Future Publishing bring back Super Play magazine for 1 month only - free with Retro Gamer (OUT NOW)

jawafour wrote:
Lotus wrote:...I've never read Retro Gamer...

. I'm surprised, Lotus, as I believe you're quite heavily into retro gaming?

Very much so, but I kind of lost interest in magazines after the glory days of N64/NGC/OPM. I've picked up the occasional issue of Edge or gamesTM if they're 'special' editions or something, but never anything like Retro Gamer.

As an aside, is there still an official Nintendo magazine? Or any kind of Switch magazine?

There isn't, no. It was scrapped in late 2014. I don't think Nintendo wanted an official magazine any more.

Lotus wrote:...As an aside, is there still an official Nintendo magazine? Or any kind of Switch magazine?

No

. The Official Nintendo Magazine ended a couple of years ago when Nintendo decided to move out of the magazine publishing sector and ended their agreement with Future. A great shame as the mag was excellent right up until the end. There are some enthusiast-produced magazines such as Nintendo Force still available but they don't appear on shop shelves.

I think the only UK gaming mags left are:

Official PlayStation Magazine
Xbox The Official Magazine
PC Gamer
GamesMaster
Edge
gamesTM
Retro Gamer

...and all of them are published by Future. There are also some kids-targeted mags such as Minecraft Mayhem and 110% Gaming.

To be honest, judging by sales figures (which aren't often shared now) I can't see many of them lasting much longer. Ironically it could be Retro Gamer that outlives them all as I think the retro gaming scene will always like a mag targeted at that sector. The PlayStation and Xbox mags willl very much depend upon continued support from Sony and Microsoft and they may view the sales figures as not being worthwhile in comparison to the potential online audience. Unfortunately the digital versions of the mags haven't taken off... in my view, Future was very slow to take up digital editions and, even now, it feels like little promotion is made for them. Perhaps Future just doesn't have the funding on the reach that it used to.

Oh, that's a shame, although not entirely surprising. Was never a huge fan of the official Nintendo magazine, but a lack of presence during the Wii U/3DS/Switch era seems a pity. Changing times though. If there's one downside to the internet, it's that it ruined gaming mags. :sad:

Funnily enough, although I pretty much only buy retro games nowadays, I've never been into Retro Gamer.

I guess the main reason is that I actually prefer to get the magazines of the time - i.e Mean Machines, Total, CVG etc. I like to read what was written about the games when they came out, and not today's take in them.

In fact, the main problem with the new Super Play is that it judges the games in respect of what's out today - and as a result far too many of the reviews are low scoring.

I also like the letters sections, ads and other features of the original retro mags.

I just ordered a whole load of "Total" magazines from eBay

AndyXL wrote: I just ordered a whole load of "Total" magazines from eBay

Total my mag of choice as a kid. It was the one I bought religiously for most of it's run. The original team of Steve Jarrett and Andy "Thicky" Dyer were superb.

Also if you have issue 10 (Robocop cover) I was the winner of "Weird places I played my Gameboy" that month. Got a copy of Metroid II for it.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:
AndyXL wrote: I just ordered a whole load of "Total" magazines from eBay

Total my mag of choice as a kid. It was the one I bought religiously for most of it's run. The original team of Steve Jarrett and Andy "Thicky" Dyer were superb.

Also if you have issue 10 (Robocop cover) I was the winner of "Weird places I played my Gameboy" that month. Got a copy of Metroid II for it.

I do have Issue 10 - I'll look out for you when it arrives, hopefully today or tomorrow

I bought Total sporadically when it first came out and loved it, but didn't collect all of them. I did however have every issue of NMS and Super Play.

Last edited by jawafour on Wed Sep 27, 2017 11:03 am, edited 1 time in total.

AndyXL wrote:... I just ordered a whole load of "Total" magazines from eBay

Total! was pretty neat... it was my brother’s (about nine years younger than me) favourite games mag. I remember they used to have quite large screenshots and often feature little pixel characters of the writers in and alongside them? I liked that style!

Cheeky Devlin wrote:...Also if you have issue 10 (Robocop cover) I was the winner of "Weird places I played my Gameboy" that month. Got a copy of Metroid II for it.

I hesitate to ask, Dev... but where was the weird place? :dread:

...

jawafour wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:...Also if you have issue 10 (Robocop cover) I was the winner of "Weird places I played my Gameboy" that month. Got a copy of Metroid II for it.

I hesitate to ask, Dev... but where was the weird place? ...

On a Submarine when on a family holiday to France. It was open to tourists so there's a picture of me in front of some equipment.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:On a Submarine when on a family holiday to France. It was open to tourists so there's a picture of me in front of some equipment.

A submarine?! That sounds cool!

IIRC, didn’t Total! get some flak for awarding a game 100% in a review? I remember seeing the score emblazoned in huge letters on the cover... I think it was for Super Mario Bros 3?

jawafour wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:On a Submarine when on a family holiday to France. It was open to tourists so there's a picture of me in front of some equipment.

A submarine?! That sounds cool!

IIRC, didn’t Total! get some flak for awarding a game 100% in a review? I remember seeing the score emblazoned in huge letters on the cover... I think it was for Super Mario Bros 3?

I can't remember a 100%, but I'm pretty sure Mario All-Stars got 99%.

Cheeky Devlin wrote:I can't remember a 100%, but I'm pretty sure Mario All-Stars got 99%.

You are bang on, Cheeky.

Spoilored for hugely massive:

Getting major flashbacks and nostalgia for the issue of Total! with Cannon Fodder on the cover now :wub:

Cheeky Devlin wrote:
jawafour wrote:
Cheeky Devlin wrote:...Also if you have issue 10 (Robocop cover) I was the winner of "Weird places I played my Gameboy" that month. Got a copy of Metroid II for it.

I hesitate to ask, Dev... but where was the weird place? ...

On a Submarine when on a family holiday to France. It was open to tourists so there's a picture of me in front of some equipment.

And here is the little chap playing his Gameboy!

AndyXL wrote:And here is the little chap playing his Gameboy!...

. That is just brilliant :toot:

.

jawafour wrote:
AndyXL wrote:And here is the little chap playing his Gameboy!...

. That is just brilliant .

The girlfriend just had a good laugh at it. :lol:

Talk about small world, fantastic stuff :lol:

excellent

Using the glow of the nuclear engine to light the screen up :datass:

Started reading the super play magazine this morning, so so retro :wub:

Getting me really hyped to play the snes mini.

Those shorts :cool:

Future Publishing bring back Super Play magazine for 1 month only - free with Retro Gamer (OUT NOW)

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