Compared to the action-packed intro of Volume One, Volume Two continues much of the same. The notorious "severed head" issue of Nintendo Power features Castlevania II: Simon's Quest as its big feature with fold-out map (a poster on the other side), additional Super Mario Bros. 2 strategy, and features for Bionic Commando, Life Force, Renegade, and R.C. Pro-Am. It's a very solid showing...often, these sorts of things drop off hard on the second or third installment, but Nintendo Power managed to keep the momentum going.

Like The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest was made for the Famicom Disk System and ported over as a cartridge for its Western release. Some of the music had to be rearranged due to the differences with the sound chip, and featured a password instead of the battery-backed save (though said password kept a lot of the items you accumulated).

Jumping over to Now Playing is a small feature on Golgo 13 (Golgo 13: Top Secret Episode), probably the first time the Golgo 13 IP made it over to the United States, at least in a mainstream way. Blaster Master also gets a few pages though more strategy would show up in the future, as the NES Blaster Master is a notoriously difficult game, with a huge map, limited lives, and no continues. Classified Information and Counselor's Corner both are slightly updated (the latter moreso) in format. Classified Information has information on Kid Niki, Renegade, and Kid Icarus while Counselor's Corner (with the next Howard & Nester between them) has questions about The Legend of Zelda (both first and second quest), Super Mario Bros. (warp zone locations), Metroid, and Kid Icarus.

Video Shorts is divided into two sections, one with the latest games coming out (Xenophobe, Seicross, 1943, Jackal, Hudson's Adventure Island, and MagMax), with the other being "The Classics".

It's weird to think that even back in 1988, Pac-Man, Millipede, and Galaga would be considered "Classics". It should be noted that despite Millipede getting a NES port it's not Tengen (Atari Games) that's porting it. Sure they haven't been the same company since 1984, but they share a name. (Other games covered in this section include Donkey Kong Classics, Joust, Defender II, and Xevious.) Less-old arcade games like Paperboy were announced in Pak Watch to get a port. (Paperboy was owned by Atari Games but the console rights to it were sold to Mindscape). I should also mention that the Famicom received a port of Space Invaders (by Taito, which also owned the IP) but that was never localized. I guess it was considered TOO classic at that point.

The Players Poll Contest is starting to take shape, this time with a "small prize and game" for the runner-up. As we'll see in the next few issues, though, it's still not hit its stride. NES Journal has information on the deluxe Power Set being released, which was a NES bundle that included the three-in-one cartridge with Duck Hunt, Super Mario Bros., and World Class Track Meet, two controllers, the Zapper, and the new Power Pad. NES Journal has a few other things of note including information on Rare Ltd. (which developed R.C. Pro-Am and the upcoming Anticipation) and the "Fall Television Preview". As I'm still working through early Nintendo Power magazines (by the time page goes to press I'm working on further issues) and I really enjoy NES Journal, as it covers the world around video games without being video games themselves. Sadly, NES Journal would be the first to go and disappear before the NES left store shelves. I'll miss it.

The reader mail section is next, including a school survey of favorite consoles in Highland Park Elementary School in Austin, Texas. Highland Park Elementary School is alive and well but this is literally the ONLY REFERENCE ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET of the "Austin American Scottie". I guess that makes sense if a survey makes the front page and we're not not much missing. (Must be a slow news day, even by elementary school standards.) Also on the same page, there's no way Edward Charlotin's story actually happened. Pretty sure he'd notice when the house stayed dirty and he started missing meals. Other letters of note including a kid calling Nintendo games "tapes" and some grandparents who played Metroid. (Better than the grandparents who never touched a video game until Wii Sports).

As you can see in this image, Ice Hockey has tumbled to #10 in sales, apparently, but the aggregated top 5 still stand, as well as Ice Hockey's placement. The next five changed a bit (Double Dragon, Ice Hockey, R.C. Pro-Am, Rad Racer, and R.B.I. Baseball). Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and Super Mario Bros. 2 premier on the list but they're way down (#17 and #28, respectively).

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