe longevilyand also makes complet·
Megadrive. As In Batman Fore~r the end-of-le~1 bosses are particularly ugly to look at and all empioy the exact same cheap tactics. It"ssof.ustratlng! Gamepl~y wise there are no .e~lat i ons here. The action is repet itive with little vari ety inthe moves o. w eapons and with th e mission
ing thegameaslightlyeasiertask
objecti~sbelng l ncidentaltothe game
However try as 1 might, I find it ha.d to be enthusiastic abou t Acctalm's latest offering. You'd thin k Accla im would know better than to release such subst anda.d nonsense as It does their reputation no good wh~tsoe~ •. Thei. n~me Is quickly becoming synonymous w ith t he w ords "cr~p" and "gam e". I.on Man obvio usly.uns on t he same engine asthe re<:ent
play. The music Is al'iO p.etty dl.e Yes,lunde.stalldthattherelsa heavy metal th eme to the game but that really is 110 excuse for t he terri. ble music. Thankfully it can be turned off on t he options screen othe. wise I would have done myself in by now. In short, Iron Man alld X·O Mallowar ill Heavy Metal is mo.eofacho.ethana challenge. ()(In't be fool ed by the Marvel Comics (or indeed AC(laim comics) licence, it
B at ma nForeverga meandllkewlse thegraphl(s~re
t errible with the motion c~ptu .e system being equ~lIy asdis~ppolntlng. They fail to scrape the surface of the Saturn's awesome 20 sp. ite handling capabilities showing us litt le that couldn't be achieved on the
SEGASATURHMAGAZIHE 69
IMASS DESTRUCTION If ever atitle could effectively sum up a game in two words this would be it. There's little ambiguity in the title Mass Destruction. Such aname conjures up vivid images of akill or be killed, destroy everything in sight kind of game. And that's just what it is. Sort of.
.
-
." . .. ... " t .t:>·,
I SEG A
h BA
iI'
"'
I S HOO T " EM UP
heA
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MASSIVE EXPLOSIONS! Thrn~ alll!~
some excellent graphical t ouches In Man Destruction to make It as good to look at as it It to play. The pyrotechnics art amazing. with massive sprUe based explo-
sions as you unleash a couple of missiles In the genual direction of an enemy building_ EspecbJly Impressive 1$ the awesome flame thrower which burns everythins to the ground. The way the explosions reflect In the water looks preUy cool too.
t!J
us Destruction origin~11y sUrted life as a PCgamebeforebeinghntily snappedl,lp foraSaturnreleutunclerthelmaliniltive title of Tank. A few months later and after
r~rtin8backtoitsorigi naltitlethl!»turn\l'l! rsionof
Man
~tructlon
Is n!ady for rf!Olease. And It's going to
beacorker.You ' lisee. T~g~meitselflspossiblyoneof
the lu st prfientious games about. it has absolutely no plot, no storyli ne and noJustificatlonsforlhe mindless YIolence ~ ndm ~yhemlhalensues. it'sbelnsloutedasa
videosame produced f01' the sole purposeofenterhin · ment. it's that simple. You could ho_r SilY it's p!etentious In advertlslngits unprt'ient lou sness, but that 's Justbeingpedantic (~ndmaybeatadpll!tentious
Rich). Mass Destruction also bean uncanny similarities 10 the Am lg~ cla ssic Firepower ~nd the 300 sequel Return fire soyou'd be fo,siven for th lnkins that they _reSOfTl1!howrelated . B utthey~ ren't,asesS!ntially
Mass Destruction Is a very different game indeed. Intriguedl Rud on ... Mass Destruction places you in control of one of three tanb,eich with different a rmour and spt'ed but a il retaining the same lethal arsenal. Your task is
The huge
sprite-based explosions as your enviroment crumbles around your ears look very spectacular indeed.
fl, lflltllttroopludwlteht.tfII ltltttr... OIIflrt!
70 SEGASATUaNMA(lAlINE
tocomplete)'ourvariousmissionobjectiveswithin the fuliyfunctional environment. The missions i re usualiy of the seirch,destroy and rescue variety wit h the overwhelming emphasis being on t he destroy bit. Once)'Ourmission has been successfuliycompleted your are transporte<i tothe neKi mission in a different environment. Whilst this may sound remarkably slml· lar to other Utles Mass Destruction differs inone major respect. The idea of the game is not necessarily to progress through tolheend of the game, butina similar way to NiGHTS and various games of old. Mass Destructionisa score attack ga me. fach of the destructible enemy build ings, soldiers, tanks and jeeps are worth a ce rta in amount of points. The idea is to cause as much destruction as possible to get the biggest score. This Is entered on the high score table
II:Ji'lI*i,,' ~1 OUT OF AMMO? Power-ups illt an lntegn.l part of rirtually every shoot 'em up and ~ Destruction 11: by
no means an exception. Once the aromo b suitably depleted. It kc:omes nKtSlIU)' to _k out power-ups to replenish YOUl' . upply. Thtse Ut u. ually scattered. about the lew:lJ and illt also hldden inside enemy buildinl"
•
Mass Destruction looks great. it's easy to play and with the . score attack element it should occupy you for qUite ~ndthl!ide;ljsfofyoutocoml!~ckandbeatjl
time
and time again. Qr so the Iheory goes.
•
some lime.
to ~ry bump .and dip in.a most realistic wily. In .addi· tlonJust.about~rythingistot.allydestructible,~n
Naturally with this being a same w hich focuses subshntialiy on destruction, t he programme.s would ha\lelomakethed~tructionpfettyspectilcular. And
that's just what they've done. Each of you. weilpon~
• •
i~
ca pable of making some huge sprlte·based explosions as your environment crumbles ilround your ears
which looks very spectilcular, tSpKiilllywhen you can see the reflections In the water. Though Ihl':.actlon i$ vlewedfrom.apl.anperspe<tlvetheenvironmentl$.all In30.andfullyfunct iona1.meaningyourt.ankreact$
thetreeswhichresults insomethunde rouse~plosive
sound effects. All th i$ running at a super·smooth 60 fr.amesj)ersecond,th.at'stheumeuS.aturnVF1. On the down $Ide though, NMS h.ave left: out the .alllmport.ant two-pl.a~r mode which really I$.a tr.av· esty con$idering how well it worked In 300 Return Fire. The g.ame englne is obvlouslye.cellenl.and easi· Iyc.ap.ableofsupporting.asplitscleentwo·pl.ayer, which leaves you feeling th.at this reallyis.an opportunltymlssed,And.althoughthemlsslons.arequitev.ar· led,ultlmatelywh.at each of them boils down to Is dewoyeveryth lngwhlch.afte • .awhilem.ayget.at.ad repetitive. Hilvlng uld that, MU$ ~truction Ioob g.eat, it's easy to pl.ayand with the score.att.ack ele· ment it should occupy you for some lime. Ifil's.atop bl.aslefyou',eafte',thisisdeftnitelyworth a look.
IQ. "'"
Whl I bellltlfll . . of MdtnIvtlrlltKtItl11_ Iflalll.. lM~ofl1lllblt. bs..tlal"'nU:I"lI9i11&11K«'1'.
SEGASATURHMAGAZINE 11
1~liJ'IAI'I.'11
ISPOT GOES TO HOLLYWOOD Cast your mind back. Way back. further than that. No, you're not trying hard enough. What can you see? The dawn of the 3Z-bit consoles and some game called Spot Goesto Hollywood? That's right. And now, at long last, Spot isfinished. Well hallelujah. IVIRGIN 10999
IISOMErR!C
pi
ATfQRMER
hne 'D$hlonilbly late' reluW!1 seem to be something ofil themt O¥el It Virgin. Spot Goes to Hollywood first l urfOlced in '994, ilnd only now is it complete. Hurt of Darknen Is il lso one ofthein,;lnd th .I's been In
T
de"elopmentforO~flhree)'@arsasweI1.8ulwhocan
MOVIE MADNESS The .ill worlds in Spot GoH to Hollywood all have • tenuous movie-related theme. You begin on I plnle ship under attack from a giant octopus, before moving on to an lndlana Jones-nqulI! JunBit temple, which lndudes the compulsory mine cart 1eftl. and • haunted hotue ho1'lU' to none other than Count Dracula hlmRU. 1n addition to this, there arll! three bonus wodds comprlsins of • Wild west themed lOne, I blatant Jwasslc Padl rip-off, and a sci·fl extravasanzafinale. Locating these hidden sections, howtftr, will feq",", all the platfornUna sldlls you can muster.
blame the programmers fOl wanting Ihelr elutlons 10 be perfKtl Afte r ~ II, every Quillte releilse dilte giYen out by id softwilre was sim ply 'when It's finished '. Still, we're not here to ruminilte ilbout mbsed release diltes
ilnd so must bilttle his w~y through sill movie t hemed wo,ldsifheistogetbilcktothecomfoflofhisrefrig'
~ nddevelopmenthell, we ',ehe,etorumlnilteilbout
eliltedfizzydrinkdis~nse r inonepiece.
Spot Goes 10 Hollywood. So let's n.lminilte. Right then .
OfcoursewhilstSpoth~s been languishing in development hell. Sega themselves have got inonthe isometric platforme. act with Sonk 30. 50 how do the
A~queltotheclassicMegadriveplatforme,
(thilt's theoliglnill Cool Spot. by the way. not the ver· sion of Spot Goes to Hollywood relused on the creaky 16·bit syuemovereighteen months ilgo). Spot Goes to Hollywood Is iln iI!tempt to tillte the round rrd zilty one Into the next generiltlon, utilising ren· deredgraphics.quillityspriteilnimationilndthef.ee· domoffered by iln isometric playfield. The beilutlfully rendered intro sequence explains whal liulethere Is of the plot. Whilst slumming it inside iI cinemil vend· ingmilchine.SpotgeusuckedinilmovieprojeClor.
twocomp~fe1Well.oothhaverenderedbackgrounds.
but while SofllC OIlso milkes use of rendered sp!'ites. Spot ilnd his adverSilries ilre well ilnlmated cell·drawn Cfutions. Theyhilve a bit of iI Oisneyfeeltothem. milybeeven too much ofil Disney feel In plilces; a Cilse in point isthewHd ooaf sprite on the Jungle level thal beafSanuncannyresemblancetoPumbaafromThe lion King. The animation on Spot himself is e xcellenl. OIndthelittlefedguyhil stheSilme'kewl'~fsonality
Spot Goesto Hollywood doesn't hold acandle to more retently developed software such as Sonic 3D
72 SUiASATURNMAGAZINE
IliJ"AI""A ~1
HOT SHOTS
The
animation on Spot himself is excellent. and the little red guy has the same 'kewl' personality he did in the Megadrive original.
he did in the MegadriW' originaL luW' him.lone fora while, and he'll milke calls on his mobile phone or tilP impiltientlyon the Kretn. Unfortunately the leW'1 construc· tlon is not ilsvilried as that In Sonic 3D. Just about all the leW'ls are completely lin· ur. soyou find yourself just going up and right all Ihetlme. This is not so bild on the Initial pirate ship levels, as you would eKpeclilbo;jtlo~longandlhln.but
long. thinCilve sySlems or haunted hous· esl I don't think so. There are IoiIds of hidden warps to find which whisk play· ers off to the Innumerilble bonusst(.·
By shooting the bane! type objects found on each l~l, Spot collects special weapon upgrades that aid him in his quest. The most common power-up Is, simple )·way shot, but he can also acquire freeze shots, power shots and dynamite pac.lu that blow even the most Jtubbom obstacle. out of the lit,llke one'. path. Abo available ins ide bonus banels ale SpotDots and the occasional bad guy, so nay alert.
soon becomtsa very monotOrlOllStxperlence.
The mine urt lKtion is admittedly qUltt 8000 fun,bul~nthisbc-c:omnfruSlratin8;1S)'Ou
conlinuallyjustfailtomilkeiljumpyou couldn't qui\e see. It illso highlights t he inildeqUilCIeS of the level design. It'sstt ina mine, so there could be illl kinds ofchilsms,
drop-offs andwhilt·oot, but m the end it"s justmoll~of t hesilme'upilndright'lnOl(
tion on a de<idedly flat floor. Spot~toHollywoodjsnotjnthe
league of b,)dness .s some of the ,lIroc:/tieswe've ~ this month, but tooe's nothing about itthilt reollty leaps OUI ilJld grabs you by the th,oat, It Ioob reilSOll<lble, but is nowhere near the cutting
Wine
tdgt'.pt'obablyduetoitsint~minable~tlme.
I think thort IM is really what ~s thewholr game down. Spot is effectively now two or three years out of date, and developefSshouldsure!yhavehadtlmetodosomethlng about the OOpjlyconlrok and poor collision ck>t«tiOn which only add to the game's woes. tQd this game been ilSatumlaunchtitle.itwouldh_~uniquefor lhe
time, and would probably have been reviewed moJe sym· pal hetlally. As it Is, Spot Goes to Hollywood doesn't hold .c.ll'ldlelomofer«entlydrveloped software such IS Sonic 30. It's. nice try. but it's, bit on the lItesiM.
SEGASATURIIMAGAZI HE 13
1~ liJlfUIIj1II
IMEGAMAN X3 Capcom'sclassic platform hero has finally arrived on the Saturn in his first official release, but can Megaman really hope to recapture his 16-bit heroics of yesteryear? Find out NOW!
2
I V IRGIN
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;ap<om'S ffsurgencelnre(tntyea,sh ... , surtly been nothing short ofmlr;lCulous.
From J com p ... ny Ih ... beume compl.."en! by rtlt;aslng reholshed ,urbon copies of Its own successful Sheet Fight!!'r series to Its ,hum· lin~fl!'bjrth(duelnsome'mallpartlobothResldent
_ ' '''ARCH
Evil;andthal seIf Sil mefightingg,une s.erlfl)COiIp<om have managtd to relnvent themseives. FortunJtely. the mau market appeal of certain titln h'iI$enabltd
' .. peom to conUnu.e producing h n '..,\IOurite , ;amM for limited, rliehe marklth . Chief ;lmon8 these hu to be t h e M egOilm;a n serln(known InJapan;as Roc:kman),
popul,iIt for their colourful, urtoony g' ;lphiu, t eltlng
pl;atformilctlonJndover-the-topbosses. Now ulebrJtln. his tenth Jnnlverurywith the lor8~s Megilm.,n 8, Cilp<om's bionic: blue boy Is mak!nl his fint UK Saturn appeanlnce in Mqaman X) thanks to Vlrlin!nteract!ve(nterbin~nt.
TIltIbl!&at..,.ItIIMIrt/ttslhqlylltU_.,.II. Motl IN MUGE "rticalilorden ~ppIIfII tilt wee •.
Originally re!eased on the Super NES as t he third episode of the st<ond Rockmanseries, MMX]is set hundreds of years after Ihe NE5 series. X Is a future version of the original Megaman who was found in a capsule bya scientist named oruin, Using X's oIdVilnced design, Cain built highly IoOphistiatedrobolSlhatcouldthinkfor themselve'S and ca!ll!d Ihem "Reploids ·, Trouble ilrosewhen Replolds stilrted to turnagalnsthumanlty, lnordertostopthe droidsthat went 'M;werlck'a special police force was formed alll!d the, btlitw' it or not,Maverick HunttfS. The ieaMr of this fOKe, a Reploid named Sigma, went AWOl and later leold other Reploids In a full scale attll<k against humans, Xdecided to join the remaining Maverick Hunters, now led by a Replold named Ztro, in the fight againstSigma. In the first ba t·
tie against the forces of Sigma, Zeros.1criflCed himself to help Xdefeat Sigma and his fortes. A few years later, thr~ followers of Sigma formed the "X Hunters" in an attempt to destroy Xand bringSlgma back. The X Hunters had found all of Zero's parts and were attemptingtortbuildhim,buttheyn~ded Ztro's
(onlrol chipwhkh was held al Ihe Maverick Hunters' home base. X had to deful the I\CW r;Vills 10 felrltve Zero's parts, and then faced offonce again withSigma. After the destruction ofSlgma, the world once aga in btgan 10 relurn to peace. A Reploid scienlist, alled Or Doppler, found th at t he reason the Reploldswent maverick was due to a virus, which he man· aged to IsoIale ilnd neutralise. After Doppie(s discovery was put into U'll!, 'II!"o'I!ral powerful Reploids beame followers of Doppler and joined with him. Months Iiller, IoOmelhing went wrong and Doppler and his ilrmy It.llned Iffegutarfrorn the virus that Doppler supposedlyneutnllised. )(, now joined by Zero, set out once again 10 take uplhe fight...
It's not as if the Saturn can't han~le a few layers of parallax scrolling and ahandful of 2D animated characters so why the screen reduction?
eo"p"ll tk nrtt.t....... 1"1 tlct it'Q oftIMIIgIItrtlllllttl_SInIII.
74 SEGASATURNIItAGAlINE
IliJ"U'I"I ~1 -
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METAL HEADZ With any Mtgaman game, fans afe treateel to a host of new bon dlaracte rs each of which Is ~uipped with . unique but devasta ting weapon. In the original seri" the likrs of 8omb~ Fireman, Spikeman a nd other colou.rful Jobots made then first appeanrnce.
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While the 16-bit version of Megaman X3 was acompetent platform shoot 'em up it's my sad duty to inform you that the Saturn game is a bit of atravesty. PI~yefsguide
X th rough eight inoeaslngty toosh
platform·based levels, blauingfot's (wilh the aid of his powerful, arm-mounted XBusIer cannon), dodging tr.lp5 and attempting to m.lke it\ilklytoa roc:k-hard boss.
The32·bltvelsionofX3 is bilsiully a convelsion of the SUpel NES gilme with a few new touches added tojustify its lupto Saturn, Although identiul 10 Ihe oliginill SupelNESvelsion, Intelmsofgilme·
EilChbosslhenlilkeilheoffensMusingapre·deter-
play,animiltedinllo~uence-silndnewl-Oundeffe-cts
minedatt"'k~tternwhic:hmustbe~i~jfXisto
hive illso bttn added. These animilted clipsille plesented in iI classic Jilpilnese anlme style illthough the dubious qualilyofthis footilge unfoltu· niltelysets the lowstandilld fOI Ihe rest of thegilme While the 16·blt velsion of Megilmiln Xj WilS iI competent platform it's my ndduty to Infolmyou that Saturngameisilbilofatlavesty.Folil still there .lIe obtlusive bOlders Clopping the ilction.Whllethilt'scertillnlyafimiliilr sight in most UK siturn gilmes, In Megaman Xjthe screen is Clopped vertiulIyfol some ruson. Strilngely enough the PAL PlayStalion game only suffers flom minimal black bordels ilt the topilnd boltom of the screen, It's notilS if the Sill urn un't hilndleil few layl!rsof pilrilllilxsClollingilnda hilndfulof 20 i1nimilUd characlers so why the screen reduction I As Megamiln Xjh Intended logenerilted Interest
defeat them. Destroy a renq:ade robotaod yoo're granted that Replold'sparticul.r weapon. As with every sing~ ~gaman ga~,playen; are then a~IOiIC'6sthdl
lCCumulaledweaponsanduse{ertaln dtvicn to dispaUh specifIC foes. On<e the firsl stage Is completed,you're tnen free to liKkle eilch level in any order, At cerbin points Inthe game pla~ilreal~to ~witch between X and hisp;artner,Zelo.DeipitetneobYiouswilrdlobC' change,tnere'sreillly...erylittletodiff~ntiate
tne two chilr.Kters until speciill weapons ilnd armour i1re collected, Completing tne gilrrle is iI chal· lengeinitSl!lfbutleturnlngtoeachSlilge,dlsco...elinglts s-«rets and then USing those elctla device-s to open up othel IeYoeIsolddstothegilrrle'S longevity,
i1mongPSXandSalurnowner~foralruenextgenel
iltlon version of the series, why a re the re nOlruly Innoviltiveenh;aflcementsto whilt Is essefltiilllyiI straightforwilrdl6.bitportlThereillcrimeisthilt Virgin have decided toreleilse this sham ofa gilme Insteild oflhe glorious Technicolour pliltform delights of Megilman 8. As it is,lhls litle is strictly for serious fan s of the series only. PUTT
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SEliASAlURIIMAGAllllf 15
~~ SEGA SATUI<Nâ&#x201E;˘ tips Due to circumstance beyond our control, this month'stips section has been produced by the lovely Phil Dawson, official office gopher and the only person on the face of the planet who has managed to take the concept of the plunge neckline and apply it to the back of histrousers. So if you're stuck with a game or you need just one more life for completing that oh'so tricky level, then you know where to come. Send in your top cheats, codes and hints to: TIPS, SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE, 37-39 Millharbour, Isle Of Dogs, London, EI4 9TX.
TOMB RAIDER At last we have the first true Tomb Raider \Ip, ilnd ,t's a beauty. This cheat allows you to skip to any level in the game. While
playing. pause the game and gotoyour passport. Flip to the last page, then exit that page Press 2, Y, Z, X, X, X, St u t and youshouldheMilsound Now use theexll page as if you were leay,ng the game, Instead of going back to the title screen, I!
should show you thesneen for finishing that part,cular level.
Here we have some new codes for NBA Jam Elrtreme. Therearea lot more codes besides these to be found in the game so if you do find any then send them in Smiley Team To get the Smileyteam enter initials as MJTand enter the birthdayas Marchn. AII-St;lrTeam s Enteryourinitial5a5below AJI-StillrEast: (Team I) lMHJune 28 . (Team 2) EST Mardi '4 AII-Stillr West: (Team I) WST JUlyll. (Team 2) RMCApriI21 Super Sports Team Attheinilialsscreen('nter LAN~pte mb('rlo,
BisFeet At the Big Head screen, hold l eft while seletting Yes or No,
78
SUllSAlURNMAGAZINE
SONIC 3D BLAST After~allngthegamewlthall
seven Chaos Emeralds, go tothe Optioosscreenandhishlight"Start: Astage~lectwillappear,givingyou
access to fNery stage
VIRTUAL ON should be OlIble to selectJOlIguarilndl Ship Abduction
Aftcrbeatingthegame,waltfor the credits, and when t hey SUrt to Olffertnl Cllmeril AnglH Whileplaying.prcss X,Y, andZ olll
atthe ume time to get drfferent CilmCfililngles
seledJilluarilndi (Euy Way)
j
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roll,mOYethecontlolpOlldfrom
" LEFT to RIGHT A tiny ball of light soould shootilcrossthestilrS.ilndw~nyoul m~h
comes Into VICW ill ship will
zoom by.la~e your mech, ilnd fly to the blue planet with It
At th e Title screen, press DOWN,
L,andR toselcctJaguarandl
we'vejustrecelvedlhemissioncodesfor~ry
RIGHT, A. NeKt, ilt the title screen, press UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, A + START. Highlisht
any of Elliot's drCClms. then press X,Y,Z, Y,X,5TART. StartthtdrCilm.~useyour
gilme,iJndpo'e5s RIGHT, A.LEFT,
LEFT, Y, START. L.astly,collect SO crystals, and jump (or press START if you're NiGHTS) tf entered correctly,a debug menu should appear.
level ,n IhlseKCellent game. so If you're hilvmghilvmg hassles with some stages why not Simply skip overtheml GO.: Globill Defence Inltliltlve ........................................ OBKoS'7WS ...................................... A6MG£HMBT ........ TG001AM61 .......................................... OB'8JIOAJ .... ...................................... LCTl60o)P ..........••. 8KYJ6Q1CO ••.•..••..••..••...•...••...•....•.. OSKUUI(6HX .•.••..•..•..•..•......•..•. WW44HWIA) .................................. oZW05JT)T .................................... WWMVVNVXP .....••. 4l1 R1 '6JQ .•••..••..•••..••..•••..••.••••.• 4l1"HJOW ......................................• OQRUA ZS8W .................... UYVoXP6)M ......•. EQRGN1JXS .......................................... XofJIE1SF ••..••..•..••..••..••..•...•..••..••..•. 6M7UHS1PM ......•.. 6 M 7CBJFJS ...................... WHoQI1401 ........................................ OOGYNAGT7
••..••..••..••..•..••. WW44 YSETB Mission) .••..••..•••.••..••.. 1IE)P5360 MISSion 4 ••..••.••.••..•• HPYBF)NEG MISSions ...................................•• BPH8RP1GF Mission 6 ......................................... jLXGVRRHl Mission 1 ................ 8KGA1PCRK MissionS ................................. ESBoFWYER Mission 9 ............................... OTLT6IECJ MiSSlon,o. . .............................. M8)408JPR MISSIOn n ................................ oGERBWS)T Mlsslon'2 ................................... WWM04TooK M,ssion'3 .................................... SCUHO) BTQ Mlssion'4 ......................................... ZGoWCIT)O MISSion,s •..•...•...••.. RCG4YTSWJ Mission,6 •.•.. KSSYXSKOS Misslon'7 .............................. ZGIHQUAJHO Mission,8 ............................. J8E)GHWHU MisslOfl'9 ............................... K8APBKA8G MisslonlO • •••••••.•••.. C4QXXVM1M ••..•••..•• ••.•••..•••.•••..•••..••.. Wf4S'XoIW .......................................... RXlAVC10T MisslOn2) ••..••..••..••••..•••..••..••..••..••..••. 1ISI(.OE6Z ......................................... VH001YP1S
SEGASATURNMAGf.ZIN[ 11
thIrty .ound clips like the olher~ and d.ops e"eml~~ wIth a s"'gleshol ThlsdOl'~nt fife a qUIckly althe Assault RIfle whIch I~ as good The slow .ate olllle meanlthatammOlss.lved In theory If you do pIck up Ihls ...e.lpon.lwhotelevelcouldbecompleledJud us",gth,sgun lust don t mIss the t.lfget
PUMP ACTION SHOTGUN Illght hand ove. the mh o. someone gets hu.11 The Sholgun I~excellent fOft.lk ongdown multIple t.lfgeh [.lchroundf"edspreads out whIch me.lnSJ g,ol.lpoftwoo.th.ee enemIes can be kIlled at atlme Ilsnotwl~etousetoopen fife on enemle~ that ale standIng ne~1 to hostages as they WIU be kIlled as well Alsotheleloadltmels slow so makesule you lake covel The best way of us"'gthe sholgun IS to take cove. behond a w.llI th~n use the '011 bullon and open fife then qUICkly ,oll back to s~fety
4. EXPLOSIVE SHOTGUN Oh my gawdfathels. thIS Il the kICk asswe.Jpon ",theg.Jme One shol c.Jn take out ten m~n ThIS awt"iome gun [~n take out enem"~s
9. suun PROOf VEST (In(eM((Jafl(>obl.lI~Ihl'YI.'\I helslendefedl"",ncible
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colour Once the badge'tums ~the vrst Iws worn oul
The first game to employ Gapcom's new GP-System III arcade board, Red Earth is yet another 20 beat 'em up, but this time ~'s a b~ different. SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE pulls on ~ collective fighting trousers to investigate.
11
hilethelonglwaltedStrfftl'lghtet lilts ,UlI fOmt way away, Capcom's .&lD department han not bftn d.ddng off. Its latest crution iI the CP· --...- ,_
System JJJ board, essentially I CD·ROM powered beut capable of luper Imooth animation, wild Ipritt mlnlp\llatlon eHed,and some fancy loomlnll on the lidt. So afttr recent dlvtrllonllnto the action (Resident Evtl) and p\lule (Puule Flllhter) lIerues, what game has Capcom developed to show oH It, new pleet of IdU Another beat 'em \lp. Tilt, typical. But hold on. because Red Earth [s not 'just anotherbtat·tmup·. Sureitlooksliktabtat·em up. and plays like one too. but Red Earth Is dlHtrtnt from the rtst btcause It Incorporatts elements from agenrtatthtothtrtndofthegamingsptctrum. tht RPG. Only four characters. detailed elsewhere in th.i, feature. are stltctable. and in theont playtr Qutst Modt they have tight advtls.arie5 to deftat btfo rt the game iscompltted Unusuallyforabtat·emup.thtseltctable characters don't fight tach othtr In Quest Mode. Insttad they all have a ptrsonal rtason for taking on the might of the Evil Empire. which is trying to taktover the world. After tach fight, howwellyouptrformedtranslatts
acter's unique spedal attack, wlUch Is accessed by two fireball motions and a punch, and the other
method Is to dlllW on the power of the _
orb !tstlf, wh ich products the same .""::.-........-;,,, result which ever character you are
using, and is invoked bya backwards fl reball motion and all three punch buttons. This In troduces a tactical element Inlobat· ties, as you cannol rtlyon chuslnga Super gau8t to pull off Supers and, In two player hil ttJes at leilst, you Ciln prevent the ot her player from collecting orbs by nicking therna llforyourself.
PASSWORD PROTlCTlOK a certain amount of experience points have betn amassed. your character', rank is also Increased. up to a maximum of Itvel p .
MYSTlCMlG UktthtmajorityofCapcom·srKtntbtat·tmups. Red Earth contains sptctatul,u Suptr movts. This time. howeve r. they don't rely on pulling off standardsptcial movestochargtupa Super gauge. Insttad.yourcharacttrcolltctsMysticOrbs from cratts that randomly apptar In tht playing area. SlxtyptS of orbs (firt , ice, thunder. poison. wind and earth) art available. and allhavt
Considering that players can power their characters up way beyond their basic attributes. it would be a bit of a pain If you had to start ilgaIn at ltvel ont IN'I!ry timt you played. Fortunately. Red Earth USH iI unlqut password system. so you can continue from where you left off. At the end of IN'I!ry game you art givtona numerical password. which can then bt re~ntered at the start of a new game. The only problem with this system is remembering an eight figwt password, so be swt to takt a Biro down to the arcade with you.
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(AlOVE UFTI ,,,.. futlltk: ..lrlyback&l'Vlladllrtoni1po,IIbllwi"tMCP-Systl.. lllboan!.H.,.. . ... [U.. llpowtrl..
IphrltalldanlS.ptraUact. (AlOVER1GMTllslS..I.c..pcOlll'llrtJuICOII[d.'trtli,taf.. II'lItllit_Pl.\JPotI.
92 S£(llUTURNMAGAZIIIE
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hcitiJII intermiulon shots herl as hllii hill ~ golMl chat.
» QUEST MODE The actual mechanics of the Quest Mode differ slightly from most beat 'em ups , For a start, your character has twoenersy bars, whlle yOUIOPpo' nen,'sstretchesacrosstheentirelengthofthe screen. If you are defeated and choose to continut' , your adve rsary continues with Ihe amount of en er· gyil had left when you were killed, lfyou win. your energy is replenished depending on how well you fought , so if you did badly, expt'ct 10 start the next roundwilhatinysliceofenergy. Playerscancollect extra lives and Mystic Orbs during ftghls and these are de!ivered via crates, which appear randomly on each stage. Pull off a spec1acular attack, and extra experience poinb may also be yOUIS for Ihe taking There are eight monsters 10 defeat to win the game, the ftrst four are the initial nemeses of each selectablecharacters, and are fought ina different order depending on who you choose to play as. These first four monsters are Kongou, a mutant ninja who is also in the employ of Kenji"s master: Lavia. a harpy who was responsible for the destruction of Mai ling's village: Hydron, an octopus-like creature who is threatening the inhabitants ofTessa's home town and Hauzer, a giant dinO$aur left behind by the e mpire to rule over Leo's country. Aft er this you tackle Ravance, a four-head ed Sphinx based ina stage resembling Ancient Egypt. thenGiGi a Stone Idol, whose homelsa crypt on the Eastern continent, Finally your quest leadsyoutoa f]oating island,where youwiJI encounter a fearsome, and • extrem elywell·arm ed, robot. and Varuda. an old
Two player battles are much more conve ntional,being fought over three rounds with just one energy bar. The Mystic Orb system remains the same, but Ihe re are no experie nce points or life· ups to worry about. Disappointingly, it appears that onlythefourone-playercharac.
..,. ~.. . ~:e~~::~;b:~~~eti7~'~:::~ playing the awesome boss charac· ters, but ifit exi$ts it hasn't
BOARD GAME The CP-System 1II is roughly four times as pow· erful as the old CP·System 11 board. The new hardware can handle 256 colours per sprite, and with a total OfSI2 colour palettes. that means it can display up to 32,768 coloutS on-screen Backgrounds can have upto five levels of line scrolling, and the amount of data that can be slored on the board ranges from 772Mbit to 12ooMbi\. Compared to the 322Mbit available on CP-System n. you can see why the new board has the capacity for such smooth animation. As well as Red Earth, Capcom has developed Street Fighter IJ] for its new board, but beyond this. otherCP·SystemlIltitleshaveyettoberevealed.
niqllllud IRertlled
attrilJ.utllafllll(l~rovidld.lfYG~'1"t
lueky,JoYlllayIIM&alnfls.]stanceloclrt~jnlttaeks!
94 SEG.l.SATURNMAGAlINE
Thl character stlect Km" In all ils &loll. I1 tb.flachnt toplaythelllnststhoup?
T.III a. the offeul" ~aln, Jiwin! Malllns Mlllllblnslo I~ink abGyt with tbe IcIS~Plr. That's a pIIwer-up crat, by Nal lIn... fett-uM a low Iltlck!
TESSA A beilutiful witch studying everything there is to know ilbout Super Milgic. Her weapons ilre magical, ertilted by her own hand. She Is iI milster of Ice magic, and her most powerful moves involve firing deadly sptars of ict' ilt ht'r oppont'nl. As Tnlil bÂŤomt's mort' powt'rful. she gains the ilbility to pull off some of her moves !n the illr. LEO A bendict'nt king whose Iilnd wu ovt'rron by the Evil Empire. A curse was placed on him. giving him the body of a beast. so he is fighting to regain not only his eountry, but also his humanity. He is ilrmed with a sword and shield, and ilS he risn through the levels his weapons ,u t' upgraded. Although Leo Is quilt' slow, most of his special attacks are based onduh moves. His default Myrtlc power Is Thunder.
KENn Leader of an ancient clan of nlnJa. Ken;! Is fighting to protect the Tokugawa dynasty. He co~a1s many weapons about his person, Including lmtves and a length of chW which ht' uses iI$ a whip. ~ you power him up. Ken;lls ablt' to perfonn ilnother type of super Jump In addition to deadly new moves.. His standard MysticOrb type Is Poison.
MAl tIHG A young. gifted martial artist whose home town was destroyed by the Empire. She wears fJamlng rings on her legs which act as her weapons. She seems to have the least new moves to learn as you power her up, but she is able 10 dash In the aIr when you reach Level Ten. Mal Ling Is the smallest and fastes l character, and has Fire Orbs by default. WHEN'S IT OUT Wel: tf'<:hnically, Red Earth Is out now. We've seen it in ilrcadn around London. ilnd II won't be long bf'fore you'Ubf' ilbJe to play 11 aUove r the country. ThepossibilityofaSaturnverslonJookshighly unlikely as Capcom has alrtildy stated that no home systt'm can handle the power of the (PS III boilrd. The fact that the Silturn version of Milrvel Super Heroes has suffered Vilriou$ delilYs does not bode well for a home conversion of Red Eilrth ilny time soon. Considt'rtng tht' power of the CP-System Ill, ilny home version would bf' severely compromised In terms of animation. ilnd some sprite effects which the Saturn just eilnl hilndle. Bul fear not. ifthe Satumcan't do
SEGASATURII MAGAZIIIÂŁ 95
by the PC press, combining the gore and !oOme of the actlOfl of Doom With the
GRID RUN
ptrhapsGridRunlstooslmpleforlts own good After all, you dIdn't sptnd upwards of £200 to play games like GrId
Virgm Interactive Entertainment are to be credited for at least trying somethmg different with Gnd Run At the heart of the game IS an extremely simple concept.thatbe,ngto"capturetheflag" and not belT 8aslcally, there's a number
l/:un,desplteitsfairlyimpresslve]O vlsuals.Thetwo-playermodeisawelcome addItIon, but to be honest, it's not that much more exclt mg than the solo mode, which is a good indica t ion of how good the CPU artificial intelligence IS
of flags to get, with your opponent's task bemgto get the flag off you (if you
Overall,Grid Run is a nICe attempt at trymg somethmg different and
have It). It's all very slmple,one-on-one stuff.lt'seJC\remelyslmple,yttSlfangely comptllongAndlt'sprettycheaptoo, whICh isn-t too shabby
although ItS simpliCity is probably its greatestvlftue(leadmgto!oOme amountofgammgeltCltement),it'sal!oO the best reason why it's not really worth
BY YI RGI N [lU91~
The bottom hne IS though that
advenlureeMptrllSethalOnglnhave conllnuallydlsplayed Wett, that was OOvIOUSIy the tdea Unfortunately, this merging of Ideas hasn'\ really pa,d off. To Oegln wlth,by Saturn standards the graphics In Crusader are absolulely monstrous There's nothing here that the Megadflve couldn'tdoandfvecertamlyseensuptIn termsofeMc ltement and visu al panache, Andrelll's no t so cool and the PAL translation is fla key (make IhatVlftuallynon-existent). That's probably the worst thing about Andre\ti.Still,Wssmootherthanthe PlayStation version, which always goes down well in our books Not essentlal,but certainly 00 disaster,lhiS is a credllable fA release whichbodes~lIfOffuturetltles
your money.
CRUSADER: NO REMORSE
rlorscro!hngonthe.6-bltmachine-the Jerky mess we have here just Isn't good eoough_PC converSIOn or not The
TILT!
EA are definitely on the right track by
Salurn's 20 prowess IS crlmlnillly underusedhere even the full-motlonvldco IS
You might ootlCe that the overall ratmg
BYlI[~_99 ~
gettmg Origm (the western world's adventure game exptrts) to brmgthelf wares onto IheSaturn. The Ultima 5eneslsflghtlycelebratedasoneofthe best RPG seflesever to hit PC S(feens Crusader No Remorse was also hailed
~~Vil~M.rRIIE :e~::::cri;:::~~;o~~'!~s:=s
.
1
\ finally seen fit to continue that excdlence on I , the next leneration machines, with the Selll Saturn BettinB the but venlonl WhIch ls prrity coolehreaden? So what's the duJ then? Well, basically Soviet Strike continuet the lameplly prlndplet elt.bUshM in previeUll Strikes_ The difference is that this Saturn Bame dOH everythlnB fa much better with more weapons and fu, fu superior BJlIphlc._The "photo-realistic" vUuah really a.re rtunninB to behold and there are fame awefOme explosion. and what-not to appr«late _The ovelllllook h excel1ent - In fact, the only downer ls the quiJity of the KJollinB, B«ause of the dynarnk loadlnl horn the CD, the scrollinB suffers horn a pretty low frlme Jlte and dire scroWnl, Still, the sheer excellence of the Blrneplay more than mikes up for It_ EA have alsodone us proud with. fairly decent PALcoltftnlon, but more to the point, they have cleaned lip all of the problems the l'b.yStation version had. 'J"he larnepiaybalance has betn Improved. there ue some super-weapons to find, plus there', . lenerallmpJOYement In the ~ of tidiness, It', all Yety ImpJeHM, Overall, the KrolUnl it inttatinB, but everythlnB elH about the Bame that Is SovIet Strike it pure class, That beln, the cue maybe YOII should jUlIt 10 Ollt and buy It eh1
ootpart'wlariy.mpressrve On Ihe ptus s.de, there's plenty of game for your money and the adventure ,uelf,squlteenlerlalnlng, if a lad lackInglntheVi.fletyarena This Isn't particularly the Oest entrance from Qrigln,part,cularly as t he same company has been responsible for some gaming epics sl)ch as Wing Commander,Pr,vateerJandUl t lma,all of whICh would have been far more welcome than this dlsappoinlmgeffort
MARIO ANDREllI RACING
BY [J[~,99'~
When it comes to racing games, Saturn owners can'\ really go wrong After all, wlth good converSions of Oaytona USA and Sega Rally Championship (along With a most promising conversion In the form of ManMnSuperbl~e)lnthebag_for
!oOmethlng 10 come along and seri, ouslylmpress us Is a demanding propoSItion MarloAndrettlRacmgactually has a lot golns for It The 3D, illthough lacking IndeUil in some areas, is very smooth and the wealth of tracks available Is very, very impresslve The usual EA Sports present ational frippery is beyond compare too, wl l h t heoptlon t ojustaboutcompletely redefine your car bein g most welcomelndeed,Addacholceoflndy Car and NASCA R vehicles and you have a potentially deep simulation Gameplay-wise, Marlo Andreni Is prettyplayableLikeallgoodracing games,ltta~esafalroldwhlletoget
the measure of the handhng, but what the game offers is solid entertainment.
9BS£GASAlURII/ilAGAZtll{
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forTilt1 has decreased a httle since last month_ ThiS Isn't down to any revetilllGn about the game-s quahty,more todo with a d,fference in opinion Paul Glancey was ~II impressed w,th this, butl (Rich) have to admi t that pmball
gamesjust don't turn me on, With all of the 30 (and indeed 20) power at the Salurn'sdlsposal,ljust th.nk that someIhlngmoremventlveandentertalnlng coold issue forth from Virgin Admittedly, pmball slmulallOfls don't really get that much more entertaininglhanlhis. ThereahsticdynamlCS are pretty impreSSive With the ball actua!1y moving and ricochetmgJust like the real thing. The range and content of the tables themsetves is also pretty cool Thethmgis,though well,the Saturn isa videogames machine. As far as fm concerned that shouldoptnupa whole new aren a of pot ent ial for thiS gen re.Ta ~e Mega driveDevIlCrash(or
Oragon's Fury as it was known Inthe UK}. That m anaged 10 successfully mlK videogames elements wit h the skill of pmball and ptr!oOnallyl rank that as Oeln l! sl,Iperiortoth,s. If realism Is really what you want, I'd recommend sptnding a couple of quid on a Vi.rlety of tables aVi.ilable at)'Our local arude rather than layoul f15 for this
DIE HARD ARCADE
BY SEGA [44.9980%
Hmmmm, .. Here's a game tha t's gOing tocal.lsesomecontroversy YOI.l see, Die Hard Arcade looks hke being oneof the Satl.lln's finest hOl.lrs when yOI.l first bootl.lpthemachineThegame'sbasi· cally Streets of Rage in 3D bl.lt with even more Ol.ltrageol.ls fightrng action. It lookssl.lperb,thel.lpdateisverysmooth and the overall playability is excellent.
Thegamereallyisbrllliantfl.lnWhat sets this apart from Streets of Rage and its lDbrethren is the effort that AMI havepl.lt rntothecontrol method. They have sl.lccessfl.llly melded aspects of Virtl.la Fighter into the basic Final Fight style of gameplay, meaning that the biggest challenge the game offers is masterrngthe myriad lethniql.les.Also,
there are several different moves avail. able depending on whatYol.l're c;mylng inyol.lr hands, which again increases Ihe game's opportl.lnities slill fl.lrther The big problem is laslabilily. For a start, the actLJallength of the game is disappointingly short, This wOl.lld be all right were It not for the amOl.lnt of credits given,pll.ls the bonl.ls game's propenSity to hand Ol.lt scores of e~tra credits (this Deep Scan arcade conversion is cool, bl.lt It jl.lst limits lastability even fl.lrther). Some game modes to play as the meanies wOl.lld have been cool, bl.lt really Die Hard Arcade needs e~tra stages· even novice garners can blast their way thrOl.lgh the entire game in less than hOl.lr and apart from discovering the As It is, what we have is a Sl.lpremely enjoyable bl.lt short·lived game, The real challenge probably is to getlhrol.lghon one cred,t,It'sjl.lsta shame the game throws so many at y01.l1 Even a HARD difficl.llty setting wOl.lld have been apprecrated. bl.lteven this is missing from the game, hamperinglastabilitystillfl.lrther Die Hard Arcade IS a clear indrc3' tlon that some games work far better as cOin·ops and regardless of the ql.lality of the conversion need major work to be
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DIE HARD TRILOGY
BY EA £44,999{1%
This game was a massive success on thePlayStation and Probe Software have finally got around to completing the Saturn rendition of this hugely popular title. As you can gather from the title, this game sue· cessfully brings the action and ucltement of all three Die Hard films to theSatum. Die Hard Is a decent, 14 level exct1ulon into the skysc raJN!r headquarters of the Nuatomi corporation. this is decent Fade to Black style action, albeit with huge blasting overtone-s, which is asit should be. Die Harder Is soUdly entertaining Virtua Cop style action. Ofcourse, this Isn" a patch on theAM2 games, but It's certainly a worthy addition to the pack. Finlshlng off the "thrillogyH is DieHard with a Vengeance, a driving game through the streets of New York (although there's a distuzbing lack of skyscfilJN!U' haven't the programmers even see n NY1). Still, this Is probably the most entertaining episode of the lot as you track down various bombs and generally cause much road·based havoc. With all three games on a singie CD,it's diffiruit to avoid recommending this title. Yes, it's a bit jerkier than the PlayStation version (a shame Probe couldn't match the quality of the Alie n Ttilogy port) but the fun and excitement remains and thai 's what is important.
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SEGASATURNMAGAZINE 97
Introducin ...
DIGITAL DANCE MIX Somlptopltlrlvltwln,DIJlI.t OIIltI MI••• 5OmlkllldoflHlnch"11i;1I10whttht VU chlrlCll rlCould look Ilu, lilt whatlfth. carl uPVldl rvmoura I" tNII ... ~
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:t . U Su!uir.i', concept title fOJ the Saturn hit Japantst shelves in uTly January an d as expected, It's well... a bit weird. For a start, there 's no point at all callinl Digital DOlnc!! Mix a ~ gamt!~ as such - try Virtual Music Video and you 'll be closer to the mark. The centrepiece of Digital Dance Mix is the]O rendered vemon of Japanese pop siren Na mie Amuro · AMl have creOllted a high resolution 3D model of the Singer and ilnimated her wLth some ucellent motion upture, all al a supe r- smooth 60 frames per second. The result looks lovely ind ~d. with extra ilnimation provided by some 10 polygo n da ncers mimicking her movements In the ba ckground . lm:identally, a great deal of the look of the video can be cus tomised . The re are a few different Amuro costumes 10 choose fr om (Ihe colou rs are a lso selecta ble). along wilh a choice of background s a nd such a nd such. You can zoom In 'I.nd out to your h ea rt 's content and spin a round the action as much as you want-. which Is ju st as well considering that there's li tt le else todo In Digital Dance Mix. The re are a few mlnl·games for you to examine (see the releva nt screenshot sl, but in the end Dance Mix Is spectacularly without point. unless you're rully In Namle Amu ro, and sa les of over 100,000 in Japan would seem to Indicate that the ma rket does exist. This is a pretty brave idu for Sega of Japan but at around the equivalent of £20, this Virtual Pop Video is very expensIVe considering what it offe rs. But what !fthe VPV was given away "free- as part of, say, a CD single? Who knows? Digital Dance MIx may well pave the way for a new use for Ihe Satum. As it i$, YuSuzukihasn'tgrvcnuponhlSCUlTent concept yet - next in line for lapan~ consumen is a Digital Dance MIx volume 11, featuring Sarah and Pa.i from Virtua Fighter! Nnnargh!
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I wish to dedicate myWl'J'lifttotnemonthiyperiocical known as SEGA SATURMMAGAZItE. To thatendll"eqlft youto ~putlt aside" on lmontHy basisandkeepltlnpristineCOlKitlon. You hearmePGood. llIar*p.
NAME ADDRESS