Portable Addiction: 15-Jan-92 #009
From: Atari SIG (xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu)
Date: 07/15/92-05:50:56 PM Z
From: xx004@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Atari SIG)
Subject: Portable Addiction: 15-Jan-92 #009
Date: Wed Jul 15 17:50:56 1992
Contributed By: Andy Norman <ange@hplb.hpl.hp.com>
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
PORTABLE ADDICTION ISSUE #O9 JANUARI 15th 1992
THE NEWSLETTER FOR THE ATARI LYNX, SEGA GAMEGEAR AND NINTENDO GAMEBOY
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Tjerk "MegaJerk" Heijmens Visser ......... (EDITOR)
Yiri "Neuromancer" Kohl .................. (EDITORIAL ASSISTANT)
Alex "Killer of Laura Palmer" Borburg .... (GAMEBOY STAFF WRITER)
Thanks to ... The Funtronics Computer Shop, Laurent Arditi,
Stephen Landrum, Robert Jung, Andre "ALU" Luyer,
Amsterdamned BBS, Alizera Malek, Mr.Doom, The
Tom, ACE and all the others that made this most
excellent issue possible...
Please mail your comments to: tjerk@nikhef.nl on Internet or bd831 on
Cleveland Free-net.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
CONTENTS:
Editorial .................................... by Yiri Kohl
Hot news 'n' gossip ........... (well, not really actually)
Qix (Lynx Review) ........................... by Yiri Kohl
Lynx inside out/Screen scene Europe .......... by Yiri Kohl
Ninja Boy (?) (GameBoy Review) ............by Heland Palmer
Laurent Arditi Interview ..................... by Mega Jerk
Xybots (Lynx Review) ......................... by Yiri Kohl
Factory Panic (GameGear Review) .............. by Yiri Kohl
Vacation report (Thailand) ................... by Mega Jerk
FaceBall 2OOO (GameBoy Review) ............... by Yiri Kohl
24 MHz Lynx, comments by Stephen Landrum ..... by Mega Jerk
Axe Battler (GameGear Review) ................ by Yiri Kohl
Next Month ................................................
Bill & Ted's Excellent players guide (Lynx) .. by Yiri Kohl
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Editorial:
Ah! Yet another month without the editor has passed. It almost seems as
if I have become the editor myself! As everyone was on vacation, I had to
do almost the entire newsletter myself (again) and that's the main reason
for the fact that this issue is so small. I do hope, however, to continue
this trend of hard working, even when I got Tjerk and Alex again to help.
If each of us would produce as much as I have this month, we would get a
huge newsletter with even more reviews, previews and of course, news! Now
let's just hope this will work, as then we might have a newsletter of over
8OK!!! Anyway, those are just plans for the future, as at current we can
not cover every game being released for every system and so we'll have to
expand. Until then, let's just enjoy what we have. So go forth, read and
enjoy! Later... dudes!
Yiri "Neuromancer" Kohl
Editorial Assistant
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
. + . + . . . +
. H O T N E W S A N D G O S S I P + .
. + . + . .
Well, there wasn't that much hot news or gossip around this month. Guess
this was because of Christmas. The only big news was when Xybots was re-
leased just a day before Christmas. Furthermore, nothing has happened, so
we've got no news on the Jaguar and the like. Better luck next month!
All: In Holland we have seen the release of 2 english magazines. Game-X
and Game Zone have been available in the UK longer but now they have
come to Holland to fill up the gap that was left after the
disappearance of Raze.
Game-X is very cheap, only 75 UK pence, but it doesn't give the info
like Game Zone. Game Zone looks a bit like ACE, so that's very good.
Lynx: Atari has said that it will release at least 5 games a month for the
Lynx. But they forgot to say when they will start with it...
But other sources tell us that Atari says it will have a total of 75
games available for the Lynx.
We didn't believe the 30+ games for last year, and we don't believe
this. But we would like to believe it.... Please.....
Lynx: The release date of The Guardians: Storms over Doria has been moved
from Febuari to March.
Lynx: It is rumoured that Double Dragon and Super Off-Road will also be
released for the Lynx. Double Dragon will have 2 player Comlynx
capability, and it is supposed to arrive in July. Super Off-Road
will have a 4 player Lynx-up and is supposed to arrive in August.
Mario: Mario hype has hit Holland. From now on you can buy Mario chewing-
gum at the Meidi-Ya store. We hoped to stay clear from this, but
it is comming for us...... If we don't watch it we'll be totally
Mario-ed within a year.....:-)
Lynx: Atari has released the sun screen/visor for the Lynx II, not real
stunning news, but....
Genesis: There will also be a Game Genie for the Genesis...
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+--------------------REVIEW--------------------+
Machine : Atari Lynx
Title : Qix
Review by : Yiri "Neuromancer" Kohl
+----------------------------------------------+
Well, Atari seem to convert all their classics to the Lynx now and
frankly I am not really all that excited about that. Of course RoboTron
was great, but that was really one of those excellent golden oldies. Qix
however never was such a revolutionary game. And I don't mean to say that
all games on the Lynx have to be revolutionary, but when you convert an
old game, there has to be something special about it. Anyway, let's get
on with the game itself.
The gameplay, as most of us will know, is simple. The playing field is
an empty square with a weird figure moving and bouncing around inside. On
the outside "walls" there are two little sparkling dots that move in both
directions. The player controls a small dot which he/she can move along
the walls. The player can also draw new walls inside the square. As long
as the player is still drawing, the weird figure in the middle can attack
the wall and the player will lose a life. If the drawn wall forms a new
"room", the "room" is filled in with a color and the player is rewarded
with points. A wall can be drawn at two speeds. If the wall is drawn
slowly, the player receives extra points. The objective of every level
is to capture a given percentage of the screen by drawing new "rooms".
If the player succeeds, a new level with more of the same appears.
The graphics and sound are quite well, and recreate the exact feeling
of the original. Although the sound is minimal and the graphics are less
than simple, it all is quite acceptable. It's all clear to see what's
happening.
As this is by far the best Qix conversion I have yet seen (It plays al-
most identical to the original) I have to say that if you're a Qix-phreak
you have to rush out and buy this game today. Otherwise there's only one
conclusion:... steer clear and save your hard earned cash for something
worthwile.
+-->RATINGS<------------------------------------------------------------+
Graphics ..... 3.O - Clear and effective, but dated as hell.
Sound ........ 2.O - Not much of an improvement over the original!
Playability .. 7.O - Quite fun and playable, even if you're not a fan.
Lastability .. 3.5 - It get's SO boring. There's no urge to play for
a high score at all!
Overall ...... 4.O - Just a waste of money.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
LYNX INSIDE OUT/SCREEN SCENE EUROPE
I have seen a lot of conversations about ideas for Lynx games on the net
lately, the most noticable idea being to convert the Commander Keen games
to the Lynx. It all became quite clear that there still are some mis-
understandings about the graphics of the Lynx. Some people thought that
converting the EGA version couldn't be too hard. Although this it's not
impossible, there's a lot more to it than just transferring the graphics
from one system to another. The original idea for the design of the Lynx
was by RJ Mical, Dave Needle and David Morse. The three of them had also
worked on the Amiga in the past, and this is why the graphics are quite
different from any normal PC standard. The graphics for Lynx games are
usually drawn on an Amiga and then converted to the Lynx format. So if
you'd take all the original EGA graphics of say Commander Keen, and then
convert them to IFF format (The Interchange File Format the Amiga uses),
you would be able to transfer them to the Lynx. Of course some scaling
has to be done due to the smaller screen, but with the help of both the
Amiga's and the Lynx's powerfull graphic chips it wouldn't be a problem
to fit the game on the screen. And then you're still left with the pro-
blem of how to port over the code and the sound, whereas the sound is
the biggest problem as sound for Lynx-games is made with a custom editor
on and Amiga. Conclusion.... porting over a game from the PC to the Lynx
isn't all that easy, but it should definitely be possible.
But then another thing to think about... Why port over these games? The
Lynx's powerfull hardware is capable of doing spectacular tricks to save
processor time. Take a game like, for example, Wing Commander. The Lynx
wouldn't have ANY problems at all in creating the scaled spaceships while
the original uses all kinds of ingenius programming tricks to reach the
desired effect.
And then one last note. Porting games over sounds like a simple solution
to quickly create more and more games for a system. Well, but let's take
a look at a company that did port over all the games from another system:
Commodore ported over all the Atari ST games. In Europe the result was
enormous: Everybody started hating ATARI instead of Commodore. They
hated Atari for producing pathetic games which could later be ported over
to their Amigas. Atari has vanished in Europe. The only thing left of
them as a reminder are the Portfolio, Lynx and Atari TT. And the TT is
already slowly dying as people say that the system is just a pathetic
attempt at imitating the powerfull Amiga!!! For these and many other
reasons computer/console systems are rivals in Europe. As soon as a com-
pany has any shared projects with another company a little war breaks out
and one of the companies dies in Europe. That's the way it has always
been over here, and I'm afraid that this will sooner or later result in
IBM and Nintendo dominating the market with no rivals at all. Let's just
wait and see....
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------REVIEW--------------------+
Machine : GameBoy
Title : Ninja Boy
Review by : Heland Palmer
+------------------------------------------+
From a friend of mine I heard there was a shop with games straight from
America and Japan. Having some money (finally) I went to that shop, and
WOW my heart started beating twice as hard. After picking up, looking,
gazing etc.... for about an hour I finally chose a Japanese game. The
problem was/is that it's Japanese. I can't read the name of the game, and
the man in the shop said something like Ninja-Boy, so I hope he's right.
Now enough of this shit ! Let's take a look at the game.
It's easy to understand without knowledge of the Japanese language. For
me it is a totally new game, and I can't unfortunately compare it to any
game I know.
Your mission is to *%$>{* (Why don't we have Japanese character sets...
-PA) so that won't be hard right? All I know is that you have to punch
and kick everything that comes in your way. After somekicks and punches
you hear a beeping sound, and you can enter the next world (Yes, like
Mario 1-1, 1-2, 2-3 etc...). There are bonus worlds under the ground, and
there are even warp-zones (Mario). It's a very nice, good, clear game to
play, and my girlfriend said that the graphics were sweet (?!). Oh...will
she finally understand my addiction?
The game sound and music is good, and even a song of the shadows is used
in the game-music.
I must say it's a great game overall and very addictive, because it is a
new style of game (for me at least). I advise everyone to buy this game
from culture brain, and I guarantee you a lot of pleasure for the next
month, years or maybe even more.....
+-->RATINGS<------------------------------------------------------------+
Graphics ..... 7.5 - Sweet says my girlfriend.
Sound ........ 7.5 - Good punch sound, and nice game music.
Playability .. 8.0 - Not hard but one hit and you lose a life.
Lastability .. 7.5 - It stays addictive.
Overall ...... 7.6 - Buy this game !!!!
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------INTERVIEW-----------------+
With : Laurent Arditi
Designer of : Super Skweek
System : Atari Lynx
By : Tjerk "Mega Jerk" Heijmens Visser
+------------------------------------------+
=> Is Super Skweek a direct portover, or did you rewrite it for the Lynx?
I first programmed Super Skweek for Atari ST and Amiga. Then, my company
(Loriciel) had a contract with Atari to port the game on Lynx. I was very
happy because I never programmed on other systems than the ST and Amiga.
=> How long did it take to do the game for the Lynx ?
=> - Was this a deadline forced by Atari, or your company ?
=> - I've heard people saying that writing for the Lynx is
=> relatively easy.
=> Do you also think this ? If so why ?
The real conversion took exactly 6 months; we didn't have any deadline.
But in fact, we worked 5 months more because Atari was always asking us
modifications (see later). I think programming the Lynx is very very easy.
I never programmed 6502 before and I think we did a very good job and
very quickly. The game has been a lot improved compared to the Amiga
version. The development is easy because there are a lot of libraries,
they are not too buggy. And it is very easy to debug thanks to Howard
(the big box that contains hardware bus-debuggers...).
=> Did you also write the PC version?
=> - What games have you done before this one and for which systems?
No ! I hate PC ! I hate 80x86 !
Super Skweek is my second game. The first one was... Skweek !
I always programmed on ST & Amiga but Skweek was ported onto the Nec
PC-Engine and the Sega GameGear by a japanese company. So Super Skweek is
the follow-up to Skweek but it is much better. The PC-Engine version is
very close to the ST version but the Game Gear version is horrible !
=> How close is the Lynx version to the PC version, are there
=> things left out?
=> - If so why.
There is no PC version of Super Skweek (Skweek was ported onto PC).
So I will compare the Lynx version with the Amiga version. The game is
much better on Lynx: animations are faster and smoother, there are more
levels, more bonus stages. We use the ComLynx so two players can play
together trying to complete all levels, or they can play in "Combat Mode"
where the goal is to kill the other (a little like in Slimeworld).
=> What is the card size?
The card size is 256Kb.
=> Are there any eastereggs in the game?
We programmed an easteregg: a Tetris ! Yes ! But Atari feared that
Nintendo would ask us to remove it. There is some... cheat codes (not
really codes, but actions to do to earn lifes...)
=> Why was it done for the Lynx, and not for the Game Gear or some
=> other handheld?
Personally I just program (I'm not employed by Loriciel, and I am a
student and program to have fun and to earn a little bit of money) and I
don't mind to do commercial things. Loriciel is always searching to
convert their games onto game systems. So they had a contract to port
Super Skweek on the Lynx and Skweek on the Game Gear and the PC-Engine.
=> Does it fully use the Lynx' capability's. Like scaling etc...
The game doesn't need scaling. But I found this feature very funny so I
programed some scaling animations (a little during the game, a lot during
title animations...). Of course we used the Lynx sprites engine and all
other Lynx features. But the sound generator is very strange and hard to
program, so the sounds are so so.
=> Did it succeed in your opinion?
Yes, but you'll answer you question very soon.
=> How much influence did Atari have in the design of the game, or
=> could you(r company) make decisions yourself?
My own company had absolutely no influence. But Atari had...
We finished the game at the end of june 91; But then Atari started to ask
us a lot of modifications. These modifications was really not usefull and
very often they asked us to change something because they didn't
understand some features of the game. Some bug reports were very funny.
eg: there is a presentation screen which is animated using scaling. Atari
said scaling was useless in this screen and must be removed! We answerd
them that this showed the superiority of the Lynx to the Game Gear...and
then they agreed with the scaling! Sometimes they didn't even test the
latest version... In fact the modifications are minor (eg: a monster is
red instead of black).
=> When will the game be available?
The production began at the beginning of January, so I hope the game
will be available in February.
=> Will you do more games for the Lynx?
I don't know. Now I'm working on another game on Amiga. I think it could
be a great game on Lynx...we'll see.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+--------------------REVIEW--------------------+
Machine : Atari Lynx
Title : Xybots
Review by : Yiri "Neuromancer" Kohl
Players : 1-2
+----------------------------------------------+
Yet another conversion of an Atari coin-op of the same name. The Xybots
have overrun EarthBase 26-B9 and, surprise, you're the only man (or woman
that is) who can save the day. You must enter the base alone or with a
friend and destroy the Master Xybots, thus preventing them from taking
over. Meaty storyline, so let's take a look at the game itself!...
The game is viewed in true 3D perspective from behind your player. The
original status panel with the level map can be brought up by pressing
option 2 (this is done to save space on the playing screen, and frankly
it works quite well!). The graphics are almost identical to the original
and look all sharp and clear. Everything is present, like the coins and
the powerups, except for the turning. The background now "snaps" 9O
degrees, which sometimes might be a little disorienting. This is not so
much of an important flaw, though.
The sound seems to be sampled from the arcade original and is very good
indeed. From the grunts of your player to the nice explosions. The only
thing missing is the voice of the Xybots. There is, however, some nice
semi-electro-rock-music playing in the background (which can be turned of
at the title-screen of course).
The playability is perfect. The game plays exactly as it's arcade parent
although it's quite a bit easier. You are given the enormous amount of 35
coins at the beginning of the game. At the end of every level you can use
the coins to buy better weapons, more speed, better armour (your shields
slowly fade, even when you're not hit by enemy bullets) and all the nice
stuff you can usually buy in these games. The Xybots themselves aren't
as smart as in the original either. Even the Master Xybots that appear
every ten levels or so aren't too hard to destroy. Still the game is a
joy to play, so if you want a nice blast which isn't too hard, go for
Xybots! This was a nice Christmas surprise from Atari, and we can all be
glad that Atari didn't continue producing games of the low quality of the
last batch.
+-->RATINGS<------------------------------------------------------------+
Graphics ..... 8.8 - Perfect! Just an exact copy of the original!
Sound ........ 9.O - Also almost identical to it's arcade parent.
Playability .. 8.6 - This baby's a dream to play.
Lastability .. 7.O - Although it may get boring, you'll play this for
a long while!
Overall ...... 8.3 - Excellent in one word!
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+--------------------REVIEW--------------------+
Machine : Sega GameGear
Title : Factory Panic
Review by : Yiri "Neuromancer" Kohl
+----------------------------------------------+
Although the title may put Joe Public off, this game isn't as rotten as
it may sound. As the name suggests, the player works in a factory ware-
house. Each room of the warehouse is made up of a network of conveyor
belts. The player's job is to convey various essentials, like loaves of
bread, kebabs and Game Gears, that appear at the top of the screen to a
queue of waiting customers at the bottom. This is done by guiding the
player's character onto switches which reroute the goodies onto different
belts. Well, that sounds a lot more exciting than the title, doesn't it?
The graphics of this game aren't as good as we're used to from other
GameGear games, but still it's all pretty clear what's going on. There
is, however, a small problem with the graphics. And when I say a small
problem, I do mean a SMALL problem... The screen is way too small for a
game like this! As some of the bigger factory rooms scroll, it's hard to
plan ahead without a full overview of the belt layout. Still, this does
not totally kill the game; it only withdraws this game from reaching the
"EXCELLENT"-accolade. The sound on the other hand, isn't good, but isn't
bad either. So until now everything is VERY average!
But now let's get to the gameplay! Of course the basic idea sounds too
simple, but there's a lot more to this game than you'd expect! The simple
task is made harder by manic scurity guards trying to stop you, and the
fact that some of the items are defective and have to be directed to a
rubbish bin. It all starts easily, with just three or so people wanting,
say, a loaf of bread. But as the game progresses, more and more people
join the queue, each demanding specific items.
Although it takes a bit of getting used to, Factory Panic is a great
arcade puzzle game with the emphasis on the arcade bit. And although the
intro makes you think otherwise (the game starts of with the hero running
past a line of grey-clad people who look like they're queueing for bread
in Russia) underneath all the initial drawbacks there lurks a very addic-
tive and original game.
+-->RATINGS<------------------------------------------------------------+
Graphics ..... 6.3 - Strangely cute graphics, but not very well drawn.
Sound ........ 5.5 - All very basic. Nothing special here.
Playability .. 8.O - Very playable, despite all the drawbacks.
Lastability .. 7.6 - This is a game that will last.
Overall ...... 7.7 - A good game which just misses out on the
"EXCELLENT"-accolade.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
(Thanks to ACE for helping us out with this review.)
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------Vacation report---------------+
Written by : Tjerk "Mega Jerk" Heijmens Visser
+----------------------------------------------+
As I went to Thailand for a few weeks, and there haven't been much
games released during the past few weeks I thought that I'd better
write something about video-games there (we gotta fill this issue up
with something don't we?).
So here goes:
The first place too look for video-games in Thailand are of course
the malls. But those malls are huuuuge and malls in Holland hardly exist.
Well at the Mah Boon Krong mall I found the most complete video-game
store. They sold the Game Gear, Game Boy, Super Famicom and Mega Drive.
After a chat with the shop keeper I found out that he liked consoles
better than handhelds because of the screen size(shall we say: The bigger
the better) and that he expected to see the Super Famicom to blow the
Mega Drive away. Though the Super Famicom costs 5000 Bath ($1 = 25 Bath)
and the Mega Drive costs only 2800 Bath, and has 230 games available
(Lynx owners all around the world will now faint...) against only 30 for
the Super Famicom. But that will change of course.
Handhelds are less popular in Thailand, because prices are rather high
(2900 Bath for the Game Gear (pretty cheap compared to Holland), and 2300
Bath for the Game Boy), but with crime and violence on the street rising,
you don't want to be walking on the street with your handheld, and get
stabbed over it.
I was quite surprised about the number of games available for both
systems, about 40 for each. For the Game Boy there were of course a lot
of japanese games that I had never seen. Some of them were clearly made
for young kids, like the Doremon game (Doremon is a Anime cartoon
celebrety).
When I asked the good man about Atari he said that Atari was something
for the old generation.....
I've not yet seen an Atari in Thailand, not even an ST, the PC is about
the only computer system available in Thailand (I didn't even see an
Amiga...).
In the Yaohan Department Store I only found the NEC TurboExpress next to
a Game Boy, and a Mega Drive. But Yaohan is one of the more expensive
malls, so the prices are not that important and for the average Thai guy
the Game Boy prices being already high enough, and with the TurboExpress
hugely outpricing it, it seems destined to fail....
While I was there I did of course look for some Game mags, but I didn't
really find one. Only a few pages in the Animation Magazine, it's a
cartoon magazine aimed to the younger kids, which is in Thai. They only
talked about the NEC PC-Engin (That's their spelling), Sega Mega Drive,
and of course the Super Famicom. But in all the issues I saw of that
magazine only a little bit was about Super Famicom games.
Not much there, so in my never ending quest for information for Portable
Addiction (Ahum..) I also went looking for arcades. But in Thailand there
are no real arcades as we know it.You have to look for arcade machines in
the malls, so there I went. When I arrived at the Yaohan Deptepartment
Store I didn't see much arcade machines, that department was strangely
empty...
In other malls it was the same...
Was this the work of the feindish Arcade Kidnapper who had stolen all
arcade machines in Thailand in order to rule the world? No.
Read this article from The Nation Daily Newspaper, from Friday December
27, 1991.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
15 HELD IN SWEEP ON VIDEO GAMES.
By Suevit Veerakul.
POLICE seized about 500 illegal video game machines and arrested 15
people during coordinated operations at major shopping complexes
throughout Bangkok yesterday.
Police teams from the Crime Suppression Division confiscated the
machines during the sweep of video game shops at 15 shopping areas,
including the Mah Boonkrong Centre, The Mall Department Stores and
Central Department Stores.
Fifteen shopkeepers were arrested for allegedly possessing untaxed
electronic game machines. (KEEP THIS IN MIND!!! -PA)
Police said many teenagers were playing the machines when they
raided the shops, but they did not arrest the young customers.
The operation was launched after the CSD received a complaint from
a university lecturer that many students were skipping their classes
to hang around at the video game shops. (REMEMBER THIS TOO!!! -PA)
In a related development, the government screening committee on
security affairs yesterday asked the Police and the Customs
Departments to make clearer the laws which prevent private agencies
from importing any electrical part which may be used as a component
in electrical gambling machines.
The panel found the restrictions were preventing people who sought
to use the electrical parts for legal purposes from obtaining them,
Deputy Prime Minister Gen (That means General -PA) Pow Sarasin said.
Gen Pow, who is also chairman of the panel said after a meeting
that the two departments were asked to review the controls which were
promulgated during Gen Chatchai Choonhavan's administration.
The Finance Ministry prohibited private autorities from importing
electrical components which could be used in electrical gambling
machines in an attempt to stop teenagers wasting (that should be
waisting -PA) their money on the machines, which were installed in
various department stores.
(NOW THIS IS REAL CRAP!!! KEEP THESE SCENTENCES IN MIND, 'CAUSE WE
HAVE SOME COMMENTS ON THIS -PA)
The departments were also asked to increase the penalties on those
breaching the restrictions. At present, offenders face a fine of not
more than 4000 Bath and/or a maximum of two years in jail.
According to Pow, the departments would submit the revised curbs to
the security panel within two weeks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now if I have read this right, it says that the operation was launched
after a complaint from a university lecturer, and the people arrested
in this operation were arrested for alledgedly posessing untaxed
electronic game machines.
Now if that thing about the complaint was true this operation is useless.
I was around ABAC (Assumption Business Administrative College)for a large
amount of time during my vacation. Around there I found lots of small
restaurants (we'd call them snackbars, but they have far healthier food,
and you can sit if you want) with some of them having surprisingly good,
and definitely untaxed arcade machines. Some shops even had Mega Drives
which you could play if you paid... These shops were not included in the
raid, and the police will not care about them 'cause they are only mice
compared to the malls. But that's where the students go to play, they are
next to the college building, those malls are mostly far, and you have
the chance to get into a trafficjam (Common in Bangkok).
Not that the complaining lecturer was a lecturer at ABAC (I don't know),
but the situation is very much the same in other Bangkok colleges.
And if those students are smart they'll just buy a portable, and play in
class.....
In the end the newspaper compares video games with "electrical gambling
machines". Or rather: they say that they are exactly the same. Now my
defenition of an "electrical gambling machine" is something you put a
coin in, in order to get more money out of it. And I can not name one
arcade game where you can win money....
Now why am I complaining so much about this? Well The Nation Daily
Newspaper is used at ABAC to learn the students English, well as long as
they learn the language.... I hope they don't start thinking the same as
The Nation, or else even consoles could be banned.....
(Just looking ahead....:-)
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+--------------------REVIEW--------------------+
Machine : Nintendo GameBoy
Title : Faceball 2OOO
Review by : Yiri "Neuromancer" Kohl
Players : 1-4
+----------------------------------------------+
Faceball 2OOO is one of those games that stretches the limits of a gaming
console even further. And this game doesn't only accomplish some techni-
cally stunning effects, it's also a highly original title that's also fun
to play! So let's take a look at this game.
Faceball 2OOO is like dodgeball in a labyrinth. This means that you can't
destroy anybody, you can just hit them with your ball. Now don't run away
as it's obviously more fun than it might sound! The game is viewed from
a first person-perspective, which means that you actually look thru the
eyes of your character. The labyrinth is done in full 3-D, which gives a
highly realistic feel to this game (even if the storyline and the like
aren't that realistic at all!).
The game itself actually features two types of gameplay. Firstly there is
the CyberScape, where you (and some friends if you have them) take on the
Master Smiloid and his team of Smiloids (Yep, all characters in this game
are represented as Smiloids :-) so have a nice day!) in 6O mazes! But if
you (and your friends) can't win from the computer, why not try the Arena
game, where you take on your friends??? Altough it won't take long until
you don't have any friends left, you might enjoy it. In the Arena game,
up to four players play a computerized game of tag. This can be done
either against each other or a team of Smiloids! And while you are racing
around one of the labyrinths, you might also come across floating pods,
which contain extras such as 1-Ups, band aids etc...
The Graphics of this game are revolutionary, as it's the first game using
sort of a FreeScape system on the GameBoy. And when you realize that the
'Boy is running at a mere 1Mhz you'll notice how unbelievable this all is
considering the fact that even PC running at 16Mhz still have problems if
they have to display some fancy 3D-graphics. All in all, it's an incre-
dible achievement. The sound on the other hand, isn't that special. But
who cares when a game is so great!?!?
When it comes to playability, you will be stunned. You never thought that
a simple game of tag could be so much fun. Of course the enjoyment may
be doubted when it comes to long-term lastability, but who cares? It is
just an excellent game, which a true GameBoy owner can't afford to miss!
Have a nice day!
+-->RATINGS<------------------------------------------------------------+
Graphics ..... 9.7 - A stunning accomplishment! Polygon 3D on a 'Boy!
Sound ........ 6.6 - Just some basic effects, but nothing special.
Playability .. 8.4 - It's a loada fun, especially when playing with
friends!
Lastability .. 7.3 - This game won't last forever, but it will come a
long way.
Overall ...... 8.2 - A really incredible GameBoy title, which is just
stunning in every aspect of the word.
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+------------------------------------------+
The International Lynx Club
The 24MHz Lynx, a short note, and
comments by Stephen Landrum.
By : Tjerk "Mega Jerk" Heijmens Visser
+------------------------------------------+
Finally The International Lynx Club has finnished it's 24MHz Lynx.
They just replaced the 16MHz crystal by a 24MHz crystal. They've sent me
the results and manual of the 24MHz Lynx, but I still have to translate
it fom German into English.
The replacement is very simple and cheap. All you have to do is buy a
crystal and a switch, to be able to switch back to 16MHz.
There are no serious problems, but you need to play on equal speed when
ComLynx-ing and you can't reset anymore....
But you'll read that next month. So for now I have some comments by
Stephen Landrum about the 24MHz Lynx....
>Stephen Landrum
I imagine that a lot of Lynxes would work with a faster crystal. The
Comlynx will of course fail if the two units are running at different
speeds. The 65c02 cell used in the Lynx could run with no problem at all
if the clock speed were doubled, but other parts of the system would be
outside of spec.
I am not sure what the reset problem is, since reset is just a function
of software.
All sound effects will be speeded up (which may be Okay is some games,
but will be strange on digitized effects). The screen would refresh at a
faster rate, which would probably make things look a little better, and
may even improve the contrast ratio of the display. Some games may become
unplayable, and the screen persistance would be more noticable in games
like Chip's Challenge.
If I were to install this in my own unit, I would definitely want to
install a switch so that I could put my unit back to its original state.
A thought just occured to me - if you had a switch and two crystals, I
would recommend only changing the switch when the power is off, and that
may be what you were referring to as the reset problem.
>End...
Now The International Lynx Club has some other interresting Hardware
projects.
Like:
- Battery charger; Charge batteries in your Lynx while playing on your
adapter.
- 1 Card Comlynx; 1 Card can be used to Lynx-up. 1 Card will be used to
power more Lynx-es.
- Joystick addapter.
- Stereo for the Lynx I.
- LED battery light for the Lynx I.
- Backlight shut-off for the Lynx I.
- Slowmotion.
- Anti-scratch screen.
- Reset for the 24MHz Lynx.
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+--------------------REVIEW--------------------+
Machine : Sega GameGear
Title : Axe Battler-legend of golden axe
Review by : Yiri "Neuromancer" Kohl
+----------------------------------------------+
Well, I guess we all know the arcade classic Golden Axe by now so imagine
my surprise when I first played this game and came to the conclusion that
this card has very little in common with it's arcade counterpart! More of
this later. Yet another VERY annoying aspect was that the game is entirely
in Japanese! Now I am a great fan of the Japanese language, but this goes
just a little too far for me to understand! Of course there's a big chance
that the game will be translated when it's released in the US.
Anyway, the game is more sort of an adventure instead of a straightfor-
ward hack 'n' slash-game. A huge part of the game consists of walking
around a rather basic map and encountering all sorts of weird creatures.
When you bump into one of these creatures, the view switches to the combat
mode we are used to from Golden Axe (at last!). Now I already hear you
all cheer, but don't get overexcited though! Your fighter is limited to
just a few moves, unlike Golden Axe where you could do plenty of things!
Here you are just limited to stabbing, crouching and stabbing, jumping and
stabbing. The combat is simply one-to-one and wether you win or lose, you
will return to the map screen after a fight. Once you get underground the
game becomes quite fun. Here the game changes to more of an arcade-adven-
ture as you run across bridges and through tunnels while being attacked
from all directions. You won't need any more Japanese from this point on,
but at this point I couldn't help feeling that I had missed out on about
half the game!
The graphics and sound are alright, but there's certainly nothing special
here. The playability is quite well, too, altough it can be quite a han-
dicap if you don't speak fluently Japanese. The difficulty is pitched
quite right too. This all means that there can be only one conclusion.
Axe Battler for the GG is an average game, which can be a lot of fun if ye
can read the manual and in-game text. Now yet one more complaint about the
game and then I'll stop; there's an awful amount of blue in the game!!!!
So once again this is the classic try-before-you-buy case. See for
yourself. Sayonara!
+-->RATINGS<-------------------------------------------------------------+
Graphics ..... 7.O - All very average, with a lot of blue!
Sound ........ 6.7 - The Gear can do a lot better.
Playability .. 7.5 - All quite playable; nothing new though.
Lastability .. 6.4 - Won't last that long, as the action doesn't change
thru-out the game.
Overall ...... 7.O - Average. Just average.
+------------------------------------------------------------------------+
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
Well, again a month has passed. As I was in Thailand for the best part
of it, I had to do most of this in one week. But next moth we'll hope to
give you more info on everything....
As I don't trust Atari on their 5 games a month, you might see some
reviews of older Lynx games if no new Lynx games will become available.
As for the GameGear, new titles are not comming fast to Holland, but we
will of course be able to find something interresting for you.
Game Boy? Here's Alex....
Next month for the Game Boy a review of Mickey Mouse, Hatris (From the
makers of Tetris) and maybe more...
After the next line you'll find the Bill & Ted's players guide for the
Lynx. It is at the end because it is a spoiler. SO BE WARNED !!!!!
Till we meet again......
Tjerk "Mega Jerk" Heijmens Visser
Editor
+---------------------------------------------------------------------------+
BILL & TED'S EXCELLENT PLAYERS GUIDE
As this is the first Lynx-game which we can truly see as sort of an
adventure game, now was our chance to cover something like a solution to
this most radical adventure. As some people get stuck most heinously on
their journey through time and space, this guide might just be what they
need. Party on, dudes!
W A R N I N G ! This is a complete solution to Bill & Ted's Excellent
Adventure. Some people might not want to read it, as
it might spoil their fun in playing the game!
^L
First of all, collect all the notes you can get and find the gold nugget.
Now go to the guarded building and give the nugget to the guard. Enter
and find the man that tells you about the staff. Return to the telephone
booth and travel to 15OO BC. Use the scare stone. Find all the notes you
can get (remember to count by sixteens!). Enter the valley and find the
paper note about the fake staff. Travel back in time and put the note at
the pillar. Go to the South-East of Egypt and find the royal ankh (You
must wade through shallow water). Travel to 15OO again and find the boat
at the South-West part of Egypt. Use the royal ankh. Find your way thru
the water (it's like an invisible maze). First go to the place where you
found the ankh in 17OO BC. Enter the temple and find the secret passage
which leads to the harp. Return to your boat and go to the pyramid. Go
into the pyramid and open the door by walking over the red spots on the
ground. Then, when past the wall/door, walk over the four other red spots
and take the staff. Find the two keys and open the corresponding doors.
To get rid of the two creatures guarding the room, just lure them out of
there and then run away. When you return to the room they will be gone.
To take the staff, use the harp. Return the staff to the man to get the
flute. Use this flute in 17OO BC at the North-East to scare the animals
over there. Then find all the notes that are hidden under the trees to
find a phonebook-page. Travel to Rome.
First, enter the dungeon. Find all the notes and the two keys: Blue and
black. Remember to visit Ceasar at the north of the arena when you have
enough notes. Outside the arena you must once again find notes. When you
think you have all of them, go to the statue. Push the four pieces around
the statue in place and the push the statue. Now do this again and then
go stand in the middle yourself. After you get launched, find all the
notes around the house, but don't enter it. When you got all the notes,
walk into a roman to get kicked out of the garden. You are now outside.
Go West, to where a roman is guarding the entrance of the city. Now go
down and find your way through the forest. Somewhere in the forest there
is the next page of the phonebook. You must collect all the notes in the
forest and you must also find the little building. Enter it and find the
way through the maze until you find an apple. Leave the building and go
to the guard. Give him the apple and enter the city. If everything is
right you now have 8O notes. Travel to Europe.
In Europe, enter the mansion. To avoid the furniture, stay on the green
dots on the floor. This may take some practise! Find the white key and
then find your way to the backyard. Use the black key to open the gate.
Go to the North-West of the screen to find a red key. Use it to enter the
small house nearby. Avoid dracula and take the magic wand next to his
coffin. Return to the mansion and find the organ. Use the wand to shrink
it down so you can carry it. Return to the phonebooth (The wand causes
the furniture to stop). Travel back to Rome. Do the trick with the
statue and this time enter the house while using the organ pipes. You can
now safely walk thru the house to the backyard to take the lyre. Return
the lyre to Ceasar and you will get another lyre. Enter the dungeon and
use the lyre to scare away the lion that guards the white lock. Use the
white key to open the lock and take the page of the phonebook.
Travel to Rome 7O BC and enter the dungeon. Use the black key and put it
back where you found it (Bottom-right). Now travel to Texas. Collect
all the notes you can get. Somewhere, hidden under a skull, there's a
golden coin. Go to the station and buy a ticket. Walk to the train and
use the ticket. Now use the train to find the remaining notes. You must
also find the golden nugget, hidden under yet another skull. Travel back
to Egypt and replace the golden nugget at the place where you first found
it. Now travel to San Dimas 2691 AD! Yeah, most radical, dude!
Be careful on the step-stones as you can only jump from one to another if
they are in the middle-position. Again find as many notes as you can and
find the dynamite. Return to Texas. Use the dynamite to release Billy
the Kid. Return to San Dimas. Go to the place where you usually get
overwhelmed by enemies and use the harmonica. You can now safely enter
the next part of San Dimas. Every time you pick up a note in this part,
a block will disappear somewhere else, thus letting you reach other notes
after which you will be rewarded with a golden key. Return to Europe.
Collect 16 notes. Use the golden key to enter the previously unaccessable
house at the swamp. Here you will find a mandolin. You can use this to
enter the previously locked part of San Dimas. The Grim Reaper welcomes
you, and you're now ready to play his game. As the exact route isn't easy
to explain in a solution like this, I'll just tell you what to do. The
objective of this part is to collect yet another 16 notes. Sometimes it
is necessary to shove blocks over the lava in such a way that you can go
to other parts of the playing field. The princesses have got the last
note. If you succeed in rescuing them you should have 144 notes by that
time. To get back to the entrance of the playing field, go east from the
place where your rescued the babes. The go south and walk clockwise (ie:
south, west, north). When you are standing against the north wall, walk
west to the corner and go counter-clockwise. Once in the northeast corner
you must go west, south, west and north to the exit. You'll have to find
the correct tiles to jump on all the way yourself. Now you must return to
the phone booth. The Grim Reaper is guarding it, but when you play your
guitar he suddenly realizes that he has LOST! Enter the booth and travel
through time to finish the game!
T H E E N D ????
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
-----------------------------------------
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