The Nintendo Player’s Guides are a series of video game strategy guides from Nintendo based on Nintendo Power magazine.
The first Player's Guide was simply called The Official Nintendo Player's Guide, featuring dozens of different NES games. Games covered in some detail with enemy guides, item guides and maps are as follows:
The Legend of Zelda
Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!
Commando
Super Mario Bros
Top Gun
Ghosts and Goblins
Double Dribble
Zelda II: The Adventures of Link
Metroid
Rad Racer
Ring King
Kid Icarus
Pro Wrestling
Castlevania
Excitebike
Arkanoid
Rush'n Attack
Rygar
Ikari Warriors,
Spy Hunter
The Goonies 2
Kung Fu
It was followed in the early 1990s by a number of guides 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. NES games covered by their Strategy Guides included:
Super Mario Bros. 3
Ninja Gaiden II: The Dark Sword of Chaos
Final Fantasy
4-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.
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
Castlevania
Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest
Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse
Chip ’n Dale Rescue Rangers
DuckTales
The Legend of Zelda
Mega Man
Mega Man 2
Mega Man 3
Ninja Gaiden
Ninja Gaiden II
StarTropics
Super Mario Bros.
Super Mario Bros. 2
Super Mario Bros. 3
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
Game Boy
Batman
Castlevania: The Adventure
Cosmo Tank
Days of Thunder
Double Dragon
Dr. Mario
DuckTales
F-1 Race
Final Fantasy Legend
Fortified Zone
Gargoyle’s Quest
Golf
Gremlins 2: The New Batch
The Hunt for Red October
Kwirk
Nemesis
Operation C
Quarth
R-Type
Revenge of the ’Gator
Super Mario Land
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Fall of the Foot Clan
SolarStriker
Solomon’s Club
Super R.C. Pro-Am
Sword of Hope
Tetris
Ultima: Runes of Virtue
Mario Mania
Super Mario World, along with a history of the character Mario.
Super NES
ActRaiser
Bill Laimbeer’s Combat Basketball
The Chessmaster
Darius Twin
Drakkhen
Extra Innings
F-Zero
Final Fantasy II
Final Fight
Gradius III
Home Alone
HyperZone
Joe & Mac
John Madden’s Football
Hal's Hole in One Golf
Lagoon
Legend of the Mystical Ninja
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
Miracle Piano Teaching System
Nolan Ryan's Baseball
Paperboy 2
Pilotwings
Pit Fighter
Populous
RPM Racing
SimCity
Smash TV
Super Bases Loaded
Super Baseball Simulator 1.000
Super CastleVania IV
Super Ghouls ’n Ghosts
Super Mario World
Super Off-Road
Super R-Type
Super Tennis
True Golf Classics: Waialae Country Club
Ultraman: Towards the Future
U.N. Squadron
Ys III: Wanderers from Ys
Top Secret: Passwords
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 Players 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.
Today each Player’s Guide published features one specific game, much like the earlier Nintendo Power Strategy Guides. These Nintendo Power branded Player’s Guides are available only for Nintendo-published games, 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 Crossing
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Advance Wars: Dual Strike
Advance Wars 2 Black Hole Rising
Banjo-Kazooie
Banjo-Tooie
Battalion Wars
Chrono Trigger
Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Diddy Kong Racing
Donkey Kong 64
Donkey Kong Country
Donkey Kong Country (Game Boy Advance version)
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy’s Kong Quest
Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong’s Double Trouble!
EarthBound
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requium
Final Fantasy I & II: Dawn of Souls
Final Fantasy III (VI)
Final Fantasy IV Advance
Final Fantasy V Advance
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Fire Emblem (Game Boy Advance version)
Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance
Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones
F-Zero GX
GoldenEye 007
Golden Sun: The Lost Age
Jet Force Gemini
Killer Instinct
The Legend of Zelda: Collector’s Edition
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past/Four Swords
The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Luigi’s Mansion
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
Mario Kart 64
Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
Mario Paint
Metroid Fusion
Metroid Prime
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Metroid Prime Hunters
Metroid: Zero Mission
New Super Mario Bros.
Nintendogs
Paper Mario
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Perfect Dark
Pikmin
Pikmin 2
Pokémon Battle Revolution
Pokémon Colosseum
Pokémon Crystal
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl
Pokémon Emerald
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen
Pokémon Gold and Silver
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
Pokémon Ranger
Pokémon Red and Blue
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
Pokémon Snap
Pokémon Stadium
Pokémon Stadium 2
Pokémon Trading Card Game
Pokémon Special Edition: Red, Blue & Yellow
Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness
Star Fox 64
Star Fox Adventures
Star Fox Assault
Star Wars: Episode I Racer
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike
Street Fighter II Turbo
Super Game Boy
Super Mario 64
Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
Super Mario All-Stars
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Super Mario Sunshine
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi’s Island
Super Metroid
Super Paper Mario
Super Smash Bros. Melee
Sword of Mana
Wario World
Wave Race: Blue Storm
Yoshi’s Island DS
Yoshi’s Island: Super Mario Advance 3
Yoshi’s Story
Around mid-2007, Nintendo seemed to have quietly discontinued the series after the publication of the guide for Pokémon Battle Revolution. Guides for popular games, including recent releases, are going out of stock at the Nintendo Online Store. No guide was published for Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, or Endless Ocean, and none have been announced for soon-to-be-released major Nintendo projects.
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 a recent 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".
