This week’s Nintendo Power, issue #29 for October of 1991, finally has some better cover art – for Star Trek! Oh, and this is a good one too – they’re finally getting back up to speed. It’s original art too, not stock art from Paramount either. I can tell they’re using a model, but it still looks good anyway. It helps that they’re using the Constitution Class refit.

Letters: Our themed letters this issue are based around parents who hyjack their kids console, in that they’re gaming enough that the kids have to try (and fail) to chase them off the NES.

F-Zero Guide: We have notes on the games controls, and which tracks you’ll have to race on which circuits. We also have notes on the various vehicles and their pilots, including Captain Falcon.

Nester’s Adventures: This issue Nester is playing Star Wars, and the advice this issue is to jump over the bloody nusance bounty hunters in Mos Eisley.

Star Trek 25th Anniversary Guide: So, Star Trek is 25 years old, Star Trek VI is on it’s way to theaters, Next Gen is coming to an end, and the Dominion War Arc is going to start. Meanwhile, on consoles, we’re getting a new Star Trek Game, in the Adventure genre. It’s also guilty of having nesting fetch quests. Oh, and by having nesting fetch quests I mean there aren’t any non-fetch quests. I don’t even think you fight any enemy ships.

Roger Clemens MVP Baseball Guide: It’s a NES Baseball game. I’ve already told you in my EGM and GamePro recaps how unimpressed I am with those.

Metroid Guide: This isn’t Metroid II for the Game Boy, it isn’t Super Metroid, this is a new guide for the original. It even has notes on the power-ups, and most importantly, it has maps for Brimstar, Norfair, and the lairs for the bosses of Kraid and Ridley, along with Tourian, and the boss fight with Mother Brain – plus the escape.

Shatterhand Guide:We get power-up notes, some level maps, and some boss notes for about 3 levels. We don’t get coverage for the last boss fight though.

Game Boy Coverage: We start off with coverage of Castlevania II for the Game Boy, which while it apparently has some improvements over the first game, keeps the damn ropes. We also have a preview of Bart Simpson in Escape from Camp Deadly. Interplay also has Track Meet, and we’ve got a port of the NES version of Monopoply.

SNES Q & A: We get some answers to basic consumer questions about the SNES. Stuff like “Will the NES still be supported?” (reasonable) and “Can I hook both consoles up to one TV?” (not so reasonable), and “Will we get 16-bit remakes?” (pretty unreasonable).

SNES Coverage: We get a preview of Super Ghouls & Ghosts, which I think I may make my pick, just to see how later versions of Ghouls & Ghosts compare to the original (which I have played). There’s also Hal’s Hole in One Golf, and Super R-Type also known as R-Type 2 (which I’ve reviewed in the form of R-Types at Bureau42.com).

Now Playing: The Highlights of the also-rans include Captain America & The Avengers, which is actually making itself a canidate, along with a Wolverine game.

Top 30: I’m going to try something different and see if I can splice both pages of the scan togeather. To be absolutely honest, I like being able to post the pictures of the pages – not just because it’s easy (thought it kind of is), it’s also really fun to look at the top 30 as a whole, particularly since they have some of their own commentary, and – to be honest, there are some stylistic things from the early 90s and late 80s that I liked – we’re not yet in the mid-90s in the midst of Rob Liefeld attitude, so I’m reveling in this while I can – in case things change for the worse a few volumes down the road.

Celebrity Profile: This issue’s profile is of a real person this time, Joe Regalbuto, currently co-starring on Murphy Brown as Frank Fontana (a role he reprised on an episode of Family Guy, which is one hell of an obscure reference to drop). Is it just me, or with the exception of Wil Wheaton, has the careers of the most of the celebrities profiled here not lasted long afterwards?

Pak Watch: The upcoming titles of note here are Ultima V, G.I. Joe II which is from Capcom this time, and it’s borrowing from Bionic Commando, and there’s also UN Squadron.

Letter from the Staff: This issue it’s from Leslie Swan, one of the writers for Nintendo Power, writing about getting to meet Bill Elliot at Nintendo HQ.

Now, for my Quality Control pick. This issue my game of choice is going to be Super Ghouls & Ghosts. Yeah, I’m not good with hard games, but this time save states are on my side. At the very least, I want to get to a boss fight.