By now you may have heard that Nintendo Power is going to be ending production after 24 years of bringing all-Nintendo news to loyal fans and subscribers around the globe.
As Ars Technica reported this morning, Nintendo Power is going the way of most print magazine publications: “Nintendo Power is one of the longest-running game magazines in the country, having been published continuously since the summer of 1988, when it started as a bi-monthly outgrowth of the previous Nintendo Fun Club newsletter. Nintendo produced and distributed the magazine (with articles that were often just thinly veiled marketing copy) from 1989 through late 2007, when it started contracting the brand out for a more independent angle from tech-and-game-focused Future Publishing… Nintendo Power‘s shuttering comes during a time of continuing struggles for the US magazine industry, which saw overall circulation numbers decline 10 percent in the first half of 2012. Gamers have increasingly come to rely on online sources for more timely and less space-limited gaming coverage, leading the venerable GamePro magazine to stop publishing late last year after 23 years in print.”
I’m sure it comes as no surprise to anyone that it’s just too difficult to preserve this type of print publication given the vast stores of information and up-to-the-second news we crave from the internet. I’m not saying we needed a Nintendo Power anymore, but it does hit me that something so special from my childhood is ready to be put into retirement.
What began as an expansion to Nintendo fan club letters in 1988 had grown into a major part of my childhood by the early ’90s. I can still remember eagerly tearing the protective plastic off each issue when they arrived. Long before the internet and long before I knew of a whole lot outside of the tiny New England town in which I was raised, Nintendo Power brought me comics, posters, cheats and announcements that really helped to develop my passion for video games. It’s true – I was a Nintendo fangirl through and through from a very young age – always eager to get my hands on the next issue and to hang more fun posters of Link and Star Fox on my wall.
The following is a really a great retrospective video about Nintendo Power from the Angry Video Game Nerd. It says a lot about how much this magazine meant to the kids that loved Nintendo in the late ’80’s and early ’90’s:
It may sound silly, but I did get pretty excited to line up all the issues each year and see the photo the spines made. You usually knew the image long before you had collected all the issues (Mario…Zelda…they weren’t really trying to make it difficult), but I always thought it was a neat addition for collectors to be able to show off the issues on their bookshelves.
Here’s a Howard and Nester comic favorite of BSR Contributor Kill-Tacular-Tron. You can find more at this archive:
And we can’t forget to include one of The Metroid comics that could be found in so many issues:
All in all, I am a bit sad to see Nintendo Power go, but perhaps Nintendo will come up with a new way to engage its audience now that it can shift resources and priorities away from the defunct publication.
What are your thoughts? Sad to see it go? Good riddance? Sound off in the comments below!