Nintendo Power Volume 29, October 1991 has a few letters from players with hand injuries learning to play the NES with their feet (the Hands Free Controller was not an option, apparently, but unlike Todd Stablefeldt, they could still use their legs and feet).

F-Zero (which does not have a Game Pak Data Box) zooms to the first game featured (could've been a cover feature, but the NES still deserves a cover feature after two months missing). Nester's Adventures is Star Wars...skip! Classified Information shows up early with stuff on Vice: Project Doom, Over Horizon, Abadox, and Zombie Nation. The header for Zombie Nation reads "Samurai Zombie Nation" but when I tried to look into it, Wikpedia just cited this issue as proof. Strange. There's also two pages on Super Mario World, the first time SNES games invaded Classified Information.

Next is Star Trek, also known as Star Trek: 25th Anniversary. I'm somewhat familiar with Star Trek: 25th Anniversary. My brother had it on the Mac but I don't think he ever beat it; it was a point and click adventure game...but the NES version is a top-down action-adventure title and completely different. Oddly enough, despite being published by Ultra (Konami), it was still developed by Interplay, which developed and published the computer versions. Despite being the cover feature it just has eight pages.

Before Counselor's Corner, there's also Roger Clemens MVP Baseball by LJN, but it scores at least a 3.0 in every category. It gets two pages. Counselor's Corner has one question on Star Wars, two on Maniac Mansion, four on (The) Uninvited, and three on Crystalis (lots of spooky mansions this time).

There's eight pages on Metroid (including the JUSTIN BAILEY) code, both as a way of giving Metroid proper coverage (released before summer 1988) and as a way of hyping up Metroid II coming to the Game Boy that fall. Shatterhand, taking place in the future of 2031 with cyborgs (2031 is only five years away, geez), is on the reverse side of a poster previewing The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy.

Game Boy's section covers Konami's Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (not to be confused with the NES's Castlevania II: Simon's Quest), which is a sequel to Castlevania: The Adventure, The Simpsons: Escape from Camp Deadly (Acclaim), Interplay's Track Meet (Interplay I don't think made any NES games but they're a Game Boy licensee now), and two pages on Monopoly from Parker Brothers. Game Boy Classified covers The Hunt for Red October, R-Type, and Go! Go! Tank. Game Boy's Now Playing also lists BrainBender by Electro Brain, Choplifter II by Konami, Turrican by Accolade, the other games covered this section, and Nick Faldo Championship Golf (Titus) again with different numbers. Super Mario Land, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan, and Dr. Mario take 1, 2, and 3, but this month Final Fantasy Legend takes #4 and pushes F-1 Race down to #5. #6 is still Tetris with WWF Superstars moving to #7 but Operation C vanquished from the list, Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge moving up to #8, with Castlevania: The Adventure and NBA Challenge returning as #9 and #10. As two games were added back, that also means The Hunt for Red October is off.

There is a FAQ for the Super NES. The unit costs $200 but includes two controllers and Super Mario World (a bargain), when it will be available in stores, the definition of 16-bit (unlike Volume 22 which explains things better, this just says it's "twice as powerful as the NES", which isn't how these things work), yes, Nintendo will still make NES games, yes, you can hook up your Super NES with the NES at the same time if your TV is modern enough, and while backwards compatibility was once considered, no, you can't run NES games on it. (Sega made and sold an adapter for the Genesis, but no such device exists for the Super NES...at least, not officially, and the ones that do are just NES-on-a-chip devices).

The Super NES Preview section covers Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, HAL's Hole in One Golf, and Super R-Type. Player's Poll Contest is a "family mountain bike vacation" with mountain bikes and safety helmets, a "vacation report with winner's picture in local newspaper" (would be tough for big cities), and Paperboy 2 Game Pak. I'm not sure which system...Paperboy 2 for the NES wouldn't be out until spring 1992. I'm guessing, based on the second prize of Paper Boy 2 cartridges and Game Boy units, it was the Game Boy game.

Now Playing covers Super NES games and NES games this month, with paragraphs for Captain America and The Avengers (Data East, NES), Wolverine (LJN, NES), Pirates! (Ultra Games, NES), Pilotwings (Nintendo, Super NES), and Super Bases Loaded (Jaleco, Super NES). They admit that they're early in covering some Super NES titles this month, and it does show a little...Castlevania IV should be Super Castlevania IV. The NES games listed don't have Captain America and The Avengers nor Star Trek: 25th Anniversary...the only other things on there besides Pirates!, Wolverine, and Roger Clemens MVP Baseball, are Cowboy Kid by Romstar, Bases Loaded 3 by Jaleco, and Godzilla 2 by Toho. Huh?! The Super NES releases cover the first round of games released for the system that would be there in the coming months: Enix's ActRaiser, Super Castlevania IV (I used the correct title) and Gradius III by Konami, Capcom's Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts and Final Fight, Super Bases Loaded by Jaleco, HAL's Hole in One Golf by HAL America, Super R-Type by Irem, Populous by Acclaim, and of course, by Nintendo, F-Zero, Pilotwings, SimCity, and Super Mario World, which got over a 4.4 in every category.

Ever since Volume 25 when The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants threw NES Play Action Football off the list, there's been no changes on the Top 10 besides shuffling around. That changes now. There's the expected--Super Mario Bros. 3 at #1...and the unthinkable (The Legend of Zelda is off the top 30!). Let's take a look. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game is still #2. Battletoads is at #3 from #11 now. Final Fantasy is back at #4 (from #5), Mega Man 3 is pushed to #5 (from #3), The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants holds #6, Dragon Warrior II holds #7, Crystalis falls to #8 (from #4), Tetris falls to #9, and Bases Loaded II takes #10. The two that got bumped off, StarTropics and Dr. Mario, are at hold #12 and #11, respectively. I'm guessing that The Legend of Zelda is off due to the Dealers' list keeping things interesting.

There's nothing too interesting in Pak Watch. They mention Konami bringing King's Quest V to the NES, but complain about the controls as well as The Software Toolworks/Mindscape bringing The Chessmaster to the Super NES (the NES version was published by Hi-Tech Expressions). The Celebrity Profile isn't interesting either, it's Joe Regalbuto.

The Editor's Letter is from Gail Tilden on meeting Bill Elliott in a contest (like the winner), referring to the contest from Volume 23. In Nintendo Power Bulletin Board you can still order the hint books for The Legend of Zelda and Super Mario Bros., with the Game Boy Player's Guide also available, and all back issues are available as well, even the first issue.

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