Video gaming magzines

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Once upon a time, when the Internet wasn't used by every common man and woman, video gamers had to rely on specific video game magazines to get in touch with the latest news, or try to learn what was worth buying and not. As a subscriber for the Swedish Nintendomagasinet and later Super Power (from March 1996 called Super Play), every time they arrived in the letter box felt almost like Christmas. Coming home from school to read, and talking about them with some friends at the schoolyard the upcoming day was amazing. During the breaks between the lessons at school, we would often walk next to the soccer field and share our reading experiences.

Thanks to these magazines, my interest for video games wasn't just about playing, but also learning more about how the branch worked, the companies, who Shigeru Miyamoto was, the console wars, and some history lessons (like the improving technology, and knowing how Atari and Commodore were popular in the 1970's and early 80's, before Nintendo and Sega became successful).

What video game magazines did you read? Do you have any great memories of them? I have saved most of them, and to me those memories are almost as great as the video games themselves.

[Andrew NDB]

EGM and GamePro, for sure. Fantastic days of magazines back then. Nintendo Power was fine for a while, but after the SNES days there wasn't really anything exciting there. I think there was a third that was decent, too, "Electronic Gaming" or something.

[oldmanwinters]

I was partial to GamePlayers and NextGeneration for actual reviews and overall presentation. Nintendo Power was always fun. Most magazines I ended up owning were because it had a ton of content on a specific game I liked, especially full-level maps. While killing time in the local grocery store, I would write down the codes in the back of mags for games I owned.

Sometime after my college days, I got ride of my late-run NextGeneration issues (actually had a 2-year subscription at that point) and that was a mistake. It's hard to find a full archive of that particular title.
EDIT: Oh, good, looks like RetroCDN has us covered for the late-run issues.

[Storm Eagle]

I subscribed to Nintendo Power from 1990 up until the end in December 2012. I occasionally bought GamePro and EGM from the stores.

My first issue was the 10th issue from January/February 1990, and I decided to order back issues in 1996 to complete my collection. Unfortunately, the 9th issue was out of print by then, but I scored a copy on eBay in 2003. So now I have all 285 issues. I was even able to get all seven of the Nintendo Fun Club newsletters that preceded NP. I've even gotten replacements after some of my magazines got worn. I also have all four Nintendo Power Advance issues, and the Pocket Power issue that was given to people who saw The Wizard in theaters in 1989. I saw it too late to get one, but I'd find one on eBay for a reasonable price.

It was from 1994 to 1998 or so where NP offered a quarterly catalog where you could order Nintendo-related things. They offered a lot of video game soundtracks on CD which I mostly bought, and I've even gotten player's guides. I liked how they also sent VHS tapes to subscribers that would showcase games that were coming out. A couple of magazines came with preview DVDs. Around the time of the 100th issue of September 1997, they offered a gold N64 controller in the catalog. I got one, but it took a bit of time since it was high in demand.

I remember taking advantage of some of the perks that were offered for renewing. Once I got Metroid Prime, a player's guide, a 59 memory card for the GameCube, and a coupon for $10 off for the Wavebird controller, for $69.95. They also once offered a Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition for the GameCube which consisted of The Legend of Zelda, Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. Another thing they offered was a Metroid Prime 2: Echoes demo disc for the GameCube.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

I subscribed to Nintendo Power from 1990 up until the end in December 2012.

Jeeze, I had no idea they even went that long.

Definitely some very warm early Nintendo Power memories. The articles, the comics, everything. Just a great time for video game magazines.

[IMJ]

I appeared in an issue of EGM back in the 90's. It was awesome. My first car - an '85 Camaro is in the magazine too....

I also loved Nintendo power as a kid - and Playstation Magazine (PSM) was really great too. My Nintendo Powers were all lost around '98 but I still have quite a few of the PSM's.

[MrPliggins]

I subscribed to Nintendo Fun Club News, which was the precursor to Nintendo Power. Man I'm old.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by IMJ

I appeared in an issue of EGM back in the 90's. It was awesome. My first car - an '85 Camaro is in the magazine too....

I also loved Nintendo power as a kid - and Playstation Magazine (PSM) was really great too. My Nintendo Powers were all lost around '98 but I still have quite a few of the PSM's.

"PSX" also. That was another magazine, wasn't it?

Speaking of PSX, anyone else notice a kind of communal amnesia about that? For years everyone called the PS1 the "PSX." Magazines did, online and all. It was the official abbreviation. Then one day poof... like it never happened and it was always "PS1." It's a little like WW1 in that way, I guess.

I know that later on Sony made a kind of "super" PS2 that was called the PSX, which further muddied the waters.

[Mad Dog McMutt]

I used to love Tips and Tricks because they always listed a whole bunch of cheat codes.

[IMJ]

Oh yeah and Game Informer. It was FuncoLand's sort of poor-man's EGM.

[DarkFell]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

"PSX" also. That was another magazine, wasn't it?

Speaking of PSX, anyone else notice a kind of communal amnesia about that? For years everyone called the PS1 the "PSX." Magazines did, online and all. It was the official abbreviation.

For preference reasons? That or the systems had modified formats for different countries and it was to avoid confusion for the gamers that needed to buy the NTSC / PAL versions of their favorite games.

The Genesis was called The Megadrive overseas. The NES and SNES were called The Famicom / Super Famicom in Japan. The PS1 was probably called The PSX for the same reason(s).

I know that later on Sony made a kind of "super" PS2 that was called the PSX, which further muddied the waters.

I didn't know about that.

[Andrew NDB]

Oh, and EGM2! That was a thing.

Also PC Games and PC Gamer.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

Jeeze, I had no idea they even went that long.

Definitely some very warm early Nintendo Power memories. The articles, the comics, everything. Just a great time for video game magazines.

The final NP issue even had a comic featuring an adult Nester with a son.

[Andrew NDB]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I know that later on Sony made a kind of "super" PS2 that was called the PSX, which further muddied the waters.

Originally Posted by DarkFell

I didn't know about that.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Storm Eagle

The final NP issue even had a comic featuring an adult Nester with a son.

I went out just to buy that issue special at the newsstands. I opened the plastic bag encasing, but still keep the issue in it.

Just last week, I found a random old game mag at a thrift store called "Stuff Gamer," published by the people who gave us "Stuff Magazine" in 2003. I had never heard of either, but I expect both are fairly trashy in their marketing appeal to teenage boys. Believe it or not, the thing that interested me most about the issue were the adverts... entirely focused on the infamous Nokia NGage. Apparently, the whole magazine existed to plug that device while paying lip-service to covering the rest of the game industry.

I have no idea if it made it beyond the first issue.

[Storm Eagle]

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

I went out just to buy that issue special at the newsstands. I opened the plastic bag encasing, but still keep the issue in it.

I did the same, and I was a subscriber. I bought two of them, where I'd open just one. I got my subscriber version of it pretty late, and I even tried to order a subscriber version from the company, but my order couldn't be fulfilled as they were already sold out. So I got one on eBay instead that was loose, which actually didn't set me back that much. I wanted two to also have one open and to keep one in the plastic. It's the one I got in the mail that I still have in the plastic, and it has a note enclosed for subscribers.

It was the November 2008 issue (#234) where they started doing subscriber covers, and I was curious about how the subscriber cover of the final issue would look. It was the same as the regular version, except it had no bar code on it. I like how the poster included with the final issue had the images of all of the issues and even alternate covers of the same issues. I had mine laminated.

[frank_one]

Originally Posted by DarkFell

For preference reasons? That or the systems had modified formats for different countries and it was to avoid confusion for the gamers that needed to buy the NTSC / PAL versions of their favorite games.

The Genesis was called The Megadrive overseas. The NES and SNES were called The Famicom / Super Famicom in Japan. The PS1 was probably called The PSX for the same reason(s).

The PS1 was called "PlayStation" all over the world: Europe, US, Japan. "PSX" was the official codename of the console before it was released, the name of the project. Magazines started to call it that when it was first unveiled and kept calling it that way even after the final name was revealed.
No one could call it PS1 back then as there was no PS2 yet, so PSX sounded good enough as a short name.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

James Rolfe, also known as the Angry Video Game Nerd, also has his Nintendo Power memories to share.

[DarkFell]

Originally Posted by frank_one

The PS1 was called "PlayStation" all over the world: Europe, US, Japan. "PSX" was the official codename of the console before it was released, the name of the project. Magazines started to call it that when it was first unveiled and kept calling it that way even after the final name was revealed.
No one could call it PS1 back then as there was no PS2 yet, so PSX sounded good enough as a short name.

That's neat. Since I went PS2 first, I never knew about the original Playstation name, and I'm not certain if the gamers that I knew were aware of the PSX being the former codename. We just called it the PlayStation.

Thanks!

I'm also going to watch that video that Andrew linked.

[blindturtle02]

I had cousins who read the ones they'd subscribed to out loud to me way back in the early 90s. Braille was and still is very expensive to come by, so I'd glean what I could from them and school chums. I'd record a lot of the narration so I could have it to refer back to later. Wish I still had those old cassettes. Nintendo Power sure takes me back. Several pals of mine got a free video game after their parents subscribed, I think. I remember one of their dads joking that said game probably wasn't selling well.