Exor's Dungeon - Magazine Reviews - Nintendo Power Volume 30

The cover for Volume 30 (November 1991) is Final Fantasy II (aka Final Fantasy IV, but I'll refer it as Final Fantasy II here and henceforth for convenience's sake unless otherwise noted). I played through a good bit of that game and I don't remember anyone flying a bird like that.

The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy (Taito) is the first game covered this month, then Nester's Adventures in F-Zero before Classified Information (I guess it's settled in a new place). Having learned of the author of Howard & Nester/Nester's Adventures, Nester's Adventures-era Nester is a real jerk with no redeeming qualities, and while there was some of that in Howard & Nester, it leads me to believe it was probably Howard Phillips' edits to make Nester more sympathetic and the comic better written overall. Not that Art Nichols' work was GOOD per se, or captured Nester as Shuji Imai drew him, but this marks the first Nester's Adventures by Dan Spiegle, who would draw it for the next twenty or so issues.

Classified Information has tips from Super Mario World without a number (Super Mario World from Special Agent "Sid"), Magic Darts, Rockin' Kats (leaving a stage mid-way, not the health or the anti-health codes), Pilotwings, Final Fight, and Gradius III (don't use the Konami Code with the D-pad!). There's 12 pages covering maybe 70% of Final Fantasy II (overview, of course), with Counselor's Corner having two questions for Super Mario World (covering Butter Bridge 1 and Soda Lake, though neither have maps), Battletoads (one question), an overview of Level 9 in The Legend of Zelda, one question for Metal Gear, one question for Destiny of an Emperor, and one question for The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants. Quite a spread this month!

Sadly, this is just stupid nonsense and not "V.I.L.E. has stolen the D-Day plans to give to Nazi Germany"-style intrigue.

Where in Time Is Carmen Sandiego? is next, based after the computer game by Brøderbund Software. I've griped about the Brøderbund Software/THQ deal multiple times (see Volume 12, Volume 20, and Volume 27), but the reality was that by this time, their output for computers meant that Nintendo gamers weren't missing much. Prince of Persia would reach Nintendo consoles unscathed and the other games released under the Brøderbund Software label (or their later games-oriented banner, Red Orb) weren't in-house anyway (Myst, Riven: The Sequel to Myst, The Last Express, possibly others). Despite being published by Konami, you still get a copy of The New American Desk Encyclopedia with the Game Pak. There's coverage for Ultimate Air Combat (Activision) and Tom & Jerry (Hi-Tech Expressions) before going to the Game Boy section with the Game Boy sequel to Battletoads (by Tradewest, with maps), Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters (the last we'll hear of Kid Icarus in years), FaceBall 2000 from Bullet-Proof Software (which got a poster this month), Acclaim's port of Double Dragon II to the Game Boy, and a puzzle game called WordHai by Meldac. In addition, the Now Playing list also lists Home Alone by THQ (a small paragraph below), Elevator Action by Taito, and Atomic Punk by Hudson. Game Boy Classified has The Hunt for Red October and Operation C. The Game Boy Top 10 continues to shift around some with old favorites returning and others leaving. Super Mario Land, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan, Dr. Mario, Final Fantasy Legend, and F-1 Race take the top 5 as they were last month, WWF Superstars is now at #6, Castlevania: The Adventure at #7 (moving from #9), Batman returning as #8, Alleyway returning at #9, and Baseball at #10. (I know Golf was on the list off and on, but if Baseball was ever on the list it was a while ago). Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge, NBA Challenge, and now Tetris are off the list. I believe this is the first time Tetris is off the Top 10.

There's another page of Game Boy previews before the Super NES Previews (Super Tennis, U.N. Squadron, and Super Baseball Simulator 1.000). I should note that the Super NES Previews promises Super Bases Loaded but it's Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 instead.

Player's Poll Contest is a bit of a head-scratcher. The contest is for going to Orlando to see the All-Star Weekend NBA game (February 7-9, 1992), and the second prize winner getting official Electronic Arts Sports Network hats and jackets...the problem was, the game, Bulls vs Lakers and the NBA Playoffs was not, in fact, released. It was only on the Sega Genesis, and they were not going to give out a Sega Genesis game.

For the NES the games that were on Now Playing were the things covered in the issue, plus The Bard's Tale (FCI), Die Hard (Activision), Gun Nac (Nexoft), Sesame Street Countdown (Hi-Tech Expressions), Snow Bros. (Capcom, covered in this section), Space Shuttle Project (Absolute, covered in this section), Toki (Taito, covered in this section), and Trog (Acclaim). The SNES section has The Chessmaster (Mindscape), Darius Twin (Taito, covered in this section), Drakkhen (Kemco/Seika), Final Fantasy II (Square), HAL's Hole in One Golf (Hal), Hyperzone (Hal), Super Baseball Simulator 1.000 (Culture Brain), Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts (Capcom), Super Tennis (Nintendo), U.N. Squadron (Capcom), and Ultraman: Towards the Future.

Despite Zelda's fall-off in Volume 29 they're happy to let its keep its historic month schedule (38 months) as it is awarded the #10 space in Top 30. Going up this time, Tetris is still #9, Mega Man 3 has fallen to #8 (from #5), Dragon Warrior II holds #7 for the third month, Crystalis is #6 (from #8), The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Space Mutants improved to #5, and the 'toads overtake the Turtles as even though Battletoads is still at #3, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game has fallen to #4. Final Fantasy moves all the way up to #2, and Super Mario Bros. 3 is still at #1.

The Celebrity Profile is Robert Englund, but unlike Michael Dorn (Worf) back in Volume 7, there's no picture of Englund as himself and not his famous character, Freddy Krueger. The page is sort of the Celebrity Profile of Freddy Krueger, not Englund. It's very strange (link here).

Nothing too noteworthy in Pak Watch. The letter is from George Sinfield (we'll see more of him in 1992) apologizing that as of early September, Volume 26's Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves STILL wasn't out yet, and that the Final Fantasy II feature cover was originally going to be for Metroid II but it was too early. Well, we'll see Samus next issue. Good thing they didn't have to go with The Flintstones: The Rescue of Dino & Hoppy, I guess.

Also, I don't think they'll apologize for talking about Day Dreamin' Davey a full year in advance of its actual release, but it's not like it got a cover feature.