IrishNinja
Member
*editor's note: apologies for blurry camera-phone shots/big images/etc, will work on & contribute more later if GAF's interested.
Found a few fanzines while going through my older game magazines, and I wanted to talk about this tiny subculture of gaming history.
quick anecdotal tale on my intro to these: back in '93, Sunsoft was hyping Aero the Acrobat hard, and ran a double-page ad in gaming mags that had a hidden offer for a free copy, which i
Around then, Video Games & Computer Entertainment ran an article about fanzines, and included a few addresses to the more popular ones, which is how I got in on the ones posted above. It's worth noting that they were obviously low-brow humor, cheaply made, self-indulgent etc (oh gaming press, how very far you've come), but reading Aero get absolutely trashed, and other lesser-known titles praised/made known was really cool to see at the time.
It occurred to me that many of you likely knew of these fan publications (a few might've contributed to them!), but excessive snark aside, they did bring one element I've found valuable in every gaming community I've taken part in from TheGIA to GAF: they were a great place to learn about sleeper hits/lesser-known titles, and I can honestly say, I never would've heard of (much less experienced) Valis 3, El Viento, Another World and numerous other greats during their era without their say-so. This isn't necessarily to say that the major gaming mags weren't reviewing them, but covering arcades & the many formats of the day meant even double-sized EGM's had way more to say about Street Fighter II than they did Zombies ate my Neighbors, for example.
Looking @ gaming culture/media these days, it's easy to see what became of these - they're basically everyone's gaming blogs now. In my head, these sort've exist along the same line that GAF's love for the happening of Ultima online does; it's a time capsule sort've thing that wouldn't work at almost any other period. Looking back, industry gossip (naming names!), angry rants about SNES MK losing blood, and trashing both the Jaguar (low-hanging fruit, granted) and major, AAA-of-their-time titles in some reviews aren't the makings of a unique and beautiful snowflake, but again, in the day, these things stood as something of a sharp contrast to the larger gaming press.
Anyway, here's a look at them via some more crappily-taken images:
naturally, Sega listened to every point, which is why Eternal Champions is the vibrant, tournament-friendly fighter it is today
MK: not a good look for gameboy
yup, that's Sonic CD getting a 9+. Anything lower and I'dve canceled my $10 subscription, no doubt
GEA membership was serious business! I loved this stuff though.
likewise, a 9+ for Super Metroid...I may've lost a few friends posting this one.
SHOTS FIRED, EGM
So yeah, did anyone else read these things?
the irony of my talking about their praising of sleeper hits and then posting reviews of the big titles is not lost on me, i assure you