Electronic Gaming Monthly Issue #6 - January 1990

[@RyanDanielG]

Just start a Patreon already.. per vid. You can count as few of the vids as you want, whatever. This quest of yours to play/discuss ALL the games is, as we all can tell, a MAJOR time sink. You've given enough, try to take a crumb or two. Thx for the video game encyclopedia.

[@CGQuarterly]

The thing is, money is not the reason that I can't upload more often, so I would feel weird suddenly asking for viewers to pay me. If it ever got to the point that I wanted to work less hours at my job in order to spend more time here on YT, then I could see doing Patreon because I would need to make up the difference in pay. But for now, AdSense revenue and the occasional t-shirt sale ( amzn.to/2lvDJuh ) provide enough money for me to buy the supplies that we need for the show. I really appreciate the thought, though. You're not the first person to tell me to start up a Patreon deal.

[@verrin9154]

Just know if you ever did start a Patreon, that's a train I'll be riding.

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks! I honestly do appreciate the support that I get from you guys.

[@steclegg]

Just adding my support for a Patreon. I'd certainly contribute.

[@dc2akira]

I would definitely support you on Patreon. You're videos are always well produced and polished and I LOVE these let's read videos. I don't think it would hurt to create a Patreon account and just throw up a splash screen at the end of videos. No hard sell. Maybe even thank you're Patreon supporters at the end ? Like credits, just as a special thanks and that would be your shoutout to Patreon.

[@ruineves4356]

Just found this channel and I love it.

[@ScarletSprites]

That day each month that you'd get home from school and a new copy of EGM was there waiting, priceless. I'd spend hours pouring over the issue, reading everything and staring at each picture multiple times over.

[@jokerzwild00]

Scarlet Sprites I still have screenshots of games I wanted burned into my brain. I remember looking at pre release comparison shots of Street Fighter 2 for the SNES and Genesis and I swear I can remember the exact screens twenty something years later. Same with odd stuff I never would have even had a chance of owning back then, like Lynx and TG16 games. So exotic and different because they just weren't in my area and nobody had them. This automatically made them better in my kid's brain. And of course Nintendo Power! Holy crap I must have read my collection of those 100 times a piece. And the walkthroughs and tips were actually helpful. I even poured over Sears catalogs, dreaming about owning the games and systems in there.

[@estebancruz6194]

Hey yo I remember the screen shots were so cool & important back then. It was the only way we could take a look at the game play of some of the games we dreamed about playing one day. At least for me it was that way.

[@HeyLookAtTheMoon]

Then failing the math test at school the next day!

[@Equint77]

Thank you for these magazine review videos. I used to love egm and gamepro as a kid. Great to see the old game reviews and ads again.

[@trevorbozeman]

Love the new intro with you on the iPad! Plus I'm so glad you do these videos, it's a great way to preserve these classic magazines!

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks! I think I might start doing the iPad thing regularly.

[@SassoStudios]

These are always an absolute treat. Thank you :)

[@cybernitemusic]

That was an excellent episode. Full of interesting info... plz do more of these magazine read throughs... takes me back!

[@ATWDigital]

Man, these are great. I remember how treasured these magazines were back in the age before the internet.

[@KWKBOX]

What hasn't the internet ruined?

[@MagicPlants]

Thanks for bringing me back to my childhood! Your additions really fill out the video and your ratio of "read some/synopsize the rest" works AMAZINGLY WELL! Keep it up! Subbed

[@dennyleclerc3728]

I really enjoy these episodes. I know it must take a lot of time to put these together. They are never rushed and they feel so complete with gameplay video and gaming historical facts. Thank you for doing such a wonderful job!!!

[@_OCPGAMING]

You'd think that watching someone detail a video game magazine would be boring but that almost hour flew right by.

[@Dale-Verga]

so many awesome details I missed when I was a kid. Great way to revise classics! keep them coming!

[@Betoven81]

Is anybody interested in you doing a read through of the Mega Play magazines?....uhm YES PLEASE :) And thank you for the videos you make. Having to wait every few months for them can kill me, but you always deliver buddy

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks! You're the third person to express interest in a Mega Play read through, so I'm going to go ahead and start working on it. Already have the issue picked out! Thanks for following the show!

[@videogameobsession]

Loved the Mega Play mag. SNES Buyer's Guide too. I'd also love to see a retrospect on either of those. I own a complete set of both, so if you need a cover scan or two please let me know. I'd actually like to scan them all some day, so maybe this would be a good excuse! :)

[@cr-nd8qh]

Thanks man I'm going through really tough times

[@Existencerased]

I just wanted to say thank you for these Let's Read episodes. As a child I remember occasionally getting game mags at the grocery store before my mother purchased my first subscription to Gamepro. eventually I would start ordering others, PSM, ODCM, and GAMEFAN. During my teen years I was forced to throw my issues away, we were moving a lot and they weren't deemed necessary. seeing these issues, the ad s, sweepstakes, etc. has brought a rush of Nostalgia upon my face, and I just wanna say I appreciate it, and I wouldn't mind throwing some money to you on patreon, if you were to consider that route. I love this channel, cheers and happy gaming.

[@IAM_UDON]

Best Let's Read for these kinds of magazines on KZbin hands down, you're the man Chris!

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks Steve!

[@kazbermuda9675]

I live in the UK and I must say I do enjoy your "Let's read" series of videos the magazine's Stateside look so rich in colour and i would love to get my hands on one but this is obviously the next best thing. Keep up the great work I love how you keep old games systems alive and it's refreshing to see see your enthusiasm for it!!

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks, Kaz!

[@lisvender]

Great stuff! I appreciate your detailed descriptions of the historic context that surround these issues. I also like your down-to-earth, honest opinions about gaming trends and releases of the day. I hope you'll continue to make Let's Reads!

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

[@leefrosler]

This is my favorite KZbin channel.Really- thanks so much for the show. Your voice and presentation make for easy listening and watching. Not to mention the content induces a comforting dose of nostalgia. I was quite happy to see you praise the Batman game for the NES. I used to wake up as an 11 year old on Saturday morning and run through that game to give my weekend some zen and a kick-ass buzz- I was always proud cause I thought it was pretty challenging. Love the industrial -type aesthetic of the game. I still listen to the soundtrack every now and then too. Looking forward to more great vids. Cheers!

[@KWKBOX]

My pleasure. Thanks for the comment!

[@whenifeellow]

I'd never have thought I'd enjoy watching a dude going through each page of a classic magazine like this! Great video.

[@maxrage2104]

love these vids brings me back to my childhood

[@cpnnpr]

Really enjoyed this video. I have a large collection of these magazines, and they are a blast to read again. I would definitely watch you cover the Genesis magazine. thx.

[@fordxbgtfalcon]

I still have a magazine back when they were called Electronic Game Player before Electronic Gaming monthly. Its from September 1988.

[@JCally83]

Very impressive knowledge, great channel for this kind of stuff

[@kegaan]

The 90's was so "radical" dude! I love this channel .

[@Cee_Nelly]

These videos are always awesome! Thanks for taking the time to do them!

[@blackprobegt2000]

I can't believe people were not wowed with Super Mario World when they first saw it! I was 11 years old when the SNES was released and will never forget the first time I saw SMW being displayed on a TV at the local WalMart and it was literally all I thought about until I got the SNES that Christmas ❤

[@cybernitemusic]

You have really great analyses of these magazines... historical and interesting.

[@DTM-Books]

13:00 Semrad never played the games he reviewed in EGM. That was the gossip back in the day. He had some staffer play for him instead. This was common practice for "mainstream" journalists who wrote about videogames in those days.

[@CGQuarterly]

Sad, but make sense considering his poor review of Galaga '90.

[@AdamSTL83]

This was really cool, i remember a lot of those ads as you were flipping through the mag. I'll have to check out more of your vids, keep it up

[@dylprof]

You have a new subscriber! I can't believe how well I remember these publications (especially the ads!)

[@CGQuarterly]

Hey Dylan, Thanks!

[@Clay3613]

Didn't get this in my notifications last month.... Looking forward to the next video!

[@jong2359]

Batman was WILDLY popular in the early 90's via comic books. I can't comment on '89, but definitely early 90's leading all the way up to when Bane broke Batman's back in '93... after that it kind of sloped off.

[@matthewlane518]

I had an EGM sub. At that time so I remember this issue very fondly

[@DamnRandall]

Thank you so much for doing these series of videos. It really takes me back to my childhood -- I was 5 years old in 1990. I wish I still had my collection of GameFan magazines. GameFan was definitely my favorite magazine in my youth.

[@SegaGenesisEvangelion]

In addition to what you said about showing the ending of a game, the experience of playing through Ghouls 'n Ghosts is worth so much more than just seeing what the final boss looks like... awesome game.

[@elsucko6597]

Wow man thanks for the memories! I remember buying these mags back in the day. I would read them from cover to back, enjoyed looking at the photos also. It was like the world wide web for game system info before the internet.I very much looked forward to the next issue of EGM coming out. I wish I still had my collection. Again thank you so much for sharing!

[@CGQuarterly]

Glad you liked it! I'll have a read-through of the June 1991 issue of GamePro coming out this week, so stay tuned!

[@cdreamworld]

I love these let's read videos. I try to find pdf of the magazines and go through them with you lol. Looking forward to the next magazine!

[@CGQuarterly]

That's a cool idea!

[@coreysmith4111]

Awesomely awesomeness! I still have that issue. Keep up the great work!

[@daakrolb]

I LOVE these strolls down memory lane. MAN the memories.. those were the days...

[@weekendaternies5599]

So I'm pounding away at my keyboard at work while listening to this episode (again) and wanted to comment about Fester's Quest. I was 12 or 13 years old when this came out and actually owned the game. I wanted it quite badly and all because I have vivid recollection of watching the Addams Family quite a bit on local TV at the time. I'm guessing it was running in syndication across the country. I also recall being borderline obsessed at this time with games based on movies of the period (i.e. Karate Kid; Back to the Future; Jaws; etc). I guess us kids of the period were drawn to what we already knew. Keep up the great work!

[@JesseH76]

Loved it! Really takes me back because I had a few issues of these early EGM magazines. Sadly, I threw a majority ofr them away. Sushi-X comes to mind more than anyone when it comes to their reviewers....he was so mysterious! lol Reset your Genesis 56 times...wow. Anyway, very nice how you added actual gameplay as you talked about games in the magazine and gave your 2 cents, too. I hope you keep the series going! I could seriously type more, but I'll spare you, and I have to go to bed for work tomorrow. Great start. Please add mor of your own stories and your own nostalgia. I'd love that!

[@cavalleri]

Fantastic work! I always love these videos.

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks, David!

[@TheShinobidog]

nice video! great channel, man, makes me wanna dig out all my old mags!

[@Elric83]

I missed you! :) It's always great getting a new video!

[@CROBobo]

At 31:30 you are reading about Gradius, but you show the "Gradius: Interstellar Assault" box which is actually "Gradius 2" or "Nemesis II: The Return of the Hero" in Europe. At 39:20 - ...yes these are the sound samples that were used in the games you mentioned, but I think those came with the NES SDK (software development kit). Sorry if it seems like I'm nitpicking, because that was not my intention. Anyway, awesome video, I see that you put so much work and love in it, keep up the great work. :)

[@CGQuarterly]

Yeah I should have shown the box for Nemesis. I should know better, since I own that game. Don't worry, I didn't think you were nitpicking. :)

[@gamehuggers3700]

Great job Chris! Love these episodes! Makes me want to follow along with you in my copy! :D

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks, Josh!

[@DrewberTravels]

42:15 I had a bomber jacket in the early nineties. I don't know if it was a thing or what...

[@IIKings211]

Was looking forward to another video. Thanks and keep up the good work. PS, your channel inspired me to gather up all my old games and consoles and display them in a game room.

[@CGQuarterly]

Wow, I didn't think my show could make such an impression on anyone. What game systems do you have?

[@IIKings211]

Sure did leave an impression. I have always loved gaming, and being 36 years old my heart lies with the classics. Your show brought me back to that. As for classic consoles I have the NES, SNES, N64 and Game Cube. The project is far from complete, in the midst of planning it now. Nothing real elaborate though. By the way, one of my favorite games is Jackal for NES. Great memories playing that 2-player with my Dad.

[@maktoumsaeed]

Fantastic video as always. I don't know if it was mentioned by someone or corrected later, but Sega's Genesis games player was Nomad and the rumors section got it right.

[@ryanyoder7573]

The Adams Family was on TBS and I watched it a lot as a kid back in the 80s.

[@hikaruk.981]

Navy Blue mentioned in the GB section, and it ultimately picked up the "Battleship" license upon its US release.

[@Boneless_Tony]

Navy blue!!!!! Ahhhhh!!!! Another forgotten gem remembered!

[@micronian]

Wow, an ad for U.V.T. Inc, I remember going there around 1991. I forgot who took me there, but I will never forget it because it was the first time I saw a Neo Geo hooked up to a TV. I remember clearly just staring at the system a foot away from my face and just looking at the joysticks and thinking how amazing it looked. I miss the 80's and early 90's.

[@Oumpah-Pah]

your video content is always excellent, thanks for your work!

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks!

[@control_issues]

I'm with many others in saying that I enjoy the magazine "Let's Read" videos. And yes, do some Mega Play magazines and any others that you have. I used to have a lot of these magazines, and EGM was one of my favorites. It's great to see them again, especially page by page as you have done.

[@ChescoYT]

wow, so much history in one mag! :S Tnx for sharing!! :D

[@Packman1325]

Please do a read-thru of one of you're Mega Play magazines.

[@rodrodriguez3334]

Nostalgia overload! Thank You CGQ! :)

[@SugarGorilla]

Glad this series is back!

[@sloppynyuszi]

Growing up in Europe and Australia I got all the American mags super late, but compared to CVG, Sega Power, Mean Machines I always liked EGM best. It mostly just had information and mews about games instead wasting 5 pages on an opinion about games. You would have a few pages of information on what the game is in the previews and the review was just a quick summery of what they overall thought.

[@truthteller5521]

Sloppy Toons EGM was the best, at that time, in my opinion.

[@senate90]

YEEEEEESSSSS! Thank you!! keep up the awesome work!!

[@korrelics]

These really take me back!

[@craigluft2373]

what's really great about these magazine videos is that it brings up opportunities to mention games that aren't notable enough to have videos dedicated to them retro video game youtube seems to cover the same All Time Greats, All Time Worsts, Important Games, Controversial Games, and "Hidden" Gems. it seems like in order to do anything original, you have to cover the stuff that's too mundane to have already been covered. I never heard of FCI before, and I just got overwhelmed with a bunch of their games.

[@PedroSilvahf]

Im not from the US but eventually i got to buy a few issues of egm and gamepro. Internet came in and i got to read the scans of your game mags. Im really amazed how the portable genesis was something someone would talk about almost every month. The mention in this 1990 magazine must be the oldest i can remember

[@cbarger2327]

Great video! Regarding the Dragon Spirit code: you reset the TG16 by pressing Run + Select at the same time. It's a software reset, so it will not harm your system no matter how many times you do it. Also, in the Mega Play section, that wasn't a screen shot of Gain Ground, but another screen from Phantasy Star II's map. Though magazines of the time, and Sega promotional materials, said that Gain Ground was coming out later in 1990, it was delayed, and eventually released by Renovation (known for publishing Telnet/Wolf Team titles) in 1991.

[@metabolizm4438]

AWESOME work man! I'm still hoping and waiting for an episode regarding The Official Nintendo Player's Guide.

[@CGQuarterly]

Oh yeah, I should totally do that.

[@chrispacheco8590]

I totally remember my first encounter with a Gameboy and it was in fact with Super Mario Land I think in like early 90, and let me just say it was quite amazing to me at how the motion and animation was totally a kin to NES games (considering I was use to tiger type handhelds) and just dreamed of owning one, other games that equally amazed me where Paperboy, & Wizards & Warriors, Gameboy to me was quite revolutionary, and I don't remember either the Lynx or Game Gear being as impacting. Oh n btw Batman the movie, and Sunsoft's game turned me into an instant Batman fan, before that all I really knew about Batman was the 60's series

[@tazzybakes1169]

Great read through !! enjoyed it thoroughly , whens the next !! lol

[@bemindful3315]

Awesome content as always. Your videos are like KZbin comfort food

[@CGQuarterly]

Would you say that I'm the "chicken fried steak" of KZbin?

[@bemindful3315]

Classic Gaming Quarterly I certainly would. Of course, the main emphasis here is that your videos are very relaxing. After a long, stressful workday it's nice to just chill out and enjoy nostalgia and learn a few things along the way. This isn't the first time and won't be the last time I say it in the comments - thanks for what you do, man.

[@thegreatgambino]

that was a blast from the past!

[@DanielR-db2ex]

The one page you didn't comment on was the one I was most excited about. The ad for River City Ransom, one of my all-time favorite games.

[@CGQuarterly]

Hey Daniel! That's because I talked about that ad in the last magazine read through, which was GamePro from Nov. 1990. Check it out!

[@DanielR-db2ex]

Classic Gaming Quarterly Cool, I'll have to watch that one. Awesome channel, keep up the good work!

[@theguambler3338]

that was an unexpected way to "show" your face at the beginning!! Ya know, I mentioned before that I'm personally not a fan of longform Let's Read or Let's Plays, but its actually really good white noise for my second monitor while I'm working lol

[@CGQuarterly]

Mind if I add that to the "About" page"? "Classic Gaming Quarterly compares favorably to white noise." :)

[@samtron5000]

Classic Gaming Quarterly I agree though, I could listen to your videos while cleaning and stuff. Pleasant to listen to. You are a pioneer in the easy listening genre of reviews, let's reads, etc. To be honest, I've watched your videos before I go to bed... lol

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks, Sam. I like to watch "easy listening"-style videos while falling asleep, as well.

[@eukaryote-prime]

Glad to see a 1440p option for videos of this type. Much better detail!

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks. I'm a little bit disappointed though, because I uploaded it in 4K. Maybe YT is still processing the video? No idea; that's my first time uploading a 4K video.

[@eukaryote-prime]

Yep, it's there now! Just processing. I've uploaded some 2K vids privately to share with friends, and, unless I'm wrong, there's nowhere that indicates at what stage it is in processing higher resolutions or an ETA in your uploads administration page. Your video is an hour long, so I'm not surprised it took a while for the 4K to process.

[@eukaryote-prime]

Sidenote: I have a box on the other side of the country with Gamepros, EGM's and Nintendo Powers of varying quality (some quite good). I really should just go for it and have my family throw it on a bus to have it shipped out here or something...

[@TGApuleius]

Really enjoy these! I always refer to Kurtwood Smith as Red Forman, too, though I also always think "Bitches, leave!" when I see him. Hell of a career. It really is jarring to go back and see all of the typos in earlier mags. Though in the case of GameFan, that remained the case until the end. It's also interesting to note the amount of whitespace. Also impressive how many screen shots there are given they had to take photos of TVs at certain angles for a clear shot.

[@montefisto]

@31:36 just a heads up, at this time you showed Gradius Interstellar Assault, which was the sequel to the Gradius game you were reading about, I believe.

[@CGQuarterly]

Oops! Thanks for letting me know.

[@utubemj2010]

It would be awesome if you read the mega play with streets of rage on the cover. Great work man. Love the videos.

[@CGQuarterly]

Thanks! I am actually already working on doing a read through of that very issue!

[@bluefat8096]

Hi, Classic Gaming Quarterly. Can you do the first issue of EGM sometime in 2017? That would be nice. Take care.

[@Trainy2]

This was smack dab in the middle of the golden age. Just new innovative things constantly coming out.

[@wojiaobill]

5:45 awesome how that ad referenced a song from a Canadian band (R.E.M.) ;-)

[@TheUndeadMew]

Speaking of Batman on NES, that game has the best wall jumping in any game ever!

[@DragonHunterG]

yes, i'd be interested in looking through those megaplay magazines. i dont remember them too much.

[@CGQuarterly]

OK, cool. I think I'll do that next.

[@guyfellows2293]

Could "Jim Stockhousen" be the prototype for sushi-x, i.e. he was a pen name for random interns and never really existed?

[@estebancruz6194]

I miss EGM. I didnt know about Galaga 90 but it looks great. & the Gameboy never got my attention until the GB advanced came out because of color screen. Nice read through.

[@choncho2585]

Scared the shit out of me Zordon! Thanks for the new video I was starting to get the shakes

[@mulletboater]

i'm surprised you didn't stop to discuss Gain Ground. The graphics are not to write home about, but, i found it to be a surprisingly clever and addictive game. I remember a friend brought over a Sega throwback machine; this was a few years back; before those kinds of throwback machines were overpriced and overhyped. Anyway: we sampled the games on it, and, we had not heard of Gain Ground before then. It turned into a night of us mastering Gain Ground, and, not really paying as much attention to the other well trodden classics. Gain Ground has two things that are often mentioned in CGQ: it has a two player simultaneous mode, and, it would have made a good weekend rental in its time.

[@metalmat3651]

Excellent video as usual!

[@videogameobsession]

Great job as usual. Always takes me back to a wonderful time when watching these. I remember importing Batman (Mega Drive version) around that. Once i realized you could play them on a Genesis by shaving down the cart slot tabs I went a bit nuts ordering them. Batman, DJ Boys, Whiprush, Insector X, Space Invaders '90, FATMAN, Rainbow Islands Extra, Phelios, and Strider. Such a great time to be a teenager with a disposable income, from working hard of course. :) Hey, I noticed your box for Motorcross Maniacs is very different. The one I own and scanned has Ultra Games, Konami Subsidiary (as I'm sure you know) on the cover, with a totally different pic. Was there a rerelease published by Nintendo that I am unaware of?

[@videogamepolak0]

yeah the rental store by me was crazy for NES games, they had a boat load, i was young so everything seems larger than actual perspective but it was probably like at least 70 games +. Id always try to rent games I recognized, but some were always rented, and i never really went out on the limb, when I wasnt sure Id get a suggestion from something my parents saw in a nintendo power that they thought was suitable, cause remember back then thats what you had to judge games on game magazines, or word of mouth, no internets.

[@mttetro]

loved every minute of the vid!

[@CGQuarterly]

Glad to hear it!

[@thunter992]

Can we please get more of these? it's became a bed time ritual for me

[@ducky920567]

It's crazy to think back then this was our only source of reviews. Many times I bought NES games based on box art and no reviews that turned out to be a waste of $50. (I'm looking at you, Deadly Towers and Dragon Power!)

[@CGQuarterly]

Oh man, do I have a lot to say about that topic. I got hosed more times than I ended up with a good game.

[@CarlosPerez-wt8ff]

Watching this made me feel old. Last night I watched news reports from the 1989 SF quake 27yrs ago. I woke up with some gray hair.

[@9ElevenGamer]

12:47 Was the Japanese version called GALAGA '88, or are there two games? I am from the UK and we never got the TurboGrafx, you could obviously import one, but information back then was scarce, it looks like the same game but the 2 year time line seems strange, just curious if there were two separate GALAGA's, an '88 and a '90, or it is indeed the same game? Cheers to anyone for any information on this.

[@rjc199]

4:10 IIRC there was a new Addams Family cartoon or something that came out about that time. And MC Hammer did a song associated with the rebirth. I think it was Addams Family Groove or something like that. So we did know who Uncle Fester was at that time.

[@ChescoYT]

Look how expensive those mags were back in 1990! That was like equiv. to $12 today!

[@KWKBOX]

I know what you mean. I would have to take out a second mortgage to get a subscription to those mags.

[@rayzaramon6598]

Yeah man! Do the Mega Play Mags!! I'd love to watch those.

[@Rodolfo_Teixeira_DF]

Reading games mags, renting games... 100% related to my childhood.. :)

[@arioca]

Excellent episode! Note: There was another fun/different Batman game made by Sunsoft in Japan for the PC Engine.

[@KWKBOX]

There was also a different addams family game on the turbo cd.

[@TrackZero]

Ducktales was quite popular that year, alongside Blades of Steel, Megaman 2 and Double Dragon 2 as I recall.

[@darkfalz4443]

Love your videos

[@KWKBOX]

Thanks

[@JazGalaxy]

You just blew my mind. i had no idea that Fester's Quest came out before The Adam's Family movie. I had always assumed it was a tie-in. Even as a kid. I wonder what in the world i would have thought of it otherwise?

[@KWKBOX]

The Addams Family game on the Turbo CD was made before the movie too. It is way crazier than the NES game.