Nintendo Power continues with issue 5 with March/April 1989, newsprice $3.50 with a decidedly American-looking ninja on the cover. The Mail Box column has moved to the front of the magazine, a place where it would stay for the entire magazine's run thereafter through various names. It also features artwork in the form of a clay Mario, though not quite to the quality of the Mario on Volume 1. The kid can't help but show off how rich he is.

After more pages on Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, it's the Winter CES Report, written by "Nester". This is one of the things that early Nintendo Power is definitely guilty of, is not putting games through the wringer. They want to sell games after all, but the Winter CES report is just bad reporting. The "yeah, everything looks great" is equivalent to saying that everything at a restaurant is great, when there are clear winners and losers on the menu. I can't remember where I read it (4chan, maybe?) but if you ask a waitress what's good at the restaurant "everything's good here", she's lying or has zero experience.

Ninja Gaiden, the cover feature (first game on Nintendo Power to not be a sequel), is covered next, but it's Adventure Island that gets the fold-out poster with Strider on the other side. "Now Playing" is now "Previews" and features Strider, Cobra Triangle, The Adventures of Bayou Billy, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Howard & Nester skewers Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Classified Information and Counselor's Corner as normal, and we get to Top 30 once more. Super Mario Bros. 2 retains #1, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link and The Legend of Zelda switched places, Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! moved up to #4, Contra jumped to #5 from #9, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest enters the top ten at #6, Bionic Commando at #7, Blades of Steel premiering at #8, Double Dragon in #9, and Metroid dropped to #10. Ice Hockey is back on the list at #26 and it's Super Mario Bros. that's gone. (The magazine states these were the numbers as of early January, representing the Christmas rush).

Specifically, when it came to Classified Information, it's a big section this issue. Games covered were Bionic Commando, Golgo 13: Top Secret Agent, Milon's Secret Castle, Adventure Island, Operation Wolf, Spy Hunter, Zanac, Wizards & Warriors, Double Dragon, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest (with a note that were two different endings, though they denied knowing how to access them...there are actually three and it depends on time taken), Skate or Die, and even Super Mario Bros. 2. Counselor's Corner just had Bionic Commando, Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Blaster Master, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and Miockey Mousecapade.

Before the NES Journal section, there's the "Power Pad '89 Playoffs" article, which talks about three games for the Power Pad, World Class Track Meet, Dance Aerobics, and Super Team Games. Remember, most of these were already released by this time, just this time it's the Nintendo releases of the same game, and of course, trophies for everyone.

Video Shorts has California Games, another Milton Bradley port from Epyx (or "Epxx" as this issue writes it), Taboo: The Sixth Sense (digital tarot cards, an interesting choice in an era of heavy censorship), Nonabunaga's Ambition (which featured a battery save, or as Nintendo Power put it "a 'Zelda'-like memory'"), Desert Commander, Mappyland, Airwolf, Predator, and Flying Dragon. The games for the first time were accompanied by a "Player Meter" with four measurements, "Graphics & Sound", "Play Control", "Challenge", and "Theme, Fun". These would be a long-time feature through the next ten years. NES Journal has a long article that's just an April Fools Day joke, and it's actually pretty terrible.

The celebrity interview is Shalane McCall, who had recently appeared in Dallas but by the time the magazine hit newsstands, McCall had retired from acting, married at 17, and pretty much disappeared after that.

In lieu of the Players Poll Contest, there was the Nintendo Power Awards '88, but I didn't see what the contest actually was. There were nominees (I'm not sure who chose them) and you couldn't select a random game, it had to be those. Note, for instance, that there's a category for Best Player vs. Player, but Anticipation didn't even make it to the nomination. Telling that in 1989 Nintendo was already sweeping the game under the rug never to be discussed again...and you thought EarthBound was a flop.

After a page explaining the new Rating System (and the blanks to fill in yourself), there's Pak Watch. The Gossip Gremlins are still there, of course, but what makes Pak Watch more interesting are the cancelled games. While there have been games that didn't get localized, stuff like Chester Field, Empire City: 1931, and Spy vs. Spy II: The Island Caper, this issue features two more, but games that were NEVER released in any region and considered lost for years. The first of these was Capcom's California Raisins, also known as The California Raisins: The Grape Escape, which was canned fairly late in development because the California Raisins were on their way out. A prototype would be leaked in 2003 but it was never a canonical Nintendo Entertainment System game that was covered by the magazine. The other, the far more mysterious Super Sushi Pinball wouldn't be found for another twenty years after California Raisins was found and it too was eventually leaked. Before that, this is pretty much what we had to go on, which was proved to be correct (often misinformation floats around for years). There's a few other NES games that were discussed and never released, and we still have no clue of their whereabouts.

The issue comes with "The Complete NES Game Pak Directory", which I know I had either a scan of or a physical copy of, but I can no longer find it. I'm pretty sure that they still had the Tengen games which would be blacklisted in the next few years, due to Tengen's treacherous actions (from Nintendo's POV, at least) of working around the lockout chip and becoming a rogue, unlicensed NES publisher.

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