Do you prefer modern day mags that cover the retro scene or old mags from back in the day ?

[WCP]

So, it seems when you're a fan of retrogames, and you enjoy magazines, there are two different possible routes to take. One route, is to collect the classic magazines from the actual era. You know, early issues of GamePro, Electronic Gaming Monthly, Game Players, Video Games & Computer Entertainment, etc, etc.


You can read the mags, and see the advertisements and stuff, and it's like stepping back in time. You get a real feel for the vibe of the gaming scene for that month and year of the issue that you're looking at.

http://community.retromags.com/gallery/?module=images&section=img_ctrl&img=586&file=medium


Another option, is to buy any of the current day magazines that cover the hobby of retrogaming. These magazines mostly look back upon certain retrogaming topcis, and cover things from a perspective of the modern gamer looking back at the best that retrogaming has to offer.

http://magazines-pdf.com/uploads/posts/2014-04/thumbs/1396743543_6084.jpg

Of course, there are tons of people that could give a rats ass about reading anything printed on paper, and they are perfectly happy downloading scans of old mags onto their tablets. Or maybe getting the tablet version of various retrogaming mags.


I enjoy collecting the classic mags. I like being able to pull them out, hold them in my hands, and browse thru the issues. Sometimes I will read the articles and the reviews and such, but mostly I just really love looking at the various advertisements and stuff. Nothing can take me back to the early 90's like a classic issue of EGM or Die Hard GameFan. I understand the appeal of the new specialized magazines devoted to the idea of retrogaming, but I actually prefer to read the issues from back in the day, where they are talking about everything like it's happening right now. I like that perspective better than looking back on it like a historian.

[RPG_Fanatic]

Old magazines! I still read them. I'm currently reading thru old EGMs starting from issue 3 and I just hit when the SNES was being released Aug/Sept. 91...Great times!

[Tanooki]

The old ones, they stand for the period and what the period stood for. They weren't looking back with rosy tinted beer goggles, just the eyes of someone on the cutting edge who never knew what was going to happen next since it was pre-internet and they'd cream themselves over something stunning. Now everything is online and ruined months before it arrives if you keep up with things and then you get all the looking back at how great stuff was despite the fact it never was always great, just had great moments and plenty enough to chain together a delusion of perfection. :)

[Oldskool]

The old ones, they stand for the period and what the period stood for. They weren't looking back with rosy tinted beer goggles, just the eyes of someone on the cutting edge who never knew what was going to happen next since it was pre-internet and they'd cream themselves over something stunning. Now everything is online and ruined months before it arrives if you keep up with things and then you get all the looking back at how great stuff was despite the fact it never was always great, just had great moments and plenty enough to chain together a delusion of perfection. :)

You saved me from a lot of typing.

[Zama]

I missed the classic mags from the 90s like Expert Gamer, Tips & Tricks, & Gamers' Republic :) I remembered many summers ago, I would wandered into the magazine section at the supermarket during a weekly shopping spree, and see all these video game mags in all of their colorful cutting-edge vibe, just waiting to be read by someone. Those mags gave me an inside look on the latest news and previews to look forward to next month or so. It was a really great feeling of wonder and being in harmony with your favorite hobby :popcorn:

[celerystalker]

Classic magazines all the way. Aside from liking the original context, I also like the more colorful, abstract designs a lot of the old magazines like Nintendo Power had. I was so happy a couple of months ago when I stumbled on a couple of old issues of Sega Visions and GamePro at a local store and snapped them up.

Most important in making the distinction for me, though, is what I use them for aside from nostalgia. I like to dig through the old preview and "coming soon" sections of old magazines and look for games that never came out, and then try to track them down if they came out in another region and try them. I would never have tried games like Battle Dodgeball or Gradius II without those old magazines reminding me of them in their own charming way filled with in-the-moment enthusiasm.

[ZeroCool]

The old magazines...I also really love the advertisements from the time...makes me feel young again. Another reason why I like reading my old Archie Comics. They had old advertisements especially the one where you sold stationery to win different prizes. Its also interesting seeing a list of NES games that were being sold through mail and they had the price right beside it.

[WCP]

Do you guys read the scans of EGM and stuff like that on your tablets, or are you actually getting your hands on the real issues ?


Reason I ask, is because I actively collect a ton of different mags, and one thing I enjoy about it, is that there doesn't seem to be that huge of a demand for these old issues, and you can sometimes get them for a song if you wait long enough and are patient enough. Sure the Ebay "Buy It Nows" can be quite outrageous on many classic mags, but few actually sell at that price. Most of the mags that sell, are multiple mags where you can get the issues for around $3 or $4 each per issue.


To me, it would seem like if there really were a lot of people collecting these magazines, the prices would be way higher. So I'm kinda glad in a way that less people seem to be trying to get these mags. Just makes it easier and less expensive for me.

Still, I think more and more retrogamers should look into getting their hands on the real deal issues. It's quite enjoyable, to have a comfortable rocking chair, near a window with some nice sunlight coming in, sipping on a cup of coffee, reading a classic issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. I especially like all the earlier mags with the higher quality paper. Just feels really good to the touch. In the mid to late 90's all the magazines started to use the cheapo recycled paper which kinda sucks.

[Steven]

Old magazines all the way.
Although I am subscribed to Retro (the one funded via Kickstarter) and enjoy that, too.

But nothing can beat the EGMs and GameFans of the early-mid '90s. Love flipping through them -- as someone already stated it's akin to stepping inside a time machine of sorts :)

[YoshiM]

I agree with what Tanooki said. Reading the "retro-mags" are neat to read a review of the past so to speak but it's someone else's viewpoint. Some authors tend to write about the elder games with all the flourish of today's gaming media prose that tends to look too deep into a title or machine. Some remind me of the stereotype of an art critic, who describes the subtle nuances of what they see and make it seem like it was some drive or the programmer tapped into some inner feeling to come up with what they did.

Reading magazines from the era either brings you back or is a window to how gaming was. Games, what was popular, advertising, hints that even though you were told what was coming up at the end it wasn't really a "spoiler" as you had to have skill to get to that point, and the articles themselves. So different from today and I prefer that. I never preferred the "new" journalism that crept in when the Web became more accessible and popular.

[Az]

At first it was hard for me to go back and read those magazines for several reasons. One was the brutal honesty that they (mostly) were geared towards kids and young 'ens so it's a bit hard to digest as an adult. Another was that "standards" or whatever stick used to measure things weren't quite as thought out as they are today, so you often get reviews that speak a lot but say nothing. Lots of previews, especially import ones, were just a single blurry screenshot or two often lifted from Japanese magazine surrounded by a few sentences of trite nonsense that you could tell was someone just conjecturing about the screenshots.

However, after a while of reading modern EGM, Game Informer, etc... it's same dog and pony show cranked to 11 while mixed with equal parts pretension and endless circle-jerking. Instead of a blurry screenshot preview with nonsense text we get a massive 2 page spread of one single HD screenshot (which may or may not be gameplay footage or seen from the actual gameplay angle) along with 1000 word interviews with everyone but the guy that scrubs the toilets. The hype is endless for months until the actual game ships..... then all the sudden it's reviewed as a turd. You're fucking telling me you guys spent all this time with all the developers and all the preview versions and didn't realize it was a shit game until after devoting 3 covers and 50 pages of previews to it? Really?

Modern magazines are filled with "journalists" who pontificate endlessly about nothing, who speak a lot but say little. Journalists to bleat on and on about the effects of lacking transgender biracial paraplegics as player avatars and being glad that new systems are released simply because current gen has "been out there too long". Magazines so pretentious and up their own asses that it's quite refreshing to read a Nintendo Power designed to be sold to a 8 year old. My favorite magazine of all time (Diehard Gamefan) was just a bunch of assholes who loved playing games. At the time they never claimed to be lofty "game journalists".

A recent EGM had a review of GTAV from a staffer that had never played GTAIII because he was too young when it came out. Look, I'm completely sorry, I'm going to show my age here. If you were still shitting yellow when GTAIII was released then your opinion on pretty much every gaming issue is invalid. Journey away from your mother's apron strings and be a game "journalist" to report news, but don't dare act as if your opinion has any validity.

[MidnightRider]

Modern retro mags can't bring you back to that sense of excitement for what's coming, like issues of older magazines can. Still, I wouldn't say they don't have their place, it just can't quite replace the experience, if that's even a goal for them.

[Nebagram]

Mags like Retro Gamer have their place but you can't be the old mags. Not all of them, obviously- but today's game mags just feel sedate compared to what came before. I won't name any particular mags (conscious of the Atlantic divide) but in the old days, late 80s/early 90s reading a game mag was a bit like reading a cross between a novel and a comic book. Nowadays it's like reading a newspaper- same old, same old, and no mags really have their own individual character any more.

[ProjectCamaro]

Old magazines from back in the day for sure. As for reasons see the posts above mine, I won't regurgitate the same information here.

[Zap!]

Easily old ones. I'm gonna sort my old VG&CE mags right now. Thanks, you inspired me. :)

[Bojay1997]

I see them as very different and as such, I enjoy both. I like the old magazines for the nostalgic feeling and their ability to provide a context of the time. I like the new magazines like Retrogamer because they provide a more in-depth factual analysis of the history behind the games, creators and companies that was often lacking in the older magazines.

[Peonpiate]

Old mags all the way for me, I bought them as a kid and still have literally several hundred in total from that era. I dont read them much anymore but every now and then ill flip through one when i feel like doing so. I still have the original EGM Mortal Kombat 1 console "preview" issue, where they "claimed" that even the SNES game had blood and gore in it at the time [yet all the SNES pics they provided showed NO gore, just like its actual release,, but in hindsight its funny how big of a deal that was]. I have mostly EGM and Next Generation magazine, I collected EGM until Ziff Davis bought them out and their quality jumped off a cliff when the Sendai editors left...Next Gen was, imo, utterly badass for its first 3 years of production, but again it nosedived when it changed management/editors.

[Dr. BaconStein]

The only game magazine I have ever subscribed to is Nintendo Power. I had it from around '98 or '99 to '05 or '06. I didn't even know they still make dedicated gaming magazines. Retro Gamer looks pretty cool, do they ship to US?

[wizardofwor1975]

I don't mind the new ones. Although their is an element of nostalgia that I'm just as guilty of myself that can skew the articles. However, I do collect the older gaming magazines and enjoy reading them.

[Gentlegamer]

The old ones, they stand for the period and what the period stood for. They weren't looking back with rosy tinted beer goggles, just the eyes of someone on the cutting edge who never knew what was going to happen next since it was pre-internet and they'd cream themselves over something stunning. Now everything is online and ruined months before it arrives if you keep up with things and then you get all the looking back at how great stuff was despite the fact it never was always great, just had great moments and plenty enough to chain together a delusion of perfection. :)

Well said, and I'll add that often the ads of each issue are more valuable than the preview/reviews, and editorials.

I recently acquired a big stack of EGM from the 91-95 era, and it is pure joy poring through each volume... the old ads and editorial info sometimes points out games I've over looked for decades!

[The Adventurer]

I love all the old propaganda mags. Nintendo Power obviously, but also Interaction and Lucasarts Adventurer.

But they sure were propaganda.

I actually never really cared for Gamepro and EGM. I think it's because I was spoiled on Nintendo Power's tips, tricks, and walkthroughs. Those other mags were just reviews. Also, they had ads.

You know, instead of being a magazine that was 100% ads....

[ccovell]

...you often get reviews that speak a lot but say nothing. Lots of previews, especially import ones, were just a single blurry screenshot or two often lifted from Japanese magazine surrounded by a few sentences of trite nonsense that you could tell was someone just conjecturing about the screenshots.

This, very much so.

But I also agree that old mags and new retro mags each have their own place and role to fill. Of course if I had to choose one, I'd pick the old magazines, because it's a valuable piece of history I wouldn't want to lose.

[parallaxscroll]

Old magazines, especially Electronic Gaming Monthly during the time it was owned by Sendai Publications in Lombard, IL.

EGM Issue 5 - December 1989

http://i.imgur.com/aoKnsxh.jpg

[Gentlegamer]

http://i293.photobucket.com/albums/mm64/tragedy623/scans/img005.jpg

[WCP]

My favorte old-school gaming mag is DieHard GameFan. Better known as just GameFan:

http://www.defunctgames.com/pic/magazines/gamefan/DHGF-may93.jpg

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g428/WCP12/splatterhousegamefan_zpsfaa14d0c.jpg


The only thing that really sucks about GameFan, is that they didn't get started until very late 1992. The first issue, which is nearly impossible to find, is from October of 1992. The second issue was December 1992. So, only two issues pre 1993. GameFan is mostly known for being a real cool mag during 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996. I just wish they were up and running in 1989 and 1990 and 1991. They did have a couple of tiny catalogs during 1991 and 1992, but didn't really get started till almost 1993.


My second favorite old-school gaming mag is Next-Generation:

http://33.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcwxwzyfEF1rkrwaco1_500.jpg

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g428/WCP12/nextgensega_zps9611686e.jpg

Next-Generation is another magazine that started way too late. I think the real golden era of gaming (at least for me personally is from 1989 to like 1994). Next-Generation didn't start up till January 1995. It basically kinda was coming in with the Playstation and the Sega Saturn. They covered the Panasonic 3DO, Atari Jaguar and Sega 32X. They were a bit more focused on the newest hardware. The reviews aren't very good, but the previews and coverage of the hardware wars was really good for the time. Next-Gen is basically a USA version of Edge Magazine, which I think started up in very late 1993. I only really like the early years of Next-Gen. Later it started to go a bit downhill with the quality.


Of course, I definitely have to give up some props to Electronic Gaming Monthly, better known as EGM:

http://www.gamingmagz.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/EGM-Issue-1-Cover.jpg

http://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--2DJN-kmY--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_320/18wbe6gxcmw0njpg.jpg


The best thing about EGM to me, is that it was up and running during my favorite years in gaming. 1989 to 1994 for me, is the sweet spot of video gaming. The early 16 bit years is just a really cool time in gaming (imo). EGM got up and running in mid 1989. I think they also had a couple of unofficial issues even before then. The first "normal" issue is May 1989, with Mega Man 2 on the cover, pictured above.

I think the first 25 issues of EGM, are really the ones to try to find. First off, they are the early ones, but secondly, starting with the 26th issue of EGM, it changed the way it did it's binding, and issues from 26 to whatever are much easier to find than the first 25 issues. The early ones, the binding doesn't hold up so well over time, so many of these issues have already been tossed, and no longer exist. You just don't see the first 25 issues as much as all the later ones. The first 75 or so issues of EGM have good quality paper, but I think with issue 76 or something like that, they switched to a really crappy recycled paper that makes the mag much less pleasurable to read and look at and touch. If I was collecting EGM, I would definitely focus in on the first 75 issues, with a special emphasis of trying to get the first 25 issues in as good of condition as possible.

As far as the quality of the magazine itself, EGM was really cool at having the very first screenshots of various games. They also had the first rumors of stuff before any other magazine. The review crew is cool, because you get 4 different takes on the same game. The previews were pretty lame though. It would just be regurgetated back of the box advertisment type stuff in the previews. They would talk about how you need to save the princess of whatever kingdom or whatever, but didn't really say anything about how the game was actually coming along. (GameFan is the complete opposite by the way)


Not in my top 3, but I definitely have some love for GamePro:

http://www.gamingmagz.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/GamePro-Issue-25-August-1991-cover.jpg

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g428/WCP12/Gameproaladdin_zpsaf417927.jpg

My favorite thing about GamePro is that they were around in the classic years of 1989, 1990, etc, etc. Only a handful of gaming magazines existed in 1989. The thing that was kinda weak about GamePro though, is that it was basically written for kids more than adults. Which of course made sense at the time, considering most looked at video games as being for children. I think it was written to speak to a 12 year old kid, or a 13 year old kid. Which would have really been awesome if I was 12 or 13 when I was reading them, but being an old dude, I was like 19 or 20 years old when I was reading them. Still, like I was saying there were only a handful of video game magazines that existed at that time, so beggars couldn't be choosers.

There is always the classic VG & CE:

http://community.retromags.com/gallery/?module=images&section=img_ctrl&img=3744&file=medium

http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g428/WCP12/vgandceeasteregghunt_zps1bd0999e.jpg

It's interesting, because back in the days this magazine kinda annoyed me. It was around in 1989, which makes it a real classic, but I actually didn't appreciate the style of the magazine back in the day. The only thing that I really liked about it, was that I could be reading it at a Burger King or something, and nobody would think, (hey, what is this 20 year old doing reading a little kids mgazine ?) It was written more for an older audience. I was just kinda pissed that they "wasted" so many pages on "Computer Entertainment". I didn't own any computer at the time, and thought that all those pages they spent talking about those computer games was a waste of time, and waste of space in the magazine. Of course, people that had computers back then, probably cherished those pages of coverage. Most gaming magazines only covered console games, so computer gamers were kinda left out in the cold at that particular time. I actually have more respect for VG & CE now, then I did back then. Reading the old issues now, it seems a much better magazine, and I even enjoy looking at the computer stuff.

[GhostDog]

Retro Gamer is great because it pays homage to some of the best games of all time, but it's just a bit too much at times for me when they focus on some obscure PC games or games for an obscure system. I also don't much care about the developers that they interview either for games I don't care for. Other people may like this though but not me.

Old gaming magazines on the other hand focused on the games of the times and the gaming industry was rapidly changing and developing so you go the latest updates for the time on these upcoming games. EGM has to be my favorite mainstream magazine because it just seemed like the definitive monthly gaming magazine that you can count on to bring you the latest coverage of the newest games.

Gamepro just wasn't that good. I have some old issues of Gamepro from the early to mid 90s, not to mention some from the late 90s up to 2000 and they don't hold a candle to my EGM issues from the same time. Even Game Players was better than Gamepro since to me it seemed like they focused more on teenage to early 20s crowd while Gamepro seems like it's dumbed down for young kids or people in their early teens. Gamepro's scores also weren't nearly as credible as EGM's.

I've had a few issues of GameFan and Game Informer from back in the day and they were good magazines but for some reason EGM just appealed to me with their awesome covers and what seemed like more in-depth coverage of certain games. Nintendo Power was great too but of course it only focused on games on Nintendo systems but their enthusiasm was always great and made you feel confident with owning a Nintendo system. Same goes for PSM (Playstation Magazine) and their enthusiasm for the PS1 and PS2.

[gameofyou]

I've had a subscription to RetroGamer for many years now, and it's an enjoyable magazine.

But nothing can beat the magazines from back in the day. I have years 1994-1997 of EGM. But one of my favorite sets is the entire 37 issue run of Sega Saturn Magazine.

[Steven]

But one of my favorite sets is the entire 37 issue run of Sega Saturn Magazine.

Ah, SSM. The best damn mag ever. A close and honorable 2nd place to Super Play Magazine (a UK SNES-based magazine). But SSM was something real special. Even though Saturn is now my #2 favorite system and has been for nearly a decade, SSM remains firmly entrenched as my favorite publication. Its quality in writing, layout design and "money shots" were 2nd to none. I love how big the issues are and they are very re-readable. Goddamn, nothing beat their impressive 'Showcases.' Damn good stuff.

[Rickstilwell1]

Probably another reason for the low prices on the old mags is that certain people liked certain ones. You wouldn't care much about Nintendo Power if you were more of a Sega or Playstation fan, or you wouldn't really care about Official US Playstation Magazine if you grew up in the Atari era and didn't care about the Playstation so much being an adult by the time it came out. Or if you lived in another country you had your own magazines to choose from. I grew up liking Nintendo Power in the late 90s/early 2000s, but by the mid 2000s Nintendo Power wasn't even as exciting anymore. So you even have long running magazine series where you only care about a particular chunk of its history and not everyone's is the same. Oh then you also have the fact that the way magazines were delivered loosely in the mail, sometimes they would be pretty beat up or have torn covers by the time you got them. A lot of them will be cheap due to poor condition.

[celerystalker]

Anybody else used to get the old free magazine Silicon Magazine at local game stores around 2000? Not amazing, but I liked the enthusiasm, and they had ads for games that didn't show up in the big hitters for games like Industrial Spy or Rent a Hero. I always enjoyed that as a supplement to my shopping. Still more fun to read than the rag from GameStop.

[Pissed Pete]

I don't think we'll get anyone posting that they prefer the New "Retro Gaming" magazines. I can probably safely assume that we are all pretty avid game collectors. We know that at no point in the future is (insert modern gen game here) going to be considered a rare/classic/collectible game. Probably why we prefer these older genuine articles. It's not just the goal of having a complete collection that drives me, but the nostalgia associated with being a kid, playing games, not having to worry about paying taxes, or going to work, or any of the responsibilities of being an adult. We get to reflect on our history, and enjoy the memories. You can't look at a copy of a page on your tablet and get the same feeling of exhilaration when you saw that Sonic & Knuckles was coming out and it had a cartridge slot for the Sonic games you already owned. Run on sentences. Gotta Love 'em. Whatever your preference, we're all the same awesome people here. The classics really get us going, and as much as we might grow, the fondness and memories of our childhood will never be outgrown. Game on ladies and gentlemen.

[WCP]

Ah, SSM. The best damn mag ever. A close and honorable 2nd place to Super Play Magazine (a UK SNES-based magazine).


Hmm, I've never seen a Sega Saturn Magazine in person, or a Super Play Magazine. I looked on Ebay, but they are quite pricey for somebody in the USA. I'll keep my eyes on the lookout for an issue via trade with somebody or something...

[tom]

The old ones are the best, anything pre-1985

[WCP]

The old ones are the best, anything pre-1985

Wow, pre 1985... Those are definitely some old ones.


I was 7 years old when the Atari 2600 came out in late 1977. I sometimes wonder if I ever looked at any of the really old gaming mags in a supermarket or anything like that. I think I might have seen an Electronic Games issue at a dentist office or something as a kid. Not sure if my dad or mom ever bought me one of those mags that were around at the time.

I really didn't discover gaming magazines until randomly seeing a GamePro at a Waldens Books back in late 1989.

[Arkanoid_Katamari]

I don't have any retro game magazines, I wish I did. I used to have stacks of Playstation Magazines when I was a kid back in the mid-90s, I got rid of them though. It was great cuz each one came with a demo disc of new games coming out. I vividly remember this huge article with great artwork for Final Fantasy 7 and just being floored with the look of it. I also remember the announcement of the PS2, and how excited my friends and I were, and the weird look of it when that was revealed, it looked so high-tech for the time, like the weird obelisk from 2001. It was the first time we saw a vertically-standing system, too.

[WCP]

I don't have any retro game magazines, I wish I did. I used to have stacks of Playstation Magazines when I was a kid back in the mid-90s, I got rid of them though. It was great cuz each one came with a demo disc of new games coming out. I vividly remember this huge article with great artwork for Final Fantasy 7 and just being floored with the look of it. I also remember the announcement of the PS2, and how excited my friends and I were, and the weird look of it when that was revealed, it looked so high-tech for the time, like the weird obelisk from 2001. It was the first time we saw a vertically-standing system, too.


Well, check this out.....

I had this huge collection of gaming mags at one point. All the early EGM's, Game Players, GamePro's, etc, etc. A really nice collection of Die Hard GameFan's.

I had all of them stored in these cabinets in my Garage around 1999. My wife was going through the cabinets, and she noticed all the old mags and asked me if I really needed to keep all those old magazines. At that time, I really didn't care too much about older games. I was probably playing the Dreamcast and PC gaming at that point. I didn't want to throw the mags away, but the wifey really pressured me, and I wasn't that into retro stuff then, so I was like.... "eh.. ok...".


I dumped so many classic mags into the recycling dumpster thing. What a true tragedy that was.


Then, about 4 or 5 years later, I get the retro bug something fierce. I started to buy back my old systems and games that I had back in the day, and of course, had to buy back some old magazines as well. It's taken me some time, but I've gotten pretty much all my magazines back, of course, I have a lot less money to show for it.

Still, if you want to get some classic magazines back, just go check Ebay. The key is that you have to be really patient. Avoid the high-dollar Buy it Now's and wait for somebody that throws up a large lot of mags and doesn't have any reserve or anything. You can usually get the issues about 3 bucks a pop, or sometimes less if you wait for the larger lots of mags that show up occasionally. It's great to have those old mags back, where you can actually hold them in your hands, and take your time thumbing thru the magazine and looking at the advertisements of the day and the articles.

It's never too late to reclaim a collection of stuff via Ebay. It just requires a ton of patience. Also, check forums like this for old mags.

[nosweargamer]

I dig both, but I like the old mags the bast, especially EGM. It's like looking through a time capsule. Especially seeing the style, ads and rumors that never came to be.

[otaku]

both are nice really. For instance with retro gamer its nice to get the history and details behind the scenes and see how the games have held up or what came later as far as sequels etc. or other releases on different platforms. I just wish we had more magazines like back in the day because I miss going to the news stands or the mailbox and curling up with a mag for a while the net just doesn't do it for me like a mag does

[Ruudos]

I like them both for reasons already told.

But nothing beats these old Club Nintendo issues. You could get a subscription for free! In reality the magazine was crap but as a kid it was the greatest thing ever.

https://www.scribd.com/collections/2964037/Club-Nintendo-Magazine

[JSoup]

Depends on what I'm looking for.

Seeing if a particular game is of interest to me? Old ones. Nintendo Power used to introduce a game by providing a short walkthrough for the first portion of the game. That tells me more about if a game is up my alley than two paragraphs musing over the graphics.

Looking for some interesting history on something new to me? New ones. Lots of modern gaming magazines pad issues with history of the industry type articles.

[HardcoreOtaku]

I was a subscriber to Retro Gamer magazine from near it's beginning up until a year ago.

I've always loved reading video game magazines, strangely I enjoy it as much as actually playing them.
I'm from the UK and we had a great selection of magazines to choose from.
Some of my favourites in the early nineties were Computer & Video Games (CVG) & Mean Machines.
But my absolute favourite was Super Play which was a Super Nintendo magazine but it also covered anime and Japanese culture, it had awesome manga style artwork from Wil Overton.
The magazine reviewed lots of import Super Famicom games and also had a passion for RPGs with lots of reviews and features.
Here's the wikipedia link about Super Play magazine
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Play

[celerystalker]

Depends on what I'm looking for.

Seeing if a particular game is of interest to me? Old ones. Nintendo Power used to introduce a game by providing a short walkthrough for the first portion of the game. That tells me more about if a game is up my alley than two paragraphs musing over the graphics.

Looking for some interesting history on something new to me? New ones. Lots of modern gaming magazines pad issues with history of the industry type articles.

Very true about the industry history in modern magazines. That is my least favorite part of them, actually. I get the purpose, but sometimes I get sick of all the "industry" talk in modern game journalism. It feels like they focus less on the actual games and more on news, companies, and game design celebrities. I know it's naive, and that in a lot of ways old mags were giant ads, but I felt more raw enthusiasm for the playing experience with focus on fun over critiquing.

[Tanooki]

Depends on what I'm looking for.

Seeing if a particular game is of interest to me? Old ones. Nintendo Power used to introduce a game by providing a short walkthrough for the first portion of the game. That tells me more about if a game is up my alley than two paragraphs musing over the graphics.

Looking for some interesting history on something new to me? New ones. Lots of modern gaming magazines pad issues with history of the industry type articles.

Well said. I think this right there is the biggest failing of any of the video gaming magazines, even including some of the more recent years of NP mag before those chodes at Future ran it, then intentionally ran it into the ground. NP was my magazine of choice, but I did get EGMS ever so often if a sub was bought for me, or once i was in their system they'd send me it randomly a year or two here or there to try and get me to buy it again. EGM was almost like the 90s pretentious crap of what you get in the 00s and now. THey really didn't cover much of the games, just their slanted opinions for or against the game maker or console it was on to put the nudge on gamers to buy from the one they liked if it was multiplatform which sickened me. NP and the Nintendo Fun Club was the boss, they would show like 1/3, maybe almost half the game in screen captures like a modern-ish GBA guide. You'd get a real feeling for how the stages were designed, items, skills, challenges and know if you'd hate it's guts or not before you bought it. NP helped me avoid turds, get stuff I'd avoid (later on when I was buying classic stuff 1995-2002), and ask for b'day/christmas gift games so I never really bought a turd on the 2D Nintendo systems ever. It's a shame the modern 'retro' gaming magazines do not do this, it's a crime really. If I wanted a history lesson I'd ask for it, developer stories are cool and the staff who were makers of this or that is nice, but it seems they think that caters to people and so far that has put more magazines to death.

[Gentlegamer]

EGM was almost like the 90s pretentious crap of what you get in the 00s and now. THey really didn't cover much of the games, just their slanted opinions for or against the game maker or console it was on to put the nudge on gamers to buy from the one they liked if it was multiplatform which sickened me.

The real strength of old EGM were the Japanese scoops they got by attending all the Japanese trade shows. EGM was the magazine for "breaking news" on new games, long before the American publishers were even thinking of bringing a game over.

[Aussie2B]

I enjoy both (obviously, I was a writer for Video Game Collector, after all), but they offer very different experiences. I read older magazines a lot more often, though, because it's kinda slim pickings as far as modern retro mags go, especially if we're talking ones in print (most tend to either go under fast or necessitate importing; the American market just isn't a good place for gaming mags in general, let alone niche interest retro mags).

One of my best game-related purchases is still when I bought a huge box of old Nintendo Power issues about a decade ago. They're at my mom's house so I don't get a crack at them often, but when I do I try to get through 3-5 issues before I have to take off, reading them cover to cover. I started from around the 8th or 9th issue, and now I'm up to 1994. The issues themselves aren't nostalgic for me seeing as I never had a Nintendo Power subscription back in the day until late 1995, but it's still loads of fun to immerse myself in the era (or the Nintendo side of it, at least; but I never owned a non-Nintendo system until 1999 anyway).

[Tanooki]

Gentle thanks for the reminder about that, it was the highlight of tolerating that magazine for me over the years until I got online in 1995. I remember that whole area pages of it with little Japanese flags and the images and stories about what the Famicom, Super Famicom, Gameboy, PCE and PCE-CD got and it was amazing. That aside though EGM loved to take sides in each era and then nitpick and even lie about the other hardware maker just to suck up to the one they were kissing ass to and it was sickening.

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, people like to harp on mags that were devoted to a single platform or hardware manufacturer as being "propaganda", but they usually fail to acknowledge just how much poor journalism, immaturity, and bias was often present in the mags that covered the whole market. I honestly kinda prefer the mags back in the day that were so focused that they wouldn't even acknowledge the existence of the competition. I'd rather a mag stick to its area of expertise as opposed to writers showing their bias by pumping up their favorites and dumping on everything else, or ignoring other platforms that they're SUPPOSED to be covering, as defined by the scope of the mag. Don't get me wrong, it makes sense for the industry leader to get more coverage than the system in last place, just going by the quantity of games coming out for each, but things were often skewed far beyond that. Magazines that cover everything and do so fairly are a rare breed.

[JSoup]

When people talk about propaganda gaming magazines, the first thing that jumps to mind is SegaVision. SegaVisions did a great job covering Sega games, but would frequently devolve into a series of potshots at anything that wasn't Sega.

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, come the late 90s, Nintendo Power started to take a few shots at Sega/Sony now and then too in a feeble attempt to be "edgy" and funny, and even as a diehard Nintendo fan, I found it off-putting. I much preferred the "if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all" approach to their competition in earlier years. I don't know if that improved or worsened later on, though, because I didn't have a Nintendo Power subscription past 2000 or 2001, something like that.

[eskobar]

My all-time favorite mag is Next Generation, it had great articles and was less focused on reviews and covered PC. Unfortunately I live in Mexico and the mag wasn't widely distributed, only got the chance to buy a few issues that I still read and enjoy as much as those days.

I also loved the fat EGMs from early 90's, those 250 pages mags looked like textbooks.

The retro mags usually make good jobs but most of the time they sell you illusions and personal memories that doesn't give you a real perspective of what really happened back in the day.

Being 34 years old I feel really lucky to experience almost every console after the 2600.

[GhostDog]

I was a subscriber to Retro Gamer magazine from near it's beginning up until a year ago.

I've always loved reading video game magazines, strangely I enjoy it as much as actually playing them.
I'm from the UK and we had a great selection of magazines to choose from.
Some of my favourites in the early nineties were Computer & Video Games (CVG) & Mean Machines.
But my absolute favourite was Super Play which was a Super Nintendo magazine but it also covered anime and Japanese culture, it had awesome manga style artwork from Wil Overton.
The magazine reviewed lots of import Super Famicom games and also had a passion for RPGs with lots of reviews and features.
Here's the wikipedia link about Super Play magazine
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Play

I thought I was the only one that enjoys reading about games as much as playing them. I could look through gaming magazines for hours. I also love looking at game footage on Youtube and get an overdose of all the games I loved as a kid growing up in the 90s.

[Gentlegamer]

Speaking of EGM bias, I had forgotten how anti-Nintendo the editors were.

http://i46.tinypic.com/28m3bro.jpg

[kupomogli]

I may have posted in this thread before, but I prefer the retro magazines. Modern day magazines suck in comparison. My favorite magazines were PSM the unofficial Playstation magazine and Nintendo Power. Back then the games not only had articles on games, but they went into detail with games by giving a bit of information on the games, maybe a mini walkthrough detailing gameplay, etc.

Todays magazines right now really have a lack of value to them. Iit really seems like a lot of text and little substance. The new magazines have more lengthy and articulate writing that feels a lot more like filler. I'd read my way through beginning to end on older magazines but the way the writing is now, it's just not very entertaining, especially if it's a game I don't like.

[Aussie2B]

What the heck were those EGM editors playing on SNES anyway? Nothing but Gradius III? Significant slowdown and flicker wasn't THAT prevalent on the system, not even in the first year or two.

It's always funny to look back and see what predictions were made and what was considered of value. The SNES dying an early death? The Sega CD dominating the SNES? Sherlock being an important game? Shmups being the end all be all? Even people so steeped in the industry really had no clue what consumers wanted.

[Tanooki]

Gentle I remember that and it is why I called out EGM being the original scam mag and why I didnt renew the thing. They had it in for the SNES the entire life of the system finding angles to work and snotty comments to make. I remember that scanned page there and it was infuriating in that issue because they decided to focus on a game like Gradius III to rate the entire system as a buggy, sluggish, graphically impared system and that it would vanish and genesis would be and remain king. The same magazine that unanimously tore on the SNES version of MK and not just beause of sweat, but because how the Genesis game has better audio, visuals and control which was fantasy, we know it, the good version of MK the Sega ever had was MK2 and it was 32 or SCD I forget, but damn it was arcade close. They were just lying manipulators, basically what most the online game reviewers could be said to look up to these days.

[HardcoreOtaku]

I was a subscriber to Retro Gamer magazine from near it's beginning up until a year ago.

I've always loved reading video game magazines, strangely I enjoy it as much as actually playing them.
I'm from the UK and we had a great selection of magazines to choose from.
Some of my favourites in the early nineties were Computer & Video Games (CVG) & Mean Machines.
But my absolute favourite was Super Play which was a Super Nintendo magazine but it also covered anime and Japanese culture, it had awesome manga style artwork from Wil Overton.
The magazine reviewed lots of import Super Famicom games and also had a passion for RPGs with lots of reviews and features.
Here's the wikipedia link about Super Play magazine
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Super_Play


I thought I was the only one that enjoys reading about games as much as playing them. I could look through gaming magazines for hours. I also love looking at game footage on Youtube and get an overdose of all the games I loved as a kid growing up in the 90s.
Yeh back in the early nineties I loved everything about video game magazines.
I loved the whole ritual of checking in the store to see if a new issue was out yet.
And when a new issue of my favourite magazine was out to see the new front cover popping out sitting on the store shelf. Getting home and sitting down with a new issue and reading about the latest games with I nice cold can of drink. I much preferred this era to todays over saturation of information at your fingertips with the internet.

[HardcoreOtaku]

Speaking of EGM bias, I had forgotten how anti-Nintendo the editors were.

http://i46.tinypic.com/28m3bro.jpg
Here in the UK we didn't really have any issues of EGM, I saw the odd issue every now and then where a store had imported some.
Anyways if I'd seen this EGM issue with the page you scanned I would of never bought an EGM magazine again, it's a travesty.

[xelement5x]

I think this EGM screenshot was printed in late 91 when the SNES had like no games since it had just released, and the Genesis was hitting its stride with almost 2 years of releases. The SNES had like what, 5 games at release and I think one of them was actually Gradius III.

Any new console with a paltry software selection was going to have a hard time measuring up to the Genesis at that point.

[HardcoreOtaku]

I think this EGM screenshot was printed in late 91 when the SNES had like no games since it had just released, and the Genesis was hitting its stride with almost 2 years of releases. The SNES had like what, 5 games at release and I think one of them was actually Gradius III.

Any new console with a paltry software selection was going to have a hard time measuring up to the Genesis at that point.
Yeh but as well as Gradius III it launched in the US with four other truly amazing games
F-Zero
Pilotwings
SimCity
Super Mario World
right there are four 16-bit masterpieces of gaming history.
If EGM had properly played those games they should have instantly realised how superior the SNES/Super Famicom was to the Genesis/Mega Drive.

[Gentlegamer]

Yeh but as well as Gradius III it launched in the US with four other truly amazing games
F-Zero
Pilotwings
SimCity
Super Mario World
right there are four 16-bit masterpieces of gaming history.
If EGM had properly played those games they should have instantly realised how superior the SNES/Super Famicom was to the Genesis/Mega Drive.

And before Christmas: ActRaiser, Super Castlevania IV, Final Fantasy II, and Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts. All considered all time classics. "Where are the great new games?"

I won't argue on superiority to Genesis, and really the numerical scores are "fair" in that they are basically one point different, accounting for taste/preference. It's the accompanying text trashing SNES apparently based on Gradius III and unreserved praise of Genesis.

I wonder if the EGM bias is what created the meme of 'SNES is too slow, can't handle more than two sprites on screen' that persists til this day.

[MidnightRider]

Can we debate Genesis fanboys too getting riled up over that systems perceived shortcomings?


I wish Genesis fans could be like TurboGrafx fans and chill out.

So... is the point of this thread to redefine irony?

Can we now just agree that both sides get too defensive, and just agree to disagree?

[Aussie2B]

Wasn't Final Fight also a launch title or close to it? Not the greatest port ever, but still generally liked in its time and even today. And while the slowdown in Gradius III is undeniable, it's still a very good and well-respected game. Most gamers seem to prefer the SNES port over the arcade original. I'm sure nostalgia is part of that, but the arcade original is also ridiculously, unfairly cheap.

Since they seemed so consumed with shmups, I assume they also played Super R-Type, Darius Twin, and U.N. Squadron. Super R-Type also has a lot of slowdown, although the R-Type games are pretty slow and methodical to begin with, so maybe they were complaining because of that too. I've never played Darius Twin or U.N. Squadron, so I don't know if those have noticeable slowdown or flicker. I do know that U.N. Squadron is pretty highly regarded either way.

I think most retro shmup fans these days would agree that the SNES wasn't an amazing system for the genre (and the weaker processor was certainly a significant factor in that) and that the Genesis and TG-16/PC Engine were superior for fans of the genre. But for those editors to seemingly think that the systems would live and die by shmups is beyond silly. Yes, the genre was probably at the height of its popularity in the late 80s/early 90s, but still, waaaaay more people were buying a SNES for Super Mario World than Gradius III.

And to be completely honest, almost all of my favorites on Genesis came out later than '91, while the first few months of SNES releases includes some of my all-time favorites. Call me a diehard SNES fan, but I'd honestly take that line-up over the first two years of the Genesis, if I had to choose. Castlevania IV, ActRaiser, Super Mario World, the early years of the Genesis can't top stuff like that.

[Tanooki]

Gentlegamer: I think it probably was, or at least the largest contributor outside of scheming lying Genesis advertising on tv to rip on Nintendo to sell their shit. Remember the old ad of how slow the SNES was because they all went at a crawl like Mario Kart and then showing blast processed Sonic showed how bad the hardware really was? Or how about a few months into the SNES having 2 tvs, 2 systems, and a stack of 5 games versus 200 or whatever saying only one had games and support. It was a combined effort of lies and manipulation. Those ads and EGM alone put me off even touching a Sega Genesis or a controller attached to it until well into the 90s fairly close to when the DC launched it infuriated me that much. It wasn't a fanboy thing even if I grew up with Nintendo, even as a kid lying ads just pissed me the hell off because it seemed if someone had to be a shithead in an ad to sell a product, the product probably had nothing good to say about it since that couldn't be used to sell it. I got a list of things I've refused to ever use or didn't for years just because of lie ads.

The SNES did have at launch just F-Zero, Mario(in box), Pilotwings, Sim City and Gradius when it arrived day one late in August. September gave it 9 more games with notables of UN Squadron and Final Fight in there. October had just Ys3 and Ultraman. November had 9 more games with ActRaiser, Final Fantasy II, Super Ghouls n Ghosts and Darius Twin in there. And then December 1991 (this is all pulled from the wikipedia) had 7 more games with Super Castlevania really being only worth mentioning. Sure I threw in October to fill the spot, but look at how many games there that are revered by people as the best of the system came out within 4 months of launch that had out 32 games by 12/31/91. Yet somehow the SNES was slow, choppy, graphics drop out, nothing worthwhile, should pack it in if that's the best it can do. EGM -- Exaggeration Gaming Monthly is the name I gave it after that shitty review and all their garbage after until my sub expired.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Super_Nintendo_Entertainment_System_games (sorted by the NA release date box.)

[Aussie2B]

Sega's '90s marketing really put me off too. It's a shame that they probably lost customers because of how immature and mean-spirited they got in the ads, although I guess they probably gained customers too with people they could convince that Nintendo was lame. I don't know if it really worked out that well for them, though, considering Nintendo took back the American industry lead in '94, I believe, and they did it just by making ads like "Hey, check out this new cool cutting-edge game we've got!" (like with Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country and what have you). Then again, by that point, Sega was stretching themselves thin with floundering add-ons, which gave Nintendo a window of opportunity.

[GhostDog]

Speaking of EGM bias, I had forgotten how anti-Nintendo the editors were.

http://i46.tinypic.com/28m3bro.jpg

To be fair, this is one of EGM's buyer's guide issues. Also, this buyer's guide issue is from the early 90s. NES by then was basically done for so they gave the scores accordingly to what was coming out for the system which was basically filler games. SNES was still new so there wasn't much out there for the system while the Genesis/Mega Drive had been out for a couple years at that point so the scores were the highest. EGM was a great magazine though throughout the 90s.

[Tanooki]

Let me fix that for you a bit.

EGM was a great magazine though throughout the 90s...if you liked the Japanese coverage or were a Sega Genesis and Sony Playstation owner.

If you supported other stuff, and particularly Nintendo, they were dicks.


Aussie: I can honestly say those ads had me never buy a solitary Sega game brand new where they got paid on it, system too, until 3 weeks after the Dreamcast came out when I bought one. They kept me from giving them a single penny for almost a decade just with their sleazy advertising tactics. Just the same as EGM after getting it for 2 years they in that second year turned into print blowjob material for Sega and Sony so I never gave them any money again either, even after having my parents cancel the sub with like 3mo left in the second year, EGM kept sending stuff off and on though most of the 90s with letters to try again and ignored it. I was amazed how desperate they had to be to send years worth for free.

[FrankSerpico]

I love the old mags because of all the rumors that never materialized. Stuff like the Atari Panther, the mythic Saturn that would also play 32X and/or Genesis games, all the rumored Mortal Kombat secret characters who never materialized in real life...those were great times. Also, I think the notion that Sega's advertising "lost" them customers is only held by people who were emotionally invested in the "console war" to begin with. If you were a kid arguing with people regularly on the school playground and such about the superiority of SNES vs Genesis it may have pissed you off, but you gotta remember a large chunk of Genesis buyers were older, usually casual, gamers who just wanted to play stuff like Madden or Super Monaco GP. Sega was far from the only company using "edgy" advertising to attract teens and college kids at the time, and usually the tactic worked well. It's also not like Nintendo never went negative, either...

[Tanooki]

Not everyone. I take the attitude with any product that straight lies about their competition to make a buck instead of talking their good points up instead. It's not like I ever stayed away from Sega or Sony, when they got over themselves then I invested. And I also don't recall Nintendo straight lying in their ads to make sales, instead they just tweaked wording with stuff to psyche up people more to buy their junk and all the merchandise around it. Another classic one is the old Coke vs Pepsi thing, we had them both in the house, but with all the scumbag ads Pepsi ran in the 80s/90s I never would drink the stuff and ultimately never could get used to the taste because of it either yet I'm fine with the product they don't scam about like their sierra mist and mug rootbeer stuff. To date if a store has only pepsi products I won't drink the coke ripoff.

[YoshiM]

Not everyone. I take the attitude with any product that straight lies about their competition to make a buck instead of talking their good points up instead. It's not like I ever stayed away from Sega or Sony, when they got over themselves then I invested. And I also don't recall Nintendo straight lying in their ads to make sales, instead they just tweaked wording with stuff to psyche up people more to buy their junk and all the merchandise around it.

Out of curiosity, what lies about Nintendo are we talking about? I'm trying to think back and I'm not coming up with anything concrete.

[Tanooki]

I'll admit it's a bit fuzzy as it was like 20 years ago when it comes to print which I do recall being in those comic books I had. I do remember the nintendon't TV spots which were annoying being spammed in prime time tv though. Comparing Mario Kart to Sonic calling the SNES a slow piece of junk that won't cut it (had they run Death Valley Rally against it most people wouldn't have seen the speed difference.) Crapping on the library saying it had none, when while it was only out like 4 months with a few dozen games the stuff there percentage wise was higher quality stuff for the price. I'm sure most of it could easily be dug up using youtube or some google searching.

[Aussie2B]

Also, I think the notion that Sega's advertising "lost" them customers is only held by people who were emotionally invested in the "console war" to begin with. If you were a kid arguing with people regularly on the school playground and such about the superiority of SNES vs Genesis it may have pissed you off, but you gotta remember a large chunk of Genesis buyers were older, usually casual, gamers who just wanted to play stuff like Madden or Super Monaco GP. Sega was far from the only company using "edgy" advertising to attract teens and college kids at the time, and usually the tactic worked well. It's also not like Nintendo never went negative, either...

Sorry but you're wrong on that one. I never was invested in the "console war". I never once argued "SNES vs Genesis" with anyone. I don't even recall knowing any kids with a Genesis. I mean, I'm sure some kids had, but I wasn't trying to seek them out. I just didn't care or think about Sega at all generally; they were off my radar. I had a negative view of Sega, as a company, because of the ads, but that's about it. Even considering actually owning a Sega system was pointless because there was no way I'd be able to have two systems in the same gen. I had to buy my SNES myself as it was, and I was only able to get a new game on Christmas or my birthday or with money I saved up from said special occasions.

Nintendo used "edgy" advertising, yeah, no doubt about that. Their fondness for 90s gross-out humor in the mid-90s was off-putting too (just compare the ads in Nintendo Power prior to '94/'95 to those that came out later; I can still see that dumb jar of toenail clippings in my head), but their strategy was generally not to even acknowledge the existence of the competition. Like, I believe it was in '93, Nintendo Power started this "sports column" that was an extremely obvious counter to the Genesis's reputation for being the superior system for sports game fans, yet they tiptoed around the subject like crazy. They never once actually called Sega or the Genesis out by name, more like it was a desperate plea of "Look at how many sports games we have! Look at how many are on the horizon! We have tons of great sports games!" Maybe there are some exceptions to Nintendo's advertising prior to the mid-'90s, but I honestly can't think of a single example that called out the competition. Once the N64 generation rolled around, then it was a different story. They still weren't quite as extreme as Sega got, but then you had stuff like the Star Fox 64 promo video that portrayed Sega and Sony teaming up to steal Nintendo's ideas, with Sony portrayed as a conniving scuzzy bastard and Sega as a bumbling doofus.

[YoshiM]

I'll admit it's a bit fuzzy as it was like 20 years ago when it comes to print which I do recall being in those comic books I had. I do remember the nintendon't TV spots which were annoying being spammed in prime time tv though. Comparing Mario Kart to Sonic calling the SNES a slow piece of junk that won't cut it (had they run Death Valley Rally against it most people wouldn't have seen the speed difference.) Crapping on the library saying it had none, when while it was only out like 4 months with a few dozen games the stuff there percentage wise was higher quality stuff for the price. I'm sure most of it could easily be dug up using youtube or some google searching.

As for the number of titles, at the time the ad was placed and probably for the duration of that particular ad (the games stacked up side by side with the Genesis side being a tower of titles) Sega WAS right-Nintendo didn't have the software compared to them. There was no lie and even with games coming out in a few months, there would be no way the SNES would get such an extensive library.

Was the ad combative-oh yes very much so but then again that was the atmosphere of ads back then. From the benign (the "bitter beer" commercials come to mind where a man's face practically sucks itself inward) to mildly combative (Hefty Sinch Sack vs "wimpy wimpy wimpy") to even where the ad picks on the consumer (Neo Geo's hot dog ad comes to mind)- it could be rough. Even going back to the golden age of gaming Atari, Intellivision and the like would go at each other's throats. A little more gentile in some ads but nonetheless they were combative.

I don't recall that speed comparison so I'll have to do some diving.

Don't forget the poking Sega did to the Game Boy....

[Tanooki]

Actually I did, and now I vaguely remember it I have to go look why it was annoying. I think it was one of those captain obvious things where it was pea green vs color, despite the color being washed out/blown out and a 3 hour battery life against like 25hours. I remember the Hefty ads, cute but annoying, it wasn't really a lie nor did they name people they crapped on specifically as they stuck with the brand x/other guys generic looking bag so it didn't get borderline personal.

The speed ad was a crap TV with Mario Kart on the demo loop running and showing the title of the game on a back platform to a really busted up crappy little go cart I think farting out a bunch of smoke. Then you had sonic blowing full speed all over the place around it talking how one system could do everything and was super fast and the other one was out of date, slow, sucked. We all know in hardware the Genesis for raw CPU power was faster, but parts/performance wise (especially to the target market) the SNES was superior otherwise so the implication was pretty crappy.

Found the snes ad, looks like a busted ice cream truck coughing smoke showing Mario Kart -https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K03fQKkN7VI

Damnit now I remember how angry I got as a kid at this ad for the Gameboy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l--fbYi_oKg It appears since I had a Gameboy, I had an IQ of 12, couldn't see in color, and was as smart as a dog for wanting it over a game gear. That was a real fuck you ad in every term of the words. There was also the follow up of the horribly fat loser who beats himself with roadkill to see color on Gameboy which was dumb - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVL3uW9uV4E&NR=1

Also I was a giant loser for owning the SNES too because I didn't pay for a cheaper system with everything being super fast and sonic on it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7meLcpdfpxY And I supposedly paid $10 more for SNES games than on Sega and was a sucker for it -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJPUPimof-Y&NR=1 (Lies too unless stores did it on purpose.)

At least Sega ultimately made fools of themselves for poking at Nintendo for not making a bunch of addon devices, we know how that played out. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-AWcTMKoDU&feature=related I always found this one funny even then because the FMV looked terrible compared to what my computer did for awhile already and they were cute and for once stopped talking price since that Sega CD got expensive with the Genesis on top. But at the same time it was infuriating, when you were told buying a Nintendo was a total waste and apologizing that we wasted our money and that they were happy to burn it(SNES) because it sucked - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0McRNynPuj8

[Gentlegamer]

There was also the follow up of the horribly fat loser who beats himself with roadkill to see color on Gameboy which was dumb - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVL3uW9uV4E&NR=1

Starring Randy, from My Name is Earl.

[Aussie2B]

The funny thing about when Sega showed specific Nintendo games is that they often were good games, like Super Mario Kart and Super Mario Land. If you're gonna try to make Nintendo look bad, at least show an actual bad game.

I remember Game Gear commercials being even more distasteful than the Genesis commercials. Probably because there was more desperation to make the Game Boy look bad since it was creaming the Game Gear, even with weaker technology. Probably my most hated Sega commercial ever is the one made after Nintendo launched the Play It Loud series of Game Boys, which were just new colors for the same old system. Sure, it was just a marketing stunt by Nintendo to make an old system look exciting and new again, but the Game Gear commercial had a Game Boy dressed up in doll clothes and they were making fun of it. I get the underlying message that Nintendo was just dressing up the same old hardware, but something about the commercial, on top of the usual immaturity and spitefulness, came off rather sexist. :/ Good job, Sega of America, just dig your hole even deeper.

And I felt like they got even more desperate once Sony entered the market and they directed their childishness at both competitors and desperately tried to dig their way out of last place. Launching a N64 off a skeet shoot and blasting it mid-air, dropping a PlayStation off a skyscraper, it was all just really dumb and had no effect on me besides making me roll my eyes. Meanwhile Japan had the Segata Sanshiro campaign which I love. Really, if you ask me, the entire duration of Sega as a hardware manufacturer, Sega of America was led with incompetency. The only reason they were on top for a short while is a combination of luck (like having the early release of the Genesis work in their favor, which didn't go as well with the Saturn and Dreamcast) and by virtue of having a lot of good games on the Genesis.