Exor's Dungeon - Magazine Reviews - Nintendo Power Volume 6

The scan I have unfortunately has watermarks on every single page including the cover (the alternate one I used is somewhat defaced on the logo), I understand not stealing work but this is annoying. Mail Box features a recipe for "Mike Tyson's Punch" and a fan-made Zelda rap. It's not quite the Zelda rap on the commercial and notably worse. Check out the scan (with cleaned up scan, sorry Retromags) here.

While we saw the clay Mario last month,
this may be the first time artwork
shows up in Mail Box. More
artwork would show up in the future.

While we saw the clay Mario last month, this may be the first time artwork shows up in Mail Box. More artwork would show up in the future. As the magazine cover suggests, Volume 7, the May/June 1989 issue, is all about Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles which gets a feature of several pages. Before getting to the other games, though, the winners of Nintendo Power Awards '88 are revealed. Best Graphics & Sound goes to Castlevania II: Simon's Quest. Best Challenge goes to the original The Legend of Zelda, with Super Mario Bros. 2 taking "Best Theme & Fun", "Best Play Control", and "Best Ending". Zelda II: The Adventure of Link wins Best Character, Blades of Steel is the winner for Best Player vs. Player (and was still forgotten), and Zelda II: The Adventure of Link wins the grand prize of best overall game.

At a time when Engrish "CONGRADULATIONS! YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER!"-type endings were common if it even had a game ending at all, Super Mario Bros. 2 was something else. I mean, look at this. It's got animation, it's got great music, it's got a conclusion.

Anyway, we have The Adventures of Bayou Billy, which was talked about in previous issues a bunch but never did get a cover feature, there's Cobra Triangle, Life Force (the maps on the fold-out, the poster was for Mega Man II), which also is the opener for the Previews section (which high marks in the Power Meter, as is expected, Mega Man II routinely makes "top 10 NES game" lists). Faxanadu is covered next, then Fester's Quest (which also got high reviews).

Sheet music!

Clash at Demonhead is next, and finally, Dragon Warrior, the localized name to the first Dragon Quest game by Enix. Howard & Nester's theme is Ninja Gaiden. For much of H&N's run, the previous issue's cover game was the game that they ran with for that issue. There were exceptions; they had already run Tetris comics so Volume 10 got Dragon Warrior instead, Volume 11 got Super Spike V'Ball instead of Batman (which I imagine was for trademark concerns, they did have DuckTales for a comic strip...with generic ducks). That same issue was the reason why Volume 16's strip was Golgo 13: The Mafat Conspiracy instead of Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers...and after that it became much less consistent in the last few strips as Howard & Nester. (Nester's Adventures disposed of this theme entirely).

Anyway, after Counselor's Corner (with Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Milon's Secret Castle, Ikari Warriors, The Legend of Zelda, and Cobra Command), Ninja Gaiden runs for a second part, there's a short story (two pages) called "Friends", a fiction contest winner from the previous issue (I don't think I mentioned this in my reviews), and finally the Top 30. The top three didn't change much (that's Super Mario Bros. 2, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, and The Legend of Zelda, though Zelda II and SMB2 switched places) but the next seven did. Contra moved to #4, Track & Field II premiered at #5, Blaster Master and Metal Gear enter the top 10 at 6 and 7 respectively, Bionic Commando drops to 8, Metroid rises to 9, and Rampage at #10. Ice Hockey is off the list, Mega Man II is at #30 (which will rise), Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! dropped to #16, and Super Mario Bros. re-premieres at #17.

And to think, that was only a SMALL part of the department store.

Following this, we have two pages for Nester's "Father's Day Lecture", basically a list of games you can play with your father or attempt to get him hooked on the bigger titles of the NES.

The most NES game ever in all the ways.
Full overview here.

Classified Information includes tips on doing an "Extended Grenade" in Blaster Master, extra ammo in Golgo 13, charging up a shot in 1943, manipulating the screen to get past pitfalls in Metal Gear, unintended warping in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, several tips for Ninja Gaiden, Ultima: Exodus tips (there's a blurb about an upcoming tip book from FCI specifically for the NES port), how to reach the good ending in Bubble Bobble (the game will lead you to the "Bad End" for the mere crime of beating the game as single player), how to view the next boss in Adventure Island, and cloning POW blocks in Super Mario Bros. 2.

Video Shorts starts with Super Dodge Ball (the only CSG Imagesoft "Super ___________" game to actually be released...neither Super Sushi Pinball nor Super Rescue got a release), "Bugs Bunny's Crazy Castle" ( The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle) by Kemco-Seika, Baseball Stars (SNK), Fist of the North Star (Taxan), Kung-Fu Heroes (Culture Brain), Street Cop (Bandai), Athletic World (Bandai) which was a rerelease of an existing game, Amagon (American Sammy), Monster Party (Bandai), Adventures of Lolo (HAL), and Hydlide (FCI). Adventures of Lolo is noteworthy as the game was exclusive to North America and composed of puzzles from two games in the Eggerland series.

The Player's Poll Contest this volume was very lopsided. An ordinary decidedly non-video game related mountain bike (with a helmet) is the grand prize winner while the runner-up prize is an autographed WrestleMania cartridge by the legends.

Originally I discussed this on the Volume 27 review but in NES Journal this volume they're talking about the World of Nintendo stores. They weren't stand-alone retail stores like the modern "Nintendo New York" store is, they were store-within-a-stores at big toy stores (Child World, Toys R Us) or department stores (Sears, JCPenney, Macy's). NES Journal also talks about the release of the Golgo 13 manga stateside, the new Batman movie (which of course would get a NES game adaptation), an interview with Holly Robinson, and an overview of "Lockarm" (winner of a "create your own video game" contest back in Volume 3).

Video Spotlight is here and the last time it would be at the back of the magazine.

After NES Achievers, Pak Watch finishes out the magazine. Many of the Pak Watch titles are from the CES show, many of them ultimately disappointments like LJN's Back to the Future or the Brøderbund U-Force. The last thing they mention is a new handheld device coming soon from Nintendo...the Game Boy. It also talks about Super Mario Bros. 3. ("Mario will be able to fly, using a raccoon tail as a propeller.")