Rumors about Nintendo launching a handheld. Genesis/Turbo Grafx debates. Charmingly illustrated level maps. Things were very different in the heyday of video game magazines.
Used to be that you could only get tiny photographs of upcoming games as a preview of what you'd be playing at home. Gamers of a certain age may remember what it was like to wait for and gorge on long-awaited issues of Electronic Gaming Monthly.
But, if you're too young to know what that was like, you should head over to Reading EGM. Game designer Cameron Kunzelman goes through old issues of the magazine and showcases the weird, funny and prescient aspects of back-in-the-day video game coverage. It's eye-opening to see how cyclical certain aspects of video game discussion have been.
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And that photos-stitched-together maps of Ghosts 'n' Goblins and The Legendary Axe featured on the site? Those should be hanging in a museum somewhere.
DISCUSSION
I have a treasure trove of old game magazines resting in the basement of my childhood home going back to '96, I think. My mother always threatens to throw them away, but I can't let that happen... Tons of EGM, Next Generation, Tips & Tricks, GamePro, GameFan, Official Dreamcast Magazine, Official Xbox Magazine, etc... Good times, good times. Just need a better way to store them, I guess.