Editing Nintendo Power (section)

==Format==
[[File:Cover of final Nintendo Power issue.png|thumb|right|The final issue, based on ''[[New Super Mario Bros. U]]'', paying homage to the first issue's cover picture]]
The magazine was founded by Gail Tilden with support from Nintendo's first Fun Club "President" [[Howard Phillips (video gaming)|Howard Phillips]], himself an avid gamer. While the Fun Club News focused solely on games made in-house by Nintendo, ''Nintendo Power'' was created to allow for reviews of games produced by those licensed by Nintendo, such as [[Konami]], [[Capcom]], and the like. ''Nintendo Power''{{'}}s [[mascot]] in the late 1980s and early 1990s was [[Nintendo Power#Nester|Nester]], character created by the staff at Work House, Japan who first appeared in the magazine's ''Howard and Nester'' [[comic strip]]. After Phillips left the company, Nester became the magazine's sole mascot. Early issues of the magazine featured a two-page ''Howard and Nester'' comic, which was later replaced with the two-page ''Nester's Adventures'', later reduced to one page, and eventually dropped altogether. Subsequently, [[Mario]] replaced Nester as the mascot of the magazine. Later, during the early 2000s, the magazine made another mascot out of its Senior Writer, Alan Averill. Apparently very camera-shy, Averill himself never appeared in any photos; rather, he was represented by a plush toy of a [[Slime (Dragon Quest)|Blue Slime]] from ''[[Dragon Quest]]''. Fans often clamored to see what Averill actually looked like, but the magazine continued to substitute with photos of the toy, and even claimed that Alan was, in fact, a Blue Slime. Eventually, Averill retired from ''Nintendo Power'', joining Nintendo of America's localization department. To this day, most fans have never seen a real image of Averill. The inclusion of a photo of [[Mr. T]] in the Player's Pulse section became a running gag in the early half of 2005. Late in the magazine's life, running gags centered on [[Chuck Norris]] references and jokes at the expense of writer Chris Shepperd.

During the early 1990s, the magazine undertook a unique and powerful promotion: giving away a free copy of the [[Nintendo Entertainment System|NES]] game ''[[Dragon Quest (video game)|Dragon Warrior]]'' (''Dragon Quest'' in Japan) to every new subscriber.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mackey |first1=Bob |title=Smart Bombs |url=http://www.1up.com/features/smart-bombs |publisher=1up.com |access-date=20 December 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127003318/http://www.1up.com/do/feature?pager.offset=1&cId=3165915 |archive-date=27 November 2015 |location=Internet Archive |page=2 |date=5 February 2007}}</ref>  The [[Dragon Quest|''Dragon Quest'' series]] had been a huge hit in Japan, and Nintendo had hoped the localized North American release would also be a success and promote the RPG genre.  However, the game had not sold nearly as well as Nintendo had anticipated, leaving the company with a large number of unsold cartridges.  The promotion both helped the company get rid of the unsold merchandise, and won the magazine thousands of new subscribers.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Parish|first1=Jeremy|title=The New Dark Age of Dragon Quest|url=http://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-new-dark-age-of-dragon-quest|website=USgamer|access-date=20 December 2014|date=21 August 2013}}</ref> During this time, Nintendo would also send [[VHS]] tapes to subscribers containing promotional videos for upcoming games.<ref>{{cite web | title=Remembering Donkey Kong Country Exposed | website=Nintendo World Report | date=September 9, 2014 | url=http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/38417/remembering-donkey-kong-country-exposed | access-date=April 1, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Tach | first=Dave | title=Celebrate the N64’s 18th anniversary with this 1996 VHS tape | website=Polygon | date=September 29, 2014 | url=https://www.polygon.com/2014/9/29/6863407/n64-anniversary-change-system-vhs | access-date=April 1, 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | last=Drake | first=Audrey | title=Farewell, Nintendo Power | website=IGN | date=August 21, 2012 | url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/08/21/farewell-nintendo-power | access-date=April 1, 2025}}</ref>

Following the release of the [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System|Super NES]], the magazine featured lengthy, continuous comic strips based on ''[[Super Mario World]]'' and ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past]]''. After these stories ended, they were replaced by similar multi-issue stories based on ''[[Star Fox]]'', ''[[Super Metroid]]'', and later, [[Nintendo 64]] games such as ''[[Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire (video game)|Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire]]'' and ''[[Blast Corps]]''. It had several comics based on the animated series of ''[[Pokémon]]'' and ''[[Kirby: Right Back at Ya!]]''. Toward the end, it included short excerpts based on ''[[Custom Robo]]'' and ''[[Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes]]''. It included a very short ''[[Metroid Prime]]'' comic, and another story based on the ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' games translated from the original Japanese version.