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Nintendo Power

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This article is about the Nintendo of America produced publication. For the Japanese-only flash ROM cartridge for the Super Famicom and Game Boy, please see Nintendo Power (cartridge).
Nintendo Power
File:NPLogo.gif
EditorScott Pelland
CategoriesVideo games
FrequencyMonthly
Circulation435,000
First issueJuly/August 1988
CompanyNintendo
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
WebsiteNintendo Power
ISSN1041-9551

Nintendo Power magazine is a monthly video games news and strategy magazine published by Nintendo. The first issue published was July/August of 1988 spotlighting the NES game Super Mario Bros. 2. It remains one of the longest-running and most successful video game magazines in the United States.[citation needed]

Design

The magazine was from the start heavily focused on providing video game strategy, in contrast to other video game magazines that often focus on game reviews, previews, and gossip. As the magazine is published by Nintendo itself, Nintendo Power has often featured detailed in-game maps provided directly by programmers and companies. As a result, the magazine has earned a reputation as an "insider" source of game information with "official" content that differentiates itself from the more speculative, "amateurish" approach of its contemporaries.

The magazine has remained financially successful and is one of the longest-running video game oriented magazines still in circulation. Today, though still "officially" affiliated with Nintendo, the magazine has become more similar to its contemporaries (i.e. Electronic Gaming Monthly), with a greater focus on staff reviews, gossip, and fan letters than in previous years. However, it still includes game strategies from time to time.

In July 2005, Nintendo Power created a new design to appeal to a more general audience, including a new logo and article format. However, the change was not merely cosmetic, as more pop culture references and use of swear terms were birthed along with the design, one can only assume to capture a wider teen demographic as well.

In an effort to gain more customers, Nintendo also created a promotional offer that involves registering three products in Nintendo's site, and receiving three Nintendo Power issues for free (as well as receiving the option to order an extra year - twelve issues - for US$12.00).

Additionally, up until mid-1998, Nintendo Power did not allow any outside advertisements - only ads were allowed for Nintendo games and accessories, or Nintendo Power promotions. In its early years, ads only appeared in the first and last few pages of the magazine, leaving no ads to break up the magazine's editorial content. The ads on the inside front cover were almost always subscription offers.

In addition to the aforementioned redesign, the magazine has since gained an unspoken reputation for consistent typos of both a factual and grammatical nature, with Pulse's "Corrector's Corner" heading for eagle-eyed readers' critiques approaching monthly column status.

History

Nintendo Power began as the several page long Nintendo Fun Club News, but quickly changed to its current magazine format.[1] The first issue published 3.6 million copies, with every member of the Nintendo Fun Club receiving a free one. Almost one third of the members subscribed.

File:Nintendofanclubcover.jpg
Pre-Nintendo Power: Nintendo Fun Club News issue #2.

The magazine was edited at first by Fun Club "President" Howard Philips, himself an avid game player. Nintendo Power's mascot in the late 1980s and early 1990s was Nester, a comic character created by Philips. After Philips left the company, a more "teenage" Nester became the magazine's sole mascot. Early issues of the magazine featured a two-page Howard and Nester comic, which was later replaced with a two-page Nester's Adventures, which was then reduced to one page, and then dropped altogether. Subsequently, Mario replaced Nester as the mascot of the magazine. Later, during the early 2000s, the magazine made another mascot out of its Senior Writer, Alan Averill. Apparently very camera-shy, Averill himself never appeared in any photos; rather, he was represented by a plush toy of a Blue Slime from Dragon Quest. Fans often clamored to see what Averill actually looked like, but the magazine instead ran still more photos of the toy, and even claiming that Alan was, in fact, a Blue Slime. Eventually, Averill retired from Nintendo Power to join Nintendo of America's localization department. His true image was never revealed. The inclusion of a photo of Mr. T in the Player's Pulse section became a running gag in the early half of 2005. More recently, running gags have centered around Chuck Norris references and jokes at the expense of writer Chris Shepperd.

During the early 1990s the magazine used what was a unique and very expensive promotion; it gave a free copy of the new NES game Dragon Warrior to every new subscriber. However, this promotion was in part a sly move on Nintendo's part to make money off a failure: Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest in Japan) games had not sold nearly as well as Nintendo had anticipated, and it was left with a large number of unsold cartridges on its hands. The promotion both helped the company get rid of the unsold merchandise, and won the magazine thousands of new subscribers.

Following the release of the Super Nintendo, the magazine featured lengthy, continuous comic stories based on Super Mario World and Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. After these stories ended, they were replaced by similar multi-issue stories based on Star Fox and Super Metroid, and later on, N64 games like Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire and Blast Corps. were made; as well as comics based on the animated series of Pokémon and Kirby: Right Back At Ya!, respectively. More recently, short excerpts of comic books based on Custom Robo, as well as Metal Gear Solid, have been featured (as well as a short Metroid Prime comic). Nintendo Power has concluded a comic based on the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, which is translated from the original Japanese version and reads in traditional manga format.

In issues 197-200, Nintendo Power did a top 200 game list with 40 each issue. The top 5 were Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Resident Evil 4, with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time taking the top spot.[2]

In issue 211, Nintendo Power began listing upcoming Wii games and Virtual Console titles.

Sections

Currently running

Note: Not all of these sections are in every issue

  • Player's Pulse - "Mailbag" section that features letters to the editor submitted by readers. At first, it was two different sections titled Mailbox and Video Spotlight, the latter of which featured mail from really good players. But during 1989, they merged into one section. Currently, it is titled just Pulse.
  • Pak Watch / Game Watch / News - A look at upcoming games and gaming news.
  • Top 30 / Top 20 / Power Charts - The top-rated games as voted by the readers. Originally, it featured the top 30 NES games, then changed to feature the top 20 games for all the systems in 1992. In 1995, the name was changed to Power Charts, with varying numbers depending on which system (the handheld systems would have half the list length of the consoles). It was removed in 2001, but brought back in 2002, this time being listed in order of top sales and the Nintendo Power staff's choice of the "best games". Recently, when a game that the staff gave bad ratings to is the top seller, they make a joke at its expense.
  • Classified Information - For codes and strategies and gaming secrets. Despite being the magazine's most popular department, it is no longer monthly as of Volume 193, but instead will appear when there are enough new codes and secrets in a given month to justify including it.
  • Player's Poll Contest / Player's Poll Sweepstakes - Monthly contest where readers send in included cards to enter and provide feedback to the magazine.
  • Now Playing / Reviews - Editor reviews for the latest game releases. During 1992, the games were reviewed by two employees named George and Rob, but this change was not popular with the readers, and George and Rob were removed the following year. More recently, though, the section has featured reviews by one editor per game, with the occasional "counter-point" by a dissenting editor who feels that a game warrants a different score.
  • NP 411/Contact Us - Information on how to reach the magazine's departments and where to find information on a specific game in that magazine.
  • Playback- A section reminiscing about games of old. This department made its debut in the March 2006, volume 201 edition of Nintendo Power with Earthworm Jim.
  • Game Over- A one-page strategy divulging details on how to conquer a final boss of a selected game. This feature also made its debut in the March 2006, volume 201 edition of Nintendo Power. Game Over sometimes takes the place of Power Quiz.
  • Power Quiz- A quiz about a selected game, series, or area of Nintendo. Alternates issues with Game Over. Answers are posted in the next issue, as well as on Nintendo.com.
  • Point/Counterpoint- In this section, two or more NP staffers go head-to-head on a Nintendo-related topic.
  • Community- Covers events, music, collections, Pokémon, cosplaying, Animal Crossing, Nintendo food, websites and other Nintendo-related things, though not all sections show at the same time.
  • Wii Channels- A monthly column which provides information on latest releases on features for the Wii, such as Virtual Console games, new Wii Channels, and new updates from WiiConnect24. This column made its debut in issue 212.

It is somewhat difficult to firmly establish what is a consistent monthly column in the magazine, as compilation has been fairly unpredictable following its "new look", with sections such as Classified Information, Game Over and Power Quiz printed on and off throughout recent publication (strangely, the "Inside Zelda" series of articles ran more steadily than aforementioned features without being considered a monthly column).

Discontinued

  • Beat the Boss - A number of final bosses were listed every month with strategies on how to defeat them. This has recently returned in the form of Game Over.
  • Counselors' Corner - Nintendo's game counselors answering game-related questions, such as hints and strategies. It was removed in 2002. Nintendo of America eventually closed its game counselor hotline in 2005, and all employees working as counselors at the time were moved to other departments.
  • The Crossing Guardian / The Crossing Quarterly - A little section (about 1-2 pages) about Animal Crossing. It was later made into the Crossing Quarterly, but as the game got old, the section left the magazine.
  • Epic Center - Role-playing game information and coverage. Originally written by Alan Averill, who has since left Nintendo Power.
  • NES Achievers / Power Player's Challenge / Arena - Players send in their best game scores to try to win free T-shirts, originally Super Power Stamps. Later it challenged readers to do insanely hard stunts such as a 3 heart run with no continues in Zelda games.
  • NES Journal - A newsletter within the magazine, often featuring media news relating to Nintendo (such as the premieres of the cartoon shows and the release of The Wizard) and celebrity interviews. The column disappeared after Volume 16, but the celebrity interviews remained until late 1992.
  • The Nindex - A list of all of the GameCube games. Appeared shortly after the launch of the GameCube, and left mid-2004.
  • Nintendo Online - Showed information and news on video game websites.
  • Game Boy - Early on in the Game Boy's lifespan, the magazine ran a special column focusing on the handheld, even giving it its own section within. However, it ended shortly after the Super NES came out.
  • Game Boy A-Go-Go / Title Wave - This section featured short strategy reviews for games that weren't big enough to receive full ones. Originally, it focused on Game Boy Color games, but then changed its name in 2002 to accommodate GameCube games as well. However, it vanished from the magazine during 2003, causing all the games that would've been appropriate for this section to receive two-page strategy reviews.
  • Power On - Entertainment section featuring caption contests and celebrity interviews. Began in 2002, but ended in mid-2005. As of volume 215, the caption contests have returned, this time by itself.
  • Pokécenter - For latest Pokémon news and updates, TCG strategies, and team analysis. It came into the magazine in April 1999, but ended in the July 2005 issue when it merged with several other sections.

Player's Guides

Main article: Nintendo Player's Guide

Nintendo Power has also produced another series of strategy magazines called Player's Guides. The first Player's Guide was simply called The Official Nintendo Player's Guide. When Nintendo Power switched from a bi-monthly magazine to a monthly magazine in May 1990, every other issue was a Strategy Guide focused on a single game. This didn't last long however, and only four such Strategy Guides were released. The reason for this, as stated in the magazine's 50th issue, was because the strategy guides were intended to review the games that they considered the best, but they eventually abandoned the concept upon realizing that the best games usually come out shortly before Christmas. Starting in January of 1991, Nintendo Power became a full fledged monthly magazine with issue #20. Issues prior to that have become highly collectible.

The first four Player's Guides in book format were the NES Game Atlas (featuring maps of popular NES franchises), Game Boy (featuring select Game Boy games), Mario Mania (featuring information about Nintendo's mascot, Mario, but was mostly a full strategy guide of the then-new Super Mario World), and Super NES (featuring select Super NES games). All four were mailed free to subscribers of Nintendo Power in 1992. Later, a fifth free Player's Guide, Top Secret Passwords, featured passwords (and a few cheats) for selected NES, Super NES and Game Boy games. This guide was sent to subscribers who were now in the Super Power Club. Through originally billed as a subscriber exclusive, it was eventually sold at retailers.

Beginning with The Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Player's Guides now feature one specific game, much like the earlier Nintendo Power Strategy Guides. They are separate entities from the magazine itself. The concept is now emulated by other publishing companies such as Brady Games or Prima for Nintendo and other video game consoles. Almost all major Nintendo video games released today will have an official Player's Guide associated with it.

Player's Guides are often sold at gaming stores or can be ordered direct from Nintendo Power. Most Nintendo Power subscription packages include a free Player's Guide as an incentive.

With all of the FAQs for video games on the internet in modern times, Nintendo's Player's Guides have a tougher time competing, and they have long been a major incentive used for renewing subscription through the mail. T-shirts and the like are in fact offered on occasion through the mail-in offers, however, by subscribing through the internet, many more premiums are available (more T-shirts, for example).

Nintendo Power Awards

The Nintendo Power Awards, once called the Nester Awards (after the cartoon character featured in early issues of Nintendo Power), are the magazine's annual ceremony of recognition for the previous calendar year's games. The awards are nominated by the staff members, and the awards are voted on by the readers. As of 2006, there have been eighteen annual awards featured in what is usually the May issue of the following year, the first awards having taken place in 1989, honoring games released in 1988.

Controversy

File:Nintendopowercontroversial.jpg
The cover for the controversial second issue.

Due to its format, the magazine has occasionally been met with controversy and criticism from some gamers. It has been argued that since it is a game magazine being published by a game company, it is inherently biased, even earning the nickname "Nintendo Propaganda". This could be called false, however, due to the fact that they gave a 5.0 to Geist, a Nintendo first-party game that was in development for over 2-3 years (whose average score on GameRankings was 66%).

For much of its early history Nintendo Power hardly ever even mentioned competing video game systems such as those by Sega. The Nintendo-Sega rivalry was quite intense at the time, with both companies being highly defensive against insults but also openly antagonistic towards each other.

In the mid-90's Nintendo Power published a few articles openly bashing the Sega Genesis (such as "What They Teach at Power U," which was essentially a series of Nintendo advertorials disguised as an educational article, which reached the inevitable conclusion that Sega's product was vastly inferior to Nintendo's) and for an extended period during its early years the magazine gave extensive, favorable coverage to games published by Nintendo, usually hyping them over third-party titles and often devoting huge multi-section articles to them.

Perhaps because they are no longer a competitor (Sega now merely develops games for other companies, including Nintendo) Nintendo Power now sometimes refers to Sega's old systems in a neutral or even favorable tone. One issue included a non-partisan "Point, Counter-Point" debate between two of their writers over whether the Sega Genesis or Super Nintendo was the better system, and the Sega Genesis game Gunstar Heroes (available for Nintendo's Wii Virtual Console) was deemed a "Staff Pick" in a recent issue.

A controversy ensued upon publication of the second issue of the magazine. Parents called in to complain to the magazine's office that the cover, featuring Castlevania II: Simon's Quest with an image of Simon holding the severed head of Dracula, frightened their children and had resulted in many of them having nightmares. For a long time following, Nintendo Power steered clear of cover artwork that features such graphic imagery and instead now place it inside the magazine. This trend may be ending, however, as on the milestone issue No. 200, a picture of a gruesome zombie from Resident Evil: Deadly Silence was shown on the cover. Also, in the January 2007 issue's "PlayBack" column, which spotlighted Simon's Quest, Chris Shepperd mentioned the second issue's cover as being "one of our favorite cover images of all time".

Nintendo Power also received controversy about Conker's Bad Fur Day, a Nintendo 64 video game developed by then-second party developer Rare. The game was very controversial, with sex, alcohol, obscene language, and drugs. Nintendo Power did not even mention the game upon its release, causing mild controversy about the family image that Nintendo was trying to preserve.

Comic series

Spine pictures

Starting with issue #92, pieces of Nintendo characters were printed on the spine of the magazine. When placed upright in order, the magazines form complete characters when viewed from the side. When Nintendo Power was redesigned, the spine picture idea was abandoned. The printed characters include:

  • Mario (though some sections were either misprinted/printed twice, resulting in a disfigured Mario)-1997
  • Link-1998
  • Donkey Kong-1999
  • Lugia-2000; incomplete
  • Fox McCloud, Mario, and Samus Aran (side-by side)-2002
  • Link (Wind Waker)-2003
  • Link, Mario, Samus (Square Pictures From Up to Down)-January 2004 through May 2004
  • Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Fox McCloud (Square Pictures From Up to Down)-July 2004 through December 2004
  • Who Are You, featuring various Nintendo characters -January 2005 through June 2005 (culminating in a segmented picture of a DS)

Spin-offs

During 2001, Nintendo Power released a spin-off semi-magazine named Nintendo Power Advance, featuring the Game Boy Advance and its games. Four issues of Nintendo Power Advance were printed, the last of which served as a strategy guide for Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2.

With the release of Pokémon for the Game Boy; Nintendo Power included 3 or 5 mini-issues of 'Pokemon Power' mainly featuring tips and strategies for the game.

Player's Poll

Since Issue one, Nintendo Power has had a "Player's Poll Contest" (later called "Player's Poll Sweepstakes") where there would be a grand prize, a 2nd place prize, and 3rd place prize. The grand prize is often centered around the game, the 2nd place prize is the game itself, and 3rd place prize is a T-shirt.

See also

References

  1. ^ Jeremy Parish. "EGM Retro: 20 Years of NES from 1UP.COM". 1up.com. Ziff Davis. Retrieved 2007-04-29.
  2. ^ "NP Top 200", Nintendo Power, vol. 200, pp. 58–66, February 2006{{citation}}: CS1 maint: year (link).
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