For retro magazine fans

[Steven]

Bored? Like, really bored? Then check out this looooong piece detailing my top 5 magazine publications. I normally don't do this "post a link" but I think with all the retro gamers here AND the mag lovers out there, some of you guys can appreciate the walk down memory lane...

(BTW, where the hell is Anthony1 these days? The guy with the GameFan Dec. 94 issue avatar...... He'd love this....)

warning: Many pictures inside!

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

[roushimsx]

Hey, good stuff.

Classic Nintendo Power was excellent. Reviews were pretty worthless, but the previews and strategies were absolute gold. Lots of great original artwork and some really wonderful maps in there. Shame it really went downhill one the N64 rolled out.

As bad as Gamefan was, they had the best screenshots. I've always likened them to an american Famitsu...nothing worth reading, but a whole lot of awesome to look at. After a while, the screenshots were the only reason I even bought the magazine. Man, those reviews were downright awful, though.

Game Players was a pretty fun little publication that I enjoyed, though I haven't gone back to read it in quite some time. No idea how well its aged. Whenever I head home I'll see if the collection is still kicking around and maybe I'll scan a few issues to share (unless someone else has already done so, in which case I'd love to get in on the action). It was because of them that I found out about and eventually played Blade Force on 3DO (which remains my favorite 3DO game) and Jumping Flash on PS1 (which was one of the reasons I got a PS1).

Oh, and never forget Next Generation!

[drewbrim]

cool write up, I enjoyed it.

[theMot]

I was going to say it's all too "states centric" until i scrolled to super play where you redeemed yourself. :D

[theMot]

also theres no Mean Machines on that list... :( Did you not get many brit mags over that side of the pond?

[theMot]

also theres no Mean Machines on that list... :( Did you not get many brit mags over that side of the pond?

....oh and i just read your "The Super Play Drama" page. I never realised i was the kicker for you buying SP. I feel all special now haahaha lol :)

[Steven]

also theres no Mean Machines on that list... :( Did you not get many brit mags over that side of the pond?

....oh and i just read your "The Super Play Drama" page. I never realised i was the kicker for you buying SP. I feel all special now haahaha lol :)


lol, yes yes... it was your topic that made me aware of SP's existence... as for Mean Machines I've never read it. I don't think we got too many brit mags here back in the day, least not that of which I could remember.

[bangtango]

Despite all the shilling for Street Fighter 2, the constant bashing of competing magazines and the perception that some advertisers paid for favorable reviews, I always liked EGM's review format. They covered a lot of games each month, including stuff for dying systems. Most people have to admit the year end issues were cool, where they reviewed every single "current" system for that year, including stuff like the Amiga CD32 that never took off or systems that were on their way out (Sega Master System in 1993/94) in the US.

Personally, I thought it was good to get four different perspectives on a game. At least back when the Harris/Semrad/Alessi/Sushi X group was doing it. Feel free to substitute your favorite EGM foursome, though.

[Push Upstairs]

EGM was worth it simply for its coverage of overseas games. Gamepro really didnt have as much in depth overseas coverage as EGM.

EGM was tolerable in the years before SF2 came out, but after that they couldn't print a magazine without talking about it non-stop.

It got so bad that people complained that they talked/hyped it so goddamn much. LOL

[Anthony1]

Cool website Steven.

I just kinda skimmed it real quick, but I'm definitely going to go back and read it in detail. I do want to say a few things to defend GameFan.


1. They give away scores in the 90's like free condiments - Well, this is pretty true, BUT..... you have to understand that they didn't cover every game that came out like EGM or GamePro would. They covered the games they were specifically interested in. They wouldn't bother with games they had no interest in, so that is why they threw around scores in the 90's like it was going out of style. Also, they had a never ending enthusiasm for Platformers and certain genre's, and loved those games so much, that even relatively mediocre ones would get high scores. I will admit that, but I also understand where they were coming from with that. They just had a ton of enthusiasm for their hobby and tried to see the good side of games more. But there is no question that you had to take some of their high 90's games with a grain of salt.


the only other thing I would like to say about GameFan, is that the best thing about GameFan was that they didn't waste pages regurgitating the marketing that was on the back of a game box. I can't tell you how many times I was reading GamePro or EGM, and the Previews of games wouldn't tell you a damn thing about how the game was coming along. It was basically just marketing fluff, PR fluff, with no substance whatsoever. GameFan in their previews would practically review a game in their previews. Of course, they would mention that it isn't a final version of the game and that things could change before the review, but even in their previews they gave you a good idea on whether or not a game was coming along well or not. They got to the meat of the issue right away. EGM was a good mag in the early 90's, but the honest truth is that their previews talked more about the story of the game, like you have to save a certain princess and you are on the planet Alton, or whatever, they didn't tell you if the game had mode 7 levels or anything like that. GameFan, would immediately start telling you about how the game was coming along, right in their previews. I just feel that Gamefan provided more real info, page for page, than any other magazine out there. Sure, sometimes I would totally disagree with their review of a game, but I'm not going to hold it against them, just because I have a different take. I'm just glad that they were willing to bare the souls and say they loved this game or that game, even if other magazines only gave those games a 5 out of 10.

[Kevincal]

BAH GAMEFAN 4th! Haha...That magazine is far and away the BEST videogame magazine EVER! I read them all in the early to mid 90's...I remember every single month I was so anxious to see the new GameFan on the store shelf. I thought the writing was excellent for the most part. They didn't try to be all professional and snooty...who cares if there is a typo here or there...Gimme a break! They were too busy playing games to worry about that. I loved their genuine passion for games. It oozed out of the magazine like no other. Plus the paper, screenshots and layouts absolutely BLEW away all of the others.

Now, don't get me wrong, I also love me some mid 90's EGM and GamePro. Can't forget about Next Generation. They came out blazing in 1995 with awesome interviews and technical write-ups. GamePro and EGM really turned to mush in the late 90's. GameFan dipped a little in quality in the late 90's, but not as much as any of the others. I really like GameFan online too...Oh hell ok, I'm a bit of a GameFan fanperson I guess...It could also have something to do with me being a California native and GF having a Cali vibe to it. Oh and I still have a collection of 400-500 or more videogame magazines. :D But, I might have to start eBaying some of 'em coming up.

[Anthony1]

BAH GAMEFAN 4th! Haha...That magazine is far and away the BEST videogame magazine EVER! I read them all in the early to mid 90's...I remember every single month I was so anxious to see the new GameFan on the store shelf. I thought the writing was excellent for the most part. They didn't try to be all professional and snooty...who cares if there is a typo here or there...Gimme a break! They were too busy playing games to worry about that. I loved their genuine passion for games. It oozed out of the magazine like no other. Plus the paper, screenshots and layouts absolutely BLEW away all of the others.

Now, don't get me wrong, I also love me some mid 90's EGM and GamePro. Can't forget about Next Generation. They came out blazing in 1995 with awesome interviews and technical write-ups. GamePro and EGM really turned to mush in the late 90's. GameFan dipped a little in quality in the late 90's, but not as much as any of the others. I really like GameFan online too...Oh hell ok, I'm a bit of a GameFan fanperson I guess...It could also have something to do with me being a California native and GF having a Cali vibe to it. Oh and I still have a collection of 400-500 or more videogame magazines. :D But, I might have to start eBaying some of 'em coming up.



I agree with your takes Kev. GameFan may have been very off on a few reviews, and had some typo's and had some various drama going on, but all in all, pound for pound, page for page, I just don't think anything could touch them with a 10 foot pole. Especially the early era of GameFan. As for Next-Gen, I agree with that too. I rank GameFan No.1, and Next-Gen No.2. Of course, I must admit that I don't really read UK magazines. I would read them if I had access to them, but I don't. I would love to collect EDGE, but it's just too damned expensive to try to collect that mag. Maybe if I had a huge collection of EDGE, I would rank it very high.

Only thing I can disagree with regarding your takes Kevin, is the fact that I think EGM and GamePro started to go downhill before the late 90's. I think it actually started in the mid 90's during the whole fighting game craze. I liked early 90's EGM and while early 90's GamePro was a kiddie magazine, I still enjoyed it to a slight degree. Also, it was one of only a few gaming mags around during 88, 89, 90, 91 or so. There just wasn't alot to choose from back then. I have to give some props to Video Games & Computer Entertainment as well as Game Players.

[petewhitley]

Awesome article Steven. I really like how you posted a wealth of pictures from all the magazines.

[Fighter17]

I want to get that scan of that Salamander Deluxe Pack page on the Saturn Mag!

[Nescollector]

Wow, great job. I have many of those same magazines still to this day. Awesome memories, when 2D games ruled.
Thank you

[klausien]

Very nice. The feeling one gets seeing the old 2D stage tile maps in Nintendo Power is sweet, sweet nostalgia. As a matter of fact, I bought the New Super Mario Bros. Guide Book because it is page after page of those awesome 2D maps. They're done with a computer now, but they have the same kind of beauty. It takes me back to when I would pour over the Official Nintendo Players Guide back when I was a kid.

[diskoboy]

Sorry... The best videogame magazine ever would be the original Electronic Games magazine. :)

[Anthony1]

Sorry... The best videogame magazine ever would be the original Electronic Games magazine. :)


I think that it's best to consider that video game magazines belonged to seperate era's, and you have to consider what is the best of the respective era, and then you also need to consider the region in which the mags are available. Electronic Games is likely one of the best gaming mags of all time, but it belongs to an earlier era than the ones we are discussing in this thread, and I'm not sure it's fair to compare mags from totally different era's. Most people will simply choose a mag from the Era they were most passionate about, as being the best, but this may not truly be the case. Also, the region thing is a big part of it. I will say over and over that I think the early years of DieHard GameFan is the best magazine, but the truth of the matter is that I'm talking about the early and mid 90's era of magazines, and I'm talking about magazines available in the USA.

I haven't read many UK based gaming mags, but I've heard they have some of the best, so I can't really know for certain that the early GameFan's were the best. So it's all relative. But I definitely can understand where you are coming from.

[bangtango]

Sorry... The best videogame magazine ever would be the original Electronic Games magazine. :)

I thought it was a nice magazine when it made the comeback sometime in the 1990's. Wasn't the Game Doctor in there at the time? They had a very fascinating article about the creation of the Mortal Kombat arcade game in one issue and another one about all of the wrestling games that had come out on consoles up until that point. They rated each one of them and concluded that Pro Wrestling and Super Wrestlemania (SNES) were the best at that point in time. There was a good article rating quite a few 2D fighters during the Street Fighter II fad, which broke down SFII and Mortal Kombat in particular. Great stuff. Too bad I don't have those issues anymore from their 1990's run. I wish someone had a few of those for a good price. I never did read the original version you are talking about, to be honest, but I am sure it was good.

[Drag0nsfyre]

Great stuff indeed! :D :cool: Loving your site as a whole too. Great job man! It kicks ass. :)

[Anthony1]

I thought it was a nice magazine when it made the comeback sometime in the 1990's. Wasn't the Game Doctor in there at the time? They had a very fascinating article about the creation of the Mortal Kombat arcade game in one issue and another one about all of the wrestling games that had come out on consoles up until that point. They rated each one of them and concluded that Pro Wrestling and Super Wrestlemania (SNES) were the best at that point in time. There was a good article rating quite a few 2D fighters during the Street Fighter II fad, which broke down SFII and Mortal Kombat in particular. Great stuff. Too bad I don't have those issues anymore from their 1990's run. I wish someone had a few of those for a good price. I never did read the original version you are talking about, to be honest, but I am sure it was good.


I just got the entire run of the second iteration of Electronic Games just a few days ago. From a fellow DP member in fact. The second run began with the October 1992 issue, and concluded with the July 1995 issue. There are definitely some very interesting articles and features in those mags. I remember buying a few issues during the early 90's. The theory behind the second run of Electronic Games, was they they would be to adults, what EGM was to teenagers, and what GamePro was to younger kids. A magazine that would talk about video games, but from a more grown up perspective. The content in the mag is pretty decent, in regards to the articles and such, but I think two things really doomed the mag. The previews and reviews were pretty damn lackluster to say the least, and the layout and art direction of the mag was pretty horrible if you ask me. However, again, they did have some very unique articles, and they definitely approached gaming from a more mature and distinguished standpoint. All in all, I can't rank that mag very high, but it is a unique mag, and did have it's run during some great years in gaming. 93,94 and 95 were some of the better years in all of video gaming. They had some really nice interviews and some unique takes on things.

[bangtango]

I just got the entire run of the second iteration of Electronic Games just a few days ago. From a fellow DP member in fact. The second run began with the October 1992 issue, and concluded with the July 1995 issue. There are definitely some very interesting articles and features in those mags. I remember buying a few issues during the early 90's. The theory behind the second run of Electronic Games, was they they would be to adults, what EGM was to teenagers, and what GamePro was to younger kids. A magazine that would talk about video games, but from a more grown up perspective. The content in the mag is pretty decent, in regards to the articles and such, but I think two things really doomed the mag. The previews and reviews were pretty damn lackluster to say the least, and the layout and art direction of the mag was pretty horrible if you ask me. However, again, they did have some very unique articles, and they definitely approached gaming from a more mature and distinguished standpoint. All in all, I can't rank that mag very high, but it is a unique mag, and did have it's run during some great years in gaming. 93,94 and 95 were some of the better years in all of video gaming. They had some really nice interviews and some unique takes on things.

That is true. The reviews (and previews) were few and far between. Most of the reviews I remember were for games released by less successful third party companies. Doomsday Warrior on Super NES was one such game. The reviews that did appear were dry. I can see why kids didn't buy it. One could say the title was pretty bland, by the early 1990's, but it was an established name (to some people) so there is no reason for them to run from it and repackage the entire magazine (ala VGCE).

[Anthony1]

One could say the title was pretty bland, by the early 1990's, but it was an established name (to some people) so there is no reason for them to run from it and repackage the entire magazine (ala VGCE).


Yeah, I agree, I don't think the name had anything to do with it's lack of success. I think the big problem was that somebody browsing a magazine rack in a bookstore, if they picked up this mag and flipped through it, it looks very dull and lackluster in it's presentation, and it seems more like a computer games mag than anything. It just didn't have the hype and excitement of other mags. I think it's a solid mag, and I'm glad I have them, but I can easily see why they didn't last more than 3 years. To be blunt, their review system sucked. I undertand that the reviews were more an afterthought, and that you didn't read the mag for the reviews (much like Next-Generation), but for people at a newstand looking for an exciting magazine, it just wasn't going to be mag they would want to drop 5 bucks on.

[ScoobyMaster]

Nice Piece!