does anyone collect old gaming magazines? [Archive]

Archangel

10-25-2009, 08:36 AM

I would sometimes look through some old ones if they are for sale. If I find an obscure one (such as talking about the VB, the 64DD, Earthbound 64, SNES CD, etc....) then I would buy it.

Its fun having those kind, since they promise that they would come out with this stuff also give info on it as well where as now on the net you have a uneasy time finding...

All for what could have been.

Damaramu

10-25-2009, 08:41 AM

I threw out my old EGM issues about 10+ years ago. I kick myself for doing that. About 6 years ago, I tossed my copies of Next Generation. Not such a big loss for me.

I DID keep ALL of my Gamefan mags. I have about 20+, all in the same condition I bought 'em in (that is, minty!) Got them in acid free magazine bags purchased at my local comic shop. Fun thumbing through them from time to time.

bombman

10-25-2009, 09:23 AM

How could you keep Gamefan and throw out Next Gen?

ccovell

10-25-2009, 09:37 AM

I have plenty of old GamePros, EGMs, Nintendo Powers, etc (80s/early 90s) but they're boxed away in Canada. Over in Japan, I've been collecting lots of old Famitsus and Famimagas. In any country, old magazines are really nostalgic and fun.

Check them out here if you're interested: http://www.disgruntleddesigner.com/chrisc/secret.html

Dangerboy

10-25-2009, 09:56 AM

gameofyou

10-25-2009, 10:07 AM

I have all the EGMs from 1995 through 1998. I also have the UK Sega Saturn Magazine (all 37 issues). It is pretty entertaining to go back & read them, knowing how history played out.

Damaramu

10-25-2009, 10:26 AM

Flashback2012

10-25-2009, 10:42 AM

I never meant to collect but I have a sizable amount of various video game magazines in the basement. I need to go down there and properly sort/bag them all and find boxes that can adequately store the ones that don't fit into the magazine boxes I get from my local comic shop. :fist:

Gamereviewgod

10-25-2009, 10:54 AM

I have well over 4,000 gaming mags. Recently won a lot at an auction with about 15 or so first issues, from GamePro to Electronic Fun and games. Just a fantastic lot.

You can see some outdated pics from about five years ago here:

http://www.videogamecollectors.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=8315

PentiumMMX

10-25-2009, 10:56 AM

I mostly collect Game Informer (Issues as far back as 1999, though I have just about every issue from 2004 onward) and Nintendo Power (A span of 1990 to 2008. Haven't bought a new issue in a while...), though I have quite a few issues of the Official Dreamcast Magazine (There's still a few I'm trying to track down...and then there's the problem of finding the demo discs that go with them)

Gurn13

10-25-2009, 10:57 AM

I tossed out all my CGW (from Dec 87 thru Dec 2005) and my PC Gamers (ALL of them till 2006)
in 2008. But I kept my console mags, and I will buy to fill holes in my collection, or to improve condition, but I want 'em cheap!

TheRedEye

10-25-2009, 05:27 PM

I do. In fact, it's about the only thing I collect. The link in my sig goes to my want & doubles list if anyone wants to trade.

Aussie2B

10-25-2009, 05:57 PM

I don't really actively collect, but I have around a couple hundred at least. Mostly old Nintendo Power, as a few years back I bought a huge lot of about 100. Since it was coming from just a couple towns over, the shipping was only about 10 bucks, despite that the box weighed 55 pounds (probably the heaviest box of video game stuff I've ever had shipped to me). So now I'm slowly working my way through those, reading them cover-to-cover, and I don't intend to actively seek out more until I'm done and want more to read, which won't happen in a LONG time. I also have another 30 or 40 from my own past subscription, so I have NES to late N64. I also have about 30 PSMs starting from around issue #2, and a year's worth of stuff like EGM, Game Informer, Hardcore Gamer, etc. And I have a mountain of Video Game Collector for obvious reasons. :)

Baloo

10-25-2009, 06:48 PM

Nebagram

10-25-2009, 07:01 PM

I have a few old CVGs and would love to hunt down more from its golden days (late 95-99), and I have a clutch of old Sega Forces- for my money easily the best single-system mag of all time, if only for the artwork alone.

LiquidPolicenaut

10-25-2009, 08:27 PM

Oh, I definitely do. I still have almost all the Gamefans and a large amount of the early EGMs and I still love picking them up every now and then and reading through them.

grolt

10-25-2009, 08:54 PM

I've got a couple hundred, and over the last year I've tried to flip through all of them just to see what the culture was like back then. I'm not so much interested in reading about games that didn't come out as much as I'm interested in reading about what people thought about the games that did.

I recently completed my SEGA Visions collection and am close to half-way there for the SEGA Team Challenge Newsletters (if you have any, please do let me know!). Those are the most fun for me, since it's full out SEGA propaganda. I like how they actually assert that "blast processing" actually exists and isn't a marketing thing in one of the mailbag responses. Seeing the fan scores and questions in the early mags before SEGA really took off is pretty nice, too. I'm one magazine short of the complete Official SEGA Dreamcast Magazine as well, which would round off all the first-party magazines SEGA ever put out here in North America.

In addition to those I have a ton of EGM and (Ultra) Game Players/Game Buyer magazines. I always liked the humor of Game Players back in the day, although looking back today they were really off base in a lot of reviews. The EGM bias against Saturn was really distracting back in the day, too. I just recently got a lot of the early EGMs (like #2, 4, 5, 6 etc.) and it sure started out as a great little magazine. I've probably got about 80-90 of each magazine.

Rounding off the stuff I have are Next Generation, Gamefan, Nintendo Power and SEGA Force mags. It's a really rewarding hobby and fairly cheap, too. Having those magazines around is like reliving history again as it happens, which I've been doing as I play new games I haven't yet played. I'll thumb through the magazines from the time just to see what the reviewers or the readers were saying about 'em. It's nice.

slapdash

10-25-2009, 10:13 PM

I collect them, old or new, and love the obscure ones. Anyone got any Q64 or Heiroglyphix Journal issues for sale? :-)

Steven

10-26-2009, 01:53 AM

Oh yeah, I love my old gaming mags. Got all the SNES-era Nintendo Powers (a very underrated magazine IMHO), got all Sega Saturn Magazine issues minus the first three (best mag ever IMO), got most of the GameFans from infancy to 16-bit era, and my prized treasure is all 47 issues of Super Play Magazine plus the 1993 Gold Edition issue. Check out my top 5 magazine article here:

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/7464/96301.html

RPG_Fanatic

10-26-2009, 09:19 AM

Play magazine has a special right now. All 12 issues for $10 from the years 05, 06 and 07 each. Do you think $30 (plus $20 shipping) for 32 issues is a good deal?

Here's the link. https://www.pubservice.com/PYStore/ProductsList.aspx?WG=281

sfchakan

10-26-2009, 09:36 AM

Kevincal

10-26-2009, 12:59 PM

My fav mags are/were:

GameFan
Next Generation
GamePro
EGM
SWATPro
EGM2
Game Players
Nintendo Power

Particularly I read these mags in the early to late 90's, with the mid 90's issues being the pinnacle of video game magazines imo. Nothing was more awesome than getting the newest issue in the mail, sitting down and reading the thing cover to cover (including the ads) No internet for me back then... Mags lost a lot of magic after the internet took control of our lives. :P

More recent mags I think are OK are PLAY, Hardcore Gamer and I now write for an upstart classic gaming mag, Classic Video Gamer. ;) (Which is MORE than OK! ;) :P) Our second issue just came out and it's 50 pages. :D

But ya, I've bought and sold SO many gaming mags in the last 2-3 years. In my life I'm sure I've owned well over 1,000 issues of various gaming mags. Right now I think I have something like... 300 issues (all perfectly organized) ;)

Nintendo Gamer

10-26-2009, 02:07 PM

.....

Rickstilwell1

10-26-2009, 05:09 PM

I've got maybe 20 or so old Nintendo power from SNES-era and back, including the premier issue (although that copy isn't in that great-shape). Had a lot of the newer ones from 2003-4 and up too but got rid of them after seeing that they weren't all that special.

I hope to get some Nintendo Fun Club sometime. Anyone have any of them?

I have two of the Nintendo fun club magazines. The one that has RC Pro-Am on the cover and I forget what was on the other one. I also have NP Issue 1. I generally like holding onto them because the picture walktrhoughs are very useful for old games.

BydoEmpire

10-26-2009, 06:34 PM

I don't actively collect, but I have a boatload of EGMs from 1989 through the mid 90s (not complete, but pretty close), and a whole bunch from the late 90s through early 00s. I also have a near complete collections of VG&CE and NextGen.

I also have a dozen or so Compute!'s Gazettes, and a whole bunch of random Compute!s, Amiga & Apple 2 mags from the mid-late 80s, but they're not as fun as the gaming mags.

I enjoy looking at them occasionally, but what I really like is pre-crash magazines (Electronic Games, etc). Sadly, I only have one issue of Electronic Games and one issue of a computer gaming mag. I keep watching listings on ebay, but it's hard to justify $25+ for one issue of Electronic Games... I'd like to get more, they're an absolute blast.

tom

10-26-2009, 06:43 PM

I got 2000+ mainly UK gaming magazines. Used to have approx 3000 but due to moving abroad, paper is quite heavy and takes up a lot of space, I had to reduce. Also, some UK friends made me good deals on some complete collections I had (ACE, TOTAL, SUPER PLAY etc), so they're gone as well.

Ruudos

10-26-2009, 06:58 PM

Rcently I've acquired the very first issues of Club Nintendo (Dutch edition). These magazines really bring you back to the eighties.

Koa Zo

10-26-2009, 10:44 PM

I'm a pretty big collector of magazines and guidebooks.
With the proliferation of emulation and digital distribution tangible peices of gaming history have more and more personal value imo.

I've got probably 90% of the Gamefan issues.
Most all of the Ed Semrad EGM issues.
A good many VG&CEs.
all the original Sega Visions.
Lots of early Nintendo Power.
the first couple years of NextGen
some issues of Play, the only issue of GameGo,
Beep! Megadrive and Megafan magazines from japan.
A few choice Official Saturn and PCEngine issues from Japan.
And then a few dozen British magazines.

I was on a Sonic CD kick a few years ago, and have many issues featuring Sonic CD from 3 different countries. Despite a year of searching and asking around, I never was able to find (nor confirm the non-existence of) an official Sonic CD guidebook.

I've also got a shitload of publications featuring Landstalker. Magazines, guidebooks, and the "making of" book. The Landstalker Encyclopedia was a holy grail of mine for some time.

At one time I purchased a lot of 10 of the first year of Megafan magazines from Japan along with the supplemental mini-guidebooks. Shipping was expensive so I choose SAL, the seller put them in a flimsy re-used box, which split open. I've never seen those issues of Megafan again. ...feature articles on Thunderforce II, Shining in the Darkness, Herzog Zwei and tons of other early Mega Drive games. Lost in transit. :(

I'm also a fan of collecting official guidebooks from the US and Japan. Some of my favorites include: DoReMi Fantasy official guide, Galaga, Namco Museum Vol. 4 guides, Guardian Heroes, Shining the Holy Ark, and then the NIH DVD guide books for Radirgy and Trizeal.

I'm a fan of flipping pages. Clicking links on a browser just doesn't do it for me.

Melf

10-26-2009, 11:06 PM

How could you keep Gamefan and throw out Next Gen

Because GameFan has / had amazing page layouts with hundreds of screenshots and fanboy enthusiasm, and NextGen was a biased, 2D hating, ego-filled dishrag that thought it was god almighty.

I don't know how anyone could prefer GameFan over NG. Gamefan had horrible layouts that made the text barely visible, gushed semen over anything 2D no matter how bad it was, and had virtually no in-depth content at all. NG had interviews, comprehensive articles, etc.

Looking back at them now, GF offers little that can't be seen online, but NG's interviews and articles are still relevant and unmatched.

Gentlegamer

10-27-2009, 10:07 AM

I threw out my GamePro collection years ago (late 80s - early 90s). I wish I hadn't, for nostalgia sake.

Kevincal

10-27-2009, 12:33 PM

I don't know how anyone could prefer GameFan over NG. Gamefan had horrible layouts that made the text barely visible, gushed semen over anything 2D no matter how bad it was, and had virtually no in-depth content at all. NG had interviews, comprehensive articles, etc.

Looking back at them now, GF offers little that can't be seen online, but NG's interviews and articles are still relevant and unmatched.

Here's the way I see it. :)

GameFan was born in the LA / Hollywood area. So the mag itself borrowed from the hype / glam machine that is LA. GameFan was the KING of the materialistic side of gaming. GF had the blazing colorful covers with lots of exciting buzzwords. When you saw a cover of the newest ish of GF, you got all warm and fuzzy inside! :D Then of course the writing and reviews were hype filled, and honestly most of the games they hyped were worth hyping. Gamefan tended to cover a lot of good, fring games that other mags wouldn't touch. Finally, thebest thing about GF was the awesome paper quality and awesome screen shots. Sure some of the layouts were hard to read, but most layouts were awesome.

Now Next Gen, was a completely diff animal, aimed at a bit older and more mature audience than GF. Next Gen was more into the business aspect of gaming. They had awesome interviews and technical writeups, and it was just an awesome mag. Though their screen shots and game coverage paled in comparison to GF. Infact I rate GameFan and Next Generation about equally as far as best gaming mags ever, to me.

Though I also love GamePro EGM Game Players Nintendo Power and their derivatives almost as much

I reckon GamePros reviews were the fairest of all the mags. EGM had the best breaking news and overall content, but a lot of crap reviews. Game Players was like a GamePro or EGM Lite if you will, but a solid mag nontheless with better reviews than EGM imo. Nintendo Power was a great hype machine for Nintendo, with lots of great breaking info and other happy Nintendo stuff.

alexander4488

10-27-2009, 01:58 PM

I had a bunch of old Nintendo Power magazines but sadly, I sold most of them.

Raedon

10-27-2009, 02:02 PM

I had a rather large collection of Amiga World mags at one time but realized years ago they took up a great deal of room and I never pulled them out to read so I sold em. Now I chunk my Game Informer as soon as a new one comes in.

Orion Pimpdaddy

10-27-2009, 02:45 PM

I have about 200 mags that go back to 1988. It's about 80% EGM, 10% Nintendo Power, and 10% Gamepro. As long as I have space, I'll never get rid of them. Opening one of the older ones is like stepping into a time machine, especially the Quarterman columns in EGM. You get to read rumors of soon-to-be released systems like the SNES.

YoshiM

10-27-2009, 03:15 PM

I'm not as active as I used to be with collecting game magazines. I have reacquired most of the magazines I had in my teen years (I foolishly stored them in a not-so-great shed). I've got almost all the issues of VG&CE from the first to about '92, my EGM's I think are complete from issue 5 up to 1994, a solid collection of the 90's Game Player Sega/Nintendo Magazine and a very meager collection of Game Player's Magazine. Right now I'm just filling in the holes whenever I see magazines come up for sale that I need.

As for modern-I do have multiple subscriptions and I do box the mags up every year.

RCM

10-27-2009, 08:53 PM

I got rid of most of my mags (you're welcome GameReviewGod!) but kept certain issues of Game Players/Ultra GP (sonic X-treme coverage!), all of my Play and Gamers Republic and a few other odds and ends. The only mags I go back and actually flip through are my Gamefans. Some might not see what the big deal is all about now, but back in the day it was nice to know there was an original, hardcore group really dedicated to the games I was/am into. Sure they were amateur, but they more than made up for it with their enthusiasm and insight. Unfortunately, like a few people on DP who have worked with or dealt with Halverson (like me) aren't as enthusiastic about the man as we are about his early work. It's sad, but after my Play subscription ran out I stopped subscribing to all the rags.

And a little off topic: While it�s gotten a little better, videogame journalism and criticism still has a long way to go. And it�s puzzling considering there are some really bright, articulate people covering the industry. While some developers/publishers like to rag on the enthusiast press (as I certainly have for a long time) they�re partially responsible for the problems. They don�t give critics enough time with review and/or finished code and are far more willing to blacklist a writer or publication if they don�t like what they read. Yeah, there are a lot of shitty game writers out there, but it�s not totally their fault!

slapdash

10-29-2009, 12:43 AM

I had a bunch of old Nintendo Power magazines but sadly, I sold most of them.

That reminds me; I could use some NEWER Nintendo Powers... Anyone got Jan, Feb and Mar 2009 in good shape?

delafro

10-30-2009, 07:17 PM

I've got far too many.. they take up a ton of space and are incredibly heavy (as I'm sure many of you know) and are just a beast to move around. Shipping mags from Japan in particular is brutal on the wallet. But I've tried to keep various game mags around instead of throwing them out, with the odd flea market/used bookstore/auction win here and there to add to the pile. It's fun to read the older mags now, with the perspective of time and technology (how many Megs was Super Metroid? NO WAY) and just enjoy the old design styles. What I mostly enjoy reading:

Early/Mid 90s Gamepro
Early Nintendo Power
Next Gen (sorry, not buying the hate!)
Official DC Magazine
PSM (PSone era)
Game Players (up til Ultra)
EGM and Game Informer
Famitsu, and whatever other assorted older Japanese magazines that I can find that won't cost an arm and a leg

But again, magazines take up so much space and are so heavy, which can make them a real headache from time to time. As you all know.