Moving on to our Nintendo Power recaps, we come to issue #30 for November of 1994, and our cover story is Final Fantasy II, otherwise known to the rest of the world (and most gamers today) as Final Fantasy IV. Oh, and the Chocobo on the cover, even though it is black, isn’t the wrong cover. It’s flying, and in Final Fantasy II/IV Black Chocobos are the ones that can fly.

Letters

This month they were asking for letters from people asking who they’d like to play multi-player Game Boy games with over the link cable. About half of them don’t specify a game, but a few do. A few writers specify the game they’d like to play against that person – usually something in the same “field” as the person works in. For example, one person wants to play Bo Jackson’s Baseball against Bo Jackson, NASCAR Challenge against Bill Elliott, NBA All-Star Challenge against Michael Jordan, and so forth. The semi-exception being one player who wants to play multi-player Tetris against Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev because, and I quote “I would like to study his strategy and maybe even beat him.” I like that.

The Flintstones Guide

Well, the Flintstones have gotten their own platformer, in a Super Mario Bros. 3 style. The game’s plot (what little there is), has Fred and Barney using The Great Gazoo’s Time Machine to rescue Dino and Hoppy (the family pets) from a 30th Century scientist. Considering that the character was introduced toward the end of the series, when everything started going downhill, and leading up to the show’s cancellation. However, unlike Super Mario Bros. 3, this is essentially a one, maybe two World game. One World is the Flintstone’s world, where you collect the pieces of the Great Gazoo’s Time Machine, and one World is the future world, which is where you go when you get the Time Machine, and where you will also team up with the Jetsons. *Sigh* Anyway, we get maps of all the levels in the Flintstone’s world, as well as advice on getting item upgrades by playing Basketrock.

Nester’s Adventures

This issue Nester is playing F-Zero. Aside from managing to slip a Monty Python And The Holy Grail reference into the strip, they also advise us, when ramming our opponents on the track, to hit them off center to get them to lose control. If that works, that’s some pretty complicated physics for a SNES game.

Final Fantasy II (IV) Guide

Unfortunately, this isn’t going to be a complete guide like the one they did for Final Fantasy I. As it is, it’s okay. If I have any complaints, it’s that some of the art isn’t so hot. For example, Kain, the Dragoon, is depicted in the art they have of him as not wearing pants. Neither is Cecil. For that matter, the art we get of him at the start of the guide depicts him more as a Holy Knight instead of a Dark Knight. Plus, the art for Rosa certainly *ahem* emphasizes her bust. I’m just going to say that I’d prefer Yoshitaka Amano’s art to the art in this guide. Anyway, the guide doesn’t take you all the way through the game, but it does take you to the segment on the moon. Once you get to the Moon, you have to finish the game on your own. Good luck.

Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego? Guide

Broderbund’s classic enjoyable edutainment game has been ported to the NES, and it even comes with a New American Desk Encyclopedia to help you get though the game. Or, if you’re playing the game now, you could just use Wikipedia. The guide helps you get through your first case.

Ultimate Air Combat Guide

This is a flight sim for the NES from Activision. We get a run-down of the 3 types of fighters you can fly as (F-14 Tomcat, F/A-18 Hornet, and Harrier Jump Jet), and the kinds of weapons they can be equipped with. We also get a run-down of the cockpit display.

Tom & Jerry Guide

So, you’re playing as Jerry, and have to rescue his nephew Tuffy from Tom, who has locked him in a trunk in the attic. We get detailed maps of the first Stage of each World, as well as notes for the other 2 Stages in that World.

Game Boy Coverage

We get notes on the Game Boy port of Battletoads, with maps for stage 1 and 3 through 5, and notes on Stage 2, which is a vehicle level. We also get maps of the first half of the Game Boy version of Kid Icarus. We also get notes (but no maps) for some of the levels in Faceball 2000. We also get some level maps for the port of Double Dragon II. There are also some tips for WordHai, a word puzzle game. We also get a look at a few upcoming titles, such as Ninja Gaiden Shadow, which was originally meant to be a port of Natsume’s Shadow of the Ninja.

SNES Coverage

We get a guide for Super Tennis, with notes on all of the different kinds of shots you can make in the game, as well as the different kinds of playing surfaces, different game-play modes, and different players you can control. There’s also a guide for UN Squadron, which is adapted from the Manga and OVA series Area 88. Unfortunately, the manga series was never released in it’s entirety in the US. Hopefully someone like Yen Press will release the complete series, since we’re experiencing a new wave of backlash against Scantilators in the anime fandom community. There’s also a guide for Natsume’s Baseball Simulator 1.000. We get notes for each of the different “Ultra Moves” which pitchers and batters can use in the game.

Now Playing

Of note this issue is Space Shuttle Project, a Space Shuttle flight simulator and Darius Twin from Taito.

Top 30

Alrighty, I’m going to try splicing both pages togeather again, and I’m going to see if I can put the picture in without breaking the formatting.

Celebrity Profile

This month they’re profiling Robert Englund, aka the original Freddy Kruger. It’s pretty clear that Englund isn’t much of a gamer. As for what he’s recently been up to, he’s played The Vulture on the Spectacular Spider-Man animated series.

Pak Watch

We have the Empire Strikes Back game for the NES, which I’m going to skip, Wizards and Warriors III also for the NES, and Lemmings for the SNES.

Letter from the Staff

This month’s letter is from editor George Seinfield (no relation to Seinfeld), about the lead time coming up to Nintendo Power issues, and the selection of games for the cover. Why bring this up? Well, Robin Hood: Prince of Theves, which not only recieved a guide in the magazine, but was featured on the cover, hasn’t come out yet. This is their semi-mia culpa.

Now, for my Quality Control pick for this issue. While I’m totally tempted to go with Final Fantasy II/IV, especially since Final Fantasy XIII is being released soon, the fact is Final Fantasy XIII is being released soon, I’ve pre-ordered it, and I’m not going to have time to beat Final Fantasy II before switching to Final Fantasy XIII. So, instead I’m going with UN Squadron.

Filed under: Video games, Where I Read Tagged: Nintendo Power, video game magazines, Video games, Where I Read

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