Fanzines - A Listing of Sorts

[Bughuntertf]

A somewhat comprehensive list of fanzines from the era when they were common, wide-spread, and in a few cases, moderately popular. Now listing editors (or recognized equivalent)!

• 8/16 (Colin Hunt)
• Above and Beyond (Tom Donoho)
• Access Time (John Leverich & Genesis Kryscki)
• Adult Gamers Quarterly (Rick Shrand)
• At The Controls (Glenn Rubenstein)
• Atari Entertainment (Edwin Stifter)
• Atari Magazin (Robert Kaltenbrunn, later Werner Ratz)
• Atari Zone (Dan Iacovelli [?])
• Bit Age Times
• Blip! (Tim Johnson)
• BOOT! The Official Newsletter of LACE
• Chrome (Mike Histen)
• Circuit City Report (Danny Yan & Terrence Yee)
• Classic Console Magazine (Josh LaFrance)
• Classic Gamer Magazine (Chris Cavanaugh)
• Classic Systems and Games Monthly (Jeff Perkins)
• Codename: Megazine
• Commodore Cracker
• Commodore Faction (David Connolly)
• Commodore Free
• Commodore Zone
• Computer Gaming Update
• Concept (Jess Ragan)
• Concordant Opposition (Jeff Bogumil)
• Continue? (Greg Wilcox)
• Control Freaks
• Counterpoint! (Tabitha Indigo Paige)
• Crappy, Cheaply Produced Newsletter About What Sucks (Alan Lanoie)
• Cyber Beat (Mike Ciletti)
• Denial (Jeff Daniels)
• Digital Anime (Eric Patterson)
• Digital Flair (Dan Bowden)
• Digital Press (Joe Santulli No. 1-49/Dave Giarusso No. 50-?/Jeff Belmonte [or Jeff Spega?] No. 66-? [with Tim Snider<?> from No. 67-?])
• Digital Savior (Kevin Cline)
• Digital Storm (Corey You)
• Dominion (Nate Hineline)
• Dreamscape (Frank Eva)
• DSX (Corey You)
• Duh?! (Carlton Rahmani)
• Duo-Dimensions (Michael D. Babcock)
• Dystopia (Dennis Crowley)
• Electro World (Charlie Kraupp and Garrett Baldwin [?])
• Electronics Conquest (Brian Penzone)
• Entry Level (David Hunt [?] & Tyrone Rodriguez)
• Escapist (Michael Palisano) (probably Mike Palisano)
• EXCEL DISK MAGAZINE (R. Stuart)
• exp. Magazine
• Fanarchy (Ben Leatherman)
• Fantazine (Pat Reynolds)
• Feature (Charles Brownstein)
• Forgotten Words (Russell Loudin)
• Futura XL/XE Newsletter (S. J. Murray)
• G-Force ("Mr. Nutz")
• Game Enthusiasts Magazine
• Game Force (Jeff Beedham)
• Game Mag (Jon Ratcliffe)
• Game Masters (Greg Meyers)
• Game Over (Matt Leone)
• Game Rave
• Game Star (Mike Burns)
• Game Time with Mister Raroo (Bill Sennwald)
• GameLord (Pat Reynolds)
• Gamer X
• Gamers Quarterly (Ken Song)
• Gametron
• Gaming Source
• Genesian (Rick Shrand)
• GirlGames
• Hardcore (Tyrone Rodriguez)
• High Density (Greg Bemis & Jonah Jackson)
• Hyperzine (Matt Lotti)
• In Between the Lines (Sean Pettibone)
• In Sights (David Mussman)
• Infestation (Alan Lanoie)
• Infiltration (Lee Bridges)
• Intellivision Lines (Ralph Linne)
• Jeff's MegaSports Wire (Jeffrey Michael Tschiltsch)
• Journey's End
• Joystick Jolter
• KC Connection (Ken Walls)
• Lynx User (Edwin Stifter & Chris Wetherley)
• MASTERminds (Todd Lintner)
• Matrix3 (Jeremy Statz)
• Media Point (Nate Palmer)
• MegaForce (A.J. Ramas)
• MegaGaming
• MEGAmania (Mike Pittaro)
• Metropolis (James Catalano)
• Mindstorm (Aaron Buckner)
• Monty's Kitten (Brooks King)
• N.A.E.G.E. Journal (Ed Finkler)
• Neo World
• Neo-Lord (Chris Dyer)
• New World News (James Thomas)
• Next Generation (Casey Loe)
• Overkill (Rick Florey)
• Paradox (Chris Johnston)
• PC Engine Gamer & ZX Spectrum Gamer
• Phantasy Flight (David Yan)
• Phanzine Star (Noah Dziobecki)
• Porta-Play (Scott Boehmer)
• Portable Gameplay
• Power Play (Shawn Surmick)
• Project: Ignition (Jess Ragan)
• Random Access (Eric Cohen) (not to be confused with Scott Boehmer's fanzine of the same name)
• Random Access (Scott Boehmer) (not to be confused with Eric Cohen's fanzine of the same name)
• Retro Classix (G. Howden)
• Retrogames (Jason Moore)
• Role Call
• Saga (Jon Althouse) (may also be known as Saga Force)
• SCROLL (Ray Burnholt)
• Sega Prime
• Sensory Overload (Nathan Hauke)
• Shining Forth (Robert Schmitz) (alternatively called Shining Force)
• Shoryuken! (Tony Fazzone)
• Slap-Dash (Russ Perry Jr.)
• Slipstream (Dennis Thompson)
• SNES Gaming (Rick Wigstone)
• Spectrum (Ara Shirinian)
• Splat! (Eric Longdin)
• Sub-Zero (Chris Dyer)
• Super Effects (Janice Hrusaky)
• Super Gamer (Eric Longdin) (formerly Super NES Gamer)
• Super NES Gamer (Eric Longdon) (became Super Gamer)
• Super Power Bi-Monthly (Andrew McNaughton)
• The 16-Bit Pit (Brian Pacula)
• The 2600 Connection (Tim Duarte No. 1-50/Russ Perry Jr. No. 51-76/Al Backiel No. 77-100)
• The Bombadier (Chris Johnston)
• The Consortium (Rick Florey)
• The Dark Side (Al Riccitelli Jr.)
• The Enigma Journal (Matt Wensinge and [?])
• The Game Guru (Nate Hineline)
• The Gamer's Quarter
• The Gameroom Blitz (Jess Ragan)
• The Gaming Edge
• The Good, the Bad, and the 8-Bit (Brian Pacula)
• The GURU (Brian Goss)
• The Laser (archive of covers) (Mike Palisano)
• The Monitor (George Elwell & David Weinstein [?])
• The New Video Game Trader (Jerry Greiner)
• The Obsessed Game Fan (Jeffrey Lee)
• The Panic Zone (Chris Larson)
• The Portfolio Connection (Peter and Lyn Bennett)
• The Prowler
• The Shape of Gaming to Come (Darren Krowlewski)
• The Subversive Sprite (Lance Rice)
• The Videogame Trader (Tim Duarte)
• Thy Holy Handgrenade (Lester Walsh)
• Total Supremacy (Jim Pittaro)
• Totally Super NES (Andy Saito)
• Tyne & Wear (John Matthewson)
• Ultra Bit Magazine (Corey You)
• Uproar (Mike Pittaro)
• V: The Video Game Experience (Daniel Thomas as Dan Thomas McInnes)
• Vendetta (Pat Reynolds)
• Video Apocalypse (Josh Lesnick)
• Video Game Review (Travis Scott)
• Video Game Revolution (Nathan Hauke)
• Video Gaming Monthly (Ben Leatherman)
• Video Gaming Monthly / Viewpoint (Alex Frias)
• Video Magic (Frank Polosky)
• Video Scope (Aaron Buckner)
• Video Universe (Chad Laubach & George Wilson)
• Video Universe Generation 2 (Chad Laubach)
• Video Views (Ulrich Kempf)
• Video Vision (Jared Jones)
• Video Wars
• Video Zone (Chris Kohler)
• Warpzone (Matthew Smith)
• Zap! (Ter Micharoni)
• Zapp! (Scott Weller)
• Zineophilia (Noah Dziobecki)
• ZONG (Yoda Zhang)

This list is pretty darn huge. But there are almost certainly still fanzines left undiscovered, unknown, unlisted - in fact, I know there are. If you do not want to slog through mounds and heaps of Internet message boards, fanzines - and the minds behind them - are the biggest, most untapped, and most reliable resource for the history of gaming fandom in America (though there are a few fanzines that originate from the UK) before the Internet where the entire thing metamorphosed into a big blob. Indeed, we are talking about the hardcore game fandom - not the casual gamer.

You could argue that fanzines are loathsome, or pointless. I disagree. They are a physical artifact of a bygone era of gaming, where print media was alive and well, the Internet was still in its formative steps, and arcades were the name of where to get the game. (By the time of the 32- and 64-bit generation, this had faded leaving arcades still alive but consoles the primary source of where to find the best and latest. Though arcades are still around, consoles are certainly where it's at.) The era of fanzines was a short one - roughly 1991 to 1997, if that, before fanzines were wiled down to a stalwart few, and even those faded.

All of these fanzines are notable as projects of passion. Certainly they could not have made the publisher rich nor famous - the point of the fanzine was a tangible expression of a love for gaming that could be shared with others. Each fanzine, then, is notable for simply existing. Others, however, are notable for other reasons - art, comics, an unusual and anarchic writing style, or perhaps a much higher quality then all their contemporaries. As such, all of them - all that can be found - must be preserved.

Below you will find a full list of updates since this thread's origination in 2014. Below that, certain links that may be of interest for containing reviews of other fanzines and other neat miscellany.

FEB 5 UPDATE: Added Control Freaks, Role Call, Journey's End, and the fanzines Tom listed.
FEB 13 UPDATE: Added exp. Magazine. Not really a fanzine in the traditional sense, but I think it qualifies.
FEB 16 UPDATE: Added around 20 or so fanzines, including Scroll, which doesn't really count, but I think it qualifies.
MAR 13 2015 UPDATE: Added Dreamscape through MegaGaming.
MAR 25 2015 UPDATE: Added links for Digital Press, Paradox, The 2600 Connection, Game Time with Mister Raroo, Classic Gamer Magazine, The Gamer's Quarter, The Gameroom Blitz, Zap!, Codename: Megazine, Project: Ignition, Concept, and SCROLL. At least one issue can be found at each of the links. Thanks to StageSelect and Zap! for the Codename: Megazine and Zap! links.
MAR 25 2015 UPDATE 2: Added Totally Super NES through V: The Video Game Experience as well as a link for the latter.
MAR 26 2015 UPDATE: Added links to Game Mag Online and On-File Revision Three.
MAR 27 2015 UPDATE: Added Game Enthusiasts Magazine and link, as well as link for 8/16.
MAR 27 2015 UPDATE 2: Added Commodore Free and Classic Console Magazine links (thanks again tom!).
MAR 28 2015 UPDATE: Added PC Engine Gamer & ZX Spectrum Gamer as well as link, along with link to The Laser.
APR 26 2015 UPDATE: Added Forgotten Words through Shoryuken!.
APR 26 2015 UPDATE 2: Added names of the editors for all fanzines I have editor's names for.
APR 28 2015 UPDATE: Added more editor names as well as Blip! through Duo-Dimensions.
MAY 4 2015 UPDATE: Added a couple fanzines and rearranged the entire thing into alphabetical order. Took a lot longer than expected.

• Game Mag Online (Archived Page)
• On-File Revision III
• Gaming Journalism: Unplugged