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Sega Saturn (Japan) |
Sony Playstation (Japan) |
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Panzer Dragoon 2 Zwei from Sega (Japanese) Available 3/18 at $58 |
Iron Slam '96 from Human (Japanese) Available 3/18 at $68 |
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| When Panzer Dragoon was released last year around this time, the reception it received from a software starved Saturn crowd was overwhelming. Sega had brought out a shooter with style and grace. The introduction animation helped get you into the game with an involving storyline and gave you a sense of mission. The graphics were excellent, the difficulty was just right and the premise was interesting; good combinations when you can get them right. Panzer 2 returns to the formula but with new twists and turns which allow you to choose the route to take in the game and how to bring up your companion dragon. For example, you start the game off with a hatchling dragon and you can decide how the dragon grows up in this way: If you keep to the ground and become a land lubber, your dragon will grow up to have strong legs and have speed on the ground. If you choose to take to the skies, your dragon will have strong wings but be a poor runner. There will probably be a way to raise your dragon so that he (she?) is good in the air and on the ground so the element of strategy is added to this game. We expect very good sales on this one and the USA version has not been announced yet though a summer `96 release is likely. Pre-orders have been up around Vampire Hunter levels and look for everyone who liked Panzer Dragoon to pick this one up also. Recommended. | Yet another wrestling game comes out for the Playstation. Shin Nippon Pro Wrestling was great, Champion Wrestler was forgettable and Iron Slam looks like it will be a good title judging from the favorable reviews that it has received from the Japanese press. The polygon wrestlers fill nearly 1/3 of the screen and are nicely detailed. Human has had a good track record on the SFC with their Fire Pro Wrestling series and did fairly well on the Sega Saturn with Blazing Tornado from last year. With their wrestling experience, a Sony Playstation wrestling game should be worth taking a look at. Retailers looking for another Shin Nippon Pro Wrestling should probably not put their hopes too high but sales for this one should be good. | ||||||||||||||||||||
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J-League Winning Eleven 2 from Konami (Japanese) Available 3/18 at $68 |
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Gulliver Boy from Hudson Soft (Japanese) Available 3/18 at $59 |
Konami's latest soccer game looks good. Soccer has not been hot these past few months and this one will sell moderately well. J-League Winning Eleven from last year was a good soccer game and its USA port, Goal Storm was a bit better but sales have been lackluster for all but the best sports games on the Sony Playstation. In the Zone and NFL Gameday both sold very well but others such as FIFA `96 and College Slam did not did as well as expected. Winning Eleven 2 features nicely shaded polygon players and gorgeous stadiums to play in. The gameplay itself should be similar to Goal Storm's if not better. Stores may want to pick up a copy for their local soccer nut. We all seem to have one that we know and somewhat love... | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Gulliver Boy was a good PC-Engine role playing game. Unfortunately on the Sega Saturn, it looks like the PC-Engine version, and to be frank, it is the PC-Engine version. The graphics have not been improved and you have to wonder what Hudson was thinking when they bought this title out. The character portraits and the in game graphics look really dated and simply do not belong in a 32-bit game. Role playing fans may take a chance with this title as it is a nice RPG but with games like Magic Knight Rayearth and Linkle Liver Story available on the market, why bother? Gulliver Boy is an inexplicable release and sales for this one should be explicably poor. Stores: A 1-piece should suffice. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Suikoenbu Funsaiki from Data East (Japanese) Available 3/18 at $58 |
Blood Factory from Gremlin/Interplay (Japanese) Available 3/18 at $68 |
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| The sequel to Suikoenbu [Dark Legends] from last year looks a bit better than the original but it is yet another 2-D fighting game in a crowded field of near-perfect arcade translations from Capcom. X-Men and Vampire Hunter set new standards of "True to the arcade versions" on the Sega Saturn and Suikoenbu will be hard pressed to hold a candle to those two juggernauts. Data East have had a dodgy track record with their fighting games. Case in point: Fighter's History looked and felt like Street Fighter 2 so much that Capcom sued (and lost) Data East for imitating it's "look and feel" of Street Fighter. I would have to agree with the court's decision however as FH cannot match up to the playability and the quality of SF2. Then came Fighter's History Dynamite but again, it lacked that certain something that makes a fighting game great; whether it be the character design, the frames of animation, the playability, the control, or um, all of the above. To be fair, we look forward to seeing this game on the Sega Saturn, perhaps Data East have got their act together and now have the Capcom killer on their hands. The first Suikoenbu from last summer sold very well but then again, that was an era when its closest competition was Battle Monsters. Remember that? | Turn about is fair play. American gamers have always envied the fact that Japanese gamers get to play many new games first since they initially come out in Japan. We have had to wait months for titles to get ported over here (unless of course you had a lead on a good import source). Remember when Street Fighter 2 came out in Japan on the SFC first and stores were charging US$140 for that cartridge? Brings back bad memories doesn't it? American gamers have been enjoying Loaded for the past two months and it has become somewhat old. We've all moved on from Loaded onto other things, like say, Alien Trilogy and to a lesser extent Johnny Bazookatone. Make that a much lesser extent for Johnny. Japanese gamers will see Loaded for the first time this week, adorned with a more graphic name. I suppose Blood Factory erases any doubts about the gore content and amount of blood splatter in this game. Beautiful shading effects, sharp graphics and murder and mayhem are the order of the day with Blood Factory. Then again, aren't you glad that you know that already? | ||||||||||||||||||||
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Weekly News |
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| March should set off another busy buying season for SONYPS and SATURN releases. In the next 3 weeks we can look forward to the following games: | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| The NCS What's New page is a weekly offering from our company to let our customers know what is scheduled for release in the coming week. At times, there will be changes in a software title's release schedule but to the best of our knowledge, the items listed on this page are due to be available at the dates posted. Customers are welcome to write or call with inquries. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Saturn top sellers for last week |
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