On Thursday 1 October 1992, the first issue of Super Play arrived in shops throughout Britain. Published by Future Publishing, Super Play claimed to be the first British magazine that not only focused mainly on Nintendo games but also unashamedly covered grey imports, anime and other subjects not usually covered in magazines at the time.
In the twenty years that followed Super Play developed a huge cult following, evolving over the years with the release of each new Nintendo system. As the Nintendo 64 approached it became N64 Magazine, later becoming NGC when the GameCube arrived. Then, with the launch of the Wii it became N-Gamer, which later was revamped and became Nintendo Gamer, which was to become its final form.
Next week issue 80 of Nintendo Gamer will come out. It will be the final issue of the magazine, ending a history of more than 20 years of independent Nintendo magazine coverage from Future Publishing. The final issue is a special tribute issue, containing a feature covering every cover and iteration of the magazine from that first issue of Super Play all the way up to 2012.
It will also feature a special cover illustrated by Wil Overton, the long-time illustrator who created all the amazing cover art in Super Play and N64 Magazine and returns to end the magazine the same way it began – with a fantastic cover.
Subscribers should get their copy of the final issue tomorrow. It’ll come with a letter explaining what will happen to their subscriptions, and it’ll also have an exclusive subscriber-only cover, again illustrated by Wil Overton. For non-subscribers, the issue is on sale next week, 6 September.
Although as of next week the Nintendo Gamer magazine is dead, the website will continue to live on. Nintendo-Gamer.net will continue to provide you with Nintendo news, reviews and features with that same sense of humour and unmatched passion for Nintendo games that made the magazine so popular over the past two decades. As the Online Editor of Nintendo Gamer it is a great privilege to be able to keep the name going and I hope that the site can continue to further develop your love for Nintendo in the same way that first issue of Super Play did for me back when I was nine years old.
“After careful consideration we’ve taken the decision to close Nintendo Gamer magazine,†said Nintendo Gamer publisher Lee Nutter. “However, with Future’s ongoing strategy to drive digital growth across its international, digitally-focussed brand business, the website, Nintendo-Gamer.net will continue as excitement builds ahead of Nintendo’s Wii U launch.â€
The magazine is gone, but there will always be a place for Nintendo Gamer – it’s just in a different medium now. Over the next few months we’ll be sharing the best features and issues from the Nintendo Gamer vaults, dating all the way back through the magazine’s 20-year history.
On behalf of everyone who’s ever written a word, designed a page, checked some text, written a caption or reviewed a game for Nintendo Gamer, thank you so much for reading the magazine. Please do buy the final issue when it’s released on 6 September, and we hope you’ll continue to stick around the website continues to evolve.
Onwards and upwards.
Chris Scullion
Online Editor
Nintendo-Gamer.net
I_R wrote:Sad, but it's beginning to look inevitable that print magazines will all die in the near future.
Moot_Geeza wrote:
We're on dangerous ground, but I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a porn mag.Unlikely wrote:With "near future" ambiguous it's difficult to be sure, but I think that's probably a bit of a gloomy outlook. Porn mags still get published, and the Internet's been around for a fair while now. It's perhaps a generational thingy though - those who grow up with huge amounts of content online perhaps never see the need for printed stuff. Their loss, but eventually, possibly, also ours.I_R wrote:Sad, but it's beginning to look inevitable that print magazines will all die in the near future.
Moot_Geeza wrote:
I_R wrote:We're on dangerous ground, but I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a porn mag.
You make it sound like you've got a lot of bad ones near you.Diluted Dante wrote:Do you not have shops near you?I_R wrote:We're on dangerous ground, but I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a porn mag.
EvilRedEye wrote:I was trying to date when I started gaming so I looked at the copy of Mean Machines Sega I have and there's no date on it and all the content seems to come from different times. I was tempted to tweet the dude who was the editor at the time and berate him for his date-related fuck-up.
I think you're protesting a little too much here Iain. It's nowt to be ashamed of you know.I_R wrote:You make it sound like you've got a lot of bad ones near you.Diluted Dante wrote:Do you not have shops near you?I_R wrote:We're on dangerous ground, but I couldn't tell you the last time I saw a porn mag.
It really is if you've got the internet.Paul the sparky wrote:I think you're protesting a little too much here Iain. It's nowt to be ashamed of you know.
retroking1981 wrote:If I remember correctly the Mean Machines Mags have the date on the contents page? I could be wrong thoughEvilRedEye wrote:I was trying to date when I started gaming so I looked at the copy of Mean Machines Sega I have and there's no date on it and all the content seems to come from different times. I was tempted to tweet the dude who was the editor at the time and berate him for his date-related fuck-up.
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