Great Gaming Magazines

[BurningDoom]

Nintendo Power has really upped the quality of their magazine. For a while it was nothing more than your standard previews and reviews. Not anymore. I mean, it still has those, but it feels more fun, like the Nintendo Power of old with more varied articles than just the standard fare.

I just picked up the latest issue of Nintendo Power because the cover promised the full reveal and launch line-up of the Nintendo Wii U. And it delivered in that department. It gave us a run-down on the awesome controller, the new abilities of the system, and a short preview of a bunch of the launch titles.

There was also an article dedicated just to New Super Mario Bros. 2.

But better than that, there was an ENTIRE section dedicated to 1987 NES releases. Oh man, this thing was soooo cool. And there was just something special about the NES and the year 1987, some fan-freaking-tastic titles like Metroid, Kid Icarus, The Legend of Zelda, Punch-Out, and others. RacketBoy should do year-by-year articles like that, it's custom-made for this site.

It had Virtual Console reviews that actually did the games justice, as well, rather than the usual "it's too dated for today", so pretty handy there.

And the most pleasant surprise was this section on billmudron.com. The guy makes these amazing hand-drawn maps of old NES games. He made them of Hyrule, The Mushroom Kingdom, and is working on a Castlevania one. The magazine said to go to billmudron.com to see the maps, but I didn't find them, I just found illustrations of characters.

There was also all these old-school inside jokes and quips throughout the magazine like a full page of fat rabbit from Star Fox just looking at you saying "Do a barrel-roll!" lol

I recommend picking this issue up for all the Nintendo fans out there.

[Michi]

I have a subscription, so my cover's a little different. It's got Pikmin on it.

I do agree though, that the quality's gone up quite a bit lately. A couple of years ago I wouldn't have bothered with a subscription, but the magazine's improved greatly over the last couple of years I think.

I enjoy the more frequent inside jokes and the little flashback to 87 as well. I think one of my favorite features in the magazine is one you've brought up already, the Community section. I think those impressive maps pretty much overshadowed everything else this issue, but I always like seeing the little Nintendo themed projects people put together. That plush Game Boy was pretty neat too.

[sbk]

Yea I am subscribed to NP also. Really good stuff. When I can I also pick up this UK magazine called Retro Gamer. It is really good.

[Pulsar_t]

I 'pick up' digital editions of games™ and Edge, to read on Kindle Fire, and the occasional print Gamesmaster, even though it has nothing on its glorious 1990s former self. I still avoid magazines with the "official" moniker like the plague.

[Michi]

...When I can I also pick up this UK magazine called Retro Gamer. It is really good.

Oh, I forgot about Retro Gamer. Good call. No one around here carries it, but when I go to the Barnes and Noble out of town I usually pick up a copy if they have it. I'd get a subscription, but it's kind of pricey

[CRTGAMER]

There is already a Thread with nine pages of Magazine and Book suggestions, including PDFs. Maybe both of these Threads should be merged?

Game Magazines and Books - Post yours: http://www.racketboy.com/forum/viewtopi ... 87#p280787

[sbk]

...When I can I also pick up this UK magazine called Retro Gamer. It is really good.

Oh, I forgot about Retro Gamer. Good call. No one around here carries it, but when I go to the Barnes and Noble out of town I usually pick up a copy if they have it. I'd get a subscription, but it's kind of pricey

Yea I pick up mine at Books A Million. Pricey is an understatement.

[Razzmatazz]

Nintendo Power sounds like Nintendo Gamer that we have in the UK. Which I admit, is my favourite game magazine as it also has the personal touch to it. Lots of fan interaction, including a page where gamers can write in to convince a "judge" whether a certain retro game is good enough to be voted into the "Vault", an area at the back of the magazine that documents the top 25 games for each Nintendo system. I think this is genius and the way they document old games equally to new games is why I have gone back to it, for the first time since N64/NGC.
I feel the Xbox magazines I have purchased in the past are only good for checking a review or two, they have no history or real fan emotion attached to them. Although as games libraries have got so big now, I miss the days where you could buy a game magazine and it would summarise every game for that system in a review directory. Now it is just "the top 50 Wii games" or "Best sports games", which is good in a way, but if I want to see what reception a specific game got, I can't unless I bought the issue with the review.

[sevin0seven]

Nintendo Power sounds like Nintendo Gamer...

i'm subscribe to both.

[prfsnl_gmr]

RIP old Electronic Gaming Monthly...you were the best.

(I have not read any issues of the "new" Electonic Gaming Monthly. How is it?)