Nintendo Power Magazines

Nintendo Power Magazine Back Issues

Those who have ever played a Nintendo game or console might have heard of Nintendo Power. Nintendo Power was a video game news and strategy publication released by Nintendo of America in 1988. Before it ended its publication, it had the distinction of being one of the only video game magazines that had an extended run, publishing issues over the course of 24 years. Each magazine provided a variety of content aimed at gamers.

The gaming magazine published different kinds of material during its history. In addition to tips on games of the time, there were also reviews of new titles released on Nintendo consoles. There were also official Nintendo comics featured in many issues, which starred many of Nintendo's characters in new, original storylines not present in their games. This included a set of Super Mario Brothers comics to tie in with "Super Mario World" and a visual novel comic based on "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past."

While the main focus of the publication was Nintendo games, it did often review or feature games not made by the company. This primarily extended to titles licensed by Nintendo for release on their consoles. A handful of these include "Castlevania" by Konami, "Mega Man" and "Ninja Gaiden" by Capcom, and Square Enix's "Dragon Quest."

Nintendo Power first began publication in the summer of 1988, with Nintendo of America publishing each issue itself. In December 2007, the company transferred publication rights for the magazine to Future US, which handled publication and distribution from then on. By 2012, however, Nintendo announced it would no longer be publishing new issues. Volume 285, released on December 11, marked the final issue after 24 years of publication. In 2017, however, a Nintendo Power podcast began syndication on December 20, carrying on the legacy in a new form.

Gail Tilden is the person credited with starting the magazine originally, serving as editor-in-chief from inception until 1998. After that, Leslie Swan took over before being replaced by Scott Pelland in 2001. Chris Slate, who eventually went on to host the Nintendo Power podcast, became editor in 2007 until the final issue, at which point Future International editor Steve Thomason took his place. Many writers had their work featured in the magazine over the years, including Slate himself. Some other featured writers included Christ Hoffman, who became cohost of the podcast, Justin Cheng, and Cody Martin.