Nintendo has always held a special part in our lives, especially mine when it comes to the field of video game journalism. It began slowly but surely when I was younger and I had been steeped inside gaming for the better half of my life, starting with the classic Nintendo and Super Nintendo. I normally took shopping trips with my grandmother to the local Winn-Dixie (that will show just how old my neighborhood and I truly are) and on our way out we would always pass by the newsstands, displaying the generic gossip magazine and, to my happiness, recent issues of Nintendo Power. I would be excited and pick it up so quickly, I think I ripped a few covers in the rack, replacing them and getting a better copy. After my first couple of issues, I finally convinced my grandparents to get me a subscription so I’d never miss an issue.
I held a subscription for 3 to 4 years before they told me they no longer wanted to pay for it, and me not having money to pay for one myself, we had to cancel it and I’d only get NP once in a while when shopping trips to Wal-Mart allowed it.
The point being, I held onto that Nintendo Power collection for years on end, till the covers were bent up and the pages felt worn and faded. I even remember getting an issue with Star Fox on the cover, and I was so excited for it I practically cut the cover out and plaster it on the wall with all my other Nintendo Power Posters. Sadly that collection has gone to the wayside, as it was thrown out so long ago, not by my choice, and is possibly sitting in a recycling plant or a landfill. It breaks my heart that I have gone so long without my collection, and missing out on all my favorite memories of Nintendo Power from when I was a child.
I will miss you dearly NP
It breaks my heart even more to hear after 25 years of amazing publication, is being shut down.
I heard about it a week ago, as I have been lapsed in getting to writing an article with financial troubles, it was about time I paid tribute to the Grand Master of Publications, Nintendo Power.
As mentioned above, my gaming journey was fostered and blossomed under the guise of Nintendo Power, shinning me on through playthroughs of games like Donkey Kong 64, Castlevania and Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time (which I am replaying this past week in remembrance to the magazine and based on its own pure awesomeness.) I grew up with their posters plastered on my wall and their fan art section gracing the pages with grand ideas of what other games saw in their favorite video games. It was as if it was a publication not built on selling products, even though the magazine was owned by Nintendo, but on expressing the gamer lifestyle. Something so strong and powerful and Nintendo seemed to have the right formula to do it all so well, that it had us coming back issue after issue.
When the news hit me, I will admit I had been drawn away from Nintendo Power for some years, granted gaming magazines have come few and far between my shelves these days as when you have no time to read or go to the store, you can’t pick up a magazine. So I rushed out that night, picked up the past two issues of Nintendo Power and have been awaiting the moment I could read them cover to cover, like I did when I was a child.
It’s a sad thing, hearing and knowing something from your childhood is going to be closed down, like a local park or a great restaurant, but NP feels like something more. It’s absence will be felt by those far and wide, I personally feel a deep sadness at its departure but as we all should feel during the sad times in our life, this departure should not be focused solely on its absence, but more on what it gave us and what they did to inspire great and beautiful things now and possibly forever.
I know I’ll never forget those memories of childhood joy, the wanting to write within their ranks, and the love for gaming they seemed to preach. It will keep me moving onward and hope for a brighter tomorrow, hoping my writing will inspire another generation as Nintendo Power inspired me.
Nintendo Power, you will be missed.
J
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