The End of a Legacy (Nintendo Power)

While it is probably old news to many of you, after nearly 25-years of publishing the best Nintendo magazine in North America, they will be closing down production this year, with December's issue being the final issue of this legendary magazine. The final issue is currently on newsstands and as legacy gamers, especially if you fancy yourself a huge Nintendo fan, you should pick a copy or two up. I personally chose to buy two copies tonight, one to read and the other to keep factory sealed for collecting purposes. I have been a subscriber off and on over the years; subscribed from 1995 - 1996, and 1998 - 2004. My favorite thing about this magazine whie I subscribed were the awesome walkthroughs, reviews, and during the whole Pokemon craze of the late 90s, the Pokecenter section. More than anything, I remember getting very excited when I'd come home from school and find my copy in the postbox or on the kitchen table waiting for me. I used to read them front to back, and refer back to them for all sorts of reasons. While I gradually lost interest in the magazine over the past 5 or 6 years because of the direction the magazine went, overall Nintendo Power has a very special place in my heart. So my question is, who else on here was a Nintendo Power subscriber, or someone who frequently hit up the newsstands to get a copy? What were the things you liked about the magazine, or maybe didn't like? And mention any fond memories you have about Nintendo Power.

It's been awesome NP, thanks for a lifetime of video game greatness :)

I got mine as well, it was during the weekend. While I haven't read it all, the beginning and ending of the whole magizine gave me a bunch of feels. Especially the Nester comic at the end. I think Nintendo Power is still the best magazine and the way they ended, well I wouldn't have it any other way. I may still want like an Nintendo Power website or some jazz like that, but I think they made the right decision to end it, as harsh as that sounds.

As for my history with it, well I subcribed around the late '90s and early 2000s. It kinda sucks too because I threw away the majority of my Nintendo Powers growing up. Oddly enough I got some of there best deals for subcribing, like the collectors edition zelda game, so I still remember a lot of it fondly. Also went through the magazines sometimes because a game that didnt use to interest me suddenly did and the fact they gave some tips and info made my hype even more so. It happened with animal crossing and FF:CC.

Picked up this issue, and last month's issue (Wii U launch issue) because of this. It's sad. But from what I read, we're lucky it lasted this long. Nintendo was going to pull the plug a few years back, and Future Media picked up the publishing duties.

This months Official Sony Playstation Magazine is the last issue, too. At least Nintendo saw it coming and was able to put together a farewell issue, OPM didn't even get that. I was gonna buy it but I saw it was just a regular, average issue and not a farewell issue (not a single article dedicated to it) and decided against it. Sad to see it go with a whimper. That's the same way Wizard: The Comics Magazine went out a couple years back, too.

I hate watching the magazine industry slowly die in front of my eyes. I'm gonna miss printed magazines. It was fun and it was more than just reviews, previews, and cheats; it was an expression of fandom. At least comic books are still going strong *knocks on wood*.

Never been a big magazine fan, but I might pick one up to give it a flip through.

I hate watching the magazine industry slowly die in front of my eyes. I'm gonna miss printed magazines. It was fun and it was more than just reviews, previews, and cheats; it was an expression of fandom. At least comic books are still going strong *knocks on wood*.

Emerald_Warrior

I couldn't agree more. It's sad seeing all physical media being phased out; movies and video games are still popular in physical form, however physical music is becoming more and more uncommon, and books are rapidly being supported more and more digitally. Magazines and newspapers however have probably taken the biggest hit, probably because most people just read these and discard them right away. I'm really no one to talk, back when I used to subscribe to NP (and Gamepro and Gameinformer) I ended up throwing most of my issues away. Luckily I have come across a large amount of these issues I used to own over the years and will never discard them, but most people don't think to hold on to them. If the magazine industry ever goes completely belly up it will be a sad, sad day. It was hard enough getting through NP's final issue, especially the Nester comic at the very end :'(

Loved gaming magazines...

Ultra Game Players

GamePro

Game Informer

and of course, EGM (I was a subscriber for many years), until they radically changed into 1UP: The Magazine.

Pity most of them are gone. Had great memories going to Borders with my brother looking up cheats and tearing them out of the pages lol. My, how things have changed with the internet and everything...

^ Game Players was the best! Freaking huge, it covered every console out at the time even the oddities, and was jam-packed with features.

I cancelled my subscription earlier this year... and I'm starting to regret it. I loved Nintendo Power and it's sad to see that it's going away. :( I might try to pick this issue up for old time's sake. I remember starting around third grade, and one of the first games I saw them cover was Wind Waker. good times. Farewell, NP.

I haven't been subscribed to NP for years now, but I'm sad to know that it won't be out there anymore.

good nintendo power is for casualsJigglyWiggly_

:roll:

Anyways i'll be picking up my copy later today.

good nintendo power is for casualsJigglyWiggly_

Yes, and?

Nintendo is a company that makes stuff exclusively for children and casuals, who would think their magazine would cater to their market?

Must find a way to import a copy to the UK before the end of the month. :(nintendoboy16

There are a lot of people trying to sell them on Ebay right now. I wouldn't pay more than $10 though (about 6 pounds) given the cover price is only $6.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]good nintendo power is for casualsJaysonguy

Yes, and?

Nintendo is a company that makes stuff exclusively for children and casuals, who would think their magazine would cater to their market?

So does Pixar makes movies exclusively for kids too?

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]good nintendo power is for casualsturtlethetaffer

Yes, and?

Nintendo is a company that makes stuff exclusively for children and casuals, who would think their magazine would cater to their market?

So does Pixar makes movies exclusively for kids too?

[QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

Yes, and?

Nintendo is a company that makes stuff exclusively for children and casuals, who would think their magazine would cater to their market?

JigglyWiggly_

So does Pixar makes movies exclusively for kids too?

I find it completely ironic that somebody is trying to tell someone else what grown-up is on a video game message board, lol! We're all kids at heart here, or we wouldn't be gamers to begin with.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"][QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

So does Pixar makes movies exclusively for kids too?

Emerald_Warrior

I find it completely ironic that somebody is trying to tell someone else what grown-up is on a video game message board, lol! We're all kids at heart here, or we wouldn't be gamers to begin with.

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"][QUOTE="turtlethetaffer"]

So does Pixar makes movies exclusively for kids too?

Emerald_Warrior

I find it completely ironic that somebody is trying to tell someone else what grown-up is on a video game message board, lol! We're all kids at heart here, or we wouldn't be gamers to begin with.

Well I think that both companies I mentioned make games for all ages, but I also agree that pretty much everyone is still a kid in some way. Not a bad thing.

I'm 31 and I still play Nintendo. Anyways, it saddens me to see that Nintendo Power comes to an end. But I guess it was gonna happen eventually, it's just a shame that it happens during my lifetime. I use to have the original magazine but my old house caught on fire and it went up in smoke *crys*. I might get the last issue sometime soon.

Looks like there's gonna be a new Nintendo magazine to fill the void:

http://www.nintendoforcemagazine.com/

Looks like there's gonna be a new Nintendo magazine to fill the void:

http://www.nintendoforcemagazine.com/

Emerald_Warrior

I have nothing but the best of hopes for this magazine, however I think one thing that aren't realizing is that the magazine industry as a whole is dying, and fast. Nintendo Power was a solid magazine, and very few would dispute that, but its medium of distribution was its downfall. I feel that this will likely happen to this magazine if it ends up getting off the ground. I really hope it doesn't, but realistically it will be very challenging to keep Nintendo Force alive.

Well I can see the 1rst issue is already going for over $300 on ebay, well that was fast.LittleMac19

I will admit, as soon as I heard NP was going out of business, I started trying to pick up back issues, especially the remaining issues I don't own during the SNES, N64 and GC era. Good God, those things have jumped substantially in value. I've seen several issue 1 NPS go for $50 to $90, but that's still a huge chunk of change for an old magazine.

Well I can see the 1rst issue is already going for over $300 on ebay, well that was fast.LittleMac19

As a comic collector, I've seen this happen more times than I can count. The issue will be hot and sell high until the hype dies down and everyone forgets about it. Then it will drop back down, but will likely retain some more value than it originally held, just not $300 in value.

I just saw this happen with Spider-Man 2099 #1. For a while there, everyone thought a leak online proved that Spider-Man 2099 would be taking over the main Spider-Man costume in the upcoming "Superior Spider-Man" series, after Peter Parker leaves the costume in this week's yet-to-be-released Amazing Spider-Man #700 (which is the final issue of the series). Due to all of this, Spider-Man 2099 was selling for insane amounts of money, and I even saw one online comic shop come under controversy because he suddenly raised the price of an issue that was listed at $1.50 after the customer ordered it. Now it looks like that leak was probably wrong, and I feel bad for those people that paid that much for the issue. (I have it in my collection, bought it new off the stands.)

[QUOTE="Jaysonguy"]

[QUOTE="JigglyWiggly_"]good nintendo power is for casualsturtlethetaffer

Yes, and?

Nintendo is a company that makes stuff exclusively for children and casuals, who would think their magazine would cater to their market?

So does Pixar makes movies exclusively for kids too?

Ignore the children who never got hugs, they have no soul an thus should be treated as such.

Back to the cages you go trolls.

Anywho it really sucks that there is no more NP, I recall my brother getting issues every month, an the most memorable were the ones with RPG hints, an the Sim city million dollar code/cheat. Great memories, sad to hear kids these days won't have ones like those.

Well, you're kinda lucky anyway. Over here the last Nintendo-exclusive publication (by Bergsala AB, the swedish Nintendo distributor) died in 1994.

this is really sad. I had the first issue, and a good 300-400 after. Growing up on Ninty consoles, there were many different genres and styles of games, but the one constant was NP. Many days and nights I spent reading the pages of NP and devouring the nifty artwork and interesting articles. Gonna miss you NP.Allicrombie

I had the very first issue as well..bought the NES and it came with a card to mail in to receive the issue free..:) to go back to then and start over..man..i would give anything..