1998 Video Game Buyer's Guide

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.