Do you collect classic gaming mags, and why?

[ncman071]

i know that i made a similar thread before where i was looking for a couple of older issues of EGM. But i started thinking about other mag collectors like myself.

Just curious, if you collect older gamer mags, why? Which ones and why? Where do you get your retro mags and why? i really like j2games.com because every issue i get from them seems to be in near mint condition.

Personally, i like to collect them because i kept all of the ones from my childhood and early teenage years, and i thought i would try to complete some of those. Also, i just like remembering the past. I've even caught my wife looking at some of them and yelling the occasional "ooohh i remember that game".

Of course, i'm an avid but responsible gamer and collector. I just feel like collecting gamer mags from the past is part of video game collecting as a whole. Its just kind of cool reading mags that represent the same era of gaming included in my video game collection.

anyway, you guys have a wonderful night and please, if you ever play xbox live, send me a friend request. gamertag is ncman071

[InsaneDavid]

i know that i made a similar thread before

You made the pretty much exact same thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111480), 24 hours ago.

[Mianrtcv]

You make the pretty much exact same thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111480), 24 hours ago.

Deja view...

[ncman071]

You made the pretty much exact same thread (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=111480), 24 hours ago.


umm, no i didn't. the title may have seemed the same (my fault), but its content is definitly not. before, i was simply just asking if anyone knew where i could find a couple of older EGM issues.

This thread is just asking if there are others out there who collect retro magazines and why. these may be similar, but not the same.

[PingvinBlueJeans]

umm, no i didn't. the title may have seemed the same (my fault), but its content is definitly not. before, i was simply just asking if anyone knew where i could find a couple of older EGM issues.

This thread is just asking if there are others out there who collect retro magazines and why. these may be similar, but not the same.

Huh? Either way you could have combined the questions into one thread...starting two is hardly necessary. And if you're looking for old issues of EGM, just post a wanted ad in the B&S forum...have a moderator move your other thread.

[ncman071]

thats cool. now that i think about it you guys are right. i'm kind of new to posting. i dont post an aweful lot. anyway, thanks for the help.

[Dreamc@sting]

I been collecting the Gamefan mags - mostly because I that was the one mag I always grabbed growing up - I didnt start getting EGM mags untill around 97' but prior to that it was Gamefan. I like flipping through for nostalgic reasons, the height of gaming enjoyment ended for me when DC's era ended.

[fishsandwich]

Good grief, people, lighten up on the newbie. Some of you post all the time about the slightest (possible) infraction.

I used to have hundreds and hundreds of old gaming magazines in my parent's attic. I used to love going home, pulling out a random stack, and reading them every night before I went to bed.

Then my parents moved and my free storage unit was no more. The damn things weigh so much and take up so much room! I ended up selling them to another DP member with presumably more storage.

I miss them.

[NE146]

Just curious, if you collect older gamer mags, why? Which ones and why?
Yes. I love all the old videogame mags. Reading them gives you a perspective on classic games that you don't get from current sources with their tainted "retro-vision" (i.e. knowing what came after, etc.). The older mags talk about games when they were current with the hype that was around them then. You also see the ads of course, and opinions in them are from that days perspective.. if that makes any sense.

As is I collect most anything including Joystik, Videogames, Electronic Games, EGM (complete collection up until about 1999), etc. etc. etc.


Where do you get your retro mags and why? I got them from the store.. when they were available. And then I never got rid of them. I rarely buy things after the fact, and so what if I don't have 70% of the issues of Electronic Games.. I'm fine with that :) On that note I do have a complete collection of Joystik mags.. all are what I bought back in the day.

[Steven]

There's nothing like holding a really well done retro game mag in your hand, especially if said mag is mint ;)

Back then there was a 'purity' to the market that changed when 32-Bit and much later the PS2/XBOX generation. To me, those olden days were innocent, damn fun and the writing/coverage in mags like GameFan and EGM were just so damn good.

I'm also proud to say I have a complete set of Super Play and Sega Saturn Magazine (well, almost). SSM is the best mag I've ever read, and a MUST for any hardcore Saturn fanatic. I love these retro mags so much you can find a section on my website entirely devoted to highlighting these mags.

[Dreamc@sting]

I'm also proud to say I have a complete set of Super Play and Sega Saturn Magazine (well, almost). SSM is the best mag I've ever read, and a MUST for any hardcore Saturn fanatic. I love these retro mags so much you can find a section on my website entirely devoted to highlighting these mags.


::Jealous:: I haven't had any luck at all at getting ANY SSM issues - I almost completed my Official Dreamcast Magazine collection, I think I just need the 3rd issue. Wasn't there an official Genesis mag in the UK?

[Push Upstairs]

I collect the early 90's EGM. I've given up on trying to get a complete collection (as the early mags are pricey) so I've decided to stop after filling up the easily attainable holes in my collection.

Sadly, finding the one issue I need (see my sig) is proving to be harder than anticipated. I'm almost half tempted to offer up one of my few early 1990 issues just to get that particular mag.

As for why? I like reading about what was, what might have been, and what rumors did become true.

[gameofyou]

I have the final 10 issues of Sega Magazine & all 37 issues of Sega Saturn Magazine. Retro Gamer just did an article, interviewing the staff of SSM. Pretty interesting....

By the way, I don't think anyone's mentioned it yet, but there is a website which is archiving all the old videogame magazines: retromags.com. You can download the magazines as PDFs.

[CreamSoda]

I don't collect much as far as retro gaming mags go, because I honestly don't have the space for them right now.

I do collect Nintendo Power though(pre 2000), and I am always into the retro EGM's if I can get them.

[Streetball 21]

I pretty keep all of my old mags, I started buying around 1996-1997. I guess I just love video games and there is nothing like reading a retro mag. I do however buy old Nintendo Power and EGM back issues if I see them.

[8bitgamer]

Back in the mid 80s, when I discovered the NES and girls (but not in that order), I threw out all my old issues of Electronic Games, Joystik, and the like. I regret it big time.

[Bojay1997]

I collect old video game magazines, or rather I still have every magazine from when I was old enough to read in the early 80s up until the present date. I love pulling out random issues from the early days and reading the old reviews. It really takes me back in a way that playing the games themselves never does. A well written review always held out the promise that a revolution in gaming and game play was just around the corner with every new platform and every new gaming innovation. Sadly, 25 years later, I feel like not that much has changed. Graphics have gotten better, but enemy AI and human interfaces with the games have not really reached the level I thought they would have. Reading old magazines allows we to imagine what could have been and what still could be.

[FrakAttack]

Don't so much collect them as never got around to throwing them away. LOL

[Phosphor Dot Fossils]

Back in the mid 80s, when I discovered the NES and girls (but not in that order), I threw out all my old issues of Electronic Games, Joystik, and the like. I regret it big time.
/me does that Invasion of the Body Snatchers shriek thing

Not like I'm any less guilty. I was 10, 11 years old during much of EG's original run, and after a while, I'd cut out pictures of arcade machines, screen shots, etc. and decorate my school notebooks with 'em. I've been scrambling to replenish my EG collection since then with minty fresh issues - I've gotten quite a few of 'em, but not cheap. I also have several issues of Odyssey Adventure magazine, the in-house promotional organ/"users' newsletter" for the Odyssey2. (If anyone wants to read every issue, you can find 'em here (http://www.thelogbook.com/odyssey/magazine/) - though be aware that the archive is going to be moving soon, but when it does, I'll have those in PDF form for your reading pleasure.)

I've got PDF files of the entire run of Joystik, but y'know, there's no substitute for the original paper copies.

As for why, or why EG specifically, it's like going back to my roots. At around the same time I was obsessively reading EG, I was also obsessively reading Starlog Magazine, and was introduced to the works of Douglas Adams and Harlan Ellison at about the same time. They're all critical formative influences on my own writing, not that I would ever claim to have written anything on the same level with any of them. To me, it's like having a research library around - I don't think anyone who's a serious historian of the early days of the medium of video games can be taken seriously if they don't have at least a few of these magazines to fall back on as reference material. And in a few cases, the old mocked-up product preview shots from the various companies are comedy gold.

[Fuyukaze]

By intent? No. By being a packrat? Yes. I tend to not throw stuff away all that often. It's not uncomon for me to find reciepts from a decade or more. Game mag collections just pile up. The sad part is when it's for a mag you dont even like. Which for me is almost all gaming mags. EGM, Gamepro, Game Informer, I hate them all. Still, for some reason I just keep them.

[josekortez]

I collected EGMs, Tips & Tricks and Play even though those aren't necessarily retro. I remember my mom made me throw out my entire collection of Nintendo Powers when I left for college, but I don't miss them.

[TheRedEye]

I collect old video game magazines purely for research reasons, but I have yet to actually use them for that purpose. So I just keep them stored in boxes just in case some day I make a reference library out of them.

[ncman071]

i actually recieved the nov and dec '93 issues of EGM in the mail a couple days ago as well as the Dec. 98 issue of Gamepro. its funny because the maturity of mid 90's EGM is not nearly as immature as mid to late 90's gamepro. the older issues i just recieved of EGM are still very readable and flat out better than the current EGM's not just because they're bigger but because the editorials are just better.

[Steve W]

I don't actively collect old game magazines, but I'm not amiss to picking a bunch up if I find them in the wild. A couple years ago I was out at a flea market, and the guy there had all sorts of junk strewn across the ground for sale. I ended up picking up an Atari 7800 (no power supply), a few Atari 8-bit computer cartridges, and something like a dozen old game mags, all for something like $5. I got the ones that were most likely to have reviews of game machines I liked, like the Atari 7800, Lynx, or Jaguar. They were pretty nice to read, but some of the early-'90s cheesiness stood out. Lots of bad full page ads back then to laugh at.

[Steven]

They were pretty nice to read, but some of the early-'90s cheesiness stood out. Lots of bad full page ads back then to laugh at.


All part of the fun/charm. I loved seeing all those ads, seeing the different ways different companies promoted their games. My friend and I would yell out "COMMERCIAL!" and automatically flip the page whenever we came across an ad way back in the early 90s. Good times. I've long since learned to appreciate the ads in their own way.

[YoshiM]

The reason for why is kinda similar to PDF's. I didn't throw mine out, I stored mine in a shed and they got water damaged. Now I *could* have kept them but I tossed them, even though they were still readable. I was in a weird mindset then. I had issues 1 of Game Players, EGM AND VG&CE for crying out loud. After a while I missed reading them so from that point on I started scouring the land and intertubes for them.

Now what I collect and why:

VG&CE: to me hands down the best gaming magazine of the late 80's to early 90's before it changed. People may consider it a bit "dry" but the mag was very informative and exposed me to more games on both console and PC, the latter of which I didn't own when I read the magazine. Reading the big story on Wing Commander pushed me to buy a VGA card just to play this game along with the issue that described the Sega Genesis. I've got a pretty good selection now, more than I had when I was a teenager. I'm still missing a bunch of the first year, though.

Game Player's: Not as good as V&CE but I still enjoy the read. Usually Game Player's covered things that VG&CE didn't, so it made an excellent companion mag. The Nintendo guides weren't too shabby either. I don't have a lot of original Game Player's, maybe four (including the first issue again!) but I did acquire a lot of Nintendo guides and the latter versions of Game Player.

EGM: I always like the photos in EGM and the multiple view, quick shot reviews of the Review Crew. What was neat about EGM is that you could practically see how huge the industry got just by the size of the magazine. It started thin and by like 93 or 94 it got HUGE (300+ pages) and then it started to scale down again. Granted EGM had a lot of ads but to me they were fun to see and are interesting today.

Nintendo Power: Actually I stopped collecting this mag after I got all the mags I originally used to own. When I was a teenager I got the last three issues of the Nintendo Fun Club Newsletter and then subscribed to Nintendo Power along with buying the Zelda: Tips and Tactics guide. I let my subscription run out because I could get my Nintendo news from sources with better writing. This was by far the easiest mag to collect and probably the cheapest.

As for the "where" part of the question: eBay and here (Buying and Selling) mostly. I did buy an issue of VG&CE from J2Games because I really wanted it and the price was decent enough.

[m117]

I don't actually collect classic gaming mags. I do keep a few recent years of EGM, PSM, and OPM. The few classic ones that I have are three Nintendo Powers with street fighter covers from II, II Turbo, and Super.

[Videogamerdaryll]

Yes,..I've been collecting them for years,80s..My storage unit is filled with boxes of them..I only have so old retro gaming magaines here /for arcade-pinball...the Dreamcast,ps,saturn etc.(plus new mags.
I mainly collect them because I hate throwing them out.
I'd buy a gaming magazine,read it then put it on a shelf,later box..

Then pull them out in the future to look through them...

[telengard]

I collect old mags also but my cutoff (arbitrary on my part) is 1989. I don't collect anything newer than that. I have mostly computer related mags and some gaming ones (CGW) for example. I wish it were as easy as just going to a website to get the ones I need to finish collections. Some of them literally show up once every few years on eBay. :(

~telengard