The March/April 1990 issue of Nintendo Power launched with a new strategy...12 issues a year. Of course, before it truly went monthly, every other issue was a full strategy guide and not a full Nintendo Power magazine (but still part of the Nintendo Power magazine canon). Before the Player's Guide was revived for their strategy guide line, this is how Nintendo Power did full strategy.

Once again, Retromags did discuss this issue. Player's Pulse has a letter where someone found two Mousers in Super Mario Bros. 2, a feat that's been recorded but still unknown how exactly to execute and another where a NES survived a basement flood. The six pages of cover feature Super Mario Bros. 3 tease the strategy guide to be released later. There's maps of the first two worlds and an overview of the next five. The next strategy section is Silent Service, a submarine simulation from the computer world (1985, MicroProse, designed by Sid Meier). The NES version was published by Ultra Games (owned by Konami) and ported by Rare.

There's just two pages on the big Winter CES show, and some of the games are just listings. They mention M.U.L.E. coming to the NES, one of the first five games of Electronic Arts, and like Archon doesn't get the computer version's cool box art. (By this time, Bunten had left EA for MicroProse, partly because EA didn't want to develop for cartridge-based systems...but MicroProse wasn't a Nintendo licensee either, nor would ever really be...but that's for later). The Game Boy also was there, with a bunch of games to be released. Many of the titles listed for the Game Boy were ports or adaptations of NES games, though the Game Boy would see a port of Space Invaders (the NES got a port, but it wasn't released stateside). Some NES games were listed, some of which weren't released in the end. There was Play Isle (whatever that was), Sweet Home, and Bruce Lee Lives (released for DOS, NES version cancelled). Other games were released, however, including two more ports of ICOM Simulations' titles, Déjà Vu and Uninvited as well as a game listed as "Noid" Game, which was of course Yo! Noid, though the Japanese version didn't feature the Noid at all. Also of note is that the first SaGa game was to be localized as The Great Hero: SAGA, though it would ultimately become The Final Fantasy Legend.

Following this is features on Pinbot and 720°. There's a four-page feature on A Boy and His Blob with a diagram of all 13 jelly beans Blobert can eat, including ketchup. (The other twelve flavors are decidedly tastier-sounding, but this could've made a great promotion).

Like last month, Howard & Nester breaks the "cover issue" trend, so it's Super Spike V'Ball rather than Batman.

Following Wrath of the Black Manta and Astyanax is the Top 30! Let's see what's changed this time.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles holds #1 as Mega Man II shoots back to #2, with Super Mario Bros. 2 in #3. Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is #4, Dragon Warrior holds #5, The Legend of Zelda holds #6, Super Mario Bros. 3 now officially on the top 10 at #7, Ninja Gaiden at #8, DuckTales premiering at #9, and Tecmo Bowl at #10. Consulting our list from last month this means Bionic Commando, Faxanadu, and Blaster Master are off the top 10, they're now at #11, #15, and...with Blaster Master off the top 30 (what a fall!). Most notably, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! is also off the list (Metroid holds at #16). Later that year, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! would be re-released, but without Tyson. Both Blaster Master and Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! were listed in the "Players' Picks" list, as well as Super Mario Bros.. You'll remain in everyone's hearts...

So of the three preview sections, there's the proper "Preview" section, with pages on Final Fantasy ("More absorbing than The Legend of Zelda and more challenging than The Adventure of Link"), Code Name: Viper ("Due to the efforts of a huge South American drug syndicate, the U.S. may be losing the war on drugs"), and Super C, the last one serving as the poster for this issue. A large map of the world of Dragon Warrior and shop information is on the back. There's a CYOA feature on Dragon Warrior ("Dragon Warrior Text Adventure") following this.

The Game Boy section this month covers Nemesis (Konami), Malibu Beach Volleyball (Activision), World Bowling (Romstar), Heiankyo Alien (Meldac), Boomer's Adventure in ASMIK World (Asmik), Flipull (Taito), and QBillion (Seta).

With winter over or soon over, "Winter Winners" is replaced with "Spring Smash Hits" and serves the same purpose. There's Tecmo World Wrestling, Abadox (as Natsume was not an American licensee at the time, it was brought over by Milton Bradley Company), Bases Loaded II, Jaleco's sequel to the game that was first covered back in Volume 1, Baseball Simulator 1.000, a more fantasy-type baseball game by Culture Brain, Al Unser Jr. Turbo Racing (Data East), The Battle of Olympus (developed by Infinity of Japan, and published by Brøderbund Software here in the States, Xexyz, and Rescue: The Embassy Mission (my suspicion that the name Hostage: Rescue Mission was a problem, the article doesn't use the word "hostage" at all).

Counselor's Corner goes over questions regarding Willow, Dragon Warrior, DuckTales, River City Ransom, Shadowgate, and Legacy of the Wizard.

Classified Information has codes for fighting Mike Tyson directly, Another World Circuit, and the credits in Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!, plus more tips for Bad Dudes, Mega Man II, Cobra Triangle, Hydlide, Double Dragon, The Adventures of Dino Riki, Cybernoid, and Vegas Dream.

The third "previews" section (all three have "Power & Player Meter" ratings) includes 8 Eyes, The Magic of Scheherazade, Heavy Barrel, Kings of the Beach, Magic Johnson's Fast Break (during the height of his career, before the scandal and subsequent retirement due to his HIV diagnosis), Target: Renegade, LJN's "Marvel's X-Men" (released as The Uncanny X-Men...it was an LJN game and skewered by Seanbaby long before AVGN showed up), Destination Earth Star, Top Players' Tennis, Vegas Dream, Win, Lose, or Draw, Remote Control, Top Gun II (released as Top Gun: The Second Mission), Dash Galaxy in the Alien Asylum, Rock 'n Ball, Puss 'N Boots, Fisher-Price: Perfect Fit, and Fisher-Price: I Can Remember.

A few remarks regarding those...Top Gun II wasn't based after a film (after all, Top Gun the film did not receive a sequel until 2022...I wonder if Paramount Pictures wanted to keep their options open). The other thing is that when this magazine went to press, Fisher-Price was owned by Quaker Oats, purchased in 1969 as part of a diversification strategy (it announced a spin-off of the brand in 1990 and was completed in 1991; Mattel bought it a few years later). Quaker Oats did run a video game division itself that did attempt to leverage the Fisher-Price brand as part of it, but it was a failure and they probably did not want to do it again.

NES Journal follows NES Achievers, featuring the "World's Second NES Power Trivia Quiz", the winners of the Nintendo Power Jersey Contest (the winner looked surprisingly and suspiciously professional), an updated schedule for the Nintendo World Championships 1990, some new stuff to check out at the World of Nintendo stores (they mention Circuit City would be joining as a retailer), and the Celebrity Profile on Sara Gilbert (still somewhat relevant today, though she looks quite different here, as she was only 14 at the time).

Pak Watch has a preview on Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos, Crystalis (set in the future, though we'll discover that "future" in a future episode), Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, The Mafat Conspiracy (sequel to Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode), and Solstice. In the gossip columns, there's mention of games based on Gilligan's Island and Thunderbirds (despite both being old shows at that point), ports of Maniac Mansion and Battle Chess, and Castlevania III.

Finally, there's the Nintendo Power Awards '89 as the Player's Poll Contest. This year the nominees for best game of the year include Dragon Warrior, DuckTales, Faxanadu, Guardian Legend, Mega Man II, Ninja Gaiden, Stealth ATF, Tetris, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link (guessing that due to the release issues at the end of 1988, Zelda II got another shot). Best Character has 15 choices but only three--Mega Man, Link, and Ryu Hayabusa are actual video game characters. The rest are from the licensed titles (and the Ninja Turtles are split into four, likely a way to prevent them from scooping Link, who I expect to win that category). Also, last year I must've missed it but the actual winner gets to "pick 10 hot game paks from a list of 20 games selected by Howard Phillips".

Oh yeah, it also includes a new version of Pak Source. This one is in full color but lacks Tengen's titles (which were retroactively blacklisted).

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

(c) 2026 Carbon-izer.com