NGC Magazine Issue 80

Introduction

For issue 80 the magazine ditched its trademark massive size, apparently because it made it too big for letter boxes, meaning they had to shift to a slightly oversized A4 format. That didn't diminish the quality though, with plenty on offer including a first play of Viewtiful Joe, a very unique comic book platformer. There was also a further look at Wind Waker, with it being released at the same time as the magazine there wasn't enough time to play the game enough to review it, but certainly enough time to get everyone hyped up about it.

The big news this month was that the Gamecube had had £50 knocked off its price, which was causing a massive uptake in sales. There was also the news that Mother 3 was also in the works, with rumours that the cancelled N64 game would be resurrected in some form. There was also the first look at Made in Wario (later Wario Ware) and they asked why some people don't understand Nintendo games. There were plenty of new games previewed this month, with stars being XGRA and Splinter Cell. 

Burnout 2 was the big game reviewed this month, Jes scored it 90%, meaning it was one of the best racing games on a Nintendo console for a long time. The only bad point was that the single player was a bit shallow. Ikaruga also got a UK release this issue, scoring 85%, whilst Conflict Desert Storm almost got a Star Game award at 89%. Adam Waring also looked at Ocarina of Time’s master Quest which came with Wind Waker, scoring that at 81%, and whilst praising it because it was free, and still the great game it always was, it dropped marks because it hadn't fixed any of the original’s issues. There was also a look at some player’s choice games on Gamecube, and a few GBA games, with only Bomberman Max 2 Blue scoring decently

There wasn't a game guide in this issue, but instead the team provided us with a beginner's guide to import gaming. This covered how to get the games running, where to get them from and where to get them from. They also had a humorous feature showing the darker side of some of Nintendo's best loved characters and the crimes they committed over the years. The compendium looked at learning Japanese and there was also a new feature “Phantasy Forum” looking at some of the basics for Phantasy Star Online.