From: tpordon@nyx.cs.du.edu (Tony Pordon)
Subject: Die Hard's _Game_Fan_ mag
Keywords: SNES/Genesis gaming info
Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept.
Discalimer: I'm not affiliated with Die Hard, nor am I trying to
	promote their magazine, "Game Fan".  All quotes are the
	property of their respective author, from Volume 1, Issue 1
        of "Game Fan".
Date: Thu, 8 Oct 92 23:40:09 GMT


Hi, fellow gaming enthusiasts.

I still don't know if anybody has posted about this, but I have recieved
a number of requests to post anyway.

The newest magazine in the market is "Game Fan", a periodical put out by
the foreign game mail-order company, Die Hard.  It promises to give the
info of the Japanese magazines, but in English.  For those of you who have
extremely limited Japanese skills (myself included =`) ), this promises 
to be a great help, saving a bundle of time that is normally wasted on
deciding whether to use Kun- or Onyomi.  As of this posting, "Game Fan"
is available only through subscription (end of post for subscription info),
but there is talk of trying to get it onto book shelves.

Review: Volume 1, Issue 1
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Those who have seen Die Hard's "game pamphlets" in the past will already know
what to expect.  There is a lot of glitter, and a lot of hype, but nothing
really ground breaking.  I find it better and more informative to read the 
Japanese magazines, but "Game Fan" can't be beaten when it comes to pix
that aren't published anywhere else.  Also, it's a refreshing change to
EGM, in the sense that they mark every gaming rumor as just that- a RUMOR.
EGM is known to print "Factual information" that is later found to be
false, or a rumor.

In the "Editorial Zone" (editor's note), the editor. Earnest Storm, says,

	First of all you'll notice that we liked just about everything
   	we covered.  There are two reasons for this.  #1: Each review
	page is done by a game player who prefers that type of game.
	To get a more objective view you can go to Viewpoint [review
	section] and see what Skid & Brody have to say.  #2: If we do
	preview a game it's just to let you know it's coming and has
	potential.....Also, each game is rated in comparison to others 
	
	on that system.  
				(Earnest Storm, "Game Fan" #1)

In their Viewpoint section, two reviewers (Skid and Brody) rate new games
on a percentile scale.  100% is a perfect game, while 60% is (most likely)
average.  The problem I had with this section was that that the reviewers
were being too gratuitous with the games reviewed.  It reminded me of a
couple kids who just played Video games for the very first time, and are
blown away by everything they see.  This may be because all of the games
they reviewed were top-notch, but I don't exactly know.

For the Genesis, they rreview Greendog, Gods, Thunderforce 4, Alien 3,
Global Gladiators, Magical Troll, Super high Impact, Bio Hazard Battle, and 
Predator 2.  For Mega-CD, there are Wonder Dog and Thunderstorm FX.

On the SNES, they review Spiderman with X-Men, Super Buster Bros, Parodius,
Super Star Wars, Prince of Persia, Harley's Humongous Adventure, King of the
Monsters, super Double Dragon, Out of this World, Soul Blazer, Last Fighter
Twin, and Ranma 1/2.

Reviews for the TurboGrafx/ TurboDuo include Shapeshifter, Neutopia 2,
Dead Moon, Gate of Thunder, Prince of Persia, Atomic Robo-Kid, ninja Gaiden,
and New Adventure Island.

They reviewed Baseball Stars 2 and World Heroes for the NE0-GE0.

Results:

Genesis/ Wondermega	Game		Skid %		Brody %	Available

			Greendog	76%		67%	now
			Gods		89%		85%	Nov.
			Wonder Dog	99%		98%	now
			Thunderstorm FX 90%		98%	now
			Thunderforce 4  98%		95%	now
			Alien 3		95%		89%	now
			Global Glad.    92%		95%	Oct.
			Magical Troll   89%		86%	now
			Sup. Hi Impact  82%		85%	now
			Bio-Hazard Bat. 90%		89%	Nov.
			Predator 2	75%		68%	now

Super Nintendo	

			Spidey/X-Men	90%		90%	Oct
			S. Buster Bros  65%		78%	now
			Parodius	70%		89%	now
			S. Star Wars    93%		95%	Dec
			Prince/Persia   90%		97%	Oct
			Harley Hu. Adv. 85%		78%	Nov
			Phalanx		89%		87%
			King/Monsters   72%		76%	now
			Sup. Doubl. Dn. 98%		95%	now
			Out o.t. World  92%		90%	Nov
			Soul Blazer	95%		92%	now
			Last Fighter	90%		82%	now
			Ranma 1/2	80%		88%	now
		
TurboDuo/TurboGrafx
			Shapeshifter	70%		75%	Oct
			Neutopia 2	85%		89%	now
			Dead Moon	82%		85%	Oct
			Gate/Thunder	89%		95%	Oct
			Prince/Persia	79%		75%	Oct
			At. Robo-Kid	92%		87%	now
			Ninja Gaiden    82%		87%	now
			New Adv. Island 76%		68%	now

NE0-GE0			Basball Stars 2 99%		97%	now
			World Heroes	92%		90%	now

NOTE: Most of the titles that are out "now" are available in Japan only.
	All titles out "now" are available through Die Hard.  Month
	of release is presumably for US release.

In the next section there is an interview with (my idol) Yuzo Koshiro.
For those not in the know, he is the formost game musician in Japan
(probably the world). He wrote music for Y's 1 thru 3, Act Raiser, Soul Blazer,
ALL Shinobi games (including the upcoming Super Shinobi 2), Streets of Rage,
S.oR. 2, GG Sonic, Batman returns (Genesis & Mega-CD versions), and
the new Mega-CD conversion, Eye of the Beholder.


Further in the Mag, Greendog, Gods, Wonder Dog, Thunderstorm FX, Thunder-
force 4, Land Stalker, Predator 2, Alien 3, Global Gladiators, Batman Returns
(Genesis), Ninja Gaiden 4 (Genesis), Magical Troll, Super High Impact,
and Bio-Hazard Battle are reviewed in further detail.  They show new pix
from Super Shinobi 2, Sonic 2, Nobunaga & his Ninja Force, JMontana
Sportstalk '93, and Wolfchild.

They show Spidey/X-Men, Super Buster bros, Parodius, Prince of Persia, 
Harley's Humungous Adventure, King of the Monsters, Phalanx, Super
Double Dragon, Out of this World, Soul Blazer, Super Professional
Baseball 2 (Sup. Bases loaded 2), F1 Grand Prix, and Ranma 1/2.

Blowouts:

Last Fighter Twin:  looks like a cutesy fighting game (side-scrolling)
in the same spirit of Super Mario Cart.  There are cartooney characters
to use, including Gundam F-91, Ultraman, and 2 I didn't recognize.  You
can switch between the 4 during play, I assume that each character has
different attributes.

Super Star Wars:  probably one of the best SNES games in existence.
There are two modes of play: flying (X-wing and Land Speeder), and
side-scrolling action.  The article mentions that Luke, Han Solo, or
Chewbacca can be used, but you must save Han and Chewey in order to use
them.  This one looks like it'll sell a few systems.  By JVC.

Handhelds...

Look for Kung Food, Shadow of the Beast, Dirty Larry, Pit fighter, Dracula,
Double Dragon, and Baseball Heroes on the Lynx.

Up-and-coming Game Gear titles are Outrun Europa, Streets of Rage (with 
Yuzo Koshiro), David Robinson's Supreme Court, Shinobi 2, Tazmania,
Double Dragon, Batman Returns, and Terminator.

I seem to recall a picture of Suzuka 8 Hours for the Mega-CD in a Japanese
Mag a while ago.  In any case, they show a pic of the arcade version in 
"Game Fan" (don't ask why =`) ).  Look for the arcade Golden Axe 2 to
come out on Mega-CD and cart as Golden Axe 3.

Now the best part...

Other Stuff
~~~~~~~~~~~

Misc. stuff about the industry:

"...[Mega]CD games in the planning stages in Japan include Lunar 2 by Game
Arts, Thunderforce 5 by Techno Soft, El Viento 2, Devastator, Time Gal, and
StarBlade [YES!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSS!!!!] by Wolfteam, Golden Axe 3 from Sega,
and Shining Force 3  by Climax...Virgin is hard at work on the new 
Terminator CD which is not only longer, but uses filmed actors as the charactersin a side scroll action format.  Terminator also has 12 minutes of incredible
full motion video, and the music will be right out of the movie!  Look for
Out of this World 1 & 2 (on one CD) from Virgin early next year...Acclaim
is rumored to have [a Mega-CD] Mortal Kombat, Spiderman, and Total Carnage
in the works! ...Unfortunately the much talked about Nintendo CD is rumored
to have been put on hold until as late as early '94 [personally, I feel
sorry for those who believed to see it in January!]...My guess is
Nintendo is working on something incredible for their CD debut. [Seems to
ME that they just might be stallin' in order to find a suitable excuse
to push the price waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy up! =`) ]...Good news for SNES is
that the third party companies arew starting to use the new DSP.  This new
chip makes true 3-D polygons easier to program and...speeds up the CPU
considerably from 2.5 MHz to 7-10 MHz.....
NEC Avenue has been working on their virtual reality sound system, which
will premier on the all new Super Darius Super CD this December. This new
system (similar to Wolfteam's Thunderstorm FX) allows the user total surround
sound when wearing headphones.

"

Also, they show the Genesis 4-player adaptor (old news), Konami's
"Hyper Beam" controller (SNES, September, ~$55), Brandia (New Japanese
1-on-1 Fighting Arcade game), and they talk about the SF2 Anime MOVIE!!!
(The pix of Chun Li in the latest EGM were for a commercial.)
Expect Final Fight Mega-CD before Christmas.

Lastly, there is an upcoming release section, with all of the planned releases.
Basically the same stuff as on Die Hard's game hotline.

All in all a great mag.  I strongly reccomend it for those who like EGM's
hype and pix, but hate EGM's rumors and outright lies.  If you subscribe to
EGM, and are thinking of not renewing, give Game Fan a try.  If you still
have questions, wait for the Shelf copies to appear.

To subscribe, send check or MO to:

		GameFan 
		18653 Ventura Blvd., Ste 640
		Tarzana, CA 91356

It's $24.99 for 12 issues, about the same as EGM.
To order by phone, call 1-800-774-2010.

Hey!!!  FEEDBACK!!! Was this at all helpful?  Did I leave anything out?


Ja mata...


						-Tony
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     ~~	      \   Should I get back before I return, please   /       ~~
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