Nintendo Power

Nintendo Power was Nintendo's official magazine in the United States and Canada from 1988 to 2012. It covered all of Nintendo's then-currently active systems (and some inactive ones, if there was any worthy news), along with new and upcoming games for those systems. Nintendo Power contained strategy guides, previews, reviews, and exclusive material not made available to other sources.

Nintendo Power (or NP) celebrated its 200th issue in February of 2006, and had a major design overhaul in late 2005.

On Monday, October 15, 2007, Nintendo of America sold Nintendo Power to Future USA, a magazine company that produces videogame magazines. The magazine remained the same except for a few small changes. After Future USA had taken over, the Player's Guide series was dropped (leaving Prima Games to produce the guides), and gifts could no longer be chosen with subscriptions, as the staff would instead choose one.

On August 21, 2012, Nintendo announced that they had opted not to renew their licensing agreement with Future Publishing and that Nintendo Power would cease publication after 24 years. The magazine released its final issue on December 11, 2012.

Comics
Several issues of Nintendo Power have comics within them, several of which make references to the Mario series of games or related media. These comics revolve mostly around the character Nester, who plays various Nintendo games along with other characters. Originally titled "Howard & Nester" (stylized as "Howard & Nester NESTER"), the comics followed both the character Howard Philips and Nester as they played games and gave out tips. When Howard left, the comics were retitled "Nester's Adventures", and the comics followed Nester and his friends for several issues. After a long hiatus, another unnamed comic was made for Nintendo Power's 20th anniversary, which shows a grown-up Nester with an unnamed son. For Nintendo Powers final issue, a comic called "Nester & Maxwell" (stylized as "Nester & Maxwell MAX") was done as a callback to the original comic series where Nester and his son Maxwell talk about Nintendo Powers past.

Cover gallery
Below is a gallery of almost all of the Nintendo Power covers that Mario and others have appeared on. Notably, the Mario franchise has been stated to be the most popular subject of the magazine's covers, having appeared on 57 throughout the magazine's run.

Nintendo Power Advance
In 2001, to promote the launch of the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo published a quarterly spinoff magazine of Nintendo Power entitled Nintendo Power Advance, which featured news, tips and complete walkthroughs for various Game Boy Advance games. It was canceled after only four issues. Mario, however, was featured on three of the four covers (with the remaining featuring Golden Sun).

Player's Guides
From 1991 through 2007, Nintendo Power also published official strategy guides for big Nintendo games. Among the games in the Mario series that were given Player's Guides are the following:
 * NES Game Atlas
 * ''Super Mario Bros.
 * ''Super Mario Bros. 2
 * ''Super Mario Bros. 3
 * Game Boy
 * ''Super Mario Land
 * Mario Mania
 * ''Super Mario World
 * Super NES
 * ''Super Mario World
 * ''Super Mario All-Stars
 * Super Game Boy
 * ''Super Mario Land
 * ''Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins
 * ''Wario Land: Super Mario Land 3
 * ''Donkey Kong
 * '' Dr. Mario
 * ''Yoshi
 * ''Donkey Kong Country
 * ''Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
 * ''Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest
 * ''Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
 * ''Super Mario 64
 * ''Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble
 * ''Mario Kart 64
 * ''Diddy Kong Racing
 * ''Yoshi's Story
 * ''Donkey Kong 64
 * ''Paper Mario
 * ''Luigi's Mansion
 * ''Super Smash Bros. Melee
 * ''Super Mario Sunshine
 * ''Wario World
 * ''Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3
 * ''Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
 * ''Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
 * ''Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
 * ''New Super Mario Bros.
 * ''Yoshi's Island DS
 * ''Super Paper Mario