Leaderboard

wow, really? I forget just how many issues they made, I know they eventually would stop, but I never realized it was so close. I have looked a few times at the magazine racks at a Walmart lately, and there weren't ANY videogame mags on them that I could see. It makes sense, but I remember a time when you could find 8-10 different vg magazines on shelves (console and pc) and then you had the standalone tip and code books that showed up around holidays. It was awesome, so its fun reliving those times through all the work you curators and team members put into releasing these to us. Its more than a hobby to many of us. It was pure joy and excitement delivered every month from any mags we could afford. Even though I never had the money to buy everything I wanted, looking through these issues was like having a window into seeing them in person for myself. Later I would have a job and earn money for some of these games and consoles, but it was these magazines that started my interest as a kid. Thank you all for that. And thank you E-Day, for your hard work on so many of these issues that I have enjoyed over the last 10+ years or so. I can't send a donation right now, but I've been trying to respond with a "thanks" on every issue I've downloaded throughout the years. And I've tried to say thanks to each one of you that makes this site possible. I don't have much, but this is the least I can do. Thanks for your time.

Another less-than-perfect release, but I'm slowly learning.

A true journalist always knows where the butts are bared.

This should be the final issue for inCite PC Gaming, the magazine that tried to bolster its readership by advertising it was ONLY 99 cents per issue at launch. It wasn't a lie, but you needed to order the 12-month subscription for inCite Video Gaming at $11.88US, otherwise it was $4.99 on the newsstand. The sister publication was inCite Video Gaming which covered console games, but it also didn't last long. inCite PC Gaming was $1.99 per issue if you bought the 12-month subscription at $23.88. Plus it had a CD with demos and videos. Thanks for these issues, JimJam78. I only bought a handful of them on newsstands back in the day, but I can't remember which exact publications I had, so it's nice to have everything on the PC Gaming side of it now. Highlights From this Issue: We have the review for Diablo II (5 out of 5) followed immediately by Daikatana (3 out of 5), something you don't see often. This is a rather unremarkable PC gaming magazine for its time. It is most remembered for its celebrities on the cover that had nothing to do with gaming, for the most part. This PC version wasn't as bad as I remembered, but the console version had a different team, and the writing wasn't as good.

I've got fifteen issues from VGHF left to edit, plus two issues of my own. Once I'm finished the only issues we'll be missing are 51, 65, 71 and 79.

Woohoo! My first PSM donation arrives! Thanks, @MigJmz!

and with that all 13 issues of Nintendo Power 2009 are preserved!

I submitted a drawing and it was published on this issue. I didn't win though... It's the Mario, Knights, and Crash Bandicoot drawing.

I love seeing these early issues of CGR! Thanks so much for getting this edited and uploaded, @MigJmz!

Damn it. I was going to go back and try to teach you how to "dougie," but then I realized I've only heard that line in a Bruno Mars song, so I don't know how to do it myself. Well, played. You are the master. Oh, and thanks for these, Game Players is one of my favorite mags but most of that comes from the later years with Frank O'Connor, Francesca Reyes, Roger Burchill, Mike Salmon and others. There wackiness was fun, and I had many issues of Ultra Game Players and the included CD-ROMs. [not anymore, though] But I did enjoy these very early ones since they were some of the earliest dedicated vg mags on newsstands in the late 1980's.

Where are pages 53-60?

This is an amazing find to put on the site for all gamers. I was ALWAYS baffled when other reviews would talk about how this game would actually transport you any time you would use a spiral stairs or on an elevator, I never understood how they knew this stuff, but clearly, they either spent time designing their own levels or they had this book (the chances of them doing both is impossible, so let's not talk about it:) I don't know if the way you design maps is done the same way today or if newer tools exist -- but this still has a TON of great info. You even have 17 tips from Richard "Levelord" Gray himself. Along with ideas from Alen H. Blum III, the two men that have used the Build engine more than anyone else (at the time of this publication). Even if some things have changed, you get step-by-step instructions in this massive 348-page tome. You are taught how to create sectors. How to embellish walls, ceilings and floors. Not to mention panning and scaling it all. You will be shown how to place sprites and manipulate them, and they go over all the special types of sprites. Aside from the programing language, there is a number of instructions on how to create good levels and deathmatch maps. The included CD-ROM file is a nice extra, not having to track it down separately makes it more enticing. Thank you for preserving this Areala, and making it available to all of us.

Japanese computer gaming definitely had its place within Japan for a while, but never on PC. Japanese systems like the PC-88 and PC-98 had a lot of influential games, but by the time those died out and only the PC remained, Japanese developers had pretty much moved exclusively into console development, leaving nothing but visual novels (x-rated or otherwise) being developed on the PC front. Open up a Japanese video game mag like Famitsu, and you might be surprised at how little coverage there is of Western games. So Play Online is probably the most unique Japanese gaming mag ever created, since it features almost no coverage of Japanese games, as there were barely any "serious" PC games being developed in Japan by the time it was in publication. Some of the games they're covering aren't even localized into Japanese.

Highlights of this Issue: There are a lot of tips and codes, along with a few previews. But then you get to the main feature. Pokemon Stadium 2 (n64) gets 10 pages of content you can still use today, Mario Tennis (GBC) has 4 pages, and Conker's Bad Fur Day (n64) has 11 pages of strategies, up to chapter 8. There's a page that mentions all the movie parodies in the game, and I never realized they got away with making a reference to Eyes Wide Shut back then. The password to get into the Rock Solid Club is "fedalio," the same one used in the movie to get into the sex party. you also have a 4-page walkthrough of the Metal Gear Solid 2 demo. The Dreamcast has 4 pages on games you may have missed. Sega had pulled the plug on the console by this point, only 18 months after its release. Sega was still going to support it with games for the next year, so they mention a handful coming up.

This issue has all 108 characters for Suikoden (PS1), 12 maps for ReLoaded (PS1), and maps for Tunnel B1 (PS1), and 14 black and white maps for Command & Conquer. It also covers two interesting skiing games in the arcades, Alpine Racer 2 and Super G. There's a rather big blowout for Mario Kart 64, a decent look at Mega Man 8, and a level-by-level look at Star Wars Shadows of the Empire (N64). This is a solid look at those games if you are thinking about getting into and emulating some PS1 games.

I dont know if you also released the Expert Gamer issue last week, but thanks again for these "strategy" magazines. I know some might think these old issues like EGM2 and Expert Gamer that focus on codes and walkthroughs are not needed anymore since everything is on the GameFaqs website now. But EGM2 had a letters section and had a number of previews in these issues. Sometimes we find screenshots of early or cancelled games, like the shots of an early version of Ironblood in this issue, which are invaluable today. There's a lot of content that is not lost now. Sometimes we find full-color maps for certain games (like Return Fire and Alien Trilogy here), and text walkthroughs just cant show them to us. We thank you for finding them and putting them together. The color is really good on these last few I noticed -- its so nice seeing some of these ads in such good detail (like Fox Hunt and POed).

Thank you, dablais for your time editing this magazine. I have thoroughly enjoyed going through about 80 issues of Official Xbox Magazine so far, looking at all the reviews, especially for XBLA titles. Not many magazines reviewed them, but this one did. I love coming back every so often to find another one available, and that is thanks to you. Take care.

A replacement has been found, scanned, edited and uploaded

Fixed!

Just an FYI, this file appears to be missing pages 3-4, which are each half of a two-page ad. *huggles* Areala EDIT: The pages are included, but are out of place as pages 95-96 in the file.

Finally, the truth can be told: @E-Day was "Miss Sexiest Gamer".

I want to write more about the significance of this particular issue of PS Extreme later, but for now please know that you, E-Day and CIVICMINDED have ended a roughly 6 year search for an obscure issue of PS Extreme that one could not even find a cover image of on Google images or really a reference too anywhere, even on Ebay. I'm serious when I say this particular issue is NOWHERE on the interwebz - and it's weird as most everything is, right? At least on some obscure corner. But not this issue (trust me I've spent years trying to find it). I get that PS Extreme may not be the most 'significant' gaming mag out there (especially compared to the likes of EGM and Nintendo Power) but for me, this particular issue of this particular publication is the holy grail for me. It hits at a particular time in my life where I was heavily into gaming mags and also was a pretty significant time of change for me (was about to go out of state for College for the first time). I don't know what happened to the copy I bought in late August of 1999 at a Wal-Mart in Anchorage, Alaska (like most other gaming mags I ever had), but I suspect I left it behind when I left for Oregon to college and was eventually tossed in the bin. Like most of us here on Retromags, I think most of us have 'that' issue that most resonates with our past and makes us fade into (if only at least tempoarily) that irrecoverable past that we sometimes crave .This issue was it for me. Thank you E-day for scanning this, thank you CIVICMINDED for donating this. You are gods to me at this moment. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

Have you SEEN the covers on old issues of Game Player's and GamePro? It was a baloney sandwich on white bread.

That's because they just stole the box art from the game instead of hiring an artist out of the yellow pages for the low low price of $19.99 and a sandwich.

Thank you so much! Wow!

Ah, the last issue of my first EGM subscription. I remember this as being a good one. Thanks!

Well, if you're gonna be a butt craftsman, never half-ass it.

Great scan, thanks

ME TOO !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow finally! Wait for these. It's seemed now is completed with all! Big thank you!

Thank you!!

AWWW YEAH!!

Just in case you need a quick refresher.

"I see a little silhouette of a Croft (Lara Croft, Lara Croft, can you do a front handstand?) Monks and yeti: frightening! Bartoli's goons are fighting ME! Oh, Sir Winston? (Oh, Sir Winston?) Oh, Sir Winston? (Oh, Sir Winston?) Oh, Sir Winston, where'd you go? Where did you go-oh-oh-oh-oh...?" -- Only segment of 'Tomb Raider Rhapsody' which survived unscathed after @Areala attempted to perform it at karaoke night and was subsequently thrown out of the bar by large men with no sense of humour.

Hehe, I must admit, I did purchase a lot of them and I still do on eBay to complete some set, but I also have a lot of friend who gave me some to be scanned. More to come!!! Cheers! dablais

Issue #7 was put entirely together by three people; Dave Halverson, James Bacon, and art director Rob Duenas. The lovely Areala mentioned in the comment section of the last issue that the rest of the team "who helped put the magazine together didn't get paid a cent for any of their work." And this also spilled over into the website, any staff that contributed regular content to the gamefanmag.com website (defunct now) also found out they were not getting paid, and when they were expected to continue to work for free, they all left. Issue 7 was assembled by only three people, and two of those left shortly after. Rob Duenas was working 20 hours a day for two weeks, and it was becoming way too much of a workload. He never had anything negative to say about Halverson or the magazine itself, and was willing to continue to do covers or artwork, but just couldn't keep maintaining those work hours. James Bacon would leave for unknown reason shortly after. Issue 9 was made by two people, and issues 8 and 9 were released digitally only. Dave Halverson has had long-time staff leave him during Gamers' Republic and Play magazine as well, but finding details and confirming them is difficult, that's way I tend to stay away from mentioning the reasons behind things during these comments. You can see the quality drop of Issue #7 too. Under the listed GF Staff, there are several "consulting editors," and now the GameFan mascot, the Monitaur, has been added. The "avatar names" are back, which is odd since articles still have the names of the people that wrote them, and once again Dave Halverson is using his trademark E. Storm handle. Let's jump in the issue itself. Highlights of This Issue: There's an interview with Final Form Games, and a look at developer Level-5. We see reviews of Xenoblade Chronicles, Adventures of TinTin, Sonic Generations, Skyward Sword, a colorful layout for Rayman Origins, Saints Row: The Third, Rock of Ages, Bastion and a few more, along with a short history of Disgaea and the review for Disgaea 4. The GameFan Retro section returns, using the colors and style of the old logo. We have a "25 Years of Zelda" special, the "Very Best of GameBoy Advanced," and looks at Silhouette Mirage, WonderDog, Skeleton Crew, Pilotwings and more. It's a good-sized mag, at 102-pages. It's amazing at the amount of work that went into this issue with such a small crew and a handful of contributors, but I am really curious at what the rest of the issues look like since the art director leaves after this issue. I hope there's more. It's so great to see these issues, thanks again, dablais.

How unfortunate, cover review for a game that never came out.

I'm loving these EGM2's too! I'm indexing some of them now and there's news, previews, cheats, features and a sizable international section. Thanks a lot dablais!

Fixed.

I hear this one was leagues more popular than its sister publication, GameLATER. *huggles* Areala

Pages 23-24 have a missing piece. The picture of a Tournament Cyberball arcade cabinet has been cut out by a previous owner.

I had this one a long time ago. I lent it out intact, and it returned without its cover somehow. I was so angry.

I'm so happy to see someone other than me is interested in this magazine! I loved this magazine as a kid!

Time to write a 500-page tribute of everything that is wrong with this book

Just thinking about those old adventure games on my 486 pc puts me in a happy place.

I love these Expert Gamer scans! These are awesome, @E-Day!

For those curious, this is the issue where GamePro debuted their iconic rating system.

Originally Coury lent this issue to Chris from Classic Gaming Quarterly for a read through video. I had lent Chris the GamePro Celebrity Gamer magazine for the same reason. When I found out he had this issue I asked him if he could ask Coury if I could borrow it to scan. Coury agreed without ever speaking to me or even knowing who exactly it was going to. Looks like we have a reputation of being trustworthy! I think I scanned it in one night and had it in the mail back to him within a couple of weeks from getting it.

One of the pages is missing. Page 29, I believe

Super Mario Bros. 2. The Legend of Zelda. Contra. Gauntlet. Double Dragon and more. Nintendo doesn't get more classic than this. If you don't love this issue, you have no soul.