GameGo! – Volume 1, Issue 1 – 2001.

GameGo! was an extremely short lived magazine. Only one issue was actually published in June 2001 though a second issue was eventually released in PDF format. This magazine was published by some former GameFan editors and was meant to be a “hardcore” gaming magazine that covered imports and more obscure titles such as the cover featured Stretch Panic by Treasure.

Unfortunately for me, on a whim I actually subscribed to this magazine. Subscribers had the misfortune of being left holding the bag since no other issues were published and subscription fees were not returned (at least mine wasn’t).

Contents includes:

• Read This First – An introduction to the magazine including a bit about their rating system and review philosophy.

• GO! – A letter from the editor with more about the philosophy of the magazine.

• Editors Assemble – An introduction to and brief bios for each of the editors.

• Final Analysis – Summary judgements on some of the games reviwed later in the issue, including Angel Present (PS2), Armored Core 2 (PS2), Extermination (PS2), Gran Turismo 3 (PS2), J Phoenix (PlayStation 2), Klonoa LV (PS2), Monster Rancher 3 (PS2), PNN2 (PS2), Velvet Files (PS2), Bangai-O Dreamcast), Macross M3 (Dreamcast), Record of Lodoss War (Dreamcast), Rhapsody of Zephyr (Dreamcast), Sakura Taisen 3 (Dreamcast), and Baroque Shooting (J-Win).

Features

• Stretch Panic – A 3D platform game by treasure for the PlayStation 2 featuring some rather unique play mechanics.

• Record of Lodoss War – While superficially resembling Diablo 2, this is a much deeper action RPG for the Dreamcast and at least this author thinks it is one of the best games for the system.

• Gran Turismo 3 – At the time it was released for the PlayStation 2, this was one of the best racing game for any system ever.

• Monster Farm 3 – AKA Monster Rancher 3. In this game for the PS2 you raise and battle monsters. I guess you could say it was similar in concept to Pokemon.

• Bangai-O – An excellent 2D shooter for the Dreamcast.

Reviews

• Gitarooman (PS2) – This game plays very much like Guitar Hero combined with an adventure game. Instead of playing just to play, you play to destroy aliens and save the world.

• Extermination (PS2) – Another in a long line of survival horror games. This one isn’t terribly original and is less scary than most.

• Pairotto Ni Naru 2 (Let’s Be A Pilot)(PS2) – A pretty hardcore flight sim. The graphics aren’t great and this sort of game doesn’t really translate well to a console.

• Velvet Files (PS2) – This game is very much like the Front Mission series. Strategic combat with giant robots. If you like those games you should love this one.

• Armored Core II: Another Age (PS2) – Basically an expansion (new missions) of Armored Core II that doesn’t actually require Armored Core II to play.

• J Phoenix< (PS2) – Basically this is a relatively poor clone of Armored Core II.

• Klonoa 2: Lunatea’s Veil (PS2) – An above average 3D platform game.

• Angel Present: The Legend of Merrill’s Kingdom (PS2) – An interesting an unique “musical” RPG that is kind of a sequel to Rhapsody for the PlayStation. The graphics are below average but the came is pretty good. However, the number of random battles might be frustrating for some.

• Me and Satan King (PS2) – Despite the name, a light-hearted RPG. Good looking but fairly simple game play.

• Net De Tennis (Dreamcast) – A tennis game by Capcom that is less good that most other tennis games.

• Sakura Taisen 3 (Dreamcast) – Woo girls to fight evil in giant robots via turn-based strategy game play. However, the wooing is most of the game.

• Macross M3 (Dreamcast) – A 3D shooter with a Macross theme that turns out to be not so great.

• The Rhapsody of Zephyr (Dreamcast) – An RPG that began life as a Windows game in Korea. Unfortunately, deficiencies in the port (lack of mouse support, slow cursor movement just to click things, seemingly unnecessary frequent pauses for loading, etc.) make it frustrating to play.

SHMUPS

• Guwange (arcade) – A vertical shooter by Cave in which you control your choice of maniacally powered souls.

• Baroque Shooting (J Win) – In this shooter for Japanese PCs, you control a naked winged cherub.

• The J-Files – Featuring an interview with T’s Music, a team of musicians and sound engineers responsible for the soundtracks of games such as Lords of Thunder, Sapphire and Final Fight CD among others.

• Tokyo Game Show – Covering the 2001 Tokyo Game Show. The X-Box was being heavily promoted by Microsoft.

• Games 101: Mahjong – The basics of strip mahjong…well, any mahjong really, and an overview of the games available for various consoles.

• Tech Support: RGB – Before HDMI was standard on consoles, most consoles connected to a TV via composite video or sometimes S-Video. However, RGB was superior. There were devices that could connect your console using RGB via VGA that worked with many consoles of the time including Dreamcast, Genesis, Jaguar, Neo Geo, PlayStation, PS2, Saturn, Super Nintendo and more.

RetroFIT

• M.U.S.H.A – This shooter for the Genesis was one of the first great shooters of the 16-bit era.

• Neo Nectaris – Neo Nectaris was the sequel to Military Madness that was released on the PC Engine Super CD in 1994.

• Ys Book I & II – Ground breaking RPG for the TurboGafx-CD that is still on my to play list.

• Super Mario Bros. – Sadly, most gamers today were probably born after this game was released and haven’t even tried it…

• Left Overs – Good Deal Games releases three Sega CD games (Star Strike and Bug Busters among them); new Atari Jaguar games coming; Atari Labs; JagFest 2K1; and more.

• Renderz – Fan art featuring video game characters.

• Letter Head – A letter lamenting the “death of gaming” plus some questions…

• Parting Shot – More about the making of GameGo!

• Coming Next Month – Assuming there had been another issue it would have covered Dragonball Z, NEC/TTi, Sengoku 3, an RPG special, 32X Games, and more.

…and more!

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