Playing With Power

Playing With Power – Nintendo Fun Club News #4

Compared to issue 3, the first thing you will notice about issue 4 of the Nintendo Fun Club News is the expanded color palate and higher gloss pages as Nintendo expanded the quality of the newsletter.

At this point in Nintendo’s history, the company was ramping up their presence in America and console sales were rapidly increasing. By this point, many games that are now considered NES classics were already on store shelves such as The Legend of Zelda, Castlevania and Kid Icarus with many more big titles releasing in the next 6 months like Mega Man, Wizards and Warriors and the cover feature for this issue, Mike Tyson’s Punch Out. There seems to be a slight increase in the number of ads in this issue but the focus still remaining on the biggest titles on the system.

On to the magazine!

: The “other” boxing game on NES….I don’t know anyone who played this one

: Great 2 page feature on Mike Tyson’s Punch Out!!

: Some good tips in this article too

: Tyson’s tip: “Never become angry”…if they had only known what would happen in the following years

: I would have loved to see an NES game in ‘3-D’. Anybody get the glasses and try it?

: This would be the first ever mention of a sequel to The Legend of Zelda

: These screens make the game look as difficult as it really is but it really is a great game

: I spent many hours playing this game in the arcade but never got to experience the NES version

: First mention of the soon to release Mega Man. 1 million bits of responsive memory!

: These images and descriptions are all for the Japanese version of Dragon Quest, the game wouldn’t release for almost 3 more years in America as Dragon Warrior

: More strategies for the Legend of Zelda.

: I think all those claims of people playing Zelda with no help at all may be slightly exaggerated

: I think it’s pretty interesting that the official newsletter would give sequence breaking tips to players

: One of the only times you will see underrated classic ‘Pro Wrestling’ in a top 5 list

: Probably the start of many game journalists

: Anyone buying a 4 year old beating Gannon?

: The first reference to the now famous ‘Konomi Code’ is in the reader response here

: Hi fashion of the 80’s, knitted sweaters and purple scarfs

: Even back then, Nintendo was innovating with ways to allow anyone to play their games

: Back cover

: Small insert with lists of games available to purchase

So that is issue 4 of the Nintendo Fun Club News! A little closer to what the later magazine would become, this issue established the look for the rest of the run of Nintendo Fun Club News. See you next issue!

Play with power!

Playing With Power

Playing With Power – Nintendo Fun Club News #4

Chris Owens

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