Issue #269, July 2011
featuring Rayman Origins (Wii/3DS), Solatorobo: Red the Hunter (DS), Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D (3DS)

Isn’t it weird that both Rayman Origins and New Super Mario Bros Wii have four player action, but feature a cast of two characters you know/care about and two generic background fops? Given that the Mushroom Kingdom has a ridiculously large cast that everybody knows and loves, the bizarre character choice of Mario/Luigi/Toad/Toad is more egregious than Rayman/Globox/Teensie/Teensie, but you still have to wonder why both Nintendo and Ubisoft went down the same route (watch for Kirby Wii to buck this trend!)

Origins follows Nintendo’s 2D platforming lead in more ways than one, and Nintendo Power’s seven-pager can’t stop comparing the two games. Origins also lets stressed-out players bubble up to float behind the one guy who knows what he’s doing. Although it seems like Ubisoft might be sidestepping dorky motion controls, which is a capital idea.

Something else we’ll see in Rayman Origins is some seriously pretty animated graphics. In action, this game looks like a dream, with stages and artistry tricks (silhouette levels!) that remind me more of Donkey Kong Country Returns than Mario. And while the 2D heritage may owe some subtle nods to Mario and Donkey Kong, Origins will include outright refs to other games… like a Tetris homage in the middle of a level, and NP even suggests one area brings Angry Birds to mind.

One super-important gaming secret is due to be revealed in Origins: why Rayman lacks arms and legs.

Rayman Origins was originally supposed to be a downloadable, episodic release. Rayman creator Michel Ancel says that positive fan feedback encouraged him to make the game a full retail release, but you have to wonder if the nigh-invisible nature of WiiWare made Ubi second-guess the downloadable decision.

I don’t get this at all.

You might remember Tail Concerto, a 1999 PS1 RPG that featured a anthropomorphic dogs and cats. The upcoming DS game Solatorobo: Red the Hunter is a not-quite-sequel to Tail Concerto, made by the same people and starring, again, anthropomorphic dogs and cats. In various forms, the game has been kicking around for years… the characters were even used a Japanese public-service campaign about disaster preparedness.

So why has it been over a decade since Tail Concerto returned (in some form) and why did Tail not sell that well in the first place?

Research was showing a lot of customer resistance to the game’s anthropomorphized dog and cat characters. “People see animal-based characters as having a small niche following and no mainstream appeal, “[developer Hiroshi Matsuyama] admits. “But that was an integral part of our game world, so I couldn’t back down.”

Talking animals have been a huge part of pop culture for decades, so why are focus groups suggesting developers shouldn’t make games with humanized animals? Is the supposition that animals are too kiddie? That animal worlds are too improbable? That you can’t do serious action or effective drama with anthropomorphics? Was publisher Namco Bandai constantly sending this guy letters telling him to change the cast to the usual eager cast of human anime visuals? Because hell yeah we need more of THAT.

Cheers to Matsuyama for sticking to his design guns, even though Solatorobo will likely hit the DS racks with a dull thud. It’s already a non-starter in Japan, having been released last year to minimal applause. Published by XSEED, the game hits the US this fall (in Europe, the publishing is being handled by Nintendo of Europe.)

Download Staff Picks: Chrono Trigger (SNES Virtual Console)

Top scoring Wii review: Cars 2: The Video Game, 7.0 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring 3DS review: Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, 7.5
Lowest rated Wii review: NASCAR 2011: The Game, 3.0
Lowest rated 3DS review: Reel Fishing Paradise 3D, 6.0

Weird month for reviews. Usually the licensed movie games take bottom rung, but Cars 2 managed the top Wii slot. Mystery Case Files: The Malgrave Incident for Wii was given a 6.0, although I’d rate it considerably higher than that.

Who wants this? – There’s a Wii game coming in August that combines Nicktoons characters with Major League Baseball. It’s called Nicktoons MLB.

Face it: You’re never getting BG&E 2. – Michel Ancel calls Beyond Good & Evil 2 “the best game I’ve never done.”

Nearly Deleted. – Signature tune “Dearly Beloved” was actually cut from its original place in Kingdom Hearts, but the song found a greater role when recycled as the title screen music.

Oh yeah, the Wii U. – History shall mark #269 as the issue that announced the Wii U to NP readers, although the two page article on Nintendo’s Next says nothing we haven’t already heard online.

Next month in Nintendo Power… it’s another anniversary issue, this time celebrating the SNES turning 20. Someday I’m going to do a pie chart comparing the number of anniversary issues to the number of non-anniversary issues, because it seems like we have to endure a self-fellating retrospective every other month. Who wants to do a Super Metroid / Link to the Past drinking game?

Issue #268, June 2011
featuring Sonic Generations (3DS), Mega Man Legends 3 (3DS), Legend of Zelda Game Boy Era

Come on, Sega is totally trolling us. Sonic 4: Episode 1 was released as a downloadable game last October and there is still no word on what’s going on with Episode 2. Instead, Sega announced Sonic Generations, another this-one-is-your-favorite callback to Sonic’s increasingly distant memory. And then we find out that they’re not even doing a Wii version, despite the last five years of Sonic games giving a pretty damn fine showing on the Wii! But somehow, we’re getting a 3DS version of Generations, so that’s what Nintendo Power has to focus on in this issue.

All the usual chorus lines are here. How many times have you read the following in an article about a new Sonic game:

“The level design puts as much emphasis on platforming as it does on speed.”

“We’re getting a fresh dose of vintage Sonic action for the first time in more than 16 years.”

“The gameplay is slavishly faithful to the Genesis era.”

“The bosses will be culled from the Blue Blur’s past.”

“Pleasing fans both new and old might be Sonic’s biggest accomplishment yet.”

“It’s like an injection of pure nostalgia.”

Seriously.

The hook with Generations is that we’ll have levels that feature old, ugly fat Genesis Sonic, and levels that use taller, just-shy-of-Dreamcast Sonic. On the PS3 and 360 versions, this means two different styles of gameplay: old Sonic gets classically designed and controlled levels, while new Sonic has modern 3D levels. I don’t know how this is any different from the last handful of Sonic games that had both 2D side-scrolling and 3D exploration levels, but if the marketing people say THIS IS THE SONIC YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR, who am I to point fingers and ask questions.

On the 3DS version, however, modern Sonic will just get levels that are more like Sonic Rush, still side-scrolling but with newer abilities and designs. I always though the Rush series was the only worthwhile home for 2D Sonic gameplay in recent years, but Nintendo Power says the sub-series has “detractors” so I guess Sonic fans just can’t be happy about anything. Maybe they don’t want to be happy. Sega certainly can’t make them happy.

An interview with Sonic Team leader Takashi Iizuka gives some nicely frank answers to your burning questions. Why no Generations on Wii? Because isn’t in HD, piss off. Why does the 3DS version have double the 2D? Because all our previous handheld Sonic games have been 2D, piss off. What’s up with Sonic 4: Episode 2? We’re incorporating fan feedback, piss off. Any other characters in Generations aside from Sonic? Yes, piss off.

Look, after this article I officially f_cking hate Sonic. So there.

Here are your 10 best GBA games, as picked by NP.

#10 Advance Wars
#9 Metroid Fusion
#8 Gunstar Super Heroes
#7 Drill Dozer
#6 WarioWare Inc: Mega Microgames
#5 The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
#4 Astro Boy: Omega Factor
#3 Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
#2 Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow
#1 Metroid: Zero Mission

I own seven of those. How did you do?

Download Staff Picks: Mega Man X (SNES Virtual Console)

Top scoring Wii review: Wii Play: Motion, 7.5 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring 3DS review: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, 9.5
Lowest rated Wii review: Kung Fu Panda 2, 2.5
Lowest rated 3DS review: Cubic Ninja, 4.0

The yellow face, it burns us! – Hideo Kojima thinks his team “lacked the necessary power and wisdom” to pull off Boktai, that odd GBA game that used a sunlight sensor to find in-game vampires. Ouch!

All for some TMNT knockoffs. – 20 years ago, the June 1991 issue of Nintendo Power printed 36 pages of info on the NES game Battletoads. Just to underline how stupid that was, the June 1991 issue also debuted the SNES. Which was probably one paragraph in the old “Pak Watch” feature.

Next month in Nintendo Power… E3 2011. I hear Nintendo might announce something huge.

Issue #267, May 2011
featuring The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (3DS), Tales of the Abyss (3DS), Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors (DS), Legend of Zelda SNES Era

Nintendo Power calls it “the first must-have 3DS game,” probably making a couple other big name launch window releases more than a little sad. It’s The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and it earns that accolade on the strength of being one of the best-reviewed games of all time.

Although we’ve seen Ocarina re-releases before, there was no escaping that fugly low-polygon look of the N64 classic. With this new 3DS edition, Nintendo is adding some effects, some detailing, and some sorely needed controls cleanup to give the game a modern touch. On the visual front, the Link model has been smoothed out, and interior areas have been re-designed to make the open-world game look more like an actual world instead of a bunch of sparsely decorated rooms. But what I’m most interested in is the updated control scheme, particularly when it comes to inventory management.

One of the charms of the DS family’s lower screen is the ability to provide HUDs without clutter and touchscreen access to tools and options. Ocarina 3DS will let you select weapons and choose Ocarina tunes without having to dig through menus. In fact, the Ocarina itself never needs to be equipped in the old button-mapped style, thus freeing up one of your quick-access buttons for another item. (And you now have four assignable item keys, 1UP from the N64′s three yellow arrow buttons.)

Nintendo has also added gyroscopic controls for the first-person parts of the game – looking around, arrow-aiming, etc – and, of course, the optional 3D effect.

Ocarina 3DS will include the Master Quest second adventure, which was originally a 64DD project. Master Quest was only available in America as a preorder bonus for The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, so that might the rare remix that makes the 3DS extra-special for Zelda fans.

Ocarina 3DS is in stores June 19.

What, a Wii game?

Aside from price drops and budget-priced collections, Wii news has been scarce as good reviews for Conduit 2. This issue, NP mentions Pandora’s Tower, an action-RPG collaboration between Nintendo and Ganbarion. I’m sure you’ve never heard of Ganbarion… NP lists their resume as One Piece: Unlimited Adventure and Jump Super Stars.

Described as a combination of elements from Ys and Castlevania, Pandora’s Tower has no set Western release at this time. I’d guess this game will fall down the memory hole as Nintendo of America relies on Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword and some low-key casual titles to prop up the Wii’s final year of support.

But look at these screens!

I could get behind a boss fight with Steampunk Swamp Thing!

999: The game that should be sold in bookstores.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors writer/director Kotaro Uchikoshi says his games need to reach a wider audience.

“…I believe visual-novel games don’t belong in a game store, but in a bookstore – although that might bother some of the game stores who like to sell my games, so perhaps I should rephrase it: games stores can certainly sell visual novels, but they should also be sold in bookstores. The visual-novel genre should not be fighting againsgt major RPG/action-adventure games that developers spend billions of dollars on.”

Man has a point. Games like 999 and Hotel Dusk can get lost on the racks, particularly when multiple games from different genres all field anime-inspired box art.

Top scoring Wii review: Virtua Tennis 4, 8.0 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring 3DS review: Dead or Alive Dimensions, 9.0
Top scoring DS review: LEGO Battles: Ninjago 7.5
Lowest rated Wii review: Rio, 4.0
Lowest rated 3DS review: Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell 3D, 5.5
Lowest rated DS review: Rio, 5.5

Some other big name release scores: Thor: God of Thunder was given a 5.5 on Wii and 6.0 on DS. And on 3DS, SpongeBob SquigglePants got a 7.5, Rabbids Travel in Time 3D hit 6.5, and Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion received a 7.0.

It’s sort of the point. – This month’s poll reveals that only an eight of 3DS owners turn of the 3D effect all the way off.

Everybody thank Popeye. – You might remember Nintendo’s oddball licensed arcade/NES game Popeye… turns out, Shigeru Miyamoto wanted Popeye to be his first star, but when Nintendo could not immediately get the Sailor Man’s license, he turned around and created Donkey Kong. The Sailor Man’s arcade adventure had to wait.

3D came late in the game. – 3DS producer Hideki Konno says the 3DS was in the works for two and a half years. The 3D screen did not become part of the design until halfway through development!

“Even over cheap headphones.” – Capcom is working on a 3DS game that uses 3D audio as you explore a “Mysterious Mansion.”

Ten Kirbys! – Nintendo and HAL are putting together a new Kirby game that splits the pink hero into ten smaller puffs. Kirby really has become a test ground for bizarre new ideas, hasn’t he?

Next month in Nintendo Power… Sonic turns 20!

Issue #266, April 2011
featuring Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (3DS), BlazBlue: Continuum Shift 2 (3DS), Legend of Zelda NES Era

Resident Evil has enjoyed a bizarre relationship with Nintendo fans. Primarily thought of as a PlayStation franchise, the fourth installment was initially a GameCube exclusive (part of the famed Capcom Five). Even though the exclusivity faltered faster than Brad Vickers’ courage, Resident Evil 4 became one of the finest and most successful games in the ‘Cube library, simultaneously adding unexpected gore to the Nintendo lineup and reinventing a series that most gamers had written off. While more GameCube and DS releases followed, the series reverted to type for the fifth core game: Resident Evil 5 appeared only on PS3 and 360.

But the long-reaching effect of that one stellar M-rated game is that Capcom still sees blood in the water with RE and Nintendo systems… and now has two Resident Evil games in the pipeline for the 3DS.

Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D takes that sidebar arcade mode of 4 and 5 and turns it into a standalone release. The 3DS will re-present many of the same environments from the console game versions, including that squalid village from the opening scenes of Resident Evil 5.

I got to go hands-on with Mercenaries back at Nintendo’s 3DS media day in January. While the graphics were shockingly good, I had some trouble adapting to the control scheme. I kept hitting the taunt when I expected to do something that did not involve taunting (probably reload). The demo guy was quick to point out (and NP does it in the mag writeup) that this is the first game in the Resident Evil series that lets you run and shoot.

Capcom’s second Resident Evil-on-3DS game, Resident Evil: Revelations, is a survival horror game, presumably story-driven where Mercenaries is all action. Producer Masachika Kawata calls it a direct sequel to Resident Evil 5… which might be one of those statements the company learns to regret later. If Revelations is really a core sequel, why isn’t it called Resident Evil 6?

Kawata teases that he is considering DLC for Mercenaries, although he needs to “consult with Nintendo for specifics.” Uh-huh. We’ve heard that one before.

Mercenaries 3D will be out this summer. Revelations currently sports a TBA release date.

NP’s 50th “Power Profile” is the most fun one I’ve read in a long time: Street Fighter’s Yoshinori Ono

Sure, sure, Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is out for 3DS and is the new hotness everybody wants to talk about, but check out the other stories from the man currently in charge of the legendary franchise.

- He went to school to become an architect, but played video games and was in a band to get girls. Capcom hired him to compose music.

- He’s been bringing up a new Darkstalkers at company meetings for years.

- He apologized to Nintendo President Satoru Iwata for internet rumors about a Nintendo vs Capcom fighting game. Ono suspects Mario could easily defeat M. Bison.

- Being a massive Star Wars fan, he was extremely disappointed when Namco landed Darth Vader and Yoda for Soulcalibur 4. Hey, so were the rest of us!

Top scoring Wii review: Tiger Woods PGA Tour 12: The Masters, 8.5 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring 3DS review: Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, 9.0
Top scoring DS review: LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars 8.0
Lowest rated Wii review: Rango, 5.0
Lowest rated 3DS review: Asphalt 3D and Madden NFL Football, 6.0
Lowest rated DS review: Rango, 7.0

Lots of reviews this month. In addition to the highs and lows above, there’s 8.0s for 3DS launchees Ridge Racer 3D, Pilotwings Resort, Rayman 3D, Ghost Recon: Shadow Wars and Steel Diver.

And Conduit 2 (Wii)? 7.5.

Everyone is coming. – Iwata has revealed a new Mario in the works for 3DS, no surprise there… but NP also mentions a new Kirby game that brings back the classic inhalation-based gameplay and art style. IE: No Mo’ Yarn.

What are you getting him? – Mayor Mike Haggar of Final Fight should be 67 years old… his in-game bio pegs his birthday as September 3, 1943.

I’m missing the joke. – I get why that one PSP game was called Work Time Fun, but why is the new Smash Bros clone populated with Cartoon Network characters called Punch Time Explosion? WTF does that mean?

Link turns 25. – The Legend of Zelda debuted in Japan in 1986. This issue of Nintendo Power kicks off a “Greatest Moments” series of articles, exploring the various Zelda games broken down by era.

Next month in Nintendo Power… More about the 3DS! Because you haven’t bought one yet!

Issue #265, March 2011
featuring Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition (3DS), Ridge Racer 3D (3DS), Dead or Alive Dimensions (3DS), 2010 Nintendo Power Awards

One thing is abundantly clear from the way Nintendo is launching the 3DS: there’s none of that namby-pamby “third pillar” junk we got when the original DS launched. Back in 2004, the DS was the system nobody asked for. The Game Boy Advance was still going strong. So when the DS debuted, it was to a chorus of timid talk about it living right alongside the GameCube and the GBA, because, gee, we’d never abandon the highly successful GBA to test the waters on the crazy dual-screened freak of science.

With the 3DS, there is no question that the DS as we knew it is being retired. The future is in three dimensions.

Here’s what NP pulls out as some key 3DS features.

Mii Maker. Cute and easy, but I know I can make a better Mii manually. I’ll be interested to see how you can save Mii pictures. out to the SD card. Can you pose the Mii? Swap in backgrounds or live camera images?

Face Raiders. Preinstalled minigame. This is stupid fun and is a great way to show off multiple 3DS tech tricks at once.

AR Cards. I think these are hot as heck and can’t wait to see the full assortment. At the 3DS press event, they were only running the dragon-killer seen in the photo. My fingers are crossed that Nintendo will continue to support this concept.

SpotPass/StreetPass. Do we really need two separate camelcased brand names for the concept of downloading data over WiFi? If you’re keeping score, SpotPass automatically hops onto WiFi networks and will download available free stuff. While StreetPass refers to your 3DS sensing my 3DS as we walk past each other at the mall and exchanging data.

Play Coins. The 3DS is sort of a largeish device, but if you stash it in your pocket and put it into Sleep Mode (IE, close the damn thing), it will turn into the worlds most expensive pedometer and track your steps. The steps are turned into Play Coins that can be used to unlock content in games/apps that support it. Think PokeWalker.

3D Photos. Since the mag went to press, Nintendo has announced that the 3DS will be able to shoot 3D video as well as 3D still photos. While 3D video is coming through a future system update, 3D photography will be available out of the box.

eShop/Virtual Console. Something else we have to wait for… the enhanced version of the DSiWare storefront won’t appear until the end of May.

And just to drive home the point of the ascendance of the 3DS: this issue’s Game Forecast lists almost 90 upcoming 3DS games… and only fifteen DS games. Out of those DS games, three are LEGO games and six are crapass movie tie-ins. And not a one is from Nintendo itself.

Quick hits from the 3DS game previews:

Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition – First Street Fighter on a Nintendo system since 2002′s Street Fighter Alpha 3 on GBA. Of course, this does not count the six hundred SF variations available on the Wii Virtual Console.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D – You can use the 3DS’ gyroscope to change your view while in first-person look mode. I predict we’ll see a bunch of games try this gimmick before everyone realizes it is ridiculously awkward. Gyroscope-look is going to be to the 3DS what waggle-to-jump was to the Wii.

Ridge Racer 3D – I had no interest in this one until I saw two things: one, the inclusion of Namco classics (like Mappy!) as user avatars, and two, the return of virtual spokeswoman Reiko Nagase from 1999′s Ridge Racer Type 4.

Rabbids Travel in Time – You won’t know it from the title, but this is not a port of last year’s Wii minigame collection. It’s a side-scrolling platformer.

nintendogs+cats – Yep, it’s coming in multiple versions. It also uses Miis, who will probably be totally freaked out by the fur texturing.

Dead or Alive Dimensions – We’ve seen the movie showing off a Metroid themed stage and Morph Ball cameo… does anybody really think that Samus is not in this game as a playable character?

Another year of Nintendo Power Awards

Yup, Super Mario Galaxy 2 won both Game of the Year and Wii Game of the Year, in both the public vote and the editorial opinion. Shantae: Risky’s Revenge land DSiWare Game of the Year from both halves, but the vote was split on the other two platforms. NP selected Dragon Quest IX for DS GOTY while the readers backed Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver. And in the category of WiiWare GOTY, the magazine chose Cave Story and the readers went with Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1.

Say, that reminds me. Has anybody breathed one bloody word about Episode 2 yet? Are these episodes coming once a year now?

All tallied up, Galaxy 2 walked off with five awards on the editorial side and four from the readers. Epic Mickey was granted four reader awards (including Best Adventure Game and Best New Idea, WTF), but only one from NP… Oswald won under Best New Character.

Download Staff Picks: None, again.

Top scoring Wii review: de Blob 2, 8.0 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring DS review: Pokemon Black/White, Giant Sisters DS 9.0
Lowest rated Wii review: de Blob 2, 8.0
Lowest rated DS review: Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, 7.5

Yeah, NP only had one Wii review this month.

Plenty of action on the DS front, however. Aside from the unexpected tie 9.0 from both Pokemon and some crazy side-scroller that nobody ever heard of, and that generous 7.5 for the stubbornly retro DQ6, three other DS games were reviewed at 8.0: de Blob 2, Monster Tale and Okamiden. Radiant Historia was given an 8.5.

So even with the DS game well rapidly drying up, know that you can always go back to the February/March releases and cherry-pick some DS winners!

Back issues available, but not so far back. – If you’re missing some issues in your recent NP collection, Future has you covered. Of course, they only stock issues for the years since they took over the mag, so don’t think you’re going to order up that Virtual Boy Launch Coverage issue.

Watch those eyes. – According to Nintendo Power, Nintendo’s official position on 3D gaming for the younger set is cautious: users under age six should put the 3DS’s depth control slider all the way to the 2D position.

Assume nothing. – Are Wario and Waluigi brothers? Nintendo has never confirmed or denied the relationship between the Mushroom Kingdom’s favorite scoundrels.

Snap into it! – WWE All Stars for Wii will include the first appearance of “Macho Man” Randy Savage in a video game for over fifteen years! Not including Spider-Man games.

RIIIIIIIDGE RACER. – Continuing last issue’s trend of smacking around older games that were previously given reasonably decent review scores, this issue calls Ridge Racer DS “especially bad.” In 2004, Nintendo Power gave the game a 7.0.

Next month in Nintendo Power… More about the 3DS! Because you haven’t bought one yet!

Issue #264, February 2011
featuring Pokemon Black/White (DS), WWE All Stars (Wii), Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation

You may not realize it, but the impending arrival of Pokemon Black/White marks the first time two core Pokemon generations have appeared on the same platform. Shame they couldn’t make B&W a 3DS launch title, eh?

From all descriptions, B&W will bring along the improved graphic fidelity we all sort of expected in 2007 when Pokemon Diamond/Pearl was released. B&W features a moving camera as you explore and, most exciting, actual animation during battles. Not just jiggling cardboard cutouts, as Nintendo Power says.

Another big change is that B&W will not include a single familiar face until after credits roll. No pikachu, no caterpie, no zubat. NP mentions that this will mean a lot of surprises for players… but come on, if it looks like a bird, I bet I’ll be able to teach it Fly at some point.

It sounds like multiplayer in B&W will go beyond the expected online battles and special online-only zones. NP says that you will be able to enter other player’s worlds for exploration purposes. I’m intrigued to see how the game has to wrap itself around two live players outside of a battle.

Then there’s video chat… which is crazy. You’ll need a DSi or DSiXL – you know, for the camera – but apparently you’ll be able to do four-way video phone calls. I’m tempted to assume that NP doesn’t really mean video video, since the screenshot only shows anime headshots in the splitscreen, but their repeated use of “video” can only mean one thing, right? Video.

I know you don’t believe me, so I’m scanning that passage in.

Black and White hits retail in March. The games are priced at $35, because they can.

These are the greatest reasons to buy games.

This month’s community Pulse question ponders “have you ever bought a video game because of its box?” Given that Nintendo fans this generation are the ones most likely to scream “gameplay not graphics!” in a crowded theater, there is a surprising number of reader responses along the lines of “yeah, of course, duh.” Here’s my favorites:

“I always look for Japanese anime characters on the cover; those games are the coolest for me.”

“I didn’t know anything about [Harvest Moon 64], but the fact that a dog was on the box interested me.”

“Thanks to that box, I am now a very huge Golden Sun fan.”

And the one that justifies Nintendo’s marketing division circa Holiday 2009: “I bought New Super Mario Bros Wii because of its red box with the shiny Wii logo.”

On a related note, the monthly internet poll reveals that 82% of voters think game disc art “should be awesome.”

NP’s loving farewell to the DS.

With some 3DS news creeping into this issue – and the promise of some serious ink devoted to the device next month – it is obvious that the sun is setting on the venerable Nintendo DS. In case you just bought one (WTF?) or having a seriously lacking library, NP has a handy list of forty DS games you should check out. This is the mag’s Best Of DS in five categories.

MUST-HAVES: Phoenix Wright, Tetris DS, The World Ends With You, New Super Mario Bros, Bowser’s Inside Story, Mario Kart DS, Professor Layton and the Curious Village, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks, and Elite Beat Agents

DSiWARE ESSENTIALS: Cave Story, Dark Void Zero, Mario vs Donkey Kong: Minis March Again, Mighty Flip Champs, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge

NEXT LEVEL: Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Super Scribblenauts, Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Contra 4, Chrono Trigger, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, GTA: Chinatown Wars, Kirby Super Star Ultra, Dragon Quest IX

DEEP CUTS: Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Sonic Rush, Advance Wars: Dual Strike, Partners in Time, Warioware DIY, Rhythm Heaven, Phoenix Wright: Justice for All, Trauma Center 2, Pokemon Platinum, Mega Man ZX

FUTURE ESSENTIALS?: Monster Tale, Ni No Kuni, Okamiden, Pokemon Black/White, Professor Layton and the Specter’s Flute

Not including the bold “future” category, I personally own 16 of those 35. How did you do?

Download Staff Picks: None this time. Odd.

Top scoring Wii review: Mario Sports Mix, 8.0 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring DS review: Plants vs Zombies 9.0
Lowest rated Wii review: Worms: Battle Islands, 7.0
Lowest rated DS review: Naruto Shippuden: Shinobi Rumble, 6.0

BINGO. – DK and Diddy in Donkey Kong Country Returns do not collide, a decision that initially worried dev Risa Tabata. In the end, she thinks it enhanced the feeling of cooperation, made the game easier, and keeps DKCR from SUCKING like New Super Mario Bros Wii. (That last bit is from me.)

The three worst Sonic moments. – NP names them: kissing a human, turning into a werehog, and knowing Big the Cat.

Don’t expect a discount bundle. – The sixth and final Bit.Trip game, Bit.Trip Flux, is coming soon to WiiWare.

Mario Hoops cannot catch a break. – Despite giving Mario Hoops 3 on 3 a 7.5 back in 2006, the game is destroyed in the Mario Sports Mix review as “awful,” a “dud,” and a “let down.”

Next month in Nintendo Power… 3DS! 3DS! 3DS!

Issue #263, January 2011
featuring Mario Sports Mix (Wii), Monster Tale (DS), Radiant Historia (DS)

Shooting for a February release, Mario Sports Mix is a Mushroom Kingdom compilation of four sports that probably would not sell well on their own: basketball, hockey, dodgeball and volleyball. Mario has dabbled in several of these before; witness Mario Hoops 3-on-3 and some sidegames across the Mario Party series.

Developed by Square Enix (they also did Hoops, which NP unflatteringly dubs “lackluster” in this article), Mix applies the Mario flavor just as you recall from the last time Mario played tennis or soccer: sports basics with loose rules, extravagant power-ups and plenty of fan service.

Most exciting is that Sports Mix supports online play… although since all the Wii generation of Mario sports games has this (they all have, right?) this should not be a surprise. It’s exciting since, well, it’s been a while since a first-party release did anything online. As these are all team sports, you’re allowed two home players in online matches. One screenshot seems to indicate that Friend Codes will make an unwelcome return, as there is a “Register Friend” button.

Interestingly, even though the existence of fan-favorite Square Enix characters is already widely known, the NP article makes no mention of the bizarre crossover.

Are there any Captain America screenshots that are not embarrassing?

Ugh, seriously. Unless NP has a serious labeling problem, those are from a Wii game. A 2011 Wii game.

NP tries to salvage some of Captain America: Super Soldier‘s dignity by saying it has “a unique visual style reminiscent of the Batman: The Brave and the Bold cartoon.” Last time I looked, Batman’s style wasn’t “crappy models floating above blurry textures.”

It’s time to vote!

This issue reveals the nominees for the 2010 Nintendo Power Awards, and you can place your votes online at NP’s survey page.

As I’ve been saying, 2010 was a great for Nintendo, particularly when it comes to first-party Wii games. Last year, the world’s most boring train wreck Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days won the voters’ choice for Overall Game of the Year. Let’s not allow something like that to happen again. Here’s your four individual GOTY award choices:

Wii Game of the Year: Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Metroid: Other M, NBA Jam, Sonic Colors, Super Mario Galaxy 2

DS Game of the Year: Dragon Quest IX, Nine Hours Nine Persons Nine Doors, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Professor Layton and the Unwound Future, Super Scribblenauts, Warioware DIY

WiiWare Game of the Year: And Yet It Moves, Blaster Master Overdrive, Cave Story, Fluidity, Mega Man 10, Sonic 4: Episode 1

DSiWare Game of the Year: Cave Story, Chronos Twins, Dark Void Zero, Divergent Shift, Photo Dojo, Shantae: Risky’s Revenge.

The Overall GOTY list includes all of the above except for NBA Jam, which is either an HTML error or the best joke all year.

Who are you backing? I’ll vote for Kirby’s Epic Yarn, even though I know historically Mario runs away with these things every year.

Download Staff Picks: Fluidity (WiiWare), Cave Story (DSiWare)

Top scoring Wii review: Super Mario All-Stars, 9.0 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring DS review: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective 9.0
Lowest rated Wii review: TRON: Evolution – Battle Grids, 6.5
Lowest rated DS review: TRON: Evolution, 6.5

Not many reviews this month, which accounts for the TRON sweep of the “lowest rated” column. Kingdom Hearts Re:coded (DS) received 8.0, as did Lost in Shadow (Wii). The Epic Mickey review cites all the usual talking points (great ethical decisions! fascinating story! deep Disney lore!), glosses over the game’s deep problems, and give the Wii game an 8.5.

Lost at Retail – So why is nobody talking about Lost in Shadow, that brilliant-looking Wii exclusive featuring shadow-based platforming? Because the release date is apparently January 4 and the MSRP is $40.

Thor likes buttons. – The one time you might think Wii Remote motion controls would be appropriate for a game, and Thor will stick with buttons for basic attacks. Expect motion controls for “over the top special moves” instead.

If you’re in this audience, you want this. – Next March, watch for “Mega Man: Robot Master Field Guide,” a 100-page book that covers the core Mega Man series. Yes, a book.

DS 2.0. – Although DS game Touchmaster: Connect may have little going for it with its collection of minigames, you can apparently upload your scores to Facebook and Twitter.

Not sure this beat’s Capcom’s own preorder of a plush dog. – Preorder Okamiden at GameStop and you’ll get a Celestial Brush DS stylus and a Chibiterasu screen-cleaner cloth.

Next month in Nintendo Power… you can always tell when NP genuinely has nothing else to talk about, because that’s when they revert to wrestling games. Issue #264 promises a look at WWE All Stars.

Issue #262, Holiday 2010
featuring Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded (DS), Super Mario All-Stars (Wii), Okamiden (DS)

How can a DS port of a friggin’ cell phone game end up sounding better than a game made for the DS?

That seems to be the case with Kingdom Hearts Re:Coded, coming in January for the DS. Last year’s Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days was a boring mess. Re:Coded has several key areas that sound like definite improvements on 358/2 Days. I just can’t get past the fact that it’s a DS port of a friggin’ cell phone game. I’m also more than a little tired of Kingdom Hearts sidestories that feature alternate versions of the core cast, rehash the same environments from the brilliant 2002 original, and end up having little to no effect on the franchise storyline.

Here’s an important sentence for those of you still burned by Days’ non-intuitive combat setup: “There’s no limit on how many times you can use magic and attack skills.” Holy hell, it’s like the sky opened up and a rain of pure sense has fallen!

The premise of Re:Coded is that Jiminy Cricket’s journal from the original game has been converted into a virtual space, complete with a virtual Sora to explore it. Which sounds a lot like Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, where you controlled a sleeping dreamscape Sora. The virtual realm is filled with glitches in the system that must be uncovered and tackled. The glitches appear as square blocks that add puzzle-solving platforming elements to Re:Coded.

Although I’m not chuffed by yet another visit to same Disney worlds we’ve already combed over in at least three previous games, at least Re:Coded sidesteps the dreary Organization XIII gang.

And by the way, Kingdom Hearts 3D is coming for the 3DS, which will be positioned as the latest chapter in the saga… although Tetsuya Nomura is quick to assert that 3D is NOT Kingdom Hearts III. Fans on the alert for yet another drudge sidestory should hold on to Nomura’s vague promise that 3D may include “a major overhaul in terms of the selection of Disney worlds.”

Get Okamiden on your DS list. Now.

You knew that Okamiden stars a cute puppy version of Okami‘s Amaterasu… but did you know that the DS sequel also features cute-fied versions of the original’s spiritual spectral animal Celestial Brush Gods? Adorable! The little guy most often seen in early production artwork on Chibiterasu’s back is Kuni, the son of Susano and Kushi from the original game (although other wolf-riders will be available).

Capcom producer Motohide Eshiro says the use of young characters is part of the game’s overall theme: “the bonds that children form with each other.”

Eshiro also promises a demo of Okamiden. Although DS demos are nothing new, I would wager that most DS/Wii owners are completely unaware that they exist, since they’re sort of ghetto-ized on the Wii’s Nintendo Channel.

Okamiden is already out in Japan and is headed toward a March 2011 release in the US.

Talk about Mushroom Kingdom revisionist history!

The article on Super Mario All-Stars, coming next month for Wii, manages to list all the key differences between Super Mario Bros and Super Mario Bros 2 without once mentioning that the game was a sprite shift of Nintendo’s own Doki Doki Panic.

Fans interested in the conversion that has resulting in the excommunication of an entire family of Nintendo-created characters should check out this exhaustively excellent guide to the two games

When All-Stars hits retail, don’t expect to find Super Mario World included. This new Wii release is a port of the original 1993 All-Stars that lacked the SNES’s World. In North America, World was included on a special edition of the cart that came bundled with the SNES in 1994. That version was never released in Japan, which may further explain why this 25th Anniversary Wii edition does not include it.

This is how Sonic Team responds to gentle suggestions that their game sucked.

NP grew a pair and lobbed this question at Sonic Team producer Takashi Iizuka: “We enjoyed [Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1], but the physics felt a bit off compared to the Genesis games. Is that something you’ll look to tweak in future episodes?” Iizuka responds…

In this title, we have not done a straight port of the gameplay [from the Genesis games], but rather updated it with actions which could not be done in the previous titles, like ceiling-running. These changes probably made for a different feel to the longtime Sonic fans. We’re happy for feedback like this, and we’ll make sure we can improve the quality even further in upcoming titles.

To translate the marketing-speak, “Piss off, we’re dead convinced that the Genesis games were rubbish and modern gamers want something new, although we figure we can mash in enough old-ass graphics to make the retro-fetishists cream their pants. Thanks for sounding off though, you ingrate.”

Has Sega said anything about future Sonic 4 episodes? Generally speaking, guys, when you pre-announce an episodic series, you have your act together enough to roughly promise a release schedule. Half-Life excepted.

Download Staff Picks: Ivy the Kiwi? Mini (DSiWare), Shantae: Risky’s Revenge (DSiWare)

Top scoring Wii review: DJ Hero 2, 9.0 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring DS review: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors 9.0
Lowest rated Wii review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1, 4.0
Lowest rated DS review: Naruto Shippuden: Naruto vs Sasuke, 5.0

You may not immediately see what just happened there, but two third-party games just topped an impressive slate of first-party releases: Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii, with a four page 8.5 review!), Mario vs Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem (DS, 7.5) and Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (DS, 8.0). Then add in GoldenEye 007 (Wii, 8.5) and Rune Factory 3 (DS, 8.5). And I guarantee you that NO ONE has ever heard of that 9.0 DS game.

Also, turns out Pac-Man Party sucks at 4.5. Of course it does, Mappy isn’t included.

Seriously? – We’re up to three DecaSports games? I hope there’s a TrigintaSports combo edition coming.

I think we can agree to disagree. – A reader letter suggests that Sonic’s shoes are the source of his speed, as evidenced by the Game Gear release Sonic Labyrinth. NP says this is nonsense. In Labyrinth, Robotnik swapped Sonic’s normal shoes for slow shoes.

Well, he was in Mario Kart Wii. – The monthly reader poll names Funky Kong as the ape most voters would have liked to see in Donkey Kong Country Returns.

Predictably, I would totally buy this. – One of Level-5′s first 3DS games for Japan is Cabajoppi, a conversion of a mobile game. The RPG involves cabaret girls meeting up with famous anime characters like Lupin the 3rd. Lupin the 3rd! Squeal!

What is up with that? – Conduit 2 will not support the Wii Speak microphone. But it will support a new third-party headset. The hell?

Next month in Nintendo Power… 2010 is over and so is Nintendo’s list of major releases (when are we getting Mario Sports Mix?) #263 promises a look at Monster Tale for DS.

Issue #261, December 2010
featuring Donkey Kong Country Returns (Wii), Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (DS)

This issue has a mean bit of horn-tooting with the article “Game Changers,” which lists thirteen Nintendo-published games that NP describes as “games so great, so innovative, and so groundbreaking.” Before you read the full list below, give it a few guesses. Original Mario? Ocarina? I bet you can come up with at least half of the list on your own, since it is mostly the same hallowed titles that always dominate features like this.

#13 Wii Fit (2008, Wii) – Yeah, joke about the Balance Board being a $90 bathroom scale all you want, but Wii Fit went became a household name inside of a few weeks. Sure, us hardcore types won’t spell Wii Fit without WTF, but 20 million Balance Boards sold – plus a gymnasium full of Fit clones – can’t be wrong.

#12 Metroid (1987, NES) – You knew it would shake out like this. The first installments of nearly every core Nintendo franchise will place. Castlevania gets a shout-out here for shamelessly ripping off Metroid’s formula.

#11 Nintendogs (2005, DS) – “The touch screen allowed gamers to feel like they were really bathing and petting their dog.”

#10 Brain Age (2006, DS) – Another instant name brand that reached beyond the traditional gaming audience. Nintendo has avoided Brain Age for the last few years despite the franchise’s massive success. BA frontman Dr. Kawashima has a 360 game coming for Kinect. I wonder which came first?

#9 GoldenEye 007 (1997, N64) – Easily the most violent game on the list. I suspect it made the top ten due to the current wellspring of interest in the upcoming Wii reboot, but it definitely deserves a spot.

#8 Tetris (1989, NES/Game Boy) – Tetris on Game Boy was a perfect storm. Easy to understand, easy to see on that ugly screen. Plus it demoed the potential for linking up two systems.

#7 Pokemon Red/Blue (1998, Game Boy) – Someday some beardy prof is going to figure out just what Pokemon gets so exactly right. 15 years later, with so many imitators, Pokemon still leads the way.

#6 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1998, N64) – NP lists Ocarina as inspiring Star Fox Adventures, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Resident Evil 4. That’s three games I’d be hard-pressed to match up in a Venn Diagram of any type.

#5 Dragon Warrior (1989, NES) – Nice inclusion. NP calls it more influential than innovative, since the core comes from PC RPGs. The point is that people didn’t think an RPG could exist on a console.

#4 Wii Sports (2006, Wii) – Oooo, what a burn: “And if you need further proof of the influence Wii Sports has had on gaming, take note of how those ‘other systems’ are just starting to catch on to the advantages of motion control.”

#3 The Legend of Zelda (1987, NES) – Yep, here they come. The top trio you named half an hour ago.

#2 Super Mario 64 (1996, N64) – One of the original jaw-droppers of my generation. After years of being accustomed to flat, sprite-based games, the transition from the 16-bit era to the 64-bit era was astonishing. We still have experienced nothing quite so dramatic.

#1 Super Mario Bros (1985, NES) – I think the secret to SMB’s instant success was the game’s bigness. Before SMB, most video games were one-screen repeating-action arcade games built on one gimmick and focused on survival or high scores. Mario provided context, variety, adventure and the unexpected.

If NP starts releasing secret Pokemon signs alphabetically, it’s going to take years before we get to Mewtwo.

Here’s the hidden summoning glyphs for Aipom and Aron for Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs.

There’s so many pokemon that Nintendo can quite happily dribble out secret characters like this for months. NOA has already handed out some on their Twitter account.

Download Staff Picks: None.

Top scoring Wii review: Sonic Colors and Rock Band 3 tie with 9.0 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring DS review: Super Scribblenauts 8.5
Lowest rated Wii review: Deca Sports 3, 4.5
Lowest rated DS review: Atari’s Greatest Hits Volume 1, 5.0

Kirby’s Epic Yarn just escapes the top slot with an 8.5. Two other first-party Wii releases, FlingSmash and Pokepark Wii: Pikachu’s Adventure received 7.5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II for Wii got an 8.0. The DS version of Sonic Colors was given a 7.5.

Silent, but moody. – The hero of Golden Sun: Dark Dawn does not speak in the game. But you can choose his emotion by tapping onscreen icons. Apparently, this does not accomplish much.

That reasoning sucks. – NP rates Super Scribblenauts lower than the original (8.5 to 9.0) because the sequel “just doesn’t have the same wow factor.” How’s the wow factor in finally making a game that works?

This guy beat the robot masters. – Mega Man fan Eddie Lebron has spent three years on his fan-made 90-minute Mega Man movie, and you can watch it right here.

I guess the bonuses just aren’t good enough. – Almost half of the respondents in this month’s reader poll claim to “rarely, if ever” preorder a game.

Click “hide.” – DS game TouchMaster Connect has 20 minigames – ranging from Solitaire to action to puzzle – that will integrate with your Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Is that the way it all ends? – Star Fox Command featured branching paths that resulted in wildly different endings. In this month’s “Star Power” retrospective on Fox McCloud, NP seems to indicate that the official continuity is the ending where Krystal leaves Fox and joins Star Wolf. Crap!

Next month in Nintendo Power… time for the Donkey Kong Country Returns review.

Issue #260, November 2010
featuring GoldenEye 007 (Wii), Kirby Epic Yarn (Wii), NES 25th Anniversary

You guys know me. I’m not one for constantly looking backward at the classic video gaming systems. I don’t regularly fire up my Genesis for a warm look at Star Control and I’ve seen about all the pixel-art-decorating-a-college-building I can stand. Thankfully for you, perhaps, Nintendo Power does not have this problem. Issue #260 devotes a shocking 26 pages to the 25th anniversary of the Nintendo Entertainment System. And while the intro page is pretty schmaltzy, and the editorial contains a typo (“how fun many of these decades-old classics can swtill be”), the article itself takes the brilliant tact of letting modern game developers opine on their favorite NES titles. Here’s some of the standouts.

Hideki Konno (Nintendogs, Mario Kart Wii) on Donkey Kong: “At the end of the [Donkey Kong] commercial, it said the price of the [Famicom] console was 10,000 yen. I misread the digits on the screen, though – I thought it said 100,000 yen. And I was seriously considering purchasing the Famicom for 100,000 yen.”

Warren Spector (Epic Mickey) on The Legend of Zelda: “I can’t tell you how much I love the Zelda music. The main theme, the “you’ve discovered a secret” ditty… I swear my blood pressure drops when I hear that stuff.”

Alex Neuse (Bit.Trip series) on Blaster Master: “…to a dude who had only played games wherein you couldn’t run to the left, this was life-changing.”

Masahiro Sakurai (Smash Bros, Kirby series) on Kirby’s Adventure: “At the time I never imagined that Kirby would grow into such a franchise.”

Brian Provinciano (Retro City Rampage on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: “…most of us kids made our [playable character] decision on one of two factors: our favorite turtle or Donatello.”

Hideki Kamiya (Viewtiful Joe, Devil May Cry) on Super Mario Bros. 3: “I waited at the door … and ran in as soon as they opened, slicing my way through elementary-school kids (I was in high school at the time) and was the first one to buy it.”

Ben Judd (Bionic Commando Rearmed) on Bionic Commando: “I had always longed for a solid “Spider-Man-type” game and the Atari 2600 version wasn’t cutting it.”

Akitoshi Kawazu (Final Fantasy) on Final Fantasy: “We only spent about six months on the development … and we were only very heavily involved in development for four months, but it felt like such a long time.”

Oh, and nobody famous had anything nice to say about Kid Icarus, so NP editor Chris Slate had to write about that one.

Why is Yu-Gi-Oh eating Pokemon’s lunch right on Nintendo’s home turf?

What the hell is that? How is it that freaking Konami figured out how to make a card scanner for Wii so Yu-Gi-Oh players can use their meatspace cards in the video game? Why has Nintendo not done this for Pokemon cards?

Yeah, the GBA’s eReader let you scan in Pokemon cards to unlock secret attacks and GBA minigames and trivia… but Nintendo has yet to produce a video game that lets you play the actual Pokemon Trading Card Game with your actual Pokemon Trading Card Game cards. Am I the only guy who wants this?

And how is it that Konami can’t spell “separately”?

The game, incidentally, is Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D’S DuelTranser, which may also contain a typo.

Check out these great ads for this year’s dumb Rabbids game.

This four-page ad for the upcoming Raving Rabbids: Travel in Time shows the Rabbids ripping through three old Rayman Nintendo Power articles.

The first two images feature Rayman 2: The Great Escape for N64 (NP #117 and #125 – 1999), then Rayman: Raving Rabbids for Wii (NP #207, 2006). I have issues #117 and #207, so I can verify that these are indeed actual article pages re-used for a clever print ad.

As for me calling Travel in Time “dumb,” that’s because I’m still pissed that Ubisoft is going back to another stupid party minigame collection after last year’s brilliant and overlooked Rabbids Go Home.

Download Staff Picks: Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 (WiiWare), Ufouria: The Saga (NES)

Top scoring Wii review: NBA Jam, 9.0 (all scores out of 10)
Top scoring DS review: Professor Layton and the Unwound Future 9.0
Lowest rated Wii review: Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, 4.5
Lowest rated DS review: Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions and Pokemon Ranger: Guardian Signs, 7.0

Other key reviews this issue include Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light (8.0, DS), Samurai Warriors 3 (6.0, Wii), Wii Party (7.5, Wii), Batman: The Brave and the Bold (7.0, Wii), Sid Meier’s Pirates (8.5, Wii), Lord of the Rings: Aragorn’s Quest (5.5, Wii), and Flip’s Twisted World (6.0, Wii).

Call it Kirby: Other M. – Kirby’s Epic Yarn isn’t all NES-controls. For some train-based levels, you point the Remote at the screen and draw train tracks for Kirby-train to use, just like Kirby: Canvas Curse.

Oh, you tease. – Yuji Naka was at Sega working on a Famicom game right before Sega decided to start their own console, so their Famicom project was ended. Naka doesn’t say what the game was like, but he would still like to publish it.

But where’s Joe Don Baker? – The new GoldenEye for Wii slightly updates the original movie/game’s plot but uses the likeness of latter day Bond Daniel Craig.

Suitable for framing. – The issue came with a free poster with retro Mario on one side (leveraging the princess in another castle gag) and a full map of SMB World 1-1 on the other.

I’m still waiting. – The screens for Pac-Man Party still lack any visible Mappy fan service.

Next month in Nintendo Power… time for the Donkey Kong Country Returns preview.