Nintendo Power Now on the Internet Archive (Update)

For a quarter of a century, Nintendo Power was the source for Nintendo news and strategies (straight from the pros). Before sadly shutting down at the end of 2012, the magazine had shown a great amount of support for the Mega Man franchise, which often received extensive coverage from covers, previews, reviews, strategies, contests, maps, posters, and tons of art. From Mega Man 2 to Mega Man X all the way to breaking the news about Mega Man 9 (and later Mega Man 10), Nintendo Power was there.

When the news that the magazine was ending broke, I put together this retrospective to give an overview/sampling of their coverage. However, you no longer need to look to that piece, nor seedy ROM sites to find these bits of the Blue Bomber’s history.

The Internet Archive has now begun uploading issues of Nintendo Power for everyone’s perusal, and you can find them here. It appears that the process has been ongoing since February this year, though it’s only now attracted widespread attention. As of this writing, not every issue is available, but more seem to be added by the day.

So if you’re curious about how people received their Mega Man news (and how relatively little there was to speak of) before the rise of the internet and sites like The Mega Man Network arose, take a look back through the pages of history.

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Incidentally, if you’re a fan of Nintendo Power and have been looking for something to fill that void in your life, perhaps you could give Nintendo Force magazine a chance? It’s available in both digital and print formats, and (full disclosure) I write for it.

On a more personal note, I’ve been a lifelong reader of Nintendo Power, and even got to briefly realize my dream of writing for it before its close. While it’s great that these vintage magazines are being archived in such a way, there’s just something satisfying to me about having the actual print copies.

To that end, I have almost every issue of the magazine, even after a hefty chunk of my early collection was callously thrown out (along with others, such as SEGA Visions, various other older game and wresting mags, and my entire Marvel Transformers comic runs). However, I’m still missing the second issue featuring Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest on the cover (seen at right), and I’m reaching out here to say that if you’re able to help me fill this hole in my collection (ideally at a fair price), I’d love to hear from you at the.mega.man.network (at) gmail.com!

Update:

Well, that didn’t last very long. Thanks to Aaron in the comments for the the tip!

LBD "Nytetrayn"

David Oxford, or “LBD ‘Nytetrayn’,” as he is sometimes also known, is a freelance writer of many varied interests who resides in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If you’re interested in hiring him, please drop him a line at david.oxford (at) nyteworks.net.

For a full list of places to find him online, click here.