
UK SNES fans will no doubt recall Super Play, a magazine which ran for 47 glorious issues from 1992 to 1996 and gave generous coverage to imported titles that would never see the light of day in the west.
As we reported recently, publisher Future has resurrected the mag for one issue only to celebrate the launch of the SNES Classic Edition, and subscribers of Retro Gamer will be getting their bonus copy with issue 172, which should be plopping onto doormats any time now.
We were lucky enough to get an advance copy ahead of its launch on the high street tomorrow, and found it to be a particularly enjoyable trip down memory lane - despite the almost unbelievable fact that somehow, our very own Damien McFerran was allowed to sully its hallowed pages with some words.

So what did we do with this amazing one-off special, you ask? We gave it to our video guru Alex Olney who was the grand old age of 1 when the first issue of Super Play hit shelves back in 1992, making him the ideal / worst person to do a video feature on it (delete as applicable).
Have you had your copy yet? Share your thoughts with a comment below.
Comments 24
2017, what a year...
So cool.
No magazine will ever compare to the Nintendo Power of the early to mid 90's though with that said I would still take a copy of this issue.
Alex, if you want a proper Nintendo magazine and Ryno if you were a huge fan of Nintendo Power, you're in luck!
http://www.nintendoforcemagazine.com/
Nintendo Force is a crowd-funded bimonthly magazine made by a bunch of former editors from various Nintendo sites and publications. Basically it's the spiritual successor to Nintendo Power - they even have a section every issue looking back on what Nintendo power was covering in those same 2 months years and years ago. It's awesome!
@Ryno Mean Machines begs to differ---unless you're talking about Nintendo-only magazines. And, if it is Nintendo-only, Nintendo Magazine System is probably up there. Super Play, however, is def one of the all-time Nintendo-centric gaming magazine greats.
I love how good condition the SNES (well, Super Famicom) in that pic is, or at least looks to be.
I wonder who actually wrote that article? It made me laugh out loud twice.
@impurekind That's mine - think I've just been very lucky with it!
@Ooyah It's a mystery!
Day one!
@Damo
At first, I thought that your first comment was the response to mine!
Is this available without a subscription or for importing to the US?
I miss the old magazines. Super Play, Official Nintendo Magazine, N64 Magazine, N Gamer, NGC Magazine, Nintendo gamer. I remember pouring over articles from E3 and I remember getting at least one that had VHS footage of E3. Good times.
@SleeplessKnight £10 a copy for the Uk 🤔
@Ryno pretty sure Edge was then and still is now the best videogames mag. At least it's what I've always sworn by.
@Damo I do like your articles with the pictures of your retro consoles and games. I particularly like it when you place the loose multi-coloured Famicom cartridges around whatever it is you're picturing. It's even driven me to buy a Famicom cart from eBay after seeing them in your pictures - Rockman 4 for example!
@MegaTen I still have an extensive set of well read Total! magazines. A very good, largely forgotten magazine but not on the level of Super Play.
The editor left after around a year to found Edge.
Super Play was THE SNES magazine. It's how I got to discover imports and animé.
I still have all of the originals, who knew I'd be picking up the final issue in 2017? Very much looking forward to getting hold of this!
@Damo I sold my SNES a long time ago but it was in perfect nick when I go rid of it. I miss it and regret getting rid of it. I'm looking forward to my SNES Mini though, and it should be a nice little replacement.
@GravyThief Happy to help (empty your bank balance)
@darthstuey Hmm, not sure what the conversion rate is but I pay $6.99 (CDN) per issue plus tax for the digital .pdf version and physical copy. I always get an email with the link to download the digital version first and then 2 or 3 weeks later I get the physical magazine.
@SleeplessKnight I went to subscribe but it's def 10 pounds for out of US or Canada
Haven't been able to find this anywhere
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