“If I can get players to feel many different emotions while playing this game, I've done my job properly.”
-Hideo Kojima on Metal Gear Solid in an interview on the February 23, 1999 episode of GameTV
“No, Metal Gear Solid isn't the greatest game of all time. But it's absolutely the front-runner for Game of the Year.”
-excerpted from a review of Metal Gear Solid in the March 1999 issue of GameInformer
“Shenmue and Parasite Eve had some of the most movie-like stories in recent memory, but Metal Gear Solid is undoubtedly the most cinematic game ever made.”
-excerpted from Dan “Shoe” Hsu's 10/10 review of Metal Gear Solid in the April 1999 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly
“Releasing the similar title Dead Midnight in the leadup to Metal Gear Solid might seem like sales suicide, but there's definitely enough here to distinguish this game from Konami's game.”
-excerpted from a preview article on Dead Midnight in the January 1999 issue of Next Generation magazine
“The way you approach a console game has to be different from the way you approach a PC game. Can great PC games be ported to consoles? Absolutely. Can great console games be ported to the PC? Absolutely. But if you're designing a game from the ground up for a particular console, you've got to take an entirely different approach.”
-Will Wright, in an interview in the February 1999 issue of Nintendo Power
“Oh, I had nothing to do with Harry Potter. That wasn't my call! I make game machines, not movie decisions! But if it was my call, absolutely I'd have gone a different way! No doubt about that!”
-Ken Kutaragi, in a January 26, 2006 interview with UGO.com
“I do remember being in the room for one of those Nintendo meetings, but I didn't have enough knowledge about video games at the time to make any kind of informed decisions. My kids weren't even old enough to play back then. The one video game I've ever watched that I enjoyed watching being played was Syrielle. Brilliant characters in that.”
-J.K. Rowling, speaking at the 2005 PotterCon
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Ultra Nintendo
Age Of Empires
EGM: 8.3 (quote: “A very capable port, though I still somewhat preferred playing this on PC, where more units can appear on screen at once.”)
Gamespot: 7.5 (quote: “Definitely optimized for the Ultra, it's one of the better strategy games on the system, though it still pales in comparison to some of the great PC strategy classics.”)
Aliens vs. Predator
EGM: 5.0 (quote: “Everything that I loved about the SNES-CD game was removed from this one and in its place is a stunted, repetitive FPS rife with glitches.”)
Gamespot: 5.8 (quote: “This was one of the more anticipated games of the year, it's a shame that it's such a dull shadow of our expectations.”)
Darkstalkers: The Dreaded
EGM: 8.0 (quote: “A really fun port of Darkstalkers 3 that works great on the Ultra and adds in a few exclusive characters to really mix things up.”)
Gamespot: 7.8 (quote: “Just a really fun and clever game full of quirky twists and even some black comedy.”)
King Of Fighters '99
EGM: 7.3 (quote: “Another year, another spiffy SNK game. It's the series' first turn on the Ultra, and it looks really great.”)
Gamespot: 7.4 (quote: “The series is wearing a bit thin, but it's a pitch perfect port with some of the Ultra's best animation.”)
Metal Gear Solid
EGM: 10 (quote: “An astonishing masterpiece that grabs your attention from the moment you first turn it on and doesn't let you go until the end of the credits sequence.”)
Gamespot: 9.7 (quote: “There has never been a better stealth game and it's hard to imagine there even will be.”)
Metal Slug X
EGM: 7.5 (quote: “A really exciting run and gun that takes this series to fantastic new heights.”)
Gamespot: 8.6 (quote: “The sheer variety of weapons and animation quality make this a must play for action junkies.”)
Need For Speed: High Stakes
EGM: 7.0 (quote: “We would've liked a little more track variety to match the graphical polish.”)
Gamespot: 6.8 (quote: “A few of the modes from the PC version are missing, making this a fairly pedestrian game rather than an instant classic.”)
Prince Of Persia: The Jade Queen
EGM: 7.0 (quote: “The series' transition to 3-D isn't perfect, but the puzzles are very creative.”)
Gamespot: 7.6 (quote: “The production values aren't so hot (no voice acting?) but the game itself is really fun to play.”)
Tomb Raider III
EGM: 8.2 (quote: “While it's probably the worst of the three Tomb Raider games, Lara Croft's latest adventure is still a great thrill ride.”)
Gamespot: 8.0 (quote: “We wish there were more upgrades from Tomb Raider II, but the quest itself is undoubtedly fun.)
Ultra Phineas and Ferb
EGM: 6.0 (quote: “Ultimately it's a very ho-hum collectathon.”)
Gamespot: 6.7 (quote: “Fans of the show will dig the jump to 3-D.”)
Ultra SimCity
EGM: 9.0 (quote: “This game simplifies things but at the same time captures a lot of the fun of the SNES classic.”)
Gamespot: 8.6 (quote: “Some players won't like the dumbing down from SimCity 2000, but fans of the original SNES game will see this as a true sequel.”)
Wild Arms 2
EGM: 7.2 (quote: “It's more of the same, but the jump to Ultra did this series a lot of good in the graphics department.”)
Gamespot: 7.2 (quote: “Cliches are everywhere, but it's still a solid RPG.”)
X-Men: Apocalypse
EGM: 6.3 (quote: “A fairly uncreative effort that at times seems to be just going through the motions.”)
Gamespot: 8.5 (quote: “A supremely fun beat-em-up that fans of both the classic comics and last year's film will love.”)
Ultra Deadman Sam
EGM: 6.5 (quote: “The leap to 3-D brought some great graphics but some really uninspired gameplay.”)
Gamespot: 5.0 (quote: “The Deadman Sam series has gotten worse with each game and this is definitely the worst yet.”)
Ultra World Championship Boxing
EGM: 7.8 (quote: “The story mode is definitely a ripoff of Rocky but I played the hell out of it anyway!”)
Gamespot: 7.2 (quote: “While we're still waiting for an announcement of an Ultra Punch-Out! game, this more realistic boxing title is still a worthy diversion in the meantime.”)
Dead Midnight
EGM: 8.7 (quote: “With a really deep plot and some excellent gunfight mechanics, Dead Midnight is one of the most rewarding shooters I've played in a long time.”)
Gamespot: 8.5 (quote: “The plot is a bit convoluted, but the action and gunplay are superb.”)
Multiplicator
EGM: 6.8 (quote: “This game can get extremely hard to play when all four players have hundreds of guys on screen at once.”)
Gamespot: 8.1 (quote: “This fun competitive puzzle race is the most fun you'll ever have playing as dozens of characters at once.”)
Saturn
Tomb Raider III
EGM: 7.8 (quote: “The Ultra Nintendo version is prettier, but this is a more than capable adventure on the Saturn.”)
Gamespot: N/A
Bomberman Universe
EGM: 7.5 (quote: “The multiplayer mode takes a step back to the single player adventure, which has its moments but not nearly as much competitive flair.”)
Gamespot: 8.2 (quote: “It's Bomberman, what else is there to say? The single player mode is more robust than any yet seen on the Saturn in this series.”)
Shining Force IV
EGM: 9.5 (quote: “An outstanding, epic, brilliant RPG that feels like the culmination of this entire series. We've been waiting for this for a long time.”)
Gamespot: 7.2 (quote: “Quality gameplay is marred by a reall convoluted plot.”)
Mr. Driller
EGM: 8.0 (quote: “It's Dig Dug, but modern Dig Dug and one of the most addictive puzzle games we've played in a while.”)
Gamespot: 8.3 (quote: “This great update of an arcade classic just works perfectly on the Sega Saturn.”)
Infernal: Dark Reality
EGM: 6.5 (quote: “It's kind of a bore, but it has its moments.”)
Gamespot: 7.7 (quote: “The powerups and enemy variety make this action RPG a worthy quest.”)
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Tomb Raider III: The Basics
Tomb Raider III is the third game of the Tomb Raider series and the first to get a simultaneous release on the Ultra Nintendo and the Sega Saturn. ITTL, it doesn't have a subtitle like it did in OTL (The Adventures Of Lara Croft), but as in OTL, the gameplay improvements are somewhat small (which becomes a criticism of the game. Lara gains a few new moves, the swimming system is improved, and there are some added weapons (including a sword and an explosive shotgun). The sprint from OTL Tomb Raider III also makes its first appearance. The Save Crystal system from OTL does not appear in TTL's game, instead, there are defined save points within the missions. The graphics have received a boost, a minor boost on the Sega Saturn and a significant, but not major, boost on the Ultra Nintendo, so that the Ultra Nintendo version of the game now matches up with some of the better looking games on the console.
In Tomb Raider III, Jade Bessemer, the villain from TTL's original Tomb Raider game, has returned to running her company after escaping from the collapsed ruins of Xanadu. However, Jade's near-death experience has left her physically scarred and somewhat mentally unhinged, making her actions increasingly erratic and deranged as the game goes on. She plays a role in this game somewhat like a combination of Dr. Willard and Sophia Leigh from OTL's Tomb Raider III, and the basic plot of this game is somewhat similar. Jade has poured her company's resources into hiring a private army to find an ancient meteorite that once struck Antarctica in the distant past and is said to have great powers. After the game's tutorial level, Lara is seen exploring an ancient Japanese temple, once owned by a powerful shogun. Things are easy enough at first, but soon Lara comes across some armed thugs and must evade them to reach the center of the temple and the ancient meteorite fragment within. As she claims it, she is ambushed by some of the thugs and is nearly killed when she is suddenly rescued by a brash young adventurer named Gillens. Lara discovers a piece of evidence on one of the dead thugs and traces it back to Jade's company, indicating that her old rival is going after the meteorite pieces. Gillens wants Lara to thank him for saving her life, but she refuses and she eventually tracks the second meteorite piece to an ancient temple in the Amazon rainforest, where she discovers a completely deserted village and some tough wild animals to beat. She takes down the animals and eventually comes to a river, where she gets on a speedboat and makes her way to the temple. On the way there, she's set upon by more thugs and must jump onto one of their speedboats after her own is about to explode. She reaches the second temple and claims the second meteorite piece. On her way out, she is confronted by Jade, who taunts her with the third meteorite piece already in hand. After a brief fight in which Lara wins but Jade summons some thugs to keep her busy as she flees with the piece, Lara makes her way back to London to infiltrate Jade's corporate headquarters to snatch the third piece. On the way there, she stumbles across a lab in which Jade's thugs have taken some of the villagers from the Amazon hostage to perform experiments on them. She also reunites with Gillens who is revealed to be one of Jade's hired thugs. He captures Lara and takes her to Jade. Lara furiously denounces Jade for experimenting on the villagers. Jade says that she'd kill Lara but Lara is needed to open up the fourth temple, which is on Easter Island. As Lara is being flown to the island in a plane, she manages to escape and takes out a few guards before causing the plane to crash, separating Lara, Gillens, and Jade. While dodging dinosaurs and thugs on the island, Lara discovers that Gillens is actually a government agent whose job is to infiltrate Jade's operation. However, Jade discovers this too, and has Gillens taken prisoner. Lara must choose between saving him and stopping Jade from collecting the fourth meteorite piece. Jade manages to get all the pieces, but Gillens reveals that there's a fifth piece that Jade needs and that it's being exhibited at a casino in Las Vegas. This leads to a big showdown between Jade and Lara in Vegas that ends in a dramatic casino shootout, and also ends with Jade getting away with the fifth and final meteorite piece. The final level of the game takes place in Antarctica. Lara and Gillens must team up to stop Jade before she can use the power of the meteorite pieces to become an unstoppable god. Jade manages to activate some of the meteorites' power, but thanks to Gillens' interference, Jade remains in a form that Lara can fight. After the final boss battle, in which Gillens sacrifices himself to help Lara win, Jade, reverted to normal, is left on the ground, apologizing and promising Lara she'll change. Lara looks like she's going to spare Jade, but then we see Lara point her gun at Jade's head, the screen going black just before we hear a gunshot. The credits then roll.
February 8, 1999
Tomb Raider III is released for both the Ultra Nintendo and the Sega Saturn. Though the Ultra Nintendo version of the game is graphically superior, the Saturn version has a couple of very small bits of extra content, including a skimpy wetsuit for Lara in certain scenes and a bit of added dialogue, including Lara saying “shit” in a cutscene toward the end of the game. Sega markets these extra bits of “mature” content as evidence that the Saturn version of the game is superior (which somewhat contradicts their concurrent marketing push of family-friendly platform games). Initially, sales of the Ultra Nintendo and Saturn versions of the game are about equal, though in the months after the game's release, the Ultra Nintendo version begins to pull away, due to the system's larger install base. The game's reviews are good, but not quite as good as the previous two Tomb Raider titles, siting the lack of gameplay innovation and the somewhat derivative plot as evidence that the series is starting to run out of ideas. Still, sales are quite strong, even if the game would soon be largely overshadowed by Metal Gear Solid's release...
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It may have seemed crazy at the time to release a game like Dead Midnight for the Ultra Nintendo so close to the release of Metal Gear Solid. Indeed, the game not only released a mere two weeks away from Konami's massive game, but on the same day as the release of the third Tomb Raider game, another mega blockbuster. Still, Capcom put a heavy marketing push on their title, with commercials highlighting the game's rapid-fire gunplay, complex storyline full of fascinating characters, and excellent graphics as selling points. Dead Midnight took place in America in the year 2019. The country has been ravaged by a series of terrorist attacks, and now it's been discovered that rogue cells of terrorists are planning several more. A special operations unit led by Steve Sheckert is deployed to hunt down and take out these terrorists before any of them can strike again. Sheckert's team consists of a group of highly specialized and highly skilled operatives, including Divebomb Grey (a reckless agent who takes huge risks but gets results), Marie (a lovely French woman who can break people's necks with her legs), Alex Frier (a computer hacking whiz who's also highly trained with knives), and Raya Mystic (the first woman Navy SEAL, an intense commando who also happens to be the mother of two 17-year old fraternal twins, Derek and Darla, who she's training to follow in her footsteps). The game vacillates between taking itself highly seriously and offering up copious amounts of comic relief, and though you only control Steve through the course of the game, you can take up to two of your team on missions with you, while giving orders to everyone left behind. The game's villains, a team of seven dangerous terrorists, are as interesting as the heroes. Rather than serving one nation or ideology, the terrorists are each working for their own separate cause, working together to cause chaos and havoc all over the world, and though they each must be taken down, each of them has their own sympathetic backstory (except for the lead villain, Raymond Fatal, who's just a genocidal dick). The game plays out over 14 different levels, with each villain getting two levels a piece: one level where you have to find their staging ground or lair, and the next level where you have to infiltrate and take them out. Each level takes place in a different American city, and once you've neutralized the threat in one city, you move on to the next. But here's the thing: the game plays out like Mega Man in that, for the first six cities, you choose the order in which you go after the bad guys. While there IS a recommended order for new players (some cities and bosses are definitely tougher than others), there's a lot of freedom in how the quest plays out. Also, at least for the first six terrorist leaders, you can choose to spare all, some, or none of them (but the option to spare them only comes up if you perform a certain action, such as bringing a certain operative or collecting a hidden item).
Playing out at a much faster pace than Metal Gear Solid (with stealth recommended in some levels but completely optional), Dead Midnight carved out a fanbase of its very own, and joined Victory as one of Capcom's most successful original franchises of the latter half of the decade. It sold more than enough copies to be a success even with the stiff competition, and its review scores in most publications topped those of Tomb Raider III. Dead Midnight wasn't a guaranteed success by any stretch, but its performance justified Capcom's decisions to promote the game heavily and release it into such a crowded month.
-excerpted from an article on Gamesovermatter.com
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*A bunch of police are crowded around a building, there's some kids outside complaining.*
Officer: Nobody can go in, there's been a bomb threat!
Boy: But my Saturn's in there!
*The crowd parts to make way for Segata Sanshiro*
Segata Sanshiro: *glares at the officer*
Officer: Sir, there's a bomb in there.
Segata Sanshiro: *looks up at the building and says in Japanese* I will take care of the bomb.
*He walks toward the building*
Officer: You can't go in there without protection! *offers up a huge bombproof suit*
Segata Sanshiro: *waves his hand and enters the building as he is, he makes his way to a room on the top floor where there's some ticking sounds coming from, he enters the room and crosses his arms over his chest*
*A large explosion noise is heard. The crowd gasps and looks at the door. Segata Sanshiro comes out, looking like he's been in an explosion with messed up hair and ripped clothing, and some dirt marks all over his body, but unharmed.*
Segata Sanshiro: *thrusts forward a Sega Saturn and a copy of Bomberman Universe* Sega Saturn, shiro!
*Scenes from Bomberman Universe play on the screen as the narrator begins to speak.*
Narrator: The Saturn gets a lot more explosive with the all new Bomberman Universe. Take on your friends in the arena, or jump into the brand new adventure mode to tackle eight huge worlds with only your wits and your bombs to help you. Bomberman Universe, only on the Sega Saturn. Get ready to take cover.
*Segata Sanshiro is seen playing the game with several heavily armored men from the bomb squad, there's another explosion noise and all of them get blasted across the room.*
Bomb Squad Officer: *clutching a Saturn controller, he does the Sega! Scream*
The Action Is Here (the Sega Saturn's new slogan, introduced in 1999 to promote the console's action games, it appears in many of their game ads that year)
-a commercial for Bomberman Universe that aired in February 1999
Bomberman Universe does a number of things right, but in many aspects it's a step back from 1997's amazing Saturn Bomberman game, especially in the multiplayer department, which drops the ability to play with more than four players at once and also reduces the number of multiplayer arenas available. Instead, the game largely focuses on its single-player mode, for better or for worse, in an attempt to follow the success of the two Ultra Nintendo Bomberman games, which themselves heavily pushed their adventure modes. Bomberman Universe's adventure mode does allow Bomberman to properly jump for the first time, but many of the levels are uninspired and repetitive, and while there is fun to be had, there are many levels that are a chore to get through. The cutscenes are quite silly (since when has Bomberman needed a personality?) and as far as the Saturn's recent action platformers go, Bomberman is arguably worse than all of them. Bomberman's always been at its best as a fast-paced puzzle title or a frenetic multiplayer partyfest, not a wannabe mascot platformer. It's a solid title and Bomberman fans should pick it up, but it's not going to rewrite any of the series' longstanding rules.
Score: 7/10
-excerpted from a review of Bomberman Universe in the February 1999 issue of Official Saturn Magazine
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Another month, another pair of RPGs to add to the Saturn's library. The console currently boasts an impressive collection of great RPGs, including games like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Windborn, and even Sonic and Virtua Quest have gotten in on the action. Of course, the Shining series has been a stalwart for Sega, and in Shining Force IV, the Saturn might have its best one to date. Continuing right where Shining Force III left off, IV consists of the remaining two scenarios focused on the characters Medion and Julian. Julian in particular is of crucial importance to this game's plot, as he realizes his destiny as a hero that can lead an army to take down the evil Bulzome. While the tactical gameplay is familiar to anyone who's played a Shining game before, it's the game's epic plot, which ties up all the loose ends from Shining Force III, that really makes this game a standout.
Infernal: Dark Reality may some of you of last year's Angels for the Ring, but this game is a far more straightforward RPG. You play as a priest who must go around slaying a demonic invasion of nearby villages, and while this sort of gothic-themed game is fairly cliched, the battle system, where you must manually aim at enemies with a magical gun, with damage determined by where you hit them on their body, is fairly innovative and makes battles a bit less boring. Atlus has made some excellent RPGs in the past (as evidenced by the Shin Megami Tensei series), and while Infernal isn't an all-time great, it's still a fun, if thematically simple, RPG.
-excerpted from an article on RPGamer.net, posted on February 27, 1999
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In February 1999, a month which saw several excellent Ultra Nintendo releases (including Metal Gear Solid), the Ultra Nintendo saw its first Prince of Persia game. Prince of Persia: The Jade Queen was perhaps the most hyped game yet in the series, but somewhat disappointing reviews and its release into a crowded month of games diminished its potential somewhat. Released by Activision, which had purchased Broderbund shortly after the release of Where In Space Is Carmen Sandiego? for the SNES-CD, The Jade Queen was the company's first Prince of Persia game, and the company tried to emulate the 3-D platforming style of recent hits such as Super Mario Dimensions and The Dreamers. The result? Collecting, collecting, and more collecting. Prince Of Persia: The Jade Queen saw the titular prince needing to venture across a vast desert filled with palaces and cities in order to collect various golden artifacts in each location. The desert was ruled over by a great and powerful dynasty which built a massive palace of pure jade from which to rule. As legend had it, the Jade Queen was trapped within the palace, and a warrior of pure heart and great courage who penetrated the castle walls could rescue her. Of course, in a somewhat predictable twist, the Jade Queen didn't need rescuing...she was the villain, and collecting treasures imbued her with limitless beauty and power. She'd been luring heroes into her trap for centuries, and now it was the prince's turn. Of course, the prince's love interest, Shana, a peasant girl in one of the cities the prince visited over the course of his journey, was able to break the Queen's hold over him, and eventually the prince battled her in her throne room as she entered a giant golden bird statue to do battle with him. While The Jade Queen's puzzles were creative and its platforming mechanics were solid (and indeed, future installments of the series would achieve great success by building on this tight platforming), the game itself was a bit of a bore, criticized for requiring the player to revisit certain areas in order to re-do already completed puzzles just to earn another piece of treasure. Ultimately, The Jade Queen was merely the framework of a great game rather than being a great game in its own right. Still, it sold well enough to easily justify the creation of a sequel, and by that time, Activision had learned what worked and what didn't when it came to Prince of Persia.
-excerpted from an article on Gamesovermatter.com
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The differences between the Ultra Nintendo's Ultra SimCity and SimCity 3000 are numerous. In fact, Ultra Sim City in some ways has taken a step back from the level of customization available in SimCity 2000, instead presenting itself as a successor to the Super Nintendo's early SimCity title. Like SimCity, Ultra SimCity takes a more stylistic approach, bringing back Dr. Wright and the colorful animations and vibrant musical themes from SimCity. However, the game does contain many of SimCity 2000's enhancements, allowing mayors to pass city ordinances and build with much more detail. Traffic options such as bridges and subway tunnels are included in the game, though the complex water management system of SimCity 2000 has been removed, and arcologies are also a no-go until the player's city reaches a certain level of development. Ultra SimCity includes ten different population levels for the player's city to achieve: hamlet (up to 500 population), village (between 500-2,500), town (between 2,500-10,000), municipality (between 10,000-30,000), city (between 30,000-60,000), capital (between 60,000-150,000), conurbation (between 150,000-400,000), metropolis (between 400,000-1,000,000), megalopolis (between 1,000,000-5,000,000), and global city (5,000,000+). Each level has its own theme song, though in Ultra SimCity you have the option to change the background music. Ultra SimCity is more simplistic and easier to learn than SimCity 2000, and certainly moreso than SimCity 3000. It's been optimized for the console player, which is both a good thing and a bad thing, but in Ultra SimCity's case, mostly a good thing.
-excerpted from GameInformer's 8.5/10 review of Ultra SimCity
Nintendo Power: And are there currently plans to bring SimCity 3000 to the Ultra Nintendo?
Will Wright: Currently there aren't, but if demand is there and Ultra SimCity pulls in good enough sales, it might be an option. Certainly the complexity of SimCity 3000 doesn't lend itself well to consoles, but the Ultra Nintendo has the power to handle it, so if players are willing to play it, anything's possible.
Nintendo Power: Has the recent acquisition of Maxis by Electronic Arts limited your creativity?
Will Wright: Absolutely not! If anything, it's enhanced it, I've got more people around me now and they largely let me do my own thing. In fact, I'm working on a “virtual people” project that's coming to computers next year and certainly could come to the Ultra Nintendo, again, if there's enough demand for it.
Nintendo Power: Besides the Sim series, what other games are you currently working on?
Will Wright: Right now, all my attention and time is going into my “virtual people” project, but certainly if the opportunity arises I'd love to try my hand at another genre entirely.
Nintendo Power: Have you had any time to play the Ultra Nintendo? Has anything impressed you?
Will Wright: I really loved what I got to play of Temple of Time, and Ultra World Of Color is a really fun game to play with my daughter. I love the strategy behind the game and how easy it is to pick up, she certainly plays a lot better than I do! And I also like Metal Clash, since I build combat robots in my spare time.
Nintendo Power: Thanks again for the interview!
-excerpted from an interview with Will Wright in the February 1999 issue of Nintendo Power
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For the second straight year, a recently deceased artist won big at the year's Grammy Awards. This year, it was Celine Dion, whose tragic death in February of last year generated a wave of grief in the music world and a massive wave of success for her Titanic theme song, “My Heart Will Go On”. The song won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year, but the night's big winner was Lauryn Hill, whose album The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill won Album of the Year, while she took home Best New Artist. The night's biggest live performance saw Selena, who's been touring with recording artist Santana for much of the past year, perform a portion of Santana's classic “Black Magic Woman” before launching into her own newest collaboration with Santana, “Say What You Want About Me”. The song is one of three joint Selena/Santana songs that will be appearing on Santana's newest album, Supernatural, set to debut later this year. Latin artists made numerous appearances at this year's Grammys, in addition to Selena and Santana's much-lauded performance, Ricky Martin, formerly of the boy band Menudo, made a major impression with his live performance of his new single “Livin' La Vida Loca”. Tupac Shakur won a pair of Grammys for his hit album Fender Bender, with the hit single “You Can't Kill What You Can't See” taking home the award for Best Rap Solo Performance.
-excerpted from a Grammys recap posted on Yahoo! News on February 25, 1999
(Authors' Note: This next Backstreet Boys article was inspired by a PM sent to us by Moe Satyr! Thanks for the tip!)
Hype Builds For Backstreet Boys' Millennium
The Backstreet Boys have been one of the hottest bands in recent memory, and their album Millennium is set to drop in just three short months. While most of the songs on the album have already been recorded, two of them, including the much anticipated single “I Want It That Way”, are being re-recorded this week after what the band's manager describes as “lyrical tweaks”. Regardless of what lyrics make the final cut, the album is already being heavily promoted, and is set to have one of the biggest debut weeks ever when it's released this May.
The band is set to appear on both Total Request Live and GameTV to promote the album on its release date, May 25.
-excerpted from an update on MTV's website, February 27, 1999
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Metal Gear Solid: The Basics
Metal Gear Solid is the sequel to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Developed over four years by Konami and Hideo Kojima, the game was initially conceived for release on the 3DO, but after the failure of that system, Kojima briefly considered releasing the game on the Saturn before switching to the Ultra Nintendo after being impressed with the system's development kit. The gameplay remains as IOTL for the most part, it's heavily based on stealth, with direct enemy confrontation only recommended as a last resort. Snake has a variety of ways to achieve stealth, such as hiding under or behind certain objects, or in certain environments, merely crouching in the shadows. TTL's Metal Gear Solid has the addition of a stealth meter that indicates which enemies are liable to be able to see Snake in his current position. The codec is also more integrated into gameplay, appearing in real time rather than in a separate screen, though the player has the option of pausing the game to receive codec messages. The graphics are significantly improved from OTL's game, which was already one of the most graphically impressive games on the original Playstation. Characters and backgrounds appear in great detail. Perhaps the greatest presentation enhancement is in the game's music and sound effects. Due to the Ultra Nintendo's powerful sound chip, Kojima's plan for dynamic music is fully realized in TTL's game. Music changes in real-time based on what's happening on the screen, and individual character themes can also dynamically change to suit their current mood, making for hundreds of different musical motifs that are possible in-game. The game is fully voice acted as IOTL, with most of OTL's voice actors, including David Hayter, Debi Mae West, and Paul Eiding performing as Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, and Colonel Campbell respectively. Mari Devon appears as the voice of a major character, Lyra, and the TTL-exclusive members of FOXHOUND, Silicon Leech and Serrated Panther, are voiced by James Arnold Taylor and Cree Summer respectively.
The basis of the game's plot, about a group of rogue special operations forces seizing an Alaskan island, hijacking the experimental weapon Metal Gear REX, and threatening America with nuclear bombardment remains the same as OTL, but many details about the plot and a number of future plot threads are heavily changed, and the overall flow of the game widens somewhat in scope from IOTL's game. The early part of the game, with Solid Snake infiltrating an island and finding DARPA chief Donald Anderson, who dies suddenly while conversing with Snake, also remains the same. However, after Anderson dies and Snake meets Meryl, Meryl informs Snake of a third hostage, in addition to Donald Anderson and tech CEO Kenneth Baker: the United States Undersecretary of Defense, a 32-year-old woman named Lyra Marin. She was being given a classified tour of the facility when the FOXHOUND takeover took place, and is considered the highest value hostage at the facility. After a boss fight against Revolver Ocelot, Snake is able to find and free Lyra, who tells Snake that the man she was touring the facility with, a general named Martens, may be behind everything, a suspicion that grows once Snake discovers information about the connection between Martens and Liquid Snake. Snake and Lyra then locate Hal “Otacon” Emmerich, the designer of Metal Gear REX and an expert computer hacker. Otacon has been engaging in a covert cyberspace war with another hacker at the facility, a man who turns out to be FOXHOUND tech expert Silicon Leech, who Snake needs to find and kill if he is to progress any further. Snake has Lyra remain with Otacon while he goes to hunt down Silicon Leech, but on the way he is confronted by Psycho Mantis (who has the same psychic abilities as in OTL, the same controller trick works on him and he has some very interesting comments if the player has Mario games on their memory card!) and must defeat him. Snake and Meryl must then make their way through an underground maze which is controlled by Silicon Leech remotely. After getting through the maze, Snake kills Leech, who coughs up some information about Lyra before he dies: that Lyra is the true enemy in all of this. Before Snake can contact Otacon about Lyra, he and Meryl are forced to flee from the bullets of Sniper Wolf, who eventually wounds Snake and renders him unconscious.
Snake awakens and is confronted by Liquid Snake before being tortured by Ocelot, which, as in OTL, prompts the player to press the A button rapidly in order to resist the torture. Unlike IOTL, however, submitting to the torture does NOT effect the ending (ITTL, Masahiro Sakurai expressed frustration that the player could only get the best ending via a very difficult button mashing challenge, and convinced Kojima to change the “reward” somewhat). Instead, successfully refusing to submit to the torture earns some cool bonus cutscenes during the latter part of the game (including an awesome Meryl rescue scene and another bonus scene with Otacon) but does not affect whether Meryl lives or dies. Whether or not Snake submits, he escapes, and learns that Metal Gear REX has already been moved out of the facility to another island. Lyra and Otacon are both gone, but Mei Ling tips Snake off to the fact that there's another ship heading to that island, and Martens is on it. Snake must infiltrate the ship, but before he can reach it, Serrated Panther cuts him off in her motorcycle. After inflicting enough damage, one of two things will happen: either Meryl knocks Serrated Panther off her motorcycle (if Snake didn't submit to the torture) or Snake sets a trap for Serrated Panther that knocks her off the motorcycle. Either way, Panther gets up and engages in one-on-one combat with Snake. An expert with a brutal hunting knife, Snake must keep his distance from her because getting close to her is certain death. After Snake takes out Panther, he and Meryl have a brief conversation before Snake catches the departing ship. He climbs up to the control tower to confront Martens, only for Martens to be shot dead by Ocelot. After a brief tussle on the boat (that involves Meryl coming to Snake's rescue, this time in a helicopter), the two tumble into the water together, both heavily wounded. The two of them crawl onto shore and another battle begins, quick but brutal. Snake seemingly kills Ocelot before collapsing on the shore. He awakens in a small shack with Lyra sitting near his bedside, tending to his wounds. Snake tries to attack Lyra, who frantically tries to defend herself both physically and verbally. She gives Snake information about Liquid Snake, including the fact that Liquid and Solid are brothers and that Liquid is really working for the government, that Martens, Kenneth Baker, and Donald Anderson were all working with FOXHOUND and that the information she's discovered could potentially bring down the entire government. Snake still believes that Lyra is lying and he holds a knife to her throat, he's going to kill her when Otacon tells him to back off, that Leech was lying and that Lyra's telling the truth about everything. Lyra tells Snake that when she was a little girl, she became privy to a piece of information. One thing led to another and eventually, when she first got to college, that she would work her way up to a powerful enough position in the government to discover the secrets she knows it's hiding. Otacon tells Snake that he has to go and stop Metal Gear REX before the missiles are used. Snake works his way up to Liquid Snake's base, battling and defeating Sniper Wolf and Vulcan Raven along the way. He reaches Liquid Snake, who reveals that he and Solid Snake are both clones of Big Boss, a legendary agent from the Cold War, and that after a virus implanted in both the FOXHOUND members and Solid Snake is activated, all of them will die and the government will be able to go in and retrieve Metal Gear REX. Snake then battles Metal Gear REX before taking on Liquid Snake atop the disabled machine. After Liquid Snake is defeated, Snake reunites with Meryl, who joins Snake as the two flee the base. Liquid pursues them and is about to kill them when he keels over and dies from the effects of the virus. Snake then contacts Colonel Campbell, who tells Snake that both he and Lyra are going to be considered fugitives from the United States government and that the two of them should go into hiding. Otacon tells Snake that he already made sure Lyra got out safely, and that she told him that she would continue working from the shadows to uncover more of the government's secrets. Snake and Meryl share a kiss as the two drive off into the wilderness together, Snake's days seemingly numbered due to the Foxdie virus.
After the credits, Ocelot, recovered from his seemingly fatal wounds, is seen talking to the President over a secure codec. He confirms that the Metal Gear specifications have been safely retrieved, and then it's shown that he's pointing a gun at the head of a captive Lyra, whom he captured some time after Otacon saw her off (it will be revealed in a later game that the Patriots had been tapping into Otacon's communications the entire time). The President tells Ocelot to kill her, and he says that he'll do it, but after their communication ends, Ocelot tells Lyra that “they” have other plans for her, before injecting her with something that renders her unconscious.
February 22, 1999
Metal Gear Solid is released for the Ultra Nintendo, to universal critical acclaim that nearly matches what The Legend Of Zelda: Temple Of Time had achieved the previous year. The game sells enormously well in its first week (a bit less than Goldeneye 007 did in its first week of release), and due to the outstanding critical reception, easily becomes one of the Ultra Nintendo's best selling games of the year. The game is seen as living up to the hype and then some, and becomes a benchmark for both cinematic game design and technological achievement. Numerous characters, including Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, Meryl Silverburgh, Otacon, and Lyra, become fan favorites, and once again, sales momentum swings back to Nintendo. Hideo Kojima becomes an instant celebrity among game fans, and his previous works, including both Metal Gear games, Snatcher, and Policenauts, all see a bump in sales due to Metal Gear Solid's release.
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Alex Stansfield: And while Tomb Raider III isn't groundbreaking like the previous two Tomb Raider games, it's still a great deal of fun and Jade Bessemer's return as the villain is truly welcome indeed.
Brittany Saldita: Now, if you're wondering whether or not to get it on the Ultra Nintendo or the Sega Saturn, if you're lucky enough to own both, definitely get the Ultra Nintendo version.
Alex: Right. It looks better, the control scheme is better, it's just the better version of the game.
Brittany: In fact, if you're lucky enough to have both systems and have to choose between the Ultra version or the Saturn version, always pick the Ultra version! We'll let you know if you ever need to pick the Saturn version!
Alex: Well, in the Saturn version of this game, Lara gets a sexy wetsuit *Brittany rolls her eyes* and there's a few more cuss words.
Brittany: It's not like you can't hear cuss words on Nintendo games. Didn't they say s(bleep)t 17 times in Ballistic Limit 2?
Alex: You counted?
Brittany: Somebody did and that's the number they gave.
Alex: But yeah, a wetsuit and a few cuss words aren't worth losing the superior graphics and sound effects of the Ultra game. If you have only the Saturn, it's definitely a good game on there though. I give it a 4.0 out of 5.
Brittany: A solid 4 from me too. Tomb Raider III is another fine adventure from the awesome Lara Croft.
(…)
Lyssa Fielding: Mr. Driller's quirky anime graphics and super addictive gameplay make it one of the best puzzle games I've ever played! I couldn't put my controller down!
Adrian Fry: Yeah, I gotta say, it's a surprisingly addictive game. There are so many quirky characters and you never seem to run out of things to drill!
Lyssa: It's like Armageddon, but without angry Bruce Willis or the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
Adrian: Hey, that might've made this game a bit more interesting!
Lyssa: It doesn't really need a storyline, although it does give you a really cute one that makes you really fall in love with all the characters you get to meet.
Adrian: So Lyssa, what's your final verdict?
Lyssa: Oh, an easy 5!
Adrian: Wow, you loved it that much?
Lyssa: Without a doubt! I told you, I'm super into this one!
Adrian: I give Mr. Driller a 4. It's a really fun ride but it DOES get repetitive after a while, and the multiplayer isn't as fun as some of the other great multiplayer puzzle modes.
-excerpted from the February 9, 1999 episode of GameTV
(…)
Gary Westhouse: In the end, while I think Age of Empires is a solid port, it doesn't have that really killer hook that would've really gotten me into this game like I've done with other strategy titles.
Brittany: Yeah, for an Ultra Nintendo game, one, it really doesn't look very great, two, after a while it stops being fun. Civilization II never stopped being fun for me, I can go back and play that any day of the week. But Age of Empires is a somewhat lesser Civilization II, and I disagree with you that this was a solid port, it's way more fun to play this one on PC.
Gary: There was some hype for this game, when it first got announced for the Ultra. Was that hype justified?
Brittany: It wasn't a very good computer game, so I don't know why they thought it'd be better on the Ultra. It's worse. Not much worse, but still worse.
Gary: Without the custom scenarios from the PC version...
Brittany: You CAN actually make custom scenarios and save them to your memory card, though they take up a ton of space that could be used to save better games, like Metal Gear Solid. Then you can take them to your friends' house and I guess play them there?
Gary: Would you?
Brittany: No. No no no.
Gary: Well, I give Age of Empires for the Ultra Nintendo a 3 out of 5. It's a decent strategy game but it is missing a few of the best things from the PC version.
Brittany: And I'm giving it a 2. Stick to Civilization II, or even wait for Starcraft for your Ultra later this year.
(…)
Ted Crosley: Metal Gear Solid is the perfect example of a “complete” game. It's all there. The graphics, the music, the characters... the care they put into all the characters. Nobody's in this game without a purpose. EVERYBODY's in the game for a reason.
Alex: Every character has their own theme song, and VARIATIONS of their own theme song! Ted, I'm gonna demand MTV for our own theme songs!
Ted: You and me both, when I walk into a room I wanna hear something badass playing.
Alex: The music sets the tone for this game. And then the vibration of the Rumbleshock on the controller...I won't spoil it but there's a moment when you're with a certain character and you can feel the tension in your hands because of that subtle rumbling.
Ted: The Psycho Mantis fight is a masterpiece.
Alex: This whole game is a masterpiece and I feel privileged to have played it.
Ted: And this game, it was in development WELL before the Ultra Nintendo was released. It was designed even before we got Metal Gear 2 here in the States. Which, by the way, if you haven't played Metal Gear 1+2, you can get them pretty cheap on the SNES-CD and play them on the Ultra. If you liked this game, definitely play both of them.
Alex: If? If you like this game?
Ted: *laughing* I know, hard to imagine how someone could hate it, right?
Alex: Is it better than Temple of Time?
Ted: I say yes. You?
Alex: It's real close. I gotta say though, I'm giving it a 5.
Ted: I'm giving it a 5 going away.
*The siren sounds*
Ted: Metal Gear Solid, joining the GameTV Hall of Fame, let's put it up on the wall!
*Ted and Alex make their way over to the Hall of Fame wall, joining the other hosts as they mount a framed copy of Metal Gear Solid up on the wall*
Brittany: Completely deserving of the honor. Metal Gear Solid is one incredible game.
Ted: And on that note, we wish you good night and have a ton of fun playing Metal Gear Solid!
-excerpted from the February 23, 1999 episode of GameTV
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Ultra Nintendo Power Charts: February 1999
1. The Legend Of Zelda: Temple Of Time
2. Final Fantasy VII
3. Killer Instinct Ultra
4. Super Mario Dimensions
5. Gran Turismo
6. Tale Lemuria
7. Ballistic Limit 2
8. Brave Fencer Kyuriadan
9. Ultra Mario Kart
10. Metal Clash
The Official Saturn Magazine Buzz Chart: February 1999
1. Tomb Raider III
2. Virtua Fighter 3
3. Zodiac World
4. Shenmue
5. Sonic the Hedgehog 4
6. Shining Force IV
7. Turok 2: Seeds Of Evil
8. Arbiter Of Sin
9. Spare Parts
10. Duelists: Swift Strike
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Warner Bros. Acquires Harry Potter Film Rights
The Warner Bros. company recently acquired the rights to a future film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, after engaging in a brief bidding war with Sony before that company backed off and did not match Warner's bid. The book series, which is set to release its third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, later this year, is growing rapidly in popularity with children and adults alike. Sony had submitted a joint bid with Nintendo that would have given the latter company the rights to all future video game adaptations of the books, while Sony would have been in charge of producing the films.
-excerpted from an article in Variety magazine, March 5, 1999
“So why didn't Sony acquire the Harry Potter film rights? In hindsight, such a move would seem like a no-brainer, but at the time, a number of factors made the company think twice about their initial plans to adapt the popular book series, and in the end, it was Warner Bros. who scooped them up after Sony dropped the ball. Sony's initial plans for the films were extremely ambitious. They envisioned a grand CGI animated adaptation of the books, jointly produced by Dreamworks and Squaresoft (under their Square Pictures label) and directed by Steven Spielberg, with Nintendo doing a game for each book in the series. Why an animated film and not a live-action adaptation? Two reasons: one, Spielberg and Dreamworks preferred animation, believing it would best convey the film's magical reality. And two, Sony was working on an adaptation of the game Ballistic Limit at the time, and didn't want to have two major live-action productions going on at once. Remember, at the time, Sony was just starting out in the film production business, and even though they were flush with cash from the success of the Ultra Nintendo, they didn't want to take the risk. Harry Potter? A risk? Even then, many believed that adapting Harry Potter into a film series would undoubtedly be a cash cow, and Warner Bros. was all too eager to purchase the rights once Sony backed out. But even though many within Sony itself could see how big Harry Potter was going to be, most of the ones in charge, including Norio Ohga, could not, and it was Ohga who ultimately made the deciding call in favor of backing off the pursuit of the Harry Potter film rights. Perhaps it was for the best: Sony and Nintendo were already dominating the video game world due to the Ultra Nintendo's unprecedented success. Adding Harry Potter to that would've been like adding Len Bias to the 1985-86 Celtics (at least before he overdosed): just too good to be true. In retrospect, considering the massive success of the Harry Potter book and film franchise, it's probably the dumbest move a gaming company had made since Atari declined to work with Nintendo in the mid 1980s. However, unlike Atari, Nintendo and Sony were more than able to absorb even a colossally boneheaded move like throwing away the Harry Potter franchise. The Ultra Nintendo kept right on truckin', unaware that it had just raced past a few billion dollars lying on the side of the road.”
-excerpted from “Ask Alex” on Alex Stansfield's blog, April 17, 2014
-Hideo Kojima on Metal Gear Solid in an interview on the February 23, 1999 episode of GameTV
“No, Metal Gear Solid isn't the greatest game of all time. But it's absolutely the front-runner for Game of the Year.”
-excerpted from a review of Metal Gear Solid in the March 1999 issue of GameInformer
“Shenmue and Parasite Eve had some of the most movie-like stories in recent memory, but Metal Gear Solid is undoubtedly the most cinematic game ever made.”
-excerpted from Dan “Shoe” Hsu's 10/10 review of Metal Gear Solid in the April 1999 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly
“Releasing the similar title Dead Midnight in the leadup to Metal Gear Solid might seem like sales suicide, but there's definitely enough here to distinguish this game from Konami's game.”
-excerpted from a preview article on Dead Midnight in the January 1999 issue of Next Generation magazine
“The way you approach a console game has to be different from the way you approach a PC game. Can great PC games be ported to consoles? Absolutely. Can great console games be ported to the PC? Absolutely. But if you're designing a game from the ground up for a particular console, you've got to take an entirely different approach.”
-Will Wright, in an interview in the February 1999 issue of Nintendo Power
“Oh, I had nothing to do with Harry Potter. That wasn't my call! I make game machines, not movie decisions! But if it was my call, absolutely I'd have gone a different way! No doubt about that!”
-Ken Kutaragi, in a January 26, 2006 interview with UGO.com
“I do remember being in the room for one of those Nintendo meetings, but I didn't have enough knowledge about video games at the time to make any kind of informed decisions. My kids weren't even old enough to play back then. The one video game I've ever watched that I enjoyed watching being played was Syrielle. Brilliant characters in that.”
-J.K. Rowling, speaking at the 2005 PotterCon
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Ultra Nintendo
Age Of Empires
EGM: 8.3 (quote: “A very capable port, though I still somewhat preferred playing this on PC, where more units can appear on screen at once.”)
Gamespot: 7.5 (quote: “Definitely optimized for the Ultra, it's one of the better strategy games on the system, though it still pales in comparison to some of the great PC strategy classics.”)
Aliens vs. Predator
EGM: 5.0 (quote: “Everything that I loved about the SNES-CD game was removed from this one and in its place is a stunted, repetitive FPS rife with glitches.”)
Gamespot: 5.8 (quote: “This was one of the more anticipated games of the year, it's a shame that it's such a dull shadow of our expectations.”)
Darkstalkers: The Dreaded
EGM: 8.0 (quote: “A really fun port of Darkstalkers 3 that works great on the Ultra and adds in a few exclusive characters to really mix things up.”)
Gamespot: 7.8 (quote: “Just a really fun and clever game full of quirky twists and even some black comedy.”)
King Of Fighters '99
EGM: 7.3 (quote: “Another year, another spiffy SNK game. It's the series' first turn on the Ultra, and it looks really great.”)
Gamespot: 7.4 (quote: “The series is wearing a bit thin, but it's a pitch perfect port with some of the Ultra's best animation.”)
Metal Gear Solid
EGM: 10 (quote: “An astonishing masterpiece that grabs your attention from the moment you first turn it on and doesn't let you go until the end of the credits sequence.”)
Gamespot: 9.7 (quote: “There has never been a better stealth game and it's hard to imagine there even will be.”)
Metal Slug X
EGM: 7.5 (quote: “A really exciting run and gun that takes this series to fantastic new heights.”)
Gamespot: 8.6 (quote: “The sheer variety of weapons and animation quality make this a must play for action junkies.”)
Need For Speed: High Stakes
EGM: 7.0 (quote: “We would've liked a little more track variety to match the graphical polish.”)
Gamespot: 6.8 (quote: “A few of the modes from the PC version are missing, making this a fairly pedestrian game rather than an instant classic.”)
Prince Of Persia: The Jade Queen
EGM: 7.0 (quote: “The series' transition to 3-D isn't perfect, but the puzzles are very creative.”)
Gamespot: 7.6 (quote: “The production values aren't so hot (no voice acting?) but the game itself is really fun to play.”)
Tomb Raider III
EGM: 8.2 (quote: “While it's probably the worst of the three Tomb Raider games, Lara Croft's latest adventure is still a great thrill ride.”)
Gamespot: 8.0 (quote: “We wish there were more upgrades from Tomb Raider II, but the quest itself is undoubtedly fun.)
Ultra Phineas and Ferb
EGM: 6.0 (quote: “Ultimately it's a very ho-hum collectathon.”)
Gamespot: 6.7 (quote: “Fans of the show will dig the jump to 3-D.”)
Ultra SimCity
EGM: 9.0 (quote: “This game simplifies things but at the same time captures a lot of the fun of the SNES classic.”)
Gamespot: 8.6 (quote: “Some players won't like the dumbing down from SimCity 2000, but fans of the original SNES game will see this as a true sequel.”)
Wild Arms 2
EGM: 7.2 (quote: “It's more of the same, but the jump to Ultra did this series a lot of good in the graphics department.”)
Gamespot: 7.2 (quote: “Cliches are everywhere, but it's still a solid RPG.”)
X-Men: Apocalypse
EGM: 6.3 (quote: “A fairly uncreative effort that at times seems to be just going through the motions.”)
Gamespot: 8.5 (quote: “A supremely fun beat-em-up that fans of both the classic comics and last year's film will love.”)
Ultra Deadman Sam
EGM: 6.5 (quote: “The leap to 3-D brought some great graphics but some really uninspired gameplay.”)
Gamespot: 5.0 (quote: “The Deadman Sam series has gotten worse with each game and this is definitely the worst yet.”)
Ultra World Championship Boxing
EGM: 7.8 (quote: “The story mode is definitely a ripoff of Rocky but I played the hell out of it anyway!”)
Gamespot: 7.2 (quote: “While we're still waiting for an announcement of an Ultra Punch-Out! game, this more realistic boxing title is still a worthy diversion in the meantime.”)
Dead Midnight
EGM: 8.7 (quote: “With a really deep plot and some excellent gunfight mechanics, Dead Midnight is one of the most rewarding shooters I've played in a long time.”)
Gamespot: 8.5 (quote: “The plot is a bit convoluted, but the action and gunplay are superb.”)
Multiplicator
EGM: 6.8 (quote: “This game can get extremely hard to play when all four players have hundreds of guys on screen at once.”)
Gamespot: 8.1 (quote: “This fun competitive puzzle race is the most fun you'll ever have playing as dozens of characters at once.”)
Saturn
Tomb Raider III
EGM: 7.8 (quote: “The Ultra Nintendo version is prettier, but this is a more than capable adventure on the Saturn.”)
Gamespot: N/A
Bomberman Universe
EGM: 7.5 (quote: “The multiplayer mode takes a step back to the single player adventure, which has its moments but not nearly as much competitive flair.”)
Gamespot: 8.2 (quote: “It's Bomberman, what else is there to say? The single player mode is more robust than any yet seen on the Saturn in this series.”)
Shining Force IV
EGM: 9.5 (quote: “An outstanding, epic, brilliant RPG that feels like the culmination of this entire series. We've been waiting for this for a long time.”)
Gamespot: 7.2 (quote: “Quality gameplay is marred by a reall convoluted plot.”)
Mr. Driller
EGM: 8.0 (quote: “It's Dig Dug, but modern Dig Dug and one of the most addictive puzzle games we've played in a while.”)
Gamespot: 8.3 (quote: “This great update of an arcade classic just works perfectly on the Sega Saturn.”)
Infernal: Dark Reality
EGM: 6.5 (quote: “It's kind of a bore, but it has its moments.”)
Gamespot: 7.7 (quote: “The powerups and enemy variety make this action RPG a worthy quest.”)
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Tomb Raider III: The Basics
Tomb Raider III is the third game of the Tomb Raider series and the first to get a simultaneous release on the Ultra Nintendo and the Sega Saturn. ITTL, it doesn't have a subtitle like it did in OTL (The Adventures Of Lara Croft), but as in OTL, the gameplay improvements are somewhat small (which becomes a criticism of the game. Lara gains a few new moves, the swimming system is improved, and there are some added weapons (including a sword and an explosive shotgun). The sprint from OTL Tomb Raider III also makes its first appearance. The Save Crystal system from OTL does not appear in TTL's game, instead, there are defined save points within the missions. The graphics have received a boost, a minor boost on the Sega Saturn and a significant, but not major, boost on the Ultra Nintendo, so that the Ultra Nintendo version of the game now matches up with some of the better looking games on the console.
In Tomb Raider III, Jade Bessemer, the villain from TTL's original Tomb Raider game, has returned to running her company after escaping from the collapsed ruins of Xanadu. However, Jade's near-death experience has left her physically scarred and somewhat mentally unhinged, making her actions increasingly erratic and deranged as the game goes on. She plays a role in this game somewhat like a combination of Dr. Willard and Sophia Leigh from OTL's Tomb Raider III, and the basic plot of this game is somewhat similar. Jade has poured her company's resources into hiring a private army to find an ancient meteorite that once struck Antarctica in the distant past and is said to have great powers. After the game's tutorial level, Lara is seen exploring an ancient Japanese temple, once owned by a powerful shogun. Things are easy enough at first, but soon Lara comes across some armed thugs and must evade them to reach the center of the temple and the ancient meteorite fragment within. As she claims it, she is ambushed by some of the thugs and is nearly killed when she is suddenly rescued by a brash young adventurer named Gillens. Lara discovers a piece of evidence on one of the dead thugs and traces it back to Jade's company, indicating that her old rival is going after the meteorite pieces. Gillens wants Lara to thank him for saving her life, but she refuses and she eventually tracks the second meteorite piece to an ancient temple in the Amazon rainforest, where she discovers a completely deserted village and some tough wild animals to beat. She takes down the animals and eventually comes to a river, where she gets on a speedboat and makes her way to the temple. On the way there, she's set upon by more thugs and must jump onto one of their speedboats after her own is about to explode. She reaches the second temple and claims the second meteorite piece. On her way out, she is confronted by Jade, who taunts her with the third meteorite piece already in hand. After a brief fight in which Lara wins but Jade summons some thugs to keep her busy as she flees with the piece, Lara makes her way back to London to infiltrate Jade's corporate headquarters to snatch the third piece. On the way there, she stumbles across a lab in which Jade's thugs have taken some of the villagers from the Amazon hostage to perform experiments on them. She also reunites with Gillens who is revealed to be one of Jade's hired thugs. He captures Lara and takes her to Jade. Lara furiously denounces Jade for experimenting on the villagers. Jade says that she'd kill Lara but Lara is needed to open up the fourth temple, which is on Easter Island. As Lara is being flown to the island in a plane, she manages to escape and takes out a few guards before causing the plane to crash, separating Lara, Gillens, and Jade. While dodging dinosaurs and thugs on the island, Lara discovers that Gillens is actually a government agent whose job is to infiltrate Jade's operation. However, Jade discovers this too, and has Gillens taken prisoner. Lara must choose between saving him and stopping Jade from collecting the fourth meteorite piece. Jade manages to get all the pieces, but Gillens reveals that there's a fifth piece that Jade needs and that it's being exhibited at a casino in Las Vegas. This leads to a big showdown between Jade and Lara in Vegas that ends in a dramatic casino shootout, and also ends with Jade getting away with the fifth and final meteorite piece. The final level of the game takes place in Antarctica. Lara and Gillens must team up to stop Jade before she can use the power of the meteorite pieces to become an unstoppable god. Jade manages to activate some of the meteorites' power, but thanks to Gillens' interference, Jade remains in a form that Lara can fight. After the final boss battle, in which Gillens sacrifices himself to help Lara win, Jade, reverted to normal, is left on the ground, apologizing and promising Lara she'll change. Lara looks like she's going to spare Jade, but then we see Lara point her gun at Jade's head, the screen going black just before we hear a gunshot. The credits then roll.
February 8, 1999
Tomb Raider III is released for both the Ultra Nintendo and the Sega Saturn. Though the Ultra Nintendo version of the game is graphically superior, the Saturn version has a couple of very small bits of extra content, including a skimpy wetsuit for Lara in certain scenes and a bit of added dialogue, including Lara saying “shit” in a cutscene toward the end of the game. Sega markets these extra bits of “mature” content as evidence that the Saturn version of the game is superior (which somewhat contradicts their concurrent marketing push of family-friendly platform games). Initially, sales of the Ultra Nintendo and Saturn versions of the game are about equal, though in the months after the game's release, the Ultra Nintendo version begins to pull away, due to the system's larger install base. The game's reviews are good, but not quite as good as the previous two Tomb Raider titles, siting the lack of gameplay innovation and the somewhat derivative plot as evidence that the series is starting to run out of ideas. Still, sales are quite strong, even if the game would soon be largely overshadowed by Metal Gear Solid's release...
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It may have seemed crazy at the time to release a game like Dead Midnight for the Ultra Nintendo so close to the release of Metal Gear Solid. Indeed, the game not only released a mere two weeks away from Konami's massive game, but on the same day as the release of the third Tomb Raider game, another mega blockbuster. Still, Capcom put a heavy marketing push on their title, with commercials highlighting the game's rapid-fire gunplay, complex storyline full of fascinating characters, and excellent graphics as selling points. Dead Midnight took place in America in the year 2019. The country has been ravaged by a series of terrorist attacks, and now it's been discovered that rogue cells of terrorists are planning several more. A special operations unit led by Steve Sheckert is deployed to hunt down and take out these terrorists before any of them can strike again. Sheckert's team consists of a group of highly specialized and highly skilled operatives, including Divebomb Grey (a reckless agent who takes huge risks but gets results), Marie (a lovely French woman who can break people's necks with her legs), Alex Frier (a computer hacking whiz who's also highly trained with knives), and Raya Mystic (the first woman Navy SEAL, an intense commando who also happens to be the mother of two 17-year old fraternal twins, Derek and Darla, who she's training to follow in her footsteps). The game vacillates between taking itself highly seriously and offering up copious amounts of comic relief, and though you only control Steve through the course of the game, you can take up to two of your team on missions with you, while giving orders to everyone left behind. The game's villains, a team of seven dangerous terrorists, are as interesting as the heroes. Rather than serving one nation or ideology, the terrorists are each working for their own separate cause, working together to cause chaos and havoc all over the world, and though they each must be taken down, each of them has their own sympathetic backstory (except for the lead villain, Raymond Fatal, who's just a genocidal dick). The game plays out over 14 different levels, with each villain getting two levels a piece: one level where you have to find their staging ground or lair, and the next level where you have to infiltrate and take them out. Each level takes place in a different American city, and once you've neutralized the threat in one city, you move on to the next. But here's the thing: the game plays out like Mega Man in that, for the first six cities, you choose the order in which you go after the bad guys. While there IS a recommended order for new players (some cities and bosses are definitely tougher than others), there's a lot of freedom in how the quest plays out. Also, at least for the first six terrorist leaders, you can choose to spare all, some, or none of them (but the option to spare them only comes up if you perform a certain action, such as bringing a certain operative or collecting a hidden item).
Playing out at a much faster pace than Metal Gear Solid (with stealth recommended in some levels but completely optional), Dead Midnight carved out a fanbase of its very own, and joined Victory as one of Capcom's most successful original franchises of the latter half of the decade. It sold more than enough copies to be a success even with the stiff competition, and its review scores in most publications topped those of Tomb Raider III. Dead Midnight wasn't a guaranteed success by any stretch, but its performance justified Capcom's decisions to promote the game heavily and release it into such a crowded month.
-excerpted from an article on Gamesovermatter.com
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*A bunch of police are crowded around a building, there's some kids outside complaining.*
Officer: Nobody can go in, there's been a bomb threat!
Boy: But my Saturn's in there!
*The crowd parts to make way for Segata Sanshiro*
Segata Sanshiro: *glares at the officer*
Officer: Sir, there's a bomb in there.
Segata Sanshiro: *looks up at the building and says in Japanese* I will take care of the bomb.
*He walks toward the building*
Officer: You can't go in there without protection! *offers up a huge bombproof suit*
Segata Sanshiro: *waves his hand and enters the building as he is, he makes his way to a room on the top floor where there's some ticking sounds coming from, he enters the room and crosses his arms over his chest*
*A large explosion noise is heard. The crowd gasps and looks at the door. Segata Sanshiro comes out, looking like he's been in an explosion with messed up hair and ripped clothing, and some dirt marks all over his body, but unharmed.*
Segata Sanshiro: *thrusts forward a Sega Saturn and a copy of Bomberman Universe* Sega Saturn, shiro!
*Scenes from Bomberman Universe play on the screen as the narrator begins to speak.*
Narrator: The Saturn gets a lot more explosive with the all new Bomberman Universe. Take on your friends in the arena, or jump into the brand new adventure mode to tackle eight huge worlds with only your wits and your bombs to help you. Bomberman Universe, only on the Sega Saturn. Get ready to take cover.
*Segata Sanshiro is seen playing the game with several heavily armored men from the bomb squad, there's another explosion noise and all of them get blasted across the room.*
Bomb Squad Officer: *clutching a Saturn controller, he does the Sega! Scream*
The Action Is Here (the Sega Saturn's new slogan, introduced in 1999 to promote the console's action games, it appears in many of their game ads that year)
-a commercial for Bomberman Universe that aired in February 1999
Bomberman Universe does a number of things right, but in many aspects it's a step back from 1997's amazing Saturn Bomberman game, especially in the multiplayer department, which drops the ability to play with more than four players at once and also reduces the number of multiplayer arenas available. Instead, the game largely focuses on its single-player mode, for better or for worse, in an attempt to follow the success of the two Ultra Nintendo Bomberman games, which themselves heavily pushed their adventure modes. Bomberman Universe's adventure mode does allow Bomberman to properly jump for the first time, but many of the levels are uninspired and repetitive, and while there is fun to be had, there are many levels that are a chore to get through. The cutscenes are quite silly (since when has Bomberman needed a personality?) and as far as the Saturn's recent action platformers go, Bomberman is arguably worse than all of them. Bomberman's always been at its best as a fast-paced puzzle title or a frenetic multiplayer partyfest, not a wannabe mascot platformer. It's a solid title and Bomberman fans should pick it up, but it's not going to rewrite any of the series' longstanding rules.
Score: 7/10
-excerpted from a review of Bomberman Universe in the February 1999 issue of Official Saturn Magazine
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Another month, another pair of RPGs to add to the Saturn's library. The console currently boasts an impressive collection of great RPGs, including games like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Windborn, and even Sonic and Virtua Quest have gotten in on the action. Of course, the Shining series has been a stalwart for Sega, and in Shining Force IV, the Saturn might have its best one to date. Continuing right where Shining Force III left off, IV consists of the remaining two scenarios focused on the characters Medion and Julian. Julian in particular is of crucial importance to this game's plot, as he realizes his destiny as a hero that can lead an army to take down the evil Bulzome. While the tactical gameplay is familiar to anyone who's played a Shining game before, it's the game's epic plot, which ties up all the loose ends from Shining Force III, that really makes this game a standout.
Infernal: Dark Reality may some of you of last year's Angels for the Ring, but this game is a far more straightforward RPG. You play as a priest who must go around slaying a demonic invasion of nearby villages, and while this sort of gothic-themed game is fairly cliched, the battle system, where you must manually aim at enemies with a magical gun, with damage determined by where you hit them on their body, is fairly innovative and makes battles a bit less boring. Atlus has made some excellent RPGs in the past (as evidenced by the Shin Megami Tensei series), and while Infernal isn't an all-time great, it's still a fun, if thematically simple, RPG.
-excerpted from an article on RPGamer.net, posted on February 27, 1999
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In February 1999, a month which saw several excellent Ultra Nintendo releases (including Metal Gear Solid), the Ultra Nintendo saw its first Prince of Persia game. Prince of Persia: The Jade Queen was perhaps the most hyped game yet in the series, but somewhat disappointing reviews and its release into a crowded month of games diminished its potential somewhat. Released by Activision, which had purchased Broderbund shortly after the release of Where In Space Is Carmen Sandiego? for the SNES-CD, The Jade Queen was the company's first Prince of Persia game, and the company tried to emulate the 3-D platforming style of recent hits such as Super Mario Dimensions and The Dreamers. The result? Collecting, collecting, and more collecting. Prince Of Persia: The Jade Queen saw the titular prince needing to venture across a vast desert filled with palaces and cities in order to collect various golden artifacts in each location. The desert was ruled over by a great and powerful dynasty which built a massive palace of pure jade from which to rule. As legend had it, the Jade Queen was trapped within the palace, and a warrior of pure heart and great courage who penetrated the castle walls could rescue her. Of course, in a somewhat predictable twist, the Jade Queen didn't need rescuing...she was the villain, and collecting treasures imbued her with limitless beauty and power. She'd been luring heroes into her trap for centuries, and now it was the prince's turn. Of course, the prince's love interest, Shana, a peasant girl in one of the cities the prince visited over the course of his journey, was able to break the Queen's hold over him, and eventually the prince battled her in her throne room as she entered a giant golden bird statue to do battle with him. While The Jade Queen's puzzles were creative and its platforming mechanics were solid (and indeed, future installments of the series would achieve great success by building on this tight platforming), the game itself was a bit of a bore, criticized for requiring the player to revisit certain areas in order to re-do already completed puzzles just to earn another piece of treasure. Ultimately, The Jade Queen was merely the framework of a great game rather than being a great game in its own right. Still, it sold well enough to easily justify the creation of a sequel, and by that time, Activision had learned what worked and what didn't when it came to Prince of Persia.
-excerpted from an article on Gamesovermatter.com
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The differences between the Ultra Nintendo's Ultra SimCity and SimCity 3000 are numerous. In fact, Ultra Sim City in some ways has taken a step back from the level of customization available in SimCity 2000, instead presenting itself as a successor to the Super Nintendo's early SimCity title. Like SimCity, Ultra SimCity takes a more stylistic approach, bringing back Dr. Wright and the colorful animations and vibrant musical themes from SimCity. However, the game does contain many of SimCity 2000's enhancements, allowing mayors to pass city ordinances and build with much more detail. Traffic options such as bridges and subway tunnels are included in the game, though the complex water management system of SimCity 2000 has been removed, and arcologies are also a no-go until the player's city reaches a certain level of development. Ultra SimCity includes ten different population levels for the player's city to achieve: hamlet (up to 500 population), village (between 500-2,500), town (between 2,500-10,000), municipality (between 10,000-30,000), city (between 30,000-60,000), capital (between 60,000-150,000), conurbation (between 150,000-400,000), metropolis (between 400,000-1,000,000), megalopolis (between 1,000,000-5,000,000), and global city (5,000,000+). Each level has its own theme song, though in Ultra SimCity you have the option to change the background music. Ultra SimCity is more simplistic and easier to learn than SimCity 2000, and certainly moreso than SimCity 3000. It's been optimized for the console player, which is both a good thing and a bad thing, but in Ultra SimCity's case, mostly a good thing.
-excerpted from GameInformer's 8.5/10 review of Ultra SimCity
Nintendo Power: And are there currently plans to bring SimCity 3000 to the Ultra Nintendo?
Will Wright: Currently there aren't, but if demand is there and Ultra SimCity pulls in good enough sales, it might be an option. Certainly the complexity of SimCity 3000 doesn't lend itself well to consoles, but the Ultra Nintendo has the power to handle it, so if players are willing to play it, anything's possible.
Nintendo Power: Has the recent acquisition of Maxis by Electronic Arts limited your creativity?
Will Wright: Absolutely not! If anything, it's enhanced it, I've got more people around me now and they largely let me do my own thing. In fact, I'm working on a “virtual people” project that's coming to computers next year and certainly could come to the Ultra Nintendo, again, if there's enough demand for it.
Nintendo Power: Besides the Sim series, what other games are you currently working on?
Will Wright: Right now, all my attention and time is going into my “virtual people” project, but certainly if the opportunity arises I'd love to try my hand at another genre entirely.
Nintendo Power: Have you had any time to play the Ultra Nintendo? Has anything impressed you?
Will Wright: I really loved what I got to play of Temple of Time, and Ultra World Of Color is a really fun game to play with my daughter. I love the strategy behind the game and how easy it is to pick up, she certainly plays a lot better than I do! And I also like Metal Clash, since I build combat robots in my spare time.
Nintendo Power: Thanks again for the interview!
-excerpted from an interview with Will Wright in the February 1999 issue of Nintendo Power
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For the second straight year, a recently deceased artist won big at the year's Grammy Awards. This year, it was Celine Dion, whose tragic death in February of last year generated a wave of grief in the music world and a massive wave of success for her Titanic theme song, “My Heart Will Go On”. The song won both Record of the Year and Song of the Year, but the night's big winner was Lauryn Hill, whose album The Miseducation Of Lauryn Hill won Album of the Year, while she took home Best New Artist. The night's biggest live performance saw Selena, who's been touring with recording artist Santana for much of the past year, perform a portion of Santana's classic “Black Magic Woman” before launching into her own newest collaboration with Santana, “Say What You Want About Me”. The song is one of three joint Selena/Santana songs that will be appearing on Santana's newest album, Supernatural, set to debut later this year. Latin artists made numerous appearances at this year's Grammys, in addition to Selena and Santana's much-lauded performance, Ricky Martin, formerly of the boy band Menudo, made a major impression with his live performance of his new single “Livin' La Vida Loca”. Tupac Shakur won a pair of Grammys for his hit album Fender Bender, with the hit single “You Can't Kill What You Can't See” taking home the award for Best Rap Solo Performance.
-excerpted from a Grammys recap posted on Yahoo! News on February 25, 1999
(Authors' Note: This next Backstreet Boys article was inspired by a PM sent to us by Moe Satyr! Thanks for the tip!)
Hype Builds For Backstreet Boys' Millennium
The Backstreet Boys have been one of the hottest bands in recent memory, and their album Millennium is set to drop in just three short months. While most of the songs on the album have already been recorded, two of them, including the much anticipated single “I Want It That Way”, are being re-recorded this week after what the band's manager describes as “lyrical tweaks”. Regardless of what lyrics make the final cut, the album is already being heavily promoted, and is set to have one of the biggest debut weeks ever when it's released this May.
The band is set to appear on both Total Request Live and GameTV to promote the album on its release date, May 25.
-excerpted from an update on MTV's website, February 27, 1999
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Metal Gear Solid: The Basics
Metal Gear Solid is the sequel to Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake. Developed over four years by Konami and Hideo Kojima, the game was initially conceived for release on the 3DO, but after the failure of that system, Kojima briefly considered releasing the game on the Saturn before switching to the Ultra Nintendo after being impressed with the system's development kit. The gameplay remains as IOTL for the most part, it's heavily based on stealth, with direct enemy confrontation only recommended as a last resort. Snake has a variety of ways to achieve stealth, such as hiding under or behind certain objects, or in certain environments, merely crouching in the shadows. TTL's Metal Gear Solid has the addition of a stealth meter that indicates which enemies are liable to be able to see Snake in his current position. The codec is also more integrated into gameplay, appearing in real time rather than in a separate screen, though the player has the option of pausing the game to receive codec messages. The graphics are significantly improved from OTL's game, which was already one of the most graphically impressive games on the original Playstation. Characters and backgrounds appear in great detail. Perhaps the greatest presentation enhancement is in the game's music and sound effects. Due to the Ultra Nintendo's powerful sound chip, Kojima's plan for dynamic music is fully realized in TTL's game. Music changes in real-time based on what's happening on the screen, and individual character themes can also dynamically change to suit their current mood, making for hundreds of different musical motifs that are possible in-game. The game is fully voice acted as IOTL, with most of OTL's voice actors, including David Hayter, Debi Mae West, and Paul Eiding performing as Solid Snake, Meryl Silverburgh, and Colonel Campbell respectively. Mari Devon appears as the voice of a major character, Lyra, and the TTL-exclusive members of FOXHOUND, Silicon Leech and Serrated Panther, are voiced by James Arnold Taylor and Cree Summer respectively.
The basis of the game's plot, about a group of rogue special operations forces seizing an Alaskan island, hijacking the experimental weapon Metal Gear REX, and threatening America with nuclear bombardment remains the same as OTL, but many details about the plot and a number of future plot threads are heavily changed, and the overall flow of the game widens somewhat in scope from IOTL's game. The early part of the game, with Solid Snake infiltrating an island and finding DARPA chief Donald Anderson, who dies suddenly while conversing with Snake, also remains the same. However, after Anderson dies and Snake meets Meryl, Meryl informs Snake of a third hostage, in addition to Donald Anderson and tech CEO Kenneth Baker: the United States Undersecretary of Defense, a 32-year-old woman named Lyra Marin. She was being given a classified tour of the facility when the FOXHOUND takeover took place, and is considered the highest value hostage at the facility. After a boss fight against Revolver Ocelot, Snake is able to find and free Lyra, who tells Snake that the man she was touring the facility with, a general named Martens, may be behind everything, a suspicion that grows once Snake discovers information about the connection between Martens and Liquid Snake. Snake and Lyra then locate Hal “Otacon” Emmerich, the designer of Metal Gear REX and an expert computer hacker. Otacon has been engaging in a covert cyberspace war with another hacker at the facility, a man who turns out to be FOXHOUND tech expert Silicon Leech, who Snake needs to find and kill if he is to progress any further. Snake has Lyra remain with Otacon while he goes to hunt down Silicon Leech, but on the way he is confronted by Psycho Mantis (who has the same psychic abilities as in OTL, the same controller trick works on him and he has some very interesting comments if the player has Mario games on their memory card!) and must defeat him. Snake and Meryl must then make their way through an underground maze which is controlled by Silicon Leech remotely. After getting through the maze, Snake kills Leech, who coughs up some information about Lyra before he dies: that Lyra is the true enemy in all of this. Before Snake can contact Otacon about Lyra, he and Meryl are forced to flee from the bullets of Sniper Wolf, who eventually wounds Snake and renders him unconscious.
Snake awakens and is confronted by Liquid Snake before being tortured by Ocelot, which, as in OTL, prompts the player to press the A button rapidly in order to resist the torture. Unlike IOTL, however, submitting to the torture does NOT effect the ending (ITTL, Masahiro Sakurai expressed frustration that the player could only get the best ending via a very difficult button mashing challenge, and convinced Kojima to change the “reward” somewhat). Instead, successfully refusing to submit to the torture earns some cool bonus cutscenes during the latter part of the game (including an awesome Meryl rescue scene and another bonus scene with Otacon) but does not affect whether Meryl lives or dies. Whether or not Snake submits, he escapes, and learns that Metal Gear REX has already been moved out of the facility to another island. Lyra and Otacon are both gone, but Mei Ling tips Snake off to the fact that there's another ship heading to that island, and Martens is on it. Snake must infiltrate the ship, but before he can reach it, Serrated Panther cuts him off in her motorcycle. After inflicting enough damage, one of two things will happen: either Meryl knocks Serrated Panther off her motorcycle (if Snake didn't submit to the torture) or Snake sets a trap for Serrated Panther that knocks her off the motorcycle. Either way, Panther gets up and engages in one-on-one combat with Snake. An expert with a brutal hunting knife, Snake must keep his distance from her because getting close to her is certain death. After Snake takes out Panther, he and Meryl have a brief conversation before Snake catches the departing ship. He climbs up to the control tower to confront Martens, only for Martens to be shot dead by Ocelot. After a brief tussle on the boat (that involves Meryl coming to Snake's rescue, this time in a helicopter), the two tumble into the water together, both heavily wounded. The two of them crawl onto shore and another battle begins, quick but brutal. Snake seemingly kills Ocelot before collapsing on the shore. He awakens in a small shack with Lyra sitting near his bedside, tending to his wounds. Snake tries to attack Lyra, who frantically tries to defend herself both physically and verbally. She gives Snake information about Liquid Snake, including the fact that Liquid and Solid are brothers and that Liquid is really working for the government, that Martens, Kenneth Baker, and Donald Anderson were all working with FOXHOUND and that the information she's discovered could potentially bring down the entire government. Snake still believes that Lyra is lying and he holds a knife to her throat, he's going to kill her when Otacon tells him to back off, that Leech was lying and that Lyra's telling the truth about everything. Lyra tells Snake that when she was a little girl, she became privy to a piece of information. One thing led to another and eventually, when she first got to college, that she would work her way up to a powerful enough position in the government to discover the secrets she knows it's hiding. Otacon tells Snake that he has to go and stop Metal Gear REX before the missiles are used. Snake works his way up to Liquid Snake's base, battling and defeating Sniper Wolf and Vulcan Raven along the way. He reaches Liquid Snake, who reveals that he and Solid Snake are both clones of Big Boss, a legendary agent from the Cold War, and that after a virus implanted in both the FOXHOUND members and Solid Snake is activated, all of them will die and the government will be able to go in and retrieve Metal Gear REX. Snake then battles Metal Gear REX before taking on Liquid Snake atop the disabled machine. After Liquid Snake is defeated, Snake reunites with Meryl, who joins Snake as the two flee the base. Liquid pursues them and is about to kill them when he keels over and dies from the effects of the virus. Snake then contacts Colonel Campbell, who tells Snake that both he and Lyra are going to be considered fugitives from the United States government and that the two of them should go into hiding. Otacon tells Snake that he already made sure Lyra got out safely, and that she told him that she would continue working from the shadows to uncover more of the government's secrets. Snake and Meryl share a kiss as the two drive off into the wilderness together, Snake's days seemingly numbered due to the Foxdie virus.
After the credits, Ocelot, recovered from his seemingly fatal wounds, is seen talking to the President over a secure codec. He confirms that the Metal Gear specifications have been safely retrieved, and then it's shown that he's pointing a gun at the head of a captive Lyra, whom he captured some time after Otacon saw her off (it will be revealed in a later game that the Patriots had been tapping into Otacon's communications the entire time). The President tells Ocelot to kill her, and he says that he'll do it, but after their communication ends, Ocelot tells Lyra that “they” have other plans for her, before injecting her with something that renders her unconscious.
February 22, 1999
Metal Gear Solid is released for the Ultra Nintendo, to universal critical acclaim that nearly matches what The Legend Of Zelda: Temple Of Time had achieved the previous year. The game sells enormously well in its first week (a bit less than Goldeneye 007 did in its first week of release), and due to the outstanding critical reception, easily becomes one of the Ultra Nintendo's best selling games of the year. The game is seen as living up to the hype and then some, and becomes a benchmark for both cinematic game design and technological achievement. Numerous characters, including Solid Snake, Liquid Snake, Revolver Ocelot, Psycho Mantis, Meryl Silverburgh, Otacon, and Lyra, become fan favorites, and once again, sales momentum swings back to Nintendo. Hideo Kojima becomes an instant celebrity among game fans, and his previous works, including both Metal Gear games, Snatcher, and Policenauts, all see a bump in sales due to Metal Gear Solid's release.
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Alex Stansfield: And while Tomb Raider III isn't groundbreaking like the previous two Tomb Raider games, it's still a great deal of fun and Jade Bessemer's return as the villain is truly welcome indeed.
Brittany Saldita: Now, if you're wondering whether or not to get it on the Ultra Nintendo or the Sega Saturn, if you're lucky enough to own both, definitely get the Ultra Nintendo version.
Alex: Right. It looks better, the control scheme is better, it's just the better version of the game.
Brittany: In fact, if you're lucky enough to have both systems and have to choose between the Ultra version or the Saturn version, always pick the Ultra version! We'll let you know if you ever need to pick the Saturn version!
Alex: Well, in the Saturn version of this game, Lara gets a sexy wetsuit *Brittany rolls her eyes* and there's a few more cuss words.
Brittany: It's not like you can't hear cuss words on Nintendo games. Didn't they say s(bleep)t 17 times in Ballistic Limit 2?
Alex: You counted?
Brittany: Somebody did and that's the number they gave.
Alex: But yeah, a wetsuit and a few cuss words aren't worth losing the superior graphics and sound effects of the Ultra game. If you have only the Saturn, it's definitely a good game on there though. I give it a 4.0 out of 5.
Brittany: A solid 4 from me too. Tomb Raider III is another fine adventure from the awesome Lara Croft.
(…)
Lyssa Fielding: Mr. Driller's quirky anime graphics and super addictive gameplay make it one of the best puzzle games I've ever played! I couldn't put my controller down!
Adrian Fry: Yeah, I gotta say, it's a surprisingly addictive game. There are so many quirky characters and you never seem to run out of things to drill!
Lyssa: It's like Armageddon, but without angry Bruce Willis or the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
Adrian: Hey, that might've made this game a bit more interesting!
Lyssa: It doesn't really need a storyline, although it does give you a really cute one that makes you really fall in love with all the characters you get to meet.
Adrian: So Lyssa, what's your final verdict?
Lyssa: Oh, an easy 5!
Adrian: Wow, you loved it that much?
Lyssa: Without a doubt! I told you, I'm super into this one!
Adrian: I give Mr. Driller a 4. It's a really fun ride but it DOES get repetitive after a while, and the multiplayer isn't as fun as some of the other great multiplayer puzzle modes.
-excerpted from the February 9, 1999 episode of GameTV
(…)
Gary Westhouse: In the end, while I think Age of Empires is a solid port, it doesn't have that really killer hook that would've really gotten me into this game like I've done with other strategy titles.
Brittany: Yeah, for an Ultra Nintendo game, one, it really doesn't look very great, two, after a while it stops being fun. Civilization II never stopped being fun for me, I can go back and play that any day of the week. But Age of Empires is a somewhat lesser Civilization II, and I disagree with you that this was a solid port, it's way more fun to play this one on PC.
Gary: There was some hype for this game, when it first got announced for the Ultra. Was that hype justified?
Brittany: It wasn't a very good computer game, so I don't know why they thought it'd be better on the Ultra. It's worse. Not much worse, but still worse.
Gary: Without the custom scenarios from the PC version...
Brittany: You CAN actually make custom scenarios and save them to your memory card, though they take up a ton of space that could be used to save better games, like Metal Gear Solid. Then you can take them to your friends' house and I guess play them there?
Gary: Would you?
Brittany: No. No no no.
Gary: Well, I give Age of Empires for the Ultra Nintendo a 3 out of 5. It's a decent strategy game but it is missing a few of the best things from the PC version.
Brittany: And I'm giving it a 2. Stick to Civilization II, or even wait for Starcraft for your Ultra later this year.
(…)
Ted Crosley: Metal Gear Solid is the perfect example of a “complete” game. It's all there. The graphics, the music, the characters... the care they put into all the characters. Nobody's in this game without a purpose. EVERYBODY's in the game for a reason.
Alex: Every character has their own theme song, and VARIATIONS of their own theme song! Ted, I'm gonna demand MTV for our own theme songs!
Ted: You and me both, when I walk into a room I wanna hear something badass playing.
Alex: The music sets the tone for this game. And then the vibration of the Rumbleshock on the controller...I won't spoil it but there's a moment when you're with a certain character and you can feel the tension in your hands because of that subtle rumbling.
Ted: The Psycho Mantis fight is a masterpiece.
Alex: This whole game is a masterpiece and I feel privileged to have played it.
Ted: And this game, it was in development WELL before the Ultra Nintendo was released. It was designed even before we got Metal Gear 2 here in the States. Which, by the way, if you haven't played Metal Gear 1+2, you can get them pretty cheap on the SNES-CD and play them on the Ultra. If you liked this game, definitely play both of them.
Alex: If? If you like this game?
Ted: *laughing* I know, hard to imagine how someone could hate it, right?
Alex: Is it better than Temple of Time?
Ted: I say yes. You?
Alex: It's real close. I gotta say though, I'm giving it a 5.
Ted: I'm giving it a 5 going away.
*The siren sounds*
Ted: Metal Gear Solid, joining the GameTV Hall of Fame, let's put it up on the wall!
*Ted and Alex make their way over to the Hall of Fame wall, joining the other hosts as they mount a framed copy of Metal Gear Solid up on the wall*
Brittany: Completely deserving of the honor. Metal Gear Solid is one incredible game.
Ted: And on that note, we wish you good night and have a ton of fun playing Metal Gear Solid!
-excerpted from the February 23, 1999 episode of GameTV
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Ultra Nintendo Power Charts: February 1999
1. The Legend Of Zelda: Temple Of Time
2. Final Fantasy VII
3. Killer Instinct Ultra
4. Super Mario Dimensions
5. Gran Turismo
6. Tale Lemuria
7. Ballistic Limit 2
8. Brave Fencer Kyuriadan
9. Ultra Mario Kart
10. Metal Clash
The Official Saturn Magazine Buzz Chart: February 1999
1. Tomb Raider III
2. Virtua Fighter 3
3. Zodiac World
4. Shenmue
5. Sonic the Hedgehog 4
6. Shining Force IV
7. Turok 2: Seeds Of Evil
8. Arbiter Of Sin
9. Spare Parts
10. Duelists: Swift Strike
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Warner Bros. Acquires Harry Potter Film Rights
The Warner Bros. company recently acquired the rights to a future film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone, after engaging in a brief bidding war with Sony before that company backed off and did not match Warner's bid. The book series, which is set to release its third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, later this year, is growing rapidly in popularity with children and adults alike. Sony had submitted a joint bid with Nintendo that would have given the latter company the rights to all future video game adaptations of the books, while Sony would have been in charge of producing the films.
-excerpted from an article in Variety magazine, March 5, 1999
“So why didn't Sony acquire the Harry Potter film rights? In hindsight, such a move would seem like a no-brainer, but at the time, a number of factors made the company think twice about their initial plans to adapt the popular book series, and in the end, it was Warner Bros. who scooped them up after Sony dropped the ball. Sony's initial plans for the films were extremely ambitious. They envisioned a grand CGI animated adaptation of the books, jointly produced by Dreamworks and Squaresoft (under their Square Pictures label) and directed by Steven Spielberg, with Nintendo doing a game for each book in the series. Why an animated film and not a live-action adaptation? Two reasons: one, Spielberg and Dreamworks preferred animation, believing it would best convey the film's magical reality. And two, Sony was working on an adaptation of the game Ballistic Limit at the time, and didn't want to have two major live-action productions going on at once. Remember, at the time, Sony was just starting out in the film production business, and even though they were flush with cash from the success of the Ultra Nintendo, they didn't want to take the risk. Harry Potter? A risk? Even then, many believed that adapting Harry Potter into a film series would undoubtedly be a cash cow, and Warner Bros. was all too eager to purchase the rights once Sony backed out. But even though many within Sony itself could see how big Harry Potter was going to be, most of the ones in charge, including Norio Ohga, could not, and it was Ohga who ultimately made the deciding call in favor of backing off the pursuit of the Harry Potter film rights. Perhaps it was for the best: Sony and Nintendo were already dominating the video game world due to the Ultra Nintendo's unprecedented success. Adding Harry Potter to that would've been like adding Len Bias to the 1985-86 Celtics (at least before he overdosed): just too good to be true. In retrospect, considering the massive success of the Harry Potter book and film franchise, it's probably the dumbest move a gaming company had made since Atari declined to work with Nintendo in the mid 1980s. However, unlike Atari, Nintendo and Sony were more than able to absorb even a colossally boneheaded move like throwing away the Harry Potter franchise. The Ultra Nintendo kept right on truckin', unaware that it had just raced past a few billion dollars lying on the side of the road.”
-excerpted from “Ask Alex” on Alex Stansfield's blog, April 17, 2014
