Volume 2, Issue 2 July 2004 Table of Contents 8 24 Reset 4 Communist Letters From Space 5 News Roundup 7 Below the Radar 8 The Road to 300 9 Homebrew Reviews 11 13 MAMEusements: Penguin Kun Wars 12 26 Just for QIX: Double Dragon 13 Professor NES 15 Classic Sports Report 16 Classic Advertisement: Agent USA 18 Classic Advertisement: Metal Gear 19 Welcome to the Next Level 20 Donkey Kong Game Boy: Ten Years Later 21 Bitsmack 21 Classic Import: Pulseman 22 21 34 Music Reviews: Sonic Boom & Smashing Live 23 On the Road to Pinball Pete’s 24 Feature: Games. Bond Games. 26 Spy Games 32 Classic Advertisement: Mafat Conspiracy 35 Ninja Gaiden for Xbox Review 36 Two Screens Are Better Than One? 38 Wario Ware, Inc. for GameCube Review 39 23 43 Karaoke Revolution for PS2 Review 41 Age of Mythology for PC Review 43 “An Inside Joke” 44 Deep Thaw: “Moortified” 46 46 Volume 2, Issue 2 July 2004 Editor-in-Chief Chris Cavanaugh [email protected] Managing Editors Scott Marriott [email protected] here were two times a year a kid could always tures a firsthand account of a meeting held at look forward to: Christmas and the last day of an arcade in Ann Arbor, Michigan and the Skyler Miller school. If you played video games, these days writer's initial apprehension of attending. [email protected] T held special significance since you could usu- Also in this issue you may notice our arti- ally count on getting new games for Christmas, cles take a slight shift to the right in the gaming Writers and Contributors while the last day of school meant three uninter- timeline. It is our hope that with each issue we Mark Androvich rupted glorious months of playing them. Sadly, we will be able to provide as much coverage as we Todd Deci Earl Green can no longer waste the long and hot days search- possibly can for all of the various systems, but Mark Hoogland ing for the Golden Chalice and slaying duck- sometimes we are going to shine the sunlight a Chris Larson dragons, but we can still pause to celebrate this bit brighter on the later systems in order to give Chris Lion summer ritual long gone. It seems that gaming the old woodgrain workhorse and Intellivision a Scott Marriott meets and conventions are becoming the norm of well-deserved rest. With that, it's time to break Geoffrey Miller the summer months. There are no less than ten out the vodka martinis and curl up next to Skyler Miller Michael Thomasson shows planned for 2004, not to mention the groups some leggy supermodels while you enjoy our of classic gaming fans that get together to simply latest foray into classic games. Layout and Design hang out and talk and play games. We'll do our best Skyler Miller to keep you apprised of the coming shows, while -Cav Chris Cavanaugh providing reports from past events. This issue fea- CONTACT INFORMATION Classic Gamer Magazine [email protected] CGM Editors and Contributors http://www.classicgamer.com An avid game enthusiast and collector, Scott Alan Marriott worked as All Game Guide's senior editor LEGAL JUMBO before switching gears to become a freelance writer. Making his Classic Gamer Magazine debut, Scott's Entire contents © 2004 Classic other writing credits include reviews and previews at TechTV's X-Play. Gamer Magazine. Reproduction and distribution for issue #7 and Skyler Miller’s work has appeared on Salon.com, TechTV’s X-Play, GameSpot, and All Game Guide. Issue #8 (only) in its entirety IS In 2001, he was interviewed by CBC Radio about the 40th anniversary of the first computer game. PERM ITTED. Distribution of single articles is NOT PERMITTED Todd Deci makes his debut this month with a personal look at Warioware, Inc. Todd has written liter- without permission. Products , lo- ally thousands of descriptions and reviews for All Game Guide and enjoys rousing philosophical discus- gos, screenshots, etc. named in these pages are tradenames or sions over an ice cold Bell’s Oberon beer. trademarks of their respective companies. Classic Gamer Magazine and its staff are not We are pleased to have Geoffrey Miller on board as an expert on imports. Geoffrey previously wrote for affiliated with the companies or Manci Games Magazine. products covered in Classic Gamer Magazine. Please consult the “Fair Chris Larson is the Fatman of Fatmangames.com (yet oddly enough isn’t fat). Chris climbs aboard this Use Law” before you beef to me. issue to give us his thoughts on a local video game meet. Yes, the rumors are true. Chris Lion makes his triumphant return to the pages of this Magazine. Chris will once again grace the back page and is looking forward to signing scads of autographs at CGExpo. RTS and FPS fan extraordinaire, Mark Hoogland has written numerous descriptions and reviews for All Game Guide. And for some reason he wants to be a lawyer. Cartoonist extraordinaire, Russ Collins joins up to provide us with his ‘tooning talents. Russ has a com- prehensive website dedicated to videogames (and more comic strips!) at www.bitsmack.com. Michael Thomasson runs Gooddealgames.com, a website dedicated to classic gaming , publishing, and selling. His column, “Just for QIX,” shows off his vast knowledge of gaming. Michael also teaches "The History of Videogames" at Canisius College in Buffalo, New York. Chris Cavanaugh has helped cover E3 for GameSpy Industries and is currently an editor with All Game Guide. Chris started Classic Gamer Magazine in 1999 and has been flocked by adoring women ever since . Mark Androich has written over 13 video game strategy guides, and is a reviews writer and editor for PSE2 Magazine. Earl Green is the webmaster of www.theLogBook.com, which covers music, movies, DVDs, classic video games, books, and toy collecting. He has written for All Game Guide, and has a regular column at Digital Press. Earl has also been called upon for expert opinions on everything from Star Trek to driving- games by such newspapers as the Las Vegas Sun and the Baltimore Sun. Classic Gamer Magazine July 2004 4 feedback Send us your thoughts, compliments, rants, feedback and insults! [email protected] I INSIST YOU TAKE MY MONEY! liked the Classic Gamer Magazine! Congratulations for the initiative and I wait It is great to see Classic Gamer back! I that it continues for long time! I like of know it is much easier to have an online videogames since Telejogo until Play- magazine. Classic Gamer had great con- Station 2 but my favourite videogame is tent and I hope to see you stick around. the 3DO. When the Classic Gamer will Any thought to making paid online sub- make some review/material on the 3DO scriptions? We would pay (via PayPal) for and its games? It would like to ask for that a subscription and then get the magazine. THE BOYS FROM BRAZIL my email was published in the section of We could print it out in color if we want letters of the next edition and also my site and have it somewhat like a magazine Guys, it's amazing how ol..., I mean, clas- about videogame 3DO sent in the mail. I know this would greatly sic stuff can be so refreshingly interesting. reduce readers, but it may keep the As an enthusiast of Atari 2600 and MSX, I -Marcelo Nietto magazine going and create a more loyal agree that a good game does not depend http://www.universo3do.cjb.net community. I just know that free online on the platform. I support the idea CGM efforts seldom last long and there may be should eventually have an article about ITSA GOOD! enough of us willing to pay for strong arti- computer games, such as Commodore cles. You are hitting at a good time in and MSX… No further compliments or it Hey, i just wanted to say i really enjoyed some ways in that Retrogaming Times is could sound like “Guys send me a gift,” the article about Mario Adventure. Any stopping and maybe you both could com- but… CGM RULES!!!! Please, do publish NES related hacking activity getting cover- bine into a small fee for subscription clas- it monthly, or weekly, would you? age can be pretty exciting, and seeing the sic gaming online newsletter. Regardless, article definitely felt good, so you get my keep up the good work. Fernando Antonio Tasso Two Thumbs of Greatness pointed in your (from São Paulo, Brazil) direction. -Ransom G. (aka RangerG on AtariAge) Yo!! My name is Marcelo Nietto and live in -Gavin São Paulo, Brazil. I am writing because I http://gavin.panicus.org Hey, i really like the depth and range of your classic gamer magazine, I got sent a link for a free issue (Vol. 2, Issue 1) by a “Your magazine kicks ass.” mate. How will you be putting them out in the future, I see you have all of last vol- -D.B. Weiss umes available on CD for $10, but as you “Just wanted to let you know, I just Author of Lucky Wander Boy put them out issue by issue (every month checked out the new Classic www.luckywanderboy.com or whatever) will be charging by PayPal Gamer. Nice job, guys. Not only is it per issue or will they still be free or what? super cool to see something like anyway good job and hope to hear from that out there, but to see that some you soon. guys I at least sort of worked with years ago were behind it was an -Craig added bonus.