Nintendo Power's November '92 issue has Darth Vader (or at least Darth Vader's helmet) on the outside. (I wouldn't count this as a celebrity appearance). OK, the magazine is still $3.50 in the United States and it still has Gail Tilden as editor, so what do we have today? Well, the usual, start with the NES games...Joe & Mac by Data East, Crash 'n' the Boys: Street Challenge by American Technōs, and Mega Man by Capcom. Actually, wait, that's not what I was expecting. Yes, the FIRST Mega Man game, as the 1987 game Mega Man was released before Nintendo Power, so it never got proper coverage.

Next, Classified Information and the Zelda comic (we're nearing the end now). The former covers Magic Sword (SNES), Krusty's Super Fun House (SNES), Legend of the Mystical Ninja (SNES), Super Castlevania IV (SNES), Adventure Island (NES), Adventure Island (Game Boy), Super Adventure Island (SNES), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (NES), Low G Man (NES), and Bionic Commando (Game Boy).

After that, the Game Boy games, with The Flintstones (Taito) taking precedence over Super Mario Land 2: Six Golden Coins (Nintendo), though in Mario's case it's a four page preview. There's Track & Field (mentioned in Now Playing last month), this is a Konami game that's a port of their arcade game (which also got a NES release...it's sequel even got a cover feature way back when), and LJN's WWF Superstars 2.

Then we get the Super Mario Adventures as it ends on a thrilling cliffhanger...Mario interrupts Bowser's wedding to a (brainwashed) Peach. We'll see how it ends next month!

Counselor's Corner starts with questions for Krusty's Fun House (it's written as such, but the SNES version, which is covered, is called Krusty's Super Fun House. Next up is a few more questions on The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. This has been the case for the last few issues. I have to wonder why people were spending lots of money on a phone call (relatively speaking) when they could just buy a full color guide with maps and have all their questions answered. Pretty sure that the phone bank people just used the guide anyway with some additional notes. There's questions for King's Quest V for NES (written as "King's Quest"). There's a bit about throwing a shoe at a cat to scare it away from a mouse, who "will be grateful to Graham" as it says in the magazine. This is different from the PC version. Finally, there's something for Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge. Unusually, this is the first time that they actually write it out properly rather than "Mega Man in Dr. Wily's Revenge" (Top 20 does still not write this correctly).

Final Fantasy Mystic Quest (Square Soft) opens the Super NES section this month. It gets four pages (covering about 20% of the game). Super Star Wars (JVC Musical Industries) gets the equivalent of ten pages (it is, after all, the cover feature) though some of those "pages" are just on the backside of the poster for Batman Returns. We also have Space Megaforce (Toho), Axelay (Konami), and the long-awaited FaceBall 2000, an enhanced version of the Game Boy title and the first title by Bullet-Proof Software on the Super NES.

Top 20 has a bunch of changes this month. The biggest change is that it's before Now Playing now. In the NES section, Super Mario Bros. 3 is still #1, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles III: The Manhattan Project is still #2, The Legend of Zelda is still #4, but what's this? Battletoads and Mega Man 4 switched places, putting Mega Man back on the top three and Battletoads pushed to #5, which they haven't been for a while, I don't think. Tecmo Super Bowl still holds #6 for the third month in a row, Yoshi has jumped from #12 to #7, Final Fantasy is back on the top 10 (#11 to #8), Tetris is #9 (from #10), and Super Mario Bros. 2 is at #10 (from its heroic 16-to-7 leap last month). Yoshi's arrival and the return of Final Fantasy means that Dr. Mario has fallen from #8 to #12, and the original Mega Man from #9 to #13; still, all four Mega Man games are on the list. The big changes are on the Super NES section. The Dealer numbers this month (which we can't see anymore, grrr) favor no longer favor The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Now the one with over 34k points is Street Fighter II: The World Warrior seizing #1 (from #3). It was #16 just two months ago! The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past is still leading against Super Mario World (now #3) but the ratio continues to slide (now closer to 2:1), even if it's a safe margin. F-Zero holds #4 for a second time in a month, same with Final Fantasy II holding #5. Contra III: The Alien Wars and Super Castlevania IV switch places (the latter getting the #6 spot), Final Fight continuing to drop to #9 (from #8) as SimCity improves slightly (#10 to #8), and Krusty's Super Fun House taking #10. WWF Super Wrestlemania still holds #12, Mario Paint reappears for a #13 spot, Super Mario Kart vanishes entirely (though I think it will appear, it was #9 last month), and ActRaiser improved slightly (#16 to #15, but I don't think it will be Top 10 ever again). Under the Game Boy games, Super Mario Land and Metroid II: Return of Samus hold #1 and #2 respectively, with Yoshi jumping from #8 to #3, The Simpsons: Escape from Camp Deadly holding #4, Battletoads holding #5, Dr. Mario back to #6 after a brief reprieve at #3 last month, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers dipping down to #7 (from #6), Final Fantasy Adventure continuing to decline (#7 to #8), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan shooting up from #19 to #9, and Batman: Return of the Joker back on the list (#11 to #10). The return of the first TMNT game means one had to go, in this case, it's Mega Man: Dr. Wily's Revenge going from #9 to #14. Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins isn't quite ready for prime time yet, as it has dropped from #10 to #20. Kid Icarus: Of Myths and Monsters? Gone.

Before the Player's Poll Contest we get "Power Puzzlers" (including a crossword). This requires knowledge of third party games...21 Across is "Toxie's Toxic Pal". The contest is winning a trip to two for the 1993 NFL Pro Bowl Hawaii and associated perks (VIP passes to a practice session and "entrance to the NFL Pros' Beach Challenge"). Second Prize gets Super Play Action Football and "prize packages from your favorite NFL team". Third prize is "sport the jersey of the Power Team" (the Nintendo Power t-shirts). I guess it is sort of a jersey, colloquially. Sort of.

Now Playing is now "George, Rob & Jade's Now Playing" is the result of a contest winner from Volume 36 guest-starring. Jade is no game reviewer, but a teenager (I assume he's a teenager or not much older) has more honest takes than a games journalist, even if they're not as refined. I would call it a wash, but I do notice that George was getting tired of "platformer saves the environment" platformers (in the case of Swamp Thing). The actual list has a BUNCH of entries adding onto the plentiful list of games actually covered in the issue. Under the NES list there's Dragon Warrior IV by Enix (which never scored more than a 3.5 in any category), Krusty's Fun House by Acclaim, and George Foreman's KO Boxing by Acclaim (the grill was just a few years away at this point). The Game Boy section lists The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (THQ), The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (LJN), The Simpsons: Bart vs. the Juggernauts (Acclaim), Black Bass Lure Fishing (Hot-B), Ferrari Grand Prix Challenege (Acclaim), George Foreman's KO Boxing (Acclaim), Out of Gas (FCI), Starhawk (Accolade—the lesser known prequel to Star Fox), Universal Soldier (Accolade), and World Beach Volley (Taito). Super NES has Battle Clash (Nintendo, this was a Super Scope title that would get a full look next month), Blazeon (Atlus), The Duel: Test Drive 2 (Accolade), George Foreman's KO Boxing (Acclaim), Phalanx (Kemco), Rampart (Electronic Arts), and Sküljagger: Revolt of the Westicans (American Softworks).

Obviously, the thing about Starhawk being a prequel to (or related at all) to Star Fox was a joke (probably didn't land) but they mentioned Phalanx and gave it reviews and didn't talk at all about the perplexing box art. At least we know the identity of that hillbilly-looking character.

Pak Watch talks about the Super FX chip coming soon, as well as the SNES CD add-on having a 32-bit co-processor. Also this month include discussion's of Accolade's upcoming flagship character, Bubsy the Bobcat in his premier game, Bubsy: Claws Encounters of the Furry Kind. Wait, what? Yes, that's what they put down as the "full name for Accolade's upcoming cartoon action game". What it was SUPPOSED to be was "Bubsy in: Claws Encounters of the Furred Kind. As of this writing, Bubsy is kind of in the post-mascot phase with the complete laughingstock phase over and now in the post-irony stage with Bubsy 4D being recently released at the time of this writing.

Pak Watch finally has taken off Deja Vu II if it didn't disappear last month, but it does have The Lost Vikings on the SNES appearing for the first time. Pak Watch also mentions an animated Battletoads special (by DIC, of Captain N) coming soon...that's the sort of thing NES Journal would cover. Speaking of which...where's Power Player Profile?! I KNEW it was weird that they had a crossword puzzle there. Yeah, it's gone.

Next issue we'll see more of Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins, but the cover feature went to a different game. (No wonder the Genesis beat the SNES that Christmas).

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