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dmxratedFinally, here's a copy of my Nintendo Power thread from the VGMusic forum.
McKnight:
I can remember my first experiences of Nintendo Power. The month was October 1995, and I discovered at my library: Nintendo Power magazine. The first two issues I picked up were volumes 72 and 75. I enjoyed reading V72 (mainly, its walkthrough on Kirby's Dream Land 2), but V75 is even more noteworthy. The latter had walkthroughs of games like Mario Clash, Chrono Trigger, and Street Fighter II (the Game Boy version) among other games, and even more importantly, included a preview of SMW2: Yoshi's Island. That magazine rocked!!!
I was in 4th grade at the time when I discovered NP magazine. Apparently, my library for some reason was a year behind with it, because throughout that whole year (1995-96), I remember reading most of the issues from 1995 but none which were printed in 1996. The library did catch up, though, when I started 5th grade.
Not much is noteworthy from 1996-97, except that I remember noticing a screenshot of some girl in Epic Center in volume 93 (Feb. 1997). However, four years later, as I became somewhat more familiar with anime, I began to wonder if that girl was an anime girl, which volume she was in, and if I'd ever see that screenshot again. Ironically, it was only days or weeks after those thoughts came to mind that I actually found that volume in a box of old magazines while looking through them for ideas for a Super Mario World-based game. The girl's name was Josette (or Josetto, according to NP), the game was titled Wonder Project J2, and yes, she was an anime character. On the downside, that game never did make it to the United States, as implied by volume 94.
Coming back to 1997 (my beginning of 6th grade), volume 100 was one volume of NP that I enjoyed reading. In particular, I enjoyed reading the Top 100 Best Games of All Time special section. It also contained a poster depicting all the 100 printed covers of NP at the time. Actually, I don't remember much else about that issue.
Pokemon Gold and Silver were something I looked forward to during 8th grade (the year 2000). Everyone at school except me was obsessed with Pokemon when I was in 7th grade (when we only had Red and Blue), but I had no interest in it until I started 8th grade. Coincidentally, that's exactly when everyone else my age began to lose interest in that fandom, but during the late half of 8th grade, I would look forward to the next volume of NP so that I could read the latest updates on those two games. The hype was way up in NP, even though it never even started in school. I was hyped about it, and I got Silver for Christmas of 2000 after it came out, which I played for the next several months.
While I was in 9th grade (also the time period upon rediscovering WPJ2), I also began ordering back issues of Nintendo Power from Ebay. All the way up until then, I was wishing that I could build a time machine (or that someone else would) and use it to go back in time and collect each and every past issue of NP. I never did get every last issue of NP, but I did get quite a number of them. (If you'd like to know, that's also how I found out about Kendo Rage, one of the relatively few anime games that we had access to during the 16-bit era, which appeared in the Now Playing section of volume 48.)
Time went on. The Nintendo 64 and the Game Boy Color were on their way to retirement, and the Gamecube and the Game Boy Advance were slowly taking their place. I had no intention of buying either of the latter two consoles at the time, but I still continued to subscribe to Nintendo Power for years to come. Nothing is quite notable from there on, but I still enjoyed reading NP, until one day, when I failed to resubscribe after one of the warnings that my subscription was coming to an end. After that, I gradually stopped reading NP magazine altogether, and eventually gave away most of my NP magazines to the salvation army. Coming back to it years later, Nintendo Power is just boring to look at nowadays.
So, to sum it up, all of the issues from 1995 were the most memorable issues of my past. Everything before it was still a lot of fun to look at, even though we had very few anime games back then. Up until I don't remember when, that magazine was still fun to look at, even though not many games stood out. But the issues of today are just boring. We have lots and lots of anime games nowadays compared to during the 80s and 90s, but today's issues still suck nonetheless. The reasons why they suck... well, I can't really place a finger on any of them. Maybe I'm just disoriented when it comes back to NP, but I dunno.
What about you? Do you have any memories about Nintendo Power magazine to share with everyone else here? Let's hear 'em!
Dark Koopa:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24502.html
Paper_Luigi:
I still remember when it wasn't just a multi-hundred-page advertisement that cost money to get every month and actually contained info that was about games while at the same time not being just another ego-booster for the parent company ... does that count for anything?
I sometimes peek back at the really old issues when I come across one. Everything after maybe '05 or so ... ew.
DrZaius
Dark Koopa wrote:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24502.html
Geez, not another swear-riddled rant-fest by that loser.
Anyway, I recall collecting issues of Nintendo Power on and off since the very beginning. I only have a few from the early, early days. Then, when I started making some money of my own and realized how much cheaper subscriptions were than buying off the rack, I started subscribing to Nintendo Power in the... late 90s, I believe.
But man, these days, Nintendo Power seems way too fanboy-friendly. I wish it could reach some middle ground between fanboy and indifference.
NUTCASE71733
DrZaius wrote:
Dark Koopa wrote:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24502.html
Geez, not another swear-riddled rant-fest by that loser.
No kidding. That guy's an embarresment to gamers everywhere.
Forteblast:
I remember subscribing to Nintendo Power back when the subscription bonus was a free NES game. With no GameFAQs to call upon as a safety net, Nintendo Power was pretty much it if you needed game help. They had great comics, informative layouts and, best of all, no advertisements.
A few years after my subscription had lapsed, I got another year as part of the Super Mario Sunshine Pak, a pre-order exclusive from Nintendo Power that included Super Mario Sunshine, the strategy guide, a year of the magazine, and a coupon for $10 off a Wavebird controller for $69.95. In my opinion, the quality of the magazine had slid considerably, though the strategy guide was still just as good as several others I'd collected over the years. When the subscription expired again, I had no intention of renewing.
At that time, all of the game consoles I had were Nintendo systems, with the exception of a non-functional Atari 7800. I was a fanboy through and through. The once-classic magazine had lost its spark, though, and I subscribed to Game Informer for a little while after getting an extra 10% trade-in from selling all of my old NES and SNES games towards the purchase of a PS2 (four or five years after it had been released). I eventually let that expire as well when I came to trust IGN's reviews more.
McKnight:
Something that I should've mentioned in the starting post of this thread: My year in 4th grade, as well as being the year I first discovered Nintendo Power, is also the same year when I got my first permanent game console (the Super NES) along with Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World (all in one cartridge), which was on Christmas that year. So, those are two important milestones of my life in one year.
Paper_Luigi wrote:
I still remember when it wasn't just a multi-hundred-page advertisement that cost money to get every month and actually contained info that was about games while at the same time not being just another ego-booster for the parent company ... does that count for anything?
I sometimes peek back at the really old issues when I come across one. Everything after maybe '05 or so ... ew.
Okay, I don't have a problem with change, and I didn't have a problem with game advertisements in Nintendo Power, even as the number of ads increased over the years. In fact, I remember reading ads about special edition Game Boys (the colored ones, not Game Boy Color) during the first year I started reading Nintendo Power. Advertisements are just a way for any given magazine to make money. However, the most important thing about Nintendo Power is the walkthroughs. GamePro only had one walkthrough per issue, and Electronic Gaming Monthly never had any whatsoever. Sure, NP has a forum, a Now Playing section, game news, and other such features, but so do GamePro and EGM.
Does Nintendo Power have as many walkthroughs as it used to have? Well, I'll have to go to my library as soon as possible and look carefully at it. I do remember seeing a walkthrough for Sonic and the Secret Rings, but I skipped that one.
Also, I think part of the reason NP doesn't interest me so much anymore is because, currently, I've had no interest in buying a Wii yet, and the only Nintendo DS games I've been particularly interested in are Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (either of which I'm hoping to get for Christmas, along with the DS itself). True, I still only own two games for the GameCube, five games for the Game Boy Color (one which was never released in the U.S.), and four for the Game Boy Advance (plus one more on a GBA emulator). True, I never, ever did own an NES, and even when I downloaded an NES emulator, I only ever played four games on it. However, reading the NES game walkthroughs such as that for Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse [in volume 18] was somehow a whole lot more interesting than the aforementioned Sonic and the Secret Rings walkthrough which I found this year.
Paper Luigi, DrZaius, Forteblast, thank you all for staying ahn toppic. This thread is an invitation to share your experiences with Nintendo Power. I actually liked the Angry Video Game Nerd's videos, and his Nintendo Power video is part of what inspired me to start this thread, but he can be discussed in another thread.
X:
Ugh. Not another ANN video.
McKnight: I think what Luigi was referring to was not really the single advertisements themselves, but that on the whole, Nintendo Power seems to be more like a single, giant advertisement these days, which I whole-heartedly agree with.
Anyway, I do remember Nintendo Power way back in the day. I can't remember exactly what issue it was that I first saw bits and pieces of, but the first one actually got my hands on and read was the one that had an article on Mega Man 5 for NES. The reason I remember it well was that despite Nintendo Power's always cool coverage, it actually stated in its hollowed pages that the best weapon to use against all the robot masters was the Mega Buster. Yeah, right. XD
I guess that's proff positive that Nintendo Power wasn't always on the ball, even though it usually was. Still you gotta love the old issues (many found as back issues) - Metroid maps, the Konami code... Those were good times. The Nintendo Power Guides were usually pretty sweet too.
Dark Koopa:
NUTCASE71733 wrote:
DrZaius wrote:
Dark Koopa wrote:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24502.html
Geez, not another swear-riddled rant-fest by that loser.
No kidding. That guy's an embarresment to gamers everywhere.
I always found him amusing, and between all the incoherent swearing, some good points are made. And (minus the swearing) he sums up pretty much my thoughts on Nintendo Power. But that's about as off-topic I'll go with that.
talking_chicken:
Even somewhat recently (a few years ago), I used to read NP and not be able to put it down. I always wanted an excuse to subscribe, but couldn't find a free gift that was worth it (the one chance I had was the Zelda Collector's Disc, and I didn't have the money then).
Nowadays most of my gaming news comes from gaming blogs like Kotaku, though I do enjoy the letters section in NP when I get the chance to read it. The one thing that I really didn't like was when they got rid of their fanart page. It's not too bad of a magazine, but it's definitely not what it used to be.
Personally, I think gaming magazines are starting to become obsolete because the Internet is replacing a lot of features that the magazines had because it's a free alternative, and it's a lot faster than waiting a month and hoping the book will cover the game you want. It's too bad, because Nintendo Power was a great magazine.
In case you're wondering why "on topic" is spelled "ahn toppic", it's because someone programmed the forum to change the phrase "staying on topic" to "eating ice cream". This is the second time I had to log into the forum to change that. The first time, I respelled to words "on topic" to "onn toppick".
McKnight:
I can remember my first experiences of Nintendo Power. The month was October 1995, and I discovered at my library: Nintendo Power magazine. The first two issues I picked up were volumes 72 and 75. I enjoyed reading V72 (mainly, its walkthrough on Kirby's Dream Land 2), but V75 is even more noteworthy. The latter had walkthroughs of games like Mario Clash, Chrono Trigger, and Street Fighter II (the Game Boy version) among other games, and even more importantly, included a preview of SMW2: Yoshi's Island. That magazine rocked!!!
I was in 4th grade at the time when I discovered NP magazine. Apparently, my library for some reason was a year behind with it, because throughout that whole year (1995-96), I remember reading most of the issues from 1995 but none which were printed in 1996. The library did catch up, though, when I started 5th grade.
Not much is noteworthy from 1996-97, except that I remember noticing a screenshot of some girl in Epic Center in volume 93 (Feb. 1997). However, four years later, as I became somewhat more familiar with anime, I began to wonder if that girl was an anime girl, which volume she was in, and if I'd ever see that screenshot again. Ironically, it was only days or weeks after those thoughts came to mind that I actually found that volume in a box of old magazines while looking through them for ideas for a Super Mario World-based game. The girl's name was Josette (or Josetto, according to NP), the game was titled Wonder Project J2, and yes, she was an anime character. On the downside, that game never did make it to the United States, as implied by volume 94.
Coming back to 1997 (my beginning of 6th grade), volume 100 was one volume of NP that I enjoyed reading. In particular, I enjoyed reading the Top 100 Best Games of All Time special section. It also contained a poster depicting all the 100 printed covers of NP at the time. Actually, I don't remember much else about that issue.
Pokemon Gold and Silver were something I looked forward to during 8th grade (the year 2000). Everyone at school except me was obsessed with Pokemon when I was in 7th grade (when we only had Red and Blue), but I had no interest in it until I started 8th grade. Coincidentally, that's exactly when everyone else my age began to lose interest in that fandom, but during the late half of 8th grade, I would look forward to the next volume of NP so that I could read the latest updates on those two games. The hype was way up in NP, even though it never even started in school. I was hyped about it, and I got Silver for Christmas of 2000 after it came out, which I played for the next several months.
While I was in 9th grade (also the time period upon rediscovering WPJ2), I also began ordering back issues of Nintendo Power from Ebay. All the way up until then, I was wishing that I could build a time machine (or that someone else would) and use it to go back in time and collect each and every past issue of NP. I never did get every last issue of NP, but I did get quite a number of them. (If you'd like to know, that's also how I found out about Kendo Rage, one of the relatively few anime games that we had access to during the 16-bit era, which appeared in the Now Playing section of volume 48.)
Time went on. The Nintendo 64 and the Game Boy Color were on their way to retirement, and the Gamecube and the Game Boy Advance were slowly taking their place. I had no intention of buying either of the latter two consoles at the time, but I still continued to subscribe to Nintendo Power for years to come. Nothing is quite notable from there on, but I still enjoyed reading NP, until one day, when I failed to resubscribe after one of the warnings that my subscription was coming to an end. After that, I gradually stopped reading NP magazine altogether, and eventually gave away most of my NP magazines to the salvation army. Coming back to it years later, Nintendo Power is just boring to look at nowadays.
So, to sum it up, all of the issues from 1995 were the most memorable issues of my past. Everything before it was still a lot of fun to look at, even though we had very few anime games back then. Up until I don't remember when, that magazine was still fun to look at, even though not many games stood out. But the issues of today are just boring. We have lots and lots of anime games nowadays compared to during the 80s and 90s, but today's issues still suck nonetheless. The reasons why they suck... well, I can't really place a finger on any of them. Maybe I'm just disoriented when it comes back to NP, but I dunno.
What about you? Do you have any memories about Nintendo Power magazine to share with everyone else here? Let's hear 'em!
Dark Koopa:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24502.html
Paper_Luigi:
I still remember when it wasn't just a multi-hundred-page advertisement that cost money to get every month and actually contained info that was about games while at the same time not being just another ego-booster for the parent company ... does that count for anything?
I sometimes peek back at the really old issues when I come across one. Everything after maybe '05 or so ... ew.
DrZaius
Dark Koopa wrote:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24502.html
Geez, not another swear-riddled rant-fest by that loser.
Anyway, I recall collecting issues of Nintendo Power on and off since the very beginning. I only have a few from the early, early days. Then, when I started making some money of my own and realized how much cheaper subscriptions were than buying off the rack, I started subscribing to Nintendo Power in the... late 90s, I believe.
But man, these days, Nintendo Power seems way too fanboy-friendly. I wish it could reach some middle ground between fanboy and indifference.
NUTCASE71733
DrZaius wrote:
Dark Koopa wrote:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24502.html
Geez, not another swear-riddled rant-fest by that loser.
No kidding. That guy's an embarresment to gamers everywhere.
Forteblast:
I remember subscribing to Nintendo Power back when the subscription bonus was a free NES game. With no GameFAQs to call upon as a safety net, Nintendo Power was pretty much it if you needed game help. They had great comics, informative layouts and, best of all, no advertisements.
A few years after my subscription had lapsed, I got another year as part of the Super Mario Sunshine Pak, a pre-order exclusive from Nintendo Power that included Super Mario Sunshine, the strategy guide, a year of the magazine, and a coupon for $10 off a Wavebird controller for $69.95. In my opinion, the quality of the magazine had slid considerably, though the strategy guide was still just as good as several others I'd collected over the years. When the subscription expired again, I had no intention of renewing.
At that time, all of the game consoles I had were Nintendo systems, with the exception of a non-functional Atari 7800. I was a fanboy through and through. The once-classic magazine had lost its spark, though, and I subscribed to Game Informer for a little while after getting an extra 10% trade-in from selling all of my old NES and SNES games towards the purchase of a PS2 (four or five years after it had been released). I eventually let that expire as well when I came to trust IGN's reviews more.
McKnight:
Something that I should've mentioned in the starting post of this thread: My year in 4th grade, as well as being the year I first discovered Nintendo Power, is also the same year when I got my first permanent game console (the Super NES) along with Super Mario All Stars + Super Mario World (all in one cartridge), which was on Christmas that year. So, those are two important milestones of my life in one year.
Paper_Luigi wrote:
I still remember when it wasn't just a multi-hundred-page advertisement that cost money to get every month and actually contained info that was about games while at the same time not being just another ego-booster for the parent company ... does that count for anything?
I sometimes peek back at the really old issues when I come across one. Everything after maybe '05 or so ... ew.
Okay, I don't have a problem with change, and I didn't have a problem with game advertisements in Nintendo Power, even as the number of ads increased over the years. In fact, I remember reading ads about special edition Game Boys (the colored ones, not Game Boy Color) during the first year I started reading Nintendo Power. Advertisements are just a way for any given magazine to make money. However, the most important thing about Nintendo Power is the walkthroughs. GamePro only had one walkthrough per issue, and Electronic Gaming Monthly never had any whatsoever. Sure, NP has a forum, a Now Playing section, game news, and other such features, but so do GamePro and EGM.
Does Nintendo Power have as many walkthroughs as it used to have? Well, I'll have to go to my library as soon as possible and look carefully at it. I do remember seeing a walkthrough for Sonic and the Secret Rings, but I skipped that one.
Also, I think part of the reason NP doesn't interest me so much anymore is because, currently, I've had no interest in buying a Wii yet, and the only Nintendo DS games I've been particularly interested in are Pokemon Diamond and Pearl (either of which I'm hoping to get for Christmas, along with the DS itself). True, I still only own two games for the GameCube, five games for the Game Boy Color (one which was never released in the U.S.), and four for the Game Boy Advance (plus one more on a GBA emulator). True, I never, ever did own an NES, and even when I downloaded an NES emulator, I only ever played four games on it. However, reading the NES game walkthroughs such as that for Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse [in volume 18] was somehow a whole lot more interesting than the aforementioned Sonic and the Secret Rings walkthrough which I found this year.
Paper Luigi, DrZaius, Forteblast, thank you all for staying ahn toppic. This thread is an invitation to share your experiences with Nintendo Power. I actually liked the Angry Video Game Nerd's videos, and his Nintendo Power video is part of what inspired me to start this thread, but he can be discussed in another thread.
X:
Ugh. Not another ANN video.
McKnight: I think what Luigi was referring to was not really the single advertisements themselves, but that on the whole, Nintendo Power seems to be more like a single, giant advertisement these days, which I whole-heartedly agree with.
Anyway, I do remember Nintendo Power way back in the day. I can't remember exactly what issue it was that I first saw bits and pieces of, but the first one actually got my hands on and read was the one that had an article on Mega Man 5 for NES. The reason I remember it well was that despite Nintendo Power's always cool coverage, it actually stated in its hollowed pages that the best weapon to use against all the robot masters was the Mega Buster. Yeah, right. XD
I guess that's proff positive that Nintendo Power wasn't always on the ball, even though it usually was. Still you gotta love the old issues (many found as back issues) - Metroid maps, the Konami code... Those were good times. The Nintendo Power Guides were usually pretty sweet too.
Dark Koopa:
NUTCASE71733 wrote:
DrZaius wrote:
Dark Koopa wrote:
http://www.gametrailers.com/player/24502.html
Geez, not another swear-riddled rant-fest by that loser.
No kidding. That guy's an embarresment to gamers everywhere.
I always found him amusing, and between all the incoherent swearing, some good points are made. And (minus the swearing) he sums up pretty much my thoughts on Nintendo Power. But that's about as off-topic I'll go with that.
talking_chicken:
Even somewhat recently (a few years ago), I used to read NP and not be able to put it down. I always wanted an excuse to subscribe, but couldn't find a free gift that was worth it (the one chance I had was the Zelda Collector's Disc, and I didn't have the money then).
Nowadays most of my gaming news comes from gaming blogs like Kotaku, though I do enjoy the letters section in NP when I get the chance to read it. The one thing that I really didn't like was when they got rid of their fanart page. It's not too bad of a magazine, but it's definitely not what it used to be.
Personally, I think gaming magazines are starting to become obsolete because the Internet is replacing a lot of features that the magazines had because it's a free alternative, and it's a lot faster than waiting a month and hoping the book will cover the game you want. It's too bad, because Nintendo Power was a great magazine.
In case you're wondering why "on topic" is spelled "ahn toppic", it's because someone programmed the forum to change the phrase "staying on topic" to "eating ice cream". This is the second time I had to log into the forum to change that. The first time, I respelled to words "on topic" to "onn toppick".