I've been trying to collect this magazine, and it's pretty frustrating with the separate "Buyers Guide" and "Strategy Guide" issues, as well as the confusing numbering system. Even the list of issues here on Retromags doesn't really help. I'd like to know exactly which issues are needed. Everything from 1990 onward seems pretty straightforward, since they did away with the Buyers Guides.
1-1 1988 - yellow issue 1-1 1988 - flying guy 1-2 1988 - knight/dragon 1-3 1988 - Friday the 13th 2-3 June/July 1989 - B.Commando 2-4 August/September 1989 - sports 2-5 October/November 1989 - stone statue 2-6 December/January 1989 - double dragon 2
There are two issues with the volume 1-1. The first is the "yellow issue," which seems to have come first. It's listed here on Retromags as both Winter 1988 and March 1989 (almost certainly wrong).
The second 1-1 is the "flying guy" issue, which has a later "display until" date on the cover. It's followed by 1-2 and 1-3, which have been uploaded as issues 2 & 3 here on Retromags. That doesn't seem correct - someone was probably confused by the two 1-1s.
Here's a list of the display dates for some of the early mags:
1-1 - January 17, 1989
1-1 - March 14, 1989
1-2 - May 16, 1989
1-3 - March 14, 1989
2-3 - August 15, 1989
I don't know why the 1-2 date is later than 1-3. It does seem like there are variants of each mag, with and without those dates (maybe subscriber vs newstand copies?). The issue of 1-2 uploaded here doesn't have the date, but mine does.
Anyway, the main question I want to know is how many issues exist in between 1-3 and 2-3? Retromags has 1-3 as issue 3, and 2-5 as issue 11. That would suggest 5 issues between 1-3 and 2-3, although there's only a few months in-between those dates listed above. That also doesn't take into account the two 1-1s listed above, so maybe only 4. Also, Retromags is missing a listing for the Winter 1992 issue, so that's another strike against that list.
Clearly, at least 2-1 and 2-2 are out there, right? Any other 1-x issues as well? I'd really appreciate it if someone who has a full set could chime in.