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1998 Video Game Buyer's Guide

ISSUE: 8Content

The Good, the Bad, and the Silly (EGM's annual gaming awards ceremony celebrating the best, worst, and dumbest):

  • Game Most Bought By the EGM Staff: Mario Kart 64 (N64)
  • Most Addictive Game: GoldenEye 007 (N64)
  • Biggest Vaporware: M2 console
  • Best Voice Acting: Oddworld: Abe's Oddyssee (PS1)
  • Worst Voice Acting: Mega Man 8 (PS1)
  • Best Middle: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
  • Worst Makeover: Pandemonium (PS1)'s Nikki
  • Back From the Dead: Game Boy Pocket
  • Game That Should Have Stayed on the PC: Hexen (SAT/PS1/N64)
  • Game That Should Have Stayed in the Arcades: War Gods (PS1/N64)
  • Most Diarrhea in a Game: PaRappa the Rapper (PS1)
  •  Coolest PR Goodie: E3 Resident Evil Squishy Eye keychain
  • EGM's Favorite Non Work-Related Activity: Decapitato frisbee game
  • Worst Music: NASCAR 98 (PS1/SAT)
  • Hottest Game Babe: Tifa Lockheart (PS1)
  • Hottest Game Hunk: John Madden
  • Most Overexposed: Lara Croft
  • Best Movie to Game: GoldenEye 007 (N64)
  • Worst Movie to Game: The Crow: City of Angels (PS1)
  • Worst Use of a Good License: Fantastic Four (PS1)
  • Worst Use of Adam West: Golden Nugget (PS1)
  • Most Hype For a Game: Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
  • Best Sequel: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
  • Most Disappointing Sequel: FIFA 64 (N64)
  • Biggest Reason for Missed Deadlines: GoldenEye 007 (N64)
  • Best Use of Silicon: Lara Croft
  • Best Cure for Insomnia: Tail of the Sun (PS1)
  • Best Intro: Soul Blade (PS1)
  • Worst Intro: The Crow: City of Angels (PS1)
  • Best Ending: Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
  • Game You Need a Ph.D. to Play: Carnage Heart (PS1)
  • Best Use of Teats: Harvest Moon (SNES)
  • Most Promising Game Company: Rare
  • Best 180-degree Turnaround: Acclaim
  • Best Print Ad: Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
  • Worst Print Ad: Nanotek Warrior (PS1)

Which Game System Is Best? - The EGM staff pit the SNES, Genesis, PS1, Saturn, and N64 in a head-to-head-to-head-to-head-to-head against each other to crown a winner, then do the same for the Game Boy Pocket, Game.com, and Sega Nomad.

All About Miyamoto - An EGM biography on the world's most well-known game developer.

Controller Control - How do companies design those controllers, anyway?

EGM's Super Game Index - A list of every game, every review score, from the past eight years' worth of issues.

Stuff to Look For in 1998 (Previews of upcoming software):

  • Bomberman 64 (N64)
  • Duke Nukem 64 (N64)
  • GoldenEye 007 (N64)
  • International SuperStar Soccer 64 (N64)
  • Madden 64 (N64)
  • Star Fox 64 (N64)
  • Bushido Blade (PS1)
  • Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (PS1)
  • Colony Wars (PS1)
  • Crash Bandicoot 2 (PS1)
  • Dragon Ball GT (PS1)
  • Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
  • Mega Man Neo (PS1 / Released as Mega Man Legends)
  • NFL GameDay '98 (PS1)
  • Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (PS1)
  • One (PS1)
  • Pandemonium 2 (PS1)
  • PaRappa the Rapper (PS1)
  • Resident Evil 2 (PS1)
  • Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha (PS1)
  • Super Street Fighter 2 Collection (PS1)
  • Wild Arms (PS1)
  • Albert Odyssey (SAT)
  • Fighters MegaMix (SAT)
  • Last Bronx (SAT)
  • Mega Man X4 (SAT)
  • Quake (SAT)
  • Saturn Bomberman (SAT)
  • Shining the Holy Ark (SAT)
  • Sonic Jam (SAT)
  • Sonic R (SAT)
  •  

Best Tricks of the Year (An entire year's worth of cheats condensed down to twenty pages):

  • PlayStation:
    • Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 1
    • Ball Blazers Champions
    • Beyond the Beyond
    • Blast Chamber
    • Bogey: Dead 6
    • Brahma Force
    • Broken Helix
    • Bubble Bobble
    • Bubsy 3D
    • Buster Brothers Collection
    • Carnage Heard
    • Codename: Tenka
    • Command & Conquer
    • Contra: Legacy of War
    • Cool Boarders
    • The Crow: City of Angels
    • Crusader: No Remorse
    • Darklight Conflict
    • Descent
    • Destruction Derby 2
    • Die Hard Trilogy
    • Disruptor
    • Dynasty Warriors
    • Excalibur 2555 A.D.
    • Fade to Black
    • Final Doom
    • Gunship
    • Herc's Adventures
    • The Hive
    • Independence Day
    • Iron Man/X-O Manowar in Heavy Metal
    • Jet Moto
    • K1: The Arena Fighters
    • Lemmings 3D
    • Machine Head
    • Machine Hunter
    • Madden NFL '97
    • MechWarrior 2
    • Mortal Kombat Trilogy
    • Motor Toon Grand Prix
    • Namco Museum Vol. 1
    • Namco Museum Vol. 2
    • Namco Museum Vol. 4
    • Nanotek Warrior
    • NBA Hangtime
    • NBA Jam Extreme
    • NBA Live '97
    • NCAA Football '98
    • Need For Speed 2
    • NFL GameDay '97
    • NFL GameDay '98
    • NFL Quarterback Club '97
    • NHL '97
    • NHL Faceoff '97
    • Norse by Norsewest
    • Ogre Battle
    • Pandemonium!
    • Peak Performance
    • Perfect Weapon
    • Pitball
    • PlayStation Underground No. 1
    • PlayStation Underground No. 2
    • Power Move Wrestling
    • Pro Pinball
    • Project Overkill
    • Puzzle Fighter 2
    • Rage Racer
    • Re-Loaded
    • Robo Pit
    • Robotron X
    • SimCity 2000
    • Skeleton Warriors
    • Soul Blade
    • Soviet Strike
    • Space Jam
    • Spider
    • Star Gladiator
    • Starblade Alpha
    • Street Fighter Alpha 2
    • Street Fighter EX+ Alpha (Japan)
    • Street Racer (EGM91)
    • Tempest X3
    • Ten Pin Alley
    • Test Drive: Off Road
    • Thunder Truck Rally
    • Tiger Shark
    • Time Commando
    • TNN Motor Sports Hardcore 4x4
    • Tobal 2 (Japan)
    • Tokyo Highway Battle
    • Tomb Raider
    • Triple Play '97
    • Triple Play '98
    • Twisted Metal 2
    • War Gods
    • Warcraft II: The Dark Saga
    • WCW vs. The World
    • Wild Arms
    • Xevious 3D+G
  • Saturn:
    • AMOK
    • Battle Arena Toshinden URA
    • Battle Monsters
    • Bug Too!
    • Command & Conquer
    • Crusader: No Remorse
    • Daytona USA: CCE
    • DecAthelete
    • Die Hard Arcade
    • Die Hard Trilogy
    • Doom
    • Fighter's MegaMix
    • Fighting Vipers
    • Grid Runner
    • Guardian Heroes
    • Gun Griffon
    • Independence Day
    • Loaded
    • Magic Carpet
    • Manx TT
    • Marvel Super Heroes (Japan)
    • Mortal Kombat Trilogy
    • Mr. Bones
    • Need For Speed
    • NHL Powerplay '96
    • NFL Quarterback Club '97
    • Pandemonium!
    • Scud: The Disposable Assassin
    • Skeleton Warriors
    • Soviet Strike
    • Space Jam
    • Street Fighter Alpha 2
    • TNN Motor Sports Hardcore 4x4
    • Tomb Raider
    • True Pinball
    • Virtua Fighter Kids
  • Nintendo 64:
    • Blast Corps
    • Cruis'N USA
    • Dark Rift
    • Doom 64
    • FIFA Soccer 64
    • GoldenEye 007
    • Hexen
    • International Superstar Soccer
    • Killer Instinct Gold
    • Mario Kart 64
    • Mortal Kombat Trilogy
    • NBA Hangtime
    • PilotWings 64
    • Star Fox 64
    • Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire
    • Super Mario 64
    • Tetrisphere
    • Turok: Dinosaur Hunter
    • War Gods
    • Wave Race 64
    • Wayne Gretzky 3D Hockey

Ads (in order of appearance):

  • Armored Core (PS1)
  • Namco Games: Tekken 2 (PS1) / Soul Blade (PS1)
  • Alps Interactive Gamepad controller (PS1)
  • Samsung GXTV personal video game TV
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly ad
  • Mace: The Dark Age (N64/PC)
  • Cool Boarders 2 (PS1)
  • Dynasty Warriors (PS1)
  • Maximum Force (PS1/SAT)
  • One (PS1)
  • Alundra (PS1)
  • Vs. (SAT)
  • Command & Conquer: Red Alert
  • Dark Rift (N64)
  • Courier Crisis (PS1/SAT)
  • Mass Destruction (PS1/SAT/PC)
  • WCW vs. nWo: World Tour (N64)
  • Critical Depth (PS1)
  • San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing (N64/PS1/PC)
  • Win the Ultimate Gaming Rig contest
  • Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine ad
  • Electronic Gaming Monthly and EGM2 bonus magazines ad
  • Colony Wars (PS1)
  • Mad Catz Real Wheel controller (PS1/N64)

Notable Stuff:

  • That's a lovely piece of Final Fantasy VII artwork on page 12.
  • Of course Tifa won "Hottest Game Babe". Strangely enough, Lara Croft wasn't the runner-up on this one, but Laura Lewis from Enemy Zero on the Saturn was.
  • Clearly nobody on staff was comfortable picking a hot dude for their 'best hunk' category, as their runner-up is Abe from Abe's Oddyssee. Umm...Duke Nukem, anybody?
  • Anyone else find it ironic that the magazine which has had Lara Croft on their cover more times than anybody else is also throwing a "Most Overexposed" award 
  • No surprise, the PlayStation and Game Boy come out the clear winners in the battle royale, while the Sega Saturn and Genesis bring up the rear.
  • Both the Miyamoto biography and behind-the-scenes look at controller creation are fascinating pieces which remain relevant even today.
  • The super game list doesn't list everything the magazine ever reviewed. They omit plenty of software from the smaller systems like the CD-i and the Neo Geo, and ignore everything prior to the 16-bit generation, but still...this is one incredible index with some great artwork thrown in throughout, and some little side-bars about titles worth a second look, and miniature essays on subjects like why Link's Awakening is the best Zelda game. Really cool!
  • Saturn Bomberman supports up to 10 players simultaneously.
  • 'Best Tricks of the Year' includes a massive sidebar detailing ten great internet sites to use for finding cheat codes. Needless to say, they're all defunct at this point. Man, remember Happy Puppy?
  • People are still trying to find that Lara Croft nude code. EGM2 did it as an April Fools joke in issue 34.
  • Somebody forgot to label the cheat codes for Command & Conquer and Crusader: No Remorse in the Saturn section. This makes it look like Bug Too! is an absolutely insane game.
  • According to a sidebar, the Konami Code is the most-overused cheat code of all time.

 

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Cover


Information

    Title: 1998 Video Game Buyer's Guide
    Month: Fall
    Year: 1997
    Publisher: Ziff Davis
    Editor: Dan Hsu
    Pages: 148
    Price: $5.99 / $6.99 Canada
    Country: United States
    Language: English
    Votes: 2

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