But anyway! I think I was raised by an NES and a Mac Plus, so if anyone calls my Saturn old, I may cry! (Holds Saturn's limp corpse) She's not dead, she's not! She's just sleeping... she'll get up and play with me in a minute, just like before!!

But anyway! I would have to say my favorite magazine WAS Gamefan. Honestly, when I look around me and see no Gamefan fans, I honestly wonder what the hell anyone else is reading? I would like to go back and hunt down some UGP, because I have never read that mag. I don't think they distributed my my town, or something. I loved Gamefan because they cared. They were insane! These guys started playing games back in the '80s, when there was no Playstation, or Tomb Raider. They knew where the industry came from, and had news contacts that could let them know where it was going. They didn't suck up to companies, either. If a game was good they would vault it to the heavens, and if it sucked, God help it, because they would tear into it like a pack of hyenas at a lame wildebeast. I mean, stuff would fly everywhere!

They also had the prettiest mag, in my opinion. They had original covers, production art from the game designers, and some pretty talented reader art, too. They also had the highest quality screenshots I have ever seen. They made up their own gaming jargon (sausage? chicken?), their editors were amazing writers, and some of the page layouts bordered on pure art. They always printed on stiff, high quality paper, and used tons of color. Their letters section was funny as all hell, they had tons of industry and import news and some nifty ads, too. I know the mag got a lot of crap for supporting the Japanese gaming scene, and dissing a lot of American companies (they didn't like Working Designs too much... but then... neither do I). They also this slightly belligerent "Hardcore" attitude which can put you off. I think they actually put "The best gaming magazine in the world" on their cover, once... Not too wise...

But its so fun! I was happy to pay almost six bucks a month for that mag! I never did get a subscription, but I wound up buying it every month, anyway. Such happy memories... Even though GameGo! and Gamers Republic are dead as my dear Saturn, its okay. I will chant at my shrine to the best gaming mag in history and sacarifice goats until Dave Halverson rises once more!

TokyoNeon

Well, I reside in Russia and there's a whole bunch of domestic game mags here (including a very unique one called "The Great Dragon" - I'm absolutely serious here). Three or four publications cover all those crap PC games, one is multiplatform (both PC and consoles), and there's that uber-kawaii serpent mag and an obligatory Official PlayStation Russia (which for the most part sucks). Just wanted this column's readers to know that there's is a large gaming scene present over here, not just some bears walking down the streets drinking vodka, as most Westerners tend to think. (^_^)

Game Players and Ultra Game Players were simply the greatest gaming mags that ever existed. The excellent reviews, the hilarious letters section, the sheer PERSONALITY...they were great.

I can't think of any other gaming magazine that compares, then or now: GamePro is childish, filled with pseudonymous writers (and they gave Shining Force 2 for the Genesis a horrible rating; you could tell "Scary Larry" had only played the first few minutes of the game), while EGM still lacks the charisma that made GP and UGP so damn cool.

GameFan, while it was around, had glossy paper and pretty pictures, but they tended to give their highest ratings to obscure Japanese games that were never released in the U.S.

Nowadays, PSM and Next Gen are probably the best, and ODCM was cool, while it lasted.

--Blake Nelson

My all time favorite gaming magazine was Gamefan. I'm not sure if you know this one or not (I suspect you do). I liked this magazine because mainly for its satire and good reviews, similar to the gia.

This magazine did not praise every game made and actually gave bad reviews. Of course gamefan did use the wacky faces for reviews, but they did it long before game--this is best game ever--pro. Gamefan was not the best out there, i'm sure, but I liked it. However, they are now non-existant and without a word to their subscribers, of which I was one.

Also, I too had never heard of Ultra Game Players magazine until you talked about it. Is it still published? And is it one of the UK mags?

Bryan Creech

I see dead tonberry's

Long ago (in the late 80’s), in a land beyond the great deserts, mountains, and rivers, there lived a young Nintendo-whore whom fate named Eric. Eric wasn’t much of a spry lad, and took to his NES as his primary source of entertainment. It gave him all he needed – pleasure and pain; triumph and frustration; victory and loss.

It came to Eric’s attention that, somewhere in the land, there existed an arcane periodical devoted to Nintendo games. With a fierce determination that could only be matched by the video game heroes he so adored, Eric set off to retrieve this sacred magazine.

Now I could tell a yarn of how Eric was forced to traverse thousands of miles, across fiery pits and deadly swamps, only to find the mystical tome guarded by a holy dragon that he must slay, but that wasn’t the case. Eric just went to his grandfather and said, in his high-pitched squeal,

“Dammit, get me a subscription to Nintendo Power!”

And lo, it became so.

Nintendo Power became Eric’s secondary source of entertainment, due to its complete strategies, detailed guides, and over-the-top maps. Not to mention Howard and Nester. Even as he aged into the Super NES era, Eric preferred Nintendo Power over his EGM and Gamepro issues, mainly due to the fact that Nintendo Power wasn’t devoting 100+ pages every issue to the newest lame fighting game(that's more in Gamepro's case, though).

Obviously, things change over time, and as Nintendo moved into the 64-bit field, Nintendo Power’s quality went down, for reasons we all know. Eric changed too, and the dark bait of Final Fantasy VII seduced him into purchasing a PlayStation. The rise of the internet also killed Eric’s desire to pay more money for a magazine, when he could just get the same information online.

Even so, the old adage of ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’ still rings true. After all, I just dropped the letter to renew my subscription to Nintendo Power in the mail last week.

And that, Ms. Bolander, is a tale that ends happily ever after.

- Eric Smith

I still remember it, going to the library. Back then the library used to carry Nintendo Power subscriptions. Then one day it just..stopped. I was aghast! I, being the nerd I was then (and, um, still am), wrote a suggestion into the suggestion box. The librarian working at the information center (or whatever they called it) called me up and said they were sorry but the magazine wasn't being checked out that often, so they figured they wouldn't carry it anymore. Actually, this was the first time I realized that I was the only gamer in my city, since I guess I was the only one reading the magazine. I wouldn't even need to check them out, either. I'd just read the newest one in those plastic covers they put them in.

Oh, Nintendo Power. With your tips from "experts", Classied Information, letters section, even CARTOONS! CARTOONS, MAN! Cartoons of Bowser marrying Zelda, and Metroid, and Link, oh my! Was there nothing this magazine could not do! Thou who claimeth the magazine suckethed shall have stons cast unto him, for he is a liar!

But, alas, I grew up...and soon realized that all Nintendo Power was was propoganda. And I had been cleverly tricked by it. Why, only recently have I overcome the falseness in my statements of "Sega sucks." Even when reading the occasional magazine from a friend, it's all just propoganda, with no mention of nothing else other than Nintendo. Of course, one could expect the opposite and same from PSM.

Oh, Nintendo Power. Your cartoons and, um, originality(?) astounded me as a child. Now you have neither.

-josh

Then one day I stumbled on the GIA. The subscription lapsed, and ever since then the only gaming mags I've bought are the occasional PC Gamer, but only for the demo CDs.

- Cecil