Nintendo Power is ending printed run (1988-2012)

[MegaGearMax]

http://techland.time.com/2012/08/24/in-memory-of-nintendo-power/

Man, what memories! I still have most of those issues from the first few years down in my basement. I still use their River City Ransom and Zelda maps to this day. One of my favorites had to have been the Mega Man 3 issue. I liked the art style that they had drawn Mega Man in for that article. Then there were the Howard and Nester strips...

LOL! I remember how the mail carrier was losing my issues because he wasn't used to delivering mail with my name to my house (I never had mail delivered to my house before), so I missed out on the Castlevania II issue.

[Dice]

Aww man I remember getting the first issues and thinking life couldn't get much better. I had no idea they were still making the mag. I hate to see the death of print.

[Firefly]

That is too bad. I remember being part of the Nintendo Fun Club and then subscribing to Nintendo Power from the beginning through the Super Nintendo years.

[JonWes]

Awww... this was the best magazine when I was a kid.

[BCI Guy]

I had no idea it was still going. I was a faithful subscriber back in the NES days.

[markatisu]

I stopped subscribing in 2010, the internet just offered much better in terms of content and news.

Especially over the last 2 years any news they hoped to break in the magazine got leaked.

[wyldman11]

I knew it was still going on, but aside from playing Wii with the teens at Church I haven't kept up with Nintendo in recent years. It is understandable they decided to stop production, the information spreads so fast now with the internet they are essentially losing money trying to keep the magazine in print.

[Barbecue17]

Definitely loved Nintendo Power in its early days, but my glory days with Nintendo Power were in 97-2000. During the N64 days I was a huge Nintendo fan. Getting the issues, tips, posters, and buying stuff from the store was incredibly cool.

[deltadod]

A big fan of the mag I don't buy it anymore cause I don't have any current systems(except the dsxl)I geuss they couldn't compete with gamefaqs.

[Dynamo of Eternia]

It will very much be missed. Honestly I only ever actually owned a few random issues as a kid since I never had a subscription back in the early days, but friends of mine subscribed to it, and the library at the school I went to (a catholic school of all things, which I went to from 1st-8th grade) carried it in the library and we could check it out. I remember the Howard and Nester comics, in particular I significantly remember and liked one they did based on Super Mario Bros. 3, where they both got Racoon tails and the comic was based around them getting the first warp whistle as if they were physically in the game. I also remember very vividly some people having the first issue (which I've seen the cover of online in recent years) with the clay sculpture of Mario and Wart from Super Mario 2 on the cover (with Mario having the incorrectly colored blue hat). Ah, good times.

I also remember back in college around the time the Gamecube was first coming out (or just slightly there after), I was at the Wal-Mart near campus. This was just after Sega had ended the Dreamcast and was going to start making games for other systems, and they were releasing the upgraded version of Sonic Adventure 2 for Gamecube. I was looking around the video game section, at the end of which they had a rack of video game magazines, and Sonic was on the cover of Nintendo Power. I just thought to myself, "Wow! Hell has officially frozen over!"

The first time I ever actually subscribed to the magazine was probably a year or two after college, still during the Gamecube days, and my sole reason for actually subscribing was to get a free bonus item, which was that Zelda disc for Gamecube that had both of the NES Zelda games and both of the N64 Zelda games on it. There were a few ways to get the disc, but that was the easiest and cheapest for me. It was also included as a pack-in with the Gamecube system, but I already had it. The other way to get it was to buy something like 2 or 3 games out of a specific batch of qualifying titles and mail away for it, but most of them I either had or didn't want. So, for something like $20, I subscribed and got the free game. It was still cool getting the magazine for that year. In particular I remember one issues that came in handy around the time the Mega Man Anniversary collection came out and it had listed the order in which to defeat all of the bosses in all of the games. I also had a subscription again for a while just a couple of years ago because there was some deal on Amazon for several different magazines to subscribe for a year for only $5. So, I got Nintendo Power as well as an Xbox and a Playstation magazine. I've also bought some random and collectors issues in recently year, though it was always once in a blue moon.

It would be cool if sometime after the final issue comes out they were to release a disc or something for the computer with every issue ever made on it in digital form. I would definitely buy it!

[diosoth]

A lot of magazines will be exiting the printed format in the next few years. The internet has made them obsolete

[King Kahn]

Wow, a good chunk of childhood memories came from the pages of this magazine. Sad day indeed.

[Sword2Blanket]

A sad day indeed. I fondly remember having a Nintendo Power subscription back in the SNES and early N64 days. And in the NES days whenever I had access to a friend's issue, it really did feel like I had a tome of mystic secrets that somehow empowered me. About the closest I've ever come to that feeling in recent years is with a (really good) strategy guide to an RPG, and even that's not nearly the same.

I haven't looked at Nintendo Power much if at all in the last decade, but I've been suprised in recent years that it was still even around. I think there are some decent video game mags out there, but the maps, codes, and strategies that made Nintendo Power great just don't exist in print anymore.

It is sad that as things progress, something irreplaceable is lost in the process. A 3d Mario game and the internet may be a million times more advanced, but quite frankly Mario 3 and a Nintendo Power were a million times more fun.

[diosoth]

I expect more magazines will move online as time goes on. Mad is all but gone what with almost all the big names having left(or died). Though their last attempt at an online format failed miserably, so...

[AGE]

Very Sad Day!!!! i hate that the internet is killing everything. The fact that you physically hold the mag vs reading a digital copy,, i'll take the tangible source any day of the week.

i remember being a kid and having every issue and my parents subing up each year!!! man those were the good ol days!

[Uncle Montork]

I subbed to this magazine as soon as it started. I had EVERY issue, the guide books, the whole thing! I also remember getting all the little freebies along the way. I still have some of the issues...sadly, most were lost to wear and time... but I'll always have my memories.

RIP Nintendo Power. Somewhere out there, Howard Phillips takes his bowtie off to you.

[Pixel Dan]

This was my first ever magazine subscription. I have many fond memories of staring at the pages of each issue. I still have a large collection of the older NES/SNES era issues, and I look at them regularly still. I love the artwork, the posters, and the pure nostalgia within those pages.

I pick up issues any time I can find them at garage sales/rummage sales/toy shows. I love this magazine so much.

I haven't had a subscription to the modern version of the magainze for about a year now. It certainly hasn't been the same the past several years. But still, the idea that there will be no more Nintendo Power is certainly incredibly sad.

[krosfyah]

i use to take the bus to toys r us (which was new in canada at the time) to buy this magazine, nowhere else sold it. ah the memories.

[Swifty]

We still get NP to throw in the bathroom rack. It will be sad to see it go.

[Hordak Alpha]

The fondest memories I have for this magazine have to be with my childhood best friend. He used to let me read all of his NP issues as soon as he got them and even let me borrow them. I didn't have most of the games in the issues, but I was totally into the games and loved the comics. Get two bored first graders and Nintendo Power together and the contents actually inspired some imaginative playtime at recess everyday.



My childhood friend even sometimes gave me some of his old back issues, and I still have them and the free issue I got in the mail once. I was shocked to hear the magazine even was still being printed but I am not surprised to see it come to an end. Video games have entered a new era, with most tricks and tips being easily available on the internet.

[TheDeviot]

NP has actually been dead a long time. A little over a decade ago, Nintendo sold the rights to Future, and recently decided they don't need to
bother with it anymore so Future scuttled their version, and put the staff on other magazines.

That said, I am sad to see it go, as the Future version did try to keep things similar to the original mags run. Also as others have said
print is slowly dying off, and giving way to digital formats, and websites. It's been really happening in the tech side withe gaming mags,
and hardware/gadget/geek mags for over a decade now, but soon will trickle into "Regular" mags as tablets, and e-readers start
becoming more affordable.

Over the last few years we lost:

Computer Gaming World
Electronic Gaming Monthly (Ziff Davis version)
PC Magazine
Computer Games
Play (US Version)

Gamepro
Nintendo Power

[cringer75]

I'm sad to hear that Nintendo Power will no longer be in publication. I've been getting that magazine for years.

[The.Idea.of.Evil]

As someone who had been with NP since day one, the magazine actually died right when the N64 was released. Fans were genuinely displeased and upset with how Nintendo was marketing their system and the magazine actually went out of its way to make fun of those fans and call them a bunch of idiots. The last magazine I bothered reading was talking about Mission: Impossible in its review, and the letter section actually printed fan complaints only so the writer could bash them.

I mean, it's one thing to ignore people who are upset with your product and marketing strategy. But to print those complaints from fans that took the time to write them in a letter AND THEN to make fun of those fans was kinda the last straw with me and Nintendo as a whole. I'll get this final magazine just to bookend my collection from the NES/SNES days, but this magazine/company made it very clear to my generation that they don't care if I buy their products or not.

[Heidi]

Dorkly had a touching comic about this on their site:

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[HarryCanyon]

RIP, i've been a subscriber since i was 7 when i got the first issue and too bad the had to end badly.