Video game magazines you used to read (and still do?)

[Helmsly]

I'm sure many of you used buy video game magazines back in the 90's and 00's and I thought I'd make this thread to look back at some of your favorite video game magazines you used to read growing up.

 

I used to read a ton of magazines, most of them Nintendo related (although I did buy Sega Power for a while simply because it was hilarious to read). I still have most of the magazines I bought and the cover/free gifts that came with them. Here are some of the magazines I used to read pretty much religiously:

 

Nintendo Magazine System

 

This was the official magazine for Nintendo all through the 90's and half of the last decade. It was a spin-off from a multiformat magazine called Mean Machines when EMAP (the publishing company that ran it) bid for the rights to make the official magazine. MeanMachines was split into two; Nintendo Magazine System and Mean Machines Sega were born.

 

During its first 2 or 3 years when it covered the SNES, NES and Gameboy it was an absolutely solid well written magazine. Dispite being the official magazine, its reviews seemed very honest and fair. The editorial staff for the magazine (Julian Rignal, Gus Swan, Gary Harrold, Tim Boone to name a new) brought a good personality to the mag.

 

I rememeber the magazine came with some really amazing cover gifts in the first couple of years, which included A CD soundtrack for Street fighter 2, a VHS tips video for the same game, issue 1 came with a miniature key ring gameboy with the time displayed on it's screen. When Street fighter 2 turbo was released they released a massive SF2T poster which they had to split into two parts and give one part per issue. I had the poster on my wall for years lol

 

 

Sadly by the time of the N64 era, most of the original team had left and the staff that had replaced them, made the magazine truly awful. Maybe the constant delays of the N64 and then it's lack of software once released, could be partly to blame (as they didn't have much to cover), but a lot of it was to do with how the magazine was written.

 

For example, they would refer to the Sega Saturn and Playstation as the "Sega Sad turn" and "Greystation" to give you some idea. They spent far too much time with imature unfunny insults like that and the reviews where just plain biased and unreliable (Donkey Kong County 3 got 99%).

 

I felt like the magazine improved towards the end of its run when it was covering the Nintendo ds and preparing for Wii coverage. It seem to be a fun magazine again. Sadly just before the Wii's launch, the licence switched pubishers and the magazine was closed as a new Official Magazine was started (ONM).

 

N64 magazine

 

This was the follow up to a great Super Nintendo magazine called Super Play, written by most of the same staff, it was a very funny well written magazine with a great sense of humour that went around its reviews. I especially liked when they reviewed a bad game like Superman 64 or Mortal Kombat Mythologies. from wikipedia:

 

Superman (N64): 14% - was initially viewed as 'an utterly hopeless, consistently appalling leper of a 'game'...bordering on the illegal'. Superman became the butt of all jokes after it was reviewed, and described in Issue 100's hall of shame as 'A game of legendary-so-bad-it's-almost-goodness'. Features the legendary level where Lex Luthor asks Superman to 'solve my maze' which later was a small competition segment in the magazine, the last of which was named "Solve my murder" and had three ways in which Luthor was killed.

 

Mortal Kombat Mythologies (N64): 9% - Possibly the most despised game of NGC Magazine's history; the price was stated as "£Too much", the mini-review stated that "This could only be less enjoyable if it squirted sulphuric acid into your face," and the staff's frustration with the game's mechanics was revealed in a tip section: "Creep along in that sideways spider fashion and then GET CRUSHED BY A PILLAR. Place your fist into TV screen".

 

The magazine was really reliable when it came to reviews (for the most part) and the great sense of humor the mag had made it enjoyable to read. I found myself reading pretty much everything in every issue because so much about it made me laugh.

 

It seemed like they had fun making it, always doing crazy things like Nintendo inspired recipes and a parody of romantic novels with Nintendo characters taking the lead roles. They also did some competitions along the way, holding a Mario Kart tourney for a huge trophy and another for Goldeneye.

 

Super Play

There's not much I can say about this that I have not already said about N64 magazine as it was pretty much the same people and same mag only covering the Snes.

 

What made Super Play very unique at the time was its heavy influence from Japan. It had a small section covering anime, which at the time very few people were interested in. they also seemed to spend a lot of pages focusing on RPG's and their guides were mostly for them too. There is a great recent 'making of super play' article with interviews from it's staff here:

 

http://retro.nintendolife.com/news/2011/05/feature_the_making_of_super_play_magazine

 

I'd written a bit more about some other magazines I used to read ( Cube Magazine, N.Revolution, NGC, Sega Saturn Magazine, Dreamcast magazine,Gamesmaster and CVG) but my browser crashed so I'll update this post with more later. I have a few links to sites about older mags in the meantime

 

http://www.meanmachinesmag.co.uk/index.php

 

http://www.transformationsequence.com/super-play.html (Will overton, Super Play/ N64 magazine cover artists site)

 

http://www.outofprintarchive.com/magazine_catalogue_UK.html (Scans of older magazines)

 

http://www.gamesmastertv.net/reviews/issueone.php

Edited August 5, 2011 by Helmsly

[Kurtle Squad]

I think my parents bought me an issue of NGC for Christmas once, after that I got a few more issues then decided to get a subscription to NOM, which then became ONM after a few years.

 

I then went on to "need" a multi-platform magazine, so I switched my subscription to EDGE quite a long time ago; it's over-rated though and I've been looking into getting something else.

[Sméagol]

Power Unlimited.

 

 

It’s multiplatform. I was (well, and still am) mainly a Nintendo dude, but I like PC games as well, and I like to keep informed of other releases on other platforms as well. I bought some of those back in the day (they’re still around, but they go way back). It wasn’t just the gamenews and reviews, they’re were known for their humour and no-nonsense approach.

 

The Netherlands also used to have it’s own official Nintendo magazine.

 

 

Clun Nintendo magazine extra. This was the first issue. They were really official, you could only get a subscription through Nintendo itself (using cards that came with games), you couldn't buy them in a store I think. They ran for several years, I got every issue, except for one I seem to have lost for some reason. Before that they had another magazine, with the same name but without the ‘extra’, but I missed out on those. Nowadays, they don’t publish a magazine anymore, but they’re endorsing an independant Nintendo magazine called NGamer, but I don’t have a single issue from them. I’ve been getting my gamenews from the internet for some time now, I have no need for magazines anymore. I guess a similar situation like Nintendo official magazine? I have the odd issue of that too somewhere.

 

Some old editors from Power Unlimited have been doing a webshow for some time now, it’s great if you know Dutch. It’s the same humour and no-nonsense approuch they’ve been known for since Power Unlimited.

[GameKings]

[Jonnas]

I used to buy a Portuguese magazine called "MultiConsolas" (later "MaxiConsolas").

It was brilliant, it had fair reviews, Anime articles (first time I heard of Series Experiment Lain and Fullmetal Alchemist), sections reserved for import games (Anime titles and Chrono Cross come to mind), Retro games (usually unexpected and pleasant surprises, like Panzer Dragoon, Carmageddon, or a Treasure retrospect) and they even did a few experiments, like putting the handheld section in a separate "mini-magazine" (they also tried this with their tricks&tips section).

They even had a weekly "staff Top 10" for each console, complete with the score the game had when it was reviewed.

 

But at some point, they changed their name, and started to slowly do away with all of that. It became generic and vanilla. At least their reviews, previews, interviews and reports were still fine, but even that started to fade away. I stopped buying it when I saw they dedicated their cover and four pages to a mediocre game (a big-name racing game, I forget what it was) that got 6/10, and a single-page quick review to Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance (which got 9/10). I realized that they weren't going to introduce me to obscure-yet-good games anymore, with that attitude.

 

I still took a peek from time to time, to see if they had gotten better. They managed to net the worldwide exclusive reveal of a NiGHTS sequel.

At the same time, when Brawl got announced, they wrote (and I quote): "There is plenty of speculation regarding more well-known newcomers, though it should be noted that at least one of the revealed fighters, Pit, seems to be a completely original character."

Facepalm was not enough.

 

I recently bought an issue again, because it had info on the Portuguese 3DS launch. I noticed some of the old staff was still there, and their reviews were much better, in both writing and presentation. Unfortunately, I don't see much reason to start buying the magazine again, considering all the info I can get online nowadays (including good reviews and opinions). If they started writing those interesting Retro/Import/Anime articles again, I'd definitely consider it, though. As it stands, the only worthwhile things they bring me are posters and Portugal-related information.

Edited July 26, 2011 by Jonnas

[Dog-amoto]

Your Sinclair. Used to love this. Especially the Advanced Lawnmower Simulator game they put on the cover cassette once, which was all a big joke

 

 

I also read Mean Machine Sega which was the sister mag of NMS that the OP posted. Before these two, it was Mean Machines and they covered all consoles before they split them up.

 

Don't read magazines now, but I will buy one when I go on holiday, usually an Xbox or Nintendo one.

[nekunando]

N64 magazine

 

This was my magazine of choice.. I found some of it hilarious I actually really miss picking it up every month as it was always something to look forward to..

[mr_bogus]

Anyone else old enough to remember Zero in the late 80s / early 90s? Mostly Amiga, PC, ST games. Loved that mag.

 

I think it eventually became assimilated into PCZone?

[Murr]

I used to get Games Master religiously every month, and also used to get any magazine that had a mention of Pokemon in it. seriously, anything.

 

during the cube days I got Official Nintendo Mag every month, but haven't for quite some time, which I'm gutted about as they used to give away pretty good stuff now and again.

 

Got a Zelda sound track, countless key rings and badges, cardboard cut outs, then I randomly see people selling this stuff on eBay, and think Glad i've already got it.

[Dcubed]

God I miss Super Play/N64 Magazine. That was the best mag ever. (Will Overton is the man!)

 

NOM was good as well, at least as a kid. Always enjoyed their banter (despite how juvenile it was. Hey! I was a kid) I actually found some old NOM mags recently and read through them all out of nostalgia. Still like em (A guilty pleasure for sure )

 

Still, Super Play/N64 Magazine was the best.

 

Nowadays though, the only magazine I actually read is Retro Gamer (actually probably the only good and well written Games mag in existence right now)

[mcj metroid]

Was never much for magazines but back in the day there was

 

from the creators of the n64 and super play magazines I believe. Utterly hilarious mag. I remember one review for a game where they told you " you can brag about solid snake being in the game to your mates but you must never NEVER actually let them play the thing because they will burn the game disc on the spot and spit on your dog"

 

and of course

based off the popular tv show at the time. I think it's still going too.

[Captain Falcon]

I usd to get Nintendo Magazine System way back when pretty much every month though sometimes I'd dable and pick up another magazine as well like the odd Gamesmaster or Super Play - I think with one copy of Super Play, it came with a papercraft Arwing kit which I thought was well nifty give I used to make them out of Lego all the time only to dismantle them.

 

After the July '96 issue, I stopped getting any magazine as I was saving all my pennies for the N64 launch next March and didn't want to waste my money on them.

 

When I did get my N64, that's when I started getting N64 magazine which was really good with actual reviews of games compare to the old NMS ones I was used to. After a year or so, I swapped back to the Official Nintendo Magazine until sometime late in 2000 when I gave up on magazines for a bit.

 

Then with the launch of the GC, I picked up a copy of the latest version of the official magazine (I think it was then called Nintendo Official Magazine) with reviews for the launch line up and from then onwards, I started buying EDGE which I still do to this day.

[darksnowman]

I bought NMS when it was good and subscribed to it when it got bad. Even back then I knew it was a crap mag and I wanted them to bring back Dave Upchurch, Seal and co. Instead I had to but up with reviews that told you nothing and had inflated scores. I think one of my favourite issues ever was the Spaceworld one that featured info about "Dancing Stage" or whatever Nintendo called it/ renamed it to. My mind boggled at the possibilities of all that stuff and the 64DD. It would have been amazing if Nintendo had released it all!

 

I bought a few CVG, Gamesmasters, N64 mags and the like but none of them tore me away from NMS/ONM/NOM. No matter how bad it got, I always hoped it would get better if I remained loyal, lol. Then, with the passing of the N64 I gave up buying magazines monthly, realising the web was well and truly the way forward.

 

Since then, I've bought the odd NOM here and there for the free gift (DKC 3 poster!) but haven't made a point of buying it every month. I do browse the NOM website on rare occasions though if thats any consolation for them.

 

Nowadays I buy Retro Gamer if I see it and it looks like it has some interesting features. I think I have one issue of Edge somewhere because they did a Final Fantasy retrospective or something. The last magazine I bought was issue one of Scroll:

 

 

Then just got the .pdf of issue two. Its a nicely put together little mag by Ray Barnholt. I've thought about buying the Gamespite Quarterly's but never get round to placing any orders.

[Josh64]

 

NGamer, I still get it every month. It's got consistently reliable reviews, dedicated Retro and Pokemon sections and is always hilariously funny. It's the only magazine I find worth reading in this age of the internet.

 

It's also by the same guys as Super Play and N64 Magazine, both of which seem to be getting a lot of mentions on here!

Super Play > N64 Magazine > NGC > NGamer

[Cube]

I started magazines with N64 magazine issue 24 (2nd part of Ocarina of Time review), just before I got my N64.

 

 

I progressed to NGC but at the end of the console's life it seemed to dwindle as it had little to no content and the magazine itself became much smaller.

 

As Cube Magazine looked quite meaty in comparison, I gave that a try. When the transition to the Wii came I moved to it's progression: Revolution/nRevolution

 

 

It was entertaining enough to start with, and they attempted do to lots with the community side (and I was the member who seemed to contribute the most). It then had a change of editor (I think the editor moved on to be the deputy editor of ONM) and just became terrible, so I stopped. It ended soon after.

 

Now I'm back to NGamer, which is still a hilarious magazine.

[Grazza]

My first love, which coincided with me getting the Megadrive, was Sega Pro. I was just so unbelievably excited to own the Megadrive, and this magazine was full of exotic games, Japanese and otherwise. I remember them previewing the Mega CD (which seemed like the most desirable piece of technology in the world) with games like Earnest Evans and Lunar: the Silver Star. Oh, if only I could own one of these! They also had a character called "Pro Girl", a gorgeous brunette who, sadly, I got excited about seeing every issue (these chaps have always known their market). It all ended bitterly when I entered a phone-in competition to win a Sega Wonder Mega. The phone call was extremely expensive and lasted for about 10 minutes. I couldn't believe my beloved Sega Pro would try to rip me off! That was the end of that.

 

My more intelligent friend read Sega Power. It was a bit dry for my liking, but I do vividly remember their review of MERCS, which they criticised for being unpleasantly violent. Oh, how I wish we had those sorts of people in the industry nowadays...

 

Shortly after, my schoolmate told me about the "Super Famicom" and how it was much better than the Megadrive (which I hated accepting). He lent me Mean Machines, with F-22 Interceptor on the front and (I think) a review of Super Ghouls & Ghosts in it. Though I loved my Megadrive, I couldn't deny these sprites were gorgeous, and I was soon hooked on the SNES and Mean Machines. Heck, I couldn't go for a car journey without a copy of this magazine. One month, I remember they carried an advert which featured two scantily-clad women (vest and knickers type thing, if I recall correctly). Well, the readers were shocked! People wrote in and complained, and Mean Machines admitted it was too much. Again, how times change...

 

If Mean Machines wasn't enough, there was also CVG or Computer and Video Games. I was quite fond of this magazine, although the "Mean Yob" letters page wasn't exactly my cup of tea. I did like the way they featured a coin-op every month though.

 

A little bit later my friends introduced me to Super Play. Now, I wasn't as much in love with Super Play as other people were, but I did like the way it gave me a window on exotic Japanese games like Final Fantasy. There was one series in particular I wanted to play - Dragon Quest. Would any of them ever be released over here? I wasn't banking on it. I would just have to hope.

 

Mean Machines split into two: I remember buying the first issue of Nintendo Magazine System at Liverpool Street station, with Lethal Weapon 3 on the cover (which I still haven't seen) and the Game Boy keyring. I don't know if it was just me, but there just seemed to be a special atmosphere in the air.

 

The other half became Mean Machines Sega, which felt more like Mean Machines than NMS. I remember being furious when their free demo disc wiped my Saturn's memory cartridge.

 

Speaking of that machine, my next favourite magazine (and the last one I bought regularly) was Sega Saturn Magazine. How I loved them for championing the relatively unpopular Saturn. If it wasn't for them, I wouldn't have been aware of gems like Guardian Heroes, Story of Thor 2 and Panzer Dragoon Saga.

 

So, I have very fond memories of games magazines. Times have changed, things will never be like that again. As they say, the past is a different country.

[Shorty]

I used to read Gamesmaster quite faithfully, even though it wasn't great and the covers were (and still are) the messiest in the industry, they often had good posters and good previews. I also have a big stack of CVG magazines somewhere, they were brilliant at one point. They had these hilarious letters/competitions/drawings pages in the middle on yellow paper which were always good for a laugh.

 

I also used to read N64 mag and ONM on occasion. N64 mag had those awesome N64 cartridge racks as gifts.

 

Finally I have a good stack of PC Gamer and PC Zone magazines, but then they became extremely expensive.

 

Edge has always had the classiest covers and the most solid reviews.

 

For some reason I also bought two Dreamcast magazines when the Dreamcast launched, even though I never ended up buying the console.

[Grazza]

I used to read Gamesmaster quite faithfully, even though it wasn't great and the covers were (and still are) the messiest in the industry, they often had good posters and good previews. I also have a big stack of CVG magazines somewhere, they were brilliant at one point. They had these hilarious letters/competitions/drawings pages in the middle on yellow paper which were always good for a laugh.

 

That brings back memories - CVG was brilliant during the PlayStation era. They had a regular contributor "Ed 'Pinky' Lomas" who liked Pink Floyd. I think they gave him a job.

[heroicjanitor]

PSW magazine was my bible in the ps2 days. It let me know about God of War, Shadow of the Colossus etc, even got me into FFX (best game ever obviously), I stopped getting it when I got the internet and a good computer though. Mostly because they changed some staff though and the new staff were giving World at War 10/10 while saying other shooters lost marks for being unoriginal. The old staff were perfect; funny and reasonable, they could spot a good game for sure and had no trouble telling you if a game they thought would be great didn't live up to it. Having checked now the magazine was closed a few months after I stopped

 

 

There was also one issue of Nintendo (something or other) I got ages ago which gave a huge review of Wind Waker. It was saying things like "is this the best game ever" 10/10 etc. My impressionable mind back then took it as a factual statement, that it was in fact the best game ever, decided due to proof, and that I should go get it :p Things were cool when they were black and white... Wind Waker was epic

[Cube]

Edge has always had the classiest covers and the most solid reviews.

 

I see EDGE as a magazine with brilliant articles, the most professional-looking design, and the least valid reviews.

[Tales]

I read 4-5 copies of the Norwegian Official Nintendo magazine before Nintendo cancelled it. It was before and around Gamecube for about year.

 

Also read NGamer for about year until I got tired of getting magazines that looked like they've been to hell and back. I wasn't going to pay for that.

[Helmsly]

 

wow, I'd forgotten about PSW, that really was a great mag (with the original stafff as you mentioned). I seem to remember laughing at a lot of the stuff they wrote, especially this little column that seemed to be written in 'ye olde english' each issue from a joke character that seemed to hate gamers

[Jimbob]

Still read occasionally Official X360 mag. Not often though, seem to find all the information i need online these days.

 

But, when i did read the mags, i read this.

 

 

Yes, i was a loyal reader of this magazine. Great reviews, great writers. Always gave, in my opinion, honest opinions on how things were in the world of gaming. Had a few mentions myself in both this, and the Gamecube incarnation of this.