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Sega Saturn (Japan) |
Sony Playstation (Japan) |
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Gebockers from Riverhill Soft (Japanese) Available 2/26 at $58 |
Hyper Crazy Climber from Nihon Bussan Co. (Japanese) Available 2/26 at $68 |
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| A whimsical looking 3-D shooting game where your main character looks like a super deformed 'thingamabob'. The game pits you against a computer opponent, or a human one for some 3-D blasting action. Two modes of play are available, a split screen mode where the screen is split horizontally or a two Saturn (and two copies of the game) link up which spans two televisions. There are various levels in this game as you progress further and further, some locales look very nice, such as the level with artic landscape where your character skims above a patchwork of ice blocks and arctic geysers. The early buzz on this game from Japan has been positive and it should be a nice change of pace. Web surfers can check out Riverhill Soft's WWW page at www.riverhillsoft.co.jp for some more information on this title. | The classic arcade game from Nichibutsu gets a 32-bit faec-life on the Playstation and it looks like the 'classics' trend will continue as more and more collections are announced and old games get revamped in this new age of consoles. Hyper Crazy Climber now features exotic terrain to climb, instead of the same old buildings in the arcade version from a decade or so ago. You can now climb mountains, underwater structures, jungle flora, etc. This one looks like it will be a lot of fun and fans of the old classic will probably order this one in droves. Another update in this new version is that there are now three characters to choose from to do your climbing; A blue capped elf, a purple colored pixie or a cylindrical insect which looks like a grasshopper, but much cuter in a Japanese anime stule sort of way. Pre-order early please. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Virtua Fighter CG Portrait from Sega (Japanese) Available 2/26 at $20 |
Formula GT Racing from Kaneko Co. (Japanese) Available 2/26 at $68 |
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| Kage and Jeffrey make their way to the crowded portrait series collection and round out the entire cast of Virtua Fighters on CG discs. A Dural disc and a calender should be released in another month or two, so look for these when they are available from NCS. The portrait discs are limited run so collectors should order these before they are gone, and once they are gone, that will be that. NCS will be offering a 10-disc collection of all of the available VF CG discs in about 2 weeks, pending the restock of some of the portrait CDs, Please call for more details on this special offer. | Kaneko debuts on the Playstation with a 3/4 overhead view racing game which is reminescent of Rock 'N Roll Racing on the Super Nintendo and Genesis. Rock 'N Roll Racing was a great 3/4 view racing game and while this one looks similary in appearance, it will probably not have a charming (or was it grating?) announcer, power ups, weapon upgrades, etc. What this one will have is realistic car handling on tracks and accurate portrayals of your car as you attempt to fine tune it and make it a speedier demon. Resellers should buy modestly as this type of racing game has never been too pupular in the USA market. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Alone in the Dark 2 from Infogrames (Japanese) Available 2/26 at $58 |
Super Famicom (Japan) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| A beautifully rendered 3-D adventure game makes its way to the Saturn this week. Alone in the Dark was a well regarded computer game and this sequel disc also has high marks thanks to its intriguing puzzles, graphic detail and overall quality. The control may be a bit awkward at first but you'll get used to it. Think of this game as the gentleman's Bio-Hazard (soon to be released on the Sony Playstation) or perhaps the thinking mans Bio-Hazard. |
Front Mission: Gun Hazard from Squaresoft (Japanese) Available 2/26 at $110 |
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| The highly anticipated sequel to the top selling Front Mission is a side scrolling platform game instead of a strategy game. This one looks a lot like Cybernator from 2 years ago but with the crew of the Front Mission team as the main characters. The graphics look good for a Super Famicom title and the mechs in teh game are intricately detailed. Some of the bosses are stunning to look at and show that the Super Famicom, though dated can still hold its own when it comes to the obligatory end boss. This one will be a great seller thanks in part to its name recognition, and because there has been a dearth of good SFC action titles as of late. Reserve early! | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Virtua Photo Studio (Japanese) Available 2/26 at $64 |
NEC PC-FX | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Power Dolls FX from NEC Home Electronics (Japanese) Available 2/26 at $74 |
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| This CD allows the photographer in all of us to come out as it takes us in search of young Japanese models to photograph and ogle, for lack of a better term. VPS is not really a game in the usual sense but more of an interactive 'situation' where you can take snapshots of models in different poses and in different states of undress. The Saturn version should be the same exact game as the 3DO version which made it to market last your but with cleaner video and some new faces. Perfect for the armchair voyeur. | Babes in mecha would be the first thing that comes to mind when you look at this title. Actual play of this game will soon bring to realization that this is a pretty involved military simulation / strategy game where you command a crack team of girls in battlesuits who take on missions that are given to you. The battle sequences look similar to the ones in Front Mission, where you can see your robot from a 3/4 overhead view and then you take turns attacking, defending, etc. There is quite a bit of animation within the game itself which helps to move the story along and to provide some dialogue and drama to break up the missions. Power Dolls should be a pretty good seller for stores that have a steady PC-FX customer base. This one should also sell well because there is no telling when the next decent PC-FX title might make its way to the market so place your order while supplies are in stock. | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sega Saturn Restocks (USA) | Sony Platstation Restocks (USA) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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