Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue 15

PRIMARY SYSTEMS COVERAGE

• Nintendo Entertainment System
• Nintendo Super Famicom (the eventual Super Nintendo Entertainment System)
• Nintendo Game Boy
• Sega Master System II
• Sega Game Gear
• Sega Genesis - Mega Drive
• NEC TurboGrafx-16/Turbo Express
• NEC TurboGrafx-16 CD Player
• NEC Super Grafx (SuperGrafx)
• Atari Lynx
• SNK Neo Geo

Below is a synopsis of this issue's contents. Game title typos, shorthand, working titles, etc, are maintained for the historical record. Any relevant clarifications and comments are noted (like so). - RetroDefense

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(This issue of EGM breaks tradition. Instead of a self-contained, all-encompassing review section, each game review is instead presented with its respective 'Fact File.')

Insert Coin - The Hottest Year Ever For Electronic Gaming by Steve Harris (editorial)

Interface: Letters To The Editor

The Best (And Worst) Of 1990 (awards; featured in TOC)

• Video Game of the Year - Sega's Strider
• Best Game of the Year (Nintendo) - Konami's Castlevania 3 (Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse)
• Best Game of the Year (TurboGrafx-16): NEC's Ninja Spirit
• Best Hand-Held Game of the Year - Atari's Blue Lightning
• Best Graphics in a Video Game - Sega's Strider
• Best BGM and Sound in a Video Game - NEC's Y's Book One and Two (Ys: Books I & II)
• Best Video Game System - Sega Genesis
• Best New System of the Year... - NEC's Turbo Express
• Most Challenging Video Game of the Year - Sega's Phantasy Star 2
• Best Sports-Themed Game - Sega's Super Monaco GP
• Best Sequel to an Existing Game - Capcom's Mega Man 3
• Most Exciting New Theme - NEC's Bonk's Adventure
• Best RPG Video Game - NEC's Y's Book One and Two (Ys: Books I & II)
• Best Peripheral of the Year - Galoob's Game Genie
• Worst Propaganda of the Year - NEC's Turbo vs. Genesis Card
• Best License of the Year - Acclaim's The Simpson's
• Worst License - Sega's Buster Douglas Boxing
• Best Movie to Game - Sunsoft's Gremlins 2
• Best Ending in a Game - Tecmo's Ninja Gaiden 2
• Worst Ending in a Game - Sega's Revenge of Shinobi
• The Most Promising Game Companies - Natsume, Sega, Capcom, Konami, Nintendo
• Most Lawsuits - Nintendo
• Worst Move to Game - Acclaim Total Recall
• Worst Name for a Game - tie - Meldac's Neiankyo Alien, Vic Tokai's Daedalian Opus
• Worst Name for a Good Game - Hudson's Adventures of Jackie Chan

Gaming Gossip by Quartermann

Electronic Gaming Express

• Sega Announces Introduction of CD-ROM Interface for Spring, 1991! (1-page; featured in TOC; Sega/Mega CD Unit artist rendition shown. Article claims Alien Storm (shown) will be released on CD, and 'Sega may also package older titles for play at a lower price!' (Phantasy Star 3 shown))
• EGM Exclusive!! Super Famicom Special (six pages of coverage; featured in TOC; games shown (some with commentary)):

Final Fight

Gradius III

Pilot Wings

F-Zero

Act-Lazer (Actraiser)

Big Run (released as Jaleco Rally - Big Run: The Supreme 4WD Challenge)

R-Type 2 (released as Super R-Type)

Gdleen

Populous

Super Darius

Super Deformer

Sim City

Dynamite Bombazal

Ultraman

Hole-In-One Golf

Drakkhen

EGM Rates The Systems!! (featured in TOC; 1-page system overviews with tech specs and hardware shown, ending with a 2-page review segment similar to EGM's game review system (4-member review panel with capsule commentary and score))

• Nintendo Entertainment System
• Sega Master System 2 (Sega Master System II)
• Sega Genesis
• NEC TurboGrafx-16
• Nintendo Gameboy Hand-Held (Game Boy)
• Atari Lynx Hand-Held
• NEC Turbo Express Hand-Held
• NEC Super Grafx (SuperGrafx; never released in the US)
• SNK Neo-Geo System (Neo Geo)
• Game Gear Hand-Held

Tricks of the Trade (listed in TOC as 'Top Secret'; tips, tricks and codes)

• Devil's Crush (TG16)
• Gremlins 2 (NES)
• Tombs & Treasures (NES)
• Thunder Force 3 (Gen)
• Mega Man 3 (NES)
• Y's (TG16CD) (Ys: Books I & II)
• Boulderdash (NES)
• Lock N' Chase (GB)
• Valis 2 (TG16CD)
• Castlevania 3: Dracula's Curse (NES) (Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse)
• Ninja Spirit (TG16)
• Bloody Wolf (TG16)
• Palamedes (NES)

Nintendo Player (NES; 1-page 'Fact File' game overviews, each with 4-member review panel with capsule commentary and scores)

• Castlevania 3 - Dracula's Curse (Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse)
• Street Fighter 2010 - The Final Fight
• TMNT - The Arcade Game (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game)
• Gremlins 2: The New Batch
• Shadow of the Ninja
• Mega Man 3
• Flying Warriors

Turbo Champ (TG16 & TG16CD; 1-page 'Fact File' game overviews, each with 4-member review panel with capsule commentary and scores)

• Ys: Books I & II (TG16CD; here, not formally titled in Fact File)
• Ninja Spirit (TG16)
• Legendary Axe 2 (TG16)

Outpost: Genesis (1-page 'Fact File' game overviews, each with 4-member review panel with capsule commentary and scores)

• E-SWAT - City Under Sieige!(sic)
• Fire Shark
• Insector-X
• Phelios

Review Crew (collection of Review Crew review scores from the past 15 issues of EGM)

Top Score Club (listed in TOC as 'Team High Scores;' scores leaderboard)

Game Over! - Batman (NES; spoiler alert!)