was a Japanese video game magazine that specialized in covering
arcade games
An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
. Published by
Shinseisha
Co., Ltd. was a Japanese publisher founded in 1971 and who filed for bankruptcy in 1999. It originally published learning reference books, but it is more known for its 1986 arcade game magazine . The representative was Hiroshi Kato. The company ...
, it first began in May 1986 and originally published bi-monthly, later changed to be a monthly-issued magazine in the late 1980s. The magazine also featured the annual "Gamest Awards", which hands out awards to games based on user vote. The magazine had a heavy-focus on
shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs
) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...
arcade games, but would also cover games from other genres. ''Gamest'' originated from the bi-monthly fanzine ''VG2 Newsletter'' from the early 1980s. The magazine ran for several years, with its final issue being released in September 1999. Following the bankruptcy of publisher Shinseisha, many editors would move to
ASCII
ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...
and create a successor magazine, ''
Monthly Arcadia
was a Japanese arcade game magazine, published by Enterbrain.
History
''Monthly Arcadia'' launched on December 8, 1999. It was the successor to the then popular magazine ''Gamest
was a Japanese video game magazine that specialized in covering ...
''.
History
''Gamest'' arose from the bimonthly
fanzine
A fanzine (blend word, blend of ''fan (person), fan'' and ''magazine'' or ''-zine'') is a non-professional and non-official publication produced by fan (person), enthusiasts of a particular cultural phenomenon (such as a literary or musical genre) ...
, VG2 kaihō which was also called , VG 2 rengō-shi edited by , Uemura Tomokita.
消しゴムかけのおもひで
at nsknet.or.jp
On the cover of the first issue of read 卜 Gamest ja, ゲームファンのためのハイスコアマガジン, Gēmesu boku ''Gamest'' Gēmufan no tame no haisukoamagajin. Initially it covered arcade games with an emphasis on 2D Shoot 'em up
Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs
) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...
s. From issue 6 on, it appeared monthly and from issue 116 (1994) the magazine was published twice a month.
In the mid-90s, the magazine covered mainly the then booming versus fighting game
A fighting game, also known as a versus fighting game, is a video game genre, genre of video game that involves combat between two or more players. Fighting game combat often features mechanics such as Blocking (martial arts), blocking, grappli ...
genre. In 1999, the magazine was discontinued without a final issue due to the sudden bankruptcy of the publisher Shinseisha
Co., Ltd. was a Japanese publisher founded in 1971 and who filed for bankruptcy in 1999. It originally published learning reference books, but it is more known for its 1986 arcade game magazine . The representative was Hiroshi Kato. The company ...
. Thereafter, much of the ''Gamest'' staff transferred to the publisher ''ASCII
ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because of ...
'' (currently Enterbrain
, formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing founded on 30 January 1987 as . Magazines published by Enterbrain are generally focused on video games and computer entertainment as well as video game and strategy ...
) who launched the arcade game magazine , Gekkan arukadia.
Table of contents
''Gamest'' was subdivided into the following sections:
* , New Game Hatsutama
* Report
* Comic
Notes
References
External links
''Gamest'' PDF magazine archive
(incomplete)
1986 establishments in Japan
1999 disestablishments in Japan
Bi-monthly magazines
Biweekly magazines published in Japan
Defunct magazines published in Japan
Education magazines
Monthly magazines published in Japan
Video game magazines published in Japan
Magazines established in 1986
Magazines disestablished in 1999
Magazines published in Tokyo
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