Super Play Issue 16

Introduction

Issue 16 saw R-Type III hit the SNES, with another fabulous Wil Overton cover. Matt Evans scored the Japanese version 83%, praising the improvements made since Super R-Type in 1991. There weren’t 90% plus games this month, although several hovered in the 80’s. Madden NFL’94 scored 85%, with Andy Butcher calling it the first American Football game on the SNES worth buying. Similarly, NBA showdown scored 89%, with Cam Whinstanley also calling it a great simulation and worth buying even if you didn’t like the real game. There wasn’t much in terms of UK releases this month, with the highest score being Brett Hull Hockey scoring 78% - James Leach commenting that it has significant competition, but that it might just be able to beat some of the best.

James Leach managed to get an interview with Chris Donkin, who was one of the directors responsible for the excellent SNES adverts featuring the dearly departed Rik Mayall, covering lots of aspects of the advertising process - including why they casted Rik, why they made the adverts they did and how much a campaign costs.

 Also in the news this month, lightgun Lethal Enforcers announced for the SNES, and showed that it was just as good as the Mega CD version. Keeping the TV theme running, Live from Hell city looked at several Japanese adverts as well as the show Super Mario Club, which was like a Japanese version of Gamesmaster but fully Nintendo endorsed. Guest Lewis Logardis provided a SNES troubleshooter feature about Stereo Sound, including a very suspect feature about creating your own SCART/Audio lead. There was also a chat with Neil West who looked at the best games the USA had to offer in 1994, with lots about Street Fighter II, including news about several games and the upcoming movie.

With not many games to review this month, there was space for 3 highly detailed player guides - Zombies Ate My Neighbours, Solstice II: Equinox and Super The Empire Strikes Back, with all three covering the entire games. Allan Bret’s column “Ask Allan” was in full force this month, answering questions all the way from Mario World to Cybernator, with plenty in between. There was also the final part of the combo guide to Street Fighter II Turbo. What Cart? also got a redesign this month, with a more tabular format of Game/Score and 6-10 words about the game. Top 5’s returned this month, with the top-5 shoot-em-ups.