This week’s Nintendo Power recap finally takes us into the 16-bit era, with issue #28 for September of 1991 and our cover story is Super Mario World for the SNES. I’m strongly considering dropping my “no classics” restriction for this game. However, let’s see what else we have this issue first.
Letters: We get a bunch of suggestions for future contests.
Super Mario World Guide: We get coverage of Mario’s new companion, Yoshi, as well as the game’s power-ups. We also get notes on some of the enemies in the game, along with some of the over-world maps. We also get notes on what levels are where, but we don’t get detailed level maps – which is kind of unfortunate, as this is the only mainstream Mario game I’ve gotten lost on. For the record, I also got a little lost in Super Mario RPG, but that’s a slightly different matter. We also get some notes on finding the Star Road – but again, they don’t get in a lot of detail on anything.
Nester’s Adventures: This issue Nester’s playing Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and… I can’t figure out what the tip’s supposed to be. Is it “hide in the bushes to escape persuing enemies” or “search the enviroment to find the number for the era you want to go to”? I miss Howard!
Star Wars Guide: A long time ago, on a 8-bit system far away, JVC and Lucasarts put out a game based on the first Star Wars movie. This is also looking like a strong canidate for my Quality Control pick (particularly since I haven’t played this one). We get the over-world map for Tatooine. We also get the maps for the various areas on Tatoonie. We also get some notes on the levels after Tatoonie, though not particularly any detailed maps.
Smash TV Guide: Smash TV has been ported to the NES, with several of the levels missing, and as a single stick/d-pad shooter. Well, sort of – you can use two sticks to replicate the twin-stick setup. We also get notes on 3 circuits.
Kickmaster Guide: We have a guide for the kick-boxing themed fantasy game from Taito. We get some notes on the levels, but not a lot of maps on the levels.
WURM Guide: Asmik has an underground exploration themed shooter, with a bit of the Blaster Master changing vehicle thing going on. We get some detailed maps this time, on the other side of their F-Zero poster.
Game Boy Coverage: This issue we get coverage of Final Fantasy Adventure – the first game in the Mana series, and some very, very detailed maps. I’m impressed with the amount of coverage we’re getting here. We also get some coverage of the Game Boy version of Tecmo Bowl, and a similar port of Marble Madness.
SNES Previews: We get a preview for Super Castlevania, which returns us once again to Simon Belmont, and introduces 8-way whipping. We also get a peak at some of the stages (and some of those get re-used in Rondo of Blood). We also get a preview of the home port of Sim City, and the first 16-bit brawler – Final Fight, though we don’t particularly need maps for those games.
Now Playing: This issue the also-rans include Eliminator Boat Duel and Bo Jackson Baseball.
Counselor’s Corner: We have questions about Star Tropics, and Legacy of the Wizard. The Legasy of the Wizard question is particualrly useful as it covers which characters you should use to get what crowns, and what screens you have to go through to get there. We also have questiosn about getting some of the 1-ups and past some of the obstacles in Ninja Gaiden III, along with questions about finding WarMech in Final Fantasy, and getting into the castle at the end of Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves
Top 30: Well, this issue I no longer have a nice, convenient two page scan to put up for my Top 30 section, so it’s time to type out the list again. I’m going to switch to the monthly system here, particularly since Nintendo Power has been monthly for several years now, and I’ve stopped counting total run, instead going for the current run (more or less – they don’t give time of run for stuff lower than 10 on the list).
- Super Mario Bros. 3 (9,039 pts.) – No Change (23 months)
- TMNT 2 Arcade (7,582 pts.) – No Change (10 months)
- Mega Man III (5,616 pts.) – No Change (10 months)
- Crystalis (5,251 pts.) – Up 3 (11 months)
- Final Fantasy (5,156 pts.) – Down 1 (13 months)
- Bart vs. The Space Mutants (4,511 pts.) – Up 2 (5 months)
- Dragon Warrior II (4,474 pts.) – Down 2 (9 months)
- Tetris (4,371 pts.) – Down 2 (19 months)
- Startropics (4,350 pts.) – No Change (6 months)
- Dr. Mario (3,429 pts.) – No Change (8 months)
- Battletoads (3,219 pts.) – New!
- The Legend of Zelda (2,908 pts.) – Up 8
- Super Mario Bros 2 (2,541 pts.) – Down 2
- Mega Man II (2,351 pts.) – Down 1
- Destiny of an Emperor (2,324 pts.) – Up 3
- Double Dragon III (2,066 pts.) – Down 6
- Bases Loaded II (1,838 pts.) – Up 11
- Dragon Warrior (1,779 pts.) – Up 6
- Ultima IV (1,740 pts.) – Down 5
- Tecmo Bowl (1,663 pts.) – Returning!
- Double Dragon II (1,523 pts.) – No Change
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1,470 pts.) – Down 3
- Castlevania III (1,386 pts.) – Down 9
- Maniac Mansion (1,368 pts.) – Down 9
- Faria (1,168 pts.) – New!
- Wizardry (1,146 pts.) – Down 10
- Duck Tales (1,144 pts.) – Up 1
- Battle of Olympus (1,074 pts.) – Returning!
- Little Nemo (1,045 pts.) – No Change
Celebrity Profile: Oh you’ve got to be kidding me! Bart Simpson? Look, regular celebrities which are actual human beings are fine. Hell, if Koko the gorilla (or any other gorilla) was tought to play video games as part of an experiment, a profile of him or her would be fine too. Bart isn’t real! Lame!
Pak Watch: Among the interesting upcoming titles are a Tale Spin licenced game and a Might & Magic for the NES. The SNES has Darius Twin coming out, Nosferatu, which is sort of Prince of Persia meets Castlevania. There’s also Super Battletank.
Letter to The Readers: This issue we have a little note from Scott Peland, the writer of Howard and Nester, and now Nester Adventures, with a little peak behind the scenes.
Well then, my Quality Control pick for this issue is going to be the NES Star Wars game from JVC. I’ll move on to the SNES versions later, when they come out – unless something more interesting is up against it. Also, I’m considering dropping GamePro. I don’t feel like I can trust their reviews. However, EGM has started up EGM^2 around this time, plus I also have access to a small archive of DieHard Game Fan. So, I’m interested in both of those. If you have a preference, please post in the comments. Thank you.
