Exor's Dungeon - Book Reviews - Power Pete: Official Secrets & Solutions

Power Pete: Official Secrets & Solutions

Authors: Tuncer Deniz
Publisher: Prima Publishing, 1995
Pages: 68
ISBN-10: 0761502939

Prima guides couldn't hold a candle to the official Nintendo Player's Guides at their prime, but usually still had useful information. The Prima guide for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past Game Secrets) still had diagrams based on the in-game maps, even if they didn't have much for the game's overworld. But this guide, unusually for even Prima games, has no maps at all, even when it's a game that desperately needs maps. The bulk of the walkthrough is gimmicky, terrible writing with no maps, including that terrible level in the clown world where there is no real path and you just kind of have to fight your controls. (See the map of the level of which I'm referring to). There are a few perks to it, it explains the damage each weapon does and how much each enemy takes in damage, but even then it doesn't explain that a few enemies (especially in the later levels) are flat-out immune to some of the weapons, nor takes the time to explain that some of the weapons are awesome and should be used by you (until you run out of their ammo, anyway) and some of them suck and should be ignored.

The one upshot is a developer interview that explains (as you might've guessed) that Power Pete was supposed to be much, much bigger, but time constraints got in the way. When you stack it against other later Pangea titles like Cro-Mag Rally or Billy Frontier, Power Pete comes off as a mostly complete game. They don't elaborate on what worlds were planned, but the last level, Bargain Bin, suggests a space toy world and toy car world were planned.

Personally I blame Pangea Software for not providing maps (even sketches) that would've made this guide go from a stupider version of a GameFAQs text to a solid, decent book. If you are intending to play Power Pete / Mighty Mike these days, please consult my own maps as seen here.

Return to Main Page | Return to Books Index | Contact Me