“Scion Of Britannia was developed alongside Ultima IX, and both games influenced one another to a heavy degree. It was because of Scion that Ultima IX ultimately took a vastly different direction than what I'd originally intended for it.”
-Richard Garriott, in an April 2002 PCGamer interview
“And so we needed to create a new form of lightsaber combat for the game. Well, George Lucas was working on something for one of the new characters in the new prequel film, and so together we sort of hashed out the idea of Form VII lightsaber combat, which became Juyo which is what we used for the game. It's a harsher, more aggressive style of combat, something appropriate for the type of game we were creating.”
-Chris Stamper, discussing Star Wars: Masters of Juyo in an April 1999 interview with Wizard magazine
“May the Fighting Force be with you!”
-the tagline for Star Wars: Masters of Juyo, appearing in the game's magazine advertisements
“The Summer Of The Fist: Video Games Get Punchy”
-from the cover of the August 1997 issue of GamePro, featuring previews of Star Wars: Masters Of Juyo, Raigeki, and Twinblade II, along with strategies for Fighters Megamix and Sonic Fighters
“I've been gaming since I was like five, so it's pretty sweet to finally get to be IN a game. Dog Dash rules!”
-13-year-old Ashley Johnson in a Dog Dash 2 preview video featured in the July 1997 issue of Nintendo Power CD
“Sega's partnership with Enix is finally paying dividends this month in the form of Krystalshade, but is the game the next big thing in RPGs, or a pretender to Tale Phantasia's throne? And is it even as good as last month's Windborn?”
-an intro to Krystalshade's 41/50 review in the September 1997 issue of GameFan
“I let the boys play video games from time to time. I....personally I don't find them to be very engaging but Harry loves them. He enjoys this game where you're hunting dinosaurs. It's quite....it looks quite realistic, I suppose. It's a bit more violent than I'd like but I do know his friends are all extremely fond of the game. And it's just dinosaurs, after all. No harm done really.”
-Princess Diana, in an August 26, 1997 interview with BBC News
“My God, they're going to bloody kill someone driving like that, aren't they?”
-Princess Diana, watching a group of paparazzi on motorcycles drive by while being driven in a Mercedes on a Parisian street, August 29, 1997
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Breath Of Fire III
Dan: 8.0
Shoe: 8.0 (quote: “Another outstanding RPG in this great series from Capcom, featuring a poignant storyline and some intriguing combat mechanics.”)
Crispin: 7.0
Sushi-X: 7.0
Madden 98
Dan: 7.5
Shoe: 6.5
Crispin: 7.0
Sushi-X: 7.0 (quote: “Another year, another Madden. It's a decent upgrade from last year's edition and if you've got a Super Nintendo CD and like football, it's worth picking up.”)
NCAA Football 98
Dan: 6.0
Shoe: 6.5 (quote: “There's not enough of a variety of plays to call, making for some fairly bland games.”)
Crispin: 6.5
Sushi-X: 6.5
NHL 98
Dan: 5.0
Shoe: 5.0
Crispin: 5.5 (quote: “This looks really primitive next to Saturn's always excellent NHL title.”)
Sushi-X: 5.0
Star Wars: Masters Of Juyo
Dan: 9.0 (quote: “Rare's done it again, finally letting us duke it out with our favorite Star Wars characters!”)
Shoe: 8.0
Crispin: 7.5
Sushi-X: 8.0
Dog Dash 2
Dan: 8.5
Shoe: 8.5 (quote: “While not too much is changed, the great platformer formula and Woofle's awesome moves combine for a fantastically fun title.”)
Crispin: 8.0
Sushi-X: 8.0
Five For Fighting Hockey '97
Dan: 7.0 (quote: “Everyone's favorite hockey brawler is back and while it's not quite as polished or fun as the original, it's still the best hockey game to debut this month on the SNES-CD.”)
Shoe: 6.0
Crispin: 6.0
Sushi-X: 7.0
Twinblade II
Dan: 8.0
Shoe: 8.5
Crispin: 9.0 (quote: “The addition of a character creator makes this weapon-based fighter even better than its arcade counterpart.”)
Sushi-X: 9.0
Wizard Stone
Dan: 9.0 (quote: “A fast, fun, pretty platformer.”)
Shoe: 8.0
Crispin: 7.5
Sushi-X: 7.5
Illusion
Dan: 4.0
Shoe: 6.0
Crispin: 4.5 (quote: “A generic, ugly RPG that's not worth the 30 hours it takes to beat it. Final Fantasy, this ain't.”)
Sushi-X: 3.5
18 Wheels Of Fury
Dan: 6.5
Shoe: 6.5
Crispin: 7.0 (quote: “We didn't really need a game about semi-trucks, but it's got some thrilling racing action and decent AI.”)
Sushi-X: 7.0
-reviews of August 1997's SNES-CD games in the September and October 1997 issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly
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“Ultimately, Scion of Britannia presents a more defined path than The Worldly Lord, largely culminating in a quest with only two real paths: The Path of Virtue, or The Path of Deception. Both paths play very differently, but regardless, this game isn't nearly as open-ended as the previous title, and is structured far more similarly to a Final Fantasy-styled roleplaying game than an open world quest.”
-excerpted from Official Saturn Magazine's 8/10 review of Ultima: Scion Of Britannia
Ultima: Scion Of Britannia – The Basics
Ultima: Scion of Britannia is the Saturn-exclusive sequel to 1995's Ultima: The Worldly Lord. Jeremy Soule returns to produce the game's soundtrack, and the game follows a female Avatar as she is transported to the world of Britannia to embrace her destiny as the world's ruler. The game is an open-world quest that presents two major pathways: in one path, the player seeks out the eight Virtues: Honesty, Compassion, Valor, Justice, Sacrifice, Honor, Spirituality, and Humility, by completing a series of quests related to each Virtue. In the other path, the player uses deceit and subterfuge to gain the throne, before ruling as a tyrant for all eternity. The player isn't committed to any one path until very late in the game, which means that players may undertake quests leading to either outcome for the majority of the game's campaign. The world of Scion of Britannia is significantly larger than the one in The Worldly Lord, with many towns and dungeons to explore. However, the game is largely streamlined, which means that towers and dungeons are somewhat smaller than in The Worldly Lord. Also, the player's relationships with NPCs aren't emphasized quite as much, making the game's relationship system less complex. This makes for a game that is considered more of an action title than a straight-up role-playing game, disappointing some Ultima fans. Though the game is reviewed quite well and becomes one of the best selling Sega Saturn games overall, it doesn't quite reach the critical acclaim of The Worldly Lord, and these complaints are taken into account as Origin begins work on Ultima IX for the PC.
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Star Wars: Masters Of Juyo is a combo-based fighting game for the Super Nintendo CD! Developed by Rareware, well known for its work on Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct, the game lets you take your favorite Star Wars characters into the ring, joining some all new characters and a couple of Rare favorites as well!
-excerpted from the August 1997 cover article in Nintendo Power
List of characters:
Luke Skywalker
Princess Leia
Han Solo
Darth Vader
Chewbacca
Boba Fett
Mara Jade
Stormtrooper
Castor Raid- A Force-adept who is being pursued by the Emperor after fleeing the Death Star in a stolen ship. Has trained himself in the ways of Juyo in secret and is now a soldier of fortune, with no alliance to the Empire or the Rebellion.
Gulfarr- A brutish four-limbed alien being who is attempting to defend his territory from an Imperial incursion.
Hurg Pylox- A winged pig-like alien who sells weapons to the highest bidder.
Shanti Elonn- A beautiful alien woman who escaped from Jabba's slave pens and has trained herself in the ways of combat.
Fulgore (unlockable)- From Killer Instinct
Eyedol (unlockable)- From Killer Instinct
“But Masters Of Juyo isn't a straight-up clone of Killer Instinct, which might not necessarily be a good thing. It's arguably an inferior game, and as far as weapon-based combat goes, it also doesn't quite match up to this month's excellent release of Twinblade II. But as a Star Wars fighting game, it works pretty well, translating the classic lightsaber combat of the Star Wars series to the home console in a big way. If you're a fan of Star Wars, this game is a must-buy.”
-excerpted from the 7.5/10 review of Star Wars: Masters Of Juyo in the September 1997 issue of GameInformer
George Lucas: All right, well, I guess I'll be Luke, he's the hero after all.
Ted Crosley: And I'm gonna pick the new guy, Castor Raid.
Lucas: So we just...hit the A button to start?
Ted: Yep. *hits the button* And away we go!
*The fight begins, George Lucas is kind of awkwardly moving Luke around while Ted comes right over and hits him with a lightsaber combo to start the fight.*
Lucas: Oh! *he winces as Luke bounces on the ground* That hurt!
Ted: *kicking at Luke while he's on the ground, Luke gets up and takes a couple hits before swinging back and hitting Castor* You got me!
Lucas: *is just awkwardly hammering buttons, he lands a couple more blows before Ted starts blocking and then hits him with another lightsaber combo* I'm losing!
Ted: Here, use the Force, use the Force.
Lucas: Which button is the Force?
Ted: Hold down the R button, like this. *Ted holds down R for Castor, his Force meter begins depleting and he hits Luke with some strong blows, Luke is almost KOed now*
Lucas: All right, all right, all right....! *he holds down the R button and hits A, punching through Castor's block and hitting him for some decent damage* That worked!
Ted: *finishes Luke off with another lightsaber combo*
Lucas: Did I lose?
Ted: There's another round, there's another round, it's not over yet.
Lucas: Another one? *laughs nervously*
-excerpted from the August 26, 1997 episode of GameTV
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“Well, after the first Dog Dash game, we had a lot on our plates. There was all that work on Tales Of The Seven Seas 2, we were doing Crash Bandicoot for the Ultra...but the first Dog Dash game had been so big that we knew we had to go back and do another one. So we pretty much just took what had made the first game so great and brought it all back for the second game, adding a new girl to the mix to give Clark someone besides his dog to talk to. It wasn't the most innovative game but it was definitely fun and it sold really well for us. 1997 was a huge year.”
-Jason Rubin, of Naughty Dog, in a February 1999 interview with Electronic Gaming Monthly
The sequel to Dog Dash pretty much took the first game's formula and brought it back, making for a fun if not terribly creative platformer. The one big change? The addition of Clark's new friend Selkie (voiced by Ashley Johnson, who ended up working with Naughty Dog quite a lot after this), a mysterious 10-year-old girl who pops up through a portal in desperate need of help from Clark and his dog Woofle. Selkie is being pursued by mysterious creatures known as the Draconids, under the command of a pair of anthropomorphic dragon creatures Blaze and Roar (voiced by Jeff Bennett and Rob Paulsen), twin princes of a land called Draconia. The Draconids attack Clark's city, and he, Selkie, and Woofle must escape through the portal. Over the course of the game, Clark learns that Selkie herself is a Draconid who became human by stealing a power crystal from Blaze and Roar's personal stash, and that the crystal's power is gradually fading. It can only be restored, however, by absorbing the power from innocent human beings, and when its power is gone, Selkie will revert to a mindless, feral creature. Clark must choose between saving his new friend and protecting his fellow humans. You can switch between Clark and Selkie over the course of the game, Selkie possesses mysterious dragon powers including a spiked tail, fire breathing, and the ability to fly short distances. Like the original, Dog Dash 2 has six worlds, which are as follows:
World One – New Dog City
Clark meets Selkie and the two flee from Draconids through Clark's home city. The boss of the world is a giant fire breathing dragon on top of a building.
World Two – The Highlands
Journey through a windy, grassy plateau. The boss of this world is a big Scottish man with a huge set of bagpipes.
World Three – Watery Wall
A water-themed world. The boss of this world is a giant aquatic lizard.
World Four – Dogbone Mountain
Clark, Selkie, and Woofle must ascend a giant mountain. The boss of this world is a gigantic bird.
World Five – The Crystal Factory
A factory in which Power Crystals are produced. At the end of the world, after battling Blaze and Roar in a tough boss fight, Clark learns the full truth about Selkie.
World Six – Selkie's World
Selkie's homeworld, in which Clark must pursue the now-reverted Selkie through increasingly desolate landscapes. After battling Selkie herself in a boss fight, Clark offers to sacrifice himself to give Selkie permanent life as a human. Selkie is able to come to her senses long enough to refuse Clark's offer, saying that she doesn't want to live on as a human if it requires human lives to make it happen. It's then that Blaze and Roar appear in a giant dragon mech powered by the Power Crystals absorbed from the lives of everyone in Clark's city, including his friends and family. Clark, Woofle, and Selkie defeat the mech and Clark gets the crystal which will allow him to restore everyone back to normal, including the people of Selkie's world. However, once Clark has done so, there's a little bit of power left in the crystal. The restored queen of Selkie's world tells Clark that his heroism has added extra power to the Crystal, a power that can never fade or be taken away. He bestows this power on Selkie, allowing her to live as a human forever (but she can also revert to a dragon form if she chooses). Selkie reunites with her own family but promises to visit Clark sometimes, and the game ends.
So, how did Dog Dash 2 perform? Quite well, actually, selling a good deal of copies, though not quite as much as the first. The series remained popular and used its popularity to help hype Crash Bandicoot's release as a launch game for the Ultra Nintendo. How'd that turn out? That story is for another article...
-excerpted from “Dog Dash: A Brief History”, an article on Gamesovermatter.com
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The development of Krystalshade began early in 1995, after Enix managed to poach a couple of the developers from Telenet Japan's Wolf Team who had left the Tale Phantasia project due to exhaustion. Enix was intrigued by Tale Phantasia and how innovative the battle system was, and wanted to develop something similar, either for the Super Nintendo CD or, most likely, for the Sega Saturn. By 1996, it was apparent that Krystalshade would be a Saturn game, and the main storyline and battle system began to take shape. Unlike Windborn, which was entirely fantasy-based, Krystalshade would be a combination of fantasy and steampunk elements, taking place in a world where magical technology was rapidly advancing the world's technological pace. The game's battle system was similar to Tale Phantasia's, though much faster paced due to the Saturn's enhanced abilities. It also allowed for the allocation of statistical bonuses upon leveling up, as well as the allocation of ability points which were gained in each battle, allowing a more customizable approach to character advancement. Graphically, while the game made heavy use of the Saturn's robust 2-D abilities, it also utilized limited 3-D in backgrounds and battle effects, making for a very unique and effective hybrid style.
The plot itself revolved around the character Archie, who was a bright young science prodigy in Luxio City, center of magical research. He worked with objects called Krystals, which were the key to magical power in the world. Archie seemed to have a supernatural affinity for Krystal use, though he always found himself unusually drained after a particularly intense study session. One day, a woman enters Archie's home and kidnaps him. This woman, Lana, also seems to have the same mysterious weakness when Krystals are used around her, even moreso than Archie. Lana has targeted Archie because her world, a world parallel to the one in which Archie lives, is undergoing a crisis where the land is fading and people are dying, and Krystals are to blame. The effect, in which a person from the other world suffers fatigue and sickness upon the use of a Krystal, is called Krystalshade, and the reason Archie has it is because he is also from the alternate world (though he doesn't discover this until later on). The main villain of the game is a man named Dr. Pollux, who was the first man to find a way to access the other world and extract Krystals from it, and Archie and Lana team up with a variety of people from both worlds to take Pollux down. Eventually, Pollux discovers the Krystal Goddess, the being that maintains the balance of energy between both worlds, and decides to extract her Krystal to absorb her power. Despite the heroes' efforts, he succeeds, and takes control of the energy flow between both worlds, making him a nigh-unstoppable god that must be defeated.
The game's plot is filled with a variety of twists and turns, but is also somewhat predictable (Archie and Lana's romance can be seen from miles away, though it interestingly reverses the typical male/female role in these types of games by making Lana the badass and Archie the somewhat weak character in need of protection). Curiously, unlike Planetary Probe and Windborn, there's very little voice acting in Krystalshade, limited mostly to battle scenes (this was likely Enix trying to save money since Planetary Probe was such a high budget game). It received good reviews, though it wasn't regarded as one of the year's best RPGs like Windborn and Planetary Probe were. Sales were also a bit disappointing, though strong at launch, it eventually failed to sell quite as much as Windborn either in Japan or in North America. Regardless of the disappointment, Krystalshade is fondly remembered among JRPG fans and remains a cult classic today.
-from a 2003 article at RPGamer.net
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A pair of classic gaming franchises make their big debut this month on the Sega Saturn, and we're bringing you the scoop on both of these outstanding games!
First up, it's Golden Axe: Legacy. Yes, there WAS a fighting game already released, Golden Axe: The Duel, but Legacy brings back all the classic hack-and-slash action you've come to love, with four players able to take the controls at once! Kain, Milan, Gillius, and other descendants of the classic Golden Axe heroes now get their chance to shine in a sidescrolling adventure spanning eighteen stages.
Next, it's Bomberman, the first Bomberman game for the Sega Saturn! Enjoy the game's massive Story Mode, or blow up your friends in the exciting multiplayer mode featuring support for up to 10 players at once! You heard that right, 10 players at once, making this game the biggest multiplayer game ever brought to a home console.
-excerpted from the August 1997 issue of Official Saturn Magazine
“Golden Axe: Legacy is a polished, fun game that instantly brings back memories of slaughtering baddies in the Sega Genesis classics. The graphics look gorgeous and colorful. The bosses are huge and challenging, and four-player multiplayer mode runs without a hitch. This is without a doubt the best hack-and-slash sidescroller ever released. It's absolutely brilliant.”
-excerpted from Crispin Boyer's 9.5/10 review of Golden Axe: Legacy in the September 1997 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, the game received a 9.25/10 overall score and Game of the Month honors in that issue, shared with fellow Saturn release Bomberman
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In Japanese, “raigeki” translates to a stroke of lightning. That is the feeling one gets from playing Sega's fast and furious fighting game Raigeki, which requires lightning quick reflexes from the player to dodge their opponent's furious blows. The game, which released in February 1997, became a quick hit, joining Tekken 3 as one of the biggest fighting game hits of the year. Sega was already working on the home console port of Raigeki upon the game's arcade release, and now, it's set to debut for the Saturn next week. But what makes Raigeki so popular? The game is both loud and flashy, with colorful (literally) characters and a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor. The game has an announcer who insults players who get hit with a big combo, and even sometimes comments on the characters' strange fashion sense. There are 12 characters in all, ranging from a kimono-wearing geisha girl (who wears a different, randomly generated kimono to each match, the home console version promises to let players save their favorites or design their own) to a rich oil baron who drives right up to his matches in a massive limo adorned with big cow horns. The villain is Lee Brute, a sendup of Bruce Lee, who regards himself as a “serious” martial artist and insults everyone he faces, especially after he beats them up. Popular tournament players seem to get into the game's spirit, one can't go to an arcade these days without seeing boisterous Raigeki fans crowded around the game machine.
In contrast, Twinblade II, the sequel to Nintendo's arcade hit Twinblade, is a much lower profile game. Like its predecessor, Twinblade II features characters who wield dual weapons in battle. The game moves at a much slower, more deliberate pace than Raigeki, requiring players to carefully plan out their strategies. It's not quite as popular as Raigeki in the arcades, or as popular as Nintendo's Killer Instinct series, but the first game did well and the second game still makes a reasonable profit. Like the original Twinblade, Twinblade II will face some stiff competition from Sega when it launches on home consoles, in this case, Sega's Raigeki. The SNES-CD version features a character creation mode which will allow players to create their own customized fighters in both look and ability. Nintendo hopes this feature will set Twinblade II apart from this month's console fighting game bumper crop which includes both Raigeki and Rare's big Star Wars fighting game, Masters Of Juyo. Who will rise to the challenge? This fight might not be settled until the holiday season.
-excerpted from an article in the August 15, 1997 issue of Entertainment Weekly
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*An animated boy explores a cave, stepping through traps along the way.*
Boy: There it is...! *sees a runic stone on a pillar* Careful...careful... *tiptoes his way to the pillar, only for a huge chimera to leap down in front of him* Aaaaaaaaahhhh!
*The chimera roars, but the boy takes out a magical staff with a glowing orb at the end. The orb glows, and the scene fades into scenes from a sidescrolling video game that shows a boy leaping through levels, dodging traps, and casting spells on enemies.*
Narrator: From the makers of Bikerz, it's Wizard Stone, an all new adventure game where you must explore hidden passages in search of the legendary stones that will make you the most powerful magician in all the realm.
*More scenes from the game are shown, including one where the boy is fighting a chimera as seen in the animation.*
Narrator: But watch out, because danger lurks around every corner, and finding all of the stones won't be easy...
*The scene returns to the animation, where the boy is holding the stone.*
Boy: Job well done... *he emerges from the cave to see a massive world stretched out in front of him* Only eleven more to go!
Narrator: Wizard Stone, available now for the Super Nintendo CD and Sega Saturn. Also soon to be available for your Game Boy.
-a commercial that aired on television during August and September 1997
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Vince McMahon: And now Austin's got Owen Hart up...no! Look, Owen Hart with the counter!
*Owen Hart picks Steve Austin up and turns him upside down*
Jerry Lawler: Uh oh!
*Hart sits down with Austin, Austin's head missing the canvas by half an inch, a properly executed Tombstone Piledriver*
Jim Ross: Tombstone Piledriver! And Austin's down on the mat!
-from the WWF Summerslam pay-per-view on August 3, 1997
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Alex Stansfield: Breath of Fire III is just an awesome, awesome game.
Ted Crosley: Look, I didn't like Breath of Fire, I didn't like Breath of Fire II, and I don't really like Breath of Fire III either. The presentation is nice, the graphics are really nice, but I'm still not convinced that this is anything more than an average RPG.
Alex: What's there not to like about it?
Ted: The plot is confusing, camping is clunky, the game's just not as fun as lots of the other RPGs out there.
Alex: I know you're not a big fan of RPGs...
Ted: I am! Tale Phantasia was great!
Alex: This game is outstanding. I loved the storyline, Ryu in this game was more developed than Ryu from the other two games... a lot more developed actually-
Ted: Oh, big accomplishment. *rolls his eyes sarcastically* Just another generic RPG hero, and he stole his name from a far more awesome character. Capcom, you really need to stick to ONE Ryu, ONE! And maybe make another Moonlight game instead of trotting out this tired old horse again. Breath of Fire III gets a 3 from me.
Alex: And I'm giving it a 4.5, it's an outstanding game and the best Breath of Fire game yet.
(…)
Ted: So, Bomberman for the Saturn is really fun.
Brittany: I liked it. I mean, it's Bomberman, you can't really make a bad Bomberman game. So it was fine. But the 10-character multiplayer...honestly, who owns two multitaps for the Sega Saturn?
Ted: I own four.
Brittany: Who owns two multitaps for the Saturn who isn't a massive video game geek like me and Ted?
Ted: Yeah, I get what you're saying, most people who play this will never get to experience the 10-player mode. But still, it supports any number of players from 1-10, so if you just want standard 4-player Bomberman, it's there.
Brittany: Right, and I felt like the multiplayer was fun. This game's just not a big enough step up for me. I looked at the Ultra Nintendo Bomberman at E3 and wow, I was blown away. Here, they didn't really do full 3-D and it comes off looking like it could be a Super Nintendo CD game. It's fun but it's not enough of a step up.
Ted: I see what you're saying...but still, it's a really fun game.
Brittany: Well, yeah.
Ted: I give it a 4 out of 5.
Brittany: And I give it 3.5.
-excerpted from the August 5, 1997 episode of GameTV
Gary Westhouse: Tale Phantasia it's not, but Krystalshade still really impressed me.
John Walden: There was a lot of stuff I liked about the battle system. The fact that using Krystal Powers drains your HP instead of your MP, that adds an extra element of strategy, where you have to decide whether to just use your regular special attacks that use your MP, or go for broke with those Krystal specials.
Gary: And customizing your level-up bonuses let me really strategize. The storyline left a bit to be desired though, it was kind of predictable and I didn't form attachments with the characters like I did in other RPGs.
John: I disagree, I thought the storyline was really interesting and the characters were outstanding, especially Lana.
Gary: Lana's a badass, I have to admit, she was probably my favorite but so was the tool guy, Terry.
John: Terry the tool guy, he's fun to play, kinda reminded me of Cid from Final Fantasy.
Gary: Which one, there's more than one!
John: *laughing* From 4, from 4.
Gary: Speaking of 4, that's what I give Krystalshade, a solid 4 out of 5.
John: I give it a 4.5, it's an outstanding role playing game even if it's not exactly the most memorable.
-excerpted from the August 12, 1997 episode of GameTV
(…)
Alex: Here's my problem with Scion of Britannia, and I know you didn't mind it, but I minded it. It's an open world...but it railroads you. There are, pretty much two endings, and you really do HAVE to complete most of the quests before you can get to the end of the game. Basically, the few quests you miss become “optional”, but you still have to complete a certain number of quests. The best way...the best way to play this game, I think, is to play both sides and then decide toward the end if you want to be good or bad because then you can play through most of the quests.
Ted: OR you could just play the game twice. Look, I loved Ultima, and I'm giving it a perfect 5 because it perfectly encapsulated the Ultima experience for me. I've played all eight of the PC games, I've played The Worldly Lord, I love Ultima and this game is like a love letter to Ultima fans.
Alex: Except that even though it's non-linear, it's linear, if that makes sense.
Ted: That makes NO sense.
Alex: I had a lot of fun playing it, the graphics were top notch, the voice acting was great and the world was huge, but this game does have problems and I think you should know that if you play this game, it's not REALLY an open-world RPG, it's an action RPG that you can choose the order of the levels you're going to play in, but really, most of your decisions except one don't really matter.
Ted: Maybe so but it's hidden so well.
Alex: So it's the ILLUSION that your decisions matter.
Ted: Isn't that all that matters? There's still so much different dialogue in the game. It DOES matter what order you do quests in. There's so much dialogue.
Alex: Well that's what I said, it's a very well made game but it's not what it presents itself to be. I'm giving it a 4 but it's not as good as The Worldly Lord.
Ted: I'm giving it a 5, it's a fantastic, fantastic game.
-excerpted from the August 19, 1997 episode of GameTV
(...)
Alex: Okay, Raigeki's definitely not for the faint of heart, but if you're looking for a challenging and really fun fighting game, it's one of the best of the year.
Lyssa Fielding: I've been playing Raigeki since it hit the arcades and I love it! This is an almost perfect port and the fact that you can save Hanami's kimono designs or even create your own is really awesome!
Alex: I could see you messing around in the kimono maker.
Lyssa: Yeah, I went with goth Hanami when I beat the game as her.
Alex: My favorite guy is still Tomu the college student, reminds me of me when I was in college.
*A pre-fight scene shows Tomu scarfing down ramen and guzzling a can of energy soda before his match*
Lyssa: And the dialogue is STILL hilarious!
Announcer: *as Tomu gets beaten up by Kokorama, the busty wrestler woman* Her eyes are on her face, pervert!
Lyssa: *cackling with glee* There are hundreds of different phrases the announcer says and a lot of them are exclusive to the Saturn version! Also, the Saturn version lets you play as Lee Brute.
*A scene shows Lee Brute insulting a character by telling them that their kung fu is worse than their body odor*
Alex: Raigeki is excellent, and has some of the best 3-D graphics in any fighting game on the Saturn, even better than Fighters Megamix and really only rivaled by Tekken 2. It's amazing that such a good looking game runs so fast and smooth but that's a testament to the programming, there's no slowdown pretty much ever and so you can punch and kick and throw to your heart's content.
Lyssa: There's really never a dull moment when you're playing Raigeki, I love this game to death and I'm giving it a 5.
Alex: It really is a pitch-perfect arcade port and one of the Saturn's best fighting games, I'm giving it a 4.5.
(…)
Brittany: While Ted and Alex had the awesome honor of visiting George Lucas to talk about Star Wars: Masters of Juyo, John and I had the admittedly slightly less but still awesome honor of heading to Rareware headquarters, where we talked with Chris and Tim Stamper about not only Masters of Juyo but of all the upcoming Rare titles as well. Let's check it out, shall we?
(…)
*After talking about some of the processes that went into making Star Wars: Masters of Juyo, Brittany and John join the Stamper brothers as they head to a different part of the building, where Donkey Kong Country 4 is being worked on*
John: And so this is Donkey Kong Country 4?
Tim: That's right, this is our final SNES-CD project and we're really pulling out all the stops. As you can see on the screen, both Donkey and Diddy return as playable characters and we're kind of mixing things up a bit for this game. So if you'll both take a controller...
*John, Brittany, Tim, and Chris pick up controllers, John is Diddy Kong, Brittany is Dixie Kong, Tim is Kiddie Kong and Chris is Donkey Kong*
Chris: And as you can see for this level...
*There's a four-player splitscreen with each of them taking the role of a different member of the Kong family*
Brittany: Oh, wow!
John: You're kidding me, all four of us at once?
Chris: In certain levels in each world....there are six of these levels in all, you have the option to have four people controlling each Kong. If you have one player you'll switch back and forth but if you have four we can do them all at once, and basically...
*The gameplay continues with each player in a different part of the level*
Tim: You can trigger switches for the other players. So you can work together to complete the stage.
Brittany: That's awesome! This, I've never seen this in a platform game before.
John: Holy crap, wow.
*Diddy Kong hits a switch that opens a door for Dixie Kong, who then hits a switch later on that opens a door for Donkey Kong*
Brittany: Now, what if one of us sucks and we die? Do all four of us lose?
Tim: Basically, if one of you dies, you lose a life, but you keep going, just restarting yourself from the beginning. But yes, if one of you gets a game over...
John: *laughing* Damn!
*The four of them manage to get to the midway barrel and keep going, flipping switches for one another as the level goes on*
Chris: Believe it or not, this is fairly taxing on the Super Nintendo CD, to get four players in a stage at once like this. So the backgrounds are downgraded just a bit so the game doesn't slow down.
Brittany: Well, obviously with four people playing at once, some compromises have to be made.
Tim: We'll still working on this so hopefully it looks as good as possible in the finished product.
*They beat the level with Donkey Kong hitting the goal barrel.*
Chris: And there we go, you two are the first two outside of Rare to play four-player Donkey Kong. We didn't even have this ready for E3. We wanted to, but it was too much to get done in time.
John: Well, thanks for showing us, that was really fun and this is definitely gonna be amazing, you guys are going away from the Super Nintendo era in a big way.
Brittany: So you've got a lot of Ultra projects in the works too, right?
Chris: Right, The Dreamers is top secret but we CAN show you a bit more of Goldeneye 007 which is also almost ready.
*John and Brittany head over to another part of Rare, where Chris and Tim proceed to show them the frigate level from Goldeneye*
-excerpted from the August 26, 1997 episode of GameTV
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SNES-CD Power Charts: August 1997
1. The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Dreams
2. Fire Emblem: Keepers Of The Light
3. Frederico 2: Garcia's Revenge!
4. Tale Phantasia
5. Chrono Trigger
6. Terranigma
7. Elements Of Mana
8. Syrielle
9. Empire: The Steel Kingdom
10. Mega Man X4
11. Super Mario World 2
12. MLB '98
13. Super Mario RPG
14. Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
15. Dragon Quest VI
16. Alundra
17. Harvest Moon
18. ESPN: X-Games
19. Rage 2: The Rage Returns
20. Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
The Official Saturn Magazine Buzz Chart – August 1997
1. Sonic the Hedgehog 4
2. Ultima: Scion Of Britannia
3. Raigeki
4. Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
5. Sonic Jam
6. Fighters Megamix
7. Krystalshade
8. Tomb Raider II
9. Doom II
10. Windborn
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These paparazzi are chasing photos worth potentially tens of thousands of dollars, and that makes their high-stakes game of cat and mouse both lucrative and dangerous. Last night's incident in Paris, where three paparazzi on motorcycles, including a 17-year-old girl whose mother tells reporters she was planning to study photojournalism at university next fall, were killed in a fiery crash while pursuing a car in which popular French actress Juliette Binoche was a passenger, simply stands as the latest reminder of just how dangerous the paparazzi can be. When reached for comment, Binoche expressed shock and dismay at the deaths of the photo-seekers, and apologized to their families, though officers at the scene stated that the car was driving within the speed limit and that the speeding paparazzi were entirely to blame for the crash. Critics of the paparazzi express fears that someday their actions might get innocent bystanders killed, as seen in last month's terrifying near miss where a car driven by a man attempting to get a photograph of Princess Diana nearly struck a 5-year-old boy. You can see in this video the mother is barely able to pull her son out of the way as the car briefly drives up onto the curb. Princess Diana is a frequent target of the paparazzi, as seen here in this video, shot yesterday morning as she arrived in Marseilles with her friend Dodi Fayed. Camera bulbs flash while dozens of photographers jockey for position, a veritable mob scene and one that is becoming increasingly common as the value of celebrity photographs skyrockets.
-from a BBC News report on August 31, 1997
