Nintendo is (hopefully) finishing off three eagerly awaited N64 titles. Kirby's Air Ride (being handled by Hal Laboratories) is a surreal "snowboarding" simulation featuring that omnipotent pink blob. The game features lots of high speed, high flying stunt-filled antics and should appeal to a wide range of gamers.
Yoshi's Island 64 is the Two and a half D (no pun intended, That was Nintendo's description) follow up to the beautiful 16 bit classic and Super Mario Bros. 6. Or Super Mario World 3, depending on which calendar you're using. Yup, colorful cartoon graphics display what is essentially a Super Mario World romp.
StarFox 64, the first Jolting Pack compatible game is due to debut in April. The 3D shooter features all your favorite characters from the SNES classic, with the addition of a ground based tank vehicle.
Alundra is Sony's latest addition to a now sewn-up RPG collection. Sony is working hard on a brand new in-house project. Called Alundra, SCE's new game will feature lots of action, bringing it closer to Zelda in terms of content, but maintaining a very traditional RPG environment in most other respects. Graphically, the game is heavily stylized, but looks pretty accessible. Alundra is destined to debut in Summer, and it's going to be a long hot one in the RPG market - since Sony now has Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy locked in.
Nintendo has not one, but two follow-ups to the classic racer on the way. Anticipation for the N64 update of F-Zero has reached fever pitch, but Nintendo is putting its weight behind a new 16 bit version of the game. In Japan, Super NES owners
Sales of NetLink and browser units reached 10,000 this month. This fell considerably below the expected sales level of 100,000 units by 1997. At a rate of 4000 units a month, this marked it as one of the better selling Saturn peripherals.
Sega is undaunted, however. As an Internet box units, the NetLink user base exceeds its closest competitor, the WebTV from Sony/Philips/Magnavox, which has sales estimated around 5,000. At the current rate of sales, the NetLink is expected to exceed the current established base of Mission Stick and Virtua Stick owners in 2 years. As the NetLink is expected to carry over to future Sega platforms, this isn't a bit problem for owners.
However, Sega expects sales of the NetLink to increase once Xband and NetLink games become announced. Sega has announced Sega Rally NetLink, GT Interactive's Duke Nukem 3D is expected to have NetLink support, due 2nd Quarter. Other titles that may incorporate NetLink technology are Hudsonsoft's Saturn Bomberman and an as yet unnamed title from Capcom.
The game's name gets fixed, and it's not Supercar
The newest Model 3 game is no longer dubbed Supercar, but Scud Race. While the Supercar name may exist as a secondary title, look for the game to appear in arcades (Japan) under this name.
The arcade version has appeared in test arcades on the West Coast, and is currently showing at the Irvine Sega Land. According to Sega America reps, "This game is unbelievable!"
Along with Virtua Fighter 3, Scud Race conversion to the Saturn will be the most closely watched conversion ever, as the Model 3 board exceeds the capabilities of any of the home systems today.
There're some cool games coming out soon, and there's a good chance some of them will make it to the States.
Puyo Puyo 3
The series that spawned Baku Baku, Super Puzzle Fighter II Turbo, and just about every 2-stone game in existence turns three on Valentine's day. Cancellations, drops, cool animation, and all that puzzle goodness, all for 4800 yen. Expect this one to be arcade perfect, since it was programmed on an ST-V board.
Gungriffon Ho!
Game Arts is making a sequel to their popular mech-game Gungriffon (Mentioned here in earlier news). It's aptly named Gungriffon 2. Expect the action to be similar, with new graphics and weapons. How does this affect Grandia (rumored to be Saturn's FFVII-buster)? According to Mr. Miyaji, president of Game Arts, Grandia will be released on schedule.
Virtua Striker II?
Although the original was anounced here in the news, Virtua Striker's sequel will be coming to the Saturn this year (Possibly instead...?). With the same programmer/developer, VSII should have the same great gameplay that made the first a classic.
Last year, audiences were treated to one of the biggest anime events in years, as Street Fighter 2: The Animated Movie made its US debut. Even though the infamous Chun Li shower scene and a few other violent parts were cencored, and the awesome Ryoko Shinhara soundtrack replaced by gritty music from Silver Chair and Alice In Chains, Street Fighter 2 was still an undeniable video success. Now, Manga Entertainment has picked up the rights for Street Fighter 2 V, the popular TV series which takes place years before the movie. Unlike the lame US cartoon, SF2V will follow the darker more intense path of the anime movie.
Street Fighter 2 V Vol.1 will be released on video February 25th and will contain the first three episodes. The English dubbed version will retail for $19.95, while the subtitled version will sell for $24.95.
Signing two licensing agreements, Titus makes plans for Superman and Quest for Camelot
Chatsworth, CA.-based Titus Software, the makers of Lamborghini American Challenge on Super NES and the upcoming Lamborghini 64 on Nintendo 64, yesterday announced two new N64 games for 1997 and 1998.
These two licensing deals will put Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment's Superman, from the animated series on the WB network, and Quest for Chamelot, a full-length animated movie appearing in movie theaters in late 1997, onto the Nintendo 64 in winter holiday 1997, and Q1 1998, respectively.
Titus is still on schedule for its Q1/Q2 release of Lamborghini 64.
The new Superman animated series is proving to be a big hit and the game should follow suit. Titus only just signed the papers, but a game will be out in 4th quarter 1997.
No word yet on game specifications, but the highly stylized cartoon series may not translate into 3D too well. The game will appear on PlayStation, Saturn and N64, but now word at this point on a PC version. Game Boy fans will be pleased to note that a portable version of the game will appear.
Nintendo and its third parties have concluded their N64 release schedules for the first third of 1997.
For Nintendo, the list becomes vague toward the end of May, though, provisionally, the company is promising six titles in the first five months of the year. Mario Kart is earmarked for February 17, followed by Golden Eye on March 24, and Ken Griffey Baseball some time in April.
Nintendo watchers will be slightly less confident in the promised appearance of three games in May - Blast Corps, Star Fox and Kirby. In fairness, Nintendo stresses that slippage is a very real possibility for any of these three.
In the third party camps, EA is promising FIFA in the last week of March. That would come soon after the release of Turok from Acclaim in mid-March. Mission Impossible from Ocean is due May 1st. In the meantime, Midway's NBA Hang Time is out any day now.
Enix Software has announced that it is definitely porting the long (and we mean looooong) awaited Dragon Quest VII to PlayStation. Boing! One in the eye for Nintendo who claimed that game would be exclusively for 64 DD. Well, that is not the case any more. At this point Enix refuses to even confirm that Dragon Quest will ever appear on a Nintendo system again.
They also announced that they will be supporting Sega Saturn. This decision is no doubt affected by Square¹s decision to port Final Fantasy to PlayStation. No news on a release date for the PlayStation version, but we do know that a lot of the design work had been completed on a Nintendo version - presumably this work will be included on the PlayStation port. It¹s hard to stress the importance of this news with regard to Enix¹s former alliance with Nintendo. Dragon Quest had almost as much influence on the success of Nintendo consoles as Mario did.
No comments were available from Nintendo at time of going to press.
Sega's popular import RPG, Sakura Wars, already has a sequel of sorts being readied. Called, HanaGumi Columns, this game will play like Columns and Baku Baku, but will feature all the characters from Sakura Wars. Expect the final version to resemble a look of Capcom's popular Puzzle Fighter.
According to Sega, AM2 has begun the conversion of its arcade hit, Virtual Striker for a Saturn release. Virtual Striker was originally a Model 2 game and was released to arcades nearly two years ago. It was met with mild success. Expect Virtual Striker to hit the Saturn 3rd or 4th Quarter.
Eidos, the spectacularly successful publisher of Tomb Raider, has announced that it will be handling the publishing and distribution for ION Storm, a new software company started by a "dream team" that includes former ID member and co-creator of Doom and Quake, John Romero and Tom Hall, formerly of Duke Nukem creators, 3D Realms.
Eidos has signed a multi-game deal to handle ION Storm's product internationally. Although no games have been announced at this point, you can bet that the first one will be a 1st person 3D game with some kind of violence involved. This'll may eventually lead to a Nintendo 64 conversion.
Kaneko is about to unleash a new PlayStation racing game, featuring the popular Japanese race league, All Japan GT Sensyuken is the name of the league and the gameplay falls somewhere between Ridge Racer and Sega Rally. As with most Japanese racing games of the moment, this endurance trial gives you the chance to test out the hottest Japanese production cars, like the (unavailable in the US) Nissan Skyline GT, or the fabled Toyota Supra. There are tons of cars to choose from and a garage-management section allows you to upgrade your vehicle easily. The game comes with a movie CD (PlayStation video compression) with lots of car info and other goodies. Again, no US plans, but Kaneko does have US publishing ties and this may yet appear.
Capcom has officially announced that the Japanese version of Biohazard 2 (Resident Evil 2) has been delayed until late summer 97. This news will obviously deal a crushing blow to Japanese gamers, who have been anticipating the sequel's release for over 6 months now. The original Biohazard has sold over 1 million units worldwide and is the highest selling Playstation game of all time. Click here for the latest on RE 2
Capcom of Japan has finally announced that the Saturn version of their hit horror game, Resident Evil, will be hitting consumer shelves late this spring. As reported nearly a month ago on UGP Online, Capcom USA also leaked word that the US release date for Resident Evil Saturn would be sometime this fall.
Although originally scheduled for fall release, Magic Knight Rayearth and Lunar: Director's Cut have been pushed back for a summer release. Albert Odyssey is now number one on their release schedule. Expect publishing schedules to coincide with E3.
When asked why these two RPG's had been pushed back, Working Designs reps replied, "well, there were some problems with the companies in Japan, and that pushed the releases back. Everything fine now, and we're on working on them [Magic Knight Rayearth, Lunar: Director's Cut]."
Wild Arms, a new RPG from Media Vision in Japan, will be released in the US by SCEA in mid-May, 1997. It had been reported elsewhere on the web that the release date would be April, but Sony said this is false.
Sony also said that Final Fantasy 7's release date has been delayed to fall 97 due to the lengthy translation process required
Enix, the famous Japanese publisher responsible for such hits as the Ogre Battle and Dragon Quest series, has signed with Sony to become a developer for the PSX. Enix is also best known for developing Wonder Project J2 for the Nintendo 64. No titles have been announced yet. On a related story, Enix is rumored to be making the next Dragon Quest game for the Saturn. If this is true, a major RPG battle could re-erupt between rivals Enix and Square. What does this mean to you and me? Bigger and better RPGs! They will continue to develop games for the Nintendo 64. It is not known what games they will developing, or whether any of these will ever make it to US shores
Just when you thought a Windows 95 version Final Fantasy 7 would be enough to satisfy your RPG tastes, along comes two more. Square is officially currently working on Windows 95 versions of Final Fantasy 5 and 6. Based off the old Super Famicom game, Final Fantasy 5 was never released in the US because Square thought the game would be too difficult for US audiences. Final Fantasy 6, the best RPG ever made thus far, was released on the SNES a few years ago. Keep in mind that these PC versions are being translated for the US market and are tentatively scheduled for a fall 1997 release date.
In a recent interview in Famitsu magazine, Game Arts President Mr. Miyaji stated that a popular 3D mech shooter would be receiving a sequel this this year. This is without a doubt, Gun Griffen. A game which proved to be a success with US Saturn owners last year. On a side note, Mr. Miyaji also said that Grandia is on schedule for its spring release and won't be delayed.
