NGC Magazine Issue 112

Introduction

Back in 2005 NGC was all over the Game Boy Micro, and although the Game Boy Advance was now over 4 year old technology, and already superseded by the DS, it still was hailed as an impressive device. They also looked at Sonic Riders, and Lego Star Wars finally got a UK release date.

Although the Gamecube was getting quite old by this point, there were still plenty of games to look forward to. Battalion Wars was one of the biggest, the team praising the evolution of Advance Wars into 3 dimensions. SSX on Tour, Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Gun were other big games this month. The team also visited the studios of Peter Jackson’s King Kong game, ahead of its December  release.

Over in NGC pocket Nintendogs was the star game, with an unusual review in the style of a diary. They also looked at the final Gen 3 Pokemon game  - Emerald, consolidating all that made Ruby and Sapphire great. There were plenty of other games too, such as Oendan, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow and Jump! Superstar

Gamecube reviews on the other hand were a bit thin on quality. We once again got the annual releases of NFL, NHL and NBA, along with FIFA 2006 and Tiger Woods 2006. Spartan Total Warrior was the only other game of note, getting a respectable 82%.

NGC looked at some of the unique one-off concepts Nintento ran with, including Uniracer and Sim Ant. Most of these had one release, and were immediately consigned to the strap heap. Although pleasingly, Pokemon Snap is finally getting a modernised version.

In time warp, Mark Green looked at Pac Man, and looked back on issue 21 of N64 from November 1998. NGC classics also looked at various aspects of gaming such as the Chris Houlihan room in Link to the Past, and the world of Castlevania IV.