Nintendo Player's Guide


The Nintendo Player's Guides are a series of video game strategy guides from Nintendo based on Nintendo Power magazine.

Original format

The first Player's Guide was simply named The Official Nintendo Player's Guide, featuring dozens of different NES games. The following 22 games were covered in depth, with enemy descriptions, level maps, and strategy tips.The Legend of ZeldaMike Tyson's Punch Out!!CommandoSuper Mario Bros.Top GunGhosts and GoblinsDouble DribbleZelda II: The Adventure of LinkMetroidRad RacerRing KingKid IcarusPro WrestlingCastlevaniaExcitebikeArkanoidRush'n AttackRygarIkari WarriorsSpy HunterThe Goonies 2Kung Fu
Screenshots and short descriptions of other games were also included. As an early published Nintendo work, it featured some errors, including referring to Metroid heroine Samus Aran as a male, and referring to the playable bar in Arkanoid as "Bowse" instead of the proper "Vaus," most likely the result of a translation mistake.
The Official Nintendo Player's Guide was followed in the early 1990s by a number of publications, which were produced under the slightly different moniker of Nintendo Power Strategy Guides. These were sent between the then bi-monthly magazine issues to subscribers or mailed alongside them. Nintendo Entertainment System games covered by their Strategy Guides included:Super Mario Bros. 3Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of ChaosFinal Fantasy4-Player Extra, which covered multiple four-player games on the NES.
Nintendo ceased production of these bimonthly Strategy Guides due to a lack of important game releases in the pre-holiday seasons of the year.

Player's Guide

After converting Nintendo Power to a monthly format came the more well-known mainstay of Player's Guides. Early guides covered groups of games in one book. These books covered strategy for:NES Game Atlas
Outside of offering an optional Player's Guide as a free gift for a Nintendo Power subscription or subscription renewal, Nintendo Power did not include Player's Guides with the magazine. They were, however, made available separately, both through mail-order and at book and video-game shops. Nintendo did also once offer a subscription motive that included four of the aforementioned Player's Guides instead of only one.
Following these four Player's Guides, a fifth was released to Nintendo Power subscribers entitled Top Secret Passwords, containing passwords for a wide variety of NES, SNES, and Game Boy games. While initially billed as a subscriber exclusive, this guide was eventually sold at retailers.

Later era

In its later years, each Player's Guide published features one specific game, much like the earlier Nintendo Power Strategy Guides. These Nintendo Power branded Player's Guides were available for Nintendo-published games as well as select high-profile third party titles, such as Final Fantasy III and Chrono Trigger, but the concept is now emulated by other publishing companies such as Brady Games or Prima for major releases on all video game consoles. Almost all major video games released today will have one or more official Guides associated with them.
While the rise of the World Wide Web and the increasing availability of free on-line FAQs and walkthroughs has taken away some of the need for commercial strategy guides, there is still a market for them. Guides often feature extensive picture-by-picture walkthroughs, maps, game art, and other visual features that cannot be provided by a bare text online walkthrough.
Among the games that have been given Nintendo Player's Guides:Animal CrossingAnimal Crossing: Wild WorldAdvance Wars: Dual StrikeAdvance Wars 2 Black Hole RisingBanjo-KazooieBanjo-TooieBattalion WarsChrono TriggerConker's Bad Fur DayDiddy Kong RacingDonkey Kong 64Donkey Kong CountryDonkey Kong Country Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong QuestDonkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble!EarthBoundEternal Darkness: Sanity's RequiemFinal Fantasy I & II: Dawn of SoulsFinal Fantasy III (VI)Final Fantasy IV AdvanceFinal Fantasy V AdvanceFinal Fantasy Crystal ChroniclesFinal Fantasy Tactics AdvanceFire Emblem Fire Emblem: Path of RadianceFire Emblem: The Sacred StonesF-Zero GXGoldenEye 007Golden Sun: The Lost AgeJet Force GeminiKiller InstinctThe Legend of Zelda: Collector's EditionThe Legend of Zelda: Four Swords AdventuresThe Legend of Zelda: Link's AwakeningThe Legend of Zelda: A Link to the PastThe Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/Four SwordsThe Legend of Zelda: Majora's MaskThe Legend of Zelda: The Minish CapThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of TimeThe Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of AgesThe Legend of Zelda: Twilight PrincessThe Legend of Zelda: The Wind WakerLuigi's MansionMario & Luigi: Partners in TimeMario & Luigi: Superstar SagaMario Kart 64Mario Kart: Double DashMario PaintMetroid FusionMetroid PrimeMetroid Prime 2: EchoesMetroid Prime HuntersMetroid: Zero MissionNew Super Mario Bros.NintendogsPaper MarioPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year DoorPerfect DarkPikminPikmin 2Pokémon Battle RevolutionPokémon ColosseumPokémon Crystal

Discontinuation

Around mid-2007, Nintendo discontinued the series after the publication of the guide for Pokémon Battle Revolution.
This end of guide production was apparently due to the impending switch from in-house publication of NP to publication by Future US, which occurred in November 2007.
In an issue of Nintendo Power, an NP subscriber wrote to Nintendo, asking about the status of the Player's Guide series. Nintendo replied that the series is indeed discontinued indefinitely. They also pointed out that Prima Games was their official partner for making strategy guides, which they have been making for the aforementioned recent releases. Additionally, Prima made special strategy guides for The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Mario Kart Wii. These guides were released exclusively as bonuses for Nintendo Power subscriptions or renewals. These guides even carry the label "Special Digest Version: Supplement to Nintendo Power Magazine".