Nintendo Powered

June 2, 2007


Nintendo POWER!Excuse me while I show my geekitude.

Through a Wikipedia tangent (going from the number “10” to the old NES game “Crystalis” in just three moves) I had a sudden flashback. Not of the Nintendo Entertainment System. Not of Crystalis itself, which I loved at the time of release. No – something even more secluded in my thoughts – more hidden and buried than anything else I saw on the page. A discovered nostalgia that sprung forth with more power than I’d have imagined it would.

It was Nintendo Power. The magazine that dominated my youth. I had forgotten all about it, somehow. I don’t know how I ever could have.

From third to seventh grade, there was little else that I’d read. I studied every Top 30 list, secretly rooting for my favorite games to rise in the standings. I fell in love with the Super Mario 3 Strategy Guide – the first time I’d ever seen an entire game spelled out in whole, from beginning to end, every level opened up, like coming across a treasure map or an ancient hidden text.

I loved everything that Nintendo Power had to offer, from Howard and Nester cartoons to the secrets and rumors that came with new games. I loved the contests. I loved how you got a free copy of Dragon Warrior with any subscription. I loved that there was an entire magazine devoted to the one thing I cherished above everything at that point in life – my Nintendo Entertainment System.

I thought back through my mental Nintendo Power archive. It all came rushing back – from the unnatural love that the magazine had for StarTropics to the first ever, sneak peaks of the Super Nintendo (complete with a poster that showed screenshots from various games.)

I can’t believe I forgot about it. Before I had ever subscribed to The Believer, before National Geographic, Vegetarian Times, Popular Science, Time or any other magazine I received in the mail, I anxiously waited each month for my new Nintendo Power.

It’s not the same anymore. I grew up and realized that it was a magazine that pandered to Nintendo only, a bought off entity of a larger corporation. But for a few years, it was as close to a Perfect Magazine I’d ever found.

Tags: Random |

Comments

3 Responses to “Nintendo Powered”

  1. Ryan on June 2nd, 2007 423 pm

    Nintendo Power was the best magazine a kid could possibly get back in the day. I still remember when I got the free preview issue when it debuted. From that moment I knew I had to have more. I actually had every single issue through some fancy silver anniversary edition and remember all the same issues you mentioned.

    Besides those, two other issues stand out in my memory: 1) The preview of Final Fantasy and 2) The “design your own video game” contest where the winner had the absolute coolest drawings of each stage’s “boss”.

    Those were the days…

  2. Corey Vilhauer on June 2nd, 2007 749 pm

    Hell yeah — I forgot to mention the Final Fantasy issue…and even better - the Final Fantasy prize: a trip to a secluded island to find the four elemental orbs.

  3. John Scott on June 2nd, 2007 752 pm

    Nintendo Power was the sh.. wait, can I say that here?

    It has gone down hill a bunch (or maybe we grew up?) but the glory days of the 80s and 90s were awesome.

    Dragon Warrior for free was a steal!

    Although the game is only worth 3.99, but the rest of the Dragon (Quest) Warrior series are very good (and valued on ebay.)

Leave a Reply