Arstechnica is reporting that word around the grapevine is Nintendo Power is going to end its 24-year life pretty soon, much like EGM and GamePro before it.
Some of the head editors apparently confirmed this via Twitter, but their posts were deleted shortly after. They said they were saddened by the news, but would try to make the last issue a memorable one. Some of them are moving on to either GamesRadar or MacLife.
No official word yet, and neither Future Publishing or Nintendo will confirm/deny at this point, but it seems pretty inevitable. Nintendo apparently has no plans to buy the magazine back from Future, who took over publishing duties in 2007.
So, yeah, they haven’t been relevant in years (in b4 “NP is still alive?”), but you can’t deny it was a definite force in the 90’s. Many of us wouldn’t have made it out of the 8-bit era with our sanity intact without 'em. They had some great guides, too. Howard and Nester are still classic.
Update:
Just an update (same URL as above), Nintendo officially confirmed it. Last issue is going to be in December. They also re-iterated that they aren’t gonna publish it themselves or give it to anyone else, so… that’s that.
While i still love old school Nintendo, the N64 era and their other sketchy business practices killed me as a fan since then. So i have seen little of the magazine past that.
However, i have quite a few fond memories of Nintendo Power back in the NES & SNES days. I remember reading the Double Dragon and TMNT Arcade issues for example and being wowed! As well as the Mario World and Link to the past stuff.
Remember the Starfox, Zelda and Super Mario World comics too? Hell I still have the Zelda novel somewhere. Even bought the first 50 issues for $50 back in the day with that super power club offer. So many cd soundtracks where offered too and now there rare as hell.
Well, when i’m at a books-a-million and have no comics i want to read, its cool to browse the magazine isle and grab stuff to check out. I never bought any but they were a cool read, especially the all-retro centered ones.
That alone should justify the existence of gaming mags today…
Nintendo Power was a powerful force in my life as a gamer! I remember the first issue of NP that I ever read, which was the actual FIRST ISSUE! I remember it’s super-in-depth look at Super Mario 2, which really blew me away because of how much of a Mario fanatic I was as a child. Then there was the eighth issue, that one holds a special place in my heart because of the Ducktales walkthrough. Thanks to that, I could guide “Unca’ Scrooge” through that game like a champ!
Oh, and I can’t forget about the comics. Howard and Nester, Super Mario Adventures, Mario vs. Wario, Star Fox, Super Metroid, and Zelda: A Link to the Past. Obviously, there were others, but I only mentioned the ones I was actually lucky enough to read. All of them were great, even though there were some irks. While the SM comic gave Samus a personality AND taught me her (official) origin story, there were some liberties taken that I didn’t like. Such as the Metroid larva being shot and killed by Chief Hardy, who shot it with a regular blaster (no ice was involved, either) and not by Mother Brain killing it before Samus’s eyes.
Admittedly, I never had a subscription, nor did I read it on a regular basis. However, if I saw an issue at a friend’s house, I would read it in a heartbeat. After a while, I moved on to EGM (another late, great mag) and never really looked back. I would still flip through an issue if I saw it on a magazine stand in a Walmart or grocery store. In recent years, they seem to have taken a liking to trolling EarthBound/Mother fans, which is eye-rolling, to say the least. Still, it is very sad to hear that the magazine is stopping after all this time. Like I said, NP was a powerful force in my life as a gamer and I wasn’t lying. Thanks to the memories and game tips, it will continue to be one even after it’s publication has ceased.
EDITOh, and how can we talk about Nintendo Power and NOT mention the controversial Simon’s Quest cover?
Damn, it’s like hearing about an old childhood friend passing away… You haven’t seen them in years… The few times your paths crossed recently, you realize you were on separate paths, but you can’t help but think back on all the fun times you had back in the day.
Thank you, Nintendo Power, and your awesome guides that got me through StarTropics and The Legend of Zelda without tearing my hair out. You stayed awesome in the 16-bit era, and while the N64 and Gamecube years were weird, we were still cool. GGPO, NP.
Meh, you’re taking to someone who used to have STACKS of EGM, GamePro and Nintendo Power mags as well as others. I loved em all but progress is progress I guess.
Though with that said, you can’t help but wonder if actual gaming mags will come back as a retro thing like NES games and typewriters.
EGM was the only game magazine I ever liked, only for the reviews,when they had 3 people giving different perspectives.
I always thought NIntendo Power was full of shills and was published for fanboys.
Gaming magazine are all but irrelevant, given you can get much more information, and videos online. Not to mention demo discs are obsolete given psn and xbla.
That being said. playstation jampacked demo disc with tekken 3, tomba, einhander and hotshots golf was like, my favorite game for a long time. I’m pretty sure it had irritating stick on there too.
Anyway, can’t really pretend I am sad to see them go.
Apparently parents were raging because it traumatized their kids. I’m not sure why Simon’s a Roman centurion, but I always liked how this one had a cool Halloween vibe to it.
