When do you stop collecting Nintendo Powers?

[cheesystick]

I have roughly every issue from 30-180. Although I'd like to get the first 30 issues some time, (probably at some minor expense), I am wondering why I am holding on to a lot of these later issues. I grew up in the SNES and N64 era, so I have a lot of fondness for the ads and articles from that time. Looking into the past for the NES and GB stuff is also good fun. However, I don't really see why I am holding on to issues from the GC and GBA era. Although I really like both of those systems, I don't have the same nostalgic connection with them and I simply don't enjoy looking at them as much.

Part of the fun of opening an old issue is remembering how hyped you were for Killer Instinct, or seeing how much they over-hyped Rise of the Robots. Hell, it is just fun to see old adds for things like Stargate, Earthworm Jim, and other stuff back when they were new. I simply can't get as jazzed about the later issues, white-washed with the Pokemon craze and such. The general page layouts also changed in a way that I don't like as much, kinda like they were made by Playschool or Tonka. Maybe I'm just an old man.

I guess my real question is, when do you stop collecting? If I get rid of some of the older issues, where is the cut off? Where is the cut off for you?

I might just get rid of everything post N64, but I'd like to hear what you guys think.

Thanks,
Chris

[tom]

Keep them all and try to get the first 30 issues. If you get rid of any you'll only regret it later on.

[NayusDante]

At some point, they were snapped up by Future Publishing and now they're not the same magazine anymore. I'd say quit there, but the quality definitely took a nosedive with the GameCube era. Read them backwards from there and watch it improve!

[Shulamana]

I asked this same question myself a while back, I think I decided I'd stop at the Gamecube premiere issue or around there. Even though the NES was not "my system", I still played it a lot and I still intend to get all the early issues.

[Aussie2B]

Quality tanked mid-N64, with the start of the Pokemon craze. The target audience did definitely get younger. Just look at the envelope art. Early N64, you'll still see plenty that looked like they were drawn by teens or adults. Late N64, almost every piece of art looks like it was drawn by a kindergartner.

Issue 131 is the last issue I have. That's where my subscription ran out. I have everything from issue 8 or 9 till there. I could've just as well let my subscription run out earlier since I had been growing dissatisfied with the magazine for awhile. Someday, when I've read every issue I have cover to cover and have nothing better to do, I do plan on buying some later issues, if only because I love the N64 so much, but make no mistake, those issues are pretty crappy.

That's not to say Nintendo Power was always perfect before that. Mid-SNES was kind of a drag, like in '92 and '93. The magazine was a bit too formulaic at that point, it didn't have enough soul, plus not a lot of great games were coming out (or, at least, Nintendo Power wasn't giving the good games much coverage, instead favoring so-so licensed games that garnered more attention). The best years of Nintendo Power, in my opinion, are the NES years before Howard Phillips left and late SNES, when the design layout got really colorful and creative and they had awesome sections like Epic Center.

[SparTonberry]

Quality tanked mid-N64, with the start of the Pokemon craze. The target audience did definitely get younger. Just look at the envelope art. Early N64, you'll still see plenty that looked like they were drawn by teens or adults.
I notice that was also about when they started running third-party ads. Maybe they also became concerned about ad dollars then, like other mags?

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, the ads definitely didn't help matters, especially when for years they touted how they wouldn't print ads like other game magazines.