Nintendo Power Then (Awesome) and Now (Awesome)

So where from does that picture of Trevor Belmont hail? I scanned it from an old issue of Nintendo Power for nostalgia purposes.

(I also scanned it so you can all see the monstrous package that fathered the famed vampire-hunting clan, because wow, Nintendo.)

Nintendo Power is a holdover from those near-ancient halcyon days when 8 bits ruled our lives and the playground. Everyone had a subscription, meaning that a game previewed in Nintendo Power was an instant sell. Developers reportedly performed some desperate acts to get a feature in Nintendo Power. Desperate, shady acts involving kittens and eating.

It’s the nature of humanity to grow up and become less naive about the world around it (ducking under a desk will not save you from a nuclear attack, I’m afraid, but you’ll fuse with the object and become one with the education system forever). Now we laugh at the “reviews” Nintendo Power published. In fact, the magazine still retains a reputation for being Nintendo’s pet whore, which is unfair: it’s actually developed into extremely high-quality magazine and I’d kill the lot of you for a chance to write for it. The previews and retrospectives in this month’s issue have only strengthened my resolve and now a pointy reckoning is hidden under my mattress.

Between Nintendo Power’s sun-warmed July pages lies an extensive preview for Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia, Igarashi’s upcoming title for the DS. There’s some gorgeous high-res artwork here, which is something that game news websites just don’t deliver much of. After the preview comes a retrospective, also loaded with artwork, including some of Ayami Kojima’s finest character pieces and murals. Happily, the article does not ignore Castlevania titles that were not released on Nintendo systems, as Nintendo Power Castlevania retrospectives have done in the past.

(I’m also glad to see that Castlevania 64 was not utterly trashed by Igarashi. Yeah, it was kind of bad, but Konami really, really tried.)

…I’m also never going to get used to Simon Belmont as a baby-faced redhead. Sorry Kojima, it’s not happening. He’s supposed to be buff.

The Castlevania material is exciting on its own, but what really pushes this issue over the edge is another in-depth preview/retrospective for DragonQuest, which is still known as Dragon Warrior in some corners of North America. DragonQuest IV, DragonQuest V and DragonQuest VI are all being remade for the DS and I’m advising you right now to stay off the road when that happens, because I’m going to make like a human torpedo to the game store.

DragonQuest V is one of the deepest RPGs ever developed. There is just something so compelling about a game that starts the main character off adventuring alongside his dad, then growing up, then getting married and having children who also grow up to adventure alongside their Pop. It’s one thing to walk on an overhead map with your usual assortment of adventurers and magic-wielders. It’s another thing entirely to walk on an overhead map while being trailed by your little offspring.

(Oh and did I mention you can recruit monsters as party members? And that DragonQuest IV DS will be updating the party system so you can have the typical four-member party rather than the restrictive three-member party in the original game?)

If you see this issue at your local book depository, it’s more than worth picking up. It’s also worth considering a subscription to Nintendo Power, which is something like twenty bucks for a year.

Please do it. I really don’t want to see printed game media die. I’m a dinosaur who’s scared of this strange new world. They grind down people like me to make Hummers go zoom.

(Image copyright Nintendo Power)