Magazine Spotlight: Nintendo Power Issue 279

Magazine Spotlight

Hey! Thanks for stopping by for another Magazine Spotlight, where I shout out a specific issue of a gaming publication. I've been getting more into some gaming magazines lately, they're a great snapshot as to what was coming out at a specific time and how hype was manufactored for new consoles and games. However as the information age has expanded, it's put magazines in a weird spot. Before they were people's primary source for gaming news and reviews, whereas now there are so many different options as to where you get your gaming information. Nintendo Power is one of those that unfortunately couldn't keep up with the ever changing landscape of gaming publications. It makes sense that Nintendo couldn't keep up with financing their official magazine, especially during this time where the 3DS wasn't doing the hottest and the Wii U was just about to come out and wasn't manufacturing a ton of hype. This is issue 279, which was from June of 2012, the last year of publication of the magazine. I had read Nintendo Power on and off since about 2008-2009 and had a subscription during this last year which I was thankful for. I remembered that some of my magazines never actually came like my October and December of 2012 issues which I still am a little salty over, but things happen lol. I really enjoyed Nintendo Power during this era, because they weren't afraid to give coverage to games that either weren't getting a lot of press or were harder to find. Today, we're going to take a peek at what Nintendo Power was covering in some of it's final days.

This issue is a little bit slow, coming out just before E3 2012 where Nintendo announced a ton of games for it's upcoming Wii U console like Pikmin 3 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. Still, this issue is full of great games that would normally get overlooked from a magazine like EGM, especially during this time where they're more focused on the Microsoft and Sony market (rightfully so). One thing I really enjoyed about Nintendo Power was it's writers and editors. They always had Miis for their avatars which helped with putting a face to a name and just showed off some more personality. One such editor was Chris Hoffman, who had a column named "Don't Hassle the Hoff" where fans would send in letters asking Hoff questions. This issue has a letter from a "Shadow the Werehog" (lol) asking why Super Mario Galaxy did not get a 10/10 review score. Hoff responds by saying for one, he didn't review the game it was editor-in-chief Chris Slate that originally reviewed the game and that Hoff would've given the game a 10/10. The other thing he points out however as the only thing holding the game back is Lubba who he describes as "that portly, creepy, purple Grimace wannabe". Which to be completely fair, Lubba does kinda suck and is a major downgrade from Rosalina. 

Power Up was a standard in every issue of the magazine where they would go over news on game releases, what's been going on in Japan and some other smaller columns. This issue however actually has a 3-page interview with Masahiro Sakurai on his game Kid Icarus: Uprising. I always thought it was fitting that he was the lead director on that game, since SSBB was Pit's first appearance since the Gameboy, and had essentially created the basis of personality for modern Pit. Sakurai now has been pushing out game related content onto his Youtube channel for a while now so it's easy to understand his opinions and philosophies when it comes to games, but in 2012 it wasn't always the case and this interview is a great early look into what is important to him. For example, Nintendo Power asks him about DLC and the potential of updating a game with new content after it's already been released. Sakurai says "I welcome DLC that is developed separately as a way to deepen a game experience, like the added content in Fallout 3 that allows players to continue to enjoy the game's world after the ending. Conversely, I'm opposed to the sort of DLC where players have to buy the keys to unlock content that had already been developed. Of course, I understand that there can be a very fine line between the two." This was a pretty hot topic at the time, where companies like Capcom and Bioware were hiding content in a game that was already on the disc at it's retail launch and giving it a paywall to access. It could also be considered an early idea of how Sakurai would handle DLC for some future Smash titles and that he was open to the idea of new content.

This section of the magazine was always one of my favorites, were they would highlight upcoming releases on Nintendo's digital storefronts like the Wii Shop and DSI Shop. The 3DS Eshop was relatively new at this time as well, only being out for about a year at this point so some of it's major content hadn't come out yet. Like I said earlier, Nintendo Power wasn't afraid to give spotlights to games that didn't really have a platform to get their name out there to a wide audience. It's actually how I found out about one of my favorite franchises in Shantae, where they covered the originally DSI shop exclusive Shantae Risky's Revenge.  In this issue they have a nice preview of 1001 Spikes, which is a old-school platformer that had some real difficulty to it. I love some of the artwork here as well for the main characters, this was towards the beginning of the indie boom that's so prevalent in the market today.

On the next page they have reviews on some games that had come out on the digital storefronts. These reviews always tend to be pretty brief in nature and the scoring comes down to "grumble grumble" for a negative game, "hmmm..." for a middle of the road game, and "recommended" for games they enjoy. There weren't too many good games featured this month, but some spotlights include Colors 3D which was a fun art program for 3DS that was a big seller and a big part of Miiverse as well when that was still up and running. Ketzal's Corridors was a game that I didn't really know about until rereading this magazine, and I wish I could buy it now but unfortunately the Eshop on 3DS and Wii U has been shut down and I can't get it anymore. Lastly they give a virtual console shoutout to Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers on Genesis, with the only reason they give it a recommended is that it comes bundled in with online play. You thought fighting games coming out today without rollback netcode was bad, imagine playing against someone thru the Wii's wifi on a stripped down port of SF2. 

The cover article focuses on the upcoming Castlevania: Lords of Shadow-Mirror of Fate and gives a solid look at what the game is going to be like. Personally I'm not too big on the modern Castlevania games, they're not amazing but not bad either. The part of this section that I really enjoyed was where they look back at Castlevania's lineage and some staples of the franchise. They even have some fake awards like the best sub-weapon, and best protagonist that's not a Belmont. Nintendo Power loves doing sections on a game franchise's history, and I enjoyed reading about them growing up as it's how I learned about franchises like Dragon Quest and Zelda and their back catalog. I don't really agree with their choice for best enemy however, the Medusa heads could be not in the game and I would be fine with that. They also give a shout out to some embarrassing moments like the N64 Castlevania games, and the box art within a box art for Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow. These sections were always a ton of fun to and were what I tended to look at more when rereading magazines.

 

As the editor-in-chief said in a column at the beginning of the magazine, the Wii's era was coming to a close at this point in time with the Wii U on the horizon. So Nintendo Power decided to make an awesome list on 30 essential games for the console. They separate the list up by 10 must-haves, should-haves and the nice-to-haves, and then have some separate sections for WiiWare essentials, Virtual Console games and possible future must-haves. Some of these games are no brainers when it comes to the list like Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime Trilogy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl, but they also shout out some more obscure games that might not be on everyone's radar like Little King's Story, and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom as must-haves. Personally I would have a few different games on the list, like the House of the Dead 2 and 3 collection over Overkill, the lack of Wii Sports anywhere on the list, and I probably wouldn't have the Goldeneye remake on here either, although I do enjoy that game. I also like how in their future essentials they have Skylanders Giants listed there, I still remember when the toys to life was a new thing that companies were trying to push. Overall though, a great list that highlights games and genres that cover the Wii well. 

There aren't too many games being reviewed in this issue, like I said earlier it's a slow season for the game industry just before E3. That doesn't mean however that the games they do review are nothing to slouch at with some decent titles like Pokémon Conquest and Rayman Origins for 3DS. I remember Pokémon Conquest coming out and not really knowing what or why this crossover was happening, but looking back at it now it's a blessing in disguise that it even happened in the first place. The game is a grid based strategy game that uses Pokémon as the units in battle, and the trainers are from the Nobunaga's Ambition series of games which is a long running strategy series. Nintendo Power goes in depth with this review covering 4 pages and gave the game a 9.0 score overall. They do a good job of setting some expectations with Pokémon fans that are used to the gameplay from the mainline series, where the gameplay is a bit slower pace overall as most strategy games tend to be, as well as explaining the history of the Nobunaga's Ambition series. I think they sum up the game pretty well at the end of the review where they say "This may not be the Pokémon adventure you expect, but it's definitely on worth playing". Rayman Origins also got a good score of an 8.5 which it definitely deserves, Origins and Rayman Legends are awesome platformers.

Overall this issue was pretty solid. Nintendo Power always does a good job of filling the gaps when it's a slower month overall. They also do a good job of adding their own personality to their reviews and news on games which made reading the magazine during this time feel a little more intimate. I know I came into reading Nintendo Power past it's heyday, but it was my main source of gaining new gaming information and news before I was online. Looking back, the staff overall had some great taste in what games to cover and giving spotlights to games that didn't get much coverage and in turn that makes it nice to read back now to find games you might've missed. Nintendo Power's legacy still lives on with a podcast using the same name, give it a listen if you haven't it's pretty good. 

Thank you for reading and have a good day!