The first EGM previews of Curse and Thunder Force III

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:21 pm

A consorminating 19-bit thrill-ride that magnaminously grabs hold of you and won't let go until the heart throbbing blast-em-up-and-away action/excitement finally leads you to a screen filling boss that pounds you with laser particles before combustulating in a cloud of golden embers... and that's just level one of nine! Your eyes will scream with delight as Zarbulon forces it's 19-bit hi-res sprites down their throats, while your ears gag on the crunchy tintinabulation of a thousand explosions. This ain't your grandpa's card game!

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:25 pm

Why don't we see these kind of reviews anymore? It's because we ourself aren't writing them! Stop being lazy me/y'all!

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:48 pm

Thunder Force 3 would be a perfect game if the game did rush by so quickly!

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:48 pm

I'll be uploading all these reviews for people who want to read them in a little bit, along with scanned reviews for Aeroblasters (TG-16), Whip Rush (Genesis), Atomic Robokid (Genesis), Battle Squadron (Genesis), Granada (Genesis), Fireshark (Genesis), and a couple others.

Stay Tuned

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 11:55 pm

Zebra Airforce wrote:A consorminating 19-bit thrill-ride that magnaminously grabs hold of you and won't let go until the heart throbbing blast-em-up-and-away action/excitement finally leads you to a screen filling boss that pounds you with laser particles before combustulating in a cloud of golden embers... and that's just level one of nine! Your eyes will scream with delight as Zarbulon forces it's 19-bit hi-res sprites down their throats, while your ears gag on the crunchy tintinabulation of a thousand explosions. This ain't your grandpa's card game!

You're a natural

gigadrive32 · Post by **gigadrive32** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:00 am

The Coop wrote:I like the idea of having a depot of old shmup scans. I have a lot of old EGM and MegaPlay mags, as well as stuff like Next Generation and GameFan. If someone wanted to start an archive of this stuff, I could certainly help with the scanning.

I've already done scans of...

Super R-Type
Twin Cobra (Genesis)
Wings of Wor
Hellfire
Gaiares
Isolated Warrior
Super Star Soldier

... to go with my TF3 and Curse scans above (set up in the same format too). So if people are interested, a full project could be started. Scans could be broken up into issue years of magazines (EGM 1992, GameFan 1996, stuff like that), and the load could be passed around for those willing to help.

Thoughts?

I would love to help more, but sadly my magazine collection is very very very VERY lacking these days. Most of my mags got ruined in floods. I have most of the 1989-1990 EGMs though, and a few Mega Plays. God, it makes me sick to think about it really, I wish I had them all back.

As for the various previews & reviews of TFIII, I was most blown away by that first EGM preview than anything else. I liked how they said it made II seem like a bad Nintendo game O_0 That preview, not any review, that I read on an early spring afternoon in 1990, is what convinced me to get TFIII later that fall.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:21 am

gigadrive32 wrote:I would love to help more, but sadly my magazine collection is very very very VERY lacking these days. Most of my mags got ruined in floods. I have most of the 1989-1990 EGMs though, and a few Mega Plays. God, it makes me sick to think about it really, I wish I had them all back.

... ouch. That sucks for a collector.

Well, my earliest issues are 11, 12, 14, the 1991 Buyer's Guide, 16, 18, and 20. From 22 on, I have nearly every issue, up to #68. That's when I stopped reading since MegaPlay and EGM were just doing a lot of 'copy/paste' cross over coverage. I have a few of the 70s issues, no 80s issues, and about half of the 90s issues. After issue 100, I have a solid collection again since MegaPlay really began dying off around that time I believe. So if you have any of those missing early issues, it would be great to post any shmup reviews from them

Udderdude · Post by **Udderdude** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:30 am

Zebra Airforce wrote:A consorminating 19-bit thrill-ride that magnaminously grabs hold of you and won't let go until the heart throbbing blast-em-up-and-away action/excitement finally leads you to a screen filling boss that pounds you with laser particles before combustulating in a cloud of golden embers... and that's just level one of nine! Your eyes will scream with delight as Zarbulon forces it's 19-bit hi-res sprites down their throats, while your ears gag on the crunchy tintinabulation of a thousand explosions. This ain't your grandpa's card game!

You get a gold star.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:32 am

Ladies (if any are here) and gentlemen, I give you the EGM review brigade (or at least, what I have up to issue #26 for the moment)...

Aeroblaster (TG-16)
Atomic Robo Kid (Gen)
Battle Squadron (Gen)
Curse (Gen)
Cyber Core (TG-16)
Gaiares (Gen)
Gradius III (SNES)
Granada (Gen)
Hellfire (Gen)
Image Fight (NES)
Isolated Warrior (NES)
Psychosis (TG-16)
Super R-Type (SNES)
Super Star Soldier (TG-16)
Terra Cresta (NES)
Thunder Force III (Gen)
Twin Cobra (Gen)
Whip Rush (Gen)
Wings of Wor (Gen)

I'll be adding three more in a bit. They're full page reviews, so their file size is bigger.

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:34 am

Thanks!

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:38 am

I was dissapointed when I found out about how Wings of Wor doesn't have any unique enhancement scales.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:42 am

But the weapons power-up 25 times!

JoshF · Post by **JoshF** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:57 am

Zebra we need more reviews like that. Do X Dazedly Ray now.

Ed Oscuro · Post by **Ed Oscuro** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 1:58 am

Udderdude wrote:You get a gold star.

I'm guessing ZEF is the only one who can see it.

Another vote for Zebra doing another review!

Zebra Airforce · Post by **Zebra Airforce** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:09 am

Ed Oscuro wrote:I'm guessing ZEF is the only one who can see it.

Please, call me ZUFFS ENUFF.

Zeburahh Kuarterly wrote:Dino Riki is the tale of a young boy sent on a journey by the twelve elders of the Fire Arrow tribe to save the Sulphur Jungle from Smegmar the Stenchley. Along the way he will come across bats, ghosts, missiles, levitating rocks, and holes that are under Smegmar's Spell!! Using his jump-o-tron boots to leap across cavernous crevices, D.K.R. will collect 52 different powerups distributed through seven levels with approximately 500 enemies total, with the possibility of earning up to 9999990 points!!!

-- 6/10 Stars

JoshF · Post by **JoshF** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:41 am

Title: Biohazard Battle
System: Sega Genesis
Levels: 8
Missiles?: Yes
Reviewed By: The Gamma Governer

This game puts you in the role of an insect-like futuristic space battler with one mission: kick alien butt! It's a seat-of-your-pants blaster with mutiple ships, weapons, and backgrounds. Watch out for the multi-segmented disgustoid creatures in level 2, you're gonna need a diaper! Couple the explosive action with pulse-pounding sonics and you'll be doing the bartman in no time. Don't get too confident, rookie, you still have to face an entire alien armada in level 5 followed a duel with a impressively HUGE mothership in level 6. One thing is certain, this is the most intensity shooting Sega ever crammed on a game pak.

8/10

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:53 am

With 8-Megs of memory, Gaiares could be guilty of overkill!

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:59 am

Here are the other three that took longer to upload...

Fire Shark (Gen)
Insector-X (Gen)
Phelios (Gen)

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:04 am

Air Buster

Cruise at warp speed through treacher-
ous corridors, acquire unique upgrades
and square off against fearless baddies!
The sixth board's thrust into zero grav-
ity will challenge even top space-aces!

7/10

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 3:12 am

Lightening Force

Strap in for ten levels of
frantic blasting action.
Each level is as long as
it is enemy filled, and yo-
u'll be rocking to some
driving tunes while filling
the air with enemy explo-
sions. AWESOME!

10/10

BIL · Post by **BIL** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:02 am

We should email all major western gaming publications with this shooter review format. Three sentences maximum, with one reserved for detailed game premise and storyline info, and one for a snappy lead-out. It'd be a lot better than the usual babbling of half-hour lifespans and soul-crushing torment that seems to be the status quo these days.

GRADIUS V

KONAMI are back with
another piping slice of
side-shooting action!
Bacterion threatens the
Gradius homeworld yet again.
With four option types,
dozens of weapon
choices and 256 loops,
this interstellar shoot-
a-thon will callous your thumbs
and make you holler!

JoshF · Post by **JoshF** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:18 am

"Dazzling multi-moving graphic imagery and theme music"

Also, keep going!

gigadrive32 · Post by **gigadrive32** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:26 am

The Coop wrote:Here are the other three that took longer to upload...

Fire Shark (Gen)
Insector-X (Gen)
Phelios (Gen)

Whoa thanks! I have all of these but haven't seen them in sooo long. Love the Phelios review especially. A+

gigadrive32 · Post by **gigadrive32** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:27 am

The Coop wrote:Ladies (if any are here) and gentlemen, I give you the EGM review brigade (or at least, what I have up to issue #26 for the moment)...

Aeroblaster (TG-16)
Atomic Robo Kid (Gen)
Battle Squadron (Gen)
Curse (Gen)
Cyber Core (TG-16)
Gaiares (Gen)
Gradius III (SNES)
Granada (Gen)
Hellfire (Gen)
Image Fight (NES)
Isolated Warrior (NES)
Psychosis (TG-16)
Super R-Type (SNES)
Super Star Soldier (TG-16)
Terra Cresta (NES)
Thunder Force III (Gen)
Twin Cobra (Gen)
Whip Rush (Gen)
Wings of Wor (Gen)

I'll be adding three more in a bit. They're full page reviews, so their file size is bigger.

AWE-ZOME

Ganelon · Post by **Ganelon** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 4:42 am

Thanks a bunch, Coop. Yeah, EGM nailed it in the head: while both are great games, Gaiares is better than TFIII.

The Coop · Post by **The Coop** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:10 am

Alrighty. Three more for the night. I've done up to issue #30 (sans the issues I'm missing obviously). I debated whether or not to scan the review for Cal. 50. However, I figured that since it's like Mercs in that it plays more like an overhead run 'n gun than a shmup, I left it out. If this place considers it a shmup, let me know.

Raiden Trad (Gen)
Raiden Trad (TG-16)
Vapor Trail (Gen)

JoshF · Post by **JoshF** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:19 am

RaiDen

captain ahar · Post by **captain ahar** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 6:54 am

wow they're generous. cyber core is terrible.

Thunder Force · Post by **Thunder Force** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 7:14 am

Nice scans... classic mag scans always trigger nostalgia, about as reliably as hearing old music tunes.

elvis · Post by **elvis** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 9:40 am

It'll probably annoy some (given where most posters here live), but I could never stand the old American mags. They seemed so desperate to speak in kids "hip and cool" language that they always came off fake.

I much preferred the UK efforts. Mean Machines and CVG where two of the best back in the day. Scans from the entire Mean Machines backlog can be found here:
http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/
as well as on any good torrent tracker.

With that said, I collected most mags I could get my hands on and afford with my mediocre pocket money. I have quite literally hundreds of magazines in my games room from the 80's and 90's from Mean Machines and lager Mean Machines Sega, CVG, Sega Power, Nintendo Magazine System, EGM, GamePro ("PROTIP: Press start to start your game!") and many others.

I re-read most on a regular basis. Not only for nostalgic kicks, but to go back to an era when game reviewers could safely speak their mind instead of being bought out by game companies for essentially magazine-length advertising.