The final issue of Nintendo Power has been released, and it looks familiar. The last Nintendo Power’s cover features a “claymation” style Mario running from Bowser, promoting their review of New Super Mario Bros. U for the Wii U, and is incredibly similar to the cover of the publication’s first issue, which tackled Super Mario Bros. 2 for the NES.
For many gamers, this book was a big part of growing up, especially in the days before the Internet made looking up gaming news as easy as typing this site’s address into your browser (thanks for doing that, by the way). Every month, the Nintendo-backed magazine-slash-propaganda device featured stories on new and upcoming games for all Nintendo systems, gaming industry news, a letters section from readers, manga-inspired comics, and a section dedicated toward cheat codes and other secrets buried in your favorite games. It’s where this gamer found the Konami Code for the first time.
In time, the propaganda made way for actual game reporting once publisher Future took over, and Nintendo Power remained a popular and trusted source for Nintendo fans wary of dealing with the perceived Nintendo “hate” online… unfortunately, the digital age has claimed more than a few gaming publications, and Nintendo announced in August they would be shutting the magazine down.
If you see this on your newsstand, think about picking it up. It’s a piece of history.
