Saying Goodbye to Nintendo Power

Nintendo Power #1–The Classic 1st Issue!

On August 21, 2012, Nintendo Power announced that their final magazine would be released in December 2012, and another piece of childhood is gone.  The magazine that brought previews of all the biggest and best Nintendo games is no more.

When I first got my Nintendo in 1988, with it I received a card for a free issue of the new magazine Nintendo Power.  Sending away for it, I got a nice Claymation cover of Mario, pursued by Wart, and promises of the hottest game for the holiday season…Super Mario Bros. 2.  With that, I was hooked.

I would pour through each issue, reading, memorizing, and learning the tricks to all things NES.  Even if I didn’t like a game, I read the article…multiple times.  In pre-internet days, there were very few ways to get information on upcoming games, much less tips and walk-throughs.  The first issue introduced me to Super Mario Bros. 2, and I knew all about the game, every hidden door and key before even receiving it that Christmas.  Other games like Zelda II:  The Adventure of Link, Castlevania 2:  Simon’s Quest, and countless others followed…Sometimes the magazine was better than the games.  Others like GamePro and Electronics Gaming Monthly followed, but all paled to Nintendo Power.

Nintendo Power #2

I always awaited my issue with sometimes inspiring and sometimes lame covers.  For almost three years, I held a subscription and each issue was the same ritual.  I let the subscription slide as the Super NES began to take hold, and other than a random run in the mid-late ’90s, I was finished.

Another reason to subscribe was the promise of subscription bonuses.  At a time when games were $40, a free copy of Dragon’s Warrior with a renewal was a must.  Another game collecting Zelda’s best games also inspired renewal.  Unfortunately by then, the magazine had begun running ads, and when strips like Howard & Nestor use to sometimes fill the pages, there was no room or money for a goofy thing like that when competing with the internet and cheaper forms of entertainment.  While the magazine use to present a fairly balanced issue, later issues seemed to heavily focus on their handheld systems which held no interest for me.

So alas, Nintendo Power is dead but a fondly remembered part of childhood.  Like most magazines, there is just no room, time, or ability to compete with other medias and Nintendo Power’s time has come, much like many say the Nintendo itself…Will Nintendo Wii U rejuvenate the Wii and bring a new age of Nintendo?  Only time will tell, but Nintendo is like Little Mac…if he gets punched-out, he gets back up.

Check out the first fifty covers of Nintendo Power…now almost 25 years old: