V”** '-T -*v f-...* i g '^h : > iwiwr i \ * '\/ ^ w3 E // jk \ I^Tt-Tl^-:jyVm iiiiijOftiM 1 /4m igSF kk<32^ 0 V fil lip'is -| / ( ^Nintendof) , V'lrh hals V" W/A , HOLE 0J£ v i Jk> r lifBTOTfSa STAFF Publisher M. Arakawa Producer in Chief Hiroyuki Kato SUPER NES Editor in Chief Gail Tiiden Senior Editor Pam Sather CONTENTS Scott Peiiand George Sinfield Leslie Swan INSIDE THE SUPER NES 3 Jeff Bafus Jane Hacker Scott Stinson 7—68 Editorial Consultants - Howard Lincoln Peter Main SUPER MARIO WORLD 8 SMASH TV 61 Phil Rogers Juana Tingdale SUPER GHOULS N GHOSTS 16 JOE & MAC 62 Tony Harman SUPER CASTLEVANIA 26 ULTRAMAN: Cover Design Griffes Advertising E Copy Coordinator Machiko Oehler TOWARDS THE FUTURE 63 FINAL FIGHT 36 Director ofProduction - Tsutomu Otsuka PAPERBOY 2 64 Producer Yoshio Tsuboike GRADIUS III 42 Project Coordinators — Hiroyuki Kurano SUPER R TYPE 48 HOME ALONE 65 W. David Mellen 54 HYPERZONE 66 Keiji Hamada U.N. SQUADRON Emi Toyama 67 LEGEND OF THE PIT FIGHTER Art Director Yoshi Orimo DARIUS TWIN 68 Concept & Design — WORK HOUSE USA MYSTICAL NINJA 60 Yukio Yamashita Ichiro Koike Leo Tsukamoto 69 — 9 Wendy Saivatori WORK HOUSE CO.. ACTRAISER 70 WANDERERS FROM YS 84 LTD. Seiji Sato THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: LAGOON 90 Jumpin' Jack Yushi A LINK TO THE PAST 78 Masao Iwamoto Hiro Ogawa RPG & SIMULATION 91 -118 A Noboru Umeoka Kochan Yoshizu Hiroshi Ohashi FINAL FANTASY II 92 DRAKKHEN 116 Shuji Kurokawa PILOTWINGS 100 THE CHESSMASTER 117 Tomohide Kinoshita SIMCITY IOC MIRACLE KEYBOARD 118 (OK 2) DEZAIRA POPULOUS 112 Illustrators Makikazu Ohmori Jackie Yoshida Hiroshi Aizawa 119-148 A Norikatu Endo SPORTS ©ORION PRESS ©PPS F ZERO 120 SUPER BASEBALL SIM- ©SuperStock. Inc. SUPER OFF-ROAD 126 ULATOR 1.000 144 SUPER TENNIS 130 EXTRA INNINGS 145 HAL'S HOLE-IN-ONE GOLF 134 JOHN MADDEN'S TRUE GOLF CLASSICS: FOOTBALL 146 WAIALAE C. C. 138 BILL LAIMBEER'S COM- NOLAN RYAN'S BASEBALL 142 BAT BASKETBALL 147 SUPER BASES LOADED 143 RPM RACING 148 FUTURE GAMES 149-157 D-FORCE/NOSFERATU 150 LEMMINGS/ULTIMA 154 THE ROCKETEER/SMART BALL 151 BULLS VS. LAKERS/FI -ROC 155 SUPER ADVENTURE ISLAND/ NCAA FINAL FOUR/PGA TOUR GOLF 156 (Nintendo") SDPER CONTRA DE 15Z SUPER PLAY ACTION FOOTBALL/ E.D.F./SPANKY'S 153 SUPER SOCCER CHAMP 157 SDPER OOEST Nintendo of America Inc. P.O. Box 957 Redmond.'WA 98052. INDEX 158 WIIH UK III® NES With the coming of the Super NES, video way, from the detail of their graphics to the size games and video game players may never be and complexity of their worlds. Sports games the same again. This Player’s Guide introduces benefit, too. There are more options than ever you to the first batch of Super NES games- in games like True Golf Classics. Play against those currently on the market or about to be the computer or in a tournament, change your released. It’s the first inside look at the rapidly view or track the flight of the ball to analyze growing library of titles for the Super NES. your swing. The Super NES sizing and smooth You’ll see what makes each game special and scrolling add a new sense of reality to sports how the programmers make use of the techno- games, especially fast-paced racing and flying logical advances offered by the system. You’ll games such as F-Zero and Pilotwings. also find winning tips and strategies for each of For a deeper understanding of the technol- the 39 games reviewed. ogy involved, read the chapter titled “Inside Programmers around the world have flocked The Super NES”, which introduces you to the to the Super NES because it allows them great Super NES hardware and explains how Mode 7 creativity and a broad game playing audience. and other features are utilized by the games. The expanded memory and 16 bit processor Even if you don’t own a Super NES yet, the make PC conversions possible, even where ad- Super NES Player’s Guide can be a valuable vanced models require enormous calculating tool. People buy game systems for the games, power and speed as in SimCity. Superior graph- not the hardware. With the Player’s Guide you ics and smooth animation are essential when can make direct, insightful comparisons of converting hit arcade games like Final Fight, games. Game types are broken down into and here again the Super NES has the muscle chapters to make it easy, and each review cov- to do the job and do it well. Sequels to favorite ers both the specialized Super NES features NES games have also made the switch to the and hot tips to get you into the game like a pro. Super NES, resulting in awe inspiring titles like The Super NES Player’s Guide covers all the Super Mario World and Super CastlevaniaET. action, whether it’s on the screen or in the CPU. These games have been improved in every Enough already, let’s get playin’! LOOK FOR MORE NINTENDO PLAYER’S GUIDES FOR COMPLETE GAME COVERAGE FROM THE PROS SUPER NES (Nintendo®) PLAYER’S GUIDE mil mu super Himm ENTERTAINMENT SYSTEM THE ULTIMATE GAME SYSTEM FOR THE ULTIMATE GAMES You could say that the Super NES is the unsung hero of a state-of-the-art platform to support a new generation this book. If it wasn’t for this remarkable machine, none of super-sophisticated video games. Mr. Uemura of Nin- of the outstanding games reviewed in these pages would tendo Company Ltd. in Japan directed the design of the have been created. For this reason, an introduction to Super Famicom hardware, which is identical to the Super the hardware and its capabilities is appropriate to game NES, while Lance Barr at Nintendo of America designed players. the housing for the Super NES along with modifications The Super NES and the Super Famicom (the Japanese in the Controllers and Game Paks. Their joint efforts version) were created out of Nintendo's desire to provide resulted in the Super NES as we know it today. SUPER NES FACTS AND FUNCTIONS - It wasn’t so long ago that people THE SUPER PERSPECTIVE thought Pong looked pretty cool. Now, Some of the most impressive Super wings. The Super NES also creates the stunning graphic effects of the NES graphics are the result ofrotating dizzying spin effects by rotating back- Super NES seem to make game char- backgrounds and scaling. Scaling grounds. Just as scaling seems to acters and scenes leap to life on the creates the effect of zooming in and bring objects forward and back, rotat- screen. With the Super NES and its out by graduating the background in ing backgrounds make it seem like unique Mode 7 effects, you can sit in smooth steps, so it looks like objects foreground objects are spinning. For the cockpit of a plane and look out at a are approaching or receding the way example, when Morton Koopa spins simulated world moving by! Mode 7 real moving objects would. It results in in Super Mario World, it’s because functions set the Super NES apart realism that makes your eye see depth he is the rotating background. The from other 16-bit game systems. The in the two-dimensional screen. To see lava, barrels and blackness are drawn functions are handled by a special part scaling in action, watch the objects on in the foreground. That background of the processor that manipulates the ground race towards you in Pilot- also scales, making it look like Morton numbers at high speed—mainly multi- approaching plying and dividing the parameters of and disappear- characters or backgrounds on the ing. screen. The resulting effect, whether it is rotation, scrolling or scaling, is smooth and life-like. The scaling function is at its most impressive in speed-oriented games like F-Zero. When background objects swiftly but smoothly grow larger, it feels as if you are actually racing forward. In F-Zero, the sense of speed is so real that many players find themselves actually leaning around corners! SUPER MARIO WORLD SHOWCASE Morton Koopa in Super Mario World appears to fly toward you and away from you while spinning. Both rotation and scaling are used to achieve Morton's dizzying act. The creative use of Mode 7 functions can add both flash and a sense of reality. THE GROWTH FACTOR Programmers use “tricks,” like drawing characters and ob- jects in backgrounds that can be scaled and rotated, to add to the depth of Super NES games. Another programming technique results in animation that rivals that of television cartoons. Programmers create amazingly realistic graphics by adjusting the graphic dis- Another of the interesting graphic effects used by play to at least 16 frames per programmers in Super Mario World uses a mosaic second so the human eye can- function. Screens appear to fade in and out in blocks as not discern breaks in the Mario enters and exits areas. To create the effect, the Watch fly with motion. Mario "tiles" that make up the mosaic peel off in layers, his cape to see how realistic making the screen look like it's fading to black. video animation can be. 4 NINTENDO PLAYER’S GUIDE COLOR LAYERING SHIFTING PALETTES One of the most useful and subtle One quick and efficient way to palette can be exchanged. One use effects is called Color Layering, change the look of a screen is to would be to cast a day scene into which gives the impression of change the color palette.