June 1991—The Battletoads are here! But Powerline announces that Howard Phillips is leaving, going to work at Lucasfilm Games. There's 36 pages of Battletoads ahead, though the comic part is interspersed as pages that don't actually follow what we saw in Volume 24. We don't see a whole lot more of the Dark Queen, this is perhaps the best one we get of her. This is presumably one of those "play the game to know the rest of the story" sort of things but the game's story is substantially different than the rest of the comics...and the comics were clearly set up to tell SOME sort of story that we just don't get...that the Battletoads were regular dudes trapped in a virtual world, their jealous engineer becomes the Dark Queen's unwitting henchman, and so on.

The 'toads get 36 pages but the SNES and its U.S. redesign get four pages. Meanwhile, it's off to NES Open Tournament Golf (Mario is a man of many talents) and/or the poster for Super Spy Hunter. In Game Boy's section, there's only The Hunt for Red October (Hi-Tech Expressions, based on the film), Fortified Zone (Jaleco), and Super R.C. Pro-Am (Nintendo), but each one gets at least four pages. Game Boy Classified covers Operation C and Mysterium, with Game Boy Now Playing also covering "Bo Jackson Hit and Run" (Bo Jackson: Two Games in One) by THQ, Cyraid by Nexoft, Lucky Monkey by Natsume, and Spud's Adventure by Atlus.

Game Boy Top 10 hasn't changed its first five (see Volume 24) but now Castlevania: The Adventure is at #6 (from #7), Paperboy is #7 again, Gargoyle's Quest is #8 (from #6), Operation C is #9, and Alleyway is #10. Radar Mission, Play Action Football, and Batman are off the Top 10.

Howard & Nester covers The Lone Ranger (and not Vice: Project Doom) but with the departure of Howard Phillips from Nintendo, this marks the end of Howard & Nester. As I discussed in Volume 23, Nester's Adventures, as the comic would be known going forward starting in Volume 26, largely ignores the the "last cover" feature and just does its own thing, with it being an exception rather than the rule.

They have a feature for Day Dreamin' Davey by HAL America (referred as "Daydreamin' Davey") wasn't actually released until a year after this issue went to press. It's still in Now Playing, though. Classified Information covers Power Blade, Mega Man 3, Chase H.Q., Abadox, Super Mario Bros. 3 (the Warp Whistles), Double Dragon II, and DuckTales. Now Playing is slim pickings, other than a paragraph for Faria (Nexoft) and Super Spy Hunter (which had the poster), there's nothing here that wasn't covered by the magazine in greater detail.

The Player's Poll Contest celebrates NES Open Tournament Golf with a real golf cart, two sets of clubs, and the game (runners-up get no golf clubs or a cart, but they do get exclusive visors). The third prize has the Nintendo Power jersey worn by Howard Phillips (as usual) but he won't be wearing them anymore, I guess.

Following NES Achievers is Counselor's Corner which has RoboCop 2, Dragon Warrior II, and The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants. Bart makes the top 10 this month, let's check it out. The top one is...NOT Super Mario Bros. 3! It's been dethroned by Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game by a tiny margin. Mega Man 3 retains #3, Final Fantasy retains #4, StarTropics jumps to #5 (from #11), The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants is at #6 after premiering at #19 last month, Crystalis holds #7 again, Dr. Mario falls to #8 (from #5), Dragon Warrior II falls to #9 (from #8), and Tetris is at #10 (from #6). Looking at other games, The Legend of Zelda claws up to #12 (still not there yet), Super Mario Bros. 2 is at #16, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is at #22, NES Play Action Football is at #13 (it was bumped off the list this month) and Ultima: Quest of the Avatar is at #14. Maniac Mansion has been in the Top 30 for months but I don't think it ever made the top 10.

After Celebrity Profile with David Leisure is Pak Watch. As far as Pak Watch this month goes, one thing of note was that when they did Hudson Hawk last month (but not when discussing "Jellybean" aka Jerry Boy) was referring to CSG Imagesoft as Sony Imagesoft. The name wasn't part of a buyout...CSG was short for "CBS/Sony Group" a joint venture based in Japan, but by the time they launched Sony had bought out CBS' share in the business. While they originally launched with Super Dodge Ball (part of a line to include Super Rescue and Super Sushi Pinball), by this time Sony Imagesoft was making titles based on movies Sony had a part in. Hook in particular, was released by TriStar Pictures, which Sony had full ownership in by that point, and despite the magazine talking about Sony Imagesoft putting more resources into game development, they would remain a licensed game manufacturer (for the most part) before being reorganized in the mid-1990s before the launch of the PlayStation. They also talk about Arcadia and M.C. Kids ("McKids" as listed) which would go through numerous delays; by the time it was released Arcadia would rebrand as Virgin Games (Arcadia was a brand that Virgin Games owned, originating from UK-based Mastertronics, which it bought in 1987).

There's no "Coming Soon" and "Coming Later" in Pak Watch anymore. It's ALL coming soon. Notably, Earth Bound and SimCity are off the list. There's also "Where Is Carmen Sandiego?" listed. That would be Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego?, a spin-off of Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?, and as Brøderbund had left the NES biz, it would be Konami to bring it to the NES. But that's later.

Also, sorry I don't have more pictures of this one.

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