No4 Feb96

THE

SEGA

SATURN

MAGAZINE

Can you make split second decisions?

Sorry, too late.

One of the jets displayed on your radar screen is an RAF Tornado interceptor.

Should it identify, engage or destroy its target? It's your call.

You'r~

working so closely with the.-

Tom~do

crew (har you fed you're in Iht" cockpit ",uh thcm. Their lives

~r("

dependent upon the spt'"t"d

~nd ~CCUr.lcy OfYO UT Judgement.

Because.- in ~ contliel Slu,uuon Ih~rC' uc no

Iccond ch:mc('$. We're dl'scnbms [he work of Fight.'r Controllcrs - th., ~y.'S o( Ih ... RA F Using 5tale~of~lh ... ~art rJdar NluIp"'~nt, Ihey playa vital rok OpnJlmg 0"'" o( Ih.· most adva"c~d

Ju

defenc~

systems

111

Ih,.. world.

Or at 30,000

(Cl't

on hmrd

RAFs lat{'"S! advanced

l

w~mmg

Sentry E • .11). thl'

Controlll.'T, the nme

aIrcraft.

you r first doxiSion.

Cont~CI

ObVIOusly. u's a Job that dc:mands Ilt"rvf",

skIll and n,<,m.l ag'hty. H owevcr. we don't cxpcn

h~s COIllt"

for rou to nuke

your local R"F CJreers Infonnation

Office or simply tC1ephOZl(' us on OJ45 300 100

}'OU to he up-Io-spet-d from day one.

Which u why you·1I rt"<:elV.· Ill< months of Ih.· mOSt thorough trJlrllng lIllagmablo:. Som., you·1I do 0"

rophlstlcJttd IIIod.'rn 5ul1ulJlon.

th., f.'SI you·1I do for r~al.

Until (mally you'll (md yoursdf thmkmg

T hi s could be dn'p underground m an Ops

(aSin than you would han' though! posslbl.,. If.

room , O r as pan of a moblk tacllcal radu Imll

by now. you·re mtne<lrd III b,'commg a Fight"f

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WWF WRESTUMANIA NFlFOOTBAU SHEUS/IOCK

BUMIMACIIINEHEAD

WING ARMS

RFASOCCER CORE'SGOlF JOHNNY BAlOOKATONE TOH SIIN DEN CYBERIA CASPER mE FRIENDLY GHOST D'S DINER TRUEPINBAU US GOLD'SGOlF

• •

Winloodsinthisnewcompol

V1RTUA RG/fTER 2 MASTERCUSS Advanced techmquesfOlVf2 milstersl

•

SEGA SAT\JRN

88

SHOWCASES DARIUS

38

Oulus? Sorry, did you say Darius? Oh okay then. Yep, Darius Is

Saturn bound, ud Is currently lolnl throulh a playtesting proc:tdure before It's released to a UK udlence. We put the Iilme through Its paces and explain why It's still a brilliant shoot 'em up even after ilil these yeus.

SEllA RAllY SECRETS/ INTBIVIEW

42

Last month we gave Vlrtua Cop the tlpplna treatment, and this month Segill Rally leh a thorough 80ln8 over. Discover how to Btt the Stratol car, mirror mode, the secret liIkeslde track ilnd many many more secrets, plus an Interview with lurus AM3 - who reveal their thoughh on the complete venion of Segil Rally.

D'SIHNER

46

Released over three months illo In Japan, the English version of 0 hin finally been completed, ilnd luckily, Is every bit as macabre as its Japanese counterpart. A well.respeded doctor h~s killed several

of his outpiltlenh ilt the loc~1 hospitill, ilnd his Is left to unrilvel the mystery thilt he behind. Whilt could h~ve driven him

DARK STAlIERS/ S1RE拢T FIGHTER AIPIIA C~pcom hne iI whole hod of ,ilmesllned up for relene In ',6, ilnd In ilddltlon to X路 Men: Children of the Atom, there's both Streetfl,hter Alph~ ilnd Dilrkltillken 2 - ~II shilplng up to be top-notch titles. We bke ~ look ~t the pre路reluse venlons of these ,ilmes ilnd shed some Ii,ht ill to whilt you cu expect from the flnlsh~ venlons.

FEATURE

60

Whilt do you think of Se,iI's TV ~ds this yurl Old you like the ilnclent Plrilte TV ~ds more, or were they Just munln,len drivel? Whilt ~bout ilds from different countries such as the US ilnd Jilpilnl Would you prefer theml Well, here's the ch~nce to choose as we give you the chilnce to see every Iilst one of 'em In this ,Job~1 vlllil,e-type future thin,.

well ,n development ~rsiOns of Manx TT, Virtual On and Virtu'] Cop}. Plus. there's plentyofthlrdpartysoftwaretolookfo~rdto,suchasx.~n.AJienTrilogy,

Mar'Ye1 Superheroes, Magic Car~ Streetfighter Alpha, Oarkstal~er5 2 -the list Is Of course, )«I ColO guarantee thai we'\1 bt, (!Nering all these products In·

endl~sl

depth ovtr the next few months. which Is...my if you're Interested in Saturn ga~ this is the only migaline you'll ever need to bur In the meantm'le. take it look OJ! the awesome Panzer Drasoon 2 (page 30) - it's little more than 20" complete and is already looking absolutely amazmg -Just one of the reasons why buying oil Saturn is the right choke for anyone With

SONI

more than Just a fleeting interesl in games. hm Hlckm,n, Editor

REVI~

utaWaYlh OSeS UICldenotes, TtlilheQueentoslOPblUbbing,Sonl(isbackl The irrefu!ilble proof comes In the shape ofa new coin-oplhal Sega'sAM2 h;llvc started work on, but the surprising thing is that it's a beat 'em upl Stillintheveryeartystagesofprogramming,thecoin-opisdueforrelease In the summer, with a Satufl'! release a few months after that .

Most of the original Sonic team are responsible for the projed, and Head developtrYuSuluk l has also been drafted in to help the team. Ina recentlnt er",iew In the Japanese Sega Saturn Magnine, prodlKer of Sonks I, ~ a nd), Mr Nab admitted, ~ I couldn't th ink of Sonic as a fighting game and ~s worried whether he could really fight with his short hands and big head. But Mr Yu encouraged me .

- We have made a number of Sonic wortu and the sprite we have used ~S6 patterns of animation. I wa s amned at how smoothly Sonk moves. We were delighted . At the early development stage, I felt that If my Impression was so good, and Mr Yu was happy, then _ need ha...e no more worries.·

P

Mr Oshima added, - Sonk Is an utremely simple design, but this makes It verydlfflcult. hen many professional lIIusirators couldn't get It right . So when I sawSonkmD'llng, lwas really th rilled. I feel that the punches and klctu are"'ery welldone-theylookreallstlc.Although AMa haven't decided exactly which characters will go Into th e final game, Sonic and Tails will both appear, and there will be one or two new cha racters to dlKO'It!r too. In Mr Nab's own words, ~ I wanted the Sonk world to upand - that 's why I made this particular request. Originally, there were many designs for Sonic himself, Oshima as Sonic, Yamaguchi as Tails, Yuh as KnlKkles,

. ,.

" At present we ha...e the besl staff and are woriling on the best action game, thou.hyou may not quite undershnd this!"

Incldentally,youcanflndmoreKrHnshotsofthlstitlelnourcoin-ope~ted

s.ection on paael6.

A Saturn Sonlcprojedhuals.obftn undertaken, with Mr Oshima (the creator of the original Sonic the Hedgehog) heading the development team. The final game will Ire released under Ihe name Team Sonic, and could be based around th.eorlglnal.ame, but with souped upglilphlcs and a)D perspective. MrOshima commenled," We hope to surprise you again as with the fint Sonic. We fHllt will It will be effective, so you can look forward to something goodl "

• • . , S EGA SArur.N

UK GETS BEST RALL CONVERSION In th~ PQst, ~9Q Euro~ Iwvr bull somtwhot gulffy 0/ bringing convmionJ of gllmn to tilt UIC fhll! wrrt:n', qultt up to urateh. DGyfono USA IWIS 0 ~rfrct

uompk. But, In tt{l1ft! months, thl"g' h~ toletn tI tum for tht knIt. It ~tmJ only 100" (Hrjtct co"~,,lotIJ wl// do from /tOw on, and till' is mort than t1fidtnt In tht convrnlorl1 of both VlrluQ Cop and Virtu" Fight" J. But, what's ~tn bnttr is thot UK Smutll Dill/ilIff hOllt bun ",mId to tht "try bflt Rolly convtrJlon, 'u II rt:sult ofw"I1/"9 "ftw tJttro wtth Qftrr Christmos to rte,/vt tht tltl,. YIp, whllt US ownt" haW! thtfinIJhtdbut·/10f-qultt IfttJlon on Jolt, UK and J"iXlntSfownt"hQvt~t"trtQttdto

fht finQ/ Jouptd-up vtrsion

0/ tht

Tw.IookIlIlll~lIt1MfoI'IIttrlck.

lof4IlIl*IPIrIjr,IIt IUndiIr8 iI/"OIIIId,"

gomf. What uoct/y dOf!J 01/ thl, mta"?

Wtl/, htrr'saqulckrundown ...

"" .......... tlltroruttnelilllf'll;t,J .....,..OIItIllUSl'll'llolltlltallJ.bll..1Dotl T\wt'Ijl!ltlOdIlaIOIlIidIrllMtrIcL

,

"

UKE TO MOVE IT!

....

WhenqueslionedCNeflheilctual movemenlsoflhechilracters{in Ihes..lurnlitleJ,MrNakilwasalso confident for the finill result s. "The poses are illreildy terrific And almost a!l the people IrMlIved with Sonil:sofararehnedup,solthink l could show you some graphks whichyouwoo\dn'tbtl\eYeposs,ble on the Saturnl" Mr SUlukiildded " That's good 10 heilrl" Withilny lucl:. we'!I be able to brrngyou fTlOfe news of thIS g.me next month, when fTlOfe firm del.illlshilYebeenset

nit II III, Mala. tile prMKtt If SoIrIt. ..... .. w,IrIy ~lhltlMr_TIUlSo.k pI'1jtct 1I 1IItk.... law laW. tr.o..r.

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S EGASATURN

• •

Afttrhlsdtbl,lt..oJOl,lrnontothtSatl,lrn,Bl,Iglisb<l<kina stqutl <l,Irrtntly I,Indtr developmtnt In AmtnCa ThtOflglnalBl,Iglwasdamnlol,lghandbyatlaccountsthtstqutl Istoo.Thtdtvt!o~rshavtstuck

vtryclOstly to tht familiar Bugl formula although obviously tht puzzles will vary and tht gamt will bt polishtdupabllWt-1i kttpyouposttdontht progressofBugl2so t~pe:cttdlosttsomtin-

dtpthCl:lYeragtonthlstltltlntl'ltl'ltar fl,llult

• •

wi"

","'I tllt ..p tilt buic posit_ .,.. .... nt"lMCIlIIMtr ..de It conI.

, . S EGA S ATUR N

M. MIIitOntI_iII&IItIlMtItCl"UlIun II Itll poll • .,.. • tM ript-Wlller_

TkII lItuouullWaM.W.,tMt,ttI Imrqe 11mb tM 111'11_

SoIH ••Ili.. iwukl.. • lilt M-btId IUbiuJoliltl .. lllallliIIlPIM_

Vi ON THE MOVEl A ntw vtNlon oftht Xltllrn wtnton soltln thttorlyport of O«tm~r

In Jopon. CreOftd In conjunction with Hltochl, tht ·Comt

and No'll Hi·Sorum" is Q smo/~r Saturn with 0 cor nc1Vigotion functkxt.

Sfondord wftwort from cor navigation ,ompon~ In Japan can bt usci WIth fM JyJttm and rht moch/~is txp«ttd to bto gftOt JOCUSl No pJonJftxoUI(~ltost,butt~rhat'JfIOtJurprislngrrolly.isitl

Death

Expectt.... _ oftlwM 'ComlptJott ofu.. ,0111'1,' .tormslMaclln.thl._,_. wtt,l hauMln Amerle. (.hen .IM" John Lin, . bu.lftftl stutNtrt, flIot hk w/h'llIIh,.tu t.a..,.... cIuII, II'IJute4. ,..k.m.l'lin tIM proc:H' .1'1111 then shot hlmHif. l1M r.._ ' W"I, .".,.,..., Lin •••• ,.",I.r.t • lotIon .rtaeh wher.1M •••• f.n of Virtu. Cop. PoIko founll hu,.· drMlof ." • • t".M 11'1 hll car'. proof of tM fad that he_I ,lIIcIktM 10 tM,,_, InII ttM, d,lm tkat hl ••• _pl.,'n.o.,.,t1H had muc.h to Il1o .hh hll formW,ltt. .Im. CrI",lnoIotht lanM. f ••, comnMl'ltin' on tIM prHt.m of doonlhil.llon Mid, "Shoot'n.,..,t. cln

W.

becom.voryJlm'to.loJhootl"l~1n1

•• me". Oh dur. In tIM dHperat011nlgle to

."ortIoII blame, Jt look. like the fundornentoh_pt",,,,,,to be IoIIbenuttI I we/t ... ofhlch~..-Iapoc.alyptkfln­ PI' Our bet k that the chwuI"...

Itt)'hIIII-tNnstolllowlthIt.Or_that JoMUnhllll. deddedt)'dMder pip on raIItyo • ... far f.tched hypothuk mapa, bvI: tfMn

,..ntInc·

_'no nolllet~ .... f.,s-s., howdouthe """"''''' ' lI'IJ'publkltJ'hpodpublkhy'l ~ ....

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" IHtJ~" _

* MANGA HITS CD! • 1cr;;,:·.

TO INQUIRE!

~ tl

.~

~

M.n,a ha.... lon' been at the forHront of JapaneM urtoonl and their .,ideo'llell unbell • .,abi, well, l.peel.lI, d.l sln IIkl Aklra and Strllt FI,ht" II. Now, In kHpln, with th.lr dose relation. to tho .,Ideo .ame market, Man,. ha.... rel..MiI I rani' of tltl" on to CD so you (I n pll' It 01'1 :tOUrSatu,n,Althou,hthere lln'tthllamlnumberoftltllla.,.lIablealthI!te II cUfJentiyon video, ~n" pl'n to conwrt thlm ,II to CD, so:tOU c'n rack thlm up nut to:tOU r ,Imesl

Flicking through this issue you miJy come to wonder whilt It Is W«' do when we'rf!: not busy working our way through the compleXities of the latest game or typing furiously at our keyboilfds. The answer forthemostpilrtlstilkephonecillisfromfUdersdes~ratelystuck

onilQilme.Theretheyare,blubbingilwily,thesoundofcfockery breaking In the background, begging for us to help them out And if only we could. but if we spent all our time doing th~t. then this iUustriousm~gazlneofOtJrswouldnevergetwritten.Butthereis lightattheendoftheprOYerblalleveliNowthatSegaare~U

h~ppilysettledlntotheirnewofficesthey'vefin~lIygot

round to setting upa hoUme So, ifyou'vegot~ny problems with one of your S~turn t.IYOUfites. give them ~ ull on 0891 -787810. Ahhh, peace at lastl

_ ~-:..

?

-~ ...

•

• . , SEGA SATUI<N

• •

RELEASE DATES fEBRUARY:

X-MEN: CHILDREN Of THE ATOM, WING ARMS, CYBERIA, TOHSHIN DEN 5, JOHNNY BAZOOKA TONE, WORLD CUP GOLF, VIRTUAL GOLF, FI UVE INFORMATION, MYSTARIA, GAlACT1C AnACK, TRUE PINBALL

MARCH: BAKU BAKU ANIMAL, D, CASPER THE FRIENDLV GHOST, GUARDIAN HEROES, DARIUS, NFL QUARTERBACK CLUB.

Saturn Unll-up games orr on thr _yl Cu"rnt/y In drvr/apmrnt If a JO fhoot 'rm up sltfllfgrly namrd Me; Backrrs'" Wr 'vr na /dra why rJt'act/y, but thr gamr Ioolts prrtty good anyway ond If durfaT an rarly Frbruary rrlrasr In Japan_ Thrrr'l not much In/annallon on thr titlr lit tilt momrnt, but thr progrrJmmrrs wrrr adamant that thr go_ would nat br a Doom copycat, ond wauldfroturr fomr vrry novrl, cutesy gomrplay. Tlllf if thr first rvrr gamr that will Ufr thr link-up coblr and of/hough thrrr" brrn no _rd on 0 UK Jlgn/ng, almoft crrtoln thot somranr will snop It up faT rr/rafr ovrr hrrr_Anyway, hr,," a trw scrrrnshots - rJt'prct an updatr nrJt't month_

n.,

~f~. .--,. .. -.

THOR'T YOU MIGHT FIND ME HERE

Looking for our expert showcase on the legend of Thor 1Well. we have a Iittleconfessionlomake.Vous~,atlhelastminute,lhingsdidn'lquitego10 plan, and the game wasn't sent from lapan in time to get into Ihe mag. aut, by then, the cover had already been sent to be printed. So, er, sony about that. We had hoped to get an extended news story on the game instead. but it seems programmers, AnCient. are being somewhat cagey about letting the public S~ their development plans. We will however, be featuring il next month. So you see, irs not our fault really. Honest.

...................,.

dIMJdIIt." . . . . . . . . . ...., ontlws.tw..

fOI'tItoM~yov

.mo.,."'t/rl,,,illarw/th",r lo",brrnNrn frrln (hrprrdo",lnanfIy opprarrd on Nlntrnda confoln), It Involvrs solving pun/rJ a t l urious Jprrd and drJtroylng rnrmlrf out to th_rt you. Haw do you do thlfl By drtonatlng a who/r rongr 01 bombf 01 caunrl Eltprct morr nrws an Ihlf Joonl

G8KUf'1llth.nf'1tSlt.l'lllInt-u~tltll!

To CO or not to COP After the phenomenill rr5ponsr we hild to our cOYrr-mounted CD In the bnuilry lnue, mil ny of you havrcalled in to il5k Ifthi5Will btilrellulilffutureinthe future. Thranswrr Isyts, illthoullhthisdorsn't mun tytry monlh.lndudwe Intend to reluse iI CDofthe umestilndilrd~50u rl ut

every three months orthrreilbout5. Th is muns that you're not p~ylng an e)(tortionilte price evrry month forildemothilt might bt decidedly shabby. Milke no mlsbkethoullh,whenwe hilvrilCDonthecoyrrwe munbuslnen,50exptct to 5rr a collection of plilYilble demo's from the very btst ~ nd very Iiltest relrues.Ohyesl

n.n. Part. the classic rn.~ p M from 8ullfTog. is now available for your Saturn, and it's better tllan ever. Compete With 19 other power freaks to build the world's

best theme park, and make a packet of cash on the side. Gasp! As your customers defy death on 2S pant-W1!nlngly cool rides, including the option to design S of your own.

cackle! As they spend vast sums of money in your 15 different shops and restaurants lIIughl When they're violently sick as they try to eat a hamburger on the 360" roltercoaster. Hire a variety of people in silly costumes, then fire them just for the hell of it! Yep. it's japes aplenty in the world of the runfair, so why not come along for the ride?

In rlnll ,ou our amazlnll In development .ectlon, featuring, the excellent Magic Carpet, Virtua Fighter 2 portrait disks (which sadly won't make their way over to the UK) as well as Gundam, Congo, and loads more assorted tat that won't see the light of day in Blighty. Nope, not ever. Sad really, isn't it?

Carpet B

ullfrog h;ln always been usoc:iatl!d with high quality Barnes, ind SO far, both of their efforts on Ihe Sa t urn (Theme Park and Hi-Octane) have bu n of pretty hIBhquality,and ltSfllms ilsthoughMagicCa rpet(ouldb@th"lrbestreluseyt!t. ~Ioped in sunny GUlldfold, the Saturn verSion is a port from the orl8lnill title on the PC. illthoogh there's Iwds moll! I_Is thiln well! found In the PC title MilglC Carpet was one of BuliflOg's most succ~sful8ames of last year and In true

Bullfrog style. Ihe actual game mKhanics ale pretty innovative AtthOtJgh on Ihe surnce, this may seem like an ordinary shoot 'em up. once played, you'll dlSCoYtl that It'S very different from anything you'll have seen before The Object of t he game is to bUIld castles up from nothlnll in yourwi:ardmansion·typethinllintheskyTodothis.you·lIn~to

collect mana byshootlnll monsters and lIalnlnll spells, Once)'Ol.l've built your ustle, other wllards WIll appear out of nowhere and attempt todeitroy it. and you'll hilve to try and destroy thelf Cilstles too. As the levels progress, the rate ofe.plosions and friintlC whillinllilboutincreasesiindmakesforabflillantadrenalln "ndu(. inlle. ptrlenceThere'sbeenmanyrumoursastowhetherthis lIamewllihavealink.upfacillty,and at the moment, it still hasn't been confirmed whether Bullfrog 1'11111 Incorporate this into the final lIame, but they certainly believe that they're capable of producrnll il - they're merely waIting for the development hardware to amve from Sega of Japan. HCJWe'oIer, whether the game IS IInk·up or not, there 1'11111 stIli be a two player mode and it's this mode that's likely to be the most e.(ltlng when thegameisrelea~aroundEastertlme

• • 12

BULLFROG

W&lR? ~~ I~~TBC

R~;h~~~: ~~:~::;;~;~t~:~dW~~: ~~:::::;~;i~r;8U_b~~:;~;~i~::.~?;'irIY ~ biB hit In J.piln, it wu newr rrlnsed over here, probably b«iIIuse the market for stratelYtltlesissomtwh;JItobS(ufe. Stlll, thlssequellsloild s betttrthanthefi,sl tltle,andalthoughSegah.lven 'tconfirmedaU Krll!luse,thert'snodoubtthatlt would dofillrly well over here In small numbers. But, it see mS;II UK

reluse Is not

on the (ards, as too many of the bomb·tlle-hell out of FriUleli! graphics would have

loHchangtd.

Ah well. Stili. tnere's no doubt that if you're into striltegy type games, thiS IS probilbly one of the beityou wuld hope to come ilUOSS, and for this sequel. there's the addition of more campaigns (ones from the rtol world war you know)

whereyougetyourownuniquech a nce tochiingethehlstoryoftheSecondWorld War Whichisonereasonwhyit'sprobablysopopul~rinJapan.Asfoltherest of the game, in qUite difficult to lelt ellactly what's gomg on as there's so much Japanese leid It mates playmg the game qUite difficult. But If)'Ou'lea partlcu larly ardent strategy fan we're sure )'01.1"11 be able to wor~ II 01.11

SEGA

HUK

Y

y:~~i~:;:;:~~:~~k~::~~:~n~;:~!~~:n~" theCGportraitdisksoverhere. WhynoHWell , there', no rut ruson why, but it', probably down to thefactlh~tus UKllamefSJuSlaren'tasf~nati(al

a boutoufllamuastheJapanue,andlhey'lIbuy almost anythlnllu 10nBu it's endorsed wilhthelr favourite B~me (har~ctefS. 5tlll,It h~s to be said thaI theseport~lldlsk s areanamuslnll . jfsljllhltyuse­ leuaddiljonlo~nYB~mer's(ollecllon.

This monlh sees Ihe add,llon of Pal, tau, Wolf and Aklla tolhecolleclion (twocharaclersare released on CD every month) and sees the characters In a number of lather decadent and sometimes (in the case of the gllhes), compromlsmg poilllOflS diSplaYlnglhelfdeciidenl.affluenthfestyles Anyway, ilS we said, t hese diSks ilren't much use rea lly, but t hey ilrequlte nice to look al,and it would be great ifSega decided to giV\!' il away free 10 all registered Satufnowners,wouldn'! It (please)r

T::;:~~~:~~:~~::::::~~o~r;~:::i:~:~:,h!:V'~ crutors thought that original author Mkhael Crichton had the midas touch when It tame to hollywood blockbuste~. but alas, Congo was a bit of a flop when It W.llS reluled m~re months ago into British cln~mas.

However, by that tlm~, develope~ had alrudy started workonlh~ Saturn ... ersion, andalthoughit'sunllkelyto seethelightofd ayoverhere,lhlslsdu~toberelused IntheStateswlthlnacoupl~ofmonthl ,

The game action is pretty predictable stuff-armed wlthagunandhUleelse,theblalll!explorelsmusttlack down all the nasty beasties that mhablt the jungle, while also discovering the mystery behmd the intelligent apes. Sort of like Doom, but out in the open. Anyway, as we said,il's very unlikely that this will be leleased ovel I'Iele be<ausethe film didn't do too well and rIO one's Interestedlnltanymore,butthefinalversionmaYJust well turn out to be bettel than everyone expected Loo~ out fOI mOle news on this one next month

r N;~':~~:~;~'sg:r~~:aa~I:~ct°o~t~::~ymaa~e~~:O::::~::t~eh=~eY,o:a:::,7uperi~nce that Saturn own~rs were after, they're (~rtalnly not going to luve the ir footballing efforts at that. Oh no. They're going to do VIctory GOilll Inte.nilltionilll, and unlush thillt upon the world. Th~n , when everyone's sick of that (luckily this won 't see the light of day In the UKj,they'rego Ing to turn everything on its hud iIInd crute ill football game that's rully good.

NO, It's completely true, despite what you may be thinking The developers in Jolpanh.welearnedtheiliessooandhadthellhandssiappedathousandl!mes

~~~!!II~"" ~rh:o::~~:I~~::esau:a'ls~a:'::ak::~:~~~:~h~~I= ~:~t;I;:I:e different from the ollgmal game Gone are all the dim-Witted players of t he past. and in are new super-intelligent players With lightningfeet andsuper.fastmovesThegraphicsarealsomuchdifferentfromthe Oflgmal title, this time all the players have been given thed'gltlsed treilltment. and there's loads /TIOfe lOoming about action than before too. Luckily, this Isn't one of those 10 development games that will never appear here mtheUK-ll'sactuallyalreadydown onSega UK's release schedule. However, the develop ment bods haven't deCided which month it Will be released We'll keep you posted though - it's sure to appear w,thin the ne.t couple of months

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show this gillmetoyourdad and you',e sure to get a Saturn for you. birth dayo!'lce he daps his eyes on the FMV ~ beautles~ on offer, The sad moln, Hopefully this dlsgracfl will n~ver 1ft the light of dilly In th~ UK. " It does we'U be the first rou!'ld toNC's offlcflSto kill everyo!'le we see,

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f Ihere's one Ihing the J~p~neSl! like, (~part from c~rtoon porn), It's swo,d 'n' sorcery RPG 's. Good on 'em we say - RPG's are grut. And the S~turn, despite Its of 10Yflly-looklng adventure games, Is thin in the th~tch where proper elves and dungeons ~nd sbt points g~mes are concerned.

Which IS why Seg~ EuroPE' aft looking into Ihe possibility oftransl~lmg and feleaslng Dragon Force. a Shining Force-esque swashbuckling ..dvtn!Ure feiltuflng lots of magICal charactelS and eplCquesllng It"scertamlydeta,ltd.w,thhundltds of actIvIty menus and options and things to fiddle about WIth in·game But not being maslers of Far Eastern lingo we'fe not SUfe if the plot's any good ~I. Hoptfullywt'lI get the chanct to feview an English version of this. ilS ifdbenice to s« something of this Ilk bolster the Saturn softwilre rep

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long u A) no-one InYflnts gl~nt robot suits, ,nd B) there ~re g~mes such ItS this new Gund~m title ~~1I · ~ble 10 sale Iheir cybernl!llt oil-Iusl. Gund~m Is.

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shoot/be,1 'em up which pits your little Gund~m (who's slill biller th~n' house) ~galnst some other Gund~ms, on I~nd. ~nd even flying through sp~ce.

BaSICally. Gundam's (h~nces of UK reluse ale somewhat dIminished by It looking exactly He ~ SNES game. And not I!VI!n a good onto Ont of those hideously boringlmporttd small-timt li(enses by iI third·ratesoftwilrenouseyou·d never heard of And il s«ms.lnltsalbl!itunflnlshtdstate.~bsoIuttCilck.

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E::~~:~Op7:~~:~~~~II~!:e dC:;:I:i~:~~:::S 7a:Ss~ =re;~f~;:d~s~:~:; ter how crap they are, always sttm to sell like hot caki!s over here. Althoug h.that said. the UK hotcake market Is UpI!rlencing something ofa slump at the moment. Anyway, just what Ihe world needs- another golf game _ m~y hil Ihese shorl!"S some time in the future. It·S called Augusta Mastell Golf, and II 's based on the engine for Pebble Beath Golf. In fact, who do we think we're kidding, it if Pebble Beach Golf. but with a different coulle. The same dodgy animation for your bloke and his boiler·sulted caddy, the Jlme gameplay. bul new scenery. This mayor may not be good news to you, depending upon your opinion of the origl· nal,butjuJt to ease your mind and nerveJ, we 'dJust like to tell you Ihat It'snevet evetcomlng out officially over here. SO lough till if you did likt Pebble Buch.

I!'Oplt wtrt wailing and wondtrlng about the littlefella. Would he

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~tf:;~~~~~I~~I!~:I:;r~;~o:~~ ~~~,'~~:7::~:a:~~::t~~:~t away because we can reveallhal Sonic is billCk,andofall Ihe thlnss hI! (ould be doing he's In his own fighting gilmel A/though it's only abolrt complete Jt tht moment, AMl, (Iuton of

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Virtua fighter, haW! sh rte-d work on i Sonic coln-op in whkh the spiky fella bkH on othef characte,s from the Sonic stties In one·on·oneflghtSsflln aV;1Ir ietyof illeniiS from 50nlc world.

The idea fora Scnlc beal 'em up occurred mOle by accident than anything else when one of the AM2 programmers de<ided 10 slick Sonic in the fighting Vipers code Vu Suzuki uw it, gaw- it tho!' nod, and worl! was started light away on

putting It together SoniC's moves are typkill beat 'em up fille with spmnlng kicks. th,ows and leaplngattOicks but they 0111 benefit from Soni('s uniquechOirOictefls tICS What this meOins for SOiturn owners is thOit 01 conversion is also on the cOirds In fOIet, work on the Saturn venion could begIn WIthin the nen two months! As for the ilrcade, thilt's expected to be filhng up wIth COinS by the summer whe nlt is expeeted to I!e released

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OXin'dCleSfUnnY'h,nss,o)'ourh@ild, G'VeSYOUilflilitnose,uulI. flower UfS, <II mu shed bra i n. Nothing like Funky Hud Boxer's

though , thl': Iilltest and possibly slfilnltst coln-op from SItSii about to hl s theJlICiides. Thedlmenslonsoflhestbou,'silleilliUleoulof propo rtion 10 nythe lent. hch of them com"!i with iI huSt cube sh;llpe d hud .. nd slant box Ins sloves, Whtn a fighter Is hit, his bOil hud beg IMlo (ontort and the uprenlon on his filce begins to deterlOl;llte until he 10 oks li ke <I pUllch drunk men.

The boxing itself isn't strictly Queensbury lules tither, With fighters <,Ising some off-the-wall techniques that see their rueh extend Immeasurably .....,th the help of an over-fle.'ble;lIm. Of one of milny other cunning t ..ch •

available The fights take place over one round only with three knockdowns becoming Iheequivalent ofa knockout Although this is only available as a coin-opat the moment. plansar e underwaytoconvertthiswackylitletotheSalurn,lfnothlnselse,i t stands to make a name for itself on novelty value alone What will they think of next I

ollowln8upourextenslvecovera8eoftheM<IInxTIcoln-oplast month, here's <II look <III Ihe <IIdual <IIreade machine. The bike u you can see <IIUlooks very nl(e,bulky and shiny. To enh<llncetherulismit ap~rently futurn Ihe 8enulne $<Impled sound from <1111 Ihose bikes <lit IhelnfamouslsleofManraceandusesthrottle-lndu<ed<llcceler<lllionlomake everything feel uclO$e tothe rul Ihlng at possible.

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Yes, another one. But could Wrestle mania be the WWF series' saviour? Perhaps, because this is wrestling like you've never seen it before. Pin 'em down!

(Clillm'sWWFseriesisfiIJl becoming the Friday the 13th of the video game world. With ilJsorted variations on the gfllppiing theme adornillg f'tIIry con· sole format kllowll to man, the poPIII;lIrity of menrs Undertaker and ollggin seems to have transcended mott 'klddyfilds',ilJshown by Acclalm's-filith in their license to IInlush itllpon IInsIIspeci:ing Satllrn owners. Taking a step back from WWF Rilw, WresUemanla Is a perfKt conver· slon of the Mldwaycoin·op of a yt!iIr or so biICk. Offering eigh t wrestlers, the bale bones of the actionisamasslveflee·for.all,wllhlheplaye(scho. sen wresl lel beallng seven shades out of the oncom· ingopponents, befoletaking on two at once towalds the end of the game. Nothing new so fal, admittedly.

1M wheleas past WWf gam~ were let down by therr l,lCk of speed, the Saturn can admirably hilndle the tosslllg and kICking, milkll'lgfor a game conSider· ably easier 10 get into than its 16bitcouSIns The baslcgameplay is as sim· pie as eve r, with bolh pl ayers star t· ing the game with a full energy baf which is whittled away as the expected punches, kids and special fnOIIe'Silrepulledoff,Thewll'lner bell'lgthe firsl charactel to force a submiSSion by sapping the other's energy But you knew that. However, as t he game progresses mOle and morecharactelscrowdintotherrng, thus adding tothe game's longevity Strangeasitmilyseem, lhough. Df all the games Wrestlemanra borrows from, NBA Jam (also by Midway coincidentally) is the one it shares the most attflb· uteswilh-most not ablyinthe specia l move depa rtmen t Embracing theOTI nature of the WWFcrrcus,theproglammersha...e emphUlsed the showbiz nature of the 'sport ' wlthmCM!'SimposSlblell'l real hfe, but thoroughly enJoyable to watch during the ga me AS such, herocs like 'Bam Bam' Bigelow now have t he a bility to lorch thei r oppo· nentswlthnew.foundfierybody slams (complete with scorched hole II'l the mati ). while the Undertaker spews an unearthly number of bats from Within his coat whenever the player pulls off a tfted'n'tested SF fireball move These fnOIIe'S add a surreal feel tOlhe action, yet somehow blend In perfectly w ith the normal actions of kicking, elbow punching, an d throwll'lll people into t he ropesdespite several charilcters pulling out huge mallets or baseball bats to force their opponent Inloa sub· mission If the WWF 5fiies w;n In search of a champion, Wrestlemania could be It But a full review nerct month will put it throullh hoops to decide

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Acclaim bring their NFL QBC series to the Saturn with the express intention of penetrating the defensive line with a quarterback sneak.

Here's a lowdown on its touchdown. m~rlunfootb,1I

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enormously successful,s iI console Slime. most

options and endless stau to pile through, The essent ial tenets of the gameplay remain however with plays choscn from window options that draw you from a general play plan hke 'pro-sefof 'shotgun' to a choice concerning Ihe length of yardage attempted (short,medlum,long),andthenontothespecificsof theplayitscif,whether it's a 'halfback toss' (running play) or a 'deep outs' m~noeUVTe (throwing play) The emphaSIS on quarterback talents is main.

notably In the sh.. pe of John Madden's on the

talnedwlthplayerschoosmgtheirquarterbacksep~·

Ind fun of tht commentators, bennth Ihe tactlnl sc rlbbluscrawltdoVf!rtheTVscrftnandbenuthall that protectille padding, I Iilme notillithiltdinlml· l,rtOfU8byexlsts, lndrugbylsn'tthltmuchfun 'n}'WI)'.

Whiltever your attitude to American football thougtl. oobody could deny tht fact that ifs been

I

just behind the qu~rterback arid very convincingly makes you feel hkeyou're in the action, to;m overhead view whkh sees all the players moving like dots beneath you

WHATEVER YOUR ATTIrUDE TO AMERICAN FOOTBALL THOUGH, NOBODY COULD DENY THE FACT

THAT IT'S BEEN ENORMOUSLY SUCCESSFUL AS A CONSOLE GAME ...

Megadnve and of cour~. NFL Quarterbac~ Club There were two NFL QSC games on the Megadove, but this Is the first e ~cursion on to the Saturn and as a result Acclaim have been able to beef It up to 32·blt standards.

ratelyfromthelrleam,meanlngyoucanplayasthe worst team In the NFL yet 51111 have Elway throwing for you, All the teams are in there and,as has been mentioned,there Is a wealth ofstats to ut ilise, most of which tell the player how many yards their team has run, thrown, won and lost etc There are also some innovative apprwches to the action hkethe historic mode This puts the player at some stage in an hlstorrc malch,saywhen the Seagulls succeeded in a spotofglant killingagamst err,_lIwhoeverWhatitmeansessentl.Jllyisthat you might pl.Jyonly the l.JstqU.Jrterof a m.Jlch.Jnd havefif'teen points to rnake up This cert.Jinly makes things a bit more thrilling If you're fed up thrashing opponents over four qU.Jrters NFlQBC '96 Is more or less complel e and although there's no offici al release date as yet it lookslikeit'libeintheshopsbylate~bruary·earty

March. Expect Ihe review bhtz next month I

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"I got aletter from the government the other day. I opened and read it, it said they were suckers" Public Enemy were among the first, but these days homeboy culture has made it all the way from Compton to Trumpton. Core's Shellshock is the latest to go gansta style.

heplotsurroundin.lhecha~ctersln

Shellshockbea,sanu nnervln. 'esemblancetothestoryllne lh"'s ,round out by th ai Suy at the sbrt of each episode ofthtA·Tum. Vou know, used an d abused by their SOy· ernment, e«apl ns the ole' mallimum se<u,lty stock· ade,takln. up roles u nomad k 'ligllantes and defendlnsJudlce where eft, It ~Ises its we ary ~ad .

Raltrer than wander aboot In a van OIough.thls bunch of homeboys prefe.: the advil ntagtts of a good M-13Preda1Of battteUo nk. TheA·Team « coorse could have made a ti nt. out of some burnt string and a chaIr leg but t ha t's beside the point. As thesurth

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5HELLSHOCK SITS SOMEWHERE BETWEEN A SIM ANO A SHOOT 'EM UP AS FAR AS THE ACTION IS CONCERNED, INVOLVING FAST AND FRENETIC GAMEPLAY••• member of the posse. the ~ jams Tt\e Miln.

Dogg·Tagg, 9 · 1-1. Ea rshot and D·lour in a tour of duty lhat takesm te rra In as d is parate as the frozen waste of Sibefla a nd the oppress!ve humidity of the Sout h America n jungle. al)i n th e nilme of peace. libe rationilndgood hip.hop rlfords.

Although at Its foundations th is Is a tilnk slm

snotfrom a first persoo perspectiYe and I ingil ll ofthe muali1lm-f,resortofactlOn.St\ellshoc anempt5 WShuffieofftheilnoiak thattradit a comes With it 0 10usl)' you've got Ihe homeboys a nd a hip·hop so ndtrack courteosy of Bar None (/), butt here aft also customising opt loos Which enable thep layertolmp ltM! on t hetan ~ ·sarm our._apon ·

ry. engine and so on. or organise bener air support l!IIen, Tothis end e.ach of the characters in the ga hiisa speclfictilsk. PropsfOfe~mpledoesn 't jOln you

inyour metillcont.IIMr Instudhehan gsout in the worksOOjl ilnd deals With the supplies which he'lI hilppity hand over if)'Ou'vegot the cash for them. 9' 1-1 deil!s w,th orgiHllslng the ilir support and this indudes dimbing intO ilChlflOCll(hellcopler torescue hostages. oo88·Til88 I nd The Man are t he two thilt give t he m ission br1tfing ilnd generally run the show.

Oncr you're iI mission Ihe prlmil ryconcern Is simply wit h enemy asuilanu. Shellshock Sits some· where brtween a slm ilnd a shool 'em up ilS filr ilS ttreilctiOniSCOlI(erMd. inYOlvingfaslandfrent1iC lIamepla)'bulm,xingit wtthsttiitegyinsofarilsctl. tainenemiesunonlybedestrO)'l!dwith certilin weapons (SAM's fat airct~ft for ex~mple). ilnd by uSlAg dlil f"¥Iers forutUin situillions like 9-N,.fOf

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innovilltors for the Megill-CO, they've

Now that Core have well and truly re-established themselves as Saturn development gurus with the arrival of Thunderhawk 2, what's left for them to do? Retire in the Bahamas and sip cock· tails all day? No, nothing like it They're going to releasemore Saturn games than you can shake a stick at, and among them is Blam! Machinehead - a shoot 'em up with a difference...

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Megil'CO owners will have fOlJnd more thilln Just the odd nil me reference famill ilr with this title thoughmilny of the missions were Indeed identicill 10 the origlnililThunderhawk (wilhsoupedupgrillphicsof course) and the gilme mechanics too were stillrtllngly

THE RESULT OF THIS, IS THAT THE TWO REBEL SCIENTISTS HAVE CREATED A RATHER LARGE BOMB, WITH WHICH THEY INTEND TO BLOW AU THE BAD GUYS INTO KINGDOM COME.

Machlnehead is set in a world where SCientists have the ability to produce madlinesthat replica humans exactly-right down toa molecular level However, one sCientist becomes slightlycamed away and decides to recreate the robots In the image of himself. who i(1 tum recreate robots i(1 the image of himself. This soon escalates, a(1d after ten years has passed,thescientlst is all·powerful,wlth thousa(1ds of machines created especially for him However, With this not being very democratic or anything, people begin to get peeved a(1d two sci entists in particular set out to destroy th e evil scientlst Ahugewar is inevitable, The result of this, is that the two rebel scien· tists have created a rather large bomb,withwhich theyi(1te(1d to blow all the bad guys into kingdom come. However, one of the speccy profs has been strapped astride a bomb (that's right"t"sthe girlie), with the other, more evil prof directing her

:~:~~;~ ~~~:::r!~;~ "'1IIII1I.1IIII.!iIII~. e:~;c~~;,~:,ss~:~:~~:scompIY, she dies. If th ey~ctuilillybllsedthegilime

iIIround the origin~ 1 Megill'CO gillme engine. Feel connedl You shouldn't, Thunderhillwk is one of the best g~mes ~ villil a blefortheSalufn,

Bu!. whafs this got to do with the Impending releaseofBlamlMachinehead?Why sholJldwe care what engine Core Design used for Thu(1derhawk2?Well,ifsqlJiteinterestlngthat after programming Firestorm, Core seem to have become bored with re·hashing their old games, even tholJgh initially, the inte(1!ion for most of their releases was to soup up old titles_Which is exactly what was gOing to happen with Machinehead Originally, the title was due to IJtilise the e(1gine from Battlecorps (ill highly.regarded titl e on both the Mega-CD and the 32XJ, but the programmers were fed IJp With that idea. 50. instead, they created the game engine from scratch. The reslJlt is a 3D shoot 'em IJPwlth literallylhousandsofexplosions and gameplay reqlJiring lightning.fast reflexes.

Set in the early part of the 21st cen\iJry,

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The actual game action is split into four levels and is Interspersed With fMV sections where the scien· tist barks out speCific orders. Each of the levels a very different objective-for instance, in the flfst level,you'li have to iocatea train, and i(1 the second,you'li havetoguidethetrainaround,fightlngoffene· mies and laying down pieces of track as you go There's even sub-levels which are set in cyberspace, wheleyoucan locate objects that can't befOlJnd In everyday life It's a preuy much flantic adventure all the way through AltholJgh Blam! Machinehead IS currently around 50% complete, the programmers are hoping to get most of the code finished Within the next month or so- this means that the game could be released as early as March. We'll be keeping you posted on this O(1e tholJgh-lf the gameplayisas goodasthegraphicsthenlt'swretobeahit

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DEAR SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE, H~lIo .lgilln I'm WIlting to tell you the ootcome oflhc lener I wrote to you in Issue 2 .looul how I had losl a lot of monty on Ihe mighty ~ga Saturn An'f'Nily. ,jIftcr !Cild,ng )'Our reply I h.Jd a scream and decided to take action on

tnt shop concerned. I phoned the milnigc, ilnd pohtely cltpl.llncd my SltU.ltlon

HetoldmetogodowntohisshopSOldld Apparently it was not thl!' shops policy 10 refund money, although hCSiI ve mePiinzeIDra8oonforf151Iandhiisofferedmes~re(\Jtsonot her5i1turnlelal­

edsoftware.EgSega Rally.

I was gobsmacked. Anyway. thanks for )'Our advice ilnd may I congratulate you and the rest of SSM for such an acculatc and informat,vemagazlnc

reilde~~e;; ~:~~tj!h~~:~:~:;~aen~a:~~~::

DEAR SATURN MAGAZINE, I ~m ~ n~lve newcomer to the Stga Saturn, which I purchased I~SI Salurd~y, wllh the Arcade Racing steering wtleel and Oaytofla and Myst games The games were Vf!ry good, the gr~phics on Mysl were outsl~ndlng The problem w~s the game cost me 144 99 on Saturday and by Monday. Iwo d~ys 1~ler,1 had completed It Being ~fI adveflture game once completed, the riddles lemembtred,lhe "gameover",so to speak I returned the game lothe shop where purchased,Eltclronlcs Boutlq ueln Wakefield, and e~plained how long I had had the game and I had completed iI, asking whal part,)\, they would give against Iheir other Saturn g~mes (they were displaying pre-owned games starting ~t 137 50-£44_50) I was told flO matel Isa;dhemuslbtjoklng,threedaysold,1 could have rented Ihe game for £3 from my loc~1 rental shopl Wh~1 gives Ihese sorl of

__....._...__------

wh ..! holppened, ilnd 10 pr~ 10 my fflends ~I BBHS In Lowesloft Ih~1 my I~SI letter W~S genuine ~s you gOI my surname wrong

shopslheflghttomakesuchbl~tantprofllsby p~ylnglessthanhalfplleeforagameandre­

TerryGoodiflg,BlundestCIfI,Su/folk,

m~rkellnglhem£5Iessth~nCOSlprlCe_glvlng

~ Hey,noproblemTerry, Sorryforgettlnglhe

Ihemselves a 100% pfofitl ThiS sort of system on Ihis type of unreusablesoftwarelbtlieveisdlsgustlng Anyone out Ihere know of any (l>good(P> software sales outlets where common sense stiliprevalisl yours, J M Fowler, J(ippax, lttdJ, S Yorks.

~ surnamewrong,butyououghtlosort your scruffy h~ndwriting 01,11, Didn't you p~y ~ny ~ttentlonlnyourca ltigraphyciassesorwh~H

Anyw~y, If ~ny other readers have proble ms - per· h~ps worr ies ~bout Iheir love lives, !h~!'s always good for a laugh-write!o us at the usual addren and we'll turn our sage minds tothe crisis.

t;,

.

• wren pot

SAD X-FILES FETISH

5.1.1110

lru.lk~

lIa~lIl~

breil'tllkll.l! Poilller OI'1lItOOI'"cIt g!l1I tb

SkOW'U1I! I"!!allllnl

DEAIiSSM Ihavebtenfeadlngyourbril!ianlmagazlneforseveralmonlhsnow,especi~lIy

since I h e Ia ~)flC h of I he Sal u rn AgentScullyandlh~vepouredove r therevlewsofSegaRally,VirtuaCopand Vlrtu~Flghter2,bothwearebothbaff1edbythelackof'evidenee'coneerningthe

In

Ikls .01,k5 Iss.e

~~~,t~ ::e~~ ~~~tl:;;:;~~:;nd

• rentingadventure games, Afterall,lf i!'s really hard and you can'l complete Ihe mother you can always buy it later, But ilwou'd btvery nice of our readers If they could write in with their favourite software shops. We'U mention any exceptionally reasonable-soundlnll ones In a future Issue,ifyoulilte.

cI~sslefoolbatigame,VirtuaStliker

Conslderinglhe 'big three' are ~II ~rcade hits and are aliconverled 10 the Saturn,whiitaboutVS~ Ibthevelhatlhereilre'unnatur~I'Clrcumstall(eslnJapanwho,accordlngto

one of your fOvill publICations, say Ihat Ihere are too many polygons In VS for Ihe Salurn to handle but, at the same time saying Ihey may evenlually convert il What about uSing Ihe as, which was paramount in Ihe success of converting Cop and RallytotheSalurnl I feel that the AMl HQhasbten recentlyvlslled by alien beings. i.e PlayStation executives, and have wiped the memories of th~ir superior AMllivals topreventthere leaseofVirtuaSlllker-lsupposeiftheyweretoreleaseVS,after the Imminent success of the 'big three',those assoclaled wllhthe sadPlayStalion would never, ever, recover from the shock

• •

WeshallinvestigatealthoughScullybehevestherelsaratlonalexp'an~tIon

Thelruthisolllthere

FLICKING THE Vs DEAR SECiA SATURN MACiAZINE, Thele is somelhmg Ihal Ilhmt the world should know A gammg levotutoon IS lakIng place, we've never known ilnythmg Ioke II before, It'S never happened on Ihe MaSler Syslem, Game Gear 01 Megadrlve You wanna know what I'm lalkmg abou!? Well Ihis IS it-there has bten a dramatIC change, have you nOliced the amountofVsappearlnglnfrontofgamellllesonlh~Sa l urn.lt'sgomg!olakeus

over, there's never been so many games on a console whICh start With Vs. There's V Cop, V Fightef, V Fighter 2, V Hydllde, V Racing - we have got to stop It, it's dllving me bananas, for God's silke, nelp me PS I'm not evil and don't spend my time draWing pictures on a night for thi s magazine while falling bthlnd on English, Technology and Geography, so ner Jom~J

ThompJon, 141,1//, S Humin,

Fox Mulder, Hllckn~y. Ultldorl,

tf(; ~nad':'~i:~~~~=::~/:;I~~: :~~~~;:!~I:~.'y°;'::o~t:~~:':Sf~:;i!:! seemingly more versatile letterC. An Insidious plot, no doubt.

26

->

SEGA SATUI~N

MelliuQ AbbottJ, Church Hill, Reddith, WOfCJ.

FREE CONTACT LENSES DEAR DISPLAY ADVERTISING DIRECTOR,

.4!!i.

We would hke to present your readers with a ve.ryspe:cial and unusual offe r.Free

"

You know you've got four double letters In your name. Anyway, thanks for puttlngthetroubledmindsofmanyofourreaders alease.You're lovely.

Contoct (eMt! at The 20120 Optical Storel Vour readers may choose from either

one p.ur of soft daily wearcontact lenses or a threemonthssupplyof CibaVision monthly disposable contact lenses

You will agree with me that such an offer will be very well received by your readers and Will reflect well on your magazine. Obviously. such a promotion will be expensive for us to run. 50 in return we would liketoilskyou to provide u SWlth one page of free space in YOl.lf magilzine which we willl)se to milke this offer

known to your readers Beslreg(lrds.

LQufl!'nLee, Th t l0/100pticoIStore.

.IJtI:.

'W

Sowhatdoyoure<konreaders~ Shou ldwefemaintruetoourcredible

independ ent roots and resist th e sell·out of offering free advertisi ng to t h is 10H Or do you kids of the Someth i ng For Nothi ng generation want yo ur share of the bootyr Well, Pontious Pil at e· like, we're going to throw the decision over to you, the masses. We're wash ing our metaphorical hands as we write th is, Just w ri t e in and t ell us w hether you 'd prefer free contact lenses or on e les sadand w e'ligowithmobrule

SPLOT SCIENCE TRAUMA AVERTED! DEAR SSM, I wouldli~etosay,speakingasthewifeofalolallyaddictedSegamaniacthall

findyourm <lg<lzineaveryenlightenmgread,Theeffectsofthisgamesmachmeon myself had been mildly infectious UNTIL th<lt is, I C<lme acrO!iS BugL Bugr has changed my life. I see II all now from a new perspective Well several perspectives actually. Helplessly addicted now as I am,l played dutifully until the w~ small hours, puzzling, cursmg and usinguplivesas I went , Right up unlil I he five bub blesonSPLOTlevelone Yes that was the nighl that my little imagmary Bugl world started to crum· ble. Therelwascompletelystuck,1 had tried everything I could thin koflwasat my wits end, Having used upcounlless lives and several continues ,Ireallybegan todesp<lir(<lndsodidmyhusband,noteven thegreatgamespl<lyerextraordinallecould helpme throughthisdesperatebigbug·eyed nlghtmarel· WasthlsasfarasmyBugfriend and leouldgol No please, ple<lse, there must be some way Well there is an answer Ha ha ha aarrgh.rvefoundil At <lbout 1.30 am on the dawn of discov· ery thedecisionwasA)Gotobedonlyto dream of Bug I falling, failing. orB)Dosome· thingd rast ic, readon Jump as normal to the first four bubbles theninsteadoftryingtojumpintothefifth bubble (by trying to time it tothe ludicrously Illusive precise moment) wail until the bubble you'reinst artsmovmgdownandthen,on yourwaydown,jumprightBysome<lstonish· IngmiracieBugwiliSuperherostyl ejumpinto the fifth bubble with apparently no effort at all.C<lnyouimaglnethedisbelievingdelirious reliefyness at the moment of unity between Bug<lnd bubble, I know this is totally againSI <lnyrelatlvelysanegamesplayer'sinstmetand lookslikesukide,butnowisthetlmetobe brave, be at one with Bug and you move past the bubbles with glorious ease. By the way if you Ihinkyou'vegot past a hard bil,well there's plenty more I would just like to add tothe boys and girlsatSSM, ifyouh<lveanygamesyouwant lestmgl know a husband that red:ons he can put ANY game through its paces.Ohyeah, keep up the jolly good laughing and joking aroundandwickedwilan'allth<lt Bugacioushugs,

THE GAME IS NEVER OVER_ DEAR SEGA ~5ATURN~ MAGAZINE, I am writing to you about two things, firstly Sega's next generation console and secondly the current attitude towards the Megadrive by both Sega and yourself.

Filstly let me make my f~lings quite clear about the Saturn, disappointment !

When it was first released a lot of hype was generated andtherewasa nallof expectation, Unfortunately none of this was due to any Sega adverti sing cam· paign With TV adverts appearing weeks after its launch. What's more there was a distinct lack of machines in shops in time for its mitial launch, and on top of all thisa t400 pflcetag. Perhaps it didn't seem obvious <It the time bu tthiswastobe the Saturn's downfall. Let's skip a few weeks now, to a point when that certain other console was rereasetothe public rn the UK,-yesthe PlayStati on, This com· petltor weighed in at £100 cheaper, with a by far more powerful graphiCS chip, all amidst a ho million pound ad~ertiSing campaign, and in th e first week claims are made it has already overtaken the Saturn in sales. Sega cry untrue, un tfue and say that they aren't frightened (a liltre laterSega run scared and dr opthe price by tWO!) Let"sturn to the impact {or lack ofitl ofSega's advert,sing campa ign Currentlyinmycl<lssesalonelmusth<lveheardsomesi~orsevenpeop I e say they will be pUfchasing Sony PlayStatlon. But guess howmanyl have head saymgthey will be gettrng a Saturnrl'lI answer it for you. NIL! Why couldn't Seg<l have t<lken their t ime when releasing the Saturn, not just intheUK but the res t of the world as weillI'm sure if they had waited longer and weighed up the competition t hey could have come up With a more comprehenSive advertismg campaign and released a more powerful machine which would be able to blow away the PlayStationwlthitsfirstgeneratlongamesinsteadofbarelymatching it with Its Ihird and fourth generation games (Virtu a Fighter 2 is nowhere near touching TeUeninthegraphicalstakesandonlymatchingintheg<lmeplayarena). Fora company with Sega's experience you'd have thought they'd get it righ t after fail. ufes like th e Mega CD and 32X instead of being upstaged bythenewcom er(they have no excuses after the fortune they must have made through the Megadrive and itSC<lrtridges, never mind thell coin·op profits) Rabble Moort, Edinburgh, Scotland

.,

::~~::~b~~:~:~~~onnea~ ::t~e7s0;:~'~ver

read In my life, What you 're proposing Is that Sega rvsh·rel easedan Incomplete mathine simply to fip off their loyal fans, when th e Saturn has been in development since some time after

tonstantlyworklngonsuperceed · ing l echnology. Wh<lt counts is the got, The Saturn Is still Inthe firstflushofihyouth,this ~ thirdorfourth

generation ~ toshyou 'respoutingmeans

nothing. And as forYOl,lr Tekken compari· son, awfvlly sorry old bean bull've played

merelytoincrease productawire· ness as we argued ovrs elves last month, they're certainlynotthe ogres you 're pa i nting them to be.

Just shut upand play your

• •

•

•

And so a new year begins. And here ., SEGA SATURN MAGAZINE we are well aware of its stgnificance.

We have pondered the nature of eternal recurrence, the sense of constantly coming into being, of stumbling forever on the steps that lead to the me,cur~ chapel of illuminated existence. Oh yes. And as we sit here, nonchalantty discussing the merits of a good pipe filter, w e also find time to answer the naive questions of our innocent eyed readers. So, let the teaching begin! Wrrte to us at QUANTUM & A, SeGA SATURN MAGAZINE. PRIORY

a

COURT, 30-32 FARR1NGOON LANE, LONDON, EC1R 3AU.

I AM ATTEMPTING TO WRITE l)e,rSSM, This IS the flrst time lamattemptlnstowflteto any magazine, so can you please help me wit h my new Saturn I. Doyou know roughly when the stunning Virtua Striker will be released 1 1 Ina number ofmasulnes I have read that one of the main new ideas for Mortal I(ombat4 is that It will be Tekken slyle 3D,whkh soundsbflll especiallywllh Ihego,e and fatahlles and such. Is Ihlst,uel 31 have only got Daytona USA on my Salurn 001 should be able to buy a further two by the new year Can you put these games In order of best to worscSega l1:all)'. Virtua Cop, Virtua Fighter 2 and FIFA'9 6

4· Are the Sony PlayStation and the Ultra 64 more powerful t han the mlShtySaWrnl P.S. Whilt do the litt le piCtllr6 on the side of SSM meilnl eg t he Vi rtl.la Copon Issue 1 and Wolf on Issue 11

,. G 1 Well Myst will prob<lblylnl you the 10niHI <lnd iI"very pretty. Hidden Soul,lt. bit b,ief, Tlleme P<lrk I'n't much of an <ldventure (.lthoulh It', verylood).ndHydlideI1, ln'word,tatk, SoI'dlllY Mysl , lWell, lheymllhtdo, lxit lt'1 b lrlyunllkelylt 'll eve,bel<lunchlt'doverllellt, unfortun<lleIY· 3 They,hould be cxrt by nut Chrhtmu. 4 PlaySl.lion, no, Ullra 64, )"It1, 11It1t'1 the,.mHth.ttounteiteitetteit.

P.S. Thity'IItdKoratlYl!,

-=---

GIZZA JOB Ou.SSM,

1. Could you tel l me If th ere is a Star Wars game com· ing out on the SaWrnl I rea lly enJoyed the arcade game and Ithinkthesaturn coulddoa near perfect conversion 2, Do you reallythin~thatthe vldeoca rd Is worth Investmg inl l Will we see Micro Machines on the Satu rn as ItlsoneofmyfallOunteall·timegamesl 4 Anyjobsgoingl Tim O'Oonnell, U,burn, H, I'ItI.nd,

., ::::;~~~;:!~I:~: :,':~:;It~~~;I~' Pertlap' not yet. W.iI <I while untll)'Ou ',e IIt<l11y1ullt.nd there'IIt more flidu worth ,ettlnl. J Plan, <Ire afoot, but 1t" Ioinl tobea bit diffltlltnl. 4 You 'd be Iu<ky, JOnnyJim.

,~ I No-.:1yort. lltmlj:htblt,b\rIlhey'reremalninl ~

IIlht·lippedon the,ubjed iJlthe moment. Seem1

HEADlINE:RECKONS HE'S HARD

wryHk~,thou,h.JVf:l,RaIIy,Cop,Ftr....

Could you please answer my questlonsolherwlse I witi be fOlCed 10 make my way down to your offICe andbealthemoutofyoul I. My friend told me that Sullfrog a re dOing a sequel to Theme Park set in a hospital,Hesays it's Just on the PlaySu tion t hough. Is th is t ruel 2,ThecartridgeslotatthebackoftheSaturnis it Just fOf storing memory or can it be used for otherthingSI l Which IS better. S"g l or Clockwork Kflight 11 4 DoestheVirtuast ickmakeVFmoref"nto playl

TAKE MY W IFE- PlEASE! Oe.rS.lurnMal HavmsJustswappedmySonyPlayStatlonforaSega Satum (good move Ithinklcouldyoupleaseanswer my questions 1. Is the Sa t urn as powerf,,1 as the PlayStation when It comes to lD graphlCsl 1 When Wlpeo"t comes out on the Saturfl will it be as Soodas the PlayStatioflversionl l Will Doom be comms outon the Saturfll 4 I used to own a lDO - the best car game I have eve, played (even my wife played itl) was The Need For Speed from EA -will this Sime be coming out for the Saturn 1 sAle the,e any good flight sims coming out on theSaturfl l 6 Is your mag any goodl-I Will inswer thiS one myself hcellent rud Keep up the good work Thiinkyou

."a, ,In Its own specl<ll W<lY, 01'1 )'Is. l ~ ~rry.

Let', hope JO, ehl3Yep-in .fewmonlhl. 40hnlkl!)'no, lilt 1t'1 not "Iood i' R.11y .nyw<ly. S Winl Arms.

SATURN OWNER AND HUNGRY PlEASE HELP OeirSsM, I'm a Sa t urfl owner and hungry for your info,ma tlon sopleaseanswer t heseq"estions 1 I wiint toget afl advenlure game for my Sa t urfl b"tl don't know which one to set out of t hese titles Myst.VirtuaIHydlide,Maflsionof Hidden Sou ls and Theme Park Which ofle do you thmklshouldget1 2. In the Sesa Saturn manual It says that in Ihe fulureyoumight make a keybo.lrd for the Sat"rn Is that tfuel If so, when do you thmk it will be readyl l Wnen Is VF3 and VCl going to be finished and m the shopsl

.I!!;. ,Yep.lYoU(.nuult fo,'torlnltOlst~ldltr11f

~ )'Ou wanl but you'lIkni(kltr)'Ouf SitUfn. J Good qU<!1I10n. Er... Bu,lhbluer<lndlnt1<1iolionler bK,ulelt's rock,butClock]e l is<lprfltyslunnlnll<lme 10Iook.l.ndvery pI'Y<lble. 4 Mmmnotrnlly.

EAGER BEAVER Oe.,SSM, Pleasc could yo" answer these questions from ii n"mber Ofle fan 1. Will Tekkeflcome out on theSat"rnl 2. I've heiifd Ihat Wing Commander 3 is comms out on the Saturn. Is thilt t,ueand ifsowhenl 3. Will there be ii Virtua Cop 31 4 Will Ihere be i Virtua Fighter 4/ 5Whatgam eswlllbecomingo"tinJiinuary that will be worth waiting fori 6. Will there beanyinlefactlve movies coming oull This is the coolest mag around Tha nks Hick Allibone, rlfehim .

.I!!:. , No,.thou,.nd times no. 2 It Is 10, Ind we don'l ~ know. What '100II rhyme, 311 woukl1eem IIkeIY· 4 H• nI 0fl ,therelln'tiVlrtuIFllhlerTHRUyet,you impudent pup. 5 You won'l have 10 w.1t fo. Ihem. It h J<lnu.ry. 6 Oepe ...ts what)'Ou mean. In II>e I"'HI unu of tlM!word-no, Ih<lnkfully. lut there Ife proJetl1 evil men m<ly misconllrue I i J.O-called "InttractlYl! mov'iH",

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PROJECT PERSEUS? Thilt, folks, Is the working title of Panzer Oragoon I. Team Andromeda's long-awaited sequel to lut year's brilliilnt, 8round-b~ilklng 3D shoot 'em up. Rumoured to bt' the most expensive video game: ever made, Pilnter Dragoon certainly lived up to this mighty boast. tts i;lIVish gr.lphics W1!!re unlike

ilnythlng previously seen in 01 gilme. With Vint flying ships, monstrous Qndworms, iIlien Insects and, of (ourse,

majestic dragons filling Its fanbstkallevels, it looked more like a moving oil-painting than a shoot 'em up.

Panzer Drilgoon's brilUancl! W1!!nt further than just looks

though, as it fulty.reillised the potential of a 3D Krolling shoot 'em up. Expilndlngonthe into-the-screenAfterburner gilmeplay, Pilnter allowed you to sCfoli totally around your dr<lson steed. Suddenly you hild to think in three-dlmenslons, as fleets of battleships SOil red upfrombehlnd,whllst und-crilbs burst out of the ground to your left ilnd right. It totillly broke the shoot 'em up mould ilnd provided iln Incredlblyexhllilriltlngexperiencel So whilt could Team Andromedil possibly hilve In store for the sequel? Well, you ride iI dragon ilgilin. 360.<Jegree shooting adlon Is the bilsic formulil. And it looks totilily Incredible. Nilturally, all the winning fildors of the original gilme ilre here. However, the bilsic gilming formulil hilS grown ilnd developed. Quite literally In fOld, ilS the key word this time Is 'Metamorphosis!'

The wily in which a caterpillar transforms into iI butterflylsprobilbly the bHt analogy to describe the Ideil behind Panzer Dragoon 1. You see, unlike In the original gilme, you don't stilrt the gilmewlth iI fullygrown dragon steed,but rather a drilgon puppy. At the beginning of the gilme the drilgon Is unable to fly, so the first leveltilkes place on the ground. As the game progresses, so the dragon matures, first learning how to shoot and then fly.

One of the main criticisms of the first Panzer Dragoon WilS over Its difficulty level. Blurrety enough, Segil found thilt opinions were clearly split between those that found the game too difficult ilnd those that found It too easy. Panzer l'S new 'Metamorphosis' featUre has ~n designedtopreventthiltproblemsurfilclng again. The game adually Judges the player's skill levoel and shapes the dragon's growth ilnd development accordingly. Weak players will find their steed develops better defensively, whereas more experienced gamers will find the dragon's offensive prowess Increases. The dragon Iiterilily grows to suit Its ownerl

ALL·NEW NECK ACTION! As If It Isn't bad enough hiillving to cope with swarms of enemy ships to your sides and rear, you can now crane your vIew up and down. Giving the programmers an excuse to put enemies above and below you tool Coping with this I;uger pliily-area Is not ilctuilily ilS mind bosgllng ,115 you'd think, as you find yourself naturally st!erlng the view up and down to chase the enemy. It also milkes the game even more impressive to look at.

• • . . SEGA SATURN

OVER AND UNDER Panzer z's metamorphic theme goes further still. Breaking from the fi~ed

journey of the first game, the sequel now provides you with different routes throughuch level. This added element i1ctuallyties in with the drilgon's

development, ilS It illiows you to choose between sections that tilke you Into the illr, or bring you to the ground. For example, should you encounter a (,lVe

entrance whilst flyinB along, your dragon un actually drop to the ground ilnd enter It, or remain In t he illr ilnd fly ilfound the mountai n. Effectively. thisvilstly Increases t he sl zt ilnd variety ofnch levell

WORLD IN MOTION Alt hough Panzer 1 has been In productio n for sometime now (develo pment was actually an nounced Immediately on t he release of th e original ga me), only an extremely ea rly version of t he game has bee n revea led so far.

Nonetheless, from what we've seen of Project Pe rseus, it's quite dear t his game Is going to be amaz ing, Already t he graphics look more detailed than those of Panze r Dragoon. And Team Andromeda have amb itious pla ns for the game's visuals. Whereas the fi rst game's backdrops were virtually static, t he sequel promises to bring the landscapes to life with moving rivers, foaming waterfalls and even wu t her conditions such as fain and snow. This ad ded detail Is Intended to Incruse the vision of the dying world seen In t he first game. And In fact, the plot Is a vital element In Pan zer 2, unfolding far more dearly t ha n the mysteriOUS happenIngs of the first game. What's more, reve· lations about the first game's story are promised in this sequel.

A growing dragon, multiple·route 1~ls, aerial and ground modes, ~st · Iy improved visuals - and the new futures don't stop there. Panzer 1 promls· es some t echnIcal brulrthroughs for the Saturn too. Tum Andromeda are working on a new loading system whIch they claim will make the in·game CD access time virtually unnotlcuble. Plus, as we've come to e)(pect now, the PAL version Is alrudy promlst'd t o be full·screen and full.speed .

Pan zer Dragoon 1 looks set to be one of t he hottest video games ever an d you can be assured of continual coverage as we follow it to its as yet unspecified release date.

POTTY TRAINING Ju st to give you iI bette r ideil of how your dfigon grows ;li nd develops, here il ft the opening moments of t he ga me . Riding along iI unyo" , some sa nd cfab'S bUrlt out of t he ground by t he drilgon's side. Upon pressi ng the fi re button your dragon un leashes a massive explosion, leaving Its netk glow ing blue. From now on, It's ready to blast anyth ing Ins lght l

Darius - the story robot fish empire We sent Had Automatic to stem the tide... piloting Is p rettyvers~till!.It's ~ smOiIi t;1r8~. nippy on its toes Oind millnoeuvrable. Plus it's d«ked out with it

r--..

lOVI "'M . IIIII 'An, ........10 I " o ....

si ublearsenill. The biggest gun on offer is the ubiqui-

'u., IIVIIIII HAD '"M '0. LUNCH

tous Smart Bomb. These destroy prilctiully ilnything on

~ TO_V. A IIIIleI '.UJKNY COD. NoT THAT IT ..... ' .110 CHI """"'IIIIe;IT WJU lAW AM. 'UlL O' _ _ II AMD 'IV'IIIIG fO IH .." • • THAr'. H _

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qUITI O"HIAUI.IIIIG .01 MI • • U' 'HIIII, .. ' . . II 'MA' .01110 0' 'HI.CALY SAMAI"A.' 0' 'HI.IVI. IIA. ' ..IOIAllY WOULO.'T IAT TMIM. 1111 'ACT, I'D II 0.10' TMIM C'UIL"' " ' ' .I"HIIIA "' ..... . UT ' HIIII, •• 1 WA' A ."'MIIIA, 'U.ILY ALL THOll ••• MWOULO.I COIII'A.IIIIO •• ,MI.I ••• MY VIIIIU, A.O' WOULD .111 .ACT II AIOI.G '"1M •• TO notlll flAIIIU.IIIOI.CI TO TMI • .,.1" .. U.III • • So "'HOU' .U.TM •• A· HAII, uT'. n ..... O. TMO •• 'IG u. •••• A,.O liT TMI CO.T.OU .0. IOMI ".el•• O.tlV.O• ••• But Ief.'sbcebcts, It's pretty unllk.ely the re 's ilnything in the BhilgaYilt Gita ilbout mercilessly l<1t1ng societies of m«hanlcill ilquiltkills. So whilt's th is gilme's fli msy premise foril spot of Armilgilldonl Well,Deciluse fis h hilve gone ilnd tilken over your home plilnet, thilt 's why. The little bllghtets, crilwling out of the seil wit hout eve n the miln ners to evolve before piling down the high street. Predictilbly, yourentire fleet of co·crusaders hilS ~n wiped out within s«onds, lUlling you ilS the lone gun stupid enough not to turn bilck. Well It's your funerill, sucker.

The plil net Darlus Is pretty big.

Twenty·slx 10neS In illI.Whlch is iI lucky number, because It means they ciln il il be cooed wit h iI letter. At the endof eilch stage you 're offered iI choice of the neil rest t wo lones forwilrd to ex plore. The zo nes filnout,withA(thefirst)onltsown.foJ· lowed by B ilnd C, then iI t reble line of D·F ilndsoon(withtheseventhstagefeilturing lones Z ilnd Vtw lce). •t til kes iI good knowl· edge of t he gilme ilnd your own ilbil it ies to know wh ich zones il fe eilslest for you.

Luckily for you , the little fighter you're

s<reen, except those thilt take In milssivedilmage (like level-end bosses), or aliens who lrilnsform (in which use you'll destroy only the first inurnation). The only problem with smart bombs Is

TO A. AUI.

their scarcity. You start the game wit h a paltry three of

them, and once they're gone others are extremely hard to come by-so you're bestsav· Ingthemforbosses.Your

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Wh.t do iill those tricky icons dol Here's. sniip .t-ii-gl.nce guide to their colours.nd properties.

Lilserpower-up.

One-third of. missile power·up.

Three· hitshleld One extr. smiirt bomb Kill iill enemies on·screen

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m.in force of defence is the luer mounted onto the front of your ship. This starts off quite feeble, firing. single blue pulse of energy. Collecting red Icon power-ups improves the power of your iittilcks, first by ildding to the number of beams, then switching the laser to bigger energy bolts until you've eventUiilly got ii fully. powered arseniil of multi·bum green energy blasts emanating from the fore of yourcratt. Until you die, whereupon you lose all power·ups. The third method of death. metering comes in the form of your rocket launchers. These begin life In the si ngular, firing one missile diago· nallydown from the nose of your ship. Collect three green Icons, however, ilnd things stilrt to change. Fi rst you r missi les are powered up to max· Im um eff«t (which takes about nine icons In total),then new rocket tubes are added,firstfiring behlnd, and then firing iibove the fighter. Missiles iire more powerful than lasers, but harder to tar· get. However, their main advantage is that, even should you die, your missile ciipabilities stick with you. These power· ups, iilong with an almost essen· tialthree-hit shield (blue iCOnS), appeiir should you shoot an enemy of the relevant hue, or should you shoot. hidden kon enough times to reveal it (to give you. clue, hidden bonuses f1i1sh when hit). »

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WAIT ASECOND, TERRA·BOY!!!

The hlrdWI,••t ),our ftn'lrtlps mlsht sound pr.tty Imprl "T .... , but that'll b, because JOII know nothing of th e challinc.. fadnl you. NOTHING - you hi.., ml, Earthli".' "hi How (oliid mer. mort,11 comprehlnd thl powlr of the N'ptllriox? Sinel JOII'"saini to die I"p. y. pliny mort.l, 1- TIIIBol , I••d'r of thl Nlpturlox - will display the mlny wl)'s ln which ),ou will m•• t your dooml Ahahahlill

MOON SURFACE l oop aroond one of the many moons of your globe for (In attilck on the Folding Fan boss - ifyoudarel Ahah aa! I have placed regiments of deep space troops in every conceivable position _Plus, you ' ll have the hard sur-

face of the satellite to contend with. Crash into that hulk of rock and

ABANDONED HULK An insidiolls plot, I'm sure you'll concur, butan effective ont'.Th emilny burned.outspilcecruisersfloiltingaround Dilriusilrefilrfromilbilndoned.

Indeed, they teem with not only my briny behemoths, but illso hundreds of my Gundilm robots. These ilrmoured robot wilrriors run ilround the junked hulks, blilsting their Megil·liInce Iilsers, ilnd Shilll even pursue yo utoyour grilve with their rocket pilcks. Andthis is ilil before you even filce my feilr · someguilrdiilns...

SEGA S.A.TURN

GOLDEN OGRE The first of my GIANT BATIlE CRUISERS Is Golden Ogre, the Hell Fish, As heappears,hesmilShes awaylilll buildings with his spiny tail. After th at he'll unleilSh many bullets, a gigantic mouth bum laser and e~n t housands of his own golden scales in his effort to smite you. Sadly, due to an armour deficiency he's pretty susceptible to smilrt bomb attacks. So whatever you do, don't kill him with them, or ,'II get cross,

Don't be fooled by the girly name. Neon light Illusion is no Pink Floyd stilge effed, he is a mechanical crustacean behemoth from beyond the starsIFirsthe'lidistra(tyourfeebleexpressi~humaneyeswith h ls

milny pretty light wilrping effects In the bilckground to his stage, gyrat Ing the scenery in a disconcerting manner. Then he'll use this cover to attack with his many squid tentacles, slicing at you, firing his powe rlul lasers and finilily attempting to bite you to death. One of my most dlstUlbingcreations, I'm sureyou'U agree.

You may wish to avoid my little horrors by cutting across the planet's orbit In deep space, Well I'm afraid I must advise you against thiilt. For you see, I hiilve set my own personal flagship, Titanic Lance, to patrol the outer reiilches of the atmosphere, Tit anic lance takes upas much sp ace iilS one of your normal Earth stages. To teach the almost impregniilble head sed ion you'll need to blast your way through eight modules of the criilft, each armed with an array of grabbing winch hands, Death Ray lilSels, spinning shrapnel bombs, whirling lasers, and homing lasers. So you see, your unfortunate fate has already been seilled. Perhaps we shall lurn of your destiny in next month's SATURN MAGAZINE Rev iew.

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AM3: THE DIRECTOR'SCUT! Sega Rally has be~n out in most gaming shops for a couple of w~ks now, and as everyone prt'dicted, the game's success has been phenomenal. But,

there's little doubt that when the project was first announced,t he fewerea few cynical rumblings from hardcore garners - especially after the less-thanperfectOaytonii.

But, from the minute AM) commenced work on the Saturn version of

5tgil Rally, hud programmer Testuya Miluguchl knew that the finished product would blow every drilling filn dean away. Naturally, then! have been a few compromises, but with the added bonus of a two player mode,

amilzing 30 ilnd plenty of hidden erlr,u, there 's not ill Saturn owner in the land thilt (ould complain ilt the finished result. And, seeing as we've already revealed every cheat thilt WilS indud~d In the gilm~, th~ only thln81~ft to do now is visit S~ga Japan's HQ for a fina l word or two on S~ga Rally from t~am AM] th~ms~lves.

Many thanks to Riyuchi Hattori (S~nlor Programmer), Atsuhiko Nakamura (project director) and Hlroto Kikuchi (team Manager) for granting us this Int~rvlew. lncidentally, this Interview took place wh~n S~ga Rally was already (ompl~t~lnJapan .

SSM: Now that S~ga blly Is compl~te, what afe your thoughts on the final versionofthegam~?

.. Hattori: The details of the graphics and the sound ofth~ cars are th~re and I think that on the whole I'm quit~ happy with them.

SSM: looking back, what ate you particulilrly

pleils~d

with?

.Hattorl: The movement of the cilrs now approaches thilt of the gilm~,

which I'm v~ry

pleas~d

arcad~

ilDout .

SSM: Was th~re ilnything that was partlculilfly difficult, anything thilt you hild doubts ilDoUt while you wer~ developing the title?

"HaHori: Everything! No, probably the movem~nt ofth~ cars. Th~n th~re were th~ graphics; with our r~putation th~y had to be excellent. W~ wilnt~d to use a lot of polygon s, but th~n the frame rate would hilve lessen~d so we had to think aDout th~ balan(~ . . . IiIkamIra: This level of qUillity in the gfilphics and movement was not reilily possible without Saturn's ~o frilmes per second proc~sslng. 1 think we ilttained th~ high~st level we anticipated before starting on th~ project . . . Hattori: Of cours~, it's also a question of timing. Th~ consum~rs want to hilveacc~sstoth~conversion ilS soon as possible.

SSM: So, we're right In thinking that the project was put together In a r~lativelyshorttim~ ... . . Iiattori: Yes,that'saDoutright.

SSM: Why was the split路screen two. player mod~ decided upon? Why not a link. upfacllity? ... Hattori: ttwasaqu~stionofscheduling .

MrMlbmn: W~ didn't fe~1 th~fe would be a suitabl~ cabl~ availabl~ for th~ software by the time of the launch. Also, w~ f~1t that th~re would not be many users abl~ to link up two machines, so the two路 player mode was made more us~r.fri~ndly. This is somet hing of a complicated qu~stion . .. Mattori: Spe~d was an issu~. W~ wanted to release it before the end of th~ year. If we'd had until March 1996, maybe we (ould have produced a suitabl~ cabl~. T~chnically, it isn't that difficult.

SSM: Old you take any comments from consumers when d~veloplng ~ga Rally? Was any specific r~se;mh ~nt~led into? ... Hattori: W~ alw.ys considerth~m car~fully, but In practise th~y alwilYS seem to arrive too late for us to act on. Our team has don~ racing games before, so to a fair degree we alr~ady know our work, but ~very year we're alwilYs being told what to doll think that w~ have managed to fulfil most of th~ con sum~rs' requir~m~nts.

SSM: Was the plan to convert ~ga Rally inevitable onc~ Dayton. was seen on a home system? Was it, shall w~ say, forced upon you?

[Much laught~r br~aks out at thi s point) ... MIttort It WilS right to do th~ conversion. It wilsn't that difficult. . . Mlklrrlra: Theymeantec:hnically, notstrategically.

"Hattori: Oh yes, that was forced on us, because it's not just ilnyone who could have done It. To be honest, I think that if someone else had tried It, I don't think it would have been done.

There are probably only about u people In the world who could have done It. SSM: Going back to the beginnings of Sega Rally, why were the Celica and Deltilcars selected~

... lIwdt Well, there were many fac10rs. We felt that inthe rally, we had tous e real rally cars and the chosen vehicles were well known and looked good. Although there were a number of candidates, these were re.JIlly the only ones ilnd we felt th.JIt we had to choose them.

SSM: What about the l.Jincla Deltil and Toyota Celica7 ... HIttort Originally there was talk of using another car from Toyota, but we

SSM: How does driving the Str.JItos differ from the handling of the other carsl ... MIttari: What can I say7 Of course their performance Is different. The

the first alpha promotion, the media were extremely impressed with the quality, but we were able to upgrade this qU.JIlity still further In the final version. The ruc1ion we received was th.JI t everybody's expectiltlons were elCceeded.

Cellca Is four-wheel drive, whilst the Stratos is just rur路wheel drive, so it's more difficult. The engine power Is Improved and that Is the maximum speed. The steering is quicker. Overall,theStratoslsalot more difficult to h.JIndle. However, with practise, the Celica can be driven fasterth an the other car-thelancia Delta.

SSM: Now you've progrilmmed Rally. you must be aware of the S.JIturn's strong and wuk pOints. Would this affect what you do in the future? .. Hattori: I can't say that the weak points [of the SaturnJ have ever stopped us from doing what we wanted to do. We would try anything.

couldn't find a good one. for elCilmple, the Supra would have been just the same as the Celica and not much fun to use in the game, so we ended up with Just the one. We also took note of the consumers' opinions, which confirmed that if another car was to be added it should be the Stratos.

ssat Wh.JIt.JIrethepositive.JIndnegiitiveaspectsofusingtheStratos7

......ttort The good point Is Its speed - it travels well at high speeds.

SSIII: What Isthe neJrt project for the tum?

... Makanva: It's not yet decided.

SSM: What about Manx TIl ... Matt:ori: This Is Mr Mlzuguchi's AM) tum title. and there's not yet been talk of converting it to Saturn.

SSM: Any final comments about Rally1 MrHattori: Wefeelthegamehasgreatlongevlty. You c.JIn pl.JIyit for hours and the more you play It, the more you'll find. We want players to play it for as long as you'll find.

45

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48

~ SEGA SATURN

OnCl!you've picked up itl!ms, they'll bl! stored Inyour Invl!ntory. If you thlnkyounl!edtousl!thl!m,simplycallthl!invl!ntoryupandhighlight thl! itl!m you want to USI! to solve the particular punll! you're facl!d with.

If you un use the itl!m, the gaml! will aut omatically sl!lect it for you, then you'll be treat\!d to a sl!quence ofthl! item being put to use.

Incldl!ntally, thl!re;H1! two itl!ms that you begin the game with - a mirror and a clock. The dock simply kel!ps a time on your exploits and If you takl! too long, time will run out andyou'lihavl!tobeglnthl!gaml! again. Whl!n openl!d,thl! mirror gives you a dUI! as to your sup路 posl!ddestlnation inthe hOUSI!, but eOich time you use it, thl! glOiss will crack Slightly. Aftl!r you've consulted It threl! times, thl! glass will shatter OInd refusl!to rl!vul any more clues. So USI! it cardully.

BEETLE'SPSYCHEDELIA AaSghhl ii's that damned beetle agalnl Just when you think that i t's the most obscune place. Once Laura's gone for good, it pops up in spotted it, there's nothing she can do apart from suc cumb to its strange trandng powers. All of a sudden. the foom switches in to it post-hippy nishtmilre of psychedelic swirlsilnd sillanlcnoises. This turns laufa Inlo

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a full 路on bilsket case, and she falls intoan hallucinalion, reliving her awful past. Stilted ilt 11 dinner table, the young woman is about to tuck in to her ~nin8 meal, only to be disturbed by iI nutter hell-bent on snalching the strange beetle.shaped pendilnt thai's tied around he r neck. She attempts to stop th e pen:on from snip ping the pendant's chain, but this proves impossible, and as roon as the pendant is lost, he Deglnsto stab the girl. Just who is Dehindthls evil vision, and what Is the slg nificanceofthescarabbeetler

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The second part of the adventure is even more chilling than the first and the puzzles area lot more difficult to solve than at the beginning of the game.

But, at first, there's much more preuing matters t o attend to. like the huge stone ball that's following her down the stairs at an alarming speed. luckily, it's a bit big to make it through the space at the bottom of the sbirs, so she escapes with Inch路 es to spare. But that's nowhere near the end of her traumas.

Herfatherappearsonelast time to inform her that she really should get out because he'schangingatanunbeliev. able rilteand hecan no longer De responsible for hlsilctlons.

Ofcourse, ilsshe'scomethis far,liIura isn't going to give up now. Despite herfilther's horrific form she decides to get to the bottom of the mystery, which leads her deeper ilnd deeper into the house. There's more puzzles to solve along the wily, ilndeilchtimeshestumbles ilcrossthe beetle, the hilllucinations become more intense,eilchonereveillingil littlemoreofhertorturedpilst.

We don't want to give too much of the storyline away at this point, Decause otherwise, illiofthe puuleswill De solved for you when you come to buy the gilme. Suffice to silY though,liIuril does milnilgeto trilck her filther down, ilnd she eve n getstoblkto him. And afteril while he reveillsthe reasoning behind his awful murders. But we're not going to t ell you whilt it is. Oh no. YOU'll hilve to find itout for yourself.

Ifyoumilkeitthiltfilrof

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DARKSTALKERS 2: VAMPIRE HUNTER So what happened to t he original Darkstalkers t henl lron out those furrowed brows bKause t he- original has yet to find its w~ on to the Saturn. In any case t he ~uells essent ially an update of the original only with impr~ graphics and ilnlmatlon (Darksblkers used 128MB for all the characters where as vampire Hunter LJSe'S 256MB), and t here ,lire even iI couple more char.Kters thrown in as well. There art iI total of 14 characters to choose from In the game ilnd t;lch of these supemlltural competiton is in possession of ill ghoulish ilrr<1y of moves.

tllElllTRl The Prlnc:t of Darkness certainly carries hi mself like iIIn Immortal aristocfilt, ilOd his moves ilre #!Very bit as ilWfiOrTle as his reputation. He comes in the shape of a Va mpire and Is able to exe<ute some unbelievable aerobatics Including the

power to disappear in a puff of smoke and reappeilr hovering ilbout his

opponents rudy to suck t he blood out of theml

2. LEI LEI lei lei is one of the two new char.teters to find their w~ Into vampi re Hunter. Known ~s 'The Chinese Ghost' she looks Nrmless enough, even friendly in f.tct. But don't let ~ppe~~nces fool you.

UndI!rneirth her kimono she hides hideous ~nd Ieth~1 claws. Before you an say 'cuti!' she'll h~ve to," you to shreds!

3.GAWlN The su pernirtu ~lline-up wouldn't be proper wit hout t he presence of ~ werewolf ~nd this comes In t he shilpe of Gillion. He hilS iI canine ferocity ilnd hu nger th~t's sationed with the help of his ~zor shilrp d~ws. His most d~stilt l ng ;att;ack sees him t ~ nsformed to fi re on which point he a n sw~ llow ;an enemy whole!

4-DONOVAN Just;about the only good BUY in the g;aml!, 'The O;ark Hunter';as he's known h;as ;a 'ast selection of rT'IOYeS to choose from. His we~pons ;are;a magic sword ~ nd huge belt m;ade up of large spheres, but being the Bood BUY, Donov;an an a ll on ;a ~ nge of protective spirits to help hi m out. These re!eilse spells of fire ~nd ice ;and ;also Include the summonlnB of ~ huge Bod from his celestial dwelling pl;ace to crush opponents with his mighty feetl

Demitrl, Morrlg;an could be dilssified ils;a vilm-

,"up..thert"tfilditlon '''''','. o,ft'" bI"xI of her victims. She of children of the night bytu,"-

p'~

;a b~t In one of her special rT'IOYeS. She an ~Iso few tricks like m;ake mirror ilTl4lges of herself to confuse opponenb ~nd se;ar ~ross the screen on;abe~moffire.

Z;abeI ISnotthe~vefilge stereotypeof t he

British

person~ (~pa rtfrompe rh~pstheSld

VlciCXIs h~l r sty!et080withhis guit;ar),yethe

sports ;a Union Jack proudly on his could n'tBuess. Zabelis~Zomble, al'ld as

"de.d hilS no qu;alms ~bout customisIng v;arlous bits of his deaying body for m;aievolent purposes. With t he ~dilption of ;a few limbs he an construct;a useful bun saw. He comes with iI st umpy pal who likes to eat the opponents!

o~om.

Although 5111 ch~r~cten have Deen looked ~t In ~ bit more detilll here, there are another eight to choose from which ilren't quite as near completion. These are Anakaris, ~ mummy from ;ancient Egypt:. Felicia the at 'NDfTliIn, Aul~h who be~n ITIOf'eth;an;a~singresemblanceto;afish,

Silsql.atchtheVetl, VictOfthe Fr.lnkensteinlooltillilte, Bistamon the samuJiJl, Phobos" who tliIs ~ myriildofbe;am~ilndPyroo.theSÂŤ.OOdch~rxter

new to the sequel, who Is constituted of fire.

STREET FIGHTER ALPHA After the debacle that was Street Fighter: The Movie, you'd think I hallhe Slreet Fighter series had execuled its last dragon punch.Capcom don't think so and by the looks of Street Fighter Alpha it would seem their faith in the

legendary beat 'em upwasjustified. Street FtghterAlpha isa near perfect conversion of the coin-op and proves every bitas impressive ilS Da rkstalkers II in boththequalityoftheanimation and technical excellence of the gameplay. It takes the prindple characters from the Street Fighter 0 riginafanda couple from Final Fight (another Cap<om dassic in the Streets of Rage fight.

ing style),aswell as ildding four new characters to spice things upabit.let the revival commencel

FAMILIAR FACES RYUCIndKen,thetwocenlrCllchClrClclersintheoriginCiIStreetFightergClme Clre both in Street Fighter AlphCl Cllthough they look like they've been work· ing out CI bit more, as does VegCl (or M.Bj~on to us here in BritClin). (hun li is also in there as is SClgClt. Their moves Clre ICirgely similar to those in Street Fighter II Cllthough they ClII vary to an extent thanks to the new power level Clttuks, represented by CI power bClr Cit the bottom of the screen .

•

• . . . SEGA SATUI<N

Street fighter Alpha comes wilb a 'fist range oroptlonl Iilowln8 yOll to get Ihl mOil oul of yourn8t11ing,intludingturbolpeed!

TWG Grthe samtl legendl pttP11't to do batlI.wilhonlolhlr. TllelrmovlIlrtnlOltly flithful10 SF2but tllertlrtutr.lslnthtrt.

Final Fight was a huge Capco m hit back In '99' where its scrolling beat 'em up style acq uired many admirers. Two of its characters have arrived In Street Fighte r Alpha in th e shape of Guy, a good guy who was a player cha racter and Sedam who was one of the end-of· level bosses who supplements hIs evil by wielding two dagger·type weapons. According to Tatsuya Mina mi, head of planning and design at Capcom, they were chose n because they were considered t wo of t he most popular cha ra cte rs from th e game. Makes sense really.

PROPPING UP THE POWER BAR The major di fference in Street Fighter Alpha from its predecessors Is the addition of a powe r ba r at the bottom of the screen. It Isn't your plain old powe r· up ba r eith er. There are three levels of power to move th rough and wit h eac h level a cha racter improves their special moves and combo's. Get all the way to level three and they' ll pull off a supe r move or combo that finishes off their oppo· nent . The picky am ong you witt be kee n to point out that Street Fighter: The Movie also came with a power bar but It was nothing as sophisticated as th is, an d besides, that game was a load oftosh.

UNFAMILIAR FACES Four characters in Street Fight er Alpha you afe less likely to recog· nise are Birdie, Adon, Rose and Nash. The first two aren't alien to t he Street Fighter se ries however, appea ring In t he original. Birdie is a huge bouncer who is slow but ext re mely powerful, and Adon fi ghts in a similar style t o Sagat although he Isn't as powerful. As for Rose and Nas h, these characte rs are comptetely new. Rose fig hts much like Chun LI but has the abltlty to deflect fire ball attacks and Nas h Is a lmost Ide nt ical to Guile using both Sonic Boo ms and Flas h Kicks.

---------------~~~--------------

THEATRE OF THE EYE Those sp~wny Ameriuns ludolf'<! out with one of the most toterhining ~fiH of Ids since Hoffmeister's fillmous Follow The BUI (lImp.ign. It's slightly reminiscent of the arn;ient Numbskulls comic strip ibout all the little people living ;,'!Side your head ilnd ru nn ing your body. The StIleS kicks off with optic rods ilnd conn sitting ilfound~tchingilsthetoenilllsillecut-ilndlhenlheilbodyloildsupSiiturn,

Ifildingtoinevililblefitsofd,oolingilndgfne,,llucitement. Thisinitialtastcr, despite its solo efftctlveneu, sets up the viewer for future instalments. Taking part in the Thutre of the Eye, nell new skit futurts two 01 three Saturn games, theme-billed,with the Rods ilnd Cones becoming incrusinglydelilnged.

DiS(iplineinlhe~esgoesflghtout,a ndfurther(hiiosensuesasfirstthe Optic Ne~andthenBralnattempttortstoreorder.Eventuallyotherpartsofthe

body's In te rnal system wan t to get a look In, to s芦 what exactly it wu that put Sphi ncttr undtr such pressure.

Whilstthtseadsshowytryllttleofthtactualgamtsthtmstlytsthty'rt high ly mtmorable than ks to tht humour conlent and warped yisuals. Of (ourst, the main point thty're trying 10 make Is that Saturn gamts look so good you'll cack your strldts. Graphic capa billtlts go a long way towa rds selli ng a machint in the USA, and tht style kudos of Saturn owntrship is an important element to establish to consumers.

But, deipite tht playfulntssofthe campaIgn, thtre's a sinister sid e.Two yerslonsofthtads_ftproductd.Thtflfst ~clea n~stt andascarysecondstt

featuring low路ltvel subliminal yolceunders ItUingyou that, for e xample,~You'U I~ the metallic sound Dural makes when sht kicks your butt in Virtua Fighter", and suchlikt. Lotk them all up, that's what wt say.

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Chimps ~fe ~ce. D~ve Kelull, Aft Editof of this very m~g, 1000es them to bits. As ~ /Mult he路s lIlso smitten with the JlIpalleSe Saturn ad campaign, which ftatufei ~ COlJpie of the hllndsome beuts lind their Saturn Upefiences. The first ad shows Chimp X (lIS we like to all him) f~Uc~ to II gibbering wfeck by the m~jestyof the s..turn's apabllitiei. The second, centf~ afOlJnd Wing Afms, adds ~ second bonus chimp (we'll all him Bonus Chimp). As Chimp X tllkei the conIrols (analoguejoystick-neJlo!) the palf lin! gradIYl1y suc:nd into II world at living gamedom, which sees them both coIlllpse to the floor liS the 'pillne crashes into tM on路SCfeen W!1I.

Unlike Amerita and Japan with their plethora of Saturn marketing showcilses, the UK hu bun truted to one single combined clnemil ilnd TV display. However, it's an undenlilbly stylish and Impreniw one, as you'll no doubt hilve noticed. Developed by McCilnn·Erlckson, one of this country'S ludlng "gendes. it's iI stonklng "movie" of a advertisement (munlng it luis longer th"n thirty seconds. In ad·speak). like most ildverts the crutlve tum behind the movie hilvea lal.lghilblyself·lmportintprecis for tllelreffort it flogging theSatu rnJust like "nyflilt'(ipped milrket trider shifting five IIgilters for a quid. The story Is set in the so·called Segathedral. sl.lpposedly where Segil of the "Iternat e futl.lre time· line cru te their latest gimes. The Interior of lheSegalhedralis infactawllatking grut dilm In los Angeles (obviously Ihe id teim hid loget Ihe perfect settl ng. anddidn·tjustfancyatrlplotheStitesalall).Theceiling,whichu~tobeasky.

WilS pilnted In during post·productlon.

The plot revolves around Ihe slnlsler·looklng Valkyrie. the man who "e.e<utes" the new games. pultlng them through their pitesagiinst inexpert human player. In this case It's a rate driver played bythesuperbly·nam edWiley Pickett, who obviously enjoyed filming. "I've bun beat on, smoked up, chemical spriyed.wlnd sprayed,shilken, suffOC:ited,plnched,tipe<!. pulled ind plut ked" quoth he about the experience. And u Wiley sits In his repllci Daytonil (ir ind prepares 10 get completely knickered up, Valkyrie shooh his oc:uli into the eye. tubes of his he<utloner's chillr. Obviously the id Isn't aimed at the Sonic pyJimiS crowd. As iI broken ind blH'ding Wiley's rolled put Valkyrie on" haspit,,' trolley, the litter luns over to whisper "Reillty hurts", Ooh - SCiry.

Dick DUnford, one half of the cruliveduo responsible for the ild,expl iined his desire to hit audiences with an empilthlc pie<e of work which would bring home Ihe new rulism ind excitement of Ihe Salurn, And ilS he so eloquently states "If you want 10 capture the rullty of a game. well- rullife. you have to actually do It for rul ",

PRE SS GANG Of course whilst TV ind Clnemi ire excellent forums to show off your wares It's fu chuper to advertise In good old static print. Obviously you're not allowed the same scope as moving pictures provide. so you hive to be a bit more dever, Segi's S.logoteaseradsarea successful cue In point. is Isthelrsponsorlngofviflous personals ids columns In mignlnes such u SeIKt and 10. The Sele<t ads even futuredpretend personals ads from Bua and JeffryVlrtua, Call the number an d gruff old Jeff or chirpy Bug hive left i little message for you. Bug ilsofeiltured In iI smirt pastkhe of the Wonderbra "Hello SOys" advert. sega 1iIpan took a Iypicilly ofklde ingle to their print ampalgn, (uturlng ilien conehuds from Saturn (who also featured In a TV blitz) getting all excited ilbout the new mathlne. 1f only someone hid lhought to give them their own gilme.

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ne (1# the flm Modell coIn-ops Seta "ulKtled WH called Wln,w..r. Uke J'OU'd know. Hlrdly Inyone bothered pllyl nllt,6Hpltethef.ctIt" Ibsolutely ICe. PerhlPS the doublejoystkkcontrols put peopieoff. Va l;uyyellow-bellytahoots.lfyou'dhavebkenthe lime to bother with It you'd hive found one of the mO$t enjO)'ilble two-player duel games arcades have 10 offer.

Well thanks to the general ap;l thy of UK coin-op players Wing War will neversee lhe lightofdayonthe Saturn. Actualty. that's alie. The !!ame was pretty massive in Japan. so we're at a loss asto why it never got the port-over green light. But 5e!!a, bless t heir little cotton Sonic bobbysocks. can"t let their many followers !!o hun· gryfor aerial combat. So t hey've released this loosely-tied one-player texture·mapped title we like to call Win!! Arms On paper. Win!! Arms sounds pretty ace. Take your pick from a number of real-life WW2 planes. some common. some bizarre e ~periment al proto· types. and take up against the evil enemy forces

Muchlikelnrealwarsyou'renotjustputupinthe sky and ask!"d to wade t hrough the entire enemy on your own. Oh no. you·re given specific missions. WIth mapsandtargeband,sadly,limitedsupplies ofmissiles.But unlike real wars.you·re qurte likely to sur· vl~morethanoneofthe m. andas such pa rtici pate ina varlety ofoffensi~ ma noellVres(which doesn't

mean flick ing the Vs, bythe way). Missions vary from assaulting futtlrist ic-Iookmg oil rig t hings to ch asing enemy pilot s Ihrough mazes of narrow canyons.

There's always a besl way to approa ch each opera tion, but at the end of the day success is all down to your own combat skills Wing Arms Is as arcadey as fll!!ht games com e.

Vourcontrols handle !!uns, missiles, steeri ng (hard an d soft ·corneri ng~). fl ight speed a ndm ap viewing

(for tar!!et location). Don·t worry too much about crashing- hitti n!! th e scenery or floor does lose armourpoint s,butisn·ti mmediatelyfatal.Themaln threat arises. as you'd hope. from the manyen!"my fighters, t anks.!!unplacements.ships.Ctltlery,ghosts and sweets. At first ifs easy enough to save your lameass by watching your radar and circhng behind foe forces, but as the !!ame progresses the opposmg pilots !!et smarter and start using their own tactics.

And Ihis Is where the bone of !!ameplay contention rears its ugly bone. Once Ihe 'planes start

g~in8better.they'lihomeifla/ldtryto8etbehind

you, whileyou',e trying to track them down by radar.

Which meilnsyou'li both f1yaround and around in cirdes, OCCilsionally m« ting upforhead·on mlcr(>.

confrontations before zooming past one another. Ifs fairly easy to imagine the tedium, and unfortunately th is mars a n otherwise well thought~ ut and engrossingshoot-'e m.u p. But hey-don't get on a downer about it kids. life's too short. Plus, this is

where the Expert (ontrol system comes into its own It allOVllSYOu to adjust the yaw and roll of your plane instead of just nose directlon. givingyou Irue threc fr~om of movement. Irs almost impoSSible to get the hans of at flfSt. but once you get the gist of shift ing around in a thousand direc· t ions at once it improyesyour aeri al agilitystupendously. In fact, ifs pretty rock to compl ete the lat er levels without this degree of control. Ifyou·ve got t he p;ltiencetogetsttlcklnandlearnyourflight style (try playing with Expert controls from the off) Wing Arms is an exercise in e~treme competence. although dimenSional

perhapsnotafull·onclassic.Gi~itaspin.byall

meaflS. but don·t expect to get your head blagged

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Bribes, drug scandals, violence. Not the kind of things you'd usually associate with the national game, but football has been high profile news this last year. Eager to steal the headlines this time around is EA's FIFA '96. Hold the back page! t's ~ grul game football. Just ask about two biUion of the planet 's populalion.Footbalisimsonlheothl!' hand have a habit of being a bilhit and miss. FLFAhiiSillrudyesl abIlsheditselfasoneoflhebest16-bit footy games around a nd its arrival on the Saturn heralds a polentiallynewet;ilfo,thls popular genre.

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chancetotaketheirteamthroughanentireleilgue scason, Every single player from the 1994-S season is

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included and John Motson provides the mmmentary toreallybanghometherealistlcven~r.Ashas

be<:omethe norm these days. FIFA '96 also comes wilh a wealth of custom isms options to alter strategy,formation and the hke, and an intimidating range of stats on teams and players skills_The good news ,s thattheygenuinelymakeadlfferenceaswell,lf you're traihng by one goal in th e last minute then an all-out attad strategy pushes all of your players up The fisk of course, is that you're defenceless if the opposing team catches you on the break. As the ever philosophICal manager will tell you though,'that's football' But what FIFA pfimafilybUllt its reputat,on on thoughwasthe t remendouslydeta,ledcharacterarlimatlon and the excitement of the gameplay. Here's where FIFA '96 proves itself to bea bit disappointing The animation and movement of the spriles is both slow and slightly jittery, This isa real shame becauSf it was precisely these elements that made FlfAstand oulfrom the crowd inthe past. Fortunalely t hegame loglChasn'l suffered,sowhile it might not move as fast and smooth as you'd hkeyoucan stili guarantee that the pass you're try,ngfor is t he one themmput erwillselect To create a televisual atmosphere to FIFA '96 thereareanumberofspecialfeaturesThedulcet tones of John Motson have already been mentioned but that's not all. There are also a total of seven cam· eraanglesvaryingfromastadlumcameratoone which moves right In on the action, Although these demonstrate all of the impressive 3l-bit technology. you'lifindyoufselfonlyusingaboutthr~ofthem,To

top ,t all off there's the oblisatory replay option which allows you toenjoyyourYeboa·hke stflkes again and again_lfonlythegraphicsand animation were decent enough to make this really worthwhile.

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Whether you're one of those people who's addicted to it, or one of those people whose eyes grow lazy at the mere sight of it, golf always seems to prevail. As do golf sims for that matter.

Can this aging genre survive in the fast and furious world of 32· bit gaming? Caddy! Fetch my clubs!

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olflsnotilchUPBilmetoplily.An ilYerilge set of dubs wilt set you back ilbout £600 and membership to iI

dub cosls anything up 10 about £60,oooayur.Thenlhere'sall thosemult i.(olouredgolflngslilcks. lyle and SCott roll·necbilnd Pringle pullovento think ilbout. And whit if it rains eh?

WllhthISped,lntrylnmlndyou',eprobolblybet. ter off st,cklng to the TV Ifs cheap ilnd Involvt's much Ic1s effort. IfYOl.fre st,lI eager fOI golf. why not

ilPpUse )'OUI desires with ill golf Jim I mean, they tnst<allyamount to the same thmg an'f'Nilly fight 1

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ilre in flares and seqllinvests mmm,actually V,rtllaIGolfmakesnoslIchildventllrollsdepilr· tllres,lIphold,ngthetrad,t,onillilpproilchtogolf sims by milontil,n,ngthe precision controi method IhalgoYernsthee~cellen{eofilswong llkew.se there ilre the 1I511al concerns oYer the dmectlon ill'ld speed ilt which the wood is blowong, whilt cillb to lise ilnd the contours of the green when It comes to PlIttong The control method is styled like iln ilrcade gamemaklnsitveryeasyloplayilndalsoveryqLlick, something which is qLlite a relief after so milnygolf sims that involve the endlesschoosonS of options beforeyouciintilkeilswong.Naturallyyouciincilll upamilpthatglvesyouanovervlewoftheholeilnd tells you how milnyy.irds there are to the f1i1g, but onterferenceofthls kind IS kept tOil minimum

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Itself There are four courses on totill,all fict,onal,of whICh two are amateur ilnd two professional You ciln onlyilccess the profess'onal courses in a tournil ment when you have alreildygot through the two ilmatellrcoursesunderpilrAlternilt,velY,YOLlCiin plily Practice mode or 'Derby Scramble', a same where players form couples and use the best shot belwefOn them ilnd plilyother doubles ona round of e'ghtef'nholes As ,seMpected ofil Spofl Slm these days. Virtual Golf comes With iI mynild of Cilmeril ilngles and oncludes iI leplay facility for thoseespeciilily memo rableshots It ilisoilliows the player tothoroushly check thefa,rwilY before they tilke a shol by zooming on and out. rillslng ilnd lowenns the angle and rotat ongthevlew This is all done very smoothly and pointstowardsthequalityofthegraphicswhlCh oncludelarge,lfpoorlydressed,splltes.Asfolilnima. lion though. It hils to be pointed out that wh,le the crowds ililiook qUite pretty, none of them move iI muscle milk,ngyou feel hkeyou're playing to an ilud,· enceofmiln~Uln's

All In ill1,l Ciln't help thinking that the original PGA Tour Golf on the Megild"ve hild II just ilbout nght ilnd the only thinS 32·b't golf really needs to be concentfilt'ngon is making It all look morerelaMing and serene V,ltuill Golf sees some wily to dOinS thilt with its Simple ilnd accessible control method. and It put s on a bettel show thiln World Cup Golf Ultlmatelythough,ltlilckstherefinemenlofatruly brilliilntgolfslffi

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There are some games that are

~.~~~ worth buying a Saturn for. But what happens when, in a scary moment of reality, the tables are turned? What happens when agame is crap?

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Well,tf,yesActuaUy,lt,s.Fora start.theback. enough to make any music lover feel a httlegreenaroundthegil lsJohnny Billook.ltoneisafockstar,andhlS pllztgultar thang has been stolen by an evil maglCliln, hell·bent on destroyIng mUSiC <IS we know It And n If th~t

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and they're not much fun to look at either. Plus. there doesn"! seem to be any detail on thechilracters and they're all on the dark side. Kind ofe~cusableon a 16bit milchlne, but how on earth did this happen on the Saturnl Surely the progr<lmmers could have m<ldeJohnnyB<lbltbiggertoo/Nol0hwell Stili. this wouldn't be too.,wful if the lest of the gamewils packed wIth sumptu.ous b<lckdrops and thumb·bhstellnggameplay But It Isn't All ofth.e lev· els have a really tatty tinge to them, and there's httle vallance (10m one level to the next. .,part from a few convenient graphICal ch.,nges. However, the most ll11tatlnS aspect of this tItle hes In the gameplay Wlthln,ooh,fiveshortminutesofplilYlngthis,you could qUite possibly have lost your rag. Enemysplltes pop up out of nowherewilhout any warning at all, then promptly proceed to w<lnder about all over the level where you'll h<lve to shoot them at leilst fifty times to make them go away Then there's the old "h.,hal Iilma splkytreesothereforeyouwlli lose a thIrd of your life" trick. Only sometimes it doesn"! work like that There is however, plenty of opportunity to pICk up bonuse5 In e<lch <lndevery level. These either

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Isn"t enough" h.e"s <llso kldn~pped the most famous lock <lnd roll st.,rs on the world like, no way, dude unfortuniltely, l Diablo (he's th.e living essenceofevif) h.,sn'l m.,nilged to kid· napJohnnyBilzoolta,hencetheruson for t his platform ad~enture So,Johnny must fiSht for his right to rock Ihe world wIth hiS musICal pills Which meilns resculnS them. WhICh means three hundred hours of the most boring pfiltform <lC!ion ever Inv-ented It"S not thilt there's <lnythlng wrong wIth this Iduassuch"t'smoreth<lttheway,thasbeenput togeth.er IS absolutelydre<ldful. All of the splltes

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come In the form of mUSic notes whICh Johnny must collect to m<lke up hIs musIC sheets, or stars, which of course is what Johnny w.,ntsto be.Coliecting these goodies is probably the only fun part of the gameandtoobtain so me of them, you'll have to work out where the secret platforms in t he game ilre <lnd also use Johnny's f1oatlngoptlon on his gun But, nicethoughtheym.,ybe,lth<lrdlygoesanyw.,yto compensate for the rest of the tllie At the end of they dily, you have to wonder wh<lt m<lde US Gold release thiS title. In no wily is It wh<ltyou'd expect ofa next gener.,tlon machine, and bal the lendeled Inlro,lhere's nOlhing in the game Ihat hasn't been done a ml1l1on times better before Bungingt~nlysplltesonscreen<ltatlme,then

allowing th em to wander <lround in a rilndom man· nefdoes not <I good game m<lke,SUlelyanyone knows that And when you conSider that most people around helewould rather play the ollgin<ll Sonic gameth<lnthis-fiveyearson.,ndprogl<lmmedfola superlOlmOichine-youh<lvetowonderwhetherthis Isworth., look in ilt;all

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It's here at last After knocking about on the PlayStation for months, Toh Shin Den finally makes it on to the Saturn. But was it worth all the fuss and bother of the wait? Just about

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carrit.'doutinthestyleofStreet Fighterspcclals On looks alone Toh Shin Denisa worthy rlVill to Virtua Frghtersportmg

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There OIre three l'Iidden characters mall-Gala.

Shoand Cupido-and 10 get these you have to bt Ylctoflousover every ot her character in the game w,thoutloslOBafight Sho Is much the same as Kayin. and Cupido shares s,mllar attrrbules toSOpl'l,a Asfo. Gaia. well,thischOiracter IS prettyufllque using a sel of claws thOlt.each out from over its shoulders and devastOitlOg enemlf:Swlth massive flrebJIlis When you start playing asSho the whole

~am~speedsupconslderablyand

But as decent as these toochesare. this doesn't

really save Toh Shm Den from tumbling Into medlocIItyand thafs btcause thegameplay IS on the whole too slow. something which makes fightlOg feel a bit slugglshUnllkeVF1.lneverfelttotallylncontfolof my character even when I was really familiar With their moves The moves themselYe~ while qUite impreSSive to look at,aren"tYilrred enough to malOta,n)'Ol.lr IOterest for very long Admittedly there are some se<ret combo's and sptClOII attacks knocking about but they just aren't e~cltlOg enough to really Brab your Interest and maintain It I suppose what I'm gettlngat ina round about sort of way is the fact that Toh Shm Den lacks rul depth in the gameplay With a game like VF2)'01.1 can spend months d,scOYt"rrng new mOYeS and combinations OOt With Toh Shin Den It 0111 btcomes too familiar too soon

II1itJ btJI"UlttK~ .. U.dqprwltldIlCEJllailltMr "'"" "' __ ilJ ..u.ls~imc.1t t.fIPt.

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. . SEGA SATIJRN

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Guess what kids - it's the future. And in the future things are not all hunky-dory. Evil money men control our lives and our minds. What's a poor boy to do? Why not smash the evil cyberfuture conspiracy and blow lots of things into tiny smithereens.

The future is fun.

T

h~ ;lC~ gf~phk~ upabilitifl of the Saturn ,lIrt top news foteveryone.

Fo,stilrters, they fullitate CCcol-

lectionsofSa.",h8ryantportr;aIH

ilsshtrec:1inessoilliuringlybyht. swimming pool,dHpite having ben supposedly b"'inW3s~d by an tvil criminal syndicilte. The other thing they, the g.aphiu, illiow Is more off·the-wall gilmeplay stylule. FOlenmple, a 30 vlewpolnt-willrplng game like Panle. Dragoon could nrverhaYf!f!.istedonlheMegad,ive. No,buk then WI! had Space Harrie. which wu totally different. Honest. Anyway, one of the n_ things you un do with your spiffy new Sahlrn (;and a development

station Ifyou'Ofegot millions of pounds) is p,ogu,m so-ulled "S.ilphlc ildvenlufes" The),'rt likelhtst fole-playinl Iilme things, but with action bits in Ihem. Thefe art ilI,udy a couple of them Inulstence, like 0'5 Oiningnble or (ntarly) Mystery Milnsion of the lost Hidden Souls. But one of the miinysucceufulPCeumplesofthlssCilrynewtrend Is now .llmostcompletely prepilredfor iISilturnInvil '

ropeyanti-ilircr~ftconcept).d,splayongsohd-lookong

si~n.

It'~stlll a bit ofil dep<lrture for the pflmilflly ilctoon-onentiitedconsolesYoupilyCyberboy,iI cyber-agent With iI ml$Slon to mfittfilte ~n enemy b~seorOfgilOiSilt,onorsomethlngandSilveptople

But how, just HOW, can one miln poSSibly face the might of The COfporex Corporation alonel Well fortunatelyhe'sequ,ppedw,thiltltheliltestc:yber-geilr Indudm8i1c:yber-wflst.blilsterilndcyber·spedy·fourtyes'glasstswhlcharethemselvesequ,ppedw,th three d,fferent scanning modes 10 help our boy willch ou t for hidden threilts behind doors and inside crales, To mate things a b,tlessofil hilssle for plilY' efS. who would olherwise spend thelf enllfe time scanning everythong and then shooting II Just to milke sure, neither of these gadgets come into plily without the opportun,ty for thelf use being pertinent tothefurtheringofthegilmelndeed,despltet he apparentlyfreeform nilture of the game your options ilteachturnilrerelilt~lyhmlted Cybeflilplilysep,sodicallyEachscleenisv,e~

from a d,fferent ptrspect,vt, with your character placed at a different pOint W,thlneilch screen area coupleof tilskswhiltneedaccompllshingbefofeyou

• •

ildvanceontothenextscreenTh,sm'ghtmakell sound like iI futuflsticvtrs,on of Jet Set Willy or any olher ancient nlck·screenfossi!. but that's not what It seems like when you're plilylng ilS eilch episode leads quiteneatlyontothenext.Klthegeneralappeilr. ance isofil fluid stream of gaming Evtnwhenthe action SWitCheS from vaguely Isometric creeping around through dose-quilrters combat into iI first· ptrson 'plane blastmg sub·game through plotildvancing non-playable sklls But then, halfway through ,you're suddenly pre· sented with ilbout eight levels of first-person perSpectl~ shoot-'em-up, looking not unhke Microcosm (except out of doors instead of Ins,de someone's body),Wh,lethey're not that bad,theydoseem intruslve,especiilily as they're ilil lumped together in onego. instud oflnlerspresed gradually through ildventufelevels On{eyou'w; completedlhemilnd gOltothemaonildvenlUllngchuntthmgspl(kup ilgilon, but ,fsa shame they sem togoon forever Other than th~t. the graphICS rem~on ~tyhstlcill­ Iyconslant pretty much throughout (ilpilrt from the

This II o~e of thl IhOoOt 'em ~p mllonllllPIMd bing I~to thl IIIlddleoftybttl•. Whllstlt'llKItllitutbadt'~)'OIIt..'t MlpllltWOliMrlftlMytolllclunlll.. 5Plit.pillllt.

~ SEGA SATUI<N

renderedchilr~cter5i1ndbactgfoundsinaconem~11C

enough fashIOn 10 (illry the atmosphere. And that's thelmportilntbl t ReahstlCilllyspeakong,whilst Cybefla 's qUite eclectIC by n~ture of cont ent it's the illmosphere which really ma~es Ihe gilme enjoyable It'SNSY 10 gel cilught up on the plotilnd (moreoftenj the drilmiltlC teoslon ofevenls, ilsyou're never sure whilt's ilround the next corner, or whether anyone yoU meet IS fflend or foe. Except the guys in uniform who shoot you-they're foe SiisiCilllyCyberia is a good game There's always a lot goong on, you've got 10 use your brain and Ihere's plenty of dealh-deilhng for the more mercenary·heilrted gamers amongst you Thethmg IS It'S ha rd tolhlntwhotorl!Commend It to, Therole-plily element ,sn't qu,te deep enough tOilppeill to sohd ildventure fans and the ilctlon is iI bit too Simple for suptr-speedcyber·shooFem-upheads.lfyoufilncy chilngonglhepaceofyourgameth,s,scertaonlyan onlflgulngl,lle,butlheplot-heavycentreoflt mlghl not be to everyone's tasle

. . . SEGA SAnJRN

You may or may not have seen the film. You may or may not have liked it Whatever. Interplay have taken up the film licence, but have they resisted the temptation to bang out a run-ofthe-mill platformer?

II

hOltllHbe)'ondthilitbornl!'from

whi,hnotrolveller,elurnsehlWh .. t lIIumlnilllof15 sigh upon the shores of the undiscovered (ountry~ The

ilni wer,accordlnl 10 tht truton of Cuper,comHlntheshilpeofil blubulous ghost kid with ilwhlnln.Amt,kan a(cent who liIys things like 'cool' every t ime ht tilts ilpple. So Yillueyour life chlld renl Seize the day

ill"

beCiluSt)'OU won't even have the

puce Inhttent in

pushinguplhedaisiesl NolYou 'Ube ,educl!dtotht kind ofchnp ilfterlife where you think wurinlil bnl!ball up and a pilirof ShildH put you on thll! cui· tingli'dgeofcrtdibility.OhthehorrorlThe horrolt.~ All this despillr refers of course to Cilsper The Ffiendly Ghost, one of those 'fllms fOf all the family', which provtd to be iI big hit dUrlnglhe summer Its box office success thus assured,the post-premlcrc 'mllk·it' mcch~nlsms qUKkly clicked IOtO gea.r and before you ~ncw It Ca.sper's cuddly fc~turcs ~re becoming a.11 toofamilia.r Thus Is II tha.t thc arrival of Ihega.mecomes~snosurprlse,allhoughilwould

thoullh until he finds some presents to grve them u a.wayofg~inlngthelrtrust HencehiseKplof~tionof endlessrooms,picklOlIUpkeys~she8oestoopen

doors to endless other roomS,a.1I in the hop1!' of find· Inga nice gIft for h,s uneKpeded guests. Thele a.re otherdrverSlonsaswell_Dottedaboutthcplace~re

plctuleframeswlthoutthellplctures.Ca.sperh~sto

find Ihe p,eces and put them togethcr tOlcvea.1 a portraltofoneofthefa.milyghostsWhenhc's a.chicved this hcga.ins a new ability like being a.ble to pa.ssthroughthe~irventswhlchlcadhlmlo,you gues~ it, endless othcr fooms The game contlOUes to progress In thIS fa.shlon. ~nd whllc II a.tt seems IIkc fun at first, the repetItive natureoflhe a.cllon begIns to get more and more frustrating as lime passes This Isn't helped by the f~ct that veryof'ten you find

yourselfstucktrylOgthesamcthlngsa.g~in~nd ag~lOlonoavailbeforcthedKldedlyob5curesolu.

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fans of the flim Also, it should be noted tha.t Ca.sper

seemit'smissedthebo~ta.sfar~sthehypeiscon·

isbothanel(pansiveandch~lIenglnggame-cvenif

cerned Thc grc~lcst rcllef IS th~t C~Spef isn't ~ pl~tform ga.me Well, that's not strictly true to be honest, it is ~ klOd of platform game, a.lthoullh it redeems Itself

I,mes Ultlm~tetythough. C.1sper IS Just 100 boring to mellt a.ny lengthy playlOgand suffers from thcfalfly

fromulllm~tepredictabilitybyinvolvingaheallhy

mea.sure of puzzle a.ction too. The ba.slc premisc IS a. simple one C~sper w~nh to m~ke fflends with the two living bre~thlng hum~ns who h~ve just arnved in the decrepit m~nslon he h~unts He c~n't do this

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SEGA SATURN

thischaliengebecome-sslmply~bJectfrustr~tlOnat

typica.llicenseedlseaseofbe'"lIrele.i~onthe

strength of a films milrketlOlI power rather tha.n a.ny origina.l or entertaining idea.s of Its own

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SEGA SATUI<N

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The walk about adventure game has el1ioyed a resurge in popularity in recent months, although the fruits of most software developer's labour is still to be seen on the Satum.

But, we have had a taster with Mansion of Hidden Souls. Will Acclaim's darker than dark Dbe any better?

El ,

lthOU8hBilmeconsolHInsenetili

:~: ~~~~a~:::~e~:~nt!:U~~dS:~il and Sony are Irylns to set oldef pe-opleto buy Ihem) thefe's bftn

some illilrmlng tiUestouted il boutrtcenUy. Andthisisn'tduetotheirqulIlityOf anything like thilt. Nope, it's more down to thel, flttrernely (fUpy and violenl nature. Take Doom.

Apart from IH!lnga brilliant hilCk 'tm up, it's al$O one

ofthemosigorygilmesl'vetvtr setn,ilndthilt's eve n bking the Mortal Kombilt series into (OnSidef .. tion . And nowCapc:om 's Resident Evil (dut fora Saturn r.. leilR sometime In 'g6) Is taking It a step furthef with even mOfe fulistlcilction and loads more blood. Where', it all going to end (a high· lymoralpefwnwouldask}1 Wen.wedon·tcafe.becauselhesety~of 8am~are8reatfun.tvenif)'Ol.lcan'tplaythemlf

you"e under 18. WhICh eswhere D steps In. There's not much blood you see. Ifsone of those wander. about adventure things, although unlikeMyst and even the non-creepy Mystery ManSion, this is a real chiller from the crypt. A doctor has gone mad ina hospital and killed untold amounts of patients. Now he'sdlsappeared,leavinghisdaughterLaurato~rt

arounddlscov-erlngobJe<:ts,thenuSlflgthemto~lve

out the mystery, which naturally leads her back to herfathe(soffice unfortunately, when she amves there, she gets caught up In ~me I:lnd of psychiC whirlWind and IS sped off Into her father's alter.feality WhiCh is most gruesome indeed. There's dead bodies all ov-er the place and a spooky silence that you always get when ~methlng really awful is about to happen It's now down 10 Laura to search the house.flnd her father and get them the funk ou t of there This Isn't as easy as It soundsthough, b«ause laura's father doesn't want to leave, prefemng to slay In his house of horrors, and only surfacing to tell Laura to get out be fore it's too la te. Wh at"saglrl to do?

Well, apart from anything else,shecan'l actual· Iy get out of the house until Ihe mystery is solved, b«ausethere's noe.lts as such-Just a longsu«es· sion of creepy fOOmS, gore and death. And this starts to send her mad after a while, Especially If she stum· bles across one of the many scarab beelles in t he house, the mere sight of which Will send her Into a

the puzzles presented along t he way Thepresen t ation is absolutely superb,although t he game window isatadonthetltchyslde.l!"salsoqu,teannOYlng thatyoucanonlymoveafoondonapredeterm,ned foote when Ifl the fOOmS, wh,ch can be ted,oos when you'retrylflgtogetthroughthegamequicklyBul, saying that, the story IS really gripping and it man· ages 10 be creepy without being corny, There's plenty

Ulpl ta~""1 Win Ind Inrly Iotkld I, to ~Ir falftlr'. hOil" 04' hornr,TlllrI'.lothln,IIr.ClftdouClptlO1"th.p.lllli

OfPUlllesto~lveandtheserangefromthefldlcu­

IQtartpl'lu.l.dtGMr.

•

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psychedellclrance, revealing the terrrble paslwhlch she has otherwise blotted out So. pientyofgore,bul what of the actual gameplay? As you'd Imagine, the achon mainly revolves

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top lurlbytlrttbl"Oll.'ulll IIIwllul 01 1M old - .Imrr .Imrt~ 1ft. . ., .~?

S EG A SATUI<N

lously easy to the downrrght difficult. although If you'replaylflgwlthmorethanonepersonyoumay find It much easier At times, the action does go throughab,tofa lull,bu t this is more than madeup forwhenmoree.citingpartsofthepuzzleare levealed If you compare D to what Will be released on the Saturn In '96 (most evidently Resrdent Evil) then rt begins to look a Irttletatty, but you'd be hard pushed to find anything belter at the moment

Pinball sims have a habit of making for pretty uninspiring conversions. But the arrival of Tilt seemed to suggest that maybe things could be different Can Ocean do the same and liven things up with True Pinball? Or is the pinball sim an idea that's lost its flippers? Hmmmm!

Dl •

k,so'here.snotneIIlYJ8futdUI youcannyaboutplnball.tmun.

It's pinball Isn't it. All that buslneu wllh Ihefllppefs and fluhlng lights and wlurds OInd The Who and all tholt rlShH But what this muns as

faraspinbali sims art concefned Is that the marlin fOf elror Is slight. If the Inertia of the ball Is not per· ftd then the whole game's down the pan.

Fortunately True Pinball makts no such Juvenrle mlstakeandneithefshoulditwithallthalp-bittech· nolOJybehlnd It. But where plnb~fl games generalty struggle is not wIth the ftahsm of the gameplay. but w,th tf)'ing

tod,sgulse the fact Ihat thert's not a lot yolican do

•

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wlthapinballsim TrueP,nballdeals w,th this problem by offellng a choice offour lable-s. There'slhe lawn' Justitetilblew,thitscopsn'robbers theme, 'ncorporatlng bonuses in the shapeofh,tt,ngesupedprisoners!o b:angthemupilgil,n, ilSabewillch table where bonus poinuilre procured w,ththehelpofafewtufnSlnthe casino, the Viking Iilble where Nordic pillag,ng abounds in the shape of enab!ing battles in WhKh you attempl to conquer foreign lands, and the Extreme sports tilble which seeing your faithful ball bearing attempt to light aUofthe lette' s In the wo,d 'extreme' In order to p,le on the points The-se bonus sequente-s ilre Inlt'ilted by hitting the right object ilrnI only Iilst for ilS Iongils the ball remilins in plilY It ,s at t,mes like th,s though thill you un rully get to thoseh'ghscoresTohelpyouthere'salsothet,1t buttons whICh enable the player 10 sh,ft Ihe table leftilnd righ t and t,lt it upwilrds, Th,s is handy when the billl is stutk or when it seems to be fallingdlfectIybetween t he bilse fhppers. But it's imporla nl to remember onecrl.lciill thing at this poin t and that's the fillflyobviol.ls fact th at whilelhere may be many an'excotlng'bonusonoffer,theonlythlngsyoureyes w,lIsee moving are the ball and the flipptrs Th,sbllngsusneiltlyrOl.lndtothefurnlamental p,obltmw'th T,ue Pinb:all,and thai '5 the rilther Ifonicfilctthilt,lhvesupto,tstrtle This is rl.ln-of-them,lI by-the-numbers pinboiU, ilS strilight and hone-st ilndt,ueasyOtJcouldposs,blyget.Ok,soyOtJCiln changelhe ilngle you v,ew at. but a plnbilll game on iI console can afford 10 be far more adven t urous Animated spll tes? Bonus levels~ Bosses~ All of these could be Incorporated intoa pinbilllslmw,thihe helpofa b,t of imaginat,on, leav,ngthe ruliSliC pinballlotheplnbalitablesthemselves.Ult,mately, whileTrueP,nballisaproficienls,mulalionoflhe genuine ilrtrcle,lfsjust far 100 boring to bother spernllngall that ml.lch t,me on. Best suited for hilrdOOIeflipperfanatlCsandW(H.Ild-bep,nballw'Z,irds, ROB

84

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Fed up with living life at athousand miles an hour?Need a break from all that violence? Then why not pick up your clubs and head down the golf course. U.S. Gold's World Cup Golf is the second of our golf reviews this month. Does it help you to unwind from the stresses of modern gaming or is it bound for the rough? trt's~ ustltnf~ctfor)'ou : Whtn

H

concems like which club to use, what direction the wind is blowmg in and how much power to put into your swing. It features only one course-the Hyatt Dorado 8each course in Puerto Rico - which, while a veryflnecourse,getsalltoome<hanlcalandrepe:ti.

Communistpropasandafilmsliktd 10 dtpid an evil band of Weste rn caplblistconspiratorsplottlngaway to overthrow the Soylet Union, the)'

tlveThegraphiCSilreveryslickiindyes, t hetr~are

ilIlmost alwilIYS had the scene iet on a 80lf (DUne . It would seem that tht Ru n !an people upuntllgtasnostthoughtthilthlghr.mkingbusi.

thorooghly Inspulng, ilS IS theilnimiltron of the golfer and the sparse but effectrve commentilry But when It comes to ilctually wilntlnglO play the gilme the silky Silicon Grilphlcs ,mde's slide aWily leaVing iI game that IS confusing and a bit too dull. The C/Yer· compliCiited process myol~ In makmg iI shot stilrtS to become frust,atlng and there are deflnrte hints of confusion In the game log.c YOli might do everything right-hllthe button right on the nose, adjust for wmd. select the pe:rf«t ciub-yet you'll st ill find your ball nestling In the rough Lrkewise some of the angles chosen to View the gilmeilt are pretty thoughtless One minute you're wondering where yourgolferlSiindthenel(the'sswlngmgiltlhebilll from behmd iI tree Thesefilults«rnSlderedlt'sworthstiltmgthat Wo,ld Cup Golf stilnds clubilnd cilddyil~ the dismill Pebble 8eilchGolf,offefingthechiincefolii plilY· er to customise thelf golfer ilnd mcludmgil range of options that let you plilydlfferent kmdsofgolfand even alter your golfers stance Even sO,Core's outing intothesunnyworldofgolflookslike t hemoresensible buy

ntume" In Western cultures did little other tin," Iounlle about llie Bolfcourse with their dlenh. Aftef

...----=

~!:;a~:~~i~I!~~i~hnl!a~:t~aann:':::;1! pleparedtotoncedelhatmuchofthe affrage businessman's time Is In fact bklmupatthl!lglh hole knocking back t ilxlng hmches and making high

prtSSule de<islons about the wine list.

Golfd~ofcoursehaYeother

uses_It acts as an essential

pa~tlme

forfootballerSilndagmgoomec!lilns, reheves the boredom of the rttlfed ;lndprOYidesagoodel(cusetoputOl.lt golf Sims that utilise the verybtst ofa consoles'treerendermgch,p'and 'lwlttermgblrdsoundsampler'.8ut CYnicism aside, one problem remams Wllh golf sims, this btlngthelf intvltable simitarity to one another PGA Tour really set the standard on the r6-bit machines and it seems that p.bltgolf is playing It conservative World Cup Golf malntams the precision control method and all of the usual

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OUghtVF11ThISIS~bitofastuPidqllestion rulI)"(OnSlderlnglhatthls

gilme Is by f~r and away the best fighting game availilble for iI home system with stunning grillphks ilnd unp~raUeled g~meplay_ And the PAL conversion's frillnkly iI mil~l - showing that unlike some (omp~nles developing forolher machines, sega takes their time wit h the European trillnslat ions of thelrtopcoln-ophits_ Thatmeansfu ll-speediindfull-scr~nVFlactlonIBil!

ilWil)" with this small tillk - on with the impartilnt stuff, This four-page fuilln! constitutes part one of MasteKliiss (overillge. SEGA SATlJRN MAGAZINE has amassed hllge ilmounls of information on VF1. which we'll be pilsslng on In iI regular Muterd~ss uch month. The totillity of VFl bugs and chuts found so fill resides on thew: pilgM (and we'll updilte them uch month), plus we Intradllce our combiniltion cove .... ge this month, whkh gOH bililistic In the nut Issue. So th~t's something to look fOfWud to, Isn't Itl

VERSION 2:1 EXPLAINED

The opporturlily 10 choose between two versions of VF2 UlstS on the SatUIrl verslOfl of the game The Oflglnal diltil from VF2

~ n.

ilppeilrsalongwlthga~playaddltlOOsandbug路fiJttSlhat

ilppeilrinversIOI12LThelillterversionwasanupgradefOftheCOIn-op verslOl1ofVirtuaFlghter2thatnevermadeltoutsi~ofJapaoesearCildes.

ThemaJorga~pla)"dlfferencesaredetalledhere,butlthastobeSilId

that the tlmong on someofthecharacte(s attacks has befon altered ever-so. shghtlyln order to discourage chees)" use ofsome of t he monl路bugs seen inver-

Dashong at your opponent was limited in version 2.0. with )'Our flghte r sloppong 100 filr onfronl of your foe. InverSIOn 2.1)'Oucandash on very dose and Immediately follow up with a Ihra.\' useful for tilt lik~ of WolfandJeffry

In verslOfl 20AkilaandJacky have kdslhat stJII hit lhe opponent even iflhe altacktSciincelledWlththeGbutton, Nol so InverSIOn 2.1

A cheap knock--down tactiC In VFl and version 2.0 IS t he Simple PK whICh Ciln usuillly be followed up WIth a pounce. Thecheese quotient is ncm less ilS PKs only staggerYOUfopponentforashorttl~

Fastcharilcters could dart In and out quickly in versiOrl 20,glvongthe likes of Uon,PalandSarahadlstlnctadvantilgeThishas~nlessenedasyoucan't

buffer these mOYeS anymore

EX11IA DAMAGE .. SOME SllUATlONS In version 2.1, chafacters who dec k themselves wit h'some moves (Shun spflngs to mond) receive more damage should the ir opponents poullce. Also, mmor counter moves mftict more dilmilge

AXISMOVESIJSERJI.NOW Shun and lion have the ablhty to dodge around attacks and coonter路slllke. In verslOfl 2 0 they didn't move around enough to effectively dodge around most attaCks.~wmglngroundonIY30degreesVerSion21offerS4sdegree "axIS

movement" whICh IS far more dramatIC

ONCE AGAIN, DURAL IS CONTROLLABLE! A. big future of ~rcide Vlrtui flghte. ~.1 WillS the Inclusion of Oll,il is ill pliY' e,路controlled character. This hiS been converte d over to the Sat urn bu twith tht ilIdded bonus of icu~ssing it when playing either venion 2.0 or 2.1. The code remains identical to the flrst Saturn Virtu .. fighter, with only ill small change required to ilccess the solden version of the J6 Syndicate's Stcret wuponl It h;u to be said that th e final Joyp .. d depresslon/button press of tht code h;u to be done i iot quicker than in the first Virtua Fighter. Enter either code on the characterselKt S(feen,

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tmalll«tlonlntroducettheconceptof"floatlngHan oppone nt · Ihls meant using mOye1 that send your foe flying Inlotht air. Once here, they CiIIn'l retallate and you gel a free hll or Iwo (or up tou with one partkularly memorable l au combo). Thtse combos are all Yery,Yery easy to txtcute (with tht txcepUon of Aklra's) and should Introduce the conctpl yerywell. What Wt will say itthat you gtt more htlghltoyourfloaUng(andlhusa bettet chanceofhlttlngJlfyoulnterruplanopponent'1mcwe (thi111 known alcounttrlng).

ThiS combo IS designed to be a lot more difficult to pull off than theotherthreeslmpleexamplesandshowsoffthischaracter"s awesome power in combination stri~es. Begin with the trip throw (BACK-DOWN·P+G), press FORWARD tWICe to dash behind the oppone nt and press FORWARD·fORWARD·K to proouce the floating kick. It's templmglo press Kaga m for another free hit Howtver, DOWN-FORWARD. DOWN·fOR-

SOME HIDDEN CHEATS AND TIPS

PlAY Yf1 REIIUED TUllES

Dflplte the fact thai the Iilme hll only jud ben relused, alrudy thefl~ illt se...e~1 tips, chuts ilnd inter. estlng bugs to exploit - all of them collect" herl! for tiS)' reference. We will be adding to this list lIS ITIOft codes

Virtu" Frghter 1 c~n be;u:cessed In preference to

iln!lftOeilledbyAMl:

theusuall~lmusic.To8etSalilh·smusic.plilyer

Two

r~ther

cr, interesting. remixes of tunes flom

one must press and hold thl!' fight shoulder but·

sna:TTAlJllTS

PlAY wmt AlJ£JIIUTt COSTlJIIIES

ThtgimeusuilllychoosesyoorVlctorytauntfOf

Agilln, everyone should rcally know thiS. To get

you. depend'ngon certillO CIIcumsunces (typi-

yourcharacter'"the,r·aw~strtp·holdclown

callythcre are specif1c qUlCk-victoryUunts and

tonontheir joypadjustbeforethematchbegms If the other plilyerdoes the same, JilCky'S mUSic is chosen

UP when you select you character, Ideal for char,

perfect taunts) DUling the replay pKkyour own

acterslikeSarahandJ~cky,whosealternoltlve

EJrnR... TltEV1RTU.\BIID

tauntbyholdingdowne,therG,P,orK

clothing loohol lot betterthanthedefault

There seems to be some confusion about this one because sometimes it wOfks fine and other tlmes itdoesn'tHo~r,intheory,lfbothplay'

ers press down olll SIK buttons Jacky's stage, the Virtua Bird appears and hovers OYer the losing pla~r Some people coln't get It to WOfk, but we did (hence the picture) The bird also makes an olppearance ifyousele<:t Jacky as your fighter, Wollk out of the ring IntentlonallyandpressUP beforethegolmeOYef

This has some amusement factor, but is notoriOUSlyhardtopuliofflnatwo-pla~rgamehlt

your opponent OfKe and ITlO'o'e h,mtotheedgeof thenng Walt for the time out olnd make your opponent stumble out of the rmg The losing fightershouldnowcopythevictorytauntofthewmner.

It'S very difficult to do olrnl we re<ommend that you should chooseeitherAkiril,Pai,Jackyor Lilu olS the player who f.llIs out of the ring Posltton the"Wlnn'ng-fighterfurtherbolckolnd run olt the loser Just as the t,me eKplles Theyshouldh,tand force the opponent out as the t,me eKplle5. thus ,n,t,atmgthecopytaunt

ClLlllGfCOllJ1lOl.S£TT1NGS

This super-useful optIOns screen g'ves you a level sele<t and the opportunity to change the s,ze of the ring It'S also very easy to get Simply com, pletehpertModew,thdefaultoptionSolnd press the roght shoulder button on the Se<ond opt,onsscr~ntobllngupthenewscle<tables,lf

completmg bpert Mode sounds daunting, don't worry Th,s mode only uses the learning mode data, so e,ther w'pe your VF2 data from the Internal memory or attempt EKpert Mode the first time you play the game Fora super-easy time, choose ol fast character and use P+G throws to defeat every opponent

If you want to cholnge your Joypad settmgs durmg ol game press and hold one of the shoulder buttons on thejoypad during the charolcter select sequence Now use left or right togo throughthed,fferentsett,ngs

• • 9~

Su".. Pow.. • • • A••• • • • • I • • • • • 1. 8 SU".. D.,.NU · • • I . I • • • • • C. I Su"nAl"T.u.I. · A,A,A,A,A,'. C SU"•• GoALlI · A. A,A,A,A, • • • • • , • • • CURVIIAU - ' . A,C ••• C. C CRAnIAll - C. A. I . C. C.I, A,C STUllloT.,.", · A.I. C. A,', C '.NAllY SMOOl·OUl · A, I . A, C, A, I

SEGA SAT'l.!RN _ _ __

MYST

VIRTUACOP

One of Ihe fi rst ·cheals· to emerge on the game is this short cut to Ran~ ln8 compl~e the game, you can now go to t he SfGA sclI~en at the start of the gil ~ i nd press Up. Down.ltft. RIght while holding the C button. Go 10 the title screen and the Ranking Mode option wIll be ilt t he bottom.

Mode. 11:1IIhl."r than

ils we li astheeKtra option sbecom ln8 aY<lll ableh kefr~plily, e Ktradlfficu lty

settings. mirror mode, book keeping menu and other such wonders If you wa nt to enter this cheat Wit h the VlrtuOli Gun, however, you have to fol· low this httll" pattern. Just shoot at t he points on t he scr~n In numerial mdtr to ~Ces5 the Silme goodies as befOlI!. We've been ilS5u re<! that it d~ work but our dodgy .lIm means that we haven't Ktua lly got it goIng)'et

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s~;;; ~~:~ ~~: ~;0tn:~:~hO;~~dr:~;~:::~;~~~;';~t~hS~~r~~;nn~~~:~ ~ introduction - Vf2 is without ~ doubt the most ~~g~rly ~waited g~me since the S<lturn w~s first rele~sed. luckily, it's every bit oilS good oiI$ ,myone could have hoped, and even if you oiIlr~ady own the orlglnoill Virtu, Fighter, it's $till ~n absolutely essential purchne. Stlll,just in c~se you need it $pelhng out. you get two n~w fighters for your money ~nd If you'r~ com~rlng it to the Oflgln~1 Fighters g~m~, )'Ot.I'1i h~ve ~ whole new g~m~ 100. ODvIOtJSly, Ih~r~ ~re some compromises blo~n Ihls ~nd ~nd tl'lt 'rc~d~ verSion (for Inst~n<:e th~ b~(kgrOtJnds ~r~n'l qUlt~ ~s det~iled ~nd som~ of the tlKkground 3D h~s been fiddled ~round with) but for ~lIlntents ~nd purposes. thiS Is th~ ~rc~de g~m~ Of course,th~ grut thing oiIbout the Virtu~ Flght~r titles is th~ mor~ you pl~y them, the blotter they get It's ~ really eny title to get into bec~use with just a few Simple button presses, you're stili ~ble to pull off the most Simple moves, ~nd con¡ sld~fln8 some ofth~ ch~racters h~vt 70+ moyes, you'll stili be le~rning something from it in months to come As a techniCoiIl showcase of what the S~turn is c~p~ble of h~ndling, thiS is also ~ success, ~nd h~ts must sur~ly be tipped to AM2 who h~vt even bunged extr~ mod~s on to th~ game th~t you won't find in the ~rc~de. App~rently, VF2 stitt only uses 66% of the S~turn's power, so it makes you wonder wh~t else Yu Suzuki ~nd friends h~vt hidden awoily up their sl~eves Anyway. like we said, you r~~lIy can't afford to be Without thiS gam~ if you want to m~ke the most of your S~turn Buyitnow

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Luckily, It's not a ca'>eofone or the other for the simple reason that bot h VF1 and Stga l1ally ar~ of top notch quality Unlike Vf2, this was developed by Stga's AM} r6earch ttam, and in a Similar vern 10 VF1, II replicates the original cOin,op as clos~lyasyoucouldposSlblyimagrneAsinlheoriginalgame,thefe 'sthree tracks to choose from, pll.lslheextralakesldetrackwhlchcan be accessed whe nyou've finished the other three rn first place And,asin Virtua Fighter 1, ther~'sloadsof extra game mod6 includrng Ih~ now,lnfamous tilnt attack mod~ Probably th~ most antiCipated feature of thiS tlUe was the two playermode,andthisaffl~lnlheformofasplit screengameSom~mayfindthisdiSilppointrng, ~sp«iallyasqultealot ofdetaillsmissingfrom

the tracks and theclipping,sql.litevisible,but it's stili broWant fun to play Ifsjust a bit ofa shame thatSegadidnldecidetomakeltalinkupgame, but then at least you can play Ihls in two player mode With just one copy of the game ilnd one Satuln Again,thisisahugetechnlcalachlevement forStga andAM3,and it's hard 10 believe that anyonewouldposSiblypassthis~rforanother

Saturn title (unless it was Virtua Fishter20f COtJr'>e),Another one that has Ions of lastabihty, andshotJldlakeprideofplaceiniinyone'sgam~

collectIOn,

TI £44 ,

O~~:~:;a~~;~n:~ ~:t~~e; ~:~ ~ou~~t~: ~;~~;;~:~ I~~~~:;i~oem

AM1 But. we didn't Imagine al the time that they would make qUlle such a pig's ear of thecooYersion When you flfst playlhls, It'S qUite tasy to Imagrne that It Is mfactlheoflgi' nalVirtual1acrng-you'Ugetthtsametltlescreensandeventhtsameoptlon screens. However, what happens after thaI is really qUite strange Although Ihe course graphics from AMfs Oflginal have been transported on to the courses i n thlstitle,lheyreallydon't look anything like Iheofigrnal. In fact,lhey look very shabbyindeed,ln addition, the cars don't handleanythinghketh e origrnal,and feel as if they're fioatlOg rather than speedrng around a real race track.

Stlll,lfyouconSidered Ihrs as a gilme in Its own fight rather than somelhln g that's hnked to AM], you'd probably come to the conclUSion that whIle rt's not gorng to WIO any awards for Ilstechnkill brrlliance, II IS nice enOl.lgh towa rranla few plays, ¥ou might even frndyoursetfenJoyrng It if It wasn't for the fact th at thereareobvlouslybettertltlesalrtadyoulthere-andthatrncludesthe almost· ancl~nt Daytona USA, whIch stili manag~s to knock spots off this I suppose that if you're som~how blind to the wealth of titles on offer, then VII l1acing Will no doubt pl~ase the pants off you But that would be a bit sad r~al· Iy,wouldn'titl

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• . . , SEGA SATURN

•

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egil's second foray i.ntothe RP.G world is at leasl rnore instantIy accessible than

thelf first re lease Virtual Hydhde which, even at the best of limes seemed

rather pointless_ Mrs!aria however, is a much more user friendly affair and goes some way in replicating the brilliant escapades of the Shining For ceposseonthe Megadrive. Some way, that is. Although the battles ilre played out in the same grid like manner and there's plenty of characters to gather together in a gang, the 11!le doesn't rea lly gel together in the way the Shining Forcfseriesdid. For a start,

there's just too much text to read through and thiscan make the gam eratherdull pluSit'salsoa bit heavy on the fighting. It seems as though you can't do anything

in this game w,lhout havlllS a bitifafightabout it,andsometimesth ebattlesare really tough to get through. This, of course, is only part and parcel of the RPGanyway, but things just seem more tedious in this samethan they~r did on the Mesadfl~.

Still, it's not all bad news ~ the 3D parts look ~ery nice and for people who enjoy these types of games anyway, it will surely be a worthy buy. 8ul, it won't win anyoneo~rwhodidn'tlikethesetypesofsamesinthefirstplace

1:':I~a;;i~~P:;~ea::~:i~h~:yd~~nl~~fh: ~;,~~~~,~ ~~~~t:r:~sO;;~~~i~;ns, wedon'tha~anythingasainsttheset<tlesassuch,it'sjustthatwe'd never heard ofth's one until a couple of months back,and ifs certainly never appea redinthe arcades But, It is kind of nice In Its own way. However, for a shoot 'em up it does look distinctlydatedandseeingasit'saplain~rticallyscrollingt,tie, it's not very varied either Until,the same decides to turn intoa hOfllontal shooter that IS, then you ha~toturnyourTVonltssidetocontinuethegame

So,whilethisisn'tthe most excillns title on the earth,it is prettys oodfun, even if it's not in the aren't-those-sraphics·awesome department. Will please anyone who's achinsto play another shoot 'em up and doesn't have the patience to wait for Panzer Drasoon 2

W;~~;':r~:~~~U:;:=I~~~:d~~: :e~I;;::a~~i~~~t;;S~i~: ~:;:~~h::: addictive type sames, the concept is extremely simple. Get your army of worms tosether, tool them up, give them a few weapons and unleash them upon your opponent, who has his ~ery own army of worms. And that's it. Yes, it really is that Simple. As you may have noticed from the accompanying screenshots thouSh, this Isn't exactly what we'd call a sraphicalfeast. In fact even the Mast er System could probablyhandlethesesraphicsatapush,ifitwasn'tforoneofthose rendered Intros bunsed on to thefronl of the game But. as everyone keeps tellins us, it's the gameplay that counts, and al thouSh this is more suited to crusty old Amisa owners, we have to admit that It does have some stranse kind of attraction. And it does srow on you. Although for those who don't set a kICk out of worms named after pop stars it's probably best avoid ed.

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f39 . 99

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f39.99 £44.99 f44.99 f44.99 f39.99

CYB SI'!IIMIY IIEIn.

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• 97

r-------~--~~ I ........ .. CUSTOMER

No: ..

r-------~--~~ I I r-------~--~~ I

guitar playln', hair spray in' , devil slay In' .. . . .8

string of number one tracks, this boy ls bigger than the BeatIeI

It's only rock & roll .. but some things are worth playtng br.

- - JOHnnY - -

baZOOI..!aTone 1 ..-,,,, .,..... bw '95

!l1J.'1'tÂŁIHtll. . .