Nintendo Power Ceases Publication

[Redstar]

A couple days late, though I felt it still important to post here that the venerable Nintendo Power magazine will be ceasing publication before the year's end.

Apparently, Nintendo itself no longer has any interest in working with the magazine. This is truly a shame.

While I haven't held a subscription in many years I still have my entire collection and fond memories of eagerly anticipating new issues each month. It was my sole source of information on the upcoming Gold and Silver versions of Pokémon and new Mario titles. I loved the Player's Pulse section and the rare editorial. The comedic sensibility of the magazine was great and always clever.

I noted a deterioration in quality once they began publishing sexualized advertisements and would respond to reader's letters with snark more often then the original mirth. While the writing and coverage remained spectacular the magazine as a whole just seemed to no longer contain the spirit of Nintendo itself.

Any other memories or thoughts?

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

Too many to count. Suffice to say, I've got nearly every issue (after having to reacquire many again late last year), and I'm going to miss the whole thing, inside and out.

I really need to take stock of what I've got, though. I know of about seven issues I'm missing, but I need to make sure...

My subscription runs out next September. It would have gone on longer, but for Amazon's stupid magazine service that I'll never use again...

[ultimateemail5000]

Who cares, the magazine stopped being intresting after the 16 bit era ended.

They were actually still interesting a few years ago. I had a sub for a year or two through 08-09, it's a shame it's ending in December. I'd like to go back and read old issues.

[Serum]

I only really read them from the beginning of the N64 era to the beginning of the GameCube era. Still, it's sad to see them go.

[Redstar]

Even after I had discontinued my subscription I used to pick up copies from the public library or magazine stand just to read Nintendo-focused news.

People rag on it for dropping in quality over the years, but that's really just a combination of a nostalgic perspective and the lack of truly groundbreaking games to cover. It was still a worthwhile read.

[1upmushroom]

To be honest, my parents never got me a subscription so I never actually grew up with Nintendo Power. Though, I would like to read the older issues.

[Phlibbit]

Do yourself a favor and find an eBay auction of some assorted back issues between launch and say...1998 or so. You won't be disappointed.

This is how I was introduced to the magazine--one of my best friends had a massive stack of NP mags that had been passed down to him from his brother. Whenever I would go to his house, I'd always dig the box out and read through a couple of new magazines each time. There's just something about Nintendo Power in that era; because it was one of the only legit sources of information on the Nintendo gaming scene at the time, it's like you have this incredible time capsule in each issue of what was popular, what was coming up, and what the general feel was at the time. Pretty incredible if you're into that sort of thing (like I obviously am). Eventually my friend passed a lot of those same issues down to me as birthday presents

Beyond that, I've been a loyal NP subscriber since Banjo-Kazooie came out back in 1998. Which means I also got the incredible "Biggest Issue EVER" featuring Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was seriously epic for a 11-year-old looking forward to his first 3D console and first 3D Zelda experience. I kind of feel like the magazine started to lose its steam and nostalgic flair around the time the Gamecube came out. It was like, 6 months or so worth of issues where the GCN hadn't come out and there were no new N64 games, so the magazine only had a handful of GBA games to focus on. And of course, it just wasn't really the same after Nintendo let the magazine slip out of their control and passed it off to Future.

I'm sure it's a combination of that and the advent of the internet/social media/etc that's killing magazines in general, but I'm still extremely sad to see Nintendo Power go.

[Redstar]

Alternatively, you can look into RetroMags for a near complete back catalog of Nintendo Power. The collection probably has holes in it now, though, due to many files being lost once MegaUpload was taken down.

[LBD_Nytetrayn]

Plus you now have to register, and jump through whatever other hoops...

[Redstar]

And, here we have it, the final cover of the magazine:

[ultimateemail5000]

That looks worth getting just for that cover. Very cool!I always enjoyed the clay figured covers, I wuold take them over CGI any day. Was it a sad issue to get, like a last eisode of your favorite tv show?

[Serum]

Ha, a fitting end.

"Life was such a wheel that no man could stand upon it for very long. And it always, at the end, came round to the same place again."
~ Stephen King, The Stand