PSM Issue 13

Features:

• Cover Story: Tomb Raider III. Check out a two-page interview with Core Design's own Adrian Smith, then dig the additional fifty-ish screenshots in the massive preview later in the mag.
• Circuit Breakers - A few quick tips to help you take the lead and keep it in this racing game.
• Heart of Darkness - Hints and tips for navigating your way through the beautiful landscape of this adventure game.
• NFL Xtreme - 989's Product Manager drops insider tips to keep you on top of the league.
• Parasite Eve - Complete walkthrough and item list for Disc One -- check next issue for Disc Two's follow-up!
• The PSM Top 25 Games of All Time (Round 2) - One year later, it's time to re-visit the original list and make a few revisions:
  • 25: Ace Combat 2
  • 24: Jumping Flash 2
  • 23: Tekken 2
  • 22: NFL GameDay '98
  • 21: NHL '98
  • 20: Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit
  • 19: Klonoa
  • 18: Suikoden
  • 17: Super Puzzle Fighter 2 Turbo
  • 16: Dead Or Alive
  • 15: Parappa the Rapper
  • 14: Einhänder
  • 13: Vigilante 8
  • 12: Bushido Blade
  • 11: Resident Evil: Director's Cut
  • 10: Colony Wars
  • 09: Street Fighter EX Plus Alpha
  • 08: Wipeout XL
  • 07: Tomb Raider
  • 06: Gran Turismo
  • 05: Crash Bandicoot 2
  • 04: Tekken 3
  • 03: Final Fantasy VII
  • 02: Castlevania: Symphony of the Night
  • 01: Resident Evil 2

Monitor (News, gossip, rants, etc...):

• PlayStation 2 Update
• Core To Do Witchblade Game
• Peripheral Reviews:
  • Jam! monitor hook-up kit (3/5)
• Final Fantasy VIII Details Emerge
• New Videogame Toys - Todd McFarlane is modeling up some Quake II figures in his studios.
• PlayStation PDA Tied to Final Fantasy VIII
• No Movie Lara Yet - Paramount is struggling to cast the lead actress for their Tomb Raider adaptation.
• Midway Working on Arcade Upgrades - Midway's arcade division is working on several re-makes of classic titles, including Gauntlet, Spy Hunter, and 720 Degrees.
• Namco and Square Get Cold Feet? - Ehrgeiz console rights issues between Square and Namco may delay or prevent the game's release outside of Japan.
• More Puzzle Bobble for U.S.
• Q&A: Adrian Smith of Core Design sits for a two-page talk about all things Lara and the pending release of Tomb Raider III.
• Checkpoint! - The PSM Release Schedule. Dates always subject to change.
• PlayStation Charts - The best-selling software from the past month.
• PSM's Most Wanted - What your editors are most looking forward to playing.
• Nihon Game Otaku:
  • Import News and Notes
  • U.P.P.
  • Capcom Generation
  • Great Hits
  • Top 10 Sellers in Japan
  • September Japanese Releases
  • Chibi's Top September Picks: Dodon Pachi and Metal Gear Solid
  • Chibi's Terms: Japanese words you might encounter when you import shooting games (lightgun and scrolling both).
  • Thousand Arms
  • Navit
  • Blaze and Blade Busters
  • Rally De Africa
  • PSM Otaku Game of the Month: Beat Mania

Reviews:

• Parasite Eve (3/5)
• C : The Contra Adventure (2/5)
• Spice World (2/5)
• TOCA Touring Car Championship (4/5)
• Wargames: Defcon 1 (3/5)
• Command & Conquer Red Alert: Retaliation (4/5)
• Bottom of the Ninth '99 (2.5/5)
• Heart of Darkness (4.5/5)
• Mega Man Legends (4/5)
• Crime Killer (2/5)

Backlog (Reviews for games released within the last few months):

• Adidas Power Soccer '99 (2/5)
• Alundra (4/5)
• Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection, Vol. 2 (3.5/5)
• Auto Destruct (3.5/5)
• Azure Dreams (3.5/5)
• Bio F.R.E.A.K.S. (3/5)
• Blasto (3/5)
• Bloody Roar (4/5)
• Breath of Fire III (4.5/5)
• Broken Sword (2.5/5)
• Cardinal Syn (2/5)
• Cool Boarders 2 (3.5/5)
• Courier Crisis (1.5/5)
• Crash Bandicoot 2 (5/5)
• Circuit Breakers (4/5)
• Dead or Alive (4.5/5)
• Deathtrap Dungeon (2/5)
• Diablo (4.5/5)
• Dragon Ball GT Final Bout (1/5)
• Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown (4/5)
• Einhänder (4.5/5)
• FIFA '98 (3.5/5)
• Final Fantasy Tactics (4/5)
• Forsaken (4/5)
• Fox Sports Soccer '99 (1.5/5)
• Frogger (1/5)
• Gex: Enter the Gecko (4/5)
• Granstream Saga, The (3.5/5)
• Gran Turismo (5/5)
• HotShots Golf (4/5)
• International Superstar Soccer '98 (4/5)
• Jersey Devil (3.5/5)
• Jet Moto 2 (3.5/5)
• Kartia (4/5)
• Mega Man Legends (4/5)
• MLB '99 (3/5)
• Monopoly (1.5/5)
• Monster Rancher (4.5/5)
• Mortal Kombat 4 (3.5/5)
• N2O (2.5/5)
• Nagano Winter Olympics '98 (3.5/5)
• NBA: In The Zone '98 (3/5)
• NCAA GameBreaker '98 (5/5)
• NFL Xtreme (2.5/5)
• Pocket Fighter (3.5/5)
• Resident Evil 2 (5/5)
• Riven (3/5)
• Road Rash 3-D (3/5)
• Saga Frontier (2.5/5)
• San Francisco Rush (2.5/5)
• Sentinel Returns (1.5/5)
• Speed Racer (2/5)
• Tekken 3 (5/5)
• Test Drive 4 (4/5)
• Theme Hospital (4/5)
• Tomba! (4/5)
• Tomb Raider 2 (5/5)
• Triple Play '99 (3/5)
• Turbo Prop Racing (4/5)
• Vigilante 8 (4.5/5)
• VR Baseball '99 (3.5/5)
• World Cup '98 (3.5/5)
• X-Men Vs. Street Fighter (3/5)

Previews:

• Tomb Raider III - The second half of this issue's cover feature drops four pages' worth of content on your head.
• NFL GameDay '99
• Devil Dice
• Capcom Generations: Street Fighter 2 Collection
• The Wild 9 (released as Wild 9)
• Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within
• Croc 2
• Duke Nukem: A Time To Kill
• Psybadek
• Tiny Tank: Up Your Arsenal
• Tomorrow Never Dies
• NFL Blitz
• Moto Racer 2
• Test Drive: Off-Road 2

Strategy:

• Circuit Breakers
• Heart of Darkness
• NFL Xtreme
• Parasite Eve

Code Junkies (Cheats and more!):

• Hot Shots Golf
• Vigilante 8
• Cardinal Syn
• N2O
• Gex: Enter the Gecko
• Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.
• NASCAR '98
• Mortal Kombat 4
• Game Shark Codes:
  • Armored Core
  • Bio F.R.E.A.K.S.
  • Deathtrap Dungeon
  • Einhänder
  • Forsaken
  • Gran Turismo (Arcade Mode)
  • Granstream Saga, The
  • Jet Moto 2
  • Mortal Kombat 4
  • Need For Speed III: Hot Pursuit
  • Pitfall 3D
  • Risk
  • Road Rash 3-D
  • San Francisco Rush
  • X-Men Vs. Street Fighter
  • X-Men: Children of the Atom

Letters (The 'interactive' portion of the magazine):

• Letters - Readers write, editors reply)
• Link-Up - Want a pen pal? Find one who loves video games here!
• Pause - This month's topic: RPGs Need to Evolve. Last month's topic: Violence and Censorship.
• Fan Art - A showcase of the physical and digital artwork sent to the PSM office each month.
• Smart Bomb - "The Truth About Tomb Raider"
• PSM Shop - A new feature coming next month, with an early-bird sneak peek this issue. Buy a hat or t-shirt, would ya?
• Top This! - If you tackle the challenges, you can win the prizes.
  • Challenge #1: Get the real ending for Parasite Eve.
  • Challenge #2: Unlock all the movies in Mortal Kombat 4.
  • Challenge #3: Get the highest score possible in NFL Xtreme.
• PS - Seven pictures we just couldn't cram in anywhere else except this month's parting shots column.
• Reset - Coming in 30 days: a run-down of some spooky October gaming goodness, a showcase on some new PlayStation peripherals, a strategy guide for Darkstalkers 3, plus your regularly-scheduled weirdness. Miss it at your own peril!

Ads (in order of appearance):

• Cardinal Syn
• TOCA Championship Racing
• Team Losi RC Racer
• Deathtrap Dungeon
• Heart of Darkness
• Spyro the Dragon
• Tenchu: Stealth Assassins
• Turbo Prop Racing
• NFL GameDay '99
• NFL GameDay '99 Sears $10 off coupon
• G. Darius
• Thrill Kill (unreleased)
• Tiny Tank
• PSM $1-per-issue subscription card
• Earthworm Jim 3D
• Thunder Force V: Perfect System
• Elemental Gearbolt
• S.C.A.R.S
• Colony Wars: Vengeance
• Duke Nukem: Time to Kill
• O.D.T.
• Tales of Destiny
• Mega Man Legends
• Command & Conquer Red Alert: Retaliation
• Brunswick Circuit Pro Bowling
• Wild 9
• Alien Resurrection
• Ninja: Shadow of Darkness special 8-page advertising supplement
• PSM magazine "Thanks!"
• Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012
• Devil Dice
• The Granstream Saga
• Pocket Fighter
• Akuji the Heartless
• The Unholy War sheet of 9 trading cards
• Interact UltraRacer controller
• PSM 1-900 tip line
• PSM magazine ad
• Ninja: Shadow of Darkness
• The Unholy War

Notable Stuff:

• This issue marks the magazine's one-year anniversary. As such, there's a ton of retrospective and homage paid to past issues, along with a full-page "Thanks!" ad from the staff on page 83.
• According to the Nihon Game Otaku column, a consortium of Japanese game companies including Capcom, Konami, Square, Sony CEI, Sega, and Namco all banded together to crack down on the sale of used copies of their biggest titles at one specific chain store in the Kanto area known as "Famicom Shop Doh". Sales of previously-owned material in Japan were the subject of countless legal battles over the years.
• 'Didn't they review Mega Man Legends already back in issue 10?" Yes, but they're re-running it because the game got delayed several months, and they like it a lot, so NYAH!
• The Preview for Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within promises 'even more chills and an even higher body count' than the previous title. This is the difference between relying on what the publisher tells you versus actually getting a title in-hand to play with.
• What a difference one year makes. This year's Top 25 Games of All Time list looks quite different from last year's, although some of that may have to do with the fact that it's the magazine staff choosing the games this time around instead of leaving it up to readers like last time.
• Issue #1 shipped with a bright yellow PlayStation lid sticker, so issue #13 ships with a gold lid sticker of the same design, bound into the magazine between pages 114 and 115.
• The "Smart Bomb" comic for this issue is hilariously on-point.
• The fold-out ad for Cardinal Syn which opens the magazine has to be one of the most violent game ads of the decade, featuring a grinning severed head, complete with dripping gore, slapped atop an equally blood-drenched pole axe like a trophy.
• The PSM Shop makes its debut in this issue, although with a very limited selection of stuff. This is more like a test run before the actual roll-out next month, but if you want a PSM baseball cap or t-shirt (short or long sleeve), they'll be happy to take your dough.
• Am I the only one who thinks its weird to see an ad for the very magazine you're reading within the pages of said magazine? Like, you don't have to introduce me to PSM, I'm already aware of its existence because I'm holding it in my hands right now.