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Posted By Shaun K. about 9 months, 3 weeks ago
The stuff nostalgic dreams are made of.
Chances are very good that any gamer in the 90s who also owned a Nintendo system of some kind subscribed to, or at least regularly read, Nintendo Power. While the Nintendo-owned magazine often published pieces that were little more than direct marketing copy straight from the Big N itself, it was still one of the best places to go for Nintendo related news, codes, and guides in the days before the full advent of the internet. It also served to help introduce many people (myself included) to the RPG genre through a remarkable promotion the magazine ran which saw all subscribers sent a free copy of Dragon Quest I (then going under its North America-only name of Dragon Warrior) along with a 64-page “Explorer’s Handbook” (which I still own to this day) with a full walkthrough and additional lore not mentioned anywhere else. Indeed, this promotion lead to over 500,000 new subscribers and is credited with the series’ ability to continue in the US. Clearly Nintendo Power has had its influence on the video game industry at large, but now it seems that will all be ending.
That is because today the website Ars Technica reported that after 24 years of publication, Nintendo Power is being shut down. Citing an increasing lack of interest from Nintendo that included a refusal to build on online aspects of the publication, the current producer of NP, tech-and-game-focused Future Publishing (whose other publications include both the official Xbox and official PlayStation magazines) apparently gave word to the editors and staffers of the magazine last week about the pending closure. A now-deleted tweet from NP’s senior editor Chris Hoffman posted earlier today confirmed the news of the closure.
There is no word yet exactly which issue of Nintendo Power will be the publication’s last nor on any plans for how to address current subscribers. The magazine currently has a monthly readership of 475,000, according to Future press materials. Additionally the closure of Nintendo Power is said to be having no negative effect on other Future Publishing publications at this time. Stay tuned to Blistered Thumbs for continuing coverage of this news and be sure to share your thoughts and favorite Nintendo Power memories in the comments section below.
I will even get us started off: Does anyone else remember Howard & Nester as fondly as I do? How about those awesome Legend of Zelda, Mario, Metroid, and Star Fox comics that served as many a person’s introduction to manga? *sighs* Those were the days.
Source: Ars Technica
Now we’re no longer playing with power
End of An Era indeed. The Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy strategy guides were life and time savers. They also had great comics and other things like the Battletoads comic. The magazine seemed to unravel in both style and substance in the virtual boy/N64 era. That’s when they lost my subscription. Never had a magazine last 5 years+ like that before or since.
I don’t think we had Nintendo Power in the UK. Regardless if we did I’m not really bothered by this. Game magazines used to be great, because that’s where you learned about new games and saw reviews of games that just got released. I used to love them, but now I just don’t care for them at all. Why would I waste money on something that I could get on the internet for free? I don’t read them anymore anyway.
So does it have a spiritual succesor?
Like “How to Wii?” and “How to Wii U?”
Game mags suck these days. PSM was probably one of my fave mags back in the day. ANyone remember memory card stickers? I still have the little eyepatch smiley face PS1 lid cover on my old PS1!
As far as Nintendo Power going under, im not too familiar with it. Ive never been a fan of Nintendo and its business practices, even when I was a child. Honestly I keep hoping THEY go under. Their stupid Draconian business practices really arent warranted in this day and age. I just read about the stupid online that the Wii-U will have.. with up to 30 minute waits for them to aprove your messages and posts o_O
Nintendo Power was a big part of my childhood. I still have the first 100-ish issues packed away somewhere. The Star Fox comic by Benimaru Itoh was always my favorite part. I wrote a story back in high school based on that. And it still saddens me that Fara Phoenix was never officially added to the actual game storylines. Oh well, can’t win them all.
Nintendo Power, you shall be missed. :<
Time to buy some Nintendo Powers…
I stopped following Nintendo Power years ago, but I still have several years worth of old Gamecube-era issues stored away for memorabilia’s sake. Now moreso than ever, it seems. Despite my ever-growing distance from Nintendo, it’s still sad to see this happen.
I noticed that the picture is only older issues. I try and look at Nintendo Power every now and again (despite not owning a wii/ds) and the magazine is not nearly as good as it used to be. The golden era was the NES/SNES and the magazine suffered once the N64 hit.
RIP Nintendo Power, you were one of the few magazines I liked growing up. You helped me find some really good games and helped me with some tough games. I bid you a fond farewell…
Gamepro ending earlier this year.. the rest of my subscription went to PC World. WTF. At least they should have given me a subscription to PC Gaming or some shit.
End of an Era indeed…
Oh…OH. How about this.
So schools sell stuff. So they decided to sell magazines. This is for high school I think but still. So they had like let’s say Game Informer, and it was closing its doors. What did the magazine ordering company decide to replace it with?
Maxim! Thank you I’ll be here ALL week.
I have at lest 3-5 old school NP’s and about around 50-200ish I know we have. I remember the reviews, and segments, and the Comic of Howard & Nester. I still enjoyed it around the time that the Wii was starting to come out in full force. Then I just stopped. Mostly because we have so much junk.
I loved those books. I love seeing physical things. Reading just text is dull. So the NP’s and Tips and Tricks and all those good gameing Mag’s were wonderful.
NP I’m sorry I wasn’t there for ya till your end, but I’m grateful they made it and wish that I could buy a digital copy. I would pay 50 bucks for 3DS download of all NP.
I remember when I got one of my favorite CDs to this day out of Nintendo Power: Smashing Live, which has a lot of the songs from Super Smash Bros. Melee played in a live concert. Sometimes I would applaud right along with the audience at the end of a song, and probably looks pretty stupid in the process.
Even further back, I remember the Battletoads comic, and wishing I could get to see the levels featured in it. Those darn Turbo Tunnels, man.
I remember when Nintendo power used to be almost a necessity, either you had the magazine or you pissed off your parents by using the Nintendo helpline. Back then some games were so obtuse and hard to figure out, no internets to help ya. I even used to just look at the level maps for games I didn’t own, you could see the seams where they painstakingly captured screen after screen and pasted them together for the map.
I remember getting the first issues when they originally came out, especially the original Final Fantasy issue.
*raises a glass* Thank you for being a fun part of my childhood. Here-here.
I never were a big Nintendo fan so I was never subscribed to it or even read a single issue, but it still makes me kinda sad to hear that.
Having subscribed to Game Informer through GameStop’s Power Up Rewards, I have several issues I need to read through, and it just makes me feel dirty that I never did subscribe to Nintendo Power. I have three issues from them, but I am still sad to see them go.