Nintendo Power V152

Nintendo Power Volume 152 is an issue of Nintendo Power released in January of 2002. On the cover of the magazine was the GameCube video game Pikmin. This issue debuted a few new features in its GameWatch segement which were ultimately taken out in a future issue. These new segments included Project: Digipen and Developer Profile. Project: Digipen aimed at revealing gaming projects that students at the gaming college Digipen were creating, while Developer Profile interviewed major bigwigs in the industry each month, starting with Yuji Naka of Sonic Team first. Multiple other new features were also present, including Power On, Epic Center, Title Wave, Arena, NP 411, and the revival of Power Charts. The poster featured in this issue was of Wave Race: Blue Storm for the GameCube.

Power Pulse
One major change that occurred here was the fact that each person would receive a free t-shirt if their artowrk was chosen as art of the month. The first person to receive this "honor" was Jizzie Humm. The letter of the month was written by Kelli Brinker.

Power Charts
Another new feature of this issue was the return of the Power Charts, which had been abscent in previous issues. These charts included the top selling games, courtesy of the NPD, the Player's Choice, and the Most Wanted, the latter two being voted on at Nintendo.com. The list included:

Top selling games
Console games

1.Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - Nintendo 64 2.Madden NFL 2002 - Nintendo 64 3.Super Smash Bros. - Nintendo 64 4.Mario Party 3 - Nintendo 64 5.Mario Kart 64 - Nintendo 64 6.NBA Courtside 2 Featuring Kobe Byant - Nintendo 64 7.[[The World is Not Enough - Nintendo 64 8.[[Pokemon Stadium - Nintendo 64 9.Cruis'n Exotica - Nintendo 64 10.Tony Hawk's Pro Skater - Nintendo 64

Handheld games

1.Pokemon Crystal - Game Boy Color 2.Mario Kart: Super Circuit - Game Boy Advance 3.Super Mario Advance - Game Boy Advance 4.Shrek: Fairy Tale Freakdown - Game Boy Color 5.Lego Bionicle - Game Boy Advance 6.The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages - Game Boy Color 7.Advance Wars - Game Boy Advance 8.Super Mario Bros. DX - Game Boy Color 9.Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - Game Boy Advance 10.The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

Player's Choice and Most Wanted
Console games (Player's choice)

1.Luigi's Mansion - GameCube 2.Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader - GameCube 3.Super Monkey Ball - GameCube 4.Super Smash Bros. Melee - GameCube 5.The Simpsons: Road Rage - GameCube 6.Pikmin - GameCube 7.FIFA 2002 - GameCube 8.Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 - GameCube 9.Wave Race: Blue Storm - GameCube 10.SSX Tricky - GameCube

Handheld games (Player's choice)

1.Golden Sun - Game Boy Advance 2.Wario Land 4 - Game Boy Advance 3.Advance Wars - Game Boy Advance 4.Mario Kart: Super Circuit - Game Boy Advance 5.Breath of Fire - Game Boy Advance 6.Castlevania: Circle of the Moon - Game Boy Color 7.Pac-Man Collection - Game Boy Advance 8.harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone - Game Boy Advance 9.Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 - Game Boy Advance 10.Namco Museum - Game Boy Advance

'''Most wanted

1.The Legend of Zelda GC (Soon to be The Wind Waker) 2.Metroid Prime - GameCube 3.Super Mario Sunshine - GameCube 4.Metroid 4 (Soon to be Metroid Fusion) - Game Boy Advance 5.Phantasy Star Online Ver. 2 - GameCube

GameWatch
Games featured in GameWatch include Freaky Flyers, NFL Quarterback Club 2002, Smashing Drive, Sonic Advance, Super Mario World for GBA, Shante, Yu-Gi-Oh! for the GBC, Cel Damage, Dark Summit, Planet Monsters, Ice Age, Monster Jam, King of Fighters Ex: Neo Blood, Puyo Pop Advance, Fievel: An American Tale, and NBA Jam 2002. This month's GameWatch also saw two new features: Developer Profile and Project: Digipen. The former was an interview with major video game developers (this month's being Sonic Team's Yuji Naka) and the latter documenting video games being made over at Digipen, this month's video game being GenJox, a multiplayer focused title. Nintendo Power also welcomed a host of new developers to the world of video games. These developers include:


 * Big Ape Productions - GCN developer
 * Binary9 Studios - GCN and GBA developer
 * CyberLore Studios - GCN developer
 * Graphic Simulations - GBA developer
 * Housemarque - GCN and GBA developer
 * neo Software Poduktions GmbH - GCN developer
 * Nova Logic, Inc. - GCN developer
 * The Pitbull Syndicate Limited - GCN developer
 * Testing, Testing 123, Inc. - GCN, GBA and GBC developer
 * X-Ray Interactive - GCN, GBA and GBC developer
 * Zed Two - GCN developer

As always this section also featured a list of upcoming video games for Nintendo's current consoles.

Power On and Nintendo Online
One of the new features of the month was Power On, which featured random Nintendo related information, screen test, and various other oddities. They had a sort of "in" and "out" segment as well that was titled Game and Game Over. In this issue we were treated to the history of the Ice Climbers, who were newly revived in Super Smash Bros. Melee, a look at a special countdown event to the GameCube, and the NP staff's new year resolutions.

Game: Jessie and James Game Over: Butch and Cassidy Game: Rogue Leaders Game Over: Rogue elephants Game: C Stick Game Over: C Buttons Game: Cubes Game Over: Boxes Game: Steven Grimm 1 Game Over: Drew Williams

1 : Steven Grimm was new to this issue of Nintendo Power, while the previous issue was Drew's last. However, Drew would eventually return for a short time, only to leave once more.

In the monthly column known as Nintendo Online, the writers of Nintendo Power explain the new websites of popular Nintendo games. The only new website this month was for Wario Land 4 on the Game Boy Advance. The url for the site is gameboy.com/wario.

Game strategies
Video games that featured strategies included:


 * Pikmin - GameCube
 * Super Smash Bros. Melee - GameCube
 * The Simpsions: Road Rage - GameCube
 * FIFA Soccer 2002 - GameCube
 * Universal Studios Theme Parks Adventure - GameCube
 * Star Wars: Jedi Powers Battles - Game Boy Advance
 * Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion - Game Boy Advance
 * Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone - Game Boy Color

Classified Information
Classified information features simple cheat codes and hints that don't exaclty need a full article. Each issue features a multitude of video games. The GameCube video game Luigi's Mansion had the most information with a hefty two page article on tips featuring the locations of the fifteen ghosts, hints on how to catch the various Boos, how to get easy money, the points needed in order to get improved mansions, where the player can find hearts, and various other tips. Because this game (like most Nintendo developed titles) doesn't feature cheat codes, this article was limited to hints and tips.

Another primary video game was Wave Race: Blue Storm, which got a full page. Information featured in this article include the locations of the boosts in the stages and the locations of powerups. On another page they featured cheat codes and hints on four American football video games including NFL Blitz 2001, NFL Blitz 20-02, NFL Quarterback 2001, and Madden NFL 2000.

Other games featurd are Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3, Spider-Man: Mysterios's Menace, Final Fight One, and Super Monkey Ball.

Pokecenter
This issue showcases Donald Theriaul's team of species that he prefers to use, the most notable of which are a male Kingdra and a female Jolteon, as both possess the ability to use attract on the opposing creature. If Jolteon's attract doesn't work, then she'll be able to use thunder wave, and then use substitute to recover some lost damage while the enemy is paralyzed. Other species include Heracross, Golem, Alkazam, and Granbull.

Epic Center
Epic Center first appeared in the Nintendo Power V70, though after a few years was ultimately removed. Because of the rising interest in RPG video games, and the introduction to two new video game consoles on which to play them, Nintendo Power decided to revive the long lost section. Video games featured in this issue were Magical Vacation on the Game Boy Advance, The Legacy of Goku, a Dragon Ball title for the GBA, Baldur's Gate II: Dark Alliance, also for the handheld, and strategies for GBA video games Mech Platoon and Breath of Fire.

Title Wave
Title Wave was another new feature that didn't last very long. The slogan for the article was "Look what's making a splash this month!", and featured information on various titles that were released during the month of the magazine's release. The games included were:


 * All-Star Baseball 2002
 * Extreme G 3
 * Army Men: Operation Green
 * Dave Mirra: Freestyle BMX 2
 * Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX
 * Midway's Greatest Arcade hits
 * Phalanx
 * Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder
 * World Wrestling Federation: Road to Wrestlemania

Title Wave was unique in that it featured information on games that the magazine wouldn't normally devote full articles to. It infamously praised each of the games but then mystersiously gave some terrible grades in the review section of the same issue. For example, in this issue, Army Men for the GBA received three 2/5's and even a 1 1/2/5.

Now Playing
Now Playing reviews multiple video games each month, with five writers giving it a grade. After a description of the video game, which normally was praiseworthy, some of the reviewers put their own input into the comments section of the most prominent titles, which was followed by the review scores on the right. The games and their scores this month include (with the highest possible score being a five):


 * The Simpsons: Road Rage - 5, 4, 5, 5, 4
 * FIFA Soccer 2002 - 4.5, 4, 4.5, 4.5, 4
 * Universal Studios Them Parks Adventure - 2, 2, 2, 1.5, 3
 * All-Star Baseball 2002 - 3.5, 2.5, 2.5, 2.5, 3
 * Extreme G 3 - 4, 3.5, 2.5, 3.5, 3.5
 * Crazy Taxi - 3.5, 2.5, 3, 3.5, 4
 * Disney's Tarzan Untamed - 3.5, 4, 4, 4, 3.5
 * Mech Platoon - 4.5, 3.5, 3.5, 3.5, 4.5
 * Star Wars: Jedi Power Battles - 3.5, 2, 3, 2.5, 3.5
 * Nancy Drew: Message in a Haunted Mansion - 3, 4, 3, 4, 4
 * Army Men: Operation Green - 2, 3.5, 1.5, 2, 2
 * Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX 2 - 2.5, 3.5, 3.5, 3.5, 3.5
 * Mat Hoffman's Pro BMX - 2.5, 2.5, 4, 3, 4
 * Midway's Greatest Arcade Hits - 2.5, 3.5, 3.5, 3, 4
 * Phalanx - 3, 3, 3, 3.5, 3
 * Shaun Palmer's Pro Snowboarder - 2.5, 2.5, 2, 2, 3
 * World Wrestling Federation: Road to Wrestlemania - 3, 3, 2, 4, 4
 * Batman Vengeance - 4, 3, 4, 3, 3.5
 * Hot Wheels: Burnin' Rubber - 2, 2, 2.5, 3, 3
 * Jurassic Park III: Island Attack - 3, 1.5, 3, 1.5, 3
 * Rampage Puzzle Attack - 3.5, 2.5, 2, 3.5, 3
 * Rocket Power: Dream Scheme - 3.5, 2, 2.5, 2.5, 3
 * Rugrats: Castle Capers - 2.5, 2, 3.5, 3, 3
 * Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone - 4, 3.5, 3.5, 3.5, 4
 * Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs - 3, 2.5, 3, 3, 2.5

Player's Poll Contest
In this month's Player's Poll Contest, the grand prize was a ticket to the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., a Nintendo GameCube, and a copy of Pikmin. The second prize winners got Pikmin, while third place winners got a Nintendo Power T-shirt. The questions in the form were:

A. How old are you? B. Sex C. What is your overawll impression of the changes to Nintendo Power in the January issue? D. What is your favorite new or redesigned column? E. What is your least favorite new or redesigned column? F. Do you plan to enter the Wave Race: Blue Storm Challenge? G. Have you visited the Wave Race: Blue Storm website at waverace-blustorm.com? H. Which of the following prizes would you want to win? 1 I. Are you interested in learning more about how games are made?

1 : The options for this question include 1. a trip to Nintendo, 2. a Nintendo GameCube and some GCN games, 3. a home theater, 4. a one-of-a-kind prop from a major motion picture, or 5. a trip to meet a celbrity.