RexRogers

While Nintendo Power was my first vg magazine, I really became partial to EGM. They really couldn't be beat in the amount of coverage they provided. I remember the year end issues being enormous. Almost like those women's magazines that are practically a phone book. Well, maybe not that big, but big.

Someone on my local Craigslist is selling 136 issues of the first 150 issues of Nintendo Power for $165. As is apparent, there are a few issues missing here and there in the sequence. It would be an interesting nostalgia trip, but it may not be worth the 165 bones.

You're right that most of the big gaming mags rolled out websites at one time or another. I remember EGM's site was called nuke.com(which I see is now redirected to gamespot). They probably just couldn't monetize their content efficiently the way they could with magazine print ads. The transition of game info to digital media came at a time when all of the current ad networks just didn't exist or were only just forming. The $$$ just wasn't there. The new players in the videogame news industry may have ran on shoestring budgets, but they still managed to eat the lunches of the big gaming mags.

I think my first issue of NP was either the third or fourth issue. When I saw the commercials on TV for the mag I begged my parents to subscribe. I think I stopped getting new issues about half way through the snes life cycle. Just got bored with gaming for a while. Before that though I would read and read and reread each issue until I practically memorized them. Apparently I threw all those issues away which is a shame.

When the snes was first previewed in its pages it seemed amazing. The graphics seemed so colorful and detailed compared to the standard nes fare. Being a kid I never considered that they'd come out with a new updated system as technology advanced. Those were exciting times.

I started reading GamePro back in the NES era when I was a wee lad. I still have many of the early issues of the magazine. Recently I was feeling nostalgic and flipped through them. Some of those reviews were absurd in just how sycophantic they are. What I didn't realize was at the time the Atari 7800 was still having games published for it. I completely ignored those reviews.