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Watcha Reading: 20 Years of Nintendo Power

Posted by Bob Mackey

Even though my reading habits have made a significant transition to the online world during this decade, I've been a little more aware of gaming magazines since the death of EGM. After all, print publications are what helped me become obsessed with the medium during the first 15-or-so years of my relationship with video games; during those grade school days of yore, I couldn't be seen without a current copy of Nintendo Power open at any possible free moment--just ask all of those horrible, child-hating teachers who confiscated them from me. We can only hope that they're dead now.

So, on my latest trip to Barnes and Noble, I was surprised and delighted to find a special issue of Nintendo Power along with the newest Retro Gamer--the latter of which is actually quite good if you can get around an overdose of Eurocentricity. In an age where no one really seems to care much about video game magazines, it's odd to see a special publication about the history of a video game magazine; but, given the fact that I picked up one of only two copies remaining on the magazine rack, 20 Years of Nintendo Power seems to have hit upon a nostalgic Hooksexup of old-school Nintendo nerds.

The 66-page issue covers various eras of the magazine, from the NES to the Wii—though, to be honest, I’d be fine with a retrospective that only covered Nintendo Power’s early years. Really, this special edition is just a re-telling of Nintendo's history through the pages of Nintendo Power, but it's important to note that's how most of us children of the children of the 80s lived through this history. That being said, 20 Years is a delightful trip down memory lane for those whose old issues are in storage or rotting away in some landfill. It's a tad pricey at $9.99, but the contents are definitely worth the monetary equivalent of a large pizza. Your bowels will thank you.

Related Links:

WTFriday: Play it Loud
Worlds of Power: Books That Worried Your Parents and Pissed Off Your Teachers
The Nintendo Literary Canon


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Comments

Russ said:

Dear 61 Frames Per Second, I am going through a dillema. I now have pressure on me to get rid of my Nintendo Power collection. I don't know if I'm making the wrong choice or not. I own issues 23 through 213, and I have no more room to store them. Its like having a huge paper weight clogging my room up. But I fear if I sell it all, I'll be losing a bit of my childhood. Decisions, decisions.

March 23, 2009 7:15 PM

Bob Mackey said:

Rent a storage unit. This is your only option.

March 23, 2009 8:36 PM

LBD "Nytetrayn" said:

I agree with Bob.  That said, I might be interested in taking some off your hands...

Bob> I'm reading this, too.  I think it's worth noting that the magazine is printed on a higher quality of paper than the normal magazine, and features almost no ads at all whatsoever-- the only one is for Cooking Mama or something on the outside back cover.  Even the inside covers are free to lavish a little bit of Nintendo joy on us.

As for covering the early years of the magazine, I'd have loved more about the magazine itself, but this was cool.  Besides which, they covered the magazine over the entirety of last year as they celebrated 20 years.  

Just recently subscribed for another two years-- and that reminds me, I need to see where my damn subscriber bonus is.

March 24, 2009 12:03 AM

Russ said:

You know Bob, I'd give you a good price for them if you wanted to save them for "archiving." It's a win-win situation.

March 24, 2009 10:08 AM

Liberated In Theory said:

LBD - I just recently subscribed for another two years as well.  Don't get your hopes up, it's some crappy Wii Buying Guide that isn't worth the paper it's printed on.   In it is an ad for this 20 year retrospective which is what the subscriber bonus should have been.

March 24, 2009 3:13 PM

Bob Mackey said:

I would pay A LOT of money for a coffee-table-sized book of Nintendo Power reprints. Edge did something similar, albeit in a typical magazine format.

March 24, 2009 3:24 PM

Scott Pelland said:

It's great to see NP fans enjoyed the 20 year retrospective. I really had to pour through my back issues while planning the book. If you want more specials like this be sure to send a note to Chris Slate. And don't sell those back issues!

April 14, 2009 12:27 AM

About Bob Mackey

For a brief period of time I was Bull from TV's Night Court, but some of you may know me from the humor column I wrote for Youngstown State University's The Jambar, Kent State University's The Stater, and Youngstown's alternative newspaper, The Walruss. I'm perhaps most well-known for my bi-weekly pieces on Something Awful. I've also blogged for Valley24.com and have written articles for EGM, 1UP, GameSpite and Cracked. For all of my writing over the years, I have made a total of twenty American dollars. It's also said that I draw cartoons, which people have described with words such as "legible." I kidnapped the Lindbergh Baby and am looking to do so again in the future.

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