So, Then I Just Backed it: A Series on My Kickstarter Adventures (Part 3)

As someone who enjoys writing articles, I also enjoy reading other people’s articles. Whether that be online, in books, or periodicals, it gives me perspective on topics from various angles, which is why its important to read various reviews on games. It allows me to amass a plethora of opinions to better determine if I want to use my money to purchase a game or any other product. This is my journey on the books and articles side of backing projects on Kickstarter as well as Indiegogo.

In my previous article (Part 2), I refer to a project entitled “Medium of the Ages: An Illustrated Anthology,” which was the first book-based project I had backed. It featured various artwork from multiple artists who based it on The Legend of Zelda series. This project was ultimately removed due to copyright issues with Nintendo; this was the first project that did not see the light of day that I had personally backed and was the only one up until recently. Sadly, another book I had just backed just was cancelled. The project was called Hand-Drawn Game Guides, and it had a few hand-drawn books that included series such as The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, Contra, and Ninja Gaiden. Though unfortunate, the head of the campaign, Philip Summers, did the admirable thing and cancelled the project so that the backers would not lose out on money in case the project could not navigate through the copyright infringement issues. This of course I totally can appreciate, being burned in the past on these types of issues. The project can still be rejuvenated if Philip can work through the legalities of the arisen issues.

Another book-based project I backed also had legal issues, but before I go over it, I must first build up the story with the periodicals I backed by the same company. Ninty Media started a campaign in June 2020 with there first issue of Ninty Fresh. The magazine is UK-based and the reason they wanted to create a new magazine is to fill a void in the Nintendo market that has not had any physical magazine-based reading material since 2014. The content of the magazine is vibrant, nostalgic, and insightful. Being able to back a Nintendo themed magazine was really a trip for me personally since I had subscribed to Nintendo Power for years. I even made a shadow box of the first and last issues, to honor the art pieces that I enjoyed monthly. This magazine would become another one of these art pieces for me.

Ninty Fresh

• Issue 1 featured Super Mario Brothers
• Issue 2 featured F-Zero
• Issue 3 featured Pokémon
• Issue 4 featured The Legend of Zelda

To break this all down, I had backed Issues 1, 2, and 3 on Kickstarter. After Issue 3, Ninty Media had a campaign in April of 2021 for a guide entitled “The Unofficial amiibo Handbook,” which was of course a detailed guide of all amiibo currently in existence. I opted to get both the physical and digital versions as well as a poster and checklist with all the amiibo on it. But before I could get that, Ninty Media had a checklist they needed to complete themselves involving some legal issues with the project. Nintendo had an issue with this project, so to resolve this the cover of the book had to be updated, as well as a title change. In the end, the new title of the book was changed to The Unofficial amiibook. Since this occurred and took longer then expected Ninty Media had to go a different route for Issue 4 of Ninty Fresh.

Kickstarter has a rule that a company or campaign creator can only run one project at a time, so with the legal issues on the book pushing back completion, Ninty Media decided to put Issue 4 on IndieGoGo to keep their timeline on track. Knowing that this was a Zelda based issue, and since it’s my favorite series, I had to support the N64 tier. The tier included a toon looking picture of myself with my name, posters, and pins. This was defiantly my favorite issue because it had amazing art, interesting articles, and a picture of yours truly inside its pages, and it all combined together to make up a Triforce of worth that made me think about the Nintendo Power days.

This month, Issue 5 made its debut on Kickstarter, and it will take inspiration from the Metroid series. I just backed the campaign and I can’t wait to see where this magazine will go in the future. There is just something about a physical magazine that makes me happy, and really, when you think about it, that is what we all want in life.

Have you had a favorite magazine that is no longer in production? Have you backed any projects like these before? Do you want too? Let me know your thoughts and questions that you may have. I hope you will enjoy your own Kickstarter journey.   

 Shane Kelley is a Staff writer for Boss Rush Network, as well as a writer for Another Zelda Podcast. His favorite game is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. You can find him on Twitter to talk video games, Marvel, and axe throwing.

Featured Image: Kickstarter.com

Read Part 1: Kickstarter Part 1

Read Part 2: Kickstarter Part 2