“I remember how well Pulseman did when it first launched in January 1995. There was a lot of competition, including from the new Mega Man X game, but sales were still great and Nintendo's promotional push was a big rush for that. The success of Pulseman was a big reason why I was hoping we'd stay on board with Nintendo.”
-Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, in an interview with the Gaming Intelligence Agency, January 11, 2001
"Pulseman was considered as a solid platformer. It had interesting level design, a strong futuristic look and feel, a character which was original, with intriguing powers, and of course, a legendary soundtrack, considered one of the best of the SNES-CD. It proved a moderate success. However, it's biggest impact would be solidifying the relationship between Sony and Game Freak. Sony had accepted the game for distribution, and heavily promoted the game. Game Freak and Sony discussed a sequel, which never came into fruition. However, it was this friendship that would prove very substantial in the near future..."
-excerpt from the Kotaku.com article "Game Freak: The Pre-Pokemon Years," August 8th, 2014.
“Valis: Rebirth was big in terms of convincing me that Telenet Japan was for real. They'd done a lot of great work already, but this game in particular was a lot like Popful Mail, a game I'd wanted us to bring over for the Sega CD before my fallout with them. We were already mulling over approaching Nintendo but that Valis remake was the clincher.”
-Victor Ireland, from “AMA: Victor Ireland” on Rootalk (TTL's Reddit equivalent), February 23, 2013
“Sega brings the arcade hits home!”
-a line from a new Sega advertisement campaign pushing the company's arcade ports that started in early 1995
“On the subject of plan B, I believe we could go forward if absolutely necessary. The technical specifications of a new console could easily exceed those of the Saturn. From a technological standpoint, we would be safe with this strategy.”
-Ken Kutaragi, from a Sony internal memo in January 1995 discussing the possibility of creating a new console without Nintendo's help
-
Carrier Aces:
Ed: 6
Danyon: 7
Al: 6.5 (quote: “A fun little World War II aerial combat game, but the difficulty could use some re-balancing.”)
Sushi-X: 6
Earthworm Jim: Special Edition
Ed: 9 (quote: “In a lot of ways this is the best version of Earthworm Jim, though the Genesis version still has a couple extras that this CD-ROM port inexplicably lacks. Still, the animation is top notch.”)
Danyon: 9.5
Al: 8.5
Sushi-X: 8.5
Flintstones: The Movie:
Ed: 4
Danyon: 2.5 (quote: “What a miserable game. Yabba-dabba-don't buy this.”)
Al: 4
Sushi-X: 2
Lords Of Thunder:
Ed: 7.5
Danyon: 8
Al: 7 (quote: “While the game itself isn't terrific, the graphics and music got a really nice boost from when this game was on the TurboGrafx CD, and as far as shoot-em-ups go, it's one of the best looking on the system.”)
Sushi-X: 7.5
MechWarrior 3050:
Ed: 7 (quote: “Not quite as revolutionary as the original, but it still brings the classic mech gameplay we all know and love. It's tough as nails but the original was too.”)
Danyon: 7
Al: 8
Sushi-X: 8
Mega Man X2:
Ed: 8.5
Danyon: 8
Al: 8 (quote: “While it could've been upgraded a bit more for the SNES-CD, it's still Mega Man and it's still fantastic, with even more creative bosses and power-ups than the original.”)
Sushi-X: 8
Mighty Max:
Ed: 5.5
Danyon: 6
Al: 6
Sushi-X: 6 (quote: “This was a fairly generic action game, so if you're not a big fan of the show or the toy, you might want to skip this one.”)
Pulseman:
Ed: 9.5 (quote: “This gorgeous action game is a revelation and even better than Mega Man X2, to which it'll undoubtedly be compared. The ability to jump from wall to wall opens up new dimensions of gameplay and the real-time animated cutscenes littering the game bring Pulseman's incredible world to life.”)
Danyon: 8
Al: 8.5
Sushi-X: 8.5
Urban Strike:
Ed: 7
Danyon: 7
Al: 7.5 (quote: “Flying a helicopter around and blowing stuff up has never been so fun. We loved the smoothness of the graphics, though the play controls could be somewhat difficult at times.”)
Sushi-X: 7.5
Valis: Rebirth:
Ed: 8.5
Danyon: 9 (quote: “A superb upgrade of a rather nondescript action game, this game takes the best elements of action games and outlandish fantasy adventures and mixes them up into one big bowl of awesome.”)
Al: 9
Sushi-X: 6.5
Moonlight:
Ed: 7.5
Danyon: 9
Al: 8
Sushi-X: 7 (quote: “Capcom's SNES-CD RPG doesn't quite approach the quality of Breath of Fire for the cartridge-based SNES, but its intriguing storyline and fascinating characters will still suck you in.”)
Dragon's Destiny II
Ed: 6.5
Danyon: 7
Al: 7 (quote: “This sequel to 1993's flying dragon deathmatch game improves on its predecessor in pretty much every possible way, and multiplayer is a blast!”)
Sushi-X: 7
Don't Go To Bed!:
Ed: 6.5
Danyon: 5
Al: 6
Sushi-X: 5 (quote: “The nausea inducing graphics and strange enemies littering this platformer about a kid sucked into a nightmare realm whenever he goes to sleep only made me want to put this game down sooner.”)
-reviews of January 1995's SNES-CD games in the February and March 1995 issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly
-
Mega Man vs. Pulseman: The Showdown (Which should you buy?)
This month, we reviewed two excellent SNES-CD action platformers in Mega Man X2 and Pulseman. Both games are great, and both games are quite similar, but also have some key differences. So which one should you buy? Let's break it down.
Graphics:
Graphically, Mega Man X2 is excellent. While the upgrade to CD didn't change things up too much from the SNES version, it still features some great 3-D effects, very smooth animation, and a variety of bright and colorful stages. On the other hand, Pulseman seems to be designed for the SNES-CD from the ground up and it shows. The animations are fantastic and each level even features short cutscenes that pop up during gameplay. In contrast, Mega Man X2 features no cutscenes, even on the CD version. We've got to give the edge to Pulseman here for its slightly better in-game graphics and its animated cutscenes. WINNER: Pulseman
Sound/Music:
Both games feature superb soundtracks. Gamefreak's Pulseman soundtrack features some nice variety in music, though some of the motifs get a bit repetitive and not all of the sound effects impressed us. On the other hand, Mega Man X2 featured an amazing variety of rock and roll songs, some very good atmospheric music (the Crystal Snail stage for example), and a much better theme for bosses. While both games were good, Mega Man X2 was just a bit better. WINNER: Mega Man X2
Play Control:
We've got the familar Mega Man control scheme vs. the innovative but at times tricky Pulseman controls. Pulseman has the ability to leap between walls very rapidly and on the whole, this is a fun skill to pull off, though at times can be a bit difficult. Mega Man is equipped with a variety of dashes, leaps, and the wall cling ability unique to the X series. While Pulseman has to be given credit for originality, it was Mega Man X2 that was ultimately a bit easier to master and more fun to control. WINNER: Mega Man X2
Storyline:
While storyline isn't always important in games, here we agreed that both games did have compelling stories that drove the action of the games. In Mega Man X2, the robot is once again tasked with defleating Sigma and his Mavericks, with the added twist that his friend Zero, thought destroyed for good, has actually had his body parts scattered and needs to be recovered before Sigma can claim them and rebuild him. Pulseman, however, had what we feel was a bit more original and engrossing story, of a half-robot, half-human boy named Pulseman who struggles to find his place in the world and must save it and his friends from the evil Doc Waruyama, who happens to be Pulseman's father. The cutscenes added an additional layer of excitement to Pulseman's characters and story, and we just felt that Pulseman told its story better than Mega Man X2 did. WINNER: Pulseman
Gameplay:
Finally, we come to the clinching category, and the most important category of all which is gameplay. Again, Mega Man X2 is a game we've all played before now many times, while Pulseman brings something new and unique to the table. That said, the Mega Man game formula is tried and true and this is one of the most fun Mega Man games ever, with excellent level design and just the right amount of difficulty. Pulseman crams its nine stages with fun enemies and bosses, though the game can be somewhat frustrating at times, it's ultimately rewarding to finish off the final boss and see the excellent ending. While this category was extremely close, probably the closest of all five, we had to give the slightest of edges to Mega Man X2. When it works, it REALLY works, and it was the game we kept going back to. While Pulseman is a great game, if you can only get one, choose the Blue Bomber. WINNER: Mega Man X2
-a comparative article of Mega Man X2 and Pulseman featured in the February 1995 issue of GameFan, which awarded both games an identical score of 41/50
-
“Moonlight was created to be sort of a companion series of sorts to Breath of Fire. We intended to keep our Breath of Fire RPG series on the cartridge Super Famicom and came up with Moonlight for CD players, but once the CD became pre-eminent, we transitioned Breath of Fire to the CD format starting with the sequel. Due to Moonlight's commercial success we were able to support two RPG franchises on CD!”
-Capcom's Tokuro Fujiwara, speaking with Famitsu magazine in the December 1997 issue
“So the first half of Moonlight is a pretty straight-forward game where you're crushing this evil crime syndicate and their sadistic leader. But about halfway through there's a serious twist and you soon find yourself not only trying to save the city, but the entire world! The game opens up completely and goes from a gritty noir RPG to a full-on cyberpunk fantasy adventure. I think the first Moonlight is still the best, and it's definitely one of my favorite RPGs on the SNES-CD.”
-a user on Kotaku.com, discussing the game Moonlight in a comment on a “Talk Amongst Yourselves” article
Epic Center
Welcome to the very first installment of Epic Center, a new feature in Nintendo Power magazine! Here, you'll find tips, tricks, strategies, and previews for a variety of RPG and adventure games coming to Nintendo systems!
DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT
Moonlight is a new role-playing game from Capcom taking place in a dark, crime-infested city called Banboru. Over the course of the game, twelve characters from all walks of life will join your party as you work together to battle the evil Jade Syndicate and restore peace to this troubled metropolis. Be warned, defeating this crime syndicate won't be the end of your adventure! Indeed, it'll be only the beginning.
Characters in Moonlight include...
Shuko: The main character, a rookie police officer who is new to the city. He starts out naive and inexperienced but as he gets deeper and deeper into the seedy underworld, he'll discover that things definitely aren't what they seem.
Craig: Shuko's partner and best friend, a cop who's been on the force several years and tries to teach Shuko the ropes. Don't rely completely on his experience, he can't carry you the whole way!
Wei Lin: A mysterious informant who soon joins Shuko's cause to get revenge on the syndicate's leader. She might be beautiful but don't underestimate her.
Jack: A bouncer who has a score to settle with the syndicate. He knows a few criminals and you'll need their help to get further in your quest.
Julia: Another officer at Shuko and Craig's precinct, she's a crack shot and you'll bump into her a few times before she joins your party later on.
Taifung: A martial-arts master who runs an illegal underground dojo, he clashes with Craig plenty but the two of them will need to work together to help Shuko succeed.
You'll meet plenty of other characters on your long journey. This truly is an RPG like no other!
(...)
A FANTASY FOR THE AGES
Final Fantasy VI hits the Super Nintendo CD in just two short months. The game already released in Japan to record sales and stellar reviews, and we got a chance to sit down with Ted Woolsey, head translator for the North American version of the game, for a quick preview of what we'll be looking forward to.
NP: Thanks for giving us this interview, we can't wait to play Final Fantasy VI! What's been your favorite thing about translating this game?
Ted Woolsey: The sheer variety of characters, playable and otherwise. I feel like this Final Fantasy has the best cast of characters yet, both heroes and villains. The cast of heroes alone is huge, there are 14 in all and that's not counting the temporary characters who join your group for a brief time.
NP: We know you can't spoil any of the game's HUGE twists, but can you give us a quick tease on what to expect?
Ted Woolsey: The game on its surface is about the conflict between magic and technology, but from a character standpoint, the main character Terra is conflicted about who she is and what she's going to become. She's torn between two sides of herself, and you'll see in the story that the conflict forms the heart of a big part of this game.
NP: So this will be a more mature, epic Final Fantasy than those in the past?
Ted Woolsey: I feel that the story of this game rivals that of any Hollywood movie. The production values are astonishing and the dialogue is really well written, I'm working really hard to make sure none of the great work from the Japanese writers gets lost in translation. It's been a challenge but a really gratifying one.
NP: Thanks again for agreeing to talk with us, we're excited for this game!
Ted Woolsey: No doubt, you're gonna love it!
(...)
That's it for this month's edition of Epic Center. For those of you with this month's issue of Nintendo Power CD, your disks contain preview videos that take you behind the scenes of the upcoming RPGs The Darkest Ritual and Final Fantasy VI! In addition, Moonlight, The Darkest Ritual, and Final Fantasy VI, along with seven other great games, have playable demos for you to try them before anyone else!
-excerpted from the “Epic Center” feature in the January 1995 issue of Nintendo Power
-
Valis: Rebirth was the first major release from Telenet Japan for the Super Nintendo CD in North America. While FMV games such as Time Gal had been featured on the system before, Valis: Rebirth was the beginning of a larger strategy for the company to gain a foothold with international gamers, and they would start with one of their flagship action franchises. Valis: Rebirth was a remake of their 1986 MSX game Valis: The Fantasm Soldier, and it could actually be considered a complete reboot rather than a remake, taking elements from the first four games of the series in retelling the first. It tells the story of the heroine Yuko, whose friend Reiko is abducted and brainwashed by the evil soldier Rogles into helping him defeat the only person who can stop his reign of terror. The game features fourteen side-scrolling levels and is a hybrid of an action game, a platformer, a hack and slash, and a puzzle game with some RPG elements as well. Yuko can upgrade her equipment by finding treasures or defeating enemies, and each level features a ferocious boss (with many levels featuring one or more sub-bosses as well). The game features animated cutscenes and in level voiced scenes specifically made for this version, indeed, it was a complete revamp from the ground up, with only the basic storyline and a few elements taken from the 1986 original. Also, unlike in the original game, Yuko's friend Reiko survives at the end and indeed would become playable in the sequel. With this game, Telenet Japan intended to create a flagship franchise, and it largely worked. The game sold massively in Japan and decently in the States, which justified both the creation of sequels and their localization, indeed, there would be three SNES-CD Valis games in all, and the series would continue on the Ultra Nintendo with 1999's Ultra Valis: Knight Of Light that would take the series into three dimensions. Though subsequent games such as Tale Phantasia would be far more successful for Telenet Japan, Valis: Rebirth laid the important groundwork for the company becoming one of Nintendo's best second parties.
-Excerpted from “Early Gems Of The Super Nintendo CD”, an article posted on Gamesovermatter.com, December 17, 2013
-
Sega At The Arcade: A New King?
While 1995 is poised to be the Year of the Saturn for Nintendo's everpresent rival, Sega also seems to be trying to make 1995 the Year of the Arcade! Sega has begun porting a number of their arcade hits to the Mega Charger, and the Saturn has already been promised a number of major ports including Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, Desert Tank, and Daytona USA. But Sega is hard at work on the next generation of arcade games, and Yu Suzuki has been quoted as saying that he's already working on a new lineup of games that will hit arcades in 1995, including a space shooter that is said to be the spiritual successor to the Space Harrier series called Galactic Savior. Suzuki promises that this game will utilize new hardware from Sega to bring to life dozens of lifelike spaceships on screen at once, with an addicting storyline that will keep players putting quarters in machines until their pockets run dry.
Suzuki is also said to be in talks with Namco for a deal that would put new Sega arcade boards in Namco machines to create upgraded versions of games such as Ridge Racer, and that such tech would also be utilized in a brand new 3-D fighting game that would involve a variety of characters wielding powerful bladed weapons in battle. Namco has already stated its intent to develop exclusively for the Saturn in the future, and as the two companies draw closer, it seems that their alliance is hellbent on challenging Nintendo for market supremacy. With many of these Namco arcade games sure to be ported to the Saturn over the next two years, it could draw plenty of arcade junkies into Sega's fold, something that's sure to be music to the blue hedgehog's ears.
-from an article in GamePro magazine, February 1995
-
Winter CES Update!
The Winter 1995 Consumer Electronics show was a bit dialed back in terms of video game floor space. The big game companies seemed to be holding back, most likely for May's upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo, but Nintendo and Sega were still showing off some exciting upcoming games, and we're sure you'll be seeing a lot more of them in the coming months.
First off was Nintendo, and the big game at their booth this year was their newest Zelda game, The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Dreams. The game was playable at Nintendo's booth, and despite the crowds, I managed to get some time with the controller in my hand. What I saw was nothing short of incredible. The character animation has received a huge upgrade, Link looks so alive and colorful on the screen even from a top-down perspective, and the enemies moved in fun and unique ways. Though the game won't have any voice acting to speak of, we could still hear some loud grunts when Link swung his sword or went for his famous spin-attack, and enemy growls could be heard as well. The added sound effects give Link some much needed personality, though the gameplay spoke for itself. You can now wield two items instead of one, with one mapped to the Y button and the other to the X button, making it a bit more intuitive so you're not constantly switching. There will be new items featured in this game, and some returning items from Link's Awakening never before seen in a console Zelda. This includes Roc's Feather, which allows Link to jump across pits and to new areas, bringing more of an action element to the classic adventure franchise. I wish I'd gotten more time to play but from what I saw, Ocarina of Dreams is going to be a huge hit like the Zelda games before it.
Sega's booth was also quite crowded, with the biggest crowds around the new game Knuckles: Renegade. This game stars Sonic's new pal Knuckles in a quest of his own. Gameplay seemed somewhat similar to Sonic, though Knuckles has a few combat moves at his disposal, giving you a lot more ways to take out enemies. Knuckles is going to be teaming up with some new friends in this game that has the titular echidna leading a rebellion against Dr. Robotnik. One of those friends is a beautiful butterfly woman named Corona who seems to be Knuckles' love interest. She's actually playable for certain parts of the game and has a cool attack where she fires sonic lasers out of her hands. This game will be out in April and I got to play through the first couple of levels, I was quite impressed and I can't wait to take Knuckles and his band of rebels out for a spin.
There was another player at this year's CES, and that was Bandai, showing off their next generation system. They call it the Solaris, and from what I saw, the graphics are quite good, this thing is capable of some powerful 3-D effects comparable to what the Saturn can do, but time will tell if Bandai can compete with Nintendo and Sega. Bandai only had tech demos to show off and a concept design of the system. It looks really sleek but it's important to remember that this is a project that Apple backed out of, and they must've had a reason for doing that. So far, it's too early to tell if they'll repeat the mistakes of their predecessors, but I'm sure some of those failed predecessors would tell you that their biggest mistake was just trying to take on the two juggernauts.
-excerpted from an article in the March 1995 issue of GameFan
-
SNES-CD Power Charts – January 1995 (starting with the January 1995 issue, Nintendo Power stopped printing point totals for their Power Charts feature, which remained a combined ranking of player votes, editors' choices, and sales figures for the month three months prior)
1. Squad Four
2. Mortal Kombat II
3. Super Street Fighter II: Arcade Edition
4. TMNT V: Wrath Of The Foot
5. Super Mario World 2
6. Contra IV: Hard Corps
7. Jewels Of The Realm
8. SimCity 2000
9. Secret Of Mana
10. Donkey Kong Country
11. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
12. Wing Commander
13. Illusion Of Gaia
14. Final Fantasy Origins
15. NBA Live 95
16. Nightmare Busters
17. Kid Icarus CD
18. Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters
19. Cannon Fodder
20. Super Mario Kart
-
January 23, 1995
Ken Kutaragi and Norio Ohga met once again in Ohga's office to discuss the latest developments in Sony's video game division. Despite the terrible earthquake in Kobe six days before that had killed over six thousand people, it was business as usual at Sony, and a busy time it was indeed.
“We've confirmed that Namco will be exclusive to Sega for the forseeable future,” said Kutaragi, adding to the news that Capcom would likely be primarily supporting Nintendo and Sega regardless of what Sony did in the future, and that Squaresoft would almost certainly remain loyal to Nintendo as well. “The two are working together on a series of arcade games that will receive exclusive ports to the Sega Saturn.”
Ohga furrowed his brow and took on the familiar stern expression that Kutaragi had grown to know so well. The news that Sony would have difficulty gathering third-party support if it struck out on its own with a game console did not please Ohga, and once Nintendo caught wind of it, it would likely reduce the company's leverage in any negotiations.
“Keep reaching out to Capcom and Konami, their support will be extremely important going forward. We need to begin development on the console immediately...I'm wanting to release it in Japan next summer, and have a release before Christmas of 1996 in the West. We'd be only a year behind the Saturn there, and would likely be far ahead of Nintendo's next console.”
“Work on the chips and initial development kit has already begun,” said Kutaragi. “We'd likely be able to have the kits sent out to software developers sometime in April.”
Ohga nodded, pleased with this information. He knew Kutaragi didn't want to go behind Nintendo's back, but he'd had a history of going behind people's backs before. Still, there was plenty of time for Nintendo to change its mind, even after the development kits had been sent out. He and Kutaragi both would prefer it if Nintendo accepted Sony's terms to develop their next generation console...together.
But as the old adage goes, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Such thinking had saved lives when the earthquake had hit, and it would give Sony an advantage that it would need if it indeed began competing with Nintendo.
“Our big holiday game for the Super Nintendo CD, Ballistic Limit, I believe it's called. Can you get a hold of Mr. Olaffson?” asked Ohga, looking across the table at Kutaragi.
“Yes, I can.”
“If Nintendo doesn't agree to our terms within the next three months, we'll need to pull that game and redesign it as a launch title for the new Sony console.”
-Ólafur Jóhann Ólafsson, in an interview with the Gaming Intelligence Agency, January 11, 2001
"Pulseman was considered as a solid platformer. It had interesting level design, a strong futuristic look and feel, a character which was original, with intriguing powers, and of course, a legendary soundtrack, considered one of the best of the SNES-CD. It proved a moderate success. However, it's biggest impact would be solidifying the relationship between Sony and Game Freak. Sony had accepted the game for distribution, and heavily promoted the game. Game Freak and Sony discussed a sequel, which never came into fruition. However, it was this friendship that would prove very substantial in the near future..."
-excerpt from the Kotaku.com article "Game Freak: The Pre-Pokemon Years," August 8th, 2014.
“Valis: Rebirth was big in terms of convincing me that Telenet Japan was for real. They'd done a lot of great work already, but this game in particular was a lot like Popful Mail, a game I'd wanted us to bring over for the Sega CD before my fallout with them. We were already mulling over approaching Nintendo but that Valis remake was the clincher.”
-Victor Ireland, from “AMA: Victor Ireland” on Rootalk (TTL's Reddit equivalent), February 23, 2013
“Sega brings the arcade hits home!”
-a line from a new Sega advertisement campaign pushing the company's arcade ports that started in early 1995
“On the subject of plan B, I believe we could go forward if absolutely necessary. The technical specifications of a new console could easily exceed those of the Saturn. From a technological standpoint, we would be safe with this strategy.”
-Ken Kutaragi, from a Sony internal memo in January 1995 discussing the possibility of creating a new console without Nintendo's help
-
Carrier Aces:
Ed: 6
Danyon: 7
Al: 6.5 (quote: “A fun little World War II aerial combat game, but the difficulty could use some re-balancing.”)
Sushi-X: 6
Earthworm Jim: Special Edition
Ed: 9 (quote: “In a lot of ways this is the best version of Earthworm Jim, though the Genesis version still has a couple extras that this CD-ROM port inexplicably lacks. Still, the animation is top notch.”)
Danyon: 9.5
Al: 8.5
Sushi-X: 8.5
Flintstones: The Movie:
Ed: 4
Danyon: 2.5 (quote: “What a miserable game. Yabba-dabba-don't buy this.”)
Al: 4
Sushi-X: 2
Lords Of Thunder:
Ed: 7.5
Danyon: 8
Al: 7 (quote: “While the game itself isn't terrific, the graphics and music got a really nice boost from when this game was on the TurboGrafx CD, and as far as shoot-em-ups go, it's one of the best looking on the system.”)
Sushi-X: 7.5
MechWarrior 3050:
Ed: 7 (quote: “Not quite as revolutionary as the original, but it still brings the classic mech gameplay we all know and love. It's tough as nails but the original was too.”)
Danyon: 7
Al: 8
Sushi-X: 8
Mega Man X2:
Ed: 8.5
Danyon: 8
Al: 8 (quote: “While it could've been upgraded a bit more for the SNES-CD, it's still Mega Man and it's still fantastic, with even more creative bosses and power-ups than the original.”)
Sushi-X: 8
Mighty Max:
Ed: 5.5
Danyon: 6
Al: 6
Sushi-X: 6 (quote: “This was a fairly generic action game, so if you're not a big fan of the show or the toy, you might want to skip this one.”)
Pulseman:
Ed: 9.5 (quote: “This gorgeous action game is a revelation and even better than Mega Man X2, to which it'll undoubtedly be compared. The ability to jump from wall to wall opens up new dimensions of gameplay and the real-time animated cutscenes littering the game bring Pulseman's incredible world to life.”)
Danyon: 8
Al: 8.5
Sushi-X: 8.5
Urban Strike:
Ed: 7
Danyon: 7
Al: 7.5 (quote: “Flying a helicopter around and blowing stuff up has never been so fun. We loved the smoothness of the graphics, though the play controls could be somewhat difficult at times.”)
Sushi-X: 7.5
Valis: Rebirth:
Ed: 8.5
Danyon: 9 (quote: “A superb upgrade of a rather nondescript action game, this game takes the best elements of action games and outlandish fantasy adventures and mixes them up into one big bowl of awesome.”)
Al: 9
Sushi-X: 6.5
Moonlight:
Ed: 7.5
Danyon: 9
Al: 8
Sushi-X: 7 (quote: “Capcom's SNES-CD RPG doesn't quite approach the quality of Breath of Fire for the cartridge-based SNES, but its intriguing storyline and fascinating characters will still suck you in.”)
Dragon's Destiny II
Ed: 6.5
Danyon: 7
Al: 7 (quote: “This sequel to 1993's flying dragon deathmatch game improves on its predecessor in pretty much every possible way, and multiplayer is a blast!”)
Sushi-X: 7
Don't Go To Bed!:
Ed: 6.5
Danyon: 5
Al: 6
Sushi-X: 5 (quote: “The nausea inducing graphics and strange enemies littering this platformer about a kid sucked into a nightmare realm whenever he goes to sleep only made me want to put this game down sooner.”)
-reviews of January 1995's SNES-CD games in the February and March 1995 issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly
-
Mega Man vs. Pulseman: The Showdown (Which should you buy?)
This month, we reviewed two excellent SNES-CD action platformers in Mega Man X2 and Pulseman. Both games are great, and both games are quite similar, but also have some key differences. So which one should you buy? Let's break it down.
Graphics:
Graphically, Mega Man X2 is excellent. While the upgrade to CD didn't change things up too much from the SNES version, it still features some great 3-D effects, very smooth animation, and a variety of bright and colorful stages. On the other hand, Pulseman seems to be designed for the SNES-CD from the ground up and it shows. The animations are fantastic and each level even features short cutscenes that pop up during gameplay. In contrast, Mega Man X2 features no cutscenes, even on the CD version. We've got to give the edge to Pulseman here for its slightly better in-game graphics and its animated cutscenes. WINNER: Pulseman
Sound/Music:
Both games feature superb soundtracks. Gamefreak's Pulseman soundtrack features some nice variety in music, though some of the motifs get a bit repetitive and not all of the sound effects impressed us. On the other hand, Mega Man X2 featured an amazing variety of rock and roll songs, some very good atmospheric music (the Crystal Snail stage for example), and a much better theme for bosses. While both games were good, Mega Man X2 was just a bit better. WINNER: Mega Man X2
Play Control:
We've got the familar Mega Man control scheme vs. the innovative but at times tricky Pulseman controls. Pulseman has the ability to leap between walls very rapidly and on the whole, this is a fun skill to pull off, though at times can be a bit difficult. Mega Man is equipped with a variety of dashes, leaps, and the wall cling ability unique to the X series. While Pulseman has to be given credit for originality, it was Mega Man X2 that was ultimately a bit easier to master and more fun to control. WINNER: Mega Man X2
Storyline:
While storyline isn't always important in games, here we agreed that both games did have compelling stories that drove the action of the games. In Mega Man X2, the robot is once again tasked with defleating Sigma and his Mavericks, with the added twist that his friend Zero, thought destroyed for good, has actually had his body parts scattered and needs to be recovered before Sigma can claim them and rebuild him. Pulseman, however, had what we feel was a bit more original and engrossing story, of a half-robot, half-human boy named Pulseman who struggles to find his place in the world and must save it and his friends from the evil Doc Waruyama, who happens to be Pulseman's father. The cutscenes added an additional layer of excitement to Pulseman's characters and story, and we just felt that Pulseman told its story better than Mega Man X2 did. WINNER: Pulseman
Gameplay:
Finally, we come to the clinching category, and the most important category of all which is gameplay. Again, Mega Man X2 is a game we've all played before now many times, while Pulseman brings something new and unique to the table. That said, the Mega Man game formula is tried and true and this is one of the most fun Mega Man games ever, with excellent level design and just the right amount of difficulty. Pulseman crams its nine stages with fun enemies and bosses, though the game can be somewhat frustrating at times, it's ultimately rewarding to finish off the final boss and see the excellent ending. While this category was extremely close, probably the closest of all five, we had to give the slightest of edges to Mega Man X2. When it works, it REALLY works, and it was the game we kept going back to. While Pulseman is a great game, if you can only get one, choose the Blue Bomber. WINNER: Mega Man X2
-a comparative article of Mega Man X2 and Pulseman featured in the February 1995 issue of GameFan, which awarded both games an identical score of 41/50
-
“Moonlight was created to be sort of a companion series of sorts to Breath of Fire. We intended to keep our Breath of Fire RPG series on the cartridge Super Famicom and came up with Moonlight for CD players, but once the CD became pre-eminent, we transitioned Breath of Fire to the CD format starting with the sequel. Due to Moonlight's commercial success we were able to support two RPG franchises on CD!”
-Capcom's Tokuro Fujiwara, speaking with Famitsu magazine in the December 1997 issue
“So the first half of Moonlight is a pretty straight-forward game where you're crushing this evil crime syndicate and their sadistic leader. But about halfway through there's a serious twist and you soon find yourself not only trying to save the city, but the entire world! The game opens up completely and goes from a gritty noir RPG to a full-on cyberpunk fantasy adventure. I think the first Moonlight is still the best, and it's definitely one of my favorite RPGs on the SNES-CD.”
-a user on Kotaku.com, discussing the game Moonlight in a comment on a “Talk Amongst Yourselves” article
Epic Center
Welcome to the very first installment of Epic Center, a new feature in Nintendo Power magazine! Here, you'll find tips, tricks, strategies, and previews for a variety of RPG and adventure games coming to Nintendo systems!
DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT
Moonlight is a new role-playing game from Capcom taking place in a dark, crime-infested city called Banboru. Over the course of the game, twelve characters from all walks of life will join your party as you work together to battle the evil Jade Syndicate and restore peace to this troubled metropolis. Be warned, defeating this crime syndicate won't be the end of your adventure! Indeed, it'll be only the beginning.
Characters in Moonlight include...
Shuko: The main character, a rookie police officer who is new to the city. He starts out naive and inexperienced but as he gets deeper and deeper into the seedy underworld, he'll discover that things definitely aren't what they seem.
Craig: Shuko's partner and best friend, a cop who's been on the force several years and tries to teach Shuko the ropes. Don't rely completely on his experience, he can't carry you the whole way!
Wei Lin: A mysterious informant who soon joins Shuko's cause to get revenge on the syndicate's leader. She might be beautiful but don't underestimate her.
Jack: A bouncer who has a score to settle with the syndicate. He knows a few criminals and you'll need their help to get further in your quest.
Julia: Another officer at Shuko and Craig's precinct, she's a crack shot and you'll bump into her a few times before she joins your party later on.
Taifung: A martial-arts master who runs an illegal underground dojo, he clashes with Craig plenty but the two of them will need to work together to help Shuko succeed.
You'll meet plenty of other characters on your long journey. This truly is an RPG like no other!
(...)
A FANTASY FOR THE AGES
Final Fantasy VI hits the Super Nintendo CD in just two short months. The game already released in Japan to record sales and stellar reviews, and we got a chance to sit down with Ted Woolsey, head translator for the North American version of the game, for a quick preview of what we'll be looking forward to.
NP: Thanks for giving us this interview, we can't wait to play Final Fantasy VI! What's been your favorite thing about translating this game?
Ted Woolsey: The sheer variety of characters, playable and otherwise. I feel like this Final Fantasy has the best cast of characters yet, both heroes and villains. The cast of heroes alone is huge, there are 14 in all and that's not counting the temporary characters who join your group for a brief time.
NP: We know you can't spoil any of the game's HUGE twists, but can you give us a quick tease on what to expect?
Ted Woolsey: The game on its surface is about the conflict between magic and technology, but from a character standpoint, the main character Terra is conflicted about who she is and what she's going to become. She's torn between two sides of herself, and you'll see in the story that the conflict forms the heart of a big part of this game.
NP: So this will be a more mature, epic Final Fantasy than those in the past?
Ted Woolsey: I feel that the story of this game rivals that of any Hollywood movie. The production values are astonishing and the dialogue is really well written, I'm working really hard to make sure none of the great work from the Japanese writers gets lost in translation. It's been a challenge but a really gratifying one.
NP: Thanks again for agreeing to talk with us, we're excited for this game!
Ted Woolsey: No doubt, you're gonna love it!
(...)
That's it for this month's edition of Epic Center. For those of you with this month's issue of Nintendo Power CD, your disks contain preview videos that take you behind the scenes of the upcoming RPGs The Darkest Ritual and Final Fantasy VI! In addition, Moonlight, The Darkest Ritual, and Final Fantasy VI, along with seven other great games, have playable demos for you to try them before anyone else!
-excerpted from the “Epic Center” feature in the January 1995 issue of Nintendo Power
-
Valis: Rebirth was the first major release from Telenet Japan for the Super Nintendo CD in North America. While FMV games such as Time Gal had been featured on the system before, Valis: Rebirth was the beginning of a larger strategy for the company to gain a foothold with international gamers, and they would start with one of their flagship action franchises. Valis: Rebirth was a remake of their 1986 MSX game Valis: The Fantasm Soldier, and it could actually be considered a complete reboot rather than a remake, taking elements from the first four games of the series in retelling the first. It tells the story of the heroine Yuko, whose friend Reiko is abducted and brainwashed by the evil soldier Rogles into helping him defeat the only person who can stop his reign of terror. The game features fourteen side-scrolling levels and is a hybrid of an action game, a platformer, a hack and slash, and a puzzle game with some RPG elements as well. Yuko can upgrade her equipment by finding treasures or defeating enemies, and each level features a ferocious boss (with many levels featuring one or more sub-bosses as well). The game features animated cutscenes and in level voiced scenes specifically made for this version, indeed, it was a complete revamp from the ground up, with only the basic storyline and a few elements taken from the 1986 original. Also, unlike in the original game, Yuko's friend Reiko survives at the end and indeed would become playable in the sequel. With this game, Telenet Japan intended to create a flagship franchise, and it largely worked. The game sold massively in Japan and decently in the States, which justified both the creation of sequels and their localization, indeed, there would be three SNES-CD Valis games in all, and the series would continue on the Ultra Nintendo with 1999's Ultra Valis: Knight Of Light that would take the series into three dimensions. Though subsequent games such as Tale Phantasia would be far more successful for Telenet Japan, Valis: Rebirth laid the important groundwork for the company becoming one of Nintendo's best second parties.
-Excerpted from “Early Gems Of The Super Nintendo CD”, an article posted on Gamesovermatter.com, December 17, 2013
-
Sega At The Arcade: A New King?
While 1995 is poised to be the Year of the Saturn for Nintendo's everpresent rival, Sega also seems to be trying to make 1995 the Year of the Arcade! Sega has begun porting a number of their arcade hits to the Mega Charger, and the Saturn has already been promised a number of major ports including Virtua Fighter, Virtua Racing, Desert Tank, and Daytona USA. But Sega is hard at work on the next generation of arcade games, and Yu Suzuki has been quoted as saying that he's already working on a new lineup of games that will hit arcades in 1995, including a space shooter that is said to be the spiritual successor to the Space Harrier series called Galactic Savior. Suzuki promises that this game will utilize new hardware from Sega to bring to life dozens of lifelike spaceships on screen at once, with an addicting storyline that will keep players putting quarters in machines until their pockets run dry.
Suzuki is also said to be in talks with Namco for a deal that would put new Sega arcade boards in Namco machines to create upgraded versions of games such as Ridge Racer, and that such tech would also be utilized in a brand new 3-D fighting game that would involve a variety of characters wielding powerful bladed weapons in battle. Namco has already stated its intent to develop exclusively for the Saturn in the future, and as the two companies draw closer, it seems that their alliance is hellbent on challenging Nintendo for market supremacy. With many of these Namco arcade games sure to be ported to the Saturn over the next two years, it could draw plenty of arcade junkies into Sega's fold, something that's sure to be music to the blue hedgehog's ears.
-from an article in GamePro magazine, February 1995
-
Winter CES Update!
The Winter 1995 Consumer Electronics show was a bit dialed back in terms of video game floor space. The big game companies seemed to be holding back, most likely for May's upcoming Electronic Entertainment Expo, but Nintendo and Sega were still showing off some exciting upcoming games, and we're sure you'll be seeing a lot more of them in the coming months.
First off was Nintendo, and the big game at their booth this year was their newest Zelda game, The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Dreams. The game was playable at Nintendo's booth, and despite the crowds, I managed to get some time with the controller in my hand. What I saw was nothing short of incredible. The character animation has received a huge upgrade, Link looks so alive and colorful on the screen even from a top-down perspective, and the enemies moved in fun and unique ways. Though the game won't have any voice acting to speak of, we could still hear some loud grunts when Link swung his sword or went for his famous spin-attack, and enemy growls could be heard as well. The added sound effects give Link some much needed personality, though the gameplay spoke for itself. You can now wield two items instead of one, with one mapped to the Y button and the other to the X button, making it a bit more intuitive so you're not constantly switching. There will be new items featured in this game, and some returning items from Link's Awakening never before seen in a console Zelda. This includes Roc's Feather, which allows Link to jump across pits and to new areas, bringing more of an action element to the classic adventure franchise. I wish I'd gotten more time to play but from what I saw, Ocarina of Dreams is going to be a huge hit like the Zelda games before it.
Sega's booth was also quite crowded, with the biggest crowds around the new game Knuckles: Renegade. This game stars Sonic's new pal Knuckles in a quest of his own. Gameplay seemed somewhat similar to Sonic, though Knuckles has a few combat moves at his disposal, giving you a lot more ways to take out enemies. Knuckles is going to be teaming up with some new friends in this game that has the titular echidna leading a rebellion against Dr. Robotnik. One of those friends is a beautiful butterfly woman named Corona who seems to be Knuckles' love interest. She's actually playable for certain parts of the game and has a cool attack where she fires sonic lasers out of her hands. This game will be out in April and I got to play through the first couple of levels, I was quite impressed and I can't wait to take Knuckles and his band of rebels out for a spin.
There was another player at this year's CES, and that was Bandai, showing off their next generation system. They call it the Solaris, and from what I saw, the graphics are quite good, this thing is capable of some powerful 3-D effects comparable to what the Saturn can do, but time will tell if Bandai can compete with Nintendo and Sega. Bandai only had tech demos to show off and a concept design of the system. It looks really sleek but it's important to remember that this is a project that Apple backed out of, and they must've had a reason for doing that. So far, it's too early to tell if they'll repeat the mistakes of their predecessors, but I'm sure some of those failed predecessors would tell you that their biggest mistake was just trying to take on the two juggernauts.
-excerpted from an article in the March 1995 issue of GameFan
-
SNES-CD Power Charts – January 1995 (starting with the January 1995 issue, Nintendo Power stopped printing point totals for their Power Charts feature, which remained a combined ranking of player votes, editors' choices, and sales figures for the month three months prior)
1. Squad Four
2. Mortal Kombat II
3. Super Street Fighter II: Arcade Edition
4. TMNT V: Wrath Of The Foot
5. Super Mario World 2
6. Contra IV: Hard Corps
7. Jewels Of The Realm
8. SimCity 2000
9. Secret Of Mana
10. Donkey Kong Country
11. Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers
12. Wing Commander
13. Illusion Of Gaia
14. Final Fantasy Origins
15. NBA Live 95
16. Nightmare Busters
17. Kid Icarus CD
18. Lethal Enforcers II: Gun Fighters
19. Cannon Fodder
20. Super Mario Kart
-
January 23, 1995
Ken Kutaragi and Norio Ohga met once again in Ohga's office to discuss the latest developments in Sony's video game division. Despite the terrible earthquake in Kobe six days before that had killed over six thousand people, it was business as usual at Sony, and a busy time it was indeed.
“We've confirmed that Namco will be exclusive to Sega for the forseeable future,” said Kutaragi, adding to the news that Capcom would likely be primarily supporting Nintendo and Sega regardless of what Sony did in the future, and that Squaresoft would almost certainly remain loyal to Nintendo as well. “The two are working together on a series of arcade games that will receive exclusive ports to the Sega Saturn.”
Ohga furrowed his brow and took on the familiar stern expression that Kutaragi had grown to know so well. The news that Sony would have difficulty gathering third-party support if it struck out on its own with a game console did not please Ohga, and once Nintendo caught wind of it, it would likely reduce the company's leverage in any negotiations.
“Keep reaching out to Capcom and Konami, their support will be extremely important going forward. We need to begin development on the console immediately...I'm wanting to release it in Japan next summer, and have a release before Christmas of 1996 in the West. We'd be only a year behind the Saturn there, and would likely be far ahead of Nintendo's next console.”
“Work on the chips and initial development kit has already begun,” said Kutaragi. “We'd likely be able to have the kits sent out to software developers sometime in April.”
Ohga nodded, pleased with this information. He knew Kutaragi didn't want to go behind Nintendo's back, but he'd had a history of going behind people's backs before. Still, there was plenty of time for Nintendo to change its mind, even after the development kits had been sent out. He and Kutaragi both would prefer it if Nintendo accepted Sony's terms to develop their next generation console...together.
But as the old adage goes, hope for the best and prepare for the worst. Such thinking had saved lives when the earthquake had hit, and it would give Sony an advantage that it would need if it indeed began competing with Nintendo.
“Our big holiday game for the Super Nintendo CD, Ballistic Limit, I believe it's called. Can you get a hold of Mr. Olaffson?” asked Ohga, looking across the table at Kutaragi.
“Yes, I can.”
“If Nintendo doesn't agree to our terms within the next three months, we'll need to pull that game and redesign it as a launch title for the new Sony console.”
Last edited:
