Last Nintendo Power Mag Featuring the NES Games?

[Necrosaro420]

What was the last nintendo power magazine that actually had articales for NES games? Say like map's for a game, reviews, ect ect? Thanks

[Bratwurst]

It was probably around 1994 or so, Beauty and the Beast, a full blown review with maps and strategies. Then it never came out stateside, heh.

[Jasoco]

Damn, I wish my parents hadn't thrown out my stack of NP from the early to mid 90's. Back in about 1996, I resubscribed only to find out Nintendo had a HUGE stack of return to sender NP issues from when we moved. So we told them to send them to us. A few weeks later, a 20 pound box showed up in the mail with almost 50 issues. All the way up to issue 55 with Jafar on the cover. Needless to say, I had a lot of reading to do that day. It was awesome. And compared to the NP of today, it was far superior in quality.

It even had issue 50 with Zelda: Link's Awakening and the gold cover. I think the first issue in the pile was around issue 10. One of them had an article about the SMB Movie. And an earlier one had the article on the upcoming SNES. ("When's it coming out? 1990? 1995? 2001? We'll never know." It was amazing. They actually thought it would possibly come out in 2001.) As well as an article about how the NES worked with PPU's and CPU's and explained how certain games (Mario) could scroll one direction while others (Metroid) could scroll both directions. A later issue talked about the upcoming SNES CD adapter showing cool (At the time) screenshots of 3D realistic environments and a passing mention to a RoboCop 3 game. And another had an article in response to Sega's current "Blast Processing!" campaign esplaining how a "Plumber can run just as fast as a hedgehog when it's programmed to." A friend (Sega fan) dismissed the article claiming "It's a Nintendo magazine, of course they're gonna say that!" Of course we all know now Blast Processing was a marketing gimmick.

Also, the first issue of my new subscription had a preview of the upcoming "Ultra 64" complete with screenshots of Mario 64, Star Fox and some other games (Some of which never came out or came out way late.) as well as an article about SGI.

If I still had those issues, I'd do a little research. Then I'd take it further and see what the first article about an SNES game was.

[The Manimal]

The last issue with NES in it is the one right before the BATMAN issue...


They made the magazine slightly smaller, changed the layout, and dropped the NES from the Top 20 or whatever.


As far as reviews, it was a good 5 months or so early. I'd say early 70-ish?

[The Manimal]

First mention of the SNES or Super Famicom was around issue 23 or so...

[Aussie2B]

And an earlier one had the article on the upcoming SNES. ("When's it coming out? 1990? 1995? 2001? We'll never know." It was amazing. They actually thought it would possibly come out in 2001.)

I think you're remembering it wrong. :P I read that article this past summer, and by writing all those years with question marks, they were saying "What would the future bring?" since the SNES was such a monumental jump in technology from the NES (in their opinion at least). Also, they had already confirmed that the US release of the SNES was imminent. Back then they didn't like to break news on something until a US release was soon and they had solid information (which is why other magazines reported on the Super Famicom before Nintendo Power even did. I think they finally had to cave and let the cat out of the bag when their own readers were writing in and asking about the Super Famicom).

[imanerd0011]

I have issues 1-25 and they are all mostly about NES stuff. The last few start to talk about SNES, but not all that much. I *think* that the last issue with anything even remotely talking about nes is issue number 57. There used to be a site called the "Nintendo Power Index" that I was going to give you a link to, but it appears to be dead now. If you are looking to get the issues that are about NES, I would buy the first 30 issues.
I know exactly what Aussie2b is talking about when it comes to NP readers knowing info before NP says it. Cause in like issue number 8 or so (which must have been realeased before 1990) some kid writes in and asks about the Super Famicom and Super Mario World. All NP tells them is they will talk about those two things in the future when there is more info about them. LOL , Thanks alot Nintendo !

[Ed Oscuro]

the SNES was such a monumental jump in technology from the NES (in their opinion at least).
Sure! They could've just released the SMS with a Nintendo label on it and it would've been a monumental jump in technology LOL

[Dr. Morbis]

The last issue that covered NES was issue 67. There is also a 10th anniversary review of the history of the NES in issue 78. And of course, NES games get extensive coverage in issue 100 with the Top 100 list and such.

The question is: how much (if any) NES content/mention will there be in issue 200 which is about a year away?

[GarrettCRW]

The question is: how much (if any) NES content/mention will there be in issue 200 which is about a year away?

I would suspect that it'd be quite a bit, what with the Classic NES Series on the GBA being of some importance to Nintendo right now. Also, the staff has been showing definite signs of late that they are children of the '80s (one review for a GC game with a create-a-monster feature of some sort resulted in none other than Optimus Prime).

[NintendoMan]

The last issue that covered NES was issue 67. There is also a 10th anniversary review of the history of the NES in issue 78. And of course, NES games get extensive coverage in issue 100 with the Top 100 list and such.

The question is: how much (if any) NES content/mention will there be in issue 200 which is about a year away?

Oh my god, I loved the 100th issue of NP!! I ended up buying 2 copies of it. Well, one was from my subsription, and the other I bought to take everywhere and read. I LOVED the top 100 list. And little things like every cover of NP on the bottom of the page by the numbers. That issue was so cool! And yes, all that NES coverage was awesome!

If Nintendo does this with issue #200, I wonder how many NES games will still be there that an N64 game or GC game took. It would probably be another top 100 list, as a 200 game list would be pretty big. I mean I would love to see that, but the time involved would proabably be too much. (this is if there is even a list at all)

In any case, looking forward to issue #200!

[The Manimal]

That TOP 100 was a farce to some extent given some games weren't even out yet and were on the list.

[Aussie2B]

What wasn't out yet at the time? I know some of the games were on very shortly after their release (like Goldeneye, for example), but I don't recall any being not out at all.

Perhaps you're thinking of the Player's Poll? Often games would be in the top 10/20/whatever before release because stupid fans would pick games just because of hype alone. Nintendo was questioned about this in the magazine once so they explained it, and if I'm not mistaken, I think they stopped allowing games to appear on the list prior to release.

[The Manimal]

I think GOLDENEYE was one of them...


Super Mario 64 was #1 even though it had only been out maybe 4 months. How were they to judge staying power so quickly? It was just a nicely timed advertisement for the N64.

[Jasoco]

It is a Nintendo magazine. It is for judging the top Nintendo games. When there's no PlayStation or Saturn to put on the list, you can practically write the list yourself.

Besides, in 1996/1997, Mario 64 was the bomb compared to what else the 64 had.

I still like NP just for its focus on Cube and GBA games (And now DS) but I know it's basically propaganda. I just ignore it. And yeah, it has gone downhill a LOT since the last few years with the addition of ads. It's just not as fun as it was in the 80's/90's. I remember when they had celebrity interviews.

I really wish they'd do some more cool in depth articles about the hardware though. Like that NES inner workings one I mentioned. And the one about all the cool "Prototype designs" for the remake of the NES and the N64 later on. Plus an article about cool unique controllers. One was a Japanese one-handed RPG controller for the SNES. I thought it was neat. And wanted one just to see if I could play other games with it.