I am at an age where my nostalgia is taking forms I never thought it would. And when your biggest hobby is in a technology-based field, you are on a fast track to, “Wow, those were the days.” As nice as websites are at instantly giving us news on subjects so specific you’d think there’s a detective after you, there isn’t a buildup of anticipation to excite us anymore. Not when you only got news in a big monthly burst back in the day. So, what video game magazines do you miss?
I know that this topic is basically carbon dating my age. I might as well talk about demo kiosks and instruction booklets. But video game magazines were the source of information to get any kind of info. Previews, strategy guides, and any glimpse at the newest systems fed my fandom until the next issue. And sometimes, you didn’t even have that! You’d walk into the Babbages, find an NES cartridge with the coolest ninja on it as possible, and you were set for the weekend.
The only issue is what do I do with this physical collection? I literally have a collection of about 10 years’ worth of 20-year-old magazines sitting in a diaper box in my basement. I’ve tried to dig through them, and either find a noteworthy article or reviews of some of the games I’ve had or have in my collection. But it is 10 years’ worth of stuff. Hell, I can’t even keep up with one year of a YouTube channel.
The two biggest influences in my life were Nintendo Power and Electronic Gaming Monthly. Nintendo Power was huge, especially when you were a one-console house as a kid. The sole reason I know the first three levels of Banjo-Kazooie like the back of my hand is because I reread that issue over and over again. EGM was the step up into the big boy room, with a more even platform and reviews that would actually tell you when a game was bad. The only issue (nice pun) I had with EGM was how much ad space those issues had. If you were to cut out all the double-sided ad pages in a 300-page spectacular, you could make that a 125 regular edition pretty dang easily.
What about you? What was your favorite magazine? And was it printed on scrolls? Let us know in the Boss Rush Discord.
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The Boss Rush Podcast is the flagship podcast of Boss Rush Media and The Boss Rush Network. Each week, Corey, LeRon, Stephanie, Edward, and their friends from around the internet come together to talk their week in games, entertainment, and more while also bringing topics for conversation, answer listener and community questions, and cover major news and events happening in the video game industry. Watch The Boss Rush Podcast live on Wednesday Nights on Twitch at 8:30PM ET / 5:30PM PT or on Monday mornings at 7AM ET on YouTube and podcast services everywhere. Thanks for listening! You can also get this episode one week early on Patreon.
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I miss getting my regular subscription if Nintendo Power but I realize that it’s not practical to to amass a regular intake of magazines anymore. Like your diaper box, mine would all end up in a binder somewhere for me to pull out every once in a blue moon so I can sigh a heavy “I remember that!” I’m thankful that all my old magazines are, at the very least, organized and sorted. Here’s hoping I don’t have to part with them just yet.
I miss getting Nintendo Power magazines. Truly great memories from childhood!