So unlike a lot of "hardcore gamers" acting all sad about the end of a magazine they hadn't subscribed about consoles they hadn't played in years (if you're not in that group disregard that comment) I,got my last ever issue of Nintendo Power in the mail finally because I had a subscription. Can't remember if it went past December 2012 but I guess I'll find out if I get a check in the mail.
And since just about every webiste and commentator has done their NP tribute such as Game Overthinker, Screwattack, Andre the Black Nerd and others, let's actually take a look and see how those awesome NP guys went out.
Well as a subscriber I got a final farewell letter with the sentence "And now as we say goodbye, may your scores blast to cosmic levels and your powers be as great as Super Mario's!"
Also there's a poster featuring all 285 covers including all alternate covers like Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles had four variants for each of the four races you could play (underated game IMO). Trying to decide if I want to hang that poster somewhere.
Player Polls: 9% of the reader base has subscribed since the beginning. No surprise. Newer readers probably weren't born when it started and older readers probably stopped subscribing A)After the Playstation came out and was all "mature and hardcore" B) The Pokemon explosion which did sort of offend first gen Nintendo fans because a new IP was more popular than Mario (hmmm what does that sound like?) C) The Gamecube years or D) When the Wii was "ruining" gaming. Or more than likely, folks who dropped off once the internet became the place for game tips, previews and new.
They did another Top 200 Games of all time but they did this just a few years ago so the only major difference was some more Wii and DS games making the cut and as before, Zelda Ocarina of Time was #1 to no one's surprise.
There was a great retrospective highlighting each year and the staff admits some bad article choices like features on the Power Glove and the Mask II contest to where they apologized to the poor shmuck who won and had to wait 10 years to be in Son of the Mask. And talking about how they dealt with weak launch windows and how they filled space when there wasn't a ton of killer games coming out to talk about. As well as editors past and present talk about their fondest memories working at NP. The also asked the current editors what they would be doing if they weren't working at NP. Justin Cheng said "I probably would have stayed PSM which became the Official Playstation Magazine, and would still be facing unemployment, as that magazine also folded.
The Last Crop of Review: Kind of interested in this as since it's the last issue, the writers can basically say "f&^% it!!" and say what they really feel and not worry about making daddy or fanboys mad. So sort of surprising to see some scores. Quick rundown of the ones that matter:
- New Super Mario Bros. U- 8.0
- Scribblenauts Unlimited- 8.0
- Nintendoland- 7.0
- Skylander Giants- 8.0
- Rabbids Land- 5.0
- ZombiU- 9.0 (that one caught me off guard too)
- Sonic All Star Racing Transformed- 8.0
- Batman Arkham City Armorded Edtion- 9.0
- Tekken Tag Team Tournament- 8.0
- Epic Mickey 2- 7.0
- Tank! Tank! Tank!- 3.5
Most of the games seem to be around the 8.0 mark particularly the WiiU ports.
But the way they went out, well aside from the final "GAME OVER Thanks for Reading" page was they brought back Nintendo Power mascot Nestor who us oldies remember from Howard and Nestor which eventually became Nestor's Adventures when Howard Phillips left NP to work for Lucasarts. Nester after getting his own game, sadly for the Virtual Boy disappeared from NP but returned for the final farewell. He's grown up now with a son of his own named Maxwell in a comic that can only be described as the Nintendo Power equivalent of the ending of Toy Story 3. Nestor places his final NP issue on the shelf as he and his son go off to play New Super Mario Bros. U together.
Max: C'mon Dad! Let's go play some New Super Mario Bros. U!
Nestor: You got it! Uh, think you could place some platforms to help me get past those pits again?
Max: I won't let you fall, Dad. *sniff*
And thus I promise this will be the last NP related article I do. And how about a nice sad song to end this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VastXQ_hPb0
