I called the Nintendo Hotline, in 1987

Really enjoyed reading the Onion Inc.'s A.V. Club's article, "What was it like to be a Nintendo game play counselor?", by Annie Zaleski, published on 2015-11-21:

http://www.avclub.com/article/what-was-it-be-nintendo-game-play-counselor-224289

The article mentions Shadowgate, a 1987 point-and-click adventure video game developed by ICOM Simulations, Inc. and published by Kemco, for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

The name sounds familiar, and after looking it up, I remembered why: it represents the one game I called the Nintendo Powerline about. In the game, you eventually have to kill a werewolf. My 10-year-old self didn't know silver represents a weapon to use against werewolves. Well, to the Nintendo Powerline I went, after many, many hours of frustration. A man answered. In response to my explanation, he began leisurely hinting at the answer. Not knowing the key insight, I just got frustrated, because, at that time, long distance calls cost a non-trivial amount, per minute. A per-minute surcharge may have also existed. Zaleski's article describes this:

CF: The funny thing was, we were originally told to just counsel them into the answer, and help them feel like they’ve figured it out themselves. Give them some hints, or kind of coach them along. But people sometimes would lose their patience completely with that, and want the answer immediately. Which didn’t always end well on the phones.

He finally told me, and I thanked him, and that was that. It went fine, no angry words, just frustration, which I think he sensed. I learned something, succeeded in getting past the room, and eventually completed the game. Ta-da. Looking back, I can appreciate and understand the point of their approach, with giving hints.

An ex-werewolf (via)

So, it provided a very useful service, in the pre-Internet era, and I am grateful for the service.

The other game I called about, to the Origin game help hotline, was an RPG PC game, I think, near the end game, which may have glitched out? Again, very helpful.

UPDATE: It was Ultima Underworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds, a 1993 first-person role-playing video game developed by Looking Glass Technologies and published by Origin Systems. Near the endgame, I would use the colorless potion of Basilisk oil, but nothing proc'd. The person I called got me through it, but I am not sure what the issue was. I think I was attempting to use the basilisk oil potion, at the place of the ritual in the Void, when I needed to use it instead of on mud in the ice caverns, and so forth, and so forth.

Basilisk oil, when only colorless will do (via)

The article mentions the game Legacy of the Wizard, a 1989 fantasy-themed action role-playing platform game, developed by Nihon Falcom and published, for the NES, by Brøderbund. The article mentions the game gave the Nintendo game counselors a bad time:

CF: ...My first day on the phone was just terrifying—just call after call after call. I had no idea what these people were talking about. They were playing The Goonies II, which was one of the most dreaded calls you could possibly get—that and Legacy Of The Wizard. [Bloom and Lowder groan.] 

SB: As soon as someone called me and said, “Legacy Of The Wizard,” I was just like, “There goes my day.” 

AVC: What was wrong with that game? 

SB: We had maps of it, like screenshot maps, and we could see the whole entire game. It was basically a side shot. But how many rooms were in that? Like 100 rooms? 

CF: They all kind of looked the same. “Yeah, I’m in a room with gray bricks.” [Laughs.] You’re like, “Kill me. Kill me now.” So I made a horrible impression my first day. All the veteran game play counselors wanted to kill me. They kept getting transfers from extension 782—why I remember [my extension number], I have no idea. That was a rough first time on the phones....

That game I got through, on my own. That is, probably with the help of Nintendo Power magazine? Heh. ; o )

Good times.