We have another recap of an issue in Nintendo Power, just in time for a significant, coinciding event in the modern video game industry.

The issue is Nintendo Power #51, for August of 1993. Our cover game for this issue is Street Fighter II Turbo, which introduces the ability to have same character matches in the game, as well as the ability to play as the bosses, coinciding nicely with the release of Capcom?s latest fighting game to include Street Fighter characters ? Marvel vs. Capcom 3.

In the letters column for this issue we have a letter from a 47 year-old chuck driver, looking for assistance with Blaster Master, and who has also been having problems with Final Fantasy Legend for the Game Boy. According to the writer, he got so frustrated with the game, that he nearly ran over his Game Boy with his big-rig until another driver stopped him (I presume this was at a truck stop). The writer discovered that the other driver had been stuck in the same spot in the game he was, and he got some instructions about how to get past that part of the game. I have to admit that I never thought of big-rig drivers as hardcore portable gamers before, but now that I?ve been exposed to the concept, I?m not too surprised. I wonder if the portable game systems are still popular with long-haul truckers today, and if so, I wonder what systems are popular?

Street Fighter II Turbo Guide

This guide doesn?t give us precise tier info, but what it does give us is info on who is good against who, as well as rankings in speed, jump height, attack and defense, which is pretty much enough to let you work out tiers on your own.

Zombies Ate My Neighbors Guide

Konami?s rather large action puzzle game is getting a guide. Yes, I?m calling it a puzzle game, as you?re basically navigating a maze, and have to manage your inventory and the optimal path to rescue as many neighbors and get as many power-ups as possible.  It?s like Pac-Man meets B monster movies and smash TV.

Anyway, the game itself is fairly impressive with large, open levels (for the SNES) and a lot of them. The guide gives maps and advice for a smattering of them. I?m surprised that this wasn?t one of the first video games to get a published strategy guide, as level maps for this game would be immensely useful.

Alien^3 Guide

This is probably one of the few titles from Acclaim that I wouldn?t consider bad. The game is something of a Metroid-light. You have a series of hub areas in the game that you can perform several missions through. After clearing the missions in one area, you move on to the next and perform all the necessary missions there, and so on. We get information the first two hubs.

Nester?s Adventures

This issue Nester is playing ?Link?s Awakening?. Our tip is that fighting in a doorway keeps you from getting surrounded. That?s on par with ?Shoot Enemies to Kill Them? in Doom as far as obvious pro-tips are concerned.

Goof Troop Guide

This is a Capcom game based on the Disney animated TV series with Goofy and his son, which I admit I remember rather fondly. From a gameplay standpoint, this game looks like a mix of StarTropics (top-down exploration gameplay in maze levels), combined with a bit of Sukeban (you can pick up and shove objects, but you can?t really pull them). We get maps for all the levels in the game.

Nigel Mansell?s World Championship Guide

This is a Formula 1 Racing game for the SNES, NES, and Game Boy. We get maps of all the courses of the game, including recommended speeds for the various turns. Most of the tracks are based on real courses, and I can?t help but notice that the German track is based on a configuration for the Nurburgring.

We also get some comparison information on the NES and Game Boy versions of the game.

Classified Information

We get cheats for Super Double Dragon, and Super Valis IV, along with what the Konami Code does on Turtles in Time and Batman Returns from Konami (gives 10 lives in TMNT and 9 on Batman, except you have to enter the code on the second controller and hit start on the first controller).

You get some additional cheats for the Combattribes, Deadheat Scramble, Mega Man III (the Game Boy version), and Flying Warriors for the NES.

Starfox Comic

Our heroes are attacked by space stingrays, and then encounter a space ship shaped like a humpback whale, with Fox?s father aboard. You know, I don?t remember anything like this in the first Starfox game.

Name of the Game

Just a little feature article to help you get the names of games in various franchises straight.

Speedy Gonzalez Guide

This is a Game Boy game based on Warner Bros. other really fast characters. We get maps of every level in the game up to the last level. Of the levels we see, they?re fairly straightforward and very short, as is the game itself, with six levels before the final stage. While I understand that you need to have the game just long enough so you can beat the within the system?s battery life, the length makes me suspect that the game is extending its play time through bullshit ?difficulty? instead of good game design.

Star Trek: The Next Generation Guide

This looks to be an odd little semi-sim. I can?t really tell how the game is played from the preview, but from what I can tell this is a game that would work better on the PC then on consoles.

4-in-1 Funpack

Basically, this is Klondike Solitaire, Dominos, Cribbage and Yacht(zee).

Counselor?s Corner

We get tips on the ninja RPG Inindo and Road Runner?s Death Valley Rally. We get info on training up party members in Ultima V,a s well as questions on getting Lord British?s Crown and raising the dead. There?s also puzzle advice for Final Fantasy Adventure, and complete level maps for acts 1 & 2 of StarFox.

Jurassic Park Guide

This is, essentially, a home port of the game boy game. That is not necessarily a good thing. We get maps of stages 1 through 3.

King?s Quest V Guide

While adventure games do well in Japan, and a few western adventure games came out in the US. However, no adventure games as unforgiving  as those by Sierra Online had come to consoles before?

Until now.

I?m not entirely convinced that this is a good thign. We get some notes to get you partway through the game, but not all the way through.

Top 2o

Starfox is in the top spot for the SNES, with Street Fighter II in the #2 spot. The Super Mario Land games have the top 2 spots on the Game Boy. Mario 3 and Zelda have the top 2 spots on the NES.

Also, as an aside, we have an Alien^3 contest where you can win a full size Alien replica, and Ripley?s Cryo-tube! Second prize is a copy of Alien 3 for the SNES and a VHS of the movie. Rather impressive.

Now Playing

First up, we get a look at FInal Fight II, now (finally) with two-player, and the prostitutes still changed to transgender characters ? because homophobia and transphobia is so much more acceptable. Also of note is Activision?s Alien vs. Predator brawler, First Samurai from Kemco (an action platformer), the Bram Stoker?s Dracula licensed game, and a new Spider-Man game for the Game Boy.

Pak Watch

Interplay is working on their own fighting game with Clay Fighter. Ubisoft has F1: Pole Position. Tradewest has Plok, Namco has battle cars. Spectrum Holobyte is working on a new Star Trek: The  Next Generation game that will, hopefully, work better on consoles than on the Game Boy.

Maxis also has a port of SimAnt, and Capcom has two more Mega Men games, Mega Man 6 for the NES and Mega Man 4 for the Game Boy.

My quality control pick for this issue is going to be Goof Troop. This is different enough from your standard Disney licensed platformer to make things interesting.

Filed under: Video games, Where I Read Tagged: NES, Nintendo Power, SNES, StarTropics, Street Fighter II, Super Double Dragon, video game magazines, Video games, Where I Read

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