Mario Yoshi Link Nester 
Answer: Nester
The mascot for Nintendo Power, Nintendo’s long running and widely circulated gaming magazine, wasn’t an existing Nintendo character but was a cartoon creation of the original Nintendo Power editor Howard Phillips.
The energetic teenager Nester (his name was a reference to the Nintendo Entertainment System, or, NES) debuted in the in-magazine comic strip Howard & Nester. The strip revolved around the adventures of Howard Phillips and Nester, adventures that were typically used to showcase new games wherein Nester would take on the role of a character in the game. When Phillips left Nintendo, the strip was retitled Nester’s Adventures.
In 1993 the strip was phased out only for Nester to return briefly in issue #100 in a strip showing him headed off to college and then to return as an adult in issue #231 with a child of his own. From that point forward the comic focused on Nester introducing video games to his video-game loving son, Max. The final issue of Nintendo Power featured a meta-reference wherein Nester is reading the last issue of Nintendo Power and lamenting the passage of the magazine and all the memories; his son Max cheers him up by saying, “None of this is really going away, is it? I mean, Nintendo Power had a great run, and you’ve got it all right here. It’s like when you finish a great game – you’re kind of sad to see it end, but really proud and happy, too. You know what I see when I look at this final issue? 100% completion.”
Nintendo Power was in circulation from 1988 to 2012.
Image courtesy of Nintendo.