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''Nintendo Power'' was a
video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...
news and strategy magazine from
Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing card ...
, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Nintendo of America, then independently, and in December 2007 contracted to Future US, the American subsidiary of British publisher Future. Its 24–year production run is one of the longest of all video game magazines in the United States and Canada. On August 21, 2012, Nintendo announced that it would not be renewing its licensing agreement with Future Publishing, and that ''Nintendo Power'' would cease publication in December. The final issue, volume 285, was released on December 11, 2012. On December 20, 2017, ''Nintendo Power'' officially returned as a podcast.


History

'' Nintendo Fun Club News'' preceded ''Nintendo Power'' as a newsletter sent to club members for free. In mid-1988 it was discontinued after seven issues in favor of ''Nintendo Power''. The new magazine was founded by Nintendo of America marketing manager
Gail Tilden Gail Tilden is an American marketing manager and consultant. She formerly worked at Nintendo of America where she was instrumental in helping with the advertising of the Nintendo Entertainment System's introduction to the North American market, a ...
in 1988. The first issue, dated July/August 1988, spotlights the
NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...
game '' Super Mario Bros. 2''. Of this issue, 3.6 million copies were published, with every member of the Nintendo Fun Club receiving a free copy. From the beginning, ''Nintendo Power'' focuses heavily on providing game strategy, reviews, and previews of upcoming games. In mid-1998, ''Nintendo Power'' first allowed outside advertising in the magazine, formerly reserved for Nintendo-based products only. In its early years, ads only appeared in the first and last few pages of the magazine, leaving no ads to break up the magazine's editorial content. In July 2005, ''Nintendo Power'' introduced a new design to appeal to a limited gaming audience, including a new logo and article format. Along with the cosmetic overhaul came a greater focus on Nintendo fans, staff reviews, rumor-milling, and fan service including an expanded and enhanced reader mail segment (known as "Pulse") and a revamped "Community" section. Nintendo introduced a new incentive promotional offer that involved the registration of three Nintendo (or Nintendo affiliated) products through Nintendo.com to receive a free three issue trial subscription to ''Nintendo Power''. Later, the magazine changed its focus from game strategies and cheat codes to mainly news, previews, and articles on upcoming games. On September 19, 2007, Nintendo officially announced that the large magazine publisher Future US would begin publishing ''Nintendo Power''. The company's first official issue was released in October, as issue #222 (December 2007). It was also revealed that circulation would be increased to 13 issues a year, with the extra magazine being a holiday season bonus issue. ''Nintendo Power'' stopped making the Bonus issue in 2011. On August 21, 2012, Nintendo announced that it had opted not to renew the licensing agreement with
Future Publishing Future plc is an international multimedia company established in the United Kingdom in 1985. The company has over 220 brands that span magazines, newsletters, websites, and events in fields such as video games, technology, films, music, photogr ...
and that ''Nintendo Power'' would cease publication after 24 years. The final issue would be December 2012. Senior Editor, Chris Hoffman stated that his staff would "try to make the last issues memorable". Nintendo reportedly did not actively participate in discussions to continue the magazine online. ''Nintendo Power'' officially returned on December 20, 2017, as a podcast, using the original logo design.


Format

The magazine was edited at first by Fun Club "President" Howard Phillips, himself an avid gamer. While the Fun Club News focused solely on games made in-house by Nintendo, ''Nintendo Power'' was created to allow for reviews of games produced by those licensed by Nintendo, such as
Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...
, Capcom, and the like. ''Nintendo Power''s
mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
in the late 1980s and early 1990s was
Nester Nester may refer to: * Nester Township, Michigan * Nester (character) ''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North ...
, a comic character created by Phillips. After Phillips left the company, Nester became the magazine's sole mascot. Early issues of the magazine featured a two-page ''Howard and Nester'' comic, which was later replaced with the two-page ''Nester's Adventures'', later reduced to one page, and eventually dropped altogether. Subsequently,
Mario is a character created by Japanese video game designer Shigeru Miyamoto. He is the title character of the ''Mario'' franchise and the mascot of Japanese video game company Nintendo. Mario has appeared in over 200 video games since his cre ...
replaced Nester as the mascot of the magazine. Later, during the early 2000s, the magazine made another mascot out of its Senior Writer, Alan Averill. Apparently very camera-shy, Averill himself never appeared in any photos; rather, he was represented by a plush toy of a Blue Slime from '' Dragon Quest''. Fans often clamored to see what Averill actually looked like, but the magazine continued to substitute with photos of the toy, and even claimed that Alan was, in fact, a Blue Slime. Eventually, Averill retired from ''Nintendo Power'', joining Nintendo of America's localization department. To this day, most fans have never seen a real image of Averill. The inclusion of a photo of
Mr. T Mr. T (born Laurence Tureaud, May 21, 1952), is an American actor. He is known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series ''The A-Team'' and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film ''Rocky III''. He is also known for his ...
in the Player's Pulse section became a running gag in the early half of 2005. Late in the magazine's life, running gags centered on
Chuck Norris Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. He is a black belt in Tang Soo Do, Brazilian jiu jitsu and judo. After serving in the United States Air Force, Norris won many martial arts champions ...
references and jokes at the expense of writer Chris Shepperd. During the early 1990s, the magazine used what was a unique and very expensive promotion: giving away a free copy of the new
NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...
game '' Dragon Quest'' to every new subscriber. This promotion was in part a move on Nintendo's part to make money off ''Dragon Warrior'' (''Dragon Quest'' in Japan). The game had not sold nearly as well as Nintendo had anticipated, leaving the company with a large number of unsold cartridges. The promotion both helped the company get rid of the unsold merchandise, and won the magazine thousands of new subscribers. Following the release of the
Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in ...
, the magazine featured lengthy, continuous comic stories based on ''
Super Mario World ''Super Mario World,'' known in Japan as is a platform video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It was released in Japan in 1990, North America in 1991 and Europe and Australia in 19 ...
'' and '' The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past''. After these stories ended, they were replaced by similar multi-issue stories based on ''
Star Fox is an arcade style rail shooter and third person action-adventure video game series created by Shigeru Miyamoto, produced and published by Nintendo. The games follow the Star Fox combat team of anthropomorphic animals, led by chief protagon ...
'', ''
Super Metroid is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. It is the third installment in the ''Metroid'' series, following the events of the Game Boy ...
'', and later,
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...
games such as '' Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire'' and ''
Blast Corps ''Blast Corps'' is an action game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. In the game, the player uses vehicles to destroy buildings in the path of a runaway nuclear missile carrier. In the game's 57 levels, the pl ...
''. It had several comics based on the animated series of '' Pokémon'' and '' Kirby: Right Back at Ya!''. Toward the end, it included short excerpts based on ''
Custom Robo is an action role-playing video game series developed by Noise and published by Nintendo. The series currently spans five games, and has titles on the Nintendo 64, Game Boy Advance, GameCube, and Nintendo DS. Only the two most recent titles h ...
'' and '' Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes''. It included a very short ''
Metroid Prime ''Metroid Prime'' is an Action-adventure game, action-adventure video game developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the GameCube. ''Metroid Prime'' is the fifth main installment in the ''Metroid'' franchise and the first game in ...
'' comic, and another story based on the ''
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is a video game series spin-off from the main ''Pokémon'' series developed by Spike Chunsoft (formerly Chunsoft). The games feature the fictional creatures called Pokémon who have the ability to speak human language navigating through a ra ...
'' games translated from the original Japanese version.


''Official Guides from Nintendo Power''

''Nintendo Power'' produced a series of strategy magazines called ''Official Guides from Nintendo Power'', beginning with '' The Official Nintendo Player's Guide''. After ''Nintendo Power'' switched from a bi-monthly magazine to a monthly magazine in May 1990, some issues were positioned as strategy guides for single games replacing the guides. However, only four such issues were produced before Nintendo outsourced production of official guides to
Prima Games Prima Games is a publishing company of video game strategy guides in the United States. Formerly, Prima was an imprint of Dorling Kindersley, a division of Penguin Random House, and produced print ''strategy guides'', featuring ''in-depth walkth ...
.


Nintendo Power Line

The Nintendo Power Line was a staffed hotline providing gameplay hints about Nintendo consoles, such as the Nintendo Entertainment System. It ran from the publishing of the first issue publication of Nintendo Power in 1988 until June 2010, closing in favor of the Internet. The hotline was revived as automated messages, from November 11 to November 13, 2016, in celebration of the release of the
NES Classic Edition NES Classic Edition is a dedicated home video game console by Nintendo, which emulates the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It launched on November 10, 2016 in Australia and Japan, and November 11, 2016 in North America and Europe. Aesthet ...
.


Spin-off magazines

During 2001, ''Nintendo Power'' released a spin-off semi-magazine named ''Nintendo Power Advance'', featuring the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
and its games. The first issue was complimentary for subscribers, and sold at newsstands. Four issues of ''Nintendo Power Advance'' were printed, the last of which is a strategy guide for '' Super Mario World: Super Mario Advance 2''. With the release of ''Pokémon'' for the
Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same t ...
in 1998, ''Nintendo Power'' includes six mini-issues of ''Pokémon Power'' mainly featuring tips and strategies for the game. In 1989, a smaller version of the magazine called ''Pocket Power'' was distributed at movie theaters showing ''
The Wizard Wizard, the wizard, or wizards may refer to: * Wizard (fantasy), a fictional practitioner of magic * Wizard (supernatural), a practitioner of magic Art, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Wizard (Archie Comics), a comic book supe ...
''.


Nester

Nester is the long-time teenage
mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fi ...
and comic strip star of ''Nintendo Power''. Nester was created by Howard Phillips, "President" of the Nintendo Fun Club and a former editor of ''Nintendo Power'', to be the supporting character in his comic strip, ''Howard & Nester''. The comic strips generally advertised new games, often by dream sequences where Nester was actually a given video game character. From 1989 to 1993, The ''Nintendo Power'' Awards featured Nester-shaped trophies and were referred to in the magazine as the "Nesters" in reference to the
Oscars The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
. In the June 1991 issue (Volume 25), Phillips was written out of the strip after his real-life counterpart left Nintendo to work for
LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...
. The strip was retitled ''Nester's Adventures'' the following issue and continued publication until Volume 55 (December 1993). Nester, now as a college student, appeared in ''Nintendo Power'' issue #100. He is seen again in issue #231, the magazine's twentieth anniversary, here a grown man with a son new to Nintendo. Nester's final appearance in ''Nintendo Power'' is in the final issue, Volume 285, in a comic titled "Nester & Max", where he is seen reading and lamenting the final issue. Nester is featured in a few video games that were released while the character was in the magazine. His first appearance was as a commentator in ''
NES Play Action Football The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...
''. Other appearances include the ending of '' To the Earth''. Nester is the main character in '' Nester's Funky Bowling'' for the
Virtual Boy The Virtual Boy is a 32-bit tabletop portable video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. Released in 1995, it was marketed as the first console capable of displaying stereoscopic "3D" graphics. The player uses the console like ...
, which also introduces his sister Hester. The character of Lark in ''
Pilotwings 64 is an amateur flight simulator game developed by Nintendo and Paradigm Simulation and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It was one of three launch titles for the Nintendo 64 in Japan as well as Europe and one of two launch titles in Nor ...
'' for the
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo. The successor to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, it was released on June 23, 1996, in Japan, on September 29, 1996, in North America, and on March 1, 1997, in Europe and ...
was based on Nester.Nintendo Power: "His handle is Lark, but everyone in class knows this guy is Nester." ''Nintendo Power''. Nintendo of America. September 1996, page 25. Several NES games feature the name "NESTER" as one of the pre-set names on high-score lists, or a default character name such as in ''To the Earth''. The original
NES The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...
release of ''
Dragon Warrior previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo (Koichi Sugiyama) to its publ ...
'' references both Howard and Nester through character dialog, however this was removed in the later Game Boy Color version. He is mentioned in one line of dialogue in the game ''
StarTropics ''StarTropics'' is an action-adventure video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Unlike most of Nintendo's games, it was never released or intended to be released in Japan. It was released only in North ...
''. A DLC microgame in '' WarioWare D.I.Y.'' created by ''Nintendo Power'' called ''Funky Boxing'' (a loose reference to '' Nester's Funky Bowling'') does not have any apparent references to the character, but if the game is opened in the editor, the player's boxer is named "NESTER".


Podcast

On December 20, 2017,
Nintendo of America is a Japanese multinational video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. It develops video games and video game consoles. Nintendo was founded in 1889 as by craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi and originally produced handmade playing card ...
announced the official return of ''Nintendo Power'' in the form of a podcast, hosted by former Editor-in-Chief of the original magazine, Chris Slate. In the first episode, Slate states that the podcast was a "passion project" for Nintendo and that he wanted ''Nintendo Power'' to return. He also acknowledged that the format of that episode was experimental and that the frequency of the series' episodes hasn't been determined. Later in the episode, Slate interviews the developers of '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild'' and discusses the Nintendo Switch.


See also

* ''
Official Nintendo Magazine ''Official Nintendo Magazine'', or ''ONM'', was a British video game magazine that ran from 2006 to 2014 that covered the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii, and Wii U video game consoles released by Nintendo. Originally published by EMAP as '' ...
'', the
U.K. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
and Australian equivalent. * ''
Nintendo Magazine System (Australia) ''Nintendo Magazine System'' was the official Nintendo magazine of Australia. In publication for seven years until 2000, the magazine was a branch of ''Official Nintendo Magazine'', the UK's official Nintendo magazine, which was also called ...
'', the former Australian equivalent. * ''
Nintendo Dream This is a list of video game magazines. The primary focus of the magazines in this list is or was video game journalism for at least part of their run. For general computing magazines that may also cover games, consult the list of computer magazin ...
'', the Japanese equivalent. * ''
Club Nintendo Club Nintendo was a customer loyalty program provided by Nintendo. The loyalty program was free to join and provided rewards in exchange for consumer feedback and loyalty to purchasing official Nintendo products. Members of Club Nintendo earned ...
'', the
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
and
Latin America Latin America or * french: Amérique Latine, link=no * ht, Amerik Latin, link=no * pt, América Latina, link=no, name=a, sometimes referred to as LatAm is a large cultural region in the Americas where Romance languages — languages derived f ...
equivalent. * ''
Nintendo World ''Nintendo World'' is a Brazilian video game magazine, which covers games for the Nintendo Wii, Wii U, 3DS and DS. It was created in 1998 by the Conrad Editora. Initially it covered games for the Nintendo 64 and Game Boy Color consoles, whi ...
'', the
Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...
equivalent. * ''
Nintendo Force ''Nintendo Force'', or ''NF Magazine'', is a bi-monthly magazine that centers upon various Nintendo hardware products. In December 2012, IGN editor and magazine founder Lucas M. Thomas announced his intention to release the magazine, stating ...
'', a spiritual successor. *
Camp Hyrule Camp Hyrule was an annual online virtual camp that was sponsored and moderated by Nintendo of America. It first opened in the summer of 1995, and emerged as Nintendo's biggest online event. Camp Hyrule, which was usually held in August, allowed Ni ...
, Nintendo's Internet-based community from 1995 to 2007, adjunct to ''Nintendo Power'' *
History of computer and video games The history of video games began in the 1950s and 1960s as computer scientists began designing simple games and simulations on minicomputers and mainframes. ''Spacewar!'' was developed by MIT student hobbyists in 1962 as one of the first such ...


References


External links

* Archived ''Nintendo Power'' magazines on the
Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by the Internet Archive, a nonprofit based in San Francisco, California. Created in 1996 and launched to the public in 2001, it allows the user to go "back in time" and see ...

Archived ''Nintendo Power Advance'' magazines
at
Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...
{{Authority control 1988 establishments in the United States 2012 disestablishments in the United States Monthly magazines published in the United States Video game magazines published in the United States Defunct computer magazines published in the United States House organs Magazines about Nintendo Magazines established in 1988 Magazines disestablished in 2012 Nintendo publications Magazines published in San Francisco 2017 podcast debuts Audio podcasts Video game podcasts