Weekly Famitsu June, 2006 Cover Collection
The month of June brought us five issues of Weekly Famitsu, and with it came the landmark 20th anniversary of the magazine. To celebrate, Famitsu devoted five issues of Weekly Famitsu to cover the past 20 years of gaming and how Weekly Famitsu involved itself in the gaming world. The first three of those five anniversary issues are presented here.
The covers for the anniversary issues are also special. The artwork shows the Famitsu mascot (Necky) dressed up as notable game characters such as Mario, Ness, Link, Ryu, etc. All five covers sort of connect to create a long parade of game characters from 1986 to 2006. I say "sort of connect" because when you lay the issues side by side, they don't really line up correctly. Anyway, there are tons of great features in these issues, so if you have a Japanese bookstore in your area you might want to see if they still have some issues in stock.
Weekly Famitsu 6/2 2006 No.911
Cover: Necky and .hack//G.U.
Features: There's a Final Fantasy section devoted to FF XIII: Fabula Nova Crystallis, FF XIII, FF Versus XIII, and FF Agito XIII.
Cross Review Highlights: Mystereet for PS2 (7,8,7,8), Kimikisu for PS2 (8,8,7,8), Tsuyo Kiss ~Mighty Heart~ (8,9,7,8), Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Portable for PSP (8,8,7,9), and New Super Mario Bros. for Nintendo DS (9,9,9,9).
Weekly Famitsu 6/9-16 No.912
Cover: Necky as Mario in New Super Mario Bros.
Features: E3 2006 coverage. Kimikisu guide. New Super Mario Bros. guide (maps of Worlds 1-3).
Cross Review Highlights: Metroid Prime Hunters for Nintendo DS (7,7,7,8).
Weekly Famitsu 6/16 2006 No.913
Cover: Necky as game characters from 1986 to 1989. The Famitsu logo is a holographic foil, hence the strange look.
Extras: Cross Review Perfect Catalog 1986-1998 - A booklet featuring all cross reviews that scored 32 or higher from 1986 to 1998 plus summaries of cross reviews that scored 30 or 31.
Features: 1st of 5 Anniversary issues. A look back at the years 1986-1989. Dragon Quest Memories looks back at the history of Dragon Quest games. Game Theory of Evolution: The Arcade Game - with the use of flow charts, Famitsu breaks down the evolution of the arcade game by genre and cabinets. New Super Mario Bros. guide (World 4). Kimikisu guide. .hack//G.U. Vol.1 guide.
Cross Review Highlights: There are only two cross reviews: Tensei Hakken Fuumoroku for PS2 (7,7,7,6) and Gouma Reifu Den Izuma for Nintendo DS (6,7,6,8).
Weekly Famitsu 6/23-30 2006 No.914
Cover: Necky as game characters from 1990 to 1993.
Extras: User's Eye Special Book 1999-2005
Features: 2nd of 5 Anniversary issues. A look back at the years 1990-1993. Game Theory of Evolution: the Sports Game.
Cross Review Highlights: Prince of Persia the Two Thrones for PS2 (7,8,8,8), Call of Duty 2 for Xbox360 (8,8,8,9), Doko Demo Issho: Let's Gakkou! for PSP (9,7,7,8), Kaitou Rousseau for Nintendo DS (8,8,8,8), Digimon Story for DS (8,7,8,7).
Weekly Famitsu 6/30 No.915
Cover: Necky as game characters from 1994-1997.
Extras: Cross Review Perfect Catalog 1999-2002.
Features: 3rd of 5 Anniversary issues. A look back at the years 1994-1997. Gyakuten Saiban 4 preview. Zegapain XOR for Xbox360 preview and fold out poster. Game Theory of Evolution: Heroin Games --evolution of games featuring females from Street Fighter II to dating sims. New Super Mario Bros. guide (World 6).
Cross Review Highlights: The King of Fighters XI for PS2 (7,7,7,7), Valkyrie Profile 2 Sylmeria for PS2 (9,8,8,9), Magical Vacation: 5-tsu no Hoshi Ganarabutoki for Nintendo DS (8,8,7,8).
That concludes the covers for June. check back later for July's covers!
The August issue of Famitsu Wave DVD features Lei Fang from Dead or Alive Extreme 2. If you've got a region 2 or region-free DVD player, then you can enjoy watching game videos, interviews, and Famitsu antics on your TV. For Dead or Alive fans, the trailer shown at E3 is presented in DVD quality, not to mention the lovely DVD's themselves, which have some nice images of Lei Fang and Hitomi printed on their surface. 
Famitsu.com reports today that a limited edition Nintendo DS Lite featuring Final Fantasy III graphics printed on the outer shell will be available August 28, 2006 for 22780 Yen (about $197.23). The DS Lite appears to be the standard white version with four characters from the game along with the Final Fantasy III logo appearing on the front. It seems these will also be stamped with a serial number, though production quantity is unknown at this point. 
