Video Game Magazines

Files From Subcategories

1. 

   Famitsu Issue 1373 (April 9, 2015)

   By kitsunebi

   285 pgs
   I've always wondered just what type of game Senran Kagura is.  So I looked it up on Wikipedia, but after reading the entire description and not seeing the word "boobs" even once, I realized that the Wikipedia page must have been talking about some other game.
   

   110 downloads

   2 comments

   Updated May 9

2. 

   Famitsu Issue 1389 (July 30, 2015)

   By kitsunebi

   268 pgs
   A rare case of a Western game making the cover of Famitsu.  Minecraft, Witcher 3, and GTA V even crack the top 30 sales that week.  That's 10 percent!!  Western games on the rise?
   

   79 downloads

   0 comments

   Updated May 9

3. 

   Famitsu Issue 1390 (August 6, 2015)

   By kitsunebi

   I don't know much about Minecraft other than that it seems to function as the Oregon Trail of the current generation of kids in Japan (i.e. it's the most entertaining game you're allowed to play at school - granted we only got to see if we could avoid getting dysentery back in the day on the rare occasions when we had a class in the computer lab, while kids today get to whip out their school-provided tablets and play Education Edition Minecraft whenever they've got a free minute between classes.)
   But it must be a pretty decent game if kids are still playing it all these years later.  This issue, from 2015, previews a Minecraft clone...but it's Dragon Quest themed.  And yet here we are 10 years later, and the kids are still playing Minecraft, while Dragon Quest Builders is all but forgotten.  If a Dragon Quest Minecraft clone can't compete with the original in Japan, you know it's got something.
   

   70 downloads

   0 comments

   Updated May 9

4. 

   Famitsu Issue 1392/1393 (August 20/27, 2015)

   By kitsunebi

   268 pgs
   Fun fact: Although I scanned and edited this file in 2020 (couldn't upload it here due to the cutoff date), this was actually the very first magazine I ever (test) scanned with my first ADF scanner, way back in 2016.
   Debinding mags is a step that deters MANY a potential scanner.  People just have a hard time wrapping their brains around the concept that "to preserve you must destroy."  I eased my way in by debinding THIS mag to break in my (then) brand new ADF scanner, since I had two copies of it, so destroying one still left me with one intact.  I didn't scan the entire issue at the time, just the first 10 pages or so, and I later scanned the entire thing from scratch, which is what you'll get if you download this file.  But this mag popped my debinding cherry.  
   Now, of course, I'll debind anything that moves without batting an eye LOL.  And that extra copy I had of this issue?  Yeah, once this scan was complete, I just tossed that extra mag into the recycling as well.  Who needs it?  Isn't that the whole point of making a scan?
   What I'm saying is, becoming a scanner will change you.
        
   

   75 downloads

   1 comment

   Updated May 9

5. 

   PC Games Vol. 03 No. 07 (July 1996)

   By kitsunebi

   Scan Updated March 22, 2025   The demo disc included with this issue can be downloaded HERE

   415 downloads

   0 comments

   Updated May 9

6. 

   Game Player's PC Strategy Guide Vol. 2 No. 3 (July/August 1989)

   By kitsunebi

   "kitsunebi edition" is a label reserved for scans I release which are superior in some way to scans already available here, but in essence, ALL of my scans are "kitsunebi editions," since I always do my best to make my scans look as good as I can.  That doesn't mean that all scans require the same amount of effort, of course.  A mag in good shape printed on quality paper will be a much faster edit than a damaged mag printed on cheap, yellowed paper stock.  And paper stock doesn't come much cheaper than these early Game Player's titles.  So this certainly took as much time and effort to edit as any other "kitsunebi edition."
   But it's not really the aged paper that makes editing these such a hassle, it's the primitive and poorly reproduced screenshots throughout.  This mag is from the era where magazine screenshots were made by pointing a camera at a TV/monitor, and without a carefully controlled environment, every single photo seems to have a different hue and brightness caused by the varying lighting conditions under which it was taken.  This often necessitates editing each screenshot on a page separately, since, for example, something meant to be white is yellow in one screenshot, light blue in another, and a dull grey in a third.
   The end result isn't going to fool anyone into thinking this is a high budget mag from the 90s, but it's still the best this issue has ever looked.
   
   

   150 downloads

   1 comment

   Updated May 9

7. 

   Famitsu Issue 1394 (September 3, 2015)

   By kitsunebi

   236 pgs
   Supplement included
   This is (I believe) the most recent of any mag I've ever owned.  It goes without saying that I've never played any of the games within.  For some people, this mag is 10 years old.  For me, it's 20 years too new.
   

   77 downloads

   0 comments

   Updated May 9

8. 

   PC Games Vol. 03 No. 08 (August 1996)

   By kitsunebi

   *kitsunebi edition!*
   This is an all-new scan and upgrade to the other scan of this issue available here.  The following information is provided for the benefit of anyone unsure of which version they should download, or whether they want to replace their copy if they already downloaded the older scan.
   Improvements include:
   pages are saved at 3212 px height (around 300dpi) vs. the other scan's 2200 px (around 205 dpi) whiter whites brighter colors debound with heat gun to ensure full edge to edge scan (the other version has the gutter side of every page cropped off) images spread across facing pages are joined as seamlessly as possible more complete cover (due to a foldout ad on inside cover, part of the front cover image is actually printed on page 5 (if the pages of the foldout are counted separately).  This strip of image appears joined with the cover when the mag is closed.  This strip from page 3 has been edited together with the front cover to seamlessly show the full cover as a single image)  *see below for image comparison the aforementioned foldout ad is shown in its entirety.  This ad was designed so that, after opening the cover, you would see two facing pages.  Next, you would unfold the left page, which would display two new pages that would then seamlessly become a single 3-page image along with the original right-side page.  Thus, the right-side page would essentially be seen twice - facing the original left side page, and also as part of the three-page join once the left-side page was unfolded.  Both versions are included here for the first time to simulate the intended effect of the original ad. (One of the advantages of using a CBR reader is that this will cause no problems regardless of whether you are using single or two-page viewing mode.  If you are using a PDF reader (such as Sumatra) to read your CBR files the facing pages may not display correctly.  I strongly urge anyone still using a PDF reader to read CBRs to upgrade to a CBR reader like CDisplayEX or the alternative of your choice.) subscription cards included Comparison screenshots:
   cover/extended cover
    
   2-page joins - note the missing part of the image in the center of the older scan:
   
   
   In addition to general white/color differences, the cropping on the gutter side of the older scan is apparent even on pages that don't connect with facing pages. As you can see, the right of this page is cropped off in the older scan.  Viewing the older scan in two-page mode feels more cramped due to the lack of this gutter-side space:
      
    
   

   180 downloads

   0 comments

   Updated May 9

9. 

   Famitsu Issue 1316 (March 6, 2014) (supplement included)

   By kitsunebi

   The mag itself is 262 pages, and there's a 44 page PS4 supplement included for a grand total of 306 pages.
   

   72 downloads

   0 comments

   Updated May 9

10. 

    PC Games Vol. 03 No. 10 (October 1996)

    By kitsunebi

    Not all games that get front-cover treatment can be winners.
    

    178 downloads

    0 comments

    Updated May 9

11. 

    Famitsu Issue 1315 (February 27, 2014) (supplement included)

    By kitsunebi

    236 pgs including a 32 page "PlayStation Hardware Catalog" supplement featuring every variation of PlayStation console hardware ever produced in Japan prior to the PS4 (good lord, so many PSPs....)
    

    72 downloads

    0 comments

    Updated May 9

12. 

    Famitsu Issue 1314 (February 20, 2014) (supplement included)

    By kitsunebi

    220 pgs total: 188 pgs + 32 pg supplement
    Included with this issue is a supplement covering the top 50 best-selling games each for the PS1, PS2, and PS3. 
    What's the best-selling game out of all 3 systems?  Hint: it's not Final Fantasy VII (that one's not even in the top 5...)
    

    63 downloads

    0 comments

    Updated May 9

13. 

    Famitsu Issue 1312 (February 6, 2014)

    By kitsunebi

    61 downloads

    0 comments

    Updated May 9

14. 

    Electronic Entertainment Issue 18 (Vol.2 No.06) (June 1995)

    By kitsunebi

    *COMPLETE* kitsunebi Edition!
    The other scan of this issue available here is very good (albeit partially incomplete), so this is not a slight against that scan - I simply scan everything in my collection for my own sake.  It does offer some improvements, however, so if you want to decide if this new version is worth your trouble downloading, I'll try to highlight the differences below.
    Higher resolution (3200px high) than the older scan (2200px high) Whiter pages Debound with heat gun to get a complete scan, so every page has slightly more information on the gutter side Images that cross both pages have been better joined A complete scan has been made of an advertisement which was partially blacked-out in the old scan An 8 page fold out advertisement is included (missing from other scan) subscription card inserts are included (who cares, right? Not me. But they're here if you want them) Here are some comparison screenshots to help illustrate the above points (new scan is shown on top):
    
    
    I don't know what's going on with the older scan of the below ad - looks like part of it is covered with something?  Weird... But now fixed!
    
    Highlighting some of the gutter joins:
    
    
    Notice the album title: "To Bring You My Love" vs. "To Bring Yor Love" LOL.   (Little fish, big fish, swimmin' in the water.  Come back here, man, gimme my daughter.)
    
    And of course there's the 8-page fold-out ad which was missing entirely from the older scan (smushed into one pic here for your viewing convenience🙂)
    
    

    210 downloads

    1 comment

    Updated May 9

15. 

    Famitsu Issue 1359/1360 (January 1/8/15, 2015)

    By kitsunebi

    It's been a while since we've had one of these double-number issues of Famitsu, so for anyone out there who's confused, here's a brief explanation.  This is a single issue that is counted as two.  The preceding issue is numbered 1358 (December 25, 2014), and the following issue is numbered 1361 (January 15, 2015), making this issue #1359/1360.  This sort of thing happens 3 or 4 times per year.  It doesn't mean that the double issues are double length.  Sometimes they're longer than average, sometimes not (this issue is 280 pages, which isn't unusually long for Famitsu.) 
    What it DOES mean is that the staff took a vacation.  As you can imagine, turning out over 1000 pages of magazine per month is nothing to sneeze at (especially when you consider that Western mags were typically producing less than 100 pages of content per month), so a few times per year, the staff would be...ALLOWED TO SLEEP!!!  This particular mag came out around New Years, which is the biggest holiday in Japan.  Everything shuts down for 5 days or so while everyone stays home to celebrate with their families (its closest Western equivalent would be Christmas.)  So every year around this time, Famitsu releases a "double issue" so that its staff can enjoy the holiday like the rest of the country.
    But since this is Famitsu WEEKLY, I guess they don't want to break the illusion by having less than 52 issues per year, so whenever they skip a week, they just add an extra issue number to make up for it.  So since this issue was on newsstands for two weeks, it gets two issue numbers.  Kind of dumb, and definitely a pain in the ass when I was first putting together the database, but that's the way it is.  Now you know, and yadayadayadaYOJOE.
    

    84 downloads

    0 comments

    Updated May 9

16. 

    Dengeki PlayStation 120 (October 8, 1999)

    By kitsunebi

    Before writing in this box, I always do a quick flip-through of the mag and comment on whatever happens to strike my fancy, so to speak.  This time, it was Bruce Willis.  Bruce's rugged bald pate from the ad for his PS1 masterpiece, Apocalypse, really stood out from the rest of the ads, not to mention the rest of the games featured in the mag.  It's just so...Western.  Not that Apocalypse is the ONLY Western game to appear in this issue, but the other one is Crash Racing, and that's just cute enough to almost pass as a Japanese game.  But Bruce can't be bothered with cuteness, he's too busy blowing $@^& up.  Yippee kay yay, mother trucker.
    

    128 downloads

    6 comments

    Updated May 9

17. 

    Games for Windows Issue 15 (February 2008)

    By kitsunebi

    *kitsunebi edition!*
    Nothing wrong with the older scan of this issue previously made available, but I scan everything in my collection regardless, and I do feel that my version offers some improvements.  Most of those improvements are due to better debinding, which allows for better editing.  If you start with a guillotine cut in the debinding process, there's nothing you can do when editing to account for the part of the page you cut away.  As always, my scans are first debound with a heat gun, to allow for the entire page to be scanned.  This allows two-page joins to be edited together more seamlessly.
    Other differences include whiter pages and a higher resolution (3200 px vs the older scan's 2200).
    I've tried to show some of the differences with animated gifs this time.  Even though they're alternating back and forth, it should be easy to spot which of the two is this new, improved version, especially if you look towards the center of the join. 🙂
    *you can click on these gifs to see them in a larger window:
    
    
    
     
    And some joined pages of Games for Windows actually have a printed overlap, where the same part of the image is printed on both pages.  In this case, the older scan (despite having some of this overlap area cut away during debinding) still has part of the image appearing twice, whereas this newer scan has more seamlessly edited the pages to remove the doubled overlap:
    
    

    164 downloads

    0 comments

    Updated May 9

18. 

    Game Player's PC Strategy Guide Vol. 2 No. 2 (May/June 1989)

    By kitsunebi

    *RESTORED kitsunebi edition!*
    This is my new edit of marktrade's original scan and edit which is available in 600dpi at the Internet Archive.  Marktrade's scan was previously uploaded to Retromags, though that version does not appear to have received any additional edits aside from being resized closer to 300dpi and having the scan of the spine removed.
    What I have tried to do with my edit is to breathe some life into the scan and restore what had been lost to the ravages of time.  In many cases, the primitive photography used in the game screenshots demanded that each screenshot on a page be edited separately to more accurately restore some of the colors that may not have been captured correctly even when the mag was fresh off the presses.  I hope you will agree that this is the best the mag has ever looked, but if you prefer the naturally aged/yellow look, marktrade's perfectly fine original scan/edit can be found HERE.
    Here are some example pages of my edit compared with marktrade's edit (which is identical in appearance to the one previously made available here):
    
    
    
    

    195 downloads

    4 comments

    Updated May 9

19. 

    Famitsu Issue 1363 (January 29, 2015)

    By kitsunebi

    Flipping through this issue, I noticed a baseball game and wondered if...yep, there he is.  3 years before heading to America and entering the MLB, look who it is - the currently-highest-paid (best?) player in the game, Mr. Shohei Ohtani:
    
    I realize most of you are nerds who stay inside all day, hating sports and sports games alike.  I happen to be a nerd who stays inside all day hating sports, but has been known to enjoy a sports game or two (back when I played games, that is.)  This guy goes beyond sports star, though.  He's a national hero here in Japan, and by far the biggest celebrity.  Basically, he's the Japanese Taylor Swift.  They let the kids here watch the final game of the World Series (which Ohtani's Dodgers won) in school like it was the moon landing or something.
    In this game, he's still playing for the Nippon Ham Fighters.  Did I ever mention that Japanese sports teams have stupid names?  Actually, the team name is "Fighters," but rather than name teams after the city they're in, they name them after whatever giant corporation owns the team.  It's super-lame.  So rather than the Sapporo Fighters, allowing people in Sapporo/Hokkaido to wear their hometown team's merch with pride, they have to basically be wearing an advertisement for Nippon Ham, a giant meat/food corporation.  Plus, when you say it out loud, it sounds like they fight ham.
    

    102 downloads

    4 comments

    Updated May 9

20. 

    Games for Windows Issue 16 (March 2008)

    By kitsunebi

    2007 Games of the Year issue.  One of which is Sam & Max: Season One.  Sam & Max is no Monkey Island, but the original LucasArts adventure still holds a place in my heart.  I still have a cap with a flaming Max head on it.  And when my mom got two new kittens this past summer, I tried to get her to name them Sam and Max.  She didn't go for it, though. 🥲
    

    144 downloads

    0 comments

    Updated May 9

21. 

    Famitsu Issue 1364 (February 5, 2015)

    By kitsunebi

    276 pages.  Includes a review catalogue reprinting all 123 cross-reviews (the 4-person review format which EGM copied from Famitsu) which appeared in the second half of 2014.
    

    106 downloads

    0 comments

    Updated May 9

22. 

    Famitsu Issue 1362 (January 22, 2015)

    By kitsunebi

    This magazine is 212 pages, which is fairly reasonable for Famitsu.  They're usually a bit longer, though issues exceeding 300 pages aren't common.  Considering they put this thing out on a weekly basis, it's still a remarkable amount of pages per month, sometimes entering quadruple digits. 
    But this issue also has an ad for a Monster Hunter strategy guide, which weighs in at 1,568 pages.  That's more pages than an entire year's worth of any Western game mag published contemporaneously with this issue.   That's pretty impressive, I'll give you that. 
    I'll also give you a slap on the face if you ever ask me to scan it. 🙂
    

    94 downloads

    5 comments

    Updated May 9

23. 

    LOGiN 361 (April 2006)

    By kitsunebi

    You know those coffee table art books?  The ones with the super-thick, high-quality paper?  Imagine a gaming magazine printed like that.  And lo, here it is.  This mag is higher quality than any gaming mag ever printed in the Western world, and that's a fact.  Every single page was higher quality than the covers of Western mags.  Granted, it cost 1100 yen (at the time, around $11-12), but damn, this is one fine-looking mag.  Or it was, before I yanked all of its pages out, ran it through my scanner, and tossed it into the recycling.  😱 
    Scanners can't be seduced by pretty things.  All will fall before the heat gun.
     
    Oh yeah, and you can get the demo disc HERE if you want.
    

    106 downloads

    0 comments

    Updated May 9

24. 

    PCGames (January-February 1991)

    By SergioCurti

    PCGames (January-February 1991)
    

    126 downloads

    0 comments

    Submitted May 7

25. 

    Famitsu Issue 0197 (September 25, 1992)

    By kitsunebi

    Breaking news.
    
    

    71 downloads

    0 comments

    Submitted May 6