Does anyone collect gaming magazines?

[jmjustin6]

A friend of mine called me up this morning and said he found some old gaming magazines in his closet and was wondering if i was interested in them. I said sure why not. I take them home and go through them all. There are Nintendo power, Playstation, gamefan, gamepro, electronic gaming, and some dragonball z magazines. I only remember having subscriptions to Nintendo power and gameinformer. I havent heard of these other ones.

 

So just curious if people collect gaming mags outside of Nintendo power?

[RickR]

Not me.  I used to.  But I sold them all.  They take up a lot of space. 

[jmjustin6]

Not me. I used to. But I sold them all. They take up a lot of space.

Yea thats what im thinking. I dont see where im even gonna put these

[TrekMD]

I only kept a few of those old magazines.  Nowadays I try to get everything video game related in electronic format. 

[Keatah]

I used to. Back in the 70's and 80's. Typically what I could get at the drugstore or supermarket. Nowadays it'll be pdf for me.

[Atarileaf]

What were the ones in the 80's? Electronic Games? I used to love those, bought them every month back then. I'm pretty sure there's a site that has them all cataloged in PDF form which is great now so you don't need all those magazines taking up space. I used to have all the Rainbow magazines in the 80s too which was the monthly magazine for the Tandy Color Computer. 

 

If I come across older gaming magazines I'll usually just pick them up to read through a bit and then re-donate them.

Edited May 18, 2018 by Atarileaf

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I use to collect NP, Sega Visions, EG, Tips and Tricks, and my personal favorite Video Games and Computer Entertainment. I got Atari Age once in a while during the Eighties. I never knew of Electronic Games until recently.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I use to subscribe to Nintendo Power up until Howard left as editor. From the stands it depended on what articles were in each issue. I regularly bought Tips n Tricks and Video Games and Computer Entertainment. I would sometimes buy Electronic Gaming and GamePro. When Dreamcast came out I heavily invested in the Official Dreamcast Magazine with a disc full of demos of what was to come.

[TeddyGermany]

I collect old magazines, mainly german mags! Telematch, which was a partnermag of Electronic Games, Happy Computer, PowerPlay, Video Games, Man!ac [sic!], Mega Fun, Fun Generation, Next Level and so on. And for sure many Amiga magazines like the Amiga Special, Amiga Magazin an of course the Amiga Joker, which still has many fans until today!

[MaximumRD]

While I do not currently (at least intentionally) collect any gaming magazines I used to, boy did I ever lol. Various video gaming and computer magazines because of course many of those early computers were something we SAID we wanted for "school work" but really wanted for the videogames. As far back as I can recall I would say I really started with Electronic Gamines Magazine in the early 80's which I thought was a brilliant magazine, by the way some nice online digital archives can be found here:

http://www.digitpress.com/library/magazines/electronic_games/electronic_games.htm

and HERE:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=Electronic%20Games

 

I suspect like many, who could not afford many videogames it was delightful to pour through these magazines and dream. OF COURSE they would help to ignite our imagination and anticipation with various articles and images and give us some insight we pretty much could not get anywhere else. Taking them to school and comparing and discussing with our fellow gaming friends what sounded like the next or current cool video game or accessory was always great fun. I would wear those magazines out from wear reading them over and over. There were of course other magazine or articles in typically non gaming publications wanting to give their opinion on this new powerful wave of entertainment (often not flattering as that nonsense started early) as well there were offshoots and one off magazines that were mostly forgotten or quickly discontinued. Of course after the rise of the mighty originally 8 bit Nintendo there was a resurgence in the video-games scene and revised and new publications to reflect that. I would go on to collect many of the usual suspects like GamePro, various dedicated Sega / Nintendo / Amiga Computer magazines. Eventually covering all the 8 bit and then following up with all the 16bit era. I was still reading and collecting when the new powerful consoles hit, I had collected many Dreamcast magazines as well. 

 

Most of my collection was lost or given away over the years stupidly now that I think back on it, I have of course Gigabytes of various gaming magazine related PDF's sitting on the hard drives. A few years back though through various videogame and computer acquisitions through my collecting phase I would end up with a video game or computer magazine here and there, usually an issue I had read many years prior but still, I admit there is something so nostalgic as the retro games themselves, so fun to read through them with the fresh eyes and excitement many of the articles and images gave you and to remember looking at them the first time and wondering what it would be like to play them yourself first hand! Good times and a huge part of the history, memories, preservation of the video games era right from the start. 

[RickR]

I should mention that I have my original full set of "Atari Age" magazines.  Those ones are too worn out to sell.  And I cannot throw them out.  So those ones, I'll keep.  I think I have a few other odds and ends all in the same crate.  A few old "Compute!", some "Mad" from the 80's, and those Atari Age.

[TrekMD]

I have those Atari Age magazines as well and Atarian.  I've kept those through the years.  They are not in the best of shape because I was a subscriber and the PO just did not handle them very well. 

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I do remember in high school our computer class getting subscriptions to Computer Shopper. I owned a CoCo 3 and 386 at the time and would look through those mags for anything to help spruce up my 386. I stuck with local businesses for upgrades but used the mag to figure out what was available and to keep up with new upgrades and computer builds. It was a computer bible in many ways.

[Arenafoot]

I have a few, most are my childhood magazines (except the first 6 of AtariAge and the Nintendo mag):

 

The Rainbow Magazine

Sept. 1985

Dec. 1985

Jan. 1986

Feb. 1986

Mar. 1986

May 1986

July 1986

Aug. 1986

Oct. 1986

Dec. 1986

Nov. 1987

Dec. 1987

Apr. 1988 

Aug. 1988

Dec. 1988

 

Hot CoCo Magazine

Mar 85

May 85

July 85

 

AtariAge Magazines

(all but first 2)

Sept. / Oct. 1982

Nov. / Dec. 1982

January / February 1983

March / April 1983

May / June 1983

July / August 1983

Sept. / Oct. 1983

Nov. 1983 / Feb. 1984

March / April 1984

 

The Atarian Magazine

Oct 1989

 

Nintendo Fun Club News magazine

Feb/Mar 1988

 

Video Swapper Magazine

August 1982

 

 

[Keatah]

I already mentioned Electronic Games Magazine (EGM) ..but I also excitedly read JoyStik and Video Games. On the computing side I did the Apple II publication called HardCore Computing, A+, and Apple Orchard. And for general computing it was Creative Computing along with the occasional Byte issue.

 

I did get into those strategy guides, too. Those colorful paperbacks that were typically 30-50 pages of patterns, tips and rules. Some focused on 1 game, others a set of 5 or 10 games. Most all I recall are available on pdf at internet archive.

 

This is a tiny sample representing the style:

https://archive.org/details/How_To_Beat_The_Video_Games

https://archive.org/details/How_To_Win_At_Home_Video_Games

https://archive.org/details/book_video_games

 

And my favorite:

https://archive.org/details/Winners_Book_of_Video_Games

https://archive.org/details/book_how_to_win_video_games

 

None of them helped me much. I wasn't the best player till I got into my early 20's, by which time the whole craze died down. But, today, I think of the books as manuals for the arcade games.

 

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In the 90's I got the Duke Nuke'em and Doom strategy guides. And they are very nostalgic. I read them like I was studying for a college exam or a check flight.

[Atari 5200 Guy]

I forgot...I have a huge pile of Wal-Mart Game Center magazines. The oldest issue I have is issue 10 and they go up to issue 43 or 44. Then they stopped showing up in the store without any explanation. I'm glad I grabbed duplicates towards the end.