Volume 196 is not quite like Volume 195; it lacks Classified Info and The Family Tree, and, seemingly, Player's Poll Sweepstakes, but it does have some game strategy.

Pulse has a few interesting letters, including the one pictured and one asking about Volume 200, asking for a top games of all time list like what Volume 200, though the countdown starts in this issue. Another reader asks about Classified Info being missing (presumably in 194), with the claim being that "recent games simply haven't contained enough juicy secrets to fill a monthly column)...though Classified Info hasn't been "secrets" for a while, not since for a few years when it took over for the duties of Counselor's Corner.

The Most Wanted list has Geist at #4, though the review later on will show it to be a disappointment. Meanwhile, in the top sellers list, Madagascar (based after the film), makes #1 for GameCube and #2 for Game Boy Advance. They note that "for the first time in modern history, Super Mario Advance 4 did not make the top 10" (since 2003). I bet that with aggregated lists with the player votes you'd still see it on the top until the Game Boy Advance is discontinued.

Among the "Big News. In Short" in News is that EA has re-signed with John Madden "thanks to a multiyear contract"...a contract that would remain post-mortem, as well as Blizzard had recently asked fans if they wanted to see the Diablo or StarCraft series on the DS with "no firm plans yet" (though StarCraft: Ghost remains on the Game Watch Forecast). They also talk about the upcoming The Sims 2 for the GameCube, and while it has 540 clothing and accessories to play with, they don't mention that it's going to be nowhere near the parity with PC (around the time of its release, The Sims 2 for PC would receive its second expansion pack, "Nightlife").

The Preview section has SSX on Tour (it was published by EA but featured Mario, Luigi, and Princess Peach as playable characters) and it's in the Preview section where the poster is for this section (The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction). We also now know a full page of the localization of the Guyakuten Saiban series...Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, as well.

The content this issue starts with "Into the Fire", discussing the cover feature, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This is the problem with third party games. Now matter how much you hype it up, in this case, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which was based on the movie in theaters at the time (this issue also marks the very last time a live actor is on the cover, though this is sort of cheating since it's based on the game cover), no one remembers it. Up next is "The Art of War" (Spartan: Total Warrior) before the Top 200 game countdown begins...but unlike their big Volume 100 spectacular, they don't elaborate on the games they picked. It should be noted that unlike the Top 100 or the later Top 250, a Virtual Boy title makes the list, Virtual Boy Wario Land at #184. You can see that the whole page of the titles covered can be seen here. They also cover the "Worst Games Ever", four of which are licensed games and none of them were repeats from Volume 100, so it's just Charlie's Angels, Waterworld, Home Improvement (officially Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit!, International Karate Plus, and Superman (officially Superman: The New Adventures), from the GameCube, Virtual Boy, Super NES, GBA, and Nintendo 64 respectively.

We get back into the articles with "Return of the King" (Peter Jackson's King Kong...another licensed title based after a 2005 film!), Inside Zelda Part 5 (Satomi Asakawa, who designed many of the memorable NPCs in the N64 games), "Land of the Lost" (Lost in Blue, a localization of Survival Kids: Lost in Blue and the first localized title in the series since Survival Kids on the Game Boy Color, back in 1999), "Trace Elements" (Trace Memory, the North American title of Another Code: Two Memories), and the "hidden" Player's Poll Sweepstakes. It doesn't describe the prizes at all, requiring you to look into the fine print...the grand prize is actually quite impressive, a trip to Orcas Island off the coast of Washington state, a Nintendo DS (in Electric Blue), a copy of Trace Memory, $250 in spending money, and "a Nintendo Power goodie basket, which includes five (5) Nintendo DS game cards and other Nintendo merchandise". The second-prize is just the game (as usual) with the third-prize being the t-shirt (as usual). Before the reviews, there's "A Star is Born" (Gunstar Super Heroes), some moves in The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, and seven pages of strategy for Advance Wars: Dual Strike, though it's mostly an advertisement for the game's Player's Guide, the latest to be released. Sigma Star Saga has no such guide but there's still three pages of charts for that game, too.

The reviews commence, starting with Nintendogs with George and Andy giving the Nintendo-published game an 8.5 and 8.0, respectively. The other DS games include the DS version of Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts—the GCN version was discussed last month), Space Invaders Revolution (Mastiff), Pac 'n Roll (Namco), Yu-Gi-Oh! Nightmare Troubadour (Konami), Frogger: Helmet Chaos (Konami), and Advance Wars: Dual Strike (Nintendo). The GameCube games included The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (Vivendi Universal Games), Hello Kitty: Roller Rescue (Namco), Mario Superstar Baseball (Nintendo—it scored a 9.0!), and Geist (Nintendo—revealed to be a huge disappointment after premiering at E3 2003 over two years ago). Game Boy Advance doesn't have much to cheer for...there's the GBA version of Madden NFL 06 (Electronic Arts), Gumby vs. the Astrobots (Namco), Power Rangers S.P.D. (THQ), Dynasty Warriors Advance (Nintendo), Zooo (Ignition Entertainment), Shaman King: Master of Spirits 2 (Konami), Dragon Ball GT: Transformation (Atari), and Juka and the Monophonic Menace (SouthPeak Interactive).

The Community section talks about the fledgling Mega64 parodies, a very brief look at unreleased Virtual Boy title Bound High, and some guy's massive Nintendo toy collection. The Power Quiz is on puzzle games this month, with "name that screenshot" from last month's Sonic quiz not from a Sonic game at all but rather a graphic of a Sonic wig from Feel the Magic: XY/XX. The freebie in this issue is a mini-mag on Nintendogs (the "New Puppy Magazine").

Written September 29, 2026

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