Nintendo Power Issue 001 (July-August 1988)

Systems Covered:

• Nintendo Entertainment System

Features:

• Super Mario Bros. 2 – Maps and strategies to get you started on your adventure.
• The Legend of Zelda – Conquer the Second Quest with these hints and dungeon maps.
• Poster – The Legend of Zelda’s Second Quest overworld map, backed with a Bases Loaded poster by artist Kaz Aizawa.
• Baseball Roundup – Three new baseball titles are hitting the NES:
  • R.B.I. Baseball
  • Bases Loaded
  • Major League Baseball
• Double Dragon – Learn the moves and strategies necessary to rescue Marion from the Shadow Warriors.

Departments:

• Howard & Nester – The Game Master and the Game Disaster combine forces to bring out the chuckles.
• Player’s Poll – A new contest, with new prizes, every issue! This time around, respondents could win one of 10 copies of Super Mario Bros. 2, or one of 50 Nintendo Power jerseys. The Grand Prize winner gets to pick ten NES games of their choice!
• NES Journal – What’s happening in the world of Nintendo across the globe.
  • World News – Dragon Quest III is breaking sales records all over Japan, while the US has yet to see even the first game released State-side.
  • Player’s Forum – The new Vindicators arcade game offers realistic tank controls, and a contest to win a t-shirt just for playing.
  • Books – The Official Nintendo Player’s Guide and Zelda: Tips & Tactics are available for a discount if ordered through Nintendo Power!
  • Events – Konami Awards Top Gun Title! Konami’s Top Gun Video Game Shoot Out Contest drew a flood of applicants, but when the dust settled, it was Devin “Devil” White of Minneapolis, Minnesota who walked away with the $5,000 grand prize!
  • Movies – What’s new in theatres?
    • Vibes
    • Big Top Pee-Wee
    • Eight Men Out
  • Celebrity Profile – Kirk and Candace Cameron, the sibling stars of “Growing Pains” and “Full House” respectively, talk about life and gaming on the sets of their TV shows.
• Mail Box – Readers’ letters.
• NES Achievers – If you nailed a high score, and have the photographic evidence to prove it, send it in and receive recognition.
• Video Spotlight – Power Players and their friends speak out on their greatest accomplishments.
• Nintendo Power Top 30 – As chosen by reader votes, these are the thirty greatest NES games of the current month. Also included are the Top 30 games as voted on by players, the pros at Nintendo Power, and the dealers who sell the carts.
• Next Issue – Check out strategies for Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, The Adventures of Bayou Billy, and Bionic Commando.

Counselors Corner (Nintendo’s Game Counselors answer their most frequently-asked questions):

• Ghosts N Goblins
• Ring King
• Metroid
• Super Mario Bros.
• Kid Icarus
• Rygar
• Castlevania
• Ikari Warriors
• Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!!

Classified Information (Cheats and tricks):

• Ice Hockey
• Contra
• Gun.Smoke
• Rad Racer
• Athena
• Mike Tysons Punch Out
• Arkanoid
• Ring King
• Ninja Kid
• Zanac

Now Playing (Short strategies for newer games):

• Gauntlet
• Contra
• Wheel of Fortune/Jeopardy

Video Shorts (Quick looks at current software):

• Legendary Wings
• Iron Tank
• Gun.Smoke
• Rambo
• Dragon Power
• Metal Gear
• Bionic Commando
• City Connection
• Ikari Warriors II: Victory Road
• Star Force
• Freedom Force

Pak Watch (Previews of upcoming titles):

• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
• Chesterfield
• Terra Cresta
• Golgo 13
• 1943
• Zelda II – The Adventure of Link
• Jackal
• Blaster Master
• Empire City 1931
• Simon’s Quest
• World Games
• Lee Trevino’s Fighting Golf
• Platoon
• Life Force
• Robocop
• Xenophobe
• Marble Madness
• California Games

Notable Stuff:

• The early issues of Nintendo Power were produced by Japanese writers and designers, then translated and localized for an English market. This comes through in grammar mistakes, spelling errors, and sentences that don’t read quite right to a native English speaker.
• The word “Illustration” is misspelled as “Illustlation” on the back of the Bases Loaded poster.
• The Classified Information section on Zanac has several mistakes of this kind. It refers to the Blue Lander character as a “Blue Render”, and the third trick contains the phrase, “If you get a thrill out of this trick is for you.”
• The instructions for performing the Elbow and the Spin Kick in Double Dragon are wrong. The Elbow is performed by pressing the A button while facing away from an enemy at a certain range, while the Spin Kick replaces the Roundhouse Kick as the third and final attack of a Kick combo when you have seven Hearts.