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What are some long-running gaming fansites that are still alive and well?

S

ScOULaris

Member
I have a nostalgic soft-spot for the nascent days of the Internet when we didn't have one-stop hubs for all of our online gaming coverage. Over time we've moved toward aggregate sites like GAF and Reddit, which then link to bigger catch-all gaming websites like Kotaku, IGN, Gamespot, Polygon, etc. As a result of this shift most of the old gaming fansites that used to be maintained by individuals or small groups of enthusiasts for their respective games, series, or genres have mostly faded away.

But in this thread I'd like to give people a chance to call attention to those fansites that are still up and running today. The purpose is twofold: give these enthusiast labors of love some much-needed exposure and help GAFers discover some cool websites that they might have otherwise never come across.

I'll start us off with a fantastic resource for fighting game fans that has been around as long as I can remember:

The Fighters Generation

tfg11-roy-droog6.png


It's a real miracle that this site is not only still around but apparently still very actively updated. The design is nostalgic in the best way, making use of HTML frames to separate the left-side navigation menu from the main content on the right. The site is chalk-full of interesting articles, fighting game reviews, and art galleries. Perhaps what it's best known for is its outstanding collection of animated character sprites. Check out these random samples that I plucked from TFG for the purpose of this thread:
koj-intro.gif
terry-garou-runrun.gif
robert-entrance99.gif
Click to expand...
 
Ultimadrago

Ultimadrago

Member
K.E. Keith said:
somebody get joe in here
Click to expand...

His constant need to defend everything Nintendo and Pokemon is annoying, but I will never not give the man mad props for maintaining a Pokemon fansite and community like he has.
How long has Serebii been around again?

jwhit28 said:
DK Vine goes back to 1999 and have a pretty good podcast. It's sort of amazing because DK had some lean years late in the GC/GBA days.
Click to expand...

Wow, just looking at the website layout takes me back to early 2000's fansites. Fan Art tab and all! Good times.
 
S

ScOULaris

Member
jwhit28 said:
DK Vine goes back to 1999 and have a pretty good podcast. It's sort of amazing because DK had some lean years late in the GC/GBA days.
Click to expand...

Haha. I started poking around the site just now and came across this gem from one of their DKC2 reviews:

I love this game. I truly love this game. If it were physically possible, I would have sex with this game. Not really, though. Stop looking at me like that! I said not really! HWARF!!!
Click to expand...
 
P

PrinnyBomb

Member
JoeM86 said:
Word up



You clearly don't follow me if you think that's what I do, especially lately :p

It's almost 18 years old
Click to expand...

Oh wow, I've seen your name and that avatar in various posts but I had assumed it was just an avatar used. I had absolutely no idea that a GAF member was the creator of serebii. Thanks for keeping the site up and running, I've spent many hours on there.
 
L

Lumpy Onion

Member
RPGfan still seems to be cranking out the reviews for RPGs and RPG soundtracks as well as steady flow of news. They've been around since 1998.

RPGamer as well. And they've also been around since 98'.

Edit: I guess this isn't exactly what you mean.
 
D

Dandy Crocodile

Member
Serebii and Hardcore Gaming 101 are my favorites. Still just as great to visit today as they were years ago. Joe and Kurt and their respective helpers put in some real work and I greatly appreciate it.
 
Ultimadrago

Ultimadrago

Member
JoeM86 said:
You clearly don't follow me if you think that's what I do, especially lately :p

It's almost 18 years old
Click to expand...

Hah, true that I'm likely working on outdated skimming. Great job on the website, in any case! I've used it many times for news and information with upcoming titles.
 
D

Dunan

Member
Not really a fan site, but GaneFAQs must be 20 years old by now. (I have a 5-digit UID there; by now they must be pushing 10 million users.)
 
F

Forkball

Member
Pojo.com is still kicking. And like many other fansites that have been around for over 15 years, it still looks like it's stuck in the 90s. While it was originally a Pokemon fansite, it now focuses mostly on TCGs, notably Yu Gi Oh. The Yu Gi Oh section of its message board has 24 MILLION POSTS.
 
D

DiipuSurotu

Banned
chronocompendium.com for Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross fans.

Well, it doesn't look like it will be active much longer, sadly.
 
J

JoeM86

Member
It really seems that dedicated fan sites have become a dying thing. Most sites now are blogs and modern layouts are designed around sites like that which have very little content, just mostly historical. Alternatively, you have wikis.


Zyrox said:
About as old as it looks, then. :p
Click to expand...

Pfft, as if websites looked like that in '99 :p
 
B

blummer102

Member
The North Castle. One of the oldest Zelda fansites out there. Only covers the pre-Ocarina of Time games, too.

Wouldn't say it's 'alive,' persay, but it's still running. The webmistress, Lady Juliet, is a very nice person.

Somewhere on there is a fanfic I wrote when I was in 5th grade. lollerskates
 
T

Theodran

Member
DiabloII.net has been up since 1997.

I used to read it religiously from around 1998 or 1999 up until after the release of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction. I was actually unsure whether or not it was still alive until I saw this thread and decided to look it up...
 
T

TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared

Member
Also serebii. I think serebii was the first useful fan site I ever found in fact, more useful than Nintendo's official websites for Pokemon stuff at the time. Those step by step information walkthrough things he used to do for the Japanese Pokemon games when there was a huge gap in release dates were amazing.
 
K

KHlover

Banned
JoeM86 said:
It really seems that dedicated fan sites have become a dying thing. Most sites now are blogs and modern layouts are designed around sites like that which have very little content, just mostly historical. Alternatively, you have wikis.




Pfft, as if websites looked like that in '99 :p
Click to expand...
Didn't you want to modernise the design a bit? Think you mentioned that in one of the many SSB4 Pre release OT. What happened to that :p
 
J

JoeM86

Member
KHlover said:
Didn't you want to modernise the design a bit? Think you mentioned that in one of the many SSB4 Pre release OT. What happened to that :p
Click to expand...

It's in progress. Mostly it's to make the site more mobile compliant. It's pretty much done, but I have an issue with how it's working on desktop that I need to resolve but every developer I have spoken to have said what I need it to do is impossible in CSS, so I'm exploring other avenues

I've tried many modern styles of layouts, but they really don't fit sites that have more than 10 pages of content that isn't just a blog with archives and a search
 
D

DiipuSurotu

Banned
JoeM86 said:
It really seems that dedicated fan sites have become a dying thing. Most sites now are blogs and modern layouts are designed around sites like that which have very little content, just mostly historical. Alternatively, you have wikis.
Click to expand...

Wikia pretty much killed fansites.
 
G

Gangster Bastard

Member
themushroomkingdom.net
I don't think the design has changed since 2000. There's even a downloads tab where you can download Winamp skins, MOD- and MIDI-files.

Speaking of MIDI-files:
vgmusic.com
 
S

SiegfriedFM

Member
Mad Man's Cafe (mmcafe.com) tends to be active mainly when there's SNK news, but they're still around after who knows how long.

Oh right, 1994. That's... A long time.
 
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