N64 Magazine Issue 10

Introduction

As the snowy masthead showed, it was Christmas time for the N64, and what better game to have on the cover than Diddy Kong Racing, with its especially atmospheric levels. Inside it got a full 16 page review, one of the biggest in the magazine so far as they covered every single world and level in the game, with in depth tips for pretty the whole game - although stopped short of spoiling some of the big secrets of the game - hint, what do a stopwatch and a chicken have in common? James gave it 90%, meaning it wasn’t quite as good as Mario Kart, but extremely close.

Another 3 games gathered Star Game Awards, with Madden 64 and NFL Quarterback Club '98 going head to head in the battle of the NFL games. Madden was the winner of this particular battle, scoring an excellent 92% to NFL QC’s 86%. Duke Nukem 64 was also released in the UK, as it gathered a respectable 86%, making it one of the best FPS games on the N64 after Goldeneye. FIFA ‘98 was just below the award at 83%, and there were also UK reviews of Automobili Lamborghini (67%) and Chameleon Twist (70%) and Japanese reviews of J-League Eleven Beat and Puyo Puyo 64, making this issue second only to the first issue for number of games reviewed.

In preparation for Spaceworld, which was too late to be included in this issue (and probably not enough space for it either!), the team went into depth about everything they knew about Ocarina of Time so far, with a rundown of everything that had been shown so far. They also had further in depth looks at platformer Tonic Trouble and 3D shooter Forsaken as well as loads of previews including Fighters Destiny and Body Harvest as well as two soon to be released RPG’s, Goemon and Holy Magic Century. The news this month looked at the mags predictions for E3 1997, as they prayed for a look at Mario 64 2, as well as snippets of news about a new Mario Paint game.

Once again, there were a number of interesting How To guides this month. Pokemon got their first proper mention in the magazine with a How To guide to explain the basics - although back then people still didn't think it would translate very well to the western market. There was also a Christmas accessory guide, which had short reviews of all the Control pads, rumble packs and memory cards available. There was also a guide for speed running and getting all the cheats in Goldeneye 007, as well as tips for the multiplayer side of Lylat Wars. Nintendo Hotline also had a Q&A special on Top Gear Rally.