N64 Magazine Issue 43

Introduction

Issue 43 saw Majora’s Mask hit Japan, and Mark was on hand to give it a full going over. They praised the games ability to get the best out of the N64, as well as the uniqueness of the game and gave it 95%. There was only two reviews in the Uk with Excitebike 64 scoring an excellent 90% - Mark praising the game heavily, but in comparison to other recent racers it seemed a little slow. The very poor Taz Express scored a measly 27%, with Alan showcasing major complaints with the gameplay and controls.

This issue also had all the coverage from E3. The main headline being that Nintendo were sticking with the N64 and GBC for the time being - the reveal of the Dolphin and GBA delayed until Spaceworld later in the year. Not content with their recent release of Perfect Dark, Rare produced three games worth of stars of the show. Conker's Bad Fur Day, Dinosaur Planet and Mickey's Speedway USA. They also got their first play of Mario Tennis, as well as the rebranded Paper Mario. There were plenty of other games too, certainly showing the N64 wasn't ready to give up just yet.

There was plenty for Planet Game to report about too, with news on new Zelda games, Donkey Kong Country and Perfect Dark amongst others. Pokémon Yellow also hit the shelves this month with a mammoth (by PGB standards) 6 page review. Of course it got 5 stars, with praise for the additional features that were introduced with this version of the game. There were another 8 games reviewed this month, with Wario Land 3 the best of the bunch - again scoring 5 stars. The team also celebrated the production of the 100 millionth Game Boy.

The third Readers awards were within this issue, with Donkey Kong 64 coming out as the best game of ‘99. They also asked what the overall best game on the N64 was, with Ocarina of Time coming out trumps. The issue had more on Perfect Dark now that the team got a chance to play it for a month. 

Guides this month looked at all the major battles in Pokemon Stadium, and showed how to get the gold medals  in International Track and Field 2000. In the back of the mag feature Mark questioned a NASA computer engineer to look at several sci-fi elements from games and work out whether they could ever come into the real-world - if at all They covered things like the Watch Magnet from Goldeneye and Hover Boots from Zelda.