This issue (September 1992) is documented on Fandom somewhat as of this writing. Player's Pulse has a callback to Volume One (where a teenager was looking for a challenge, and a new letter from a different person actually met him at 19), a Mega Man contest (mentioning that Mega Man 4 had fan-submitted Robot Masters as part of a contest, and announcing a similar contest with no guarantees that the winner would see their work in a future game, just that they'll be "passed along" to Capcom).

As you might've guessed from the cover, the game today is Felix the Cat for the NES by Hudson Soft. This version of Felix the Cat seems to be heavily drawing from the 1975 TV show and not the ill-fated Felix the Cat: The Movie which went straight to video in 1991. Like the typical Nintendo strategy, you'll be guided through the easier first levels (Stage 1, 2, and 3 are mapped out) but only tips for the later stage, and even less help for the later stages. You can play the game on modern systems as Konami (which bought Hudson in 2011) had a rerelease in association with Limited Run Games. The Steam release was cancelled but that's OK...if you have a PC you've probably had the ROMs kicking around for years.

The other NES games this issue are Prince of Persia (Virgin Games) and Little Samson (Taito). The section for Prince of Persia is a bit unusual. Because it's the basically the same game as the Game Boy version, they refer to Volume 32 for the first three levels, which were covered as part of the Game Boy version of the game. It wasn't uncommon for Nintendo Power to spread strategy out over two months, but it was always consecutive and never on separate systems.

Classified Information lacks Game Boy games this month but has The Rocketeer (Super NES) leading the Super NES games for that month. I guess The Rocketeer for the Super NES had been quietly released, a title that kept popping up in Pak Watch for months as recently as last issue and got a poster back in Volume 32. Plus, the film was released the previous year and performed poorly in theaters...a far cry from their optimism in Volume 24. It's weird since I didn't see it in Now Playing unless they reviewed it months ago. Anyway, there HAS to be a number of games that get excluded from Now Playing just on a statistical level. The full list of games in this section are as follows: Super Spy Hunter (NES), Tiny Toon Adventures (NES), The Rocketeer (Super NES), Arcana (Super NES), F1 ROC: Race of Champions (Super NES), Super Smash T.V., Thunder Spirits, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project, Panic Restaurant (NES), Casino Kid II (NES), and The Punisher (NES).

The Game Boy section follows the Zelda comic as usual, this time with The Jetsons: Robot Panic (Taito), Dr. Franken (Kemco), Kingdom Crusade (Electro Brain), and a token two pages on Barbie Game Girl (Hi-Tech Expressions). After the Super Mario Adventures comic, there's Counselor's Corner, with four questions on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, three questions on Dragon Warrior III, and two questions on Altered Space. There's Nester's Adventures (Wings II, I don't even get it), Power Players (both of these were moved around, I know Power Players used to be AFTER Now Playing), and the Super NES games, with Dino City (Irem), Soul Blazer (Enix), Clue (Parker Bros.), Monopoly (Parker Bros.), and Super Bowling (American Technōs). Note that in the case of Clue and Super Bowling they were covered in Now Playing last month and Monopoly had more comprehensive coverage back in Volume 23. Following up with the Celebrity Player Profile last month is another trip to Hollywood offered as a Grand Prize for the Player's Poll Contest, this time meeting Jeffrey Townes (DJ Jazzy Jeff) and Will Smith (the Fresh Prince, of course). The second prize winner would win a collection of their music. To keep it game related, the Grand Prize winner also won a Miracle Piano Teaching System which was covered back in early 1991 with Volume 20. I'm guessing The Software Toolworks (d/b/a Mindscape) still had inventory on hand. Notably, this is the first Player's Poll Contest to not refer to the shirt (still with "Version 3" and Nester) as a jersey anymore. (While this wouldn't be consistent in the next few issues, the change is ultimately permanent).

Now Playing covers what they already covered in the magazine along with Adventure Island 3 (Hudson Soft, NES), Danny Sullivan's Indy Heat (Tradewest, NES), Tecmo Cup (Tecmo, NES), Dig Dug (Namco, Game Boy), Spy vs Spy - Operation: Boobytrap (Kemco, Game Boy), Hook (Sony Imagesoft, Super NES), Space Football: One on One (Super NES, Triffix), Strike Gunner S.T.G. (NTVIC, Super NES), Super Batter Up (Super NES, Namco), and Super Buster Bros. (Capcom, Super NES). They apologize for saying "in a previous issue" for saying that Space Football: One on One was a one-player game. Don't worry George and Rob, I don't actually remember!

The NES games still have Super Mario Bros. 3 as number one but Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project jumped from #6 to #2, with Battletoads moving up to #3 again. Mega Man 4 drops down from #2 back to #4, The Legend of Zelda is back to #5 (from #4), with Tecmo Super Bowl at #6 (down from #3), Final Fantasy at #7 (holding), Dr. Mario back on the top 10 (#8, up from #15), Tetris at #9 (down from #8), and Mega Man 3 taking #10 again. The original Mega Man dropped from #9 to #12 to get Dr. Mario back on the Top 10. Notably Little Nemo: The Dream Master is at #20, likely due to renewed interest to the film finally making it stateside, though financially and critically didn't make an impact.

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past takes the lead with the SNES with not quite a large ratio but still huge (more than 3 to 1), with Super Mario World taking #2 and F-Zero back up to #3 from #4 ("This game was locked in at #2 for six months and has been at #4 for three months. It's a very steady performer!") with Contra III: The Alien Wars shooting up to #4 (from #7, rising up), Final Fantasy II dropping from #3 to #5, Final Fight up to #6 (from #9), Super Castlevania IV dropping from #6 to #7 (continuing to drop), WWF Super Wrestlemania from #5 to #8 (it was #3 two months ago), ActRaiser slightly improving to #9 (from #10), with SimCity falling from #8 to #10. There's very little action on the list. Now Mario Paint has premiered at #20 and I suspect will make it to the Top 10 at some point but those are the ones we have right now.

Metroid II: Return of Samus retakes #1 after Super Mario Land held it for two months with Mario taking #2 and Battletoads still remaining at #3, and Final Fantasy Adventure at #4. Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge goes to #5 from #7 (switching places with The Simpsons: Escape from Camp Deadly), Dr. Mario holds #6, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers holds #8, Batman: Return of the Joker premiers at #9, and Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge is #10 still. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan gets pushed from #9 to #11.

Much like Will Smith from last issue, this month's Player Profile is another rising star currently in a successful sitcom, this time Tim Allen with Home Improvement. Tim Allen's movies, even at his peak, aren't nearly as solid as Will Smith's was, but he was the main character in Galaxy Quest, one of my favorite films ever.

Honestly, I can't find anything of note to talk about in Pak Watch. I think all of the games shown off were released. In Pak Watch, they're still talking about "Ace Harding: Lost in Las Vegas" (Deja Vu II: Lost in Las Vegas), "Crash Dummies" is listed in the NES list (LJN's The Incredible Crash Dummies would not get a NES release until 1994)...and speaking of LJN I forgot to mention the poster was on Spider-Man, which was promised for all three systems. Finally, in the next issue they'll be talking about Super Mario Kart. Neat. I'll look forward to it.

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