Here we go, time to cover one of the more popular episodes of The Angry Video Game Nerd! This time around, the Nerd doesn’t take a look at a game – oh no, he takes a look at the one thing that every kid who grew up playing Nintendo wanted other than the next new Mega Man, Castlevania, or Mario game.
Nintendo Power.
This magazine, which ran from 1988 to 2012, was the source of Nintendo gaming news back in the day. There were other magazines, sure, and they had good info, but Nintendo power was from the source, and was just the best. As James says in the episode, if you had a subspcription to Nintendo Power, you were the man (or, girl, I’m sure) on your block – you knew all the secrets, all the codes, all the tips, all the news, you were on the top tier cutting edge!
GET THE POWER!!!!
Of course today we have the internet to learn new things – all the mystery of games back in the old days is lost, but Nintendo Power stays firm in our memories as one of the most beloved aspects of the NES era, and beyond.
I actually have quite a few of these magazines I found in a stash thrifting, and it’s an absolute joy to go through them, seeing early game screenshots that would later change, seeing those first announcements on games that I have loved for almost 30 years, or just reading the letters people would send it – it really doesn’t matter what about it you look at, the fact is it’s a tangible slice of the experience of being a gamer back in the late 80’s and early 90’s, a time oh so many of us look nostalgically back on.
As for the AVGN Episode itself, it has all it needs – Kyle Justin covering the Nintendo Power song from the commercials is a nice opening, but once James gets going on the magazine, well, he doesn’t stop. He goes from compliment to complaint, not really trying to joke yet somehow being funny because, this is all real – this is as honest a retrospective as just about anything you could imagine, and that’s what makes this episode work.
Clearly he sees something he likes.
The fun of the illustrations, the frustration of the posters, and terrible contests that clearly never panned out, oh, how I remember those days.
Final Rating: 4.5/5
This episode is a great one – not a bad one to introduce people to the series with, if not the most accurate to the rest of the episodes, it at least touches well with the general “feel” of the series. In some ways, I think the subject matter, being the magazine that everyone wanted but only a few had, touches with more gamers on a whole than any other single game review could.
Just check it out. Really. It’s great, and has all the fun, sun, and surf you could want. Don’t get that reference, well, watch the video and then you’ll get it… along with sand and trees.