Playing With Power

Playing With Power – Nintendo Power #10

I’m guessing most people didn’t realize that this issue of Nintendo Power sees the first mention of a new Nintendo home console on the horizon as well as the next Zelda game after Adventure of Link.

Once again, issue 10 doesn’t stray far from the look and feel of the previous few issues of the magazine.  No new sections or changes in layout for the magazine are here but in it we do get the first mention of Super Famicom in the letters section and in the feature on Shigeru Miyamoto.  In both places it’s hinted that a new system was in the works, but it wasn’t released in Japan yet so there wasn’t any information to provide.  I never had this issue of the magazine as a kid so I had no idea that a new system was mentioned so early in the life of the magazine and I find it interesting that they mentioned it when, at the time, the NES would have been in the prime of it’s lifespan. But, Nintendo was always planning ahead for the next big thing and probably wanted to start the hype early for it’s future system.

I also found the section on the making of Mario 3 really interesting because of the insight in to the making of a game which would have been amazing to read as a kid and was still a fun read while I was putting together this post!  The article mentions that the Mario 3 team consisted of only 10 people which is incredible to think about today.  So would that classify Mario 3 as an indie game today?

The article about Shigeru Miyamoto is where we see the mention of Zelda 4 which would eventually be called A Link to the Past.  I just love seeing these small bits of information about games that are now so ingrained in to the gaming culture.  Earthbound is also mentioned in the article, though I’m not personally an Earthbound fan and didn’t realize that Miyamoto was involved in the development of the game, so that was new information to me.

Other notes of interest in the issue start with the first Gameboy game to get highlighted in Classified Information.  It’s of course fitting that it would be Super Mario Land since Nintendo always leads with Mario.  Next we get the announcement of the original Nintendo World Championship.  Quite a bit more expansive than the one announced this year, there were over 30 cities where you could compete to go to the finals in Las Vegas so the chances were much greater that you could participate compared to this year’s competition.

There were two inserts in the magazine this month, one tip book for Tetris and a product guide for Nintendo themed gear including clothes, gaming accessories, and non-video games themed after Nintendo characters.   I have never seen any of these items in person as I never had any and neither did any of my friends.  I’ve also never come across them at flea markets, garage sales or online.  Anyone else ever get any Nintendo Power gear?

As enjoyable to read as ever, Nintendo Power #10 had some great bits of information about the future of Nintendo and looks at some future NES classics.  Enjoy the magazine and as always, Play with Power!