Magazine | 1988: Nintendo Power Issue #1

The Inaugural Issue of Nintendo Power!

Prior to Nintendo Power, Nintendo produced a monthly newsletter call Nintendo Fun Club. The Fun club ran for 7 issues from 1987 to 1988 before Nintendo decided to start a full-fledged magazine and so Nintendo Power was born. Even if you are only a casual fan of video games, you likely remember Nintendo Power, it ran for nearly 300 issues starting in 1988 all the way until its demise in late 2012. We at least have it's spiritual successor - Nintendo Force!

They didn't skimp on the SMB 2 details, they included basically a walkthrough guide to the first 2 worlds/6 levels even.

For their Premiere issue, Nintendo Power ironically focused on seconds. The cover depicted a clay-mation scene from Super Mario Bros. 2 which was the focus of the magazine with gameplay tips and some great art about the enemies. They followed this with an article about the Second Quest in The Legend of Zelda which included a fold-out map of the game. Double Dragon, Gauntlet, Contra and several other games got smaller articles along with a 'Classified Information' section and a 'Counselor's Corner' section both with game play tips and tricks - in the pre-Internet era this was the place to be for how-tos (we didn't have 'Let's Play' videos on Youtube).

Eventually Nintendo would split the walkthroughs off as 'Nintendo Player's Guides' but early Nintendo Powers had all that included, the Zelda map here was quite an impressive addition.

A Howard & Nester comic (which introduced Nester who would become a long time mascot of Nintendo Power) along with a 'Video Shorts' section talking about other recently released NES games, and a 'Pak Watch' section talking about games that were coming soon were next followed by the NES Journal section which included an article about the launch of Dragon Quest III in Japan around that time. They had a 'Player's Forum' with some advertisements for books and movies along with the 'NES Achievers' sections with high scores.

They printed close to 3.6 million copies of Nintendo Power #1, and almost 1/3 of those that had Nintendo Fun Club before it subscribed - that 'Next Issue' might not have happened without those sales!

Finally the issue has a Top 30 Ranking of most popular NES games, then breaks it down to top 30's for 'Players' 'Pros' and 'Dealers' and then information on what is coming in the Next issue of Nintendo Power: Castlevania II: Simon's Quest, Bayou Billy, and Bionic Commando. Should be fun!