N64 Magazine Issue 48

Introduction

December came and Pokemon continued to be the most popular franchise, as Pokemon Puzzle League was the cover game, with the US version getting an import review and scoring a very respectable 89%, albeit with the core gameplay being almost identical to Tetris Attack on the SNES. Mark praised the sounds of the game as well as highlighting the number of game modes for single players. San Francisco Rush 2049 was the big UK review, scoring an impressive 91%, and Geraint praised the top quality visuals, with not even a hint of fogging in sight. Hercules was the only other UK release, scoring a dismal 66%.

The big preview for  this issue looked at The World Is not Enough in more detail, as they got a chance to play the game, getting the impression it could compete with Goldeneye. They also looked at Mega Man 64, as well as the latest information on Battle for Naboo and WWF No-Mercy. They also got the chance for a face-to-face interview with Shigeru Myamoto, covering everything to do with Gamecube, and find out about some of the games and features coming soon. They also spoke to several game developers to find out what they thought about the Gamecube, and how they felt about developing new games for it. Staying with the Gamecube theme, they also looked at as 9 myths, talking to some of the key devlopers about how easy it was to develop for, and get some insight as to the ins and outs of the new console.

Planet Game Boy this issue had more details on some of the first GBA games, such as Golden Sun and Castlevania and they looked amazing compared to the GBC games we were used to. They reviewed Warlocked, scoring five stars, and GTA II scored four. They also had reviews of conversions of the 16-bit Disney classics Aladdin and Jungle Book (two and four stars respectively). There was a big tips section looking at Pokemon Pinball.

Turok 3’s multiplayer was tipped in this issue, as they looked at the levels, the weapons and even some cheats to help you get through. At the back of the mag Mark looked at some of Nintendo’s classic music tracks, including the Do The Mario song by Lou Albano, based on the Mario Bros TV show, and Do the Donkey Kong by Buckner and Garcia. They even had brief interviews with the artists behind the songs.