Mystery Of Nintendo Power’s Most Infamous Contest Now Solved
One of the more cringeworthy moments in the 24-year publishing history of Nintendo Power was the contest where the prize was to be an extra in The Mask II. This would turn out to be impossible due to Jim Carrey turning down $10 million to reprise the role, and all pre-production work was permanently shelved. NP offered a formal apology in their last issue: “To whoever won that contest: we’re sorry.”
He’s anonymous no longer. The winner of “The Mask II” has now revealed his identity to the website Destructoid in an exclusive article. Nathan Runk from Arbitus, MD had a Nintendo Power subscription that lasted until 1999 and rarely entered its contests. This happened to be the one he took a chance on, at age twelve — sucks to be him, right? Not entirely. He may not have gotten to meet Carrey, but he was well-compensated.
According to Runk, he was notified of his winning status one month after he sent his form in, and NP’s managing editor called him once a month updating Nathan on the status of his prize (in those days it was Leslie Swan, better known as the voice of Princess Peach). Over a year later, all hope of The Mask II ever being made was lost and Runk was sent a personal apology from THQ, makers of the Mask SNES game.
The most valuable item in the lot, the jacket, is now lost…but in addition to the games, Runk also received a $5000 check from Nintendo, which was the estimated value of his prize according to the official rules. (He also had the option of continuing to wait in hopes the movie would somehow resume production, but…..naaaah.) Nintendo asked Nathan if there was anything else he wanted. “Well, I just got an N64, and I enjoyed Pilotwings on the SNES, so I’d love Pilotwings 64.” It came in the mail with the check a week later.
Nathan still lives in Maryland, with his wife, a short distance from his childhood home. He still owns all his back issues of NP.