The Rise & Fall of Nintendo Power Magazine
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- čas přidán 15. 03. 2023
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After the video game crash of 1983, video gaming was taking the world by storm, and Nintendo was at the forefront of the industry. One of the most iconic aspects of Nintendo's early dominance was their magazine, Nintendo Power shepherded by Howard Phillips and Gail Tilden. For years, this publication was the go-to source for news, reviews, and tips about all things Nintendo. It was a beloved part of gaming culture, and many fans have fond memories of reading each issue cover to cover.
But as the gaming industry evolved and the internet became more ubiquitous, Nintendo Power began to struggle. Print magazines were falling out of favor, and even gaming journalism was shifting away from traditional print media. Nintendo Power attempted to adapt, moving from print to digital, but it was ultimately unable to keep up with the changing landscape of the industry.
In this video, we'll take a deep dive into the rise and fall of Nintendo Power. We'll explore the impact that this iconic publication had on gaming culture, and we'll examine the factors that ultimately led to its decline along with it's legacy lasting through today. If you're a fan of retro gaming, nostalgia, or gaming history, this video is not to be missed.
SOURCES:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintend...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintend...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintend...
www.gamedeveloper.com/busines...
www.complex.com/pop-culture/2...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_...)
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gail_Ti...
/ nintendopowerpodcast
www.destructoid.com/nintendo-...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_Vi...
www.nintendoforcemagazine.com/
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As a kid in the 90's, there was nothing more exciting than getting the new Nintendo Power every month. I would read them cover to cover and get so pumped about the new games coming out. It really embodies the pure joy of childhood for me.
Same. I literally read every word. Same with EGM, GamePro, etc. It was like multiple surprises each month that never let you down :D
So much same! Especially the comics. When they ran their adaptations I always grabbed the mail as soon as it arrived and immediately read the issues comics first. Those comics were amazing. The guides were a godsend too. I remember being lost in Metroid 2 and then finally being able to progress when I got the issue. My dad was not a fan for some reason but he didn't get in the way, which I appreciated. I bought several games after seeing the magazine features and enjoyed them. It exposed me to new material that helped shape my love of games. NP was amazing. I greatly value those memories
If it came on the same day as the Victoria's Secret catalog, the whole weekend was already over🤣
In Brazil It was the same, but the magazines were Nintendo World and EGM Brazil
I kept my subscription until sometime after the Wii came out. Maybe sometime in 2007, I can't remember. Started in the late 90's. I remember I went and bought the last issue when it came out.
Being a game play counselor 1989-94 was a great beginning to what I now understand to be a pretty awesome career. My best friends are still friends I made back at NOA.
What was that like being a counselor? Did you have to know how to play every game, or did the game developers give you tips and tricks to their games beforehand?
Wow, hope you make a video on your expericnes there.👍
That's awesome. One of my favorite memories I had as a kid was when me and a friend of mine called the number on the back of my Game Boy and my friend said they wanted to send us each press packets on the company! It was really exciting getting that in the mail at 13!
( I know it was a trouble shooting number and not a game play one, but it still fits, lol)
Thank you for contributing to some of my happiest memories
nice dude i may have called u...had to call for tape help many times...part of my training >:)
I miss the days of going to the local corner-store and seeing a long row of videogame magazines. Internet killed it all
I mean by 2012 it was bound to happen kids today don’t want to wait months for a magazine they rather get fast and easy from a CZcams video or a walkthrough while I do love collecting those old magazines especially the GameCube ones since I never experienced that generation I get why they end up dropping it by 2012
yeah, it was cool. to be fair tho, the internet is waaaaaay better. i can just type "how do i kill the stupid pig in AC Odyssey" and 20 answers come right up. no more waiting for it to be addressed in print, or calling the game store and hoping one of the guys there could give a suggestion
@@mccallosone4903yeah and not to be that guy but the fact u had to read a whole page to hopefully mention the part u stuck in idk but to me it sounds boring might as well I’ll figure it alone cause I rather do it than reading a whole page for one part that I’m stuck on especially if the info they provide it’s wrong
Times change. I also miss going to the local Blockbuster to browse deciding what movies to watch. Meeting strangers and socializing about things to watch. Those days are long over though.
@@alanguages
Yep, Blockbuster is one that cuts deep for me. It's kind of interesting seeing Netflix falling into the same issues and having very similar troubles. Almost any giant collapse is about ego. It happened for Blockbuster and Netflix is doing the exact same thing.
Nintendo Power was such a seminal part of my childhood. I still remember the Castlevania cover with Simon Belmont holding Dracula's severed head in his hand. 😅
bingo, formative years right there.
Ditto. Those 2-page-sprawling pics of levels and etc were golden. Lots of amazing memories of the first 2-3 years of Nintendo Power.
Oh yeah, that was my shit right there! I remember pouring over the MegaMan bad guy concept art for the contest they held for MegaMan 6
I still fondly remember reading issue #99 of Nintendo Power with the cover story about Goldeneye 007 for the Nintendo 64. After that, I made sure to read as many issues as could. While I never got a subscription to Nintendo Power, I did enjoy reading all of the articles, previews and reviews contained inside each issue. I also made extensive usage of the cheats and walkthroughs for the various games as time marched on and the consoles/ systems changed. Really liked all of the pull-out posters for the latest games that were coming out as well.
That and the Adventures of Link cover. Choice.
Great video, Dan. From 1989 to 1991 I was an account executive at Nintendo's PR firm, Hill & Knowlton, in Los Angeles where I conducted and wrote all the celebrity interviews for Nintendo Power. Chasing down interviews for every issue was a bit crazy but we somehow always managed to land one. I also worked closely with Howard Phillips. In 1995 I became director of public relations at LucasArts but until seeing your video I had no idea Howard had been there a few years before me. The more you know.
"Get the power! Nintendo Power!" Loved it as a kid.
"Higher and higher, FIGHTING YOUR WAY THROUGH ENEMY FIRE!"
@@MCastleberry1980 "Get the clues that you can use. Nintendo Power!"
We subscribed once Nintendo offered a free copy of Dragon Warrior on NES... best promo ever, especially, when u typically only got 1 or 2 games a year. One of my favorite NES games to this day. I remember reading all the maps, guides, and spell cards that came with it. Also, one of the first games i ever grinded in to level up... fighting slimes outside the main castle for hours on end.
Lucky. I was already subbed before that offer came out, and they wouldn't give you the free game on a sub renewal. I begged everyone I knew to buy a subscription, but alas I never had any luck with that either. My mom said it wouldn't be fair..... good thing she never found out about my 15 different subscriptions to Columbia House CD club years later.
My family also subscribed to get the free copy of Dragon Warrior. It is a great game, I just played it recently. 🐉
Man, that was me too. That's how I got Dragon Warrior. Spent an entire childhood summer leveling up and beating that game. Awesome times.
$50 game free with a $20 subscription. Best bang for your buck
Omg yes Dragon Warrior (what is this Dragon Quest nonsense :p)! My first jrpg, video game rpg (unless you count og Legend of Zelda), and rpg in general. Thank to my cousin's Nintendo Power sub, he effectively gifted me the game and I was obsessed for like a year until Final Fantasy came out. Then it was DW II and Final Fantasy II (er I mean IV).
The final Nester comic actually made me feel a little emotional when I first read it. It was cool to see Nester grown up with a kid just like some of us.
Truly the saddest thing about that final comic is it's reference to them playing a Wii U game. I mean ironically it's a game that's been moved to the switch but it's kind of hilarious to have choice to be a hopeful ending kind of undercut by the fact it was referencing the least successful thing they've pretty much ever done.
I cried like losing a long time weird best friend that you don't let your cool friends make fun of I might not be a straight forward Nintendo fan but this was the most lovable awkward faced character I found after Sega died
Nester, Pak Watch, Counselors Corner, Classified Information, Top 30, Fun Club
Now playing, terms I remember to this day. 1988-2012 *GET THA POWWWR!!!* *NINTENDO POWER!!!!*
Bet you only just now seen it in this video. Probably didnt even knowing existed. Bet me. Anything for likes.
@@gertywhatagash_ Nope I own the issue. I actually bought 2 , one to read and another to keep sealed forever.
These magazines were my childhood. The month's arrival of Nintendo Power was the moment the whole month revolved around for me, it was great. Yeah, times changed, the magazine faded away, but it was fantastic back then and I'll always fondly remember it.
I never had a subscription to Nintendo Power, but I did manage to acquire their complete Super Mario 3 guide as a kid.
I read it and re-read it constantly, and by the time my family actually got a copy of the game I can remember playing it and accessing secret areas and items, much to the amazement and/or confusion of my siblings.
Now we just need an EGM episode where we finally figure out the identity of Sushi-X.
Sushi-X wasn’t one person, rather it was several of the reviewers for the magazine at the time
@@ragnakak
A composite basically, a conglomeration of multiple personalities.
Those guides were EVERYTHING. Starting with Dragon Warrior, if I recall correctly, and then Final Fantasy, etc.
@@ragnakak : That would help explain why, once the reviewer profiles switched to irl names and photos as opposed to pseudonyms, they never explicitly revealed it! (That I can remember.)
I mean, I'm pretty sure Ed Semrad *was not* a Battletoad.
Getting my issue one autographed by Howard Phillips was the hightlight of Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2019 for me. It lives in a frame permanently now.
That's awesome!
I used to get these and I even started with the Nintendo Fun Club. But I had no idea this stuff went on well into the 2000s. That's amazing.
I used to get the Fun Club News, but that wasn't the only one. Some of the publishers had their own free zines at the time. Sunsoft had a particularly cool one. Hudson too.
i started reading with issue number one. I even called the hotline, and got the dragon warrior game that came in free. i remember i had to call to make them send it to me. we didnt had a phone at my house, so i had to walk like half a mile to the public phone. this was puerto rico and i was pretty much the only person who spoke english in my neighborhood. i loved this thing.
I had Nintendo Power back in middle school during the late SNES and N64 era, I remember read through the magazines just to unlock playable characters and certain game modes! This was so popular in the pre-internet video game era! Even when I stopped subscribing to Nintendo Power when the GameCube was launched, I occasionally bought a magazine when they have certain GBA games like Zelda and Metroid Fusion!
Back when I worked at NOA, one of our long term reps had collected every Nintendo Power from her days as a Game Counselor up to 2010 when she was laid off. They took that collection and put it in the middle of the call center for anyone to read, right from issue #1.
A few years later, one of our chat reps got a call from someone asking if we had a specific Legend of Zelda map from an issue of NP. He managed to find it, take pics with his phone, then have someone on our EMail team email it to him. Made my day when I heard that.
That's an awesome story! Thanks for sharing!
I was a late bloomer to Nintendo Power. I've played Nintendo games since '86, and I didn't get my first issue of Power, until June 1997 (#97, Clay Fighter 63 1/3). And from there, I was there until the end. It was sad to see it go. I wish there was some way to revisit some of those old issues and player guides.
Issue 8 - Duck Tales was my first issue.
I remember calling the Nintendo Power Hotline (the free one) when I was about 7 and I needed help hooking up the AV cable because I had only used the RF connector before that point. The game counselor answered my question really quickly then talked with me about Mario for probably 10 - 15 minutes. Asking what my favorite level was, what enemies I thought were fun, etc. It was a very memorable experience. :)
It was so exciting getting the new Nintendo Power magazine back in the day. As I grew up I wasnt able to keep my subscription (never using my power points in the shop either). It broke my heart seeing advertising in the magazine years later. Finding this video & reading Nester's final comic gives me closure. I still have my magazines till whatever year I stopped. Thank you for this video.
Nintendo Power does live on in official Nintendo marketing channels as a podcast these days. It's a pretty good one. But really the true inheritor of Nintendo power is the Nintendo Direct. I;'ve heard someone describe getting monthly Nintendo Power magazines in the mailbox as 'directs' before there was such a thing, and i think they are right. It's a package of news, information and previews in the pre youtube days of the 90s and 2000s.
That same personality and atmosphere is there. The only difference is that Nintendo has their own perspective from Japan, and Nintendo Power were responding from their point of view in US
I have a lot of good memories of Nintendo Power. Actual game news was cool, but it was their in-dept strategy coverage which attracted me. They pioneered a system of photographing a game screen-by-screen and then collaging them together to form a map which was both artistic and useful. It was so popular that several other magazines ripped off the idea.
Those Metroid maps were a godsend
. I remember my grandmother getting me the year subscription to Nintendo Power at 10 years. The claymation comics, news articles, and cheat codes for my favorite parts of the magazine
No matter how many years pass, I still miss this magazine.
The full map for Metroid was something that revitalized my love for that game. That was something tucked into a corner of one page in issue one, but it was the most valuable part of that magazine for me.
10:58 Yeah I remember when Capcom had a free help line you could call, and I called them a LOT! There was always the same grumpy lady answering the line and then transferring to the counselors. I'll never forget how satisfied she sounded when she told me they now used a 900 number.
I actually teared up when you were talking about the last Nester comic. I never owned an NES or a SNES, but I read my friends’ copies of Nintendo Power religiously.
I remember I was gifted a subscription when there was a holiday promo that gave a free copy of Dragon Warrior. Not only were the Howard and Nester comics great but they also did a Mario & Link comic which was equally great.
Minor correction: The Nintendo Family Computer at its launch was only known unofficially as the Famicom, as the trademark for the word "Famicom" was owned by Sharp, and used in 1979 on a range of home cooking electronics called the "Family Convection Oven". During its early days, the marketing team at Nintendo had to be extremely careful not to use the slang term its customers used for its product. By the time the 16-bit console came about, though, Sharp and Nintendo had worked out a deal so that the new system could officially be called the Super Famicom.
Getting this magazine in the mail in the 80s felt like Christmas. It was the only place I knew about to see upcoming games. When that issue arrived in the mail, you could be sure that the next day on the bus to school that EVERYONE was combing through it. When it first came out, that magazine was a BIG deal.
Absolutely wild. I was just telling my daughter about Nintendo Power not 5 hours ago when this video was being posted. She was racing her ghost in Mario Kart and I was telling her the time I tried to win the Mario Kart 64 challenge contest the magazine was running. Told her about the Mario and Link comics and the previews of new games. She wanted to know why they don't make it anymore. I told her that people just stopped buying magazines. "Well I'd buy it!" she said.
You should get her Nintendo Force Magazine that was mentioned in the video! I've been getting it for the past two years now. It's a lot of fun, and it even has comics and posters. It's only a little over $5/ issue on Patreon and comes out every other month. Sounds like she'd get a kick out of it!
Your daughter sounds like she has good taste. I'm glad our generation has those memories to pass on. It's nice to see that
The era of the comics in the magazine was truly a golden era.
11:26 Fun fact about the Howard and Nester comic: Nester used the phrase "Well excuse me" in the context of Legend of Zelda about six months BEFORE the DiC Legend of Zelda cartoon EVER aired on the Super Mario Brothers Super Show. It was Issue 7 I think, right around the time Zelda II was coming out. The context is that Nester's in a library and loudly dropped a book titled "The Adventure of Link". Since it was only other library patrons giving him dirty looks, he doesn't end the line with "Princess" but still, Nester said it first.
(He then proceeds to start daydreaming about being in Hyrule. Out loud. While acting out his fantasy on top of library tables. Gets dragged out by his ear.)
I'm glad Gail's nickname was brought up, she's what made NP so great and clearly you guys did your homework. NP was my first magazine subscription starting with issue eight and ending at issue 67 so I could sub to EGM, my parents wouldn't pay for both.
This hit me in the feels at the end. My best friend got that first issue and I just remember the obsessive happiness of flipping through it that first weekend we held it. I didn’t get an actual subscription until near the end when I got a year for free and was getting my news online but I still smiled warmly when it arrived in the mailbox.
Also; the comics were the BEST. Seeing manga about Mario, Link, and Metroid was so cool.
I love those comics so much. I had a friend who was a big Zelda fan and I remember showing her the LttP comic they ran. We just flipped thru the pages in awe of how great it was. As you know, comics based on games were relatively rare at the time and getting such good ones in a magazine I already got was almost like getting them for free as a bonus. My friend, Desi, liked the Super Mario comics the most and my favorite was Zelda. I hung out at her house a lot and we read those over and over again. We both loved Nintendo in general too and we bought most of our games because we saw them in NP. We both had an NES and a Game Boy (then SNES and GBC later on) and our parents were willing to buy us a few games a year so we strategized. She would get one and I would get another one and we traded back and forth. Such great memories. That was a fun time
I did have a subscription to Nintendo Power up until the early 90s. Had plenty of maps and guides of games I played. I have many fond memories of going over every little details in those issues as soon as I got them. I miss the Howard and Nester comics.
Those pre-internet days are oddly nostalgic.
Who else remembers the sheer joy of seeing the new issue of Nintendo Power in their mailbox or coming home from school and seeing the new issue on the kitchen table with the rest of the mail? It was like an instant high!
Man, another great video. What a great reminder. I loved Nintendo Power, for many of the reasons people have already said in the comments and I really miss it. Heck, I miss print publications in general because they feel so much like a treasure trove of stuff to find and pour over rather than present articles for short attention spans online. Nintendo Power excelled in this, even for games I wasn't initially into and I would absolutely get a subscription if it ever came back. It really makes me think about all the publishers back then and how well they responded to who-knows how many customers and kids calling or writing in about countless topics.
I just want to say, if you were a Game Counselor or did any sort of reply to letters in the mail, a massive THANK YOU for going above and beyond. It was a huge joy to me as a young (possibly insufferable) kid to get the incredibly kind and professional feedback and tailored responses from people like you.
For Nintendo's Game counselors, I was so frustrated with the NES Legend of Zelda that I called a game counselor for help with Level-9. This was around 1992. The counselor was incredibly friendly and charitable. They mailed me maps for Zelda (which if I recall seemed to be photocopies of hand-drawn maps!), but they also threw in game secrets I had never heard of and never would have found on my own. Specifically, they had instructions for Super Mario Bros: how to get to the Minus World, and how to become Little Fire Mario. I was blown away and nobody I knew had ever heard of the latter.
That and all the many letters I wrote in to Capcom (about Megaman) and Konami (about Castlevania), and Konami wrote me back with very detailed (multi-page) and heartwarming responses. Such good memories.
For years my father would renew my subscription to Nintendo Power for me as a birthday present. I looked forward to it arriving every month. ❤
When the magazine ended, it still had around 400k subscribers. Just Nintendo wanted it to end and well, Nintendo Directs and shows like Nintendo Minute on their CZcams channel became a thing
I don't remember what my first issue was, but I remember that I got my mom to renew my subscription when they offered the Dragon Warrior Promo. I really enjoyed Nintendo Power. I even remember writing a letter to Howard Phillips when I had a question about The Super Mario Bros. 3 Cartoon that they had mentioned. I got a letter back from him, with an answer. It was an amazing thing to a kid.
Halloween 1989. The date I received my first issue of Nintendo Power. DuckTales was on the cover and I wanted the game solely based on the coverage. I got it that Christmas. I kept a subscription until I went to college and got a PlayStation (subsequently switching to PSM as my new subscription of choice, also featuring EIC Chris Slate). I lived Nintendo in the 90s, with every month having me eagerly anticipating the next issue. The Final Fantasy Strategy Guide had me planning out my playthrough long before I ever got it. It is a strong part of my childhood and lives on via Nintendo Force.
Nintendo Pudding feels like a thing that did exist in Krogers back in like 1992
I had subscriptions to practically every U.S. game magazines.
Nintendo Power, EGM, EGM2, Gamepro, Tips ‘N Tricks, PSM, OPM, Gamefan….
Truly shaped my childhood. I still have basically 99% of the magazines in storage these days.
Most of my Nintendo Power memories stem from how my middle and high school used to have issues during the mid-late 90s at their libraries during the transition of Super Nintendo to N64. I often copied codes into a notebook or hand-made strategy guides I remember making from the ground up on certain games. It was also around this time when I slowly discovered the joys of the internet, but I still revisited the books and at one point my Aunt even had a subscription for her Kids. Eventually, they gave those issues to me and due to space and having to move, I ended up giving them to a game store I'm a regular at knowing they'd have better use to someone else...
I have an affinity for this magazine. So much so that I actually have the final issue, as well as hanging up a poster on my wall with all the covers of each issue. It is a shame to see this go, but it will forever live on in the hearts of every Nintendo fan.
Only got hand-me-down issues from friends, but they were so cool back then. Hard to describe how exciting it was to read up on what was coming out. It actually made the games more exciting than they otherwise would have been.
Oh my god did I love that magazine. One memory that sticks out is while I never owned or played that first Final Fantasy, and can’t tell you how many times I read the FF strategy guide issue. It made that game seem like the coolest thing ever to young me.
Loved Final Fantasy 👍
While I never owned a subscription to Nintendo Power, I did dabble in the local Library's collection from time to time. But had I read it in 2002, I would have probably picked up a copy of Shantae in 2002/3 instead of nearly twenty years later when Limited Run did the reprint. I'm still happy with the time I had reading it.
As a kid, I was just as excited to get my monthly *NINTENDO POWER MAGAZINE* as I was my *MAD MAGAZINE* & my *XMEN & AMAZING SPIDERMAN COMICBOOKS* 🤔
I've been lucky to find tons of them at garage sales. My Super Mario 3 issue sits in a frame on my wall.
Getting a Nintendo Power magazine was an experience. All the colors and screenshots and the hope of one day playing the games. I used to love the Nestor comics. Nestor was cool and Nintendo could have made a bigger effort to make him more of an included character or mascot in the fandom.
Used to love anytime anything Mario dropped in NP.
I miss video game magazines. One thing the early online walkthroughs didn t have were bright, colourful screenshots and wonderful presentation, they were usually just text-based with crude maps made out of dashes and slashes, lol. Now it's different, with all the online tutorials and reviews from gamers, not just journalists, but yet, you still can't beat holding something physically in your hands and treasuring it, and I don't think that feeling will ever go away.
As a kid in Mexico, my grandma used to buy me each issue of Club Nintendo. Even after my parents moved us to the U.S., Grandma would mail me every new issue. I remember how excited I was to open a new magazine each month, reading all the previews, and looking at all the amazing maps and screenshots. It was like getting lost in a world only you and your friends understood. I still credit the Club Nintendo Street Fighter II special issue strategy guide with teaching me how to play the game properly 😂.
I still have most of them stashed away. Might be time to re-read them again...
I still remember having to explain to my grandmother why I was making so many long distance phone calls to Redmond, WA.
i still have my first issue of nintendo power!!!!
i was in third grade and we got the NES in 1987.
my dad and i always played the zelda games together, (from the very first game and lasted until twilight princess) and the magazine was something i would read and get excited over games and then we would go to the store and buy more games.
the 80s was the best time to be alive 😊
i still try to get him back into gaming but he keeps resisting 🙃
I got my name in Nintendo Power when I was kid for beating Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers. It was the Metalstorm issue. That was one of the coolest things that happened as a kid.
I remember finding out about the N64 and Virtual Boy with this magazine!
I loved it so much!
3:40 Slight correction: the Famicom did *not* have a lockout chip, which caused Nintendo a lot of quality and bootlegging problems in Japan. This led to the NES getting a lockout chip and more restrictive cart production in America. Also, those changes - plus the "seal of quality" - did double-duty by helping reassure US buyers that Nintendo was a safe investment.
My name is in an issue of Nintendo Power. Remember when they had their section high scores? I was in there as beating The Legend of Zelda A Link to the Past with three heart containers. The challenge was actually for 4 heart containers but you don’t have to pick up the very first one. I think they had to print several months worth of names. I remember having to take a picture of the screen with a film camera of course. Then waiting until the rest of the roll was used up. Wait for my mom to take it to the store to get developed. Wait for that to finally mail the picture in to Nintendo Power. I’m sure the whole process was probably 6 months or more to see my name in the magazine. Well worth it.
I remember getting that first issue in 6th grade and going through it over and over with my friend while we waited for Super Mario Bros 2 to come out.
The comics they periodically serialized in the 90s such as Super Mario Adventures, Star Fox, Super Metroid, and Link to the Past were incredible. The Mario and Zelda ones are available in trade paperback format but the Metroid and Star Fox ones haven't been reprinted.
Those comics are still some of my favorite comics ever. I found the Metroid and Star Fox comics online and downloaded them a few years ago. I still read all of them periodically. My friend and I used to read them for hours. She liked the Super Mario comics the best and I liked the Zelda one. We both got the magazines and read them over and over. I was surprised how good they were and they still hold up very well
My grandmother got me a subscription to Nintendo Power, and the renewal became my birthday gift every year. It was like a monthly birthday present to kid me.
The Mario comic that ran in Nintendo Power is something I own the full book for. It’s a genuinely well-written and funny comic, and probably the best portrayal any of the characters have had. Princess Toadstool and Bowser especially are the standout characters.
Highly encourage anyone to look it up.
i was a long long member when I was young. I loved the ability to call nintendo directly through the numbers in the back. I would just ask, "What are you working on?" Hearing about the "Dolphin" before the n64 came out was awesome. I might have been a lil lonely. 😀 Also, the game comics! And also, the Star Fox Ship model!
Being the rebels we were, we had the Sega Master System. No one ever came over to our house to play video games :).
I loved Nintendo Power from the get go. I used to take my issues to school to read. I was a subscriber from fun club news #5 for 20 years. I ultimately stopped renewing when the format was strictly wii based as I did not own a wii 😢. I’ve since gone back to collect those final issues. I almost have them all. Maybe a dozen or so left to get. Great memories! I’m glad I was along for the ride.
I had every issues until a basement flood ruined them all. I only had to call they help 900 number once, they helped me in like 3 minutes, IIRC I was stuck on progress in Shadowrun on the SNES for like 2 months before my mom allowed me to call.
I didn’t expect a Death Wish 4 clip included with the history of Nintendo Power, but what a pleasant surprise.
Growing up in the 90s, I LOVED Nintendo Power. It's prettg surprising that it lasted so long. That's cool that they brought back Nester as an adult, for the final issue.
Just like many of the cartoons covered on this channel, Nintendo Power was a staple of my Childhood and had me looking forward to every new issue for gaming insights.
Man, I remember how awesome it was when my Uncle Who Worked For Nintendo would give me the newest Nintendo Power magazines a whole two months before they were printed. At first, the smell of sulfur coming from the pages was a bit off putting, but now that smell has such a nostalgic pull.
I was a fun club member and remember receiving the first Nintendo Power. Man…. That was an awesome day. 10 year old me was so excited.
My High school friend Isaac called into the tip line so much that he became friends with the operators. That somehow turned into his name being a secret code in a NES game called “Low G Man”, him being hired at Nintendo, and at some point providing the voice for Toad in Mario Kart 64, and having his vocals blended with someone else to create the voice for Eyedol in Killer Instinct on SNES. He was even spotted on Mtv when they did a feature on Nintendo…
My first Nintendo Power issue was the Tetris one and I kept my subscription up into sometime in the N64 coverage. I ordered all the back issues I was missing and still have all the magazines. I'll still sometimes break them out when watching retro gaming streams.
Somewhere, I still have my Nintendo Power POGs, too
I still have my issue 1 and a lot of other issues from the late 80's. I had a Subscription to Nintendo Power for 2 or 3 years in High School. My friends and I all shared games with each other. It was great times back then. When we were not outside riding bikes, playing sports, walking etc.. we were playing video games or watching movies. Great times back then.
I remember Nintendo power magazine! Nostalgia! 🤩🤩❤️❤️❤️🎮🎮🎮
My fondest memory of Nintendo Power is, in elementary school, I had to go to on-site after school care, anyway there was a kid who had a subscription and every time he’d get a new issue he’d bring it and a bunch of us would swarm and go over each issue. Good times! I still have a couple of issues that I had gotten of the newsstand.
Was gifted my NES in Xmas '87, and got the last two issues of the Nintendo Fanclub Magazine. I was absolutely enthralled by Nintendo Power soon after, and maintained a subscription (including several calls to customer service to replace a lost/mis-delivered issue) until the early 00s. Sadly, I moved in '08, and was forced to toss all those issues, which was heartbreaking. Nintendo Power was everything a game could want.
(As an aside, it took me an uncomfortably LONG time to realize Nester was a play on NES.)
1:55 So, in high school gym, I managed to break my foot. It was first period, and the nurse couldn't get ahold of either of my folks, so I spent pretty much the whole day in the nurse's office. This very issue of Nintendo Power was in my backpack and I must've read it cover to cover at least eight times.
I was a NP Subscriber from Jan 1990 to 2001. Every time I got an issue in the mail it made me really happy. Loved the layout and maps. The Posters were really cool, and lined my walls up with them as a kid.
I remember getting Nintendo power just for the walkthroughs! Especially for the super Metroid one!
Thanks for ordering these for me Dad, Rest In Peace Pops, passed away 9 months ago
In France there was a smallish, mail only , free monthly issue called imaginatively "Club Nintendo". It was mostly ads for upcoming releases, but there was a bit of lore too, some tips etc. I didn't own a NES but my neighbour did, and we religiously used to read it together every month 😊
I went back to collect some of the issues and managed to get the very first ten.
Man they are a trip!! Such creativity and imagination illustrating and describing the games good or bad.
We’ve come a long way in technology and in that regard I do appreciate what we now have. But old gaming mags like Nintendo Power will indeed be sorely missed.
I confess, as a kid I dialed the Nintendo councilor hotline just to talk to someone about video games. I also had a subscription to Nintendo Power for a year.
And I didn't even own a Nintendo system!
The pokemon guide inserts were the best issues ever still have some of them. the original art style will always be the best
I was a subscriber from Volume 50 to the very end. I had the Ocarina of Time poster framed and have it hanging on my wall. I never had any of my letters printed in Player's Pulse, but I did get to draw a couple comics for Nintendo Force.
Nintendo Power was great. I was a subscriber around the time Issue 100 came out. My favorite thing was that they never really lost the helpline attitude. I wrote in a couple of times when I'd find a roadblock in a game and each and every time they'd send me a letter back giving me tips and helping out. I wish I still had the letter they sent with the location of all the heart pieces from Link to the Past.
Had a subscription for nearly a decade, 1993 - 2003'ish. I still have all the posters from all my original issues, but my wife made me toss out my stash of gaming magazines when we first got married (said stash consisted of several other gaming magazine subscriptions from back in the day including eight or nine years of GamePro, EGM, Game Fan, and probably one or two others, so there just wasn't any room in our tiny first apartment). Over the years since, though, I have managed to collect several key issues, including issue #1. As far as I'm concerned, Nintendo Power will always be one of the greatest special interest periodicals ever printed.
I was a subscriber from 96 to around 2000. I loved getting it in the mail. But towards the end of my sub the format changed and they had more advertising...like "regular" gaming mags. By then I just switched to EGM.
I remember having Nintendo Power while I had the SNES and N64. But once I got a PS2 I moved over to GamePro magazine. Those were the days. I used to love those magazine, and would re-draw alot of the characters as an artistic kid.
3:49 Love the use of portmanteau.
My subscription started with Issue Number 3, and it kept going until about 1996 or so, when I unfortunately through my entire collection in the trash for some reason. Nintendo power and its secrets were invaluable in the days before you could look up any game code online.
We subscribed for years, up through the bulk of the SNES era. Before the magazine started running ads and appeared in bookstore newsstands. One of their counselors gave me the strategy to beat Steelbeak in the NES Darkwing Duck game, though through traditional mail as opposed to the phone line (but like within a week, crazy fast!). It was such a great magazine.
I still remember when that first issue arrived in the mail for free. It was amazing.
Same here. I still remember my Mom coming into my room early in the school year one night and handing me the 2nd issue with Castlevania 2 on the cover. I totally flipped out! LOL
The final issue cover referencing the first was a great touch.
I was "THAT" kid in school with a subscription from the start. I started charging a quarter to pass on codes, not because I wanted to profit off what I knew, but because I got tired of telling people the same codes over & over. 😵💫
I remember it fondly, though.
My favorite Nintendo power moment was after recently finishing Metroid on the NES - finding a full page ad for Metroid for game boy getting so excited.
I was a member of the Fun Club, so I got the first issue free. I dithered about and missed the next two issues but ultimately subscribed and stuck with it into the early Gamecube era. A lot of what I found enchanting about those earliest issues- the layouts, the maps, the screenshots, all those goofy context-free Japanese drawings like the Gossip Gremlins- had been filtered out by the time I let my subscription lapse. The 3D era of gaming made those painstakingly photographed maps like the ones in the River City Ransom review redundant. I bought the final issue when I saw it on a newsstand and said, "The world I grewed up in is gone."
I racked up a huge phone bill with that 900 number. It wasn't even a counselor just a recording. But I did end up meeting Howard Phillips in 2019. Amazing guy loves to talk about Nintendo and his time there.
I'll admit that as a early 90's kid, by the time I was old enough to Game, the 8 and 16 Bit eras had, for the most part, passed. But looking at reviews of 8-bit, or even earlier, games designed to be as convoluted and obtuse as possibly to increase longevity and sales of guides...I'm just glad gaming outgrew that by the time we got to Crash Bandicoot.
The year Santa surprised us with a NES, we also got a subscription to Nintendo Power. I suspect it was an attempt to get me into reading, which I didn't really need that much encouragement to get into to be fair. But I LOVED getting these. That one day a month was always so awesome.