Parallax Scroll

Indeed. I liked Tekken 2's music more than Tekken 3's music, even though I play Tekken 3 a lot more (the System 12 arcade version that's part of Arcade History mode in Tekken 5 on PS2).

Phenomenal!

Bump. That interview with the designers of the Handy / Lynx hardware; Dave Needle and R. J. Mical, was pretty good, yeah? They also were the key designers of the Amiga hardware before the Lynx, and 3DO hardware after it.

I mean, Herzog Zwei was released on the Mega Drive in Japan at the end of 1989, and it's only a 4-meg cartridge, same as Thunder Force II, but the gameplay possibilities in Herzog Zwei were nearly endless. You can observe the limits of the 7.6 MHz 68000 CPU when 2-players have 50 units each placed on the map, the maximum. If you really liked Herzog Zwei, essentially the forefather of the real-time strategy genre (and pre-dating Dune II on PC), then imagine how incredible a 32X or Saturn version would've been, with vastly superior sprite graphics, scaling & rotation, etc. It's sad that the rumored 32X sequel never happened.

Yeah, Herzog Zwei got shit on by three of the four EGM Review Crew, but not by other magazines.

Absolutely classic!

Two incredible Neo Geo shmups at the Galloping Ghost Arcade in Brookfield Illinois near Chicago - Last Resort and Pulstar, both cleared by Pete Hahn.

Such a great time! 1989-90.

This post isn't well organized, it's mainly coverage of the arcade version of Gradius III (1989) the first Game Boy Gradius (aka Nemesis) and the Super Famicom / SNES version of Gradius III.

GamePro magazine reviews of King of the Monsters 2 and Ninja Commando.

Mikey, thanks for the great post and your own story -- Glad you're enjoying this thread. And now some coverage of the PC-Engine Super CD version of Gradius II. -I'm really enjoying the NA Wii Virtual Console version. It's kicking my ass though. Also, I found a pretty sweet HD Remake of the PCE CD intro:

Another Gradius II story: https://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?104561-Gradius-II-And-Me

Yeah that was my thread over on digitpress / classic gaming. I didn't include that story over there yet.

It certainly was a prototype, the first one that is known. There were two other prototypes that were nearly identical to each other, both of which looked much closer to the final Super Fami design.

So, I was inspired to make this thread, in part, because of this story that I came across doing research on the Famicom version of Gradius II. https://retrogamesuperhyper.wordpress.com/2016/11/13/my-weird-obsession-with-famicom-gradius-ii/ It was in EGM issue #3 August/September 1989, which I remember buying at a newsstand at a store in Chicago that August. I remember reading it on a CTA bus going home!). Full color scan in my OP!

The Famicom version of Gradius II fascinated me, because we never got it on the NES in the United States. It was even more impressive than Life Force was. The leaps from NES Gradius to LifeForce / Salamander to Gradius II Famicom on the same console was pretty spectacular, though Gradius II on the Famicom had some extra help in the form of a custom Konami chip. We got Life Force, which itself wasn't quite as good as Salamander on the Famicom. The Japanese version had a Konami VRC3 memory management controller that Life Force NES did not have. And yet, Gradius II on the Famicom had an even more powerful Konami chip, the VRC4, allowing for a significant leap in graphics and audio. Compared to the earliest Famicom games in 1983, Gradius II looks almost 16-bit. Maybe not technically, but relatively speaking. These are mid 1989 previews from EGM and GamePro for Famicom Gradius II which had already been released overseas in 1988. Enjoy! The Konami VRC4 memory management controller (MMC) chip is what they were referring to. Inside the Famicom Gradius II cartridge: Gradius NES (1986) Salamander Famicom (1987) [video=youtube;tIx0zHhx4oc] Life Force NES (1987) [video=youtube;dt-pMJiQTTk] Gradius II Famicom (1988) [video=youtube;4KfvX61n9Bk] Will also be adding things about the PC-Engine CD version (which can still be downloaded on the Wii eShop) in NA, as well as other games in Gradius / Salamander / Life Force series.

I'm pretty sure they did that cause...Greek architecture & Altered Beast.

You mean these?

Since you guys love Quartermann, here's the next four Gaming Gossip columns, with the most interesting stuff highlighted September/October 1989 November 1989 January 1990 March 1990

Same here.

July 1989. This magazine changed gaming for me, from being a kid that owned an Atari 7800 and Sega Master System, into a hardcore gamer! 4 pages on the Super Famicom!

Handy Game (Epix) = Atari Lynx Project Venus = Sega Game Gear Game Tank (and unofficially) Handy-Grafx = NEC TurboExpress (PC-Engine GT) Dot Matrix Game = Nintendo Game Boy

Thank you, Mr. Nakamura, for all that you did.

Do you happen to remember if there was a GamePro article specifically on the Panther? Maybe I am remembering that Game Player's article, thinking it was GamePro's.

Here's Electronic Gaming Monthly's early Lynx coverage from three different issues.