Where I Read – Nintendo Power #32

On to Nintendo Power’s 5th anniversary. As a reminder, this is not the fifth year Nintendo published a magazine. Prior to this they had the Nintendo Fun Club newsletter – which I will get to in due time. Our cover game is Super Castlevania IV for the SNES, which is, I believe, the first time a third party SNES game has made the cover of Nintendo Power. With the magazine’s 5th year, we’re now also getting a new comic strip, adapting the Legend of Zelda. They’re also bundling one of four strategy guide with your subscription. Hmm… I may review those. So, on to issue #32 for January of 1992.

Where I Read – Electronic Gaming Monthly #82

Finally, after a stretch of hopping, skipping, and jumping across gaps in the archives, we now have contiguous issues. So, this week’s issue is #82 for May, 1996, and our cover story is Virtua Fighter 3, with notes on a preview of the “Saturn 2.0″ – which I suspect becomes Sega’s last console, the Dreamcast. Also, a little notable first for this issue is the debut of Dan “Shoe” Hsu as an assistant editor. We even have his baby picture (as we get a semi-collage of the editorial staff’s baby pictures).

Apologies for the Ever-Changing Themes

Sorry about the rapidly changing themes recently. Essentially, I’ve been going through the themes to find one that I really like. This is the closest I’ve found to one that I do like – one that works with the screen width in a way that I like, and with a header I like. Now, if only I could find a way to change the graphic to a fountain pen instead of a ballpoint pin.

Comic Review – Ultimate Six

Get Ultimate Six from Amazon.com

I’ve been catching up on my Ultimate Spider-Man, for reasons various and sundry. The volumes that haven’t been reviewed at Bureau42, I’ve reviewed here. However, this storyline – the introduction of the Ultimate Universe’s version of the Sinister Six, has been reviewed there. Thus, I’m taking my review of this storyline to my blog here, so I can kind of review it in my own little way, with a bit of an aside about the state of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. This review contains some spoilers.

First off, I enjoy the Ultimate Spider-Man part of the Ultimate Universe, but it’s the only part of the Ultimate Universe that I like. Mark Millar’s work rubs me wrong in almost every respect. Ultimate X-Men turned me off the moment they decided that Ultimate Cable was future Wolverine (as if Wolverine wasn’t over-used enough). However, Ultimate Spider-Man has managed to balance Peter Parker’s angst with the more light-hearted face that Peter puts forward as Spider-Man in a way that the comics in the main Marvel U haven’t, for reasons that I can best tell are related to Editorial fiat.

Quality Control – Ninja Gaiden Shadow

Ninja Gaiden is one of those series that hold a special place in my heart. It’s a game series, like Castlevania, that is known for it’s steep learning curve, that I can’t beat without using save states, and that I love anyway. Ninja Gaiden Shadow, isn’t exactly in that series. It was originally released in Japan as a port of the NES game Shadow of the Ninja, but Tecmo liked it so much, they bough the game. Well, now it’s time to find out if it was worth their money, and yours.

The Premise

Ryu Hayabusa is a young man. His father is still alive and is still in possession of the Dragon Sword.  As Ryu trains in New York, he learns of a sinister plot by Emperor Garuda to take over the city for his lord, Jaquio. Ryu goes forth to save the city and the world.