Welcome once again to another edition. Yes, there
is a game beneath all this mess, and what an odd little game it is. If there was ever a
BORAT character in the Super Nintendo world, this bloke would certainly qualify. But first, a topic near and dear...
Sunday, March 19, 2006It was on this day that I made a 40 minute trek to reclaim bits and pieces from my childhood. If there was one thing I enjoyed more than playing with my gaming group in the early-mid 90's, it was reading the latest EGM-slash-GameFan.
I found a collector online who lives 40 minutes away and had a crap load of doubles. He invited me to stop by some day, pick out my favorite issues and buy.
And so it was on that warm idyllic Sunday afternoon that I began my odyssey. Nice house, nice neighborhood. We greeted at his front door and then he guided me to his garage, which had been transformed into a gaming dungeon. Arcade machines adorned the walls proudly and of course, a ton of boxes home to countless doubles.
I stifled through 'em looking solely for EGM and GameFan. Finally, I gathered 22 EGM's and 13 GameFans. I already had EGM '94, so I was looking for '92 and '93 (the 16-bit era) and luck be my day, he had doubles of Jan '92 through Dec '93, with only two issues missing inbetween
We layed it out and now it was pricing time. I feared the worst as he flicked through the issues. Bear in mind -- I only had $68 on me. 35 vintage hard-to-find issues in very good condition, not to mention highly sought after, especially the GameFans
Yeah, I was expecting the worst
"So," He started.
"How much do you think would be fair for all this?"Reaching in my pocket, I pulled out what I had.
"I got sixty-eight dollars."I paused and anticipated his disappointment, or laughter.
... Maybe both
"Sounds good to me," He said, with a smile.
WOW. I almost did a double-take outta astonishment!
That made my entire week! $1.94 per issue it came out. You won't find a deal this good online,
everI'm sure he knew he could have made double or triple what I paid. But, some people just want to see these things go to a good home. And I was lucky he was one of 'em
He helped carry the magazines to my car and then invited me to check out his game room upstairs. There he had his personal
"untouchables" (fitting term for a man who just gave me a Gandhi-sized deal eh?) magazine collection, and they ranged from
ELECTRONIC GAMES to
VIDEO GAMES AND COMPUTER ENTERTAINMENT. I mentioned I was looking for
SUPER PLAY -- a UK Super Nintendo magazine held in high reverence within diehard SNES circles. He didn't have that one.
His game collection was equally stunning. A Dreamcast setup in arcade-like fashion was brilliantly displayed. He showed me his "Gamer of 2005" (or the like) plaque that he won at some gaming convention.
This guy was TRULY hardcore.While driving home on the freeway, I took a couple glances at the treasure that rested gently on my passenger seat... still in disbelief.
And now it's led to (pardon the pun) an issue I had planned to address from the very beginning of this topic:
EGM vs GAMEFANWhich is better? Here's my 2 cents...
FACT: EGM covered way more SFC games than GameFan didI hear all too often that GameFan was and is the best ever. Now don't get me wrong, I *LOVED* GameFan to death as a kid. I remember drooling at screenshots of SNES World Heroes 2. But after reading them some odd 12 years later... the
memories proved better than the
actual product.
EGM deserves more cred for their import coverage, which was, quite frankly, superior to GameFan's. Each month
INTERNATIONAL OUTLOOK highlighted numerous Super Famicom games lying in the wings, even the really obscure ones.
Godzilla: Kaijuu Dai Kessen, you recall, was the 1st game I highlighted in this topic, and it was thanks to EGM that I discovered this game way back in '94. Others include:
Bakuto Dochers
Basketball Dream: Dunk and Hoop
Battle Cross
Battle Master
Battle Racers
Firemen
G2
Ghost Chaser Densei
Go Go Ackman
Mickey Tokyo Disneyland
Miracle Girls
Pop'n Smash
Rider's Spirits
SD Hiryu no Ken
Spark World
Super Back to the Future II
Zen Nippon Wrestling Dashetc.
Note that all these games have been highlighted somewhere in this topic. And I got EGM to thank for it. Any time I see someone pimp GameFan for its amazing import coverage, I grin because EGM did it even more, and never seems to be credited for such.
GameFan had ace screen grabs but their writing left a lot to be desired at times. They were often too "cute," though ironically that was why I loved them back in '93. They wrote like... well, like an enthusiastic 10-year-old, which was perfect when you were ten; it felt like it was your very own writing that went into the magazine.
Two examples:
Volume 1, Issue 8 page 69
Another option is picking from two games, Turbo Hyper fighting and um ... I can't remember. I'm sorry sometimes I forget... Oh wait! I remember now, it's Champion Edition! Oh yea baby! Capcom is awesomeVolume 2, Issue 2 Editorial
Welcome to the Editorial Zone. A place where I, a person crazy enough to make a video game magazine, gets to write whatever I want. So, this month let's talk about the three toed Wallaby, a lovable little mate from down unda... uh, hold on. What was that you guys? I'm a what? OK, OK, I gotcha.Enthusiasm? Sense of Humor? No doubt. Professional? Not always. No question that helped made them so "hip" and refreshing, but it's a double-edged sword. I find GameFan has aged not-so-well -- EGM on the other hand is like a fine fine wine. Those legendary 300-plus page holiday issues are still as
enchanting as they were twelve years agoDon't mistaken me for ripping GameFan though, I like 'em dearly to this day.
Speaking of quality gaming mags, as some of you know I received 45 issues of
SUPER PLAY a few weeks ago. I'm making my rounds with it as we speak -- I truly love the whole archive-ness of these great old magazines. It was quite an era....
quite an era...It's a great kick to turn a page and run into an obscure SFC game... a few days ago I saw
SANRIO SMASH and was delightfully thrilled. Super Play rated it 82% calling it
"a surprise gem"EGM... GameFan... Super Play... you gotta freakin' love it. Gaming mags in the US in my book have gone down the toilet since late 1997. I miss the days where you couldn't wait for them to come in the mail. They really do serve as a time vessel to much simpler and more innocent times...
And now, back to our regularly scheduled program....
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JUNGLE NO OUJA TARZAN is one of those SFC games you'll come across and be quite perplexed by its distinct look. Once you see it, you never forget it, even if you want to.
It's a platformer that doesn't do anything you haven't seen done better before, but its overall unique quirky-ness warrants a look. Tarzan does struggle from Kid Icarus-itis... namely, after landing on small ledges he's quite prone to slip, the git.
I mentioned earlier Tarzan would be the Borat of the SNES realm. Like Borat, he starts out in his (jungle-y) home at the beginning, but then takes his exploits to such locations as China, Las Vegas and even a haunted castle to name a few. Only instead of greeting the local folk with double cheek kisses and asking for
sexy time he's greeting 'em with the good ole universal pop-to-the-jaw.
One big grip I have with the game is his plodding nature. Stopping and going with him feels clunky, and he doesn't jump a terribly long distance.
The music is worth noting as it is just as offbeat as the game itself. Very funky
And now, the mandatory screen shots
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Ah it's a good day for a run
And branch-hopping
And swinging
Peace doesn't last long though... wouldn't be much of a game if it did eh
cool how the baddie's right foot is hidden behind that shrubAngry his jungle's been invaded, Tarzan unleashes his might
This monkey acts as a spring
Hit the rock which causes it to slide taking out the villain
Some amusing animations abound
Even the baddies die in like-fashion
Uh-oh... wild life running opposite you is never a good thing
Don't you hate being right? Boss 1
And that's level 1. Next Tarzan heads to China it would seem. Here he is greeted by Hadoken-tossing monks. Just stand still and the fireball goes past you harmlessly.
you do a lot of this in the game, Tarzan's no Carl LewisThese blocks are breakable, but beware of the occasional spike pit below (press L/R to scroll up/down to see potential hazards)
Advance slowly, stopping whenever he fires one, and then jump kick DAT ASS!
So much for homeland security eh
These cramped areas spell a little bit more trouble for Tarzan as it eliminates the jump kick
Beware the parts that are not breakable, as you'll see here
ow! Damn just missed it by an inch too
The tiger punch can be aimed downward, straight ahead or vertically
Tarzan does the Running Man to keep warm, the damn fool
I love how a rope is conveniently placed there by the baddies, haha
CLOSING THOUGHTSA decent platformer made more interesting thanks to its strange character. Expect nothing more, nothing less. Playable, if unremarkable. Below the likes of
Go Go Ackman and
Ghost Sweeper and those, mind, are below
DoReMi. If you're a numbers person, this would fall somewhere in that 6.5 out of 10 range (slightly above average but not quite "solid")
The epitome of a
guilty pleasure, this one. Yes, indeed. In a similar vain to
Super Back to the Future IIJungle no Ouja Tarzan level 1 (1:00)