Nintendo Power Turns 20!

As Nintendo Power is turning 20 this year, thought that I would purchase an issue and see if it still holds up after all this time. It has been at least 5 years since I have bought an issue, so I am approaching this review with a fresh set of eyes.

First, I should explain that 20 years ago Nintendo Power was THE magazine. Every kid at school read it, wanting to know how to get the secret warp zone, or Contra code, or whatever. The magazine frequently would have whole level walkthroughs of games, and often had incredibly helpful cheats and game maps (you have to remember this was before the internet). The main problem with the magazine back then was a complete lack of objectiveness; everything reviewed or in the magazine was great. I understand that Nintendo is trying to sell a product, but saying that every game is great fools legions of fans into purchasing sub-standard fare, and it creates a backlash against the House of Mario.

I am glad to say that the reviews are somewhat more objective, but not by much. While many of the games are rated lower than a 7.0 (this may also be due to the utter dumpster-level quality of most Wii and DS games), you still never shake the feeling that Nintendo Power magazine cannot be a truly objective reviewer. I know that many magazines had been accused of accepting a paycheck for good reviews, but I do feel that other magazines on the market offer the reader a more trustworthy and unbiased opinon of Nintendo's wares.

Walkthroughs are no longer part of the magazine (games are too long now, and we simply can't take away from player's guide sales), so much of the content are articles on upcoming games. In the latest issue we get an indepth look at Chrono Trigger, Animal Crossing Wii, and a bunch of other DS RPGs that I have never heard of. The articles are only on key games and are of course designed to create excitment and salivation for these titles. While there is nothing wrong with promoting an upcoming release, Nintendo Power does not have the autonomy to do it in such a way that isn't unseemly.

There is also a lot of content for Nintendo Fanboys (and Fangirls): retro reviews, articles about Nintendo History, and game developer bios all help fill up the remaining pages in the mag. Some of it is quite interesting, but if you don't have a sense (or simply don't care) about Nintendo history much of these articles will be over your head.

Is Nintendo Power a must buy? Definitely not. No. At $4.99 US and $6.99 Canadian per month you will not get value out of this magazine. It should be noted that magazines are in general too expensive unless you get a subscription, which most of the time is at least 50% off cover price. If you see that Nintendo Power has an article in it that interests you enough to shell out your hard earned cash go for it, but there is a magical new invention called the internet that will let you get most of the content for free and with a more objective opinion.