From the Covers of "Nintendo Power"! Quiz

Answer: Wart

For subscribers of the "Nintendo Fun Club Letter", Nintendo sent out that first issue of "Nintendo Power" for free. That first issue established so many of the features that would characterize much of its content for years: Classified Information (tricks and codes), Counselor's Corner (tips on how to get through difficult parts of the game), reader letters and feedback, expansive coverage of new games, as well as information on future releases that in some cases never materialized.

The story of Nintendo's conversion of the originally unrelated "Yume Kojo: Doki Doki Panic" into "Super Mario Bros. 2" is well known to Nintendo fans. The final boss is Wart, who promptly disappears from the Mario franchise just as quickly as he appeared, with only fleeting references to him in the decades after his initial appearance. His most notable subsequent appearance would be in the 1993 Gameboy title "The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening" as a cameo.

Answer: Deborah Cliff

This grisly cover proved quite controversial for Nintendo's magazine. Speaking personally, my parents made me disregard this particular issue because of its cover and nearly cancelled my subscription. In Issue 50, "Nintendo Power" editors wrote this was the worst cover of the magazine's run, writing "Kids had nightmares and so did our phone reps who dealt with the complaints." The best cover according to that feature was the January 1993 issue that featured Mickey Mouse dressed as a fire-fighter dousing flames, promoting the SNES game "Magical Quest Staring Mickey Mouse".

"Castlevania II" features several spots where very specific actions must be done to proceed that no player would reasonably know. Famously, the game's NPCs straight up lie to the player or give mangled English translations on the few hints that actually were useful. After kneeling for several seconds with the red crystal equipped, a tornado will take Simon to the third mansion. Before this point this point in the quest, the player had to kneel while have a blue crystal equipped in order to lower the screen on what appears to be an impassible lake to show a hidden passage underneath the water.

Answer: 747

"StarTropics" is very much a Zelda type game with an overworld exploration view set in a tropical island setting where the player controls Mike Jones. Mike must investigate what has happened to his uncle, Dr. Jones, after he mysteriously disappeared under suspicious circumstances. Eventually Mike learns his uncle has been captured by aliens. The game also features a cameo but R.O.B., the Robotic Operating Buddy.

"StarTropics" is a unique property in Nintendo's history for being developed in Japan but never published there, being exclusive to the American and PAL markets. There was a second game in the series called "Zoda's Revenge: StarTropics II", after which the series went dormant. When Nintendo released "StarTropics" on the Wii U Virtual Console, they made a custom animation of a letter being dipped into water to show the code, but this work-around was not carried over on the Switch rerelease. Nintendo also renamed the primary attack weapon from 'yo-yo' to 'star' due to copyright issues.

Answer: Final Fantasy IV

While Square had published the initial "Final Fantasy" on the NES and Famicom, the proceeding two sequels ("Final Fantasy II" and "Final Fantasy III") to that game were not localized outside of Japan and remained Famicom exclusives. "Final Fantasy IV", the first SNES installment in the series, became "Final Fantasy II" for the non-Japanese markets. The next game in the series, "Final Fantasy V", appeared only on the Super Famicom. In 1994, Square published its third 16-bit title in the series as "Final Fantasy VI" in Japan and "Final Fantasy III" in other markets. Eventually all six "Final Fantasy" titles would be released internationally in various forms and remakes.

There are also several content-related changes to "Final Fantasy II/Final Fantasy IV". Square reduced the game's overall complexity. They also eliminated explicit religious references in order to comply with Nintendo's strict religious guidelines of the time.

Answer: Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition

"Street Fighter II" was a tremendous success on the Super Nintendo. With over six million copies sold, "Street Fighter II" is the best-selling third-party game on the console. Capcom would later publish two updated versions for the Super Nintendo: "Street Fighter II Turbo" and "Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers". Both later iterations would each sell millions of copies as well. Capcom would also publish the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive version under the title as "Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition".

It has been estimated that "Street Fighter II" has generated over ten billion dollars across all its various console and arcade versions.

Answer: Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island

Argonauts Games designed the chip for use with the NES. Nintendo was impressed by the studio's initial prototypes but suggested using the chip for SNES games instead. Only a handful of games used the chip due to manufacturing considerations and additional development times. "Star Fox" was the first notable game to use the chip. "Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island" used the chip for 2D effects. Nintendo developed "Star Fox 2" for a 1995 release but quietly cancelled the game due market timing considerations and instead used several concepts and ideas for "Star Fox 64". "Star Fox 2" would eventually appear as a completed game on the SNES Classic in 2017 and the SNES Switch Online library.

Answer: Oddjob

According to an oral history interview published in the online publication "Mel" in 2018, Karl Hilton, Goldeneye's lead environment artist, noted that while playtesting the multi-player mode they knew that Oddjob actually broke the game's auto-aim mechanics due to how short the character model was. The developers decided to leave the character because of how fun Oddjob was use in multi-player mode. The Spielberg movie "Ready Player One" even mentions Oddjob's decidedly game-breaking advantage. The multi-player mode was added almost as an afterthought just a few weeks before the game shipped, greatly contributing to its success.

"Goldeneye 007" would become one of the best selling games of the Nintendo 64 library. Due to various licensing issues and the multiple companies involved, the game would not be rereleased on other consoles from 1997-2021. Rare developed an unpublished HD version for the Xbox Arcade in 2008 that leaked in 2021.

Answer: The Battle of Hoth from "The Empire Strikes Back"

The January 1997 issue had one of for characters on its respective cover. Forty percent of the print run had a storm trooper, and twenty five percent each featured either Boba Fett or Dash Rendar. The Droid IG-88 appeared only ten percent of the covers. The IG-88 editions were randomly mailed out to subscribers.

"Shadows of the Empire" was an early Nintendo 64 title that launched in Christmas of 1996, just a short time after the release of the console itself. The game sold well in 1997, but its critical reputation is generally mixed. The game features ten levels, and the game is set between "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Return of the Jedi". The game stars a new protaganist Dash Rendar, who must rescue Princess Leia. "Shadows of the Empire" a multimedia project began by LucasFilm in 1994.

Answer: San Francisco

After ceasing production of the Dreamcast, Sega exited the console market and became a software publisher. What would be unthinkable in the early 1990s became inevitable in the early 2000s: consumers could now play Sega's mascot Sonic on Nintendo hardware. Eventually Mario and Sonic would co-headline several Olympic sporting games together. "Sonic Adventure 2: Battle" is an enhanced port of the Dreamcast "Sonic Adventure 2".

The developers modelled the levels around San Francisco and Yosemite National Park.

Answer: Super Mario Bros. 3

By 2012 the video game industry had radically changed in the twenty four years since Nintendo Power's debut in July/August of 1988. Print publications were simply not as in demand due to the Internet revolution. Nintendo made the business decision shutter operations of the magazine, with the December 2012 issue being the last edition to hit newsstands. Its cover closely modelled the very first cover of Nintendo Power as a clear homage to the magazine's history.

"New Super Mario Bros. 2" marked the first time players could again assume the role as "Raccoon Mario" since "Super Mario Bros. 3". There are screenshots floating around of "Raccoon Mario" in "Super Mario World", but Nintendo ultimately cut the "Super Leaf" power-up in favour of the Cape Feather, which enabled Mario to fly as well. "Super Mario 3D World", the 2012 3DS game, did feature the "Super Leaf" power-up as well, but in that game the "Super Leaf" turned Mario into "Tanooki Mario" instead of "Raccoon Mario". Boom-Boom, the fortress mini-boss of "Super Mario Bros. 3", also returned after a twenty three year absence from the series in "Super Mario 3D World" as well.