PSM Issue 8

Features: 

• Cover Story: Blasto (One exclusive interview with the devs plus a four-page preview equals HYPE!)
• Resident Evil 2: Everything You Need To Know, Pt. 2 (Brand new walkthroughs for Leon and Claire's B scenarios, plus everything else they couldn't fit into last month's feature)
• Breath of Fire III Secrets Guide (More spells, more abilities, more secrets, and more options for you to play with in this engrossing RPG)
• Wacky Games! (The obscure, the weird, and the bizarre have their day in the sun as PSM checks out every game that you start describing with, "Dude, you gotta see this...", both US and international releases)
  - Parappa the Rapper
  - Monster Rancher
  - Tomba!
  - Poy Poy
  - Tail of the Sun
  - Jumping Flash! 1 & 2
  - Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee
  - Worms
  - Aquanaut's Holiday
  - A Train

Monitor (Rumours, gossip, news, etc...): 

• Start (Editorial where Chris Slate introduces two new sections to the magazine: 'Checkpoint', their software release schedule, and 'Q&A' with industry interviews).
• RPG Mania in 1998!
• Street Fighter EX2 Coming!
• Duke Nukem takes on Lara Croft
• Peripheral Reviews (Performance's Mega Memory Card earns 3/5 stars, as does their Ultra Racer controller)
• Net Yaroze Update (First of a two-part interview with New Zealand-based developer Sidhe Interactive)
• Gossip:
  - FFV To Hit U.S. PlayStations?
  - Gran Turismo 2 Underway
  - Flux in Flux
  - A Link to Time Crisis 2?
  - Future Strike Stricken
  - Wipeout To Go XXL
• Checkpoint! (A schedule of all pending software release dates the PSM dudes could get their hands on. Expect these to change. Like...a lot.)
• PSM's Most Wanted (Tekken 3, Metal Gear Solid, Dead or Alive, Gran Turismo, Mortal Kombat 4, Einhander, Mega Man Nova (aka Mega Man Legends), HotShots Golf, Tomba!, San Francisco Rush)
• Nihon Game Otaku (Bill Paris drops news and alerts for import enthusiasts, including top lists, April picks, and small previews of titles like Tail Concerto, Bass Fisherman, and Slayer's Royal. Also included is "Chibi's Terms", this time focusing on Japanese text you might encounter flipping through the manual for your favorite import fighting games)

PlayStation Charts (The EB Chart  /  The NPD Chart): 

1. Resident Evil 2 / Tomb Raider 2
2. WCW Nitro / Crash Bandicoot 2
3. Final Fantasy Tactics / NBA Live '98
4. Tomb Raider 2 / NFL GameDay '98
5. Alundra / Crash Bandicoot
6. Cool Boarders 2 / Madden NFL '98
7. NBA Live '98 / NASCAR '98
8. Crash Bandicoot 2 / Final Fantasy VII
9. NFL GameDay '98 / Jet Moto 2
10. Crash Bandicoot / Frogger

Q&A: 

• Two-page interview with Jonathan Beard, the Producer of this month's cover feature game, Blasto.

Previews: 

• Blasto
• Rascal
• Triple Play '99
• Powerboat Racing
• Vigilante 8
• Elemental Gearbolt
• Speed Racer
• Punky Skunk
• Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit
• Gran Turismo

Reviews: 

• Breath of Fire III (4.5/5)
• Beast Wars: Transformers (1/5)
• Shadow Master (2.5/5)
• HotShots Golf (4/5)
• NCAA March Madness (3/5)
• Theme Hospital (4/5)
• Newman/Haas Racing (2.5/5)
• Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 2 (3.5/5)
• Diablo (4.5/5)
• Gex: Enter the Gecko (4/5)
• Flashback (Steel Harbinger, Robo Pit, Tetris Plus)

Code Junkies (Where cheat lovers congregate): 

• Shadow Master
• Courier Crisis
• Cool Boarders
• NASCAR '98
• G Police
• Mass Destruction
• Red Asphalt
• Need For Speed: V-Rally
• Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
• Maximum Force
• Load Runner
• Armored Core
• Grand Theft Auto
• Felony 11-79
• WCW Nitro
• Micro Machines V3
• Critical Depth
• Jet Moto 2
• Game Shark Codes:
  - Beast Wars: Transformers
  - Bravo Air Race
  - Bugriders
  - Courier Crisis
  - Dragon Ball GT
  - Felony 11-79
  - Ghost in the Shell
  - Golden Nugget
  - Lost World: Jurassic Park
  - Maximum Force
  - NBA Fastbreak '98
  - NBA Live '98
  - NCAA Football '98
  - NCAA GameBreaker '98
  - One
  - Parappa the Rapper
  - Spawn
  - Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi
  - Time Crisis
  - Tomb Raider 2
  - Treasures of the Deep
  - Triple Play '98
  - VR Football '98
  - Vs.

Ads: 

• Disney's Hercules Action Game
• Tomb Raider II / Fighting Force
• Grand Theft Auto
• Danger Girl (comic book)
• Newman/Haas Racing
• Deathtrap Dungeon
• Alundra
• Jeremy McGrath Supercross 98
• Colony Wars
• Video Game Control Glove
• PSM 1-900 Tip Hotline
• Breath of Fire III
• Rascal

Letters (reader cast praise and woe): 

• Pause - This month's topic: "What Makes a Good Ending?". Responses printed to February's topic, "Can a Game Be 'Too Long'?"
• Top This! - If you've got what it takes to be the first to beat Diablo in Diablo, find all 40 babes in Blasto, or unlock Tofu and beat his scenario in Resident Evil 2, PSM's got a real arcade light gun with your name on it!
• Marketplace (Place or answer your own classified gamer ads)
• Reset (Tekken 3 massive blowout, Blasto Babe-O-Rama, a special report on PlayStation-themed toys, coming in 30 days).

Notable Stuff: 

• 116 down to 100...quite a page cut from last issue, isn't it?
• This issue shipped with a free Gex lid sticker bound between pages 82 and 83.
• The 'Checkpoint' and 'Q&A' columns make their debut this issue.
• The table of contents screws up their Gex lid sticker entry twice: first they refer to it as a "GEx Lid Sticker", and then mark it as being page 98b. It should be page 82b, as 98b would put it between the last page and the inside back cover.
• "Chibi's Terms", as always, is massively useful for any retro gamer and/or Japanophile.
• Seriously, at this point, who in the hell is interested in cheat codes for Star Wars: Masters of Teras Kasi?! Explain yourselves!
• Lots of readers cite Final Fantasy VII on both sides of the "Can a Game Be 'Too Long'?" argument. Hmm...
• Lara Croft's boobs grow another three sizes in Dwayne Lukasik's Tomb Raider II fan art.