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Starting in July/August 1988, a generation of kids eagerly anticipated every issue of Nintendo Power. It was probably the first regular mail many of us received. Here are 25 highlights, tips, tricks, and celebrity cameos that greeted video game fanatics of the late-'80s.
1. Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
Contra made The Konami Code famous, but it originated with a programmer on Gradius, Kazuhisa Hashimoto. "There was no way I could finish the game," said Hashimoto, "so I inserted the so-called Konami Code. There isn't , really. I mean, I was the one using it, so I just put in something I could remember easily."
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2. How to Get Mario 100 Extra Lives
One of Mario's most famous tricks. Here's a non-Nintendo Power tip for jumping over the flagpole.
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3. How to Beat Mike Tyson
If you want to give this a shot but don't have the patience to beat the King Hippos and Soda Popinskis of the world, remember these magic numbers: 007-373-5963.
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4. What Games Kirk and Candace Cameron Are Struggling With
"I am having problems getting past the Amoeboids in Gradius," explained the Growing Pains star. "I think that I'll have to place a call to the game counselors soon!" His sister Candace, who played D.J. Tanner on Full House, "has yet to rescue Zelda."
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5. Before Nintendo Power, There Was Fun Club News
A free publication called Nintendo Fun Club News preceded Nintendo Power.
Image credit: IGN
In an interview with Complex, founding editor Gail Tilden said, “The Fun Club newsletter started as a six page, simple thing in 1987. It was a direct response program to get a database of all our users. By the time we got to the Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! issue, however, we were at 600,000 readers, and it was a bigger bite out the market budget than we had anticipated." So they expanded it to a paid-subscription magazine.
There were seven issues of Fun Club, which you can find on eBay.
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6. The First Editor-in-Chief Was a 31-Year-Old Woman Who Kept a Low Profile
“No reader wants their mom to be the person running their video game magazine,” Gail Tilden explained to Complex. "It was very conscious that the editors did not have pictures of themselves in the magazine. It took away from the idea that the magazine was about ‘you,’ the consumer." Tilden served as editor for the first ten years.
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7. The Inaugural Power Rankings
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8. The Rest of the Top 10
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9. The Dealers LOVED R.C. Pro-Am
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10. You Could Call for Help
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11. The Existence of This Awesome Shirt
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12. The Cast of Characters for SMB2
"Mario, Luigi, Princess Toadstool and the Mushroom Retainer are getting involved in a strange dream world where they must hop, jump, run and find vegetables." To find out why kids in the U.S. didn't get the same sequel as kids did in Japan, read this Chris Higgins story.
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13. Where Everything is on Zelda's Second Quest
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14. How to Pull the Goalie
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15. The Umps in Bases Loaded Were Yuk, Dum, Boo, and Bum
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16. How to Beat Castlevania
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17. How to Beat Hewdraw
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18. What to Do With Pegasus' Flute
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19. There Were Books and Booklets
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20. The Exact Name of the Theme Song From Spy Hunter
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21. Someone Thought Double Dribble Was Amazing
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22. Where to Get Screw Attack
Nothing in this issue about Justin Bailey, however.
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23. A Few Moves in Double Dragon
Including the devastating "Hair-Pull Kick."
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24. Big Things Were Coming
A few months later, Zelda II made the cover:
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25. We Were Playing With Power
The final issue of Nintendo Power was published in 2012, and the cover looked very much like the first one. Thanks to Kotaku for linking to the first issue and inspiring this trip down memory lane. Now go read Kevin Wong's history of Nintendo Power over at Complex Magazine.