Nintendo Power Line

https://youtu.be/RZJSpVb6uFg?t=47s

My family was upper middle class in suburban America in the 80's and 90's, and the idea of calling a hotline like this was considered a colossal waste of money.

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https://my.mixtape.moe/eykgdh.webm

>>4172805
>Do you have any stories to share?

remember calling for Maniac Mansion help and the counselors didn't know fuck all about the game so I ended up spending 15 minutes schooling them on the game


Also, in I'd say 96/97 ish I was stuck in the game 8-Eyes. It was early in the morning and Nintendo's official line wasn't open yet, so I called the number in the instruction manual for Taxan and I was shocked that not only the number worked and somebody picked up, but they knew the exact answer to my question (which order to put the orbs at the end of the game).

>>4172830
> Older brother calls up Nintendo Power hotline for Perfect Dark
> "I don't think this is a good idea, older bro"
> "Oh Anon, Mom and Dad aren't smart enough to figure out we called. It's just another bill to them."
> Brother gets found out once the bill comes and he racked up a $25 phone charge on a single call.
> Grounded for a month.
Best "I told you so" story ever.

>>4173251
lol
>$25
How long did he talk?

>>4173228
I'd love to hear more stories like this

>>4173260
I can't remember exactly how long, but he ran through the Chicago and G5 levels on the hotline. Then asked how to unlock more cheats on the cheat menu, which he wrote down and everything.

>>4172805
I remember calling, getting scared and hanging up at my baby sitters house. Her dad was pissed when he got the bill, my sitters weeb sister got blamed for it.

I called Nintendo a couple times. Don't remember what it was all for, once was about Jurassic Park on SNES because I couldn't find all the raptors in the ship. The guy couldn't help but said basically good luck and tried to sell me on the Super Game Boy.

Another time I called to see if DQ3 (GBC) would work on regular Game Boy (no).

I think those calls were free? I don't remember. What I DO remember is when Legend of Mana came out and it was such a confusing mess not knowing where to place levels on the map so I could access all the missions. There was a number in the instructions to call for help, totally all automated, a phone tree, and I called it over and over. I got so good I could just bypass all the intro stuff and go right to the section of the game I needed help on since I memorized it. That ended up costing $70 for maybe 15 calls. My dad was kinda pissed.

There were rumors that Sega's hotline would tell you how to get past the barrel in Carnival Night from Sonic 3. Was that actually true? I always wanted to know.

555-BUMP

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They were fairly helpful for the major games by big publishers, especially their own games and Capcom games. It was just a normal long distance call so I was usually allowed to call to get a single answer where I'd been stuck and if the playground network failed me plus then I got to be the only one on the playground who knew but I always shared my info.

>>4172805
I made a really embarrassing call about Final Fantasy VI once because I was positive that I was stuck in an area. The details are a little fuzzy but I spoke to the "game counselor" and explained the situation to him, and after he consulted his notes on the game, he told me all I had to was basically walk to the left. I felt like a complete idiot and I could tell by the tone of his voice that he thought I was an idiot as well.

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>>4172805

I only called a few times in the late 90's to ask about pokemon, but when they put you on hold they played the hyrule Field music from Ocarina of time. Real troopers to put up with kids asking retarded questions before the internet kicked in.

I remember calling it a few times when I was a kid. It took forever to get through to a counselor. The information they gave me helped sometimes (for instance, finding a key in the eighth dungeon of Link's Awakening). But at times, they couldn't really help.

One time, I was playing an obscure SNES RPG and I couldn't kill a certain boss. They helped me as best as they could, but they couldn't think of anything. This was partially because the boss' level scaled to your level.

There were some good times. Also, the calls were pretty expensive, too.

I remember I called it to find a DK coin in Donkey Kong Country 2. By that point it was pretty much all automated and I just whittled down the info I wanted from a series of menus.

When I called during the Dragon Warrior and Super Mario Bros 3 era, I never had to wait very long to talk to somebody, and they were always the chillest dudes. I didn't have any serious gaming friends at school, so it was just nice talking to somebody about a game I had a question about. I'd have to ask permission to call though, because it was expensive.
Later on I remember reading in NP that they were going with an automated system to weed out the easy questions before you could get to a real live sweaty nerd in front of an SNES, but by then I was on IRC and newsgroups so I never had to deal with that crap.
I remember having a really dumb question once. I was trying to pull off some normal move in killer instinct, and I couldn't figure out how to make b-bd-d-df-f + whatever work, and I described it to the guy, and he said it sounded right to him, just do it smoothly... and it didn't click until later that it was supposed to be a half circle movement.

Oh! Don't forget you could write letters too. I'd send in questions, drawings, and all kinds of stuff. They'd write back with cool Nintendo Power letterhead with the answers or suggestions, and they'd send your drawings back and tell you they looked great but they couldn't keep them. I kept all the replies, but I have no idea where they are now.

>>4177629
>real troopers to work a phone bank
Yeah, those sex workers are doing God's work too

>>4177591
He probably just felt bad for you that you wasted all that money for really nothing. Believe me I'm sure they got a lot stupider questions every day than yours.