Super NES Buyer's Guide (The bi-monthly EGM spinoff)

[Steven]

http://www.defunctgames.com/pic/29daysshow009.jpg

Not too long ago I saw ads in EGM back issues asking readers to subscribe to Super NES Buyer's Guide -- an "exclusive bi-monthly all-SNES must-have for SNES fans!" I was sold. From Sendai? All SNES? Of course I'm there.

I looked online and found very little information about the publication. Hell, not even an article on Wikipedia. I was thinking maybe that it sucked. Then again, maybe it's just being flying heavily under the radar.... right?

They seem fairly hard to find but long story short I managed to get my hands on several issues, ranging from 92 to 94. A fair sample to judge the quality, no? It arrived yesterday and I couldn't wait to rip into 'em.

*sigh*

No wonder you never hear about it. Very very generic, too much fluff and some articles end every sentence with "!" Yesh. So, horrible writing quality (very shocking, coming from EGM's loins essentially) and LOW-RES pictures... not good at all. I was worried about finding a complete set since they seem hard to find, but now that I've read a handful of them I can gladly say I've scratched it off the ole want list.

The ONE nice thing though was their review section. Seems by '94 they dropped it though.

Which comes to the secondary purpose of this thread. Does anyone here own, or know of a friend who owns all the Super NES Buyer's Guides? If you'd be so kind as to send me the rating scores of all the games reviewed (I don't need the actual review text, I just want the ratings themselves) I'd be willing to paypal you a small amount ($10) for your generosity and time.

Please PM me if you can do so.

Back to the main topic, has anyone read SNBG? Your thoughts on the mag? I heard MEGA PLAY (the EGM Genesis-exclusive spin-off) is excellent, however.

[boatofcar]

I bought one off the rack new...it had a SFII Cover...or maybe it was SFII Turbo..anyway, it was the first time I'd ever heard anyone refer to a game as a "cart," and I kept picturing a shopping cart whenever I read that word.

I remember it being expensive and pretty slim both pagewise and with info.

[MrRoboto19XX]

Steven, just the fello I'm looking for.

I actually had a question relating to this very guide, I'm looking for a preview/review/strategy of Mega Man X I saw years ago in a guide like this. It was either the SNES buyer's guide, or the EGM general video game one that they ran for a while.

Either way, I recall the guide being quite nice, especially for what is one of my favorite games of all time.

Back on topic, a friend of mine had these in the 2nd grade or so, and we used to read these at the lunch table when we were tired of discussing Pogs. Back then it was cool.

Then again, so were pogs.

And "Ace of Base".

[Push Upstairs]

Mega Play had maps, reviews, tips, and international outlook type stuff.

The only issue of "Mega Play" I have is with SOR3 on the cover but it does give you the moves and hints to get Roo and stage select.

I had always wondered if the SNES mag was worth a damn, I guess not.


BTW, if anyone has either of the EGM issues I have listed in my sig please contact me, those are the last two I need.

[50TBRD]

I think that it's interesting at the very least. I've never seen one that I recall. Do they talk any about international games? Do you have any idea how many volumes there were?

[fennec fox]

Hey hey, here is my page on it:
http://magweasel.com/wiki/Super_NES_Buyer's_Guide
As with a lot of other pages on the site I need to update it with a lot more scans and things of that nature -- I have every issue I'm aware exists except for the first one.

They talk about international games at about the same level that the EGM era did -- a fair bit at first, and then gradually less over time.

[itobandito]

Yeah I bought one of these back in the day at a news stand. It has 7Ups Cool Spot on the cover, I still have it. The magazine wasn't that great, very thin not too much in it. Good luck on getting more of these.

[Steven]

Hey hey, here is my page on it:
http://magweasel.com/wiki/Super_NES_Buyer's_Guide
As with a lot of other pages on the site I need to update it with a lot more scans and things of that nature -- I have every issue I'm aware exists except for the first one.

They talk about international games at about the same level that the EGM era did -- a fair bit at first, and then gradually less over time.


Yup, this was about the only source that I ran across during my google search of the mag a while back. 50T, there are roughly 16 issues or so. FF says it ran into late December before quietly folding without any fanfare. From the issues I have, there was very little, if any, international coverage.

BTW, Fox, would you be so kind to list the review scores on your site when you have time? I like how some games not rated in regular EGM were rated in SNBG. For example, GunForce scored 4, 5 and 6. Interesting that they had a 3-man crew not the traditional four. By '93 they switched to two reviewers and did it GameFan % style out of 100, but by '94 (according to the samples I have) they dropped the ratings altogether.

And yup, the issues were slim. One I have is 66 pages, but some others don't even scratch the half-century mark. Overall, not worth hunting down. And if you do, don't get your hopes up too high. Coming from Sendai's "glory days" it comes off as a huge disappointment. I like the 'fanzine' feel of it, but the writing/pic quality was very elementary IMO

Roboto,
Are you possibly referring to the 4 or 6 page layout that EGM devoted to MMX in their #54 issue? That's also the issue where the game received four 9's.

[MarioMania]

It seems like EGM at the time faving the Genesis then the Super NES

[parallaxscroll]

I read almost all of Sendai's mini-magazines

Mega Play
Super Gaming
Super NES Buyer's Guide
Computer Game Review and 16-bit Entertainment
(bet most of you don't remember that last one)

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa224/arcgamer/29daysshow019.jpg

[RPG_Fanatic]

I read almost all of Sendai's mini-magazines

Mega Play
Super Gaming
Super NES Buyer's Guide
Computer Game Review and 16-bit Entertainment
(bet most of you don't remember that last one)

http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa224/arcgamer/29daysshow019.jpg


I used to read the other three but i don't remember that one, was it any good? And how many issues were made?

[BocoDragon]

Sounds like you overhyped it yourself :) It was basically a collection of "previews", and if you remember previews from game mags back in the day, you know they weren't exactly real journalism....

This mag played a pivotal role in getting me excited about early SNES titles back in the day (first place I ever saw Zelda III :) ), but I wouldn't exactly be hunting the mags down with love....

[MrRoboto19XX]

Roboto,
Are you possibly referring to the 4 or 6 page layout that EGM devoted to MMX in their #54 issue? That's also the issue where the game received four 9's.


May very well be it, Ill look out for that issue. Thanks for the heads up.

[Push Upstairs]

It seems like EGM at the time faving the Genesis then the Super NES

Until the release of SF2.

[fennec fox]

BTW, Fox, would you be so kind to list the review scores on your site when you have time?

It's one goal of mine, but it's that "time" thing that kills me...


I used to read the other three but i don't remember that one, was it any good? And how many issues were made?

In terms of coverage it was kind of a bridge between the extremely text-heavy and scholarly Computer Gaming World and the more casual-reading PC Gamer that came out later. I like it a fair bit, but it was never a big sales success. It lasted for a long time -- a total of 59 issues, right up until Ziff bought Sendai in 1996. Here's a page on it:
http://www.magweasel.com/wiki/Computer_Game_Review

[parallaxscroll]

I used to read the other three but i don't remember that one, was it any good? And how many issues were made?


CGR and 16-bit Entertainment was okay. not great. not many issues. don't recall how many. but if you're a fan of Sendai magazines, you'd want to have these.