pre internet days 80s and 90s games magazines

[DevilRedeemed]

fuck I used to love those things. the english publications such as C+VG and Mean Machine where boss, and then a couple of prime US publications that where just perfect when it came to hyping stuff up, showcasing what was coming out in Japan and the whole import scene.
and then there was the japanese mags. just lovely designs and pics (never understood a word of it).
I miss those days. some (but not all by any means) where well written and thoughtful. C+VG was always decent to read about the latest arcade games for instance.
They'd go and cover brilliant at the time games that have since fallen off the radar for most such as Gynoug. also covering 8 and 16bit computer games and all manner of strange ports done by the likes of US GOLD (that you could often pick up at WHSmiths as a compilation for like 3 or 4 bob. I never could though, had an Atari 800xl and was relatively poor lol. as a 10 year old)

Edge was amazing but it kind of.. I don't know I preferred something a little pulpier.
some mags lasted not too long. there was a weird one in England around 92 which was like a newspaper the paper quality was shit, but some of the articles where good.

I can't remember the names but some of those US mags where fantastic when it came to neo geo stuff. used to be able to get those in london in some select news papers. buying those for me was as much fun if not moreso than owning the actual games much of the time. Gamepro was one I think? simply brilliant.
right?
yeah I know. I need to buy a rocking chair from which I can talk about the good old days. will there ever be rocking chair collectors amongst veteran gamers? probably not

 

[smokehouse]

EGM, Die Hard Game Fan, Nintendo Power.............and a VERY distant GamePro were my monthly reads...

I miss those days...

 

[madman]

I think it was part the magazines, part that things still excited us as kids. I'm sure 20 years from now there will be a forum reminiscing the glory days of IGN.com. Part of it was also getting previews/photos of Japanese games/consoles and being utterly amazed as if they were coming from another world. I remember mostly liking Nintendo Power (or the Fun Club News for the OGs) for the maps and codes and what not. EGM was good for the codes and upcoming games and "OMFG LOOK AT DEM GRAPHICS!". I would buy Next Gen magazine when I was in college to kill time before classes, but I don't really remember getting a lot out of those mags other than what was upcoming to burn to CDR for my PSX.

 

[HornheaDD]

I too miss the glorious days of the new issue of EGM and Gamepro, or Diehard Gamefan showing up in my mailbox. I also used to love when the Electronics Boutique catalogs would show up.

 

[Tron]

In the 90's it was either egm or gamefan for me far as related video game magazines go.I kind of miss them to,since it was easy to be surprised for what was coming.In this age of the internet nothing is shocking any more since developers announce things daily.

 

[WoodyXP]

Yeah I miss those days, the magazines left a little to the imagination. You had to wait a month for a little trickle of info and screenshots. My favorites were Electronic Gaming Monthly and Computer Gaming World.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

on a related subject, my staple was 2000AD, Kerrang (and a few US rock related mags) and videogame magazines.
it's true that part of the magic was finding out what amazing stuff was about to come out. remember when the SNES/SFC was first being covered or the PSX and just thinking wow.
maybe yous in the rest of the world never got to handle some premium publications that came out from time to time from the likes of C+VG (I think it was), which where more like catalogues showcasing the best games of each 16bit system.
the French had some absolutely brilliant mags too in relation to console games.
I think a lot of the reason why retro gaming became such an honorable thing for the first few decades was due to how respectfully many of these magazines treated gaming

 

[DevilRedeemed]

http://videogameobsession.com/neogeo/articles/index.htm
so good

edit: alright it's not the greatest example but whatever

 

[Ip Man]

 

[Gamefan]

I was an avid reader of Gamepro, EGM, Diehard Gamefan and Edge Magazine. I miss being able to have a good selection of game mags to read.

Now i just read Retro Gamer and PC Gamer.

 

[FilthyRear]

EGM was the fucking king for me in the early/mid 90's.

Look at this shit - all of this was brand fucking new/on its way out to the public:



Tips 'N Tricks was another one I just had stacks of in my room.

It was sad as it got later into the 90's, and the arcade sections were getting smaller and smaller and eventually they were all talking about the same games.

Although, Game Informer sucked asshole back in the day, and it sucks dirty assholes now. At least it's consistent.

 

[DevilRedeemed]

View attachment 37635

View attachment 37636

yes bruv.
Sega Saturn magazine done a nice job in trying to keep the Saturn in the race.
and Mean Machine was amazing. the cartoonist that done the character based off the one off of Forgotten Worlds was great. that 'character' would answer the reader's letters (you had to actually post in letters back then) and it was a hoot.


mean machines and a king size mars bar
edit: mean yob. and he was just some made up character that they would make to look like he was in a given game (and it was E Swat not Forgotten Worlds):

 

[Ip Man]

i actually still have some around somewhere in storage. the saturn magazine was something i looked forward to every month. still remember the articles about the saturn getting ports of real bout 2, street fighter 3 and resident evil 2 that never came to be. and you're right about the comic strips from mean machine. don't remember the forgotten worlds one, but the sonic the hedgehog ones were really good.

 

[Tanooki]

The Fun Club and into Nintendo Power was my thing, at times I'd get EGM. For a couple years we bought EGM then I cancelled it as they turned into the original fanboy media shill assholes and I was on the wrong side of their wrath being buttbuddies lying in favor of Sega then Sony. Oddly they one year started sending me it for free, and I ended up getting it for around 3 years before they caught on I wouldn't buy it and it stopped (go figure.) It was like a sad print pre-cursor to how mass gaming media sites fabricate and stretch the truth now to their own personal tastes, goals, or whoever slips them cash on the side.

Not like NP was a saint either, they totally went to bat for themselves over the others in key months they had a product out, or they'd gussy up a turd a bit better than deserved but other times they wouldn't so it was a crap shoot. I kept up NP the entire life it had until FutureOne got it. That first issue had an admitted Nintendo hater writing pieces for it grumbling about it online and being a douche in print so I called and cancelled it. I did buy the very last issue, never did open it, have it around here somewhere.

 

[Lastblade]

I loved EGM and DHGF. Someone gave me a stack of DHGF a couple of years ago, someday when I retire, I will scan them all for everyone.

 

[funkified]

Damn those were the days! I'm pretty sure I still have all of the EGM's I bought as a kid. Time for a trip to my childhood later!

 

[ResO]

*Inserts joke about dirty magazines here*

EGM: Miss September 1992

 

[DevilRedeemed]

i actually still have some around somewhere in storage. the saturn magazine was something i looked forward to every month. still remember the articles about the saturn getting ports of real bout 2, street fighter 3 and resident evil 2 that never came to be. and you're right about the comic strips from mean machine. don't remember the forgotten worlds one, but the sonic the hedgehog ones were really good.

I'm pretty sure they where making it up in a lot of cases about the games supposedly in the works, like very loose rumors they'd just feed us. after a while back then, I kind of caught on that some things where never going to happen

 

[NGCDFreak]

Anyone like the PSM mags with a cover art from some comic book artist?
also as a kid I used to get EGM mag and wanted to get a Japanese Megadrive and CD so bad, don't know why just did.
Oh yeah I also like Sega Saturn Magazines if it wasn't for it I would never have a Saturn right now.

 

[HornheaDD]

Street fighter legends! Ha i remember when it was gonna be called that. Seeing that new swole version of Sagat was like what!

 

[LoneSage]

I threw out hundreds of game mags because it got to the point where I would just look thru them too much and I thought it unhealthy.

That EGM 1999 Video Game Buyers Guide was legendary though. Every single score for every game they had reviewed up until October 1998. Mine was falling at the seams by the time I chucked it.

Of course everyone knows Gamefan was all about the high quality screenshots but as a kid I really enjoyed their comic series more than I should have. Is there a website that has every comic of theirs?

 

[Tanooki]

I'm pretty sure they where making it up in a lot of cases about the games supposedly in the works, like very loose rumors they'd just feed us. after a while back then, I kind of caught on that some things where never going to happen

Big time such as that total liar Quartermann in EGM. I found it awesome in those rare cases when the crap he threw at the wall would eventually stick, even if it was years later. I remember them talking up this color Nintendo handheld going into how it would behave, and this was pre-GBC too and they got stomped for it being a non-lit 8bit GBC that doubled the old girls guts. Years later the GBA came out then they tried to act all vindicated...riiight.

 

[HDRchampion]

These were great reading materials on the shitter...You can only read a bottle of shampoo so many times...I also like going to grocery stores(Albertson) to read one when they come out. I bring a piece of paper & pencil to copy down moves, codes & secrets.

 

[WoodyXP]

...I also like going to grocery stores(Albertson) to read one when they come out. I bring a piece of paper & pencil to copy down moves, codes & secrets.

LOL, I'm guilty of that as well. That's how I got the Mortal Kombat blood code.

 

[wyo]

Growing up in the UK, I always enjoyed C&VG and Mean Machines. From the age of 11 to 16 I worked for a newsagent delivering papers. I'd often leaf through the mags after work. The US mags didn't really interest me at all and neither did the official Nintendo propaganda publications.