Nintendo Power Coming to an End [Joystiq]

[Oobgarm]

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/08/21/ni...ming-to-an-end

It's been a good +/- 24 years. Once GameCube hit, it went downhill for me.

(also, not sure where to post this, as it's a broad spectrum of console generations)

[kedawa]

I'm surprised it lasted this long.

[kupomogli]

Haven't read it since Nintendo consoles themselves have started being second rate compared to every other console, but the magazine was very good and peaked during the 64bit era.

No other gaming magazine I've read was as good as Nintendo Power sadly, except this one Nintendo magazine back in the late 80s or early 90s. All I remember was it was a Nintendo magazine but wasn't Nintendo Power. Non Nintendo related, the best magazine would be the PSM, the unofficial Playstation Magazine.

[heybtbm]

I still subscribe...believe it or not. The only reason (excuse) I can come up with is that my neighbor's kid was selling magazine subscriptions for school and NP was the only interesting one.

Oh well...it's half "Nintendo Crafts and Cosplay" these days. Anyone who's looked through it lately will understand.

[Zama]

I remembered reading the ones back in the early 90s and early 2000s issues. They were so magical and fun to read back in the days. Their early game guides like Super Mario RPG and Final Fantasy III are still fetching a pretty penny though

[Bojay1997]

Haven't read it since Nintendo consoles themselves have started being second rate compared to every other console, but the magazine was very good and peaked during the 64bit era.

No other gaming magazine I've read was as good as Nintendo Power sadly, except this one Nintendo magazine back in the late 80s or early 90s. All I remember was it was a Nintendo magazine but wasn't Nintendo Power. Non Nintendo related, the best magazine would be the PSM, the unofficial Playstation Magazine.

Really, did you ever read Next Generation or Edge? I enjoyed Nintendo Power for what it was, but even back in the day, it had lax editorial standards and was basically just a promotional tool for Nintendo.

[Aussie2B]

It's the end of an era, but who knows, maybe it'll come back in some form as others have. But regardless, the state of video game magazines is truly depressing.

That said, I haven't read an issue of Nintendo Power, unless you count glancing at an article once in a blue moon, since 2000. I don't have much respect for the quality of the magazine since then (and even a bit before that), but it was nice that this institution carried on for so long. I'll always love and continue reading my old issues from the NES, SNES, and early N64 eras, with pre-Howard Phillips's departure and late SNES being the two high points of the magazine in my eyes.

[kedawa]

All of Nintendo's consoles can connect to the internet now, so there's really no need for them to communicate through paper and ink anymore.

[VG_Maniac]

I own every single issue of Nintendo Power, and I've been a subscriber for over 20 years now. I first got my subscription for Christmas 1991 when I was 8, and I've subscribed ever since. There have been many times in recent years where I felt like ending my subscription because the magazine doesn't hold a candle to how it used to be. However, I could never bring myself to stop subscribing because I had been doing it since I was a little kid, and as long as I kept my subscription, I would have every issue. I actually decided that this year would be my last year...so it's ironic that Nintendo decided to end it now. I imagine the magazine will end after this year, but if they decide to keep it going for a little while next year...I guess I will keep my subscription just to get those last few issues, and to be able to say that I stuck with the magazine until the very end.

[Greg2600]

I had a subscription from the first issue in 1988 through a couple years after that. I grew annoyed with the space dedicated to crappy games Nintendo was clearly trying to peddle. NP was also the reason I bought some absolutely heinous NES games because they rated them high, which was of course B.S.

[JSoup]

I was actually just doing my monthly check to see if I could get a sub for under $10. Cheap bathroom reading is cheap bathroom reading.

I'd be more sad to hear this if it wasn't that the book stopped being fun to read around the time the N64 died.

[Jorpho]

Do you think a major part of when it started to go downhill was when games transitioned to 3D, such that it was no longer easier to easily make cool-looking and comprehensible maps?

It was some time around then, after the introduction of the N64, that they started including ads (a terrible, terrible idea) and it lost whatever remaining appeal it had for me.

And of course for the last five years it hasn't been published by Nintendo at all.

[ultimaweapon]

Nintendo Power will be missed. Epic magazine. It was a wonderful ride for nearly 25 years. But after the 64, the magazine lost its luster. Still one of the best ever.

[DragonMaster Sam]

I remember getting a few issues here and there in '90 and '91, then finally buying issues for a long time from '92-'99, and then coming back to it in '04. My favorite gaming magazine will be missed.

[Lady Jaye]

And to think I just met Howard Phillips last week at CGE (like some of you guys, of course). The early NP was cheesy at times but it had its charms. Let's not forget the promos that the magazine had: the famous free copy of Dragon Warrior with a subscription back in the NES days, mirrored much later with a similar promo for the Zelda compilation on GameCube (which I took advantage of, the only time I actually was ever a subscriber of the magazine).

Incidentally, the official Nintendo magazine for France just stopped publishing after the May-June issue (no, they were not published by Future). However, the UK official magazine (this one being published by Future) is apparently still around.

[VG_Maniac]

Do you think a major part of when it started to go downhill was when games transitioned to 3D, such that it was no longer easier to easily make cool-looking and comprehensible maps?

It was some time around then, after the introduction of the N64, that they started including ads (a terrible, terrible idea) and it lost whatever remaining appeal it had for me.

And of course for the last five years it hasn't been published by Nintendo at all.

I agree the magazine really started going downhill when they began putting ads in. There would be so many ads in the issues, that they would appear to be really big and choc full of cool stuff...but you'd open them up and half the magazine would be ads. I even remember writing Nintendo a letter and complaining about it (yeah, that was a big waste of time). Around 1999 and 2000, the magazine became almost completely overrun with Pokemon related material. I started calling it "Pokemon Power" during that time.

To me, Nintendo Power was at its peak in 1994, during the time when games like Mega Man X, Super Metroid, Final Fantasy III, and Donkey Kong Country were coming out. The magazine started to get progressively worse and worse around the time the N64 was released...and it really took a steep downhill plunge when the GameCube came out.

[frogofdeath]

Around 1999 and 2000, the magazine became almost completely overrun with Pokemon related material. I started calling it "Pokemon Power" during that time.

If memory serves me correctly, that was about the same time that Nintendo Power actually had "Pokemon Power" mini-magazines attached. Sold my four year's worth of subscription a year or so ago, so I don't have them any more, but they weren't the highest quality.

I too remember the addition of ads and how the original claim was that ads would only be videogame related. That didn't last too long.

[JSoup]

If memory serves me correctly, that was about the same time that Nintendo Power actually had "Pokemon Power" mini-magazines attached. Sold my four year's worth of subscription a year or so ago, so I don't have them any more, but they weren't the highest quality.

I too remember the addition of ads and how the original claim was that ads would only be videogame related. That didn't last too long.

I still have those. The Pokemon Power inserts were a mock newspaper, followed by a guide for the game and a comic version of an episode of the anime. They put out six altogether. I remember getting Pokemon Red when issue three was new. I should dig those out and pull some scans sometime.

[The 1 2 P]

I'm not surprised and I haven't read it in many years besides for when I got an occasional issue thrown into a much larger magazine lot. But if it doesn't come back in some form someone else will probably attempt to make a dedicated Nintendo magazine.....which won't take long to get cancelled itself.

[Tupin]

Physical gaming magazines are essentially dead, Game Informer is kept alive by Gamestop.

I'm not sure if even an electronic magazine for tablets would work, unless they did something like making all back issues available to read.