Old Magazine Chat

I wonder what's happened with Switch Magazine there? I didn't bother with it - I'd heard that it was the size of a pamphlet. Surely not?

Was sort of and it always read to me anything on Switch is great, like I wouldn't be shocked if they would give Caretaker at least 2/5 because its on Switch.

Same with the VITA one they did.

I'm pretty sure Switch Player is still going, they usually have nice cover art at least.

The main fault is that they're something like 2/3 reviews. Nobody actually refers to a magazine to find out how good or otherwise a game is: they'll go to the Internet. The edge I always felt NGamer had over online coverage is that it had quality writing, interesting features, and pure entertainment. It obviously wasn't enough of an edge (yes yes, ho ho) to guarantee its survival, but if you're just going to give reviews that outline the features of a game without eliciting even a glimmer of a smile, you may as well make a website and do so in a timely fashion.

I guess the bottom line is that I don't think Switch Player's writing is very fun to read, whereas Ninty Fresh's is. It probably also benefits from the more staggered releases: I had a pile of SPs building up on my loo that I just hadn't read.

Remember ibbsters from the NGamer Forum? He’s only gone and given the Out of Print Archive his collection of single-format and multiformat UK gaming magazines from the ‘90s and ’00s. That's just one of the posts - he’s gave over several other boxes of magazines too, and lots of stuff that wasn’t already scanned and available online. What a man.

I recognise almost all of these issues! I should have a look when they're scanned.

Good on Ibbsters though. Still got all my ONMs, NOMs and NGamers and I will not be giving them to any cunt.

I'd missed that Games Asylum had published an article that looks back on the Christmas 1999 edition of N64 Magazine:

https://www.gamesasylum.com/2021/12/24/issue-36-of-n64-magazine-was-a-colossal-christmas-cracker/

That's what I remember to be N64 Magazine's biggest and best issue. It's the one with the Cartwarming Christmas Tales too. Remind me about that next Christmas - I think we could have fun doing something similar...

I very fondly remember reading Christmas issues of Ngamer. I would go back to them year after year. So I'd be dead keen to do something on here.

Whenever it eventually becomes possible for me to visit the UK, one of the things I plan on doing is arranging to ship my Nintendo mags over here. At the very least, I'll bring all the Christmas issues and the issues I appear in back with me to Japan.

@Balladeer wrote:

The main fault is that they're something like 2/3 reviews.  Nobody actually refers to a magazine to find out how good or otherwise a game is: they'll go to the Internet.

That's probably true now, but back in the day I didn't care what anyone else thought, I was waiting for the NGamer verdict.

Oh, me too! It's fair to say that the likes of Switch Player need more engaging, and more permanent, staff in order to get anywhere near those giddy heights for me though.

...I say that like, with my nostalgia, 'those giddy heights for me' are accessible to any other production or establishment. They're probably not.

There are a lot of italics in that Carmageddon 64 review - still great to read, twenty-something years later.

Ha! I've found a bit of soul-searching was needed when thinking about what to play on the N64 Switch Online, but that N64 mag article felt like the "good old days".

@The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

I'd missed that Games Asylum had published an article that looks back on the Christmas 1999 edition of N64 Magazine:

https://www.gamesasylum.com/2021/12/24/issue-36-of-n64-magazine-was-a-colossal-christmas-cracker/

That's what I remember to be N64 Magazine's biggest and best issue. It's the one with the Cartwarming Christmas Tales too. Remind me about that next Christmas - I think we could have fun doing something similar...

I still remember flicking through Issue 36 in the back of my family's old 306 on the way back from Smith's, with that shonky Worms pen on the front. Best gift was the Top Trumps cards, they never topped that (other than maybe the cartridge holder). Pretty sure I devoured every word in this issue, and it had a bit of everything. Absolute stinkers like Carmageddon, bangers like Smash/Resi 2/Wrestlemania 2000/Dk64.... and then Weaver even stuck an 80% on Roadsters. Must have been feeling merry. I only jumped in on Issue 32, so #36 was what truly converted me away from the official magazine at the time. I miss those days, eagerly anticipating the next page... that team covering Switch would be glorious.

@gjones wrote:

I miss those days, eagerly anticipating the next page...

Man, that was exactly the feeling. I was genuinely stoked for the new issue every month, and kind of bummed out when I finished devouring every word.
I kept every issue though and they received regular rereads.

Man, kids have no idea how valuable time is

They’re still very readable too. Not long ago I re-read an N64 Magazine issue with Turok Rage Wars on the cover, it might have even been the one before that Christmas ’99 one. It was very enjoyable, and clearly written and designed by individuals who really liked and were enthused about what they did for a living.

From N64 Magazine, I remember those Top Trumps and that Worms Armageddon pen really well. I used that pen at school! It’s hard to disagree that the cartridge holder was the best gift they gave away. I’ve got two of them, making me think that it was an idea so good – and that the issue sold so well - that they repeated it.

I remember a time where N64 Magazine hyped up their next issue, which was to come with an ‘extra-special’ gift that they said was ‘their best one yet’. I was excited about that, but it ended up being an Ocarina of Time decal sticker for your N64. Not being ars ed with the game in its build-up, I papped it straight in the bin – I was well disappointed!

Eagle-eyed Secret Santa participants might have recognised that I slip an old magazine gift into my present each year. I’m running out of NGTV DVDs, but don’t fret: I’ve got enough NGamer ‘Best of DS Cheats’ books and Wii pin badges to go around until 2122.

That is a very fine new avatar Cappa. Lots of nostalgia being cooked up there.

@Buskalilly wrote:

Man, kids have no idea how valuable time is

Argh, don't. Too painful.