What Gaming Magazines Did You Read As A Kid

[racketboy]

I usually checked out GamePro since they used to have an arcade section (back in the day).
Once I got my Genesis, I was into Sega Visions right before they died off.

How 'bout you?

[Mozgus]

Not many. I would go to my library to see their Nintendo Powers sometimes, usually when I wanted to find secrets in my NES games. No internet there until a few years later. I still remember when I read about the Megaman 2 boss bird background code. I always thought that was amazing.

When I got my Genesis in 1996 (right when it was dying off), they gave me a Game Informer subscription. I dunno what happened to those. Might have been worth some money today.

[All Hail The New Flesh]

EGM, I've always read EGM, in fact I still have my first issue that I ever bought (July 1993, Cover: Super Empire Strikes Back)

[grittykitty]

technically my first game mag was egm, back in june 92 i think (the ninja turtles in time cover). it opened up a whole new world to me, since at the time i only knew of my nes and my friend's genesis. my parents would buy me an egm maybe twice a year, and i finally got a nintendo power subscription in 3rd grade when i told my mom all my friends had one. that subscription was never consistent (on and off for about 3 or 4 years) but it was the mag i read the most until around the time zelda ocarina of time came out

[Perseid]

Compute's Gazette. It was in the C-64 era and it was partially a game news magazine but it was mostly full of type-in BASIC games. This was probably over 20 years ago now. Am I that old?

[risk]

egm, gamefan and gamepro. i didnt read any as a kid. i read stuff when i was a teenager

[Intangir]

I had a stint with Nintendo Power, enough to get a few of their VHS promos for one of the Donkey Kong Country games and Star Fox 64. But my favorite one was EGM. Remember how thick those old EGM magazines were? Good stuff. Don't have any subscriptions these days.

[lunar]

Mostly UK/AU magazines:
Sega Power (later Saturn Power), SMS Power, Gamesmaster, Mega (Sega) Zone, Hyper, Official Saturn Magazine, Edge.

Not sure if I got those names completely correct.

Nowadays I pick up the odd issue of Retro Gamer, good quality but a little pricey.

[alexkidd]

The 1992 EGM Buyer's guide was when I knew for sure I needed to be a "multi-system" guy. The part where they rated the systems made me want to add a ton of systems to the NES and Genesis I already had. Shortly after I had an SMS, SNES, TG-16, Lynx, Gamegear, etc... basically that issue drove me broke but I was happy.

I remember getting the first issue of nintendo power w/ SMB 2 on the cover and the strategy guides were great but I ditched it for multi-platform mags. I also somehow seemed to get every single issue of Sega visions despite never paying for it. I sent in every single sega registration card in my genesis games. Once Capcom sent me an actual video tape of SFII Championship edition for Genesis, that was a nice surprise after school.

Diehard Gamefan was really the magazine for anyone who was into imports or obscure systems, neo geo, etc... Their design style was really busy (i'm a designer/illustrator) and they had some typos, but each issue was just packed with info. I kind of regret junking my stack of Gamefans when I moved to Chicago a few years back.

I read Next Generation for a while too because they seemed to be the only magazine in 97-98 that realized that Saturn had some of the best games on earth like Panzer Dragoon Saga and Shining Force III. Gamefan, Ultra, and EGM seemed kind of anti-Saturn to me after the system struggled sales-wise in the US, while Next Gen just seemed to want unique experiences regardless of system.

[Liam]

Zzap64 for Commodore 64.

Computer & Video Games for all formats.