Nintendo Power Magazine History

Welcome to Episode 95 of Pixels in the Animation.

I am TF2 and Mike. Joining me as always is TV's

Mr. Neil. Hello sir, how are you? Pretty good.

Join the Nintendo Fun Club today, kids. Yes.

Little Mac. Along with the Burger King Kids Club

and whatever other... See, I tried to reference

Punch -Out and... Go off in a different direction.

Well little Mac I could have said go to McDonald's

and have a Big Mac but Give your email to the

kids so they know where to send the complaints

Mike at this week in geek .net And he'll get

that be like what the fuck did I do The sad thing

is, that's almost a perfect impression of him.

Oh my god. So, it's been a while, folks. Sonic

the Hedgehog nearly killed us. Much like most

of everything past episode 57 killed us, because

58 -59 was Mortal Kombat, 60 -63 was Street Fighter,

64 -65 was Darkstalkers. Yeah. the back half

of this podcast is just shoot us now don't wait

till you take us home just shoot us now you keep

out of this they don't have to shoot you now

they do too have to shoot me now so shoot me

now we haven't recorded in almost over a year

folks and we can just fall right back into old

hat So the final five episodes or the final six

episodes of pixels in the animation we're going

to be doing Various things various video game

related things we will be doing episode 95 which

is this one and 96 and 97 this year episode 97

will be our review of Ralph wrecks the Internet

or Ralph breaks the Internet or Wreck -It Ralph

2 or whatever that's called. Yeah, I'm actually

looking forward to it because I like the first

movie. Yeah, finally a good movie this year.

Oh, wow. Come on. Take that Jurassic World 2.

Oh, God. Anyway. Oh my god, but you know there's

the Marvel stuff. There's the Star Wars stuff.

There's a whole bunch of other stuff. I know

No So over the next year or so as I said we'll

be giving you episodes 95 to 100 98 and 99 and

100 will be next year so In total we would have

been doing this thing for seven years. I think

at this point Because episode zero we released

in 2012 and then we've started full on with the

SMB Super Show stuff in 2013. So Yeah Seven years

at least no mirrors were broken Yet So tonight

we're gonna be talking about Nintendo Power the

best video game magazine from the 80s and 90s

really was Mm -hmm. It was pretty much the only

one There were others, but did they really matter?

Oh, they kind of did. Well, they they mattered

once Nintendo Power stopped mattering. We'll

get to that. Yeah, GamePro and EGM and oh God,

I'm dying. So I'm trying to see. Like, I know

when. The first issue debuted, it was in 88,

but I don't see an actual date on here. I believe

it was July, maybe? What I remember is that it

was the final publication of the Nintendo Power

Fun Club, which is why I referenced that at the

beginning, which was like a free newsletter that

went out to Nintendo fans. And then they're just

like, hey, we're going to start a magazine. Here's

your first freebie and everything after that

you have to actually pay for. So here you go.

Yep. I remember getting this in like 89 and 90,

so I did not get... I don't remember getting

this. There's only three volumes in 1988. Where

it really took off was 89 and then obviously

90. Nintendo Power kind of kicked off what I

think of arbitrarily as the second big wave of

Nintendo. like after the black box games kinda

hit the mainstream there was like there's this

whole new wave of Nintendo games that started

with Mario 2 and Zelda 2 and the Castlevania's

and the Mega Man's and like where that really

nice stride that NES had in the late 80's and

early 90's that was like the Nintendo power era

Yeah, and it's funny we're talking about this

because the NES Classic just saw a re -release,

the NES Classic Mini just saw a second re -release,

or first re -release, but after the initial release

a couple years ago, I finally was able to get

a hold of one. I still can't beat Glass Joe.

Oh my god. What's wrong with you? I don't know.

Put your big boy pants on. That's not right.

The crazy thing is I was so used to all -stars

that going back and looking at Mario 2 and 3,

I'm like, this is painful. I forgot what the

original NES version of Mario 3 was like, because

I was so used to the all -stars version. Like,

this hurts. It's not that far off, but it is

kind of a downgrade when you go back and look

at it. Now this was Nintendo power I think it

I'll be I was probably dependent on when you

got your subscription But I think most of the

time it came at the end of the month, didn't

it? I don't remember I think it did most of the

time it did people can let us know if they got

theirs earlier in the month But I remember when

my mom had made got me a subscription to it It

was third -class mail because it's a magazine

it's like Entertainment Weekly and People and

all. It's a magazine. It's not anything with

the USPS. It's nothing special, even though it

was special to us. So it's like it's going to

come at the last possible second. Yeah, I do

remember coming late in the month. It was either

like the month following or it was like the month

that was just about to end. I don't remember

which it was, but it was very late. And I remember

waiting all month for it. Always you're always

excited to get Nintendo power. Oh my god all

this information and that's gonna explode in

my face Cuz that's what that's what was the big

appeal of Nintendo power before the internet

we had magazines and We just got it like in one

big heap All this like all the new games that

are coming out and all the new reviews and You

know you can look at the acclaimed games to be

like wow those look like shit i'm not even playing

them yet uh... uh... you live iron sword two

alone uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh...

uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh... uh

uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh

uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh

uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh

uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh uh

uh uh uh I love Nintendo power for the longest

time and this was Right around the time. Let's

see somewhere between third and sixth grade for

me And anyone that didn't have a subscription

any of my other friends that I went to school

with it didn't have a subscription I was like

the king for bringing in all the info because

it was like how do I beat this? How do I do that?

Oh the magazine's good like you just said the

magazine's gonna tell us And you're like, get

this, up, up, down, down, left, right, left,

right. That's right. On Super Mario Brothers

2, hit pause and press up and A on controller

2 for a secret and it just kills them. Really?

Yeah, that's the greatest secret. That's by far

the worst secret in the world. There's an explanation

to that, but it's so convoluted. It's kind of

a throwback to the Nintendo disc system because

it was like an autosave feature. But since there's

no save in Super Mario Bros. 2, it just kills

him. It's so stupid. Aww. That's sad. But it's

a fun trick to play on people. When they go to

the bathroom, you just push up an A on controller

2, and then they come back, and they're like,

what the hell? How many of your friends did you

do that to? Oh, many. Of course, of course, of

course. What is interesting to me, looking back

at all of these issues, is the change over the

years that the magazine had debuted and the phases

it went through. Because by 90, we're on Super

Mario 3, we're on Manic Mansion, Final Fantasy,

whatever number they're on. Or maybe that's just

the original strategy guide for the original

game, Dr. Mario. And then by 9192, you've got,

you know, the super stuff, the Super Nintendo,

like Mario World and Metroid and Super Castlevania

4 and... But what I liked about that era is that

they kept you informed about the NES. Of course,

they're going to do that because it's a Nintendo

publication and it was in -house. But like...

The NES for a lot of people got really obscure

after the Super Nintendo came out and that's

when some of the best games came out so they

kept you informed about like Shatterhand and

uh... and uh... you know uh... what was it? Wrath

of the... no I don't know it's like something

ninja I'm screwing up basically in the latter

part of the NES life cycle anything by Natsume

was gold. For me looking back at this there are

Three big issues that I specifically remember

bringing into school and saying hey, I've got

all the secrets Volume in this is in 92. This

is my sixth grade year Only to the past which

is volume 34 Dark wing duck, which is volume

36 and Mario paint which is volume 39 most people

probably didn't get Mario paint I did because

it's a Mario game and I thought oh this is cool.

This is neat This is kind of like dr. Mario or

it's kind of like Mario, you know Mario branching

out like, you know Mario and Sonic at the Olympics

or something that was like Mario paint was the

and the fact that you had a video game with a

mouse it was almost like a home computer not

really but you know, yeah a lot of us already

had Microsoft Paint at that point, so I never

got Mario Paint. But it didn't have Mario. Yeah,

it didn't have an animation feature, so that

was the one thing Mario Paint did have. It didn't

have the Bug Splat game that I think is hidden

in the cartridge somewhere. Crazy thing about

the Super is, just like the NES, it didn't come

with, but it had a bunch of accessories. The

mouse was one from Mario Paint. And then there

was the Super Scope 6. I never had that thing.

That thing looked so ridiculous, and I'm like,

I am not getting that. Because I do not want

to look like a tool. You know, there's something

about gun accessories that... The Zapper looked

okay, but I kind of wanted the Japanese one where

it looked like a six shooter. But of course,

they're not going to come out with that because

Megatron screwed everything up. Because some

kid pointed a gun at a cop and pointed Megatron

at a cop. And of course, we can't have realistic

gun toys anymore. But the Super Scope was well

beyond that. It was this bazooka looking thing

you hold on your shoulder. And I'm just like,

no. I don't care how good that one game that

metal falcon whatever whatever the falcons revenge

or whatever the the other game was those games

look so cool but i was like no i'm not getting

that but yeah nintendo power was cool for just

like highlighting accessories they they featured

like nearly every accessory that ever came out

including the ones that didn't deserve it like

the power glove which was just oh my god of all

the things to feature in your movie god damn

it and i'm not even quoting that line You know

the one. Anyway. Just do it. Keep your power

going to yourself. And he really should have

if you know what happened to that guy. Anyway.

Yeah, Leguizamo. No, that wasn't Leguizamo. That

was... I don't remember the name of the kid who

played the evil kid in The Wizard. Oh, okay.

Oh yeah, the Super Scope was featured in the

Mario Brothers movie. mm -hmm it was the giant

gun What surprises me as Nintendo got into later

years with the magazine is just how much it changed

Like they didn't care after a certain point I

would say like 99 where volume 125 is them, you

know jumping on the Pokemon bandwagon. Oh, yeah

Um, and what I hate, and of course by 2000, 99,

2000, I was graduating high school. I was out

of all of this, but going back and looking at

this, at these, these covers and things, it's

like, wow, that was, you know, those early years

that was, you know, I was, you know, like I said,

between sixth grade and eighth grade or whatever.

So, you know, I was still into it and all of

that and everything else. And there's this huge

shift in the mid to late nineties, early two

thousands where. You call that 800 number and

you're never getting any kind of tips about anything

other than Pokemon games ever you call 1 -800

-255 -3700 After a certain year you're done with

Nintendo proper and I get it they licensed it

out or they or they got the license for Pokemon

and that's you know They're a family video game

company family -friendly all that and everything

else But they were like it's they're like we

like Pokemon so much. We bought the company Exactly.

Yeah Yeah like By the time 2001 happened you've

got spider -man on volume 140. You've got the

Gameboy Advance on 143 you've got You know Grab

it on 152. Okay, then Sonic is on 154. How fucked

up is that that Sonic the Hedgehog appears on

the cover of Nintendo Power? That's that's like

go -bots appearing in the transformers That's

like WCW being on WWF Raw. Oh, wait. Wait, that

happened. Everything is wrong. Mm -hmm. Not that...

We're recording this, folks, and we'll probably

be releasing it here soon, so we're recording

this right as San Diego Comic -Con 2018 is ending.

IDW Publishing announced that they're doing a

GoBots... Comic series soon. Oh Jesus Christ.

How are they gonna do that? Do they actually

have the machine robo license? Cuz that's that's

the biggest problem with go -bots is that Transformers

is Takara tommy but you know machine robo is

someone else and It's kind of they're kind of

like crossing the streams if they try to go for

go -bots again Yeah, somehow they have permission

to do it because there's a whole press release

I have ready to go on geek cast radio comm so

I'm not sure I don't know, it's some sort of

something. By 2006, you know, Jump for Joy in

volume 203, which is Mario and Luigi, more Pokemon.

Wario got his own issue in 2007, volume 212,

Ready to Wear, and it's him on the front cover.

Yeah, there's... True how many actual? Wow, they

still oh they produce up to 2011. That's right.

There's 285 volumes of Nintendo Power and Like

we said earlier about Sonic being on the cover.

How about Sora from Kingdom Hearts? He's on volume

276 Oh, that's right. Cuz the GBA game that's

weird. I think that was the only one too Yeah,

chain of memories. I got that game, and I'm like

this is a goddamn card game You know that that

pisses me off. I don't know what the hell was

going on in Japan that they thought you know

What's a good? What's a good format for card

games video games? No If I want to play a card

game, I'll get cards Mm -hmm. It's like I don't

understand it So from looking through all these

and some of these the the link that I'll post

in the show notes folks Some images are there

some images aren't there and all of the 2011

images seem to be there Sonic has his second

cover with Sonic Generations on volume 268 Wow

uh -huh Yeah, I dug this magazine way back when

yeah And it led through to wanting to, like,

Nintendo Power paved the way for Electronic Gaming

Monthly and other magazines like that, like GamePro.

What they did that I don't think Nintendo did

was, because at the time it was the PlayStation,

it was the Xbox, it was PlayStation 2. Those

magazines offer demo discs. I don't think we

ever got demo. We got like free posters and shit

from Nintendo Power, but we never actually got

demo cartridges or anything. But that's the evolution

of video game magazines is going from what Nintendo

Power gave you with all the hints, tricks and

articles to whatever EGM and GP and whatever

other magazines there were out there. There were

some video game magazines that predated Nintendo

Power, but not a lot of them. What Game Pro and

EGM and all those other magazines could do, which

Nintendo Power couldn't, was actually tell the

truth about what was going on in Japan. So there

was a while there where, like, Nintendo was like,

super Nintendo. What are you talking about? There's

no super Nintendo. Meanwhile, in EGM, they're

like, oh yeah, look at this, the Super Famicom.

It came out in Japan. And look, there's a new

Mario game that you don't even know about. So

it was it was like a full year before they they

finally fessed up and even then you know They

they had this they're this one section of the

magazine called the NES journal, which was like

the the editorial section I actually liked that

section. They got rid of it for some reason I

don't know but anyway, they they showed like

early screenshots of Super Mario World It was

like wow look at these early early screenshots

of course by that point the game had already

been out in Japan so we're looking at like Old

screenshots that are already way out of date

and in retrospect. I'm like wide why are they

even doing this? But yeah, that was that was

kind of weird how you know there was there was

news about Nintendo in other publications that

Nintendo power could not Had had to be kind of

silent about the other it's the other one being

Well actually there were a lot of them like you

know the the Final Fantasy games that didn't

come out until much later and And the ultimate

one, which is the other Super Mario 2. Kids who

had Game Pro and EGM, they already knew about

the Lost Levels. We didn't. It was like, All

-Stars came out and we're like, there's another

Mario game? And it's a bitch. I mean, I can beat

it, but I'm good at Mario. Yeah. The Lost Levels

was strange. There were flying bloopers there

were There were prana plants that ignored you

there were I mean it was just weird It was it

was like I was like you want challenge. We'll

give you challenge Mm -hmm I remember When they

hit it's so funny cuz it was only Don't I don't

know exactly how often video game French I like

how often do we get a Mario game every couple

of years now? Yeah, kind of Usually ends up being

like whatever the new console is yeah Usually

okay, so 92 volume 34 link to the past a year

later 93 volume 50 links awakening so less than

20 issues between two link games or two Zelda

games and then I remember I remember when issue

50 came in the mail I was like ooh it wasn't

real gold obviously but it was gold paint the

way the cover is done it was like meant for you

to think ooh it's like the golden cartridge of

the original game you know that kind of thing

and whatever yeah that was a special issue that

was cool that was uh Well, the reason that games

could come out more frequently back then was,

first of all, there was kind of like a lag going

from Japan to America. Like we pointed out earlier

in another episode of the podcast, I think during

the Mario episodes, Super Mario Bros. 3 was actually

out in 1988 in Japan. when we were getting Super

Mario Brothers 2, and they just held it back

for two years for some reason. And we're playing

Super Mario 3 while Japan is playing Super Mario

World. So there was always that lag. So we got

kind of like a condensed timeline of Mario, so

it just came out really fast. But also, at that

time, there was a lot simpler to produce those

games. You didn't have... You know to spend so

much time making the assets for them whereas

like as soon as you got to the nintendo 64 Then

you got the lag you got you got one mario game

per generation Yeah Oh my god. Yeah, I I was

just like well even after like super mario world

came out. Okay i'm like i'm like, okay, when's

the next game? And there was nothing and then

nothing and then all stars came out And then

you know, eventually we got yoshi's island, which

is sort of a signal, but not really Yoshi's Island,

oh my god. I love that game but it's not really

a Super Mario game. No, it really isn't at all.

I'd rather play Donkey Kong Country 2 than play...

I said Donkey Kong Country 2. Diddy Kong's Revenge.

We all know everyone, everyone knows that Neil

loves the original Donkey Kong Country. Oh yeah,

it looks like plastic -y shit. You know, just

a side rant on that, you know, Super Nintendo

was such beautiful graphics, and then they had

to scope, they had to sell it with a terrible

pre -rendered CGI crap that, I never liked pre

-rendered CGI. Just thought it was like the worst

thing to do with Nintendo graphics like no Not

even not even Super Mario RPG could save it.

I was long past getting the magazine at this

point, but volume 99 Goldeneye 007 with Pierce

Brosnan on the cover Wasn't that like well after

the movie Because rare rare was kind of yeah

that was That was two years after. It was right

around the time, probably, when Tomorrow Never

Dies was coming out, because Goldeneye was 95,

Tomorrow Never Dies was 97. So, yeah. One of

the reasons they sold Rare. Yeah. We really should

do a whole episode on that thing. Just to have

you torture everybody. I don't completely hate

Rare. There's some games I like, but you know...

Battletoads is so broken. Come on, guys. It's

not a good game. And the deal that Nintendo had

with Capcom was just amazing. Because, you know,

you get all the Mega Man issues of this magazine.

You've got the Street Fighter stuff. They loved

Mega Man so much that Mega Man 6 came out in

America published by Nintendo. Capcom was gonna

skip it. They're like, no, this is way too late

in the console life to be releasing games for

it. And Nintendo was like, fuck it, we'll do

it. Volume 42 and 92 was Super Star Wars. I mean,

Darth Vader on a cover of Nintendo Power. That's

awesome. That was amazing. Yeah, that was super

amazing. 93, because it was so cool in issue

46. Actually, it was way past cool. Tiny tune

adventures Buster busts loose Actually pretty

good games Yeah, that was the Konami license.

Yep. I think so. Yeah, Konami Konami did good

with those they kind of they kind of ripped off

Super Mario 3 with one of them, but that's okay

Yeah, that's okay So what is everyone's memories

of Nintendo power? Did you have the magazine?

Did you not have the magazine? Did you have the

subscription? Did you? Go into I don't know Walden

books and pick it up off the rack, you know,

let us know folks Let us know in the comments

You can email us feedback at geek cast radio

.com put in the subject line Peter 95 Nintendo

power Yeah, but I miss this like if just not

because I want to amass, you know, 285 volumes

of a magazine, but if I could find somewhere

to actually buy the ones that I remember having

or buy the ones that, you know, just to have,

oh man, I would love to do that. So cool. Yeah.

I really love the classic era of the magazine

up to 95 or 96. And after that, Once it hit the

N64 era, I was like, I don't care. I don't want

you guys to be pumping me with these ugly polygon

graphics, these blurry graphics on this new machine.

I want more Super Nintendo. So I just kind of

checked out. And I'm like, well, I might as well

go to some other magazine like EGM. I think I

may have even just jumped to PSM at that point,

which was the unofficial PlayStation magazine,

which was really cool for about a year. didn't

they ever become the official playstation reading

did and that's so weird because the basis started

out as like this rebel magazine they're like

yeah we're unofficial we're gonna hire adam warren

to do the covers knows that since that's another

uh... kind of cross -referencing another topic

is that that's kind of how i got acquainted with

adam warren well yeah so like who is this awesome

artist who keeps on the covers of these magazines

i need to check this guy out Um... Alright folks,

any other final thoughts on Nintendo Power? Is

there anything else you want to bring up? Well

just, we didn't really get into the nitty -gritty

of like the individual sections of the magazine,

like the... Okay, yeah, we can go through that.

The counselors corner, which was just people

writing in the magazine, like, how do I get through,

you know, how do I beat World 7 -4 of Super Mario

Bros.? Or, you know, just people asking stupid

questions and counselors... answering them and

There was also The classified section which you

know I kept sending in the the thing that I mentioned

earlier where you could kill Mario and Mario

2 but also that worked in Zelda Zelda 2 Metroid

and Kid Icarus because like I said, it was like

a throwback to the disk system So it's just a

way to like pull up the game save prompt But

it would just kill your guy in NES games. Actually,

in other games, it would pull up either the password

screen or the game save screen, which it was

kind of like this cool throwback or vestige of

the Japanese versions. But the fact that they

worked in the American games was kind of cool.

And I kept sending that in, and they never published

it. I'm like, come on. Did you put in there,

OK to print? Yeah. Please, please print. Put

my name in your magazine. That's right. Maybe

it was my alias that I kept trying to send in.

Agent 69 or something. Because everyone who sent

in a top secret code or anything had an agent

number or something. I remember everyone had

a code name or something. And I always tried

to be funny and dirty, even back then. It's too

bad Pamela Anderson wasn't really actually doing

it. Agents 0069, so. God, that show was horrible.

But funny. Horribly bad, but funny. Yes, where

can the people find you online, sir? TheCN .com.

D -A -S -I -E -N .com. Also, I post on Twitter

actually the Twitter link is on the website so

I don't have to give it out here Because it always

generates laughter Facebook I post under a few

different pages. There's to see in comic on Facebook.

There's also a Facebook comm slash raving dot

hipster where I just rant about anything and

also have a Patreon that you can get through

to see in comm and there's a second one Oh my

god, this is going to get so confusing because

I have two Patreons. I should really consolidate,

but Patreon .com slash Mr. Neil, all spelled

out, where I just do like a monthly movie podcast.

And I'm adding topic shows and stuff that I haven't

recorded yet, but just fun stuff like that. I

think that's pretty much it. I'll have to come

up with like a read for that so it's not so complicated.

We'll figure it out. Yeah, we'll figure it out

by episode 100. All I can think of is, Mr. Neil,

all spelled out. I'm like, won't you be my neighbor?

Well, no. My fear is that people are going to

type M -R -period -N -E -I -L. And I'm like,

no, spell it out. No, spell it out. Yeah, spell

it out, people. All right, coming up next time.

This might be a couple of months from now. Who

knows? Because Wreck -It Ralph 2 isn't coming

out till... just after Thanksgiving this year,

so at some point... the end of the summer or

maybe before halloween or something episode ninety

six we're gonna do the nintendo comics which

include howard and nester mario zelda captain

and and others uh... this also includes the nintendo

power comics as well as the valiant issues as

well so we'll do an overall episode of that because

the one thing conspicuously missing from this

particular podcast is howard and nester which

we didn't talk about at all we're gonna cover

that so don't that that you can stop typing here

angry emails right now because we know about

Howard and Nester, god damn it. Remember, send

all angry emails to Mike at thisweekgeek .dad.

Live free or die hard or whatever the hell he

says at the end of this podcast. Tune in next

time to help us find the pixels in the animation.

See you later, folks! Yeah It didn't have to

be in depth but there were some things I want

to get in there like that a couple of the different

sections that were necessary to mention Yeah,

after about like 95 it not only did they head

toward Nintendo 64 But it kind of became like

just like any other magazine. It stopped having

its own identity So I'm like, I don't want to

read this anymore. It's a new like this is this

isn't fun to read anymore I like the old Nintendo

Power Yeah, anything past the super i did not

care which is a shame because i would have loved

to stick around for like gameboy color and gameboy

advance but that wasn't the main focus of the

of the magazine unless it was pokemon which i

don't give a shit about pokemon it's like here's

this archaic rpg that we're trying to pass off

as something new and different it's dragon warrior

If only it was dragon warrior that way I could

eat that stupid yellow thing Pokemon red Pokemon

yellow Pokemon go how about Pokemon stop Pokemon

go to hell We're getting dangerously close to

Clinton joke here Pokemon go to the polls