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Nintendo Power's Final Cover
skade88 writes "Ars Technica has a review of the last-ever issue of Nintendo Power. It's bittersweet seeing a part of my childhood ending." Being in print for 25 years means it's got most single-platform computer magazines beat.
gent, swank, penthouse, hustler, and barely legal are still published.
The fact you would lump Nintendo Power with a bunch of stroke mags I find deeply disturbing. Your mother's basement must be a very scary place.
... but I choose to remember the mag through the innocent eyes of the kids I was. I don't care that the entire mag was a marketing stump for Nintendo. I enjoyed the mag when I was a kid, and I haunted the mailbox whenever an issue was due. Early on, when they were publishing strategy guides, I got all kinds of use out of them (Particularly Super Mario 3 and Final Fantasy).
I grew up poor, getting a new game was a once, maybe twice if we were lucky, a year thing. Every month or two mom could afford to let us rent something for a few days, and Nintendo Power gave me a way to look at what was coming out and judge if it was something I wanted to spend those precious rental or acquisition opportunities on.
The adult in me agrees with all the scorn and criticism heaped on the mag, especially as it grew longer in the tooth.
But the wide eyed child in me remembers those first few years of Nintendo Power with great fondness.
"but did you ever ONCE, just one time, see them telling kids "Don't waste your money on this game" ever? "
You have a selective memory. Here is the list of review scores they've given Wii games. http://www.gamerankings.com/sites/768-nintendo-power/index.html?platform=1031
I see plenty of low scores. I also see that their scores on Nintendo-made games generally fall with the consensus, including some of the less favorable scores.