As we can see on the cover (we're now in August 1993), Street Fighter II gets another chance after its big splash in Volume 38, this time with the souped-up Street Fighter II Turbo getting released. I never played either game so I had to ask ChatGPT about the differences...and the conclusions I got was that in 1993, Street Fighter II Turbo was THE way to go and at this point you probably were better off waiting for Turbo.

Next up is Zombies Ate My Neighbors. If you've been with us so far, Nintendo Power has been talking up this game for several issues, back when it was a project by LucasArts known as Monsters, followed by Alien³, based after the film starring Sigourney Weaver. It's this game where the poster for Rock 'n Roll Racing is (coming soon from Interplay!).

Nester's Adventures this month is The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. As you can see in the image embedded in this article, Dan Spiegle's artwork is terrible as usual, though writer Scott Pelland inadvertently predicts The Minish Cap.

Goof Troop, based after the Disney cartoon of the same name is covered. It's published by Capcom, but a top-down action-adventure title than the platformers like what they did in the NES days. Nigel Mansell's World Championship is covered, but the last page of it covers the NES and Game Boy versions of it as well.

After that, we get to Classified Information, which this month covers Super Double Dragon (unlimited continues), Super Valis IV (easy mode), SimEarth (sound test), Aerobiz (sound test), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time (extra lives), Batman Returns (extra lives), Cal Ripken Jr. Baseball (a team with all Cal Ripken Jr. clones), and The Combatribes (extra continues, super-hard difficulty, and a one-round match). For Game Boy, there's Deadheat Scramble (track select) and Mega Man III (passwords), as well as passwords for Flying Warriors for the NES.

The Star Fox comic continues with "Act 7" in which James McCloud speaks to Fox as a giant space whale (yeah, don't ask), and before we hit up the Game Boy games, we have an article titled "The Name of the Game". In this one, it talks about similarly-named games for the Nintendo consoles (and no doubt these similar names ruined Christmases and birthdays), specifically citing a few series like The Addams Family (and how Fester's Quest is so much different than the others in a variety of ways, being based after the original TV show and not the movie...as well as being published by Sunsoft), Adventure Island (like how Adventure Island III for NES corresponds to Adventure Island II: Aliens in Paradise for the Game Boy), The Terminator (T2: The Arcade Game and Terminator 2: Judgment Day were made a year apart), Star Wars (and that's without the issues of Namco's Star Wars like Japan got), The Empire Strikes Back, Star Trek (didn't even mention the changes between the computer Star Trek: 25th Anniversary and the console ones), Battletoads (the original Game Boy Battletoads is not the same as NES Battletoads, while Game Boy's Battletoads in Ragnarok's World and SNES Battletoads in Battlemaniacs are more faithful ports), "Sequels with New Names" (like how Solstice, Altered Space, and Equinox are all related to each other), Final Fantasy (just within the titles released in the West, and not getting into issues like how The Final Fantasy Legend is a rebranded version of the first SaGa game, or how Final Fantasy II and the upcoming Final Fantasy III are rebranded versions of Final Fantasy IV and Final Fantasy VI respectively...though I believe at this time Final Fantasy V was to be the basis for the U.S. Final Fantasy III), Batman (some based on films, some on the original property, and one on Batman: The Animated Series, which was released as The Adventures of Batman and Robin), and finally "Games With 'Super' in their names, but not for the Super NES", so Super C is a NES title, whereas its SNES counterpart is Contra III: The Alien Wars.

The article also talks about names in other regions, like how Super Mario Bros. 2 is Super Mario USA in Japan (that is, the version with Mario, not Doki Doki Panic), how Mega Man is Rock Man overseas, and the issues in Europe, like how there's "Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles" or Starwing instead of Star Fox. They also talk about Final Fantasy being called "Mystic Quest" in Europe (it was Final Fantasy Adventure, aka the first Mana title that was called Mystic Quest in PAL regions), with the magazine speculating what Final Fantasy Mystic Quest would be called in Europe (it would be Mystic Quest Legend). It should be mentioned that none of the mainline Final Fantasy games made it to Europe at this point in time and wouldn't happen until the PlayStation era, which the magazine wasn't clear on, nor did they mention the whole "Probotector" business (Contra was too rough for Europe, so they made all the characters robots), but please—our European friends have had enough. They don't even have air conditioning.

And speaking of other cultures, the Game Boy games start with Speedy Gonzales which featured some decidedly unusual features for platformers at the time, including going to the left sometimes in a platformer (pioneered by Super Mario Bros. 3, but rare in most platformers), going through loops like Sonic the Hedgehog, and other features. There's two pages on Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Interplay’s 4-in-1 Funpak Volume II, featuring solitaire, dominoes, cribbage, and yacht.

Counselor's Corner has two for Inindo: Way of the Ninja (two questions), Road Runner's Death Valley Rally (three questions), Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny (NES, using the DOS title instead of its NES title, Ultima: Warriors of Destiny) with three questions, answered by another person who would probably be seen as a weirdo at least by 1993 standards, and lastly two questions covering Final Fantasy Adventure. "Counselor's Corner Extra" has four pages covering Star Fox maps.

After Power Player's Challenge, we finally get to the NES games relegated to the back of the magazine. These games include Jurassic Park (with a mini-section for the Game Boy title of the same name) and King's Quest V, which finally has has a proper section, likely because it was a difficult game and they wanted to cover it...though not only is it easier than the computer game counterparts (fewer deaths/unwinnable deaths as Sierra was fond of doing), but Nintendo Power calls it an "RPG" despite clearly being an adventure title. It's much closer to Uninvited than Final Fantasy II, after all.

So with the Battletoads feature a few months ago, did the Battletoads win this issue? Nope. The series is basically dead at this point now, though they do reappear in the top five for NES. Let's take a look at the games this time.

Under the Super NES category, Star Fox retains #1 and Street Fighter II: The World Warrior takes #2. "How well will it do once Street Fighter Turbo hits town?", the magazine wonders out loud. I'd imagine it'd plummet. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past still takes #3 (losing by less than 2,000 points). Super Mario Kart holds #4, with Mario Paint jumping to #5 (from #6 last month and #7 the month before). Final Fantasy II is down (to #6 as it was two months ago, last month it was #5). The benefit of no longer being a pack-in (and likely sold at a lower price) gives Super Mario World a big boost, reappearing in the Top 20 at #7. Tecmo Super NBA premiers at #8, and SimCity improves from #13 to #9. (Reports of SimCity's disappearance from the Top 20 have been greatly exaggerated...at least for now). Rounding out #10 is Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV: Turtles in Time as it was last month. NCAA Basketball was at #7 last month, its off the list now. Super Star Wars was at #8 last month, it's down to #12 now. Tiny Toon Adventures: Buster Busts Loose! went from #9 to #17. I do see The Lost Vikings is on the list this month (at #16) but no Battletoads in Battlemaniacs. (F-Zero is at #15. It was at #12 last month.)

Mario's dominance is about to be dethroned in the Game Boy Top 20, not by Samus, but by Link, with The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening now in the top 5 (pushing Tetris to #6). At this point, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins is still leading by around a 2:1 margin up against Super Mario Land with Metroid II: Return of Samus in #3 (like last month). Kirby's Dream Land still retains #4, and with the rising star of Link's Awakening, Tetris is pushed back to #6. Dr. Mario holds #7, The Ren & Stimpy Show: Space Cadet Adventures is back on the top 10 (#11 to #8), Final Fantasy Adventure is up a bit (#9 to #10), and Battletoads is down to #10 from #8 (and again, that's the original, not Battletoads in Ragnarok's World). FaceBall 2000 fell from #9 to #14, The Simpsons: Escape from Camp Deadly is at #16, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers is struggling to stay on the Top 20, at #20 (below Golf, at #19).

In Game Boy's category, Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins still leads by a 2:1 margin, Super Mario Land is up (#3 to #2), Metroid II: The Return of Samus is down (#2 to #3), Kirby's Dream Land stays at #4, Tetris is up (#7 to #5), The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening stays at #6, Dr. Mario is down (#5 to #7), Battletoads is up (#10 to #8...but no Battletoads in Ragnarok's World to be found), FaceBall 2000 is up (#11 to #9), and Final Fantasy Adventure is up (#14 to #10). The Ren & Stimpy Show: Space Cadet Adventures dropped off the top 10 (#9 to #11), as did Mega Man III (#8 to #13). Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Back from the Sewers does appear at #18, however.

At this point, the NES games are quickly becoming the classics rather than the new titles with just sixteen issues before they go away. Super Mario Bros. 3, The Legend of Zelda, and Mega Man 5 hold the top three like last month. Battletoads does make #4 (from #9), Final Fantasy gets back to #5, the original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reappears at #6, Metroid drops from #5 to #7, Tecmo Super Bowl drops from #4 to #8, Dragon Warrior IV drops from #6 to #9, and Tecmo NBA Basketball premiers at #10. Dr. Mario is off the top 10 (at #13).

The Player's Poll Contest is themed to Alien³. The grand prize winner wins a full-size seven-foot-tall Alien replica, the actual Cryotube prop (or at least one of them), Alien³ Game Pak of your system of choice from Acclaim Entertainment (under the LJN brand), and a VHS copy of Alien³. The second prize just get a game and the movie, and the third prize wins "Nintendo Power Ts" (not jerseys, and "Version 3" design as we've seen for the last few years). It notes that as Alien³ is rated R, winners under the age of 17 will have to have parental permission to accept the movie.

Now Playing this month covers a spread of games between three systems, and everything in the list has a small description this month in the section. Looking at them specifically, starting with the Super NES titles...
* Alien vs. Predator by Activision I was really confused by. The film wouldn't be released until 2004, but the comic predated it by years, and thus is based on the comic book. The magazine (apparently) misspelled it as "Aliens vs. Predator" (which is the title of a 2010 game) but also what was the name of the game in Japan.
* "Dracula", actually Bram Stoker's Dracula by Sony Imagesoft is a multiplat title based after the 1992 film.
* They review Final Fight 2 (Capcom) and promise a review next month.
* First Samurai by Kemco is a port of a computer game first published for the Amiga and Atari ST.
* Goof Troop (Capcom) was of course covered this issue.
* Nigel Mansell's World Championship (Gametek) is listed. This also had a section this month.
* Street Fighter II Turbo (Capcom) is the highest-rated game this month. It of course was also covered in more depth this issue.
* "Super Aquatic Games" (actually The Super Aquatic Games Starring the Aquabats), published by Seika, is a spin-off of James Pond, an Amiga series that no one cared about (at least in the United States). I don't think they even reviewed Super James Pond when it was released for the SNES at all, and the original never made to Nintendo systems.
* Super Baseball 2020 by Tradewest features robot players, I don't even think they have screenshots.
* Zombies Ate My Neighbors gets decent reviews (nothing below 3.7, but nothing above 4.0) and is of course covered in the magazine.

Alien³ wasn't covered as it was covered last month. Under the NES games, there's the NES version of Bram Stoker's Dracula (Sony Imagesoft), Jimmy Connors Tennis (Ubi Soft), Jurassic Park (Ocean), and Nigel Mansell's World Championship (Gametek). King's Quest V was reviewed a while back but I can't remember when. Under Game Boy, 4-in-1 Funpak Volume II isn't listed (I'm not sure when that was listed, if ever), nor is Star Trek: The Next Generation (reviewed last month). Speedy Gonzalez (Sunsoft) does show up here, though, and other titles include Goal! (Jaleco), Muhammad Ali Heavyweight Boxing (here called "Muhammad Ali's Boxing") by Virgin Games, Spider-Man 3: Invasion of the Spider-Slayers (LJN), and Tesserae (Gamtek).

Pak Watch has a handful of games including Clay Fighter by Interplay, SimAnt (uses the SNES Mouse and would be published by Maxis, but developed by Imagineer), Mega Man 6 for NES, Final Fantasy Legend III, and a recap of the latest CES.

Most of this is old news. There's mention of the redesigned budget NES and Super Mario All-Stars (more on that in the next few issues). FX Trax, which was said to use the Super FX chip was released as Stunt Race FX (and that would be a cover issue). A game based after Lord of the Rings and featuring Super NES Mouse compatibility (J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, Vol. I by Interplay) "looked intriguing" but it was ultimately a bad game with poor sales. Aero the Acro-Bat is announced, no doubt to trying to exploit the "mascots with attitude" craze set by Bubsy, Sonic, and others. Maxis announced that in addition to SimAnt, Super NES would get a port of the "truly awesome" SimCity 2000 (sadly, as great as the game was, the SNES version not so much). Absolute Enertainment announced that they would "develop and market their own titles exclusively instead of developing for other licensees"...but that wouldn't end up happening. Their biggest title at the show was Home Improvement (released as Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit!), based after the Tim Allen sitcom...but promising Super Battletank 2, Turn and Burn: No-Fly Zone, and Redline: F-1 Racer. Of those, Redline was not an original title (it was a localization of Aguri Suzuki F-1 Super Driving) and all three did make it to market, but it wasn't too long after that it was curtains for Absolute Entertainment. Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill premiered at this show, and then...that's it. There's no listing of games like usual, just the next issue stuff. Volume 52 it is then, I suppose.

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