Official sega dreamcast 12 marapr 2001 by Willzera

EXCLUSIVE! MAKE YOUR

150+ GAMES RATED!!

Official

©Ma

Everyone’s favorite

web-slinger swings onto Sega’s supersystem

SIX PAGES of

CODES!

The most dangerous codes allowed! Including Tony Hawk 2' Trixie!

;+m i

wi ZJ J

PLUS:

Daytona USA,

Sakura Taisen

3, Project

Justice, Prince of Persia 3,

MTV

Skateboarding,

Tomb

Raider Chronicles, Chicken Run, Urban Chaos, Dino Crisis,

Championship

Surfer, King of Fighters,

Resident Evil

BMX,

Maximum

Dave Mirra Pool

:Vd

OWN SKULL-HEAD MARACAS

ly^iI

1 1

BLOOD DONORS WANTED! if you will, a berserk B -movie, horror producer with a twisted sense of humor puts up a miiiion doiiars to anyone who can survive his seven, movie-theme worlds of bloody terror. Michael Reynolds is that producer. And you could use a miiiion bucks.

imagine, fiim

who

Are you willing to make a blood and guts effort - your blood and guts - to survive the unspeakable horror that Reynolds has in store for you? A bloody mess of mutant monsters, over 1000 traps and items, abject terror fused with B -movie humor - how can you pass up an opportunity like this? Finally -

game

a horror

that should require a

surgeon general's warning. You're constantly at risk of heart attack, stroke, bleeding to death. A unique sensory feedback sy stem requires that

you monitor your

vital

signs as you face terror

after terror, brutal attack after brutal attack,

shocking surprise after shocking surprise.

won't really win a miiiion bucks. But you'll get your money's worth - of terror - in the seven bloody worlds that await you.

Give blood.

miiw JftLECO

Dreamcast

www.jaleco.com

FEATURESMORE

FEED YOUR DISEASE:

COMING SOON OF

WHAT YOU JONES FOR

SORTA LIKE REALLY GREAT TRAILERS FOR MOVIES THAT ACTUALLY DELIVER

>GO MAD WITH

DAYTONA USA:

MARACAS! Chris “Samba-san” Charla

NETWORK RACING 46

shows you how

shake and wake—the dead, that is— by custom-crafting death’s head maracas.

>ODCM'S ULTIMATE

DREAMCAST RANKINGS

out to rank every single

it’s all

It’s

to bring

back,

DC game

it’s

online!

CONFIDENTIAL MISSION 49

Mrs.

Our spidey senses are picking up a DC in

the making!

Christian Busic

ODCM

maker.

drags lead

Peel, only controllable...

artist

and producer Greg John

COMMANDOS 2 Really,

where would any of us be without

get an exclusive scoop on the comic-to-

game

and

into

need Lara

a meeting room, to

conversion of the century!

no doubt.

level. ..and

Croft to

doesn’t even

much wonderful mail from many wonderful people is that reminds us of how many wonderful jobs

with getting so

there are,

in this

wonderful world, which

contain long stretches of free time that

can be ing,

filled

up by

writing emails, stretch-

napping, eating and peeing. But don’t

it.

worry-we’re too busy creating

SAKURATAISEN 3 52 our

last issue,

which covered

ODCM

go out and find ’em!

we brought

all

>DC-DIRECT

News, previews and gossip from the world

those precious, precociously titles

Japanoweird

proba-

>TZ-ARCHIVE Every

game we’ve

see

the US. Kind

^>ENDZONE94 ^ ODCM's exclusive TalkBack

Taisen

Sakura 3...

interview

series continues— in this issue, we’ve got

news of like

ever played. Rated!

going

be lucky

enough in

that

bly aren't hit

commandos? About the same place the Dreamcast would be without Commandos

off the job

whole nother

You ask, we answer. The only problem

of Dreamcast!

Remember The Avengers? Think

Emma

mummy

game that takes tombs to

“Forbidden Games,” latest stylish

hit-in-the-making by Sega’s hit team, Hit-

>SPIDER-MAN’S

OD’d on

under wraps, heh-heh). This

(they’re

you a feature called

We’ve got the skinny on the

ever made!

WICKED WEB

puns

fight became a battle, the battle became a war: ODCM’s editorial team it

weeping long enough

badass and

here, but we've already

could be the

Dakota USA arcade machines, we can hardly stop

mummy,

post-)

our beloved, hard-to-find

you this exclusive preview.

The

slugs

have so many favorite pre- (and

>D-MAIL

would put another “Mummy,

<insert horrifically tasteless ending>" joke

pubescent memories of the wonderful time

we spent

THE MUMMY 51 We

straight

from the mouth of Sega of

America President Peter Moore. Just how is

Dreamcast doing? Find

out!

THE GAMERS' DESTINATION

U'ftf

OUR X* MEM

the world's only high-speed,

gaming ISP and network

for

console and

gamers.

a trademark of Sega.com, Inc. and may not be used in whole or in part without the express written permission of Sega.com. "SEGA" is registered in the US Patent and Trademark Office and a trademark of Sega Enterprises, Ltd. ÂŠ SEGA ENTERPRISES, LTD., 2000. All Rights Reserved. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Mr. Charla’s

neighborhood

ALORS! OU EST LEDISQUE?! So, you’ve probably already noticed

ODCM

that this issue of with a It’s

demo

disc.

didn’t

come

What’s the deal?

pretty simple, actually.

Sega

working on developing a new way of distributing It’s

Dreamcast game demos. disappointment to us

definitely a

(and, we’re sure, to you!) not be able

to include the

now

fare from

demo

disc as standard

on, but

think you’ll

agree that as the console wars start

all want Sega company is marshalling its forces and developing new strategies to maximize the numbers of Dreamcast gamers in the US. And a new demo strategy is part of that

to heat up this year,

to win. To do this, the

overall effort. Of course, side,

on the plus

we’ve lowered the newsstand

cost of the magazine, which answers a request that a

lot of

made. So. Bottom

>TESTZONE OR

“TASTES GREAT" “LESS FILLING”? BOTTOM LINES FROM TOP EDITORS

What a

prince.

Not

NEMESIS More

what you

provoking info on

Let's see... if

Power Battles, MTV Skateboarding, Dave Mirra BMX, Gunbird 2, Army Men:

Tony had a

Jedi bike...

Sarge's Heroes, Jet Grind Radio, Tony

MAXIMUM POOL 73

MARS MATRIX 61

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Best Martian since Marvin

TOMB RAIDER V:

DISNEY’S DINOSAUR

CHRONICLES

When

SONIC SHUFFLE

makes

SNOCROSS:

CHAMPIONSHIP RACING

driving

up those

stairs?"

against

We’ll have the latest info on

it.

new demo

can’t really argue

distribution

soon as we have

method as

it.

On to more pleasant topics... Did you know that Dreamcast has nearly 200 games available in North America? one year? After three years, 70 games.

After just

the

NES

Crisis

III

Arena, Rush

game,

didn’t even have

order of overall goodness*.

Hard to do? Yes. Controversial? Of course. A must have? You know it. We’ll

be printing your top rankings

a future issue— check out the story for

Our other big story this month,

details.

of course,

Spider-Man. We’ve been

down to

Treyarch to check it out, and it looks amazing. No pun intended. And of course, we’ve rounded out the

come

TYPING OF THE DEAD

issue with

Fast and furious

URBAN CHAOS 65 why are you

2049, Dino

Shuffles off to Buffalo

KAO THE KANGAROO "Evan,

crisis

Hawk's Pro Skater 2, D2, Ready 2 Rumble 2, Star Ware Demolition, Resident Evil, Legacy of Rain: Soul Reaver, Cannon Spike, NBA 2K1, Looney Tunes

Space Race, Quake

Dave runs for the cookbook

Waltzing Matilda

dinos aren’t a

dead?

CHICKEN RUN

the latest

massive bum-

This month, we’ve ranked every single

FREESTYLE BMX

60 Quack. Quack. Quack. Quack

all

games for Dreamcast:

DAVE MIRRA

GONEQUACKERS

So, wait. She’s not

Button-pressing, eye-popping, cheat-

really love

really is great...

DONALD DUCK:

line:

mer about the no-disc thing, but if it helps Sega to succeed, we have to admit that the

RESIDENT EVIL 3:

MTV SKATEBOARDING 59 You know, Tony Hawk

111

ITS CODETACULAR!

Are dinos ever not a crisis?

PRINCE OF PERSIA 58

steely

DINO CRISIS

high school? Bah!

MORE CODES THAN YOU CAN SHAKEAGAMESHARKAT!

MAX STEEL 68 Maximumly

PROJECT JUSTICE 54 Fairness

readers have

all

of the love that you’ve

to expect.

So have

fun. It’s a

great time to be a Dreamcast gamer!

“Type, Mr. Driller! Type!"

CHAMPIONSHIP SURFER 66 Quite a safari

KING OF FIGHTERS: '99

EVOLUTION 67

A couple

of years late, but quite fun

Later,

ESPN’S NBA 2NIGHT 78 Sounds

a frozen entree, only not tasty

ROGUE SPEAR Rogue-ing, Spear-ing

Chris

*As determined by a majority of votes (i.e., two out ODCM s editorial team. Chris only overruled the results, like, maybe twice. Maybe. of three) cast by

D -MAIL

Letters

LETTER OF THE MONTH

Team ODCM IT

was so excited by

Project

Let

Maraca that we

Editor-in-Chief

also partial to ordering a steak taco

from Carl’s picante partner The Green Burrito (when he’s feeling the

into

Famous it’s

Star. But the bonus is always a wildcard at Carl's.

depth:

Flies, or

Dan would like to note that if he were to die and be reincarnated as a San Francisco restaurant, it’d have to be The Ramp. Nestled in the city’s

now

hip-ified

yuppies, and

[Issue 10,

China Basin area, his

leanings would be replaced

by on-the-bay outdoor dining, dot

com

2 preview

one bacon- and

Dave created this Raziel/Mona Lisa

and we

Well said. Matt,

mag. Something disturbed

we like to feel the Freudian conflicts of Lord of the the societal statements in Mozart’s Magic Flute, even the questions as to the nature of man posed in a modern pop culture piece like The Matrix. Hey, I love a good fighting or action game just like I enjoy a good action flick, but sometimes crave for something more. With games like Soul Reaver and Shenmue already in our grasp, think the future looks good. Matt White, Via email

DAN FITZPATRICK Art Director/Design King

artistic

Art?

love your

advances in visual and audio technology, they have become a totally unique medium for telling stories. They are unique because, unlike other mediums, the player is not just a watcher, reader, or listener; he or she is involved in the story and its characters. Let’s face it, storytelling is a bit of a lost art; we want our movies short and sweet ( Gladiator was considered long), but games give us the chance to really get involved. You said it yourself in your Grandia II review: “videogames have clearly turned into an art form,” but for now it’s only because of beautiful aesthetics. Games might truly become a medium for artistic expression and storytelling, not just visual stimuli. Games can tell much deeper stories than “go to the six dungeons and collect the six crystals.” They could address real emotional, psychological, and societal issues at some point in the near future. We look at other genres as having more

To sum up Captain Charla in two words would be to proudly proclaim the phrase: “Carl's Jr." While he's

that

come down on you guys, but it made me think. With games reaching new heights in interactivity because

CHRIS CHARLA

your Soul Reaver

little literary

accurate).

particularly frisky), he’s

Holiday 2000J. You stated that the game's story “sounds a for our tastes” [page 63]. Now, I don’t want to

time he decides to work with glue. Evan is still trying to find time to play Shenmue, and Fran has now decided to go back and play Skies—again! Between all of this and some pretty furious bouts of Kao this month, things have been pretty crazy (scratch the bit about Kao and this report is

90%

me first say that

me, however,

think he might need better ventilation the next

actually

But

WAS ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE MONTHS!

Chris

hybrid. Freaky.

couldn’t agree more. Our

desire

reach

for

see videogames something more:

To force players to use their brains by evoking emotional responses and

making complex

social

statements. While

developers have

skimmed the surface of

its

potential, the

medium

very

is still

young— and more often than not, very

immature.

Techniques and ideas are being fleshed out, and

much as we Shenmue-

loved

one of the best examples in the genre-it’s still far from the experience videogames will someday achieve. It will require several things: Creative storytelling minds (development houses are now beginning to hire full-time certainly

scriptwriters, but this is only the tip of the iceberg), less

emphasis on ‘bottom

lines'

We’re sick of being patient, speak,

and

creative

too, but

new approaches.

consider

this:

As we

are watching— from front-row seats—the formative

stages of a storytelling limitless. Enjoy

medium whose

potential is virtually

it.

mayonnaise-eriffic club sandwich.

DINA FAYER

Managing Editor We're not saying that without Dina, the sequin industry would but

Add One

Your magazine I

have

some

say that nearly 80% of the annual production of the famous Fresno Sequin Mine is stored in her closet. Of course, if she didn’t wear the massive platform heels, she’d

only need

3. Is there

fold,

let's just

60%.

on...

would like to say love the magazine, and because produced on a Mac, love it even more. Now to the good was and still am a big fan of an often ignored Genesis

First off, it’s

Casting Shadows?

ESI

the best one out there for Dreamcast! Okay,

questions:

NAOMI 2 or NAOMI? always hear about it but never know what it is! Is Sega going to make a VMU camera like the Game Boy

What

stuff:

RPG, Shadowrun. loved its Karma system, and the realtime fighting. was wondering if there is even a chance of a sequel or a remake of this great game for the Dreamcast? don’t know play it to this day. if the game had a large following or not, but Skwerl Boy I

Camera? It would be kind of fun to be able to take pictures or see other people that are also playing online with their DC. any news on a new system from Sega? Sega going to make a VMU charger? It would be nice to just pop your VMU into a charger instead of buying a whole

Via email

4. Is

FRANCESCA REYES Senior Editor Have you seen Fran? No. But this little monkey has, since he sits on top of her monitor. If you look really, really closely, you can see Fran actually reflected in one of his eyes... no, just kidding. That bar code behind him contains Fran’s

new

Matthew Togerez@aol.com Hey, Matthew, here are your answers. 1.

home number though. No joke. See

you can find what

one.

it is...

DAVE CORDON

NAOMI

CPU

Arm

yourself.

board that

arcade games

Associate Art Director Pokemon on Dreamcast.

EVAN SHAMOON

very, very easy with very little noticeable in graphics. The NAOMI 2 is Sega’s newest arcade board, but it has yet to officially debut in any Japanese arcades. The gaming world is anxious to see what Sega has in store, and some of the titles are reported to be amazing. No word on a VMU camera peripheral for Dreamcast. Ditto for any news on a new system from Sega. Not a bad idea for a VMU charger, Matthew. But if Sega or a third party actually made one, it would be more akin to a battery recharger for the small units used by the VMU. There are no plans on it, though, from Sega.

compromise

A funny

show on The WB. A pig that can speak French. Dave ordering something other than chicken. What do those things have in common? You’ll never see any of them. Dave eats chicken like a man possessed by a need for revenge on the whole species. It's creepy...

2. 3. 4.

Associate Editor

The

staff ‘vegetarian’,

soft spot for the local

When

Evan has a Subway.

not ordering the Veggie

Delight (hold the pepperoncini), you

may find him chowing on

a bowl of

chirashi from any garden-variety Japanese restaurant. Hoping to one day “level up" to “vegan +1", he still can’t break his sushi habit.

a fix, you may want to check out your options among the traditional audience of Shadowrun fans who are still busy rolling dice and leveling up to this day. Do a search for “shadowrun” on any Internet search engine, and you're guaranteed loads of sites dedicated to the RPG— both the pen and paper version and the videogame itself. Our own Chris Charla claims both the SNES and Genesis versions of Shadowrun to be “best games ever.”

for

used

in Sega’s arcade machines. Third parties, like Capcom or Namco, also use NAOMI in many of their arcade titles. The bonus of using NAOMI hardware is that it is very comparable to the chips used in Dreamcast, making ports of NAOMI

refers to the

Unfortunately, Skwerl Boy, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of news or rumors regarding any sort of Shadowrun virtual revival on Dreamcast or any system. The game had a huge following, mainly due to its already massive fanbase in the pen and paper roleplaying set. But if you’re still jonesing

EE!

Thank Yu Letter

am what you would call a Zelda fanatic. Over the years have purchased every single Zelda game and loved them all. As immediately went out and bought the latest, Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, and as usual, it was wonderful. But soon after, purchased Shenmue. Now, it’s a rare thing for me to put down Zelda after I've started playing it, but found myself playing Shenmue all of a sudden. Me, a Zelda enthusiast, put down the one game that had kept me I

usual,

little board has the power

This

make DC

owners

very,

very happy.

entertained for over a decade and couldn’t stop performing

the tasks of Ryo Hazuki! This life! It’s

game

Official

# Dreamcast Magazine

March/April

2001

no other

have ever seen

my entire

Nintendo’s masterpiece, but Yu Suzuki did

The story

is like

the best thing since the microwave! It’s hard to feel. am amazed that anything could top

describe the way

intriguing,

it.

the characters are very complex,

www.DailyRadar.com

the environment is like no other, and the gameplay The ending also left me in suspense, which makes

superb.

me yearn

hope that Mr. Suzuki will come out with the second installment of this series as soon as possible, and hope that it will be as wonderful as the first. Because of this extraordinary game, have permanently laid down my Nintendo controller and placed my DC on a pedestal. My gaming lifestyle has changed forever, and have Mr. Suzuki to thank for it.

for the sequel

Sincerely Kyle Foster

Nothing But the Truth

EEI

Your magazine seems to just keep getting better with every wonderful issue. But in the last couple of issues have noticed I

more and more of those stupid “truth” ads peppering your lovely pages. And then the real kicker: the new GDROM even has a Truth movie on it. This is without a doubt the dumbest thing have ever seen in my life. Why would you even waste a small amount of space on this propaganda? am very disappointed. Use the space you have on the disc for games, not government rubbish.

Rubbin’ Racin’

Issue 9,

Fake the Bullet me

say that your

reader since

loyal

ODCM

mag

Issue 1,

is totally stellar. I’ve been a September 1999, and it just

keeps getting sweeter. It would be even sweeter if you would so kindly answer this Canuck’s question. When will Take The Bullet be released in North America? Is it still in development? And, if it is still being developed, will it be online? Keep up the tremendous work.

you could give

me the

scoop on

it,

if it

only a rumor?

Came

Bart

Etowahdevil85@AOL.com

For now, Bart, the Sega-developed for release in

NASCAR

racer

only set

the Arcade under the very, very strange moniker

NASCAR Rubbin’ Racing. The good news is that this particular game is created on the NAOMI board, which may mean a DC port in the near future.

strumagoo@yahoo.com

First off, let

was wondering

cracker_l 00@hotmail.com

December 2000 saw in the DCDirect section that NASCAR games coming out for Dreamcast.

there might be a

Hmmmm ... do we smell a smoker? First off, ODCM doesn't control the content of the disc, so we can’t really speak to that As for the ads in the magazine, they do not replace any of the Dreamcast coverage you pay for— they actually help pay for more great news, previews and reviews. So if you don’t like the ads, just thank them for their support and turn the page.

We haven’t received word from Sega, either way, but we’ll be sure to report as soon as

hear anything.

Until we hear more about NASCAR on Dreamcast, Bart, head to your local arcade, instead.

Sstazz Via Email

For the record, Take the Bullet is still under development according to Andy Campbell (head of Red Lemon, the team who’s responsible for the game). But while there’s no real news regarding the first person online shooter, many have

New Toy

Ed In

your Issue 10, Holiday

2000

issue

feared the

you had a demo for “Toy Commander Christmas Surprise." was extremely pleased to see this because loved the

held’’

original Toy

be publishing the title for our friends across the pond, but keep you posted with any updates as we get ’em for North America.

and

game to be in the same bin as other ‘indefinitely DC titles like the infamous Castlevania: Resurrection. Campbell claims that we should fear not Sega Europe will we’ll

heard of I

Commander. But I’ve never a sequel to Toy Commander,

visit

the video

game

about everyday. So, is Commander or what?

websites just

this a sequel to Toy

Brian Reeves Via Email

Brian, the Toy

Follow Up

Basically,

fantastic.

remember this game for the Genesis; it was didn’t own a Genesis at the time, so of course

in his room glued to the TV set. So here’s the subject of the letter...you ready? Here it comes...When is there going to be another Sword of Vermilion? Has there been another one already that missed? And when they release it for Dreamcast, I

are they going to include a crowbar in

the packaging to

disc

was

a special exclusive stage that No Cliche had created

would go to my buddy’s house for HOURS upon HOURS and play. Even when his mom called him up for dinner, would stay

players

Commander Christmas 2000 demo

Surprise that arrived on the Holiday

hit

Dreamcast Magazine in the UK and the US. As of this moment in time, no plans have been officially announced regarding a proper sequel for the game, but UK DC owners will have a chance to try their hands out on an online-only title called Toy Racer sometime in the near future. Whether we see the game here in the US is very much up in the air as it was created mainly to promote SegaNet in the UK and isn't considered a full game. specifically for the Official

the head with so that they can go about daily

S Fee

For All

I’m disappointed.

but you don’t

You guys give some good news and reviews, Internet. J’Rome wrote 2000 issue and asked which free

know much about the

businesses, such as eating, bathing and even clipping the

into the Issue 10, Holiday

occasional toe-nail?

ISPs were out there that could work with the DC, and you said

Andrew

Keading

ARKaeding@aol.com

Juno, NetZero, and EarthLink.

Ninten-no-no

First,

You mention a book on the history of video games [DCDirect, Not sure about the crowbar, Andrew, but we have heard nothing about a sequel to Sword of Vermilion for any system, including Dreamcast In fact, SoV was Yu Suzuki’s only attempt at a traditional RPG—and although it was met with mixed praise, he and his team, AM2, have since moved onto creating other franchises...including something called

Shenmue. But unlike some

DC daylight (like remake

of Sega’s older licenses seeing

Fighting Vipers),

Sword of Vermilion.

we wouldn’t count on

Issue 10, Holiday 2000], saying that “there’s too

Juno and NetZero require software

to work,

so they

SegaNet with the DC. Second, EarthLink is, in fact, able to work on the DC, but costs $20 a month, which is what kept J’Rome away from SegaNet’s ISP. Shame on you! But, in response to J’Rome’s question-there are some out there, but most don’t have many access numbers, so you might have to pay a little for long distance. can’t possibly connect to

much focus

on Nintendo for our Sega-flavored tastes." was disappointed by that comment. know you guys are a Dreamcast-only magazine, but you really shouldn’t say something that takes away from what Nintendo has done for the gaming industry. A large portion of videogame history IS Nintendo. They are responsible in many ways for how the gaming industry has evolved and have made just as many original and unforgettable games as Sega has. Remember Sega and the Dreamcast wouldn’t have been as great as they are today if it I

Try these

you

live in

the US:

Nintendo buying the Mariners gets two pages, you can see

BlueFrogNet.net Area codes 315, 607, 716 XOasis.com Washington state and Oregon FreePort.com Salt Lake county and Utah county MetConnect.com Area code 212 Napies.net Area code 941 RedGoose.net Area code 212 (not very fast, 33.6K max) NY4Free.net Same as RedGoose.net NoCharge.com Area codes 360, 425, 253, 206, 503, 212, 347, 646, 718, 917

what we mean. But your points about Nintendo are well is great for any system and all companies involved keep the good ideas and innovations coming. Thanks for your letter, Derek.

that aren’t that popular.

wasn’t for a close competitor competitively

and make Sega

Nintendo to motivate them

strive for excellence.

Derek

Via Email

When the Sega Scream

gets one

line

and the president

taken. Competition

Shenmue wasn’t Suzuki’s first an RPG. Meet Sword of

you

live in

another country or don’t

these ISPs, go to

FreedomList.com. They have a huge list of all the free ISPs And there’s lots of ’em out there that are compatible with a computer, but not the DC. Hope that helped anyone out there that needs the Internet so they can play online or surf with their DCs.

Anonymous

try at

Via Email

Vermilion on Genesis.

March/April

2001 Official

# Dreamcast Magazine 5

D -MAIL

Letters

m Kawaii desune!!!

cool to have anime versions of yourselves RPG Issue and think that's cool. It's just that you guys look a lot like the

Hey guys. Just got the Holiday issue and when turned towards the “Team ODCM” section.. .well, don’t know if you guys have ever watched an anime series called Love Hina but, thought Keitaro and Co. from Love Hina had taken over ODCM! I’m sorry Chris, but the anime version of you looks I

for the big

gang from Love Hina (one

VGA= Very Good Adapter have been a hardcore gamer for years and enjoy your magazine very much. feel you guys do a great job on the magazine with all your reviews and all. But there is one thing that has been bothering me lately, and I’m hoping that you guys can help me out. also hope that this will open a lot of other Dreamcast gamers’ eyes to the things that are available to them. feel keep a good track with all the games that come out for the system and all, but recently found out about a socalled VGA adapter that hooks up to your PC and enhances the graphics. would like to know how come this has never been reviewed, and how come Sega doesn’t market this product more? Also, if you could give me any suggestions as to which brand to buy, because found a few of these VGA adapters and want to know which one to get. Oh yeah! keep up the good work! I

Miroslav Zugovic

mzugovic@aol.com

lot of questions, but we have lots of we suspect that Sega must be working on new console, there’s nothing concrete to prove

Edwin, you’ve got a

answers. While

some

sort of

company

that they are. For now, the efforts

its

all

its

online servers, so is

could give

Right now, Jaleco for

title,

A good guess

new US

publisher for Climax

the

Bleed. The latest release date

will

still

games?

Sam T. s91985@hotmail.com

it.

is III

February, but we’re not sure

groundbreaking title that tried loads of new things and succeeded, for the most part. For that, it deserved as many

kudos as

Magic 3 were coming to Dreamcast. can’t wait for Black and White, but the way it keeps getting pushed back feel as it will never be out of development. So could you please tell me what you know about any of these excellent

though

strategy

Um, like we said in our previous answer: there’s no information at all about any upcoming consoles or systems from Sega beyond Dreamcast, so unfortunately, we have no clue about backward compatibility. We loved Shenmue, but fully realize that it's an unique title that appeals to certain gamers but not to all. Our score in ODCM Issue 8, November 2000 was a 10 out of 10, mainly for the experience of playing it and its level of ambition. There’s no denying that Shenmue is, and will probably continue to be for generations to come of games, a

have

in-office gameplay (thanks to a 32” bunch of them ourselves, we all Sega VGA box is probably the most

focusing

any information or confirmation that a “Dreamcast 2” the way is very much rumor and gossip at this point.

you're reading this answer,

almost every instance of

and energy on Dreamcast and

Graphics’ horror Miroslav, you’ve stumbled across the secret to getting the best graphics performance out of your Dreamcast! In the ODCM offices, we’re all about the VGA box and we use it for

Jeff

Via Email

for the kind words, Jeff, even if we always pegged Dan as more like the Seta Noriyasu character, and Fran as more of a Urashima Haruka. but... With regard to your questions regarding a full -blown import section in ODCM. we're still considering it~but at this point, we hardly have enough room for all the domestic releases in the magazine! Please do check out DCDirect for news on what’s going on across the pond in Japan, though, as we just love to check out all the wacky import-only game box sets and limited edition swag that will never see the light of day in the US. Check out forthcoming issues for more info on Card Captor Sakura and Aa Megamisama merchandise!

Thanks

too much like Keitaro in the “RPG” episode (#8) of Love Hina . Let's see: Chris is Urashima Keitaro, Dan Is Sakata Kentaro, Dina is Konno Mitsune. Francesca is Maehara Shinobu, Dave is Shirai Kimiaki and Evan Is Haitani Masyuki. I guess you guys thought It’d be

suggestions? Keep the anime character drawings of yourselves and on cover stories or features. It gives ODCM a distinct flavor that no other magazine has. Also, know you guys are busy, but do you think you guys can dedicate at leat two pages for import reviews or previews? Games like Love Hina Ah! My Goddess!, Card Captor Sakura for DC are NEVER going to come out in the US, so think It’d be cool to give us importers a heads up on these and other import games. Keep up the great work guys. It’s a great time to be a Sega fan.

my favorite

anime). That's cool. Thanks to you, I've been watching it again. Oh. have you guys played the Love Hina game on the DC yet? Anyway, thought your holiday cover story was the best ever yet and Dina, I loved your “The Night Before Dreamcastmas..." story. Not to mention the HUGE reviews of the best RPGs of the year for the DC ( Skies of Arcadia and Grandia II). This is the best issue and can't thank you enough. Arigato gojaimasu!!! Well, before go. can make a few

Don’t

fret,

Sam! Strategy games are

still

on the way! With the

exception of Age of Empires 2, the rest of the games on your list are still slated to arrive on Dreamcast in 2001. Peace

Makers has since been renamed Conflict Zone and is being published by Red Storm for release sometime in the spring, while Heroes of Might & Magic 3 should be shipping or near shipping by the time you read

this,

courtesy of UbiSoft. Black

and White, on the other hand, is a little more up in the regards to an actual release date. But rest assured-

game

air in

development for in the coming year...we’re just not sure at what point it will be arriving. Take heart, Sam, and check back next issue for more information on all three titles. according to Sega, the

Dreamcast and

set to

hit

is still in

shelves sometime

if (at the time on schedule.

either February or March. Not too long

of a wait, right?

monitor). After testing a

agree that the

official

reliable— but there are a few out there that test out.

And

or so, try out

it’s

games

we have yet to

won’t be able to go back to a regular S-Video or connection.

It’s

Are U.S.

EJ Toys

you have a monitor and a spare $30 like Skies of Arcadia or Shenmue. You

true,

RCA

seems

such neat stuff

hit

been

Sega

is thrilled to

come up

trying to get these goodies,

isn’t

with

one of

the website with the release of Sonic

Adventure-e\jen multiples of the Chao character) that Sega

that interested

in selling its

seems

stuff that

much,

it really true that Sega will be launching a whole new system called Dreamcast 2 that will be better than the PS2,

because they won’t ship outside of the promised land... So have four kids who can’t have their plush buddies YET again,

will also have DVD room on it? case the DC 2 comes out, will the games for the first one will be able to play them on the second one, and what about the controls and stuff like that? Did you guys like Shenmue? played it, and didn’t like it at all. mean, it has great graphics and a good story too, but think that it is kind of slow...you guys shouldn’t grade it more than a 7. Well, at least, that is what think. This is my last question: when will III bleed come out? have been waiting for it for MONTHS. Edwin Romero

and a magazine that just reminded them of it all! Boo on Sega.com for it’s inability to slap a customs sticker on a package, and ship it via snail mail beyond the border!!!!

1. Is

and

2. In

One

ticked off net

mommy!

Lorraine Fearnall

feamall@sprint.ca

metallica999@hotmail.com

Official

that although

(I've

each, since they

H Back to the Future

actually available to us here North

of the border— FINALLY.

But

and

loved seeing the Sonic plush toys in your magazine,

was hoping that they were

that good.

Dreamcast Magazine March/April 2001

More, more, more letters! We want it all; from questions about possible Sega sequels to what Chris’ favorite Infocom game is. The more obscure, the better. And now, if you write the best letter of the issue, we’ll reward you for your time well-spent by sending the winner a copy of Blaze’s latest import-tastic DC-X peripheral which enables those with a

ESStrat

want to know one thing. Are the strategy games ever coming to Dreamcast? I’ve read in your mag that PeaceMakers, Age of Empires 2, and Heroes of Might and I

just

US DC to

play import

games

with ease! For

info

on the DC-X, check out our review in DC Direct. But to write us at: ODCM, c/o Imagine Media, 150 North Hill Drive, Brisbane, CA 94005. Or we’d love you even more (is it possible?) for email at:

dcmag@imaginemedia.com Happy New Year!!

www.DailyRadar.com

epic adventure

Dreamcast

‘Record itill

Of lodoss

War. .

“Record OfLodoss War.

definitely satisfy

looks

Dreamcast owning Diablo fans”

and sounds on the

brilliant

Dreamcast”

-www.gamespot.com

www.igndc.com

mm Experience the world of Record of lodoss War up close and personal in an epic 3D action/RPG only for Sega Dreamcast. Take control of a mysterious warrior from the past, resurrected to save the future, on a colossal quest fdled with pulse pounding action and high adventure. Join forces with popular characters from the Lodoss universe and combat hundreds of vicious enemies with dozens of spectacular spells and customizable weapons.

fG & ©

998

RYO MIZUNO, GROUP

SNE,

Enterprises, LTD.

All rights

reserved.

All

Shoten Publishing/ESP.

ENTERTAINMENT

Animated Blood Animated Violence

Sega, Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of

other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.

NEWS

ARCADE MEUS

And on the seventh day He

said, "Let there

fighting games!"

nttacif IT’S

BEEN AGES, BUT THE WAIT

over.

Sega

is finally

its

ALMOST

taking off that prissy

sundress and stepping back

into the ring with

fresher-than-freshly-baked-muffins brawler,

Spikers Battle.

may

not be Virtua Fighter X,

but from what we’ve seen, Friggin’

it’s

definitely Virtua

Awesome.

Amusement Vision has reassembled its much-lauded AM2 team to create a game which, by

all

accounts, borrows heavily from

Virtua Fighter, Power Stone 2 and Spike Out The arcade game runs on Sega’s NAOMI board

(which virtually guarantees that the arrive

game

will

Dreamcast),

and might

sequel to the Spike Out series (read: Final Fight with fully

freedom of movement). The influence

of the

Virtua Fighter veterans is very is evident,

however, especially considering the

how the

attacks and combination system works.

As in the original game, players will have an amazing level of freedom in 3D space. Stages are closed in— as they are

and four players are able in

a Battle Royal

mode

(in

Fighting Vipers—

to join in

on the action

the arcade, this

accomplished by

linking four cabinets

together-

so the probability of an online component for the

DC version coming along, at least at some down the line, is definitely good). A small

point

map

displays each fighter's relative location

easier to track than the ones

THIS

MONTH

WHAT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT

you'll

see

much

the area, and the four-player battles are

game like Power Stone 2, for example. Many new characters have joined the familiar cast,

and special items are available

throughout the match. Many of the stages feature

fully

destructable backgrounds, from

which elements can be ripped and used against

Spike Out

force for

this

grafitti in this

game

gets: instead

of rollerblades, cops,

and chicks

cool duds,'

modes for team fighting arep it’s ^ot fighting, ffgfiting^ and fighting. Oh, yeah— making there way into the game, and fighting. but were unavailable in the version shown to j ODCM. All in all, Spiker's Battle is set to be one i. of the most amazing get-your-angst-out fighting games of the new century. Perfect timing: we're just about ready for another good fight. your enemy. Several

it!

10 11 Peripheral vision Sega’s hot potatoes 12 Electric playground 13 Hooray for Hollywood 14 Separated at Birth 15 Gaga

The

screenshot is as close to Jet Grind Radio as

Segagaga

also said to be

•

Dreamcast News Network

RTiTRGK comiiG soon

Tour de FORCE VIRTUAL ON 4— VIRTUAL ON: FORCE- HAS BEEN announced by Sega’s Hitmaker studio, and it has VO.OT addicts (such as ourselves) chomping at the

bit.

hit,

The

game

will

apparently put a large emphasis on

were.

cooperative play— players protect their

will

have

teammates during

to serve

battle.

and

During the

two-on-two battles, each player on a team assumes

one

two positions—the leader or the comrade. When the leader is destroyed, his team loses. On the other hand, when the comrade’s life is depleted, a large force field forms around him or her. Leaders can then go into the force field and share their life meter with the comrades in order to revive them during battle. The developers call this technique of

‘rescue dash’.

Hitmaker has also implemented a new weapon the game. Called the ‘Jamming Wave’,

allows

players to disorient their opponents by destroying the

effectiveness of their radar and disrupting their view with static. Virtual-On Force

approximately 30

percent complete, and has only been announced for the

arcades at this time. No release date

for

the arcade version has been announced.

March/April

2001

Official

# Dreamcast Magazine 9

> DCURECT

Somewhere Sega

the near future...

entrust

will

its

Dreamcast News Network

largely to the market’s

domination

by a competitor called ‘Dogma’ (curi-

prospective

Dogma’s logo looks a

and happiness to the prodigious talents of a young boy and girl. The company calls this project

ously,

‘Segagaga’. Their objective

then, well—game over. You’ll have

health

redesign the company’s business strategy,

order to help

"To

lost glory.

And

as bizarre as

regain

Turismo— hmmm.) If falls to 0%,

that of Gran

go scout

initiate

for

new

creators,

outside of Sega HQ,

absolutely

which

projects— a large number of

will

(there are

108

real

former Sega

rumored

of these in the

The second part very

much

hits

be more than game).

of the

game

the style of a standard

RPG. The player

will

roam

inside

what

unless

and

something).

Uzis, or

It’s

even

experience market changes. For

—

sounds.

like,

idea

possible to go to Akihabara and

Sega’s mission, the player has only three years time and every action will have serious consequences down the

yes, this

‘battles’ will

pocket

fulfill

The game itself is essentially divided into two parts. The first one runs like a simulation game: Sega is in somewhat of a financial rut, due

we have no

these businessmen are toting

and

Jet Grind Radio's

Dawson's Creek’s

Gum

Michelle Williams

meet various

characters and get into sundry battles (although

these

Sega’s market share to

its

lot like

example,

The truth is, the resemblance touted by this boxout should be considered more a tribute to Dave's unflagging obsession with Ms. Williams

precious,

line.”

actually looks like

Segagaga, it looks like all of the ads are featuring Dogma— but if you

do well during the game, you should be able to track your progress by watching the evolving ad situation. If Sega starts popping up more often, that’s

all

to the

good.

and every action will have serious consequences down the line. The story is very strong, and is fleshed out through a series of rendered cut-

25 minutes

game

includes around

of animation,

done with

a very distinctive Japanese design sensibility).

It is

even possible to

ognize a few key Sega figures, the former

CEO

bureaucracy,

rec-

Ichiro Imajiri.

To help you out with you’ll

actress does have the

kinda very

like Michelle Williams... including

own

our

Chris Charla. "Disturbing" only

scratches the surface of this one, kids.

Broad Banditos

have only 3 years to fulfill Sega’s mission—time is precious, You’ll

scenes (the

how much she Gum. In fact, while the same blonde good looks Gum, Dave seems to think EVERYONE looks

than an observation about

beginning of

at the

WHILE WE'D LIKE TO SAY that the resemblence between JGR 's fiesty, wall-tagging heroine, Gum, and Dawson's Creek 's teen drama queen, Michelle Williams (a.k.a. Jen), was too uncanny to mention, we'd rather stick to the truth: it's much easier to justify.

all

of the

have a super-

DSL and cable-modem users: Get ready to be happy THE LONG-PROMISED DREMCAST broadband solution has finally arrived. Available exclusively through the online Sega Store at Sega.com, this is the first (and only) broadband adapter available on a home console. Replacing the modem on the side of your console, the adapter costs $59.99 and allows one to plug their DSL or cable modem connections directly into their Dreamcast. Quake III: Arena, Unreal Tournament and POD: Speedzone are the only games which currently support the adapter, but all future online multiplayer titles (read: Phantasy Star Online) will be supporting it. Grab one of these adaptors and rule the world of mlutiplayer gaming.

computer called ‘Teradrive’— which actually a real computer based

was

on a 286 CPU that contained a

Megadrive put a

lot of

inside.

humor

including a scene

making GDROMs ultimate goal

Hitmaker has also into the game, where people are pancakes. The

to reach the perfect

score of 100%.

The its

game

surprise

will

many it

with

should

also give Sega’s fans a chance to

express their opinions. Ever wanted to growl “Hey! You’re not doing this

someone who matters? As

long as you’re

PULSEMAN

SEGA 1994 (JAPAN) MEGA DRIVE

The import-only Sonic

content and design, and

right!” at

DREAM ON GAMES WE WISH WERE ON DC

Japan, now’s your

chance. Unfortunately the

game

only available across the pond.

knock-off platformer

seemed answer

Sega’s

Capcom’s

enduring Megaman series, but managed to stand on its own two mechanical feet. The creation of a lab scientist,

Puiseman was able

bounce

off walls

using his super attack, while destroying enemies for the greater good. While it never came to the US, we do have fond memories of it back in the day.

www.DailyRadar.com

Know

OM THE PERIPHERAL Panther DC

mind, however.

It’s

actually

based on the basic design of the Panther

was conceived as a new way Quake and Unreal. When

PC, which

for

Quake

Kiss:

with

the

and Psycho Circus each

its

Half-Life

III,

own in-game button

use with the

controller. Unfor-

tunately, this

shooter, the rollerball to

control

left

of the stick

method of

not the most

intuitive— it

used to control the

/ ~t

settings set specifically for

of control for first-person shooters

used with a first-person the

;gm

With such fantastic flying games like Starlancer, Air Delta and Aerowings2 available, the Dreamcast was in need of a good flight stick— and got it. The Panther DC from MadCatz wasn’t originally created with flying in

will

take hours,

% lis

not days, to really get the

hang of using the stick and combo, and even when

direction you’re

v:;

ball

you’ve mastered trackball

it,

the

far too sensitive

to allow the kind of control you need to play successfully.

But using it with your flying is perfectly acceptable ...and we’d even recommend it.

games

MidiLand S4 8200

Sega

Look no further

Finally!

for a

way to power your

DC and

4XVMU An

Blaze DC-X

VMU that has the

official

your home theater system than Midland's S4 8200 speakers: they’ve

four different ‘banks’ that can be

got 5.1 (left/right front and rear, center,

instantly accessed,

and subwoofer) sound, Dolby

memory as

Decoder, inputs for analog Left/Right,

and

optical,

room to support plenty of saves! With

Digital

RCA

VMU,

each with as much one standard now able to use a single

you’ll find in

to take care of

all

your saving

needs. But (you knew there’d be a

digital options. Everything’s controllable

LCD

you’re

VMU

SP/DIF and RCA

through the included remote, and the system’s status is displayed on a cool

Hook ’em up to your player, TV and anything else you want to sound good. 200W of total power at $299—what a bargain! set-top

Perhaps the coolest (undocumented) feature of Interact’s Gameshark is its ability to make import titles run on an

while the unit

is light,

large capacity,

when

‘but’)

streamlined and of

it’s

put into practice

box.

there are plenty of problems to be found.

DVD

Not only

Dreamcast,

there a growing

list

games

that are either incompatible or glitchy

when

paired up with the

4X VMU, but

there’s also the drag of not having

LCD screen

to utilize for mini-games.

Take

into consideration

VMU

American Dreamcast, although it requires you to plug its bulky cartridge into a second VMU slot. Blaze has released a disc whose sole purpose is to turn any Dreamcast (we tested it on US and Japanese machines) into an international beast—and it does so flawlessly. Simply put in the disk, start the machine, and swap the DC-X with an import title when it tells you to. Finally, you can play your favorite Japanese dating sims on your US Dreamcast! Or something. Highly

recommended!

the fact that the

best used for large-capacity save

games, like Skies of Arcadia or NFL 2K1, and that both of those games use the screen in ways vital to enhancing gameplay. So while the 4X VMU is handy in most cases, be aware of its drawbacks.

rn * HOT WE

We want

LIST Panzer Dragoon Saga 2

3. Half-Life

3. Soul Calibur

4. Evil 5.

Twin

Shenmue

3. Sonic Adventure

4. Half-Life

Phantasy Star Online

Lwww.dreamcastmagazine.com

2 2

Dragonball Z

5. Eternal

2. Nights

You want it badly: 1. Shenmue 2. NHL2K2

...

We all hope & pray for: 1.

game

Champions

You’re dying to play with: 1.

bleem!cast

The DVD The zip drive The camera The MP3 player

4. 5.

TEN Dim JUI TOP BEST 2000 !

DIDN’T START THE FIRE

badly:

Sonic Adventure 2 2. Phantasy Star Online 1.

SELLING TITLES, DEC.

1 NFL2K1 2

SEGA SEGA

NBA 2K1

3 Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 4 Shenmue

CAPCQMv

ACTIVISION

SEGA 5 Crazy Taxi SEGA 6 Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2 MIDWAY 7 Sonic Adventure SEGA 8 Grandia

UBISOFT

9 Tomb Raider: Revelation

10 Resident March/April

Evil

2001 Official

<§'

CAPCOM

Dreamcast

capcom.com

El DOS CAPCOM

Dreamcast Magazine

11 i

registered trademark of

DC DIRECT

Dreamcast News Network

Monster Mash "Sega Spud Dive 2K" shatters the line between product promotion and performance art With so many great games, an increase in sales and another mind-blowing price drop, this past year has proven to be nothing short of ‘spud-tacular’ for Dreamcast. Hence the

Sega Spud Dive 2K,

held

the heart of Hol-

lywood just outside the famous Mann’s

Chinese Theater. With a super-sized Angelyne (billboard, that

is)

presiding over the peeled,

and whipped goodness, the lucky conjumped into a tank of more than 2,000 gallons of creamy mashed potatoes in search of the letters S-E-G-A. The payoff? A chance to win a brand new Dreamcast— plus all-you-can-eat Sega DC games FOR LIFE, plus a thousand dollars in cash. boiled

testants

After randomly choosing five intrepid spud divers— all of whom were guaranteed a new

Dreamcast and a bundle

Sega games for was given 30

their effort— each contestant

seconds

to navigate the tuber-iffic matrix.

thrilling ‘dive-off

determined the Grand Prize

winner, and after his second successful

immersion, Levi Buchanan of G amefan Online walked away with the whole kit and caboodle. Sega Dreamcast

games

Even George W. and Al helped celebrate, agreeing to a spud-wrestling match. Needless to say,

was a

tie.

for all of

eternity.. .imagine that!

Fans, tourists and even street performers

gathered 'round to check out the Sega Mobile Assault Tour vehicles and enjoy the festivities,

merch

as Sega reps gave away armloads

anyone who could come up with trivia questions like “What is Sonic the Hedgehog? Anyone?”

the answers to kind of animal

and

to winners of

impromptu challenges

“Okay, people, stick your heads

toes and

let’s

see who can hold

for

a free copy of

(like,

the pota-

their breath

the longest!”). Ah, what kids these days

will

Shenmue.

We’d

who

call

him The Proud Winner, but can anyone submerses himself in a vat of a whole crowd of people

voluntarily

potatoes

in front of

possibly care about a

Official

#Dreamcast Magazine March/April 2001

little

thing called pride?

www.DailyRadar.coml

Dreamcast News Network

FVI NEUS FEED March

April 2001: The World of

Dreamcast News |

Updates

Rumors

Discover the

l8t'

Will* You

Survive the '4i

Electronic

Hhrrof. Ml

*8*

Playground

Couch potatoes, rejoice!

The Discovery Science Channel has launched a new 13-part series, Electric Playground, which will debut in the second quarter of 2001. Broadcast in

Canada since

1997, the

new

game

half-hour,

weekly videogame series is co-produced by Discovery Science Channel and Elecplay.com Productions, Inc.

One of the few

televised sources for video-

information, the

show

(previously

unavailable in the US) takes viewers

behind-the-scenes in the

game

industry,

featuring interviews with celebrity

game

The many faces

and designers and doling out hearty helpings of news, reviews and previews. players

you’ll artist’

of Electronic Playground... If you watch the show, note that most of those faces aren’t sporting the ‘moody expression favored by Tommy Tallarico (bottom right).

—

The show will be hosted by its creator, Victor Lucas life-long videogame fan and graduate of the Film and Theater School of Canada and by Tommy Tallarico, founder of Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc. (the award-winning multimedia post-production audio house, which primarily composes and produces music for videogames). Want to know more? We do, too. Check out www.elecplay.com,

—

www.epontv.com and www.epradio.com

> 4X MEflORV CARD: WHEN

USING YOUR 4X

more information.

for

Incompatibility List

MEMORY CARD

•Changing pages during a game can be bad news.

game

all

possible,

before attempting to change pages.

try to exit

your current

Failure to

do so may cause games to malfunction.

following

Memory Card

games or

will

Dynamite Cop • FI World Grand Prix Carrier

Rayman 2

following

but

may

binary and a readme. verify this

rumor firsthand,

does seem possible that someone would be able to port Linux code to Dreamcast’s

GAMES WITH The

interesting things— a few

some

While we can’t

WindowsCE OS—and

•Airforce Delta •

a post at www.zophar.net that

•

screens,

when trying to access the 4X Memory Card:

not recognize the 4X

Linux, the hardest

apparently been ported to Dreamcast.

shows some

either crash

Linux on Dreamcast?!

of the hardcore operating systems, has

There

INCOMPATIBLE GAMES The

> RUnOR:

YOU GOTTA SEE THIS! If

games can be used

appears that

somebody finally has. Check it out.

‘ISSUES’ with the

4X Memory

Card,

contain problems of varying degrees:

•Zombie Revenge Switching pages on

certain screens

(i.e.,

Room or Options Screens) in the game may cause the game to freeze. • Virtua Tennis Switching pages may affect the game so that you cannot enter the World Circuit Mode without resetting. Training

CAPCOM capcom.com

Dreamcast If

you have any further questions, contact Sega

Customer Support at 1-800-USA-SEGA (872-7342) CAPCOM CO., LTD. 1 999. 2000 * CAPCOM U.SA, INC, 1 999, 2000. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. CAPCOM and the CAPCOM logo are registered trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTD. RESIDENT EVIL and CAPCOM EDGE are trademarks of CAPCOM CO., LTD. Sega, Dreamcast and the Dreamcast Logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Sega Enterprises, LTD.The ratings icon is a registered trademark of the Interactive Digital Software Association. ;

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

March/April

2001 Official# Dreamcast

Dreamcast's biggest games get even bigger: supersized for the silver screen T OMB RAIDER: THE MOVIE Well,

SHEN-nOVIE?

you haven’t seen the teaser trailer for the

highly-anticipated

Tomb Raider movie

yet, there’s

probably

a good reason— like you’re Amish. At any rate, it’s definitely worth a download. ..all of those yummy Matrix and Beyond Thunderdome visual riffs make the action— not to mention Angelina Jolie, herself— look very, very solid. Time will tell, however, if the film is destined to join the ever-growing list of horrible videogame-to-film adaptations

(it’s

being

Simon West and, well, you Check out www.tombraidermovie.com, and judge for yourself.

directed for the big screen by

saw Con

Air).

peruse the

trailer

RESIDENT evil comes to theaters To our delight, Milla Jovovich has been cast as the female lead in the upcoming Resident Evil movie. The $40 million film is to be directed by Paul Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Soldier), and will reportedly feature Girlfight star Michelle Rodriguez and David Boreanas of TV’s Angel.

AM2

of CRI has officially announced Shenmue: the Movie on the Shenmue.com website.

Wow.

There’s so much potential for a beautiful there— but there’s so much room for error in We don’t know, at this point, whether the to pull out all the technical and cinematic stops in a full scale, Final Fantasy-e sque event, or to merely ‘adapt’ the game itself to the screen. One rumor has AM2 simply re-assembling Dreamcast-rendered game footage and packaging it in movie format. Which is an film

production!

makers intend

interesting idea,

but—while we’re confident

that the

game

would indeed translate well into a strictly narrative form asis—we have to admit we’re hoping for more. Whatever shape it takes, the 90-minute movie in January in five Japanese cities: Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Fukuoka and Sapporo) will feature English voices

(screened

with Japanese subtitles.

other

Shenmue news, Suzuki’s classic recently made #1 selling magazine: TV Guide. We pretty cool that the game could make head-

the cover of America’s

thought lines in

was

such a mainstream publication.

NIGHTMARE CREA TUR ES-CREEPING CLOSER Kalisto, the developer of the recent Nightmare Creatures

for

Dreamcast,

big screen.

working hard to get

Though the game

received (see

itself

ODCM #6 for our

its

game

onto the

wasn’t very well-

professional opinion),

Kalisto apparently believes that the concept

better translate into a film than

would

did into a

game. It’s being produced by AGP, and Ralph Zondag Dinosaur is set to direct. More news (

hear

)

it.

“Visual riffs from Matrix and

Beyond Thunderdome make

—

the action and Angelina Jolie, herself look very, very solid"

—

14 Official# Dreamcast Magazine

March/April

2QQ1

www.DailyRadar.cQm

> GAME UflTCH: Phantasy Star Online FOR

bit

A FANTASY

US, STILL

While

have to wait a

still

longer

until

American

receive our

build of Sonic

Team’s

long-awaited Phantasy Star Online,

the Japanese reviews are in—and

oh boy, are they good. As if we needed another reason to get excited about PSO, we have yet another: Esteemed Japanese gaming bible Famitsu Weekly has

awarded the game

prestigious

its

Platinum award, which has been given to only a handful of titleslike Zelda,

Solid

Soul Calibur Metal Gear ;

64— in

the and Mario good company, eh?

past.

Pretty

> MORE ONLINE: One Nation Under DC WILL THE REAL MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER RPG PLEASE STAND UP? With Phantasy Star Online ready

make its debut on Dreamcast modems everywhere, Sega has also been secretly working on yet another online RPG for the system, called FarNation. The difference between the two titles? FarNation will be taking Dreamto

and

cast onto the larger world stage by

introducing console

gamers

to a

genre only frequented by PC players: persistent world,

massively

multiplayer RPGs.

While

little is

actually

known about

FarNation, including the game’s external developer

(it’s

not being

handled by inhouse teams),

know

that

we do

allow players to

will

enter and exit the game’s massive

world at any time of the the

game

keeps

day—while

world continues on and

The

evolving.

tively set for release

game

tenta-

sometime

the coming year, but you can

expect more information about FarNation as

happens.

> HUG UflTCH: Grandia 2 Ryedo’s mug on tchachke

came

a mug! This from our

to us

friends at UbiSoft— here’s hoping

comes

to you,

Official

(& Dreamcast Maga7ine

rrnrrr

IMF! te GO FROM

your

own

THIS...

...TO

WHEN WE HEARD THAT SAMBA 2000 would

THIS!

have a Caribbean

theme, we knew we had to have a pair of maracas fit for a pirate. When Chris found these cheap plastic skulls (conveniently, on another pair of maracas) we headed over to the ODCM skunkworks in Oakland, CA and got to work. Now, here’s where we tell you how to do it yourself.

BEFORE YOU START! You'll need: a set of maracas (we used a cheap third party knock-off version),

something

to replace the

standard maraca top with (we used skulls), screwdrivers, cutting implements, lots of glue, spray paint,

and about four hours.

WARNING: There

a very good chance you could ruin your

maracas in this process. Using power tools is dangerous and you should always wear proper eye protection. Do not regard what you see

how to handle power tools. be smart. The photos were carefully staged, anyway. This article is presented for entertainment purposes ONLY. We take no responsibility for any future events in which you wreck your $79 maracas, your Dreamcast, or sundry parts of your body. us doing

these photos as an example of

We are stupid. You

REMOVE THE CIRCUIT BOARD and

spring device, then cut all of the unnecessary plastic in the maraca head using a coping saw. If you’re stupid, you can use a roto-zip we did on the first maraca, but it actually makes for less precise cutting.

away like

ONCE THE MARACA CORE will fit in the new maraca head, it’s time to bust out the hot glue gun. Fill the back of the whatever you use) with glue, except for where the yellow button is, and glue the maraca core to the new head. (Note: Yes, our glue gun is pink. You got a problem with skull (or

that?)

Official (§'

Dreamcast Magazine March/ April 2001

UNSCREW THE TOP of the maracas, along with the screws on the side. There may be screws under the paper label; unscrew those, too. Remove the shaker and weights from the top of the maraca head and use a screwdriver to separate the two maraca halves if they stick. (Note: if the two halves stick, you probably need to unscrew some more screws).

THE INSIDE OF ONE MARACA

PREPARE THE REPLACEMENT maraca heads. In this case, we simply sawed the skulls in half with a coping saw. We actually found that the coping saw worked far better than the roto-zip for precise work. In general, the bigger the replacement heads, the better. These skulls were about as small as you can go.

CHECK TO SEE if the slimmed down maraca core will fit inside your new maraca head. If not, continue the slimming

POP THE MARACA

REFLECT ON THE CHUNKS of maraca that are now missing. Put the shaker element in some free space in the new head. You can also make your own shaker device if the original won’t fit. If you forget to put the shaker in before you glue the head shut, urn, tell everyone that they’re “ghost” maracas which shake silently, like we did with one of ours...

into the fridge to set the glue. When it’s remove the circuit board and spring, and cut out a hole the yellow maraca button. Replace the spring and board.

set,

for

half will look like this (in this shot, we’ve already started cutting some of the body off). This is the heart of the maraca—that spring in the middle is the motion sensor. What you want to do is cut away all of the plastic that isn’t needed, so the maraca’s ‘guts’ or core will fit inside the new maraca head. (Note maraca top and shakers in background).

process. (Note: if you wanted to be really hardcore, you could remake a custom housing for the motion detector and circuit board, but we found it faster just to replace the head and use as much of the original maracas as possible.)

’WARNING:

This pirate-flavored feature

rated Arrrggh!

‘If

you forget to put the shaker

before you glue the head shut, um...tell everyone that “ we did with one of ours..

they’re ‘ghost’ maracas that shake silently, like

Maracas! PAINT EVERYTHING TO MATCH your new parts. Don’t forget mask (cover) the head when you paint the part of the handle that holds the original maraca core. You may need several coats of paint to do the job right. While the paint is drying, drink an appropriate beverage from the fridge in Step Seven and play a quick game of Chu Chu Rocket to to

pass the time.

DONE.. .glue the front of the maraca head to the back, which contains the maraca core. You should actually paint the handle before you do this, which hasn’t been done yet in this picture. You should also test the fit before applying the glue—you may need to widen the ‘neck’ of the new head to accomodate the maraca handles.

ALMOST

MOMENT OF TRUTH! We made our heads point up at about a ten-degree angle so they would face forward when the handles were held (instead of pointing downward). You may

THE

want to make similar adjustments. Also at this point, you’ll need to sand down any excess glue where the heads are and maybe apply some touch-up paint (or Wite-Out).

joined,

—

Add a

pirate hat

and you

Samba 2000 Check back next issue, when we preview the game using our new maracas!

ready for action. style!

HERE’S ANOTHER SHOT of the winsomely grinning, completed maracas. Note the button. What was left to do here was just some fill in work around the neck, which

came about as a result of using the roto-zip instead of a more precise device to do the cutting. The screw holes in the front also got some putty added, later on.

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

CREDITS concept and implementation: Chris Charla and Mike Mika • Hand Model: Bill Baffy Mr. Baffy’s hand makeup: Leah Kozikowski • gracious maraca donor: Michelle Kozikowski

March/April

2001 Official

# Dreamcast Magazine 17

NOW YOU CAN

SCREAM "HELP" LIKE A LITTLE GIRL IN FIVE

DIFFERENT LANGUAGES.

With the Phantasy Star Online instant translator, you can choose from hundreds of words and phrases to communicate with online gamers around the world. You enter, "Help me! don't want to die!" Your teammate in Japan sees: JEtcAuJ'fetJt.” It's just one of the advanced features on the next generation of the. legendary Phantasy Star series. Phantasy Star Online will immerse you in the most complete role-playing experience possible— not to mention what it'll do for your vocabulary. 1

ii ESRB

Dreamcast

sega.com/phantasystaronline

fga

2000.

registered

All

the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Sega. Dreamcast, the Dreamcast logo, and SEGA/SONIC TEAM, 2000. www.sega.com

Rights Reserved.

PHANTASY STAR ONLINE

are registered trademarks or trademarks of

SEGA CORPORATION

its affiliates.

DRIVER A -Greets colleagues with a firm self-confident handshake.

-Dated cheerleaders

high school.

-Has lipstick on underwear.;

-Smokes

after sex.

ijsrFi 1

nlril

ail if

Igm

Welcome

MSR

good.

as speed.

|eMpolis is

MSR

are shown,

Street Racer

only racing

Metropolis Street Racer and see

â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

where going fast fort-enough;-you've gotta go.fast and look

game where

you're judged on KUBfis (points based on style) as well

also features amazing recreations of real cities. London. Tokyo, and San Francisco,

incredible detail, right

down

to the street sjgfls arftkpadio stations, .So check out

you've got what

takes to maintain an image at-180 mph.

Ifja

rs a

limp and

screams inâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t

of st

allowed

superheroes

schoo

logizes after s ,'L

Dreamcast

SERVICE AREA

PL A YER JIM

ENG1NBC

Deliver ketchup and mustard/ Those you-know-who are gate-crashing the party. Deliver [ three Ketchup and Mustard eacn ] to the party being held at City Hall.

Watch your time

WE RANK EVERY DREAMCAST GAME 1ADEâ&#x20AC;&#x201D; FROM BEST TO WORST

limit!

[The Unofficial List It sounded like a good idea at the time. We’d take every single Dreamcast game ever released, and rank them in-prder from best to worst. No cheatingno dividing the list by genre, no pulling punches, no whim ing about apples and orahg.es—just looking at every single Dreamcast game ever released in America (to date, anyway) and doing what had to be dorte. The result of course, was editorial combat that would have made Russel Crowe wince a little. So, why is this the unofficial list? Simple: we doh’t want

to confuse anyone. We’re the Official

Dreamcast

]

or Virtua Tennis?'')

Mans

Quake

were harder, and some f Test Drive Le began to approach impossibility. Fre-

III?")

quently debate broke out, and more than once (more than 30 times, in fact), Fran or Chris or Evan would have to get

up and venture into the ODCM cold-storage vault to games in question so we could finally decide on a tough ranking. Ties were decided by a simple vote of the three editors (Chris’s attempt to claim he had two retrieve the

votes-i/vas eventually overruled).

"we were happily surprised to see just how close our list matches our ratings— most of the sixes were together, a few games moved dramtically up the list ieed Devils) and one or two moved down (Slave Zero).

zine, but this list isn’t endorsed by Sega-or by arm else, for that matter. It's ODCM’s list, not Sega>.-Tt's also

etc—although

the result of hours of debate (don't say figbtihg) among the editors of ODCM, with plenty of help from the rest of the peanut gallery at Imagine Medt3(special shout-outs to

Wilkyou agree with every call we made on the list? Of course not— even for us, several of these rankings are the result of uneasy pompromises-but hopefully, even if you

and Greg at SegaRadarfand Tom Russo at NextGen for their freely;pffered-even-when-not-really-

top Dreamcast

requested advice).

sonal

Garrett

Our methodology was simple: we compared every game game until a list started to emerge,

disagree, the

ten”

list

run

and then went down that list comparing each game with those above and below it. Some of the comparisons were

And now...on

easy

(“

Shenmue

or Frogger?”), while others (“Tony

Hawk 1

And

the subject

against every other

own personal Send your per-

witfhelp you figure out your

list.

DC Top Ten

wp want to

see

it!

dcmag@imaginemedia.com

field. We’ll

with “top

crehtpa readers' top

a future issue.

to the list!

list

and

ULTIMATE DREAMCAST RANKINGS 1

Soul Calibur

The Game 3D weapon fighting from the masters at Namco. The Hook The characters are huge and meticulously detailed, the combat engine and collision detec-

and there are more moves than you can shake a

tion are perfect,

stick at.

Memorable Moment The endless about whether the intro or used the in-game (It used the in-game

fighting

was FMV engine.

engine.)

Shenmue

Sega:AM2

The Game

In this first

ESEEHEBEE

chapter of Yu

Suzuki’s epic adventure game, you

who must

play Ryu, his father

learn

and exact

at least, get ready to

Kong for the next

his

who

killed

revenge (or

go to Hong

chapter).

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

Activision: Neversoft/Treyarch

The Game Take control of Tony, one of the many other pros, or even create your own skater. Proceed to 'rip it

up’ over all-new levels.

The Hook Awesome new

tricks,

even

more secrets and the same fantastic control and cambetter graphics,

era angles.

All

of this

means

that

has done the impossible: improved on the classic Pro Skater. Memorable Moment Mastering the manual and pulling our first 100,000

nothing else you’ve ever seen. This

game has more hip in its pinkie some whole consoles have

toe than

their-um-hips. And the beatinfested soundtrack is just wicked. Memorable Moment You’re standing there holding a can of spray paint in Shibuya district facing tanks, gunship helicopters and about 15 cops. Isn't that an overreaction to Kryion? in

8. Skies of Arcadia I Sega:Overworks ESEuSSkU The Game A brilliant and original RPG, it features swashbuckling

adventures

cloud-sailing ships.

Activision

The Hook Shenmue features a realistic

world that

is fully

totally

realized.

You can talk to anyone, you can do anything: the freedom you have is lifelike, and the game itself is brilliantly

point trick.

5. Resident Evil:

designed.

Memorable Moment The freedom and FMVs are all amazing, but what really stands out in our minds is the scene in which you're on a motorcy-

Capcom KilitUaSliEfluJiMM

cle after rescuing your girlfriend.

Tennis

Sega: Hitmaker

iliiiiuUdUULitf

tastic four-player

mode,

Virtua Tennis

incredibly compelling. Memorable Moment Without spoiling anything? Can't be done. But let’s

survival horror series gets the

just say this:

Dreamcast treatment, with graphics and a plot that adds new layers and more starch to the Umbrella/STARS conspiracy. The Hook Great adventure gameplay and truly scary moments make this

surprising

the best survival horror

All

it.

We mean

it.

Tecmo

game on

Memorable Moment The

Dead or Alive 2

The Game 3D fighting from the new masters of the genre at Tecmo. The Hook Throwing characters off platforms and through walls adds a great new element to the game, and

any platform.

Sega:Visual Concepts KiUaKtitiUittiiX

The Game The best video football game got even better in this sequel,

spider...

revamped running game, massive playbook expansion, and... The Hook ...online play. Seamless,

easy, perfect online multiplayer

The Game You’re a member of a

practically can’t express just

make NFL 2K1 the sports game ever.

rollerblading, spray painting under-

addictive this

ground youth gang. Your job? Blade around Tokyoto, a neo-Tokyo hybrid, write your tag, and avoid The Man. The Hook Unbelievable cel-shading

Memorable Moment For us? Cleaning the court with Blake “I can beat anyone at Virtua Tennis ” Fischer’s pride,

The Game Drive a

and bringing home the trophy to ODCM.

San Francisco’s streets (and through SF parks, and over SF piers and into

with a

Badly. But

DetHmArm

we have

the graphics are fantastic.

best console

Memorable Moment We’re

losing.

a keyboard and

doesn’t. Let the

smack

talking begin...

Jet Grind Radio

Sega:Smile

Bit

results in

Fighting

The Hook Not only are the side quests (exploring for treasures) original and fun, but the plot is

to die for

Never have we seen a videogame convey such a romantic mood.

NFL 2K1

The Game Capcom’s trademark

the

Code Veronica

7. Virtua

The Game An arcade tennis game. Basically an update of Pong, right? The Hook Wrong. With control so perfect you'd swear you were on the court, mini-games galore and a fan-

:ast

Maga*

ine

graphics that look

Sports

March/April

2001

is like

KliiJuUUlLLUeiii

Racing

a virus that consumes every of your free time. Words

second

game

Memorable Moment If we say “The bounce” you’re all going to groan, eh?

how

is.

intra-office

10.

Crazy Taxi

Sega:Hitmaker

Shooter

(crazy) taxi

around

Sim/Other

/www.DailyRadar.com^

THE MORE YOU PLAY POWER STONE. THE MORE STRATEGIES YOU’LL DISCOVER oncoming traffic), picking up fares and getting them to their destina-

12 .

Power Stone

The Game Free-for

The Hook Awesome graphics and crazy arcade physics, along with tightly tuned gameplay difficulty, makes this one of the best arcade

truly

romps in years. Memorable Moment You

find yourself

Capcom ftjlXufiUUiUfeufl

tions on time.

combat

all

The Hook Not only can you pick up nearly anything and throw it at your opponents, and not only does collecting the power stones enable super moves, but the game is surprisingly

humming a soundtrack song that you in the shower, simply because you've been absolutely hate while you’re playing the

11 .

game

Grandia

so much.

Ubi Soft-.Game Arts

(and using) that handy nuclear toaster weapon. (See, we said it was funny.)

arena.

Rayman2

2K1, probably due to the nature of basketball itself, it’s still a great time. Memorable Moment This is an online game that Evan is good at: watching him beat everyone who beat him at

NFL 2K1 was

soft

The Game The further adventures of Ubi’s arm- and leg-less (but handand foot-enabled) mascot. The Hook Few companies have managed the switch from 2D to 3D as well as Ubi: Rayman moves great, and the level design is fantastic. Memorable Moment Watching a creature with no arms or legs swim so very gracefully.

refreshing.

Marvel vs Capcom 2 Capcom KQeESZEuMl The Game Totally frenetic 2D fighting 16

action from the masters of the genre.

The Hook Top characters from the Marvel and

square

Capcom

off in

universes tag-team action.

Memorable Moment Pick one:

all

those amazing, amazing arial attacks with stunning animation.

Mi'

The Game In a surprising departure from other RPGs, you and a rag-tag

NBA 2K1

SegarVisual Concepts

deep: The more you

play,

the more

strategies you’ll discover.

Memorable Moment The first time we picked it up and realized we weren't constrained to a

line...

The Game The

latest

KUStttUhaJuBiutf

NBA sim from

Sega, this update features more mocap, swat-blocks, better animation,

and tons of refinements to gameplay. The Hook The online play, of course. While it isn’t quite as good as NFL

18 . Test Drive Le

Mans

Infogrames: Melbourne House

The Game The videogame version of the world famous 24-hour race, with several mini-seasons at

famous

tracks around the world thrown

good measure. The Hook The perfect control and camera, are great, sure, as are the stunning graphics. But what makes Le Mans for us is the way it perfectly walks the line between sim and arcade, enabling us to focus on the for

13 .

MDK2

lnterplay:Bioware

band of cronies save the world. The Hook Okay, it’s not a departure— but the rock-solid graphics, great dia-

and wellwritten story make this one of the better RPGs we’ve seen in a while. Memorable Moment See Skies: we log (and voice acting)

could

tell

you, but you'd hate us for it

The Game Zany third-person antics of a dog, a mad professor, and an android, out to save the world. The Hook The game design is devilreally well done),

ishly difficult

(and

the action

intense,

and the game

actually really, really funny.

Memorable Moment Constructing

action of racing.

Memorable Moment Playing—and beating—Le Mans in 24-hour mode. moment.

That’s one loooooooong

17 . Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater

Crave:Neversoft/Treyarch

The Game Skate,

collect tapes,

power-up your stats in one or two minute sessions across the country. Simple, right?

The Hook Wrong. The control is so perfect, the camera is so smart... it’s hard to even imagine the world before Tony Hawk burst onto the scene and changed gaming forever. Even with Tony Hawk 2 out, we still pull this one of the shelf with surprising frequency. Oh, and the pop-punk soundtrack was perfect. Memorable Moment Too many to list, but rather than go with some insane trick combo, let’s just pick the beautiful simplicity of getting air on a half-pipe and executing a perfect 540° Rocket

tons of

Air with

vvww.dreamcastmagazine.com

March/April

Tony Hawk.

2001

Off cial#Drearhcast Magazine425

ULTIMATE DREAMCAST RANKINGS 19.

Sonic Adventure Sega:Sonic

23. Ultimate Fighting

the rest of the gang.

The Hook Playing a

six different char-

acters gives a totally

new perspective

love

Sega:AM2

The Game Don't think of

Crave:Anchor

The Game Step into the octogon with some of the toughest real fighters ever to grace pay-per-view. The Hook If you want some realism in your fighting, this is for you: no wrestling showboating, no fighting game fireballs, just perfectly done, real violence.

Sega OT

25.

Championship

Team

The Game Sonic makes his first real 3D, with Tails, Knuckles, and

trip into

answer to Gran Turismo. it

some

as Sega's

Urn, think of

other way...

27.

Sega:Sonic

enhancing architectural features. The Hook Rush is the best arcade

Team

movements

The Hook cars.

And

AM2 knows anything,

giving us scores of

makes this

to the Sonic saga. Plus the graphics

synchronizing your

are trademark Sonic Team: bright

the beats onscreen using...

racing experience.

and brilliant. Memorable Moment The speed! The speed!

The Hook ...actual maracas! Real maracas plus samba beats equals ultimate party game. Memorable Moment Suddenly... You're

Memorable Moment

striking

Sega: Bizarre Creations

Racer

with

to play with

it’s

them

a stunning

racer ever, and the futuristic designs cars— plus the crazy tracks and amazing shortcuts— make this one a stunna’.

maximum

air.

Wheeeee!

It's

harder than you think.

28.

ChuChu Rocket Sega:Sonic

26. Street Fighter III:

a pose.

Memorable Moment The first time we extended the wings on our car to catch

Qualifying.

Third Strike

BxSaUeSSEuELU

Capcom

The Game Street racing in real cities around the world. The Hook These streets are photo-

The Game The ultimate 2D fighting

realistic—they're real city streets!

The Hook

Memorable Moment Making our own "mix CD” to customize the

swap

and Marvel

soundtrack...

slightly slower,

game

series continues

in its

latest

iteration.

(#1

this

purists

may want to vs Capcom 2

some argue

5):

that this game’s more methodical

pace enables a more strategic battle 22. StarLancer

(sorry)

of the

The Game A standard music game, you play along with a little monkey,

21. Metropolis Street

Midway

the game is set in a distant San Francisco packed with giant glass tubes and other shortcutinto the future:

it.

Samba de Amigo

SF Rushs 2049

The Game Arcade racing races

Memorable Moment Dropping a guy on his head for the quick KO.

24.

and defeats button mashing. Memorable Moment Humiliating button mashers (who sometimes luck their way into victory in MvC2).

Team

t-'.v

’ :

The Game Use arrows on a playfield mice into your rocket-but keep the cats out! The Hook Like most puzzle games, it

to guide

sounds simple.. .but it’s incredibly fun and addictive, particularly with four players. A great party game. Memorable Moment Arranging the arrows perfectly so as to lead a cat into an opponent’s rocket, just as a cat attack begins. Kitty

litter!

Crave:Warthog/Digital Anvil

The Game The underrated PC space shooter blasts onto Dreamcast.

The Hook

underwhelmed PC on DC— particularly

reviewers, but

with online play— it

comes

alive

smart mission structures and graphics. Memorable Moment Fighting amongst with brilliant “space physics,”

the

really, really

20.

big capital ships.

Quake III: Arena

Sega:Raster

The Game The ultimate multiplayer first-person shooter

comes

to console.

The Hook That multiplayer part. It’s wicked fun on the split-screen (way better than GoldenEye), but the game really comes alive when you log on with SegaNet and get going full steam.

Memorable Moment Okay, we admit it: it has to be when we got our pre-release broadband adapter going and went online, slaughtering a bunch of people with a lower ping rate. That was pretty

memorable

to us...

Adventure

official® Dreampast

Fighting I

Maga2 ine March/April 2001

Sports

Racing

Arcade

RPG

Sim/Other

/www.DailyRadar.coln

29. Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future SegatAppaloosa

'I'f-.t-t-tx riiUff

The Game Control Sega’s trademark dolphin as he collects the shards of a crystal that will—well— protect the future. The Hook The storyline is unremarkable, but the underwater graphics

are just breathtaking. Add tight control and wickedly difficult puz-

and you’ve got a game you’ll be playing for weeks. Memorable Moment Just swimming around all of those peaceful undersea environments... mmmmmm. zles,

30. Legacy of Kain: Soul

Reaver

Eidos:Crystal Dynamics

The Game Cast into hell by the king of the vampires, you’ve come back for revenge in this 3D, third-person action adventure.

The Hook The environments are truly amazing (they were designed by architects, not geeks), and all of the characters have been signifgantly improved,

when compared

to their

PlayStation counterparts.

this is a fun fighting romp.

Still,

Memorable Moment Taking down that huge Egyptian AT-AT-style boss

first

NBA 2K

33.

but the control was great, and the cel-shaded animation made us feel like we were actually playing in a

Sega:Visual Concepts

2 : Far Off Promise

37. Evolution

Ubi Soft:ESP/Sting

The Game

Looney Tunes cartoon. Memorable Moment The weapons and power-ups are actually faithful to the series—dropping an anvil on Yosemite Sam’s head is awesome.

with a friend.

Tried

and

RPG themes meet The Hook Only the the US.. .and

it’s

true, classic

new console

third

RPG

for

actually cute

and

pretty fun.

The Game Basketball, DC style. The Hook The best looking b-ball

game

ever

when

was

35.

released,

Fur Fighters

Acclaim:Bizarre Creations

Memorable Moment Ducking

into

The Game Stuffed animals. Weapons. What else do you need to know? The Hook This deliciously zany thirdperson action shooter features one of the weirdest premises ever, but it worked really well. Memorable Moment Going into the game store that advertised “Quack

the

spirit

realm to avoid a fatal attack.

31.

Ready 2 Rumble: Round 2

Midway UiSalditiAfiUuUUi

The Game Fast, funny, arcade boxing. The Hook Over-the-top characters and humor and a slightly deeper game give the

game

lit

bosses. Lotsanlotsa bosses.

using your fighting

Bill

even

if it

did have a few rough spots.

Memorable Moment Cool replay cameras.

Power Stone 2

Memorable Moment Bosses. Big Going up against one of them and

serious legs.

Memorable Moment Fighting as and Hillary.

32.

-coming soon!"

Matrix-style

Capcom IllUbUWUiAUffil

The Game More of everything you loved about PowerStone. The Hook Unfortunately, as we discovered with Austin Powers 2, more doesn’t always mean better, and we’d rather play the original—even if PS2 does add a four-player option.

34.

36. Demolition Racer:

Looney Tunes Space Race

lnfogrames:Melbourne House BXiakEUUUUilitfJ

No Exit

skills to

pay the boss-

bills.

lnfogrames:Pitbull Syndicate |

The Game Arcade racing with an emphasis on vehicular destruction. The Hook What a difference a system makes: the PlayStation version was total crap, but the Dreamcast version a surprisingly fun racer, from some same people who brought us

38.

House

of the

Dead 2

Sega:Wow! Entertainment UiiUattiiUiiUZfe&fl

The Game This lightgunner

horrifically

wham-bam

only slightly

hampered

by the lack of an actual lightgun.

The Hook

nobody can design a

The Game Yet another licensed,

themed

of the

lightgun

Destruction Derby.

Memorable Moment “T-boning” your

Memorable Moment The day we got a MadCatz lightgun, so we could play it

opponents.

kart racer, only...

The Hook

...this

one's actually good!

must be something in the water down under at Melbourne House, It

DROPPING AN ANVIL ON YOSEMITE SAM’S HEAD

Ain’t

game

we meant

Sega.

it.

AWESOME

ULTIMATE DREAMCAST RANKINGS 48. Resident Evil 2

Capcom

The Game Survival horror of the finest caliber: this sequel to the original lets

you play as two

different characters.

The Hook Fighting zombies is and producer Shinji Mikami knows how to maximize our fear. If this hadn't been just a port of the PC version, it probably would have scary,

much

scored

higher.

Memorable Moments The gun shop It scared us silly on PlayStation and it will again for those new to RE2 on Dreamcast.

owner! Of course.

Hydro Thunder

39.

Midway

The Game SF Rush on the water? Yes. The Hook SF Rush on the water! Awesome speed and tons of shortcuts make this arcade aqua-racer one of the best racers ever. Memorable Moment When the evercheerful tour boat guide points out

42. Street Fighter Alpha 3

in the game contructed of thou-

features of interest

(“Each boat

sands

the

The Hook To 40. Fl

World Grand Prix

a great example of the genre.

did in designing a non-twin stick

you're looking for racing with a

Capcom

last game (so far, any2D Alpha fighting series.

The Game The way)

of tiny triangles”).

continues

us, nothing

mechanism. Memorable Moment Finding some

control

check it out. Memorable Moment Having to pay attention to the “curve ahead” warnings, because there’s no way you’ll ever memorize the track. slightly different angle,

import twin sticks.

49.

ing:

there

Fl. This

one kind their game.

only

The Game Another

for

45.

of rac-

famous racing series,

distinctive spin.

the fighting style codified Street Fighter

41.

NFL2K

When

and with a

like this

Super

prequel

and that’s a good thing. Memorable Moment Throwing fire-

series,

Sega:Visual Concepts

The Game

ESSmiSISIZuSSI

came

radical

new

it was game ever—

balls, oldskool style.

out,

interface

Action

hella

Sega:AM2

of the characters are recognizable

and with

our memories.

plus stuff that's tougher

graphical

in real life

racing through a toy store).

stylish looks

and tons

Fighting

ine

an admirable port Model 3 brawler. Memorable Moment Fighting from below on a flight on stairs. flair, it’s

of the original

only from the very periphery of

Memorable Moment Penelope Pitstop? That’s an awesome name.

50.

Toy Commander

Activison:Hitmaker/Sega

44. Test Drive V-Rally / InfogramesiPitbull Syndicate UiUAUlIUuLuI The Game Rally racing. The Hook It’s not big in the US, but in Europe rally racing is huge, and this

Sports

March/April

2001

Sega:No Cliche

47. Virtual On: Oratorio

l.m...,.

here. Rad.

set the football

The Game 3D fighting. The Hook This is 3D fighting from the people who invented 3D fighting,

fire.

The Hook The great play books, and of course, the graphics. Memorable Moment The day we turned to the tutorial instead of the manual, and learned how to stiff-arm a would-be tackier.

2^0ff icial # Dreamcast Maga

It’s

46. Virtua Fighter 3tb ^0232*2322221

Memorable Moment Everything you see RC cars do in commercials, that you can never do yourself, we did it

“weight” of the cars.

The Game Arcadified RC car racing. The Hook All of the reasons that racing real model cars is fun (racing under tables, quick turnarounds), (like

play calling,

The Hook Awesome graphics actually make you feel like you're really racing. The environmental effects (mud, basically), also add flavor. Memorable Moment Feeling the sheer

EZ3.22532222ZQ1

impressive.

Acctaim:Probe

world on

brilliant cel-

shaded racer from Infogrames, this time featuring an extremely oldskool Hanna Barbera licence. Does anyone actually remember this show? The Hook Great racing, even if most

and 43, Re-Volt

VMU

The Game Rally racing with Sega’s

got

it's

in a Fl game. Memorable Moment Monaco.

everything you'd want

the best looking football

Sega Rally 2

SegaiAM Annex

The Hook A very sim-oriented version of the

Wacky Races

!nfogrames:Melbourne House

Sega: Video System

The Game There are some people

whom

Racing

Tangram

QQiEESSQSuZkQ]

The Game 3D mechanized giant robot combat. The Hook In Japan: The twin sticks used to control the robots. Here: seeing just how good a job Activision

The Game A

3D romp

through your

childhood toy chest.

The Hook Imagine if your toys could really do all the things you pretended they could (organize themselves into armies, shoot,

fly

and explode,

mostly). Here, they can.

Shooter

Sim/Other

/www.DailyRadar.com

—

56.

Space Channel 5 Sega:United

Game

Artists

The Game You play as Ulala, a music news anchor. When aliens invade, you’ve got to save humanity (and get great ratings) by—what else—out-dancing them. The Hook Only the short play time knocked the game this far down the list: on style points alone it would have scored much higher. Because this game has style to burn. Not only did creator Tetsuya Mizuguchi find an amazing '60s soundtrack, he also found some futuristic

amazing

art talent to create the

retro-future look of the

game;

some amazing programmers to seemlessly meld FMV and realtime graphics; some amazing game design talent to create a game that ramped perfectly; some amazing character designs (rumor has it the team worked for three months on the character before even a line was coded); and some amazing voice talent. Memorable Moment The level where you suddenly realize that all of the controls are backwards.

And

it's

random cameo by

got a

Michael Jackson.

Memorable Moment The fact that

Memorable Moment Da planel Da plane!

51.

NHL2K

they

managed

to pull this off at

all

both on the licensing front, and on the gameplay front, leaves us almost in tears of awe.

The Hook The graphics are just intense: while PC flight sims have rezzed-out, blurry ground textures,

5C0RE

created the NHL PowerPlay series on Saturn. The Hook Great hockey, but it didn’t

who

seem

to have the development resources of NFL or NBA, and it suffered from some year-one jitters. Memorable Moment The skating felt better than that in any other hockey game we’ve ever played.

52.

Capcom

SNK

vs.

waiting

for: Finally,

all

get to

Midway

The Game 4x4-ing on gigantic outdoor tracks, replete with many Midway-trademarked shortcuts.

virtual

fish/eel with-the-

recognition technology, he can

understand you and talk back

(with

dialog provided by the JellyVision

Aerowings you can fly inches off the ground and it still looks perfect. Plus, the flying model and environments are amazing. Memorable Moment Taking your plane 90-degrees to fly through incredibly narrow canyon walls.

been

pit

ever, you've got to raise

head-of-a-man creature. The Hook Once you raise him, you talk to him with an included microphone, and thanks to speech-

Know Jack fame) Memorable Moment Seaman: “Come

crew of You Don't

closer. Are you single?” Creepy. Very creepy.

58.

Speed Devils

Ubi Soft M.I4.UJ.IJ.IHUpn.-b

both

companies’ 2D fighting characters against one another.

games

Seaman. ..a weird

53 . 4 Wheel Thunder

Capcom UiUUttiZSJiiHiliiS

The Game The game we’ve

Seaman

The Game One of the weirdest pet

The Game Hockey from the ex-Radical developers

57.

Sega:Vivarium

TIME DD 45-73

Sega:Black Box

game

The Hook While the

falls

little

55.

Sega Bass Fishing Sega: Wow

short of the SF-Rush-in-a-4x4 goal that

think

for, it’s still

Midway was shooting

a very nice

ride.

Memorable Moment The amount of

The Game Pure arcade racing in environments ranging from Canada in

jeS2IEdi2*3SSBQS

The Game An arcade-style fishing game, in complete 3D. The Hook Not only does the game have fine graphics and fairly realistic

we got off of some jumps almost convinced us that our 4x4 was filled

fishing strategy, but the addition of a

with helium.

force-feedback fishing controller

air

winter to the rain forest

summer.

The Hook Maybe ODCM's only real ratings blunder, the game's shortcuts,

makes the experience as true to life as possible— minus all the fish guts. 54.

Aerowings

Crave:CRI

The Hook The interaction of the Capcom and SNK fighting styles really has to be played to be believed.

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

EKsIt^^SZuEE

Memorable Moment Introducing a non-gaming friend to the fishing conand watching his jaw drop.

The Game Precision flying—with no shooting allowed-over a variety

troller

of terrains.

passage

This should be a mandatory right of for all

Dreamcast gamers.

March/April

2001 Off cial# Dreamcast Magazinfe

ULTIMATE DREAMCAST RANKINGS fast speed,

made gave

and general weirdness

much more

fun than

NFL

62.

Blitz

2001

knock a giant cable car off its track, enabling some incredible wipeouts.

we The Game No

credit for at the time.

Memorable Moment The moose that wanders onto the Canadian road

rock'em sock'em

rules,

The Hook No

rules,

rock’em sock’em

in winter.

59. Marvel vs.

Capcom

cross-over fighting

65. Ms.

Pac-Man Maze Madness

ing,

right?)

ghost-dodging action.

The Hook Rather than

Memorable Moment Button-mashing Fighter masters

The Game Ms. Pac-Man returns after nearly 20 years for more dot-munch-

The Hook Two words: Freneticism unleashed. (Freneticism is a word,

umph

whether wrecking a cable car or knocking over a newspaper box. Finally, carnage is quantifiable.

first

game.

our way to glory over

Darth Maul was a natural for a game. This is that game. The Hook The pod-racing really is a

tallies

damage you cause,

IXiUWdiiiLiM Marvel

Capcom

The Game Capcom’s

Memorable Moment The game the cost of the

football.

all

was a

those Street

and furious (and possimodel for the real-life

football. Fast

brilliant tri-

bly

for the fighting-game disabled,

the role

develop

natural,

Sega Marine Fishing

UNE0jyj_9.il Ul'a.7.6^. DtP.TI!

63. Carrier

saying “Yippee!” out of our heads while we were playing.

football league).

/ I

The Game Survival horror on an

discover that not enemies are visible

and you need a scope MIN

mmrr

imju 64.

to find ’em.

The Hook Fighting big game fish adds totally new element that few fishing games have attempted.

KUUgjUfcUS

The Game Imagine Crazy Taxi with even more wacked-out physics. The Hook The cartoonish game physics, in which a tiny car can

Memorable Moment You can actually

Ubi Soft: Sting/ESP

maze game format

(albeit

for the next generation),

result

was

updated

and the

surprisingly novel.

Memorable Moment Even when the gameplay got tired, we were compelled to keep going to see what would happen in the cinemas.

The Game A dungeon-crawling RPG with superdeformed characters fighting the good fight. The Hook The only RPG at the time. Memorable Moment Upgrading your Cyframe and learning new skills for battle

was always a

treat.

Super Runabouts SF Ed. lnterptay:Climax Ent.

Anakin Skywalker

little

67. Evolution

The Hook Although the plot was only it was one of the first survival horror games on the system, and it was pretty darn scary. Memorable Moment The moment you so-so,

e-u4,7./_6.0_

air-

craft carrier.

^NumbeikofjitejflSjaca uiredj

-_3,E

suffer

Memorable Moment All the unnecessary roughness after the plays end.

memory 60.

Sega:Wow Entertainment EZuSSS&Ui The Game The fishing engine of Sega’s Bass Fishing comes out of the lake and into the sea.

and while other tracks

little, the Tatooine track does indeed feel like you’re in the movie.

The weird physics of the pod racers also adds a twist. Memorable Moment Unfortunately, we were never able to get the

XFL

like Chris.

try to

some new game around the property, Namco actually stuck to the

66. Episode

Racer

68.

Army Men: Sarge’s Heroes

Midway:3D0

The Game The one good sequence from Star Wars: Episode One that didn't involve a lightsaber battle with

The Game A third-person actionadventure in 3D0's Army Man universe, you play Sarge as he fights

land a coelacanth, the fish thought be extinct for thousands of years

until

one was hauled up

61.

1938.

Sega:Warp

The Game The continuing third person adventures of Laura, hero of the original D. The Hook Given the mind of Warp’s Kenji Eno, you just knew that this long-delayed

(it

was

orginally designed for the aborted M2 system) would be, well, warped. And it was. Unfortunately,

while

was delayed, Tomb Raider

and Resident Evil burst on the scene and raised the bar slightly. Memorable Moment As much as we want to, we'll never forget the exceptionally disturbing tentacle

scenes that made the Japanese version so nightmarishly creepy.

Fighting

Sports

Official<i'DreatRcastMaga2ine March/April

2001

Racing

Arcade

Puzzle

Sim/Other

www. DailyRadar.c om

70. Ferrari

F3SS Challenge

Acclaim:Sega

AM2 K222Z3Z3E2!iHuIl

The Game Super realistic simulation of driving an F355. The Hook Super-realistic simulation of driving an F355. For some people, there is just no substitute for absolute realism, and for them, there is Ferrari F355.

game

74. Mr. Driller

history of gaming.

The Game Drill, Mr. Driller! Drill! This is a puzzle game that could best be described as being inside the Tetris well—you drill through pieces, while trying to keep pieces from falling on

is a fun, hopping good time. Memorable Moment This may be the biggest improvement between and original game and its sequel in the

73.

MakenX

No joke.

your head.

Sega.Attus ,'la.HI illU.JTTTTl

The Game A so-cheesy-it’s-kind-offunny horror plot and some typical action don’t promise too much. The Hook But for some reason, it has an addictive quality we can’t put our in his world and in ours. The Hook Despite some inconsisten-

the Tans

cies in this difficulty

N64

Maybe

port’s graphics, the

ramping and

level

this

flight. Levels are always interesting and always just a tiny bit more than you can handle: the perfect recipe for addiction. This may be the best of the Army Man games.

Pretty

much

any-

71. Frogger 2:

Revenge

E^^S3ED^Q222I The Game Rescue your peaceful undersea race by finishing the fifty missions takes to build The Leviathan.

liked this

game

container,

death.

Memorable Moment You can use the

Seaman microphone with this game. Watching someone playing and just saying

“Drill. Drill. Drill.”

over

hilarious.

over and

practi-

Midway:Oigital Eclipse

BUiUdUidAttlaM

The Game The second next-generation outing for the classic frog. The Hook We expected this to suck, frankly, but we were happily amazed at just how good a job Hasbro did. Forget the hype (and Frogger 1), this

ubi soft

which can set up awesome runs of drilling as fast as possible to avoid

75. Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits, Vol 1

Swampy’s

Majesco:Hasbro

The Hook

one down.

The Hook The need for oxygen adds a key element here: you sometimes have to do incredibly dangerous things to get to an

Memorable Moment Feathering the

also extremely satisfying.

Deep Fighter

the fun of the sometimes

gas oh-so-precisely while getting sideways in a turn. (And for us, watching Dan suddenly come over to the TV and just school everyone at this game on his first try.)

time you find a bazooka, but using the sniper rifle to take out the Tan camp before you cross the river is

69.

it’s

ham-fisted story. But you can’t put

design

are top

Memorable Moment

Maybe

the “brainjacking” feature, which enables you to take over another character's brain. finger on.

Memorable Moment

started

playing this during the day, but by

the time we stopped, it was quite dark out and we were alone in the office, and that “cheesy” story made

us scurry to our

car.

The Game Flawless emulations of Joust, Defender, Defender li (a.k.a. StarGate), S/nistar, Robotron 2084 and Bubbles. The Hook Flawless emulation of five classic games and Bubbles. What else da ya want? Memorable Moment Using the “buttbounce” to slip between those platforms

Joust

order to

friends during a cutthroat

friends liked

it,

kill

our

game. Our

too.

more than anybody, and we still It’s got a slower pace and some

cally

do.

underpowered weapons, but most of the missions are fun, and the story and graphics both add

frustratingly

to the experience.

Memorable Moment Completing The Leviathan.

72.

Oundam Side Story 0079 :

The Game Based on the long-running

TV show you

universe, this

game

puts

a lead mech (with two winga scout rover at your

men and

service) as you attempt to defeat the

colonization forces invading Earth.

The Hook The mech combat fun, the graphics are great,

really

and

the

mech had just controlled a little more game would have moved

tightly, this

signifcantly

up the

list.

great, but you'd probably

G undam

is it's

have to be a

fan already to get into

it.

Memorable Moment The radio chatter between your wingmen adds a great sense of realism (at least until it starts repeating), and the cinemas, of course, are brilliant.

ww.dreamcastmaga^ine.com

March/April

2001 Off cial® Dreartfcast MagazinK31

ULTIMATE DREAMCAST RANKINGS 81.

Shadow Man

Acclaim

The Game You control Mike LeRoi— a.k.a. Shadow Man—for an overwhelmingly grim romp through

and altogether seamy

dark, gothic

environments. The Hook Third-person, Tomb Ra/der-style gameplay: Solve

puzzles,

Does

kill

dudes, go exploring.

better than Lara.

Memorable Moment Being so badass that rabid zombie-dogs cower in fear.

76. King of Fighters

Dream

Match 1999

snk l-M-j.miJAhBww

The Game Probably no longer available due to SNK’s rapid departure from the planet, it’s the former company's flagship 2D fighter.

The Hook You’ll find people-not in our office, maybe, but in a lot of places—that swear this is better than Street Fighter.

Memorable Moment those people?

All

you're

one

it.

79.

Red Dog

Crave:Argonaut

The Game Tank fighting a la Dreamcast, complete with brilliant graphics and awesome 3D explosions.

The Hook Speed, speed, speed. It may not be the best snowboard game ever created, but it's one of the fastest.

Memorable Moment Unlocking every-

and then snowboarding through Area 51 as an alien. thing,

77.

NBA Showtime

84. Tech

Romancer

Capcom

The Game this

It’s

no Soul

Calibur, but

(although fighting

always

on the 2D plane) giant robot has moments of brilliance.

fighter

Midway ErtSZlaSSSlUsS&k

The Game Rule free, two-on-two, arcade b-ball in the NBA Jam mold. The Hook It’s fast, it's fun, and there

82. Street Fighter

are tons of secret characters to unlock. Unfortunately, what it’s not

The Game The second

is all

Capcom liiilLSIuUSi* in

the SFIII

series.

that different from previous

The Hook More

2D fighting action,

versions of the game.

but without the impact (haha) of

Memorable Moment Making the basket catch on fire is always fun.

MvC or SF///.TS.

78. Railroad Tycoon

II I

GOd fiomoc.Tr.omrp'll.^-1-jjj^^^l

The Game Engrossing railroad building strategy

game.

The Hook Online play. Or it would have been, if it wasn’t pulled at the last second. It's still fun, but we felt so cheated when we learned that online play

haven’t

was

fully

nixed that

still

Action

Memorable Moment The evolution The Hook Although difficulties in aiming in one direction while firing in another irritate slightly, overall, this game is a super fun, if not super deep, shoot ’em up. And sometimes that’s all you want. Memorable Moment The challenge mode's high speed races.

Adventure

80. Rippin' Riders

-^Official# Drearnpast

SegatUEP Systems

Fighting

from the

first

Street Fighter

III

83.

Super Magnetic Neo

The Hook The combat system will be combo-charged fans of Killer Instinct, and the damage meter is a nice innovation. Memorable Moment Crushing buildings during the course of a bout makes you feel like you really are a

familiar to

impressive.

CraveiGenki 'jus-e-hci

The Game Wacky, zany, crazy platformer of the super-deformed, super

giant robot.

cute variety.

recovered.

Memorable Moment Looking at the box and suddenly realizing that online play had been pulled.

III:

Double Impact

EIj3II253E&

The Game Cool Boarders comes to Dreamcast in a shallow but hella crazy-fast snowboarding title.

Magaz ine March/April 2001

Sports

Racing

The Hook It really is wacky, zany, and crazy, even if the action occasionally wears a bit thin. Memorable Moment When you master the use of Neo's magnetized head and riding the camel on wheels.

Arcade

RPGH

Puzzle

85.

Sword of the Berzerk: Guts' Rage

Eidos:A5CII i’l'M-lt .!! 1

The Game This aptly titled game features a giant sword attached to a little

man who

kills

Shooter

everything.

Sim/Other

www. DailyRadar.c om

87.

4 X4 Evolution I Reality 9

God Games:Terminal

The Game 4X4 racing in giant, goanywhere environments. The Hook Online play against DC, Macs and PCs really makes this game stand out. A few little bugs aside, this

a fun game,

and

gets even better online.

Memorable Moment The immense and the fact that going off the

air,

“track”

often rewarded

this stand out

93.

make

from the pack.

Oigawing

Capcom I'MII-.'hII-UWjtI

The Game Oldskool 2D shooter. The Hook For die-hard fans only, this provides stunning proof that 2D shooters aren’t dead. For everyone else,

may

prove that they are.

Memorable Moment Hey look, the whole screen is filled with bullets!

94.

Hidden and Dangerous

TalonSoftrlllusion Softworks

The Hook You can go into rage mode, enabling you to kill even better. Memorable Moment The dialog, courtesy of the writer of the

game

86.

based on,

manga the

a nice touch.

Worms Armegeddon

HasbrorTeam 17 KUU*LiiU2£i

The Game Cute little worms trying to blow each other to kingdom come.

91. Blue Stinger

89. Vigilante 8:

Second Offense

Activision :Climax Graphics

ActivisionrLuxoflux

The Game By the some of creators of the original Twisted Metal, this is car combat with a vengence.

The Game Third-person tactical WWII combat. You command a group of

UiU&iiUUUS&fw]

The Game Survival Horror. The Hook Tripped up by spotty voice acting and a sometimes nauseating camera, if you’re willing to work for it,

The Hook While this port suffered uneven graphics and slippy control, if you want some quick car combat, it’s hard to beat a multiplayer V8 attack.

Memorable Moment The moon buggy.

90.

Bust-A-Move 4 Acclaim,Taito

oacH

Score, a [9-10/00]

The Game Shoot the colored colored balls of

like color.

commandos who sneak

ball at

The Hook once you tive that

It’s

a simple

2D game,

play, you’ll find

it’s

is some fun to be had here. Memorable Moment Playing through

there

but

so addic-

the

impossible to stop.

game

twice to get the secrets.

Memorable Moment The worms are cute. That’s what makes it so funny.

Legends Midway

88.

Armada

mode

amazing.

The Hook Down here only because the game hasn’t changed since the Jurassic age, this is still one of the most fun puzzle games around. Memorable Moment Listening to the impossibly cute chorus scream when you clear a level.

(hidden)

enemy vehicles

l-ifc'l

you’ve got

some

friends with you.

Memorable Moment Shooting a barrel next to your friend.

the

Prague, no joke.)

M'l '1-4

The Game 3D update to the classic, you hack and hack and hack your way through tons of monsters. The Hook It's simple (don’t say brainless!), but dammit, it’s fun, too-especially

(also, for Chris,

time the president of Illusion Softworks bought him some ice cream in

92. Gauntlet

The Game Imagine an Asteroids RPG. The Hook You get proven space combat with the backdrop of an epic storyline and some persistence and point to combat beyond a high score. Memorable Moment The four-player

and destroy stuff (dangerous). The Hook A cool concept; but the graphics and the complexity will limit its appeal somewhat. Memorable Moment Driving the

Eliminate

colored balls. Repeat.

fire

Oops!

95. Jedi

Power Battles LucasArts

The Game Ever wondered what Final Fight would be like with the Star Wars characters? Wonder no longer. The Hook The Star Wars characters, and the non-stop action. Memorable Moment Using your lightsaber to deflect laser shots pretty

damn

cool.

ULTIMATE DREAMCAST RANKINGS 96. Draconus: Cult of the

Wyrm

Crave:Treyarch liialittUdJiJUiiil

The Game Bearing more

common

with Treyarch's

PC game,

Die by the Sword than its flawless conversions of Tony Hawk, this game is medieval hack 'n slash at its...well,

not really best, exactly,

but maybe best on DC. The Hook The high concept and epic plot are certainly cool:

the

game

didn’t trip over the

only little

which you no matter how hard you try), we’d be happier. Memorable Moment The combat

stuff (like the tiny

can’t

seem

itself is

hills,

to cross

very good.

97. 1-Spy Operation UFO

Espionage

I2&E2SS3Z2ZI

lnteractive:NEC Interchannel

The Game This

a weird one:

the least known Dreamcast

maybe

title.

You

watch and control industrial spies... The Hook ...without controlling the action yourself. High concept and executed well, but not for everyone. Memorable Moment If you can actually find it in a store, the whole thing should be memorable!

100. 98.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

Rainbow Six

Memorable Moment The Christmas

tree that appears in the club

Majesco: Pipe Dream/Red Storm

Capcom:Capcom/Tommo KliikEUUUSjUiXu

The Game Despite the cool ads, this is ultimately a 2D fighter that competes better with Dark Stalkers circa 1995 than with the best of today.

The Game Long-delayed PC tactical combat port based on the Tom Clancy book of the same name,

matches says

it’s

in your Dreamcast clock Christmas day.

featuring SWAT-like anti-terrorist

102. Tokyo

missions.

The Hook but that

Was supposed to be online, cut. The game itself is

was

mapping of the control to the D-pad is a complex exercise. Memorable Moment The sudden realization that you forgot to check great, but the

behind that door as a bullet thuks into your head.

Xtreme Racer

104. Silver

lnfogrames:Spiral House ESuSSSIEEmSi The Game PC port of a PC adventure/ RPG, you’ve got to recover the eight artifacts of something or other. The Hook Actually the story is pretty involving, and the realtime combat is

done very

well.

The Game Street racing in Tokyo in souped-up street cars. The Hook All the courses are based on real Tokyo freeways. Memorable Moment Just seeing the brights flash behind you, and knowing the race

is on...

103. Bang!

Red Storm: Rayland

The Hook Helper characters keep

The Game Shoot 'em up in space with loads of cool weapons. The Hook Eye candy galore with sweet firearms to spare.

things interesting, but the real

appeal

the senseless, over-the-

top fighting antics.

Memorable Moment The "Motor Show” super move that has cars

Memorable Moment Watching your grandfather get killed; only then are you allowed to fight the guy who killed him. Don’t you think you would have attacked the guy before he was done offing your kin?

pop up from the ground to juggle an opponent is awesome. 101.

Ready 2 Rumble

105.

WWF Royal Rumble

Midway

99.

NFL

Blitz

2000

The Game

The Game No Rules Football. The Hook No Rules Football, but without the updated roster that moved Blitz

2001 ahead

it.

Memorable Moment No

Action

rules football.

Adventure

boxing! Whatever you it's

fast

March/April

The Game Arcade-style wrestling (is that a redundancy?) featuring

want

to call

the WWF’s best. The Hook Up to nine grapplers can be in the ring at once.

it,

furious.

The Hook And it looks great on Dreamcast. The mini-games also

Memorable Moment Arcade-style

Memorable Moment The speed and

add some depth.

shooter

size of the rasslers

Sports

Fighting

ine

and

THQ:Yukes I'J'lilUflJIHTtT?

the SF Rush of we mean the NFL Blitz

It’s like

boxing! No,

Midway

2001

Racing

Arcade

multi-colored space.

RPG

Puzzle

Shooter

impressive.

Sim/Other

www.DailyRadar.cora

104

TrickStyle

109 Zombie Revenge .

113

Namco Museum

Vol. 1

Sega

The Game

hoverboard racing for those bored with snow. The Hook Super-fast snowboarding intense environments. Futuristic

The Game Poorly executed emula-

The Game It’s essentially a thirdperson House of the Dead style action-horror game. The Hook Two-button arcade action

tions of

some

Namco titles. the museum

classic

Fun, but where are sections that PlayStation buyers got?

weapon selecand the ability to pull combos

tied in with copious

tions

disguises the fact that this is essenFinal Fight in 3D, with lots of

tially

decaying

human

flesh.

Memorable Moment The way the story kept us going brought back happy memories of Altered Beast.

114 Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing .

ubi soft EH2ZB The Game Deeply flawed arcade motorcycle racer that ends up being far more fun than you’d expect. First

116 . Virtua Striker 2 111 Memorable Moment supposed to be the ended up being the difficult track

Nightmare Creatures 2

was probably

control, but

Konami:Kalisto

Se g a

The Game

KUUttikSliAMUl

The Game A new angle on

The Hook

Some

loved

ESISuHSttE the arcade,

dooms

this

soccer title on Dreamcast.

straight-up action.

incredibly

designs.

but a lack of depth

horror:

especially, especially

ways to dispatch opponents. Memorable Moment The plot and hero are both genuinely creepy and horrific

107 Spec Ops II: Omega Squad .

RlpCord:Zombie/Warthog

-.1

”M l»t

your targeting

reticle

Infogrames

lap. Third lap:

UUhUUuIJLAiialJ

game

A sniper

ESPN Track and Field

maybe one more

yeah,

me alone— I’m

115

TNN Hardcore Heat

and

the

mold— Konami knows

field

and

entire genre

sucks, but

leave

classic

track

shows, although this

pretty tired.

playing!

It was one of the first games on the system. Memorable Moment We didn’t think that much of Striker Pro, but that was before we saw Virtua Striker 2...

sniper.

sucks. Second lap:

sucks, but, well,

112 Striker Pro 2000

The Game The most popular sport

soccer

108 Silent Scope

game

118 Aerowings2

the world: soccer!

work!

Konami

lap:

The Hook

The Game You are a without a lightgun.

117

The Game Button-bashing

disturbing.

The Game A slow, strategic squadbased shooter without the squad. The Hook Despite some glitches, the slow paced combat can be thrilling. Memorable Moment Actually having

tionable physics

dampen

Plus, the publisher

its

history.

Crave

ASC Games

The Game Crappy controls and queschances.

The Game A competent shooter/flight sim that could’ve used a little more decoration. It fails to impress as much as the original.

The Hook The gun-free control actually works surprisingly well. Memorable Moment Shooting the gun out of a terrorist’s hands is always satisfying.

110 Star Wars: Demolition .

The Game Vigilante 8 in the Star Wars universe. The Hook Some neat features (charging up your weapons, betting on the outcome of each contest) and great graphics

make

this shine, but...

Memorable Moment ...nothing really we had a memorable time trying to remember.

sticks out. But

March/April

2001

Off cial® Drearhcast Magazirifc.35

ULTIMATE DREAMCAST RANKINGS Grand Theft Auto 2

119.

126.

Omikron

Pen Pen Tricelon

133.

dled with a sagging, outdated engine

and The Game Play a bad guy and experience death, destruction, mayhem and cars...a treat for delinquents, but

2D?

The Game This ambitious 3D adventure was sadly hampered by gameplay problems and a touch of blandness. Not even David Bowie could redeem it.

Please.

Wacky penguin

racer too goofy

lackluster gameplay.

and

short for anyone over 10.

142. Wild Metal

South Park Rally

120. Airforce Delta

Licensed kart racers are the scourge

gamers. This

no exception. Cartman and gang are back for more mediocre cart racing. of true

The Game Too rough around the edges to really shine, this aircraft shooter does deliver some action-y

135.

nately the action terrain

Tee Off Golf

much

RPG

Good

the

classic that just

doesn't quite work.

144. Surf Rocket Racers

with a very light for

bland, even

Super-deformed golfers ‘tee-off to charm, but not to gameplay

The Game Tough, cutsey, 2D nonstoryline.

kind of cool.

An update of the

traditional

version, but not here. Unfortu-

143. Centipede

action.

Gimmick Gear

This tank shooter had online play

its

121. Elemental

RockStar Games

134.

136.

a laugh but not

127.

NFL QBC 2001

Sydney 2000

Jet ski racing that fails to get our Typical track

some

Despite

over last year,

second NFL 2K1.

edly to

real

improvements

QBC 2K1

string

else.

’n' field

button-masher;

motors running.

Olympics events needed tweaking.

decid-

is still

when compared

145.

Time Stalkers

137.

Monaco Grand Prix

FI racing for the FI others need not apply

purist; all

It’s

128. Incoming Interplay

This repetitive alien blast-fest

Flawed time-traveling RPG with good intentions, but unfortunately it has no follow-through.

146. Psychic Force 2012

is like

Britney Spears. Cute for a second,

but about as deep as a fork.

True

fighting with

no good controls, 129.

122. Dynamite Cop

Plasma Sword

147. rules 2D, but their

efforts don’t always pay off,

Capcom It’s

denced by

racing

The Game This long-awaited firstperson shooter fails to impress, sadly. Where are the KISS characters? Where’s the online play? Where, in short, is the fun?

131. Podt

Wetrix+

138.

game has good and

detail.

wet and wacky, and for two players— but

ODCM

Score: 5 [5/00]

game

could be fun

isn't.

Speedzone

Xtreme Sports

139. 'Net racer with plenty of options, but

not enough solid gameplay

Infogrames

Failing to rise

its

Kj£&kB2S2uSk&l

above being just the

parts, this is a pentathlon

of “xtreme” events that individually

Buzz Lightyear 2K

play okay, but overall this

140.

it.

Magforce Racing

149. Test Drive 6

This slick-looking racer doesn’t

handle as well as

125. Fighting Force 2

stay away.

looks.

150.

tive

it’s

Bad design + outdated engine =

The Game This port lost nothing in the translation, because there was nothing to lose:

Interplay

Unimpressive casino “action.”

WipeOut wannabe that doesn't make

to mind.

148. Caesar's Palace

missing

the fun.

The Game Yet another Toy Story licensed game, this time it’s based on the cartoon, not the movies. That doesn’t help. The word "uninspired”

comes

visuals crash

This Tetris-on-a-plane puzzle

sum 124.

And

this could-be racer prematurely.

Xatrix

CART

attention to physics

Dream Roadsters

Bad physics and bland

evi-

this vapid, me-too fighter.

130. Flag to Flag This

123. KISS Psycho Circus

gravity.

The Game Arcade beat'em up.

the worst kind of arcade port-in the arcade it’s fun for a quarter or two, but at home it gets repetitive very, very quickly.

either.

132. Hoyle’s Casino

and medicore action game that

barely suffices.

Fighting

141.

Tomb

Pity

face and bad graphics.

the next generation, she’s now sad-

Racing

Lara Croft.

Sega

What happened! No fielding and poor control make this an arcade experi-

Every casino game you could ever want, hampered by a terrible inter-

Sports

World Series Baseball 2 K1

Raider:

The Last Revelation

a verrrry repeti-

Once the symbol

ence at

best. This

used to be the it come back?

premiere franchise. Can

Sim/Other

/www. DailyRadar.com

168.

Jeremy McGrath Super Cross 2000

Now for the moment

we've

all

been waiting for: the worst game eeeeever on Dreamcast. Jeremy McGrath is crap on two wheels with

its

inconsistent framerate,

bad graphics, and poor

controls.

151. Seventh Cross: Evolution

Wacky breeding sim

you’ve got to work for

152. Gunbird 2

with simplistic

graphics but complex gameplay. mately it can be satisfying, but

Ulti-

it.

Old-school top-down scroller that’s too hard and too short; a bad combo. Someone please let this genre die.

157. Chef’s

Luv Shack

161.

for

gameshow aesthetic. Could be titled: Who Wants to be Bored to Death 153.

Spawn: In the Demon’s Hand

MK Gold

Bad mechanics, cameras and no way

menus doom

this action

game. The heavy metal

Crappy cameras make this a title not for children, let alone adults. The

fit

only fun here

turning

off.

158. to exit

ToyStory2

See. J [JAM

Acclaim

South Park license abused

intro is

Midway

Uninspiring fighter-by-numbers

the

MK franchise.

ECW

165.

funny, at least.

Acclaim

159. Spirit of Speed

154.

Expendable

worth the plastic

156. Slave Zero

it’s

printed on.

Racing classic cars is awesome in theory, but distressingly unpleasant in practice in this flawed game.

162. Soul Fighter

166.

’n’

some

very

this a dud.

NFL OBC2000

with no remorse at

barrel.

167.

Racing Tour Eidos: Crystal

make

Bad gameplay mars a good franchise

3D weapons-based hack slash. ..the bottom of the

163. Mickey's Magical

Great concept, but level design never makes you feel like your piloting a 60-foot mech. A shooter gone wrong.

XiUffiQlliiliiJ

WWF engine with

poor graphics

Perfectly titled, this simple shooter isn’t

The old

WWF Attitude Acclaim

Dynamics UtttKUtiltttiS

Sometimes these Disney games

all.

sur-

UUittuSiiuUl

Horrible port of a horrible PlayStation

wrestling

game— run,

don't walk.

prise you by being far better than you'd expect. This one doesn’t.

160. Virtua Athlete Agetec

A deeply flawed track

terribly.

Warning: twitch reflexes require massive quantities of sugar and caffeine.

www.dreamcastmai

164. The Ring: Terror’s Realm

Infogrames

K£S*^QCZmI&imI

’n’ field title

that looks great but plays

Slow, plodding horror adventure with

an interesting only danger in fall

plot but this

no pace. The

game

that you'll

asleep.

March/Aprjl

2001 Off cial® Dreamcast Magazirii 37

JIEJ/i

Dreamcast bIso available on 2001 Mattel, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Max Steel: The series, TM & 2000 Adelaide Productions, Inc. All Rights Reserved Under license by Sony Pictures Consumer Products. Sega. Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either registered trademarks

Sega Corporation. Game Boy" and Game Boy Color' are trademarks ot Amenca Inc 1989. 1998 Nintendo of America Inc. Licensed by Nintendo

or trademarks of

Nintendo of

Fight hand-to-hand or ujith 9 different weapons, including trip wires,

sniper

repeater guns and

rifles.

Rctivate stealth

mode

sneak bg qour enemies or go turbo for superhuman strength and speed.

Battle through 28 intense missions in 7 mind-blowing environments. All

screen shots are from the Sega Dreamcast

game

console.

terrorist group DRERD has stolen a deadlq biological weapon and planning to lag waste to the planet. But thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s one major obstacle: super ngent max steel, infused with nano-technologL) and armed with an arsenal of weapons, heâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s got superhuman strength, blazing speed and the power to go stealth. In other words, he's the one to call when the other agents don't want to get their tuxedos dirtg.

The is

Dreamcast

IPn ES B

Animated Violence

CONTENT MATED BY

uiUiUi. maxsteei.com

ujuliuj.

maxsfeeltv.com

thz motet? **;***?•+

•>******

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nar

mb hb

COVBR STORY

WBAVes

SPIPBR-MANi FIRST LOOK TBXT-.

CHRIS CHARLA

MARVEL'S FAMOUS wbb-slin&er SWINGS ONTO TUB PREAMCASTANP THIS COUL-P JUST BE THE BEST COMIC-TO-GAME CONVERSION EVER

» is

Christian Busic ("Like music with a B")

not happy. His producer has just pulled him

into a

meeting room, and he has things

The meeting room

is in El

Segundo,

to do.

California,

at the offices of Treyarch Entertainment.

Treyarch

a lean shop and

shows. There

no receptionist—the front door leads the kitchen, which

boxes and

flats of

soda—and the

directly into

empty

with

is filled

pizza

decor.. .well,

there are videogames everywhere and a very nice

projection

the conference room,

but other than that, the wall coverings run to white boards, printouts of

company’s or poster,

latest

and

title,

that's

web

reviews of the

the odd framed

about

it.

short,

kind of office where things get done.

do not get done by

“How long

sitting in

this

game box it’s

the

And things

meeting rooms.

going to take?” he asks.

CONTINUED

\++\\+\** \\+\++ A

'Wm:

v+ V*

Most enemies can be defeated your

at a distance,

web shooting abilities— but be

thanks to because

careful,

the comic), you can actually run out of juice you're not careful. (Unlike the comic, spare bottles of web formula are hidden throughout the levels.)

(just like in if

lissss

"SPIPBY CAN BB VBW VULNBBABLB, ANP IT TAKBS A GOOP MIX OB PUZZLB-SOLVING SKIUS ANP PBBLBXBS TO BBAT THB GAMB."

Busic

lead artist on Treyarch’s conversion

of Spider-Man to Dreamcast,

very busy man.

repaint nearly everything.

It’s

material from

we literally More than 90 percent-in

make

sure

flows with everything else. Of course, style true to

out, “but

almost

it's

Now that warming

all

what Neversoft

made

you'll notice

it.

Treyarch one of the premiere third-

party developers for Dreamcast.

the

he points

redone.”

The company’s conversions of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 rewrote the book on what a port should be, and Treyarch

allegedly the only

company

simply enables you to waltz through the game. Just as in the comic, Spidey can be very vulnerable, and it takes a good mix of puzzle-solving skils and reflexes

game. The other great thing about the game is just how it encompasses the whole Spidey mythos. If you

to beat the

well

that Pro

don't read the comics you’ll

still

appreciate the game-

Skater creator Neversoft

play,

property.

they see their favorite villains brought to

soft’s

explicitly trusts with the So when Activision decided to bring NeverSpidey to Dreamcast, just after it shipped for

PlayStation,

he’s talking about his work, Busic

was

natural to turn to Treyarch.

but fans

case—just

be especially well rewarded when

will

case—you

life.

just crawled out

(And just

from under

a rock, here's the lowdown. Peter Parker: Bit by a

radioactive spider; acquires spider powers which he

The game, of course, features the exploits of Marvel’s famous web-slinger, and (based on our test-

augments

very least. Take the face textures, for example. PlayStation, they’re

ing of the PlayStation version)

ing the bad guys, cops, and newspaper editor J. Jonah Jameson: Out to get him.) The graphic look of the game is based on the recent animated series (series regulars also provided the voices), and it works well. This is a modern Spider-Man in the traditional uniform;

up. “Every texture

Dreamcast, they’re data

just the face

doubled

lot

of that [in

The fact remains, if you do happen face with a thug before smashing him

though, that the detail

come face to

kind of sad,”

all

You have to look at the character viewer

the game] to really appreciate

of the thugs are always

tiny-so you don’t necessarily see

detail.

at the

on Dreamcast than they have

he muses, “because a really

in size,

On the 64 x 64 [pixels in size]. On the 256 x 256. We've got more texture

the whole body on PlayStation. Which

did,"

up with your web,

just this kind of attention to detail, of course

that has

high 90's, like 97 or 98—of the material is repainted from scratch," he explains. "Even when the art they give us is high-res, we usually have to repaint it to

do keep the

or wrapping him

and that makes him a

“We get some source

[PlayStation developer] Neversoft, but

it."

there— and

Official® Dreamcast Magazine

March/April

2001

almost certainly the

best comic-to-game conversion ever. Of course,

world that has given us Fantastic Four and for

Superman

N64, that’s not necesssarily saying much— but its own, Spidey stands out as one of the best

even on action

games

of 'em!) well

years. Not only are the missions

(all

mapped, but Neversoft has totally nailed It’s easy and intuitive,

the web-slinging mechanic.

which

all— but

web shooters and uses

with

Everyone else

the baddies

all

ronmental style

to fight crime.

the world except his wife, but includ-

look appropriate, is

and the

a kind of classic

overall envi-

New York

look that

should

could be anywhen from ’60s to present day. Music and sound effects are provided by game music legend

it's

Tommy Tallarico.

be—you’re playing Peter Parker, after not some all powerful maxiweapon that

www.DailyRadar.com

••

the Dreamcast iteration game, Spider-Man's

of his

hands have

individually-

rendered fingers Good thing, because those nylon spidersuits can start to itch

little...

ters,

but not the in-jokes) have been integrated into some extra Marvel flavor

the main game, which adds to the mix.

While Treyarch and Activision are hesitant

which other Marvel characters will make an appearance, they do assure us that we’ll be happy

to say just

with the selection.

The voiceovers are done by Spidey co-creator Stan Lee himself, and his gravely voice is perfect for the part.

some less than wellgames Skeleton Warriors and Apocalypse Neversoft was clearly looking to prove that Tony Hawk was no fluke, and Spidey has done just that. The After previously producing

received

difficulty

(

curves up

nicely,

and the

level

design

brawn won’t get you use your

all

the way through—you’ll need to

game

true Neversoft tradition, the

with secrets, including

new uniforms and

packed

classic

Spidey comic book covers. One of the biggest secrets,

and ceiling climbing, spidey sense, web and general super-spider strength) extensively, but you actually have to use them to get past most of the obstacles in the game. This isn’t just Spidey plopped into a bunch of generic levels that someone borrowed from the handy Tomb Raider archive, this is Spidey in situations that only he—the smart spider

What-lf mode, revamps the whole

powers

(wall

guy—could

get through. Just as

www.dreamcastmagc

the comic, sheer

keep things

the early levels)

interesting,

as do the

excellent selection of Marvel villains— including Rhino,

smartly done: not only do you get to use your spidey

slinging

Appearances-beyond the What-lf cameos-of

Black Cat (who acts as your guide

and Daredevil help

brain, too.

game

with

cameo

appearances made by many of the other characters in

the Marvel Universe

developer

ble to acquire Trixie in

(it

also includes plenty of

in-jokes). Unfortunately, (it’s

on the same

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater

have ever even seen

some elements

it.

it’s

level 2),

almost impossi-

as unlocking

so few gamers

For the Dreamcast version,

of What-lf

mode

(the Marvel charac-

Dr.

Octopus, and

(of

course) that sentient, big-tongued

black suit himself, Venom.

While the gameplay will remain true

to that of

the PlayStation version (with the addition of What-lf

mode

the port ersoft,”

the main game), that doesn’t is

easy.

"We

get

all

of the

mean

that doing

C++ code from Nev-

says Greg John-the producer

who dragged

Busic into the meeting

room— “But the the time

bulk of

CONTINUBP

just spent

March/April

2001 Official

® Dreamcast Magazine 43

“So there I am at this girl’s front door, dressed to the nines in my new lycra suit with a dozen roses in my hand, when her mom comes outside and tells me that she doesn’t like the way dress! She says something about not approving of her daughter seeing ‘bad guys’, and sends me home with my tail between my legs! I’ve never been so taken

aback

my life, Spidey!’’

"THE BOTTOM LINE IS THAT PBEAMCAST GAMERS WILL GBT WHAT IS UNQUESTIONABLY

THE BEST VERSION OF THE GAME never notice that work at it’s

all.

They’ll

simply think “Hey,

just like the PlayStation version.”

notice, however,

What they

same

Activision, Treyarch

unquestionably the best version of the game. Later than the others? Sure. But we’ll wait for quality. The last word belongs to producer Greg John:

now

possesses actual hands and fingers instead of the fists that he had in the PlayStation version. he has four hand models, two each for climbing and web shooting. At this stage in the development clenched

game will be

out later this spring), they’re both

present onscreen at a

little

disconcerting to

all you’ll

What about framerate?

Will

fps? Don’t count on

onds run right on the Dreamcast.” The

move along more

quickly

it did for either Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 or 2, because the team has already written Dreamcast-speversions of the modules of Neversoft’s PlayStation engine that used assembly language. But even with

solid

isn’t

simply a matter of recompiling the

ing

tweaking, with everything from

work done by hand Of course,

collision detection requir-

for the

Dreamcast version.

Treyarch does the job

right,

Official# Dreamcast Magazine March/April

gamers

2001

have the

fps you have

60 you

game

millisec-

only have 15. Still,

and original developer Neversoft gamers will get to play what is

“Ports from PlayStation to Dreamcast are fantastic. You improve things, and basically get to do all of the things you wanted to do in the first place.” Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

the

2600 SP1P6Y There’ve been a

lot

of Spider-Man

games

over

the years, but with the possible exception of a weird $9 adventure game for the Apple II, the only really

memorable one was

titled (like its

counterpart) Spider-Man, and made for what system? The Atari 2600. You controlled Spidey as he made his way up a giant building,

swinging webs, defusing bombs and catching bad guys. Pure gaming zen at 160 x 192.

running at a rock

30 fps—which is up from around 20 on the So even if the team doesn’t get the game fps, it should still move extremely well. same approach that they did for

PlayStation.

“We’re taking the

Soul Reaver," Busic says, “upping textures and improv-

code on the DC development system. The game needs transparancy colors to fog to

“At

to deal with everything. At

team promises

cific

total level-by-level

it.

we see Spidey at 60

That’s a huge difference,” says Greg John.

than

that done,

times, which can be

more than watch— but in the final game, see are the correct hands for each action. all

that Dreamcast

fact,

(the

will

ing the models' quality.” The results are astounding, and the screenshots on these pages don’t really do game. You’ve got to see it moving to appreciate it. Although the team hasn't changed

justice to the

the animation at

between

don’t have that ‘corneal sandpaper’ effect that you get

PlayStation,” scoffs Busic). Second, Spidey

game to

line of this partnership

explains, “But we’ve really improved on the models. The textures are the most noticable upgrade—they

you can actually see the black webbing on his uniform (“Not just the red and blue blur that they had on

conversion process should

managed

an amazing-looking game.

The bottom

skinning system,” Busic

on the PlayStation”— but the models themselves also have a drastically improved polygon count. Spidey has two other major improvements. First,

getting the

characters so tremendously, Treyarch has deliver

will

Spidey himself.

“We’re using the

all,

by improving the quality of the

www.DailyRadar.i

WANT A BRAWL?

MAKE

A DOUBLE

Street Fighter • fans every-

where get a double-dose of double-trouble with Street Fighter

III:

Double Impact.

This explosive street brawl for the 1

Dream cast " contains

TWO arcade hits on one disc - Street Fighter

New Generation and Street Fighter legion of fighters, Street Fighter

III:

Second Impact. Loaded with

Sega 'Dreamcast.

VVRCOM §>

CAPCOM CO., LTD. 2000 © CAPCOM CAPCOM EDGE are trademarks of CAPCOM

CO., LTD.

the

CAPCOM LOGO

are registered trademarks ot

CAPCOM

CO., LTD.

anew

Double Impact is double dynamite!

WWW.CAPCOM.COM U.S.A., INC.

Sega

III:

STREET FIGHTER

a registered trademark of

CAPCOM is

CO., LTD.

STREET FIGHTER

a trademark of the Interactive

Digital

III:

DOUBLE IMPACT and

Software Association.

Daytona USA: Network Racing home— so you

The arcade legend races

ar those who’ve sown on

their racing oats

Daytona USA arcade game needs

machines, this little

introduction.

It’s

cries:

improved-upon port of the

game we know and packed with even more

“Where’re the 10,000-

polygon car models? Where’s

coin-op

the real-time lightsourcing?

love,

Where’s the

hi-speed It’s

thrills

than the

original.

got more tracks, more modes,

better graphics

than

its

and more depth

predecessor ever had-

and beyond

this, it's all

going to

be online multiplayer.

Now,

all

of you uninitiated

can race around the world

games, will no doubt be screaming in protest at your first sight of Daytona USA. We can hear your skeptical

hyper-realistic

physics engine that models

everything from air-speed to

what your driver ate for breakfast last week? We really, really need to know how that will affect the weight and aerodynamics of our vehicles.”

whippersnappers, who’ve been

weaned on Dreamcast's

state-

of-the-art, true-to-life racing

The strength far

Daytona

above and beyond such

W WW.DailyRadar.CQm

Welcome to

soon

Previewed This Month Anticipation is sweet,

Read

on,

and

and these DC games could be even sweeter. what you’ll be playing in months to come!

find out

DAYTONA USA: NETWORK RACING/46 CONFIDENTIAL MISSION/49

COMMANDOS

THE MUMMY/52 All w rapped

SAKURA TAISEN

3/54 Tons

Network=net!

Action ancj lightgur^jn style

2/50 Everything but Arnie and

his

accent

up and tied with a bow of that

ol'

Japanoweird romanc e

ik&MJ

In an arcade racer like Daytona, gamers will find it a must to master the powerslide in order to make the turns and to beat out the ultra-tough computer racers. In other words, while we took this screenshot, we were clearly NOT mastering the powerslide. But as you unlock later tracks, it’ll become necessary.

Get ready to shoot down this enemy—over and over and over— in Hitmaker’s Confidential Mission (page 49)...and to be dropped in your tracks by the winning smiles and gameplay in Japan’s Sakura Taisen 3 (page 52). The coming generation of Dreamcast games has got it all!

INCOMING! All

Dreamcast,

the time: planned releases for

all

Zone RTS

Mars Matrix 2D Shooter

Feb

System Shock 2 RPG

Out Trigger Shooter/Action

Feb

Unreal Tournament Shooter

Project Justice Fighting

Feb

18 Wheeler Ampro Trucker

Feb

Dragon Riders Adventure

Feb

Exhibition of

Speed Racing

April

2025 Action Feb

Ooga Booga

Online/Action

April

Shrapnel Urb. Warfare

Sports

trite,

piddly details.

game

of pure

twitch, setting

(Yep. We’re taking that stand.)

speed and pure an unmatched

In fact,

even after

time, you’ll find that

all

this

it’s still

Daytona will feature new tracks—ten

in total,

up from

pure, high-octane racing good-

Barcaloungers and enjoying

ness. There's a reason, folks,

the ultimate version of the

ladies with ruined eyesight

why more than

world’s ultimate racing

Turn the steering wheel/ana-

an arcade machine.. .and we're

log-stick

and

you’ll

watch your

car snappily jerk into position with the swiftness of a trap.

long,

mouse-

arduous turns,

its

six

years after

inception, Daytona

glad that we'll never

again have to face the subur-

ban agony and ecstasy that is Chuck E. Cheese’s in order to find one. Soon, we’ll

no delicately-balanced Gran Tur/'smo-style spin-outs: this

infinitely

USA has

be buckling up

all

our comfy

game

the comparitively peaceful

hovering over a loom

Nepal

completing a single priceless

remained the single most widespread and beloved

own homes. Thanks, Dreamcast. We owe

rug over the course of their

arcade racer ever developed.

you, buddy.

glasses, benefits, a

www.dreamcastmagazine.CQtn

environs of our

lifetimes...and

then give ’em

Mac G4

Mar Mar April

Mar

Gorka Morka Racing

Mar

Bomberman

Bangai-0 Shooter

Mar

WSB2K2

Commandos 2

Mar

Crazy Taxi 2 Action

Summer

Alone

Armada

Party Multiplayer

the Dark II

Adventure

RPG/Shooter

Action

Strategy

Online Action

May May

Q2 Spring

Sports

Mar

Samba 2001 Music

Summer

Mar

Bass Fishing 2 Sports

Summer

Floigan Brothers Action

Mar

FarNation Online

RPG

Summer

Half-Life Shooter

Mar

Agartha Adventure

’01

Mar

Black And White Strategy

'01

Mar

Buffy the Vamp. Slayer Action

’01

Mar

Head Hunter Adventure

’01 '01

Dark Angel: Vamp Aplse Action Evil

difficult to get

Mar

Driving

Commandos 2

the original five—and each one

can be raced in mirror mode. The car count in each race will be doubled to 40, making races even more intense than you remember them. And all of these cars will be much more detailed, thanks to the painstaking work being put into them (think wizened old

your hands on

standard for arcade-style racers.

Mar

Feb

Worms World begin the game with four different vehicles in Daytona Network Racing, there are plenty of secret goodies to unlock In addition to the DC-exclusive tracks and the mishmash of courses from past Daytonas.

Mar

Stupid Invaders Graphic Adv

Surf Rocket Racer Racing

you’ll only

2001 and beyond

Racing

Stunt

Feb

Matt Hoffman’s ProBMX

While

Feb

Ducati World Racing Racing

Conflict

Twin: Cyprien’s Chr. Adventure

Heroes of Might III

Magic 3 RPG

Bleed Action

Soul Reaver 2 Adventure/Action

Mummy Action

Mar

NBA Hoopz Sports

Playmobil Hype Adventure

Mar

Roswell Conspiracy Action

Polaris Snocross Racing

Mar

Sonic Adv. 2 Platformer

Record of Lodoss War RPG

Mar

Galleon Adventure

Soldier of Fortune Action/Shooter

Mar

Picassio Action

TBA

Soul Reaver 2 Adventure

Mar

Quark RPG

TBA

The

’01 ’01

TBA

Like any good arcade racer, you’ll need to practice, practice, practice until you can even dream of placing higher than 5th in any of the races. With pumped up graphics and a quasi-mix of all the Daytona greats in one package, it’s also a wise idea to get your mitts on a DC steering wheel to complete the arcade experience. Oldskool racing fans might take a little longer to adjust to the touchy analog controls, but with a wheel

try to

in place, the issue becomes moot and you’re set for a driving experience unlike any other. Add in the online capabilities, and you’re set for long months of racing goodness.

and a closet full of Gap khaki, and you’ve pretty much got the picture).

We’re talking fully mod-

can’t think of a better

get the online festivities

And

deformation, achieved with no

doubt your

even with added

loss of fluidity: effects,

the

game flies

by at

fps without a hitch. Five cars

be available from the

many more

will

start,

will

and

become unlocked

throughout the game.

we game to

experiences around, and

eled interiors and better

rolling.

at any point you begin to skills, well, you’ll

have

which

Three Seven Speedway isn’t the only track to race, of course. You’ll also find gems like Dinosaur Canyon, Mermaid Lake, National Park Speedway, Seaside Street Galaxy and Circuit Pixie, among others. We’re not sure, but we suspect that the “Son of Satan” subhead on some of the courses is going to change.

Official

# Dreamcast Magazine

March/April

2001

game so

wonderful was the

ability to link

the secret unlockable

horse car are included: so expect

Daytona

bliss,

lets

data—which can be analyzed

for

network play or used as a ghost

PUB SEGA DEV AMUSEMENT VISIONS GENRE RACING ORIGIN US PLAYERS 1-4. ONLINE [TBA] ONLINE OH YEAH RELEASE DATE OUT NOW

Pluses

[+]

freaks out there, the competition

Challenging courses, powersliding

should be strong.

goodness, arcade perfection and loads of goodies to unlock

Genki

honing the

DC port—

Minuses

machines and engage in up-to-8player races. That’s where the ‘Online’ in Daytona USA Online in: The game provides

same team (Amusement Vision) and the same director (Toshihiro

comes

Nagoshi) as the original arcade

Bottom Line

four-player simultaneous online

title—to perfection,

play over SegaNet. Racing

are

some

of the

games

most intense, gaming

furiously competitive

evan shamoon

you download your

opponents’ driving records and

legions of die-hard Daytona

the original arcade

music

access to network rankings,

car for practice. Knowing the

A major part of what made

Everything from the horrible

nothing but pure, unadulterated

which

being overseen by the

and our

[-]

the import will be corrected

[_]

With an unflagging framerate

and beefed up

hands-on play has confirmed our

sneaking suspicions that Sega has gotten this one just right.

our fingers that some

re crossing

the bugs

of 60fps

visuals, the rock solid

racing gameplay of the series has its chance to shine in offline and online

portions for all

www.DailyRadar.con

'The best

news

CM was designed

that

expressly for NAOMI, so a port could be right around the corner.” francesca reyes

Think of House of the Dead 2 and Virtua Cop all mixed together in a stew that requires skills, smarts and a precise trigger finger. With nonstop action and specific missions to accomplish, this is the next step for iightgun games. Now, let’s hope it

makes

US Dreamcasts

intact.

With loads of hostages, civilians and items to consider, you cannot simply bust out with guns a-blazing. You’ll have to carefully place each shot in order to avoid hitting innocent bystanders and to take down smart bosses (who’ll require you to make particularly precise shots). The level of interaction

a blessing.

onfidential Mission Shoot

first,

ask questions

ega certainly knows

B Iightgun shooters;

Virtua

its

House of the Dead and Cop series have both

excelled

the arcade as well

as on home systems. So fans should indeed be excited about Sega’s release of developer

maker’s (known for

its

and Crazy

Hit-

offbeat

contributions like Virtual

arcade spy

Taxi)

shooter, Confidential Mission.

For

its first

Iightgun shooter

on NAOMI, the folks on the CM team wanted to do the category

gamers new obstacles to

right by giving

sorts of

come, plus an

interesting

cohesive backstory for

all

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

This

Peel-

These two

Dead

House

terms of In

its

order

and hone

be able to uncover secret areas and items as long as you’re quick. And shooting certain objects on the

your

5 job. And like House

skills, you’ll

screen

the arcade version of of the

also mimics

Dead 2

character interaction. to score high points

everywhere that peace is threatened, as sort of a dynamic duo—which isn’t exactly a

game

of the

(Confiden-

will

new path or muchos points.

unveil a

reward you with

2, players will

be able to take

tap your

will

skills to

And

don’t forget to factor in

the numerous civilians milling

around each stage! of your

In fact,

main objectives

momentary diversions from the

aim

mission paths by participating

who come well.

CM. espi-

double the damage, the tweedy Steed and his kung-fu fighting partner,

Emma Peel, took out international bad

guys while oozing

style all the while.

Wasn't

life

grand?

and

bad guys— no short supply as

directly for the in

But the best news of

that Confidential Mission in

one

avoid shooting the civilians

You’ll also

THE JANE/HOWARD pairing

the

while allowing you time to

hone your shooting accuracy and response times.

reloaded by firing offscreen.

Spies Like Us

has been made by Sega US,

quasi-tutorial mini-games,

max

be equipped with a six-round, pistol which can be

onage freaks will fondly remember the best duo in all of spydom: the inimitable Steed/Mrs. Peel of that catsuitsporting '60s TV hit, The Avengers (not to be confused with the horrid Hollywood movie). Teaming up to do

the

which

automatic

IF THEY LIKE

and

rounds as either the or as the

CMF

Mission Force) must travel

over-

super-slick, tuxedo-wearing

Howard Gibson,

leaders of the tial

Emma

Clifford.

all

shooting. Players are able to fire off

later

leather-sporting,

esque Jean

its

all is

official

in line for

love.

little

title

may

localization

Stay tuned.

FRANCESCA REYES r—<^Official®'Magazine

Dreamcast PUBLISHER SEGA DEVELOPER HITMAKER GENRE ADVENTURE ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS 1-2 ONLINE NO RELEASE DATE OUT NOW (ARCADE)

Pluses

[+]

Fast, frenetic arcade action with loads of secrets, training missions

and varied action sequences

Minuses

[-]

With the US’ light-

gun owners who’ve let their pistols languish away next to their copies of House of the Dead 2 may have a new reason to rejoice in the coming year. While no

was

designed expressly for NAOMI,

which means that those

we’re hopeful that this

Iightgun

eye placed on home consoles, the casualties of

critical

games

will this be

one

for of

misdirected politicos?

Bottom Line

[_]

Hitmaker’s debut

may

be just the ticket

for lightgunners— but in the

go to the arcade, spy boy

meantime,

(or girl)

announcement March/April

2001 Official® Dreamcast Magazine 49

COMINGSOOft

He’ll be back: but let’s face Arnold never really leaves

it,

PERHAPS THE FINEST AND MOST REALISTIC depiction of off-duty commando life was laid down in Amie Schwarzenegger's 1985 blockbuster film. Commando Thanks to the ineluctably .

top-notch performances of Arnold and a pre-hottie Alyssa Milano, Commando was a critically acclaimed tour de force that delicately combined a heartwarming father-daughter rescue story with many lovely explosions and disembowelments. Garnering many awards for its sensitive portrayals at both the

Cannes and Sundance film

festivals. Commando will also be remembered as the film that introduced us to the softer side of Schwarzenegger.

forever

Commandos 2 Jhe Dreamcast now

hile the

Dreamcast

officially h as

PC and DC)— and we’re happy to report that the Dream-

ports than an XJ-19 router

Station,

who

cast version, with

meandering about in one of the missions—can be slaughtered if

World War

lighting

and hi-res graphics, looked sweet like buddah, baby.

you’re feeling particuiariy grim.

movies,” explained Gonzo

The thing that really gives Commandos 2 its flair is the incredible amount of detail in

ships built to scale. As an

Each operative

save the day, as any good

the game. There

commando

thing on the screen that cannot

added bonus, several of the missions have been based on locales in WWII movies that most gamers will easily recognize. In Saving Private Ryan

2 will fall into a category, and new commando types— includ-

y J lii has excelled at bringing gamers the

finest

adventure, racing, sports and

(most recently) FPS games,

has been

weak

traditionally

that's just

where

Commando s 2 comes

bright

in to

should.

tactical action/strategy

game set in World War Commandos 2 will allow players to II,

take charge of a group of highly

rarely

some-

be interacted with or destroyed (unless

it’s

something that

will

effect the flow of the mission).

Fences can be climbed, windows

who must trek

can be jumped through or thrown

deep

Reich territory to

through (throwing

someone

complete a series of missionbased objectives. Eidos recently

something through a window

gave us a look at the game

that’s your

all

three of

Official

its

formats

(Play-

all

time).

how people know II,

now...through the

seductress

will

use her wiles

enemy guards. But new character by far

to distract

the best is

Whisky, the incorrigible

The game includes twelve in all, and almost all

Suarez Girard (Pyro Studio’s

commando

Commandos 2 project head) demo session.

transport small items such as

during our

real-world

towns and

(one of several cleverly missions), players

named

must rescue

dog,

who

will

handguns and grenades stranded soldiers—that

ing a seductress

Commandos

and a thief-

have been added

to the original

formula. Character types

each have

their

own

will

sets of

strengths and weaknesses as

help

is,

whenever he’s not humping enemy fire hydrants and shaking rain

water

all

over expensive

Third Reich rugs. While players will

not be able to directly

control Whisky, in

the

game

whistle that

will

each character have a dog

will hail

the lovable

a soldier and help a small Allied

well

faction protect a village in

For example, a thief will be adept at stealing enemy weapons and items without

a significant arsenal of weapons,

resorting to violence, while a

and Commandos 2 has guns

called defenestration, kids;

Northern Normandy. Another

word for the day), and a flock of cuddly penguins—

settings from

Dreamcast Magazine March/April 2001

“This

them take place

locations, with cities,

trained soldiers into Third

our favorite movies of

innocently

missions

the tactical warfare depart-

ment— and

its

you'll find

level reveals

some

familiar

Das Boot (one

as their own sets of

skills.

canine and bring him running.

No good military game would be complete, of course, without to

www.DailvRadar.com

’

Can’t get enough 6f that Nazi killing? Let Com, mandos 2 be your gi|lde.

“Don’t shoot! I’m

unarmed—

or at least,

unlegged!”

The Mummy Another license

S I’ve

is all

happened on the way to the tomb tonight... got my kid with me, and

she’s

like,

‘Mummy mummy,

keep running

in circles !'

says, ‘Shut up or

I’ll

other foot to the

floor'.

nail

your

Then

she asks me, ‘Mummy, mummy, I don’t want to visit grandma !' So I says, ‘Shut up and keep digging...”' Attempting to cash in on last year’s breakaway blockbuster hit, Konami’s The Mummy uses the movie as a stylistic template for its third-

grainy,

and the

some

finer arts of

manslaughter as

they master machine guns,

players the ability to follow

will

multiple soldiers or place a

for

bazookas, grenades, flamethrowers and everything in

camera on enemy guards that will follow them throughout

between.

the

will

be able

new

addition, players to drive a

slew of

vehicles, including jeeps,

have received

word that there

mode

factor in the completion of

will

several of the missions.

And according to Pyro, the company still has some issues to work out with the multi-

far the

most impressive

Commandos 2

the way

will

enable players

to split their screens to

show

different parts of the action.

We’ve seen something this in D2, but

Commandos 2

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

C2, although

not clear whether the

is still

game

include a deathmatch.

player pacing

no doubt keep them busy months, garrett kenyon

—^Official ©Magazine

final

will definitely

be a cooperative multiplayer

and cars. Vehicles will have two speeds and will be a key

game which

Dreamcast.

level.

tanks, trucks, boats, ships

feature of

tacularly intricate

they are going

mode. But even if these problems are never solved, C2 will be a rich addition to the Dreamcast

to include a versus

library— giving players a spec-

who has

to WWII-style gatling guns.

Gameplay is predictably routine: jump across platforms, pull unmarked levers and solve

some

that

little

that Lara Croft hasn’t

RTS,

the

DC world

is finally

Heroes

III

waiting

coming. Will

for,

a real

beat out

and Black & White ?

While these mini-games do serve to vary up the gameplay,

we hope that Konami and versal can pull

all

off in

Uni-

3D.

Very, very tricky.

What

some serious its

retooling

release

Moses) somehow

(read:

for our review before taking

the plunge, evan shamoon PUBLISHER KONAMI DEVELOPER UNIVERSAL INTERACTIVE GENRE ADVEN-

TURE PLAYERS 1 ONLINE NO ORIGIN US RELEASE Q1

brain-teasing puz-

zles—there’s very

Pluses What

sequence.. .no, don’t ask.

intervenes— so please wait

access to a host of weapons ranging from antique swords

PUBLISHER EIDOS DEVELOPER PYRO STUDIOS GENRE REAL-TIME STRATEGY ORIGIN SPAIN PLAYERS 1 4 ONLINE YES RELEASE DATE MAY

[+]

from the

sarcophagus-surfing

nifty

date to inspire anything but malaise and disappointment. We’re hoping that a miracle

Players control Brendan

Rick O’Connell, giving

between now and

which

Frasier’s cinematic character

it,

which are

ceiling far above. There’s also

require

locales,

framerate could use work as well.)

really perfected

and enthusiastic

of stones

continually dropping

somewhat

permeate the

contain a mixture of indoor

has

surprising

bunch

(Unfortunately, graphics are

doors and sandy booby-traps

learn the

explosions, while ducking a

and outdoor environments.

Musty Egyptian tombs, trap

will

that burst from the cave floor

set the movie apart from run-of-the mill Hollywood fodder was its sharp wit and ironic— even originalapproach to the genre. The game seems to be making no such attempts to break the Tomb Raider mold, and will

person action-adventuring.

spare. Players

wrapped up

must then avoid hot geysers

o a funny thing

little

here

haven’t seen, and very

actually done. Well, besides

haul hiney from a gaggle of floating fireballs.

Minuses We

[-]

haven't heard anything about

mouse support,

Yes, readers, one of the

but that would be a

Bottom Line Who

serve to break up the monot-

[_]

doesn't love to

their spare time?

kill

a few Nazis on PC, it should

A fine RTS

in if

handled with loads of TLC

make

many

arcade-style mini-games that

bonus; notoriously tough.

a nice addition to the

library.

ony of traipsing about tombs

and hacking up

mummies

“Oy! Stop yer grinnin’, you damned skull! Are you laughing at me? Did just hear the I

word lederhausen come out of your stinkin’ mouth?” ‘

the task of outrunning a set of floating fireballs.

You

March/April

2001 Official

# Dreamcast Magazine 51

m comingsooVp For those unfamiliar with the Sakura series and are only used to seeing screens of dewy-eyed girls looking flustered, then this shot (below) might be a bit surprising. Yes, Sakura Taisen is not only about telling anime chicks how good their hair smells-there’s a battle engine to deal with as well. And Sakura 3’s combat has been

Sakura Taisen 3 The

girls are

back

town. ..if you call Paris, France a town, that

ike Virtua Fighter 2,

plain that the

the inimitable Sakura

place

Taisen series

was one

game would So

Paris, France.

take

new location—

a brand

for

Japanese

of the rare million-selling titles

gamers (and

on Saturn. Sparking the evolu-

North America, as

well),

Taisen 3 promises

more than

tion of a

massive fanbase

native Japan,

it’s

in its

most

avidly

pursued and

perused franchises. Gamers everywhere have been anxiously

those of us

Sakura

hours and hours of excellent

widely held

be one of the industry’s

for

gameplay:

for all intents

purposes,

romantic

and

takes players on

a virtual vacation to the city

most

finally

of Arcadia, Shinobi) to lend a

helping hand. And so, given that

it’s

so well-versed

in all

things Sakura (after helping with

its

conversions of Sakura 1

Unfortunately, ever since

and 2), Overworks is steaming ahead in its production of

the series’ third chapter and

on Dreamcast.

ST3-related material that has

gearing up for a Spring

The added bonus, it’s

for the fate

Sega stepped and asked Overworks (Skies

Fortunately,

when that FMV was released, the amount of

going to get their wish.

that this time

hands with worry

of their beloved franchise.

Red Company

on Earth.

awaiting the series’ return to

the small screen. ..and they're

cial trouble, which caused fans everywhere to wring their

of course,

the lovely day

At the beginning of 2000, audiences were teased with

2001

trickled out to the press could

release (cue loud otaku sigh).

the announcement of Sakura

be described by the phrase “complete news black-out.”

this

Taisen 3, via the presentation

And moreover, Red Company

spanking new animated FMV. New characters were revealed and it was made

(the developer of the

of a

Official ©Dreamcast

Sakura

Taisen series on Saturn)

rumored

to hp

Magazine April/May 2001

was

serious finan-

Leaving Japan for France,

newest installment in the Sakura Taisen drama offers a more dynamic storylinecracking open new horizons, npw characters and new

enemies. Particular attention has been paid to the game's graphics, which now offer a load of

In fact,

fans

many

2D and

(both will

3D).

note that

game's movies mix the two mediums

of the

cleverly

by placing

characters

and objects over 3D landscapes. The result is most similar to the gameplay found in Atlus' Thousand Arms RPG— but imagine it on Dreamcast’s beefed up graphics engine. Sweeeeeeeeet.

The main hero, who entered the series for the

first

time

its inception, makes a triumphant return—as does

the

game

futuristic

design's peculiar,

take nn

Qlh

Glycine Bleumer gets up close and hostile with hero,

Oogami

Ichiro.

One

of several leading ladies, Glycine is

the most noble, with royal blood pumping through her veins.

Treat the lady right (lower left): playing as Ichiro,

depending on how you respond to the various women in your life in Sakura Taisen 3,

may not reach their potential in battle (i.e. handle a delicate situation badly and they may just hang you out to dry on the enemy’s clothesline). Therefore, brush up on your etiquette and read the

they

‘sensitive guy’

mix

mas

handbook. The

art atop

cine-

certainly a sight to

behold (lower right) and with Overworks handling the development, we can be assured that every little detail will be thoroughly checked and double-checked.

you’ve ever

seen Skies of Arcadia, you

know what you’re

century history (giant

He-clair, she-claire? THE HERO in

own of the

Sakura Taisen

hour

new

mechs

girls

have

weaknesses

personality.. .that’s

a lot of spice to add to the series’ relationship

sim mix.

concept remains

of transport: a

intact.

Standard

sneaky underground

simulation game-type battles

rail train called

are featured once again, as are

'Eclaire'.

thought

all

wasn't the same

characters.

name

all:

the

yummy

custard-filled type of eclair is (by French standards) a

—

mas-

because of is a feminine object. Oh, well. In any 'E' on the end can be boarded at its main hub beneath a theater called Le Chat Noir, which plays host to many aboveground and belowground hijinks. Just don't culine object, while the people-filled Eclaire

—

the

case, the game's Eclaire

try to eat

it.

RPG

on how they interact with other

pastry of the

same name, until we realized that

of those important

aspects which guide players down certain paths depending

would be cool if this train was shaped it

like the

you're usually given a choice

fans are sure to be delighted with ST3. And just as surely,

between several possible con-

this

with a great

many people—

versations at any one time. This chatting system

one

of the foundations of the

game.. .and

in fact, all

of the

events and relationships that

Sakura Taisen s original

Paris via a unique

strengths,

and unique

Oogami Ichiro, scoots around the heady streets and alleys of

mode

included!) Five

joined the cast, each with her

you’ll

And during

battle,

be able to make standard

occur

will

by them. This game’s communication is somewhat limited, but it’s definitely an improvement over the two

scope of

previous episodes. Before, you

could only answer to

questions— but

Taisen 3,

you’ll

‘yes’ or ‘no’ in

To do so, just use the joystick

combat gauges

(life,

be able to talk

to give a ‘strength level’ to

your answers. Details aside,

PUBLISHER SEGA DEV OVERWORKS GENRE SIM/RPG ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS ONLINE TBA RELEASE DATE SPRING (JAPAN] TBA (US) I

Pluses

[+]

Interesting use of analog controls for dialog;

gorgeous CG/anime

style

Sakura

now be able

attacks to correspond with sev-

You’ll also

christophe kagotani

dictionary,

often be affected

subtly adjust your responses.

strength, action, etc.).

overseas delight will do a lot to whet the appetites of American gamers with a penchant for niche titles and a handy Japanese-to-English

develop after these dialogs

attacks and a variety of magical

eral

in for.

Minuses Not little

much

[-]

innovation for serious fans; of seeing it in the US

chance

Bottom Line

[_]

expect great things, but we don't expect to understand 'em. We'll have to hope and pray for a conversion.

Japanese

March/April 20C

Official

# Dreamcast Magazine 53

lit

Executing air combos takes practice because of the sluggish controls. Avid players of the Versus series will immediately notice that starting and completing these moves is a little more difficult.

—

Project Justice Matter i

mind and

vs.

hy Capcom insists on rehashing its 2D

¥ ¥ J

mmJ

fighters in

(

Rival

Schools, SFEX, and Plasma

Sword) these

will

when

all

substance— the

fun,

produce a team combo.

we tend

to find

bit

sloppy and unbalanced.

games. As you may already know, Project Justice and its

Our main complaints with PJ

predecessors use exactly the

same fighting engine as the one

Marvel

you’ll find

vs.

Capcom

loads of crazy, chaotic

moves and high-hitting combos in this game. There are tons combos and team combos available to each character— and of course, of arial

they’re

all

of the cast are simply

stronger by leaps and bounds

than others, and this often

overrated.

have to do with character balance and super moves. Some

members

the Versus series of games.

But hey— maybe innovation is

goes 3D

can provide heart-thumping

counterparts continue

to remain inferior fighting

big fight

While this style of fighting

beyond comprehen-

sion, especially

style vs.

few buttons will form a chain combo and pressing two or more buttons simultaneously

exceptionally easy

to execute. Usually, tapping a

leads to unfair fights. What’s

more, even though teams consist of three characters,

you can choose to play as the

same one

every round—even

you lose with that character. This enables cheap players to

monopolize the stronger characters constantly.

Here’s one of the special team combos. Although you’ll only be able to execute one when the opponent really screws up, they are quite impressive to watch.

Welcome to TESTZONE

Super moves are very easy to pull off. However, actually working into a combo and landing properly is tough. Get used

them them

to the timing to

make

combos second

nature.

high-hitting

ODCM's Review-tastic Five Spot

BJMvmRtmofi

It’S

perfectly clear to US that this

is,

far,

the biggest

review section ever to appear in an issue of ODCM. Count them. ..25 full pages of scores for you to peruse, and we couldn't have done it without the help of some of best (albeit, strange) reviewers this side of-well, some imaginary line that separates the great reviewers from the chaff. (Hint: ours are on the “great” side.)

CHET BARBER Reviewed:

KOF ‘99

Evolution, Project Justice

2D was truly put to the test

Chet’s love of all things fighting and

when we pinned him down with a super and forced him to pull out a fireball in two seconds flat. Really. We’re not talking about videogames. Okay, we are. But his resolve was tested by two new fighters. Who won? Read up to find out this issue,

DANIEL ERICKSON Reviewed: Championship Surfer

When asked what he’d rather be doing besides working for ODCM’s Internet sister site, Daily Radar, Mr. Erickson replied that he’d Rather Be Riding. Does he mean riding his motorcycle? Or is he

referring to the virtual

Surfer?

waves

Championship

Mattel's

We didn’t stick around to find out

but he didn’t look

wet

GARRETT KENYON MTV Skateboarding

Reviewed: Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX, featuring

Andy McDonald, SnoCross

Garrett is a hero. We didn’t even have to force him to play MTV Skateboarding-he offered. This is when we write the word “LESSON’’ on the chalkboard and encourage youth everywhere to take a page from Garrett’s work ethic. This kid is going places.

GREG ORLANDO Reviewed:

KAO the Kangaroo

When he’s not “relaxing with Trudy," you’ll find Greg in any of the following two locations: 1. Hopping up and down across colorful platforms as a small marsupial with boxing gloves; 2. Hopping up and down across his not-so colorful desktop as a small human with red mittens He sure loves his job. .

DAVID CHEN Reviewed: Prince of Persia: Arabian Nights

SEE a grown man reduced

to tears merely by touching a button on his Dreamcast! WATCH in horror as he struggles with crap controls! LISTEN to his cries of pain as he grapples with a nonsensical string of puzzles! SIGH with relief to know he was paid for his pain. In this issue:

No, pal, not that kind of scoring system.

Fortunately, compared to the other Versus games, the

supers are less devastating.

So now, when you self

caught

find your-

3000

instantly die. However,

improvement.

Each player can hold up

Rival Revival

to five supers at

and although

once—

it still

takes

Rival Schools series (of which Project Justice stands as the second com-

some

plete chapter) relies on that old high

these devastating com-

school rivalry between various scholastic fictional

and

social

camps

in a

Japanese suburb.

In Project Justice, there are six different high schools at war, each

with

its

own back

story

and foment-

ing sub-feuds. Playing through Story in the game will reveal all sorts of 90210- worthy backstabbing

Mode

The fighters must then duke out to 'save the honor' of their

hijinks. it

respective schools. How's that for

school

spirit...

bos,

skill

to actually land

does degrade the

being a

bit.

Instead of

game where

sive strategy

aimed

directly at fans of either its

its series but is not something will be enjoyed by everyone, it gets out of 10. And we’ve even added a spiffy new scoring system for graphics,

defen-

equally as

important as offensive, the super system encourages

sound, control and gameplay!! Peripherals are another story. Since it doesn’t make much sense to score a VMU or an extension cord on a 1-10

an incredibly clever and cute smiley-face score system. We hope you’ll find it self-explanatory.

Dream Game Award* lineup,

won’t be hard-pressed to pick

game every

beyond the

issue that goes above

call of

excellent

good

6 5 4

for

3 2

flawed

there’s no love at

fans

average

mediocre

love to hate

and

greatness. For this

of game, we’ve concocted special award: the Dream Game Award. The title that is so duly honored is guaranteed to be good, no matter who you are or what type of games you like

to play.

essential purchase!

somewhere

mag

* Small print

secures your legal agreement to buy all Dream Game Award titles immediately.

mainly what

instant classic

phenomenal

With Dreamcast's promising software

mostly on attacking. This is

scale, we’ve created

players to concentrate

Got pep?

that

strategic aspects of the fighting quite a

we sure wouldn’t give

there’s a negative side

THE CONCEPT BEHIND Capcom's

were,

genre or hit

combo, you won’t

to this

If it

it away for free—we’d be selling it in the back of Maxim for $29.99. And Evan would have a date this weekend. We score games on a scale of 1 to 10. When we believe a game is just average, we give it 5 out of 10. If its appeal

in this

makes March/April

2QQ1 Official

Dieamnast Magazine

all

TESXZONE

In-Depth Reviews

Although the graphics triple-A

company that

still

pale

can’t

comparison to games such as Soul Calibur and D0A2, Pfs aren’t bad

meet the

for

3D Capcom

However, there’s no excuse

fighter.

state-of-the-art dress code.

There are a lot of characters to choose from here, including a bunch of secret ones. Although a couple are actually pretty lame (they seem to be present only as fillers), there are a number of useful ones.

When

assembling your team, be sure to pick characters that comple-

ment each other well and offer a wide collective of attacks.

PJ (and

•

all

forming a shoryuken, hadoken

of the Versus

games) too chaotic. The only other major com-

or the like

PJ does possess plenty of

redeeming aspects.

easy enough,

First,

the

moves always appear on the

denizens of this vast stable of

screen a long time after the

characters sport

As we’ve often noted, Capcom’s

moment that you’re actually inputingthe command, which

most unique designs you’ll ever see in a videogame. In

3D games

makes elaborate combos

type, they range

plaint

we have

Justice

with Project

regarding

its

control.

suffer from impre-

cise controls:

and

this

game

no exception. Jumps remain too buoyant, as

about is

you’re leaping

water or space—which

especially problematic for air

combos, since precise timing is necessary for completing aerial raids. These sluggish controls will

also affect the execution of

regular moves. Although per-

unnecessarily

difficult.

seems

if this has become a chronic problem for Capcom; we’d really love to see the issue resolved in subsequent games. And if it’s a fault built into the medium, perhaps Capcom would do well

to design cally for

some

fighters specifi-

3D, from the ground up.

But enough with the negative:

dressed

some

of the

from swimmers

clingy bathing suits

and swimfins to school

principals

wearing psuedo football gear.

And

Capcom has mounds of secret

of course,

included

actually

kind

of catchy,

although

few stages it can be annoying to the point of distraction. Project Justice's fine graphics

also surpass those of any

other

3D Capcom

fighter

Dreamcast

that we’ve seen.

characters and stages to unlock,

well

play

as a variety of modes to

them

in.

There is definitely enough positive here

game

dilute the

above average. The music

you’re a hardcore

Superficially, the

Capcom

Sleek models, fast framerate, cool special effects

(these fans have had a long

A CAPCOM FIGHTER. Like any good Capcom game, Project Justice is no different than its 2D and 3D fighting brethren in that it packs a goodly amount of wacky and downright bizarre characters to choose from. While some of ...WHEN YOU’RE IN

them, such as the speedo-sporting Nagare Namikawa or the violin-playing Yurika Kirishima,

show

aside—we

like ’em. Yes,

off

Project Justice's (and Rival Schools’) roots,

speedos and

all,

fight!)

(# Dreamrast Magazine March/April

and coaches join

on the

(Momo) or as a dominatrix-type weirdo (Aoi Himezaki). Capcom, the king of creating memorable but oh-so-odd characters...

with a tennis racquet

Just leave

Official

wacky anime

you certainly can’t beat conking the

daylights out of PJ's administrative staff (yes, teachers

all

2QQ1

their first

appearance at the

start of the

EX series).

Graphics 8

fan

time to get used to this particular set of faults, which made

People are Strange...

PUB CAPCOM DEV CAPCOM ORIGIN JAPAN GENRE FIGHTING PLAYERS 2 PERIPH ARCADE STIC K ESRB T ONLINE NO ESRB T PRICE $39.99 1

negative— but only

Sound 7 Decent soundtrack arpVvacky voices .<

Control 5 Sluggish controls, sloppy Supers, minimal growth

If 1

you’re a casual follower of

beat ’em ups who’s looking for

111

Gameplay 6

'PBSH

Tons of moves/secrets can't replace real genius

another Soul Calibur to sate your craving, you are, unfortunately, out of luck.

CHET BARBER

Score: 6

for a

IN ORDER.

YOU HAVE TO GO BACK. TO

ITS

BEGINNING

?rmrrTT

Remind you of anything? Ummm... maybe Tomb Raider? This

game makes TR look like a work of Which it may be—but the point of creating a new game isn’t usually to make an old game look so genius.

smashing,

is it?

Princeof Persia: Poor Prince!

V I

y y

hat’s

He'll

frustrating

never

come back to

problematic; turning 180-degrees

down are

than playing a sub-aver-

or crouching

age game? After

our disagreeably prolonged time

processes than crossing a small room. Comparatively, even the

with Mattel Interactive’s Prince

late

Ms. Croft

cliff

Arabian Nights

Arabia again. Must’ve been the water... edge.. .it's just not right.

Visuals are bland. While

lengthier

the Prince

nicely detailed,

spry.

his animation set is simple— it’s almost embarrassing to watch him run. And he’s the best this game has to offer; other characters don’t fare even

of Persia: Arabian Nights, very

gameplay

well.

(some are

Much

been a squarely middle-of-the-

narrow ledges and meandering

damn

large

through tunnels, but to keep

times

Tomb Raider knockoff

road

of the illogical

spent

in solitarily

game

ended up being more agonizing

the

than 1001 paper cuts.

vaguely reminiscent of

As the

titular

monarch, the

beautiful sultan’s daughter. Not

than an opportunity to slow

we can do story

start,

but

like its

down

for a

brethren,

example, a leap of

problems with camera,

faith that follows

(especially)

clipping,

smooth naviga-

Controls are similarly

Off icial

lethal,

Prince does plenty of starting over. For

tion.

while

seeable. They're mostly

Arabian Nights has frequent

and

bit,

which means that the poor

acceptable waters. But

things

little

are

others are completely unfore-

without a strong

everything else bobs

blatant and offer

a particularly

frustrating bait-and-switch

puzzle leads to a crumbling

Dreamrast Magazine March/April 2001

much

don’t expect

case, the few

in this

make

worth

either your cash or your time.

DAVE CHEN

actually all

—^Official ^'Magazine

Dreamcast.

feels like the levels PUB MATTEL INTERACTIVE DEV AVALANCHE GENRE ACTION/ADVENTURE ORIGIN US PLAYERS 1 ONLINE NO ESRB T PRICE $39.99

level editor. Seriously.

its

Some

positives don’t

and angular that at

Graphics 5

illustrious ancestors), there

are plenty of traps.

the most promising

quality

were created using a pre-fab

interesting (and

must escape illegitimate imprisonment and rescue the player

quite nice), but they’re

navigating

hate to pan games, even

from. But

Surface textures vary

few things come to mind. Unruly and plain, what could have

the ones

NPCs

Sub-standard CGs. BGs, and

NONE OF THE RIGHT MOVES? One intriguing aspect of POP is the fencing model - ©, 0> and

The CGs, stuff,

too, are pretty plain

while the cut-scenes are

flat-out

spaced save points ensure that

hand

edly.

choosing any action set other than to stand and fight will result in getting cut to ribbons while very slowly turning around. Consequently, most melees end up as stationary standoffs where you trade blows and hope you don't choke on defense. in a

fight. Sadly,

you’ll

get to enjoy

them

The soundtrack,

repeat-

Sound 4 Good music, bad

crude— and poorly

control three slashing attacks and a block. On paper, it reads as a pretty good way to go hand to

sultrier,

is gorgeous but unobtrusive. Which is a shame, because sound effects are few and far between; this game’s got all the

fanfare of a tomb.

effects

Control 3 Plenty to do. but

s all very difficult

a I

John Carpenter score but

[

Gameplay 3 Can

have gameplay without control

ill

Score:

www.DailyRadar.com _

TESTZKJNE Is

she Andy MacDonald’s

unknown skate she’s

In-Depth Reviews

girlfriend? Or sister? Or

mother?

she an

celebrity (and therefore oxymoronic)? Really, we’re sure

like, totally nice.

And

that’s the only thing that matters, kids.

You've been Invited to Join e local competition et Murphy's Playhouse. If you can achieve a score of 6.0 or higher, you'll be on the first step of the ladder to skateboarding fame.

OllSi

MTV Sports Skateboarding If

Andy MacDonald his is a

busy world

live in,

we’ll

get to

the point and spare you the suspense:

MTV Sports

MacDonald

a half-assed

game

that will never compare in any way, shape or form to Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 or 2.

played this

you wouldn't have

game so that to,

and

was

we'll not soon forget. There are far too many things

a sacrifice

wrong in

with this

game to

a trick

When

realign

the

is doing you have to

a skater

air,

him with the ramp sim-

ply by letting

Skateboarding Featuring Andy

plays games,

ground.

go of everything—

which takes all of the challenge and the fun out of halfpipe and

swimming

game

which

that

looks

makes

freezes the instant he

some points someone has

put a boot to the side of your

ones lack the faintest sense of

inertia.

grace or

well,

you

bail,

there were any.

When

only two frames are

shown: the one where you first screw up and the one where

just us, or did

MTV start sucking

videos? At one time,

MTV was a shining MTV intro-

bastion of entertainment.

one: the control.

for this atrocity in

rigid

with

limbs on skateboards that

never

really

seem

touch the

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

Request

Live's

Carson Daly

Run

while you

(or skate)

still

away

can.

GARRETT KENYON

*—^Official ©Magazine

contains for gameplay. There

are tons of single player modes,

Dreamcast. PUBLISHER THQ DEVELOPER DARKBLACK GENRE SPORTS ORIGIN NINTH RING OF HELL PLAYERS 1-2

ONUNE YES ESRB E PRICE $39.99

Graphics 3

including High Score, Lifestyle,

and Stunt, and various multiplayer modes, as well— although we shudder to think

who would

1 I

MTV Skateboarding.

either (especially the last secret

Gameplay 2

level)— in fact, we’re trying to

Big on options, but the lousy control chance of fun

gamers and

we'll let

you keep your TRL.

levels aren’t too

figure out

come

shabby

how we could

skaters from Tony

Control 1 Someone please kill me

The

but nothing to write

inten-

tionally subject his unwitting

chum

LU.-J-.I

Sound 6 A decent soundtrack, home about

duced a nation of suburban kids to

what, MTV. ..you leave the games to Total

“skateboarding” on this game’s cover.

hip-hop, punk, and Pauly Shore.

least attempted to act cutting edge. Now, it's a showcase for mostly talentless, teenybop lightweights. Tell you

should

new degree. Char-

in rigid circles

fluidity.

The strongest point of the game is the number of options

of the friend

the second they stopped playing

offend the senses the most.

reinvest

pretty

impact or even

Stick to the Videos Is it

Whoever designed the physics

acters spin

some

Survival

cover

pick out a few key flaws that

engine

Granted, there are

cool tricks that can be pulled,

but even the really complicated

off at

a single page, so we’ll just

Number

you’re lying flat on the ground.

contact, showing no signs of

animations would be horrendous

the framerate,

And whenever a character

runs into a wall, the frame

We’re pretty sure that crash

pool play.

Another major faux pas the

Tony Hawk

bet he plays

TV.

get the

Hawk to

over and skate on them.

Don’t be fooled by the word

March/April

2001

Score: Official

kills

any

# Dreamcast Magazine 59

1ESTZONE

In-Depth Reviews

Donald may have to watch his famously belligerent mouth around behemoths like the Frankenstein (left).

Anywhere Donald goes

in this

Miwm'm'mhi

game, he looks like he’s about to deliver a walloping to whoever greets him on the other side of the screen? And guess what? He

is.

JiIAMilATifilW

Dude

Donald

Time to test your old jumpingpuzzle

Goin’ Quackers! Donald gets

here's nothing

game

reflexes,

touch with his inner brute

the

world that can

match the unleashed

isn’t

Raymart: The Great Escape. confined to the

Donald's path

game's

trackbased levels

strictly

While ducks and

always a rewarding combination,

worthwhile goal—with plenty of

the main problem with Goin’

humor and

environments,

be dodging

Quackers!

that

fisticuffs

are

face turns boiling red and his

lots of

eyes harden into nuggets of

minimal work.

out of Merlock's

(and their dogs) every step of

hours; this obviously isn’t

After Donald's object d'amour,

the way. You'll kick, punch and

wiggle, Disney’s nicest uncle

the lovely Daisy Duck, gets

jump through each

platform vets who're used to

into one of cartoondom’s most dangerous

abducted during a live TV news report, it’s up to you to guide the feisty duck over hill and dale to rescue her from the evil Merlock. This quest takes

taking care to scoop up

pure hatred while his duck-butt in

a pugnacious

little

can turn

brawlers. Or not.

Donald turns out to be a perfect platformer for the

underage set-with no

real

to die or run out of lives,

nothing

way

it’s

not forgiving. You’ll

be steering the enraged duck on a never-ending mission of fowl fury, which even includes a few

nifty

attacks

world. But don’t

a quasi-3D

be fooled,

this

you through four different worlds: a forest, the town of

Duckberg, a haunted house, and Merlock's dark citadel,

you’ll

hazards and beating the snot

henchmen

Rayman

game

gets.

sid-

of the

to satisfy

the ones to be found

packed with secrets and no

Dreamcast. PUBLISHER UBISOFT DEVELOPER DISNEY INTERACTIVE GENRE PLATFORMER 0RI6IN US PLAYERS 1 ONUNE NO ESRB E PRICE $39.99

Graphics 7 Looks

the

Duck Tales show

Sound 6 Expected goofy i

Donald busting heads, which is (arguably) compelling as well as

Official# Dreamcast Magazine March /April

2001

equests to unlock: just Donald, his

enemies and a clear and

acheivable goal.

KO croaks

punches.

pratfalls,

Control 7 and simple; jump, double jump, duck-kwan-do kicks, etc. Plain

foot off.

Donald Duck: Going Qwackbe enough to keep

Gameplay 5 Basic platform jumps-n-bops. Easy, short

ers! could

Gameplay mostly consists

compliment)

or even oldskool Sonic

games. And unless you're still rushing home to watch Blue's Clues, the music will eventually make you want to chew your

own

can morris

<^Official@Magazir>e

just a few

brain-busting, skill-testing antics

nephews Huey, Dewey, and Louie have left lying around— gather them all, and you’ll gain access to a bonus stage. And kiddos, that’s about as There are no involving quests

it's

all

game designed

the toys that your careless

complicated as the

with five stages in each.

blow through

game’s stages

stage, while all

style,

very easy

that consist of lots of jumping,

whacking enemies, and

Donald Duck does meet a

humorous. As you guide him up, down, and side to side through the game’s various

anger of Donald Duck. As his

gyrates

as you maneuver Donald around

the tricky industrial wasteland of Duckberg.

the K-6 set sitting quietly

TV for hours without complaints. So to this end,

front of the

Score: 5 www.DailyRadar.cQm

“MM: Capcom has tweaked

this cookie-cutter

shooter to perfection."

eric bratcher

gggBgjg

While a little more variety in the basic weapons would be nice, you never feel under-armed. The Gravity Hole (below left) is an awesome weapon, but it recharges slowly—so don’t waste it.

Bomb

•iH'aaiiattiiJiJiiaii

E&sQQaazuuS'

istsLM

xtaist

To say that the enemies in Mars Matrix shoot a lot exactly like saying $1000 is a lot to pay for a PS2.

Mars Matrix Looks

F HI \ ^

today,

hat

there really

Mars Matrix does

and what so few shooters manage to do right,

that

provides a Zen-

like defining moment when you suddenly realize that you are

is life

on Mars. Go

And Mars Matrix has it, too. Capcom has tweaked its cookie-cutter

2D shooter formula

nearly to perfection,

here—two

selectable ships offer the typical ‘wide,

weak shot versus

in the zone—and in so doing, you have transformed from a

crafts are fast, so you

panicked, underpowered

and weave

little

strong,

narrow shot’ choice, and both effectively.

can dodge Both ships

kill

that reflects the shots of your

who cover the screen

enemies, and can also detonate

dozens—and sometimes hundreds—of little red and blue

a devastating blast which

damage

will

enemy onscreen. This reflective shield has become a Capcom staple (see G unbird 2

collide with.

and Gigawing), and

are just sick.

every

is finally

Which

not to say that

also have a Piercing Cannon, a

things are going to be easy for

very strong, short range attack,

you.

untouchable fountain of beauti-

and a secret weapon—the Gravity Hole Bomb, a defensive shield

shooters of

down

your wake. in

MM crowds your

path with vast hordes of enemies

MEN ARE NOT FROM MARS The debate as to whether

It’s

the

videogames

to a runner’s high,

another nod to the great old,

and

all

the great shooters have had

it.

Blazing Lasers had it in spades, as did the Th underforce games.

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

2D shooters

years. Give

we’ve played

a shot. ERIC BRATCHER

You have

some

r—^Offidalii'Magazine

big

Dreamcast

yourself, but these guys

GENRE 2D SHOOTER ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS ONLINE NO VMU CT 7 ESRB E PRICE $19.99

The game also boasts considerable depth for a shooter.

there is life on Mars has been raging since 1877, when Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli reported seeing channels (mistranslated as "canals") on the planet's surface. In 1996, a meteorite was said to contain evidence that single-celled bacteria once existed on Mars. That conclusion is now considered speculative, as the same "evidence" has been discovered in moon rocks, in the Antarctic ice where the meteorite was found, and recently in the odor-eaters of certain dedicated ODCM editors, where nothing could possibly survive.

1-2

Graphics 6 Hand drawn

sprites look awful 01

There’s Ra/den-style two player

cooperative play, and

revamps each

level’s

Elite Mode enemy

types and placement so com-

but smoldering earth (or rather,

Mars)

of the

screen and leaving nothing

closest thing

finest

PUBLISHER CAPCOM DEVELOPER TAKUMI

stay alive to an unstoppable,

upon huge expanses

guns

with

glowing death for you to

perfected here.

gnat who simply wanted to

ful destruction, raining fire

bits of

seems to be an new game. Finally,

pletely that

altogether

Sound 8 The music i

Shop enables

players to

is great,

stick is

but explosions drown i

out

tuned to perfection ~

the

Control 9 The analog i

Gameplay 7

unlock high score competitions, options ranging from ship speed I

and color

to free play,

level. Overall, this is

and even

demonstrations of how to beat a

one

of the

March/April

2001

Score: 7 Official

Dreamrast Magazine

Once again, you’re treated to the dynamic duo: killer gunplay and Lara’s short shorts. All the staples of previous Tomb Raider games are here for your enjoyment: and that, of course, is the farthest thing from bad.

Tomb Raider: She jumps. She L

falls.

he secret

out.

model

Croft

dead, but

Head Mode,

H Lara her

memory

lives

through the dialogue of a few

(is

this

game

stuck

or what?)

incredibly outdated

Big

seems

on DC's

capable engine.

close associates, who've been

gathered together

the TR

franchise’s latest installment,

Tomb

Chronicles

She dies— yet Lara

Raider: Chronicles.

still

Giving credit

keeps popping up on DC

where

some

with a sloppy auto-aiming feature

(was nothing learned from Legend

nice character animation for

ofZelda's immaculate lock-on

Lara: water droplets drip off her

function on N64?!)

body when she surfaces in a pool, etc. And in comparison to

the usual suspects (wacky camera

The Last Revelation, the graphics are vastly improved. But the

tion, etc.)

textures never quite

In this dirge-like little ditty,

due,

it's

Chronicles does sport

make

committing old crimes.

Even with Chronicle’s interesting

and some new features

storyline

and some of

angles, clipping, collision detec-

various mourners at Lady Miss

beyond so-so or bland, while

(like

C’s funeral recount a handful of

the in-game cinemas are

stealthy

extremely hokey.

short of the potential

tightrope walking bits),

it still

and some PUBLISHER EIDOS DEVELOPER CORE GENRE ACTION/ADVENTURE ORIGIN UK VMU COUNT 17+ PLAYERS ONLINE NO ESRB T PRICE $49.99

falls far, far

her earlier adventures effort to (supposedly)

some

light

on the shadier

of Lara’s history-and

With regard to gameplay,

shed

guiding Lara’s shapely polygons

bits

around should be easy as

mean-

by this time, right? Wrong!

while, you’ll play through these

same 'memories’

sort of a

videogame version of a eulogy. It's a great concept-but it’s a wasted one, once you've noticed that the game’s stale graphics look so far past their sell-by date, it

almost hurts.

bad enough that all of the characters resemble It’s

Lara Croft: Tres Jolie! Tomb Raider movie, starring Angelina Jolie, make the grade? Games that have graduated onto the Will the

big screen

the past certainly

your memory: Double Dragon

Super Mario Brothers Fighter (’95):

(’93): F;

(’94): F;

Street

Final Fantasy: Leg-

end of the Crystals (’95): C; SFII: the Animated Movie (’96): B; Mortal Kombat (’97): C; Mortal Kombat:

Lara’s exaggerated character

Annihilation (’99): C.

Official

# Dreamcast Magazine

hate them just as

March/April

2QQ1

pie If

you

you’ll

much now.

Fans who worship at the shrine of Croft

will

know the

jump, duck, shoot,

haven’t! Here’s a rundown, to refresh

untreated bee sting victims, but

hated the controls before,

drill-

roll

and

Sound 6

green out of the franchise before

Eidos

the

Unfortunately,

seems to have

innovation that

place.

series has taken a step backward,

hits.

about the suspense,

game so

almost as

the

slapped together to squeeze more

the movie

and ladders— but sadly, this drill hasn’t gotten any more exciting. Core has done little in the way of it’s

Graphics 4

climb a bunch of boxes, walls

innovating;

shown

Tomb Raider, or even iterations 2 and 3. Chronicles seems like it was original

made

forgotten

the original

movie-worthy

It’s

the

nice to see Lara

Control 3

and

intrigue

first

T_|

Gameplay 5 Rehashed action from Lara's glory days of yore...yawna

Dreamcast again, but this game merely heaps another shovel of dirt

over her coffin.

JAMES MAINEIRO

Score:

www. Daily Radar.

]

‘Chicken Run!: For every positive aspect, there’s a negative just waiting

Who doesn’t love Ginger? She’s the perfect hero. Or heroine. Or whatever. And really, she’s got quite a pretty there just isn’t enough meat on this chicken’s bones to make it fly. If a chicken could ever fly, that is.

game

the wings.” maxeveringham

behind her. But

These hand-drawn maps are cool, but they’re often hard to make out. And you’ll have just as hard a time deciphering the Scottish accent of the hens’ fast-talking military expert, Mac. If you can’t read the

map or understand the directions,

how the heck do you know what to do next?

Chicken Run As the Colonel

says, ‘These birds

or every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Thus wrote Sir Isaac Newton in his Third Law of Motion—and by golly, he could have been talking about this game. For every aspect that we like about Chicken Run,

are also

way too many

barriers dotted

woulda tasted better Extra

invisible

around the farm;

where...you...want...to...be.

objects that you need to

facili-

hand, the characters and

stage for

movies are marvelous and fans

mad caps simply fail

to appear.

Experienced gamers

will

be a negative

will like

the way

the (erm)

all

looks. But

tate your (hopeless)

madcap

action...but

doubt-

on the other hand, too many background elements are

too simplistic, whereas novices

blocky, low-polygon efforts,

will

and

mechanics— which leaves you

clipping abounds. There

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

this

game

Crispy!’

—

^Official@Magazine

your tailfeathers, whether you've

not.

And

you’re caught, you

The ever-patrolling enemy

start over. This

imparts a great sense of tension

up that frustration level. The camera adds to your woes here,

can quickly rack

Dreamcast

strayed into their field of vision or

PUBLISHER EIDOS DEVELOPER BLITZ GAMES GENRE ACTION/STRATEGY/COOKING ORIGIN UK PLAYERS ONLINE NO PERIPH JUMP PACK ESRBE PRICE $49.99 1

Following the movie, you're

tasked with finding the various

wings. An example: on one

seems

side just waiting

wondering just who aimed at.

you can never.. .quite.. .get.. .to...

escape attempts—and the Tweedys and their vicious hounds are out to stop you. Which could set the

there

If you’re a fan of the movie, don’t expect to come away from this game with a similar feeling of satisfaction!

less find the ‘go fetch' style

have a hard time with the

to your adventures,

but—and

here's that downside

again— most

of the time your attention

focused on a

tiny radar displayed

one corner rather than on what's happening on the rest of the in

screen. Often,

you'll find

that

you only have about 1.5 seconds to react to

danger-even

after a

because certain

it's

only adjustable

spots-and never

some will

mini-games, which,

make you

love

it,

Control 5 Reluctant camera, ove r-reliance on radar

dustbin of gaming.

Run ends up

start to

suspect that the other peckers

there are scripted responses

have the dogs on

your brood are actually conspiring against you. Ultimately, Chicken

that're sure to

|— i

Buoyed up by voice-acting alone

when you're unwittingly dumped into a new area. Worse, load or

the movie

Sound 6

At key points, you’re given a

while fun,

’live'

the

right spots, of course.

shot at

Graphics 7 Patchy at best, but you do

We wanted to

the Tweedys' farm

"II

the try-and-cry

honest, max everingham

Gameplay 4 Shallow as a puddle o

Score:

March /April 2001 Official If Dreamrast Magazine 63 ,

M In-Depth Reviews

MEET ONE OF THE BOSSES in

Pdy ”

an anvil on this bad dog's head would be a surefire cure for life. In Kao 's world, though, the anvil is means by which an animal enemy can be rendered f° r Kao Kangaroo to get close to snap a

Kao the Kangaroo In

the real world, dropping

just a

wicked-fast series of punches. All boss enemies in Kao operate under this principle find and exploit their weak spots, and victory is all but assured. Oddly enough, although the physics of anvil-dropping is inaccurately portrayed here, the physics determining what happens when you get kicked by an angry kangaroo is exactly correct. Don't piss one off.

—

These screens look a bit simplistic, but believe us, Kao the Kangaroo does everything right. It has everything going for it— pretty (and effective) design, great gameplay (and a lot of it! These worlds are huge) and the most charismatic marsupial protagonist since boxing Matilda.

Kao the Kangaroo It

came from

a land

superlative job of rendering the

rendered worlds to win his

of the genre’s conventions,

graphics dominate, and each

including (but not limited

world appears as

gamboling

will

and

appeal

to even the blackest of souls.

Game fans

will

remember

Titus as the publishers of

Superman is

for

tail,

lava streams. Expect standard

itself

to):

will

dive happily

and savor the immersion, as they're enthralled by sparkling

gameplay and many challenges. with only a pair of

existing ground.

Gorgeous if it

enemy

bashing,

powerup retrieval, and endless jumping puzzles.

Kao was "Dermis the Kangaroo." No one can be sure of the pharmacological content of the lunches served in the cafeteria of Titus' headquarters or if any of the folks eating lunch there are even old enough to know who

—

Dennis the Menace is but lucidly, more creative heads prevailed and the protagonist's name was changed. Curiously, Titus' Kao Kangaroo Web site (http://www.kaokangaroo.com/pc/) still refers to the hero as Dennis.

boxing gloves and a wickedly Official© Dreamrast Magazine March/Aoril 2 001

potholes.. .which

are, of course, very easily

hopped

from your fondest (and least cynical)

over.

GREG ORLANDO

sugared cereal-inspired

daydreams.

—

^Official#Magazine

Although Kao certainly breaks no new ground, it does quite a

THE WORKING TITLE FOR

—

few goofy enemies and dumbboss level fights serve as the

game's only

was taken

coin collecting,

DENNIS THE WHO?

company

(and then

Kao’s brightly colored world

Armed

fare,

the Nintendo 64,

some) with Kao the Kangaroo, an exceedingly fun title that holds as much solid gameplay as it does beauty. Children and adults alike

platform

The game also features

Dreamcast.

finely

tuned gameplay, with a nice PUB TITUS DEV TATE GENRE PLATFORMER ORIGIN EUROPE PLAYERS t ONLINE NADA ESRB E PRICE $49.99

balance of frenzied scenes—

arguably the worst

ever created. The

has redeemed

not vegamite

freedom from a misguided hunter. Gameplay requires players to navigate Kao across a series of pits and chasms, through caves and jungles, over ice, and above deadly

eyes, yellow-hued body

into

it’s

and plenty embraces all

of it— Kao firmly

simply marsuperior: his huge

game

across a series of gorgeously

mous marsupial star new 3D platformer, is

which

under.. .and you can bet

Kao sets out

powerful

Kangaroo, the eponyof Titus’

gleeful

down

opalong hero Kao

where Kao must chug madly away from out-of-control boulders— and more sedate moments, wherein our hero can gracefully slide across ice or firepit

on a hang

soar across a

glider.

Don't hate

Kao because

it's

beautiful

ITT

Sound 4 Happy fun music loops endlessly i

i-J-J

Control 7

To seal the deal, an excellent,

Graphics 7

It's

dynamic camera makes

a fine and responsive vintage

navigating platforms a breeze,

and a

fine checkpoint

Gameplay 9

system

Smooth

gives players the option to

temporarily save their progress within a level. All in all,

Kao surprised

us.

sailing all I

around I

8 www.DailyRadar.CQjp

This movie screen is deceptively pretty...don’t let it lull you into thinking you might actually get some enjoyment out of

Cars in this game are really, really hard to control. In fact, you’ll be forced to complete so many agonizingly slow three-point turns, you might begin to game was originally conceived as a sim for Drivers' Education classes. The Department of Motor Vehicles would go nuts for this stuff.

think that this

Urban Chaos.

Ooooh,

Urban Chaos “When Bad Games n theory, Urban Chaos sounded appealing: Fight crime, go on dangerous

Attack!"

one

It’s

Eidos to unleash this horrid beast of a

game?

of the fails to

worst shows

even push things along at

a decent

clip.

Instead, players are

presented with a screen

full

assignments, get into adventures,

The beauty of consoles, one

configuration options, which

wear

could argue,

enable you to turn several of the

really cool

was just the

cop gear—this

kind of inspired vis-

ceral entertainment that

made

Escape From New York the classic that it is. And the preview screens that

ran

Coming Soon

section looked

rate literally hovers

everything turned

rate

sistent

is still

off,

the

opposed to developers

the PC arena,

who have

<lnsert

game

at all costs, and do a good deed by warning others to do the same, evan shamoon —^Official

effect

here>

So. With hideous graphics

contend with the fact that their

and

a stunningly poor framerate,

Magazine

PUBLISHER EIDOS DEVELOPER MUCKYFOOT GENRE ACTION/ADVENTURE ORIGIN US PLAYERS 1

ONLINE NO ESRB T PRICE $49.99

Graphics 2 Effects or framerate. ..pick

Reality,

however,

entered our offices

when

game’s performance

the innocu-

ous form of a reviewable GDROM several weeks ago, proved to be far less intriguing:

game

itself

Not only

the

enormously flawed,

Well, the

word “maximize”

about the developers’ offices very

much when

this port

Due to a

but (even worse) the Dreamcast

created.

port has been visually defiled

time or

released as a choppy

horrible styling errors,

Between the

and the actual

we were trapped between

bad and worse.

vary

apparently didn’t get bandied

beyond

recognition.

will

greatly from system to system).

talent,

was

lack of interest,

Urban Chaos was

mess

with

looooow framerate. Not only does the

game

look only marginally

better than

its

PlayStation cousin

there’s

URBAN CHAO?

PERHAPS SEGA should think about doing its own version of Urban Chaos ... about a bunch of urban Chaos. Just think: all of those cute little blue guys with big eyes, living in the Hood and fighting it out on the mean streets of the big city. Hey, the gameplay couldn't be worse than that of the real Urban Chaos

and the all

awkward and

sluggish,

driving stages vye with

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

(read; utterly atrocious), but

that always

seem

around the

office for the title of

of ‘Worst Thing Ever’.

flying

seems

somewhere, nestled deep within the flawed package that is Urban Chaos, there existed that

Sound 4 Voices aren't half

bad— or

half

good

of those nasty Internet pictures

game

with

some minute

Control 1

Gameplay 2 How? What? Who? Blame must be

Is*

placed!

shred

of respectability...sort of like the

What could have possessed

one and only one

to salvage. Control

little

horribly

Dreamcast.

Unacceptable.

domino

mind of

inside the

game

maximize the power of the sys(as

is pretty.

Hannibal Lecter. Avoid this in

worse— and the frame nowhere near a con-

30 fps.

an internment camp

somewhere

With

somewhere

the 10-15 fps range, and with looks even

field:

off.

everything turned on, the frame

developers are able to efficiently

pretty good, didn’t they?

their inherent

the playing

Kind of

see on Dreamcast

you’ll

graphical effects on or

With standardized hardware,

tem

Issue #08’s

is in

ability to level

pretty.

kind and gentle person existing

Score:

March/April 2001 Official

# Dreamcast Maga7inp 65

— In-Depth Reviews

Whether it means to or not, this game sends a strong anti-littering message. Every time you come across a crate or a bit of junk that threatens to tip you off your board, you’ll curse the jerk who put it there.

You’ll isn’t

note that there

much variation

these graphics: water, water and more water. But hey, it’s a surfing

game. Whaddya expect: Sleeping Beauty’s castle?

Championship Surfer The best surfing game

V I

surfing

years

game

modes—the

and

tions—and out of those three,

far

games

between; good

Championship Surfer is as basic as California Games, mind you—games have Interactive’s

long way since then.

does, however, capture a

bit

Playing as

world surfers,

one

of eight real

you’ll

get the

opportunity to participate

seven types of competitions. Granted, only three of these

# Dreamcast Magazine

are quite good.

BANKING ON FUN IN THE SUN Frankie Avalon, star of dozens of classic surfing

movies like How to Stuff a Wild Bikini, could have ended up just another hasbeachy fame into his own line of beachy products his

which include everything from tanning lotions and skin creams to collectible Frankie-and-Annette plates.

nearly as fun

isn’t

world as

Time

Unfortunately, these

add

which uses traditional scoring

that they’re there, and each one

official rules.

Your only

obstacles out on the water

is will

to the gameplay.

nice

Sound 5

thing else that you’d ever find

ulates the feel

hanging about

water wonderfully. As they should,

ing players to avoid

them

or risk

waves (which you’ll Championship mode),

they were gone.

What is important to Championship Surfer

the control.

Control 9 Easy to learn, nearly impossible to master

It’s i

tight

and

predictable,

and

and weight of the

characters control differently

depending on whether they’re on the crest of a wave or

and positioning

sim-

Gameplay 7 Although most of the modes are worthless, the good ones are really fun i

wiping out. And instead of a set

number

Graphics 6

worth a few minutes of your

time, but you wouldn’t miss

them

the ocean, forc-

PUBLISHER MATTEL DEVELOPER KROME STUDIOS GENRE SPORTS ORIGIN AUSTRALIA PLAYERS 18 ONLINE NO PRICE $49.99

little

It’s

be the temperamental weather and the waves themselves. Arcade mode features the same beaches but adds crates, mines, scuba divers and everyin

one out and catch a

antly surprised, daniel erickson

the virtual

by up to eight players at once,

and

this

gnarly curl: you could be pleas-

real life—and

is in

Attack, Trick Attack, etc.

forward season mode, playable

get

March/April 2001.

straight-

is a

Take

limit.

The Rumble mode challenges multiple players to knock each

other off of their boards—which

contains standard additions

modes (Championship, Arcade Official

really

Championship

been. Instead, he's parlayed

that oldskool magic.

and Arcade

are actually worthwhile.. .but

those two

Arcade features a time

others are just varia-

only Championship

are almost

necks to look cool for the chicks. Which isn’t to say that Mattel

really full

games have been few

unheard of. Not since California Games have we seen basic gameplay combined with believable wave dynamics that made us feel like we were really out in the surf, risking our lives and

come a

making waves on Dreamcast and Rumble) are

s a whole, surfing

the tube,

all-important.

Score: 7

King of Fighters ’99 Evolution The

classic series Ithough

it’s

nearly two

keep the series on

its

the top of the fighting

Some

perch at

open-ended.

that

game

are a

will

you who’re familiar with

know

that

looks, but

its

KOF will

strength isn’t

in its

characters and

to none.

addition, there

number of common moves-

three different jump-types,

kora!" (“don’t be so

and “sono

damn

mama

of the ‘Striker’—a fourth partner

comes

fun as ever!

to assist other

characters during combat.

and Yashiro. has also removed the

It’s

a significant addition that

SNK

ability to

existing gameplay, putting even

the three buttons to activate

more emphasis on

two different fighting modes—

KOF Evolution gical.

its

low. Instead,

|-“-^Offidal i>'Magazine ,

Dreamcast.

you can press AGETEC DEVELOPER SNK GENRE

gratifyingly strate-

The only major flaw

fighting engine is

well with the

won’t be disappointed.

CHET BARBER

doing a super when your energy

seems

work

bies),

perform desperation

supers at any time—you can only perform a desperation super by

etc—which make the fighting

Bigtime fans (and even new-

Robert, and Chris

first

the addition

a variety of counters, parrying,

strategy.

PUBLISHER FIGHTING ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS 2 ONLINE NO VMU COUNT NA ESRB T PRICE $49.99 1

Graphics 6

defensive or offensive—thus

in this

dearth of

innovation—SNK apparently

chose to use these two years to tweak the existing engine to near perfection, rather than

shine!” (“die just as you lay”)?

building a

new one from the

Evolution has

made many

Besides sporting interesting designs and unique personalities created for each character, you’ll gameplay

www.dreamcastmagazine.CQm

second

terns set

previous games,

but Evolution does stray further

from the its

other minor changes that

improve

SNK

over

KOF

original

formula than

predecessors ever

did. You’ll

'98. First,

has reduced the

number

of characters

total

and

made each more unique and balanced. Which

ground up.

Gameplay, too, follows pat-

find that '99's

major alteration

Interesting character designs; stale graphics

enhancing each character’s

~1 I

And where else can you hear cool phrases such as “choushi koiten janeizo solid gameplay.

cocky”),

it's still

quickly notice that the

be turned off by its dated appearance (screw ’em, it’s their loss), but those of

genre.

lacks innovation— but

still

Supers and regular moves are easy to perform and the combo system is deep and

years late, King of Fighters '99 still manages to

there’s a you’ll

(and

down

great, but

side: although

see some fresh new faces some fresh new combat

styles sported by the familiar

ones), you’ll

still

miss the old

attributes. This change,

thank

goodness, further balances the

game, making it less combocrazy and cheap. With tight gameplay and some

new tricks, KOF '99 Evolution makes the series more fun than ever. if

you’ve never played

you used to play

give

KOF

it,

Mediocre soundtrack with

strict fan

appeal only

Control 8 Deep combo system, precise -l

cheap

controls; l

Gameplay 8 Tight, strategic

gameplay; loads of cool moves

way back

the day and got bored with

Sound 6

it,

‘99 Evolution a whirl.

March/April

2001 Official# Dreamed Magazine 67

TESTZDNE

In-Depth Reviews

“Max Steel:

It’s

been done before, but that (almost) doesn't matter.”

JEFFERSON: FOUNDING FATHER MAX (FORMERLY JOSH) IS THE FOSTER child of one Jefferson Smith, head of N-Tek. Kidnapped and possibly nefarious, Jefferson plays a central role in the game and a complex life. Oddly, another Jefferson (the former President) once had similarly complicated relationships with his kids. of their descendents are still grouchy.

role in his son's

Many

While Steel

moves a

little

slowly

one can deny that Max

spots, no

a good-looking game.

If you’ve ever caught an episode of Max Steel on TV, a lot of the game's enemies and weapons will be very familiar. But the storyline is tweaked to be original.

Max Steel Not quite max, not quite game about

a cartoon

character! Sigh. Let’s

face

it,

there’ve been

a lot of

’em—and they

end up

than an

mas

usually

the Bargain Bin faster

Osmond

Family Christ-

compilation album.

steel, but pretty entertaining

You’ll assume the role of Max Steel, a genetically altered superboy of sorts who fights

so well here that

(almost)

doesn’t matter. And

it’s

able from start to finish.

medals

for originality, but levels

like this

that

little

make us

things

think that

it’s still a fun way to spend your DC buck, kevin rice

stands,

Treyarch wasn’t quite finished

tweaking when the

baddies for the sake of humanity. This idea might not win any

nonetheless

but there are lots of

enjoy-

bosses hiding out end of most areas; they

Some

You’ll find

shipped.

at the

Al routines

are well-structured and loaded

tend to vary from horribly easy

with plenty of multifarious land-

to adequately difficult.

scapes to explore (both indoors and out), and the enemies you’ll encounter on most levels have

the problems

pea-sized brains and aren’t too

doesn’t give you the

game was

of the

|—^OfficialS'Magazine

Dreamcast

enemy’s

tend to get stuck

patterns, people

sometimes

PUBLISHER MATTEL DEVELOPER TREYARCH GENRE ACTION/ADVENTURE ORIGIN US PLAYERS VMU CT 19 + ESRB T PRICE $39.9? 1

Thankfully, that’s pretty far

from the case with

Max Steel,

the latest cartoon conversion

same folks who brought you the DC version from Treyarch (the

of a little-known franchise called Tony

There are

difficult to

Hawk’s Pro Skater).

some nagging

control

is in

One

dealing with

the control—this

a third-person action

game

(following clues given

degrees quickly, so there’s a

lot

of circling.

Some

speak

after they’re dead...

another coat of Turtle would’ve fixed

GRAPHICS 8

Wax

Not tear-jerkingly .i

through radio transmissions

from your 18-year-old nanotech

of the

game’s goals are

of the

vague— it probably could have used another three months rather

development. But

boils

down

Official

all in all,

Max

master, Roberto), you’ll acquire

weapons such as

pistols, rifles,

mines, grenades, etc.

It’s all

to quite a bit of fun.

been done before, but

# Dreamcast Magazine

March/April

2001

it’s

done

awkward, too—for instance, there’s no animation change when you change from moving forward to transitions are a bit

backward;

Which

just happens.

isn’t fatally distracting,

but pretty i

]

Sound 7

Max Steel

on a par with most second- and third-generation DC games. It’s easy on the eyes and Graphically,

Decent music and voice work; good effects i'

effects are well

done—overall,

something you wouldn’t mind taking home to meet it’s

CONTROL 6 Some l

issues to be found here, and

some

brilliant,

this.

that

ability to

strafe or even to turn 180-

take out.

As you progress through the

game

them

persistent glitches

needed work l

]

GAMEPLAY 8 Despite the problems,

r~T"T'"i

s undeniably fun i

your mother. So.

We wish

Treyarch had

perfected the idea, but as

Score: 7 www.DailyRadar.com

The Demon’s Hand

1^^

—

-‘ :

Ztr

Todd McFarlane's blockbuster comic book characters come to life on Sega Dreamcast. Compete in the four-player simultaneous Battle Royal mode. Includes the original Arcade Mode and tournament style Dreamcast Mode. All your favorite characters from the Spawn series are faithfully recreated in the ultimate death match challenge.

SPAWN,

Productions, Inc. CO., LTD.

its

logo, symbol, characters,

CAPCOM EDGE

All is

trademark of the Interactive

and

all

A Todd McFarlane

Entertainment. Inc.

related characters are registered trademarks of

TODD McFARLANE

CAPCOM

SPAWN.COM

CAPCOM.COM

Todd McFarlane

CAPCOM and the CAPCOM logo are registered trademarks ot CAPCOM CAPCOM CO., LTD. Sega, Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either

Rights Reserved.

a trademark of

registered trademarks or trademarks ol Digital

Sega

The ratings icon is a registered marks are the property of their respective holders.

Software Association.

All

other

Dreamcast

In-Depth Reviews

The lev^Tof detailing in

this

game

amazing: note the exquisite rendering elements in the background, truly

and

JiU's...musculafure.

GIRL IN TROUBLE What’s a nice girl like you doing in a place like this,

Mom

Jill?

Your

this

game:

macy

should love

gives

legiti-

to the instructions

that she’s been pounding

head ever since you got old enough to go out and have fun without her: NEVER walk down a back alley like this in the into your

middle of the night by your-

Why? Because

self.

zombies, you

ijit!

of the

Sheesh!

“The zombie’s back, and there’s gonna be trouble. Hey la, heylaaaa, the zombie's back!”

JUO doubt about

V I I

it:

I Resident Evil is a

land-

mark series. Every new is met with a mixture of anticipation and suspicion, from loyal fans wondering how Capcom release

will

improve on the previous

installments, to

and they have

‘Nemesis’ super zombie. Quick

a quick 180-degree turn

shotgun blasts won’t blow

to face

thing away;

its

this

presence ups the

order

new random-

include a host of

new peaks of anxiety. And other upgrades abound—obvious additions include the capacity to make

sound effects and shock attacks. These will keep you on your toes, and they add some ized

yet

Nemesis of Nemeses

be disappointed. Predictably,

Nemesis takes a bold step forin terms of atmosphere and gameplay from the first two in the series ( RE1 and RET).

You can shoot him, stab him or blow him up but the nemesis will get back up every time: that’s why he’s called a nemesis. The biggest, baddest nemesis we’ve ever heard of is the so-called Nemesis Star— hypothetical companion star to our sun that could be the cause of Earth's mass

ward

The story involves a massive outbreak of the monster-making

extinctions (which occur every 29 million years or so). In theory, this

T Virus’

star’s orbit would take it through the comet cloud surrounding our solar system, disrupting all of those ice balls and sending one or two on a collision course with Earth. Debris tossed up by the force of a comet’s impact would block out the sun, ruin the climate and wipe out critters like dinosaurs (or people) altogether. Much like RE3's zombie of the

within the environs of

STARS agent Jill one of a handful and her task is to figure out what went wrong while avoiding being mauled by a Raccoon

Valentine

City. is

of survivors,

Official

# Dreamcast Magazine

same name,

this

bound to return

March/April

Nemesis Star

2001

a sequel.

(if it

exists)

suprising depth to the

game.

opponents coming at you

from behind, and subtle ones

ante and cranks the tension to

unstoppable— and

it’s

those

who

never had a chance

to experience

on PlayStation.

The DC port has sharper

ALEX GRAY

background graphics and char-

models (though they aren’t as maximized for the system as we’d hoped), and unlike the PlayStation version, you can choose Jill’s costume from a

|-^yOfficial®'Magazine

acter

host of options (from a John Tra-

Dreamcast. PUB CAPCOM DEV CAPCOM GENRE HORROR ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS ONLINE NO ESRB M 1

PRICE $19.99

Graphics 8 Gloomy, gory, grrrrrreat

volta-esque leisure suit to a kinky cop-ette uniform. You can also play a Mercenary

Attack

Time

for

those

who had beaten the game, which can now be enjoyed right from the

start.

Though the

story-

line isn’t as satisfying as the ones found in the original RE,

RE2

Code Veronica, Nemesis

remains a great action

title

Sound 9 Moans and groans

Mode— a PS feature that

used to be reserved

for

in all the right places i

Control 8 Nice improvements over the original interface i

Gameplay 7 Puzzles take a back seat to action, this time

Score:

www. Da ilyBafla r.com

It’s

As Admiral Ackbar so

a T-Rex! You’ll have to choose your weapon If you want to survive this encounter.

aptly

(and frequently) noted,

wisely

“It’s

it’s just a really in the ground that could conceivably entrap you if you happen to fall in. This is a perfect example of DC’s

trap!” Actually,

big hole

stance on puzzles and traps: make ’em big. Make ’em obvious. But the thing is, traps and puzzles aren’t like

we don’t always

dog poop...

like to

warned when we’re about to in something scary. step

Bathroom hunter? In

our last issue, we ran a boxout with this in our preview of Head Hunter. And

same title

apparently, said boxout’s appropriateness has

not yet outlived itself. The mysterious screen aboves deserves a second (and probably a third) look, plus a fair amount of head-scratching. Is there actually a toilet behind this door, or does

some sort of metaporical plumbing? If, indeed, there is a toilet here, just how realistic does this game get? We'll leave you to find out the answer to that question on your own. The fun never ends, does it?

this text allude to

KnoCrisis Resident

P k

J J A

ith

Resident

new

Evil

fans

series with a

fresh take on the

dinosaurs = big fun with big guns and very, very big teeth

Evil with

Dino Crisis, Capcom

i gives

genre—and

god forsaken island. Gameplay is simple but effective.

dratted,

Despite this

its

Jurassic Park

a horror

game— so

facelift,

don’t

addition.

expect to do any dive rolls when the raptors close in on you.

full

end. Yes indeed,

dinosaurs aren’t the only new

Backgrounds and enemies are now rendered in 3D, adding a welcome depth to the game. You play Regina, a special agent who finds herself trapped

with her facility

team

Here, action

means to an

you go

It’s

AND

there are other tools at your

of the

disposal, such as tranquilizer

way through the mayhem in the lab and searching out vital clues

that’ll

slow down your

later,

first,

and squeeze the

somewhere

think

enough

for

this PlayStation

ABOUT TO KILL YOU!

Flying opponents

when they spend most of and the control interface

game

doesn't allow you to look up. Auto targeting helps,

port of

the power of the

hardware—and while everything looks and moves smoothly, it lacks the polish of a truly finished

but ultimately, you have no choice but to shoot blindly until Mister Flappy hits the pavement. There's an obvious lapse in logic here: why include airborne enemies without including the capacity to look up in order to see them? File under: Things that make us go hmmm...

more time

bit

title.

development

certainly wouldn’t have hurt. Still,

though, even with

its

edges, the experience of

rough

it’s

PRICE $19.99

Sound 8 i

—

..i-

i..

nzi

Control 5 Regina moves and fights i

like she's half-asleep i

n—

Gameplay 6

Oldskool puzzles

new school 1

more than a novelty—

an atmospheric

Graphics 8 Unlike RE, these environments are fully

Ah. the hunting cries of the raptor...

fight-

ing dinosaurs in a Resident Evil

world

Dreamcast PUB CAPCOM DEV CAPCOM GENRE HORROR VMU COUNT 8+ ESRB M

ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS

doesn’t

are especially hard to hit their time off screen

^Official'i'Magazine

most gamers.

Unfortunately, the

trigger

the middle.

of genre

ALEX GRAY

—

game— but fighting your

should prove to be challenging

a worthy addition

Capcom’s stable

ClaSSiCS.

a bird. ..it’s a plane...

IT'S

the end, this to

really exploit

on a remote island

www.rirfjamcastmfigazir

of the puzzles are too

puzzles that they break you

out of the reality (and tension)

left

a research

where something has gone terribly, terribly wrong. The staff has been slaughtered and there is no sign of the missing scientist— and you’ll have to survive long enough to accomplish three goals: A. Find out what went wrong, B. Find the scientist, and C. Find a way off this

Some

simple or are so obviously

you’ll

escape. So: think

guns

with

ammo far too

against the wall. Fortunately,

pursuers long enough for you to

you’ll

a-blazing, you’re going to run

and

defenseless with your back

quickly:

rounds

have to deal with hordes of hungry dinos, but

through your

thrill ride. In

Marrh/April

9ml

Score: 7 Official iSf

Drpamrast Maga7inp 71

In-Depth Reviews

Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX Imitation

V l

y y A

the sincerest form of

among us can hon-

J estly

say that they’ve

never once cheated

school? Never accidentally

wander over

their eyes

let

to a

flattery.. .and

companion

But one major gameplay difference between Mirra and Hawk

perfect match.

(besides the obvious

BMX

makes

are firm believers

that

for a

you're looking for a good

order to advance to the next.

for Tony,

Dave

good game, too

Pulling off tricks here requires is

a commitment, because correcting yourself mid-trick or midair is

quite difficult. Luckily, the

game

vs.

skateboarding thing, of course)

classmate’s test? Here at

ODCM, we

objectives on each level

lets

you land backward

without missing a beat, and you

Dave Mirra has three

sets of objectives for most

grind at the last minute

themselves. Unless they’re imi-

courses (except for competition

want

good game. While Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX clearly mimics the Tony Hawk's

courses, where winning

Pro Skater duology

nearly

and Hardcore. The neat thing about completing Hardcore challenges

detracts from the quality of the

new

put,

the

only objective): Amateur, Pro

every way, this fact never

game. Simply

that

riders, bikes

they’ll

and

unlock

gear.

Dave Mirra’s learning curve

you’re

LOOK AT ’EM GO! AROUND THE SAME TIME THAT women started wearing short skirts

and drinking alcohol was

made

illegal (coincidence?),

standard bicycle frame underwent a

Some have accused

Tony Hawk, but once you’ve

silent revolution. Previously, bike

ics

become accustomed

riders had been fiercely mocked for riding around on hilariously over-

failing to

And

that’s just

what

Dave Mirra does.

to the

difference between bikes and

sized vehicles.

skateboards,

ostracization

you’ll

enjoy the

Mirra follows the familiar

same wonderful range

formula for most stunt-based

motion, snappy camera angles,

games, wherein players must

stunt variation and trick possi-

complete a certain quota

bilities

Official

of fluid

that Pro Skater offered.

Dreamcast Magazine March/April 2001

But soon,

this

became too much

Official® Magazine

Dreamcast PUB ACCLAIM DEV Z-AXIS GENRE SPORTS ORIGIN US PLAYERS 1-2 ONUNE NO ESRBE PRICE $39.99

Graphics 6 Between okay and good; framerate seems random

Sound 7 Poppy punk and hip-hop.. .the usual

the

best.

GARRETT KENYON

you

good landing. There are tons of stunts and combinations here, and a trick list that tells you exactly which buttons to push in order to do what can be accessed at the Pause menu.

going to clone something,

steeper than that of

to insure a

you should always clone the

slightly

everyone, by the way.

can change your move to a

that copiers are only cheating

tating a really

derivative nod to good oT Tony, Dave Mirra deserves a play by anyone who enjoyed the Hawkman’s series. That would be

for

these riders to bear, and they reinvented the bicycle's form almost completely. Good thing, too. Imagine Dave Mirra trying to do tricks with these crazy things.

graphics

the graphDave Mirra of

meet standards set in Tony Hawk, but we beg to differ.

While backgrounds are blocky

and uninspired, everything that needs to look good (i.e., the ramps and the biker) does. All in all,

despite the obvious

Control 7 Difficult at first— practice

makes

perfect

Gameplay 9 Tons of

levels,

combos and

goals; a winner!

Score: 8 -Www.DailyBadar.CQm

In-Depth Reviews

In the screen below, you’ll note that we’ve chosen to play Cutthroat and that we’re about to choose a throat to cut. If only this were a survival horror game...we’d be able to let out some aggression on ‘opponents’ such as Brad and Buddy, buddy. Sigh.

Maximum Pool Snooker? barely know her! re love reviewing games a y I

P I

It’s

i like

Maximum

makes us feel

Pool. like

we’re

who

travesty.

The directions

modes

for

the different

are long-winded

the

performing a public service, play-

extreme— not

ing bad games so you don't have And this is a very bad game. A disturbing medley of poor programming, hideous graphics and

to figure out.

"What tha...?!" Radar editor

to.

general lack of ambition

makes

this title

one of the most pathetic

excuses

for a

played

videogame we’ve

quite

some time.

The in-game graphics are uncompelling (a.k.a., ugly, choppy and bland), and the stale Martha Stewart-meets-Kleenex

floral pat-

terned carpeting serve as the

game's deepest

visual thrust.

Even the pool table

at least the pool table would

some 3D camera distorts

look okay.. .but no. For

Guess

know the

not. Instead, you’re

from certain angles. Even the

balls don’t always look round.

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

confusing process. Striking the ball is

acutely non-fluid— instead

tons to control the power of your

anyone

shot, you

the power with the

“You sure needed that one!”

and then press a button

by the game’s never-ending

Made

The whole point of video pool, we figured, was to incorporate like interactivity and assis-

things

tance

for novices or for

us want to start a bar

Of course,

anyone

Maximum

fight.

Pool’s

gameplay were easy and fluid, we wouldn’t harsh its mellow so badly. But the control is muddy, which makes setting up each and every shot a lengthy and

it.

This

Meet fratboy Brad!

—

Go stand in front of a mirror for a while and try it. It's almost like this game is trying to make you hate it.

pad

Boy pool game

SIERRA

for the

Graphics

could have built a better graphics engine with Lincoln Logs. Or other kinds of logs

felt better.

Sound

i~r~r

1— but there’s just so much

bad here that

you’ll

probably

never get to enjoy them.

computer needs and a

lot of

This was difficult to mess up— but the develops managed to figure out a way. Blech

to “think”

about 30 seconds before shot),

Control 2

The horrendous load times

each

SPORTS DEVELOPER SPORTS GENRE BILLIARDS ORIGIN US PLAYERS 1-4 PERIPHERALS VMU ONLINE YES ESRB E PUBLISHER SIERRA

the only thing keeping the score

(the

Dreamcast

and a

The physics are okay—they’re

for

shamoon

r—-^Official ©Magazine

to strike

Mac. Even CodeMaster’s Game-

This

expressions are truly amazing. Just check out this sneer can you do that?

just ridiculous,

shareware pool games

above

smarmy little dude will quickly become your favorite opponent; his

digital

from the quality of $9

far cry

to play, evan

have to manually set

your opponents saying clever

guide to Snooker.

game

assortment of video snippets of things such as “Great shot!” and

Daily

play

the

Karen Haga, when confronted

commented

vs. Mac online was a let-down— although is out, we couldn’t find

Dreamcast vs. PC

of using the analog stick/but-

mis-

shapen. No kidding. You’d think

reason, the

mention harder

doesn't already

rules.

treated to a painful (and limited)

Gameplay 2

the other

s kind of fun to sink a tough shot

problems are probably due to the use of Windows CE, but that excuse

still

game fun

Even the

Score:

March/April

2001 Official ® Dreamcast Magazine 73

doesn’t

to play.

make

the

In-Depth Reviews

‘Designers of

put time and effort into creating a unique game.” blake fischer

A Lesson Learned ONE OF THE MORE INTERESTING features in Dinosaur is the Encyclopedia mode that enables you to check out all of the game's denizens in a less-interactive, yet more educational, context. As you encounter new species in the game, each is unlocked in the Encyclopedia mode and you can check out their brief but interesting bios and peruse their in-game 3D models.

% 116/150

lOO/'fOO

its combination of different genres, Dinosaur develops nicely into an addictive adventure...but often, the degree of difficulty gets in the way.

With

IP %W

Disney's Dinosaur manages to overcome some of the trappings of the dreaded “license curse'' in gaming, but it also gets suckered in by some gameplay

License

flaws.

this:

A shame,

IIL

’Ip'll

(gji^gk

1 v

q While the game’s graphics are certainly nothing to write do serve as a nice backdrop to the action.

really.

home about, they

Disney’s Dinosaur Is

the Land of the Lost for another license? t’s

y *

( ^

instead settling for a

the

traditional knock-off.

games often sell really we see more and

well (thus

more than

of the

gaming industry that

licensed f

perhaps one

greatest ironies

of them), yet

more often

not, they just plain suck.

And movie games, by far, are at the low end of the suckage totem pole. It’s a good thing

more So what

a hybrid

Flia

and manages

push hard at

what we would

You see, the good news

team actually put some time and effort into creating a unique game,

through the levels looking for

a different puzzle that requires

game

deft skills (which are often

tive size

apart

pacing. First

off:

doesn’t have a It

the often

and sketchy

the

jump

relies instead

jump" which

is in

game

the

cult to manifest, given

when

Graphics 6

into

the licensed

cally.

tances

brethren, either. It’s a good idea and one that’s executed pretty well— but nothing about this

to light the way; Zini scouts

You see, sometimes you’ll and plummet to your death. And in many cases, you’ll think you need to jump and the designers

each path to make sure

obviously don’t agree with you.

by the movie, and that doesn’t

and pushes

his

fires

it’s

way through the

roadblocks by knocking down

Official# Dreamcast Magazine March/April

2001

Often times,

you’ll

also have to

Nice, but not exceptional in

fall

just walk off said ledge

comes along

Dreamcast PUBUBISOFT DEV DISNEY INTERACTIVE GENRE ACTION/ADVENTURE ORIGIN US PLAYERS ONLINE NOT ESRB E PRICE $49.99

unresponsive controls).

doesn’t

gaming trap,

safe; then Aladar

—•^Official' Magazine

anyway

So, overall, while Dinosaur

you walk off a ledge. Theoreti-

a burning

isn’t

shelling out $50. blake fischer

diffi-

slightly

button.

on an “auto activated

a welcome diversion.

pieces to a puzzle, and trying

So far so good, but where the falls

it’s

But the experience just

compelling enough to warrant

frustrating control

Zini

pace

between wandering

over and over again to complete

the Pterodon,

branch and ignites some

like to call

“good clean fun.”

movie.

to the frustration,

often erratic. You’ll

Now, as you might suspect, each has his own strengths and

that the design

amounts

CG footage from the

the Lemur.

Aladarthe Iguanadon, and

level Flia retrieves

platformer/beat ’em up mold

you are, of course,

almost enter the realm of

has taken a brave

pacing

alternate

level

treated to gratuitous

the limits of mediocrity to

Interactive

break from the movie-based

rocks around. After beating

each

features three characters from

the movie:

Adding

objects and (of course) pushing

top-down action puzzler that

weaknesses based on his relaand maneuverability. And you must utilize all three characters in unison to complete puzzles in each stage to move on. For example, in one

then, that Dinosaur from Disney j

you end up with

itself

never really

from

its

dis-

makes

stand out

do extra maneuvering just to go

the current high quality mix

up a simple ledge.

DC titles. As

Good music, voices get annoying real

fast

scorned

game (other than the CG donated count) really

Sound 7

change

Control 4 Auto-jump? Why? WHY? i

Gameplay 4 A fun mix of action,

platform,

and puzzle

Score: 5 www.DailyRadar.com

‘SS often boils

down

to a matter of luck rather than

skill. "james maineiro

SUPERSONIC STOP #2 ON OUR TRIP through the '80s (the first being Ebn Ozn of "A,E,I,0,U" fame, of course) is with JJ Fad, the trio of lady MCs who rapped their way through that perennial female empower-

ment okay,

ditty,

"Supersonic." Well, about the empowit was just a catchy

lied

—

erment part

song that rocketed the group to superstardom and caused the chassis of thousands of suburban low riders to throb menacingly whenever they stopped at red lights.

And where are they now?

We haven't a clue. In fact, most know

people don't even "Supersonic"

JJFad

—

that

was by x’ecorded by on to Napster.com search, you'll find that

If you log

and run a

the title is attributed to about four different bands. Bottom line: if

you want supersonic, Team.

stick to Sonic

6 Slilli While games featuring everyone’s favorite hedgehog tend to be getting better and better as the years progress, we kind of wonder if Sega was playing with a full deck with Sonic Shuffle.

Sonic Shuffle hedgehog,

All the

JH aking a break from

IPI

saving animals nik’s labs,

pals are whisked

Sonic and

away

named Lumina

Flowlight.

begs them

to help

World, the

home

fairy

She

Emaginary

of everybody’s

nothing better to do.” that’s just

it.

got

Maybe

Cards are used

for

mini-games,

you’ll

win special

items to use against any of your

opponents,

bit

distraction.

boil

com-

down

more than skill. Taking a big fat page from

to a matter of luck

Nintendo’s premiere multiplayer

amount

VMU

screen.

moving char-

acters as well as battling

www.dreamcastmaga7ine.com

skill in still

Mario’s gaming door.

next time... james maineiro

And then there are the dreaded

And if the suspiciously intelligent com-

Event squares. Landing on one

puter players don’t scare you

takes players to overly simplistic

new to the

you’re rela-

genre.

—*^0ffidal®‘Magazine

the long load times might.

Between each scene change is about a ten second

Cel-shaded goodness will please most

there

have the opportunity to alter the

wait. Snore.

rect choice,

item.

you select the cor-

you can win a special

These Events are

pretty

much unnecessary, and

they

often pull players out of the

game.

But Sonic Shuffle's worst

have been a great party game.

but

who’re just learning the ropes.

battles

are interesting, they aren’t nearly

While you’re able to adjust the

Shuffle only timidly knocks at

players

has the graphics, the characters

disable the computer players,

new

Your standard average fare with wacky voices

hands-on involvement from

and some very

to bully

PRICE: $39.99

Sound 5

With a little more development time and some more

Sonic Team, Sonic Shuffle could

crime? The fact that you cannot

who manage

ESRBE

Graphics 7

game, Mario Party, Sonic Shuffle really shows its roots during mini-game segments. While most of the mini-games party

Dreamcast.

off,

PUBLISHER SEGA DEVELOPER HUDSONSOFT GENRE PARTY ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS 1-4 ONLINE

board sequences, where they

story’s path.

Maybe

the game, these a nightmare to

compete against tively

(bordering on childish) story

puter rather than against three

can often

CPU’s

guys are

NO!

human and CPU-

of strategy to employ, but

Mario Party, thus taking some fun out of the equation.

order to win the

round. By winning battles and

friends,

Replacing dice, any of four of cards visible on a

enemy

you’re playing against the

you’re a kid or a

rabid Sonic fan with nothing

players starts with a set

as easy to learn as the ones

you’ll

controlled alike. There’s a tiny

“I’ve

better to do, Sonic Shuffle

amusing and fun(ish) And not much more.

The result? Half the score

your player

have to pick a higher card than

hopes and dreams. And Knuckle’s response?

When

lands on a battle square,

the

to a

whole new world by a pink

half the hustle. enemies.

Robot-

solid mini-games,

Control 4

—

Aside from mini-games,

s one square at a time

r ti i

' i

]

Gameplay 5 Four player = good, everything else = mediocre

the face of excruciatingly

long load times, overly simplified

and no online support,

March/April

2001

Score: Official g. Dreamcast

Magazine 75

TESfZONE

In-Depth Reviews

“Sno Cross: surprise of the season.”

garrett kenyon

This isn’t like an arcade racer: smashing is not allowed. You really need to avoid crashing your snowmobile against the walls if you want to do well. That gets easier as you get to later levels and earn better bikes, but remember, handling is the key to winning a race at any stage. So race smart, and stay aliive.

Sno Cross: Championship Racing Crave charges onto the slopes with

a here at

game

latest racer.. .and

it's

a wild ride, Mr. Toad!

Racing actually came as

from stage to stage sounds pretty

upgrades with the money you’ve

easy to do on paper and turns

earned

out to be reasonably hard to do

would expect, sled repair and

repairs so you

upgrading play a major

the really big items

bit

of a surprise to us

ODCM.

Normally, any

worth playing has been so

hyped by the time

reaches us

that the actual experience

somewhat watered down by expectations. But Sno Cross

ulation racing

a standard simtitle, in

means that

previous races. As you

role in

the game. Most repairs are

cheap (except

for the

ones

formed on the engine), but

peryou’ll

want to make a minimum of

when

can save up you'll

perfect.

But don’t it.

let

from being that stop you

garrett kenyon

need

things heat up.

The graphics here, especially in

problems to keep from trying

for

backgrounds, look far better

than they did

the PlayStation

PUB CRAVE DEV UDS GENRE RACING/SPORTS NO PERIPHS ORIGIN EUROPE PLAYERS ONLINE JUMP PACK ESRB E PRICE $44.99 1

Graphics 7 Bystanders sub-par; sled backgrounds super

little

frustrated by the

Sno Cross doesn’t

fact that

you to compete races again

you

fail

until

After

each

the

game

race, you’ll find

and gradually work their way up

or dented parts of your snow-

necessary to repair faulty

March/ April 2001

version. There are

allow

individual

you win them...

to place first

again from scratch). in

# Dreamcast Magazine

the series to advance (we were

actually a

a set of races using 500cc sleds,

Official

and you can also buy

necessary

menu where you must start

compete in a series of snowmobile races around the

mobile,

almost every race

boots you right back to the main

players

game

first

in the 500cc to move up to the 600cc competition, and so on.

overall competition, the

which

world. Players begin the

practice—you have to rank

to place first in

The game

700cc models. Progressing

This

Championship Racing by UDS and Crave arrived quietly on the scene with no fireworks or outrageous claims attached—and it was damn good.

its

no Cross Championship

some framer-

ate issues, but they're mostly

GET SNOWED THE AMERICAN Snowcross Racing Association's website (www.snowcross.com) features a newsletter on the current state of the sport of snowmobiling, general competitors' info and a How To guide for novice

relegated to crash

sequences

which the frames jump around

a confusingjumble of flashes.

There aren’t a staggering number of tracks, but

each one

Sound 8 -

Tignt

drum n bass soundtrack adds to excitement

rri -|—r r~i Control 9 One

of the

most

realistic

sno-games we've seen

nicely

balanced and carefully designed

Gameplay 7 No

real standout points.Jt's just

darned fun

to challenge different skills in

the racers. Overall,

racing

Sno Cross

a tight

game—with just enough

Score: 7

— “

“A, E,

Dead comes

Typing of the

out smelling like an undead rose. "francesca reyes

0, U...

AND SOMETIMES Y” TYPING AND STYLE: they've always gone hand in hand. Or but we really wanted to use a picture of that horrid '80s "group" EBN OZN (creators of the song referred to actually, not,

in this boxout's title) somewhere in the magazine. So here it is. (By

the way, the guy on the left is NOT Robert Downey, Jr. Maybe it should have been...and his career would have taken off in a more

ahem — positive

direction).

Deadline quote from Chris Charla: “Oh, man.. .this is the best screenshot ever (above). so want to go around town with a keyboard strapped to my chest and a Dreamcast with a giant battery slung across my back!” This, kids, is what your brain sounds like on deadline. I

IVpingof the Dead game

Got keyboard? Want zombies?— then this r•

additions to

treat for fans

Sega’s House of the

Dead

make

kay. We’ll admit that

the concept behind

The Typing of the Dead, sounds pretty hokey. Laying waste to row after row of redux,

devilishly fiendish

undead

crea-

tures not with a gun, not with an axe.. .but with

you heard

a keyboard? Yup,

right.

That keyboard that you

bought months ago

order to

save your sanity (which was being eroded just a

little

bit

each time you entered and reen-

a tempting

who’ve slogged

through the original countless

Gameplay requires the speedy tip-tapping of words and phrases that appear whenever an enemy rears its decomposing head-and depending on how fast and accurately you dispose of the enemy, you’re awarded letter grades on an A-E scale (what happened to F?). These scores are tallied at the end of the stage, and they count toward

options or items

(in

Mode) or beating a two-player mode.

just

the genre

then just

unlocking

new

now enable you

bies, in a

game with

twists, turns

cues of

its

kill

all

res-

it does enough surprises and

predecessor. And yes,

pack

zom-

of the

and hostage

lightgun-compatible

www.dreamcastmagazine.cQm

you don’t believe the

You’U also find that Smilebit has sprinkled

some goal-ori-

ented mini-missions

(of

“Defeat ten zombies

seconds!" regular

fresh

ilk)

loved

and

oh-so-inviting for

It’s all

done

ODCM

are suckers

all

with a strangely

and at

Getting all touchy-feely containing

all

of the rigors

and

lessons of a typical touch typing class

launch you toward that 100 word-

per-minute Holy Grail of data entry.

all

of PUBLISHER SEGA DEVELOPER SMILEBIT GENRE STENOGRAPHV ORIGIN JAPAN PLAYERS -2 ONLINE NO PERI PH KEYBOARD PRICE $39.99

wacky, strange and niche

prospects, does

cheeky sort of humor that seems itself

here at

Typing of the Dead, with its

keep gameplay

poke fun both at

out smelling

While

all

definitely won’t

game that

pleases

gamers

of the time,

all

and comes

an undead rose.

all

day.

action)

All the

anyone

moms

have a

will

just

horrifying in detail

usual groans,

moans and meaty impacts i

could call typing control...

field

Gameplay 8 A tongue-in-cheek

hit.

Just play

regret

the office

game

one more good reason

why you won’t

Control 6 We guess you

you haven't already got a

keyboard, go buy one. This is

and

Sound 7

of the

who finds the idea intriguing (or who wants to get their data-entry on some

Graphics 8 Startlingly pretty

be the

girlfriends, boyfriends or

will

it,

for, it’s irony.

the

throughout the

modes,

you intrepid veterans.

A mode

us,

game and

course— if there’s one thing that

tered your ISP info with a controller) will

(if

finish

watch the ending).

times.

goodies

your type

Original

friend in

it.

FRANCESCA REYES February

Score:

2001 Official ® Dreamcast Magazine 77

Remember, keep your back to the If you don’t look at you can pretend you’re else. You can pretend

ball at all times.

the

ESPN NBA 2Night Q:

you shoot an et us put

you

straight: Playing

difference?

gourmet meal. The

Hammer-smashes

of the worst-looking

ever

Graphics are not everything, however.. .and rest assured,

2Night'

much

hard.

headache afterward. we were

games

NBA

gameplay sucks equally stark contrast to Visual

Right off the bat,

made a

there to see

it,

Concepts’ finely tuned, expertly

to sully our Dreamcasts.

the face don’t leave you with as of a

and no one

absolutely and undeniably one

NBA 2Night after playing NBA 2K1 is like smashing yourself in the face with a hammer after eating a

air ball

a sedated sloth. This

ESPN

crafted hoops

NBA

accommodates

2Night's

does

stilt

don’t hold the

ball,

to invisible strings

you’re not on this court. You can pretend that you’re not really a player in this terrible hoops game.

suck? A: Yes

but attach

which extend

finesse of an ageing meatloaf.

from their torsos. And when a ball rolls onto the court for some

Getting your player to do any-

inexplicable reason,

control

all

the

thing-even something simple, like

passing to an open

man

an exercise

in frustration.

Cross-

moves do nothing

The practice mode

online play isn’t available

game

the

and

doesn’t even have a

but slow your character down,

franchise mode. The free-throws

are clearly pre-determined: a

tence. Looking

not

a mediocre

better than

3D0 game, NBA

mad

skillz (or

cows), but rather

even

mad

mad luck.

2Night shows more seams

make bounces and hit

than an understaffed Nike

Also worth noting

the game’s

falls in,

nothing but

lack of anything even resembling

Konami

sloppy and hard-edged, and their

a physics engine: balls don’t

game upon

animations consist of roughly

move up and down the court

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING AT? in

perpetual slow motion, and the

game’s framerate chugs along at the speed of a slide

Official <§*

show

run by

The players at the lower left of this screenshot can't seem to locate the currently being dunked by an opponent. Luckily, they are able to easily catch passes that hit them between the shoulder blades.

bounce, they just sort of awkwardly float through the air at their

own

leisure (we kept

back rim while any miss will off the

air.

Unforgivable.

Frankly, we’re disappointed in

sweatshop. Player models are

three frames apiece. Players

for

fire burnin’ for this

real stinker,

through and

r—^Official@Magazine

Dreamcast

weak,

classic players are absent,

and draining a jumpshot involves

little

keep the

becomes

game’s sheer graphical impo-

bit

63),

one.

through. EVANSHAMOON

impossible to pick up. Ugh.

cutting toward the basket-is

overs and spin

distraught by the

title,

ball,

somewhere

unleashing this

PUBLISHER KONAMI DEVELOPER KONAMI GENRE SPORTS ORIGIN US PLAYERS -4 ONLINE NO PRICE $49.99 1

Graphics

These graphics are a crime against humanity; they blatantly violate the Geneva Convention

Sound 2 Stewart Scott's quips are funny for about 20 minutes, before becoming excruciatingly bad r

Control

Horrid. Absolutely horrid.

the unsuspecting

masses-and

all those who game sight

purchased the

unseen, allow us to extend our

Gameplay

Worthless. While it can occasionally be fun to make a shot, that's about it. i

ball,

Dreamratt Magazine March/April 2001

expecting the camera to cut

sincerest condolences. After

away for a shot of the InternaSpace Station). Players

you’ve cremated your

tional

Maximum

Pool disc (see review on page

Score:

.www.DailyRadar.com

Haider

Are these hostages caught in the grips of terror, or are they really a crack team of renegade Fembots preparing to attack?

= WAiims

Arnovlsoo |

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RECON ALPHA CHARLIE

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CAUTIOUS'

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I'lVI

SNIPC

COVER

wtcnq

ESCORT Arnnviscn

NORM

ISCOItTIHQ

ASSAULTING

Filatov

Damn

VMKMOWH

caterers.. .always lying

around on the job. And those bloodstains ain’t gonna scrub

themselves off the is there any action

The guy

in the three-piece suit is the diplomat calmly take aim at their heads.

who charms the terrorists

floor.

But

game out there that’s realistic enough to contain janitor NPCs?

into submission while your operatives

Rogue Spear More strategy mayhem sans online support? Oh, Majesco— say U

hose zany terrorists.

to detail. Characters

When

wounded

will

they ever

learn that messing around with Americans is like begging for a lead lobotomy?

Apparently, that

doesn't sink

message just

with these guys,

Welcome

P m

you’re familiar with the

series, you already

know that

no run-and-gun adrenaline-fest. Instead, each mission

this is

requires meticulous planning

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

INTEL INSIDE THERE ARE PROBABLY MORE clever rogues (and spears) to be

found in the CIA than anywhere else in the world but even the CIA can fall prey to terrorist attacks. In September 1996, the CIA's home page (www.cia.gov) was hacked and changed to the page shown above. It even included an operative "Nude Girls" link, which took visitors to

—

the Playboy website. Today, of course, this page no longer exists. ..but

page

with the utmost attention paid

Ag««y

cast to execute tons of

killin’—and on Dreamcast, you and the team are further aided by an acclaimed mission pack that Urban Operations has added in for extra kicks.

Ceelral Stupidity

get

To keep the operatives on

is still

the CIA's real home a cool place to visit.

rible fate,

you with

the

all

game

ain’t so!

The framerate here is slow enough to become mildly annoying (especially in the mulbut the slow and

tiplayer),

deliberate

played

Buh-bye.

your team from meeting this

because the RAINBOW team has been called back to the Dream-

new missions and boatloads of new terrorists, who desperately want

to Ike

who

Rogue Spear don’t have a chance to run for body armor and health packs—and when a person dies, he’s gone. in

way the game

Spear and Rainbow Six were, after all, meant to be one-player games, and there is plenty here to keep gamers entertained for weeks on end. garrett kenyon

make this problem easy to ignore.

will

relatively

r—^OfficiaKirVlagazine

provides

the information

One major feature included

Dreamcast

ter-

Rogue Spear (and missing from

PUBLISHER MAJESCO DEVELOPER PIPE DREAMS GENRE STRATEGY/SHOOTER ORIGIN US PLAYERS -2 ONLINE NO ESRB T PRICE $39.99 1

need to successfully comeach mission. First, you're and then you're invited choose your weapons, operatives and strategy for

predecessors)

you’ll

its

plete

player

the multi-

Graphics 5

deathmatch— but

Merely adequate graphics and framerate.

briefed,

unfortunately, the experience

isn't

coordinating the efforts of

meant to be played on a PC, by more than two players who can't see each

ferent units.

dif-

you’re too lazy to

take an active part

the plan-

ning stages of the missions, the

computer

will

pick a default

mission plan, but be warned— in later levels,

invariably

expected.

these default plans to come off as

fail

very exciting. This death-

match

clearly

Sound 7 Sparse, but realistic and very effective. I

Control 7

other’s screens.

For console deathmatchers

used to high speed battles like Quake III, Perfect Dark and GoldenEye, Rogue Spear

drag along too slowly to fire in their bellies.

Gameplay 8 Some of the most involved gameplay seen i

on DC. i

will

light

But Rogue

March/ April 2001

Score: 7 Official M'

Dreamcast Magazine 79

TEST20NEARCHIVE SAME/PUBLISHER

DESCRIPTION

RATING

Our comprehensive

SAME/PUBLISHER

ISSUE

DESCRIPTION

ARMY MEN: SARGFS HEROES

A good

sim that could've used a

shorter/flight

Airbom shooter a

Midway

Pretty pretty

CANNON SPIKE Capcom

Fast-paced shooter that’s fun, but ultimately disposable

space shooter

that's ultimately just

CRAZY TAXI Sega

Fastpaced arcade objective-based car game; need Immersive shooter that

3D hack

may be

Death, destruction,

SIDE STORY: 0079 Bandai

HIDDEN

& DANGEROUS Talonsoft

It's all

online play in a

First

RACER Sega

MDK2

in this

first

person shooter-fen!

first

used a

and great handling

Innovative systems along with cool visuals

3D gorefest wife

Goth-styled

violent ghouls

Mar/Apr 00

Issue 7:

Sep/Oct 00

game-run, don’t walk!

Issue 3: Jan/Feb

Issue 8:

Nov 00

Issue 8:

Nov 00

XTREME SPORTS

A pentathlon of “xtreme" events that plays great but

Issue 10: Holiday

Infogrames

4WHEEL THUNDER Midway 4X4 EVOLUTION GOD Games DEMOLITION RACER: NO EXIT DREAM ROADSTERS Titus EPISODE I: RACER Lucas Arts

make this an arcade experience,a shame

poor player controls

fielding,

Tough as

missing the fun

WORLD GRAND PRDLSega

FLAG TO FLAG Sega

December 00

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

00 00 00

Issue 10: Holiday

Sep/Oct 00

BSBH

SEGA RALLY 2 Sega

this could-be racer prematurely

00 00

Issue 10: Holiday Issue 9:

Issue 5:

December 00 May/Jun 00

Racer that uses the force for good and doesn't end up sucking

Issue 5:

May/Jun 00

Issue 9:

December 00

tough sim that's reserved for tough sim nuts

beautiful, but incredibly

and simulation make

an excellent racer

this

attention to physics

Port of a great arcade water racer that

overcomes

Slick looking racer that doesn't handle It's

FI racing for the FI purist;

Wacky penguin

as well as

detail

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

for fans

looks

others need not apply

all

racer too goofy

and short for anyone over 10.

‘Net racer with plenty of options, but no enough solid gameplay Mini

racer with

charm and gameplay for the whole

Glorious looking, excellent handling

Great handling

make this a

some difficulty and

racer;

rally

for

more mediocre

dream

Rush fens worldwide

cart racing

The bane of our existence, reviews-wise. You'll never

Issue 7: Sep/Oct

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

family

racing sim

Cartman and gang are back

Issue 10: Holiday

framerate problems

Perfect arcade translation with loads of extras for

SOUTH PARK RALLY Acclaim

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

wrapping

and

plain

Spot on licensed kart racer from Looney land, with everything

SF RUSH 2049 Midway SPEED DEVILS

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

CART Racing done with some good

SEGAGTSes

no damage modeling

racer with online elements but

arcade derby racer that encourages vehicular carnage

Precision handling

HYDRO THUNDER Midway LOONEY TOONS SPACE RACE Infogrames MAGFORCE RACING Crave MONACO GRAND PRIX UbiSoft PENPENTRICELON Infogrames POD: SPEEDZONE UbiSoft RE VOLT Acclaim

December 00

Issue 9:

SUV

dam good

Bad physics and bland visuals crash

FERRARI F355 CHALLENGE Acclaim FI

road type racer with Hydro Thunder sensibilities

nails off

Enjoyable

Infogrames

Nov 00 Mar/Apr 00

Issue 9:

Issue 7:

ISSUE Issue 6: Jul/Aug

horrible PlayStation wrestling

An arcade-y tribute to the Royal Rumble with limited characters

May/Jun 00

Issue 4:

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

and emerges a winner

Oft-delayed strategy shooter finally emerges sans multiplayer

make this a

Nov/Dec 99 Nov/Dec 99

Issue 4:

Issue 10: Holiday

humor to spare

and a deranged hero

Multiplayer online fragfest goes console crazy

May/Jun 00

Issue 8:

WORLD SERIES BASEBALL 2K1 Sega

WWF ROYAL RUMBLE THQ

Sep/Oct 00

Issue 5:

Issue 11: Feb

of flaws

list

person slash ’em up with loads of story and innovative elements

Hyperaction sequel send up of an old favorite with

Interplay

NIGHTMARE CREATURES 2 Konami QUAKE III: ARENA Sega

more of the Force

little

in fresh, hip packaging. Cool!

goodness

person shooter just tops the

Horrible port of

ODCM score

Nov 00

Issue 7:

Issue 5:

and on the ground...yawn

fest that could've

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

cars...a treat for delinquents

flawed, but sophisticated strategy shooter with rough edges

Taggjn', skatin', police evadin’

KISS PSYCHO CIRCUS Take Two

Issue 8:

Issue 2:

too well

action game, with repetition galore

Repetitive alien blast-fest in the air

An innovative 3D action

Lucas Arts

JET GRIND RADIO Sega

Nov/Dec 99 December 00

Issue 2:

just repetitive

it’s

little

WWF ATTITUDE Acclaim

Nov 00

Issue 2: Issue 9:

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

up with adventure elements to boot

mayhem and

about the anime mechs

A difficult

Interplay

POWER BATTLES

JEDI

fits its title

vermny mediocre 3D

Port of a

Stuffed animal shoot 'em

Rockstar

say more?

own ambitious design

Arcade beat 'em up fen for one round, and then Simple, straightforward shooter

Infogrames

FUR FIGHTERS Acclaim

GRAND THEFT AUTO 2

boring to some, but excellent to others

'n slash that trips over its

FIGHTING FORCE 2 Gdos

arcade way

in that

Issue 8:

Issue 11: Feb

too shallow

little

DEEP FIGHTER UbiSoft DRACONUS: CULT OF THE WYRM Crave EXPENDABLE

shine

really

BANG!: GUNSHIP ELITE Redstorm

DYNAMITE COP Sega

more decoration

little

too rough around the edges to

bit

installation in the long running series that will please fens

its

RATING

The best tennis game ever! Any questions?

VIRTUA TENNIS Sega A competent

Crave

AIRFORCE DELTA Konami

game and

every Dreamcast

listing of

Issue 8:

Nov 00

Issue 3: Jan/Feb Issue 8:

Nov 00

Issue 7:

Sep/Oct 00

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

RED DOG Crave

Big explosions, big alien tanks and big firepower

RESIDENT EVIL 2 Capcom

Great concept, horrible execution; a multiplayer shooter gone wrong

Issue 3: Jan/Feb

3D wea pons-based hack

Issue 4:

Mar/Apr 00

STAR WARS: DEMOLITION Lucas Arts SURF ROCKET RACER Crave SUZUKI ALSTARE EXTREME RACING UbiSoft

Vehicular

SLAVE ZERO Infogrames

Deeply flawed arcade motorcycler that ends up being kinda fen

Issue 3: Jan/Feb

Issue 9:

December OC

TEST DRIVE 6

Bad design and an outdated engine do not a good racer make

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

TEST DRIVE LEMANS

Slick handlin’,

Issue 10: Holiday

TEST DRIVE V-RALLY 2 Infogrames

Brilliant

TNN HARDCORE HEAT ASC Games TOKYO XTREME RACER Crave

Crappy controls and questionable physics dampen

TRICKSTYLE Acclaim

Smooth, ambitious hoverboard racing

WACKY RACES Infoaames

Cel shading gets wacky in this licensed cart racer with attitude

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Retro-shooter upgrade to arcade classic not exactly up to par

Issue 3: Jan/Feb

SOUL FIGHTER Mindscape SPAWN: IN THE DEMON’S HAND Capcom SPEC OPS 2: OMEGA SQUAD Ripcord Games

ANCER

Crave

TOY

COMMANDER Sega 2ND OFFENSE Activision

WILD METAL RockStar Games

WORMS ARMAGEDDON

cool treat

comes to DC—Hurrah!

title

'n slash...the

Too many small omissions to

bottom of the DC

but there’s a kernel of fen to be had

list;

'n slash with pretty intentions

Imaginative

3D romp

Car combat meant

game

but repetitive gameplay

through childhood. Toys, gins and dinosaurs!

marketed

for one, but

beat ’em up with zombies and no

style

real

Issue 11: Feb

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Issue 3: Jan/Feb

Issue 5:

worm-on-worm action

Multiplayer franchise goes ballistic with

Arcade

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

for multiplayer

Tank shooter with bland graphics, but some intense terrain

Hasbro

Issue 11: Feb

Issue 10: Holiday

Weird physics and slowdown can't hide a tremendous concept and

Anime hack

Issue 10: Holiday Issue 11: Feb

barrel

to exit menus...sob!

space shooting action with online play to boot

Beautiful, fluid

SUPER RUNABOUT: SF EDITION Interplay SWORD OF THE BERZERK Qdos VIGILANTE 8:

classic sunrival horror adventure

Bad mechanics, cameras and no way

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

00 00

Sunrival horror adventure tripped

up by voice acting and cameras

Issue 2:

BUZZ UGHTYEAR2K Activision

Another Toy Story licensed game, but this time based on the cartoon

CARRIER Jaleco

Moody abandoned

D2$ega

Wonderfully atmospheric, short,

romp through mutated Canadian wilderness

Beautiful, immersive, incredibly

tough and unforgiving, for hardcore gamers

ECCOTHE DOLPHIN: DOTE Sega I

SPY: OPERATION ESPIONAGE UFO

Interactive

LEGACY OF KAIN: SOUL REAVER Qdos

Bdos

complex strategy

Difficult

title that’s

some damaging flaws

too tough for

little

DC with yummy graphics and

Raziel ventures to

Ambitious

2 UbiSoft

airship survival horror with

tight

VERONICA Capcom

THE RING: TERROR’S REALM Infogrames

An amazing and

fitting

own good

Solid, dark, gothic

Sonic goes Sonic goes

Shadowman

underworld romp as comic anti-hero,

3D with 3D with

Nov/Dec 99 May/Jun 00

Issue 8:

Nov 00

Issue 8:

Nov 00

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Issue 7: Sep/Oct

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

and more substance; an

Issue 1:

Sep/Oct 99

Issue 7:

Sep/Oct 00

bland at times

little

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Crappy cameras make

Issue 8:

Every

KUO’S BIZARRE ADVENTURE Capcom/Tommo

Strange anime

DREAM MATCH 1999 SNK MARVEL VS. CAPCOM Capcom MARVEL VS. CAPCOM 2 Capcom GOLD Midway PLASMA SWORD Capcom POWER STONE Capcom POWER STONE 2 Capcom PSYCHIC FORCE 2012 Taito SOULCAUBUR Namco STREET FIGHTER ALPHA 3 Capcom STREET FIGHTER III: DBL IMPACT Capcom ET FIGHTER III: 3RD STRIKE Capcom

Arcade 2D fighter gets the console

IECH ROMANCER Capcom

Big

UFC

;

Crave

VIRTUA FIGHTER 3TB Sega

VIRTUAL ON: ORATORIO TANGRAM Activision

3D fighting with the best 2D fighter with nice touches

looking characters around

Fastpaced

fighter

some odd places treatment and comes out kicking in

aimed at fans of the genre and characters

Three-member tag teams done to 2D

perfection!

Uninspiring fighter-by-numbers in the

MK franchise

A vapid 3D me-too fighter with no Innovative Brilliant

Gravity-free

Good Pure

anyone

fighting for

real

3D anime fighter with fighter

take a

risk

more depth than the

original

questionable controls

done Namco’s usual way: stunningly

basic Street Fighter

2D Street

Go Capcom!

punch but a good lineage

willing to

four-player fighting with

weapons

Glorious

with or without the online support.

stuff,

Fightin’ bliss with classic

mechs beat one another up

Strategic, realistic fighting

and new characters aplenty

anime

fighter with lots of quirks

based on the underground phenom, UFC

Yu Suzuki’s arcade fighter comes home with

the gameplay intact

all

Robo-tastic action with no twin stick support-will you miss

Best bass fishing ever! Arcade port

ECW Acclaim

The old

wondrous

it?

Maybe.

for fans.

WWF engine with some very poor graphics make this a dud

JEREMY MCGRATH SUP’CROSS 2000 Acclaim Crap on

NR BLITZ 2001 Midway NR QBC 2000 Acclaim NR QBC 2001 Acclaim

for children, let alone adults

Complex, strategic

BASS FISHING Sega

NBA SHOWTIME Midway NBA2KSega NBA2K1 Sega NFL BLITZ 2000 Midway

fit

but with overly simplified controls

two-wheels: inconsistent framerate, bad graphics, poor controls.

Arcade slam fest

for

A few bugs stand

Online play and

up to four

some

even one!

players; fen for four or

come

the way of this hoop dream nice additions

make

this

Hyper arcade football action, but no upgrade

More over-the-top goodness, but

this

time

true

last year,

graphics or gameplay

but

multiplayer

still

mode

all

second

string

videogaming sim ever to grace the small screen

football

NFL2K1 Sega

Okay, this really

NH12K Sega READY 2 RUMBLE BOXING Midway

Great presentation of arcade boxing, but not deep enough to satisfy

One

great hockey

the best football videogaming sim to...yadda, yadda...

game that suffers from

only minor flaws

May/Jun 00

Issue 4:

Mar/Apr 00

Issue 3: Jan/Feb Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 7:

Sep/Oct 00

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 5:

May/Jun 00

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 7:

Sep/Oct 00

Hands down one

‘n’ field

button masher, Olympics events that could've used tweaking golfers lee-off to charm, but not to

of the best skaters ever!

gameplay

you don't own

Hands down the ULTIMATE skater ever! Go out and buy A deeply flawed track

VIRTUA STRIKER 2 Sega

Official

‘n’ field title

port of popular arcade soccer

# Dreamcast Magazine

it,

this, well...

NOW!

that looks great but plays terribly title

March/April

that doesn't

2001

make

out intact

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 11: Feb

RPG

comes

to US.

lot

hijinks

ensue

buy

after hero’s wife gets jacked

NOW!

empire

evil

Issue 3: Jan/Feb

00 00

Issue 10: Holiday it

complex gameplay

simplistic graphics but

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

must-buy.

DC has finally airived! Stop reading and

Mar/ Apr 00

Issue 10: Holiday

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

Issue 7:

Sep/Oct 00

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Same game, same

Sonic Team goes cat

MR. DRILLER Namco

Cute mascot puzzler that should be outlawed for addictive qualities it’s

wet,

it’s

maniacal, bubble-busting fen. Perfect for two players

mouse

wacky, and

crazy in Sega’s

online endeavor

first

could be fen for two players— but

isn't

Issue 7: Sep/Oct Issue 5:

Issue 5:

May/Jun 00

Issue 7: Sep/Oct

May/Jun 00

GIGAW1NG Tommo

Old-school

GUNBIRD 2 Capcom HOUSE OF THE DEAD 2 Sega SILENT SCOPE Konami

Lightgun shooter sans lightgun hurts this arcade classic only slightly

Issue 1:

Sep/Oct 99

Arcade conversion that could've used a special peripheral

Issue 9:

December 00

Right sim gets loopy with cool play, but tough controls and concept

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 4:

Mar/ Apr 00

Old-school top

Issue 5: May/Jun

shooter for diehard fans of the arcade genre

down

combo

hard and too short; a bad

scroller that's too

Issue 8:

Nov 00

SIM/OTHER Crave

CHEF’S LUV SHACK Acclaim

HOYLE’S CASINO

South Park license abused

Looong load times and

Sierra II

GOD Games

Construct a railroad,

for

gameshow aesthetic-boo a decent casino game

jerky animations hide

manage

it in

a game

that’s addictive, but not online

Wacky, addictive fen with touches of musical genius and maracas!

Issue 11: Feb Issue 8:

Nov 00

Issue 10: Holiday

Great looking vehicle for virtual superstar, Ulala...but just too short

Issue 7: Sep/Oct

Ward, ornery fishman-raising sim...expect some strange

Issue 7: Sep/Oct

results!

PERIPHERALS

Issue 8:

Nov 00

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 7:

Sep/Oct 00

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Nov 00

Issue 3: Jan/Feb

ALLOY ARCADE STICK Interact ARCADE FIGHTER STICK AGETEC

Cool looking chrome arcade stick with eight programmable buttons.

Issue 7: Sep/Oct

A must for any fighting game fan. Fun

Issue 4:

ASTROPAD Performance

Cheap DC

CONCEPT 4 WHEEL Interact DREAM MASTER CONTROLLER DREAM PAD Mad Catz DREAM BLASTER Performance DREAMSTAT10N

One Nyko

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 9:

December 00

Issue 4:

Mar/Apr 00

Issue 9:

December 00

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 9:

December 0(

Issue 5:

May/Jun 00

Issue 2:

Nov/Dec 99 01

Issue 8:

Nov 00

Issue 5:

May/Jun 00

rubber. A quality

with lots of other games, too.

about what you paid

and pedal combos

Lets you use

Sony Dual Shock

and

and other stuff, on your DC.

one

MEMORY CARD

It’s

got lots of codes, and lets you play import

It’s

like four

memoiy cards

one! This

it’s

just

games

too.

More butt-rumbling power than you can handle.

JUMBO MEMORY PAKX2

Good memoiy card

Nyko

MAD CATZ EXTENSION CABLE MAD CATZ WHEEL NEXUS 4MB MEMORY CARD Level PELICAN 4X MEMORY CARD

Actually sit

on your sofa

It’s

blocks of

memoiy

while playing, rather than on the floor.

can’t

for

$10 this card

a home console.

be bad. And you can hook

not too reliable. Tends to lose your data. This

Um... see the above note At only

to your PC.

bad.

be beat But no screen-no minigames.

Neo Geos together for

Programmable and cool-looking, but

its

multiplayer action.

cumbersome shape

blows.

Lacks weight balance and sturdiness, but has force feedback. Interact

Excellent lightgun with staying

power

the market solid choice indeed.

SUPER SONIC CONTROLLER Beamscope

This thing

Issue 8:

Nov 00

THRUSTMASTER RACING WHEEL

You could do worse. Crappy pedals and weirdly-placed buttons.

Issue 5:

May/Jun 00

THUNDER PAK Nyko

This rumble pack accessory works,

Issue 10/Holiday

complete crap. Don't buy

and

that's all

has to do.

Mar/ Apr 00

Issue 4:

Mar/ Apr 00

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Issue 7:

Sep/Oct 00

Issue 7:

Sep/Oct 00

Issue 5: May/Jun

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Issue 5: May/Jun

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

Sep/Oct 00

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Issue 4: Mar/Apr Issue 5:

May/Jun 00

Issue 4: Mar/ Apr

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

Issue 4: Mar/ Apr

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

this thing.

Issue 4:

Issue 7:

on the Mad Catz cable. Same deal.

can’t

Allows you to connect two Interact

RALLYWHEELAGETEC STAR FIRE UGHTBLASTER

800

TV.

Pricey but very cool.

memory! And has tight screws!

The best wheel-and-pedal combo ever made Six

PERFORMANCE EXTENSION CABLE PERFORMANCE MEMORY CARD

POWERUNK Nyko QUANTUM FIGHTER PAD

with twice the

the one to get for sure.

INTERACTIVE BATTLE CHAIR Hunsuker

Issue 5: May/Jun Issue 5: May/Jun

Issue 8: Nov

of the best

This TV is marketed as a gamer’s set, but actually,

Interact

good.

-reload; a solid choice.

controllers,

Delicous and sturdy lime gree arcade stick,

INNOVATION 4 MEGABYTE

Mar/Apr 00

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

for.

available.

controller that surpasses the original

Solid, precise lightgun with auto-fire

Ultimate

THE ENFORCER Topmax

GAMESHARK COX

Controller that gives you

of the better steering wheel

Six-button controller has lots of problems, but the D-pad

Mmmmm...

ENTERTAINMENT MACHINE Zenith

Issue 2:

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

storyline

dungeon crawler with great great characters

to a Saturn classic

Wacky breeding sim with

BUST-A-MOVE 4 Acclaim

SPACE CHANNEL 5 Sega

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

Track

Super deformed

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 2:

Issue 4:

CHUCHU ROCKET Sega

May/Jun 00

An adequate soccer sim with some severe gameplay problems

TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER 2 Crave

Issue 2:

Issue 10: Holiday

WETR1X* Xatra

May/Jun 00

STRIKER PRO 2000 Infogrames

VIRTUA ATHLETE 2KAgetec

Nov 00

2Ma

Issue 5:

TONY HAWK’S PRO SKATER Crave

Issue 8:

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

repetitive nature

Flawed time-traveling RPG with good intentions but no follow-through

Issue 5:

SYDNEY 2000 Qdos

from

honoring the Ms' 20 years of service

Cute sequel with more of everything, but not a whole

The best RPG for Interactive

Action

RAILROAD TYCOON

Issue 11: Feb

suffers title

2D RPG with minimal

Nice looking, but tough

UbiSoft

SILVER Infogrames

SAMBA DE AMIGO Sega

Issue 3: Jan/Feb

TEE OFF GOLF Acclaim

practice

to the arcade original

more akin

great sequel

Amazing sequel

Nov/Dec 99

Issue 6: Jul/Aug

A surprisingly

Overly simplified

FAR OFF PROMISE

Mar/ Apr 00

Issue 10: Holiday

fast!

UbiSoft

Nov/Dec 99

More arcadey sequel, with loads of new features and mini-games

damn

UbiSoft 2:

GRANDIA

Issue 2:

Bigger, shinier

it’s

EVOLUTION EVOLUTION

Issue 4:

READY 2 RUMBLE BOXING ROUND 2 Midway

and generally better-not a reinvention of the Afro wheel

chances.

its

little flat in

Hybrid shooter/RPG with plenty o' high points and a big fanbase.

Issue 2:

SEGA MARINE FISHING Sega

Snowboarding fest that may be shallow, but

Issue 10: Holiday

Issue 11: Feb 01

Issue 5:

Issue 11: Feb

hooptacular

brilliant in

Bad gameplay mars a good franchise with no remorse at An acknowledgebly better beast than The best

Nov 00

Issue 10: Holiday

Issue 8:

falls

ARMADA Metro3d

SKIES OF ARCADIA Sega

style

true,

well

Simple port of a PlayStation

SEVENTH CROSS: EVOLUTION UFO

Outdated engine does nothing new on Dreamcast; what a shame

KING 0’ FIGHTERS

Nov 00

this a title not

the real thing

this rally racer

A great arcade port that only

ELEMENTAL GIMMICK GEAR Vatical

Issue 8:

dream come

SWAMPY’S REVENGE Majesco

May/Jun 00

CAPCOM VS. SNK Capcom DEAD 0RAUVE2Tecmo

fighter's

May/Jun 00

TOY STORY 2 Activision

make

MS. RAGMAN’S MAZE MADNESS Namco

Issue 5:

and more substance; an instant classic

Cute platformer with attitude, but a

done amazingly

lookin’ simulation racing

handling and crisp framerate

GAUNTLET LEGENDS Midway

Issue 5:

style

instant classic

us forget

Issue 10: Holiday Issue 5:

Issue 4: Mar/ Apr 00

classic

sequel to the classic sunrival horror series

Slow, plodding horror adventure with an interesting plot but no pace

SHADOWMAN Acclaim SHENMUESega SONIC ADVENTURE Sega SUPER MAGNETIC NEO Crave RAIDER: THE LAST REVELATION Qdos

its

gameplay

adventure hampered by dullness and gameplay problems

Great looking platformer with plenty of fen and quirk...a

EVIL CODE:

good

let

and some of the fen

plenty of options

knock down an otherwise promising jetskiier

Great looking street racer with very limited courses-one.

Hasbro

FROGGER

ADVENTURE BLUE STINGER Activision

combat done with

Scarify flawed Al serves to

May/Jun 00

Issue 4: Mar/Apr

depth

00 00

UbiSoft

Issue 5:

May/Jun 00

Issue 5: May/Jun

www.DailyRadar.com

the

and

"PlayStation”

owners.

Inc.

Games, respective

Epic

their

of trademarks

property

are

the

are logos

Unreal trademarks

the

and

other

All Unreal

IDSA.

S.A.

the

of Entertainment

trademark

Infogrames

registered

a is logo

trademarks

ratings

are

The logo LTD.

Infogrames

Enterprises.

the

and Sega

of Infogrames

trademarks

Inc.

Infogrames, trademarks

by registered

Published

either

Extremes.

are

logos Digital

with

Dreamcast

the collaboration

and

in Dreamcast

Inc.

Games,

Sega,

Epic Inc.

by Created Entertainment

reserved.

Computer

rights

All Sony

of Inc.

Games,

trademarks

Epic

registered

are

Tournament

logo

Family

Unreal™

"PS”

Get up close and personal

the first-person

perspective with over 10 weapons of destruction!

Screenshots are from the PlayStation®2 system.

Go online with up to 8 players on your Sega reamcast' u play 2- or 4-player split screen, or 1 network 2 PlayStation 0 2’s systems with i.LINK' ,

Name:

Lul

Experience dazzling graphics and a multitude of maps and weapons - all in a frame rate so fast it’s

Unreal™ Tournament's single

fast

and furious,

and multiplayer experience comes

to life

PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and Sega Dreamcast™

Lead your team of virtual teammates against the deadliest gladiators the galaxy. Mind-blowing realistic

3D graphics. High-octane gameplay. Totally Unreal

combat

action.

Just be sure not to lose your head.

tllltlts

Unreal.

Barrel rolls, straight aways,

extreme G’s and more! Fulfill your

dreams with the most versatile coaster construction

roller

game

ever! MM

EVERYONE

Interactive, Ltd.

All

Distributed by Infogrames. Sega,

trademarks

Sega

Corporation.

Rights Reserved. Coaster Works is a trademark of Xicat Interactive, Ltd. Dreamcast and the Dreamcast logo are either trademarks or registered All

other logos are property of there respective owners.

MMMT

Mirivi

INTERACTIVE

CODES Unlock

Jedi Power Battle Mode Go ahead and whack on your friends in the regular two-player mode, thanks to this hidden

mode that

This

the Main menu, select

unlock

New Game and

begin a two-player game. During gameplay using controller one, press and hold the + and then P ress +

The words Jedi Battle Mode On will scroll up the screen when done correctly. This will turn on Jedi Battle Mode, which lets you inflict massive damage on the other player you’re playing

mode just

all

the

is all

game has

about! By

to offer

you have to do is enter the Lifestyle Mode, and when you’re asked to enter a name, just enter PASWRD. When you back out and

All

with. To deactivate the

It All what cheating

without ever having to beat the game.

ls> button + button. the

entering the following cheat you can

you can unlock. From

enter the

Mode

of your choosing,

all

the levels, skater, boards and outfits

be yours

to try.

There

stuff here to

check

out,

will

Power Battles just got more competitive, thanks to a new cheat you can enter during play.

Jedi

a ton of

so get to

it!

re-enter

the cheat.

Unlock Slim Jim To be able to play as the dried meat evangelist Slim Jim you must start a in

Pro Quest Mode and while

game

highlighting

the Rider Select option press ft, ft, ft, Now just cycle through the ft ft

riders until Slim Jim appears.

NO MEDALS WON put together two consistent runs to impress the judges

SLIM

tJIM

GUY

<3t>

»»>

air

speed »»> »»> spins balance »»> challenges

CHANGE

Forget trying to accomplish

all

those

Amateur and Pro goals to unlock new

Now

you have to do is enter a single cheat to check out all the courses. levels.

all

Unlock All Styles To get

medals

all

the styles for your

to again start a

and

game

rider,

you have

Pro Quest Mode and bike, and

after you select your rider

highlight the Style Selection option

Hey what’s Dried Meat Man doing in game? Wow, now that’s extreme...

enter ft, ft, ft, ft, ft, ft, ft, ft, ft, Q. Pick your favorite outfit. If you make any

the

changes,

you’ll

have to re-enter the cheat.

Unlock All Bikes If

you want access to all the bikes right from the start, begin a

game

Pro Quest Mode and while

the

game

highlighting

the Bike Option after selecting your rider

press ft, ft. ft ft. ft ft ft, ft, Cycle through the bikes, and they should

now

all

be there.

you change riders at

this point or after a session

you

will

have

to re-enter the cheat.

and

after selecting your rider, bike

style you'll highlight

Unlock All Levels First start a game in Pro Quest mode and

-ft

the track selection.

Enter ft, ft, ft, ft, ft, ft, ft, ft, ft,

and all the tracks will become available. Once again, if you change riders at this point or after a session you

will

have

re-enter the cheat.

Scroll

<£>

Back

Select

f’:

Customize

MTV Skateboarding easily takes the cake for the most outfits found

a single game.

THIS Jedi

MONTH

Power

Battles

Skateboarding

BMX

Mirra

MTV

Dave

Gunbird 2

Army Men:

Sarge's

Hidden Characters

Heroes Jet Grind Radio

Gunbird 2 from Capcom has two hidden characters, Morrigan from the Dark Stalkers

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2

•

series and the goofy samurai Aine. They

Star

in any mode and are very easy to unlock by simply highlighting the

can be used

question mark on the Character Selection

screen and pressing ft to use Morrigan and ft to use Aine. Enjoy!

2 Rumble 2 Wars Demolition

D2 Ready

Evil 3 Legacy KainiSoul Reaver Cannon Spike NBA 2K1

Resident

Morrigan from the Dark Stalkers games is one most popular characters among fan artists. We have no idea why this is. of the

•

Whenever the samurai Aine uses a bomb the bullets turn Into pink roses. Ahh,

ail

how r

•

Looney Tunes Space

Race Quake •

Arena

Rush 2049 Dino Crisis •

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

Cheat Codes

ARMY MEN: I--7:!

;«

d ;('J 4-1

Level Codes No longer do you have to toil through this game to play the later levels, now that we can offer you the level cheat codes. From the Main Menu, enter the Input Code screen and then enter any of the following cheats to go directly to the level of your choice.

unlock the unlock

all

final stage,

The Way

Home

When

you

the bonus characters to play as

Multi-player part of the

the

Password TRGHTR

Mission

Spy Blue

TDBWL MSTRMN

Bathroom Riff

you also

will

game.

Mission

TLLTRS

Forest

SCRDCT STPDMN

Hoover Mission Thick Mission

Snow

BLZZRD

Mission

SRFPNK

Shrap Mission

GNRLMN

Fort Plastro

HTTTRT ZBTSRL HTKTTN PTSPNS

Scorch Mission

Showdown Sandbox Kitchen Living

Room

HXMSTR VRCLN

The Way Home

.iTfrft, Unlock Almost Everything This

is really

25% More Speed

the only code you need for the

unlocks just 'bout everything there

game as

to unlock

Bored with the slow pace? Speed things up by pausing game and then press and hold the JJ button while

the

game. The only thing it doesn't unlock is Trixie. All the levels and hidden characters are now yours including the hidden level, Skate Heaven. You can also unlock all the cheats in the game. Just pause the game during gameplay, and while holding down the button enter

enjoy

its

currently

must quit out on and start a new run.

effect you

©, it

©©©

right,

and

ft,

will

be much

©,

ft.

©.

faster.

Unlock Trixie

the PS version of

Private Carrera, but in the

alternachick

of the run you’re

Trixie.

THPS2 the

last

unlockable character

DC version you

get the sexy

There’s no code for her! You’re going

game and find and

have to beat the

every level (except the hidden ones), making use of the

gap

lists

perform every gap

keep track of what you have

left to find..

All Stats At 10 To hype up your skater’s stats to the max, pause the

game

during gameplay and then press and hold L while

you press

©,

or quit out

and

©, ©, Q.

start over to

ft, ft. Return to the

see the

game

effect.

Toggle Blood effect, again during gameplay pause the game and press and hold the L button while Re-enter the code to turn the +, blood effect back on.

To turn off the blood

you press

* ©©

All is

Magazine March/ April 2001

the cheats for the

game

are entered while the L button.

game

paused and while holding down the

www.DailyRadar.com

Cheat Codes

Change Your Boxer’s Appearance

Wild "Stubby” Corley

By entering the following cheats while on the Character Selection screen you can change the appearance of you boxer. When you have entered a cheat code correctly, you should hear a bell ring to let you know that you got the code right. Try entering multiple cheats for some wacky effects.

Shaquille O’Neal

Freedom Brock Rocket Samchay

Robox Rese-4 Bill

Complete Arcade Mode four times Complete Arcade Mode five times Complete Arcade Mode six times Complete Arcade Mode seven times Complete Arcade Mode eight times Complete Arcade Mode nine times

Clinton

Control Logo Wait, hold the presses! trick ever! Well,

not

insignificant. Just

rotate the

We've found the most amazing

really.. .this is

actually spectacularly

use the analog stick or the D-pad to and around on the Title

logo around

Screen (where you press

start).

Woohoo!

Complete Arcade Mode 10 times

Hillary Clinton

Complete Championship Mode with all characters and then beat Arcade Mode

Rumble Man

on the Hard

difficulty setting.

Hidden Costumes By going

Dreamcast's system settings and

into your

changing the date, you can unlock different outfits for some of the characters in the game. The following are the characters, costumes available and the dates you

need

to set the

system to unlock them.

New

Referee

Leprechaun Suit

Lulu Valentine

Valentine's

Bunny

Thunder

Uncle

JoeyT

Mama G.C.

Tua

J.R. Flurry

Selene Strike

Rumble Man

Year’s

Costume

January 1

March 17

Day Duds

Outfit

Sam

February 14 April

23 4

July

Suit

Halloween Costume .... October 31 Elf Outfit

Snowman Costume

December 25 December 25

Code

Appearance Fat Boxer

»,»,*,

Thin Boxer

Big Gloves

RESIDENT

LJMU

». *,

».

«•

•

Undead Boxer

Unlock

System Date

Costume

Character

ls>,

EVIL 3

LSK4J L5> <U

New Boxers

Additional Costumes

As you have probably already noticed, there are loads

To be able to use

of characters to unlock by playing through the Arcade Mode-including President Clinton and Senator Hillary. The following is a listing of everyone there is to unlock and how many times you have to beat Arcade Mode to

game, you must in

all

of the secret

first finish

the

less than seven hours using

costumes

the

game on Hard Mode no more than 30 Ink

be brought to a screen showing that you received the Boutique Key. This key unlocks the Boutique in Uptown and inside, Ribbons. After the credits

get them.

roll,

you’ll

new costumes to try (the Police Uniform, Uniform and outfit). Depending on your ranking at the end game, you'll be awarded a specific number of costumes. The following is a listing of how many costumes will be earned by a specific grade. The costumes are cumulative, however, so if you get a D the first time you play and a C the next time, you will have earned all the costumes.

you’ll find

Requirement To Unlock

Hidden Boxer Freak

Complete Arcade Mode once Complete Arcade Mode twice Complete Arcade mode three times

Deke

Michael Jackson G.C.

Thunder

Dino

Crisis suit, Disco Outfit, Biker

STARS of the

You know what they say about people with big gloves...

Costumes

Grade

B C D E

Unlock The Hidden Characters

With the following single cheat code, you can unlock and play as Darth Maul, Lobot

and Boushh (who

actually Leia in her bounty

hunter outfit...duh) on a speeder bike. From the

MAIN MENU select OPTIONS and then select PREFERENCES. While on the Preferences screen press

<U and

together to bring up the hidden

Password Screen. On the Password Screen, enter Watto_Shop, and don’t forget to include the space between words. Then return to the Main Menu. Now when you go to the Character Select, the three new characters

will

a cloud car

be yours to

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

try.

Bonus Game! The Mercenaries: Operation Mad Jackal you have to do to be able to play the bonus game The Mercenaries: Operation Mad Jackal is finish the game on any difficulty level and then load the game

All

final save you make after the credits roll. mini-game you have a limited amount of time

from your In this

to get

from one location

shoot and

kill

another with enemies you

adding more time to the clock.

March/April

2001 Official

# Dreamcast Magazine 87

1 «

Cheat Big Time! Cheating doesn’t get much better than this. This huge batch of codes will get you through every part of Soul

Reaver

it would pause the game. Then, and hold the Right

a fraction of the time

normally take you.

First,

while on the pause screen, press

Trigger Button while you enter the following cheats

(use the D-pad for directional inputs). As you enter the

codes,

done

you'll

hear a sound that

right—and

when you

effect of the cheats should

tells

you that you’ve

return to the

Turn on "Soul Reaver"

ability

game, the

Turn on "wall crawling"

be evident.

«>

ability

«*©

Jump

in, the water’s fine! That used the “swim” ability cheat.

Turn on "constrict"

# * **O

-t,

is,

as long as you’ve

ability

*.#

Turn on Fire Glyph spell *, *.

» t

©© »

Forge Soul Reaver with Fire (turn

Fire Reaver)

r* *,*, +. o * #

Imbue Reaver = Fire (as

passed through flame)

©.»,#,©*

"swim”

*, *,

ability, etc.)

«»»«©»««

Imbue Reaver = yellow/white Reaver (graphic effect only)

codes should be used with caution since they have the potential to crash the game. And don't enable the cheats until AFTER you’ve completed the entire training area at the beginning of the game— it should be safe to enable them after you've seen the Sanctuary of the Clans cinema, or after Raziel has reached the Lake of the Dead All

(vortex area).

Refill

Health

(fill

©.+,*, t

+,«,»,'*

«m+*

Turn on Force Glyph spell

f«0 «t

er 8)

Raise health coil to next level «,

*,©

©*f

Raise health coil to

max (Level

Hurt Raziel m.

Official

® Dreamcast Magazine March/

April

2001

www.DailyRadar.com

Cheat Codes

LOONEY TUNES

Hidden Teams To be able to use the hidden SegaNet, Sega Sports and Mo Cap teams you have to enter the following cheat. From the Main Menu choose Options and from there select Cheats. Now, using lower case letters, enter “VC” into the codes screen and press the enter button on

On emit Name Byrd. R.

Energy

Plays

Foul

Mins

Pts

#12 PC

Fuller. S.

Outlaw.

the onscreen keyboard. The message “Superstar Feature” will appear to confirm that you’ve entered the cheat correctly. Now, just start a match in any mode and the new teams will be in the team line-ups.

HZSfla&sji

#31 SC

Unlock Everything Cheats

#45 SF #44 PF

Grant. B.

Young, T. #55

Or.

Name

Plays

Energy

Foul

Redman.

100

C #44 SF #2 PC

Karnes, M. #1 5 Swift, K.

Lewis, S.

Bench

Mins

Pts

0 0

100

Unlock all the game has to offer right from the start! There are a ton of cheats for this fun racer, but you really only need to enter a few of them to have a blast. All of the cheats are entered into the Cheats screen found in the Options Menu. You’ll hear

Yosemite correctly,

and

Sam

say something when you’ve done it and when you return to the Main Menu game, the cheat's effect should be

start the

apparent. We’ve listed the most important cheats at the top of the

The coolest thing about the hidden you can substitute

Mo Cap team is that

With

Code CHEESFISH

Unlock Everything Unlimited Turbo

Selection

who to

play as? Just go

ahead and

let

Unlock Porky & Marvin Unlock All Track

screen and highlight a team and then press and hold button and the teams will Then press the 4i + randomly be chosen.

No Gags

DUCKAMUCK SAMRALPH CHAR TRACK

Mode

Mirror

the computer decide for you. To randomly pick the teams in Exhibition Mode go to the Team Selection

Options

since the others just repeat

Action

Random Team Can’t decide

list

their effect.

that notorious hip-hop/dancehall

MC, Redman!

Unlock Unlock Unlock Unlock Unlock Unlock

SUCCOTASH YAVARMINT

Porky

REDWAG0N MAROON SCWEWBALL

Marvin

ACME

Mars 2 Off World 1

DURNIDGIT

Off World 2

PALOOKA HOGGRAVY MACKEREL MRFUZZY

Unlock Wild West 1

Tr^e

Unlock Wild West 2 Unlock Nebula

YOIKS

Unlock Galactorama 1

DODGPARRY

Unlock Galactorama 2 Unlock All ACME Events

100 OFFENSE- 100 tool DEFENSE [Too~ 100 OVERALL 00

IPPiilPP A ® appear

than Porky Pig. Poor Porky Pig

the team selection screen.

Enter /say

aren’t exactly cheats, but the

following console

commands

are crucial

Effect Type your message and

have

you want to communicate with the other players in a deathmatch. To get these to work, you first need a Dreamcast keyboard and a mouse. Now, while in a deathmatch, during gameplay press the ~ button once to bring up the game's System Console. Now, just enter the following codes using the keyboard. For those commands that let you communicate, just type in the console command and then enter your message.

/say4 /say 3 /say 2 /sayl \help /tell_attacker

displayed to every player.

Speak to Player 4 Speak to Player 3 Speak to Player 2 Speak to player 1 Display the list of commands. Deliver a personal message to your attacker.

/say_team

Deliver a

(used

/tell_target

message to your team, team based modes.) message to

Deliver a personal

your targeted enemy.

/clear

www.dreamcastmagazine.com

hidden character S) lack

System Console Commands These

All

a far cooler

Advisee

will

Unlock

3LILB0PS MOIDALIZE MICHIGANJ

Challenges Gallery Items

Marvin Martian

The new teams

All

RBII

Unlock

Clear the

game

console.

How To Earn Game Cheats Unfortunately, the cheats for this

have

be earned. ..there

how you do

here's

it.

First

like—and then save the to your

VMU

(third party

A mini-game

game

no shortcut, but

beat the

setting things to the easiest level,

game-

you

game when it’s over memory cards won’t

appear on your VMU's tiny little screen. Now, every time you beat the mini-game, you'll earn a new cheat (they’re kind of like Snausages for gamers) which can be used in the real game. There are five cheats to unlock, and the mini-game must be beaten five times-each on a work).

will

different difficulty level-to get

March/ April 2001

them

Official <§'

all.

Dreamcast Magazine 89

)

Increase Car Mass Highlight Mass on the cheat menu and then press and hold

Release the

will unlock the hidden tracks, bonus cars, stunt courses and battle arenas, but the following details how you unlock that stuff normally, by playing.

that

button and then tap <SJ.L£>

Invisible Track

Track on the cheat menu and then

Highlight Invisible

Hidden Track The Mission The Presidio

Requirement To Meet on Beginner on intermediate

Finish 3rd+ Finish 3rd+

Circuit Circuit

press L£> 4J. + L£^ and tap hold

©.

Hidden Stunt Track

Requirement To Meet

(Note: Stunt points are cumulative over the course of many

Random Highlight

Battle

games. To view your points select Records from the Main Menu

Mode Weapons

Random Weapons on

the cheat

menu and

then press and hold

©o

and highlight the stunt Disco

track

Earn 100,000

Stunt

Mode

Oasis

Earn 250,000

Stunt

Warehouse

Earn 500,000

Stunt

Earn 1,000,000

Stunt

Mode Mode Mode

Obstacle Course

Toggle Demolition Battle

Mode

Demolition Battle on the cheat menu and + and press Q, ©. Release the and hold and quickly press When Demolition Battle Mode is active the

Highlight

Cheat Menu

press and hold

A couple of issues ago we ran all these cheats for Rush 2049, but unfortunately, we screwed up the

buttons, then press

cheats. spots,

said you had to press the D-pad

when we meant

buttons.

we've

several

make up

for

all

the cheats

Random pick

the cheats again, this time correctly.

Getting to the Cheat

once open

to say to press the shoulder

Those damn deadlines! Well

listed

o.o

will

Battle

L£M©

Mode

will

be over-ridden and every

still

remain locked.

Here’s how you get the Cheat Menu to appear. While on the Main Menu highlight Options and then press + The Cheat Menu option will appear <U + IS* +

smash them

with your

own

car.

Cool!

Way

Unfortunately there are no cheats that

Venom we know

of yet

Extra Outfits you beat the

hidden

(shorts

have access to

game

reload that save

It may take you several work but keep at it.

off.

tries to get

the cheats to

Track Orientation Highlight

then press and hold

Release the buttons, then press + LS> again and then press

hold

Highlight

outfits just be sure to save your after you have beaten the game once and when you play again. You will be brought to a new screen before the action starts that will let you choose the outfits. Beat the game a second time and a third hidden outfit will be yours, the Ancient Type outfit.

This time

press hold

while you press

and then hold

4J and

press

©. ©. ©.

QQO

Release

even more funky.

Bonus Game!

Highlight

©.

will

Brakes on the cheat menu and then press

Official

® Dreamcast Magazine

March/April

less than five hours

strict

time

Crisis

....

all

and

called to clear a

dinos using limited

ammo

limit.

Ammo

a third time to unlock an

of exploding

Mmmmmm

game

bonus game you have

Grenade Gun

Beat Dino

amount

2000

this

series of three levels of

Infinite

unlock a fun bonus

Wipeout.

and on a

Brakes

the cavegirl look and

it’s

when you use the outfit all the guns in the game will be wacked out like the handgun and shotgun which will now look like bones tied together with leather. The Grenade Gun will look like a big fish and when you add upgrades to the weapons things will get

you

Super Tires on the cheat menu and then

t-shirt). You will also find that you the weapons including the Grenade

Gun. To use the

Beat Dino Crisis

Super Tires

will earn two Type (lengerie with garters) and

and

all

don’t have them all for you (check future issues for more) but we do have some. Now all of these cheats

and very quickly or else they won’t work. To enter a cheat you need to have the Cheat Menu open and highlight the cheat you want to enter and then enter the proper button sequence from the list below. The cheat will become active if done correctly and you'll be able to turn the cheat on and

game the first time you

outfits, Battle

Army Type

are really tricky to enter. You have to press the button inputs smoothly

Crusher Euro Lx

When

Requirement To Meet 100 points in Battle Mode 250 points in Battle Mode 500 points in Battle Mode Collect 1000 kills in Battle Mode Earn

Earn Earn

Hidden Cars MINI XS

Unlocking Stuff The Hard

Unlock Some Cheats Now that you have the Cheat Menu screen you’re probably anxious to try out some of the cheats listed.

Battle Arena

GX-2

at the bottom of the screen

and you can then select it like any other menu item. Once inside the Cheat Menu you’ll see a huge list of cheats for the game but none will be active. This code just unlocks the Cheat Menu, it does not unlock any of the cheats but at least now you know what cheats there are in the game.

Plaza Roadkill

be the battering ram so to defeat an opponent

you have to actually

takes a cheat code and

listed will

Hidden Battle Arena Downtown

infinite

ammo for your Grenade exploding ammo

infinite

....

Gun.

Requirement To Meet 18 Gold Coins in Race Mode 36 Gold Coins in Race Mode 32 silver coins in Stunt mode Collect 16 gold coins in Stunt Mode Collect 24 gold coins in Stunt Mode

Collect Collect Collect

all

—•^Official ^Magazine

Dreamcast Mnxnfeai

B VU

tHr/tn-kf

WITH PASSION

PlayStation 2, Dreamcast, Nintendo,

and PC, Imagine

Games magazines

have

all!

jpiwd ^jkurself.

Somecukere dse.

m ENDZONE

Talk Back! The

Official

Welcome

ODCM

Interview ODCM's

(back) to TalkBack:

(occasional) interview series

movers and shakers of the Dreamcast world. This time, our

with the

crazy Japanese correspondent Christophe Kagotani sits Peter Moore, President of

Japan. We’ve heard a

Sega

lot of

was

ether these days, and Mr. Moore

few of of well. At

down

with

of America, during his recent visit to

questions floating through the kind

enough

and the

air

on a

to let us in

company’s secrets—and to clear up some rumors, as

his

the time that Christophe and Peter are speaking, the

Y2K

holiday rush has only just begun...

ODCM: How do

you explain the

and many people are asking

drive,

in the living room or the more and more options are

even be located

difference between Sega’s Japanese

aboutit -especially since you could

and US circumstances? Peter Moore: Well, in the US. we focused from the beginning on the videogame aspect of the machine.

consider ‘Zip drive’ as being more or

offered, until

‘mass storage’. But we are currently trying many systems, such as Iomega’s ‘Click’. And of course, a hard

family hub.

We Knew we

drive can certainly

office,

especially

had several challenges, you consider that EA was

not willing to develop on Dreamcast

and that we had

come out

own sports games

did it— and our solution

enormous in

the US.

part

with our

solution. But

has played an

Dreamcast's success

Japan, Dreamcast has

think that this

However,

mind the price

was

drive

still

have

issue.

keep

When

So, concerning the Internet, a shift

where the PC

willing to

such an expensive

and is becoming mass storage unit on it

viable to

be so

Well,

games, and

originally

we have

was

the right

opening of a DC platform

advanced

called

there,

will

you consider the

development of specific US extensions for Dreamcast? PM: The US is indeed the main DC market, and the Internet

and more

taking

of a decisive place in sales.

have successfully launched NFL

2K1, and

many ways, it outmatched Madden from EA. But if about the Internet, a mass in

PM:

via the

want

since to me,

that a

to anything.

it still

a PC

don’t

has yet

PM:

know very much

about the Japanese situation, but the US, where the platform

you think

developed.

since

would allow

application.

would

for

so much great

like to

continue to

put emphasis on our strong sports up, so

I'll

use

line-

another example:

Imagine you can update sport results into your

game

using this proposed

Frankly,

should

make

But yes,

move

this

do think that

going

direction,

move

even

quite well it

the US.

the right general

if it

decided on which one. There

become the

offers

benefits. its

the Zip

I'm

that the into

center of family

RPG gaming

But

life. It

can

another

story.

face the

realities.

it would be better to allow download MP3 files, via the

their

own MP3

could be done through the

program

far

let’s

think

Dreamcast, to It

understand that Japan

VMS MP3

the

Dreamcast?

Okay. Well,

users

are

it.

interface,

and

players.

DC web

would be quite

simple. That's our thinking, at any rate.

content provider company.

ODCM: What

to sell at least 2.5 millions units,

about the Dreamcast DVD

ODCM: What the

Dreamcast’s situation

US?

presented at E3?

we expect

PM: You

units sold by

tell

me! Yes, many people are it.

Well,

DVD

drives used

And

Christmas

this is certainly

the

Dreamcast

right

from the

start.

around $199-or

Now,

you can find a very affordable player

for

March 31

shortage.

will

managed and

of this year.

do very

for several

including the

well this

reasons-

PS2 components

On the software

released Slienmue, and

side,

we just

appears

be one of the biggest non-sports

title

launches ever on the format. And Jet

sometimes even less— from various very well known

Grind Radio

manufacturers such as Toshiba,

results

really,

already

have around 4 million

really think

be quite expensive- until very

recently, in fact.

thing that prevented us from including

technological challenge.

an AOL member, and know company is shifting its business TV and leaving the computers. So guess that the ‘set up box' will soon

many

more advanced in the wireless field than the US. So that alone could explain SOJ’s strategy of moving to an online

does present quite a

And of course, if Xbox own mass storage media, we should have our own. But we are not yet

storage device- it would clearly offer

true online

asking about

this kind of

now be

this technology

PM: Dreamcast has

why we all in

just

don't understand

People already have their own players. So what would be the merit of releasing just another new player? It would be useless and not very effective. No,

first

would

the market.

don't understand

simply don't think

be a profitable move

And now, we are preparing

launch Phantasy Star Online which the

very excited about

it.

III

be proven

lately.

Quake

experience on console ever.

a viable solution

the competitor

storage media has to be considered

was So

only very recently.

be cautious talking about

Arena-

chip?

To be honest, this technology

explained to

could

be done,

ODCM: What about player for

also promoted

online compatible titles — like

you think about the

still

add

will, in fact,

have been introducing more and more

ODCM: What do

will

or CD, but anyhow...)

make Sega

Dreamcast's online capabilities, as

ODCM: As the US is now the main DC market and the Internet is very

toDreamcast. But whether or not

focused on video

believe this

strategy. But

Dreamcast.

season,

for instance, for just

an Internet company?

PM:

now we have reached a

point,

release a

At any rate,

seems

unrealistic to release

$11! (By the way,

reasonable

the Dreamcast.

believe that during

retail

bought Gladiator,

place.

would

was, at that point,

And

etc.

Christmas

why DVD videos are cheaper than audio

traditionally

you think that SOJ

indeed happening-it’s moving from the

community

this

just consider the software side...

located, to the living room, which

the Zip

designed,

initially

Samsung,

even see players available at $99! Plus,

turns into kind of a

ODCM: Why do

good

was

not the best approach.

be considered.

have cost exactly the same price as

extension. But

been promoted as a multimedia machine.. .and

kitchen as

less equal to

also showing great

of this

moment.

Parting Shots

Imagine Media, Inc. 150 North Brisbane CA 94005

Hill

Drive

EDITORIAL DCMag@imaginemedia.com

ADVERTISING

The

415.468.4684 xlOO fax 415.468.4686 email: jmitchell@imaginemedia.com

ODCM staff reveals how we spent our fabulous Winter Vacation!

SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES

Chris Xmas!

Electronics! After setting

up shop

the frozen back porch, Chris

proceeded

to “solder until

were coated with

Dina

margaritas. Ariba! He also cooked

Dina went on a culinary tour of Seattle

chicken. Of course.

and the Starbucks, there

lungs

lead,” stopping only to

Customer Service Box 52850 Boulder CO 80322

P.0.

email custserv@dreamcastmagazfne.com

once you’re done with the salmon

(hint:

culinary there there

isn’t

in Seattle).

She

http://service.imaginemedia.com/support/dc/index.html

Fran

much also

REPRINTS

Fran wouldn’t

comment about

her

slept in the exact center of a king-sized

break, but our spies report that she

mere hour away), when he accidently broke a 30$ capacitor. The results? A

bed. Considering that she’s exactly the

played

PSO

opposite of king-sized, that’s sort of like

maybe

her eyes were bleeding from

cool solar powered robot that looks like

Ted Turner being the only person currently

the beauty of Pleasanton, CA. True fact

fly,

a useless wing-flapper and

various

LED

projects.

a mint

some

Sword of

Dan

Vermillion

Dan headed up

DMail), which he’s planning to

make

everyone

Montana. Wyoming. Whatever.

living in

Game-wise, he

with us!

“K” street.

Evan After getting sick, he proceeded to get

was

New

homecoming in one and Genesis were still in the basement beat one of his little

a happy

and he could

went

beach

to the

Monterey, CA, which

August. He declined to join the Polar

freezing even

ice-cold water, but

the

he did go kayaking

with seals, sea otters, and sea lions.

down

still

brothers. After getting

Champions

also

Bear club by going swimming

respect: his Saturn

waiting for him

action

some

Panzer Dragoon, he turned

little

Skies of

Arcadia, which he worked on furiously.

chilled

on break, recovering from

his trip to Mexico’s east coast with his filly

sea,

for

about Fran: she says that she falls asleep with a controller in her hand “at least three or four times a week.”

a relaxing

and plenty

trip involving

sand,

Chris Charla editor-in-chief Dan Fitzpatrick art director Dina Fayer managing editor Francesca Reyes senior editor Dave Cordon associate art director Evan Shamoon associate editor

Christophe Kagotani japan correspondent

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Chet Barber, Eric Bratcher, David Chen, Daniel Erickson, Max Everingham, Blake Rscher, Alex Gray, Kim-chi Haden, Garrett Kenyon, Jim Maineiro, Noah Massey, Mike Mika, Greg Orlando, Kevin Rice, Jorg S. Tittel

QUESTION OF THE MONTH

ILLUSTRATIONS Naska

Your ultimate breakfast?

ADVERTISING

Dan: Poppy seed bagel with

Jim Mitchell northwest regional sales manager Katie Wells northwest account executive Michelle Cerlenko bay area regional sales manager Robin John Rosales bay area inside sales group manager/acct exec Ayrien Houchin bay area regional sales manager Tiffany Song bay area account executive Stacy Bremmer southwest regional sales manager Tara Whelan southwest account executive Amy Arnold eastern advertising director Wilson Lau eastern regional sales manager Holly Neal eastern account executive Jeanette Stipanovich sales operations manager Megan Fischer, Jennifer Krachenfels advertising operations coordinators

Fran: Anything from The Manor coffee shop in West Portal, San Francisco. Chris: Toast, hashbrowns, gyro meat (or bacon) and pancakes. Evan: I’m a vegetarian, so stringbeans,

and rocks.

Dave: Chicken apple sausage. it goes without saying that the

(Note:

favorite fastfood breakfast of the entire staff

Andy Swanson western advertising

butter.

Dina: Last night’s pizza, cold.

tofu

Dave Dave

Eternal

and replaying a

her eyes bled. Or

(a.k.a.

Sacramento) to celebrate his Dad’s 60th and to hang out some down on

the office play,

very sick of Westchester County,

Sacto

until

717.481.8500

ODCM REGULARS

drive to Halted Specialties surplus (a

anything from McDonalds)

mexican food and

director

PRODUCTION Richard Lesovoy production director Glenn Sadin production coordinator

Next Issue on the

Issue #13 On sale April

upswing!

Still

CIRCULATION Amy

Peggy Mores

that

is.

remnants

game

to the ultimate

720

manager

Post Road, Scarsdale

New

York

10583

baby, don’t break ’em! Your maracas, put Chris’ new maracas, a few tattered

of editorial dignity

ODCM

and Sega’s

stellar

new

party test!

PHANTASY STAR ONLINE Yes,

fulfillment

INTERNATIONAL LICENSING REPRESENTATIVE Robert J. Abramson and Associates, Inc.

SAMBA 2000 Shaken up! Shake ’em,

Nibbi subscription director

Jonathan Venier newsstand marketing manager Janet Amlstoso direct marketing specialist

3rd!

Reviewed!

said reviewed! Play-tested! Perused

and pondered by our own Francesca Reyes, the universally acknowledged queen of RPGs. Is it everything you dared to hope it would be? Is it even more? Find out!

Chris Anderson

Nancy

Tom

CEO

O'Neill president

Valentino vice president/CFO

Holly Kllngel vice president/circulation

Steve Leibman vice president/human resources Charles Schug general counsel Cheryl England president/computing division

...And more!!

Mlchaela Abrams president/business

•

Half-Life

Simon Whltcombe /group publishing director Karen Qullantang /group publishing manager Jennie Parker/director of marketing

Update!

•Sequels revealed... *Mlss

division

IMAGINE ENTERTAINMENT DIVISION Jonathan Slmpson-Bint president Matt Flrme vice president/editorial director

•Exclusive previews! •New secret codes coon

julure

Hyouregoom

and forever be damned to a life full of bad licensed games. Content change due to vagaries of space-time.

(but not quality) of Issue subject to

February 2.

THE RESULTS DON'T SHOW UP ON A SCOREBOARD.

TRV THE RICHTER SCRLE

Use the new Hoopz button to make sure the rock will end up in your hands.

GAMEBOY

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CoLoR

PlayStation.d

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and

Entertainment

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Inc.

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Two monster corporations One

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