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Nintendo Power
Not to be confused withNintendo Power (cartridge service)
Nintendo Power wasNintendo's official magazine for the North American region, providing previews, hints and tips, and reviews of new and upcoming games for Nintendo platforms and published monthly. It is the successor ofNintendo Fun Club News.
At the beginning of the magazine's run, the mascot was a character namedNester, who would appear in a comic segment alongside a caricature ofHoward Philips to give tips, and later appeared on his own after Philips left the company. Even later, Mario replaced Nester entirely as the magazine's mascot. Finally, Senior WriterAlan Averill was made the mascot, commonly represented by a plush depicting the Slime enemy from theDragon Quest series.
Originally published in-house byNintendo of America, publishing duties were later contracted toFuture US in 2007. The magazine debuted with its first issue in July 1988, and ended publication in December 2012.
in December 2017, theNintendo Power brand would be brought back in the form ofNintendo Power Podcast, hosted by the magazine's former editor-in-chiefChris Slate.
Contents
History
Between 1987 and 1988, Nintendo published a magazine for theNintendo Fun Club, titledNintendo Fun Club News. That magazine was cancelled after its seventh issue so that the company could focus onNintendo Power, the first issue of which was released in July.
In 1998, Nintendo began to allow outside advertising inNintendo Power, formerly only allocated to games and products for Nintendo hardware.
In 2005, to appeal to a new audience,Nintendo Power was revamped. This included a new logo, more fan interaction, and staff reviews. This also led to a greater focus on news and previews rather than strategies.
In September 2007, it was announced that Future US would be publishingNintendo Power.
In August 2012, Nintendo announced that it had chosen not to renew its license with Future US, and thatNintendo Power would be discontinued after its December 2012 issue.
Volumes
 | Main article:List of Nintendo Power volumes |
285 issues ofNintendo Power were published in its 24 year run. The first issue was dated July/August 1988, while the final issue was released in December 2012. Volumes were originally released on a bi-monthly basis, until the magazine was converted to a monthly format.
Between August 1998 and January 1999, volumes 111-116 ofNintendo Power included a mini-magazine titledPokémon Power, which featured strategy guides forPokémon Red andBlueVersions as well as "ani-manga" adaptations of episodes of the television series.
In 2001, a four-issue miniseries titledNintendo Power Advance was published, similar to a normalNintendo Power issue but exclusively coveringGame Boy Advance titles.
Strategy guides
In addition to magazines, Nintendo would also publish official strategy guides under theNintendo Power brand.
The first guidebook released wasThe Official Nintendo Player's Guide, which gave full walkthroughs for a number ofNintendo Entertainment System games.
During the 1990'sNintendo Power would send aNintendo Power Strategy Guide to subscribers every other month, or alongside the new issue. These were discontinued due to a lack of important releases.
Later, Nintendo would begin releasing theOfficial Nintendo Player's Guide. Unlike the previous guides, these were not included with subscriptions, and instead had to be purchased separately. Initially these guides were similar toThe Official Nintendo Player's Guide and covered multiple games for one console, though the format was later converted so that each guidebook would cover one specific game, and are only made for Nintendo-published games.
AfterNintendo Power was given to Future, the guidebooks were discontinued.
Exclusive games
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Game Boy Camera (also known as Game Boy Camera Gold) was only available through mail and the Nintendo Power magazine. It is now quite valuable.
- A stand-alone version ofSuper Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels forNintendo Entertainment System for players overseas was proposed byGail Tilden (former marketing manager of Nintendo of America and Nintendo Power magazine's founding editor) so it wouldn't be wasted (as overseas instead received aSuper Mario Bros. 2 that was an edited version ofDoki Doki Panic), however the idea was rejected in concerns that it would "confuse the market". Eventually, overseas received remakes of the game; beginning with the remade versions inside of a hidden mode in theGame Boy Color gameSuper Mario Bros. Deluxe, and as one of the games in theSuper Nintendo Entertainment System gameSuper Mario All-Stars. The original Famicom game was eventually released on theWii,Nintendo 3DS andWii UVirtual Console viaWii Shop Channel (Nintendo'sHanabi Festival),Nintendo eShop (Nintendo 3DS,Wii U) andNintendo Switch Online for the Nintendo Entertainment System emulator since then).
Notable staff
- Gail Tilden (Former marketing manager of Nintendo of America and Nintendo Power Magazine's founding editor-in-chief)
- Howard Phillips (Former Director Game Creative and "Gamemaster" of Nintendo of America and Nintendo Power Magazine's senior editor - content)
- Pam Sather (Nintendo Power Magazine's senior editor - production)
- Scott Pelland (Editor-in-Chief until 2007)
- Chris Slate (Editor-in-chief until early 2012)
- Steve Thomason (Editor-in-chief until the magazine's cancellation in 2012)
External links
- Nintendo Power on Wikipedia
- Nintendo Power on Super Mario Wiki
- Nintendo Power on Zelda Wiki
- Nintendo Power on Bulbapedia
Notes
In other regions during the circulation of Nintendo Power,Nintendo Dream (Japan),Nintendo Official Magazine (United Kingdom),Nintendo Magazine System and its successorOfficial Nintendo Magazine (Australia) were popular Nintendo-focused magazines. Of these, all but Nintendo Official Magazine (UK) and Nintendo Magazine System are still having new volumes produced. However, it appears none of these were ever produced in-house by Nintendo.
After Nintendo Power ceased to exist, an unofficial successor was produced known asNintendo Force (also known asNF Magazine), with direction of video game journalism websites such as IGN. The Nintendo Force magazine is released in both print and digital format hosted byMagCloud.
See also
Note: There are many other Nintendo or Nintendo-related magazines as well.
- Nintendo Dream (Japan)
- Official Nintendo Magazine (UK)
- Official Nintendo Magazine (Australia) (a follow-up toNintendo Magazine System)
- Famitsu (Japan)
- NF Magazine (Nintendo Force) (USA)
- CoroCoro Comic: Although it is owned byShogakukan, is not focused on Nintendo, and compiles manga from many franchises or brands (Nintendo IP such asSuper Mario-Kun manga series are only a small portion), there is a little involvement from Nintendo; in particular for the original distributions ofPokémon Blue (Japanese), as well as the specialCoroCoro Comics Pocket Camera.
