NGC Magazine
Cover of NGC issue 107 (June 2005)
Editor	Martin Kitts
Categories	Computer and video games
Frequency	Monthly
First Issue	April 1997
Final Issue — Date — Number	June 2006 120
Company	Future Publishing
Country	United Kingdom
Language
Website	Games Radar
ISSN	unknown

Cover of Issue 59, style used from its inception to this issue.

Cover of Issue 60, this style was briefly used until issue 67.

NGC Magazine (originally known as N64 Magazine until Issue 60, 2001) was a British magazine specialising in Nintendo created consoles; which was first printed in 1997 and ran until 2006. N64 Magazine was the successor to Super Play magazine after it ended in 1996 as it retained many of the staff and the style of that publication. In 2006 the magazine finally closed and has been succeeded once again by NGamer Magazine. Image File history File linksMetadata NGCmag2. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... ISSN, or International Standard Serial Number, is the unique eight-digit number applied to a periodical publication including electronic serials. ... Image File history File links N64mag. ... Image File history File links N64mag. ... Image File history File links NGCmag. ... Image File history File links NGCmag. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... Nintendo Company, Limited (Japanese: 任天堂 or ニンテンドー Nintendō; NASDAQ: NTDOY, TYO: 7974 ) is a multinational corporation founded on September 23, 1889[1] in Kyoto, Japan by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards. ... The Nintendo GameCube is an example of a popular video game console. ... 1997 (MCMXCVII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2006 (MMVI) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Super Play was a UK based SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System) magazine which ran from November 1992 to September 1996. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... NGamer Magazine is a brand-new British magazine specialising in Nintendo created consoles; the first issue was released on July 13, 2006. ...

It was at the time of its closure, one of the longest-running gaming magazines in the UK, and was considered by many to be of high quality. It was often first for trusted news (including the 'denied by official source' rumors such as the existence of Resident Evil DS and the implication of the Wii controller and the delay to Zelda: Twilight Princess - both later being proved true), honest and mainly accurate reviews and a reputation for excellent humour, which set it apart from other similar publications. It had a very large fanbase in the UK and Europe.

The Staff

The staff of NGC Magazine over the years varied. Memorable staff members included Jonathan Davies, James Ashton, Jes Bickham, Dan Geary, Tim Weaver, Wil 'FuSoYa™' Overton, Mark "Greener" Green, Martin 'Kittsy' Kitts, Andrea Ball, Zy Nicholson, Geraint Evans, Justin Webb, Miriam McDonald and Paul Edwards. The magazine took usual light-hearted digs at each of its own staff; Jes was regularly lampooned due to his bald head; Mark Green had an evil alter-ego named Dark Mark; Andrea Ball was apparently permanently covered in grease and fake tan, and also had a reputation for carrying a constantly-trademarked "Big Stick™"; Tim Weaver was famed for his patented Emotionless Stare; and James Ashton was ridiculed mercilessly in the magazine's pages for continually failing to pass his driving test.

Editors

Jonathan Davies: Issues 1-12
James Ashton: Issues 13-27
Tim Weaver: Issues 28-41
Andrea Ball: Issues 42-56
Mark Green: Issues 57-59
Tim Weaver: Issues 60-72
Jes Bickham: Issues 73-84
Marcus Hawkins: Issues 85-103
Tom East: Issues 104-116
Martin Kitts: Issues 117-120

Thematic humour

The many popular, satirical, running gags revolved around:

• Nintendo executive and design staff - Shigeru Miyamoto (most commonly referred by NGC as 'Shigsy'), Hiroshi Yamauchi (NCL's former President, who the magazine regularly called absolutely terrifying), Satoru Iwata, David Gosen (former CEO of Nintendo of Europe - the magazine claimed he was a homicidal robot named "Go-Sen"), and Reginald Fils-Aime.

• Having the readers send in weird things to win stuff: Luigi papier-mache statues, photos of people dressed up as game characters, and pieces of alternative wisdom known as 'Sense Talks'. One famous competition asked readers to send in "tat" of their own in exchange for over £1000's worth of tat from the N64 offices. Among the N64 tat was a life-sized cardboard cut-out of Turok, star of several N64 games, along with two wigs that apparently belonged to Jes Bickham: the caption read "Make no mistake: when you see Jes striding down the street in his size threes wearing these hairpieces, you know he means business". This competition was repeated when NGC later reached its final issue.

• Random nonsense on popular love/hate-relationship characters: Toad, Luigi, Sonic, Tingle, Diddy Kong, Krystal, Lex Luthor, Yoshi, Kirby, Jango Fett, and Jar-Jar Binks.

• 'Bonus Letters' (nonsensical sentences picked out of letters which are not entirely printed). This could also include the titles at the top of fully-printed letters, which took certain amusing words from the body of the letter and printed them in large, bold text to draw the reader's attention: "Bald chum" was one such famous title.

• Made-up and ridiculous words such as "blork", "grackler", "interweb", and "wah!". "Grackler" is particularly infamous; in response to a competition in issue 16 ("send us something you think will scare us witless"), a ghost story was received, part of which read "one nit when i was sleppin a grackler cam" (verbatim). The entire sentence (and later, the word "grackler" alone) became part of N64 tradition, and it was eventually decided that the term should be used as a noun when referring to an exceptionally ugly person. For example, when the football game FIFA '99 was reviewed, a picture reference was made to the extremely horrible texture-mapping on the players' faces, with the caption "Grackle Vision, Gr-Grackle Vision, Grackle-Grackle Vision," in reference to the popular UK children's TV show "ChuckleVision". "Wah!" is, of course, based on Wario's exclamation upon being hit by a shell in Mario Kart 64.

Shigeru Miyamoto as a conductor for a virtual orchestra during E3 2006, demonstrating the new functions of the Wii console Shigeru Miyamoto , born November 16, 1952) is a Japanese electronic game designer. ... Hiroshi Yamauchi Hiroshi Yamauchi (山内溥, Yamauchi Hiroshi, born November 7, 1927) was the third president of Nintendo beginning in 1949 until stepping down on May 31, 2002. ... NCL may refer to the following: A wide group of diseases known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis. ... Satoru Iwata ) born December 6, 1959, is the fourth president of Nintendo succeeding to the long-standing previous president of the company, Hiroshi Yamauchi. ... Nintendo Corporation, Limited (Japanese: 任天堂; Ninten is translated roughly as leave luck to heaven or in heavens hands, do is a common suffix for names of shops or laboratories; TSE: NTDOY) was originally founded in 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi to produce handmade hanafuda cards, for use in... Reginald Reggie Fils-Aime (pronounced ) (born March 1961) is the President and Chief Operating Officer for the North American division of Japan-based video game company Nintendo. ... Tat may refer to: The Tats, an Iranian ethnic group from the Caucasus. ... Turok is the name of a fictional comic book character. ... This article needs cleanup. ... Toad ) is a humanoid mushroom in games of Nintendos Mario series. ... Luigi ) is a fictional character featured in video games and related media released by Nintendo. ... Sonic the Hedgehog ) is a video game character and the protagonist of a series of video games released by Sega, as well as numerous spin-off comics, cartoons and books. ... Tingle is a fictional video game character created by Nintendo in The Legend of Zelda series of video games. ... Diddy Kong is a fictional character in the Donkey Kong series of video games. ... Krystal is a fictional anthropomorphic vixen from the Star Fox series of video games. ... Lex Joseph Luthor is a fictional character, a DC Comics supervillain and Supermans nemesis. ... This article is on the Nintendo character Yoshi. ... Kirby ) is a fictional character in a series of video games published by Nintendo. ... Jango Fett (66 – 22 BBY) is a fictional character from the Star Wars universe whose first cinematic appearance was in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones, where he was played by Temuera Morrison. ... Jar Jar Binks (born c. ... A noun, or noun substantive, is a part of speech which can co-occur with (in)definite articles and attributive adjectives, and function as the head of a noun phrase. ... Football is a ball game played between two teams of eleven players, each attempting to win by scoring more goals than their opponent. ... Mega Drive FIFA International Soccer cover The FIFA Series is a popular series of football (soccer) video games, released yearly by EA under the EA Sports label since late 1993. ... ChuckleVision is a popular British childrens television series, shown on CBBC, first shown in 1987. ... Wario ) is a video game character created by Nintendo. ... Mario Kart 64 ) is a racing video game for the Nintendo 64 game system; it can utilize up to four human controlled players in some modes of play. ...

Wil "FuSoYa™" Overton

Wil Overton was the magazine's chief artist (until issue 42) and was held in a somewhat reverential light by the magazine's readers; this could possibly have been brought about because some of the magazine's readers had followed Wil from the Good Ship Super Play and felt a sense of loyalty to him, but the N64 staff themselves would more than likely say it was because Wil ensnared them all in the tangled mass of electrical wiring masquerading as hair that he keeps atop his head. Wil came in for much more than his fair share of insults and jokes, but he was a vital part of the reason that N64 Magazine stood out so much on the shelves: his Manga-styled cover art was different to anything on other magazines, and his years of experience, love for RPGs and generally somewhat eccentric nature were comforting for many hardcore gamers. Wil Overton is a British artist, specialising in manga styles. ... 2nd English edition of InuYasha Vol. ...

As a measure of this eccentricity, he was also known by the pseudonym "FuSoYa™". FuSoYa was a wizard character from the game Final Fantasy IV, and Wil, devotee of Final Fantasy that he is, added a ™ symbol to the character's name, and a legend was born: FuSoYa™, Wil's "beardy, RPG-loving alter-ego", as N64 Magazine described him. FuSoYa™ appeared sporadically, sometimes to promote a competition, other times in response to queries in the magazine's letters section; his monstrous visage (actually Wil in a cheap wizard outfit and very unconvincing fake beard) was a comforting sight to many. Artwork by Yoshitaka Amano FuSoYa is a fictional, playable character from the Square Co. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Final Fantasy IV ) is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square Co. ... Final Fantasy ) is a series of computer and console role-playing games produced by Square Enix (originally Square Co. ...

Wil Overton eventually moved to Rare, where he works as an artist. He later returned to do artwork for NGamer. Rare Ltd. ... NGamer Magazine is a brand-new British magazine specialising in Nintendo created consoles; the first issue was released on July 13, 2006. ...

Top scored games

These are the top games that the magazine rated where the 100-point system was used. Ratings reflected are the last printed in N64/NGC Magazine before it finished (GameCube and DS games were re-rated for the first issue of NGamer, NGC's successor). NGamer Magazine is a brand-new British magazine specialising in Nintendo created consoles; the first issue was released on July 13, 2006. ...

For two stints, first from 1999 to 2002 and then all issues dated 2005, the Magazine ran a 5 out of 5 scoring system for portable games. This list is all games which scored the perfect five, and thus do not fit in well with the above list. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time was a video game released in 1998, and the first Zelda game for the Nintendo 64. ... Resident Evil 4 ) (often abbreviated RE4) is a horror-themed third-person shooter/action-adventure game published and developed by Capcom. ... The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (or Zeruda no Densetsu: Kaze no Takuto in Japan) is the ninth game in the well-known The Legend of Zelda series of video games. ... Metroid Prime (メトロイドプライム Metoroido Puraimu) is a first-person adventure/shooter video game developed by Nintendo-owned Retro Studios and released by Nintendo in 2002 for the GameCube (and later bundled with GameCube in 2004). ... Super Mario 64 is a video game for the Nintendo 64. ... Perfect Dark is a first-person shooter video game for the Nintendo 64 game console. ... Super Mario Sunshine is a 3-D platforming video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo GameCube. ... Advance Wars is a turn-based strategy video game developed for the Game Boy Advance by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo in 2001. ... GoldenEye 007 is a first-person shooter video game for the Nintendo 64 based on the James Bond film GoldenEye. ... Metroid Prime 2: Echoes is the direct sequel to Metroid Prime, and is the latest game in Nintendos Metroid series to appear on the GameCube. ... This article or section may be confusing for some readers, and should be edited to be clearer or more simplified. ... Mario Kart DS, abbreviated to MK:DS, is a racing game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS.[1] It is the fifth installment in the series and the first to use Nintendos free online service, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. ... Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is a video game developed and published by Nintendo for the GameCube video game console. ... Donkey Kong 64, often abbreviated DK 64, is a 3D platformer video game developed by Rare for the Nintendo 64. ... F-1 World Grand Prix is a Formula 1 racing game for the Nintendo 64 it was released in 1998. ... Shadowman #1 // Overview Shadowman is the popular comic book character from Valiant Comics who first appeared in May of 1992. ...

Controversial Reviews

The magazine handed out some controversial scores in its NGC years, mainly with some fan backlash found in the letters pages, a couple of examples are:

• Star Fox Adventures: 72% (Some thought to be a response to Rare's sale to Microsoft, although this being the reason for the score was denied. NGC humorously gave a 'cut out' 98% sticker later on for people to paste over, as a response to it)
• Sonic Adventure DX: Director's Cut: 38% (Some readers wrote in accusing this of being because of the magazine's 'hatred' of Sonic - also seen in Sonic Adventure 2 and Sonic Heroes reviews (but Sonic Rush, Sonic Riders and Sonic Advance 3 got better grades, 5/5, 75% and 81% respectively).
• Kirby Air Ride 51% (Had a couple of minor complaints, but the game was received similarly elsewhere - also people thought it was due to the Magazine's 'hatred' of Kirby.)

Star Fox Adventures is a Nintendo GameCube game in the Star Fox series released on September 23, 2002 in North America, September 27, 2002 in Japan, and September 30, 2002 in Europe. ... Sonic Adventure ) is a video game created by Sonic Team and released on December 23, 1998 in Japan by Sega for the Sega Dreamcast. ... Sonic Adventure 2 (ソニックアドベンチャー2) is a video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Sonic Team for the Sega Dreamcast, and later ported as an update to the Nintendo Gamecube. ... Sonic Heroes (ソニックヒーローズ) is a video game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series. ... Sonic Rush is a Sonic the Hedgehog game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Dimps, and published by Sega. ... This article or section is not written in the formal tone expected of an encyclopedia article. ... Route 99 Zone Sonic Advance 3 is a platform game in the Sonic the Hedgehog series, developed by Dimps and published by THQ for the Game Boy Advance. ... Kirby Air Ride (or Kirbys Air Ride, as it was known in pre-GameCube development) is a 2003 racing video game featuring Nintendos pink puffball, Kirby. ...

The Famed "Bad Reviews"

The magazine's reviews of games considered to be terrible were adored by readers due to the use of comically savage language to more accurately convey the staff's disgust with a particular game - in descending order:

• Clayfighter 63 1/3 (N64) 24% - Was described as being "as painful as... having red hot needles shoved into your eyes"; the Top Tip section revealed that "Breaking the cart open reveals several chips of varying thickness. Stack them together to prop up wobbly chairs, etc."
• Cruis'n USA (N64): 24% was described, simply, as "dump".
• Rampage 2: Universal Tour (N64): 22% - Declared an "utterly rancid arcade yawn-fest".
• Trump World (N64): 21% - To give it the full title, "Alice's Waku-Waku Trump World", an unfathomable Alice In Wonderland-themed card game, was deemed "nose-achingly pungent" and "a real Lenny Bennett of a game".
• Wheel Of Fortune (N64): 17% - Another US quiz show port, this was found to be "worse than accidentally falling off a cliff. And surviving".
• Batman of the Future (N64): 16% - A "miserable excuse for a fighting game".
• Batman: Dark Tomorrow (GameCube): 15% - Jes described as "Like having the skin flayed from your fingertips". Later when Batman Begins was mentioned on the cover the magazine asked the rhetorical question: "Can it beat Batman: Dark Tomorrow? Well, it wouldn't be hard..."
• Superman 64 (N64): 14% - was initially viewed as 'an utterly hopeless, consistently appalling leper of a 'game'...bordering on the illegal'. Superman 64 became the butt of all jokes after it was reviewed, and described in Issue 100's hall of shame as 'A game of legendary-so-bad-it's-almost-goodness'. Features the legendary level where Lex Luthor asks Superman to 'solve my maze' which later was a small competition segment in the magazine, the last of which was named "Solve my murder" and had three ways in which Luthor was killed.
• AeroGauge (N64): 10% - Was ridiculed severely, and a "Top Tip" provided with a quick-reference review in the magazine's "index" section read "If you handed over good money for Aero Gauge, 01*** ****** (number censored for privacy) is the number to ring to complain".
• Beyblade (GameCube): 10% - Was referred to as being "scat-encrusted" and Kittsy said: "It's rubbish. Really rubbish. Honest, it's crap".
• Jeopardy! (N64): 9% A US Import only, was described as "less a game, more a vile disease". Apparently "so ugly that, if you look at it, you'll turn to stone".
• Mortal Kombat Mythologies (N64): 9% - Possibly the most despised game of NGC Magazine's history; the price was stated as "£Too much", the mini-review stated that "This could only be less enjoyable if it squirted sulphuric acid into your face," and the staff's frustration with the game's mechanics was revealed in a tip section: "Creep along in that sideways spider fashion and then GET CRUSHED BY A PILLAR. Place your fist into TV screen".
• Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue (N64): 9% - Described by Greener as "60 of the most bitterly tedious minutes" of his life.
• Carmageddon 64 (N64): 8% - Was the lowest rated from 1999 until the end of 2004, and was described as "brain-meltingly awful" and "a shocking travesty": players were instructed to, if they saw the game in the shops, to "take it off the shelves, rip up the box and throw the cart repeatedly at the wall until it breaks";
• Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Second Edition (GBA): 5% - The worse score in NGC's history. "You'd be better off staying as far away from this lazy slab of plastic as you can. So it's getting 5%. For 'existing'. And that is generous."

And, two final honorable mentions: ClayFighter 63 1/3 is a fighting game released for the Nintendo 64 by Interplay in 1997. ... Cruisn USA is a 1994 arcade game by Midway Games. ... Alice in Wonderland is the widely known and used title for Alices Adventures in Wonderland, a book written by Lewis Carroll -- as well as several movie adaptations of the book -- and is also the setting for several short stories. ... Wheel of Fortune is an American television game show originally devised by Merv Griffin which runs in local editions around the world. ... Superman 64 was released by Titus Software on May 31, 1999 on the Nintendo 64. ... AeroGauge is a futuristic hovercraft racing game for the Nintendo 64 released in 1998 (1997 in Japan). ... Jeopardy! is a popular international television quiz game show, originally devised by Merv Griffin, who also created Wheel of Fortune. ... Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue is the eighth incarnation of the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers TV series, based on the Super Sentai series Kyukyu Sentai GoGo V (Super Rescue Task Force Go Go V). ... Carmageddon is the first of a series of graphically violent driving-oriented video games produced by Stainless Software, published by Interplay and SCi. ...

• Get A Love: Panda Love Unit (N64): ??% - The strangest game ever reviewed for NGC Magazine, and as such, a score was impossible to award. The decision reached was ??%, and the review read thus: "Impenetrable Japanese girlfriend simulator. No, hang on, that came out all wrong..."
• Giftpia (GameCube): ??% - Awarded the score for the fact that it was so heavy in Japanese that they didn't have a clue what was going on in the game and thus didn't feel they could award a score. It must be noted though that the review wasn't unfavourable to the game's graphics and sound, giving them marks of 8 (out of 10) and 7 respectively, and even making the comment that "There's clearly a quite brilliant game lurking beneath the realms of the Japanese text".

At this point in time, only one other game was ever given a ? for a rating, and that was Dropship on the PS2 when it was reviewed for Toonami. GiFTPiA (Japanese: ギフトピア) was developed by skip Ltd. ... Toonami (a portmanteau of cartoon and the Japanese word tsunami suggesting a tidal wave of animated cartoons) is a registered trademark of Cartoon Network, used initially for action-oriented programming blocks on Cartoon Network television channels worldwide, mostly shows American and Japanese cartoons, originating in the United States in 1997. ...

Criticism

NGC was presented itself as an unofficial magazine and therefore supposedly gave unbiased reviews but many disliked the magazine for giving over rated reviews for Nintendo and second-party games. For instance many first and second-party game had incredibly high marks rarely scoring below 8.5/10 or 85%. Nintendo's reputation as a top-class company should be taken into account however here. Also, the magazine gave negative reviews to at least some first/second party games. It has always been very critical of the Mario Party series.