We continue our trek through 1992 in Nintendo Power with issue #39 for August. Our cover game for this issue is Mario Paint. It’s safe to say that it’s not definitely not going to be my Quality Control pick for this issue. The letters selected this issue are about parents who play Nintendo games (some even from the parents in question). Not surprisingly, there are a lot of them, and they tend to prefer puzzle games. There are exceptions – we have one gentleman who has beaten Zelda, Startropics, Crystalis, and Final Fantasy.

Gargoyle’s Quest Guide

So, the spinoff to Ghouls & Ghosts has gotten a sequel. Ghouls & Ghosts, technically, has not. We get maps of the overworld map as well as some of the significant levels (including the training level – yes, there’s a training level to help you get the hang of the controls, which is rather progressive for the time). We also get maps of the areas leading up to the first castle.

Casino Kid 2 Guide

This is another casino game with boss fights. I’m kind of tempted to give this a try. The game has Poker, Blackjack, and Roulette. While Roulette is more chance based, there are some betting strategies for the game, and since Roulette is new to the series, they give notes on how to do well at Roulette. Additionally, the game gives you some hints as to what spot the ball will land on, which I find odd. As an aside, the version of poker being played here is stud poker, not Texas Hold ‘Em or any of the variants. I wouldn’t mid seeing someone do a re-make of Casino Kid with Texas Hold ‘Em.

Contra Force Guide

This is the first Contra game which lets you chose your trooper. We get maps of all 5 stages, plus the final boss fight against a super-soldier with a helicopter backing him up. Really – that’s it. That’s really pathetic compared to all the other Contra games.

Legend of Zelda – Link to the Past Comic

Last issue, a mysterious figure challenged Link to fight for the Master Sword. This issue he states his name, Roam, and battle is joined. Link defeats Roam, and learns he was a knight of Hyrule, who was trapped here while investigating the disappearance of the 7 sages.. Roam reveals that the silver arrow is needed to defeat Ganon, and sets out alone to retrieve it, because that’s how he rolls. With the help of his fairy companion, Link learns that another princess is being held in the Swamp palace. Link heads there to find her. The palace in the Dark World coincides with a fountain in the real world. Link uses the Comfork to communicate with people in the real-world, and got them to turn on the fountain, which in turn caused the swamp palace to fill with water. To be Continued (on a nice two-and-a-half-page spread).

Kirby’s Dream Land Guide

Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for Nintendo’s fourth mascot! We already had Mario, Link, and Samus Aran. Now there’s Kirby. In the late 90s they’ll get number five – Pikachu! Anyway, this is Kirby’s first appearance, on the Game Boy. We get notes on all the power-ups in the game, as well as the enemies in the game. We also get maps of all the stages, leading up to the fight with King Dedede.

Lazlo’s Leap Guide

This is a hand-held version of Peg Solitare (the original version – the kind that uses a Fox-and-Geese board). We get strategies for some of the puzzle layouts in the game.

WordTris Guide

This game is, well, like Tetris, except we have falling letters that you have to turn into words.

Summer CES ’92 Notes

Summer CES has come and gone, and we get information on some of the games that were shown off at the event. Not so much screen shots as just mentioning what games were shown.

Super Mario Adventures Comic

Bowser is beaten, our heroes have won, now it’s time to go back to the Mushroom Kingdom – except that Bowser manages to capture the Princess again, and our heroes must go after her again.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles IV Guide

The Turtles latest arcade game has come to home consoles, with added levels and boss fights to take advantage of the system’s support of Mode Seven. We get notes on some of the new game modes for the SNES Version (like a fighting game style versus mode), along with notes on some of the levels. We also get detailed maps for every level in the game except for the last on the issue’s poster.

Wings II: Aces High Guide

This is a World War I combat flight sim like the Red Baron series. We get notes on the different types of missions, as well as instructions on how to pull various dogfighting maneuvers (like the Split S), and information on reaching the final (and only) boss fight in the game – a dogfight with Baron Manfred Richthofen – the Red Baron.

Mario Paint “Guideâ€

This isn’t so much a guide as a description of the various things you can do in the application.

Nester’s Adventures

While the game this issue is Street Fighter II, I’m really not seeing any strategies here.

Now Playing

George & Rob like Casino Kid 2, Gargoyle’s Quest II, and Contra Force, and the other games that are featured in this issue. They’re more split on some of the other games, like Ultimate Journey and Miner 2049er. They did like WordZap for the Game Boy and Clue & Wheel of Fortune for the SNES though (though they’re disappointed with the graphics for Vanna when she’s turning the letters on the game board. They’re kind of split on Super Bowling.

Top 20

Link to the Past has finally bumped Super Mario World off the top spot for the SNES. Super Mario 3 and Super Mario Land still hold the top spots on the NES and Game Boy though. For the NES and Game Boy, Mega Man IV and Metroid II hold the #2 spots, respectively.

Celebrity Player Profile

Now here we have a profile of someone whose gone from B or C list celebrity straight to A-List. Our profiles here of DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince – Will Smith. The setup for this one is a little different then others – Nintendo sent them a console and games, and then asked them what they thought about it. Smith liked Zelda, while Jeff liked NCAA Basketball, and both were hooked on their respective games. I wonder if either one still plays games. Oh, and if you’re wondering what’s going on with Jazzy Jeff, he still collaborates with Will Smith on occasion, and he contributed some mixes to DJ Hero.

Pak Watch

Of note in the games in this isssue is a SNES version of Monopoly, Konami’s shump Axelay, and in the Japan watch they have a few screen shots of Parodius.

That wraps up this issue of Nintendo Power. My Quality Control pick for this issue is going to be Casino Kid II.

Filed under: Video games, Where I Read Tagged: Nintendo Power

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