After nearly three hundred issues, Nintendo Power has finally come to an end. To send this long-running periodical off in style, the Cover Critic has decided to review every single issue. Join him as he experiences every aspect of Nintendo's journey through their magazine covers.

What we have here is the soft bigotry of low expectations. After so many painfully bad covers in a row, I feel like I have permanently lowered the bar for what makes a good Nintendo Power cover. With all this abuse, I worry that I'm just going to fall in love with the next pretty face. I'm afraid that one day I'm going to wake up next to this Lemmings cover and know I made a terrible mistake. But even if it is because of lowered expectations, I rather like this Lemmings cover.

Blame it on the adorableness of the Lemmings, something that is almost impossible to get wrong. Here we see the green-haired lemmings hard at work building bridges, stopping traffic and using tiny umbrellas as parachutes. All this is being done miles away from civilization, deep in the woods next to a rushing waterfall. And with only a few scattered clouds in the bright blue sky, it couldn't be a nicer day to build bridges and locate the exit. Too bad half of these little guys are going to meet an untimely demise because of bad planning and tricky obstacles.

This cover is not only cheerful, but it perfectly illustrates what Lemmings is all about. We see our friendly rodents doing their jobs and demonstrating what the puzzles are really like. On the other hand, we can't overlook that this is a very basic drawing when compared to some of Nintendo Power's best designs. Then again, it appears the magazine actually created original artwork for a change, giving me hope Nintendo Power still employs a real artist.

Special Announcement: Are you a fan of Nintendo Power Uncovered? Then get ready for our brand new spin-off, NEXT GENERATION UNCOVERED! Starting on March 20, the Cover Critic will take a weekly journey through every issue of Next Generation magazine. Come learn a thing or two about video game history every Thursday with Next Generation Uncovered!